A Whole New World, A Whole New Life! -- A Jan-Feb-Mar 2015 TR -- *COMPLETED* 9/29
- Thread starter DisneyFreak98
- Start date
xlsm
Snow White
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2013
Loving your report and LOVING the extended "vacation". I told my husband what your family decided to do...he knows something like that is the only way I'd agree to an RV, LOL!!...so he asked if I was ready to head to the dealership. Um, no, but it's fun living vicariously through you 
Started following you on instagram, too.
Looking forward to more, thanks for sharing!!
Started following you on instagram, too.
Looking forward to more, thanks for sharing!!
heycitygirl
Off to Neverland =)
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2015
I was so excited to find your report! My family did something similar back in 2005, when we drove down to Florida from NY and stayed for a few weeks. There's nothing like an extended trip!
DisneyFreak98
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2012
Yes, it was! We all had some, actually.
Thank you!
Definitely! The cards are a lot of fun, but when you only have 1-2 days in the Magic Kingdom you do have to prioritize. One set of portals can take about 20-30 minutes, so it really depends on what you want to do.Sounds like another fun Disney day. I think my kids would love the sorcerers cards...but there isn't enough time unless you are spending many days in the parks I don't think...sigh. You made me want a sundae and Dole whip
It was definitely a great night! The cards are really a lot of fun!
Thank you so much! This lifestyle is definitely not for everyone, but we're loving it so far. We'll see how much we love it when we aren't in Disney, though!Loving your report and LOVING the extended "vacation". I told my husband what your family decided to do...he knows something like that is the only way I'd agree to an RV, LOL!!...so he asked if I was ready to head to the dealership. Um, no, but it's fun living vicariously through you
Started following you on instagram, too.
Looking forward to more, thanks for sharing!!
What's your instagram name?
Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it!Thank you for sharing your story, I am truly enjoying reading it
Thank you! Driving down is definitely a great adventure!
chicagoshannon
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 9, 2008
Looking forward to reading more.
DisneyFreak98
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2012
Everyone slept in this morning! We were all pretty tired, and we were glad to have a day where we didn't really have to do anything. Bethany's flight wasn't until around 10:00 pm, so we had pretty much the whole day to spend with her. We were all up around 10:00, and we spent the morning just hanging out around the RV. Dad grilled hamburgers for lunch, and after we ate we got ready to go to Downtown Disney. We headed out around 12:30, and Bethany dropped off her bags at the front desk before we went to the bus stop. We waited about 10-15 minutes for a bus, and we were on our way.
We spent the afternoon walking around Downtown and looking around the shops. We looked around the new Co-op, the Christmas store, and of course World of Disney. Bethany bought a Christmas ornament and a few gifts for her friends. We walked around a while longer before heading back home around 4:00. The bus stop at DTD is just a nightmare, with almost every stop being shared and buses all over the place. Luckily our bus came fairly quickly.
We got back and caught a yellow bus home. When we got back to the RV, Bethany finished getting all her stuff together and packing up. We ate sandwiches for dinner around 5:30, then we went for a walk. Magical Express was picking Bethany up around 7:00, so we didn't have a lot of time left. We got back to the RV, Bethany got all her stuff, and we all said our good-byes. Mom went with Bethany down to the Outpost to wait for her bus. The bus came right around 7:00 and Bethany was on her way to the airport. She ended up getting home safe and sound around 1:00 in the morning. We spent the rest of the night hanging out in the RV. We went to bed around 9:30. The next day we would be going back to doing school and work!
We spent the afternoon walking around Downtown and looking around the shops. We looked around the new Co-op, the Christmas store, and of course World of Disney. Bethany bought a Christmas ornament and a few gifts for her friends. We walked around a while longer before heading back home around 4:00. The bus stop at DTD is just a nightmare, with almost every stop being shared and buses all over the place. Luckily our bus came fairly quickly.
We got back and caught a yellow bus home. When we got back to the RV, Bethany finished getting all her stuff together and packing up. We ate sandwiches for dinner around 5:30, then we went for a walk. Magical Express was picking Bethany up around 7:00, so we didn't have a lot of time left. We got back to the RV, Bethany got all her stuff, and we all said our good-byes. Mom went with Bethany down to the Outpost to wait for her bus. The bus came right around 7:00 and Bethany was on her way to the airport. She ended up getting home safe and sound around 1:00 in the morning. We spent the rest of the night hanging out in the RV. We went to bed around 9:30. The next day we would be going back to doing school and work!
DisneyFreak98
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2012
Thank you! I'll definitely be trying to get more updates out soon!
Last edited:
DaisyDuck001
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 5, 2006
I'm also looking forward to reading your next updates.
KathyM2
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2011
Hey...loving your trip report! We were at Fort Wilderness on March 10th to go to the Hoop De Do Revue...we had a few minutes to walk around but not long enough...I was hoping I'd have time to see some DIS'ers!! Anyway, the place looks lovely and I can't imagine how awesome it would be to stay for a while and actually sort of "live" there!!
RunnerMommyof4
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2015
Love seeing and hearing about FW. We are staying there for the 1st time and have no idea what to expect! Thanks for the photos Enjoying your trip!
Enjoying your trip!
chicagoshannon
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 9, 2008
Hope you're still having fun! How much longer will you be there?
kennethsrib
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
We live in the north country ny, your dad looks familiar to us?
KittyKitty
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2002
Just started your report. What an adventure! Thanks for taking the time to write it.
Nan P
Pixie Dust Every Day. Patriots Fan.
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2013
Hey DisneyFreak98, Was enjoying your report sooo much. Last update from you seems to be March 17. It's been a while, hope everything at the Fort and with Family and Disney in general is going well for you. How about a quick message to those of us who are thinking of you? Hope you're just busy with school, work, and having fun. 
DisneyFreak98
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2012
Love seeing and hearing about FW. We are staying there for the 1st time and have no idea what to expect! Thanks for the photos
We live a few states up from NY, so I'm not sure? We've only been to NY a couple of times.
Hey DisneyFreak98, Was enjoying your report sooo much. Last update from you seems to be March 17. It's been a while, hope everything at the Fort and with Family and Disney in general is going well for you. How about a quick message to those of us who are thinking of you? Hope you're just busy with school, work, and having fun.
Hello everyone! I am so sorry that I haven't updated in so long! Thank you all so much for still being interested in our adventure! We just got back home today, actually, after 3 days of driving. We spent our last 2 weeks in Disney doing a lot of late nights and early mornings, so I didn't have much time to write. Now that we're home, though, I'm going to have much more free time on my hands, so you can (hopefully) expect at least one update per day. Again, thank you all so much for reading!
DisneyFreak98
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2012
We were back to our regular routine now that Bethany was gone. We got up and started back on our work and school. We did a bit extra today to catch up a little. Mom made lunch around noon, then after lunch we hung around for a while, played some basketball and shuffleboard, and worked on a little more school.
Around 2:00, the boys got ready to go play golf! Our AP's include free entry to the Oak Trail golf course, so they were taking advantage of that. They left around 2:30, and Mom and I stayed back at the RV. We had plans to go the Magic Kingdom later so that I could meet Gaston! I had never met him before, but I had seen a bunch of videos and heard a bunch of stories, and he seemed like such fun to meet! So, after we took care of a couple of things around the house, we left around 3:00! We walked to the boat dock and only waited about 5-10 minutes for a boat. We got to the Magic Kingdom and headed straight for Belle's village. We were only there to meet Gaston, so it really didn't matter how long the line was; we were going to wait. It ended up being about an hour, but it went by really quickly because while you're waiting you get to stand there and watch Gaston interact with the other guests. He is SO funny! A couple of times that really stood out to me were when he was meeting a little boy and he asked him if he had been eating his four dozen eggs every day to help him get large. The little boy said no, he hadn't, and Gaston asked,
"Well, don't you want to be a man?"
Then the boy said no, and Gaston kind of freaked out. He started shouting to everyone to pretend like they didn't hear that, and certainly this boy wants to be a man. The other one that I really remember was a Make A Wish child. It was a girl, probably about 13 years old, and she was very disabled. She was in a wheelchair, and it looked like most of her body was paralyzed. She could talk, but barely; it was really sad. She came dressed in Belle's golden dress, and her hair was all done, and she looked beautiful! You could tell she was a very big Beauty and the Beast fan. I don't remember exactly what they said, but in the end Gaston ended up asking her to marry him, and she said yes! All the people waiting in line were invited to the wedding, and the whole thing was very sweet. You could tell that he had made that moment extremely magical for that girl, and it was just amazing.
Soon it was my turn, and although it wasn't as magical as being asked to marry Gaston, it was still a lot of fun. I didn't really know what to say, so I pretty much just stood there and smiled and nodded my head the whole time. At one point he tried to dip me, but I'm just so incredibly graceful that I totally messed it up:
It was pretty funny, at least. I did get a nice picture with him, too:
After saying thank you and goodbye to Gaston, Mom and I headed back home. It was around 4:45 when we got home, and the boys weren't back yet. So, we just hung out and stuff until they got home, which was close to 6:00. Golfing had been okay, they said. They were a little out of practice, but they still had fun!
After they cleaned up, we had sandwiches for dinner. As we ate, we talked about what we wanted to do for the rest of the night. We didn't want to just sit at home, so we decided it would be fun to take the boat over to the Contemporary and look around there for a while. So, after we ate and cleaned up the kitchen, we got ready to go! We walked down to the boat dock and a boat arrived shortly. We arrived at the Contemporary and spent some time just looking around.
It's a very nice place, but we decided that we would never really want to stay there. It felt a lot like an airport to us. We spent about 20 minutes looking around and going into the different stores, then we decided to catch the monorail to the Polynesian. We got there and were totally shocked by the new lobby! We had forgotten that they had redone the whole thing. It looks so nice now, and the lobby feels much less crowded.
I know some people are really disappointed that they're changing so much at the Poly, but we had only been there a couple for times before, so we weren't really attached to it. We knew that you could get Dole Whips at the Polynesian, but we never had before, so we weren't sure where they were. We asked at the food court and they pointed us to Pineapple Lanai, which is outside.
There was no line, so we walked right up and ordered 3 Dole Whip swirls. We sat at the tables outside and ate them. It was a fairly warm night, not too cold, and we had a really nice time. We went back inside to look around the stores and stuff, and we took a few more pictures.
After we looked around for a bit, we got back on the monorail to head back to the Contemporary so we could take the boat home. The monorail stopped at the Magic Kingdom first, so we decided to just get off there to take the boat. But, as we were walking, we decided why not just go into the Kingdom for a bit, so we did! Luckily we all had our Magic Bands on, so we just walked right into the park! We didn't want to stay too long, so we just headed toward Tomorrowland. Buzz only had a 20 minute wait, so we rode that once then made our way back out of the park. We stopped to look in the Emporium on our way out, then it was back to the boat dock. This was one of our most memorable nights, because we just had so much fun going to the 2 resorts, eating Dole Whips, then just spontaneously going into the Magic Kingdom to ride Buzz Lightyear. We caught the boat back to the Fort, walked home, then it was off to bed!
Around 2:00, the boys got ready to go play golf! Our AP's include free entry to the Oak Trail golf course, so they were taking advantage of that. They left around 2:30, and Mom and I stayed back at the RV. We had plans to go the Magic Kingdom later so that I could meet Gaston! I had never met him before, but I had seen a bunch of videos and heard a bunch of stories, and he seemed like such fun to meet! So, after we took care of a couple of things around the house, we left around 3:00! We walked to the boat dock and only waited about 5-10 minutes for a boat. We got to the Magic Kingdom and headed straight for Belle's village. We were only there to meet Gaston, so it really didn't matter how long the line was; we were going to wait. It ended up being about an hour, but it went by really quickly because while you're waiting you get to stand there and watch Gaston interact with the other guests. He is SO funny! A couple of times that really stood out to me were when he was meeting a little boy and he asked him if he had been eating his four dozen eggs every day to help him get large. The little boy said no, he hadn't, and Gaston asked,
"Well, don't you want to be a man?"
Then the boy said no, and Gaston kind of freaked out. He started shouting to everyone to pretend like they didn't hear that, and certainly this boy wants to be a man. The other one that I really remember was a Make A Wish child. It was a girl, probably about 13 years old, and she was very disabled. She was in a wheelchair, and it looked like most of her body was paralyzed. She could talk, but barely; it was really sad. She came dressed in Belle's golden dress, and her hair was all done, and she looked beautiful! You could tell she was a very big Beauty and the Beast fan. I don't remember exactly what they said, but in the end Gaston ended up asking her to marry him, and she said yes! All the people waiting in line were invited to the wedding, and the whole thing was very sweet. You could tell that he had made that moment extremely magical for that girl, and it was just amazing.
Soon it was my turn, and although it wasn't as magical as being asked to marry Gaston, it was still a lot of fun. I didn't really know what to say, so I pretty much just stood there and smiled and nodded my head the whole time. At one point he tried to dip me, but I'm just so incredibly graceful that I totally messed it up:
It was pretty funny, at least. I did get a nice picture with him, too:
After saying thank you and goodbye to Gaston, Mom and I headed back home. It was around 4:45 when we got home, and the boys weren't back yet. So, we just hung out and stuff until they got home, which was close to 6:00. Golfing had been okay, they said. They were a little out of practice, but they still had fun!
After they cleaned up, we had sandwiches for dinner. As we ate, we talked about what we wanted to do for the rest of the night. We didn't want to just sit at home, so we decided it would be fun to take the boat over to the Contemporary and look around there for a while. So, after we ate and cleaned up the kitchen, we got ready to go! We walked down to the boat dock and a boat arrived shortly. We arrived at the Contemporary and spent some time just looking around.
It's a very nice place, but we decided that we would never really want to stay there. It felt a lot like an airport to us. We spent about 20 minutes looking around and going into the different stores, then we decided to catch the monorail to the Polynesian. We got there and were totally shocked by the new lobby! We had forgotten that they had redone the whole thing. It looks so nice now, and the lobby feels much less crowded.
I know some people are really disappointed that they're changing so much at the Poly, but we had only been there a couple for times before, so we weren't really attached to it. We knew that you could get Dole Whips at the Polynesian, but we never had before, so we weren't sure where they were. We asked at the food court and they pointed us to Pineapple Lanai, which is outside.
There was no line, so we walked right up and ordered 3 Dole Whip swirls. We sat at the tables outside and ate them. It was a fairly warm night, not too cold, and we had a really nice time. We went back inside to look around the stores and stuff, and we took a few more pictures.
After we looked around for a bit, we got back on the monorail to head back to the Contemporary so we could take the boat home. The monorail stopped at the Magic Kingdom first, so we decided to just get off there to take the boat. But, as we were walking, we decided why not just go into the Kingdom for a bit, so we did! Luckily we all had our Magic Bands on, so we just walked right into the park! We didn't want to stay too long, so we just headed toward Tomorrowland. Buzz only had a 20 minute wait, so we rode that once then made our way back out of the park. We stopped to look in the Emporium on our way out, then it was back to the boat dock. This was one of our most memorable nights, because we just had so much fun going to the 2 resorts, eating Dole Whips, then just spontaneously going into the Magic Kingdom to ride Buzz Lightyear. We caught the boat back to the Fort, walked home, then it was off to bed!
Last edited:
jandlinz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2010
I'm loving your tr. Meeting Gaston is on my list of must dos when we go next time. I homeschool my children and love the flexibility it offers. It is such a blessing your dad can work from home to give you such a great experience. Can't wait to read more!
Lindsey
Lindsey
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