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

[ashw100]

We walked into Be Our Guest and were shown a large table in my favorite room, the Library!

Yay, you got your favorite room, that's always nice.

We were all pretty hungry at this point. Steve and I shared a wine sampler. It was decent but I thought the pours were a little small. I guess it is a sampler size. But I felt like even with all three portions, it would be just shy of a full glass of wine.

They definitely look small.

Sienna decided to have some fun with a tired-looking Uncle Steve:

These pictures are too cute.

The strawberry cream cheese cupcake and the grey stuff which is now apparently served on some sort of white chocolate torte. The cupcake was pretty good, but I liked the torte better although not as good as the masters cupcake! Wish they had that during dinner. Maybe I should ask next time.

Me too, I wish they had it at dinner.

Thankfully we were back in the rooms in minutes, and rested up, only to do it all over again the next day...stay tuned for our Epcot day!!

Sounds like a pretty awesome day, despite the trouble at the end.

 

[ariane37]

Oh no so Steve didn't get to ride TGMR? Glad to hear you got one last final ride in too!!

He did actually ride with us both times, he just complained about getting in line with such a long posted wait

I was convinced the Cowboy was removed and they only did gangster!

You know, I thought about this, too! Maybe to keep less staff on towards the end? IDK why else they would cut it out at the end.........

We should have gotten rider swap, but since I had left them at that point, no one knew to ask for it (see what happens when I'm not there!?!)

I said, "Ok, who's Mr. Stickly?" The PP guy whips out, literally a STICK with a CM nametag on it. Mr. Stickly from Big Tree, FL. It was hilarious!

OMG I love this. I would have peed my pants and definitely taken pictures with Mr. Stickly. Love that he's from Big Tree, Fl, too!

These are hilarious, the kids look so uncomfortable!

They do, like you guys squished them all into their strollers But as a parent you do sometimes sacrifice your children's comfort for your own pleasure lol!

We walked into Be Our Guest and were shown a large table in my favorite room, the Library!

My favorite room is the West Wing even though it's dark, but this is definitely my 2nd favorite room and where we ate breakfast in August. I'm not a fan of eating in the ballroom as lovely as it is.

As entrees, DH got the Sautéed Shrimp and Scallops: with Lobster, Mushrooms, and Seasonal Vegetables in a creamy Lobster Sauce. I didn't realize they were served over pasta, but I guess it is now. He enjoyed this, and kinda tastes like lobster bisque with seafood and pasta.

They do seem to change up their shrimp and scallops dish often! However it always seems to be good

I got the Grilled Strip Steak with Garlic-Herb Butter and Pommes Frites. The fries and green beans were great. I wish the steak was more tender but I guess I've been a little spoiled by Yachtsman Steakhouse.

This is my go-to dish here at dinner, as well as what Chris always gets. On all previous visits we've both had steaks perfectly cooked and extremely tender, but this past August like yours mine was rather tough and I was disappointed. I'm not a veggie eater at all but I love those string beans, however they prepare them they make them taste soooo good!

The strawberry cream cheese cupcake and the grey stuff which is now apparently served on some sort of white chocolate torte. The cupcake was pretty good, but I liked the torte better although not as good as the masters cupcake!

First of all, I do not share my strawberry cream cheese cupcake with anybody Second, I believe it was Ricky who had the grey stuff torte and he enjoyed it also. It was pretty good, but nothing beats the Master's cupcake.

I had a very special DISMeet...with @KathyM2 and her DD Alexis! We met as they were walking off the Peoplemover and they decided to get back on with me! Yay!

Hey there @KathyM2 an Alexis! We were lucky enough to get to spend some time with them in August too! DISMeet's rock

This was the only unfortunate incident I've had with an express bus CM. Boo.

Oh that's not cool. I would have had the same attitude as Kelly and told the CM off

. I think Kelly even made it known to the CM that because of the delay, her kid had lost their MB.

Yup I would have told her the lost band her fault, too! FYI Chris lost his band on FoP last month so we went to GS and got him a card so he could use the rest of his FP's that night. They said the same thing, if it was found they'd bring it to GS and call us, but it never was. Since we had a split stay I had another band back at the room for him so it was no big deal but he was a little pissed his blue one was missing and he's almost 12 lol, so I understand Mimi being concerned about not having purple

 

[chunkymonkey]

I love how CS never misses an opportunity to meet characters!

That is like HER thing. She must get every photo op at each park. She did miss a few though, sadly.

The Splash Mountain picture is really great! Everyone looks so happy!

I think they were happy they were wearing their ponchos! Except for Steve who was just too hot!

I love that there are now photos on PoC. Steve's picture is hilarious!

He's probably going to flip I posted it for everyone to see, LOL

That's too bad that your steak was tough at BOG. It's such a great place to enjoy a meal.

Yeah I wasn't too impressed with the steak part but everything else was great.

That's too bad that Mimi lost her magic band. I've got to believe that happens all the time. I'm always so paranoid about losing mine, considering the amount of (mostly cheap) jewelry I've lost over the years.

Yeah I'm sure it happens all the time, and I seriously wasn't freaking out because I knew that Disney would replace it, but Kelly was just really adamant about finding it, think she was in full-on Mom mode LOL.

It would have been tempting to inform Disney about that CM at the express bus. I hate when employees give that condescending smile.

Yeah it's so unfortunately because it's so rare. Although I heard about an incident which my friend told me about that made me so mad. Maybe I will write about it from our labor day trip. I have yet to start that TR!

I'm sorry to say that we've had many crowded bus rides like the one you experienced. Nothing like being dead on your feet after a long day and having to stand the whole ride back!

It's probably the worst part about staying out for the fireworks and nighttime shows. If it were just me I would hang out until a half hour after park closing, but DH and everyone else always wanted to head out as early as possible.

This is super cute, albeit not a generous portion.

Haha far from generous but I do like the 3 glass serving thing.

Awesome! I knew about this meet from Kathy's TR so when you first said you went to Tomorrowland, I wondered if that's what you were doing...

Ugh!!! What an annoying experience with the Express Bus... and the ensuing issues after that. And that annoying fake smile would have been maddening at the point for sure

Yay for Dismeets!

Ugh is correct, it was just one of those nights were everything about transportation between parks and returning from parks was less than idea.

Your family is so lucky to have you and Steve as their tour guides! Great trip, love your BOG dress!!!!

Haha I'm sure they realize after the trip as to how much planning is involved.
Thank you so much!

The kids are so cute, I love their reactions, you got some wonderful pics.

Thank you! It was a fun and different experience to tour with all the kids.

Yum! Yours looks sooo cheesy, and that's the best part.

It certainly is!

I wasn't thrilled with my steak there last December either. I'm glad your fries were good though mine were super salty

I think this dish is hit or miss. I don't' know why I always get it through, I think it's just what appeals to me the most out of everything.

Wow it sounds like a busy evening, weird experience with the CM, how frustrating when you knew there was room on the bus. I was really bummed to find out the Express bus was done by the time we arrived. I love the Masters cupcake as well and missed it at dinner too!

It was definitely a busy and productive day.
The CM encounter was so weird, but it is definitely rare to find an unhelpful CM.
I really miss Express bus!
I wonder if I ask for the cupcake they can maybe produce one.

Another GREAT update! You are so making me want to try for a BOG dinner one day. We've done breakfast and lunch in the past but maybe one day we'll try for the dinner madness.

Thank you!
Eating at BoG is a real treat. It's hard to get an ADR though, and I wouldn't bend over backwards to get one but if you manage to get one then that's awesome!

During our August trip a few weeks ago, I had carried my old bucket from THANKSGIVING all the way down with me, even after reading one of your previous updates that they had changed it. While in EPCOT one day, I asked a CM there if I could still refill the old buckets. He said "technically" they were not supposed to but that most likely nobody would NOT fill it.

So during our August trip, the only place anyone ever even mentioned an issue...and I wasn't even there filling it...was at MK when my boys walked up and I think my oldest son mentioned he wasn't sure it could be refilled. The CM did it for him but mentioned she was allowing it just for him. Otherwise I had told him to just buy a box and use it to fill the bucket if they refused.

We had the bucket filled another time on the way OUT of MK (you know the location...right before the exit on the right as you walk out) and also at EPCOT and AK and absolutely NOBODY ever even questioned it or refused to fill it for us for that $1.25. So of course YMMV but that was our deal. I'm still trying to decide if I take it with me again in October or just bite the bullet and buy yet ANOTHER bucket down there while I'm there and haul it back. Like the old Disney resort mugs from days past, I also have quite a popcorn bucket collection.

Oh wow that's really nice of the CMs you got. I got that once too, before they told me they can't refill it anymore. But my bucket is only from May so it's not like it's 6 months old. I ended up buying a new bucket during our August trip. Maybe if I went to another more sympathetic CM they will have refilled it, but it's fine. I'm sure I have eaten enough popcorn to cover the cost LOL.

Can't wait to hear more and glad you've done such a great job wrangling in all of your troops. Our October trip has a large group, but they are adults and older kids, so I may have less wrangling to do and more of letting the kids do their own thing and adults do another from time to time.

I think when you have a group that is ok with doing their own thing and can tour on their own that would be easier. Good luck!

I love your dress. My cousin would have a fit over it.

Thank you!! It's one of my favorites!

Just curious...does your sister use FP's for the meet and greets or does she wait in line? I am always impressed with the amount of character interactions she has.

She mostly waits. I don't have the patience for it but that is her thing to do so she just waits on line, even if it's long. I remember she waited for Peter Pan once and she waited like 45 minutes in the heat, and I had to go get her a LeFou's brew. I'm a cool seester too.

 

[chunkymonkey]

I'm finally all caught up. Great trip report & pictures as always.
The french onion soup at BOG looks delish. I went for breakfast two weeks ago, it was okay. Not sure I will rush back for breakfast, but would like to go for dinner next year!

We only do breakfast when it's PPO and so we can go ride Mine Train or PP with no waits. I think this is our version of Early Morning Magic, LOL.

I didn't have enough time to properly quote between my classes, but I did have enough time to get caught up and do all the reading! Your trip seems to be off to a great (though exhausting!) start! All your rainy weather at the beginning of your trip reminds me of the end of our trip. We had mostly awesome weather until the last few days. Looking forward to your next post

Mi Meghan! I hope your school year started off well! It was a crazy exhausting trip as i'm sure yours was too! Just soooo hot and...wet! But we made the best of it!

This is awesome! Good for that CM for coming up with something unique.

I love it when this happens. It's always so much fun.

Wait there's a PP on PoTC now? How did I miss this?

It's fairly new. I kept forgetting about it until we rode it in August.

I just started liking French Onion soup and this one looks really good!

It's delicious!

Your bus situation sounds awful. Crowds don't normally bother me but for some reason they do on the busses, and I couldn't even imagine it with kids and a stroller.

Bus crowds are the worst. It's like a claustrophobic, motion sickness inducing ride, with crowds. Not a good combo. At least buses are air conditioned.

Just caught back up with you. I love this picture of your hubby on POC. LOL.

LOL I'm sure he begs to differ.

That express bus CM sounds sooo frustrating. Like talking to a robot who is only programmed with a few responses. I would have been so mad. But I'm glad you made it to watch Fantasmic! I haven't been to WDW in years, but I vividly remember it and it was probably one of my favorite things I saw while there.

Fantasmic was great as always. The CM was just rude and annoying. But luckily a rare thing to encounter at Disney.

CS really scored with all her character and PP pictures.
Your dress is so pretty.
Steves PP ride photos are hysterical.
I thinks BOG for dinner is more about the experience than fine dining.
The Masters Cupcake should be available at all times it's so good.

CS is the master of the character meets!
Thank you!
I dont' even think he saw this photo on Pirates. He barely looks at any pictures.
BOG is definitely about the experience more so than the food. I feel special when I eat here, haha.
It is available at breakfast! So they should definitely make it available at dinner.

You can stop now. TR over.

It's not over until the 5th Dole Whip.

Interesting that, other than Steve, the only person with his hands up ... looks the least excited.

He must be having a BEST DAY EVER...NOT!

"Here are your three bottles of wine and a long straw. Enjoy."

with 3 bottles of wine I just need an intravenous line...

mmmmm..... I love BOG's French onion soup. Better than most I've had.

it's so yummy!

What the heck's with that?
They should cancel that service!!!

Stop rubbing it in!
But yes, what the heck!?!

"You're right, CM. It's no big deal. Silly us. Anyway, we're going over there to sit and relax while we wait. We're leaving the kids here with you to take care of them. They're probably going to put up a fuss pretty soon. But it's only for 30 minutes, right? No big deal."

Should have totally done that. She should have also looked for the lost magic band.

That sounds like a rather busy night and ripe for meltdowns and such. The menu at BoG has obviously changed a bit since I had dinner there a couple years ago. I'm glad no one suffered terrible meltdowns, and they were quickly avoided. Too bad about the MB, glad it was easily taken care of.

Yeah it was definitely only a matter of time before someone would have a meltdown. But luckily I did not witness anything out of the ordinary that week (at least from what I remember now). I think Kelly melted down the most, LOL. She does not like heat or crowds and only did it for her kids because they wanted to come with my nieces and nephew. She did have fun though and her kids had the best time but she definitely does not want to come back in the summer, and I agree with that!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Yay, you got your favorite room, that's always nice.

It is! I love that room!

These pictures are too cute.

LOL Uncle Steve was the punching bag for the kids.

Sounds like a pretty awesome day, despite the trouble at the end.

It was a great Disney day but of course the buses had to keep it from being perfect!

He did actually ride with us both times, he just complained about getting in line with such a long posted wait

Haha ok, that's good!

You know, I thought about this, too! Maybe to keep less staff on towards the end? IDK why else they would cut it out at the end.........

Maybe! I guess we'll never know unless we come across a recent TR where someone got Cowboy!

OMG I love this. I would have peed my pants and definitely taken pictures with Mr. Stickly. Love that he's from Big Tree, Fl, too!

It was so funny. I loved it! I hope Mr. Stickly survived the Irma!

They do, like you guys squished them all into their strollers But as a parent you do sometimes sacrifice your children's comfort for your own pleasure lol!

LOL I saw that a lot, hahaha.

My favorite room is the West Wing even though it's dark, but this is definitely my 2nd favorite room and where we ate breakfast in August. I'm not a fan of eating in the ballroom as lovely as it is.

I love the west wing too it's just too dark to take decent pictures, but I agree the ballroom is cool but it feels like a cafeteria compared to the other rooms.

They do seem to change up their shrimp and scallops dish often! However it always seems to be good

It seems like it! but I agree too.

This is my go-to dish here at dinner, as well as what Chris always gets. On all previous visits we've both had steaks perfectly cooked and extremely tender, but this past August like yours mine was rather tough and I was disappointed. I'm not a veggie eater at all but I love those string beans, however they prepare them they make them taste soooo good!

I do love the string beans! I don't know what they put in it to make it taste so good but they do!

First of all, I do not share my strawberry cream cheese cupcake with anybody Second, I believe it was Ricky who had the grey stuff torte and he enjoyed it also. It was pretty good, but nothing beats the Master's cupcake.

Noted, no sharing of strawberry cc cupcake with Ariane!
And yup the masters cupcake is still the best!

DISMeet's rock

They do!!
That story about how she ran into you on the bus is soooo awesome! I can't wait to read about that!

Oh that's not cool. I would have had the same attitude as Kelly and told the CM off

I can totally see you doing that!!

Yup I would have told her the lost band her fault, too! FYI Chris lost his band on FoP last month so we went to GS and got him a card so he could use the rest of his FP's that night. They said the same thing, if it was found they'd bring it to GS and call us, but it never was. Since we had a split stay I had another band back at the room for him so it was no big deal but he was a little pissed his blue one was missing and he's almost 12 lol, so I understand Mimi being concerned about not having purple

I think that was the last straw for Kelly who kept complaining about her the whole bus ride but she was ok when we got to see Fantasmic.
FYI they will probably just give you a new MB at least for the kids because Mimi got a new one in the morning...I'll let you guess whether or not it's purple.

 

[pkondz]

It's not over until the 5th Dole Whip.

Five?

That's it????

He must be having a BEST DAY EVER...NOT!

with 3 bottles of wine I just need an intravenous line...

Sure! Cut out the middleman!

 

[wdwnut61]

CS is the master of the character meets!
Thank you!
I dont' even think he saw this photo on Pirates. He barely looks at any pictures.
BOG is definitely about the experience more so than the food. I feel special when I eat here, haha.
It is available at breakfast! So they should definitely make it available at dinner

Yes that's the main reason we booked BOG breakfast again for our November trip
The Masters cupcake

 

[elaine amj]

It's probably the worst part about staying out for the fireworks and nighttime shows. If it were just me I would hang out until a half hour after park closing, but DH and everyone else always wanted to head out as early as possible.

My DH is the same. So this time around, one night we waited until about half an hour after MK closed. The wait was still ridiculously long for our bus to SSR.

Its so weird - the whole time at SSR (2 weeks), the buses were almost never crowded to go to the parks. Coming back (worst was always MK), we would wait 2-3 buses after park close. And each bus would take so long. And our lines were always way more packed than every other resort around - it looked like a line for Pop Century! I guess it's because SSR is such a big resort? Upon reflection, it's probably bigger than all the other mods and deluxes.

I sympathize about cranky, overtired kids and packed buses. I kept my crew out too late a a couple of times and that was rough. It's so hard to deal with a cranky, miserable little kid. Especially when you are tired and worn out yourself. And you had quite a few little kiddies in your group!

 

[bcwife76]

Holy hanna, I got so far behind When I opened this it sent me back to page 5! Been trying to catch up with all trip reports since we got back from our Alaska cruise on the 4th but life has been hectic since we got back.

So I guess I'll just put a blanket comment here now that I'm caught up I'd say with a family that large things are going quite well!

 

[kastoney]

On the way back to the Poly I ran into a PP photographer who asked if I would like a picture with Mr. Stickly. I said, "Ok, who's Mr. Stickly?" The PP guy whips out, literally a STICK with a CM nametag on it. Mr. Stickly from Big Tree, FL. It was hilarious!

Love this! Now I want a Mr. Stickley

The twins and their families rode out the rain inside the shops while CS when character hopping. It looks like Steve and Kelly's family went on Splash and POC too!

Wow, the girls do not look like they enjoyed this as much as Mine Train!

I don't think Steve knew where the new ride camera was.

Clearly not. Though I don't even think I knew there was a camera there.

After the parade we walked toward's Beast's castle. We stopped for a PP picture. These are hilarious, the kids look so uncomfortable!

Poor kids! Sounds like they were troopers though.

We were all pretty hungry at this point. Steve and I shared a wine sampler. It was decent but I thought the pours were a little small. I guess it is a sampler size. But I felt like even with all three portions, it would be just shy of a full glass of wine.

That looks like tasting room size not a sampler to me! They couldn't definitely stand to pour a bit more generously.

As entrees, DH got the Sautéed Shrimp and Scallops: with Lobster, Mushrooms, and Seasonal Vegetables in a creamy Lobster Sauce. I didn't realize they were served over pasta, but I guess it is now. He enjoyed this, and kinda tastes like lobster bisque with seafood and pasta.

We've only eaten dinner @ BoG once and it wasn't my favorite, but I've been eyeing up this beauty on a couple of visits now (sans the mushrooms of course). Maybe we can score a last minute ADR on our next trip so we can indulge a little.

The braised beef is somewhere under the onion curls!

I had to do a double take as I thought those were noodles. I was wondering why someone would put pasta on top of beef

Great picture. Love your dress!

We kept telling her, "We need to get on this bus, it's boarding now!" but it's like she didn't hear us. It was the weirdest interaction, almost like talking to an alien. Then 5 minutes later, I think she realized her error and she apologized to us saying we could have got on the bus, which had apparently just left.

What the heck. Sounds like she took tomorrowland seriously and was on a different planet somewhere

I only notice then when the theater is really crowded, there are times I've been during low season and we were able to get great seats in the middle and when people start the wave it kinda dissipates because there wasn't enough people! But not today, it was packed!

That is really crowded! We've been during lower seasons too and have never had trouble getting a decent seat.

Then we headed to guest services to see about Mimi's band. They told us that if it gets turned in they would contact Kelly but most likely our hotel can just give us a new band. It wasn't like she had charging privileges on it anyways. Mimi's concern was that it wouldn't be purple.

How did she get into the park without one? Do you not have to get your bands scanned if you took the express transportation?

And by the way so upset they got rid of this. We totally planned on using it on our next trip

 

[natebenma]

ACK!!!

How the heck are you already on Page 15???

I have read through your first morning at MK.

That is a fantastic family photo with Stitch and I am impressed with how many decent pictures you already have with your group.

Pretty impressive dining lineup. I look forward to reading about your meals.

UGH on the delayed flight and UGH UGH on having to run for the last monorail of the night. I didn't even know there was a last monorail of the night!

However your Magical Express (lack of) line makes up for that. A little different from the race trip!

What a great nighttime arch picture!

*******************************************************************

The outfit CS was wearing is adorable!!! Did she purchase it or put it together herself?

All in all, seems like you had a pretty decent breakfast at Crystal Palace. I LOVE the picture with your nieces.

Even if you terrorized your young niece, you have earned cool aunt status getting everyone (who could) on Peter Pan, Small World, Tea Cups, Mine Train, Regular Train and Jungle cruise. Most impressive!




I'll do some more catching up tomorrow. But what I REALLY need to do is go back and look at your Star Wars Cruise report. I think you know- Teena and I were going to be on the Fantasy leaving Sept 9, but that was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma. We have rebooked and leave two weeks from today. My first cruise with the Mouse & pals!

 

[thumper*]

This is so sweet.

Yeah, Caylee gave Tiana the evil eye. Watch out Tiana, she knows some voodoo!
Wow she even scares me.....as I slowly back away. LOL

Sienna: "It has come to this, I have to eat my own pacifier strap to sustain myself through this ordeal called the Meet-n-Greet"

I don't think Steve knew where the new ride camera was. Me's thinks he does.

I loved dear sis bounding as Snow White but I love your dress too cute.
Can't wait for more of your humor.

 

[thumper*]

Not sure why my post makes you click on it to expand it.

 

[webcreatrix]

'OHANA means CHUNKY!

A Chunkymonkey and Chubbyhubby Family Trip Report
August 11th-20th 2017
Polynesian Village Resort

All of us Breakfast at 'Ohana with Stitch and Friends

Hi everyone! We just got back from a week-long roller coaster of a trip to WDW where I acted as trip planner and tour guide for 15 members of my family and friends, including four kids under 10, a toddler, and an infant, some who have never been to WDW before! As you can see, the pressure was on me to make this a memorable trip, one where they would be willing to RETURN to WDW instead of RUN AWAY. Did I succeed? We shall see...

Of course everyone knows by now that Ohana is Hawaiian for Family. 'Ohana is also one of our favorite restaurants so I had to put it in the title of my TR, right? But in my world, Ohana just means Chunky! We are a group that loves food and loves to eat and we ate at so many great places on this trip, including: Ohana(x2), Tiffins, Yachtsman Steakhouse, Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, Cinderella's Royal Table, Be Our Guest, Akershus. There was lots of counter service and I even snuck in an Earl of Sandwich somewhere, haha.

Here's the cast of characters for this trip:

Myself, Su-Lynn (Chunkmonkey), and my DH, Steve (Chubbyhubby)
We both work in banks, myself in IT and Steve in Risk, we're both in our early 40s, and we both love Disney! Well, myself mostly but it's not like Steve ever says no to any of our trips!

My favorite characters change but currently are: Minnie, Eeyore, Belle, Mulan, Stitch and Pluto
Steve's is: Gaston, hahaha.
My favorite rides are: Flight of Passage!, Peoplemover, Soarin' 7DMT, BTMRR, and Toy Story
Steve's are: All of the above aside from Peoplemover. He likes it but doesn't understand the fascination. Hmph.
My favorite table service: Ohana and Tiffins
Steve's is: The same as mine!
My favorite quick service: Columbia Harbor House
Steve's is: Be Our Guest, but only for a PPO breakfast.

My well-known character loving, sweater-wearing younger sister, Su-Queen, aka Chunkysis (from now she'll be known as CS in my trip report)

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.)

Our other younger sisters, the twins and their families:

Chunkytwin1 (CT1) aka Ying, the older of the twin, her husband Kevin, and kids Caylee (who will turn 4 next month) and Bryan (who will be 2 in Oct).

Caylee did not like characters at all, she was scared of them! She also doesn't really like pictures that much, so that's why she's sometimes missing from pictures. But towards the end of the trip she learned to tolerate them and not freak out. She did enjoy rides though and she LOVED shopping at Disney Springs and all the shops in the parks. Bryan was the most adorable little prince. He was the only boy in the group of kids and he really has simple needs:

I agree, Bryan!

Chunkytwin2 (CT2) aka Ming, her husband Marc, and two girls Eva (pronounced AY-Vah who turned 5 on the trip), and Sienna (10 months).

Eva was the birthday girl and she absolutely LOVED Disney. She was the one we all worried about initially because she was having some anxiety issues but it turns out it was for naught because she probably had the best time out of everyone! She loves princesses especially Cinderella and Elena of Avalor! Sienna was happy and content to be carried and coddled all the time or to spend the time sleeping in her stroller. She did enjoy all the food she got to try on the trip, including bits of Mickey Waffles. She was able to go on some rides like It's a Small World as well as Frozen Ever After which I think she really liked as she was awake the whole time, haha.

and finally:

My best friend, Kelly, her husband Honyee, and her two girls Sophie (9) and Mimi (6):

I've know Kelly since college and she's been like a sister to me so her family are honorary chunkies! They have been to Disney previously but never with us. They weren't impressed with the food before but let's just say that after a week of eating with us, they kept saying "We never ate like this on our other trips!" Sophie and Mimi had an amazing time and they were real troopers, they were able to park hop, stay out late and ride all the rides. They are turning into me! Sophie didn't want to go home! Mimi's birthday is a week after Eva's so we also celebrated with her this week.

Whew, that's a lot of people!
We stayed at the Polynesian Village Resort for 8 nights, while Steve and I stayed an extra 9th night because, well, DISMeets! I had a few of them on this trip!

Everyone aside from me and Steve got packages which include 6-day park hoppers plus a water park day. Steve and I have our trusty Annual Passes as well as the Tables in Wonderland card which saved us about 20% on every meal which was huge as you can use it on up to 10 guests and includes savings on alcohol as well!

I hope you're on board for this crazy, crazy ride with my ohana!

ALOHA!

​

The kids in your family are SO CUTE!

 

[natebenma]

Caught up now!!! (BTW- I think there is an error in your link to the Travel Day post)



I am cracking up at your captions and interpretations of the girls' thoughts! Also, Chunky Boat and Chunky Cental!

Looks like a great meal at Tusker. I haven't eaten there since 2008, when we had the Deluxe Dining plan and had breakfast and lunch there on the same day. I don't remember characters at lunch back then. Was the meet with soniam planned or spontaneous?

Wow!!! I LOVE CS's (and your) snack dress. Where is it from? It IS perfect for F&W. Which, is when exactly? I am at WDW with my girlfriend Oct 25-29.

You ARE the coolest aunt!

Day 2:

I'm glad you have Kelly's diehard family accompanying you.

Great pictures from the final GMR. Your pictures are some of the best I have seen.


Express bus- I am sorry to hear this has been discontinued. I was thinking what a great service this was for your group, (until reading about the fiasco you encountered- sheesh, not like you are paying a premium for this or anything)


Sitting and eating Dole Whips is the perfect way to enjoy the Tiki birds. I'm not sure if we have done this since our 2004 trip, the first one with the boys, when I lost Ben. I was so hyper-focused on keeping my eye on my two boys and the other 3 kids we were traveling with that I lost sight of 3 year old Ben and panicked!

I was holding him.



Mr. Stickley!!! No words!!!

The castle shots with all of the kids in various forms of "I'm so over it" is hilarious.

Your dinner at BOG looked awesome. I have only been there once for breakfast and once for lunch.

YAY for another DISmeet!


I'm glad you made it to see Fantasmic, eventually, but my what an ordeal!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

So jealous you got a farewell ride on Great Movie Ride. In my case the saying about how you don't fully appreciate something until it is gone. It was not a ride I did frequently but now I'm kinda sad it is gone. Wish they had just updated it instead.

Your sis is just too cute with her outfit and I know how hot it was so that is impressive!!

BTW - I have ordered the microfiber towel and battery fan you recommended!

Sorry about the steak at BoG and that wine flight does seem pretty minimalistic. But I'm thinking I'd make a meal out of the soup, fries, beans and cupcakes! Very healthy, LOL.

I am bummed that they discontinued the express bus option. Based on one of your prior reports (you have the best tips and tricks!!) I had made a note to look into it for my extended Food & Wine trip in late Oct. ugh! It sounded so convenient - minus that MK CM.

Disney confession. I've never seen Fantasmic.

Cant wait to hear about your Epcot day!

 

[chunkymonkey]

My DH is the same. So this time around, one night we waited until about half an hour after MK closed. The wait was still ridiculously long for our bus to SSR.

Its so weird - the whole time at SSR (2 weeks), the buses were almost never crowded to go to the parks. Coming back (worst was always MK), we would wait 2-3 buses after park close. And each bus would take so long. And our lines were always way more packed than every other resort around - it looked like a line for Pop Century! I guess it's because SSR is such a big resort? Upon reflection, it's probably bigger than all the other mods and deluxes.

I sympathize about cranky, overtired kids and packed buses. I kept my crew out too late a a couple of times and that was rough. It's so hard to deal with a cranky, miserable little kid. Especially when you are tired and worn out yourself. And you had quite a few little kiddies in your group!

End of day buses especially after a big fireworks show is always the biggest pain. Even if it's just DH and myself we always don't look forward to this part and I can't imagine it with young kids. I think Disney should basically amp up the buses at the end of the day especially after a big show because there will be hordes of people streaming out the park...
I had no idea that SSR was so big! But I have never stayed nor been there but I can just imagine the bus lines being like Pop!

The nieces and nephew did not stay out for the shows they were just too tired to be awake for it all so I guess there is always the next trip!

Holy hanna, I got so far behind When I opened this it sent me back to page 5! Been trying to catch up with all trip reports since we got back from our Alaska cruise on the 4th but life has been hectic since we got back.

So I guess I'll just put a blanket comment here now that I'm caught up I'd say with a family that large things are going quite well!

Haha I can understand. A week off line can do that to you! But my TR will be here for a while...
It is going as well as it can at this point! A few hiccups but overall everyone is having fun!

Love this! Now I want a Mr. Stickley

I have to see if Mr. Stickley survived Irma!

Wow, the girls do not look like they enjoyed this as much as Mine Train!

I think they were just...hot under their ponchos!

Clearly not. Though I don't even think I knew there was a camera there.

I totally forgot about this too! I think it's a recent addition.

That looks like tasting room size not a sampler to me! They couldn't definitely stand to pour a bit more generously.

Oh most definitely!!!

We've only eaten dinner @ BoG once and it wasn't my favorite, but I've been eyeing up this beauty on a couple of visits now (sans the mushrooms of course). Maybe we can score a last minute ADR on our next trip so we can indulge a little.

I hope you do! I wouldn't say you're missing much though food-wise, but eating in Beast's castle is just fun.

Great picture. Love your dress!

Thank you!

What the heck. Sounds like she took tomorrowland seriously and was on a different planet somewhere

For sure, or Pizza Planet, but most likely Tomorrowland, because being form Pizza Planet makes you cooler.

How did she get into the park without one? Do you not have to get your bands scanned if you took the express transportation?

And by the way so upset they got rid of this. We totally planned on using it on our next trip

Since the CM had already checked us in before not letting us on the bus we didn't have to check in again by the time we came around and Mimi had lost her band. Sooooo annoying.
But yes, you did have to scan your band when you check in for the bus, which now a moot point because there is no bus!

ACK!!!

How the heck are you already on Page 15???

I have read through your first morning at MK.

That is a fantastic family photo with Stitch and I am impressed with how many decent pictures you already have with your group.

Pretty impressive dining lineup. I look forward to reading about your meals.

UGH on the delayed flight and UGH UGH on having to run for the last monorail of the night. I didn't even know there was a last monorail of the night!

However your Magical Express (lack of) line makes up for that. A little different from the race trip!

What a great nighttime arch picture!

Hi Dee!!
LOL I have no idea how it got so big so quickly but I'm very grateful for everyone who reads and comments!!
Our arrival day was definitely...late. But we were on vacation and I think everyone was excited, although very tired. Thank goodness it was a short flight! The kids were awake the whole time on the plane and on the bus, I think they were just too curious to sleep!
The monorail at the airport was being refurbished and so for our particular terminal it was being worked on after midnight so it was the last ride of the night when we arrived. I hope it gets fixed soon!
Thank you!!

The outfit CS was wearing is adorable!!! Did she purchase it or put it together herself?

All in all, seems like you had a pretty decent breakfast at Crystal Palace. I LOVE the picture with your nieces.

Even if you terrorized your young niece, you have earned cool aunt status getting everyone (who could) on Peter Pan, Small World, Tea Cups, Mine Train, Regular Train and Jungle cruise. Most impressive!




I'll do some more catching up tomorrow. But what I REALLY need to do is go back and look at your Star Wars Cruise report. I think you know- Teena and I were going to be on the Fantasy leaving Sept 9, but that was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma. We have rebooked and leave two weeks from today. My first cruise with the Mouse & pals!

She purchased it from Etsy!!
Crystal Palace was a great first meal to introduce them to the world of character meets. We got to see then who would be in and out for the meets, and Caylee was not in with it, Bryan was pretty indifferent, and Sienna just wanted to eat or sleep all the time. The rest of the girls loved the characters!
Thanks for the vote of confidence! I tried my best to get them on some classic rides!

I know!! I am so excited for your first cruise! I think you will really enjoy yourself! I hope the seas are calm during your cruise and there are no more hiccups! I LOVED the Fantasy. It's a big, beautiful ship, and there is so much to do. Have a wonderful time!

Not sure why my post makes you click on it to expand it.

No worries, you probably just quoted within the quotes but thank you for the comments!!

The kids in your family are SO CUTE!

Thank you!! They are very adorable when they are not having meltdowns!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Caught up now!!! (BTW- I think there is an error in your link to the Travel Day post)



I am cracking up at your captions and interpretations of the girls' thoughts! Also, Chunky Boat and Chunky Cental!

Ah thank you, I have fixed it!

LOL, Sienna just had the funniest expressions or lack of, so I couldn't resist!
Welcome to Chunkyland!! <-- Title of my next family TR, LOL

Looks like a great meal at Tusker. I haven't eaten there since 2008, when we had the Deluxe Dining plan and had breakfast and lunch there on the same day. I don't remember characters at lunch back then. Was the meet with soniam planned or spontaneous?

Wow!!! I LOVE CS's (and your) snack dress. Where is it from? It IS perfect for F&W. Which, is when exactly? I am at WDW with my girlfriend Oct 25-29.

You ARE the coolest aunt!

Wow Breakfast and lunch on the same day at Tusker! The funny thing is you can get breakfast items at lunch and vice versa if you go at that golden hour, around 10:30am

The meet with @soniam was planned to be spontaneous? LOL Yes we did plan to meet that evening although the exact time was not planned out to a T but we knew we'd be at Tusker around the same time. I'm sooo happy she found me!

Day 2:

I'm glad you have Kelly's diehard family accompanying you.

Great pictures from the final GMR. Your pictures are some of the best I have seen.

Thank you!

Express bus- I am sorry to hear this has been discontinued. I was thinking what a great service this was for your group, (until reading about the fiasco you encountered- sheesh, not like you are paying a premium for this or anything)

It was a sad day indeed when I heard this was being discontinued. Don't know what I was more sad about, TGMR or Express Bus!

Sitting and eating Dole Whips is the perfect way to enjoy the Tiki birds. I'm not sure if we have done this since our 2004 trip, the first one with the boys, when I lost Ben. I was so hyper-focused on keeping my eye on my two boys and the other 3 kids we were traveling with that I lost sight of 3 year old Ben and panicked!

I was holding him.

Hahaha that is hilarious!! Certainly a moment to remember...

Mr. Stickley!!! No words!!!

The castle shots with all of the kids in various forms of "I'm so over it" is hilarious.

Your dinner at BOG looked awesome. I have only been there once for breakfast and once for lunch.

YAY for another DISmeet!


I'm glad you made it to see Fantasmic, eventually, but my what an ordeal!

I love it when CMs do crazy stuff like that!!
Thank you!
BOG is fun but it's not my must-do on every trip.
I had a great time meeting Kathy! We actually met up this past week when she was in NYC with her parents!

So jealous you got a farewell ride on Great Movie Ride. In my case the saying about how you don't fully appreciate something until it is gone. It was not a ride I did frequently but now I'm kinda sad it is gone. Wish they had just updated it instead.

I know, Disney seems to be doing that a lot. Dropping the ball that a ride is ending and all of a sudden, it's gone! I'm just so happy I was able to ride it one last time because I hadn't ridden since February and skipped it on my May trips but little did I know...

Your sis is just too cute with her outfit and I know how hot it was so that is impressive!!

She's a slave to her Disney fashion!

BTW - I have ordered the microfiber towel and battery fan you recommended!

Oh cool! I hope it helps. Trust me, every little thing helped for us but nothing could really break that constant heat and humidity that was relentless!

Sorry about the steak at BoG and that wine flight does seem pretty minimalistic. But I'm thinking I'd make a meal out of the soup, fries, beans and cupcakes! Very healthy, LOL.

That sounds like the PERFECT meal. I loved my meal except for the steak!

I am bummed that they discontinued the express bus option. Based on one of your prior reports (you have the best tips and tricks!!) I had made a note to look into it for my extended Food & Wine trip in late Oct. ugh! It sounded so convenient - minus that MK CM.

Aw thank you for saying so! I just try to offer up things to make our Disney vacation easier, and this was perfect! Although now it is but a moot point....

Disney confession. I've never seen Fantasmic.

WHAT!! No way!! I highly recommend it. Although the one in Disneyland is better I think, plus they recently re-did it so I heard it's even better. But I'd watch the Disney World one first

Cant wait to hear about your Epcot day!

Coming up soon!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Day 3 Part 1: The Land with the Master Plan

Today was Epcot day and I had a master plan: Head there before rope drop, ride Soarin' on stand-by, then head upstairs to Garden Grill in time for our 9:50am breakfast! Do we make it? We shall see...

I knew we could walk to the Ticket and Transportation center in a reasonable time which is one of the reasons I picked the Rarotonga long house, so that is the direction we set out for at around 8:30 am, maybe a little before. Slightly behind schedule but oh well.

It was already so hot in the morning that my camera lens fogged up.

But we made it there, and had to go through bag check, as I expected. We headed up on the ramp towards the Epcot monorail and got on with no difficulty. Yay!

Sienna loves the monorail!

As we exited the monorail I realized there are some things at Disney which are not fully thought out, that despite the feats of imagineering we see in the parks, it has come to a sudden and complete halt as to our utter dismay, we had to go through BAG CHECK again. What the hell?!?

Apparently at Epcot, the monorail line gets dumped out into the general pubic line so we HAD to go through it again. Absolutely ridiculous and I don't understand why they cant just create a separate enclosed line for those who have already gone through bag check.

So again we go though bag check...and through the turnstiles where I'm sure at least one kid decided to forget what finger they used to scan, LOL. So as expected, we were a little bit late in entering the park.

Since we were waiting for some parties to enter, we got a few pics:

After the pictures I tried to shoo everyone in the direction of The Land. Although that ultimately did not stop Chunkysis who apparently went to meet Daisy as we were all heading to the Land.

So we arrived at The Land and I instructed everyone to park their stroller and we all headed inside together to head down to Soarin'. Thankfully still only a 15 minute wait at this point. Caylee and Bryan were too small to ride, and obviously Sienna too so the twins stayed behind and we finally got some rider switches for later!! Eva got measured and she was good to go! I was so happy that she and I skipped down the long hallway through Soarin'.

I don't remember what row we sat in but I think we were on the 2nd row on the A side. We took up an entire row! Welcome to Soarin' with the Chunkies! I was so happy for everyone to experience Soarin' especially the newbies, and the ones who have only seen the old Soarin' movie. Eva though, was not that impressed with having to dangle from the seats while in "flight" but she held on to me and her dad on the other side of her tightly and seemed to be ok through it, definitely not "Mine Train" scared but I think she's not one for heights in general it seemed, but we made it through another big-girl ride! Everyone really enjoyed this!

After we rode, the twins got to ride along with Chunkysis for the 2nd time using a rider switch pass.
The rider switch pass entitles up to 3 people to get on through the fastpass line. It was actually good for a week so if you didn't get a chance to return that day it was ok as you had some time to use it. I think rider switch passes are pretty awesome and we got a few of them that week.

We made up such good time that we still had 10 minutes before our breakfast ADR that we hopped onto LWTL with no waits too!!

Welcome to another Chunky Boat! Please keep all arms and legs inside the boat at all times!

Steve was in his element!

Finally it was time to eat! We headed upstairs and checked in at Garden Grill. While we were waiting, the kids went to grab pressed pennies at the machines nearby. Since this restaurant is so small, I had to split the reservation up into 3 separate ADRs, but they managed to put all of us on one long table, which was amazing.

Everyone got glasses of the POG - passion orange guava juice, and the adults got coffees. I totally forgot you could order alcohol here at brunch (from @ArielSRL's TR) otherwise I think some of us could have partook in a mimosa or two. But maybe that is a good thing as I would get to later...

Soon we had three of these placed on our long table...behold this beauty called the Sticky Bun Bake:

It was soft, warm, gooey and crisp in the right places....delicious!

Then we got a couple of these skillets:

If that is not love on one platter, I don't know what is!!! #mickeywafflesfordays

We also got a nice bowl of fruit with plenty of strawberries!

Everyone dug in and enjoyed the hearty breakfast. It was definitely a fun way to start our Epcot day and I highly recommend this plan!

Throughout our meal we got some visitors:

Sienna: Oh Mickey, you so fine!

I love how Eva was holding her skirt up a la princess pose. I think she saw Chunkysis doing that and wanted to emulate her!

Case in point:

Sienna: I was in mid-Mickey waffle and you disrupt me for this?!?

Apparently Dale missed signing the autograph books so Mimi went to fetch him to come back and he obliged!

At the end of our meal, Eva and Mimi both got birthday cards signed by the characters!

It was a fun morning at the Land and I had successfully gotten us on Soarin' and to breakfast in time with a bonus ride on LWTL!

Coming up, more characters and more fun!
​

 

[thumper*]

Great Morning the girls look so happy at the M&G