Trip Report So we went to Disney again... - an August/17 trip report

Intro

Hello again everyone, and welcome to the 2017 (part 1) Burnett family trip report. Hopefully you'll enjoy following us through another fun/crazy/childish humor filled trip report

If you want to see the pre-trip report :http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...riginal-title-so-you-get-this-instead.927386/

Or, if you don’t want to go to the PTR, a quick recap:


Who
Same group as all the other trips we've done in the past

There's Tammy and I

and Steph and Liam

Actually, this picture may capture them better...

When

We were down at WDW from August 19th to the 28th


Where

Back when we were planning this trip, we asked Steph and Liam where they wanted to stay. Steph wanted Boardwalk, and Liam wanted Poly (we’re DVC btw). We decided to give them both what they wanted, and did a split stay. We spent the first 5 days at a garden/pool view room at the Boardwalk, and the last 4 days at a lake view room at the Poly.


Well…let’s get started


Countdown – everything up to August 18th

Where to start… We were pretty busy right up until we were on the plane to head to Florida. We did most of the packing for the trip in the few days before the 19th, and were really looking forward to getting away.

We took our cat Zoey over to my parent’s house on the 17th (my Dad loves cats and loves it when the cats get to stay over),

and our dog Cooper was picked up on the morning of the 18th to go to his daycare/overnight place.

We’ll miss the animals.


We’re almost ready to go…


However, as I mentioned in the PTR, my Mom was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer back in May and I had been going with my Mom and Dad to all of her appointments (I was there to take notes and ask questions, as my parents are both 80 and tend to get things mixed up). The reason this plays into the trip report is because we found out during the first week of August that she was going to have surgery on August 18th.

So, after weeks and weeks of appointments, the 18th finally arrived. As you can imagine, it was a bit of a different day than what you normally expect on the day before a Disney trip. Yes, we were excited about the upcoming trip, but also anxious about Mom’s surgery (and also very well aware that if there were complications then the trip would be postponed).

Here's my Mom and I at the hospital waiting to get checked in

The good news is that everything went very well. Mom’s surgery was at 9am, and lasted about 2 hours. After a few hours in recovery we were able to see her. She was kind of groggy, but was doing well.

I brought my Dad back to our home after we saw her, so that he could take a nap (he didn’t sleep well the night before the surgery). He slept for about an hour and then headed back to the hospital.

At around 4ish we finished packing up the car, and then I drove Tammy and the kids down to the hospital to see my Mom. I was surprised at how well Mom was doing. She was wide awake and was already asking the Dr if she could just go home that day (I already though it was crazy that you only stay in less than 24 hours after a mastectomy). She is one tough lady. Everyone was happy to see her doing so well, and she kept telling us we should get going, so we did.

We jumped in the car and headed across the border to Buffalo. We made a few stops (Sam’s Club (picked up some more gift cards and some breakfast stuff), the hotel (the Sleep Inn by the airport), the airport (to weigh our bags so there would be no panicked repacking at the airport the next morning), and the Cracker Barrel (for dinner)). We were back in our room by around 9:30 and settled in for a few hours of sleep before our super early (3:15am) wake-up call.

see you tomorrow

 

[gwhb75]

This is the first trip report of yours that I have read. Enjoying it so far! Glad your mom is doing well. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

Glad you're enjoying it so far. Thanks for following along

 

[krisri18]

We were hoping it would work, but I think because we bought direct from Disney they could always track it back. Let me know if it works for you with UT tickets.

Just did a price bridging in August to increase the ticket days on my son's ticket from 7 to 10. Cost way more than I thought it should, so I went to a different guest services the next day to have them check the math. Turns out they weren't price bridging tickets that were purchased before the ticket price increase in February. Increase was on Feb 12, I bought my tickets Feb 11. The very nice cast member at the 2nd guest services was kind enough to get permission to override it and give me back the difference. $30+ instead of $150+ ? Absolutely!

 

[LSV]

Enjoying the report, it is helping to pass the time while we wait for
Irma. We were at Disney the same week, but stayed offsite in Reunion.

 

[gwhb75]

Just did a price bridging in August to increase the ticket days on my son's ticket from 7 to 10. Cost way more than I thought it should, so I went to a different guest services the next day to have them check the math. Turns out they weren't price bridging tickets that were purchased before the ticket price increase in February. Increase was on Feb 12, I bought my tickets Feb 11. The very nice cast member at the 2nd guest services was kind enough to get permission to override it and give me back the difference. $30+ instead of $150+ ? Absolutely!

That is awesome. Great job.

 

[gwhb75]

Enjoying the report, it is helping to pass the time while we wait for
Irma. We were at Disney the same week, but stayed offsite in Reunion.

Oh man, I feel terrible for you. What part of Florida are you in? I'm glad I can provide some distraction for you, but stay safe. I'll be praying for you.

 

[LSV]

Thanks, we are northeast of Disney so forecast has gone from hurricane force winds to tropical storm winds, yet many neighbors have already prepared for the worst. Feeling bad for the west coast, they now seem to be getting the worst, but as always the final path will be different from the predictions. At least we are not in an evacuation zone and maybe won't lose power for too long. Home for the duration, now we wait.

 

[victoryyy]

I'm enjoying the trip report so far. My kids are only 8 and 6 and I'm already worrying about them not wanting to go to Disney (or anywhere else) with us someday. How long was the total flight time from Buffalo with the non direct flight? We are from Ontario too, have taken the direct Southwest flight a couple of times but usually drive down.

 

[gwhb75]

Day 3 – August 21st– The waterpark and the eclipse

So today was the much-hyped eclipse day. Had I known this at the time of planning I may not have booked a waterpark day, but it is what it is.

Tammy and I were both up early for our walk around the Boardwalk area.

We decided to let the kids sleep in today, so we didn’t wake them up (actually we did wake them up to ask if they wanted to get up with us, but they opted to sleep this time). Tammy and I had another nice walk.

Some pictures from around the resort this morning:

After the walk we made a quick stop at the fitness center to check the place out. We were a bit sweaty and the kids had told us that there were orange-scented chilled towels in there, so we grabbed two and cooled off a bit.

We got back to the room and started getting ready. The first thing I did was use this on my feet:

I picked this up at an orthotic store, and it was a great purchase. I have pretty bad feet (I've had two surgeries on my left foot. For some reason it doesn't stretch when my foot grows, so the arch just keeps getting higher. The two times I had surgeries, my left foot was two sizes smaller than my right. After the surgery they were the same size), so anything I can do to help alieviate the pain I'll do.

Tammy and I were both ready in pretty good time, but the kids were kind of dragging a bit this morning. I did get a bit annoyed by this, but let me explain… I’m a very goal driven person. If I set a goal to do something I will do everything I can to reach that goal. So the reason I was getting annoyed was because Liam had talked a lot in the days and weeks before about how he was going to be at Blizzard Beach super early so that he could maybe get chosen to open the park and go down Summit Plummet first. While I knew the likelihood that he’d get chosen was small, I wanted to at least give him the chance, but now he was taking his time. Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled that the thing he said he really wanted to do he was now going to miss. They were finally ready around 9:40ish, so we headed out to the busses.

These signs were posted all over the resorts. This was in the lobby of the Boardwalk:

As I mentioned earlier, there is no longer a direct bus to the waterparks from the resorts. The first bus got us to Animal Kingdom, and then we hopped on a second bus to Blizzard Beach. We arrived at Blizzard Beach around 10:20 and were soon in the park.

Tammy and I went to try and find seats on the beach, while the kids went to go get in line for Summit Plummet (the line was now already down the stairs, and Liam later told me that it was actually lined up almost to the ski lift area. Needless to say, for a boy who hates waiting in lines, he decided not to do Summit Plummet right away. Instead, Steph and Liam went on Teamboat Springs and had a great time.

Still to come - more waterpark fun

 

[gwhb75]

Day 3 continued - more waterpark stuff

After the kids rode Teamboat Springs, they came and found us and we headed back up to the slides again. We all got in line for Teamboat Springs (which had a very short line), and had a great ride together. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to go ride it again, so we climbed the stairs up again and got back in line. However, and I found this kind of weird, for some reason the line for Summit Plummet was almost empty this time? I could tell Liam was itching to go on it, so I told him he could go if he wanted and we’d meet him at the bottom. He took off pretty quickly after that, and was soon riding Summit Plummet.

After this, Tammy and I split up from the kids and did two laps of the lazy river. The one thing I could do without in the BB version of the lazy river are those cold waterfalls inside the cave and at the sneezing gator’s house. It would be so much more relaxing without those. Regardless, we still had fun.

After a couple of laps we met back up with the kids for lunch. Steph and Liam really wanted funnel cakes for lunch, so they got those.

Tammy and I opted for something at least marginally better for you so we ended up at Alotawata Lodge. Tammy got the chicken fajita flatbread,

and I got the grilled chicken sandwich.

Both were pretty good.

After lunch the kids wanted to go on Summit Plummet again (I’m thinking the eclipse kept the crowds down a bit as the line for Summit Plummet was relatively short again (about half way down the stairs). I do like how they have photographers at the bottom of the slide, as we got some cool pictures.

Steph went first

and Liam followed behind

Yes, he screamed the whole way down...but made it safely to the bottom

After their last ride we decided to head out as we didn’t really want to hang around during the eclipse since we weren’t sure exactly what would be operating during it (actually, it was overcast already, so we weren’t sure if we’d even notice there was an eclipse). Not to mention that Liam kept teasing Tammy about how he was going to stare at the eclipse (maybe it would have been easier if we hadn’t told him he would go blind if he stared at).

Had to get a family picture in the pool

We got back to our chairs to grab our towels and bags, and noticed they were getting set-up for the impending darkness. They had a number of temporary lights out, and they had a DJ getting ready to start an eclipse dance party.

That’s a good idea, but we were done for the day.

Parking lot lights were on at 1:00

We took the busses back to Boardwalk and decided to head back to our room. I had a little bit of work to do, so I did that while Liam napped, and Tammy and Steph sat out on the balcony waiting for the eclipse to start. As I mentioned earlier, it was kind of overcast today, so the eclipse was kind of a letdown for all the hype there was. We really didn’t notice any significant change in the lighting during the peak eclipse time. Oh well.

Still to come - EPCOT and another unexpected meal.

 

[gwhb75]

Day 3 continued

When last I left you:

Liam was napping

I was working

Tammy and Steph were waiting for the sun to disappear


Well, Liam napped for quite a while. This didn’t bode well for us. You see, Liam doesn’t wake up well. He slept for about 2 hours. Around 4:30 we started to wake him up…nope.

Me: “Liam, come on. We have a FP for Test Track. If you aren’t up in 10 minutes we’re leaving without you”

Liam: “Leave without me then”

Me: “If we leave then you aren’t leaving the room, and we aren’t coming back until later tonight”

Liam: “Fine, I’ll stay in the room”

Me: “get up now”

Liam: “zzzzzzzz”

Oh boy….

Needless to say, no one was really thrilled with this turn of events. I would say it was another hour before we finally left the room, and no one was in a great mood by then.

Our plan was to go to EPCOT and have dinner at some of the QS restaurants in World Showcase. We made our way over to Future World. I thought a stop at Club Cool may help spike our blood sugar, so that was our first stop.

It helped a bit.

Next we made our way over to the Sea with Nemo and friends.

The ride itself is OK. After the ride the kids wanted to see the aquariums a bit. We started with the manatee tank. We arrived about 1 minute before the closed the area, so we didn’t get a lot of time to see them.

Swim on, you graceful sea cow.

Next we wandered around the aquarium area. We hadn’t really spent a lot of time here on our past trips, but I thought it was really interesting. It’s crazy how large the aquarium is.

Hidden Mickey

After the seas, we headed across Future World to Mission: Space (but not before we stopped for a picture)

Liam was looking forward to going on MissionL Space, and was interested in seeing the differences after the refurb.

I tried to convince Tammy and Steph to try the green mission as I wanted to find out what it was like. They really weren’t interested, and said they’d go look through some of the stores.

We got up to the gate, and saw the posted time for the orange side was 25 minutes. I was getting ready to bail, but Liam really wanted to do this, so we went in. Turns out it was a 2 minute wait. I didn’t really notice too much different in the ride (other than Lieutenant Dan is now a woman…did not see that coming). Regardless, it’s still a pretty good ride.

After our ride we headed out, when I got a text from Tammy

“We’re riding the green side”. That’s my girl.

Well it turns out that Tammy and Steph enjoyed the green side (which is the side that drastically changed from the previous version). They had fun.

After riding through space, we were making our way over to World Showcase to get some food when I had a thought…. What if I could get a reservation somewhere instead. I could tell we were all still all a bit “off” after the rough start to the evening that we had back in the room, so I was hoping I could find something to get us back on track.

I opened up the MDE app, and searched for a reservation. I honestly wasn’t expecting to find anything we’d like, but figured I’d look anyways.

And there it was….

50’s Prime time at 8:20pm

Next, I had to get everyone else to buy in

“So, would you rather eat at World Showcase, or go to 50’s?” I ask

I got a resounding “yes” to 50’s, so I pushed the reserve button.

Up next: Dinner at Hollywood

 

[gwhb75]

Day 3 continued - Hollywood for dinner

It was around 7ish now, so we decided we’d head over to Hollywood Studios.

Tammy and I decided we’d walk over, but Steph and Liam decided they wanted to take a boat. Fine by us. We dropped them off at the Friendship Boats and told them to wait for us inside the gates if they got there before us (Yeah right, no chance of that).

Tammy and I get there fairly quickly, and waited about 20 minutes before the kids arrived.

“that boat stopped everywhere” Liam informs me….ummm…that’s kind of what I told him before he got on. Regardless, they enjoyed the ride.

We still had about 45 minutes before our dinner reservation, so the kids decided they wanted to ride Rock ‘N Roller Coaster again. Tammy and I didn’t have much else to do so we decided to walk down with them.

The kids wanted me to ride with them, so we headed in through the single rider line. However, we waited for about 15 minutes in the line, and weren’t moving. We noticed the standby line was almost empty, so we decided to give that a shot instead. I’m not sure what they were doing, but the stand-by line was just flying this night. We waited maybe 10 minutes before we were in the ally waiting for our limo (interestingly, when we passed the single rider line area, the same people were still in line that were there when we were in line). We had a good ride

(the kids are trying to recreate a face that Tammy made when she was coming down Crush ‘n Gusher – I’m not sure why they have a photopass photographer at the bottom of that, because none of the pictures are what you would call flattering).

After riding we headed over to 50’s

We got there around 8:15, checked in, were handed menus and directed to the lounge. Steph and Liam were quite happy to find an empty couch, so they sat together and perused the menus.

I guess the place was a bit busy, because we weren’t called until around 8:30. We were seated, and told that Carmello would be our waiter.
Here's another one of those "need to take 3 pictures to get a good one"

Picture 1:

Picture 2:

Picture 3:

We were actually pretty excited about this, as Carmello had been our waiter a few years ago and he was excellent (I actually wrote to Disney after we got home from that trip to make sure he was recognized for how good he was). A few minutes after we were seated Carmello came over. He started with the usual 50’s shtick (“hi cousins, how have you been?”. How’s the family back home...). Unfortunately, that’s where the typical “50’s” interactions ended. I’m guessing it’s because it was later, and they were trying to get people out ASAP, but we missed the more “fun” things that usually happen when you “misbehave” at the table.

Since we had already reviewed the menus, we all knew what we wanted. Steph got the chicken pot pie,

Liam got the blue plate special which was a BBQ combo of pulled pork and ribs,

and Tammy and I got Mom’s sampler.

All were pretty good, although Liam didn’t overly enjoy his. Regardless, we were all happy we ate here tonight.

After dinner we headed out. Our timing was pretty good, as the Star Wars fireworks were almost at the end:

We managed to avoid the mad rush out the gates at the end of the night and decided to walk back to the Boardwalk.

Still to come - wrapping the night up

 

[gwhb75]

Day 3 - wrapping up the day

When we got back we made a quick stop at the Boardwalk Bakery to see if there was anything we’d like for dessert. Tammy ended up getting a fruit tart,

Liam got a slice of carrot cake

and I got an orange creamsicle cupcake.

Steph isn’t really into baked goods, so we went to the nearby store, and she got some candy instead.

After collecting our dessert we wandered the Boardwalk a bit and took in some of the entertainment.

It’s fun to watch all the different things going on at night.

After watching for a few minutes we decided to head back to the room to enjoy our desserts and relax a bit. Overall we had a pretty good day.

See you all tomorrow

Today's step count

 

[gwhb75]

I'm enjoying the trip report so far. My kids are only 8 and 6 and I'm already worrying about them not wanting to go to Disney (or anywhere else) with us someday. How long was the total flight time from Buffalo with the non direct flight? We are from Ontario too, have taken the direct Southwest flight a couple of times but usually drive down.

We're at the stage where we're realizing that there may only be a trip or two left with the four of us. It's kind of sad..

The total flight time was around 6 hours (we had a 2 hour layover in Baltimore). It was a long day for sure. We drove down to Disney once, back in December, 2015. It was really enjoyable and we would do it again if time allowed

Thanks for following along.

 

[gwhb75]

Thanks, we are northeast of Disney so forecast has gone from hurricane force winds to tropical storm winds, yet many neighbors have already prepared for the worst. Feeling bad for the west coast, they now seem to be getting the worst, but as always the final path will be different from the predictions. At least we are not in an evacuation zone and maybe won't lose power for too long. Home for the duration, now we wait.

How are things going? Hope you're OK.

 

[*Flynnderella*]

Day 3 continued - Hollywood for dinner

It was around 7ish now, so we decided we’d head over to Hollywood Studios.

Tammy and I decided we’d walk over, but Steph and Liam decided they wanted to take a boat. Fine by us. We dropped them off at the Friendship Boats and told them to wait for us inside the gates if they got there before us (Yeah right, no chance of that).

Tammy and I get there fairly quickly, and waited about 20 minutes before the kids arrived.

“that boat stopped everywhere” Liam informs me….ummm…that’s kind of what I told him before he got on. Regardless, they enjoyed the ride.

We still had about 45 minutes before our dinner reservation, so the kids decided they wanted to ride Rock ‘N Roller Coaster again. Tammy and I didn’t have much else to do so we decided to walk down with them.

The kids wanted me to ride with them, so we headed in through the single rider line. However, we waited for about 15 minutes in the line, and weren’t moving. We noticed the standby line was almost empty, so we decided to give that a shot instead. I’m not sure what they were doing, but the stand-by line was just flying this night. We waited maybe 10 minutes before we were in the ally waiting for our limo (interestingly, when we passed the single rider line area, the same people were still in line that were there when we were in line). We had a good ride

(the kids are trying to recreate a face that Tammy made when she was coming down Crush ‘n Gusher – I’m not sure why they have a photopass photographer at the bottom of that, because none of the pictures are what you would call flattering).
View attachment 228743

After riding we headed over to 50’s
View attachment 228744
We got there around 8:15, checked in, were handed menus and directed to the lounge. Steph and Liam were quite happy to find an empty couch, so they sat together and perused the menus.

I guess the place was a bit busy, because we weren’t called until around 8:30. We were seated, and told that Carmello would be our waiter.
Here's another one of those "need to take 3 pictures to get a good one"

Picture 1:
View attachment 228745

Picture 2:
View attachment 228746

Picture 3:
View attachment 228747
We were actually pretty excited about this, as Carmello had been our waiter a few years ago and he was excellent (I actually wrote to Disney after we got home from that trip to make sure he was recognized for how good he was). A few minutes after we were seated Carmello came over. He started with the usual 50’s shtick (“hi cousins, how have you been?”. How’s the family back home...). Unfortunately, that’s where the typical “50’s” interactions ended. I’m guessing it’s because it was later, and they were trying to get people out ASAP, but we missed the more “fun” things that usually happen when you “misbehave” at the table.

Since we had already reviewed the menus, we all knew what we wanted. Steph got the chicken pot pie,
View attachment 228748
Liam got the blue plate special which was a BBQ combo of pulled pork and ribs,
View attachment 228749
and Tammy and I got Mom’s sampler.
View attachment 228750
All were pretty good, although Liam didn’t overly enjoy his. Regardless, we were all happy we ate here tonight.

After dinner we headed out. Our timing was pretty good, as the Star Wars fireworks were almost at the end:
View attachment 228751
We managed to avoid the mad rush out the gates at the end of the night and decided to walk back to the Boardwalk.

Still to come - wrapping the night up

That's such a shame about 50's prime time. We had a similar experience back in May. I can't remember who our server was but it wasn't the full experience that we were expecting from previous visits. The other table (the rest of our group) however did have a fun time while they were there! We weren't massively fussed though because the food more than made up for it

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip

 

[fractal]

Trying to wake a sleeping teenager is like trying to wake a grizzly in hibernation. Lol!

 

[Courtney6682]

Ahhh...we were at Epcot that same day!

Too bad about the waiter at Prime Time. Brook and I got a waitress like that back in Jan of 2016. I just don't get why they wouldn't play the part if there are KIDS at the table. Granted our kids are older, but come on! We said we'd probably never go back

 

[Princess Leia]

We're at the stage where we're realizing that there may only be a trip or two left with the four of us. It's kind of sad..

My family went on 6 trips when I was growing up (every 2-3 years), but after my sophomore year of high school (when I was 16) the trips stopped. My sister and I no longer had spring breaks that synced, and my family became pretty busy. That didn't stop my parents from going for a couple days a few years back (and not telling their children until after the trip), but that's neither here nor there.

Enjoy these trips with the whole family My family still talks about our trips, and the memories are pretty good ones.

 

[Mander]

We're at the stage where we're realizing that there may only be a trip or two left with the four of us. It's kind of sad..

The total flight time was around 6 hours (we had a 2 hour layover in Baltimore). It was a long day for sure. We drove down to Disney once, back in December, 2015. It was really enjoyable and we would do it again if time allowed

Thanks for following along.

If it helps at all, my family is planning a Disney vacation for 2019 and I'm 28 while my sisters are 23 and 20. We're going to try and do a cruise and then a few park days. Myself and my youngest sister are still super into Disney vacations (we're both going in January, she with my parents and I'm going on my honeymoon). The third one takes some convincing but she goes along.

Anyway, whole family trips are still possible!

Enjoying your trip report!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Following along! All the food look sooooo good. I'm drooling...