Surprise, Santa, and a Shiny new AP Holder… A GDF Trip Report

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Well, it’s time for another GDF trip report. This trip started small and ended up much bigger. Originally, I thought Z and I might drive down for a few days before Christmas to see some Disney lights and such (you know, since I accidentally bought those APs). Mr. GDF agreed but then seemed a little sad we’d be going out of town without him. I reminded him that his work was pretty slow this time of year; he thought about it and decided that if we could get into the Fort, he’d go. But this was a last minute trip, and the Fort was booked.

 

I booked a room at the POP and put his name on it just in case he changed his mind. As the date got closer, Jason said that he might be willing to stay longer “if we could get into the Fort.” This pretty much seemed impossible. Then, a famous Fiend named TCD posted a tip that some sites at opened up. We were in! I booked December 19-27, thinking I could reduce it if Jason wasn’t OK with staying for Christmas.

 

But he was. And then the great surprise for Z began. Luckily, this was a last minute thing, so we didn’t have to keep the secret very long. Mr. GDF is good at a lot of things, but secrets aren’t one of them. I shopped and wrapped…. Jason stashed presents in the RV as they were ready. Z was so used to us packing for tailgating that packing the RV wasn’t out of the ordinary.

 

I found out I could get off work a little early on Friday, so we decided we’d pick him up in the RV and surprise him in the parking lot. His teacher had come to his play that week, so she was in on the surprise too.

 

We’re on the way!

 

 

We pulled into his school, and I checked him out. We walked out, and he saw the RV. He initially thought we were going to Athens, and then came the surprise.

 

Many of you have seen it, but here’s a video clip. (It was jammie day at school.)

 

http://vid1158.photobucket.com/albums/p614/gadawgfans/Disney%20Christmas/A262E09E-D50C-46A1-9A1D-05CDFFACD76E.mp4

 

He’s running out to his teacher who had come to watch. She’s awesome and was wearing a Mickey sweatshirt.

 

He was a little excited.

 

 

And then came the drive. It was a long one.

 

 

I’m not sure if you can tell, but this lady is using her iPad while driving.

 

 

We beat Atlanta rush hour, but hit traffic elsewhere. And we kept getting boxed in by truckers. This made a 7 hour drive MUCH longer.

 

We rolled into the Fort at 11:30. Yay! We checked in and found out we’d be in site 125. I pulled up the handy app and saw it was a big one. Another yay! So we headed that way.

 

But there was a problem. Site 125 was occupied. Uh oh. I checked our paperwork; after all, it was late, and I could have made a mistake. Nope. Someone was in our site. However, site 124 right next to it was open. We figured we could just get that site. So I called the main number and finally got someone at the actual front desk at the Fort. Why don’t I have the direct line saved in my phone? If you do, please post it here so I can change that. They gave it to me that night, but I’m not sure where I wrote it down. At first, they wanted to send us to the 300 loop. Jason said no way. He saw close we were to the Settlement and decided that’s where he wanted to be. After all, that’s what we had requested. Plus, we don’t have a pet and didn’t want to be in a pet loop since people sometimes leave their barking dogs for long periods of time. I explained that 124 was open and that we thought someone just pulled into the wrong site. They said they’d have to send someone out. And they did. There was some inspection and discussion, and we finally got to pull into our new site… 124. On the positive side, I liked it better than 125. On the negative side, it was now around 1:00 AM. And guess who was wired?

 

Yep, Z. He wanted to decorate his tree. I had promised, you know, when I thought it would be 10:30 PM.

 

Well, it’s vacation, and we had no firm morning plans, so we decorated the tree.

Z was super excited.

 

 

 

With that accomplished, we got the beds ready, and I booked some last minute morning FP+. See, Saturday, December 20^th, was mainly to be a Fort day, but I had some business to handle at the Magic Kingdom. When I bought AP for Z and me, they messed up our expiration date. I had fixed mine on my trip in October, but forgot to fix his. I figured we could handle that and maybe ride a ride while Jason set up. It was supposed to be nice, so the pool was an option afterwards. And then there was the Fiend mini gathering on the porch that evening.

 

So that was the plan for Saturday, but some pretty darn good pixie dust kept Z and me in the Magic Kingdom just a bit longer. We’ll hard there in the next update.  

[ependydad...Doug 176]

I'm first here, too. A double first!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

WooHoo, can't wait to read more!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

I am so in.

It was very very very hard to be patient.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Count me in

[Beckers 1,136]

In!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I'm in too!

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Page one bragging rights.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm in! Page one! You're off to a great start, and I am looking forward to hearing about the pixie dust you received on your first morning in the MK. I'm also interested to hear how y'all liked the 100 loop. We have ended up there quite a few times recently, and I am a fan.

TCD

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

Glad you got to have an extra "Magical" Christmas.

[BigTom 76]

I am here

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

In and looking forward to the report :)

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I'm in. Scared, but in.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Okay... so now I've gone back and actually read the post :)   PJ day, now I get it.  I was wondering    Love the Christmas tree, very cute.  The woman on her ipad!  Man, that irritates me.  How can people be so stupid.  Personally, while I think it is convenient to have cell phones and ipads (if you're not driving)...I wish these devices had some sort of chip in them that would render them unusable if they are in a moving car. Okay, so the cell phone working (maybe) if it's hooked up to blue tooth.  Really want I want to stop is texting/driving and horribly irresponsible people like the gal you passed.  Makes me cringe just thinking about it... all the accidents and lives lost because of foolish choices

 

Rant over.

 

Need your next post....like now!  Excited to hear about this trip! :)

[Memphis 105]

I'm in

[Duane 152]

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, I'm in on this one.... However this has to be the absolute best picture ever!  I was scrolling down to see if I was on page 1 and this caught my eye....

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Okay, I'm in on this one.... However this has to be the absolute best picture ever!  I was scrolling down to see if I was on page 1 and this caught my eye....

 

Haha...I agree!  Z could play Macaulay Culkin if they decided to make another Home Alone movie :)

[ImDownWithDisney 342]

My kids had a very similar response to their AP's that were under the tree.

[alexwyattmommy 181]

I love trip reports.  Looking forward to more content.

[CampMImi 22]

I am in also!

[Cortezcapt (Derek) 156]

Im in

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I'm first here, too. A double first!

 

Sorry I killed the other thread, but you get first poster bragging rights! Congrats! 

 

WooHoo, can't wait to read more!

 

More is about to come! 

 

I am so in.

It was very very very hard to be patient.

 

Thank you for being patient. :) 

 

Count me in

 

Excellent!

 

In!

 

Whooo Hoooo!

 

I'm in too!

 

Great! 

 

Page one bragging rights.

 

And appearing in the TR bragging rights! 

 

I'm in! Page one! You're off to a great start, and I am looking forward to hearing about the pixie dust you received on your first morning in the MK. I'm also interested to hear how y'all liked the 100 loop. We have ended up there quite a few times recently, and I am a fan.

TCD

 

Here comes the pixie dust! 

 

Spolier: We loved the 100 loop. 

 

Glad you got to have an extra "Magical" Christmas.

 

It was extra, super magical! 

 

I am here

 

Yay!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

In and looking forward to the report :)

 

Thanks for joining! 

 

I'm in. Scared, but in.

 

Are you scared because you're in it or scared because you've now met me in person? 

 

Okay... so now I've gone back and actually read the post :)   PJ day, now I get it.  I was wondering    Love the Christmas tree, very cute.  The woman on her ipad!  Man, that irritates me.  How can people be so stupid.  Personally, while I think it is convenient to have cell phones and ipads (if you're not driving)...I wish these devices had some sort of chip in them that would render them unusable if they are in a moving car. Okay, so the cell phone working (maybe) if it's hooked up to blue tooth.  Really want I want to stop is texting/driving and horribly irresponsible people like the gal you passed.  Makes me cringe just thinking about it... all the accidents and lives lost because of foolish choices

 

Rant over.

 

Need your next post....like now!  Excited to hear about this trip! :)

 

I wish we had PJ day at my school!

 

Z was sooooooooooooooooooo excited about the tree because he got to decorate it all by himself. 

 

The iPad lady was crazy. That was downtown in Atlanta rush hour. 

 

I'm in

 

Awesome! 

 

Okay, I'm in on this one.... However this has to be the absolute best picture ever!  I was scrolling down to see if I was on page 1 and this caught my eye....

 

Z is certainly expressive! 

 

Haha...I agree!  Z could play Macaulay Culkin if they decided to make another Home Alone movie :)

 

He really could. You aren't the first person to say that. 

 

My kids had a very similar response to their AP's that were under the tree.

 

What a great present! Feel free to adopt me. 

 

I love trip reports.  Looking forward to more content.

 

Here comes more. 

 

I am in also!

 

Great! It was nice to meet you. :) Are you going to write a TR?

 

Im in

 

Thanks! 

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Let’s continue…

 

This trip was different from our previous trips for a few reasons. First, it was last minute and during a major holiday. I’ve done some last minute trips, so I know how to work the FP+ system in those cases. During the planning, I was able to successfully get FP+ for 7DMT and the Frozen girls (although the time for the sisters was not ideal). I also kept checking ADRs and lucked into some good ones. Because of the trip being last minute, we were in a preferred site because that’s what opened up; that was a first for us. I figured we’d like being closer to the Settlement, especially because we would likely not be at the pool as much. Lastly, we brought our own golf cart! This did require some extra planning, however, because we would not have a car due to towing the cart.

 

With all that said, let’s get to the morning of Saturday, December 20^th. If you remember, the plan was to go fix Z’s AP and ride something. I was also going to get a Tables in Wonderland card because We have 2 other Disney trips booked in the next year. $100 is a lot upfront, but I figured we’d save money over 3 trips. Oh, I also wanted to upgrade Jason’s ticket to a 3 day park hopper since I had bought his ticket before we were staying so long.

 

You can see that site 124 gave us plenty of room, something I’d worried about with a preferred site,

 

 

The cart!

 

 

Jason decided to drive us down the path of awesomeness. Sure, Z and I could have walked, but our cart REALLY wanted to drive around the Fort.

 

 

We were on the boat in about 2 minutes. I loved being that close to the dock!

 

 

Sun over the marina

 

 

A CM rode up front and pointed about the shoe tree and Discovery Island.

 

 

He said the birds from Animal Kingdom come to Discovery Island to sleep each night. Does anyone know if that’s true? Seems a little farfetched.

 

 

As you can see, it was a beautiful day. I was thanking God for nice weather and warmth. It was a nice change of pace as Atlanta has already been VERY cold.

 

 

 

We entered and headed to Guest Services. My first look at the MK Christmas tree.

 

 

I don’t have any pictures of what happened next, so sorry for that. There was a short line at Guest Services. After a few minutes, I reached a CM and explained that I had a few things I needed to take care of. I told her the 3 things I needed and she said she’d start with the AP. Changing that took a bit of time, so she told Z that she’d give us some free ice creams since he was being good. Awesome! I’ve never had something like that happen, and he was happy. Next, we upgraded Jason’s ticket. That was no problem. I did have her run some special math for though, and I filed that info for a future discussion. Then it was time to purchase the Tables in Wonderland card. Apparently, they recently upgraded the computer system but not the TIW system. The new system and old system don’t work well together, and it was giving her all kinds of problems. I was nice and just chatted with her while she tried to get it to work. She apologized and told us she’d give us some FP+ to make up for our wait. She had to go in the back and several CMs were working on the problem. Eventually, they could get it issued but they couldn’t get the system to process any form of payment. So they just gave it to me. FOR FREE. It expires 1/2/16! Yippee! Then she asked Z what he would ride if he could ride anything in the park? 7DMT? Done! He asked if he could meet Anna and Elsa. Done! Then she winked and said she’d put another one on there and he could choose it later. All those were added to our Magic Bands. She also said he was still getting his ice cream because she’d promised it to him and gave us a certificate for that. 

 

So let’s review… for about 30 minutes of inconvenience, we got: 2 ice creams, 3 FP+ including 2 of the hardest to get, and a free Tables in Wonderland card. Winning! This was really just supposed to be a quick business trip to the MK, but it turned into major pixie dust. Remember what TCD and some others have said about being nice when there are issues because the CMs will go a long way to make you happy? It’s really true. The person next to me was basically screaming at the poor people, and I bet my outcome was WAY better than his.

 

You can see that Main Street was very crowded.

 

 

One of the FP+ I had already booked was for the Speedway. I mentioned on another thread that Z had never ridden it.

 

 

At first, he looked at it and said he wouldn’t ride because “it was a baby ride.” I semi-begged him to try it, and he finally agreed.

 

 

Guess what? He loved it! I let him steer, while I pushed the pedal. He wasn’t a very good driver and was cracking up while I asked to see his driver’s license.

 

 

Too bad they put us in such an ugly car.

 

 

 

 

After that, Z wanted to ride Dave’s favorite ride, JotLM. So, we did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s all for now. We’ll cash in 2 FP+ for the most popular things in the MK in the next update.  

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Awesome!