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

 

[Tuvalu]

As I walked into the restroom the tap started up even though I was not even close
Pic 2 shoes as I not even close to using the sink but the water had started
So of course I documented it for you folks
And I notified a manager that their tap senor was not properly calibrated and that they were wasting water

 

[amjt660]

Photo Pass

SDMT
Only the one car came through
Steph and I are barely visible in the car in front

Buzz
Jordan has to work on his ride photos - he is such a rookie!!

This is me taking a picture of my first ever max score!! (and yes that is a BB8 iPhone case!!)

Note: Shane's glasses broke at dinner (right at the bridge) and he is near sighted so he struggled on Buzz - everything was fuzzy!!

Max

 

[DisneyGigi]

We have a BoG lunch and dinner booked for May, have done both before but not since they switched up dinner, so trying to decide if it is worth 2 credits (we always do the dining plan, it saves us a bit) or switching to maybe Skipper, (we have not done it yet) and not paying for CP breakfast out of pocket.
PS- Max you and DisneyB stink lol... He got like 900,000 something on Buzz to my maybe I don’t remember what pitiful score. That ride ticks me off lol! I stink at it.

 

[krause]

As I walked into the restroom the tap started up even though I was not even close
Pic 2 shows that I am not even close to using the sink but the water had started
So of course I documented it for you folks
And I notified a manager that their tap senor was not properly calibrated and that they were wasting water

The real reason I read trip reports is to make sure I know which sinks are calibrated properly, so thank you for this thorough documentation

So the salad that I got from BOG was a quinoa salad.
Jordan actually got a sandwich with Ham.

I love that there is someone here (other than @Tuvalu) to correct Max’s mistakes

 

[NessNewt]

That ride ticks me off lol! I stink at it.

SAME. So much worse on this ride than Toy Story Mania....

 

[amjt660]

That jasmine does give out kisses. .

Lucky little guy!!!

"Oh look the zebra is sleeping and trying to avoid conversations with extended family!"

yes that was another good joke on that cruise

We ate there for lunch same day. Your pix are WAY better than mine!!!

Just an iPhone 7 - nothing special

So the salad that I got from BOG was a quinoa salad.
Jordan actually got a sandwich with Ham.

In a house with 3 ladies I am used to being corrected

really, with emojis? getting lazy and creative at the same time

so trying to decide if it is worth 2 credits (we always do the dining plan, it saves us a bit) or switching to maybe Skipper, (we have not done it yet) and not paying for CP breakfast out of pocket.

I say go to BOG for lunch - I do not think the food is worth 2 credits - you are there for the amazing theme and it looks fine at lunch for less $$ - this way you can try Skippers - which is new for you!!

PS- Max you and DisneyB stink lol.

I get it one time - ONE TIME!! - and now I stink - cannot win for trying

The real reason I read trip reports is to make sure I know which sinks are calibrated properly, so thank you for this thorough documentation

I am glad I could help you with your prime objective in life!!

I love that there is someone here (other than @Tuvalu) to correct Max’s mistakes

Read above - 3 ladies in the house - it barely phases me anymore!!

SAME. So much worse on this ride than Toy Story Mania....

Ah yes - TSMM - CarpalTunnel here I come!!

Max

 

[amjt660]

Day 3 cont’d
Next up was a suggestion from Shane
He actually remembered this attraction from his first visit

I know the last scene is getting dated but everyone agree it was interesting that the items are almost all now common place ( Alexa /Siri, virtual reality, etc)


Max

 

[amjt660]

Day 3 wrap up
After COP we walked back to adventureland

And rode pirates again

Not a big fan of the new scene

Then we went to use our last FP on BTMR

And it broke down with us on the ramp down to the loading area

They evac’d us all out
No big thunder on this trip
Broken down twice on our only MK day

We walked towards the front and watched the FW from the train station
Not the greatest view because we were late getting up there

Well the view was even worse for Shane ( no glasses - blurry light and loud blasts!!)

This concludes our only MK day
We hit almost everything we wanted to ride and see

Except I still have not seen HEA - it was not being shown unfortunately

Great day overall!!

Max

 

[amjt660]

Day 4 - Animal Kingdom
( and now we figure out the title of the report)

We decided to use the rental and drive - parked in unicorn section

So we showed up 45 min before start of early entry
we were about 10 parties back in line
And they opened up 30 min early
We got to the scan location at 7:40am

A little background on the trip

1) We booked hotel and purchased 6 x 6 day hopper passes in May
2) In September I saw a TV ad for Canadian resident
3) I call Disney and asked them if I could switch to the Canadian ticket for my upcoming trip
4) They let me do it and refunded me $485US
5) Early October I called IT three time (longer than 30 min each) to get the Canadian tickets sorted out/ assigned to the right people -( they gave us the 3 Multi Pass FP for MK)
6) At the 60 day mark we booked all FP from Dec 22 to Dec 27 with no issues
7) On Dec 22 we went to the Epcot ticket booth, showed our Canadian Passports and linked our tickets to our Magic Bands, and went into Epcot
8) On Dec 23 we went to MK and used our Magic bands and FP

So now on Dec 24 we go up to AK gate and Mickey turns blue
WTH???

Hand up in the air - next level CM walks up
"Oh you have Canadian resident passes - they are not valid from Dec 24 to Dec 31...."

Max

 

[Kiwiduck]

Whaaat indeed! Being turned away at the gates of a Disney theme park is the makings of a horror movie.

 

[kimberlymautz]

Whattttt?! Following along!

 

[krisri18]

Um...

 

[sgtbtlbailey]

Talk about a cliffhanger!

 

[PacNWTigger]

Huh???

 

[Swissmiss]

And nobody thought to inform you of this information when it was clear you were purchasing them to use during that very time period???

 

[MississippiBelle]

On the edge of my seat! They shouldn't have let you book the tickets for those dates if they weren't going to work...

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

And nobody thought to inform you of this information when it was clear you were purchasing them to use during that very time period???

It sounds like they booked the hotel and tickets separately. The blockout dates are noted on the website for the Canadian ticket offer.

If they had booked a package, I assume this wouldn't have happened. If the tickets weren't linked to a resort reservation, the person doing the discount might not know which dates OP intended to use them.

 

[Swissmiss]

It sounds like they booked the hotel and tickets separately. The blockout dates are noted on the website for the Canadian ticket offer.

If they had booked a package, I assume this wouldn't have happened. If the tickets weren't linked to a resort reservation, the person doing the discount might not know which dates OP intended to use them.

If you see Max’s post above, he called Disney to ask about the tickets in relationship to his upcoming trip. It is on that phone call that he should have been given information about blackout dates.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

If you see Max’s post above, he called Disney to ask about the tickets in relationship to his upcoming trip. It is on that phone call that he should have been given information about blackout dates.

For sure, he should have been told "yes you can change your tickets, they're good until such and such date, and not valid during the Dec 24 blockout period".

However, since several people were surprised at what happened, I noted how it could have occurred. He may not have mentioned the dates, referring to only an "upcoming trip", and the tickets were not linked to a resort reservation from what he wrote. Therefore, the cast member simply provided the ticket that was requested.

No different than buying an annual pass. A cast member might mention to the guest that there are certain blockout dates, or they may assume they guest is aware and simply sell the pass.

In any case, not a disastrous scenario. The worst outcome is that they have to revert back to the original non-discounted price.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Day 3 wrap up
After COP we walked back to adventureland
View attachment 343554
And rode pirates again
View attachment 343555Not a big fan of the new scene
View attachment 343556
View attachment 343557
View attachment 343558
View attachment 343559
Then we went to use our last FP on BTMR
View attachment 343560

And it broke down with us on the ramp down to the loading area

They evac’d us all out
No big thunder on this trip
Broken down twice on our only MK day

We walked towards the front and watched the FW from the train station
Not the greatest view because we were late getting up there

Well the view was even worse for Shane ( no glasses - blurry light and loud blasts!!)

This concludes our only MK day
We hit almost everything we wanted to ride and see

Except I still have not seen HEA - it was not being shown unfortunately

Great day overall!!

Max

Bummer about BTMR. It’s such a fun ride. Shame they didn’t have HEA. Such a great show. Was there an evening event that night?