My mom and I were able to experience the newish feature in the My Disney Experience where you can see the bus times at your resort hotel. I wanted to share about it for those who may have not experienced it yet.
All in Vacations
September 2018 Disney World Planning and Packing
So I am not going to make this post quite like my Disney World planning post from the past. This trip was completely different than all of my previous trips. We traveled with my mom on a business trip, so we didn’t do as much planning ahead of time. So instead of going through our dining reservations (we only made one or two prior) or our Fastpasses (we made very few of these too), I am going to go through some of the other things we had to plan and pack.
Chicken Guy!
My must try restaurant on our September 2018 trip was Chicken Guy! It opened back in August, and my parents were actually able to eat there on Grand Opening day. Mom liked it, and it looked great. So I really wanted to give it a shot.
Toy Story Land AP Event
Back in July, Disney announced a special event for WDW Annual Passholders called Passholder Play Time. It was offered in September for various days throughout the week at 7 am and 8 am. It provided pass holders access to Toy Story Land for an hour with little to no wait times on the three rides along with the character meet and greets. And Woody’s Lunchbox was open for breakfast. Mom and I were able to snag a reservation for 7 am on one of the days during our September trip.
Yak and Yeti
Yak and Yeti is an Asia restaurant found at Animal Kingdom. Mom and I recently gave it a try on our trip in September. I have been wanting to eat here for a while, but it seems like we are never at Animal Kingdom long enough for a table service restaurant. But this trip, I was sure to make the time.
Disney September 2018
My mom has the privilege to travel for her job. She found out back in June that she was going to be in Orlando for a week. So she wanted Melody and I to tag along, so we picked the week based on our schedules. We decided to go in September.
Beach 2018
Brad and I were planning to try and go to the beach around Labor Day. We really wanted to go back to Tops’l in Destin, FL. My parents were hoping to get to do a beach trip with us as well, so we decided to share a condo with them and my brother at Tops’l. We ended up going August 20-24 because it worked best with everyone’s schedules.
Tennessee Aquarium
One of the things we wanted to do when visiting Chattanooga for JoeCon was the Tennessee Aquarium. Brad and I went about 7 years or so ago, and we thought Melody might enjoy it.
The Ice Cream Show
During my research of restaurants in Chattanooga, I found two places we could potentially go for dessert near our hotel. One of those places was The Ice Cream Show. We decided to go visit it on Friday night after having dinner at The Blue Plate. It appeared to be an easy walk from both our hotel and the restaurant.
The Blue Plate
Before going to Chattanooga, I did some research of a few restaurants near our hotel and the convention center. One of those restaurants was The Blue Plate. The menu looked very intriguing, and it was only two blocks from our hotel. After our first full day of JoeCon, we decided to go here for dinner.
Seasons Restaurant
While visiting Chattanooga back in June, we ate at our hotel restaurant Seasons. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn. We ate here because it was our arrival evening, and we wanted something quick and easy but semi-nice. So we thought the hotel restaurant would be just that.
JoeCon 2018
The main reason for our trip to Chattanooga was to attend JoeCon. Brad has always wanted to go, and this year was the last year for it. Since it was so close to home, we decided this was the year to attend. I have broken down each day from my general perspective below, but Brad has more detail and knowledge on his blog which is included under each day.
Hilton Garden Inn Chattanooga
When we went to Chattanooga back in June, we decide to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn that is in downtown. We had a lot of Hilton points from a recent stay during our home repairs, so we wanted to use them on this trip. Therefore a Hilton property was a requirement for us. Since we had so many points, we decided to stay in some sort of suite. Two hotels offered suites, but one was sold out by the time we opted to book. So we ended up at the Hilton Garden Inn in a Junior Suite.
Creative Discovery Museum
Since our primary reason of visiting Chattanooga was for Brad to attend JoeCon, we wanted to make sure and do a few things for Melody while there. I did some research, and we decided to try the Creative Discovery Museum. It was literally right next door to our hotel {we shared a parking lot}, and by visiting the Tennessee Aquarium first, you can save a few dollars per admission. It looked like something Melody would absolutely love, so we decided to try and fit it in our schedule.
Camping with Nana and Grandpa
My parents recently went on a RV trip to Safe Harbor RV Resort in Nashville, TN. Their first night happened to be on a night Brad was traveling for work. I decided to tag along for the one night since he wouldn't be home, and it would give Melody and I something fun to do. We've been camping with my parents to a few campgrounds, but this was the first time we have been to this one.
City Cafe Diner
Back in June, we went to Chattanooga for JoeCon 2018. It was hosted at the Chattanooga Convention Center at the Marriott Downtown. I did some research on surrounding restaurants since we would be there during lunch hours for a few of the days. One of the restaurants I read about was the City Cafe Diner. Most of the reviews I read online were fairly positive. So I wrote it down as a possibility if we found ourselves looking for somewhere to eat.
Bluewater Grille
When we went to Chattanooga back in June, we ate at Bluewater Grille. We actually debated between it and Big River Grille, but we ultimately decided on Bluewater because of its menu. It had more options that sounded better to us at the time.
Our Trip to Chattanooga
Back in late June, we took a short vacation to Chattanooga. It is only about a two hour drive which makes for the perfect length with a toddler! And what truly initiated the trip was that JoeCon 2018 was there. It was the final JoeCon, and with it being so close, I wanted Brad to go. It is something he always wanted to do. We wanted to go last year because it was at Disney World, but we skipped it because Brad was traveling for work. So this year was going to be our only opportunity, so we took advantage of it and made it a family vacation too! I plan to post more about our experiences individually, but below is our general trip report!
Biloxi with Nana
My mom (Melody's Nana) travels for her job every week. She is able to bring family along with her on trips when it works out. Brad was out of town for work in early April. I knew far enough in advance that my mom was able to plan to be somewhere we could go. This is only our second trip with my mom. It is hard to travel with her with Melody because she doesn't have the best work hours for Melody's schedule. It is also best to travel places with driving distances too. We wanted to go somewhere on the coast, and with the options my mom had, Biloxi made the most sense. I really like going to Biloxi, but I hadn't been in about 5 years. So it was fun to revisit.