Trip Report So I guess Disney thinks Canadians do not celebrate Christmas?? A Max Trip Report- COMPLETED

A big hello to all my Disney friends:

As the title suggest this is a trip report regarding our recent Christmas adventure at Walt Disney World

Why the title you ask? I will keep you guessing on that one for a few days at least

Details leading up to the departure can be found here:

https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...-max-the-girls-and-the-boys-do-disney.951075/

This is my 6th trip report on these boards so hopefully you have read at least one before

The reason I say that is that my style might not suit all - I can probably sum it up as

1) Shoot from the hip
2) Do not pull punches
3) Definitely not PC
4) Not always PG
5) As much Seinfeld references as @Tuvalu can handle
6) Not too heavy or too light on the Pixie dust -keep it real and call it as I see it

Quick introduction will come from:

Day 1 - Travel Day towards the US but not quite beyond the comfort of home:
Friday Dec 21, 2018

The original plan was to drive from our home in Waterloo Ont Canada to Buffalo NY on Sat Dec 22.
With a 10:35 am fight a same day drive could have worked.

We switched it up to a drive on the day before and booked a hotel in Niagara Falls Canada

(our B&B in Buffalo backed out on us - @Doc Disney can try to explain how she let us down!!!)

So here we are at the Embassy Suites on Friday enjoying our homemade Mickey cookies

Me (Max, Andrew, Clarence) and Tricia

My younger daughter Cassie and Shane (BF)

and my older daughter Stephanie and her fiancé Jordan

and this is all of us at the Falls ( selfies are harder with six people!!!)

This report will chronicle Disney trip 28 for me and lucky(?) 13 to WDW.
It is also 13 to WDW for Tricia
The girls celebrate 10 trips to the world
Trip 2 for Shane (though his memory of the first is limited)

And - 1ST TIME FOR JORDAN!!!!!!

More Day 1 to follow and then off to Buffalo the next day!!!

Welcome aboard, ashore and wherever we are!!!

Max

 

[amjt660]

Day 3 Sunday Dec 23 - Magic Kingdom
So today is the only day that we go to the original WDW park.
With only 4 full park days (1 was travel to the Falls, 2 was mostly travel and 7 will be mostly travel) we really have 1 day per park

First bus ride of the trip (not many actually on the whole trip)

Arrived around 20 min before EMH rope dropped and went through really long lines at bag check and another person scanning one band per family and then finally the turnstile

7DMT was already over 30 min so we rode Pooh (no pic for some reason)

Then showed the boys the Beast castle (more on this later)

Shane and I outside the not yet open tavern (no interesting chair pictures for us @LisaBelle !!)

Second ride was Little Mermaid with no wait

Ride selfie with Stephie!!

Max

 

[krause]

and we have a winner
You made me and many people at my work laugh as I showed them the pic then zoomed in to take the boys out of the picture
Well done

Why thank you I accept the praise.

 

[amjt660]

Next up was a trip to the circus

You have to have the newbie ride a flying elephant

Love the top hat

Ride selfies

We found a clown at the circus

We then did Barnstormer (twice- no line so they sent us around again)

This sign is in the queue

I wonder if it is a good ride

Note: the walk after barnstormer to exit the ride takes longer than the ride itself!!

I took this one as we walked passed to remind me that we did ride it first

Max

 

[MickeyCB]

Next up was a trip to the circus
View attachment 340444
You have to have the newbie ride a flying elephant
View attachment 340445
Love the top hat
View attachment 340446
Ride selfies
View attachment 340447View attachment 340448View attachment 340450
We found a clown at the circus
View attachment 340456
We then did Barnstormer (twice- no line so they sent us around again)
View attachment 340451
This sign is in the queue
View attachment 340452
I wonder if it is a good ride

Note: the walk after barnstormer to exit the ride takes longer than the ride itself!!

I took this one as we walked passed to remind me that we did ride it first
View attachment 340453

Max

Max, love your hat! And so jealous! Trying to talk my family into what I am calling the Asian tour. Disney Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo. No takers as of yet.
Welcome to Stephanie, and looking forward to reading more of your family's adventures!

 

[Swissmiss]

That is very sweet - oh and we are all coming over for Christmas next year!!

FINALLY, family willing to travel at Christmas

 

[Songbird76]

THE PLAN:
So for those of you who read/remember the lead up to this vacation one of the biggest concerns was where to stay

With 6 adults the normal Christmas resort ( Yacht Club - water view - 2 queen + trundle - just would not do

Here are a few excerpts from the PTR:


View attachment 339021
View attachment 339022

I booked this room setup over the phone in May

I called in late November and early December to confirm that this was still the reservation

The room was going to be on a lower floor but we were okay without a view

Mama Lion was happy that the whole group would be close together ( Note: we call this foreshadowing!!!!)

THE ACTUAL:
I walk up to the check in - Tricia is frustrated that all the rooms are ready yet at 4pm

Apparently check in is 4-6 pm - very strange to be that late in my opinion

The others go to the gift shop to check for magic bands for the boys

Eventually I am told only 2 are ready and they are on the 10th and 12 floor
View attachment 339026

Now I am a mechanical engineer so I ask - how are all the rooms expected to connect if they are on different floors?

She was confused - as were we

Finally a manager shows up and apologizes for the reservation screw up and states that he will make it better but he cannot get all on the same floor

My wife and I were like this
View attachment 339027

Eventually after a lot of discussion about their reputation of doing this previously
(I ACTUALLY MET SOMEONE ON THE LAST NIGHT WHO HAD THE EXACT SAME ISSUE !!)
And that this is a family vacation and that they are lucky that we did not have small children

We agreed to the following
1) 200 off per night for all 5 nights ( from 699 to 499 a night)
2) no resort fees
3)complimentary taxi to the Grand Floridian to make our ADR

So we saved over 1700 Cdn when all was said and done

The kids had two King rooms side by side (not connected) on the 12 floor of the Central tower (different elevator) and we had a two room King suite on the 10 in the West tower.
Yes - elevator to lobby and then switch to other elevator and back up to other room!!!

Pictures of the parents room
View attachment 339028View attachment 339029View attachment 339030View attachment 339031View attachment 339032View attachment 339033

Max

Wait...so you were supposed to have 1 suite that was basically 3 bedrooms, and you got there and they had put you in 3 separate rooms all over the resort? Oh I'd be ticked!!!

 

[Songbird76]

Hi everyone!
I’m Stephanie (max’s daughter) and I’ll be chiming in throughput some of this trip report and I’ll be taking over the report later on briefly (stay tuned). I’ll talk about food a lot!

At the GFC, I had trouble finding a dairy free vegetarian option but they offered to replace the salmon in the miso glazed salmon with tofu instead of salmon. Jordan got the miso glazed salmon enteee so we didn’t end up taking a picture of his meal because it looked just like mine but with salmon instead of tofu.

Hi Stephanie! Looking forward to your contributions to the report.

 

[Songbird76]

Stephane is a New England fan so I take my shots when I can


Max

Now, Max, I know Tuvalu has already gotten on you about your grammar, but spelling your own daughter's name incorrectly really is going a bit too far, don't you think? (I can be snarky, too.)

 

[Songbird76]

Hey Dad, these people are cool!

Do you feel at all like you're in some weird TV sitcom where the main character goes to some sort of support group and introduces herself and everyone says "Hi, Stephanie!" in unison?

 

[Songbird76]

Cassie recently watched the whole series and when I mentioned your post she knew exactly what you were referring to.
Barney cropping out Robin and inserting other people(?) or pets(?)


Max

I think it's actually a reference to the episode where Ted brings a new girlfriend to Lily's birthday party and they go through the photo album of all the special events with a different girl in them who Ted can't even name anymore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Say_Cheese_(How_I_Met_Your_Mother)

 

[MinnieM123]

We then did Barnstormer (twice- no line so they sent us around again)

Score! I think that Barnstormer is one of the most fun attractions in the park -- it's short, but packs a really enjoyable ride. (I just wish it was longer in duration.)

 

[aliceismad]

I think it's actually a reference to the episode where Ted brings a new girlfriend to Lily's birthday party and they go through the photo album of all the special events with a different girl in them who Ted can't even name anymore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Say_Cheese_(How_I_Met_Your_Mother)

Yes!

 

[LadyBelle]

Hi everyone!
I’m Stephanie (max’s daughter) and I’ll be chiming in throughput some of this trip report and I’ll be taking over the report later on briefly (stay tuned). I’ll talk about food a lot!

At the GFC, I had trouble finding a dairy free vegetarian option but they offered to replace the salmon in the miso glazed salmon with tofu instead of salmon. Jordan got the miso glazed salmon enteee so we didn’t end up taking a picture of his meal because it looked just like mine but with salmon instead of tofu.

Welcome to the boards!

 

[MiniMax]

I think it's actually a reference to the episode where Ted brings a new girlfriend to Lily's birthday party and they go through the photo album of all the special events with a different girl in them who Ted can't even name anymore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Say_Cheese_(How_I_Met_Your_Mother)

Hi. I’m Max’s other daughter Cassie and might be joining in every once in a while !
Referring to this HIMYM conversation, this one is definitely correct. There is also an episode with Barney, it was the one that I thought of initially, where he crops Robin out of their couple photos so that Quinn doesn’t find out that they dated

 

[DisneyGigi]

Hi. I’m Max’s other daughter Cassie and might be joining in every once in a while !
Referring to this HIMYM conversation, this one is definitely correct. There is also an episode with Barney, it was the one that I thought of initially, where he crops Robin out of their couple photos so that Quinn doesn’t find out that they dated

I love your username! Welcome to the boards. Love your dad’s reports!

 

[Swissmiss]

Hi. I’m Max’s other daughter Cassie and might be joining in every once in a while !
Referring to this HIMYM conversation, this one is definitely correct. There is also an episode with Barney, it was the one that I thought of initially, where he crops Robin out of their couple photos so that Quinn doesn’t find out that they dated

Welcome Cassie!

 

[Songbird76]

Hi. I’m Max’s other daughter Cassie and might be joining in every once in a while !
Referring to this HIMYM conversation, this one is definitely correct. There is also an episode with Barney, it was the one that I thought of initially, where he crops Robin out of their couple photos so that Quinn doesn’t find out that they dated

Welcome!! I'm glad to see we should be getting even more snark around here!

 

[Doc Disney]

Note: the walk after barnstormer to exit the ride takes longer than the ride itself!!

Boy isn't that the truth

 

[krisri18]

Hi. I’m Max’s other daughter Cassie and might be joining in every once in a while !
Referring to this HIMYM conversation, this one is definitely correct. There is also an episode with Barney, it was the one that I thought of initially, where he crops Robin out of their couple photos so that Quinn doesn’t find out that they dated

Welcome to the forums!

 

[MinnieM123]

Hi. I’m Max’s other daughter Cassie and might be joining in every once in a while !
Referring to this HIMYM conversation, this one is definitely correct. There is also an episode with Barney, it was the one that I thought of initially, where he crops Robin out of their couple photos so that Quinn doesn’t find out that they dated

Hi Cassie! This is great -- another member of Max's family is joining in on the fun here! Welcome.