'OHANA means CHUNKY! An Aug 2017 Family TR THE END 4/26 - The Last Day and Trip Epilogue!

[chunkymonkey]

Can't wait to hear all about your trip

Thank you and welcome!

Travel delays are the WORST! So, happy you finally made it down safely...Can't wait to hear about all your family adventures!

It was definitely not the first day I was looking for...but at least we were all there!

 

[monorailsilver]

Yay! I am excited to follow along!

The kids are so adorable, your nephew .

 

[bhardy]

I'm from NJ too. But the western part, did you ever fly out of ABE (Lehigh Valley Airport). There are no direct flights BUT the airport is small and easy. Long term parking is within walking distance of airport. We will take a layover over flying out of Newark because it's so bad. Love you trip report so far. Will go back and read some of your others too.

 

[bcwife76]

I'm here I'm here! Man it's already on page 4 lol

Well after a bit of a rough start you have all finally made it. Kudos to no meltdowns from any of the kids

We leave on Monday for our Alaska cruise so I have a feeling I will have several pages to catch up on when we return!

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

Joining in!!! I can't wait to hear all about your trip; I just LOVE your TR'S!!!

 

[Stasieki]

Excited to follow along!

 

[KathyM2]

Oh I didn't know Canadians didn't get their bands, that's too bad it would seem easy for them since it's north America but I guess it's the rule for all international guests?

Yeah I'm sure it is, but I would hope they would have different rules for say Canadians vs those coming from Europe, but I guess not!!

 

[shannie102]

Wooh! Im only 24 hours behind and on page 4- you know you write good trip reports when... hahaha! excited for another installment!

 

[NancyLuvsMickey]

I'm here!!! Love your TR's by the way!!! I took a break from DIS for a year and went back and re-read your TR's... Didn't post, but I did read them! We will be down there when you are... Headed to MNSSHP on the 1st... If I see ya, I'll say hi!!! I'll have my DH and DS with me so it may be a quick hi and bye!

 

[jessicar82]

Following! Love your trip reports!!

 

[Monykalyn]

Yay for new TR!! Sorry we didn't get a chance to meet up-that day in AK with the rain was a bit of a bummer, and we were tired. Still haven't seen RoL yet-but there is always next trip LOL!

It wasn't too bad planning for that many people because they basically left everything up to me. If they all had their opinions then it would have been a different story.

this made me ! Probably best this way if the people you are planning for aren't veterans. DH texted me a question from a friend of ours the other night on choice of restaurants: Hollywood and Vine or Chef Mickeys. I thought it was a planning question, but no, they were there right now!! and wanted to know which. UGH. Haven't heard how it went yet...although DH and son got a walkup at Via Napoli for for lunch so I guess stuff can happen!

Looking forward to how week went. GREAT family picture BTW!!

 

[cajunfan]

I am looking forward to reading how this trip went with coordinating so many people. I need to go back and read the pretrip report too.

 

[Raeven]

Our flight was at 7:30pm.

I always wish we had later flights like that because I get out of work at 6pm, and we could go down the night before if they did. But here the last direct flight out is earlier than 6, and the latest flight that leaves ever is a United flight that leaves at 7:20 but has a layover.

At 5pm we all get the dreaded notification...our flight was delayed, and then delayed again.

Ugh. I've heard JetBlue has delays often, not sure if that's true or not because we haven't flown with them though.

Yup all 15 of us, I didn't lose anyone yet!

 

[amalone1013]

Me saying "We're all here! My job is done! (NOT)"

Step one, complete!

Flight delays are no fun. And really no fun when the airport is... not very interesting? I've had a few delays in teeny airports, one was so small they sent us out of the secured area because the secured area only had vending machines and no bathrooms. I didn't fly anywhere until I was 15, so I have no experience as a kid, but I imagine it's something you would hype up in your head and then when you get there it's like, oh... this is a lot like a car ride, except mom and dad are next to me It seems weird to me that the faux-norail stops running at night What time was that? We're getting in pretty late for our trip.

I'm glad the only opinion I've had to consider for our upcoming trip is Zack's That was what made the DLR trip last summer so hard... Certain people didn't have opinions when I did the planning, but they had plenty of them during the trip!

And hey, all people and all bags made it to the Poly that night, which is what's most important

 

[iivye]

I'm excited to follow along on your adventure. I'm amazed that you were able to organize the trip for that many people! It looks like a lot of fun and the kids are adorable.

 

[pkondz]

Okay! Unsubscribing now, since I know the whole story now...

Close! There's a lot of diplomacy, conquest, and conflict. There are no dice though.

no dice??? What kind of games is he playing over there????

Make the FP+ for your AK day first. and it's better if the AK day is one of the later days of your trip.

Thanks for the tip! Seriously!

what, how dare they grow up!

Ingrates.
I'm cutting them out of the will.....


Nah... On second thought, I'll keep them in the will but spend every single penny before I croak.
That'll show 'em!

They thought it was fun for the first 15 minutes to be on a plane then they were over it.

That's kinda how I feel.

 

[Mich123]

This looks like so much fun! We just started planning a family reunion trip so I'm looking forward to seeing your plans and strategies.

 

[ariane37]

Aaaaand, caught up

Well, myself mostly but it's not like Steve ever says no to any of our trips!

Our Steve's are good men

She loves her characters and loves her pictures. She had an outfit for every day and sometimes changed for different character meals. She's dedicated, that one.
(And yes, she was hot wearing the sweater in 95 degree heat.)

I noticed all her outfits in your FB posts, love them! I also noticed her sweaters and I started sweating myself lol

I've know Kelly since college and she's been like a sister to me so her family are honorary chunkies!

I love that!

Plus, I learned A LOT about stroller parking and Rider Switch!

Funny! We never used rider swap when the boys were little so I wasn't very familiar with it either, until I had to start explaining it to clients.

At 5pm we all get the dreaded notification...our flight was delayed, and then delayed again.

Yup, those texts suck. Our delay on the way down this month was only an hour but the way back started out being much worse. Thankfully it ended up not being that way but it's always a crap shoot!

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.

Huh? I had no idea there WAS a last airport monorail to the main terminal??? Is this only for JetBlue now because of the work their doing? That makes no sense with flights arriving at all hours.
Sorry arrival night didn't go nearly as planned, I'm feeling you on that due to our arrival night. But thankfully it didn't seem to dampen anyone spirits, and you had a whole wonderful trip ahead of you

 

[chunkymonkey]

Yay! I am excited to follow along!

The kids are so adorable, your nephew .

Thank you so much! He is really cute, that one.

I'm from NJ too. But the western part, did you ever fly out of ABE (Lehigh Valley Airport). There are no direct flights BUT the airport is small and easy. Long term parking is within walking distance of airport. We will take a layover over flying out of Newark because it's so bad. Love you trip report so far. Will go back and read some of your others too.

Ah Lehigh Valley, is that close to PA? I've been to the Sands Casino which I think is in the Lehigh Valley. Unfortunately it is too far away for us. We're used to flying out of Newark which is just 25 mins away, it's just that this old Jetblue Terminal was just dingey...the United terminal is much nicer.

I'm here I'm here! Man it's already on page 4 lol
Well after a bit of a rough start you have all finally made it. Kudos to no meltdowns from any of the kids
We leave on Monday for our Alaska cruise so I have a feeling I will have several pages to catch up on when we return!

Yay! Yeah, this thread blew up so quickly! It's pretty awesome!
OMG Have a great trip! Alaska is my bucket list!

Joining in!!! I can't wait to hear all about your trip; I just LOVE your TR'S!!!

Thank you for reading!!

Excited to follow along!

Thank you!!!

Yeah I'm sure it is, but I would hope they would have different rules for say Canadians vs those coming from Europe, but I guess not!!

that sucks. At least you are closer to Disney than those who live in Europe!

Wooh! Im only 24 hours behind and on page 4- you know you write good trip reports when... hahaha! excited for another installment!

Haha yeah this thread really blew up, but thank you! I enjoy all your comments!!
Thanks for reading!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Wow, what a crazy travel day and with a group that big... I cannot believe you all managed to stay sane, but everyone looks so excited so I guess that helps and how nice you all ended up in nearby rooms at the Poly. Looking forward to hearing about your first full day!