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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LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I love your pics with Olaf! What a great memory for your family!!

So glad you got to meet Brittney, and it's too bad the boys didn't meet Dylan. My DS (11) just had his first golf lesson yesterday. We don't play, but his physical therapist thought it would be good for him to have a sport to practice motor skills and balance, as well as work on his overal fitness. But he needs something he plays with other kids, but not a team sport. Golf meets all the requirements and the golf teacher said golf is great for people with special needs, so golf it is! I wish he had someone to play with while we're at WDW this summer. It's so great that your boys got to play together...special time for just the cousins.
Thanks! We loved our visit with Olaf. I hung the photo in our front hallway and I smile every time I walk by it.
I was super excited to meet Brittany! I couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to have 3 magic meet ups during this trip.
I hope your son enjoys golf! I’m really glad that my dad passed his love of the game to Adam and Spence.
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 9 Continued





Docking our boat after a successful cruise. Thanks Skipper! We had lots of fun even though most of the passengers didn't enjoy your humor as much as we did!



Still trying to stay cool!





Time for a family favorite. I can't tell you how many times Paul and Adam rode this on our first WDW trip.









My heart! One of my favorite photos of the entire trip.



Up next: Breakfast. Will Adam find a new favorite?
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 9 continued
After our cruise with Captain Jack and his pals we were all getting hungry. Adam grabbed a breakfast sandwich from Westward Ho Refeshments. He loved this sandwich! In fact, he ate another about a half hour later.





The rest of us headed for Sleepy Hollow. I chose the Mickey waffle with powdered sugar. It was my only Mickey waffle of the trip.



Paul got the chicken and waffles with chips. Tina may have gotten this as well. I think Allie got the waffle with fruit, but I don't have a picture so I am not sure.



Adam ate his second breakfast sandwich on the way to Splash.









After our visit to the Laughing Place we browsed in the shop. I had to take a picture of this as it reminded me of my friend @Zipitidoda.



I liked this sweatshirt but decided not to buy it.



Our next stop was my favorite, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We had a FP but the line was backed up and we had to stand in the sun for awhile. It was not fun, but way better than going standby.

 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 9 continued











I can't remember exactly where we saw these, but Adam spotted them in the ground as we walked.





We caught a few minutes of Great Moments in History on our way over to Tomorrowland.


We caught some of the Incredibles Parade.





We were super excited to see Edna Mode. She is Paul's favorite.
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 9 continued

Then we pretended we were Supers!









We were getting tired so we decided to do a bit of shopping and then head back to the resort for a break. But first I needed one of my must-have snacks. Corn dog nuggets from Casey's. Yum :hungry:!



Tina was shopping with us for awhile, but then we went our separate ways. Paul, Adam, Allie and I headed back to the Contemporary. Tina finished up just as the Festival of Fantasy Parade was coming down Main Street. She had the perfect spot for some great pictures of the parade.









 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 9 continued

A few photos on the way back to the Contemporary.







After a break, we took a few more Mickey photos.





And headed back into the Magic Kingdom for the last time for this trip :cry:.

We checked out the treats in the Confectionery.



Then on to the Purple Wall.







Adam and Allie needed another Cosmic Ray's meal.

 
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LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 9 continued

Sonny was entertaining as always.


We enjoyed our favorites. Allie had the hot dog. Adam had the Incrediburger and Paul and I shared the bacon cheeseburger.



We saw a family of Disney ducks.



I enjoyed a Mickey bar for dessert.





You can never have too many views of the castle.





We visited the Tangled restrooms.





 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 9 continued

After Pirates Tina and her crew decided they were going to grab some food and head back to the resort. We wanted to see HEA so I grabbed a Citrus Swirl and we headed for Main Street to watch Happily Ever After. Sorry, no picture of the Citrus Swirl. I started to eat it before I took the pic and it wasn't very appetizing, lol!

A few pics while we waited. I remember seeing several people wearing lanyards for the After Hours ticketed event and I was unbelievably jealous! I was very sad that I couldn't close down the park on our last night there.





After the show we finished up our last minute shopping, posed for a nighttime Photopass picture, took a few last pictures of my beloved castle and headed out of the park. As always, my eyes filled with tears as we exited the park.







Tina took one last Castle selfie as she left the park.



She was regretting leaving the park with Mark and Spence because the boys didn't care about watching the fireworks.
She took a few pictures from outside the Contemporary. I believe this was the moment she decided that she wanted to return to Disney for her 50th birthday sisters only trip :inlove:!







And just like that, our park days were finished.

Up next: Final pictures of the Contemporary.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
It's from the movie. Dopey was on Sneezy's shoulders wearing the coat to cover them so that Snow White could dance with a prince her size.
Well, I do remember that in the movie, but I guess maybe it's just because it's obviously only one person, so it looks like Happy has no torso, just legs and a head. So it actually looks like Dopey, with Happy's head in his stomach. Just not quite pulling it off.
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 10

The next morning we got up and finished up our packing. Tina and her crew had an ADR at the Wave which is in the Contemporary. My crew headed to the Contempo Cafe.
I ordered the breakfast bowl. This is not the best photo, but I remember that I really enjoyed it.



Adam and Allie had these sandwiches.


After we ate I ran around the Contemporary taking pictures of things I forgot to photograph earlier in the week.
For example, we were so excited to check in that I forgot to take pics of the lobby.



Front desk. Kind of hard to see. The Magical Express had just dropped off a bus full of lucky people.



Mural



Chef Mickey's and monorail


Outer Rim Lounge



Chef Mickey's



Contempo Cafe



Fantasia Gift Shop. There was also a Market further back and to the left of Fantasia. They sold medicine and snacks.



A favorite of @Tuvalu, Bay View Gifts. Tina was shopping for last minute souvenirs and saw me taking the picture and made sure she jumped in :hilarious:!



Up next: Final pics of the Contemporary
 

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