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]

Day 4 – August 22nd – It’s our anniversary

So here we are…Anniversary day…19 years ago today, Tammy and I both said “I do”. 19 years sounds like a long time, but it’s actually flown by. Here’s to at least 19 more.

Today we were going to go to the MK in the morning, and then Disney Springs in the evening for dinner. Back when we were planning the trip the kids told Tammy and I to go somewhere for our anniversary without them. We thought about it, and booked the Boathouse for dinner. The kids were going to go to Animal Kingdom while we were there, but sometimes plans change….

“What if I could get the kids a reservation somewhere at Disney Springs for the two of them” I asked Tammy before we left the room. I liked the idea because 1) it lets them feel a bit more "grown-up" and 2) Helps expose them to things like how to tip, etc.

The kids had talked about wanting to try the new Planet Hollywood in the weeks leading up to the trip, but we never ended up booking it. Tammy thought it was a good idea, so I asked the kids if they were interested….They were. Now I wanted to book the reservation through the MDE app, but I couldn’t because I already had a reservation so we would have to do it at the concierge desk on our way out this morning.

Tammy and I decided to pass on our early morning walk today. Two days of bare foot walking at the waterparks have kind of wrecked my feet. The foot I’ve had surgery on is in quite a bit of pain, and my other foot has developed a kind of welt, probably from compensating for the bad foot. This played a big role in deciding not to walk this morning. Instead we slept in a bit (slept in = 7ish). We were all up at a good time and, believe it or not, out of the room without any arguments this morning.

As I mentioned we were going to MK today, but first we had to stop by the front desk to a) get the kids their Planet Hollywood reservation and b)pick up anniversary pins. I didn’t realize they changed the anniversary pins to a more generic “Happily Ever After”. Nice pins anyways. Oh….and good news…they had a table available at Planet Hollywood for the same time we were at Boathouse. Score.

Waiting for the bus

The trip to the MK by bus went smoothly, and we were at the front gates in no time. We decided to use the “Passholder” entrance this time since it was empty, and the other entrances were pretty busy (while I like the idea of the “Passholder” entrance, usually it’s the busiest/slowest line and not worth using).

First up for us was a FP for Space. We head up Main St and hook a sharp right at the hub and head into Tomorrowland (but not before another picture).

We get up to SM, and there is a long FP line. Turns out the ride had been down, but was getting ready to open. Perfect timing. While we were waiting for the ride to open, I noticed that Stitch was out and there really wasn’t a line (he was just standing not far from the SM entrance). Steph and I ran over and got a quick picture before jumping back in line.

Not really sure why I'm standing like that. That must be my "hurry up and take the picture, the line is moving" stance. Yes, the line had finally started moving.

Time for another “teenagers know everything” story. As we’re heading in to SM Tammy grabs the backpack she was carrying, and opens it up

Tammy: “Everybody put you glasses in the backpack”.

I put mine in, and Steph puts hers in.

Tammy: “Liam, put your glasses in”

Liam: “Nah, I’ll just put them in the pouch on the ride. They’ll be safe in there”

Me: “Li, just put them in the bag”

Liam: “No, it’s OK”

Alrighty then.

We make our way down the star tunnel (btw, I love the SM soundtrack), and are soon flying through space.

We had a good ride.

After blasting through space we start making our way out. We're about halfway to the exit when it happens...

Liam: “uh oh”

Me: “What”?

Liam: “I left my glasses in the pouch”

Me: “Oh for crying out loud”

In a way I felt bad for him. He had saved up quite a bit (birthday, Christmas, etc) to buy a nice pair of glasses. On the other hand…

We went back to the entrance of the ride and spoke to the CM there and explained what happened. He called down to the loading dock to let them know. We waited a few minutes before they called back saying they hadn’t seen them. The CM told us to check back in a few hours as they may turn up later. Oh well. live and learn I guess.

Next up for us was Haunted Mansion.

From a slightly different angle

This may be my favourite ride at Disney. I’m not sure why, but there’s just something about it. We had fun

Still to come - Thunder, Splash, Lunch and an unplanned meet-up

 

[gwhb75]

Day 4 continued - A runaway train, a regular train, and lunch

After HM we headed over to Big Thunder for our next FP. We had another great ride through the wilderness.

After riding BTMRR we had some time before lunch, so we took a train ride around the MK.

I like the old steam engine trains.

We did a full loop of the park, and got back off at the Fronteirland station, and made our way back to Fantasyland for lunch. I thought it would be nice to have lunch at Be Our Guest so I had booked it a few months ago.
However, we did have a bit of a conundrum as we didn’t want to eat so much that we’d be too full to enjoy dinner (the lunch reservation was at 11:30). We decided to have something kind of small, so I had pre-ordered four French onion soups, as well as a Master’s cupcake and an éclair to share. Check-in when smoothly, and it was early enough that the line hadn’t formed on the bridge yet.

We were quickly ushered into the castle, paid, and set out to find a seat. Our first stop was the west wing, but there were no tables available. We opted for the library instead (which had just opened for the day and was totally empty).

Not long after we were seated our soups and desserts arrived. I was quite impressed with the soups. They had a lot more cheese than I was expecting them to have.

The desserts were also quite good.

It was a really good meal, and it was the perfect amount for us. After lunch we made a brief stop at Gaston's Tavern because Liam wanted a LaFou's Brew.

Quite good too

Still to come - Surprise meet-up, Splash, and back to Space

 

[gwhb75]

Day 4 continued - I met @Tuvalu

After finishing our meal we head out of the castle and start making our way over to Fronteirland again

However…

So we’re walking across the bridge.

I’m not really paying attention to anything, and actually kind of had my head down, when I see a pair of shoes in front of me…they’re not moving…I look up

“@Tuvalu” I said. What are the chances, in a place this big, that we’d run into someone else from these boards, without actually planning it. It was neat to meet someone in person who I’ve only messaged through the WDWMagic site. We talked for a few minutes before going our separate ways. Good times.

After our chance meeting we made our way over to Fronteirland to ride Splash.

Tammy decided she didn’t want to risk getting wet, so she threw on her poncho that she was carrying in the back-pack. The rest of us didn’’t really care if we got wet, but I thought it would make a semi-funny picture if we all wore ponchos on the ride…so we did. It was a good ride. '

After Splash we headed back to Space to see is Liam’s glasses had been found.

When we got to Space the ride was once again closed. It is here where developed a new-found appreciation for what CM’s go through. We approached the CM to ask about the glasses, and he again called down to the load area to ask. My appreciation for what CMs go through came from the fact that in the 5 minutes we waited there, he had to answer the “when will the ride be opening” question at least 20 times, and he answered it every time like it was the first time he was hearing the question. I think I'd snap after the 6th time...

Sadly, Liam’s glasses were not found. We were told to check in with the centralized lost and found later in the week as they may end up there. On the bright side, the ride opened while we were standing there, so we jumped in the standby line and got a bonus ride through space. Good times. We were “teased” a bit, as we have always wanted to ride Space with the lights on. We were a bit excited when we turned the corner past where they take your picture and the lights were on (in the tunnel where the blue lights flash). Sadly, when we left the tunnel all was dark (is it weird that I’m disappointed that the ride is functioning as it is designed to?). We had a good ride anyways.

The kids always try to plan out a pose for each on-ride picture...

After Space we jumped on the Peoplemover for a quick ride around Tomorrowland.

This is another one of those “have to do it every trip” rides, and the line always moves quickly. Good times.

Not quite sure what expression I'm going with here???

While on the PeopleMover I hopped on the MDE app and booked a FP for Pirates, so that’s where we headed after the Peoplemover. Another good ride was had. I do like that they added the talking skull back before the drop and, bonus, there is now a picture.

Pretty cool.

After Pirates we decided to head back to the hotel and get ready for dinner. We grabbed a bus to the Dolphin, and walked over to our room and started getting ready.

Almost there

Still to come - a tale of two dinners

 

[MinnieM123]

“@Tuvalu” I said. What are the chances, in a place this big, that we’d run into someone else from these boards, without actually planning it. It was neat to meet someone in person who I’ve only messaged through the WDWMagic site. We talked for a few minutes before going our separate ways. Good times.

I'm not at all surprised that you met up with @Tuvalu -- she's always there! (Woody is her wing man--he scouts out the landscape too, looking for WDW Magic Forum members. They're a tag team! )

By the way (even if it's after the fact) Happy Anniversary to you and your wife! You have a lovely family.

 

[amjt660]

Congratulations on 19 years of marriage

I have total faith that you have at least 19 more years ahead and even more!!

Why am I so confident about this prediction ?

Well you picked a great day to get married

My birthday!!!!!

Of course I was born many many many years before you two tied the knot

Max

 

[fractal]

Happy belated anniversary! Looks like you had a great time in MK despite the lost glasses (teenagers are always right, even when they're wrong).

I'm sure meeting @Tuvalu and Woody was the cherry on top!

 

[Matt and Kelly]

Happy belated anniversary! I love reading about all the meet ups. Here's hoping Liam's glasses show up....

 

[myhappyplace]

So awesome that you met Tuvalu! You have a really special family, I so enjoy reading your stories

 

[gwhb75]

Day 4 continued - Anniversary dinner and a sibling "date"

We go back to our room and decide to relax for a bit. The early mornings, long walks, and late nights are starting to catch up to us a bit. After resting for a while we all started getting ready to head out for our respective dinners.

We made our way down to the bus stop, but made a brief detour to the veranda off the main lobby at Boardwalk, and took a few pictures (Liam's wearing an extra pair of glasses we had packed)

And us

After the pictures we made our way over to the busses, and were soon at Disney Springs.

Bus selfie

The bus stops are really close to Planet Hollywood which worked out great for us. The kids were quite excited to be eating here, and couldn’t wait to be off on their own.

Almost there

Tammy and I went with them to check in (mainly to make sure there were no issues with the reservation). Everything was good, and they were told to go upstairs to the next CM who would seat them….and with that, they were gone (with a few ground rules like “take pictures of the food” and "message us if you need anything”. “Can we get an appetizer” Liam asks. “If you can both agree on one” I replied (while not expecting them to be able to agree)).

With the two kids out of the way, Tammy and I headed over to the Boathouse. After about a 5 minute walk, we were there (we did pass the new Edison restaurant on the way. The construction walls were still up, but the place looks kind of interesting).

Still to come - the Boathouse

 

[gwhb75]

Day 4 continued - The Boathouse

We checked in at the desk inside the restaurant and were seated immediately. The restaurant is pretty impressive looking. Not long after we were seated our waiter arrived and gave us our menus. It’s neat that they print new menus every day.

Tammy and I had looked over the menus before we came, so we had a pretty good idea what we wanted. We scanned the menu again to see if anything else interested us, but decided to stick with our original plan… The 28oz Porterhouse for two. We also ordered a side of asparagus to go along with it. While at the table we were getting regular updates from the kids of how their meal was going. First we found out they had agreed on an appetizer. Then we found out what they ordered. Then we got pictures of the food. We were happy they were having a nice time.

After a short wait our food arrived.
Bread that we got when we first took our seats

This steak was HUGE, and we also got a crazy amount of asparagus too.

Just as well we’re sharing this. I cut off a piece of steak for Tammy and passed it over to her, and then cut a piece for myself, and then we dug in. Everything was delicious. This is another restaurant I would fully recommend to anyone. We really enjoyed our meal, and enjoyed being out as a couple for a while too.

We asked our waiter to take a picture of us at the table, which he was more than happy to do.

As for the kids, they also had a great meal (I think the fact they were on their own at a table-service restaurant made the meal even that much better). They started with the potato skin appetizer

For the main course, Liam got "the Original Ringer" burger,

and Steph got the L.A. Lasagna

Both of them raved about how good the food was, and how much fun they had.

Near the end of the meal we got another message from the kids. This time it was a picture of the receipt with a question…”how much should we tip”. I wrote back and pointed out that there were guidelines at the bottom of the receipt showing how much the tip would be at 18%, 20% etc. I told them to use their judgement as to how much to tip based on things like how much they enjoyed their food, how attentive the wait staff were, etc. and left it at that. Shortly after that they messaged to tell us they were done and were on their way out. We told them to come meet us as we were just wrapping up also. About 10 minutes later they found us. We paid for our meal and then headed out to DS.

Still to come - wrapping up the day

 

[gwhb75]

Day 4 continued - the end to a great day

We really didn’t have a destination in mind, and just ended up wandering around a bit. We went to the World of Disney first, but that place is just crazy busy. After that we went to Amorettes. We had thought of picking something up for dessert there, but we were still so full from dinner that nothing really appealed to us. The stuff in there did look amazing though.

Lastly we headed over to the Coke store. Our first stop was on the second floor, where we got pictures with the Coke polar bear. I guess this is a fairly new thing (within the last year). Not bad.

Next we headed up to the top floor where the open-air bar is. We had been up here last year and did the Coke flight which was interesting. Liam was the only one who really felt like anything, so he got an Inca Kola and lime.

We placed the order, and then waited…and waited…and waited…Finally, someone behind the counter figured out that our order had been missed. One of the CMs behind the counter came over and was very apologetic for the oversight. He then asked if we wanted something else “on the house”. That was a nice gesture, and completely unexpected. Steph took him up on the offer and got a banana icee. She was happy.

and notice the "If you can read this you're in my roundhouse kick range" shirt...I worry for my own safety sometimes.

Liam's drink arrived soon after

With drinks in hand, we headed back to the busses. We made the decision to head back to Boardwalk tonight, instead of going to a park. We spent some time at the pool and also watching the entertainment.

High School Musical was the movie tonight

We finished th night off with a stop Ample Hills again for dessert (which is a great way to end any day).

Overall I’d say Tammy and I had a great anniversary day.

That it for today – Tomorrow: The last day at Boardwalk.

 

[gwhb75]

I'm not at all surprised that you met up with @Tuvalu -- she's always there! (Woody is her wing man--he scouts out the landscape too, looking for WDW Magic Forum members. They're a tag team! )

By the way (even if it's after the fact) Happy Anniversary to you and your wife! You have a lovely family.

Thanks for the Anniversary wishes.

I'm wondering if there will ever come a time when you'll be able to book a FP to meet @Tuvalu in one of the parks

 

[gwhb75]

Congratulations on 19 years of marriage

I have total faith that you have at least 19 more years ahead and even more!!

Why am I so confident about this prediction ?

Well you picked a great day to get married

My birthday!!!!!

Of course I was born many many many years before you two tied the knot

Max

Thanks Max, and happy belated birthday.

 

[gwhb75]

Happy belated anniversary! Looks like you had a great time in MK despite the lost glasses (teenagers are always right, even when they're wrong).

I'm sure meeting @Tuvalu and Woody was the cherry on top!

Thanks @fractal. Travelling with teenagers can definitely present some "interesting" stories (as I know you already know from your previous trip reports - I still laugh at the story you told of the time your son found out your name here on the forum and then made fun of you for a while after it. I find it funny because my kids do similar things to me all the time. Must be the age).

And yes, it was fun meeting @Tuvalu and Woody. I always wondered how it would be to meet someone from the forums...turns out it was fun.

 

[gwhb75]

Happy belated anniversary! I love reading about all the meet ups. Here's hoping Liam's glasses show up....

Thanks for the anniversary wishes

Spoiler alert on the glasses: They don't show up

 

[Tuvalu]

It was fun!!

 

[gwhb75]

So awesome that you met Tuvalu! You have a really special family, I so enjoy reading your stories

Thank you so much for your kind words (I'm kind of blushing now)

 

[gwhb75]

It was fun!!

Indeed it was.

 

[amjt660]

Great anniversary meal and I like how you turned the "kids" meal into a learning point about proper tipping

Max

 

[LisaBelle]

Enjoying your report. So cool that you had a chance encounter with @Tuvalu! Our kids are 22 and 17 and we are still enjoying family vacations. We had a great trip to the beach in July and are keeping our fingers crossed for a Disney trip next summer. Congratulations on your anniversary. My husband and I enjoy celebrating our anniversary at Disney. You're dinner looked delicious! My husband and I would love that meal! I think it was a great idea for Steph and Liam to go to a table service meal on their own. They did a great job on the photos of their food.