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:

FlaggNL

Well-Known Member
Glad to see you back on the forums. Looking forward to reading about your latest trip.

Off course there will be a TR from our last October trip..... we had a turbulent couple of months.... bad car accident the day after we arrived home from Disney trip.... but all is ok now... so in the next couple of weeks I will start the TR....:)
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I love the expression of the two people behind Adam and Allie in the last picture - it looks like they are mad at your kids for being happy 😂.
I thought the same thing! What's funny is that I didn't notice them when I originally looked at the pictures. I only noticed once I added them to my TR. I guess because the picture was bigger on the computer than on my phone.

Good thing you didn’t try to walk back to the Contemporary from the TTC....you cannot get there safely as there is no path/sidewalk. And the route from TTC>Poly>GF ends at the GF.....there’s no way to walk across the lagoon!

Definitely glad we didn't bail and try to walk! Everyone was complaining about the wait and I kept trying to picture a good walking route, but I couldn't. Probably because one doesn't exist! I can only imagine their reaction if we'd tried to walk and couldn't get back to the Contemporary!

Off course there will be a TR from our last October trip..... we had a turbulent couple of months.... bad car accident the day after we arrived home from Disney trip.... but all is ok now... so in the next couple of weeks I will start the TR....:)

Oh no! So sorry to hear about the car accident. Glad things are okay now. I will be following along whenever you begin your TR.
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 July 18 Continued....
After saying goodbye to Epcot for this trip we had taken a very lengthy monorail trip back to the Contemporary. After a rest, some of us were ready to head to MK for evening EMH. Tina, Allie and I arrived just before HEA began.



We didn't take any photos of HEA that night. HEA was beginning to grow on me, but I still wasn't sold. I was still missing Wishes :(!

After HEA we helped Buzz save the galaxy.







I didn't take a picture of our scores, but I know my score was the lowest of the three even though it was probably my highest score ever. I like riding Buzz, but I am terrible at it! I hate how the blasters are attached. I can't aim them well.


None of us had had dinner, so we walked over to Cosmic Rays. Allie and Adam LOVE Cosmic Rays. We have to eat here several times every trip. Since there weren't many dining options still open Cosmic Rays was packed. We called the boys to see if they were still planning to meet us. They said they were on their way. We told them to meet us at Cosmic Rays. We were too hungry to wait for them, so we went ahead and ate and then sat with the boys while they ate.

Allie had the hot dog and fries. Her favorite.



Tina and Adam had the Incrediburger. It had mozzarella cheese sticks on it and they both enjoyed it.



I was feeling chicken nuggets and fries. I think several of us shared a couple orders of the these.



Now that our bellies were full we headed to a family favorite, Pirates of the Caribbean. This was the first time riding it with the on ride photo and the politically correct Redhead scene. I don't understand why they added a photo to this ride. In this photo I think Allie was actually arguing with us about whether or not there was photo :hilarious:.

 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
No ride on Pirates is complete without a sword fight in the gift shop.



Allie has always enjoyed the pirate life. Here she is at 4......



And at 18.




Hey there Captain Jack Sparrow er Adam.



There was little to no wait for the Magic Carpets so we went for a spin.



No photographic evidence, but a few of us enjoyed a Dole Whip before we headed back toward Main Street. The boys were dragging and Adam had an early golf game the next morning so they were ready to head back to the resort. We took a nighttime castle photo before they left.



Now it was time for the Tres Biddies to meet some princesses at Princess Fairytale Hall. The MDE app said it was only a 5 minute wait, but I think we ended up waiting 15-20 minutes. Some pics from the queue.









Next Up: Rapunzel and Tiana





 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
First up was Rapunzel. She is the favorite princess of both Tina and Allie. She was fun!







Then we met Tiana. We discussed cooking.









The PP photographer with Tiana was so much better than the one with Rapunzel! We had triple the photos with Tiana. We were a little bummed by that because several of the photos with Rapunzel didn't come out very well so we only had one good pic with her.


Loved all the details in Fairytale Hall.



We decided to take advantage of the short line for Peter Pan. This is the only picture from that attraction!



Next Up: Kiss Goodnight
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
EMH was coming to a close, so we walked through the castle. We stopped to take a few photos when I heard the music for the Kiss Goodnight! Guys, we were right there at the castle for one of my very favorite experiences in MK :inlove:. I was soooo excited! I love these pictures of the castle!







We did a little shopping and headed out for the night. We LOVE evening EMH. We are more night time people and to me there is something extra special about the parks at night. We took a more laid back approach that night and didn't try to pack in a million things. The experiences we had were a lot of fun and I think we all really enjoyed it.

Next up: Golf and Breakfast with Rapunzel!!!!
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
EMH was coming to a close, so we walked through the castle. We stopped to take a few photos when I heard the music for the Kiss Goodnight! Guys, we were right there at the castle for one of my very favorite experiences in MK :inlove:. I was soooo excited! I love these pictures of the castle!







We did a little shopping and headed out for the night. We LOVE evening EMH. We are more night time people and to me there is something extra special about the parks at night. We took a more laid back approach that night and didn't try to pack in a million things. The experiences we had were a lot of fun and I think we all really enjoyed it.

Next up: Golf and Breakfast with Rapunzel!!!!

Love the castle pics!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 7 July 19

Everyone but Paul woke up early today. Paul was sleeping in. Adam was heading to the Palm Golf Course to play 18 holes of Golf. Mark, Spence, Tina, Allie and I were heading to the Bon Voyage Breakfast.
I made sure Adam got a cab to the golf course. I grabbed a cup of coffee in the lobby. We'd had a late night and were up early so I figured a bit of caffeine would help me wake up.



For anyone who is hoping to play golf at Disney I wanted to mention that if you are a party of one you cannot make a tee time until 3 days prior to the day you want to play. I made sure to be on the phone as soon as the golf line was open and I was able to make the tee time for the day and time Adam wanted. He was paired with another golfer. Adam enjoyed the course and had a pretty good round.

Here is a picture of the tag he got for his golf bag.





A few photos of the course. I am not certain that all of these are of the Palm. Some of them may be from Lake Buena Vista, the course he and Spence played earlier in the week.









Adam bought this pull over from the pro shop.



Mark, Spence, Tina, Allie and I headed to the Boardwalk for our breakfast. This was my first up-close view of the Skyliner construction.





Up Next: Boardwalk and Breakfast
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 7 continued

We headed for the Boardwalk.









This was our first time at the Boardwalk and we really liked it. So beautiful!



We were headed for Trattoria al Forno to have breakfast with Rapunzel, Flynn, Ariel and Prince Eric! Tina and Allie are huge fans of Flynn Rider so they were especially excited to be here.





We checked in and were told we'd be seated in just a few minutes.



Rapunzel and Ariel merchandise for sale.



Up Next: Breakfast
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 7 Continued

A few more pics of the lobby.





Flynn walked by right after we were seated! It wasn't our turn to meet him just yet. He'd be back in a few minutes.



They delivered a frying pan full of pastries to share :inlove: ! They were all delicious!



The menu.



Our server Luis was a hoot! He sat down with us while he answered questions about the menu. He and Jacky, another server, kept up great banter throughout our meal.



We placed our order and then Rapunzel stopped by.







Up Next: Here comes the smolder.
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 7 Continued

Then Flynn arrived :inlove:!



Here comes the smolder! Allie was LOVING it!





I had to promise not to hit him with the frying pan!



I think Flynn was offering advice on how to bring the smolder.





Breakfast is served! Tina and Mark ordered the Royale Breakfast. It was Oak-grilled steak, Cheesy-Egg Torte with Fonduta with breakfast potatoes and crispy onions. They LOVED it! I had major food envy. Tina let me try a bite and it was scrumptious!



Allie and I both had the Tower of Pancakes. She had bacon and I had sausage. When Luis set these down in front of us he said, "Uh, Oh! It looks like Rapunzel has been back in the kitchen again. See how she's decorated the pancakes?!"





I think Spence had the pancakes, too. Tina and I had a Peach Bellini and a Mimosa. So yummy. The pancakes were great, but I wished I'd ordered the steak because it was just so good.

They asked all the people who were celebrating something to stand up. Allie was celebrating her graduation so we made her stand up.



Up Next: Ariel and Boardwalk scenery
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 7 continued

Ariel stopped by next.



Prince Eric also stopped for a visit, but for some reason I don't have any pictures with him. He was not very interesting or fun to talk to.

Breakfast had come to an end and Mark had made a new friend. We all loved Luis. He was so much fun.





This was a great character meal and I would definitely do it again. The food was delicious and most of the characters were fun and true to character. Flynn was everyone's favorite.

We took a few minutes to take in the scenery of the Boardwalk. I can see why so many people like to stay in this area.
















Up Next: Finishing up at the Boardwalk and AK
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 7 Continued

A last pic of the Boardwalk



Tina dropped me, Allie and Mark at the car dealership to pick up the van. She and Spence headed to Target. Hooray! We had air conditioning again! We met Tina and Spence at Target. We picked up a few things and headed back to the Contemporary.



We relaxed for a bit. Adam returned from golf and he and Paul got a bite to eat. Then we were ready to head to AK. We were ready, but Tina and her crew needed a few extra minutes. Adam saved his feet for the parks while we waited :hilarious:!



Mark decided he needed more rest, so he stayed behind. The rest of us drove over to AK and hopped on a tram to the front of the park.







Loved this photo op!







I am in awe of the artistry on this tree!




Up Next: Pandora
 

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