Trip Report THE ONE WITH THE FRIENDS IN FEBRUARY; Feb 16-23, 2019 *COMPLETE*

Hi all. Just returned from our February break trip and I can’t wait to share it with you!
First things first.....

THE WHO:
We have some friends we go away with every other February break.
In 2017 we did a Royal Caribbean cruise:

In 2015 we stayed in a grand villa at AKL:

And in 2013 we did the Disney Dream:

Sorry, no matching shirts. We were still feeling each other out

So who do we have?
( @Rista1313 pay attention!)

Me
Husband-Ant
Son-AJ, 15
Son-Dre, 13
We have another son, X, who was at school and did not come with us but makes a guest appearance, or two

Our friends
J tall bald and male
L short blond and fun
3 out of their 4 kids
Son-T, 17
Son-R, 13
Daughter-H, 12
Their oldest is away at college.

THE WHERE
We stayed in the Saratoga Springs Treehouse villas. Love them!!! More later!

I think that is all you need to know for now.

2019!

 

[Swissmiss]

your purple Mickey shirt! Where did you get it?

 

[Songbird76]

Day one/Feb 16 cont

Chef Mickeys!!!
Yay! I had never eaten here.
We were all so starving. We had been up since 3:30 and it was now closing in on 12:30. Ant had brought bagels for us to eat on the plane but that felt like yesterday. Where was the airplane lady with the igloo cooler?

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My kids were never into the characters. I have very few pictures of them with characters. Today would change all that! “Eat what you want but be ready to pose when a character comes around!”

First course:
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Do Mickey Waffles think of me when I am not around?

Darstarr loves cinnamon rolls
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But not this one. This was hard and flaky. I like them light and fluffy.

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This was not my plate. I am not sure whose it was. But, the mac n cheese was the unanimous loser of the day. The winner? Besides the waffles...
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These were cheesy hashbrowns and I wish I had a big ugly yellow bowl of them right now!!!

The desserts, for me were just ok. But they look awesome!
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Loved this picture. Mickey and Merica!
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I find desserts in restaurants are usually disappointing because I can make much better at home. Brownies are always dense and lacking in flavor, cheesecake is usually thin and not very creamy cookies are hard and stale. And don't even get me started on cupcakes.

Those hashbrowns do look tasty! How awesome is it to have a family to travel with, with kids the same ages, etc. The poor girl though....how does she fare with all the boys? Did you all meet through school?

 

[Darstarr]

Great photo of your son! And what a game he had! How wonderful that so many of you were able to attend his game!

He is in Utah this weekend. Hasnt stopped snowing. Ant went but I stayed home. Turns out the cold does bother me anyway!!!

 

[Darstarr]

your purple Mickey shirt! Where did you get it?

I planned a trip for my boss in about three hours. Seriously. Her two daughters were there celebrating one of their bdays. My boss wanted to surprise them. I had to impersonate one of the girls and work some CM’s pretty hard, but, like I said before, “I speak Disney”. They bought me the shirt and the matching purple ears, so sadly, I can not tell you where they came from.

 

[Darstarr]

I find desserts in restaurants are usually disappointing because I can make much better at home. Brownies are always dense and lacking in flavor, cheesecake is usually thin and not very creamy cookies are hard and stale. And don't even get me started on cupcakes.

Those hashbrowns do look tasty! How awesome is it to have a family to travel with, with kids the same ages, etc. The poor girl though....how does she fare with all the boys? Did you all meet through school?

We did meet through school. Our oldest were in first grade together and played lacrosse together in 3-12 grades.
We were going to get a 3 BR villa so H could bring a friend. But the only friend she wanted to bring and that would be allowed to come was going skiing that week. Poor thing ended up breaking her arm on the slopes.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 3/Feb 18 cont

After the Bugs we stopped for a snack

Is there anything better than Disney popcorn (besides the mickey waffles)? Oh wait, there is this....

Delicious!

Then we headed to redeem our freebie FP at Dinosaur.

We have a six year old cousin? Second cousin? Cousin once removed? Anyhow, he loves dinosaurs-and AJ!!! So I sent him some pictures.

T will be graduating high school this year.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 3/Feb 18 cont


High five!

Love Kevin. She is so pretty!

It was safari time!
There was a long stand by wait

What does this say? Might eat of it? What does that even mean???

These are rare and endangered. And shy, but not today. Bongo I think they are called.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 3/Feb 18 cont

Giraffes. My fave!

Does this count as trunk up? Trunk up means good luck!

Ooh...a nap. Lucky lioness!!!

 

[Darstarr]

Day 3/Feb 18 cont

It was time for our EE FP but first

These are good! And you may notice J is wearing his button! Yay!!!

AJ is trying so hard not to let me take his picture.

But R, behind him, is happy to be photographed!

We were hungry so we went to Satuli canteen. AJ saw the menu and freaked out. I told him to go find something else, somewhere else. At 15 he really should not be freaking over lunch. Use your big boy words!!!

I had potato hash, chicken and creamy herbed vinaigrette. No picture but wow!! Are we sure this is Disney quick service? So delicious!
Dre had:

Ant had:

I think T ordered this for dessert. I did not try it but it is pretty. In a fake plasticky kinda way.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 3/Feb 18 cont

We had a little time before our FoP FP but not enough to go do something. Hey, I know! The kids use to love the boneyard! “Kids, go to the boneyard, the Adults will be in Nomad lounge.” Perfect!

L got a Jen’s tattoo.
It was good!

J and I got a beer flight:

And Ant got....
Well, I am not sure what Ant got but it was good.

Soon enough the kids returned, even AJ.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 3/Feb 18 cont

FoP time!

J was too tall for the ride. They shoved him on but he was not very comfortable! I am suprised they don't have a seat or two for larger humans. Humans are getting larger.
When the kids were little they loved Thomas the Tank. We would head down to PA to see him. They had a train from the olden days, not sure exactly the year, I guess when the West was being won? Anyhow, the point is, the seats were tiny. Minuscule! Because people were smaller back then.

Please look at the dents in J’s calfs from FoP:

The kids

The adults

The whole bunch

The Professional shot.

We headed out after this. We were meeting Ant’s cousins at ESPN zone on the Boardwalk. J, L and their kids headed back to the treehouse. We stopped by guest services to see if anyone had turned in L’s magic band. No one had

We took a bus to the Boardwalk.
My first time going through the front door.

Such a pretty night.

We met up with Ant’s cousins at ESPN. The food there is not great but that is where they were going to be so we went and ordered some apps. Ant’s Aunt had 5 kids. The oldest lives 5 minutes from us and we never see her, even though two of my boys work for one of hers. The youngest girl now lives in Florida so it was imperative we meet up since we only see her, and her family, at weddings and funerals. Disneyworld brings families together!!!
We could not stay long,however, we had firework cruise 2.0 tonight.

 

[Swissmiss]

I planned a trip for my boss in about three hours. Seriously. Her two daughters were there celebrating one of their bdays. My boss wanted to surprise them. I had to impersonate one of the girls and work some CM’s pretty hard, but, like I said before, “I speak Disney”. They bought me the shirt and the matching purple ears, so sadly, I can not tell you where they came from.

Thanks - I found it on the Disneystore website ... but only in XS

 

[Disstevefan1]

Yay! Following along!

 

[Darstarr]

Thanks - I found it on the Disneystore website ... but only in XS ☹

Sorry

 

[Darstarr]

Yay! Following along!

Excellent. And you came at a good time too!

 

[Swissmiss]

Sorry

Don’t be - I ended up finding an adorable animal print Mickey head tank t-shirt which I would not have seen if I wasn’t looking for the other one

 

[Katiekitten]

Following along, can't wait to hear about the firework cruise 2.0!

 

[Darstarr]

Day 3/Feb 18 cont

We walked through Epcot towards the monorail.
Hey Dre, give you five spot if you can tell me what that is called and how to use it.

No, it is not the guest entrance for the ministry of magic!!!

Had to stop to get these!

Loved this!

I love how this building just disappears into the background. What is that color called?

We made it to the monorail and headed toward the TTC then switched for the contemporary.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 3/Feb 18 cont

At this point in time I will give a quick refresher on fireworks cruise 1.0. If you have no idea what I am talking about you can go back and read about it here. (Forever grateful to @bee). Concentrate on posts #141-156ish.

Flashback to December 26, 2018:
I had tried to book a FW excursion for our party of 11 on a 25 ft pontoon boat from the Contemporary marina. $350 minus 10% dvc discount. I was told I could not because the boats maximim was 10 ppl. OK. I booked the dvc firework dessert party cruise for $85 per person. Yes just shy of $1000.00. They put us on that 25 ft pontoon boat I was not allowed to book. There was no dessert party. There were 10 chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of champagne. I called to complain when I got home. Long story but they offered me a redo for my party of 9 on this trip. Krista from dvc said, “but it wont be the good one, just the regular one.”

When I called to book 2.0 I made sure I booked from the Contemporary. I wanted to compare apples to apples.

We arrived and our friends were already there.

But where was J?
He was getting he and I some drinks! Fun J was in the boat!!! Remember, they didnt deal with the annoying Christmas mess. For them it was a free cruise and they were so happy and appreciative!

Our driver was Emily and she asked if we had ever been on a firework cruise before. I said “yes, but can we talk about it after?” She said, “were you here at Christmas?”
“Yes”
“Oh my gosh. We had a bottle of champagne for you. Someone just took it out of the office last week. And you guys are still in the book if you want to come and have the kids do some free sea raycers.”

Wow!
Better than any dvc customer service!!!

Fun J

This dessert platter was already nicer than the 10 chocolate covered strawberries in December. Only problem...they misspelled our name, but I love that they tried!

Same as December

Same as December

Relaxing! Weather wise it was a perfect night!

Is it me or does the moon look a little like a hidden mickey?

 

[Darstarr]

Day 3/Feb 18 cont

Our driver Emily asked if I remembered all the fun things dec driver had told us/shown us.
What???
No, there was no time to be shown anything.
For the record, not getting the entire “3 hour tour” (jk-not 3 hours!) in Dec was dvc’s fault, not our driver’s. Dvc had put 11 of us in a 10 person boat, the marina expected some children (under 9). Again, I speak Disney, when I booked and they asked how many adults I said 11. Children? Zero. So our “tour time” was spent getting the ok to go out in the first place from the supervisor!

Here are a few of the neat things we saw/learned:

Nothing to learn here just beautiful!!!

Emily came from the college program and had been there 6 months? Maybe it was 9. Officially she worked for recreation and told us they are the most coveted jobs. Least desirable? Janitorial followed closely by attractions. When the recreation hopefuls finish their training class, and pass, they are taken here

To put their shoes on the shoe tree. Bad photo I know but she had a spotlight and I have an Iphone.