I said "YES" to the The Best Trip Ever! (Sept. 2022) (Updated 10/20/2022)

[cajunfan]

I said “Yes” to the Best! (trip ever)!

So the last time I had been to Walt Disney World was May 2016. Yeah it’s been a while.

So many new things: The New Disney Springs (was still Pleasure Island and Downtown Disney when I was there…the new “Springs” area opened up the day after we left in 2016); Pandora in Animal Kingdom; Toy Story Land, Galaxy’s Edge in Studios, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad in Studios; and the “new” Soarin film, Frozen, Remy and Guardians of the Galaxy were all new!

I really did not have any trips planned on the horizon. I just was so unsure about things after the shutdown and it just felt very overwhelming to try to plan something in the ever changing landscapes of the Parks.

One day I was text chatting with a friend (yes I am old, I know we were just texting but I was more than a simple HI, how are you so it was chatting to me). She was telling me that her and her adult son (I have known them since he was a youngster…helped her plan his first trip in 2009) were going to the Parks in September around Labor Day. She said they were driving down and staying offsite. Then she asked if I wanted to join them. I thought about it. A lot of logistical issues for me staying offsite since I use a scooter. Then as I was talking to my sister who lives in another state (along with all the rest of my family) she mentioned that they were going that same week! So I said “Yes” to tagging along with my friend and her son.

My friends were going because they were friends with a young family with a 1 year old going for the first time and they thought it would be fun to show them around. I will come back shortly for a brief introduction for those that do not know me.

 

[cajunfan]

Saved for chapter links if I can remember how to do them

 

[cajunfan]

Introductions

Me: Lynn, turned 60 in April (how did I get this old???)
I used to have spreadsheets and had things planned out for every trip I have taken in the past...yes I am a little OCD. I like to have a plan even if I end up not following it. This trip was definitely going to be different in so many ways for me!.
I LOVE FIGMENT!
Right now my favorite park is AK...well you will see why later in this trip report.
Oh, did I mention that I LOVE FIGMENT!
I have to now remember how to insert pictures...ACK! (I will come back to that)

The rest of the crew (no pictures here):

My Traveling Troup (AKA those in the car with me and those caravanning with us in a separate car:
S- my friend and former coworker (we were both cast member at a Disney Store that was shut down), her adult son , then Car Two consisted of Mom, Dad, Baby H and Dad's sister.

My Sister's Crew: My baby sister C and her husband, their daughter and her husband and their baby R, and my niece's husband's parents

T: Another friend and former coworker from the store who was coming down for a few days.

Local Friends:
R: Someone I met while she was living in Nashville and stopped in the Disney Store while I was working and we became friends. She has lived in Orlando for a few years now.

L & M: My friends who used t work with me at my mortgage paying job and have lived in Lakeland for a few years now.

B: A friend who recently relocated to the Orlando area that I know from right here on the DISBoards!

 

[cajunfan]

Oops…I hijacked a trip!

So while we were discussing the trip, I talked them into staying onsite at a value since I could pay the difference in the offsite and onsite. They were totally okay with that, so we booked All Star Music. Being on Disney transportation is so much easier for me since I use an ECV while in the parks, and know how to handle all forms of transport there. So I did some Disney math, thought about the logistics of three adults in a regular room and having the ECV in the room to charge, and decided I would splurge for a family suite at All Star Music. It was a good decision. Having a full size fridge and freezer in the room was fantastic, too. The other family booked a regular room at All Star Music too (I am not sure if they were on site to begin with or not).

The original plan was to drive down Sunday, 9/4 straight to WDW. Once again, I talked to everyone about changing plans and leaving at like 2pm on Saturday and drive down to the FL/Ga line, spend the night and drive into Orlando early Sunday and have that full day inside the Disney bubble. They were all game for it! We chose a Quality Inn in Lake Park GA for our overnight stop. Notice it is Lake Park GA NOT Lake City FL…that will be important later.

So, overnight room booked, Disney room booked, I just needed tickets and to make dining reservations when they were available. Also during this time I found out that not only was my sister (her husband, their daughter, almost 1 year old grandson and her husband plus his parents who are divorced and not fond of each other), but another former coworker was going down for a few days, and a girl I play Bunco with was going at the same time too! My Bunco friend ended up canceling last minute, but the others all made it.

This trip started for me in May…so when word came out about Genie+ no longer being a ticket option at purchase (changing to purchasing daily), I went ahead and bought my ticket with park hopper and Genie+ two days before the change. So all I needed were a few dining reservations…really only three as I was not planning on a lot of sit down meals because I had no idea how hungry I would be in the heat or how much time I could honestly spend eating versus riding/experiencing. So I (im)patiently waited until 60 days out. I only wanted: Sunday night Art Smith’s Homecoming for 6 people between 5-8 pm, Skipper Canteen for 2 people on Monday around 3 pm, and California Grill for Friday evening for 4 people between 6:30-8 pm.

What did I end up with? Skipper Canteen – no problem, 3pm. Perfect.

California Grill – no problem, 7pm (for the life of me I cannot find the exact time.)

Homecoming…no dice…nothing. So I put in some reservation finders and the only slots we ever saw open up were for 10:50 pm and 9:20 pm…which was way too late for me to eat and we had rope drop at AK the next morning. In the beginning it was going to be me, my friend R (a local), my sister, her husband, my friend S and her son. S’s son decided to eat with the other family so that dropped us down to 5. We tried a different strategy for the reservation finders and finally snagged four person table for 5:50 pm. Now to tell someone they were not joining us! In the end my brother in law decided to go play golf and it ended up with just four so it worked out perfect.

So now I was ready to go.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Joining in, sounds like a fun time with many groups of people!
Homecomin is a hard on to get for some reason.

 

[cajunfan]

Joining in, sounds like a fun time with many groups of people!
Homecomin is a hard on to get for some reason.

Good morning Caroline! Thanks for joining in!

You know one of my peeps from Cali Grill Friday night. Hopefully I will figure out the picture thing this weekend and be able to post pictures for those who have given me permission. I also have to remember how to do the links to chapters too! I have forgotten a lot in 7 years (last trip report I wrote was in 2015!)

I guess I should not have been too surprised about Homcomin...it was Labor Day weekend!

 

[rdkeim]

Following!

 

[KerryCM]

I am looking forward to reading your report. I am so sorry we never got to meet up! Maybe next trip.

 

[footballmouse]

 

[cajunfan]

Pre-Trip Prep

I took off the Friday before we left to take care of things for the trip.

I have three dogs…two are “big dogs”. First there is Kimber. She is Anatolian Shepherd/ Great Pyrenees mix, weighs 77 lbs and smarter than I am. Sebastian is her son and dad was apparently a purebred boxer as a dna test on one of his sibling says they are 50% boxer/25% Anatolian/25% Pyr. He is 97 lbs of big derpy dog. He is my baby, my snuggle bug…fell in love with him when he was two days old and I was part of a transport team that moved Kimber, Sebastian and his 5 siblings from east TN to foster care in middle Tn. Then we have the little dog that is a 50 lb Jack Russell/Plott Hound drama queen of a dog. Anywho, the big dogs had a vet visit at 8 am, then I was driving them to the “kennel” for them to stay while I was gone. The kennel is an hour away from where I live. I drive that far because the dogs know the person keeping them (she was the foster mom to the little family when they were pups), and she knows them and all their issues…mainly that Kimber is an escape artist…like can go over/under and through a 6ft wood privacy fence. Plus she also has Sebastian’s brother and they all know each other, so I drive the distance to know they are safe and loved. I stopped at Chick-fil-A on the way home for “brunch”.

After dropping the big dogs off, I got everything ready for the little dog to stay at home with her dad (my boarder). Also, the little girl and the big girl do not like each other and can’t be in the same room, so the little one was excited to have free reign of the house!

I prepped some meals for my boarder, and cleaned my kitchen (can’t stand coming home to a dirty kitchen). Then I decided to go get my mani/pedi early. It was officially the start of vacation. They even used orange essential oil in my pedi water. It was wonderful. Picked a nice light purple color for my nails (gotta represent my Figment!)

Now to go home and finish last minute packing! Got everything together and moved downstairs so all I had to do was bring it to the car the next day when they arrived to pick me up.

I let S know that I was ready to go! She laughed and said she was too! Maybe we can leave around noon instead of 2? I said I was fine with that!

Of course Friday night I did not sleep well. I was too excited!

 

[cajunfan]

Following!

Thanks! I really do need to figure out the pictures thing.

I am looking forward to reading your report. I am so sorry we never got to meet up! Maybe next trip.

Next time my friend! We actually are in the discussion stage for a trip next year!

Hopefully it will be entertaining and somewhat informative and not a lot of drama, lol! Thanks for following along.

 

[cajunfan]

Travel Day #1

I got up early (always do) took a shower, had my protein shake for breakfast as usual and waited. I let S know I was ready when they were! She text and said they will be at my house for 10! We hit the road. I was a little concerned when we first started planning the trip about the seating arrangements in the vehicle for the drive to/from. I have horrible knees and although I have much better range of motion in them after replacement surgery, it is still not great range. And we pack – a lot of stuff. But I fit nicely in the back seat with lots of leg room. We had nice conversation all the way to Chattanooga, where we had to stop and pick up the sister of the other family traveling with us. So I got to actually visit and see UT Chattanooga…a first for me.

After picking up the sister, we hit the road again…next stop…Calhoun GA for my very first Buc-ee’s store visit.

The drive to Calhoun was uneventful, and we enjoyed the Buc-ee’s billboards the closer we got to there. I had never been there and the family traveling with us had also never been there. But S and her son had been to ones in Texas as they have family out that way. So they knew what to expect. I on the other hand only knew what I had read…they are big, they have everything under the sun, they are busy, and I needed to try something called Beaver Nuggets.

So after finding a parking spot, we headed in. I grabbed a buggy and went through the doors. Oh. My. Word. I almost went straight into a panic attack. The place was a madhouse. People were everywhere and dashing all about, willy nilly! I overcame my initial panic to move deeper into the store, and focused on browsing the food area…my comfort place…food. I can do this! I quickly looked around, found the Beaver Nuggets and grabbed a couple of bags (original, cinnamon and caramel sea salt...none of which I cared for). Then I saw the roasted candied nuts…grabbed some pecans and cashews. Looked at the pre-boxed fudge, cookies and cinnamon rolls and passed on all of them. Browsed the bakery but opted to not get in that line. I heard they had fabulous brisket so grabbed a pre-made chopped brisket sandwich for lunch in the car, as there was no place to sit and eat said sandwich. After that I had enough of the chaos, found the rest of the group and found a spot to just stand out of the way and waited on everyone to finish. Once they did, we headed to our cars, and got back on the road after everyone had a few nibbles of their lunch and could focus on driving of course. Next was the part none of us like driving…straight through Atlanta. At least it was a Saturday afternoon and traffic was light, so we got through to the other side quickly and without incident. We did not stop again until somewhere in the middle of nowhere GA…not even sure of the exit/city. We needed gas and a potty break. The potty break proved to be interesting. It has been a long time since I have seen certain coin operated machines in the restrooms, but there they were…lots of options for a a man and woman’s pleasure. We made the boys go in their bathroom to take pictures…they had similar items for sale, lol.

So we got back on the road, and were going toward our destination for the night. All through the trip S was talking with her friend that lives near the FL/GA line and we were planning on meeting up with her for dinner. Here is where S learned that there are many cities in that area (both in GA and FL) that have Lake as part of their name. When we chose the hotel, we picked it for its proximity to the state lines, it had gas stations and a Cracker Barrel right across from it. Well, S had told her friend that we were staying in the Quality Inn and there was a Cracker Barrel was across the street...her friend mentioned that she lived right down that street! Well we ended up deciding we wanted Mexican instead so she told us where to meet her. We got to the hotel and asked the desk clerk about directions. Well, she had never heard of it. It is here where we realized S had told her friend that we were staying in Lake City FL…and yes there is a Quality Inn with a Cracker Barrel right across from it! Ooopsie! So after that mistake our group settled on just going to the Cracker Barrel for dinner and meeting her friend for breakfast the next morning.

Had an uneventful meal there (except I was the only person out of six adults to get an actual adult meal, lol). We left and went back to the hotel and tried to get some sleep.

 

[cajunfan]

And I have someone working on getting my pictures accessible to post here. I lost patience trying to figure it out!

 

[vamassey1]

I'm enjoying your trip!

My first visit to Bucee's was very similar as far as being overwhelming. It's our go to stop now. We have one in Alabama on our way to Disney and there is one being built in Florida on I-10.

I can tell you what I do for pictures. I have them loaded to my Google photos. I just use snip and copy and paste the pictures. If you want excellent phots this isn't the best way but it works. If I try to use photos straight from my computer the file is too big. I have gone through the trouble of reducing the size and inserting the photo but it takes a long time.

 

[nascargirl]

Enjoying your trip report. The snacks sound amazing.

 

[cajunfan]

I'm enjoying your trip!

My first visit to Bucee's was very similar as far as being overwhelming. It's our go to stop now. We have one in Alabama on our way to Disney and there is one being built in Florida on I-10.

I can tell you what I do for pictures. I have them loaded to my Google photos. I just use snip and copy and paste the pictures. If you want excellent phots this isn't the best way but it works. If I try to use photos straight from my computer the file is too big. I have gone through the trouble of reducing the size and inserting the photo but it takes a long time.

Bucees will take some getting used to for me. At that point I was really concerned about if I could handle the crowds at Disney. The second trip on the way back was a little better.

All my photos are on my iphone right now. I primarily read/post here on my work or home computer (both windows pcs). I know I can download the icloud app for windows to pull my pictures off the cloud, but I have two problems with that at the moment. 1- I can't download the app to my work computer, because, well, work and my home computer is giving me problems when I try to download it. So, my IT guy is supposed to be fixing that for me....I need to start harassing him.

I have more parts typed up, I just really want to get the pictures loaded with them.

Enjoying your trip report. The snacks sound amazing.

I really enjoyed the brisket sandwich. I did not care for the Beaver nuggets (they were too hard for me...I wanted them to be softer). But I like my snacks, and there were many more on this trip.