February 2016 Pre-trip and Trip Reports

[jbrostek]

J, good luck with the hair dryer, mine won't stand for it, and it is so cold. Mallory always needs a bath but she won't get a full bath till I can put her in the baby pool in the summer.

It went surprisingly well, ran the hair drier a ways away and wiped her down with several towels. She is pretty close to completely dry this morning. So tonight when I get home from work I will need to brush her out. Little Bug was none to happy to get her bath and tried to give me the cold nub. But being how cold it was outside she quickly gave up on that to absorb dad's heat. I did not try the hair dryer on her, already attempted that and found out the true strength of a 7# dog.

Leaving for Fort Wilderness in 2 days. I don't know who's more excited, me or the kids (4 and 7). So much great information here. Thanks for sharing it.

Woohoo for my first post!

Welcome to the boards!! Have a safe trip down and a wonderful time! I leave 0730 on Saturday morning, but we don't push hard to get down there. Our plan is stopping in SC (reservations for point south made) and continue onto FW on Sunday the 14th.


Randy - Gladly take and use the FP unless someone else has already jumped on that offer.


Onto the pre trip!!! Now down to under 48 hours to departure!!!!! Word from the shop is the trailer has been serviced and golf carts are loaded. Just waiting for the family from PA to come down with their class C to hitch that up, they leave their car at the shop since we have two vehicles with us. I did get my hair cut (and I thought about waiting till I got there to get my haircut done at MK, but it was already 3 weeks overdue.) All the grocery shopping is done and as stated above the dogs have been given baths. It is down to one more load of laundry tonight and I can finish packing my clothes and items into the camper. I also will start setting up the truck, I have the dogs blankets all clean and ready, need to check fluids and top off the DEF tank. I really wish I could give it a bath too after the storm earlier this week the truck is just plain filthy. But with such low temps by the time I get home tonight I don't see that as possible. Guess I will have to see what I can do on my way south or once I get there.

Caren is bringing a bunch of her stuff tonight to load up. Her son has been home sick since Saturday so she just has not been able to get any errands done. He finally was well enough to go to school today and she is planning to run a few errands on the way home from work.

I can't wait to get on the road!!!!

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

At the HDDR now, been busy all day at the Fort, I've been on a mission... I'll explain later.

 

[tiggerdad]

Yep...

Hey @snowmedic i think Randy is on the same mission you and i were working on while we were there.

 

[bama_ed]

Yep...

Hey @snowmedic i think Randy is on the same mission you and i were working on while we were there.

 

[snowmedic]

on a mission...

From the 1600 loop all the way up to where the kennels us to be, back down and across the road and all the cabin loops have been checked already.

 

[bama_ed]

From the 1600 loop all the way up to where the kennels us to be, back down and across the road and all the cabin loops have been checked already.

Are you sure?

 

[jbrostek]

Looking for the golden squirrel?

Made some progress so far this evening, but its just windy and cold outdoors making me really not want to be out there right now. Down to less then half a page of items to load up into the truck or the RV!!!! Mostly stuff I need till tomorrow anyway, so rather then run in and out of the cold and burn lots of propane I decided to take care of things in and around the house. So I made sure the apple TV was all set to go into the camper and right now updating the truck iPod with some new Disney tunes and a 200 song playlist just in case satellite radio gets boring and repetitive. With the iPod churning away I decided to check in on the thread.

Tomorrow will be the final packing and with picking at the process all week long I should be all loaded up after work tomorrow. All that is left is lubing the hitch and hitching up before bed that way I can just pull power and hit the road Saturday morning. According to local news I am going to have a few hundred miles of fun dealing with the high winds. Given how the old truck did not seem to mind much, I suspect the new truck will mind even less about the winds.

Till morning all.

 

[tiggerdad]

Are you sure?

Here we go with the curve balls...

Not a golden squirrel...I'll wait and see if my hunch about Randy's mission is correct.

 

[bama_ed]

jbrostek, safe travels. Wish i could say hi again.

I believe this is what they seek.



I scrawled my name in a patch of wet concrete at the Fort many years ago. It was not my first attempt but it was my first success. Every trip report I include a picture of my letters in the pavement and they have become a Holy Grail for some, like a Hidden Mickey. Tiggerdad and snowmedic tried to find them when they were there together on their last trip. Now Randy has picked up the search.

They're out there in plain sight. Thousands of people have walked over them since they dried in the concrete. I've left plenty of clues (down by the boat dock, up by the pool, high up by the Outpost, or among the cabin sidewalks) but they are still out there.

Randy must be looking for them before he heads for home. When is that again, Randy?

Bama Ed

PS - I realize someday that somebody will use their noggin and find them. So it's not a question of "IF" but one of "WHEN". There is only so much real estate to search...

 

[tiggerdad]

To correct Ed, I searched in 2012, 2014, & 2015. Vince and I were hoping that teaming up and forming a search pattern would help but alas we left without proof.

Kinda like digging on Oak Island if you ask me.

 

[snowmedic]

They're out there in plain sight.

If you notice in the pic, the dirt is brushed off, he cleverly covers them back up after taking the pic so no one else can find them.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

If you notice in the pic, the dirt is brushed off, he cleverly covers them back up after taking the pic so no one else can find them.

I'm starting to believe this is true.

 

[amcc]

I'm not sure

jbrostek, safe travels. Wish i could say hi again.

I believe this is what they seek.



I scrawled my name in a patch of wet concrete at the Fort many years ago. It was not my first attempt but it was my first success. Every trip report I include a picture of my letters in the pavement and they have become a Holy Grail for some, like a Hidden Mickey. Tiggerdad and snowmedic tried to find them when they were there together on their last trip. Now Randy has picked up the search.

They're out there in plain sight. Thousands of people have walked over them since they dried in the concrete. I've left plenty of clues (down by the boat dock, up by the pool, high up by the Outpost, or among the cabin sidewalks) but they are still out there.

Randy must be looking for them before he heads for home. When is that again, Randy?

Bama Ed

PS - I realize someday that somebody will use their noggin and find them. So it's not a question of "IF" but one of "WHEN". There is only so much real estate to search...

I'm going to show this to my kids and offer up an extra ice cream a day and $10 to find it. We will be there in less than 6 weeks!

 

[tiggerdad]

I'm not sure


I'm going to show this to my kids and offer up an extra ice cream a day and $10 to find it. We will be there in less than 6 weeks!

Add another one to the treasure hunt team. Best of luck to you amcc.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Randy must be looking for them before he heads for home. When is that again, Randy?

We head home in the morning, after we have a big fish fry at the camper this afternoon. I'm about to head back out in search of the famous "ED" in the sidewalk, looked around for about a hour yesterday, they called me back when breakfast was ready. I must of been in a good area because Tiggerdad had his little furry spys on my heels,

Tiggerdad, call off your spys! Looking over my shoulder making sure I don't get attacked with acorns is distracting my from looking for Ed's Ed. Ha. Im starting to believe that is a picture of his driveway at home.

 

[jbrostek]

Ed - So close enough to the golden squirrel! Yeah, it stinks we won't get to meet up and show off my new truck or to see the transformation of the golf cart from last year (seriously looks better in person.) Easy to find but in one of the many corners of FW. Yeah, would need at least a year or range of years to figure out which refurbishment was going on when you got away with it. Either that or you are posting a picture from your own yard and playing them all

Last night was the last of my packing and all that is left is stuff I needed today. Caren had hoped to get started loading her stuff (she is sorted and packed at her house, just need to get it to the RV) when work called with an emergency and she had to work late. So now she is stressed out plus missed a good chunk of time with her kids, they go to their fathers after school so she wont see them till she gets back. It is a big deal for her and I understand, we have her setup to skype with the kids while we are down there either through the Disney CM or the hot spot in my phone.

The only annoying part is her heat started acting up Wednesday after the service guy was there last Saturday to replace the main units fan motor. It sounds like a simple fix but we are both worried it may be simple but expensive. Fingers are crossed and Ron our trusted service guy is due out between 10 and 12 today.

It is not supposed to get all that warm today before another arctic blast moves in, but they are calling for mid 30's by noon. If that is the case I may try to get the truck a much needed bath. If that does not happen it will just have to wait until I get to FW. But she is one filthy girl right now.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

One of life's great mysteries is why does the grey water tank always fill up while I am in the shower, not on no one else? Also why does the propane always run out in the early hours of the morning?

Anyway got that out the way,

We enjoyed the HDDR last night! Worth every nickel (thats a lot of nickels). It was our first time to see it, the show was great the food was great. I can see now why this show is so popular and always booked up. I highly recommend it unless you don't like eating out of a bucket....not to mention beer is included and all you can drink!

My DS was all jacked up on chocolate milk, but a all around good time! If you leave that show still hungry, it's your our fault.

After the HDDR we took a ferry over to the Contemporary so the women could do a little bit more shopping, I was thinking that Disney Springs wasn't enough for them.

Anyway caught Wished from the Contemporary on the balcony underneath the Monorail.

A cool spot to stand if you like the Monorail speeding by inches over your head!

(My phone died before the fireworks, I technical difficulties on my part, sorry)

Ok about time to go pundits the ground again looking for Ed's Ed!

 

[jbrostek]

We love HDDR!!! But we went last year so skipping it this year. Less then 24 hours I will be on the road and Randy will be northwest bound for home. Definitely looking forward to hitting the road once we overcome today's challenges.

 

[sirenia88]

I left 1,000,000 dollars some where at the Fort. They only clue I have is once you find the ED, you need to dig down 183 feet, 10 paces to the left to get to the underground secret layer of Walt. Why so deep? Well I contracted the squirrels (They don't read well) and part timer Rusty Scupper (In between camper requests) to handle the work. The vault was poured when Snowmedic was there for 3 weeks the last time! Make your way past the tick tock crocs and other assorted villians. Anyway, once inside, there will be 5 hidden mickeys and 2 hidden eds. Once found, mail the answers to a PO box that will be located in South Dakota. If access is granted, you will be able to collect 3 life time passes (4 costs too much), watch the next 6 Disney movies coming out on Blu ray, have a night in the castle at MK, and possibility win the 1,000,000 dollar grand prize. Now the challenge is for you to accept... if you dare. Special character appearance by Jack Sparrow!

I also hid a bass boat somewhere on property too...

The Feb trip thread is a hoot. Thanks guys!

 

[peg110]

Wow... That's quite a challenge. I hope I can find it when I get there in August!