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!

 

[Darstarr]

A mother after my own heart

I do what I do!

Happy to read the 2nd boat cruise was much better than the first!

Much!!!
And thank you!

Just signed onto your TR! It's so nice to have a group travel together that get along so well! We've stayed in just about every Disney resort with the exception of the treehouses. Glad to hear that you enjoyed it so much! Love your matching T-shirts! We were at WDW Feb. 5-12th and found the crowds pretty bad. It seems that you didn't have the same experience! I'm really enjoying your TR!

Crowds were not bad. But then again, my last trip was over Christmas soooooo.....nothing will ever look crowded to me again
Thanks for reading!

 

[Darstarr]

Day 4/ Feb 19

We had some time before our ADR so we headed into Mickey’s Philharmagic.

Then we headed to lunch.

The likeness...and look, Dre is doing the “gang sign” as I call it. If you read my Cristmas trip report you may remember me explaining our game. You make the OK sign and you try to get someone to look at it. It has to be below your waist. If they see it and stick a finger through it (work with me here) they get to “neck” you. (No Potsie! Not that kind of neck!). They get to hit you gently on the back of the neck. If you get them to look at it and they dont stick a finger through it you get to hit them gently on the back of the neck. At Christmas with the family we had so much fun.
I completely discouraged the game this time. Our friends and their kids?...DO NOT understand the word GENTLY!!

Either I thought this was pretty or I was taking random pictures...

I must admit, I am not a BOG fan. Mostly, I dont like the menu. But the way they just find you to deliver your food, creeps me out a bit. Not going to lie.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 4/Feb 19 cont

It was pretty crowded. We ordered and then went to get a table and fill our drinks. We headed into the ballroom where Ant got a table! For 6 He was so proud of himself (we are 9). AJ was having none of the smushing around a small table so went to find us a proper table in the west wing. Meanwhile we tried to get drinks in the ballroom but there was no ice. I followed AJ into the west wing where there was an 8 top being vacated. Add a chair at the end and and 8 top becomes a 9 top.
We loitered. If we were dogs we would have lifted.... well, you get the picture. I went to get my drink and no ice. A CM told me to try the ballroom. I informed them those were also empty.
So we waited and watched the CM slowly clear the table. I decided not to waste the time and started asking the CM questions about the room.

She told us to watch this painting when the thunder strikes as it changes from beast to prince. Or is it prince to beast?

She also told us that the hardest hidden Mickey to find is in the west wing and gave us a little hint. I dont know about the claim of it being the hardest. What is hard for one person may not be hard for another. Well, I found it pretty darn hard. And to make matters worse I found it nearly impossible to get a good shot of it. But this is what I have:

I wont lie, you can not see it. I tried flash, no flash. Right hand, left. Standing on one foot, leaning to the side. It is near the top of the curtain, in the fabric. If you go to BOG look for it. Once you know it is there it is easy to spot, it is a Mickey shaped rip on the inside of the curtain, above a 2 top, to the right if the rose.

Food came so we went to sit down (to the appreciation of the couple seated at the 2 top)
Ice update: still none, ice machines now curtained off in the west wing. CM’s working feverishly to refill ice machines in the Ballroom. There was ice in the study? Library? That other room.

Big brother found us to deliver our lunch.

I had the turkey sandwich. It was so bland. It needed mustard. I asked for mustard. I got...
Yellow mustard! What? Pardon me but how about some Grey Poupon??? Isnt this France?

There were a few takers for the potato soup. They liked it. For me it is too heavy to be eating on an 80 degree day for lunch in the middle of a theme park.

Dre and either H or R got this and did not like it. Did not like it atol. (French dip)

Ant. Of course he enjoyed it. Did you have to ask? (Tuna nicoise)

The croque monsier seemed to be the winner of lunch. The loser? ICE ICE baby.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 4/Feb 19 cont

The slow clearing chatty CM also told AJ and I that the ONLY hidden MINNIE, in all of WDW, is in the ballroom. (It’s not the only one and this time I have the picture to prove it!)
It took AJ and I awhile to find it, but we were still waiting on ice so.....

Not it. Just pretty.

That would be Mickey.

Here she is

Then I went to have a sit in the masters chair.

It was snowing outside. Maybe at home!!!!
Here in central Florida the weather was awesome!

This was the room with the ice. Dont know what it is called.

We headed outside and all started to blink blink blink from sun blindness. Ha ha. We took some time to reapply our sunscreen.

Mom, did I rub it all in?

 

[Tuvalu]

Rose Gallery.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 4/ Feb 19 cont

We had some time before our space mountain FP so we jumped into CoP. Why? Oh why did we do that???
We got stuck. Double second scene.

L and I made the most of it and clapped, stomped and sang along!! Why not? It annoyed the kids and/so was fun!

I love palm trees. Metal ones arent my favorite but I dont like to discriminate.

Space must have been down because the FP line was sooo long. Also, I heard a man trying to get into the FP line, without a FP, and complaining that he wasted an hour in line. I feel ya bro, but out the way!

Line group selfie.

Look @Rista1313 ! AJ is smiling!!!

Ride over.

 

[Darstarr]

Rose Gallery.

Thanks!!!

 

[Darstarr]

Day 4/ Feb 19 cont

After space mountain we exited into the gift shop. The boys really wanted new phone cases.

They got something, now it is my turn!!!
These are my favorite!
Chocolate. Good
Banana. Good
Peanuts. Good
It was too cold for one in December. Not too cold today!

Bliss!!!

We started to walk towards the exit. We had a fun activity planned!

 

[Darstarr]

Oh my gosh! Look what Ant had on his phone. He was holding out on me.

Its the hidden Mickey in the curtain of the west wing.
Told you so

 

[Rista1313]

My husband calls this the tapestry room because of all the tapestries on the walls

Look @Rista1313 ! AJ is smiling!!!

I saw him smile a couple pictures below too... must have been an excellent day!

 

[Rista1313]

Oh my gosh! Look what Ant had on his phone. He was holding out on me.
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Its the hidden Mickey in the curtain of the west wing.
Told you so

Looks like pooh to me!

 

[Darstarr]

I saw him smile a couple pictures below too... must have been an excellent day!

I think it was.

Looks like pooh to me!

You know, you may be onto something there.

 

[Darstarr]

Day 4/ Feb 19 cont

We walked over to the Contemporary.

The marina staff had invited us, back in December, to come use the sea racyers for free. December was too busy but our driver, Emily, from the FW cruise the night before said we were still in the book and the offer was still good. This worked out perfectly as we were at MK today. Once we got to the marina J decided to head back to the treehouse for some rest (his body was still use to working the overnight).
The kids were so excited. I was apprehensive.

12. You only have to be 12! In the land of no running, no sitting on the railing, no selfie stick etc, you inly have to be 12, and a minimum height to drive a boat. H, although 12, did not meet the height requirement and briefly thought about returning to the treehouse with her dad. Tears were shed. She decided to stay and ride with her brother, T.

Another smile from AJ!

Safety briefing

The briefing included where they could and could not go. Amazingly the only placess off limits were areas close to the copper creek cabins and the polynesian bungalows. NO CELL PHONES! Except H, who was a passenger. That means no photos. Sorry folks. One more thing, those big MK ferries? They have the right of way. Every thing out there has the right of way!!!

30 minutes starts now:

AJ took off. He was so happy to be free and on the water.

T and H were next

Then R. He looks so small.

Then Dre. Mr cool

With the arm hanging out and everything. This boy of mine is going to be trouble!

Then the biggest kid of all! He wished he had his collapsable rod with him. Emily firmly, but sweetly, said NO FISHING! She had heard Ant’s disney fishing stories the night before and took him seriously. Smart girl!!!

 

[Rista1313]

Day 4/ Feb 19 cont

We walked over to the Contemporary.
View attachment 355200

The marina staff had invited us, back in December, to come use the sea racyers for free. December was too busy but our driver, Emily, from the FW cruise the night before said we were still in the book and the offer was still good. This worked out perfectly as we were at MK today. Once we got to the marina J decided to head back to the treehouse for some rest (his body was still use to working the overnight).
The kids were so excited. I was apprehensive.

12. You only have to be 12! In the land of no running, no sitting on the railing, no selfie stick etc, you inly have to be 12, and a minimum height to drive a boat. H, although 12, did not meet the height requirement and briefly thought about returning to the treehouse with her dad. Tears were shed. She decided to stay and ride with her brother, T.

Another smile from AJ!
View attachment 355201

Safety briefing
View attachment 355202

The briefing included where they could and could not go. Amazingly the only placess off limits were areas close to the copper creek cabins and the polynesian bungalows. NO CELL PHONES! Except H, who was a passenger. That means no photos. Sorry folks. One more thing, those big MK ferries? They have the right of way. Every thing out there has the right of way!!!

30 minutes starts now:

AJ took off. He was so happy to be free and on the water.
View attachment 355203


T and H were next
View attachment 355205


Then R. He looks so small.
View attachment 355206

Then Dre. Mr cool
View attachment 355207

With the arm hanging out and everything. This boy of mine is going to be trouble!
View attachment 355208

Then the biggest kid of all! He wished he had his collapsable rod with him. Emily firmly, but sweetly, said NO FISHING! She had heard Ant’s disney fishing stories the night before and took him seriously. Smart girl!!!
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Glad Disney honored that promise at least! That looks like so much fun!

 

[Darstarr]

Day 4/Feb 19 cont

I then turned my attention to the recreation booth. Our Driver from December was there. She did not seem thrilled to see me even though I was happy to see her. I said, “you got in trouble didnt you?”
Quick refresher: while arguing (it was not a discussion) with dvc supervisor Krista on the phone once I returned home, I said “dvc scr**** me and the marina staff knew it”. Krista started lecturing me how CM’s aren’t suppose to bad mouth disney or dvc. I tried to explain that Driver did not bad mouth anyone but Krista wasnt hearing it.

So here I am looking at Driver and I knew Krista got her in trouble. I asked, “did you get in trouble?” Her response, “I cant say.”
Sounds like a yes to me!
I tried to explain the conversation with Krista and how she miscontrued what I was saying and how I tried to set her straight. I asked Driver how I could fix this. “Well, tell my supervisor here what really happened.”
I told her. I didnt know how much it would help so I asked what else I could do. Driver said I could go to the Contemporary front desk and write a letter/note on her behalf.

They had work to do so L and I grabbed a couple drinks from the pool bar (that bar is pretty small and nasty for such a large resort) and sat in the shade. My stomach was in knots trying to remember exactly what I said to Krista. I was so worked up, did I throw Driver under the bus? I do remember telling Krista Driver did not say anything bad about the company. I reread some posts from my Dec TR, that was written soon after the conversations so should be pretty accurate.

Disney records all phone calls so Krista had the luxury of replaying it, maybe just the parts she wanted to hear? I was stuck trying to replay it in my head and was starting to doubt myself. Dark times.

30 minutes had come and gone. No kids. I could see them out on the water.

They could not use their phones so
A) useless to try to get in touch with them
B) they couldnt check the time
Except passenger H. Would she pick up? No. Would she get the text? Yes.
Tell everyone it is time to come in.
With that we see a boat take off for seven seas lagoon. The opposite direction from coming in. Ugggh

First was Ant. The adult. (LOFI)

Followed closely (too closely?) by T and H.

Then Dre. He was coming in sooooo fast. I was yelling at him to slow down !!!SLOW DOWN!!! Then the marina staff joined me in the yelling, SLOW DOWN!!! I was picturing this free 30 minute joy ride costing me 10’s of thousands if dollars to replace the sea raycer he was about to smash. He slowed in the nick of time. How many years until I have to teach him to drive?

So who took off? AJ of course right?
But no, it was R who took off looking for AJ.
At that point Driver asked if we wanted her to alert marine patrol. Yes please!

Marine patrol did end up stopping AJ and telling him to get back. R gave up and came back on his own when he couldnt find him. But look how close they are.

“AJ! Seriously?! You were the only one out there wearing a watch!”
“Oops”

Please enjoy his walk of shame:

Once again, the Marina staff was awesome!

Info if anyone wants to try. The kids had an absolute blast. So did Ant

 

[Darstarr]

Day 4/ Feb 19 cont

We have all seen this:

During space mountain earlier we were discussing how we would pose. L said, I am just going to do this. Ta da.” And stuck one arm up and the other down. With out missing a beat, T said, “ no mom, you cant. See?” And pointed to the sign in the ride vehicle. This became a running joke. So when we saw this:

Oh come on. How perfect is this?

We headed inside. I went to the front desk to write two letters. One for December Driver and one for Emily (feb driver). I think, but just speculation here, the letter for Driver is the reason I got an out of the blue call from Krista. Krista said she got an email from the Contemporary that I wanted to speak to her. I think Driver’s supervisors etc read my letter, saw my willingness to help Driver and sent the email to Krista. Driver has worked for the company for over 35 years. She is not a college intern there 3 months. She would never bad mouth Disney. I know this after spending an hour with her listening to stories. The people who work with her every day have to know this so I think they sent the email hoping I could make it right.

Quickly
Krista and I had a productive chat the other day. First and foremost I heaped praise on the marina staff and especially Driver. It was tricky because I couldnt say “I know you wrote her up” but Krista heard me (finally!) She was a little off balance, “but you said....” I could hear her wheels turning, “uh oh, what did I do?”
“But you said in our previous conversation....”
I interupted her. “What I am telling you now is I am sorry if I made you think any of the cms bad mouthed disney. I was very mad by the time you and I spoke. No one was listening and I may have been trying to get your attention. But I did try to tell you that no bad things were said about Disney. It was all body language. I said dvc screwed me and they all looked at their feet.”
I also apologized to her. I was pretty hard on her in our previous conversations. Again I said it was because I did not feel like I was being heard.
This wasnt totally about me. I dont want anyone else to go through this. She said no one has ever complained before. I explained perhaps no one has traveled with such a large party. For 2, 3 or even 4 people its good. More than that and it is a poor value. Especially when I can rent a boat for 8 for $300 minus 10%, times two and it is still cheaper.
I told her the marketing is off. Whether intentional or not this is being marketed as a party. The adjectives, times and price all point to party. Speaking of price, it is too high! If dvc really wants to do this they should have an actual party at reunion station (at wilderness lodge/CC/BRV) then go watch fireworks. I told her they could charge $99 for that and it would be worth it.
Lastly, the vacation representatives taking the reservations have no idea what they are selling. Their script is all off. I was told it wouldnt be a private cruise. There could be up to 20 people. Ok. What they should have said was, parties of 10 or more may be separated. Krista maintains it was the marinas fault we were crammed on one boat when two are assigned to this event. I think separating the party would have been worse. However, just by telling me we could be separated I would like to think some bells and whistles would go off.
I will be going out of my way to visit Driver again. I hope I fixed this mess. And I hope no one ever has to go through this.
Krista assured me my feedback will get to the people who run the event. Some of my earlier feedback already had, so she said. I guess I made some noise.

Now back to the TR:

We headed to the monorail. The kids wanted to ride it to MK. They all just sat there for 15 minutes while I wrote two atta girl letters so who was I to argue that walking is faster?

Why not

 

[lindawdw]

I'm glad that you were able to write the letters supporting the CM's but at the same time still express your feelings about how the whole experience was a disappointment and that Disney did not advertise the Party boat experience properly. I'm always big on telling Disney when they exceed expectations with something but I also believe that unless the guest expresses their displeasure with bad experiences, things don't get corrected. It looks like all the kids had fun out on the boats!

 

[WDisneyW]

Following !!

 

[sheriffwoody]

They are great. I wish we would have scheduled more downtime to fully enjoy them. There is a charcoal bbq by the steps to the deck- I would have loved to have cooked outside and made some smores with the kids. Speaking if kids....how is your little angel?

Oh she's pretty good! Sleeping right now...ask me again in 20 minutes when I have to get her up to feed her We're in a pretty fussy stage right now.

 

[DisneyGigi]

Day 4/ Feb 19

We had some time before our ADR so we headed into Mickey’s Philharmagic.
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Then we headed to lunch.

The likeness...and look, Dre is doing the “gang sign” as I call it. If you read my Cristmas trip report you may remember me explaining our game. You make the OK sign and you try to get someone to look at it. It has to be below your waist. If they see it and stick a finger through it (work with me here) they get to “neck” you. (No Potsie! Not that kind of neck!). They get to hit you gently on the back of the neck. If you get them to look at it and they dont stick a finger through it you get to hit them gently on the back of the neck. At Christmas with the family we had so much fun.
I completely discouraged the game this time. Our friends and their kids?...DO NOT understand the word GENTLY!!
View attachment 355119

Either I thought this was pretty or I was taking random pictures...
View attachment 355120


I must admit, I am not a BOG fan. Mostly, I dont like the menu. But the way they just find you to deliver your food, creeps me out a bit. Not going to lie.
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My son and husband played the circle game when DS was a teen- I dunno what they called it- but they didn’t hit gently! It was an all out war lol- which usually led to a headlock. They have always been that way- rough housing- they probably still do at work! Silly boys! I laughed so hard when I saw this picture.