Trip Report **Completed** Leave for Disney World on Friday The 13th They Said. It'll Be Fun They Said. A July 2018 Trip Report.

Hello Disney Friends. Welcome to my long overdue trip report!

My daughter @TheMARVELousAllieBrown posted a pre-trip report for this trip.

Here's whatcha need to know:
Who: DD Allie @TheMARVELousAllieBrown, Me Lisa @LisaBelle , DH Paul, my sister Tina @TangledTina, my BIL Mark, my nephew Spence and DS Adam

When: Friday, July 13 :eek:-Sunday, July 22, 2018
Where: The Contemporary Resort Garden Wing
Why: Ten Year Anniversary of our last whole family vacation, Allie's high school graduation and Paul & Lisa's 29th anniversary. In the pre-trip we dubbed it our Vacaygraduversary Trip!
How: Road Trip!
I created treat bags for every state that we would drive through. The idea being that as we crossed the state line we would open the bag and enjoy a treat that is representative of that state. For Ohio, naturally I chose Buckeyes candy.

For Kentucky I chose Ale 8 soda. Bourbon would have been the obvious choice, but since not everyone was of legal drinking age I had to go with a soft drink.

For Tennessee it was Goo Goo Clusters

Georgia was Peanut M & Ms

And Florida would be orange juice from the Florida Welcome Center.
Because we were driving, I placed the small bags inside of an insulated cooler bag to keep the chocolate from melting. I made one bag for our car and one bag for Tina's.

Day 1 Friday, July 13, 2018
Tina and her family live about an hour north of us. They planned to leave home around 7, drive toward Cincy and meet us at the Chick-fil-A at our exit around 8. We were hoping to have breakfast and be on the road by 9. We would spend the night in Valdosta, Georgia and arrive at Disney around check in time on Saturday. Sounds like a great plan, right?
Tina has a tendency to run late, so when she hadn't texted by 7:15 to say that they were on the road, I wasn't too concerned. When I still hadn't heard from her by 7:30 I texted to see how things were coming. Instead of a text, I get a call saying, "Maybe you guys should just leave without us." What????!!!!!! And there goes the plan!
Because there was a medical situation they would be taking a short trip to the hospital before they could leave for the trip to Disney. We decided we would wait it out for a bit so when we left they would not be too far behind us. With bellies full of Chick-fil-A, we were finally on the road at about 12 (about 3 hours behind schedule so not too bad). A bumpy start but glad to finally be en route to the happiest place on earth. We crossed the border into Kentucky about 15 minutes later. We opened our first treat and continued on our way. We had just passed Lexington, KY when Tina called to say that they were on their way! We figured that we should be able to meet up somewhere down the road.
We stopped for an early dinner at a Subway in Knoxville, TN. Back in the car to continue our journey, we decided to enjoy our Goo Goo Clusters for dessert. We noticed the car was not getting cooler. We turned the a/c off and back on again. No cool air. We pulled into a parking lot, turned the car off and back on again. Still no cool air. By now the Goo Goo Clusters and M& Ms are starting to melt and it is approaching 5pm on a Friday night. Adam and Allie researched nearby Firestone Auto Repair shops. The closest one said their a/c charger was not charging. We found another one about 15 minutes away. It was July in Tennessee. It was a lovely sunny day and the temperature was well into the nineties! We were melting by the time we arrived at Firestone.

We arrived hopeful and left with our spirits dashed as the problem was not something they could fix and it would have to be repaired at the dealership. On the road again, we were looking forward to nightfall and hopefully cooler temps. We were forced to ride in style with our windows down to avoid heatstroke. This prevented us from hearing the dialogue from our dvd player. To keep up morale Allie had the aux and we jammed out. We were headed further south and although our spirits were high, the temperature was higher. Our unsuccessful Firestone detour allowed Tina's family to close the gap a bit. By now we were only about an hour ahead of them. Fast forward an hour and Tina's a/c also went out as they drove through Knoxville. Lucky for them, their's was an easy fix and Mark was able to re-charge their a/c. Just before sundown we stopped for gas. At this point we decided it was vital to document our misery. Please enjoy this photo at a gas station somewhere between Knoxville and Atlanta.

Paul and Adam smiling through the pain. So proud of our little troopers!
We forged on and eventually were able to meet up with Tina's crew at a truck stop with a Wendy's around 11pm.

We rallied after our Wendy's pit stop (which was the longest wait at Wendy's on record) and finally made it to our hotel in Valdosta at 3am. Let me say that a shower and air conditioning have never felt so good!
Due to our late arrival we decided to sleep in a bit and would check out at 11 and grab lunch before hitting the road.
 
Last edited:

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 4 Animal Kingdom

The air conditioner in the van was still broken and we didn't want to drive all the way home that way. Before we left for the park, Paul called the dealership and arranged for us to drop off the van that night.
Allie and I put on our ears and we headed to the cars to drive to AK!

Ready to celebrate 20 years of AK

Hello Tree of Life

We wanted a group shot before we all got sweaty and grouchy.

Always love this Magic Shot!

Our first stop was Dinosaur!



We got our dino and headed over to Asia.


We had a date with a Yeti!


Up next: Everest
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Love the rose gold ears on you! And I love your taste in shirts, I got both of those last June!! Sounds like you had a great first day! Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Those ears really suit you - good choice!

Max

Awww. Thanks Max! At first I was reluctant to get the rose gold because they were the trendy item at the time. But once I put them on I was sold.

Love the rose gold ears on you! And I love your taste in shirts, I got both of those last June!! Sounds like you had a great first day! Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip!

Thanks. I was really happy with the ears. As you'll see, I wore them every day! To be honest, I've even worn them around the house a few times since we came home! Great minds think alike on Disney apparel! More report to come. Thanks for reading.
 

slipperalwaysfits

Well-Known Member
LOVING your trip report!! What a bummer about the air conditioning on the road trip down there!

We've never tried Ohana's, it looks good but not sure it's worth the hassle.
We love Columbia Harbor House, too! Loving all your throwback family pictures!
Yes, Seven Dwarves is way more fun at night!
Taking pics of things you might want to buy is a great idea! I tend to shop around and wait myself but I never thought about taking a pic! Great idea!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
LOVING your trip report!! What a bummer about the air conditioning on the road trip down there!

We've never tried Ohana's, it looks good but not sure it's worth the hassle.
We love Columbia Harbor House, too! Loving all your throwback family pictures!
Yes, Seven Dwarves is way more fun at night!
Taking pics of things you might want to buy is a great idea! I tend to shop around and wait myself but I never thought about taking a pic! Great idea!
Thanks for reading. Not having a/c on the trip down was NOT fun, but definitely made for a road trip we will never forget. I was really disappointed in 'Ohana because it had been on my dining bucket list for quite some time. I liked the food, but it didn't live up to the hype for me, especially not for the price.
I have the day off tomorrow and hope to post some more of my TR.
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We celebrated our escape from the Yeti with some photos!





We were heading for Africa.

On the way we passed the theater for the new Up! bird show. Allie HATES birds so we made her pose in front of the theater. Watch out for those birds Allie!


We can trace Allie's hatred of birds back to our first family WDW visit in 2004. Allie was only 4. We were at Epcot and while we were eating at La Cantina (I think that's what it's called, the outdoor quick service in Mexico) there were a number of birds lurking around waiting for food. I set Allie's food down on the table. Because of the birds she was a little scared to get up on the seat. As I was trying to get her up on the seat a bird came right up to the table and stole Allie's quesadilla! She was one scared girl! This was taken at another time, but here are the culprits!

I love these statues!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We had a bit of time before our FP+ for the safari so we looked around Africa a bit.

Paul loves to watch the woodcarver here.

Decisions, decisions!

He did make a new purchase. A rhino! Here is picture of an elephant from a previous trip and the new rhino.

We decided to do something we've never done before-Gorilla Falls.





 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Finishing up Gorilla Falls.





When we finished with Gorilla Falls I took a photo of the sign. I meant to put this at the beginning of the Gorilla Falls portion, but obviously I forgot!


Then it was time for our safari.

Light for @Doc Disney .


We boarded our vehicle and were ready to go! Our driver was Deandra and she was awesome! We saw a ton of animals and she timed her stops well. Enough time to take a picture without feeling rushed.
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Then we were back in Harambe.



We watched the show for a minute.


We headed toward Flame Tree for lunch. Allie wasn't feeling well, so while everyone else got in line for food she and I headed to the restroom. I was waiting for Allie to come out when I thought I saw a familiar face. I am typically a very shy person and I almost didn't say anything, but I knew I'd regret it if I didn't say something. I called (a bit more loudly than I meant to because I was still about to chicken out from saying hello), "MORGAN!" She turned around looking confused. I awkwardly said, "Hi Morgan, it's Lisabelle from Walt Disney World Magic!"



She and I had been texting and we knew we were in the same park, but again our plans were taking us in opposite directions. I chatted with Morgan and her husband, Cody for a quick minute and then we all headed on our way. I was so excited to be able to meet them. I couldn't believe that I'd had 2 magic meet ups in 2 days :happy:!

Allie and I met up with the rest of our crew. Everyone was hot and hungry and tempers were beginning to flare. Tina, Mark and Spence had a misunderstanding about what they were ordering. Paul and Adam didn't know that Allie and I had gone to the restroom and were confused about why we'd disappeared from the line. We finally got our food, which I forgot to photograph, and there weren't any seats right near Tina, Mark and Spence. We found a seat as close to them as possible and finally got to eat. Most of us got the mac and cheese with pulled pork on top. It was delicious and very filling. I remember being stuffed.
Our next FP+wasn't for several hours and we were tired, so we headed back to the Contemporary for a rest.
After a rest and some time in the a/c, most of us were ready to head back to AK. Mark decided to he needed a longer break, so he stayed behind.

We're back!


We were super excited because we were about to get our first look at Pandora!








Up next, more Pandora.
 

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