Trip Report *COMPLETED* Life is a Highway - Road Trip 2019

Greetings All!

Now that a portion of our trip is booked, I feel more comfortable setting up a trip report. Not sure about the title - I couldn’t think of anything catchy. :joyfull:

So, here are the particulars:

When: November 2 - 8
Where: Pop Century Preferred Rooms
Who: just about everyone in my family
Mom & Dad - celebrating 57 years of wedded bliss (we will refer to them as Mema & Grandaddy)​
Sister C & her boyfriend M​
Sister’s granddaughters - R (10) & MJ (6)​
Me​

The trip came about as my sister wanted a big family trip that included my parents. Since they don’t fly, it’ll be a road trip - my first since we rode a tour bus in the 80s. In order to help keep the costs down for my sister, we went with Pop Century. My sister was trying to get a moderate, because she said that I don’t do “kiddie hotels.” :rolleyes: I told her Pop Century is a great resort and the rooms have been refurbished. Grandaddy said he didn’t care because he wasn’t going to be in the room that long (Mema clarified that he wouldn’t hear the noise anyway 😁)

The FPs & ADRs have fallen on me to select. It’ll be a bit rough on the FPs since my parents don’t do any coasters. We have the DDP, so planning table services will be interesting. ADRs start May 6th. My dad is a diabetic, and usually has a big breakfast, light lunch, & light dinner. So maybe out table services will be more breakfasts. Hoping to get Be our Guest for breakfast.

So far the only hiccup is trying to add my sister’s reservation to my MDE. The site says that she’s already linked. When I tried another way, it did not show the girls on the reservation. Any assistance from you guys and gals will be appreciated.

Only 189 days to go!
 

LadyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
After saying some not so nice things to MDE, our ADRs are set. I had to search for certain times because my mom likes to keep my dad eating at a regular schedule for his diabetes. It’s mainly buffets and American food because he’s not an adventurous eater.

So, here we go:

  1. Nov. 2 - Dinner at Rainforest Cafe, Disney Springs
  2. Nov. 3 - Dinner at Crystal Palace
  3. Nov. 4 - Breakfast at BoG, Dinner at The Plaza
  4. Nov. 5 - Lunch at Hollywood & Vine
  5. Nov. 6 - Lunch at Rose & Crown (the most “adventurous” meal for Dad)
  6. Nov. 7 - Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern
Next up will be FP+s. Pixie Dust for SDD!!
 

LadyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
  1. Nov. 3 - Dinner at Crystal Palace
  2. Nov. 4 - Breakfast at BoG, Dinner at The Plaza
  3. Nov. 5 - Lunch at Hollywood & Vine
  4. Nov. 6 - Lunch at Rose & Crown (the most “adventurous” meal for Dad)
  5. Nov. 7 - Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern

*Edited to add that I canceled our arrival meal, as we're not sure we'll make it there in time. Since my dad is driving, we have to stop more often than usual so that he is fresh and ready for the next leg of our journey. And I'm not sure exactly when we'd be leaving, because my mom has to wake up about an hour and a half before my dad to get him up and she needs rest too, because her cancer medication can make her tired.

So, the hunt resumes to use our last table reservation.

Down to 129 days!
 

JMcMahonEsq

Well-Known Member
lol I started reading your post, and for a minute I thought my sister had joined this site and not told me. We too are taking a big family trip to Disney this November, Me and my wife +our 2 kids, my sister and husband + their 2 kids, and our mom and dad. We are staying from the 4-8, however all of us, excluding mom and dad, are going to be making the drive down. Me and my family leaving from NJ on Nov 1, and my sister and her family leaving from Ma on Nov 2. It IS a Small World after all!!
 

LadyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
FP Day!

I was able to secure SDD, FEA, and 7DMT. Wasn't able to get FoP. My sister will be happy. :joyfull:

I picked up those and added a few others but will complete the rest of them today, since they cancelled classes due to the pending hurricane (that is still in the Bahamas), but did not close us down completely.

60 days!!
 

JMcMahonEsq

Well-Known Member
FP Day!

I was able to secure SDD, FEA, and 7DMT. Wasn't able to get FoP. My sister will be happy. :joyfull:

I picked up those and added a few others but will complete the rest of them today, since they cancelled classes due to the pending hurricane (that is still in the Bahamas), but did not close us down completely.

60 days!!
We have our FP day tomorrow. Can't wait, less than 60 days before we start the drive down. I may be insane but I am actually looking forward to the road trip with the kids and wife almost as much as Disney itself....I figure that will last until about North Carolina when my wife murders me for making her drive.
 

LadyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
We have our FP day tomorrow. Can't wait, less than 60 days before we start the drive down. I may be insane but I am actually looking forward to the road trip with the kids and wife almost as much as Disney itself....I figure that will last until about North Carolina when my wife murders me for making her drive.
Luckily there are some good places to stay in NC. Good Luck with your FPs!
 

JMcMahonEsq

Well-Known Member
Turns out it was a pretty great morning in the FP realm. We are going with a group of 10 made up of three smaller groups A) myself wife and our 2 kids, B) my sister, husband, and her two kids, and C) my mom and dad.

To help facilitate fast past acquisition this morning, we had a conference call on labor day, and decided on a divide and conquer approach. My mom would do our first day Monday (MK) and Friday (also MK). I would do Tuesday (AK) and Thursday (Epcott) and my sister would do Wed (HS). That way we hoped to be quicker on the draw. I have to say but for a bump or 2 in HS, which I expected to be problematic with the new tier 1 restructuring, we got almost everything as we planed out.

Monday (AK)
Groups A and B are driving down the weekend before. Group C is flying in Monday morning. As such we decided the 8 of us there early would hit the park at rope drop, get on some of the hopefully lighter wait time rides, and wait for Mom and Dad to arrive around 11 for our fast passes.
11: Under the Sea (I know not really needed for a FP, but this has become out traditional first ride as a family for every trip since no matter size or ride aversions, everyone goes on it).
12:10 Space Mountain
1:15 Pirates of the Caribean, (This then lets us move out of the park and back to the Contemporary for our lunch with Chef mickey at 2.20)

Tuesday (AK)

11:10 Navi River (this will hopefully give us time to make the dash to Flight at rope drop and get through that ride before our first fast pass)
12:20 Everest
1:30 Safari

Wendsday (HS)
Not knowing what we are going to get for Galaxy's edge we decided to try and leave the morning open.
1:Tower of Terror (our one swing and a miss since we were hoping for slinky dog)
3:15 Indian Jones
4: Star tours (because indiana jones suggests you start seating at 2:45-3, you are able to book these 2 FP within technically the same hour window, which was a nice suprise.)

Thursday, Epcott
early magic hours will mean a run to Test Track
9:00AM Visit the big Magic Ball
1: Frozen (which leads nicely into our 2:15 Norway Princess Brunch)
3:30 Mission Space

Friday MK
Again Early Magic hours. so we are going to try and hit Peter Pan, Poo, Small world, haunted mansion, ect, all back to back to back while other people race for the mountains. Then by having the team broken up and doing all FP days simultaneously we got the FP trifecta

10 - Big Thunder
11 - Splash Mountain
lunch at Be our Guest at 1:30
3 - 7D minetrain

then its back to the hotel to change/relax for a bit before heading to the Christmas party.

I have to say, while we struggled a bit to get the dining reservations we really wanted, i was very happy with our FP results.
 

LadyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
27 days to go! Soooo close!

I decided during baseball season to have LASIK surgery after years of debating. It’s been scheduled for October 16, because I wanted to have it done before our trip. So no pool or Splash Mountain per my eye surgeon. I’m slightly bummed about not riding Splash, but it’s for a good cause. :)
 

riverside

Well-Known Member
27 days to go! Soooo close!

I decided during baseball season to have LASIK surgery after years of debating. It’s been scheduled for October 16, because I wanted to have it done before our trip. So no pool or Splash Mountain per my eye surgeon. I’m slightly bummed about not riding Splash, but it’s for a good cause. :)
I’m at 30!!
Best of luck with LASIK!! I was supposed to have it done years ago but bc if some other eye issues I couldn’t. I’m still bummed about it to this day. I’d be interested to hear your take on it!!
Hoping to run into you!!
 

JMcMahonEsq

Well-Known Member
25 days until we leave, 28 until we check in to Contemporary. Time can not move fast enough. Good luck with the surgery. I have toyed with having lasik for years but never pulled the trigger.
 

LadyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Pre-Travel Day Update:

My sister has hurt her knee. She has had knee problems in the past - brought on by her constant in and out of an overnight package delivery truck company she works for. She plowed through the pain yesterday, but can hardly stand on it now. She got an anti-inflammatory injection, pain med, and we'll get a scooter for her. We may try the Disability pass when we get there or see how she is day by day.

Best of luck with LASIK!! I was supposed to have it done years ago but bc if some other eye issues I couldn’t. I’m still bummed about it to this day. I’d be interested to hear your take on it!!

Well, it's been a roller coaster of emotion for me. The surgery itself went well and quick--15 minutes maybe. The next day & one-week follow up went great--the corneas were healing nicely. For me, being severely myopic (nearsighted), I didn't factor in the longer time it would take for the vision to stabilize. Technically, they're still healing. At the one-week followup my distance was 20/20 with a slight blur. The middle distances are still fuzzy. I expected to have to get reading glasses, but I think I've spent some funds unnecessarily because I can't decide if I want straight reading glasses, or the multi focus.

I do not regret getting the LASIK. I regret falling into the hype (including from my sister) about how quick it would return to "normal" and not researching enough about the actual healing process.
 

Rista1313

Well-Known Member
Pre-Travel Day Update:

My sister has hurt her knee. She has had knee problems in the past - brought on by her constant in and out of an overnight package delivery truck company she works for. She plowed through the pain yesterday, but can hardly stand on it now. She got an anti-inflammatory injection, pain med, and we'll get a scooter for her. We may try the Disability pass when we get there or see how she is day by day.



Well, it's been a roller coaster of emotion for me. The surgery itself went well and quick--15 minutes maybe. The next day & one-week follow up went great--the corneas were healing nicely. For me, being severely myopic (nearsighted), I didn't factor in the longer time it would take for the vision to stabilize. Technically, they're still healing. At the one-week followup my distance was 20/20 with a slight blur. The middle distances are still fuzzy. I expected to have to get reading glasses, but I think I've spent some funds unnecessarily because I can't decide if I want straight reading glasses, or the multi focus.

I do not regret getting the LASIK. I regret falling into the hype (including from my sister) about how quick it would return to "normal" and not researching enough about the actual healing process.
Yeah, I've always heard that the healing is really quick... I'm guessing just like everything else, every instance can be different.
 

LadyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
422606

👋🏻👋🏻
 

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