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
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Ate some pizza with my Father in law
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Loaded these:
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Into here:
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And we were on our way.
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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!!!

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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
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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.
 

Swissmiss

Premium Member
Ha ha ha. It gets hard for me too. Kobe is the dog. After that, who cares!?!

Reminds me of my mom - I’m one of six, and sometimes when one of us was in trouble she’d cycle through all the names, add a couple more from an inside family joke and then up with “you know who I’m talking about - get over here NOW” 😁 Luckily I only have one child myself so it’s less confusing 😉
 

krisri18

Well-Known Member
Reminds me of my mom - I’m one of six, and sometimes when one of us was in trouble she’d cycle through all the names, add a couple more from an inside family joke and then up with “you know who I’m talking about - get over here NOW” 😁 Luckily I only have one child myself so it’s less confusing 😉
My mom did the same thing, but threw in the dog's name too. Lol
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Reminds me of my mom - I’m one of six, and sometimes when one of us was in trouble she’d cycle through all the names, add a couple more from an inside family joke and then up with “you know who I’m talking about - get over here NOW” 😁 Luckily I only have one child myself so it’s less confusing 😉
My mom did the same thing, but threw in the dog's name too. Lol
My grandmother cycled through all of the granddaughters' names before she got to me, lol. And now that I'm a teacher, I do the same to my class...doesn't help that I have three boys with the name Jaxson spelled the same way...
My Dad confused my sister and I so much he made a mash up of our names. When my other, older sister, had a girl she named her the mash up.
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Christmas wrap up:
Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. You have permission to punch me, very hard, if we ever meet! (Just not in the face)

AKL
Love it! I wish we had more down time and been able to enjoy it more. It was harder for me staying in a regular room vs dvc. I missed the extra space a villa offers. Love the Mara and the common spaces. We didn't have bus issues so my only complaint would be the (lack of) houskeeping which could happen anywhere at any time.

Dining Plan
We totally blew this!!! We did not take full advantage of the dining plan. We had sooo many snacks left over! I for one did not feel like holding up the crew so I could stop for the trendy snack du jour. In the future, if the dining plan was free, I would gladly accept it, but I do not think I would ever pay for it.

Fireworks cruise
I was ripped off because the dvc agents booking my cruise have no clue about the experience. If you are 2-3 people then the dvc cruise makes financial sense. (However, it appears the Ferryworks cruise might be better. Do not quote me as I have no first hand knowledge of the Ferryworks cruise.) I will say, the Contemporary Marina staff is top notch! Watching Happily Ever After from a boat on the lagoon was magical and I do recommend it!
(More in my upcoming TR)

Spirit of Aloha
I mention this because it is something many people have not done. I enjoyed it as did the rest of the crew. Splurge for category one as the views are the best. And go hungry! The food is great and it is all you can eat!!! (And drink-glug, glug!)

Christmas Time
Yes, it was crowded but I had realistic expectations. I noticed a lot of multi generational groups but not too many little little kids. The toddler set stayed home for Santa I guess.
WDW is so pretty during the holidays. Disney does so much right. They had their challenges as well. The biggest weakness, to me was janitorial. The public bathrooms were not up to Disney standards pretty much across the board. As for my fellow guests? They were mostly well behaved. It amazes me that all those people can be crammed into such tight spaces and there is mostly peace.
Mostly!

Thank you to all who followed along on our adventure (it’s out there!) and commented or otherwise engaged. I really appreciated it!
TTFN
 

BuckyMom

Well-Known Member
Excellent report. I'm one that has read often, only recently started commenting. My heart still hurts for what happened to you on the fireworks cruise. I'm the planner in my family and to coordinate all what you did is amazing. I'm hoping something was done on the next trip. I'll be following along...
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Very much enjoyed your TR. The photos were great, too. :)

I was amazed at how well things went (overall) with so many people in your party. That was quite a feat to corral all them together at the same time, same locations, etc. Well done! You'll all be reminiscing at family get togethers for years, about the fun you had during this vacation. :happy:
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Great reporting DarStarr
I hope your crew showed you some respect and big time thank you's for all the hard work you did (planning and implementing)!!

Looking forward to the next TR

Hopefully our paths will actually cross some day in the future

Max
Thanks Max. I look forward to a time I can meet you and your family face to face!
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Excellent report. I'm one that has read often, only recently started commenting. My heart still hurts for what happened to you on the fireworks cruise. I'm the planner in my family and to coordinate all what you did is amazing. I'm hoping something was done on the next trip. I'll be following along...
Thank you so much for your kind words. What I call planner some in my family may call a control freak....
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Very much enjoyed your TR. The photos were great, too. :)

I was amazed at how well things went (overall) with so many people in your party. That was quite a feat to corral all them together at the same time, same locations, etc. Well done! You'll all be reminiscing at family get togethers for years, about the fun you had during this vacation. :happy:
I have been making a scrap book (3 actually) with all the good stuff in it. The kids are getting older now so who knows if we will ever do another trip like that. Even with the headaches it was worth it!!!
Thanks for following😎
 

eb3257

Active Member
Thank you for sharing your trip!! You made me laugh several times and I am sure your family appreciates all the planning that you did to make it special!
 

NessNewt

Well-Known Member
Loved your trip report!

I was reminded of a line from Modern Family, when all the generations go to Hawaii. Claire (mom of 3) is organizing everything - keeping track of sunscreen, bags, what everyone is doing, etc. Phil, her husband, is trying to get her to enjoy the vacation.

"I'm a mom. This isn't a vacation, it's a business trip." :hilarious:

I hope everyone showed you as much gratitude as you deserve!
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Excellent report! Kudos to you for keeping track of everyone, lol
Ha Ha! If I cant keep track we are in serious trouble! Thank you for reading!!!
Thanks for sharing your trip. I really enjoyed reading it! Looking forward to the next on!
The next one has begun! Here it is!
Great TR!! Very fun read!!
Thank you, thank you very much!
Thank you for sharing your trip!! You made me laugh several times and I am sure your family appreciates all the planning that you did to make it special!
That is very nice of you to say! The family had fun, that is thanks enough!!
Loved your trip report!

I was reminded of a line from Modern Family, when all the generations go to Hawaii. Claire (mom of 3) is organizing everything - keeping track of sunscreen, bags, what everyone is doing, etc. Phil, her husband, is trying to get her to enjoy the vacation.

"I'm a mom. This isn't a vacation, it's a business trip." :hilarious:

I hope everyone showed you as much gratitude as you deserve!
Love that show! And so true.
Looking forward to the next TR (hint hint)
Thanks to @bee I can do this.
I very much enjoyed this TR. Love your sense of humor and human-wrangling skills. Looking forward to the next one.
And I am looking forward to YOUR next one!!!
 

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