lklasing
Told that I need DA meetings - Disney Anonymous
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2005
The Background to this trip:
Im a 41 year old mom of two girls, and at least partially thanks to the Dis, am now an official Disney nut.
I start planning the next trip before finishing (or starting) the one prior. My girls are the direct beneficiaries of my obsessive-compulsive disorder, and my DH Ray tolerates this problem pretty well.
My first trip to Disney as an adult was 5 years ago, in May of 2003, when my dad and step-mom (Paw Paw and Buddy, as those were the names their grandkids gave them and now everyone calls them that) decided they needed to take their grandchildren that were old enough to not require a stroller (almost 5 in the case of the youngest that went on that trip) to WDW. (Between Buddy and Paw Paw, they have 4 kids and a good number of grandkids 4 then but 8 now.) Buddys parents had a trailer, which they pulled down to Fort Wilderness, along with a tent for housing those that didnt fit into the trailer on any given night. The campers on that trip were Buddy and Paw Paw, my step-brother Michael, his son Brad (who was 8 at the time), my two girls Danielle and Jodi (almost 7 and 5, respectively, at the time), and me.
Here the kids are on the last trip:
It was a great trip and everyone agreed at the time that it would have to be repeated at least every 5 years with whichever grandkids met the no-stroller criteria.
Flash forward to present time - Brad is now 13, Danielle is 11 and Jodi is 9, and the newcomer to this group trip is my nephew Evan now 5. He went to WDW last year with his parents (we were there at the same time a very fun time see trip report in my signature for a little extra bedtime reading), so as he said when he found out about this trip, Ive been there I know all about that place.
Michael couldnt make it this trip, and neither could either of Evans parents, so that left as the cast of characters this group of adventurers:
Buddy my wonderful stepmom for almost 24 years now a retired second grade teacher
, which makes for a very fun grandmother.
Paw Paw my dad, who absolutely adores all his grandkids and they adore him back.
My DH Ray He must like Disney pretty well, as this is his third trip there since 2005, but hes always only stayed at the Poly, even as a kid, so FW will be a new experience for him. In addition to him only having stayed at the Poly, he is not the camping type never even went to summer camp or anything. Hope he can take to the completely different atmosphere at FW!
Brad my 13 year old nephew we dont get to spend enough time with him, but we have certainly spent enough to know that hes a great kid and would be a lot of fun to have on this trip.
Danielle our 11 year old daughter lots of fun and definitely turning into an older kid. Very responsible and loves all her cousins to death.
Jodi our 9 year old daughter still a kid not as much a rising teenager as her sister. Very much still a mommas girl. (Gotta love it!)
Evan my 5 year old nephew unlike Brad, we do get to spend a good bit of time with him and hes an absolute nut! Our favorite Evan saying from the trip was Do it again!, which we heard from him every time anything funny happened. Even more than my girls, Evan has the biggest dimples youve ever seen.
And, me a regular old working mom, who loves her family more than anything, but Disney is a pretty close second. (Just kidding, I think!)
Buddy, Paw Paw and Brad drove their trailer (a newer one since the 2003 trip, thank goodness I think the last one was 30 years old then!) down over two days and arrived the afternoon of Thursday, May 22.
They were in loop 300, since they brought a dog, a very small yappy one. 
They got settled in and enjoyed FW for the evening, and then hit the MK without us (imagine that!) on Friday, May 23 while we were on our way down.
Buddy, Paw Paw and Brad at the MK without us (sorry about the white out on the shirt - I'm whiting out identifying info):
Us on our way down:
We made it down on time, landing at MCO at 9:30. We were using a towncar service, which was especially nice staying at FW since we could go to the Publix and get much needed supplies.
A welcome sight:
Checkin was very smooth, but alas, they couldnt give us a 100 loop cabin as they were both booked, but we were assigned cabin 2107 which was ready and waiting for us!
A FW van took us and all our belongings to our cabin (other than the 2 suitcases Buddy and Paw Paw drove down for us). I was thrilled to see it! It was just like they look in the numerous pictures I had seen on the web. Interestingly, at first it looked smaller than I had initially been thinking but it wound up feeling more roomy than I initially thought. The kids loved it, and Ray and I did too.
I left Ray making lunch for the kids and walked to the bike barn to pick up the golf cart an absolute necessity in my opinion for FW. It was a very nice walk and I was able to get the cart and a life jacket for Evan with no problems.
After settling in for a few minutes, Buddy, Paw Paw and Brad showed up to deliver the luggage and other necessary junk I had shipped down with them. I didnt bother to unpack any of those suitcases at the time, which was no big deal other than the fact that the ponchos were in one, an oversight which would come back to bite us on the butt before the day was through.
We walked to the bus stop where we had fun waiting on the bus to the Outpost.
Brad and Danielle:
Buddy, Paw Paw and Evan:
Brad, Jodi and Danielle:
Ray:
On the bus to AK:
My Dad (Paw Paw) and me:
Part 2, Day one coming up in just a minute!
Im a 41 year old mom of two girls, and at least partially thanks to the Dis, am now an official Disney nut.
I start planning the next trip before finishing (or starting) the one prior. My girls are the direct beneficiaries of my obsessive-compulsive disorder, and my DH Ray tolerates this problem pretty well.My first trip to Disney as an adult was 5 years ago, in May of 2003, when my dad and step-mom (Paw Paw and Buddy, as those were the names their grandkids gave them and now everyone calls them that) decided they needed to take their grandchildren that were old enough to not require a stroller (almost 5 in the case of the youngest that went on that trip) to WDW. (Between Buddy and Paw Paw, they have 4 kids and a good number of grandkids 4 then but 8 now.) Buddys parents had a trailer, which they pulled down to Fort Wilderness, along with a tent for housing those that didnt fit into the trailer on any given night. The campers on that trip were Buddy and Paw Paw, my step-brother Michael, his son Brad (who was 8 at the time), my two girls Danielle and Jodi (almost 7 and 5, respectively, at the time), and me.
Here the kids are on the last trip:
It was a great trip and everyone agreed at the time that it would have to be repeated at least every 5 years with whichever grandkids met the no-stroller criteria.
Flash forward to present time - Brad is now 13, Danielle is 11 and Jodi is 9, and the newcomer to this group trip is my nephew Evan now 5. He went to WDW last year with his parents (we were there at the same time a very fun time see trip report in my signature for a little extra bedtime reading), so as he said when he found out about this trip, Ive been there I know all about that place.
Michael couldnt make it this trip, and neither could either of Evans parents, so that left as the cast of characters this group of adventurers:
Buddy my wonderful stepmom for almost 24 years now a retired second grade teacher
, which makes for a very fun grandmother.Paw Paw my dad, who absolutely adores all his grandkids and they adore him back.
My DH Ray He must like Disney pretty well, as this is his third trip there since 2005, but hes always only stayed at the Poly, even as a kid, so FW will be a new experience for him. In addition to him only having stayed at the Poly, he is not the camping type never even went to summer camp or anything. Hope he can take to the completely different atmosphere at FW!
Brad my 13 year old nephew we dont get to spend enough time with him, but we have certainly spent enough to know that hes a great kid and would be a lot of fun to have on this trip.
Danielle our 11 year old daughter lots of fun and definitely turning into an older kid. Very responsible and loves all her cousins to death.
Jodi our 9 year old daughter still a kid not as much a rising teenager as her sister. Very much still a mommas girl. (Gotta love it!)
Evan my 5 year old nephew unlike Brad, we do get to spend a good bit of time with him and hes an absolute nut! Our favorite Evan saying from the trip was Do it again!, which we heard from him every time anything funny happened. Even more than my girls, Evan has the biggest dimples youve ever seen.
And, me a regular old working mom, who loves her family more than anything, but Disney is a pretty close second. (Just kidding, I think!)
Buddy, Paw Paw and Brad drove their trailer (a newer one since the 2003 trip, thank goodness I think the last one was 30 years old then!) down over two days and arrived the afternoon of Thursday, May 22.
They were in loop 300, since they brought a dog, a very small yappy one. They got settled in and enjoyed FW for the evening, and then hit the MK without us (imagine that!) on Friday, May 23 while we were on our way down. Buddy, Paw Paw and Brad at the MK without us (sorry about the white out on the shirt - I'm whiting out identifying info):
Us on our way down:
We made it down on time, landing at MCO at 9:30. We were using a towncar service, which was especially nice staying at FW since we could go to the Publix and get much needed supplies.
A welcome sight:
Checkin was very smooth, but alas, they couldnt give us a 100 loop cabin as they were both booked, but we were assigned cabin 2107 which was ready and waiting for us!
A FW van took us and all our belongings to our cabin (other than the 2 suitcases Buddy and Paw Paw drove down for us). I was thrilled to see it! It was just like they look in the numerous pictures I had seen on the web. Interestingly, at first it looked smaller than I had initially been thinking but it wound up feeling more roomy than I initially thought. The kids loved it, and Ray and I did too.
I left Ray making lunch for the kids and walked to the bike barn to pick up the golf cart an absolute necessity in my opinion for FW. It was a very nice walk and I was able to get the cart and a life jacket for Evan with no problems.
After settling in for a few minutes, Buddy, Paw Paw and Brad showed up to deliver the luggage and other necessary junk I had shipped down with them. I didnt bother to unpack any of those suitcases at the time, which was no big deal other than the fact that the ponchos were in one, an oversight which would come back to bite us on the butt before the day was through.
We walked to the bus stop where we had fun waiting on the bus to the Outpost.
Brad and Danielle:
Buddy, Paw Paw and Evan:
Brad, Jodi and Danielle:
Ray:
On the bus to AK:
My Dad (Paw Paw) and me:
Part 2, Day one coming up in just a minute!
I had a mental checklist for each day of the trip, and my main to-do for this day (other than getting there safely!) was to get Brad onto EE. He had never ridden it before and I knew he would love it. The wait was only 30 minutes, which I thought was pretty good for 2:00. First I grabbed FPs for KRR, and then we lined up for EE. The line is very neat and wasnt really a problem to wait in. (Do, however, make sure to take some pennies to try to toss into the pots in the middle area, especially if you have young kids.)
Brad and I got soaked to the bone, while my DH managed to stay virtually dry, but that wouldnt last for long. Afterwards, we talked about what to do and decided we would head back to FW. However, Mother Nature had different plans and the bottom fell out on us as we were trying to make it to the front. Remember how I had forgotten the ponchos? This is when we really could have used them. We took refuge in a shop for a few minutes, but finally decided to make a run for it. Thankfully, the store gave us bags to put our fanny packs and my Baggalini in (BTW, I loooooooove my Baggailini) to try to keep them dry.
Dont do what I did and forget to write down the number I was so sad to have lost those pictures. Oh well, at least it was still day one and we would have lots of opportunities to get more at other parks.
, so they were waiting on us when we got off the race cars. I had thought we might get away without needing the ponchos today, but once again, we wound up drenched. This time, the bottom fell out while we were actually on the race cars, which makes for a loooooong trip back to the start when you can only go about 8 mph. Once we all found each other again, I did pull out the ponchos, but it was pretty much too late. There we were right by Buzz with FPs in hand, so of course we werent going to let a little rain deter us from that. But, after Buzz, we had pretty much had enough of the park for the day, so we headed for the front in the pouring rain (this was starting to become a habit). The ponchos helped a little, but I think it was mainly just a mental help as we were once again soaked to the bone.
BTW, heres a note about the matching t-shirts. We all loved wearing them (even DH thought it was fun!), but beware the bleeding issue. I have no idea why they did it, but they bled anywhere they got wet (which was everywhere with the rain), and they somehow managed to bleed colors that werent even in the shirts. 
I think she's scarred for life from posing for that.
