Jumping, Dancing & Jamming Our Way Through Walt Disney World! I'm With the Band Now!

[aprilisis]

Sounds like a frustrating travel day! I had that transmission fluid problem, too- I ended up having to get 2 leaky hoses or tubes replaced. I hope you guys didn't have mor car trouble in TN! I can't wait to see & read more.

 

[mickeystoontown]

OH! There had better be a room, or I see some butt chewing !

That bench was very cool!

About to write something up so you will see if there was a butt chewing or not.

That Welcome Center is great! I've stopped at quite a few along the East Coast going back and forth to Florida, and none are like that. That bench is beautiful. I would have taken pictures of it too.

I forgot to mention before, I booked today for my WDW vacation, and I've decided to stay at POP Century again. I'd love to do a moderate, but I really can't afford it on my own.

Can't wait to read the rest of the TN trip report and then your WDW TR

Yay for booking your trip! I can certainly understand needing to book a stay at Pop since the expenses of the trip are your's alone.

I am so jealous! I want to eat at the rainforest!!! Maybe this year perhaps!!! Yay for TN!!! But booo for it taking decades to get there!

The food there is really good. We like it a lot.

We love the TN Welcome Center!! It was closed in November and March when we went up. I am glad to hear it is open again! You are right...so many brochures!!!

The road construction between Vicksburg and Jackson can be so bad!! Too bad it took forever to get there!

We really like going at thanksgiving...color or not! We will be staying either in Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg. G'Burg has some really decent prices but Keith wants a balcony by the river so I am searching for all he wants and not spend lots of moolah...not an easy task!!

I'm as bad about getting brochures at travel centers as I am at taking pictures while at Disney. I get one or two of these and then, oh, we might have time to see that, etc. etc. etc.

If we head to Tennessee for Thanksgiving, we may have to see if we can all meet again. A little Dis meet.

By you have had your share of car troubles this year! tIME FOR A TRADE IN? Can't wait to hear the rest of your mini trip. How many days till the wedding?

I told Mama the same thing. But, in the van's defense, she's never had any real major issues with it until now.

The wedding is August 20th.....getting really close!

Great update!! I hate traffic that comes to a stop for now reason. It always does that on I 75 below Atlanta. Can't wait to hear more.

Oh, BTW, I do not freeze tomatoes. I can them. I just lumped everything together.

There was absolutely no reason at all for the traffic to be stopped between Vicksburg and Jackson. The signs said road construction and that there was just one lane open but there was no construction and both lanes were open. Ticked me off!

I was wondering about the freezing of tomatoes. I can our's too. That is, if I can stop eating them long enough to can them. I love fresh tomatoes!

Hi Lisa,
Great non-Disney road trip update!

Maybe you should paint Mama's van that same color purple as the surburban! The color might make you forget the recent transmission fluid and air-conditioning issues it's had on your trips. I'm sorry it acted up on you again, but glad John was able to get it going and I'm sure your prayers for God to lay His hands on the thing did the trick as well!

I love all your pictures. You have a knack for making everyone feel like they were right along with you on your trips.

Can't wait to read more of the 4th of July road trip and your Disney trip!

Mama's van had been doing fine until we took it to Disney. Thankfully, the valve on the air conditioner was an easy fix. The transmission was fixed this week and it was $1,300!

I was praying for that van like nobody's business! I wanted it to get us to Tennessee and then it could fall apart for all I cared. I could hop a plane back home if need be.

You know that I am a detail person and I can't seem to leave anything out of my reports...Disney or otherwise. I'm glad that you guys seem to enjoy them.

Rainforest Cafe used to be one of our favorites, until we learned that rainforests and toddlers don't mix well. I think Hunter made a great choice for a birthday meal.

I lived in Cleveland, TN for about four years and during those four years, there was constantly road construction on the route to Chattanooga. I don't know how they work so hard on it and never finish it.

Luckily, my kids have never been easily frightened and didn't have issues with Rainforest Cafe. I can see how it would be a bit spooky for toddlers though with all the thunder and screaming animals.

Lacey was in Cleveland, TN last year. It was funny 'cause she called me and I asked where she was. She said Cleveland (she lived in Cleveland, GA at the time). I said I thought you were on a trip. She said I am. I am in Cleveland. It took me forever to figure out that they were in Cleveland, TENNESSEE.

Wow - I was really behind.

I hope John's seizure med titration continues to go well?

$77 for a bra? Heck No!!!! That's crazy!

The Disney rewards card fiasco - OMG! I hate those automated systems where you are on hold for eternity and then get disconnected. That is crazy. Glad you finally got it done.

Rainforest cafe looks so great. Now I want to eat there. I have all my ADRs for December, but its going on my list for June. Definitely!

The seizure meds will get eventually get transitioned. It's just a pain in the butt doing it.

$77 for a bra was ridiculous! I can only imagine how many brides buy them though. Thank you very much but Lacey will be buying one somewhere else.

When in June will you be in Disney?

Sorry to hear about the problems with mama's van problems. What is with you guys and having problems when on road trips?

Great pictures. It's been years since we've been to TN and the Welcome Center. It would be our last "drive" to Disney World which I believe was in either 1998 or 1999.

Mama's van is getting on up in years but has very few miles on it. You'd think that there wouldn't be any troubles with it. Our trips to Disney and Tennessee were the furthest the van has gone in many years. Mama just drives it around town and not much on the interstate.

Hi Lisa! Great TN road trip report so far!!!! However, I am not liking where you left off with a question of no room!!!! I'm hoping that didn't happen!!! Can't wait to read more!!!

Hopefully, I can put you out of your suspense here in a bit. I'm trying to get caught up with replies. If I can get the replies done before my boss is out of court, I will probably have time to write an installment.

Sounds like a frustrating travel day! I had that transmission fluid problem, too- I ended up having to get 2 leaky hoses or tubes replaced. I hope you guys didn't have mor car trouble in TN! I can't wait to see & read more.

I don't mind road trips unless we hit bad traffic. I can't stand just sitting there knowing I've got a great destination waiting on me.

Boo to the car problems! I hate car troubles. Probably because John has no idea how to fix cars. He'd just as soon take a hammer to it than try.

 

[jenseib]

I have seen those dryers too. We have them at the mall. I do not like them..but I hate all air dryers. I need a towel to dry of with.
I think Mama needs a new van.

 

[TinksThree]

I'm as bad about getting brochures at travel centers as I am at taking pictures while at Disney. I get one or two of these and then, oh, we might have time to see that, etc. etc. etc.

If we head to Tennessee for Thanksgiving, we may have to see if we can all meet again. A little Dis meet.

I am bad on collecting brochures too! I have a folder for each state because "you never know when you need to find something fun to do!"

A little Dis meet would be fun!! We booked our hotel last night! We go up on Wednesday and stay until Sunday--Keith can't take the whole week off so we grab what time we can!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Well...I'm back from our 12 day camping trip and have finally taken the time to sit and catch up on your trip report.

I love the idea of a 4th of July road trip! YAY! It sounds like the traffic and road construction weren't so fun, but just heading off for the weekend is exciting.

We've never been to Rainforest Cafe. There is one close to us in Niagara Falls, but we have just never gone inside. Maybe we'll have to try it! Your appetizer platter looks yummy!

Did you not just make 2 calls to the hotel to be sure your rooms were available?? Oh my goodness....can't wait to see how THAT turns out!

 

[johnsonmatt3]

Sorry I havent said anything for a while. Our comp is down with a virus so my cousin is working on it. Who knows maybe he will get it going faster again too. This trip report is going along pretty good. Good mini trip so far.

 

[nessz79]

Woohoo! Just found your new trip report and am in!

 

[Bethislucy]

About to write something up so you will see if there was a butt chewing or not.

That must be some writing your doing it's going on 24 hours. lol. J/K I hope you have a great weekend.

 

[clearskies]

Hey , no fair leaving us in suspense so long
I can't believe after calling so may times there would be a problem with the room. Looking forward to seeing what happens next.

 

[BelleTinkMom]

Hi Lisa. Great start to your TR and I'm only on pg 10. Hunter is getting so tall. They grow to fast, I know, Jaden who is almost 11 is almost as tall as me. I wish I could keep them small for a little longer.

Glad the weather was nice for your drive. I remember last TR that you'll had rain. The river was extremely high. We pass over the Mississippi near New Orleans and it was something to see.

Glad you'll were able to get the ac fixed so quickly.

Hopefully I will catch up with the rest of your TR this weekend.

 

[BelleTinkMom]

Ok, now I'm all caught up.

Glad it wasn't bed bugs and just gnats. With me from being from South Louisiana, gnats are no problem for us.

How exciting that your next trip is booked. I wish we were booking a DW trip for next summer, but we have a Disney Cruise booked instead. It will be a surprise for the kids.

We also love the Rainforest cafe. We've been there twice and both times we were satisifed with our meals.

Glad you were able to make the trip to Tennessee to visit Lacey, but OMG with the van problems. Hope it gets better.

 

[BPATSMouse]

I've never told my Mama this and I don't intend to ever tell her but she scares the beezes out of me when she drives. She likes to floor it when a light turns green (she calls it "gut it" ) and won't drive in the left lane unless she absolutely has to. Drives me crazy!

I feel your pain only in the opposite way My Mom can't seem to get going, we will be getting passed by everyone on the road but she will not speed up. I try to drive anytime we are out with her. Mama's van seem's to be a bit "finicky".

 

[natebenma]

A couple of great updates while I was away!

I am sorry to hear about the trouble you had getting an activation code for your card. Sheesh! Last year I did the points redemption while at Disney- through Guest Services, because my billing period came up during the trip and I wanted every last point possible!

Happy Birthday, Hunter (I know, belated). Looks like a yummy meal and a great table at RFC. Did you tell them it was his birthday? Did they do anything special.

Are you kidding me on the road construction, transmission issue and no vacancy problems?

I love the color on that Suburban. You wouldn't have trouble finding that in the Goofy lot at MK!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Sorry I've been M.I.A. lately. My boss is getting married on Friday in New Orleans and, needless to say, he's a complete blubbering idiot right now! On top of that, we are still trying to get all of Lacey's wedding stuff done and ran into a slight glitch this morning with the invitations but we got it worked out.

I'll try to come back and post replies to your posts but I wanted to put you guys out of your misery regarding where I last left off ....."is there room at the Inn?"

Anyway, without further ado, let's get on with this mini-trip report. So, was there room at the Inn? Well, yes and no.

When I left off, Hunter and I were sitting in the van while Mama and John were checking us in. Mind you this was about 3:25...3:30 a.m. and we had been on the road for 12 hours. And, we had had car troubles.

3:45 rolls around and we can see John and Mama still standing at the check-in desk. The guy behind the desk is shuffling papers from here to there and talking with Mama and John. 3:55 rolls around and he's still walking back and forth and shuffling more papers. I am getting P-I-crooked letter-crooked letter'ed off. Hunter asked what we were waiting on and I said I guess for the darned continental breakfast buffet to open. I was so tired, I would have gone in, crawled up on the spiral staircase and gone to sleep if I thought they would have let me.

About 10 minutes later, John comes out saying that they didn't have the room that we booked. But, they did have Mama's room. What about our room? They had given it away to someone else. What? They had given it away? After we had called and told them we were on our way? Yep. However, they had a room with a king bed available. John had told him that the three of us didn't want to sleep together in a king size bed so they gave us two rooms with king size beds. I certainly wasn't going to pay for two rooms. Guess what? We weren't. They gave us two king size rooms for the price of one room with double beds. And, since we didn't get to the rooms until early morning, they were knocking off that first night's stay. That's a deal I could live with!

John went back in, signed the papers that said they were waiving the price of the room for the first night. Signed a piece of paper that said they were waiving the price of one of the king size bed rooms and then signed another saying that we would only pay for one room for two nights. Once that was done, Mama and John came out and we went in search of a parking place. We found one at the back of the hotel and we lugged everything down the hallway to the elevator.

Mama's room was about five or six rooms down from us so we stopped and dropped off her stuff in her room. We bid her goodnight or good morning and went down the hall to our rooms. I popped the room key into the slot and nothing. No green light! What the heck? I tried the other room key. Nothing! Shoot shoot and double shoot! Actually, that would be triple shoot! We took the other set of keys and it opened the second door with no problem at all.

While I got our stuff into the open room, John and Hunter went down to see why the other keys didn't work. Being the good Diser that I am, I took pictures of the room while they were gone.

I know this next picture is super blurry but at least it gives you an idea of the little closet area:

I was very pleasantly surprised at the bathroom size. There was actually enough room to move around in there. Usually, hotel bathrooms are so small you can rest your toes in the bathtub while you are on the toilet.

I propped open the door to the room and walked a bit down the hallway to see what was down that way. There was a small workout room:

John and Hunter came back up about the time I took the picture and this time the keys to the room worked. John asked what we wanted to do about the sleeping arrangements. I know that Hunter is 14 years old but I did not want him sleeping in a hotel room by himself. We decided that Hunter and John would sleep in one room and I'd sleep in another. Fine by me.....John snores like a freight train. Maybe, I'd get a good night's sleep. Actually, a good morning's sleep 'cause it was nearing 4:30 a.m. by this time.

***Up next: Watch out how you say the name of the restaurant or you'll say a cuss word!

 

[Caretames1]

WOW! Sorry ma'am, we gave away your room right after you confimed you were coming so when you get here you can add to your list of "NOW WHAT".

Glad to see they comp'ed you for everything though. I would have went to sleep on the front desk

Can't wait to see what resturant you went to, and why it could be cussing!

 

[TinksThree]

Oh. My. Goodness.!!! If it isn't bad enough you are exhausted add to it the stress of not getting to bed until 4:30am!! Yep, I think I could have fouind amny places in that lobby to curl up and sleep! At least they "made" it up...I could definitely take that comp though! Pretty good deal!

I have an idea on the restaurant...but I will wait and see!

 

[TinksThree]

On my way home I saw this and thought of your TN trip...

Are there seriously more than one of these in this area or is the metallic purple fairy making the rounds!?!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Well, it bites that they gave away your room, but at least they were decent enough to comp the rooms for the night and give you 2 rooms for the price of one.

I am thinking about starting a PTR soon for my trip (and actually being able to keep up with this one!). I know its over 6 months away, but next month I will be busy with last minute wedding stuff for my sister's wedding, then September is the wedding, then October I am on a road trip for 16 days. So, maybe if I start it now I can finish it before I leave in February!

Can't wait to read the rest of your mini TR, and then the TR!

 

[ronnmel]

Oof, having to go through all that trouble at 4am sure ain't fun, but at least they found a solution that did not involve you having to pay more.

 

[LadyBeBop]

I'm in.

Even though I don't live anywhere near Louisiana or Knoxville, I do know that drive. My eldest daughter lives in Shreveport and my in-laws live in Grainger County, TN (about a half hour from Knoxville). Several times, we've made the drive..down to Shreveport, then over to my in-laws. Can't believe that drive from Shreveport to Tennessee takes that long...after all, they are both in the South.

How close are you to Shreveport. From the looks of things, sounds like you're somewhat close to I-20.