'OHANA means CHUNKY! An Aug 2017 Family TR THE END 4/26 - The Last Day and Trip Epilogue!
- Thread starter chunkymonkey
- Start date
Grumpy's Wife
Dollar Tree gal here
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How exciting! What a beautiful family you have. I can't wait to read all about it.
princesspiglet
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I'm here- can't wait to read!
chunkymonkey
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For those of you interested you can read my PTR on how this whole trip came about. I made ADRs and FPs all by myself for our group. I even got ourselves multiple FP+ on Flight of Passage (for different days of course). It is doable everyone! Plus, I learned A LOT about stroller parking and Rider Switch! Our next trip should be a piece of cake, right? 
This TR is going to be a challenge to write. Mainly because there were so many moving parts to the trip, I wasn't everywhere at the same time, plus I have pictures coming from many different sources, everyone's phones, photopass, my camera, etc. I will write it form my perspective and see if I can make this seem like a normal flowing TR but I may have to just randomly post pictures here and there that didn't make it into a post.
Anyways, here goes...
Friday, August 11th: Day 0 - Travel Day
Day 0 was travel day! Our trip was finally here! Our flight was at 7:30pm. We bought the cheapest direct flight from Newark to Orlando that weekend - on Jetblue. I had a full day at work and so did Steve. Almost everyone else with either off or working from home, and obviously the kids are off from school so everyone had plenty of time to get ready and head over to the airport. At 5pm we all get the dreaded notification...our flight was delayed, and then delayed again. At this time people had already started leaving for the airport, so there was nothing we could do but wait. Since Steve and I drive to the airport and park for the week, we just took our time in getting there. We went to a nearby mall, ate at the food court, and Steve picked up some sneakers for the trip. We arrived at 7:30pm which was our original departure time. Our new departure time was closer to 9:30pm.
This was obviously not the start to the trip that I was looking for.
The kids were in good spirits though, they were very excited, and very excited to hang out together.
The terminal was packed. This was not the usual terminal we fly out of since we usually fly United which has a nice big terminal at Newark, but this was was small and dirty and there wasn't much to eat at all. The kids got ice cream and pretzels and they were happy though. The adults got some sandwiches and that was dinner. Thankfully since Steve and I already ate were not subject to bad airport food. We found out our flight was moved up to 9:07pm, thank goodness so we got to board by 8:40pm. None of us got early boarding but since we do have children under 2 years old, we got the good ol kiddie priority boarding. Steve and I went up with them, as we are technically all the same family anyways, so we got to board first!
We all got seats next to each other with Kelly's family a few rows back. Finally we were on board, strapped in and ready to go.
CT2's kids (Caylee and Bryan) did not want to sit at all throughout the flight. Eva was a doll and Sienna was a lap baby anyways so she was passed around to every adult.
Here's me and Chunkysis!
The flight was rather uneventful and thankfully short. I don't think any of the kids slept at all, being on a plane for the first time (except for Kelly's who are world travelers). It was cute to see but for the most part unless they had an ipad or the direct tv on, they were kinda bored.
Finally we were in Orlando!! But of course as soon as we land, the flight attendants tell us that the LAST airport monorail to the main terminal was about to leave and if we didn't catch it we'd have to take buses to the main terminal. Sigh. So, we all basically grabbed a carry-on, grabbed a kid, and huffed and puffed our way out of the airplane and ran for the monorail with me leading the way and DH guiding people in the back. Thank goodness we were in the front of the plane as we made it on the (crowded) monorail with a few moments to spare. Yup all 15 of us, I didn't lose anyone yet!
Since it was such a late hour we had to go pick up our bags from baggage claim (Terminal A) and then go all the way to Magical Express (Terminal B). Thankfully our luggage was very quick with the exception of Kelly's single stroller which she had checked in. It appeared in oversized baggage but no one had told her so they spent a few minutes looking for it before finally being found. Everyone in check, we headed to Magical Express, which of course required you to go back up across the terminal then back down again. Sigh.
Eva was ready for the week!
And so was her uncle Kevin:
The poor dads, lugging our double strollers and all the luggage while the moms had to juggle the kids. Surprisingly despite the late hour, no one was cranky yet.
We all checked in and the kids even got to use their bands for the first time. Only one band per reservation needs to be scanned.
Waiting for our ME bus!
Me saying "We're all here! My job is done! (NOT)"
We got on the bus which was fairly empty.
As you can see Steve is thinking "What did I get myself into?" or "Here we go all over again" or "Stop taking pictures already!"
Finally after a 30 minute ride, we see this:
We still had to make four stops at other resorts. And guess what stop we were? Correct, the LAST STOP. It was also raining that night, which was an indication of the weather to come. Blech.
and finally after we were all about to pass out, we turn into the Polynesian Village. Our home! Welcome Ohana!
Look, it is soo hot that the glass doors are all fogged up.
We all checked in and realized we were in the same building, Rarotonga, which is what I requested. Yay! 3 rooms are next to each other while CT2's family had the room right below on the first floor. It was so late we just trudged to our room and passed out, with the dads carrying their sleeping kids. I told the CMs to deliver our Garden Grocer order the next morning because we just couldn't handle it all right now and they said it would be slow in arriving since there is only one bell hop at this time.
It was close to 1am when I went to bed...it was not a good start to the trip, but at least we all made it down safely!
Coming up the next day...the kids first glimpse at the castle!
This TR is going to be a challenge to write. Mainly because there were so many moving parts to the trip, I wasn't everywhere at the same time, plus I have pictures coming from many different sources, everyone's phones, photopass, my camera, etc. I will write it form my perspective and see if I can make this seem like a normal flowing TR but I may have to just randomly post pictures here and there that didn't make it into a post.
Anyways, here goes...Friday, August 11th: Day 0 - Travel Day
Day 0 was travel day! Our trip was finally here! Our flight was at 7:30pm. We bought the cheapest direct flight from Newark to Orlando that weekend - on Jetblue. I had a full day at work and so did Steve. Almost everyone else with either off or working from home, and obviously the kids are off from school so everyone had plenty of time to get ready and head over to the airport. At 5pm we all get the dreaded notification...our flight was delayed, and then delayed again. At this time people had already started leaving for the airport, so there was nothing we could do but wait. Since Steve and I drive to the airport and park for the week, we just took our time in getting there. We went to a nearby mall, ate at the food court, and Steve picked up some sneakers for the trip. We arrived at 7:30pm which was our original departure time. Our new departure time was closer to 9:30pm.
This was obviously not the start to the trip that I was looking for. The kids were in good spirits though, they were very excited, and very excited to hang out together.
The terminal was packed. This was not the usual terminal we fly out of since we usually fly United which has a nice big terminal at Newark, but this was was small and dirty and there wasn't much to eat at all. The kids got ice cream and pretzels and they were happy though. The adults got some sandwiches and that was dinner. Thankfully since Steve and I already ate were not subject to bad airport food. We found out our flight was moved up to 9:07pm, thank goodness so we got to board by 8:40pm. None of us got early boarding but since we do have children under 2 years old, we got the good ol kiddie priority boarding. Steve and I went up with them, as we are technically all the same family anyways, so we got to board first!
We all got seats next to each other with Kelly's family a few rows back. Finally we were on board, strapped in and ready to go.
CT2's kids (Caylee and Bryan) did not want to sit at all throughout the flight. Eva was a doll and Sienna was a lap baby anyways so she was passed around to every adult.
Here's me and Chunkysis!
The flight was rather uneventful and thankfully short. I don't think any of the kids slept at all, being on a plane for the first time (except for Kelly's who are world travelers). It was cute to see but for the most part unless they had an ipad or the direct tv on, they were kinda bored.
Finally we were in Orlando!! But of course as soon as we land, the flight attendants tell us that the LAST airport monorail to the main terminal was about to leave and if we didn't catch it we'd have to take buses to the main terminal. Sigh. So, we all basically grabbed a carry-on, grabbed a kid, and huffed and puffed our way out of the airplane and ran for the monorail with me leading the way and DH guiding people in the back. Thank goodness we were in the front of the plane as we made it on the (crowded) monorail with a few moments to spare. Yup all 15 of us, I didn't lose anyone yet!
Since it was such a late hour we had to go pick up our bags from baggage claim (Terminal A) and then go all the way to Magical Express (Terminal B). Thankfully our luggage was very quick with the exception of Kelly's single stroller which she had checked in. It appeared in oversized baggage but no one had told her so they spent a few minutes looking for it before finally being found. Everyone in check, we headed to Magical Express, which of course required you to go back up across the terminal then back down again. Sigh.
Eva was ready for the week!
And so was her uncle Kevin:
The poor dads, lugging our double strollers and all the luggage while the moms had to juggle the kids. Surprisingly despite the late hour, no one was cranky yet.
We all checked in and the kids even got to use their bands for the first time. Only one band per reservation needs to be scanned.
Waiting for our ME bus!
Me saying "We're all here! My job is done! (NOT)"
We got on the bus which was fairly empty.
As you can see Steve is thinking "What did I get myself into?" or "Here we go all over again" or "Stop taking pictures already!"
Finally after a 30 minute ride, we see this:
We still had to make four stops at other resorts. And guess what stop we were? Correct, the LAST STOP. It was also raining that night, which was an indication of the weather to come. Blech.
and finally after we were all about to pass out, we turn into the Polynesian Village. Our home! Welcome Ohana!
Look, it is soo hot that the glass doors are all fogged up.
We all checked in and realized we were in the same building, Rarotonga, which is what I requested. Yay! 3 rooms are next to each other while CT2's family had the room right below on the first floor. It was so late we just trudged to our room and passed out, with the dads carrying their sleeping kids. I told the CMs to deliver our Garden Grocer order the next morning because we just couldn't handle it all right now and they said it would be slow in arriving since there is only one bell hop at this time.
It was close to 1am when I went to bed...it was not a good start to the trip, but at least we all made it down safely!
Coming up the next day...the kids first glimpse at the castle!
Last edited:
/
chunkymonkey
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 27, 2009
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- 4,657
Thank you for reading!
Thank you for reading!
Haha you're in for a treat. She's got a lot of nice outfits planned.
Thank you so much! That Mulan shirt turned out to be a new favorite!
Thank you so much for reading and welcome!!!
Thank you! Ha, just call me Merida! *shoots arrow at target*
I'm in! First time follower and boy does this look like a duzi; pics are on point - great read so far!
Thank you so much for following!!
What beautiful children! Hope you had a great time, you are a fun writer to read
Thank you so much! We had a great time, but it wasn't without it's ups and downs for sure.
Popping in to say I'm here!!! Will be back asap to read upCan't wait!
Hi Ariane!!
Thank you so much!
Thank you! Love your username by the way!
Aww thank you! It was amazing we got one shot where everyone is looking. Think it might have been the only one!
Hi Lynn!!
wdwnut61
DIS Veteran
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- Mar 14, 2002
- Messages
- 12,802
I'm here so excited to follow along on your big family adventure 
First what a beautiful family and such a great picture of everyone at 'Ohana's.
Glad everyone made it safely despite the delays.
When you were describing running to catch the monorail it reminded me of Home Alone
Glad everyone made it
First what a beautiful family and such a great picture of everyone at 'Ohana's.
Glad everyone made it safely despite the delays.
When you were describing running to catch the monorail it reminded me of Home Alone
Glad everyone made it
Last edited:
4DisneyWVUfans
Mouseketeer
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- Jan 13, 2017
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Hi! I am really excited about your new report. I just started reading them in the last six months. Your reports are awesome!
KathyM2
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- Jun 16, 2011
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I'm here at last ) Looking forward to hearing more about the trip that I didn't already!!
I commend you for not losing your mind on this lol!! What a load of planning, I can't imagine.
This is one that I want to try but haven't made it to yet.
We can't be friends anymore. Kidding) But really? PM is the BEST!!! Never a line, good place to put your feet up, good views all around...what's not to like??
Still haven't figured out who this one is. Must do some research but keep forgetting.
This must have been fun, to travel with the large group, at least at that point lol
This is so cool We didn't get our bands until getting to the hotel because, Canadians are aliens lol. So I had to dig for my confirmation number etc so they could print out a voucher for the ME...and all these people were behind me wondering what was the holdup...sigh...
) Looking forward to hearing more about the trip that I didn't already!!I commend you for not losing your mind on this lol!! What a load of planning, I can't imagine.
This is one that I want to try but haven't made it to yet.
We can't be friends anymore. Kidding
) But really? PM is the BEST!!! Never a line, good place to put your feet up, good views all around...what's not to like??Still haven't figured out who this one is. Must do some research but keep forgetting.
This must have been fun, to travel with the large group, at least at that point lol
This is so cool We didn't get our bands until getting to the hotel because, Canadians are aliens lol. So I had to dig for my confirmation number etc so they could print out a voucher for the ME...and all these people were behind me wondering what was the holdup...sigh...
karalecia26
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2014
- Messages
- 403
So excited for your TP! I have read a couple of your other ones and started to read your PRT and can't wait to see what you all do! I would love to do a big family trip, but I think I would go crazy if I ever did! My family of 5 can be crazy enough!
Neverland_Girl
Mouseketeer
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- Aug 17, 2016
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Yay I'm here!!! Your nieces and nephew are all so adorable. I'm sure your trip got better after travel day, and I can't wait to hear all about it!
Elizabeth Smith
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- May 7, 2017
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I love airports, is that weird? Your airport pictures are super cute. The kids with their little luggage and you with your happy Disney face! I like the view of the Disney World sign at night. I don't think I have ever seen a picture of it like that all lit up. So beautiful!
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