Trip Report THE ONE WITH THE CREW AT CHRISTMAS; December 21-28, 2018 **COMPLETE**

When I returned from our vacation I had the “Disney bug”. You know, when you feel tired and blah and listless? Then you vomit. Oh wait...
Turned out it was more of a flu bug....
I was off wdw magic for a couple weeks then I started up again at a feverish pace (see what i did there?). There are so many great trip reports to read! So here is another (trip report, not sure if it will be great. It is my first)

For those of you who did not read my pre trip, don’t bother. You will catch on/up.

Who went:
Myself
Husband Ant
Sons: X 19, AJ 15, Dre 13
FIL or Gpa
BIL J
SIL K
Their children, my nephews A 22, JJ 15, and niece Ash 20

Let’s do this!

We had a group reservation flying Southwest from our local airport to Tampa on Friday, December 21st. Why Tampa? $$$$
It was a 7:30 flight so the kids all went to school and I cleaned the house. I always clean before a trip because I hate coming home to a dirty house but this time I really cleaned. My son has a team mate who lives in Maryland and he and his family were going to NYC for a few days and their place to stay fell through. The mom and I get along really well so she asked if her party of six could stay with us. Perfect timing as we will not be home so they could have the place to themselves.
Did I mention I have 3 boys? I spent the day CLEANING!!!

Then we dropped off this guy

Ate some pizza with my Father in law

Loaded these:

Into here:

And we were on our way.

Not the best pix but you get the idea.

The airport is about 13 minutes from our house so we made it there in about 10. My husband is the WORST driver!!!

My FIL was in a wheelchair because his knees are garbage. My son was on a knee scooter with a broken foot. SIL just got cleared from her broken hip. And when it was time to pick up the pizza my husband was on the phone. I was giving him “the look” to get off so we could keep to our schedule. Turns out it was his doctor. Ant had tripped on one of the dog’s bones

And tore tendons in his ankle. I had ordered a scooter for my FIL and gave everyone else a last chance for me to add on to the order. All declined and we headed for security and our gate.

FIL and AJ got pre boarding and they could each take one person with them. My husband and his brother went with strict orders to save us seats. The lady who issued the pre boarding passes messed up however and Ant had two boarding passes while AJ had none.
This would be a common theme as we had 3 Alexanders, 2 Anthonys, 2 Johns and a partridge in a pear tree.

We managed to get it sorted out and got on and left without incident.

 

[MinnieM123]

The original Sherpa:

Love the "Sherpa" reference here!

 

[Darstarr]

View attachment 349585

Loving this one!!

Max

Same kid 2010. He has gotten brave!

 

[Darstarr]

Love the "Sherpa" reference here!

When in the Himalayas...

 

[Darstarr]

Dsy 7/Dec 27

We headed to Gorilla Falls. It made for a nice break. Everyone could just be, and go at their own pace. Seems my pace was slow-mo. I like animals, what can I say?
I am not a huge fan of birds but love the fish!

X and I decided this one had the coolest color of all the fish.

Black with white stripes or white with black stripes??

I spent some time speaking with the CM standing in the area. She said, “ they are black and white striped. If you shave them their skin is striped.” Ok then, that is the answer. But then a few weeks later, Robert Irwin, on his families TV show, said they are white with black stripes. I’m so confusssssed!

These guys were having a ball!

Well the young one was anyway.

This is Gino, the silverback. He is so impressive.

Wow! Just Wow!

 

[Darstarr]

Commercial break

This is what I did today

You can never have too many hidden mickeys!

 

[Darstarr]

Day 7/Dec 27

We had an early dinner reservation for Rainforest Cafe. I made it early so we could see RoL (I had never seen it).

AJ and Dre made it back and AJ picked a fight with this guy:

My money is on AJ.


I don’t particularly care for chain restaurants but I knew this would have easily recognizable food for the crew. We had been away from home for a week and I figured this might hit the spot.

Our server was John and he recommended the Panama punch to drink. “Why is that, John?” “Because it has the most alcohol. “


It was really really really good. (3reallys!)
Actually, SIL got one too. Then we got seconds. Shhhh....

Someone had this. A I hope. He could use a drink.

Trunk down But he gets style points for his hat.

Caught her! No smile!!!

My FIL got this:

It was a combo of some sort. He said it was his favorite meal of the whole trip. Yay me!

Mine I believe. Cajun pasta I think. I am getting old, don't remember, didn't write it down.

Someones:

 

[Darstarr]

Day 7/ Dec 27 cont

We were sitting near the kitchen and they kept bringing out this dessert, the Volcano. And they would have a group of servers yell “the vol kay nooooo”.
It was getting on our nerves. When it came time to order dessert of course we had to get a couple. Each one counts as two dessert credits but could easily feed 4 or more.

We also got cheesecake

Key lime pie

And my fave, mango sorbet. (Mango is so hot right now)

Oh Ash, you disappoint. But X and AJ ( I mean oil and water) were getting along! Another Christmas miracle.

I went to the ladies room and saw this on the floor next to me. I dont like to judge but I will.
Ewww! Yuck! Gross! And disgusting! Why would anyone put their camera on the restroom floor????

And the bag too. There are hooks for that.

We headed out into the night. I had brought glow necklaces so we could continue to “see” each other even if we couldn't “see” each other.

So pretty!

We had one more bonus FP to use. Who is up for another EE run???
Dre was definately not as he was not feeling well still. But the rest of my crew was. Sadly, SIL/BIL, their crew and my FIL were not up for it. Guys, you can sleep on the plane.
They are not Disney people but its ok.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 7/Dec 27 cont

I had my phone in my pocket while walking to EE and it was going nuts. When we got in the line I checked it quickly to make sure no one was bleeding or on fire.

First was this:

Which doesnt seem like a big deal but...
X’s girlfriend and family were watching our dog, Kobe. They have a small, 10 poundish dog and Kobe was terrified of him! He spent most if his time here:

On X’s GF bed. He figured out the little dog couldn't get up there. So it was nice to see him out and about. And it only took a week!!

The second text went out to the fam and brought many replies.
A got his backpack back!!!

And, bonus round, his teacher gave him back most of the points the TA had taken off his project. More Christmas miracles!!

 

[DisSplash]

That mango sorbet looks soooooooo good!

 

[KBLovedDisney]

View attachment 347066

They are missing teeth marks on the pencil

Or was I the only one that chewed on my pencils..

 

[officialtom]

Wow!!! 11 does not seem like a big group when you put it that way!!!
Have fun! I for one would love to read a TR about a trip with 30 people!!! (hint, hint)

Hahaha... I am notoriously bad at writing TRs. I get stuck in the post-Disney funk and end up planning the next trip even if it's more than a year away. But maybe...

 

[Darstarr]

That mango sorbet looks soooooooo good!

I am a chocolate person but this was amazing!!!!

They are missing teeth marks on the pencil

Or was I the only one that chewed on my pencils..

#2 pencil is one of the 4 school food groups. As is @bee ‘s glue paste chips!

Hahaha... I am notoriously bad at writing TRs. I get stuck in the post-Disney funk and end up planning the next trip even if it's more than a year away. But maybe...

One can only wait and hope then.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 7/Dec 27 cont

X and AJ did not want to stay for River of Light so they headed back to AKL. Date night! Ant and I went to find a seat. But first we had to find the way in. We had to go in dinoland then back out of dinoland then we were allowed to get in line. We were kind of last minute so the line was moving and we entered and found a seat.

It looks so pretty.

Turtle! I love turtles!!!

This thing was pretty.

That is all the pictures I took. I only have an iphone. If you want to see some good photos this is not the place!!!

The show was ok. It was my first time so I did not know what to expect. I guess I was underwhelmed which is not exactly fair. I had been wanting to see this show for so long, I had it built up in my head. Next time I will have a more realistic frame of reference.

We started to head to the front and my phone buzzed. It was the reminder to get our cattle call placement for our Southwest flight the next night. We found a quiet little alcove that was well lit and had a curb for us to sit on. I think it was a gate to the back stage area. Thank goodness wi fi was working. We got B20ish-30ish. Exactly the same as when we did it from our comfy ergonomic chair and desktop computer at home for the flight down.

Our bus driver back to AKL was Steve, from Brookyn. Ooooh boy did he gave a lot to say. All good things, all good things.

We arrived back at AKL at 9:00. And guess what? Our room had not been cleaned. I suspect houskeeping tried when the boys were there resting. Poor Dre wanted to take a shower and go to bed but there werent any clean, or semi clean, towels. I was somewhat disappointed that the boys hadn't stepped up and handled it. This was not their first time at a hotel. They could have asked their Aunt or Uncle or Grandpa for help. X and I headed to the front desk. I payed our bill and asked for towels to be sent up to the room.
Then we went to buy some overpriced candy with the gazillion snack credits we had left.

Why is it that you notice the hidden Mickeys on your last night???

We returned to the room just after 10:00. It had been about an hour. Still no towels. I lost it. I had a complete meltdown. I called housekeeping and ripped them a new one. “Two days in a row! My sick son waiting to shower! I asked an hour ago!! Blah shriek blah.” The CM on the phone calmly asked me how many towels I wanted. I really NOT calmly answered, “100!”
Now I had visions of a houskeeper in my room at 10:30pm. No way! I took all the dirty towels and put them outside my door. The overflowing trash cans also went into the hallway. Clean towels were delivered, dirty looks given and we called it a night.

(Not by any means my proudest moment!)

 

[MinnieM123]

Kobe is adorable. What breed of dog is he? He looks like a mix--a little bit of Chow in him? (I have a Chow/Lab mix.)

 

[Disstevefan1]

Sorry to hear about your problems with the fireworks cruise. I hope they eventually make things right somehow. Looking forward to your February trip report!!!!! Is there a link to it?

 

[Darstarr]

Kobe is adorable. What breed of dog is he? He looks like a mix--a little bit of Chow in him? (I have a Chow/Lab mix.)

Kobe is a good old fashion mutt! I did DNA on him and I think I broke the machine! Shepard, Rottweiler, miniature pinscher, and so on and so forth. I am thinking Rhodesian Ridgeback but the test I did did not test for that breed.

 

[Darstarr]

Sorry to hear about your problems with the fireworks cruise. I hope they eventually make things right somehow. Looking forward to your February trip report!!!!! Is there a link to it?

Thank you.
We leave tomorrow. Er... should I say, Tom Morrow

 

[Darstarr]

Day 8/ Dec 28

I woke about 7:30 and went to the Mara for tea and a cinnamon roll. I don’t recall the cinnamon roll being life changing.
I headed back to the room, the boys were still in bed, so I sat on the balcony and watched this:

These men (hiding in truck) were fixing a leaky pipe and everytime an animal came they would have to hop back in their truck. Of course, all of a sudden, every animal on the savanah was thirsty. Not much work got done.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 8/Dec28 cont

We called bell services about 10:30. Every houskeeper was in the vicinity. Really? Now you start at this end? I think they came to catch a glimpse of the crazy lady.

We headed to Disney Springs. We had a Homecomin’ ADR. We were about an hour early and the staff was just finishing family meal. Aaah memories...

We kind of scattered a little. Ash had a GC burning a hole in her pocket. AJ and Dre needed wifi so they could catch up on their “streaks”. I was still bothered about the houskeeping incident and went in search of something cold. There was a vendor wagon selling Florida Mules. Ok. Why not? It was Florida orange vodka, lime juice and Florida Ginger beer.

Half way through the drink I let the houskeeping thing go. It wouldn't have bothered me in the first place if we hadn't had the FW fiasco.

They called us in only to say, “oops wrong party of 11.”
We took up the inside seating area. My SIL and I both loved the ornaments on the tree:

I guess we were still playing the game. I lost here, clearly (as do all of you!), and got a gentle slap on the back of the neck.

What time were we seated for our 12:30 ADR??

Excellent!

 

[Darstarr]

Day 8/Dec 28 cont

Now this was the day I did the stupidest thing ever! Use this as a warning!!

We sat and I had a great view of the kitchen. Not sarcasm. My SIL says, “I dont want to look at the kitchen.” Me: “I do!”

What is with that hat??? No sun in here!!!

These may look like pictures of my loved ones but they are actually of the kitchen.
Here are my loved ones:

I ordered this to drink:

It was yummy!

We ordered some apps. I love the chix thighs on the biscuit and usually get that as my meal but we got some for the table:

I also love the deviled eggs.