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.
 
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We did Ohana when the girls were young (probably 3 times + the dinner show) and gave up
Too much money and too loud for what you get

Assembly line mentality from the service staff
This is probably the most annoying thing for me - when feels like everyone on staff is going through the motions for you - the good feeling about a meal is lost


Max
Agreed. It seemed like they were just trying to push all the food out to everyone no matter how it was prepared. Very inconsistent preparation and nothing very impressive overall.
 

littleroo

Well-Known Member
Sadly, Ohana, is off our list, as well but it seems all hibachi, Brazilian themed restaurants are like this everywhere. I call it the herd mentality. Get you in and get you out!

So glad you are finally relaxing after that crazy, memorable drive! Following and enjoying!!
 

MerMom1981

Well-Known Member
Coming along for the ride!

I love your themed car snacks! We've taken two trips from Chicago to Nashville in the past 6 months, and I wish I did fun snacks! Mom goals.

You are KILLING me with the then and now pictures. 😭 Just another reminder that childhood is so brief.
The kids that they are today were never meant to stay

Also. The sign. I tear up every time I read it. Even on my phone. Where did you find a keychain?

Ok. Ready for more. Just be gentle 😉
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
ok but now I know who kept everyone level headed and even keeled for the whole trip

View attachment 339068

I have one of those as well!!!

Max
Very perceptive of you! She absolutely did just that!

bro we also got the chocolate croissants which were super yummy!!
I don't know how I forgot about those! I guess I didn't put them in my notes. Of course, if you'd been awake when I wrote this post you could have reminded me then.....:hilarious:

This is why I am glad it’s sunny in Florida! Sunglasses come in very handy when this happens.........

I am teary eyed right now just looking at this magnificent sight!
Totally agree on the sunglasses. It's amazing how the sight of that castle can do that to us!

Sadly, Ohana, is off our list, as well but it seems all hibachi, Brazilian themed restaurants are like this everywhere. I call it the herd mentality. Get you in and get you out!

So glad you are finally relaxing after that crazy, memorable drive! Following and enjoying!!

Thanks for reading! Too bad Ohana is disappointing so many people! Being in the MK is good for the soul and defintely helped us to recover from the craziness!

Coming along for the ride!

I love your themed car snacks! We've taken two trips from Chicago to Nashville in the past 6 months, and I wish I did fun snacks! Mom goals.

You are KILLING me with the then and now pictures. 😭 Just another reminder that childhood is so brief.
The kids that they are today were never meant to stay

Also. The sign. I tear up every time I read it. Even on my phone. Where did you find a keychain?

Ok. Ready for more. Just be gentle 😉
Glad you're here!
Thanks! I love putting the car snacks together. It's really fun to watch them open the bags and to see their reaction when they tried new things like the Goo Goo Clusters. Researching the items took a bit of time (maybe an hour or so), but once I decided what I wanted to buy they came together very quickly. Last trip I was less creative and just shoved all the snacks in the bag that rides by my feet. I then pulled out the snack as we crossed the state line. This year I knew we were going to be in 2 cars so I had to package it differently so everyone would know which treat went with each state. Hope you get a chance to try it on another road trip :happy:!
I promised @amjt660 that I would look for more then and now pictures. I can't believe how much they've all changed. It's bittersweet to look at many of the older pictures because our parents passed away since the last family trip. There were lots of times I teared up because I was really missing them. I know they were there in spirit. I'm sure they were relieved to miss out on the air conditioning debacle :hilarious:!
Glad to hear so many others love the sign as much as I do. I found both the keychain and the t-shirt at the Emporium.
I'm going to try and get another post finished tonight. It was my first day back at school so no promises!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I've been waiting for this report!!! I'm from TN and I don't think i've ever had a Goo-Goo Cluster... I had no idea they were even from TN! I'm glad you made the best of your a/c-less drive! I don't know how y'all survived the heat!

Ah man :( you're 'Ohana review is a bummer. We scheduled a meal there for May but now i'm rethinking it. I've read they recently replaced the noodles and veggies with fried rice?? Hopefully they change it back!

It's fun to read about your MK day! We were literally going in the opposite direction of each other the whole day lol!
Hey Morgan! Glad you're here! You should definitely try a Goo Goo Cluster. They are YUMMY! Adam and Allied said the Goo Goos were their favorite state treat.
No a/c was ROUGH. Hope I never have to experience that again!
Yeah. I was sad that I didn't love 'Ohana. I was the one who wanted to eat there and left disappointed. It wasn't bad, but for the money I expected more. I enjoyed the noodles so I hope they bring those back.
When we were comparing our plans I remember that we were always going the opposite direction. None the less, I looked for you and Cody all day.
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After our break at Gaston's we headed for Small World.




I had been texting with two forum members hoping for a meet up. One, was @MorganInWonderland, but she and Cody were going the opposite direction of us all day. As we sailed through Small World I received a text from the other member. She was on a boat heading for MK. We were headed for Philharmagic and agreed to meet there. On the way over we had to explain trip reporting to Mark. Then we had to explain to Spence that his Aunt Lisa was about to meet someone she met on the internet but remind him that he should never do that :hilarious:. So who were we meeting?
None other than @Doc Disney and her mom, Mary!

Allie got creative and we ended up looking like princesses!

I just noticed that Mary isn't in our photo :(. It was great to finally meet forum friends! Megan and Mary were super nice. We chatted like we'd known eachother forever. They had visited Toy Story Land earlier in their trip so we discussed a strategy to help us see everything we wanted to see. We had some fastpass times approaching so we said so long. I hope our paths will cross again some day.
After our meet up we headed in to Philharmagic.


Our fp for Space Mountain was next.

 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I had to ride with strangers. Obviously I never remember exactly where the camera is located :hilarious:.



Those are some flattering ride photos right there :hilarious:!
We stopped for a bathroom break and noticed an Incredibles PP opportunity.




Next up was the People Mover. This was being refurbed during our 2014 trip and Tina and I didn't get to ride it in 2016 so I was very glad to ride today.


 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A few pics from the People Mover. This is one of my favorite attractions. So relaxing and it's fun to get a different view of all the hustle and bustle in the park below.




We had to head across the park for our next FP. We hadn't had enough of the castle so we walked through the hub.
Allie took this picture and I just love it. You can see how happy I am to be home again :inlove:



I'll have to pick this up again tomorrow. It's a school night and it's already waaaaaaayyy past my bedtime.

Up next: The Wildest Ride in the Wilderness
 

amjt660

Premium Member
I really appreciate that you and all the other people who write TRs stay up way after your bedtimes writing them because it gives me something fun to read with my morning coffee, so thanks! 😃
Trip reports end up being wonderful things to read and comment on
But, they take a lot of work to compile

So a tip of the hat to all you take the time to document and share their experiences for the rest of us to enjoy
1547042339337.png


Max
 

Nobia Williams

New Member
Thanks! I love them too. I bought them at the Emporium during our 2104 trip. When I'm not at Disney I wear them whenever I need to be cheered up!
I have those earrings and love them too. I bought on our 2016 WDW trip. I am enjoying your TR. I feel your pain with the car issues. I drove from So. California to South Carolina many years ago in June. My air conditioner quit right as we got into AZ.
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
Beautiful family "dress up" pics.

Glad you got into Ohana even though it didn't quite delivery. It is a lot of $$$ and the service is so key to the experience. Our food and service was top notch on our first go, but 2nd time was a letdown and I remember saying I wasn't coming back. Third time was great again. There does seem to be some inconsistency with that place.

Lots of smiles on Day 2!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I really appreciate that you and all the other people who write TRs stay up way after your bedtimes writing them because it gives me something fun to read with my morning coffee, so thanks! 😃
Awwwe! Thanks! I loved reading everyone else's trip reports and decided to try my hand at it as well. It's tons of fun to re-live the trip.

Looks like the drama of the ride down has been washed away by the magic of Disney!!!

Great that you met up with Megan and Mary (or so you say - no evidence that Mary was present!!!)
(maybe if I go back through Doc Disney's reports I can find one)

Continuing to follow along!!

Max
Disney Magic at it's best!
I was so excited for my first Magic meet up! Mary was there. I promise. I'm pretty sure @Doc Disney can vouch for me.

Trip reports end up being wonderful things to read and comment on
But, they take a lot of work to compile

So a tip of the hat to all you take the time to document and share their experiences for the rest of us to enjoy
View attachment 339679

Max
Thanks Max. A tip of the hat to you and all my fellow trip report writers. I always forget how much time it takes. I don't know how @Tuvalu, @Doc Disney and the other frequent reporters keep up! Thanks to all the readers, too. It's heartwarming to find so many others who share my love of Disney :inlove:

I have those earrings and love them too. I bought on our 2016 WDW trip. I am enjoying your TR. I feel your pain with the car issues. I drove from So. California to South Carolina many years ago in June. My air conditioner quit right as we got into AZ.
That's a long trip with no a/c. Definitely not something I want to repeat, but it certainly provided us with many unforgettable memories.

Great report follow along!!
Thanks for reading! Glad to have you along.

And how suddenly, I want a pink baseball shirt and a matching pink backpack!
:happy::hilarious:

Beautiful family "dress up" pics.

Glad you got into Ohana even though it didn't quite delivery. It is a lot of $$$ and the service is so key to the experience. Our food and service was top notch on our first go, but 2nd time was a letdown and I remember saying I wasn't coming back. Third time was great again. There does seem to be some inconsistency with that place.

Lots of smiles on Day 2!
Thanks! It's nice to have a photo of all of us in dressier clothes. Our Disney pictures usually showcase our sweaty shorts and t-shirts look!
We may give 'Ohana another try down the road. In the meantime, we have lots of other restaurants we want to try.
Nothing chases the blues away like Disney! Thanks for reading!
 

MeeskaMooska0714

Well-Known Member
Sorry about your Ohana experience! I've never been, but do have an ADR for our trip in June for Father's Day. Thinking of reconsidering - especially for the price.

Thank you again for sacrificing your sleep for us!! :happy:
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sorry about your Ohana experience! I've never been, but do have an ADR for our trip in June for Father's Day. Thinking of reconsidering - especially for the price.

Thank you again for sacrificing your sleep for us!! :happy:

It seems like ‘Ohana is very inconsistent. You might get lucky! I’m glad we tried it , but it definitely won’t be on our repeat visit list.
Thanks! I had parent teacher conferences tonight so I will be back to posting tomorrow!
 

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