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
Bon Voyage breakfast was one of my favourites! The girls loved meeting Flynn and prince Eric. Glad you got AC again.
I was so happy that Flynn was as spectacular as he was! Tina and Allie loved every second of it. Allie just reminded me that Flynn told her she looked good in stripes! So fun. We were sooooo thankful to have AC again.
Thanks for following!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 7 continued









My thoughts on Navi River...
Did I enjoy it? Yes. Would I wait more than 30 minutes to ride it in the future? No. It was relaxing and the a/c was lovely on a hot July afternoon in Florida, but I don't feel like it is a must do on every visit.

We took another peek around the gift shop. I loved that the racks for the t-shirts looked like branches. I am always amazed by the theming.



Navi River not a must do. Night Blossoms on the other hand, will be a must do every time.



Adam enjoyed a head massage while we waited for our drinks :hilarious:!



People were getting hungry so we gave Satu'li Canteen a try. Adam had the kids Cheese Quesadilla.



It came with bag (purse) grapes :hilarious:!



Allie and I took a selfie to send to my best friend back home.



Up Next: Finishing up at Satu'li Canteen
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 7 Continued

Tina got the chicken bowl with rice and the creamy herb sauce. She shared a few bites with me. I wasn't hungry enough for a whole meal, so I was glad she was willing to share because I'd really wanted to eat here.



While people finished eating I took a few pics of the inside of Satu'li Canteen.





The outside seating area.



Even the manhole covers are perfectly themed.



Apparently someone else got a kids meals because we ended up with 2 bags of purse grapes :happy:!



One of my favorite spots in AK. Tamu Tamu. Home of the spiked Dole Whip :hungry:.



We watched the acrobats





And did a little music making er....shopping.



Up Next: More AK
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 7 Continued

More shopping. I love the unique items you find at AK.



We purchased a picture frame, an ornament for Tina and this ornament for our tree. Allie had pointed the same ornament out to me the day before, but I wanted to wait to be sure that was the one I really wanted. When Adam brought it over to me today I knew we needed to buy it. I'm so happy that we did. It looked great on our tree.



Time for some photo ops.



This is one of my favorite Photo Pass spots. We take a picture here every year.



EE is so photogenic.



I laugh every time I look at this picture. Here's the story. Adam's nickname is Tree (because he's tall and a little kid once told him he was tall like a tree!). First Adam hugged the tree and we all thought it was funny because Tree was being a "tree hugger". Then Allie joined in to hug Tree the "tree hugger" :hilarious:!



Random pics on our way to EE.









Up Next: EE and more AK
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 7 Continued

In the queue for EE. Neither sign has one of our names on it, but I thought they were fun.







After our ride we wandered around. Some of us had ice cream.













We rode Kali River Rapids. Paul hates to get wet, so we left all of our stuff with him while we rode. I know he took some pictures, but I guess he never sent them to me. I will try to add them later. Anywho, we all got wet but not drenched. It's fun, but it feels like it ends rather abruptly and should be a bit longer.

We were all slowing down and had been planning to leave because we had an early morning planned for the next day. The lights were coming on around the park and people were already being seated for ROL. We realized that it was getting dark and if we hung out just a bit longer we could experience Pandora at night.



I was hungry so I stopped for my first ever :jawdrop: Mickey pretzel! I had to have the plastic cheese to go with it. I loved it! Popcorn and soft pretzels were my go to semi-healthy snack at many of Allie's volleyball matches over the years.



I enjoyed my snack as we made our way to Pandora.

Up Next: Pandora at night
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 7 Continued

We walked over to Pandora and we were so glad that we did. I was amazed at all the colors. Prepare for a Pandora after dark overload!















And with that we headed back to the resort. When we got back Tina got some great shots of the Electrical Water Pageant.







We headed to bed because we had to be up bright and early to get our first look at Toy Story Land!

Up Next: EMH at HS
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 8 Hollywood Studios

Because TSL had only been open a week or so EMH started at 7am. We were up at 0 dark thirty. Mark wasn't feeling well so he decided to stay at the resort. Everyone else headed for HS. We parked and headed to the front of the park at 7:11.



We made it through security fairly quickly and stopped for a picture.



I'm not sure what Paul did to make TInk mad, but she kicked him in the head :hilarious:!



I can't remember why we headed toward ToT, but I think it was to get some empty park photos.



The PP photographer asked if we were happy to be there. We said yes, so he told us we should jump for joy! Here are our attempts.





Hello Tower of Terror.



We'll be back for our limo ride in just a bit!







Up Next: Our first look at Toy Story Land
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 8 Continued

I loved how Woody welcomes you.





Our first look at Slinky Dog Dash



Loved the theming. You really feel like you are in Andy's backyard. We had a FP for Slinky later so we wanted to ride TSM and Alien Spinning Saucers during EMH. In the queue for for TSM.



Tina ALWAYS bought Boardwalk when our family played Monopoly.





Mr. Potato Head!



Tina and I loved our Old Maid game.



Biddie numero Uno



Dos



Where's tres you ask? We had to wait awhile.

Up next: More TSM
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 8

Next up was Alien Swirling Saucers. The queue was very cute and very hot with no a/c.









Water fountain in the queue













The saucers were surprisingly fun. Would I spend an hour in line to ride? No, but it was a lot more fun than I expected it to be.

Up next: Woody's Lunchbox
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 8 Continued

Our tummies were grumbly so we made a quick potty stop and headed to Woody's Lunchbox for breakfast.



The big footprints are a fun touch.



Loved the seating but wished there was more of it AND that it was in air conditioned comfort!





This was the turkey breakfast sandwich. Most of us ordered it. It was good and very filling.





I had the raspberry lunchbox tart. I really enjoyed it. It would have been outstanding had it been heated! Paul had the chocolate lunchbox tart, but I don't have a picture.



Bellies full, we took a few more pictures and headed out of TSL for now. We'd be back later to ride Slinky.








Up Next: ToT
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We had a steak filled trip last year and out of the 4 or 5 we tried around WDW this was the winner for 2/3 of us (beating out steak from the Yachtsman)
Wow, great recommendation! The one bite I took was delicious. Definitely on my list for future trips.
 

gdisneyfans

Well-Known Member
wdw201820042665697_412648352137_zpsigiohsvt.jpg
Lovin your pink Nike's! I'm a sucker for anything pink!!

That Bon Voyage breakfast...oh my goodness! Pastries...:inlove:....steak:inlove:....mimosas:inlove::inlove::inlove:. Looks like a great character breakfast! Although Ariel sure looks quite young! Maybe because I'm older she looks like she couldn't be more than 15 or 16, but that could just be me:joyfull:.

Have been really enjoying your TR. It's so great that your families could do this trip together - what great memories!
 

maxntina

Well-Known Member
Day 8 Continued

Our tummies were grumbly so we made a quick potty stop and headed to Woody's Lunchbox for breakfast.



The big footprints are a fun touch.



Loved the seating but wished there was more of it AND that it was in air conditioned comfort!





This was the turkey breakfast sandwich. Most of us ordered it. It was good and very filling.





I had the raspberry lunchbox tart. I really enjoyed it. It would have been outstanding had it been heated! Paul had the chocolate lunchbox tart, but I don't have a picture.



Bellies full, we took a few more pictures and headed out of TSL for now. We'd be back later to ride Slinky.








Up Next: ToT
Having a great time following along...can't wait to read more.
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Lovin your pink Nike's! I'm a sucker for anything pink!!

That Bon Voyage breakfast...oh my goodness! Pastries...:inlove:....steak:inlove:....mimosas:inlove::inlove::inlove:. Looks like a great character breakfast! Although Ariel sure looks quite young! Maybe because I'm older she looks like she couldn't be more than 15 or 16, but that could just be me:joyfull:.

Have been really enjoying your TR. It's so great that your families could do this trip together - what great memories!

Thanks on the pink Nikes. I resisted buying them because they looked slightly rose gold and for some reason I was resisting the whole rose gold trend. The shoes were so comfortable that I bought them and then the rose gold ears and a rose gold mug....so much for resisting the rose gold trend :hilarious:!

Loved the Bon Voyage breakfast. I went back and looked at the picture and you're right, Ariel does look very young!

Glad to have you following. We had a lot of fun together. Of course we had a few grouchy moments here and there but overall the trip was awesome.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom