family trip..1/8-1/15 **pictures added (1-23) PAGE 2**

[Blueeyes101817]

Ok--who went on the trip?
myself (jen)-20 years old
my friend, (jess aka lx JESSIE xl on the boards)-17 years old
my brother (Joe)-18 years old
joes friend (Brandon)-19 years old
mom-(cathy)
dad-(joe)
later in the week, uncle greg makes an appearance!!

Friday, january 7th
FINALLY-tomorrow is the big day, i have to babysit ( i babysit every day) then im going home to finish getting ready...Jess and Brandon would be sleeping over since we were leaving our house at 4:30 am..
so we get a ton of blankets and were all just relaxing watching a movie...ended up staying awake alll night..i was soo exhausted..but thats what having a brother does--he doesnt let ya fall asleep!!

Saturday, January 8th
so since we didnt sleep, we were all started getting ready and all 6 of us were ready to leave by 4:15...our plane didnt leave till 7, but you never know with the philadelphia airport! so we get to the airport, checkin, and we all got emergency row seats--now this is a big thing for my family as my brother is six foot six, my dad six foot four...so we all love the emergency row!
The flight wasnt too bad, just seemed really long....i took a nap but it was only 10 minutes...geeez
Finally we land in orlando and get all 7 of our luggage pieces, which took awhile...the car that picked us up offered a stop at the food store...when we got there, jess and i took a cart and went one way...mom and dad another,,,joe and brandon another---we only got 20 minutes!! we had to stock up our rooms, so that was interesting! then we headed to Port Orleans Riverside-we had 3 rooms all next to each other, which worked out well.
Now i was activating my annual pass but everyone else just had 5 day park hoppers, so no park the first day..we all ended up going to down town disney to shop and we ate dinner at planet hollywood...was very fun, but we were all tired, so we ended up going b ack to the hotel and going to sleep at like 11...

Sunday January 9th
Today i was sooo ready to go to the parks...Jess had never been to disney before, so we had to go to magic kingdom first..we hung out with the family for awhile and then everyone separated to do their own rides ...I h ad a nice DIS pin that a DISer sent me, and i lost it on the first day! figures!! it fell off my bag when my mom was holding it while i rode space mountin(random, but we did stitch's great escape, and i didnt like it either....lots and lots of scared little kiddies in there too)..after awhile in the park, we went to the hotel for a late lunch and too rest a bit...we were going to the EMH at MGM that night..we all went to Fantasmic! and then just rode RNRC and TOT over and over and over again..it was great...there were no lines and the extra magic hour was great..
after that, we just went back to the hotel and swam..then bed

Monday, January 10th
Today ended up being really busy..we went to DTD in the morning---what could be better than MORE shopping?! in the morning, we went to animal kingdom with my mom and dad, since they hadnt been to disney since AK opened..had lunch there (Somewhere near the safari) then jess and i headed to MGM to meet Eric (DISer SyracuseWolvrine)--we could only stay for one ride since my family was all meeting back at the hotel--that was the ONLY diser i saw all week!..after the "family lunch/dinner thing" we all went back to mgm to ride RNRC AGAIN...ended up being the family favorite...we were all in line and the lights came on and they just ran us out of there...no idea what happened there! after that, we just all went out to dinner and relaxed in the hotel pool and hot tub for awhile

Tuesday January 11th
Today was Blizzard Beach day...not a huge fan of water parks myself, but the family didnt have an extra day on the park hoppers..so off we went..wasnt too bad, but i would have rather been doing something else..but we hung out there for awhile, then all just layed around by the pool at the hotel..that was pretty fun...we talked to a really nice family from Canada that had 2 cute little boys...and just basically were bums for the day...then of course, i shopped


Wednesday, january 12th
When i woke up, my friend was still tired, so she went back to sleep and i went to the parks with mom and dad for awhile..we were told we al had to meet back at the hotel for lunch at 12...weird for us, since we never really make too many plans..so the 6 of us met and we eat..then all went back toe our rooms..we had plans later that night so we were just going to relax..jess and i were in our room just watching tv when someone knocked on our door..i opened it , and it was dad asking if i was e ver going to be ready--i got confused, we didnt have plans..thne i heard another voice saying he did not come all the way from jersey to sit in the rooms..i was soo excited..it was my uncle greg! we had been trying to get him to come to disney with us, but he said he was too busy--so that was a great surprise!
we all went out with him to MGM for awhile and he went on RNRC , TOT for the first time..then Jess, mom, joe and brandon and i had tickets to see the taping of who wants to be a millioniare--was supposed to be a 7:00 show, but apparently they were running late, so we ended up going to the 6:00 show that was taping at 7:00...(any other DISers there?!?)That was kinda fun..i liked seeing all of the behind the scene stuff..
so for going to that, we got free tickets to pleasure island....we ended up all going to comedy warehouse --well, just me, jess,mom,dad, and uncle greg....mom wanted to sit near the back so we werent part of the show..wouldnt ya know, that the phone next to my mom rings and the whole family was part of the show--it was great (again, any DISers there? it was the 10:30 show..we were the "new jersey familiy").
after that we all went back to the hotel to be bums because we had a big day tomorrow...


THursday January 13th
Uncle greg only came till Friday morning, so thursday was his only full day there...mom stayed back at the hotel, and joe and brandon went off by themselves..dad, jess,uncle greg and i went to animal kingdom, mgm and magic kingdom..we were running allll day ...all 7 of us met up for dinner in Germany, which was nice...im such a picky eater, but they even had chicken fingers- so i was good we did the extra magic hours at epcot then went back to swim and sleep

Friday, January14
woke up and it was POARING!! guess i cant really complain because e very other day had been sunny and in the 80s...still,,didnt want all that rain!! we just layed around the resort for awhile then went to DTD to return something that i had bought and didnt fit..then we had lunch at rainforest cafe..when we got back to the hotel, the rain had stopped..dad and i hit the parks ---Jess wasnt feeling so great so she slept for awhile, then went out later with my mom, brother, and brandon..so dad and i went to MGM and MK together and had a blast...we got to ride RNRC 4 times and then at MK we rode splash mountain 2 times (it got stopped and they said "someone was doing something they shouldnt have been"hmmm) then we rode big thunder mountain railroad 4 times without getting off..very fun! we watched wishes as we walked out and then just went to get dinner and relax at the hotell..

Saturday January 15
we all woke up at 6:30 because it was leaving day...not very fun! but it was a long fun week! and i was exhausted--plus we were all feeling kinda sick..like a cold maybe...so went left early and went to the airport--nothing too exciting there,,plane was delayed...so we got home around 2...


All in all, a great trip!! im ready to go back already, since it is FREEZING here in new jersey--well maybe not freezing, but compared to FL, its freezing!!
we all ended up having a great time...all the laundry is done (which is one of the worst things about coming back from vacation)...now i leave again in less than 3 weeks!!! going back with the family i babysit ..so that hsould be fun..!

 

[pumba]

how wonderful that they will take you too......what hotel will you stay at when you go with your babysitting family.? Sounds like you all had a great time and I am excited to go back too in 88 days........thanks for your report

 

[Blueeyes101817]

pumba--thanks for responding! i never wrote a trip report before and thought it may be too boring for people to read ! we will be staying at animal kingdom lodge when i go...i cant wait!

 

[Michelle2]

Thanks for posting your report, I really appreciated how you put the day and date before your descriptions. Usually I wonder what day they are talking about. I have a few questions though because we are thinking of going almost those exact dates next year... It sounds like the crowds were VERY manageable...how did you find the overall crowd level for the parks while you were there? Also how crowded was Blizzard Beach? Sounds like with your weather then it was an ideal time to go! Glad you had a great trip, makes me so excited for ours!

 

[Lorelai71]

Thanks for posting. It was really nice to read.

 

[Blueeyes101817]

michelle--it was the best time i have been there! the whole week we really didnt even need fastpasses, until the last day (friday),,,that was on rnrc....it was raining and everyone wanted to be inside...i love taking vacations at this time of the year because many people dont take their kids out of school the first week after they come back..i think the longest wait was 15 minutes--it was great!!!

 

[agnes!]

Blueeyes101817 -

(Gee, did I spell that right?...) Anyway, I was wondering about WDW's implementation of the "new" version of EMH. Are they diligent in checking for resort ID? Or are they letting anyone/everyone enjoy the morning or evening EMH? I know for the hard-ticket events, the gate CMs check for your pass and you're given a wristband - did the CMs hand out wristbands? (I'll be at WDW later this month & was wondering exactly how the EMH was working.)

Thanks in advance for your answer.

agnes!
PS - Btw, great trip report .

 

[Blueeyes101817]

hi agnes-
call me jen, its easier to type hahaha..
the times we went, we had to show our ID then they would put the wristband on for you..i only went to the late ones, so im not sure if it was the same for the morning ones...but i know 6 of us went in together and they checked all 6 of our keys for the room...have a great time!

 

[lagunaseca]

I really enjoyed your trip report. Lucky you going back so soon! Have a great time!

 

[Blueeyes101817]

Thanks everyone! i thought my report was going to be boring,,glad to see you guys liked it!

 

[stich626]

SOunds like you had a fun trip. You are lucky you get to go again soo soon. I think everybody is jealous.

 

[Blueeyes101817]

thanks again--im going to be posting some pics next week when i get them developed!

 

[fizz13]

Hey there! Glad to hear you had a good time and lucky you to be going back so soon. We were caught in the rain on Friday too so just bummed around MGM in the afternoon till we had to go to the airport.

Thanks for the report,
Claire

 

[agnes!]

jen -

Thanks for the reply . I am glad to hear that WDW is enforcing the EMH/"resort guests only" rule. I was concerned, when I first heard about the revamped hours, that when the word gets out off-site guests will attempt to crash the party, so to speak. It's nice to know that wristbands are being handed out.

agnes!

 

[Blueeyes101817]

claire--im sorry i never got to see y ou! did you get the chance to meet anyone

 

[mainelyj]

Sounds like a great time. Thanks for posting.

 

[toystoryduo]

Sounds like you had a great time, Jen! And what a great surprise having your uncle show up!!! :jumping4:

 

[kathymc]

thanks for posting and how cool is that to be going back so soon!

have fun

 

[Blueeyes101817]

heyyy tracy
i was soo excited my uncle came!!

 

[Blueeyes101817]

got some pics up!! im the one in the red in the f irst pic...the other person in the pictures is DISer lx JESSIE xl, who went with my family