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.

 

[Dave B]

I cannot believe Disney did not make it right, that is a shock, i am sorry you guys had to experience that

 

[Swissmiss]

Have just read your TR in one go - hope you continue to do them on future trips because you have a great storytelling style. I would have been very peeved about the fireworks cruise as well; I’m looking forward to hearing how the next one compares.

 

[Darstarr]

I cannot believe Disney did not make it right, that is a shock, i am sorry you guys had to experience that

What I have come to realize through writing it all out is this: dvc is selling a product. As a dvc member I expect it to be a value. It is not. Their vacation advisors are not trained in these areas. Case in point: when I called to book the makeup fw cruise the advisor asked if I wanted to go out of contemporary? Poly? GF or saratoga? What??? I asked where the cruise from saratoga springs leaves from or goes. What fireworks do we see? Her answer was “i dont know”.

Have just read your TR in one go - hope you continue to do them on future trips because you have a great storytelling style. I would have been very peeved about the fireworks cruise as well; I’m looking forward to hearing how the next one compares.

Thank you so much. I guess “buyer beware” is true even in the bubble

 

[Darstarr]

Day 7/Dec 27

We had extra FP’s from the monorail “situation” (really not a situation but I will take them) the previous night. I told everyone to take their time but I was going for rope drop. If anyone wanted to join me they could. Guess who jumped at the chance?

This is AJ, the middle son, the 15 YO. The PIA! But he is awesome when he is one on one and he loves Disney (just not with a huge group).
We were on a bus by 8:15 and arrived at the park by 8:30. The lines were huge to get in. But...

Since it was just us we could use the passholder entrance. Yay!

We went into guest services to get the 22 paper FP’s assigned to our magic bands. This phone was on the counter. Pie eye!

The CM informed us the bonus FP’s were not good for navi, FoP or ROL. Of course they weren't. The original plan was to rope drop navi. The new plan was to skip it and the fam would have to live with the disappointment.

AJ and I were in the park taking this pix at 9:02

Trunk up! Good luck. My MIL was looking down on us today-I hoped!

We headed to everest.

It was actually 22 minutes.

Breakfast of champions.

The CM directed us to the back so AJ could park his scooter and have less of a walk. We didnt get the back row but we got the second to the back.

I should mention today is red day and it was a non matching bonus day. A thank you to the fam for indulging my SIL and I and wearing the matching shirts. AJ had put up the biggest fight and you can see what his shirt says. I had fun picking shirts out for each member of my crew and my FIL to suit their personalities.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 7/ Dec 27

The rest of the crew texted to say they were making their way into the park. AJ and I were near Kali river rapids and it was a 5 minute wait. I texted for them to hustle over and the kids could ride it. Soon we were reunited with the fam.

Ha ha!!!!
That’s not them!

Here they are:

The Kali wait was now up to 15 minutes.

This was promising. Maybe the coffee drinkers got it before coming to the park?

Ummmm
That would be a no.
The Kali wait was now 20 minutes. AJ was annoyed and announced he was not going on. A jumped in line for food. Coffee drinkers jumped in line for coffee. I sent AJ with A to get food. Food might appease the beast. X, Ash, JJ and Dre got on the Kali line. Ant and I watched this guy:

Reminded us of home with the three boys

Nothing like a Disney lizard. I wonder if they know how lucky they are...

JJ looked happy. And wet?

Trunk up, good luck.

My son X who goes to school in Florida insisted in bringing his rain jacket. “Mom, it rains everyday.” Me; “but it’s the dry season,” I am happy he got to put his rain jacket to good use after lugging it around all week.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 7/Dec 27 cont

Ummmm
OK! If you say so. No time. Heading to Pandora.

There is a Yeti joke here somewhere but I am coming up blank. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

We had a FoP FP next. We had been the previous Thanksgiving with friends and I did my “I am getting up early whoever wants to join me” speech. X, AJ and AJ’s friend got up with me (at 5:30 am) to ride. Today, everyone else was a first timer.

This was the wait. It was sbout 10:15. The park was packed! I love AK but not when it is jammed. It is not built, in my opinion, to handle the crowds the way MK or Epcot are.

They must teach “how to be camera ready” in my nieces sorority. I say “smile” and the rest of the fam looks around or picks their teeth but not Ash. She is spot on with that smile!!!


This could be a ride in itself!

Coffee drinkers!

Everyone loved it! Ant proclaimed, “I would wait 4 hours for that ride!” I proclaimed him nuts. When we had come the previous Thanksgiving we waited stand by for two hours. But the park opened at 7:00am so all we lost was a little sleep, no real park time.

There were two women who were in our grouping. They were a little on the larger size. One of them got stuck on the ride after. She started freaking out a bit and I felt awful for her. We stayed with her until a CM came. Anyhow, she is the one taking the next picture since she and her friend came meandering down after us. She told me her “banshee was broken, it wasn’t because I am fat. “ HA HA HA!!! TMI

 

[Darstarr]

Day 7/Dec 27 cont

I plum forgot to post these before:

 

[Darstarr]

Day 7/ Dec 27 cont

Have I shown you this set up yet??

When AJ wasn’t leading the way he was getting a free ride. Bonus hidden mickey on the ground!

We had a FP for the safari next:

There is a handicap entrance for the scooters.

M
Ash with the smile!

And again!

Now some animals. It was the usual:

My sons on Monday morning, er... I mean lazy hippos.

Giraffe, my fave:

Ankole cattle. This is what my room smelled like.

Elephants:

This guy/girl is strking a pose. Put your trunk up! Put your trunk up!!!

 

[Darstarr]

Day 7/ Dec 27 cont

Rhino

How does my husband pronounce cheater???
Yes, that is a cheetah.

Lioness

Lion

Ostrich

When it was over our guide told us we would be off loading where we boarded. She said we would go through a bit of a back stage area. It really isn't “backstage” it was just the little bit of road between the normal drop off and normal pick up. However, there was a huge gate with CM’s coming and going. Shift changes? It did have a different feeling from the “on stage” area, unless that was in my head. Maybe it was partially due to the fact that our guide got on her radio and said, “dispatch, showtime 21 oh 3.”

We exited and headed to our Expedition Everest FP. I saw a margarita stand. I am not usually a tequilla fan but I was walking with A and he was so bummed about losing his backpack. I bought two (because that is all I am allowed to buy) and offered one to A. “No, maybe I will get a beer later,” he moped. Oh hell no! Take it. They were so yummy!!

 

[Darstarr]

Day 7/Dec 27 cont

Did I mention it was crowded??!

Sure you do!

Dre wasnt feeling well. That is him on the left. That is his normal 13YO tude but he wasn't himself. At dinner the night before he was crying. I took his phone thinking something was going on back at home (did my usual quick search and found nothing but those darn snapchats. Anything could have come through snapchat).


There she is. Her sorority sisters would be so proud!!!

AJ and I got the front row this time.
We will just call this the Ash show.

Poor Dre. He was really not feeling well.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 7/Dec 27

These are from Ant’s camera:

This was the view from the front. We were really close to the edge!

Yeti! Is that you?

No, I didn't think so.

AJ wanted to do the sleep thing again but I was not closing my eyes with this awesome front row view!!!

When we got off Dre really felt terrible. I told him and AJ they could go back and go for a swim. But they had to be back for our ADR at 4:45.
I must say, it was kind of nice without them. Less stress for me!

 

[DisSplash]

Your Everest photos are so awesome! Especially with that sea of red shirts!!

I try to do on ride photos, but my own kid (the coaster freak) won’t let me. Says it’s not allowed, or that I am going to drop my phone, blah, blah, blah ... Geez. Some kids are no fun!

And your poor baby Dre ... he clearly felt awful, as evidenced by those Everest photos. I hope resting in the room did the trick for him.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Finally all caught up!

Don’t know what’s worse the original bait and switch DVC pulled on that firework cruise or how they failed to handle it afterwards.

 

[officialtom]

I'm only on your second day and can already say -- you are so brave! Travelling with a big group and being the only expert. I would probably pull my hair out.

We went two years ago with 25 cousins/aunts/uncles/in-laws and thankfully it went very well. I think it was only because about half of us are WDW obsessed and know how everything works. We're going back again in 17 days with about 30 people and I'm just thankful for my cousins who are obsessive planners and MDE freaks like me. When we get there, we have a few ADRs/FPs together, but if certain parts don't work out, that's just fine.

 

[Darstarr]

try to do on ride photos, but my own kid (the coaster freak) won’t let me. Says it’s not allowed, or that I am going to drop my phone, blah, blah, blah ... Geez. Some kids are no fun!

My oldest, X, can clearly be seen yelling at me to stop taking pictures. And he is usually the “fun” one

Finally all caught up!

Don’t know what’s worse the original bait and switch DVC pulled on that firework cruise or how they failed to handle it afterwards.

I go back and forth. To be honest, priced in the $45-$55 range it would be a good time. Thanks for reading!
BTW, loved reading your TR!!!

 

[Darstarr]

I'm only on your second day and can already say -- you are so brave! Travelling with a big group and being the only expert. I would probably pull my hair out.

We went two years ago with 25 cousins/aunts/uncles/in-laws and thankfully it went very well. I think it was only because about half of us are WDW obsessed and know how everything works. We're going back again in 17 days with about 30 people and I'm just thankful for my cousins who are obsessive planners and MDE freaks like me. When we get there, we have a few ADRs/FPs together, but if certain parts don't work out, that's just fine.

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)

 

[Darstarr]

A few flashbacks...

From 2010 when my MIL was still with us. It was also a red day. Curious...

I still wear those ears!!!

From the Lion King, also 2010. Ash and AJ (with a hidden mickey shaved into his head)

 

[Darstarr]

Day7/Dec 27 cont

We headed towards Dinosaur. It was a favorite of ours in 2010. But first, we were hungry.

We had an early ADR so just got a few things to share in Restaurantsaurus. X and I shared a salad:

But this was all mine!!!

There was also fried shrimp and lemonade?

And a yummy brownie!

X was saying Dinosaurs are fake.

What are they teaching him in college?

We took the handicap elevator.

JJ was excited and of course Ash had the smile.

Off we go!

2010:

And 2018:

We all agreed dinosaur has lost some of its ooomph.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 7/Dec 27 cont

My FIL wanted to buy some towels for someone at home. Ant had been running into every store as we passed. My nephew, A, followed him into a store but was checking his emails and ended up following a random guy in a red shirt.

As we stood around looking for him I ran into a woman I know from home. We use to do a lot of work together with the PTA and our boys played little league together. Ant was the coach but her husband would help out. She and I were chatting, I could see her family from where we were by a garbage can she had come over to use. Her phone rings and its her husband freaking out! “Where are you?!?” I am waving at him and he is just staring at me. You can wave back. The point is, A was lost and we were chilling. This woman walks 15 feet to throw out some trash and her husband was stressing hard! Hard!
Time to go ...

The original Sherpa:

I decided we would go catch the 3:00 lion king show. But A went into meltdown mode. He had received a grade on a project he had been working on for three months. A TA had graded it and taken a lot of points off for grammar. He was so upset. First his backpack and now this. He wanted, no needed to write an email that second. I suggested we (get some beer) go get on line for lion king and he could go off and write his email.

Poor A in the background

Ash with the smile.

We DID NOT get into the 3:00 despite waiting in line 40ish minutes. Wait! We have bonus FP’s! Ant ran to ask and no dice. All full.

So we headed here:

 

[amjt660]

Loving this one!!

Max