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
Disney's attention to detail is amazing. This wooden train track bench has the far end broken off just like 80% of my son's track!

That's so funny! As I posted that picture I was reminded of how many times we put train track together for my son and especially for Spence. He was a HUGE Thomas the Tank fan when he was young.

Having a great time following along...can't wait to read more.

Thanks! Welcome to the boards. Glad to have you following along. The next post is coming right up!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 8 Continued

We left TSL and ran into these guys. People kept moving around so I couldn't get a very good shot of them.



We had a reservation at the Hollywood Tower Hotel. I LOVE pretty much everything about this ride. The queue has so many cool details to look at.





Several light pictures for @Doc Disney! I actually thought about her as I was taking these pics :hilarious:!









Going up! Or is it down?





Love this ride photo! So many expressions. Tina, Allie and Paul are smiling. I was looking for the handle so I could hold on. Adam looks scared and Spence looks mad.



Up Next: Rock n Roller Coaster
 

maxntina

Well-Known Member
Day 8 Continued

We left TSL and ran into these guys. People kept moving around so I couldn't get a very good shot of them.



We had a reservation at the Hollywood Tower Hotel. I LOVE pretty much everything about this ride. The queue has so many cool details to look at.





Several light pictures for @Doc Disney! I actually thought about her as I was taking these pics :hilarious:!









Going up! Or is it down?





Love this ride photo! So many expressions. Tina, Allie and Paul are smiling. I was looking for the handle so I could hold on. Adam looks scared and Spence looks mad.



Up Next: Rock n Roller Coaster
Always a favorite ride photo!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 8 Continued

We checked out of the Hollywood Tower Hotel because we had a concert to get to and we were running behind!







Our ride photo didn't show up. After our ride we shopped for a bit.

Guitar pick Mickey and Minnie





Rocker Stitch



From there we headed into space on Star Tours









Up Next: More Star Wars fun
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 8 Continued

I do not recall where our voyage took us. After the ride we shopped and played.

Jedi Stitch



Tina bought some Star Wars ears and had some fun on the speeder.



Spence tried it out as well.



We checked out the teaser for Star Wars Galaxy's Edge.









Paul was chillin



We still had some time before our Slinky Dog FP so we did something we'd never done before.



Chip and Dale were meeting and greeting adjacent to Olaf's queue.



I love this pic of the boys waiting in line.




Up Next: :inlove: Olaf
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 8 Continued

Olaf is one of my favorite characters and I had been wanting to meet him ever since I found out he had a meet and greet.
As we entered the room, Spence didn't realize that Olaf was trying to hug or high five him. Olaf was very sad thinking that Spence didn't want to greet him. Spence realized what happened and went in for the hug!



Olaf gives great warm hugs!









Then it was time for the group photo. We all started to get in position for the photo. Olaf looked back over his shoulder and started to back up into his spot. At some point someone started to make a backing up beeping noise. As you can see, we were all loving it!









A fist bump farewell!



This was an awesome character interaction. We all left feeling lighthearted and energized. One of those magical Disney moments that stays with you! These photos make me smile every time I look at them.

Up Next: A magical meet up!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 8 Continued

I'd been texting with a Disney friend who was also in the park. Turns out she was in the area so we checked out the Indiana Jones merch while we waited for her.

Spence, Allie and Adam were all channeling their inner Indy :inlove:!







My friend texted that she was on her way. I could barely contain my excitement, while I waited for her. I saw her emerge from the crowd and made a bee line to greet her. It was @blgauger!





As you can see, we started talking immediately! It was as if we'd known one another forever. It's so funny how we all know each other so well even though we've never met.



We talked about teaching, Disney and family. I asked her if Dylan had been working at the Palm the day before because I was wondering if Adam might have met him without realizing it. Turns out Dylan had been working with kids at golf camp so he and Adam hadn't met.









It was awesome to meet Brittany. I could have talked with her all day, but the sky was looking threatening and our Slinky Dog FP was coming up. We wanted to be there as soon as our FP window opened so we could hopefully ride before the rain hit. I said goodbye to Brittany and we headed back to TSL.

Up Next: Will we beat the rain and ride Slinky?
 

krisri18

Well-Known Member
Day 8 Continued

Olaf is one of my favorite characters and I had been wanting to meet him ever since I found out he had a meet and greet.
As we entered the room, Spence didn't realize that Olaf was trying to hug or high five him. Olaf was very sad thinking that Spence didn't want to greet him. Spence realized what happened and went in for the hug!



Olaf gives great warm hugs!









Then it was time for the group photo. We all started to get in position for the photo. Olaf looked back over his shoulder and started to back up into his spot. At some point someone started to make a backing up beeping noise. As you can see, we were all loving it!









A fist bump farewell!



This was an awesome character interaction. We all left feeling lighthearted and energized. One of those magical Disney moments that stays with you! These photos make me smile every time I look at them.

Up Next: A magical meet up!
Loved meeting Olaf! He tried to leave with us to ride Star Tours. Lol
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 8 Continued

We ran into some galactic foes.









And friends.



And just like that we were back in Andy's backyard. We snapped a few pics as we joined the queue. I know I took some pictures before the ride and more after. I am also using photos from multiple people so I may have confused the order of some of these pics. Sorry in advance!











Up Next: More Slinky
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DED2058D-F713-466B-8AAF-455B3F3C01C6L0001photo_zpsnlhhnvgd.jpg


kinda sad there arnt any tents and small campfires set up with the scent of hotdogs and marshmellows wafting in the air:(
:)
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 8 Continued

A few more Slinky action shots!





We took a last look around TSL. Paul loves the aliens so I made him take a picture with them.



One of us (pretty sure it was Tina) had this camper when we were kids. Our mom kept it and all of our kids have played with it :inlove:! Of course we needed to take a picture with it.



Loved the peek of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge just beyond TSL



The cousins were enjoying themselves. It was about now that they began to annoy their mothers! Adam had a Powerade bottle and he was entertaining himself by flipping it and trying to catch it on the top of his hand. Of course Spence had to try it too. Tina and I were losing our minds because they dropped the bottles a few times and we didn't want them annoying other guests.



We had some time before our lunch ADR so we did a bit of shopping.



Paul gets a kick out of Edna Mode. Should I be jealous?!



Allie managed to catch Adam's successful bottle flip on video. The cousins enjoyed watching it over and over and in reverse....



Victory!



With that we banned bottle flipping and headed to lunch!

Up Next: Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano :hungry:
 

maxntina

Well-Known Member
Day 8 Continued

A few more Slinky action shots!





We took a last look around TSL. Paul loves the aliens so I made him take a picture with them.



One of us (pretty sure it was Tina) had this camper when we were kids. Our mom kept it and all of our kids have played with it :inlove:! Of course we needed to take a picture with it.



Loved the peek of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge just beyond TSL



The cousins were enjoying themselves. It was about now that they began to annoy their mothers! Adam had a Powerade bottle and he was entertaining himself by flipping it and trying to catch it on the top of his hand. Of course Spence had to try it too. Tina and I were losing our minds because they dropped the bottles a few times and we didn't want them annoying other guests.



We had some time before our lunch ADR so we did a bit of shopping.



Paul gets a kick out of Edna Mode. Should I be jealous?!



Allie managed to catch Adam's successful bottle flip on video. The cousins enjoyed watching it over and over and in reverse....



Victory!



With that we banned bottle flipping and headed to lunch!

Up Next: Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano :hungry:
What a fun filled day so far! Looking forward to some delicious Italian food and more antics from the boys!
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 8 Continued

We arrived at Mama Melrose's.





We only waited a few minutes before we were seated.

Tina and I ate here on our last trip and we were welcomed back with a special card.



The menu. Most of us knew what we wanted, but several of us needed to peruse.





Adam ordered Mama's margarita. Tina or I (maybe both of us) ordered a bellini.

Love the lights in here.



Bread!


The main attraction. Yummy!



Tina, Adam, Allie and I all ordered the charred strip steak. I cannot remember what Paul and Spence ordered. Tina's steak was overcooked and she was hungry and didn't want to send it back so she ate it. She regretted that as she did not enjoy it as much as she thought she would :(.

Our bellies were full and we'd been up since the crack of dawn, so we headed back to the resort for a break and a nap. We were planning to come back later for Fantasmic. Would we make it back?

Up next: Fantasmic?
 

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