As always, I may use abbreviations that you may not be familiar with, like SSR for Saratoga Springs Resort, or DW for "Dear (or Disney) Wife", etc. Here is a reference list if you need it.
This trip report may not be as detailed as the previous one...I didn't take notes each day (relying on memory and pictures), and I've since gotten lazy, not completing it for quite a while, so the memory may have faded in areas.
This was our first trip with the kids since joining Disney Vacation Club. We also brought along DW's parents, so we got a two bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. We had wanted to stay at either Beach Club or Boardwalk, to be close to Epcot for my father in law, who had suffered a broken femur some years ago and has some trouble getting around. He considered renting an ECV, but didn't really want to, so being a short walking distance to the World Showcase would have been good, but it is too hard to get those places at popular times. That's OK - we like being close to Downtown Disney, and this was our first stay at our home resort.
This was also the first time any of us would be at Disney during the holiday season. We've seen it on TV (boy, I'd love Samantha Brown's job...), and we really wanted to go during that time, and being DVC members it was much easier. Yes, we had to take the kids out of school for a week, and I don't plan to do it often, but it was worth it. There is just something different about Disney at Christmas.
We had tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (an event at the Magic Kingdom that requires separate admission), and reservations for dinner as part of a Candlelight Processional package (or so we thought - more in the report), and we made reservations for the Undiscovered Future World and Yuletide Fantasy tours for the in-laws. We also were having breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table, so we had all sorts of events lined up.
Naturally, since I'm a "let's not waste a day, let's get down there early" kind of guy, we had a 6:50am flight out of Boston on JetBlue - which means we wake up around 3:30am, get the remaining bags, in-laws and kids in the car, and go to the airport. Note: all of our stuff fits easily into the in-law's Ford Windstar van. This will become important later on.
We get there with what seems plenty of time - except a LOT of people are arriving as well, and the line for JetBlue stretches all the way out the door. Since I had the electronic itinerary already, we went in to the automatic kiosks instead of waiting in the long line, which was for the ticket agents. Only problem is that the kiosks didn't seem to be working. We instead had to get in another line (the one for baggage of electronic checkin people, except that it was pretty long because they had to do full checkins at the counter), and wait a while.
We finally get through that, and head to the gates. More lines as usual at security, but we plod on through. Dealing with shoes, items, a laptop, and two kids is a pain at these things because they try and rush you through, but it takes time to collect everything and get your shoes back on.
However, my father-in-law runs into an issue. He has a titanium rod in his leg from his broken femur, so had trouble with the metal detector. Shouldn't normally be a problem - except no one has a handheld wand at the checkpoint! How does that happen? So he has to wait while they call someone to bring it. We head up to the gate in the meantime, and rotate bathroom runs. It seems to be getting awfully close to boarding time, but they aren't making any announcements, and the screen behind the desk doesn't say they are boarding yet, so we wait. I notice at one point that the agent at the desk started to make some announcement, but aborted it to say something to another employee going down the hall, and then it looked like she recorded an announcement, but it never played. I didn't think anything of it.
Finally, my FiL arrives through security so we are at last altogether, but its about 6:40am and they haven't said anything, although I now notice that people are going down the jetway. I said to the family that I think we are supposed to board, so we go up and I mentioned to the agent that we didn't know we were supposed to board yet. She got all mad and said "I've only made a bunch of announcements!", and I said we never heard one and we were right there for 20 minutes. She pretty much ignored me, scanned our four passes (the in-laws held their own), handed them back to me, and myself and DD#1 walked down the jetway. I then notice that DW and DD#2 are not right behind, and I hear something behind me - apparently the agent was asking for their passes, even though I gave her ALL FOUR. As I started to head back, she finally let them through before I could lose my temper with her. I have to say, this is the ONLY problem I've had with JetBlue's service. They are otherwise quite helpful and even fun to deal with.
The flight down was uneventful. I believe our plane was called "Major Blue" (JetBlue names their planes with a theme based on the color blue). Having the TVs is a godsend for two kids on a trip.
We get down to Orlando on time, get our luggage, and find the van for Thrifty Rental and get to the rental center, which is over near some hotels off the airport property. We had a minivan reserved - should be big enough, right? After all, that's what we got to the airport in. Well, the agent thinks because of our luggage, a bigger vehicle would be good, saying what we had reserved was considered smaller. I agreed, and we upgraded to a Dodge Durango. I also got talked into "pre-paying" for gas, at a much cheaper rate than the local stations were charging. After the flight, I must not have been thinking straight, and I thought that I would be paying for the gas I actually used - NO! After the fact I realize that I agreed to pay for the entire tank of gas, which on a Durango is pretty big! I'm only going to Disney and back, and driving around the area (and to the parks instead of the bus most of the time). If I was driving to Tampa, MAYBE. Stupid. But I didn't have to get the tank filled before I turned it in at least. I probably should have siphoned it off and sold it to others.
Well, the Durango didn't seem much bigger. We had a child seat, which can take a lot of space depending on the seating configuration, but we only had 6 people, and it seats 7, so there should be plenty of room - but we had a LOT of trouble fitting the luggage in (I think the in-laws bags were larger than they need to be). We tried all sorts of positions, angles, and finally got it all in but with people holding bags, stuff under their feet, etc. - not a comfortable ride for anyone but me, since I was driving. Fortunately we weren't that far away.
We head down the Beach Line, and got off at International Drive, and got a look at the continuing construction of Sea World's Aquatica park. Didn't look much different from July. I took I-drive all the way down to 536, and then went up 535 to head up to the entrance closest to SSR itself, and I also wanted to familiarize myself with what was in the area since I hadn't been up that road in 8 years. Left in to the World, over to SSR and checkin while everyone stretches their legs.