Anyone have pictures of FW?

[A&J's mom]

My hubby and I with our 2 kids are planning on going to Disney June 23 - 30. We've been looking at staying at a hotel because the hubby doesn't want to pull the camper all the way to FL! I'm still working on him so if anyone has some pictures that I could share with him I would greatly appreciate it!

[pooh4me]

Look for the picture of the day thread. It now has 26 pages of pictures.Have a great trip

[disney6family]

ALL the way to FL? We live another 500 miles north and hate when we can't take our camper! I wish I could help you convince your DH! The camper gives you ease of meals (breakfast especially) and snacks, you are sleeping on your own sheets/bed, your clothes are already hung up, no unpacking/ packing again - just secure everything and go, $$ savings in room/campsite cost and on food, ability to take bikes easily, especially for the kids, these are just a few of the reasons I would use to convince your DH. For mine it is usually the $$ (even the extra gas it costs us to tow doesn't negate the savings) and the convenience of having everything and anything we could want there with us. The kids make their beds seem like home. Again, pictures on the picture of the day thread.
Good Luck!! FW is the best place to stay!

[clkelley]

Here is the link to the "Picture of the Day" Thread

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1240094

Also here is a link to some great pictures

http://www.allearsnet.com/acc/g_ftw.htm

[TnTsParty]

You could also look into the cabins. That way you are still at the campground and have the convienence of the kitchen and bbq grill.

We just got home today from 3 nights at the cabins and we LOVED it!!

[Minnie3]

yes...The cabins are great..We went grocery shopping and saved alot of money having breakfast and making lunches...When we were a little late and hungry we would eat at wherever we were, but we would come back for supper..pizza..wathever was easy to make when we didn't feel too hungry...You really have to stay in the Fort Wilderness campground no matter what, if you want the full experience...no hotels are like it...It's so worth it if you're a camping/outdoors kind of family!!!

[A&J's mom]

Thank you all for your help! The campground looks wonderful! I know the kids and I would definitely enjoy it and I know DH would. I've got to work on him and see what he thinks, but I also have to see if my parents are going to be able to go. My dad is having surgery on Monday to see if the spot on his lung is cancer or not. That may determine how vacation goes this :scared:

[CCIntrigue]

A&J's mom, hi neighbor! We're in W-S.

Our son got married in WDW a few years ago, and my DH didn't want to pull the camper down for a short trip. So we stayed at Port Orleans and were miserable there. No offense to the hotel, but it just wasn't the same. More restrictive, harder to get around the property, just made our trip a lot less fun. The only positives were that we were nearer other family members and our son had a little more room to get dressed for the wedding.

Hope your dad is okay. Let us know the results.

[A&J's mom]

Thank you so much! It's nice to see someone so close to home responding! I'm still working on DH and a lot of it depends on if my parents get to go or not. We definitely don't have enough room for all of us to be happy and comfy! It sleeps 6, but after you get 4 adults and two kids (one in a pack-n-play) it definitely gets crowded! Maybe I can get him at least get him to drive over to the campground if he won't go camping this time and see how he likes it. We haven't really pulled our camper anywhere except the beach, but would love for him to go camping in Disney! I know the kids would love it!

[CCIntrigue]

I'm not sure if they will let you in to drive around. Easiest way to see the campground would probably be to take the boat from the Magic Kingdom dock. Then once you get there, walk past Pioneer Hall to the bus stop and ride the bus around. Would probably take you 20 minutes to ride through the entire campground. And a few of the loops are so close to Pioneer Hall that you can actually walk through them from there.

We weren't all comfy in the TT, either. Ours slept 5, so we made a pallet in the LR floor for the two boys. It was so crowded that everyone had to get up for anyone to be able to walk around. But we were all willing to put up with it just to be in FW. We'd go down for 2 weeks, buy annual passports, then the next year right before the passports would expire we'd go down for 2 more weeks.

Before we left home I cooked and froze most of our meals. We'd have breakfast, go to a park as early as possible, stay there until 1-2, then come back to the campground for lunch. Kids would nap, then after an easy dinner we'd make up all the beds and the pallet, then go back to a park until it closed.

The only problem was the bathroom. None of us wanted to use the bath house, so we had to assign shower times to everyone and scatter them out through the day. But it all worked out, we had numerous trips to FW, and we all have many fond memories of our trips together.

If you tow the TT down, you should probably plan on two days down and two back, especially with the kids. It's over 650 from here, and even with switching off drivers it's tough to make it in one day. If you're interested, I can give you some free places to stop on the way. In December we stopped at Flying J's, gassed up, and spent the nights there. Felt perfectly safe, lots of RV'ers there, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

BTW, where do you camp at the beach? We go to Ocean Lakes several times a year.

[miztigg]

they let us back to drive around we just bought a 5th wheel in nov and we were going on a cruise in dec so we told the guy at the gate we wanted to plan a future trip and we wanted to "check out" the campground it is beautiful needless to say we are going to book this aug and i cant wait

[A&J's mom]

CCIntrigue we only camp at Ocean Lakes when we go to the beach! That is so funny that y'all go as well! We had reservations last year at Piratedand because we couldn't get anything in Ocean Lakes for the summer because of school (it started on Aug.11). Needless to say we rode through Pirateland on a weekend trip to the beach and when we got back we canceled the reservations and just stayed at the in-laws place at Cherry Grove. We've been inside Lake Side, but didn't like it very much. We are definitely Ocean Lakers! Love that place and our DDprincess: loves to ride and get ice cream every night! We may not get to do the camping thing this year. Our 5th wheel will not be comfy for 6 of us, if my parents get to go and I'm sure they will! Oh, my dad's having surgery on Monday and they are going to remove part of his lung. Hoping and praying for the best! He has to get well so we can go to Disney!

[DisneyBride'03]

Love that rig!!! I would love to try FW...but we have a park model trailer that is in a campground all year, which is great. Too big to pull....I would like to try those cabins though! THey look great!

[CCIntrigue]

Thanks, DisneyBride. We also have a Disney bride in the family. Son and DIL got married in 2004 at Sunset Pointe behind the Polynesian.

A&J's Mom, I'll be praying for your dad.

If anyone reads this, I'd appreciate prayers for my oldest grandson. He was born with severe kidney problems. Lost one kidney this year at the age of 7. Appears the remaining kidney, which is also damaged, may be having more problems. He goes to Brenner Children's Hospital on Monday for nuclear tests on it.

[CarolinaBlue]

A&J's mom and CCIntrigue: We are also Ocean Lakes campers! We were there at Thanksgiving and the week after Christmas. We have ressies for Easter week and the week after July 4th. It is hard to get ressies for summer unless you book at least a year ahead.

[DisneyBride'03]

CCIntrigue......that's exactly where I was married!!
More importantly......please know I will say a prayer for your grandson. Our family believes in the power of prayer...we have seen it work a miracle for us. Hopefully everyone who reads this thread will say a prayer. God bless your family, and may all of you be blessed with strength, especially your grandson.

[CCIntrigue]

DisneyBride, thank you for your prayer. Prayer has gotten him through his first 7 years, and I'm depending on it to get him through a lot more! I'm just really concerned that doctors will tell us it's time for a transplant, and it breaks my heart to think of him going through all that. Plus probably months of dialysis while he's waiting. Will let you know what I find out Monday.

CarolinaBlue, our next res at OLFC is September. Tried to get something for spring but they didn't have anything available that would handle our rig. With our trailer we tow, we're about 59 feet long and really need to be in HH. Those spaces fill up fast. I usually call 18 months out but slipped up on this one.

A&J'sMom, isn't the ice cream at the snack bar the best in the world!!! Well, maybe it would taste better if it were in WDW. ;)

[Lunchlady]

Oh my gosh!All of these NC campers. We are going to Ocean Lakes Easter (only Friday to Monday). hope to see some fellow dissers.Will you have your lime green on your campsite??? Too bad it's not Disney but watchout Christmas. Here we come. :cool1:

[CCIntrigue]

I'm pretty new to the boards and just learning about the lime green. What sort of objects do you use? Where do you display them?

[DisneyBride'03]

At Home Depot...Disney has their own line of paint....they have sample of colors shaped in Mickey ears...lime green...is what Dis ers use...I recently learned this. SOme folks attach them to their backback, or I have seen photos where they have a whole bunch on the room door or window.

There is a thread here somewhere and you can easily download a big "lime mickey"...print on a thicker paper or laimate it, and put inside your rig's front window!!!! (While camping of course!)

[A&J's mom]

I cannot believe all of the Ocean Lake Campers and all from NC! GO HEELS! Watching them play BC right now! CCIntrigue I will be praying for you grandson on Monday and hope you hear some good news as well. Monday seems to be an important day for both of us and I'm praying that everything will go well. Let us know how your grandson is doing. My DH works for Salem Electric, but he's at Baptist and has been for a few years. We've been to Brenner's with our DS a few times (tubes for his ears and a sweat test to check for Cystic Fibrosis which came back negative!! he's so big we didn't think he had it, but they did it anyways just to make sure!) I haven't called this year to make ressies at Ocean Lakes because we are planning our WDW trip! We do go at Thanksgiving some and love that because Santa talks with the kids!

[A&J's mom]

CCIntrigue, the ice cream at Ocean Lakes is the best! I have to get it almost nightly as well! YUMMY!

[CCIntrigue]

Thanks to everyone for your prayers! Good news! Gabriel's kidney is functioning okay right now. It's still dilated (always has been), but it's holding its own. He just has to use the bathroom every hour and go back for a renogram every six months.

A&J'sMom, how is your father?

DisneyBride, thanks for the info on the lime green. I'll do a search on it.

Lunchlady and CarolinaBlue, where are u? I'm in W-S, and A&J's Mom is in King - about 15 miles from me.

Whoever goes to Ocean Lakes next, please have some ice cream in a waffle cone for me! I'm a low carber, have been for almost 4 years. Lost 76 pounds and have kept off all but around 5 of it. When we go to OLFC, hubby gets ice cream while I watch him eat it. Occasionally I have a tiny taste. It's hard, but I figure I'd rather do without ice cream than walk around with all those extra pounds again.

[A&J's mom]

CCIntrigue, I am so happy that you and your family received good news today! I was praying that you would and thought about you today while I was sitting at Forsyth. We also had some good news! So far it appears that it was not cancer, but scar tissue and inflammation from pneumonia, but the doctor did remove all of it just in case. They froze it and said that it was negative and was sending off some just in case. I am so happy! I can now book our vacation!

I also want to tell all of the Ocean Lakers to eat a waffle cone of ice cream for me as well! I have missed it and cannot wait to go back and have some!

[Lunchlady]

We are in Lexington.The barbecue capital you know.Hope you all have been to Speedy's.Glad to hear of all the positive health issues. W-S has the best best medical care around here.

[CCIntrigue]

A&J's mom, that is wonderful news! I have been praying for you as well! So when are you going to FW?

Lunchlady, I was just down your way Saturday. Bought some sugar-free candy from that wonderful candy store on Main Street. Then went to my favorite barbecue restaurant and ate (not Speedy's). Unfortunately got a bad case of food poisoning which DH and I are slowly recovering from. BTW, I'm originally from Lexington. Moved to W-S when I was young. Think I'm related to half the people in Davidson County!

[A&J's mom]

CCIntrigue, I will keep praying for your grandson! LunchLady, it has been a long time I have eaten at Speedy's, but I do love BBQ! I actually had it for supper tonight! I can't believe how close we all live to one another!

Well, since my parents are going with us now:banana: we made reservations at POFQ. I am going to FW during our trip so the DH can take a look and maybe we can go camping very soon! We really needed more room with all of us especially with DS who will be around 22 months when we go (he is such a handful right now!)

We're leaving on June 23 and coming back on the 30th. Anybody going to be there sharing the hot summer sun with us?!:laughing:

[CCIntrigue]

A&J'sMom, thank you for your continued prayers. Congratulations on your POFQ reservations! We stayed at POR for Matthew's wedding but didn't like it too much and wished we had chosen POFQ. When you visit FW be sure and get a map to take home. When you call for reservations they will let you request a specific loop. They won't guarantee it, but we've always been put where we asked for. We will probably be in FL some time during the summer, but we'll be farther south at Port St Lucie visiting our DS/DIL/GS.

[A&J's mom]

CCIntrigue, I will definitely get a map of FW when we go. I am so excited that we are going to actually be going with my parents! I know my dad won't be able to go as much as we do, but that will be the nice thing about this vacation, just going at it slow and enjoying everything! It will also be an excuse to go back again soon!

[CCIntrigue]

A&J'sMom, it's great that you can go with your parents to WDW. We made many trips there with my parents, but Dad isn't in any condition to travel now. He was 80 when he broke a hip and had to sell his Airstream. Since then he's had a massive heart attack, developed emphysema, asbestosis (and probably mesothelioma but he's not up to a biopsy to confirrm it), prostate cancer, anemia, reduced kidney function, you name it. It would be so wonderful to see him in WDW again, but it will never happen. Go with you parents, have a wonderful time, and cherish every moment you and your family get to spend with them in this magical place!

[terri01p]

Not to high-jack this thread or anything but we have a res. for Ocean Lakes for August site 2144, I hope it's nice, we have never stayed there before but now we have a golf cart and it's the only campground that allows carts, we usually stay at pirateland which I personally love ( if you stay up close to the beach, not towards the back ) and have always love their lazy river, but they don't allow golf carts so now it's OLakes...hey I will personally try out that ice cream ;) .
Also my dd lost a kidney last year, she was so sick, but she is doing fine now...my best advise is take one day at a time and always keep a good attitude because children pick up on this fast...my prayers are also going up for ya. :hug:
Just had to add my two cents :rolleyes1

[CCIntrigue]

Terri, your two cents are worth a million! That's so encouraging to hear your daughter is doing fine. How old is she?

Site 2144 at OLFC should be fine. You don't want to be in the few northernmost lines of 2000 because there's a club right on the beach in front of the condos that plays loud music until all hours of the night. Good that you have a cart because you'll have to ride everywhere except the beach. It's a long walk from there to the pool, snack bar, arcade, etc. Hope your rig isn't too long because the sites in the 2000, 3000, 4000 blocks tend to be shorter than the sites more southward. Hope you enjoy OLFC and that ice cream!

[terri01p]

Terri, your two cents are worth a million! That's so encouraging to hear your daughter is doing fine. How old is she?

Site 2144 at OLFC should be fine. You don't want to be in the few northernmost lines of 2000 because there's a club right on the beach in front of the condos that plays loud music until all hours of the night. Good that you have a cart because you'll have to ride everywhere except the beach. It's a long walk from there to the pool, snack bar, arcade, etc. Hope your rig isn't too long because the sites in the 2000, 3000, 4000 blocks tend to be shorter than the sites more southward. Hope you enjoy OLFC and that ice cream!

Whenever I made my res. back in October this was the only space available, June, July and half of August was already booked solid :scared1: .
My dd is now 24 years and still our baby :rolleyes1 .

[CCIntrigue]

To get your choice of sites at OLFC you have to call 18 months out. Even then you may not get exactly what you want, but close.