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 ) 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!)

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 Here I am bathing him (with my fresh manicure) right before having to go to work...

Meanwhile this is the text I get when I am at clinic....

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

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

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. 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.

My penguin and dinosaur were ready to go!

We were in the early A's so we got a good seat and immediately put on our magic bands

Next up: traveling continued

 

[Doc Disney]

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!

haha thats why I posted it because I thought it looked like Elsa too! I can not braid either...I also have tried many tutorials but my arms get too tired and I get impatient. Luckily my sister can braid and she has always been super good at being creative with braids! When I was little she used to practice on me all the time! The cheese cup is new...and they are everywhere you can buy a pretzel for the most part....and they are worth it!

 

[LisaBelle]

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

The pool pictures were awesome. Loved the tea party pic. My sister and I used to do that at the pool all the time. Your braid was beautiful! I can French braid, but can never do the curved braids like that. I keep trying and Allie keeps pulling it out . The pretzel with cheese cup is on my list for my next visit! Yum!

 

[Jeff456]

Sounds like a great trip! Subscribed..

 

[Doc Disney]

The pool pictures were awesome. Loved the tea party pic. My sister and I used to do that at the pool all the time. Your braid was beautiful! I can French braid, but can never do the curved braids like that. I keep trying and Allie keeps pulling it out . The pretzel with cheese cup is on my list for my next visit! Yum!

We always did tea parties in the pool too haha my underwater camera reverted us back to our childhood! I'm impressed with anyone that can braid at all...being the youngest I never had to do any one else's hair haha. The cheese cups are delicious!!!

Sounds like a great trip! Subscribed..

Thanks for following!

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 3 continued:
My Mom, Dad and I hopped on the boat to Disney Springs. My Dad and I had to sit in the little captain's seats and my feet couldn't touch the ground so I kept sliding off haha. I'm short but I'm obviously taller than kids so I don't know how they sit there

There was a family on the boat who was not super impressed with Port Orleans French Quarter. They didn't think it anything special.... I totally get people have their own opinions but it was kind of funny because the Dad kept planning out what he would design Disney like and it sounded horrible
Anyway, when we got to Disney Springs it was much less crowded so that was nice! We walked over to our final destination: Splitsville!

We did not make reservations this time because its never crowded and the same was true this time. We were seated immediately and it was upstairs. It was fun to watch the people bowling.
My Mom was trying to take a picture of me taking pictures...haha

Anyway, for dinner my Dad had a Stella Artois in a Schooner (he made sure I added that it was in a Schooner haha). He enjoyed it. To eat he had the Southwest Burger
It was dark in there so sorry the pictures aren't great/totally didn't even get the actual burger in there haha

My Mom got the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich...also a terrible picture, its under all the lettuce

I got the loaded fries

These tasted weird this time and looking at the picture I think they forgot the ranch dressing which would explain why they were so dry.
In any case, my parent's both really enjoyed their meals. This was actually my Dad's first time there! I, personally, feel like Splitsville took a big fall down on my favorites list. My fries were not good and overall the menu went from about 8 pages to 2 so they really reduced the number of options. Oh well!
After eating we walked through Disney Springs. My Dad wanted to check out the Harley store.

Jill texted us that she and Nick were at the Hangar Bar so we headed over there to meet them. The hostess probably thought we were crazy because we walked through like 3 times because we could not find them. They were wearing new hats from the hat store in Disney Springs so we didn't recognize them haha

Next up: Disney Springs continued

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 3 continued
The Hangar Bar is super cool! We were able to sit outside and enjoy the view of the water.

Jill and Nick had already ordered some snacks. This was actually their second trip to the Hangar bar and they said the food was actually terrible this time, but was super good the first!
I know they had the pretzels, but I am not sure what else they had.
My Dad ordered some sort of beer, I think maybe another Stella. My Mom and I both ordered a Fountain of Youth. These were delicious!

The menu is super cool looking here. My Dad's name is Jeff and my cousins call him Jock so it was a good fit haha

While we were sitting there we watched the sky go from this:

To this:

There was a ton of lightening a big storm was definitely brewing!
Just as we were leaving the Hangar Bar the storm came on full force. Jill and Nick headed to find a place to eat and my parents and I ran to T. Rex to get out of the storm for a few minutes. I did not look like it was going to stop anytime soon so we tried to make our way towards the buses. The lightening and thunder were getting so bad, though, that we ended up stopping in the Disney Store. We killed a lot of time in there! I got sparkles in my hair from Bibbity Boppity Boutique though so that was cool!

Well, we stared out the door for like 15 minutes (after we had already been in there for like 45 minutes) and it did not seem like the rain was ever going to stop. It wasn't just a light rain either, it was a pouring rain. They were handing out bags so I took one to keep my backpack in so my camera wouldn't get wet (not like it could, it was already double bagged but I get nervous haha). My Dad and I ended up purchasing ponchos which is like our 8th and 9th ones....haha. My Mom and I had our rain coats but it didn't seem enough with the torrential rain.
We finally decided to brave the storm and head to the buses with our ponchos. It did actually slow down a bit, but it had rained so hard it was flooded! I saw on Facebook later than night that Epcot was so flooded that people had to take their shoes off.
You know how when its raining everyone is super cranky? Well, this especially held true at the Disney Springs bus stops. To be fair I feel like everyone had valid reasons to be cranky since there is not much shelter there and the rain was back to pouring. Also there were tons of line cutters, like just straight up walking right up to the bus and ignoring the huge line behind them. That's annoying haha. We did finally make it to the hotel and ran back to our room. Jill called and said that she and Nick ate at Paradiso and when they got to the bus line they "accidentally" cut the line...hahahaha just as I was going on about line cutters. Those two troublemakers!
Well, we watched some HGTV and went off to bed!

Next up: Day 4 Waterparks and Epcot

 

[Brian & Jill]

Day 3 continued
The Hangar Bar is super cool! We were able to sit outside and enjoy the view of the water.
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Jill and Nick had already ordered some snacks. This was actually their second trip to the Hangar bar and they said the food was actually terrible this time, but was super good the first!
I know they had the pretzels, but I am not sure what else they had.
My Dad ordered some sort of beer, I think maybe another Stella. My Mom and I both ordered a Fountain of Youth. These were delicious!
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The menu is super cool looking here. My Dad's name is Jeff and my cousins call him Jock so it was a good fit haha
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While we were sitting there we watched the sky go from this:
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To this:
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There was a ton of lightening a big storm was definitely brewing!
Just as we were leaving the Hangar Bar the storm came on full force. Jill and Nick headed to find a place to eat and my parents and I ran to T. Rex to get out of the storm for a few minutes. I did not look like it was going to stop anytime soon so we tried to make our way towards the buses. The lightening and thunder were getting so bad, though, that we ended up stopping in the Disney Store. We killed a lot of time in there! I got sparkles in my hair from Bibbity Boppity Boutique though so that was cool!
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Well, we stared out the door for like 15 minutes (after we had already been in there for like 45 minutes) and it did not seem like the rain was ever going to stop. It wasn't just a light rain either, it was a pouring rain. They were handing out bags so I took one to keep my backpack in so my camera wouldn't get wet (not like it could, it was already double bagged but I get nervous haha). My Dad and I ended up purchasing ponchos which is like our 8th and 9th ones....haha. My Mom and I had our rain coats but it didn't seem enough with the torrential rain.
We finally decided to brave the storm and head to the buses with our ponchos. It did actually slow down a bit, but it had rained so hard it was flooded! I saw on Facebook later than night that Epcot was so flooded that people had to take their shoes off.
You know how when its raining everyone is super cranky? Well, this especially held true at the Disney Springs bus stops. To be fair I feel like everyone had valid reasons to be cranky since there is not much shelter there and the rain was back to pouring. Also there were tons of line cutters, like just straight up walking right up to the bus and ignoring the huge line behind them. That's annoying haha. We did finally make it to the hotel and ran back to our room. Jill called and said that she and Nick ate at Paradiso and when they got to the bus line they "accidentally" cut the line...hahahaha just as I was going on about line cutters. Those two troublemakers!
Well, we watched some HGTV and went off to bed!

Next up: Day 4 Waterparks and Epcot

Loving the trip report!!!!!! We totally know about the flooding in Epcot. That. Had happened to us several years ago and the water was up to our ankles. That is why we always take 2 pairs of sneakers!!!! (Well I take 2 pairs,Jill usually takes at least 3-4) I totally get the whole crankiness thing with the bus stops a Disney Springs. They really need to make the bus shelters bigger and if people would fall into line the way they should things would go a lot smoother!!!! (Just like the traffic around the "Big Blue Water Tower" at 90-290 split). Well anyways cannot wait to read more about your trip!!!!!!

 

[myhappyplace]

Really enjoying your report!!

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Still loving your report! I can see me being in the store for 45 minutes to hide from the rain... How cool they gave you sparkles! I want sparkles in my hair!!

Your fountain of youth drink looked delicious!

 

[Doc Disney]

Loving the trip report!!!!!! We totally know about the flooding in Epcot. That. Had happened to us several years ago and the water was up to our ankles. That is why we always take 2 pairs of sneakers!!!! (Well I take 2 pairs,Jill usually takes at least 3-4) I totally get the whole crankiness thing with the bus stops a Disney Springs. They really need to make the bus shelters bigger and if people would fall into line the way they should things would go a lot smoother!!!! (Just like the traffic around the "Big Blue Water Tower" at 90-290 split). Well anyways cannot wait to read more about your trip!!!!!!

My Dad did not take 2 sneakers and he paid for it! Mind you before we went I told him to back two pairs like 10 times and he still didn't haha. The bus shelters are so tiny at Disney Springs its kind of weird, especially since its becoming more and more popular! Ugh don't get me started on the traffic at the 90-290 haha I sit in it at least 2 times a week

 

[Doc Disney]

Really enjoying your report!!

Thank you! Thank you for reading!

Still loving your report! I can see me being in the store for 45 minutes to hide from the rain... How cool they gave you sparkles! I want sparkles in my hair!!

Your fountain of youth drink looked delicious!

haha there was no choice, they essentially forced us to stay in the store because the rain was so bad! I was so excited to get the sparkles! I have wanted those forever but never get picked because I am a grown adult, obviously haha. The Fountain of Youth was super good! If you guys get a chance to go to Disney Springs the Hangar Bar was awesome!

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 4:
This morning we got up early because we don't know how to sleep in haha
We headed to the food court and this morning I tried pancakes

These were not too bad. My Mom had a waffle and my Dad had a bagel.
We headed to the bus stop after breakfast because the plan was to go to Typhoon Lagoon. On our way to the bus stop Jill texted to say that she and Nick were not going to come because Nick wanted to sleep in. When we got to the bus stop the CM in charge of directing traffic told us that Typhoon Lagoon was closed. She said she think something happened with the storm and it had to be repaired. No worries we headed to Blizzard Beach instead!

When we got there the park was not open yet so we waited for the grand opening which is a CM going down Summit Plummet. Actually before we even knew we had to go to BB my Mom joked about going on Summit Plummet because we a. weren't planning on going to BB and b. read it had been closed for a few weeks! Looks like it was open, but she definitely did not want to go on My Dad and I have both been on before, but also decided against going on. We both hate being blind and I was worried I would lose my contacts and my Dad can't go down with his glasses
We set our things down and headed to Team Boat Springs. I did not bring my camera on any of the slides because I was not sure if they would let me. Team Boat Springs was actually pretty cold but it was nice and sunny out so was pretty refreshing. We then headed to the red slope (via Cross Country Creek) doing those a few times (open and closed slides) and then heading to the purple slopes. On the purple slides you go down on your stomach and it kind of hurt and we all got some scrapes so took a break after this haha.

I grabbed a pretzel snack after this (with a cheese cup of course) because they didn't make the popcorn yet. When I sat down to eat my pretzel we decided to eat lunch instead so I only took a few bites of my pretzel haha
We headed to Lottawatta Lodge. This is actually the first time we have ever eaten anything other than a snack at the water parks!
My mom and I ate Chicken Nuggets

And my Dad had a hot dog. We all enjoyed our lunch!

We were not ready to leave BB yet so we took a full spin on the Cross Country Creek

Coming up: Blizzard Beach continued

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 4 continued:
More Cross Country Creek pictures!

I personally love a good lazy man river!

After this we headed to check out the "wave pool." I put wave pool in quotes because its obviously not as amazing as the Typhoon Lagoon wave pool haha
A storm was brewing..

We tried the inner tube in the pool but it was kind of frightening so it did not last long haha

We headed out just as it was starting to rain! I had to jump in the sled to get a picture though haha

As we were heading to the bus stop we saw that our bus was there so we started running towards it (which we eventually nicknamed the French Quarter shuffle every time we attempted to run to the bus haha) and my Dad kept losing his flip flop Even the bus driver made fun of him for it! Overall we had a great time at Blizzard Beach. We actually had not been there in a long time and while we prefer Typhoon Lagoon we enjoyed the changed of scenery and all the slides!

Next up: Epcot!

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Love your day at blizzard beach! I always wanted to sit in one of those tubes ever since I saw Joe and Ashley from see ya real soon at blizzard beach! Unfortunately BB is going to be closed when I go and I was looking forward to trying this water park! Only typhoon lagoon will be open so I guess I'll just have to show my boyfriend the best wave pool ever lol

 

[Doc Disney]

Love your day at blizzard beach! I always wanted to sit in one of those tubes ever since I saw Joe and Ashley from see ya real soon at blizzard beach! Unfortunately BB is going to be closed when I go and I was looking forward to trying this water park! Only typhoon lagoon will be open so I guess I'll just have to show my boyfriend the best wave pool ever lol

The tubes were kind of horrifying haha the waves aren't big but they are frequent and you aren't that high off the ground so you kind of scrape along the bottom. Probably better for kids! haha typhoon is still superior to BB in my book, even if it has less slides.

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 4 continued
When we got back to the room we quickly changed and headed to Epcot. I think this was the first time my Dad realized we were not going to let him rest...haha
Why hello Petey and Drake hanging out again!

Anyway, when we were in line for the bus we experienced a funny scooter moment! A women was driving her scooter up the ramp and didn't quite make it so it fell back down. Then on the second attempt she crashed into the seats on the bus. Then the bus driver came out of the bus and was yelling "who is with her?!?!?!?!?" The people who were with her sheepishly walked up to claim her haha it was super funny.

Anyway as soon as we stepped off the bus we realized how hot it was out so we hopped on over to Spaceship Earth for some air conditioning

We went into Innoventions to see if the line for the Visa M&G was long or not and it wasn't so we hopped in line!
I apparently wore a white bra....mistake

I got my own personal photo shoot with Mickey

The photographer asked me if I was a friend of Mickey's. I was like well yea who isn't so I said yes. Then when I was leaving she asked me which park I was in and I realized she thought I worked at Disney ahaha I was like oh no I don't work here. Nice thought though; maybe as a retirement job
After this we headed over to the Pixar short film festival because we had Fast Passes

This was super cute! We really enjoyed it. I won't say anything specific for those of you who have not seen it yet!
We had a Fast Pass for Test Track after this so we headed over
Some pictures along the way

I made the car for us and it did pretty well

Next up: hopping through the countries

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 4 continued:
Our goal was to walk to America because I really wanted my Dad to see The American Adventure
Of course we took some pictures along the way!

My turn for our usual Mexico picture since Jill did it without me!

While waiting for the American Adventure we checked out the cool little museum they have there about slavery. I actually never noticed it before!

Look how cute my Mom is in her hat

I am pleased to say that my Dad really enjoyed the American Adventure and my Mom stayed awake for once!
Continuing around the world we found Belle in France!
She was very sweet and I was happy to meet her in her day clothes

Next up: moving on through the rest of World Showcase

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 4 continued:
We found a Photopass Person after this so we stopped! Less annoying than the first time we stopped in this sport for sure...no more kissing pictures haha

We spent some time in the UK after this because I really wanted to pick up a teapot/cup combo. My Dad grabbed a beer and we did some relaxing. We were thinking about how empty Epcot was this day. It was actually kind of nice!

After this we walked over to The Land to check in for our ADR: Garden Grill!
Its crazy just how empty The Land was because Soarin' was closed haha
A CM named David from Boston seated us and he was so nice! He talked to me about being a doctor and was saying he went to Harvard and had a PhD. He made such a great impression that I made sure I gave him an Applause-O-Gram as we left the park!

I enjoyed a Citrus Breeze drink which was great! I think it had Orange Vodka in it! Not sure why this is so blurry...

Soon enough the salad and bread came

Have to break this up...too many pics !

 

[Doc Disney]

Our food actually came before any of the characters did haha

First up Chip came to see us!

Then Dale

Then...our dessert haha Mickey and Pluto were a little slow...

Finally Pluto and Mickey came around!

This was when I first noticed how great my Dad was with character meet and greets! He always thought of the best things to say to them like asking if Mickey needed help with his gardening haha
On a side note in case anyone was wondering where Jill and Nick were during this whole day they were at DS then had reservations for Monsieur Paul

Anyway we really enjoyed our meal. I changed our original Via Napoli reservation for Garden Grill because I knew my Dad would love it and he did! His only compliant was he ate too much food haha. After dinner we walked over to Guest Services to give the shout out to David then we walked to the camera store. I made a rookie mistake and forgot to get a new memory card for the underwater camera so instead of having to flip between three others I wanted to buy a new one. However, they cost like $80 so I would just continue with the hassle of changing cards haha.
Because a day can not be complete without TWO scooter instances we witnessed an epic scooter show down. One person in a scooter arrived on the L. side of the bus stop, then a second on the R. side. Then a third on the L. side again. Who was going to get on?! Everyone was fighting...it was all sorts of craziness but in the end they figured it out haha. My Mom and I thought "Scooter Wars" could be a new TLC show though haha
Sorry for all the text, but a few more stories to share. We had an awesome bunch of kids on the bus who had glow sticks and kept poking their uncle in the stomach with them and he was making a production of it. On the other side we had a Dad and daughter duo who had just had some drinks around the world. The Dad was saying he was lucky his daughter wasn't young enough to play with glow sticks because he would have to bend down and pick them up if she dropped them. He said "I'm so old and stiff that I would need lube to help me bend." The daughter was absolutely mortified hahahaha
Everyone else had a good laugh!
Anyway back at the hotel we watched HGTV (Fixer Upper) and off to bed we went!

Next up: A rainy day in Disney is better than a sunny day anywhere else!

 

[joshsprincess921]

Garden Grill looks so yummy!