Trip Report * COMPLETED* The Let's Never Go Home Trip

Hey everyone! I don't have all my pictures and videos sorted or anything yet but its a rainy cold day here in Buffalo so why not work on my trip report :) I took over 4000 videos and pictures (I started a youtube channel for my videos :happy: ) so bear with me as I sort through them all! All and all we had a great trip and I wish we weren't home already :(

For those of you who want to see my PTR here it is: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/the-dole-whip-extravaganza.910063/

Let's get started!

Who?:
From left to right: My Dad (Jeff), My Mom (Mary), Nick (Jill's Boyfriend), My Sister Jill (@Disney Dentist ) and Me (Megan!)
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When?
Jill and Nick were there from April 29 - May 6
My parents and I were there from April 30 - May 12

Where?
We stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter! Its our favorite hotel (moderate wise) for sure and it did not disappoint this trip :) We had a great time there and after not having stayed there for a few trips we really enjoyed being back at our "home."

Why?
Why not? We planned this trip before my mom and I went to DL and WDW by ourselves; it was originally a trip to help us get through our post Disney depression from February 2015 but we also ended up going twice more before this....haha

The Title?
We were there for a record (for us) 13 days and it seemed like we were never going to have to leave...unfortunately day 13 did come and we did eventually have to go home. Even after being there for so long I still wasn't ready to leave!

T-1 Day to go:
Jill and Nick were already in Disney but my parents and I could not leave until Saturday because I have clinic on Fridays which is non-negitionable (we get our vacation in two week blocks so technically my vacation didn't start until May 2 but luckily I was able to get the weekend off before). Anyway we had Jills dogs to take care of for one day. I was off my from regular rotation in the morning which was nice because we had time to get our nails done. However, just about an hour before I had to go to clinic my sister's one dog had some issues :hungover: Here I am bathing him (with my fresh manicure) right before having to go to work...
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Meanwhile this is the text I get when I am at clinic....
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Must be nice...;) Anyway we got him cleaned up and when I got home from work we got the dogs all situated at their respective places to stay. We then checked we packed everything and I made my Dad sit down with me and make sure he had everything he needed. This will come into play later since he really wasn't paying attention to me :happy:

Day 1 Travel Day
Well our flight was leaving at 6:50 am so we got up around 4:00 am to get ready to go. Luckily we live close to the airport but still planned on leaving around 5 am to make sure we had time. I had a weird feeling all morning that the airport was going to be packed so I was a little more anxious than usual
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Anyway we shoved our five (yes five, and my 2 were both full size) suitcases into my Dad's car and off we went to the airport. We ended up leaving a little before 5. We got to the airport and we parked and had to drag our suitcases into the terminal. Its not that far but I was spoiled by our last few trips where my Dad dropped us off at the door haha. Anyway as we were on the elevator I was super anxious and my Dad was like calm down its never that crowded. Literally as soon as he said that the door opened and what did we see? A HUGE line for security...like out the entrance for it all the way through the airport. :eek::confused: I almost panicked but instead thought "oh no worries we almost always get TSA pre-check." So we check in and the tickets come out and no pre-check for my Mom and I. My Dad always gets it because he is a government/army employee. He was going to wait in line with us but I told him to go ahead so in case we were so long we didn't get to board on time he could save our seats. I also assumed maybe he would get us breakfast...spoiler alert he didn't haha
Anyway my poor mother had to deal with me through the almost hour we waited in security..I was so nervous we were going to miss our flight (or at least boarding). Luckily we got out around 6:15 and our boarding was 6:25.
My mom and I met my Dad at the gate and while he didn't get us breakfast he did get us cookies so there is that :) Thumbs up we made it on time, as I am sure many people did not make it! In fact our flight definitely left without some people.
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My penguin and dinosaur were ready to go!
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We were in the early A's so we got a good seat and immediately put on our magic bands :)
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Next up: traveling continued
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3
This morning we got up and headed to the bus stop for Animal Kingdom. We actually just missed a bus so thought we were in for a long wait but two showed up within 10 minutes. We rushed to the second one to avoid the crowd of people getting on the first bus :)
When we got to the Animal Kingdom my Mom and Dad got "randomly selected" for security. I ended up choosing the longest bag check line ever, but the security guy was so nice. He also mentioned that he forgot the day before was his 40th Wedding Anniversary and he felt so bad :eek:
When we got into the park we headed over to the Harambe Market to explore because Jill, Nick and my Dad have never seen it. We only had a few minutes to look around, though, because it was almost time for breakfast! We had reservations at Tusker House which was a first for us.
Why hello tree of life!
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Jill and I were wearing matching shirts
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When we checked in the CM was like do you really have 5 adults? Then counted us and was like yep I guess so...haha
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It's so cool looking inside!!
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This was my Mom's first plate, with the glorious Jungle Juice in the background
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I accidentally started with a small plate :) This cheese blintz was yummy!
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I had to get a second plate...haha
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The food was pretty good, but 1900 Park Fare still wins in our book for best breakfast buffet :)
Donald really liked my ears
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The one complaint we had about this place is the window in the background because it made pictures not turn out so great.

Next up: Tusker House continued
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3 continued
They look so cute in their safari outfits
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Not sure what my Dad is doing...
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Donald is really growing on me as a character :)
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Next up was Goofy in his cute outfit. I told him I liked his hat!
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The light in the back of Daisy's pictures is the brightest :(
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Mickey is so cute :inlove:
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It was time to leave the Tusker House after this but we enjoyed our stay
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Next up: continuing along in AK
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Safari outfits are awesome! Donald is growing on you, does that mean that you didn't use to like Donald? How can it be, Donald is the best!

I haven't ever disliked Donald but I never put him on my list of favorites. I really love him now!
 
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Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3 continued
We had a bit of time before our Fast Passes so we headed to the Pangani Forest Trail after this
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Why hello there...
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Jill checking out teeth since thats her business :)
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On a small side tangent/rant: Jill and I both love animals and we love learning about them. In college Jill even look a lot of Animal Behavior classes. I'm not saying we are experts or anything, but we appreciate learning about all types of animals and calling them by their appropriate names (i.e. Bisons instead of Buffalo, gorillas instead of monkeys). We always say we will teach our kids the correct things about animals and the right names or say we don't know. In the hippo room we heard a grandmother tell her grandson that she hoped the "rhino" didn't drown because he was under so long he forgot to breath...and the kid started crying...and I started to cringe haha. Not only was it a hippo but obviously he stays under water for a period of time before coming up....:(
Anyway....
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I don't have any pictures of the Gorillas because they weren't very active/out
We had a Fast Pass scheduled for Kilimanjaro Safaris after this so hopped in the Fast Pass line. The wait was insane for even the Fast Pass line...we waited like 20 plus minutes so I would imagine the Stand-by line was pretty long too
I thought this was pretty funny
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They were back into squishing people into one car so the 5 of us squeezed in and we were on our way
I won't bore with you too many pictures so will post just a few haha
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When we got off the Safari Nick said he couldn't pay attention because he was so distracted by a wasp on our car :D
We had a Fast Pass after this for Dinosaur so made our way over. On the way we ran into a family who asked me to take their picture and they offered to take one for us as well
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Next up: continuing along AK
 
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Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3 continued
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Before heading into Dinosaur we had to take our usual pictures
Everyone look scared!
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For those of you who have read my TRs you will probably remember I have a love hate relationship with this ride because Dinosaur scares me, but its a cool ride haha. Anyway here is the end result...scared as usual haha
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After Dinosaur we split up. Jill and Nick left the park and my parent's and I headed towards Asia. We snuck a peak at the Rivers of Light area. Its cool but its smaller than I thought
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My dad was wearing an Everest shirt I bought him so we had to take this picture :)
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We had a small window of time before our Everest FP so we headed to the Maharajah Trek
We strolled through and caught a glimpse of a sleeping Tiger
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We really enjoyed our time through the Trek and just sat and relaxed for awhile in the Eld's Deer area while watching the animals and the people :)
Then it was finally time for Everest !
In line we finally saw the posters that say your names! The woman behind me was like "they know your name because of your magic band." I politely thanked her, but thought to myself: well obviously haha how else would they get it. I thought about it more, though, and I'm sure some people would not make the connection especially if they aren't used to Magic Bands :)
We had a great ride on Everest! I sat next to a woman who was on the ride for the first time and it was so cool because she was so excited about everything!
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After this we headed back to the hotel and came back to Drake and Petey in the window :)
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Next up: pool time for a long time!
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
The lady and the Magic Bands.. It cracked me up because I get a small twinge of annoyance when people say things like that to me. I consider myself somewhat of a "Disney alum," as I'm sure most everybody on the forums does. And then I have to tamp those feelings down because how would a random stranger know that I know all of these little things. :rolleyes:
 

MerMom1981

Well-Known Member
Just caught up! Great report so far!

I can relate to your cringing at the hippo/rhino misinformation. Gah! Some people! It's so hard not to turn around and say "well, actually..."
I'll just have to be satisfied that my kids are being taught the correct names and terms for the "neat stuff" in the world around them
 
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Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The lady and the Magic Bands.. It cracked me up because I get a small twinge of annoyance when people say things like that to me. I consider myself somewhat of a "Disney alum," as I'm sure most everybody on the forums does. And then I have to tamp those feelings down because how would a random stranger know that I know all of these little things. :rolleyes:

I know! I get annoyed too but I really try hard to remember its some people's first trip and they are probably just excited to share their knowledge. So I express my annoyedness internally ahaha
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Just caught up! Great report so far!

I can relate to your cringing at the hippo/rhino misinformation. Gah! Some people! It's so hard not to turn around and say "well, actually..."
I'll just have to be satisfied that my kids are being taught to correct names and terms for the "neat stuff" in the world around them

Glad you can relate. I didn't want to come off sounding arrogant or rude but it just makes me all the more grateful we spend time with our little cousins and my nephew teaching them about cool stuff :) Glad there are other people out there that do the same!
 

prfctlyximprct

Well-Known Member
My heart is melting at your animal kingdom pictures, they are so beautiful! Love your matching sister shirts! Whats the over under I can get my boyfriend to wear a matching shirt with me? LOL... man I need to find a sister!

You awesome are doing great with food photos! That breakfast! I want a Mickey waffle, pronto! And you currently have me trying to find a way to fit Via Napoli into my plans....
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Caught up again! Looks like you all had a great time. Love the sister shirts. I've never been to Tusker House but may have to give it a try. Sooo many restaurants so few Disney days!
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
My heart is melting at your animal kingdom pictures, they are so beautiful! Love your matching sister shirts! Whats the over under I can get my boyfriend to wear a matching shirt with me? LOL... man I need to find a sister!

You awesome are doing great with food photos! That breakfast! I want a Mickey waffle, pronto! And you currently have me trying to find a way to fit Via Napoli into my plans....
Aww thanks. Usually I am not into matching shirts but my sister was so I went along with it. It does look cute though! Maybe your boyfriend will agree!
Breakfast at the Tusker house was really good! Just looking at the pics makes me hungry
Ugh Via Napoli...so addicting...
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Looks like you had a great trip. Literally is the only place we go on vacation where we aren't ready to be back home by the end.

We did! And even though we were there for so long we did not want to leave. Agreed...every other vacation we are like OK time to go home but I always feel like I could stay in Disney forever
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Caught up again! Looks like you all had a great time. Love the sister shirts. I've never been to Tusker House but may have to give it a try. Sooo many restaurants so few Disney days!
Thanks! We like it and I would prob go back, I don't think my mom was a big fan but I'm not sure why! I always want to try new restaurants but then also love certain other ones so much that I can't leave them haha

Great report!!! Love all your shirts!! You have the perfect style for Disney !
Thank you! That means a lot to me! I spend a lot of time thinking about my outfits haha
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3 continued
When we got back to the hotel we went down to the pool and Jill and Nick were there! We had so much fun with my underwater camera this day. We were literally down at the pool for 2.5 hours. Here is an onslaught of pictures...haha
First we came back to Petey and Drake like this :p
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Here is my Dad on the slide
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My Mom
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Jill
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Me! I had to go down like three times because no one could figure out the camera haha
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Nick was taking a snooze in the chairs at this time so no slide pictures of him haha
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Jill was giving us directions and we had to follow them haha
Tea Party
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Yelling at someone
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Taking a picture
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Having a drink.
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Next up: continuing in the pool
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3 continued
I won't bore you with the 10000 other pictures I have underwater, but I will leave you with a few more haha
Nick joined the fun
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My mom sent this picture to her co-workers to make them jealous haha
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So sunny!
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We headed to the pool bar for a bit to grab a drink and enjoy the sunshine.
I ordered a pretzel and it had a broken ear so I got it for free! This was my second free thing at Disney this trip! haha
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They have these new cheese cups everywhere and they are so good with the pretzels! Since I got my pretzel for free I didn't dare order a cheese cup so I used Jills haha
My mom takes the most random pictures...
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You can see the cheese cup below haha
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Anyway, we really enjoyed our long break at the pool! We decided to all go to Disney Springs, but were planning on going our separate ways so I asked Jill to braid my hair before we left :)
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Next up: Disney Springs
 

prfctlyximprct

Well-Known Member
Day 3 continued
I won't bore you with the 10000 other pictures I have underwater, but I will leave you with a few more haha
Nick joined the fun
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My mom sent this picture to her co-workers to make them jealous haha
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So sunny!
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We headed to the pool bar for a bit to grab a drink and enjoy the sunshine.
I ordered a pretzel and it had a broken ear so I got it for free! This was my second free thing at Disney this trip! haha
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They have these new cheese cups everywhere and they are so good with the pretzels! Since I got my pretzel for free I didn't dare order a cheese cup so I used Jills haha
My mom takes the most random pictures...
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You can see the cheese cup below haha
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Anyway, we really enjoyed our long break at the pool! We decided to all go to Disney Springs, but were planning on going our separate ways so I asked Jill to braid my hair before we left :)
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Next up: Disney Springs


Your hair looks like Elsa! So jealous! I wish I could French braid... One skill I can never acquire no matter how many YouTube tutorials I watch. And is that cheese cup thing new? I know what I'm eating in November!
 

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