Trip Report Two Turkeys at WDW & Merrytime Disney Cruise November 2016

Hello! My husband and I (two turkeys) just got back from WDW & a Merrytime Disney Cruise and I thought I would share our adventures. All of you are welcome to read but I'm going to tag a few of you that I know have followed along before. (Or at least those I can remember.) I look forward to reading your reactions!


I have shared a few of our other adventures and if you are interested here are some links:

Disneyland
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/disneyland-forever-july-2016.917141/
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/back-to-disneyland-ringin-in-2016.909039/

Walt Disney World
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...ts-wdw-november-2015-lots-of-pictures.907613/
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/movin-in-two-weeks-in-the-world.915373/
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/springin-into-wdw-solo-march-2016.911995/

Introduction:
Who: Me (Amy) and my husband (Brad) We are the two turkeys.
Magic Band personalization: Me: Gobble '16 and Brad Stuffing, in honor of Thanksgiving
When: November 22-November 28
Where did we stay: All Star Sports

Backstory We have wanted to do a Christmas themed cruise for awhile, and in May of 2014 I booked us on a 3 night cruise in hopes that it would match up with my school's calendar. Luckily it it did. I figured I might have to take a personal day (which I did), and we would add in some time at WDW.

The Report
Tuesday November 22:
I teach in a rural northern Wisconsin school so school for our students is off the whole week of Thanksgiving, but we have teacher inservice Monday and Tuesday. In our district we are not supposed to take off inservice days. So being the rule follower that I am yet still wanting to get maximize my WDW time I book (months ahead of time) a flight leaving at 7:10pm on Tuesday night. I figure I am golden, I don't have to break the work rules, and I'll still get to Disney on Tuesday night giving me 2 full WDW days before the cruise. Leaving on a 7pm will be perfect for traveling from work to the airport and giving me the time cushion I like to give myself at the airport. Well, Delta airlines had other plans.

About 1 1/2 month before our flight, I get an email from Delta saying they cancelled my 7pm flight and moved me to a 5pm!!!:jawdrop::mad: This was not good! If I left work for the airport without asking to leave early I would make it to the airport (if things went perfectly) when my plane would be boarding! So long story short I went and talked to my boss, fully prepared to take unpaid time and all that. And luckily he was very understanding and he said he knew that I would easily make up the time/work since I usually come in to work about 1-1 1/2 early every day anyway, and I would not have to take unpaid or personal time. (which was good because I had already designated my other personal day for a WDW in March of 2017). So now the only thing I had to worry about was weather & traffic getting to the airport.

Well, wouldn't you know it, but the weather decided that there would be a wintry mix with mostly freezing rain starting at noon the day we flew out! :jawdrop::mad: Ok, so now I'm already "breaking" the rule of leaving early, but now the roads would be treacherous. And I HATE driving in bad weather. It all made this type A girl very anxious. So my boss said I could leave even a little earlier. Luckily the weather people were somewhat wrong and it was mostly rain on the way, and stayed mostly rain. But were were at the airport now about 3 1/2 hours early. But we were there and our plane was on time. It really was time to relax now.

Minneapolis has two terminal buildings and we were flying out of the big terminal and flying back to the smaller one (with the cheaper parking). So we parked at the smaller terminal and took the light rail train to the bigger one. It is a bit of a hassle but the train came shortly after we got the to platform and away we went.

Brad at the train platform
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We are on time for take off. The plane did have to go through de-icing, as did other planes. So we were 20 minutes late in take off because of waiting for de-icing, but we only landed about 5-10 minutes late.
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The plane is here, what you can't see to well in the pictures is the sleety-rain. It made me a little nervous, but the trucks were constantly spraying de-icer on the runways.
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We landed, YAY! And since we planned to drive to the cruise port we rented a car. This was our sweet ride. As usually hubby, tried to pick up the most beat up and scratched one in the lot. His theory is that then the rental car company can't prove the scratches are from us.
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It was dark then as we drove under the sign so my picture didn't turn out clear. I got this blurr, but in a way it is kind of trippy and cool with the blur.
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We were super hungry and we thought about going to Trader Sam's or Disney Springs for something but it was a little after 11:30 pm and figured we wouldn't have much time. So we parked at the All-Star Sports and went into the food court. We probably should have went to the McDonald's. We got chicken tenders and fries and they were definitely end of the night servings (a little cold and stale). But it was sustenance and then we could go right to our room.
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A couple pictures of the decorations at the Sports. They weren't anything spectacular like a gingerbread house, but I liked them.
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Our room was really close to the main building in the Touchdown section. So we were both happy. In June we had requested to be near transport at the Music and got stuck in the Broadway section which was a bit of a hike. So we unpacked and I put up a few Christmas decorations to spirit up the room.
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So after unpacking we went to bed. We were planning to maximize our WDW with early mornings and late nights. We figured we could relax on the cruise.

Tags:
@figmentfan423 , @MinnieM123 , @JenniferS , @Tuvalu , @PacNWTigger , @Gabe1 , @betty rose , @Songbird76 , @catmom46 , @BuddyThomas , @donaldtoo , @Cesar R M , @fractal , @Mr Ferret 88 , @MouseDreaming , @PUSH, @Wrangler-Rick, @sheriffwoody, @MOXOMUMD
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
So we left Hollywood Studios all merry and jolly from Jingle BAM! (it was also fun to keep saying jingle BAM!) And we headed for the Magic Kingdom.

Lot's of snoap in the air!
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We arrived at the MK while Wishes was going on. The staff at the Jingle BAM dessert party had given us a anytime fast pass as we left the party (Brad had complimented the Santa Goofy handlers about how great a job they were doing with they visited our table and they appreciated the compliment and handed in the fast pass as we left.), but since we weren't going back to Hollywood Studios they told him to visit Guest Services at the park we wanted to use it at. So when we got to the MK Brad went to Guest Services and I stayed in Town Square. I was going to go by the tree to watch Wishes by I decided to stay back by the train station. I thought it was pretty cool to see the fireworks go off over the Emporium.

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We went through the candy cane garden and sat on Santa's bench. I hope that doesn't put us on the naughty list! By the way Santa's bench is very well cushioned and comfortable.
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Brad plays Santa for our local elementary school, a lady even made him his own custom fit suit, so I thought for sure he should try out the bench.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
We headed to Big Thunder to use the fast pass. I figured since the fast pass had really been given to Brad he should pick the ride. It came as no surprise he would pick this one. Then we went on it's a small world and got stuck on a boat with a bunch of teenage girls who claimed it was one of their favorite rides but chatted, played on their phones, and squealed the whole time. It was so irritating it was funny. We got off the boat before them and I had heard that they were late for meeting up with their leader and they didn't want to get into trouble, so since they had annoyed us the whole ride I decided to walk super slow up the whole ramp, I know it was a little passive aggressive but I was amused.

Anyway, we had another spin on the Jingle Cruise and spent a little time admiring the castle before heading out for the night.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
November 25th Cruise DAY!!!!

Today is the day we would leave on our Merrytime cruise. We had some time do something before we left for the cruise ship. Originally we were going to have a big breakfast at Boma. But then Brad mentioned that he kind of wanted to go golfing. I figured that would be fine, maybe I would sleep in and head to a park for an hour, then the MK changed their opening to 7am. So no sleeping in for me!

So Brad when golfing to Lake Buena Vista, he got lost going there. I told him basically how to get there but he either didn't listen or decided I didn't know what I was talking about. So Siri made him about 15 minutes late for his tee time. He still had a blast golfing but because he wasn't in the first group out anymore that made him a little later for our meet up than we'd plan. But that was fine it all worked out for me too

I made it to the Magic Kingdom with plenty of time to spare for the morning welcome show, I even got a spot to sit to watch. It was cool to arrive as the sun was rising and all the Christmas lights were still on. It made it even more magical.
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The mayor was on hand to say good morning!
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Since I was enchanted by the sunrise and the Christmas lights, I moved slowly down Main Street for my first destination. I even got a cool photo pass picture of me in front of the castle with the dream lights on and a kiss of sunrise, but for some reason it won't upload on here. But I got some awesome pictures of the castle on its own.
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And a look toward the rising sun.
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My first ride was Peter Pan. As I was getting off Peter Pan, I heard what sounded like a Park wide announcement. I thought that was odd and hoped my ears were tricking me, I figured a park wide announcement would be something bad. As I was walking toward the carousel, I heard chimes an announcement over the park's PA system. "Oh no", I thought. Then I started to laugh, it was announcement reminding cast members that the park would be opening soon and to make sure that all vehicles were moved off of walkways and to be park ready! I laughed because someone clearly forgot they were opening the MK at 7am and forgot to turn off the announcement. That was certainly something I hadn't experienced at the MK before!

So anyway, moving on to a a whirl on the teacups then to a flight with Dumbo!
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After Dumbo I went on the Barnstormer and went twice without having to get off the ride. Then I headed into Tomorrowland for a spin on Buzz but I thought that Space Mountain was looking splendid. It was turning out to be a great morning. I just hoped Brad was able to calm down from being late to golf and was having a good time too.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Once I got done with Buzz I decided to take a spin on one of the best rides ever....the Peoplemover!
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I also saw this travesty from the Peoplemover, tent city. I don't know why people need cabanas in a theme park, let alone ones that cost over $600. If people can afford this why don't they get a room at one of the MK resorts for the day. Sure they would have to leave the park, but it isn't that difficult to go back and forth and they would have the use of a pool and air conditioning. The cabana just doesn't make sense to me. And they are ugly....rant over :grumpy:
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I wandered around Tomorrowland afterwards and got a good look at this new rock color. I'm fine with the change of color, I kind of think it compliments Tomorrowland a little better than the brown ones did.
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MinnieM123

Premium Member
Great photos! I really like the one of the Mayor -- I don't think I've ever seen a good close-up shot of him. That's one thing I really enjoy about your photos--you capture some of the characters that others don't always photograph--(and you always have the best photos of the Dapper Dans whenever you see them, too)! :happy:

As for Tent City, that is uggo. And because I work in a hospital, those white tents remind me of disaster triage tents that would be used for emergency, off-site medical units. :facepalm:
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Great photos! I really like the one of the Mayor -- I don't think I've ever seen a good close-up shot of him. That's one thing I really enjoy about your photos--you capture some of the characters that others don't always photograph--(and you always have the best photos of the Dapper Dans whenever you see them, too)! :happy:

As for Tent City, that is uggo. And because I work in a hospital, those white tents remind me of disaster triage tents that would be used for emergency, off-site medical units. :facepalm:

Thanks. I certainly do see the Dapper Dans a lot! I even took a picture of their dancing feet this time, I didn't share it before. I was just looking for a different type of shot. I'm not so sure it was successful but I tried.
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MegRuss626

Well-Known Member
We headed to Big Thunder to use the fast pass. I figured since the fast pass had really been given to Brad he should pick the ride. It came as no surprise he would pick this one. Then we went on it's a small world and got stuck on a boat with a bunch of teenage girls who claimed it was one of their favorite rides but chatted, played on their phones, and squealed the whole time. It was so irritating it was funny. We got off the boat before them and I had heard that they were late for meeting up with their leader and they didn't want to get into trouble, so since they had annoyed us the whole ride I decided to walk super slow up the whole ramp, I know it was a little passive aggressive but I was amused.

Anyway, we had another spin on the Jingle Cruise and spent a little time admiring the castle before heading out for the night.
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I totally love that you walked slowly up the ramp....I so would have done that! lol
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Sorry about the delay in my trip report, this week sure has been busy!

Anyway, I was talking about cruise departure day....Brad spent the morning golfing at Lake Buena Vista and I was at the Magic Kingdom.
I spent some time wandering around.
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And took a spin on the teacups.
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I thought maybe Big Thunder's line wouldn't be too bad but it was around 30 minutes, so I passed and walked unto Pirates.
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sorry it is a little blurry...
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I thought about the Jingle Cruise, but I was getting hungry so I went in search of food.
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This is what I wound up with. I had never had a Mickey pretzel before, and it was quite enjoyable.
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I sat for a little while watching the people go by
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And then the trolley pulled up and I thought..."why not". And once I was seated in the second row from the back the people behind me started chatting to people. And I thought it was strange that they were on the phone and a little rude, then I realized that the people they were talking to were talking back. Since they were in the back row, I was peeved that they had their phone on speaker. Well, turns out the Dapper Dans had boarded the trolley and were standing in the back, they were talking to the people behind me. I felt a little sheepish about being so annoyed. So I took a fun trolley ride up and down Main Street with the Dapper Dans. Brad would be so jealous when I told him about it!
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
So on the return trip on the trolley to the castle, I had a choice to make I could do a little more touring on Main Street or walk all they way back to Big Thunder to use my fast pass. I have a stress fracture in my foot and it was really bothering me, so I didn't feel like walking all the way to Frontierland. I decided to stay on Main Street take some pictures and head out to the Grand Floridian to meet Brad.

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It was a great decision, as I was leaving the hub area I heard music and I was able to have a front row spot for the Trolley Show! They looked so great in their Christmas finery! It was so much better than a ride on Big Thunder!
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
I did a little shopping at the Art of Disney. I bought myself two sketches, a Santa Mickey and a Christmas Minnie. Then I was on my way out even though I had gotten a text from Brad saying he needed about 40 more minutes. But then I saw the Omnibus parked in Town Square and the top front seat was open. It was calling to me.....so I rode it.

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So by the end of my ride I figured I should head to the Grand Floridian for real now. So here are a few shots from the way out.
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The boat was pulling into the dock as I walked up so I decided to take the boat instead of the monorail. It was a nice boat ride.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
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By now it was after 11, about an hour after we had planned to leave, but I had such a great time at the Magic Kingdom especially on Main Street that I didn't mind at all. So I arrived at the Grand Floridian and the moment I opened the door to the main building I got a text from Brad that he was in the lobby. Really good timing.

So we looked around at the Gingerbread house and I went to Basin White quick to get some more Mickey bath bombs and then we were on our way to the port!
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Off we went on our hour drive to Port Canaveral. It isn't very scenic until you get close, but we had stories about our mornings to keep us busy. Brad had a good round of golf and had gotten teamed up with some fun guys.

Getting closer to the port...
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We can see the ship now!
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We parked the car and headed to check-in!
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I think this sign at the enterance by the security check is awesome.
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If you ever take a Disney Cruise and want pictures of the inside terminal make sure you take them upon arrival, you do not exit into this space when leaving. So I made sure I took pictures of the Christmas decor before we boarded.
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Check-in was quick and it was a little afternoon and our boarding zone was open. Minnie was doing meet and greets, but we didn't feel like standing in line. So I waited to get a picture of her in between kids, and she saw me and was kind enough to do a quick pose.
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It is so much fun to enter under those yellow ears and start the journey unto the ship.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
We are ready to go!
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I noticed these panels right at the entrance, I will have to get a better picture next time.
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So we boarded, and they announced us, which is awesome and embarrassing all at the same time. The atrium wasn't super packed of people yet, and was gorgeous. I mean it was pretty the last time too, but now with all the Christmas decorations it was extra spectacular!
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And there was a full sized gingerbread house! It really was going to be a Merrytime cruise!
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Once on board we explored the ship and enjoyed there not being many people on board yet.

And we peeked into the shops....what might we buy!?!
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I thought this was a pretty cool reflection. I was able to stand in front of the mirror (a little off to the side), yet you can't see me at all.
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Snow White was doing a meet and greet and the line was short and we thought about saying hi, but we always find face characters a little awkward to interact with.
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The movie theater looked pretty cool, we were looking to seeing Moana in there later!
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Next we were off to explore the kids clubs. There is an open house for the first hours of the cruise so anyone can look through. I would encourage you to check it out, even if you don't have kids, the club is pretty awesome. We wanted to play there. So here is some of our exploration in the kids clubs!

At the small world nursery
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In the oceaneer's club
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I liked how some of the pictures looked like cross-stitch. It is a hobby I enjoy.
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Brad and the Millennium Falcon
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Andy's Room was cool!
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Okay, I've got to sign off for awhile. Time to celebrate Christmas! Merry Christmas!
 

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