Trip Report THE ONE FOR THE SALTY 16 (and Thanksgiving🍕)*COMPLETE*

Hello again.
It’s me, Darstarr
This latest episode stars the family!
My husband-Ant
Oldest son-X
Middle son and bday boy-AJ
And the youngest son-Dre

November 26-December 1
At.....wait for it...
All Star Sports!

Collective gasp
“But Darstarr, you’re DVC.”
Yes I am DVC and we (I) have made good use out of it this year. However, when I went to book this trip there was nothing available. Nothing!!! OK, nothing in my point range. My boys are big and they hate sharing beds and someone always ends up on the floor. One time my youngest slept on the dining table banquet rather than share the pullout with his brother. It’s vacation, no one should have to sleep on the floor. We didn’t have enough points left for a two bedroom so I began looking around for a room. I found a room at Riverside that slept 5 for about $250/night. We have done the 5 in a room thing there when the kids were smaller and it was cramped. I was not looking forward to that. Then passholder discounts came out and I got two rooms (TWO) at the original A.S.S. for less than the one room at Riverside. 4 beds and 2 bathrooms!!! SOLD!!!


Lets get to it!

Day one- November 26th
The day started like every other school day except it was AJ’s 16th birthday so he opened presents before leaving for school.

“Mom will you pack my new shirt?”

I was suppose to work this day but I had worked the previous Friday, which is usually my day off, so my boss told me to take the day off. Yay! More time to clean the house.

The five of us were flying down on jet blue from JFK. Four of us were returning to ISP on Southwest. Ant took the dog to his father’s then took his car to ISP so it would be there when we landed on the 2nd. (we have a free resident parking sticker).

We debated taking the train to JFK but it was way cheaper to hire a car. The kids got gome from school about 2:15, “the car is here!”
What???
The car wasn't suppose to come until 3:00. Ant was like “lets go”. I was like “dont rush me because if you rush me and I forget something you will be sorry besides he is 45 minutes early so he can wait”. And yes, I said it just like that, as one long run on sentence.
We left at 2:30. I didnt forget a thing.

 

[MickeyCB]

Those parents are getting older. Who will care for him when they are gone? Oh my gawd! Who will take care of him?

One of a parents greatest concerns, in my opinion.
We see some special needs adults in my practice from local group homes, and some times I get a little concerned with the "quality" of care giver.
Then on other occasions my faith is restored that these adults are in a good place. Their caregiver that accompanies the patient clearly knows them very well. They know their medical history, their likes and dislikes. They can answer all of my questions, and they will question me (which I like very much), because it indicates they care about this person and what happens to them. Those are the people you hope will be caring for a loved one.

Did you know flamingo island is a hidden Mickey???

I never knew that! Thanks for sharing that tidbit!

We did the Wild Africa Trek several years ago and loved every minute of it and can't speak highly enough of the experience!

 

[Darstarr]

I have a niece who turned 21 on Thanksgiving as well

No way! Such a small world!

Thinking of you @Darstarr !View attachment 436895

Wow! I am a little jealous. Where on earth? I need to get out more.

Poor Alexa

I know! After while I directed all my questions to Daniel. I just couldn't do it.

Ha Ha!!!

 

[Darstarr]

One of a parents greatest concerns, in my opinion.
We see some special needs adults in my practice from local group homes, and some times I get a little concerned with the "quality" of care giver.
Then on other occasions my faith is restored that these adults are in a good place. Their caregiver that accompanies the patient clearly knows them very well. They know their medical history, their likes and dislikes. They can answer all of my questions, and they will question me (which I like very much), because it indicates they care about this person and what happens to them. Those are the people you hope will be caring for a loved one.

I never knew that! Thanks for sharing that tidbit!

We did the Wild Africa Trek several years ago and loved every minute of it and can't speak highly enough of the experience!

Thank you.
Cue tear trickle again.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Thanksgiving and the Trek
There was a man there with his (older) parents and he was special needs.
My first thought from the Mom on Thanksgiving, oh how nice the family is doing this together.
My next thought from someone who had just spent a small fortune on the trek, he better not slow us down.
My next thought from the conniving side of me, oooh if he does slow us down that means more time on the trek!
And back to the mom in me, I love that they are together. I love that they are doing this together. Those parents are getting older. Who will care for him when they are gone? Oh my gawd! Who will take care of him?
Cue tear trickle...

"A minute inside a woman's head"

Love it, I would've had the exact same thought process.

 

[Darstarr]

Thanksgiving Trek cont

It was time to keep moving. We refilled our water bottles and hit the ladies room and piled back in the truck. Daniel, our guide had made a few comments throughout the day about his return. Finally I asked what the deal was. First of all, Daniel was so funny. He reminded me of Joel David Moore (avatar-how apropriate!)

Anyhow, Daniel said he had left Disney to teach middle school science. He lasted until the end of October.
“What made you quit? Besides being surrounded by middle schoolers?”
“I thought I would get some training. The principal walked me to my classroom and said, “here it is”.”
YIKES!!!!

Next were the cheetahs. These are AJ’s absolute favorites!

There are two enclosures side by side. One houses two sisters and the other houses three sisters. They were all earning their Disney paycheck, as Daniel would say, and we saw them all.

On a side note, you have all seen the ostrich eggs laying on the ground that are so obviously fake. Why are they even there? Well according to Alexa and Daniel, ostriches lay eggs. That’s not what I mean. Of course ostriches lay eggs. Think chickens. They will just lay them wherever and whenever. However, if there are already eggs, the ostriches tend to lay them in the same spot. These fake eggs are to get the ostriches to lay their eggs here and not all over the savannah. Does that make sense?

 

[Oh bother!]

Thanksgiving Trek cont

It was time to keep moving. We refilled our water bottles and hit the ladies room and piled back in the truck. Daniel, our guide had made a few comments throughout the day about his return. Finally I asked what the deal was. First of all, Daniel was so funny. He reminded me of Joel David Moore (avatar-how apropriate!)

View attachment 436933
Anyhow, Daniel said he had left Disney to teach middle school science. He lasted until the end of October.
“What made you quit? Besides being surrounded by middle schoolers?”
“I thought I would get some training. The principal walked me to my classroom and said, “here it is”.”
YIKES!!!!

Next were the cheetahs. These are AJ’s absolute favorites!

View attachment 436934

View attachment 436935
There are two enclosures side by side. One houses two sisters and the other houses three sisters. They were all earning their Disney paycheck, as Daniel would say, and we saw them all.
View attachment 436937
View attachment 436938
View attachment 436939
View attachment 436940
View attachment 436941

On a side note, you have all seen the ostrich eggs laying on the ground that are so obviously fake. Why are they even there? Well according to Alexa and Daniel, ostriches lay eggs. That’s not what I mean. Of course ostriches lay eggs. Think chickens. They will just lay them wherever and whenever. However, if there are already eggs, the ostriches tend to lay them in the same spot. These fake eggs are to get the ostriches to lay their eggs here and not all over the savannah. Does that make sense?

I always thought the eggs were just to give the Safari guides something to talk about, it’s interesting to know there’s a real reason for them!

 

[Darstarr]

Thanksgiving Trek cont

Did someone say Lions???

This female is grooming the male. Alexa let out a great big “aaaaaaaawwww”.

And my last fun fact: when Disney was getting ready to make the live action Lion King, they set up cameras all around the lion’s habitat to capture them on film. The Lion King lions are based off of this small pride here. They did the same thing with AK’s warthogs.
Earning that Disney paycheck!

I found this next image so intriguing.

These are the warthogs all lined up sleeping together. It looks like they have been staged.

Our trek ended soon after. We returned to the hut with the lockers and shed our safety gear. We collected our belongings, said our thanks and goodbyes and went back into the real jungle—Disney Parks on a holiday

Our fearless guides.

“Hey Alexa, thanks!”

 

[Darstarr]

Thanksgiving cont

The first thing I did, ok, the second because the first is obviously go to the ladies room. Anyhow, I checked my phone. This is what we had missed:

X had won the bass fishing competition!!!

 

[lindawdw]

I was so excited to see that you posted another TR especially since your whole family went along on this one! It looks like you treated your son to a fantastic 16th birthday trip at Disney! I've often thought about doing the Wild Safari Jungle Trek but the cost always held me back. Did you feel it was worth the money? Wise choice on getting the two rooms at All Star Sports over a DVC room where you'd have to share the bathroom and deal with them sharing a bed! Your Fantasmic show pics have made me want to see this show again since it's been years that we last saw it! We visited the Star Wars Land in October with our daughters and being that we're not SW fans, we kind of just wondered all around wondering what the heck we were looking at! Glad you boys enjoyed making their Droids so much! Congrats to X on coming in first for the Bass Tournament!!!

 

[Darstarr]

Thanksgiving cont

Remember earlier I mentioned Dre’s shirt? He wore that shirt in August when we stayed at the Boardwalk and we ran into some people from our neighborhood. Today, he was in the men’s room and a man commented on his shirt (it has his school on it) and said his mother was a teacher there. Sure enough, she was a middle school substitute. Both Dre and AJ had had her. Both Dre and AJ said she was mean

Anyhow, Dre’s stomach was not too happy with him. I told him to go back and take a nap but to be back for our FoP FP. AJ and I went to Everest to do single rider. Earlier I mentioned my stance on people joining their family already in line. To recap, if it is one or two people joining a larger number I am ok. If it is more people joining than are on line, I am not ok.
And now I need to add this: IT IS NEVER OK IN THE SINGLE RIDER LINE!!!
A lady and her two daughters were plowing through to meet up with her husband and two sons. On the single rider line!!! By definition there ARE NO GROUPS! I was really annoyed and started to ge a little fiesty. AJ, of all people, talked me down. If we hadnt been having such a nice day I would have engaged. But I did not want to ruin our Thanksgiving. And I didnt want this family of cheaters to ruin our Thanksgiving. I did my best Elsa and I

AJ was tired and I guess I was invisible.

Ant an X arrived and we did EE again with our FP.

Then we had a safari FP. I was afraid it might be a little redundant or boring to be with the commoners but, it was twilight and I have never safaried that late in the day before.

My pictures are not as good as Alexa’s/Daniel’s. I didnt even bother with the animal shots. I know my limitations.

Except for this one. It’s pretty good lighting.

The entire time a woman behind us was talking to her friend. At first it bothered me because she was sooo captain obvious. Then it sounded familiar. My friend’s son is legally blind. He can see somewhat but not details.
He will never have a drivers license. Playing/watching sports is difficult.
I suspected this womans friend had a similar circumstance. AJ was really annoyed. I explained to him what was probably going on and he relaxed a bit. He didnt Elsa it but it didnt ruin his night.

Speaking of night
AK at night is so pretty...

 

[Darstarr]

"A minute inside a woman's head"

Love it, I would've had the exact same thought process.

Zip-You are so astute and have such a way with words!

 

[Darstarr]

I always thought the eggs were just to give the Safari guides something to talk about, it’s interesting to know there’s a real reason for them!

I know. Some safari guides mention them and some don't but they are sitting there like the elephant in the room. Why not tell guests their real purpose? That is far more interesting than any script they have memorized.

 

[Darstarr]

I've often thought about doing the Wild Safari Jungle Trek but the cost always held me back. Did you feel it was worth the money?

I felt it was worth it for me. I love animals and I was not afraid to ask questions. Plus, the food was really good. I do not think Dre fully appreciated it, which I knew would happen, so for him, no, not worth it. There was a woman in our group who was there with a large family, yet she was the only trekker. Worth it for her.

We visited the Star Wars Land in October with our daughters and being that we're not SW fans, we kind of just wondered all around wondering what the heck we were looking at! Glad you boys enjoyed making their Droids so much! Congrats to X on coming in first for the Bass Tournament!!!

Ha Ha. While I have seen most of the Star Wars films I am also clueless as to what is going on at Batuu.
Ant was really miffed he didn't win the bass tourny. He considers himself the fisherman of the family. X now has bragging rights, and a trophy!

 

[Darstarr]

Thanksgiving cont

And now readers the answer to “why the heck does the title have a slice of pizza in it?”


Andreas came back and we entered FoP with a FP. Timing here was very critical. First of all, on FP morning I initially could no get FoP. About 15 minutes into my FP procurement session and there was a FoP FP for 6:25 pm. I grabbed it of course. We had a 6:55 dinner reservation at Pizzafari which I assumed I could push back or cancel.
For 58 days I attempted to move FoP up by 5 or more minutes, or move dinner back by 5 or more minutes. Currently we had 30 minutes between the opening of our FP window and our dinner reservation. 5 more minutes is what I figure we would need to make a smooth transition from FoP to dinner. But, if everything went smoothly, we could do it in 30 minutes.
We got stuck, briefly, during the “initializing stage” of FoP. We ran to Pizzafari and walked in at 7:00 to the hostess bellowing “WE’RE CLOSED!!!”
“But we have a reservation for the Pizzafari family style dining. We got stuck on flight of passage.”
Now, why the heck did I book this? Well, it was Thanksgiving and we were in AK and this was all you can eat so this would be our feast. Sure it is not the best food, but bad pizza is better than no dinner. Right? And there are other items so everyone will find something that suits them.
You all know how this is going to end right???

I will be brief.
They were closing/closed but assured us we could take our time and not be rushed.
Once again Disney marketing was misleading...
everyone gets a nonalcoholic drink with unlimited refills. The table would get a pizza, ceasar salad and tom/mozz. Then there were 4 menu items in which we needed to chose, as a family, 2 items. The choices were lasagne, pasta with chicken and pesto, meatballs and breadsticks.
AJ wanted breadsticks. No way am I wasting a choice on breadsticks!!!
When we got to the cashier I told him meatballs and pasta pesto but it’s my son’s birthday (trip) and he really wants breadsticks. I asked if I could pay for an order of breadsticks. The cashier told me not to worry. He said once we finished an item we could get the breadsticks. But the hostess told us we were locked into our two choices.
Conflicting answers.

We sat. There was one other family lingering in the dining room and they sat us right on top (yes on top, they had to move their stroller with a sleeping child) of them.
Out came our “ceasar salad”.

That is not a ceasar salad! Where is the dressing for one?
And the tom/mozz. Sorry the hungry vultures got to it before I could snap a photo.

The tomatoes were very good BTW.

Our food runner was an awesome CM named Ashley. I asked her for dressing and about the bread stick situation. She said we could not get breadsticks. I said the cashier said we could. She said he is the team leader so if he said it is ok then it is ok. I said, firmly but politely, “Listen Ashley, I offered to pay for the breadsticks. Those breadsticks were the only request the birthday boy had. I know you are closing. If I ask for breadsticks in 10 minutes and am told “no the kitchen is closed” we are going to have a problem.”
She said ok and walked away.
The boys told me she was scarred of me.
Pizza came out next.

Then the ceasar dressing

So pathetic...
And an order of breadsticks! Yay Ashley!
No photo.

Then the meatballs

And this was suppose to be pasta with pesto but it was alfredo.

And soggy cannolis for dessert.

The CM’s other than Ashley, were rushing us. They hovered. They tried to take plates we were still eating from. They were sweeping and wiping down and covering tables not in use. I asked one young man why on earth they would take our reservation for 6:55 when they close at 7:00?
“We just started closing at 7:00 a couple weeks ago. We use to close at 8:00.”
And there you have it.....

On our way out I gave X my cup and asked him to get me some diet coke while I go to the ladies room. When I came out he had several bottles of soda.
Me: “What happened?”
X: “They said all the soda machines were turned off. But I told them we were on the all you can eat family meal which includes drinks so he gave me bottles.”
Well done. Firm yet polite.

As we left there was a guest relations umbrella that was closing up. I stopped to leave a cast compliment for Ashley. She saved our Thanksgiving feast.

When I got home I wrote a letter to customer service. I received a partial refund.

 

[amjt660]

We made our way out and back to the A.S.S

Strange
I thought Alien Swirling Saucers would have been closed after Fantasmic ?

sorry...

I was thinking of a different A$$

Max

 

[Oh bother!]

I know. Some safari guides mention them and some don't but they are sitting there like the elephant in the room. Why not tell guests their real purpose? That is far more interesting than any script they have memorized.

Absolutely! It would be more educational and informative than trying to convince me they are real!

 

[Darstarr]

Strange
I thought Alien Swirling Saucers would have been closed after Fantasmic ?

sorry...

I was thinking of a different A$$

Max

Ha ha! Havent you been taking notes???
I referred to All Star Sports as the original A.S.S. at the opening of this TR.

 

[Darstarr]

Thanksgiving cont.

We walked away from guest relations and right in front of the tree of life. AJ wanted to go back to the room. In all honesty he wanted some alone time because Dre had some. I was ok with that but first a picture in front if the tree of life. The line was 20 deep. Pass. Selfie it is!

This was so cool. Such a nice exclamation point to a great Thanksgiving in the AK.

 

[Darstarr]

Thanksgiving cont

One last photo as we left AK.
8:31pm

We were now headed to the East Coast OG!
9:17pm

MK was open until 12:00 and I had gotten us a FP for buzz starting in a few minutes.

Yay me!!!

This was just good old fashioned shooting. We didn't get stopped anywhere. I had a gun that was accurate and I know where to aim and it all worked.
Not for Ant though.

First he lost at fishing and now this?!?!?!
I thought his head was going to explode.

 

[Darstarr]

Thanksgiving cont

“Let’s go again,” said Ant.
He is so competitive!!

This time he got it. As did I, again