Trip Number 9 ~ It's the Most Wonderful Time of Year ~ Christmastime at the GF & Poly

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Boy that really bites about the rash! Stuff like that is such a bummer on vacation. I sure hope it went away quickly so he could enjoy his trip. Poor guy! He's still super cute though... rash and all!

Don't you love the CMs that go above and beyond to make the magic happen. I've only ever found people like that in Disney. We went to Great Wolf Lodge once and it was VERY obvious that they were trying to be a Disney 'knockoff' for lack of a better word. We did enjoy going there, but they in no way compared to Disney and the difference was the CMs. You just can't beat Disney service. It's not always perfect, but it's always 10x better than the competition!

We got DD a golf cart for Christmas this year and we have had the best time on that thing! They are really fun to ride on. We like it way better than a 4-wheeler because you know we are not very adventurous! Glad your boys enjoyed their VIP transfer! If I was a Disney CM, I would want to be the one who rides the golf cart all over Disney property!

Can't wait to see how the Poly portion of your trip went. I really enjoyed reading about your last stay there.

Ah, thanks! That's what I kept telling him -- you are still cute even with the rash!!

I know what you mean. Disney CM's can really make the trip!! That guy was so awesome! We loved our wild golf cart ride. I think he was driving kind of wild for the boys! How fun that your DD has a golf cart!

Lots of Poly to come. We weren't sure if we would love it as much since we were spoiled and stayed CL the first time we stayed there, but it was every bit as wonderful.

You would think it would not be that complicated to transfer guests and their luggage to the resort NEXT DOOR!! Glad at least one CM was smart and nice enough to bring you over.

I know!!! That's what I was thinking. I mean it's so close we could have walked there had we not had so many bags!

Oh bless his little heart. Its so difficult when you're so self conscious about something that isn't right on you. And that rash was certainly awful- no more penicillin for him. I am super surprised the Dr wouldn't call in a steroid for it. It would have made it so much better in about a day. I just kept thinking for sure he would give it to you. (Did you know it will take the burn out of a sunburn as well????? Not that I recommend it at all!!! )

So glad you were able to get someone with some sense from Bell Services to help you out with the luggage. That was really nice of him to do. I'm sure he appreciated his tip. Was it a tall-ish man with glasses? If so, he is the one that always helps us with our luggage at SL and he is SUPER. Don't remember his name.... Jim? Might have been Jim. IDK.

Mark told me he had seen you on the way to the Poly. He decided he'd rather go for a run that morning than the MK. Well truth be told--- he'd rather go for a run ANY morning than get up to go to a park.

Yay for getting all of your requests met at the Poly--- plus more! That was a nice change from check in at the GF!!

Looks like you were set to have a great day at DHS! Star Tours was about a 10 minute wait for us as well when we rode it on Wednesday. The parks seemed crowded but the waits were never bad. It was strange.

Felt the same about all the Christmas Music in the parks. Just.......... nope. Would rather hear the regular music.


Okay well now that I've written a book I'll just say I really enjoyed the heck out of this update!

I know, I thought the doctor would be more concerned about the rash. But he was only concerned about any swelling. So DS just had to tough it out.

The CM was a taller man with glasses! Probably your guy. He was awesome! I should have paid more attention to his name.

Yes, check in at the Poly was not quite as confusing as it was at the GF

It was weird how there were so many people in the parks, but the lines really weren't that long. Guess they were all just hanging out enjoying all the holiday music.........


Glad you enjoyed the update!!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

How did everybody in Nemo's path make out??

We only got 18 in. I guess that's better than the 2+ ft. They were predicting. I know some did get that.

The boys are snow blowing and shovelling as we speak. Glad I'm not out there lol.

Makes me want to leave for FL today!! Only 5 more days!!! Woohoo

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

How did everybody in Nemo's path make out??

We only got 18 in. I guess that's better than the 2+ ft. They were predicting. I know some did get that.

The boys are snow blowing and shovelling as we speak. Glad I'm not out there lol.

Makes me want to leave for FL today!! Only 5 more days!!! Woohoo

We got a couple of inches yesterday when we were at school. That's about it. But I don't think we were supposed to get much more.

18 inches! Better than 2 feet, but still!! I bet you are so ready for FL!!




How much did you get Lauren??? Are you going to be able to fly out tomorrow?

 

[lala3291]

Hi Shelly,
Nope, no flying out for us tomorrow. Our flight has already been cancelled. There are no direct flights out until Wednesday, which unfortunately doesn't work for DH's work schedule.

We rescheduled for 2/26 - 3/3, right over DD's 22nd birthday, so it actually worked out alright. At least we are still going! And we switched resorts to POR. I wanted to give it a try, and we got a great rate. We are staying for five nights there instead of four. We will be at the Poly in May and we wanted to save some money.

But, boy was it a saga with the JetBlue! I was on the phone with them for an hour and a half. They are crazy busy!

We got over two feet of snow. And the snow drifts are so high! They were up to the passenger window of my SUV! We have been digging out all day, but at least we didn't lose power!! It could be worse!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Hi Shelly,
Nope, no flying out for us tomorrow. Our flight has already been cancelled. There are no direct flights out until Wednesday, which unfortunately doesn't work for DH's work schedule.

We rescheduled for 2/26 - 3/3, right over DD's 22nd birthday, so it actually worked out alright. At least we are still going! And we switched resorts to POR. I wanted to give it a try, and we got a great rate. We are staying for five nights there instead of four. We will be at the Poly in May and we wanted to save some money.

But, boy was it a saga with the JetBlue! I was on the phone with them for an hour and a half. They are crazy busy!

We got over two feet of snow. And the snow drifts are so high! They were up to the passenger window of my SUV! We have been digging out all day, but at least we didn't lose power!! It could be worse!

That's great that you rescheduled!!! Have a blast!

I'm driving down on Friday. Can't wait!!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Hi Shelly,
Nope, no flying out for us tomorrow. Our flight has already been cancelled. There are no direct flights out until Wednesday, which unfortunately doesn't work for DH's work schedule.

We rescheduled for 2/26 - 3/3, right over DD's 22nd birthday, so it actually worked out alright. At least we are still going! And we switched resorts to POR. I wanted to give it a try, and we got a great rate. We are staying for five nights there instead of four. We will be at the Poly in May and we wanted to save some money.

But, boy was it a saga with the JetBlue! I was on the phone with them for an hour and a half. They are crazy busy!

We got over two feet of snow. And the snow drifts are so high! They were up to the passenger window of my SUV! We have been digging out all day, but at least we didn't lose power!! It could be worse!

Oh no Lauren!! I'm so sorry. That really stinks. But I'm glad you are all safe and didn't lose your power.

That's good that you were able to reschedule. I hope you like POR. We loved it!!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

When I left off DS13 and I had just finished up on RNRC.

Since RNRC was playing Christmas music after the ride instead of Aerosmith music we didn't hang out for long. We could hear Christmas music anywhere in the parks, didn't need to stay there and hear it! We called DH & DS11 and they had been doing a little shopping. We met up with them and headed over towards the new Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow walk through.

The wait time for it said 30 minutes. The kids were getting hungry and didn't want to wait almost an hour to eat, so we passed. Noticed that TSM had over an hour wait. But no worries, we had FP+'s for that later!

So we headed on past all that and then over to the Streets of America and then swung back towards SciFi Dine In.

It was about noon by now. We had a lunch and a dinner reservation at Sci-Fi for that day. I originally made a dinner ADR, but then about a week or so before we left for vacation I thought that we might want to do lunch instead. The only thing they had was a 12:30, so I took it! But kept the dinner just in-case.

We walked up and told them that we had an ADR for 12:30, but wondered if we could get in any earlier. They said we could be seated in about 5 minutes! So I then canceled the dinner ADR.

I was a little nervous about eating here. I knew they had changed their menu since the last time we were there and that they had taken the steak salad off the menu entirely. Which is what I always got and loved.

We all ordered milkshakes and then started to look at the menu.

I didn't see a single thing I wanted! There wasn't even a grilled chicken sandwich. Which is always something I fall back on if there isn't anything else I like. I had read the menu on AllEars before we left and there was a chicken sandwich on there.

So when the CM came to take our order I asked if they had one. And she said no. So I said  you have no grilled chicken?? And she said  well you can get a chicken BLT....I said is it grilled? She said yes. And I said  I'll take that, minus the bacon!! I hate bacon. Hate the smell, hate the taste. Even the site of it! So here I was getting a BLT, with no B.

Here is my Chicken BLT with fries.

DH got the Smoked Turkey Sandwich with cucumber salad.

DS11 got the Kids Hot Dog & fries,

And DS13 got the Kids Hamburger & fries.

Everything was very good as always!

Total Bill: $65.52 (Keep in mind $20 of this was milkshakes )
Rating: 9 out of 10



Up Next: The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow and TSM!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

When I left off DS13 and I had just finished up on RNRC.

Since RNRC was playing Christmas music after the ride instead of Aerosmith music we didn't hang out for long. We could hear Christmas music anywhere in the parks, didn't need to stay there and hear it! We called DH & DS11 and they had been doing a little shopping. We met up with them and headed over towards the new Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow walk through.

The wait time for it said 30 minutes. The kids were getting hungry and didn't want to wait almost an hour to eat, so we passed. Noticed that TSM had over an hour wait. But no worries, we had FP+'s for that later!

So we headed on past all that and then over to the Streets of America and then swung back towards SciFi Dine In.

It was about noon by now. We had a lunch and a dinner reservation at Sci-Fi for that day. I originally made a dinner ADR, but then about a week or so before we left for vacation I thought that we might want to do lunch instead. The only thing they had was a 12:30, so I took it! But kept the dinner just in-case.

We walked up and told them that we had an ADR for 12:30, but wondered if we could get in any earlier. They said we could be seated in about 5 minutes! So I then canceled the dinner ADR.

I was a little nervous about eating here. I knew they had changed their menu since the last time we were there and that they had taken the steak salad off the menu entirely. Which is what I always got and loved.

We all ordered milkshakes and then started to look at the menu.

I didn't see a single thing I wanted! There wasn't even a grilled chicken sandwich. Which is always something I fall back on if there isn't anything else I like. I had read the menu on AllEars before we left and there was a chicken sandwich on there.

So when the CM came to take our order I asked if they had one. And she said no. So I said you have no grilled chicken?? And she said well you can get a chicken BLT....I said is it grilled? She said yes. And I said I'll take that, minus the bacon!! I hate bacon. Hate the smell, hate the taste. Even the site of it! So here I was getting a BLT, with no B.

Here is my Chicken BLT with fries.

DH got the Smoked Turkey Sandwich with cucumber salad.

DS11 got the Kids Hot Dog & fries,

And DS13 got the Kids Hamburger & fries.

Everything was very good as always!

Total Bill: $65.52 (Keep in mind $20 of this was milkshakes )
Rating: 9 out of 10

Up Next: The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow and TSM!

Don't you hate it when they change the menus!!??? We do love Sci-Fi we always get the shrimp pasta. My DS will have anything with bacon on it lol
He loves the bacon burger there. Oh and the boys love the shakes there too!
Looking forward to hearing about the Jack Sparrow thing.

 

[JoBird]

You had a CLTnoB- Chicken lettuce tomato, no bacon. I'm glad that you were able to figure it out that you could order it that way-- seems like the waitress could have maybe offered that as an option.

The milkshake looked so good. YUM. We never had them. Hum...... maybe if M isn't going to DHS with me this trip I'll go there with the kids by ourselves.

I think the last time I was there I had that turkey sandwich. I didn't like it too much that day- the bread was soggy bc the meat was wet. I think your DH's looked a lot better!

So happy your experience there was as wonderful, though. You were lucky to get in early!!

Now---- on with Cap'n Jack!!!!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Your Sci-Fi food looks really good! I'm glad you were able to find something to eat. I wonder why she didn't just tell you that they had a grilled chicken sandwich to begin with? All she had to do was take the bacon off and it would have been a standard grilled chicken? I mean why couldn't she have offered that up on her own? Strange??? It annoys me when I have to puuullllllll information out of people.

 

[monica23535]

I love Sci Fi too, your CLT looks yummy!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Don't you hate it when they change the menus!!??? We do love Sci-Fi we always get the shrimp pasta. My DS will have anything with bacon on it lol
He loves the bacon burger there. Oh and the boys love the shakes there too!
Looking forward to hearing about the Jack Sparrow thing.

I know!!

My DH has gotten the shrimp pasta there before and really likes it. The shakes there are the best!!

You had a CLTnoB- Chicken lettuce tomato, no bacon. I'm glad that you were able to figure it out that you could order it that way-- seems like the waitress could have maybe offered that as an option.

The milkshake looked so good. YUM. We never had them. Hum...... maybe if M isn't going to DHS with me this trip I'll go there with the kids by ourselves.

I think the last time I was there I had that turkey sandwich. I didn't like it too much that day- the bread was soggy bc the meat was wet. I think your DH's looked a lot better!

So happy your experience there was as wonderful, though. You were lucky to get in early!!

Now---- on with Cap'n Jack!!!!

Yeah, I felt like she didn't understand what I was asking for... What the heck???

You've never had a Sci-Fi milkshake??

Capt Jack coming up next!

Your Sci-Fi food looks really good! I'm glad you were able to find something to eat. I wonder why she didn't just tell you that they had a grilled chicken sandwich to begin with? All she had to do was take the bacon off and it would have been a standard grilled chicken? I mean why couldn't she have offered that up on her own? Strange??? It annoys me when I have to puuullllllll information out of people.

IDK why it was so dang hard to get that info out of her!!! I felt like I was talking in circles. Good grief. I was kind of annoyed!! We used to get way better service in there. She didn't even offer to take our pic. I had to ask!

I love Sci Fi too, your CLT looks yummy!

Yes, I enjoyed my CLT very much!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Well when I just said that above about the CM not offering to take our pic, I thought -- I don't even remember posting our pic in that update.... So I went back and looked and sure enough it wasn't there. So anyway here it is --

And now that reminds me of another story! See the people in our backseat? The 'hitchhikers'? They came in shortly after us and were seated there and then ordered. I forget what they even had. But their food came shortly after ours and they ate and I never heard them say a word about not liking it. But when the waitress came by and asked how everything was the woman said -- well mine wasn't very good, you can just take that off the bill. And the waitress was like -- oh, okay.

I said to DH -- that really sounded rehearsed and like they do that pretty often. I glanced back and she had ate almost all of it.


And the people to our left. They had a very badly behaved toddler. The mom kept threatening to have the dad take him back to the hotel. But he was having none of her empty threats and pretty much carried on the entire meal!

Crazy!!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Well when I just said that above about the CM not offering to take our pic, I thought -- I don't even remember posting our pic in that update.... So I went back and looked and sure enough it wasn't there. So anyway here it is --

And now that reminds me of another story! See the people in our backseat? The 'hitchhikers'? They came in shortly after us and were seated there and then ordered. I forget what they even had. But their food came shortly after ours and they ate and I never heard them say a word about not liking it. But when the waitress came by and asked how everything was the woman said -- well mine wasn't very good, you can just take that off the bill. And the waitress was like -- oh, okay.

I said to DH -- that really sounded rehearsed and like they do that pretty often. I glanced back and she had ate almost all of it.


And the people to our left. They had a very badly behaved toddler. The mom kept threatening to have the dad take him back to the hotel. But he was having none of her empty threats and pretty much carried on the entire meal!

Crazy!!

Well that sounds like the kind of nincompoops that I usually run into on my trips! Don't those kind of people make for a grand dining experience!

 

[ronnmel]

How can people think it's okay to do that sort of thing, pretend something wasn't good just so they don't have to pay, yet eat almost all of it? It's pretty low...

 

[sharadoc]

Hi Shelley! Thanks for doing another wonderful trip report, yours are always so enjoyable to read, the DISboards should use them as an example.

I've watched your boys grow up on here, since meeting all of you on the January '09 trip thread WAAAAY back in '08. They grow up SO fast, mine too I guess LOL.

Anyway, just wanted to say Hi and thanks and looking forward to reading more!

 

[T*Bird]

Your Sci_fi meals look really good. Especially the milkshakes! That is too funny how you had to go about getting a grilled chicken sandwich. A chicken BLT....hold the B. Reminds me of your DS's grilled cheese.....hold the cheese!

Now, about those hitchhikers behind you. They sound like a couple of scam artists. For you to not hear them saying anything about the food being bad, and then for them to eat most of it - I smell a rat! Even if they aren't trying to get away with something, it's pretty sketchy to do somethig like that.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Okay. Now I know Disney is known for service, but I really think they shoot themselves in the foot sometimes. Your hitchikers remind me of a story I heard Kevin say on the podcast about a guy who didn't have an ADR at all at Chefs de France and because he threw a hissy fit and yelled enough about his poor hungry children (yeah, they're special like that), they sat him BEFORE all the people sitting waiting for their ADRs. Disney really needs to stop catering to these people, it's ruining it for the rest of us. I wish the server would have told your "friends" that she'd get a manager, and he/she could ask them what was so bad if they ate that much of it. They need to politely challenge these people - Who says "you can take that off the bill"???? GRRRR.

End of rant. Carry on.

Loving your TR as usual.

 

[JoBird]

You know what? People do it because they get away with it. It would serve them right if they were here on the DIS and saw their picture and were highly embarrassed.

What a bunch of cheap behinds. (I almost used the 44 word.)

Once again, I have no faith in society anymore.

Whatever happened to people paying their own way in this life? Whatever happened to common decency?

If we ever don't like something, we don't complain. If the waitress notices we didn't eat, then we may admit that it wasn't to our liking, but we ALWAYS insist on paying for it regardless of if we took one bite or twenty. SOMEONE has to pay for it. We ordered it. It's not like it can be used again. And THEN we tip 20-25%, regardless of the service or the hostess or the wait staff or the bartender. It's just the RIGHT thing to do.

That does it.
I officially don't like people.

(Present company in this thread excluded of course.)

 

[ronnmel]

The only time I ever asked for one item to be taken off the bill is just before Christmas we went to Chinese and I found an opened staple in my fried rice. I was lucky I noticed it right away, I could have really hurt myself as it was very sharp. Never would I do that because I didn't like it though. It's certainly not their fault if something is not exactly to my liking.