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.
 

Rista1313

Well-Known Member
I have to say, the bus ride from DS to GF was the loooongest we experienced. The wait was fine, really all our waits were acceptable as far as I can remember right now, but the actual drive time was a drag. Hmmmm. Maybe the GF is out in the middle of no where? Or maybe it’s DS that is so far from everything?

I don't know if you read my mini trip report? We were there on the Tuesday before thanksgiving... it took us almost 45 minutes... husband was FURIOUS. I didn't notice quite as much...but we took an uber back and it took 17 minutes... I'm thinking the bus route that the drivers are required to take is the long way around.
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
I don't know if you read my mini trip report? We were there on the Tuesday before thanksgiving... it took us almost 45 minutes... husband was FURIOUS. I didn't notice quite as much...but we took an uber back and it took 17 minutes... I'm thinking the bus route that the drivers are required to take is the long way around.
I did read your mini trip report but had forgotten all about that. I feel better knowing I was not the only one to experience this. Thanks😎
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Day 5/Dec 25 cont

We were shown to our table front and center thanking all the CM’s along the way for sharing their Christmas with us.
I told my kids to sit near the back because we had seen the show before. I wanted my FIL to be able to see, as well as my niece and younger nephew JJ (and my SIL, the shortest of the crew).
Here is a picture of the table:
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Can anyone tell me where the two TALLEST people are sitting?? Yes, that would be them in the foreground, in the FRONT. You will probably see a lot of the back of their heads in this post.
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The food was really good. Probably my favorite meal of the entire trip. Ant must have eaten 10 pieces of chicken. He loved it!!! (I can’t find the entree photos-sorry)The food is served family style and they will bring you out more of anything. We all ate like we were going to the chair and kept our server, Steve very busy. It was also all the beer you care to drink!! (They lost money on us between food and beer)
Then they called up all guests celebrating a birthday:
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That is our very own Ant. His bday is the first week of January but it always gets downplayed so he deserved to go on stage and make a fool out of himself!

Now a word about the happy family. My middle AJ is very difficult. He, like me, needs a lot of down/alone time. That is hard to come by on these family trips crammed in a small room. I have my ways of dealing with him, for example, letting him lead us when we are in the parks. I hoped this would give him space. However, my 15yo nephew, JJ, is kind of a nervous kid and needs to be in the know and in the middle of everything. He was up AJ’s butte most of the time and I was forever trying to run interference. At this meal I put him next to me and got him to eat. When he gets worked up he doesnt eat which makes him hangry and it all goes down hill. Look a genuine smile:
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You may notice he has his airpods in. That was something else I allowed, at times, so he could shut out the world a bit. He has
goals of going into the military (no idea how that will work for him!) and talking about anything military related makes him happy. I noticed our server, Steve, had the “military look” to him. AJ asked him if he had served. For the first time all night Steve smiled. Actually Steve started laughing! “No,” he said. “I have six kids. Five girls and a boy.” Aaaah!!!! AJ may be difficult and three boys may be hectic but I always say “at least they are not girls!”

The fire guy was the best!
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Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Day 5/Dec 25 cont

My nephew, A
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The one on the left😉

Dessert was nothing special
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We tipped Steve, said mele kalikimaka to all and headed out into the beautiful grounds of The Poly.
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The boys were trying to get “action” shots of them jumping.
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Checking to see if they got the action shot.
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Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Day 5/Dec 25 cont

It was such a nice night and it was still fairly early so we stopped into Trader Sam’s for a drink.
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Such a nice way to end Christmas
But....

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We took the monorail to MK
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And here is a suprise! I had to use the ladies room so I went to the one just outside the main gate. While I was gone JJ got in AJ’s face and AJ was rude to JJ. My BIL yelled at AJ and AJ scootered off. Seriously?!? Perfect Christmas night ruined.
I texted AJ and told him to take some alone time and take the bus back to AKL when he is ready. He made our bus. No more drama for the night.

When we got back to AKL I needed some alone time so I went to the mara for some tea and a cupcake.

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Christmas out!
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Day 6/Dec 26

We woke up at 6:00 and were at the bus stop by 7:03.
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Welcome to Hollywood!!! Everybody’s got a dream. What’s your dream?? (Ahhh, Pretty Woman, a classic)
Anyhoooo, I must have liked the decorations at HWS the best because I took more pictures here than anywhere else. Or maybe it just reminds me of home.🌴🏄🏻‍♀️
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This photo is time stamped 7:39. They opened early and had Toy Story land visitors stay to the right and Jedi Training stay left. A lot of people went left!

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Totally cute!
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In the Slinky line at 7:45. Posted wait time was 60 minutes.
This was the morning I knew my families plans and Max’s plans aligned. @amjt660 @MiniMax @stephmax975 and @TMax please look for yourselves.
Spoiler-we never did have a magic meet up☹👎 but I was on the lookout.

Did I mention it was yellow day???

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The ONLY brand of pencil X would ever use. Pencil snob!
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Last edited:

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Day 6/Dec 26 cont

We had gotten in line for SDD at 7:45ish. It had said 60 minute wait. We boarded at:
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Only about 40 minutes.
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No idea what I am doing but we all enjoyed it. My FIL said, “wow! That was good!” That is a high compliment!

Next we were heading to the swirling saucers of the aliens.
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Wait time
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That picture was taken at 8:35.
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“Hidden” camera. I feel safe!
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Day 6/ Dec 26 cont

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When we got off the wait for SDD was 3 hours.
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Yikes!

We were a little hungry but there was Nothing open. I guess F and B didnt get the memo that it was Christmas and was going to be crowded. We found this:
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Thats a hard pass for me.

We had a FP for Toy Story. Ants favorite. He is so competitive! No one would ride with him.

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AJ had his knee scooter completely blinged out!!!

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We did the handicap entrance.
 

amjt660

Premium Member
Darn. You guys either ran to do SDD or you did the saucers first? I will patiently wait for your trip report to answer my questions.
Spoiler alert
We had slinky FP for the evening
So when we saw the same 60 min wait we did A$$ first then TSM second
Walked into TSM ride at 8:33 as you were going into the saucer line

We were so close to each other !!

Max
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Day 6/Dec 26 cont

We had a Rock n Roller coaster FP so headed that way. I guess you could say we walked this way.
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And here is a shocker!
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Of course what would a big family trip be if we didnt lose a couple of the kids? Walk of shame:
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We made it!
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My FIL decided to skip this ride. My MIL was always the first in line for all the coasters! My FIL not so much.
 

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