Disney Has the Best Chicken Nuggets Ever! - Update Dump - Finally Completed!

afwdwfan

DIS Dad #460
Joined
Apr 23, 2010
Welcome to my latest trip report!

If you’ve joined me before, welcome back! I’m glad to have you. If you’re new, I’m glad you could join us!

This trip was a rather large, elaborate extended family vacation including my family of 5, my parents, my 2 sisters and my brother in law and niece. If you're not counting, that's 11 people total with 9 tickets and connected FP+ to keep track of. I’m going to focus on talking mostly about what my family of 5 did, but we did spend a lot of our time together as a group so there will be plenty of mentions of the others throughout.

I have to give an early disclaimer on this TR. It will likely be wordy with pictures few and far between. I’m not gonna lie. This trip had its challenges. Pictures weren’t a priority and therefore didn’t happen. Most of what I do have were stolen, I mean borrowed, from Sis2’s facebook page. But thankfully we had Memory Maker to help us with characters and rides.

We had kids to corral and I was the main trip planner for a group of 11 people. While I love MDE, I spent so much time looking at my phone changing FP times or adding a FP that it left me with some very strong love/hate feelings towards the app. Like right here... ignore the cute kid and look in the background... I'm pretty sure I was doing something with FastPasses.


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I felt like I was constantly checking and updating things on the app or explaining where we had to be and when. I just didn’t have very many of those opportunities to get a picture, or just enjoy the moment.

We had a fun trip, but it did have its challenges. There were no disasters by any means, but DD had some serious behavior issues throughout the trip which were really draining on us. All in all, I left Disney World satisfied, but not in a hurry to come back. It was definitely a much different feeling than I’ve had on other trips when I feel like I’m being dragged kicking and screaming off of Main Street on our last day. I don’t even think I turned around to take one last look at the castle this time.

But… that’s why I’m writing this TR. To talk about the highs and the lows. And there were plenty of both! Maybe you can learn something that will help you along the way!

Introductions:

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I’m Andy. I’m 35 and will be taking you along on this trip. I’m the master trip planner of the group, but my mom is the Disney addict that started us all down this path.

Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom

Favorite Ride: Rock ‘n Rollercoaster

Favorite Character: Goofy

Least favorite park: Still Animal Kingdom… sorry. See below.


DW, my lovely wife and mother of our kids. She went to Disney World twice before we were married and she wasn’t a big Disney fan. Now, having accompanied me to Disney World 6 times and Disneyland once since we were married, she has really come to love being immersed in everything the Disney parks have to offer.

Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom

Favorite Ride: Soarin

Favorite Character: Piglet

Least Favorite Park: She hates Animal Kingdom as I was told several times. Literally every time we walked from one land to the next.


DS, is our oldest. He’s 7 years old and now in second grade. This was his fourth trip to Disney World and he was tall enough to do everything this time!

Favorite park: Magic Kingdom

Favorite Ride: Flight of Passage

Favorite Character: Pretty much any Star Wars character


DD, our middle child is 5 years old and apparently going through her terrible 2s. This was her fourth trip to Disney World as well. Honestly, she’s been a joy on all of our past trips. But this time… man, what a challenge.

Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom

Favorite Ride: Space Mountain

Favorite Character: Moana… which is awesome because guess who’s not in the park and has no merchandise for sale at Disney World???? Try explaining to a 5 year old who has a temper with a hair trigger why you can’t meet her favorite Disney character.


The baby, little guy, little dude, LG: I’ll probably use an assortment of nicknames for him, but this is our newest addition. He’s 13 months old at the time of the trip and his first year of life has been filled with challenges. He spent his first 3 months of life in the hospital and had to return a few months later for another surgery. Right now things are going ok… he’s having some issues with learning to drink from cups and bottles and gaining weight, but he’s doing well now and developmentally he’s right where he should be. Anyway, this was his first trip. He handled the crowds, stimulation and July heat pretty well to be quite honest. He did have points where he hit his limit and was just done, but overall it wasn’t too bad traveling with him.

Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom

Favorite Ride: It’s a Small Mexico

Favorite Character: Based on interaction we’ll say probably Elsa and Anna.


As for the rest of our group, I won’t get into detailed introductions, but we were joined by my Mom and Dad, my sisters (twins). Sis1 is married to BiL and they joined us with my Niece. Sis2 is single and she came with my parents and stayed in their room. We all drove down to Disney World together in a convoy of sorts, but Sis1 and BiL left Disney World a day before Mom & Dad. Then Mom & Dad left a day before my family left Disney World.

Last summer we had planned a nice vacation including some beach time. Our kids had been begging to go back to the beach, but with little dude coming and spending all summer in the hospital, that just couldn’t happen. Since we didn’t get to do anything fun with the older kids last summer, we decided we wanted to do something big this year. Mom had been discussing a big family trip to Disney World for a few years so we hammered out those details and made it happen. Then DW and I decided to tag on a few days at the end to go to the beach. When it was all said and done, we were away from home for just over 12 days.

We chose to use the Quick Service Dining Plan for this trip with a few Table Service meals paid out of pocket. It actually worked out well, because at the end of the week, we had 4 meals (as in 1 for each of us) left after dinner on our last night so we went to Roaring Forks and bought milk, fruit and pastries for our breakfast the next morning. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge on this trip, but DW and I added on a night at the end at Wilderness Lodge because we needed one more night somewhere before we could check in at the beach. We planned our last day at MK and our favorite resort had always been WL, so this just made sense to us.


Well, that’s the set up and I’ll be back with the first real update sometime!


Once again, thanks for joining me and I look forward to sharing this experience with everyone!
 
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Hi Andy! I'm here reading. This sounds exciting and interesting, can't wait to read more :) You have a cute family---love the first pictures of LG!! That screams "Disney" to me, ha ha ha. FYI: I have a yellow MagicBand for when we go in ten days, whoooohoooo!!!!!
 


Woo hoo glad you've started!

I'm sorry this trip didn't have the same feeling as past ones. I can imagine being charge of such a large group is tough! I'm ready to here all about it though- the good and the bad!

Love the family photo- DS is so big! And I'm glad to hear the little guy faired pretty well all things considered.

Well, that’s the set up and I’ll be back with the first real update sometime!

"Sometime"..that gives me lots of confidence :rotfl:
 
Just saying hello :wave: to you and your lovely family before I come back to read later. Being shouted down to give a hand getting dinner ready. I only came upstairs to put Peter's rugby kit away - how did I end up on the Dis?
 
Following along! I like TR's where the writer keeps it real talking about not only the highs but the lows. It can sometimes help others with their planning. Thanks for sharing!
 


Joining in! I went in July too and I had a lot of problems with the MDE app. Probably wi-fi related but I was spending a lot of time trying to switch stuff around and constantly having issues. I can't imagine trying to manage the MDE for 11 people with the same bad wi-fi connections.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip!
 
HERE! I can't believe that baby is 13 months! I remember reading your other TR and his arrival and complications. So glad to see him growing and doing so well!
 
Beautiful family! I had the same feeling as you on our last trip - I felt we had lost a little bit of the magic so we've been waiting to go back to hopefully recapture it again. We've never visited during the summer months and usually travel in November or December. I think our last visit in 2010 it was unseasonably warm and we had a couple of grown-ups with 2 year old meltdowns because of the heat lol

Can't wait to read more!
 
I read your last Trip Report yesterday and it was a great read. Looking forward to that next update. . . Sometime.
 
So excited for this trip report. Can't get over how big the baby has gotten.
 
Hi Andy! I'm here and excited to hear all about the ups and down of the giant family trip.
Also, your kids are super cute and I can't believe how big they are. I remember you posting about DD's 3rd birthday party ... is she really five??. And I remember when you first found out about the little guy's condition ... I can't believe he's already over a year old - he looks great!
 
Just place-holding for now. Back to read later!
 
Hey Andy!! I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip. I'm really interested to compare and contrast how things went with your group since I was the planning master for our group of 9 last year. I completely understand the frustrations with the app. I'm sad this trip seemed very draining for you but I completely understand where you're coming from. I hope it was more good than bad though!!
 
I've read past reports but don't know if I ever commented. I've traveled with a group of 11 too and it is challenging especially when you have made all of those detailed plans and there's one or two who don't really understand what a chore it was. Looking forward to reading about your adventures.
 
Hi Andy! I'm here reading. This sounds exciting and interesting, can't wait to read more :) You have a cute family---love the first pictures of LG!! That screams "Disney" to me, ha ha ha. FYI: I have a yellow MagicBand for when we go in ten days, whoooohoooo!!!!!
Thank you, and welcome! 10 days! Have a great time.

Hi! I'm here and ready to join in! :wave2:
Hi Alison! Glad you're here!

Woo hoo glad you've started!

I'm sorry this trip didn't have the same feeling as past ones. I can imagine being charge of such a large group is tough! I'm ready to here all about it though- the good and the bad!

Love the family photo- DS is so big! And I'm glad to hear the little guy faired pretty well all things considered.
It was a good trip, looking back. It definitely had its challenges. He really did pretty well on the trip. I was impressed.

"Sometime"..that gives me lots of confidence :rotfl:
Well, I have a goal in my head. Maybe I'll make it, maybe I won't. But I won't make a promise I can't keep! :rotfl2::rotfl::lmao:

Just saying hello :wave: to you and your lovely family before I come back to read later. Being shouted down to give a hand getting dinner ready. I only came upstairs to put Peter's rugby kit away - how did I end up on the Dis?
It's just crazy how that browser opens itself up right in front of you when you've got 10 other things that you should probably be doing instead!

Following along! I like TR's where the writer keeps it real talking about not only the highs but the lows. It can sometimes help others with their planning. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks. I always just try to tell it like it is. Sometimes it is all pixie dust and roses, but other times it isn't.

Joining in! I went in July too and I had a lot of problems with the MDE app. Probably wi-fi related but I was spending a lot of time trying to switch stuff around and constantly having issues. I can't imagine trying to manage the MDE for 11 people with the same bad wi-fi connections.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip!
Oh gosh... the wi-fi. I think I gave up on it within the first hour of being in the park. I just turned it off and used 4G. Then I'd turn it back on if I was inside a ride that blocked my 4G signal and even then it was 50/50 at best whether the wi-fi would work. I mean why would they want to have good wi-fi service inside a building where people are standing in line for hours anyway, right?

Welcome! Glad you could make it!

Following along! Sounds like quite a trip. Can't wait for the details!:banana:
I look forward to sharing them! And comparing notes and headaches. :rotfl:

HERE! I can't believe that baby is 13 months! I remember reading your other TR and his arrival and complications. So glad to see him growing and doing so well!
Thanks! Actually he's 14 months now, 13 as of the trip. But he's doing pretty well. We've actually had a few new concerns pop up that we'll need to get some tests done for, but I'm kind of at the point now that I won't worry until we know something.

Beautiful family! I had the same feeling as you on our last trip - I felt we had lost a little bit of the magic so we've been waiting to go back to hopefully recapture it again. We've never visited during the summer months and usually travel in November or December. I think our last visit in 2010 it was unseasonably warm and we had a couple of grown-ups with 2 year old meltdowns because of the heat lol

Can't wait to read more!
I've seen a lot of grown ups have that meltdown. Thankfully none of them with us! We did summer trips when I was growing up, and our last several trips were all Nov/Dec/Jan trips. It was a change going back to summer, but frankly, it really wasn't as bad as I expected from a weather and crowd standpoint. Temps were mid 80's to low 90's, but we had high humidity those temps at home when we left. We actually came home to hotter weather than we had in Florida so it really didn't bother us too much.

I read your last Trip Report yesterday and it was a great read. Looking forward to that next update. . . Sometime.
You read it yesterday? You must have been really bored. :rotfl: Thanks for reading it and joining this one!

So excited for this trip report. Can't get over how big the baby has gotten.
Tell his doctor! She wants him to get bigger! The kid won't sit still. He can't eat enough to keep up with the calories he burns!

Hi Andy! I'm here and excited to hear all about the ups and down of the giant family trip.
Also, your kids are super cute and I can't believe how big they are. I remember you posting about DD's 3rd birthday party ... is she really five??. And I remember when you first found out about the little guy's condition ... I can't believe he's already over a year old - he looks great!
She's really 5. And has a tween's attitude. It's an awesome combination.

Just place-holding for now. Back to read later!
Hurry up!

Hey Andy!! I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip. I'm really interested to compare and contrast how things went with your group since I was the planning master for our group of 9 last year. I completely understand the frustrations with the app. I'm sad this trip seemed very draining for you but I completely understand where you're coming from. I hope it was more good than bad though!!
I don't know how your group was, but my group didn't use the app. Like they didn't want to. My mom tried, but she has an old phone that didn't support the app and she couldn't get anything to work either through the app or the phone's browser. Sis1 had it, but didn't really use it for anything other than to look up plans and follow along. But aside from that it was just me. That was my biggest frustration with the app. The app itself actually worked pretty well. I don't recall any problems with it the whole trip. It was just more the fact that it felt like I was constantly on it.

I've read past reports but don't know if I ever commented. I've traveled with a group of 11 too and it is challenging especially when you have made all of those detailed plans and there's one or two who don't really understand what a chore it was. Looking forward to reading about your adventures.
I think they understood and appreciated the effort that went into it. It wasn't like anybody just scrapped the plans, but it was a constant struggle to keep everybody moving when we had to get somewhere by a certain time. Hence part of my love/hate with MDE and all the planning.
 
Travel Day and Chef Mickey

I apologize for the long, wordy post. I just wanted to get the travel day and Chef Mickey out of the way so we could move on to the good stuff. Take your time, it will be a late next week at the very soonest before I'll even be close to thinking about posting another update.

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We left the evening Fri July 7, meeting up with everyone at 8 pm at a Mc Donald’s about an hour from home to grab some food and hit the road. Our drive quickly hit a snag. Within a few miles of getting on the interstate, we hit a construction zone, then we followed that up with some heavy rain in Louisville and an accident south of there. Based on the GPS arrival time, we lost about 2 hours before we ever got out of Kentucky. It wasn’t the greatest start.

Thankfully the rest of the trip was better. We stopped a few more times than normal because the LG wasn’t very happy in his car seat and didn’t sleep through the night, but overall it wasn’t a horrible drive. We made it to Tifton, GA before stopping for breakfast at Cracker Barrel.

I got a text that our room was ready at about 10:30 am. Nobody else had received a text for their room yet. We pulled up to Animal Kingdom Lodge at around 1:30 pm. I’m normally a cheapskate, but we had so much crap to haul in that I decided to tip bell services and request their help. They loaded a cart up and walked away with our stuff while I was still getting the last few things out. I ended up just going and parking and loading the stroller up with the things they didn’t take.

I sent DW and the kids in so that bell services could bring our things straight up to our room while I went to park. As I was walking back to the lobby, I saw that Mom & Dad and Sis1 & BiL were still unloading their cars with bell services. Mom got a text that their room was ready, but Sis1 was still waiting. They were just going to have their things taken to Mom’s room for the time being.

I walked into the lobby and stopped for a bit just to take in the view. It was my first time seeing the inside of AKL and I had to just take a moment to absorb it. The lobby certainly is beautiful! I don’t have any pictures because I’m sure you’ve seen them. And I had my hands full and therefore didn’t get any. But a rain storm had just moved through so the sky behind that large window was dark and overcast and it actually made it look even more impressive, I thought.

When I made it to our room, I was glad to see that we got a room in the area of Kudu trail that we had requested using the Touringplans room request fax service. It worked out really well, and we actually ended up having all 3 rooms right next to each other with standard view rooms overlooking one of the savannas.

DW forgot to stop by the bell services desk to give them our ticket so they could bring our stuff, so I had to return to the lobby to do that, but they were quickly at our room once I took care of that.

Here’s a room picture… unpacking in progress

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I told you I was bad about getting pictures on this trip.

We unpacked and DW laid down with LG to feed him and get him to nap. I took the older 2 kids to go to the pool after stopping at the Mara to get our mugs and some lunch.

We took this poor backlit picture on the way. This was a little landing area outside the stairs and elevator that was just outside our door. We ended up meeting up with everyone out here every morning.

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We had an ADR coming up in just a few hours so we got an order of adult sized chicken nuggets and fries for the 3 of us to share. It ended up working out to just about the right amount of food for what we wanted at the time between a later morning, big breakfast and a buffet for dinner. LG didn’t want to nap, so DW joined us as we were finishing up and had a couple of nuggets herself before we headed out to the pool.

We ran into Mom and Sis1 on the way to the pool. Apparently, there was an issue with the computer system at AKL. It was past check in time at this point, and Sis1 had gone to the front desk because she never got a text. They told her that they can’t see in the computer what rooms housekeeping had ready so they couldn’t give her a room and didn’t know when they’d be able to get her into her room. She was pissed. I could see the steam coming out of her ears. I just told her that since we requested rooms near each other I was pretty sure they would be in one of the rooms near us and Mom and I didn’t see any housekeepers working on our floor so it was probably already cleaned. I suggested walking down the hall and tapping her band on doors until one opens and then see if it is clean. She didn’t appreciate in that idea, so I let it go.

Mom was going back to the desk with her to talk to them and see what they could do. They offered a room that was clear across the resort on Zebra Trail. Mom was going to offer to take that one since they’d have less bags to move, but before that had to happen they managed to clear the room that was assigned to Sis1. And it did turn out to actually be an adjoining room to Mom & Dad. The good news, since Mom went to the desk with her and Sis1 didn’t physically harm anyone, they gave everyone in Mom’s room and Sis1’s room 2 anytime FP’s for the following day at MK.

The bad news… I’m planning this frickin trip and organizing FP’s and nobody in my room got one.

While they dealt with that we spent about an hour in the pool with BiL and Niece until it was time to
get ready to head to dinner. We had an ADR for Chef Mickey. Most of our group wanted to use Disney Transportation since we’d just driven about 17 – 18 hours including stops. We left our rooms about an hour before our ADR to catch a bus to MK… I know, cutting it close. I thought we were going to drive.

20 minutes later one finally shows up.


Wow, I hope the buses aren’t this bad all week. :rolleyes1

We were watching the clock at this point. We wanted to take the monorail from MK to the Contemporary, but I was starting to think walking might be quicker. On top of having a long wait, our bus driver was slow. Really slow. 28 minutes after we boarded the bus at AKL, we were finally getting off at MK.

Yes. 28 minutes.

We didn’t take strollers for just a quick trip to dinner. I put DD on my shoulders and BiL put Niece up on his shoulders and we took off walking as fast as we could.

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Oh yeah… we made a quick diversion through MK security and the metal detectors, before we had to turn right, walk a few feet and leave the secured area.

Not that big of a deal, but kind of frustrating to take an extra couple of minutes when you ultimately don’t even want to enter the secured area to begin with.

We ended up making it to Chef Mickey just a couple of minutes after our ADR time. We weren't very late at all, but I think they were waiting for us because our buzzer went off while we were getting our picture taken. They led us to the table and no sooner were we seated than the characters started coming by.

This is a meal we’ve done a few times now. I enjoy it. The kids love the characters, the food is good… it isn’t worth the price you pay for it, but we all know you’re paying for the experience. Honestly the food this time was probably about the best we’ve had there. I’m always skeptical of something like ribs on the buffet, but I went back for more a couple of times because they were so good and tender.

I ended up stuffing myself.

Because buffet.

Our service this time was pretty lousy though.

Trying to be diplomatic here… I don’t have a problem with someone coming from another country to work here. But if you’re in a customer service role, speaking English, to me, seems like a pretty basic requirement. We ran into a couple of different servers of a couple of different nationalities over the course of this trip that didn’t speak English as a first language and were hard to communicate with. That isn't something I've ever experienced at Disney World and this trip, I saw it more than once. It definitely caught my attention. I mean when we went to Via Napoli to be served by someone from Italy and we were thrilled we could have a conversation with her… well that tells you something.

Aside from the communication issues, our server wasn’t very attentive about getting drink refills. After the walk, I was hot and thirsty. I had him bring me a water and a Coke and I quickly drank both. I waited a long time before he ever came back so I could get a refill. He also wasn’t good about removing empty plates. We were stacking them in the middle of the table. But then at one point he walked up and took a plate from Sis2 while she literally had the fork in her hand eating from the plate.

I know that large groups can be a pain for a server so I usually don’t mind that mandatory 18% tip… especially when I normally would tip more for good service anyway, but this is a rare case where I didn’t feel like that 18% tip was earned or deserved.

The kids all loved the characters. DS and DD had autograph books for the first time so they got to get signatures. LG was very interested in the characters. He just stared at them. He wouldn’t give them high fives or anything, but he also didn’t cry, so that’s something! The characters were all great with the kids, but we were disappointed in Pluto. He came over to sign DD’s book and get a picture with her then someone from another table walked up to him and he went to their table and didn’t spend any time with anyone else at our table. Just DD. We got one quick picture and that was it. The character handler stopped by our table 3 or 4 times before we finished our meal and asked if we’d seen everybody. Every time we said we needed to see Pluto, but in the 2 hours we were there, he never came back. Even when the other characters came by a second time.

Pictures were being taken by DW and Sis2. This is what we have. Goofy visited us. We actually had fun with him. And I can’t find any pictures anywhere… oh well.

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But the highlight of dinner… I got to see a kid projectile vomit.

It was disgusting and impressive. Almost like a firehose.

And it was at the table that stole Pluto.


Payback.


Thankfully, we had all finished our dinner at that point. We were just sitting around waiting on our server to get our checks and get us taken care of so we could leave. DS and I were the only ones who saw it happen. I was trying to be careful not to draw attention of those with weaker gag reflexes to it, but then DS started pantomiming what he saw so explanations were needed.

Disney did handle that well. That table basically disappeared. Like literally I look away and look back and the table was gone. I don’t know where it went or how they moved it out of a crowded restaurant so quickly. They managed to secure and completely block the area from view while they cleaned the floor. Had I not seen what happened when it happened, I’d probably never even know.

You want to know how long it takes for Disney to clean up puke, set a clean table and seat another party at that table?

Apparently about half an hour less than it takes our crappy server to bring out and then settle our checks.

I think they’d managed 2 or 3 trips to the buffet before we ever left.

Having seen the characters so quickly, this should have been an hour or hour and a half meal at most. We were in Chef Mickey’s for over 2 hours. Most of which waiting on our server. I was not impressed.

Overall, it was a bit of a lackluster experience. As I said the food was good. Aside from Pluto’s disappearing act, the characters were fantastic. But when you drop over $150 to feed a family of 4 and have to put up with subpar service, it certainly takes the shine off the rest of the experience. This was by far the worst service we had the whole trip.

I’m not always this grumpy.

But then again, I'd been up 26 straight hours at this point and had only had a 2 hour nap in the previous 38 hours. So it didn't take much.

We boarded the monorail so that we could enjoy the ride back around to MK. Niece got to see the castle for the first time as we were riding, so that was an exciting moment!

We made it back to MK just before it was time for Happily Ever After. We walked to the bus stop and got in line for the bus just as the fireworks started. It was nice to be able to stand there watching it while we waited for the bus. The timing ended up working perfectly.

A bus pulled up just after the fireworks ended, but before the masses could make it from Main Street to the bus stops. We got to sit down on a bus that was about half full for our ride back to AKL.

We went right to bed so we could rest up for our first park day!
 

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