diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 9735f43..4eb2924 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@
   - if [[ `uname` == "Linux" ]]; then build/docker/refresh.sh; fi
 
 stages:
-# - osx       # up front for now (for testing)
   - docker    # docker images
   - thrift    # thrift build jobs
 
@@ -44,7 +43,7 @@
     - SCRIPT="cmake.sh"
     - BUILD_ARG=""
     - BUILD_ENV="-e CC=gcc -e CXX=g++ -e THRIFT_CROSSTEST_CONCURRENCY=4"
-    - DISTRO=ubuntu-xenial
+    - DISTRO=ubuntu-artful
     - BUILD_LIBS="CPP C_GLIB HASKELL JAVA PYTHON TESTING TUTORIALS"  # only meaningful for CMake builds
     - TRAVIS_BUILD_STAGE=test
     # DOCKER_REPO (this works for all builds as a source for docker images - you can override for fork builds in your Travis settings)
@@ -54,12 +53,6 @@
 
 jobs:
   include:
-    # ------------------------- phase: osx --------------------------
-    # - stage: osx
-    #   os: osx
-    #   osx_image: xcode9
-    #   script: build/docker/scripts/autotools.sh
-
     # ========================= stage: docker =========================
     - stage: docker
       script: true
@@ -120,7 +113,6 @@
       env:
         - JOB="Static Code Analysis"
         - SCRIPT="sca.sh"
-        - DISTRO=ubuntu-artful
 
     # C and C++ undefined behavior.
     # A binary crashes if undefined behavior occurs and produces a stack trace.
@@ -129,13 +121,12 @@
       env:
         - JOB="UBSan"
         - SCRIPT="ubsan.sh"
-        - DISTRO=ubuntu-artful
         - BUILD_ARG="--without-python --without-py3"
 
     # ------------------------- phase: cmake ------------------------
     - script: build/docker/run.sh
       env:
-        - JOB="CMake (Ubuntu Xenial)"
+        - JOB="CMake"
 
     # C++ specific options: compiler plug-in, threading model
     - script: build/docker/run.sh
@@ -178,10 +169,18 @@
     - script: build/docker/run.sh
       env:
         - JOB="make dist"
+        - DISTRO=ubuntu-xenial
         - SCRIPT="make-dist.sh"
 
     - script: build/docker/run.sh
       env:
         - JOB="Debian Packages"
+        - DISTRO=ubuntu-xenial
         - SCRIPT="dpkg.sh"
 
+  ### ------------------------- phase: osx -------------------------
+  # disabled due to the time delays it imposes on build jobs
+  # - os: osx
+  #   osx_image: xcode9
+  #   script: build/docker/scripts/autotools.sh
+