Compromise is a Disney word: Taking one for the team over Thanksgiving 2016* August PTR link! 5/28

[xlsm]

I'm glad you're home all safe and sound after the snowpocalypse, and I'm glad you got a little dose of Disney from Disney Springs on your bonus day!

I love the picture of Captain Phasma leading the march! You know I'm one of those "weird fans"

Ricky looks so serious in his ride photos. He's just showing those rides who's boss, that's all!!


BTW, you do look great in that RnR picture! I always tell my family, if I look good and you guys look weird...well, sorry! It's getting shared!

 

[wdwnut61]

Welcome back I was thinking of you Thursday I know everywhere north of us got hit hard and the airports in Philly were closed too. Looking forward to your trip report for Universal
Hope Ricky's knee has improved as well as your finger.
Love your RnRC and TT ride pics
DD and I are huge SW fans we go a spot up by the stage to see them very intense and loud but very cool. That's Captain Phasma leading the way she oversaw the storm trooper training in SW the Force Awakens
Looking forward to your next update

 

[ArielSRL]

I am so very sorry you got stuck in Florida an extra day.....lol.

Looks like you had a great morning at DHS and got tons done in a short amount of time. You also got some great photos!

Every time I read trip reports that include rope drop it just solidifies my plans. I can sleep when I'm dead (or really, the next several weeks since I'll be on Summer Break..lol) so there is absolutely no excuse not to make it.

Post your Universal TR link once you start so I can have another one of your reports to keep up with, please...lol! Oh and where is your March/May PTR at?? Haha.

 

[ariane37]

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (part 2)
or, The Day Transportation Died
​

As we left HS we were lucky enough to catch a boat waiting at the dock, so a quick boat ride later and we were back at the BC. It was getting HOT, so I changed and we walked out to the bus stop. We got down there at 11:18 and according to the screen, the DS bus was set to come at 11:30.
Shortly after the arrival time changed to 11:35. And then 11:45. Not cool, man! That's over the "buses come every 20 minutes" limit! A couple people in our group were getting grumpy........as the time changed to 11:51 we started debating taking a taxi. The CM down there with the Ipad kept telling us and others waiting for the DS bus it was "10 minutes away" which reminded me of the Seinfeld episode when Jerry, Elaine and George are waiting to eat at the Chinese restaurant lol. FINALLY the bus came at 11:56. Steve is not a fan of the buses to begin with and this didn't help!
At least once on the bus the ride wasn't long and soon we were there. Steve and Ricky were quite surprised at how much it had changed.
Some of the decorations going in by where the buses drop you off:





And some decorations I made myself! (Well, with a little help )



Our main reason for coming back here aside from Ricky and Steve seeing the "new improved" DS was for Ricky to go to the Trophy Room. This visit however we didn't leave empty handed:



That's 2 pairs of shoes in there, both of which are currently sitting by my front door. I never expected to buy sneakers down in Disney, much less sneakers you can get anywhere but that's the thing; apparently the Jordans they carry there in the store are ones you can only get there and online so the boys wouldn't find them in the stores here. The only pain in the butt was packing them to get home, since Ricky NEEDS to keep all his sneaker boxes But it made them happy and isn't that what matters??
We did a little more exploring and we also needed to eat! We didn't want anything heavy since dinner was 4:45 plus we had the dessert party after that, so we settled on Earl of Sandwich. LOVE this place! I'll save the review for my dining report but lunch did include these for Steve and I:



A plain old Mich Ultra for me which hit the spot, and a Guinness for Steve. After we ate we hit the Christmas store and even though Steve and I bought our 2016 ornament in August, I couldn't leave and not buy anything. I picked up a Chip & Dale ornament for my niece and a new ornament for myself and had them mailed back home. At some point while we were there I let Steve buy something he'd been whining about wanting since he'd gotten down there:



Ha! This was one of the purchase with purchase offers, so if you spent a certain amount you got this for $20. I had forgotten to bring a backpack for him to carry around so we were putting our jackets and ponchos in a Disney bag each time we went out and that was annoying him. Every time we saw someone with this (which was about as often as we saw someone with a matching LK shirt at AK) he made a comment about me forgetting a backpack, so today I told him to buy the damn thing already! That's a happy man with his backpack in that picture, and you can be sure I'm bringing it on our March and May trips for him to carry even though it'll only be the 2 of us.

Since Chris and I didn't go see the Disney Christmas trees the first night we went, we were going to see them today but nobody felt like walking all the way over so we skipped them. I wasn't too upset given the reviews and pictures I'd seen, I guess it would've been nice but I don't think I missed anything great. Therefore back to the buses we went! This bus came much quicker but being new to the way the bus stops are down there, we didn't realize we had to walk like, half way back to NY to find the Beach Club bus stop

Here's where my memory is a bit fuzzy. We got back to the resort and had time before our 4:45 Thanksgiving dinner at Trail's End. I had made 2 FP's at HS; a TOT for after dinner but before the dessert party and a RnRC for before dinner. I want to say that was 2:45 to 3:45? Thinking if we hit it right at 3-3:15 we'd have plenty of time to take a bus from the park to FW for dinner. Well, once back at the Beach Club we had a real quick decision to make: if we leave right away can we make the RnRC FP and still make dinner? I *think* it was around 2:45 when we got back. I left it up to Ricky and yes, he wanted to try making it. Chris on the other hand did NOT since he doesn't ride it and wouldn't budge from the room First Steve was going to stay with him but then decided to come with us. Now, walk or boat? We were going to walk but when we got outside a boat was at the dock so we started running. Running FAST, which is something I just don't do. We made it right to the dock gate and the skipper closed it in my face WHAT???? I so wasn't happy. We sat there for a minute trying to figure out what to do as it was now about 3:10 and it would be about 3:30 when we got to HS if we walked and later if we waited for a boat. Neither of us felt like walking, it was way hot and we'd walked quite a bit down in DS. We realized at this point we definitely wouldn't have time to come back and get Chris before going to dinner, so Steve went back to the room and would meet us at FW. Ricky and I took our chances and waited on the next boat. At about 3:40 I took this picture of some HS Christmas decor:



I loved these decorations in 2015 and was happy to see them again! Ricky and I took our ride with Aerosmith-which BTW happens to be one of my favorite bands-and then went to get the bus to Ft. Wilderness.
Here's where the transportation becomes laughable to me, but not so much to Steve! Before we left him I'd told him to be AT THE BUS STOP by 3:45 the latest since they had to take a bus to MK and then the boat to FW. That meant they had to head there pretty much right after Ricky and I left. But then as we were getting on the boat Steve texted that he was taking Chris to the pool for 20 minutes and then at 4:00 he texted that they were heading back to the room to change because he thought I said get to the bus stop by 4:15. Why? I-don't-know. But why would it be any other way, ladies?? So we're on our way to the bus to FW and he's on his way back to the room at the resort. Yup. And then we were getting off the bus at FW to take the internal bus back to Trails End, and they were just getting on the bus at BC to MK. I then told him to make sure he took the BOAT to FW b/c it would almost definitely be quicker than the bus, and would drop them right by TE as opposed to the bus that would drop them at the front of the resort, causing them to have to take an internal bus. Not sure why I went through all this, should have known he'd take the bus from MK to FW. So at 4:45 they were sitting on the bus at MK Luckily (in this case) when we checked in at TE they told us they were running about 30 minutes behind, so it didn't matter, but boy was Steve out of sorts! I waited until he got to the restaurant to remind him he needs to listen better......also, ends up they were sitting on the WILDERNESS LODGE bus, not the FORT WILDERNESS lodge bus. So that's where they went first. I can't make this up!!! While we waited Ricky and I walked around a bit and I took a picture of the tree outside the restaurant:



Oops! Out of sequence but here's a picture I took while we were on the internal bus from the front of the park back to TE of one of the campsites:



This doesn't do those campsites justice, they are crazy with their decorations! There was even a golf cart all decked out with tons of Xmas lights driving around.
Steve and Chris finally showed up at the right place about 5:05. We still hadn't been called so we had a couple PP pictures taken:



I'm not thrilled with how these came out but wanted to show you what they did for Thanksgiving. We had about 6 taken and this was the lesser of the evils!
And right as we were finishing that up our pager went off, so we were seated at 5:20 which was 35 minutes after our ADR. I figured it was strictly due to the holiday but then a few weeks later @Raeven also had a long wait past her ADR time at Trails End, so not sure what's up with that.
We were seated downstairs which, if you're not familiar with the restaurant, the buffet is upstairs. No big deal though and we absolutely loved our meal there. We didn't have desserts since we were going to the dessert party and that was hard for me since I'm a huge dessert person; and also really the thing that sucked most about our seating time being pushed back so much. The dessert party was at 8 so with dinner at 4:45 I thought we'd be done eating by 5:45 the latest and have just over 2 hours to digest. Now we weren't done until just after 6 and had under 2 hours. I think we would have all eaten more if we'd sat earlier or hadn't had the dessert party which thinking back I kind of wish I'd scheduled on another night, but hindsight is 20/20.
Someone I assume was the restaurant manager and another higher up was walking around with a really cool turkey hat on:



Once we finished up Ricky wanted to go in the Trading Post and buy some Disney Pez for his girlfriend/not girlfriend:



I really wanted to make our evening TOT FP so I hurried him along and we did the double bus ride over to HS for our 2nd and 3rd time that day.
This post is pretty long so I'll stop here for now and continue next time with

HAPPY THANKSGIVING part 3, Jingle Bell Jingle BAM dessert party!

 

[ariane37]

I'm glad you're home all safe and sound after the snowpocalypse, and I'm glad you got a little dose of Disney from Disney Springs on your bonus day!

Let me tell you, the training was nice and I learned some cool new things about Universal, but my belongs to Disney and I felt so much more comfortable and at "home" once we got to DS

BTW, you do look great in that RnR picture! I always tell my family, if I look good and you guys look weird...well, sorry! It's getting shared!

I do, don't I If they want the choice of which pictures get posted, they can create accounts and do their own TR's!

Welcome back I was thinking of you Thursday I know everywhere north of us got hit hard and the airports in Philly were closed too. Looking forward to your trip report for Universal

Oh yeah, the airlines were waiving change fees for just about every NE airport. It was stressful for awhile but it all worked out luckily! One woman on the training from Boston couldn't get a flight home until Sunday

Hope Ricky's knee has improved as well as your finger.

My finger is Ricky's knee is better, but he's out for the rest of the season which sucks, although for school it's only 2 games. It still hurts if he bends certain ways and if he touches the knee cap if moves in ways it shouldn't We go back to the Dr. on the 28th to see how it's healing........

That's Captain Phasma leading the way she oversaw the storm trooper training in SW the Force Awakens

So that's a girl leading the march?? Lol shows how very little I know!

I am so very sorry you got stuck in Florida an extra day.....lol.

Yeah, I didn't get much sympathy from anyone, especially my friends and family up north........

Every time I read trip reports that include rope drop it just solidifies my plans. I can sleep when I'm dead (or really, the next several weeks since I'll be on Summer Break..lol) so there is absolutely no excuse not to make it.

It's a bit rough when the alarm goes off but totally worth it when you get there, which I believe you will agree with 100% when you DO IT IN JUNE

Post your Universal TR link once you start so I can have another one of your reports to keep up with, please...lol! Oh and where is your March/May PTR at?? Haha.

I will! Trying to get almost to the end of this one quickly so I can start that one! Ugh I've thought about a March/May PTR but I can't even keep up with my dining report this time around lol! I'll just have to do updates here

 

[ArielSRL]

FINALLY the bus came at 11:56. Steve is not a fan of the buses to begin with and this didn't help!

That took forever! I'm so glad we have our car while at Disney. Though DH says, lets take the buses. NO!

And some decorations I made myself! (Well, with a little help )

How cute...lol.

The only pain in the butt was packing them to get home, since Ricky NEEDS to keep all his sneaker boxes

So funny. AJ won't let me throw any box away. I have to sneak them out. Otherwise, he just fills them with stuff (junk!).

At some point while we were there I let Steve buy something he'd been whining about wanting since he'd gotten down there:

Love it!

I left it up to Ricky and yes, he wanted to try making it. Chris on the other hand did NOT since he doesn't ride it and wouldn't budge from the room

OMG, such a regular occurrence in our house...brothers disagreeing.

We made it right to the dock gate and the skipper closed it in my face WHAT???? I so wasn't happy.

How rude! I wouldn't be happy, either.

Steve went back to the room and would meet us at FW.

Thanks, Steve....well, maybe....lol.

But then as we were getting on the boat Steve texted that he was taking Chris to the pool for 20 minutes and then at 4:00 he texted that they were heading back to the room to change because he thought I said get to the bus stop by 4:15. Why? I-don't-know. But why would it be any other way, ladies?? So we're on our way to the bus to FW and he's on his way back to the room at the resort. Yup. And then we were getting off the bus at FW to take the internal bus back to Trails End, and they were just getting on the bus at BC to MK. I then told him to make sure he took the BOAT to FW b/c it would almost definitely be quicker than the bus, and would drop them right by TE as opposed to the bus that would drop them at the front of the resort, causing them to have to take an internal bus. Not sure why I went through all this, should have known he'd take the bus from MK to FW. So at 4:45 they were sitting on the bus at MK Luckily (in this case) when we checked in at TE they told us they were running about 30 minutes behind, so it didn't matter, but boy was Steve out of sorts! I waited until he got to the restaurant to remind him he needs to listen better......also, ends up they were sitting on the WILDERNESS LODGE bus, not the FORT WILDERNESS lodge bus. So that's where they went first. I can't make this up!!!

Men never listen, nor do they follow directions. HAHA.

This doesn't do those campsites justice, they are crazy with their decorations! There was even a golf cart all decked out with tons of Xmas lights driving around.

If you ever watch Disney vlogs, check out See Ya Reel Soon's Nov 2015 trip. They stay at the cabins for like 2 weeks or more and it is during both Oct and Nov. You will see all kinds of decorations and they have a golf cart strung with lights!

I figured it was strictly due to the holiday but then a few weeks later @Raeven also had a long wait past her ADR time at Trails End, so not sure what's up with that.

Uh oh. Have you had this problem before with the brunch? I hope we don't have that problem with the brunch, as that is our departure day.

I think we would have all eaten more if we'd sat earlier or hadn't had the dessert party which thinking back I kind of wish I'd scheduled on another night, but hindsight is 20/20.

I've got PizzeRizzo planned for a light meal before the dessert party but it still might be too much.

Once we finished up Ricky wanted to go in the Trading Post and buy some Disney Pez for his girlfriend/not girlfriend:

Too funny "girlfriend/not girlfriend"

Looking forward to more!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I absolutely love the back pack. I hope that offer is still going on now. I'll be in Disney Springs next Saturday. I want that!

You sounded so much like me when you were in the Christmas store and you couldn't leave without buying something. A girl after my own heart.

Great update. Not sure why the men don't hear us talking.

 

[wdwnut61]

First off your transportation all day made me dizzy I don't know how you kept it straight. Steve and Chris getting on the WL bus
The Trophy Room looks really cool I remember from your previous report glad Ricky got his shoes. How did you manage to pack those big shoe boxes?
We love Earl of Sandwich too yummy.
Can't wait to see your pics from JBJB

 

[MummyButterfly]

Lurker who decided it was less creepy to comment, rather than continue to lurk. Loving the report so far.

 

[pepperandchips]

I will come back and comment properly, but for now... WHY DONT MEN LISTEN TO THE DISNEY PLANNER WOMAN?!

 

[Raeven]

Every time we saw someone with this (which was about as often as we saw someone with a matching LK shirt at AK) he made a comment about me forgetting a backpack, so today I told him to buy the damn thing already! That's a happy man with his backpack in that picture, and you can be sure I'm bringing it on our March and May trips for him to carry even though it'll only be the 2 of us.

Josh needs to have a backpack. We don't even carry enough for one usually, and when I do put enough stuff in to fill it he says I made it really heavy, but he will not settle for a smaller bag. Men and their backpacks!

Since Chris and I didn't go see the Disney Christmas trees the first night we went, we were going to see them today but nobody felt like walking all the way over so we skipped them. I wasn't too upset given the reviews and pictures I'd seen, I guess it would've been nice but I don't think I missed anything great.

Same here. It was just too out of the way we never got to it. I wasn't hugely disappointed though.

This doesn't do those campsites justice, they are crazy with their decorations! There was even a golf cart all decked out with tons of Xmas lights driving around.

They were so crazy! And that golf cart was insane!

And right as we were finishing that up our pager went off, so we were seated at 5:20 which was 35 minutes after our ADR. I figured it was strictly due to the holiday but then a few weeks later @Raeven also had a long wait past her ADR time at Trails End, so not sure what's up with that.

I wonder if that's common there at dinner time?

Once we finished up Ricky wanted to go in the Trading Post and buy some Disney Pez for his girlfriend/not girlfriend:

 

[Terri]

Lurker who decided it was less creepy to comment, rather than continue to lurk. Loving the report so far.

Another Queen Lurker! I was recently comparing my DIS join date with my number of posts and decided I really need to start to do more than read, LOL

Great trip report As a mother of 4 and trip planner for the entire extended family, the Mehs are my biggest pet peeve and my dad and MIL are the worst offenders. I'm glad attitudes and adult beverages won out. Looking forward to reading more and even contemplating starting a last minute PTR for my next trip in 2 WEEKS!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

The only pain in the butt was packing them to get home, since Ricky NEEDS to keep all his sneaker boxes But it made them happy and isn't that what matters??

It is ALL about making the kiddos happy! It really is.

This bus came much quicker but being new to the way the bus stops are down there, we didn't realize we had to walk like, half way back to NY to find the Beach Club bus stop

My DH is becoming a deluxe snob, simply because he hates the buses!

But why would it be any other way, ladies??

Always is this way!

also, ends up they were sitting on the WILDERNESS LODGE bus, not the FORT WILDERNESS lodge bus. So that's where they went first. I can't make this up!!! While we waited Ricky and I walked around a bit and I took a picture of the tree outside the restaurant:

This would be my DH if he had to navigate all of it by himself. He totally just 'follows' me around for bus transfers and what not... So lucky that they made it in time!

Steve and Chris finally showed up at the right place about 5:05. We still hadn't been called so we had a couple PP pictures taken:

So, my first thought, was that this is a great pic of you all! Then I read your comment of not liking it. I think it is a great Turkey Day photo!

Once we finished up Ricky wanted to go in the Trading Post and buy some Disney Pez for his girlfriend/not girlfriend:

Wait, What!?! As a mom of small girls still, this scares me!!! I am not ready for that?!? but very nice of your DS to get something for his girlfriend/not girlfriend.

 

[ariane37]

That took forever! I'm so glad we have our car while at Disney. Though DH says, lets take the buses. NO!

I'm waiting for the day Steve says NO MORE BUSES lol. I kind of won't mind, but I also enjoy the buses when they are on schedule. I find it to be part of the charm staying in the bubble

So funny. AJ won't let me throw any box away. I have to sneak them out. Otherwise, he just fills them with stuff (junk!).

That's what Chris used to do! I would find little toys, snack wrappers, everything in there! Ricky keeps the boxes because......IDK, something to do with the brand name on the box? Looking cool? Who knows with teenagers

OMG, such a regular occurrence in our house...brothers disagreeing.

I hate to tell you Renee but it doesn't get better as the get older......................
ly

Men never listen, nor do they follow directions. HAHA.

I believe it's in their genes and they can't help it

If you ever watch Disney vlogs, check out See Ya Reel Soon's Nov 2015 trip. They stay at the cabins for like 2 weeks or more and it is during both Oct and Nov. You will see all kinds of decorations and they have a golf cart strung with lights!

I've heard of them and always meant to watch! Aren't the "off the air" now? However I can find old ones. I'll have to definitely check it out!

Uh oh. Have you had this problem before with the brunch? I hope we don't have that problem with the brunch, as that is our departure day.

We were seated early for brunch, no problem. Hopefully it was just bad luck for Raeven and I, but if you'll be in a time crunch maybe ask on the Restaurants board? I haven't heard lots of reports of being seated late........

I absolutely love the back pack. I hope that offer is still going on now. I'll be in Disney Springs next Saturday. I want that!

Oh man, I was just in DS last Thursday and I didn't notice! I hope you get it!

Great update. Not sure why the men don't hear us talking.

Ugh, my sons don't hear me either Like I said to @ArielSRL I think they're born that way and no matter how hard we try they are incapable of change!

Steve and Chris getting on the WL bus

Believe me, I was laughing while getting angry texts from Steve!

How did you manage to pack those big shoe boxes?

Well luckily Chris didn't care about his box. And luckily I'm a terrible packer and bring EVERYTHING, so I managed to stuff the box in the bottom of a suitcase! Also had Chris's big Kermit pillow he bought lol

Lurker who decided it was less creepy to comment, rather than continue to lurk. Loving the report so far.

I'm so glad you commented! And thank you for reading

I will come back and comment properly, but for now... WHY DONT MEN LISTEN TO THE DISNEY PLANNER WOMAN?!

I know, right?? Even worse is when they take no interest in the planning until you actually get down there, they ask what you're doing, and THEN they have stuff to say about what you've planned

Josh needs to have a backpack. We don't even carry enough for one usually, and when I do put enough stuff in to fill it he says I made it really heavy, but he will not settle for a smaller bag. Men and their backpacks!

Really! I even try to limit what we bring and I've suggested when we just have jackets to get a locker, but NOPE. He wants the backpack!

I wonder if that's common there at dinner time?

IDK.......I haven't heard of it happening often, I think it was just special for us

Another Queen Lurker! I was recently comparing my DIS join date with my number of posts and decided I really need to start to do more than read, LOL

Thank you for coming out of the shadows lol! I loved watching my post count go up so yes, forget any job, housekeeping, any other responsibilities you have and just keep posting on the Dis like the rest of us!

Great trip report

As a mother of 4

Wow! How old? I actually have 2 stepsons so not quite a mother of 4, but a mother who frequently has 4 boys in the house

Looking forward to reading more and even contemplating starting a last minute PTR for my next trip in 2 WEEKS!

You should! If you do post a link in your signature and I'll definitely head over for a read

My DH is becoming a deluxe snob, simply because he hates the buses!

That's why Steve prefers staying at the Epcot resorts-walk or boat to 2 parks! I had a hard time getting him to agree to WL last August but when we got there he loved the boat to MK, and didn't mind that then it was just a monorail to Epcot. He really wanted another Epcot resort for our May trip but I won out again with WL He liked AKL a lot too, but did keep commenting on having to take buses to all the parks!

This would be my DH if he had to navigate all of it by himself. He totally just 'follows' me around for bus transfers and what not... So lucky that they made it in time!

Normally he does follow me and I really thought I was clear on how to get to FW! Actually I know I was clear, but that doesn't seem to matter when men are involved.......

So, my first thought, was that this is a great pic of you all! Then I read your comment of not liking it. I think it is a great Turkey Day photo!

Thank you It's all about how I look in the pictures lol, and I don't think it's my best. I do like the Thanksgiving sign though and it's a nice momento of the holiday.

Wait, What!?! As a mom of small girls still, this scares me!!! I am not ready for that?!? but very nice of your DS to get something for his girlfriend/not girlfriend.

Oh boy, I don't know where to start! He likes/liked this girl but she just wants to be good friends, or so she says. So he moved on but they're very good friends and hang out A LOT. However if he isn't free when she wants to see him, or is busy when she wants to facetime or if another girl shows interest in him-man, she's all over the girl and him. So I'm convinced she likes him and for some reason doesn't want to date yet? Or isn't sure she likes him and doesn't want anyone else to have him until she decides? She is very nice though and I like her. And I'm glad Ricky isn't pining over her and doesn't sit around waiting for her; he's a good friend to her but does what he wants with who he wants and tells her she has to deal with it since she's not his GF. But I joke that they act like they're dating. And bottom line I'm 100% fine with him not seriously dating, because regardless of what I did at almost 15 I think my baby boy is too young!!!

 

[ArielSRL]

I've heard of them and always meant to watch! Aren't the "off the air" now? However I can find old ones. I'll have to definitely check it out!

They are "off the air" but all their old ones are still there on YouTube. I haven't even watched them...there's so many. At first I thought they were corny, but they really grew on me.

We were seated early for brunch, no problem. Hopefully it was just bad luck for Raeven and I, but if you'll be in a time crunch maybe ask on the Restaurants board? I haven't heard lots of reports of being seated late........

I have 2 scheduled for departure day. I'm going to ask for late checkout when we check in and I'll decide on which one based on the answer. But if we end up taking the earlier one (enabling me to have a Bloody Mary with my meal), I plan to hit the room one last time afterward...so it might would push us close to the late checkout. I'll have to do some more research.

If we do the later one, it wouldn't be a huge deal as we will just be driving home right after.

 

[Terri]

↑
"'As a mother of 4'
Wow! How old? I actually have 2 stepsons so not quite a mother of 4, but a mother who frequently has 4 boys in the house "

LOL! I couldn't get the quote function to work (actually wasn't patient enough) with a post with multiple existing posts.

The boys are 25 and 22 and the girls are 17 and 13 (Belle and Alice in the avatar). You could say my husband I paced ourselves We usually host an exchange student, too, so there have been times when I had 5 kids as regular fixtures plus all the friends that are part of the package. Our boys did eventually stop arguing by the time they were both in high school and it definitely slowed down at some point after the younger was in middle school. I wouldn't say they are best friends -- they are so different -- but they are definitely close. Now I am just waiting for the girls to stop squabbling.

 

[ariane37]

The boys are 25 and 22 and the girls are 17 and 13 (Belle and Alice in the avatar). You could say my husband I paced ourselves

LOL! My stepsons are 28 and 25, and our boys are 14 and 11 so we have a wide range, too. I sometimes daydream about one or two being girls, because boys are......smelly

Our boys did eventually stop arguing by the time they were both in high school and it definitely slowed down at some point after the younger was in middle school. I wouldn't say they are best friends -- they are so different -- but they are definitely close. Now I am just waiting for the girls to stop squabbling.

I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that the arguing calms down in a couple years when Chris hits middle school maybe. My stepsons are very different and now are very close, so hoping it's that way for my boys.

 

[ariane37]

JINGLE BELL, JINGLE BAM!!
But First,
Oops! He Did It Again
​

When I left you guys last, we had finished up our Thanksgiving meal at Trails End and were waiting for Ricky to pick out the perfect Disney Pez for his "really good friend" Gabby who is NOT his girlfriend, even though they act like it as far as arguing, being jealous, and actually being cute,before moving on to HS. Before I go further I'm going to give you all a quick Disney quiz (don't worry, I'll provide the answers although I'm sure you'll all do better than my "better" half did).
Q: Can you get from Fort Wilderness to Hollywood Studios?
A: Yes
Q: Did we go from Fort Wilderness to Hollywood Studios?
A:............no
Q: Was it my idea to take a detour?
A: If you've read my report up to this point, you all know the answer to this!
What you might not all know is that when you're back at TE, you need to take an internal bus from the Settlement Depot, which is back by TE, back up to the front of the resort (Outpost Depot) to get to where the buses to all the parks go out from. This is easy and is how you go past all the campsites. You can hop on any bus, either the yellow, orange, or purple line. They take different routes but all go up front . And this is what I explained to Steve, telling him we needed to get to the front of the Fort. I guess I need to be extra, extra, extra clear from now on.
A bus came and another guest got on, then got right off saying it was going to the Lodge. As in Wilderness. Steve started getting on and I said "No! Not our bus!" lol. He spoke to the driver and then said to me the driver is going to the front of the resort. I said "the front of FW?" "Yes, the lodge" "We need the front of this resort, the Fort". "Yes that's where he's going" after asking the driver again.
Ladies. And any man that dares continue to read. I knew Steve was asking the driver the wrong thing. However he'd been so aggravated after his whole trip from Beach Club TO FW, and then calmed down and had such a great dinner, I didn't want to argue with him. You know how you pick your battles? I decided to leave this one alone and get on the bus. And that's how we ended up going to WL instead of directly to HS
Q: when we pulled up to WL, who asked me what we were doing there?
A:

Somebody had to pee when we got to HS and this guy was in the window by the bathroom:



I'm pretty sure his brothers were there too but I didn't have time to take any more pictures. I REALLY wanted to make that TOT FP, which we did! Then since it was 7:30 and the dessert party started at 7:45, we really didn't have time to do anything else so we went over to get our wrist bands:


The line to get in was starting to build and since this was still one of the first parties, the tables were scarce. There were a handful of tables with chairs and then another maybe 10-15 high tables w/o chairs. I didn't care about getting chairs and therefore didn't care about getting on line early; I'd also neglected to tell Steve and the boys there wasn't seating for everyone. I didn't think they'd really care but apparently, they did. For that reason we got on line right away and within minutes they passed out the special viewing glasses and let us in.
To everyone's dismay but mine we didn't get a table with chairs right away, but about 10 minutes after getting in we found one that had been vacated allllllllll the way on the end. I loved the setting, basically in front of and to the left of the Great Movie Ride. The only problem was that it was chilly and quite windy over there! We were bundled up as best we could be in our sweatshirts.
Nobody was THAT hungry for desserts except me; I'd been anxiously awaiting this! Chris and I went up to dig in as soon as we found the first standing-only table. The lighting in the dessert area wasn't the best so most of my dessert pictures are dark. I'm going to save them for my dining report but here's one of the cute cupcakes they had along with a rice krispie treat:



It was a chocolate cupcake with peppermint frosting. I ate about half of it because there was other desserts I liked more. One of the coolest desserts was the freeze-dried ice-cream. Ricky was hoping for the freeze-dried nutella they had at the SW dessert party but they changed it out. I enjoyed it and got 2 helpings, Ricky got one, Chris didn't like it for some reason I can't remember. Overall I was the only one who thought the desserts were really good; nothing I'd need to do again though. I'm also the biggest dessert lover in the family and I think the one who saved the most room for dessert, and as I mentioned before I think if we'd eaten earlier or done the party another night, the guys would have enjoyed more desserts.

While eating the boys played with the cool glasses they hand out. I don't think they're exactly 3-D but I can't think of the name now:



They handed these out in 2015 at Osborne Lights to passholders and when you put them on, all the little lights around the park turned to snowmen. Between the 4 pairs we had we saw reindeer, gingerbread men, candy canes and snowmen with ours. The gingerbread men were my favorite



Quick picture of the bar area:




And a crappy picture of the decoration on the table:


One thing I don't have a picture of is us meeting Santa Goofy. This was a "big" part of the dessert party, although when it was announced that there would be a special character meet many people were hoping it was Sandy Claws. I was fine with Santa Goofy however, being the table furthest to the left we were the last table he'd be coming to. The show was starting at 9:00 and it was almost 8:40 when he was a couple tables away from us. The boys were anxious to get to the viewing area and were pushing to leave without seeing him and after asking them to stay for the meet a few times I gave up. No holiday outfit character meet at AK, no Santa Goofy meet at HS
We made our way out about 8:40, close to the last people to leave. The viewing area was pretty full but there was still lots of empty space towards the back of the viewing area, which I'd read on here was the best place to stand since you get a good view and aren't on top of people. Steve and Chris chose to stay out of the actual roped off viewing area along the path, leaning on a rope on what you could technically call a walkway leading into the viewing area. Ricky came with me and we were one row back from the rope that cut off the adults from the children's viewing section. Other than a tall guy who kept swaying back and forth in front of me, we had a really good view:
You can see a little bit of the rope we were behind. Then the rope with the green things hanging off of it closed in the dessert party kids' section and on the other side were "regular" guests who didn't attend the party You'll notice we were a little bit off to the side but it really didn't matter at all.
There was a family directly behind us - parents, little boy about 6? And an infant in a stroller. The mom kept ramming the stroller into my heels as she tried rocking the baby to sleep. The poor little boy was tired and getting impatient waiting for the show to start, and was saying things like he hated Disney, hated his little brother, wanted to go home, etc. And his parents were going OFF on him, I felt so bad! I wanted to turn around and say something but we all know you can't just do that.........
Finally the show started:






I liked the show! Yeah, the storyline might not have been 100% clear if you weren't aware of what it was supposed to be, but I'd read the description of it so I knew what to pay attention to. And if you were familiar with Prep and Landing and Nightmare Before Christmas it helped, but still it was cute and I thought the projections were good. The lasers and the few fireworks that went off during the show were good, too, although like many others I wish there were more fireworks. The ones at the end were awesome, though:





I really, really enjoyed the show. Ricky did too which surprised me since he has no idea what Prep and Landing is and hasn't watched Nightmare before Christmas, but when it was over I turned to him and asked what he thought, and with actual enthusiasm he said it was good. Even more shocking was when we met back up with Steve and Chris and they were BOTH smiling!!! Steve thought it was great!! And he said they had a perfect view with nobody blocking them at all. This is huge for Chris because whenever we watch anything he complains that he can't see
The park was closed at this point so we left with the crowds, but luckily we didn't have to fight for a bus. We did glance at the boat line but that was just silly long, so we took a nice night walk back to the Beach Club. It's a bit dark on the path but it's such a nice walk and there were quite a few people on it besides us. I took a few pictures on our walk back, sorry they're a little blurry:




Is it weird that when we go by resorts at night, I think about the rooms with lights on and what the people in them are doing? Yeah.......now that I write that out it sounds pretty weird...........
Going by Stormalong Bay:


And finally, heading in for the night:


We had a really nice Thanksgiving, SO much better than last years' Disney stomach bug! Transportation craziness aside everything went according to plan which, despite the immense amount of planning we all do, you can't say most of the time in Disney! The only thing I'd change is not having a TS so close to a dessert party and honestly I knew that going into it (kind of a newbie thing to do ) but I still wouldn't change either one if I could go back because it all ended up so good.

UP NEXT: DO YOU WANT TO HEAR A STORY?​

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Hi Ariane! Your trip sounds amazing! Glad to see you enjoyed your Universal work trip too...

 

[xlsm]

I was shaking my head during the bus moment, because I just KNEW what was going to happen. Sometimes we have to let them dig their own graves, lol!

JBJB changing to all seated tables was really nice. I'm glad you guys ended up with a table, and I'm happy Disney decided to change the seating after getting a few shows under their belt. The party setting was definitely my favorite part, but I totally see how it would be a wind tunnel and uncomfortable with cooler temperatures!

I'm sad you didn't get to meet Santa Goofy!! He was a huge plus for me as far as booking the party. Hooray for everyone liking the show! I thought it was cute, and the lasers were really cool, and I like the projections,too.

Speaking of projections...I'm so curious to see how the new Happily Ever After incorporates them with the fireworks at MK. I am hoping it ends up being like Disneyland Forever, because it's the only thing I've ever seen that comes close to Wishes for me. It was spectacular!