A Whole New World, A Whole New Life! -- A Jan-Feb-Mar 2015 TR -- *COMPLETED* 9/29

[Letsbgoofy]

I was kind of worried that I would just be writing to myself the whole time

Not when you're posting on a board with a bunch of fellow Disney freaks! Great TR so far; love the pictures.

 

[leahlefler]

What an exciting life! I love this - traveling and being able to go from place to place on a whim... so much fun! I love the pictures and can't wait to see more!

 

[chicagoshannon]

Great update! You sure are an early riser

 

[KarenW]

Great job so far! I am really enjoying your report. I homeschool also and while we will never go mobile it sure is nice to go to Disney while everyone else is in school! We love camping at the Fort! Looking forward to the rest of your report.

 

[ldadar]

I can't wait to hear more! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Nan P]

I am following your TR and think it's great. Been a Florida resident for over 8 years. We originally come from RI, so I know about the drive down to Disney and the anticipation to get to Florida! What a great decision your family made. Enjoy this lifestyle, not everyone has the opportunity to experience this adventure, and glad you're sharing.

 

[DisneyFreak98]

Shannon, a great job on the TR and pics.

Thank you!

Not when you're posting on a board with a bunch of fellow Disney freaks! Great TR so far; love the pictures.

Thank you!

What an exciting life! I love this - traveling and being able to go from place to place on a whim... so much fun! I love the pictures and can't wait to see more!

Thank you! Yes, it is very exciting and fun!

Great update! You sure are an early riser

Thank you

Great job so far! I am really enjoying your report. I homeschool also and while we will never go mobile it sure is nice to go to Disney while everyone else is in school! We love camping at the Fort! Looking forward to the rest of your report.

Thank you! Yes, before this year we would always go in the off season, and it's so nice!

I can't wait to hear more! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you!

I am following your TR and think it's great. Been a Florida resident for over 8 years. We originally come from RI, so I know about the drive down to Disney and the anticipation to get to Florida! What a great decision your family made. Enjoy this lifestyle, not everyone has the opportunity to experience this adventure, and glad you're sharing.

Thank you! Yes, we're very fortunate to get to go on this adventure, and we're enjoying every minute of it!

 

[dvc at last !]

I am in for this TR - such an exciting way to live !

 

[KristinU]

Great posts so far! I'm soooo jealous I'm glad your dad posted the link on the Camping at the Fort board!

 

[buteraa]

Love the report! So exciting! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[Maligator]

Great trip report!

I am envious of your families full time lifestyle. I would love to do the same in our motorhome but my job is very location specific and I can't afford to do it until I retire. I think my wife and two young boys would actually be interested in doing it too!

Enjoy your stay at FW!!!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

This is a really fun trip report to read for all of us who wish we could just pick up and go for an extended stay like you all are doing. Also I think your parents are doing a good job on the homeschooling, as you write better than a lot of adults do.

While I haven't stayed at Fort Wilderness, I've been to the campfire singalong on some of my trips, as well as the hayride a couple of times and the Hoop Dee Doo once long ago, so I know the area somewhat. It looks like it would be a fun place to stay, and a nice relaxing oasis within all the excitement.

It's good that you were just in time to catch the Osborne lights. Were some of the Fort Wilderness campsites also still decked out for the holidays by guests who were staying there?

I'm glad your dad posted the link on the Camping at the Fort board!

Maybe I missed this: what was that about?

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Yay! You made it to the Fort! My family has stayed there several times - in the cabins - and we really love it.

TP

 

[DisneyFreak98]

Great posts so far! I'm soooo jealous I'm glad your dad posted the link on the Camping at the Fort board!

Thank you!

Love the report! So exciting! Thanks for sharing!!

Thank you!

Great trip report!

I am envious of your families full time lifestyle. I would love to do the same in our motorhome but my job is very location specific and I can't afford to do it until I retire. I think my wife and two young boys would actually be interested in doing it too!

Enjoy your stay at FW!!!

Thank you! It is definitely tons of fun!

This is a really fun trip report to read for all of us who wish we could just pick up and go for an extended stay like you all are doing. Also I think your parents are doing a good job on the homeschooling, as you write better than a lot of adults do.

While I haven't stayed at Fort Wilderness, I've been to the campfire singalong on some of my trips, as well as the hayride a couple of times and the Hoop Dee Doo once long ago, so I know the area somewhat. It looks like it would be a fun place to stay, and a nice relaxing oasis within all the excitement.

It's good that you were just in time to catch the Osborne lights. Were some of the Fort Wilderness campsites also still decked out for the holidays by guests who were staying there?

Thank you! Yes, Fort Wilderness is a very nice place to stay, and there are tons of fun things to do! When we got here there were quite a few people who still had decorations up, and there was one site that had tons of stuff and was really elaborate. They had lights, blow ups, lawn decorations - everything! It was really cool.

 

[Teamubr]

Originally Posted by KristinU View Post
I'm glad your dad posted the link on the Camping at the Fort board!

Maybe I missed this: what was that about?

I'll jump in and answer for her.

You may not know, but there is a camping forum here on DIS. Shannon's dad (Jhuff8181) posted a link on that forum to her TR here. That's how many of us saw this. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3372644

Shannon, Great job on the TR. Love the pics and your comments. Enjoy your extended stay at the Fort.

j

 

[DisneyFreak98]

We got to Hollywood Studios around 4:45, and it was still Christmas there!

It was a little weird, because after Christmas this year we only had one week before we were leaving, so we went into full preparation mode the day after Christmas. To us, Christmas was over a while ago, but it was still in full swing in Disney! It was nice to see, though, and I've always loved the Christmas decorations in Disney.
So, as soon as we got there we went to Guest Relations to activate our Annual Passes and attach them to our Magic Bands. There was a rather long line, and it was taking longer than expected, so we figured we probably weren't going to make our 5:15 FastPass for Toy Story Mania.
After we finally finished at Guest Relations, we headed straight for TSM to try to make our FP's. We got there 5 minutes late, but the light still turned green for us. We figured there's probably a 5-10 minute grace period. TSM is definitely one of our favorite rides, and it was perfect for the first ride of our trip!
After TSM, we had FastPasses for the new Frozen sing-along. It was a cute show, but I think I was the only one who really enjoyed it. Thirty minutes of singing Frozen songs wasn't the boys' favorite thing, but they suffered through.

At this point it was around 6:15, so we decided to go eat dinner. We were going to eat at Pizza Planet, but they had closed at 6:00, so instead we decided to try Backlot Express. We had never eaten there before, but the menu looked good enough. Mom and I shared a Southwest salad, Sam and Travis got chicken nuggets, and Dad got a hamburger. Everyone enjoyed their food and no one complained, so I'd say it was pretty good!

After we ate, we had Star Tours FP's to use, so we headed over there. That's another favorite ride of ours, especially since it's been redone.
After our ride on Star Tours, it was time to go see the Osborne lights! It had been around 10 years since we'd seen them, and we were very excited!

We walked around for about an hour or so, then decided to head back home. We were still tired from all of our travels, and we still had a lot of unpacking to do. We got home around 9:00 and spent some time unpacking stuff and getting settled. Dad went over to the Meadow store to try to get our modem so that we could have internet, but we were still on a waiting list. Dad was a little stressed because he needs internet to work and run his business, but there was nothing we could do about it tonight, so we all went to bed!
Tomorrow would be our first full day in Disney, and we'll be doing a lot of unpacking, shopping, and getting settled.​

 

[wegakempf]

Oh how exciting. Thanks for sharing your story!

 

[RunningGirl]

What a great adventure! I'd love to travel full time for a year or so. Glad you're getting to do this with your family and can't wait to read more.

 

[DisneyFreak98]

Shannon, Great job on the TR. Love the pics and your comments. Enjoy your extended stay at the Fort.

j

Thank you!

Oh how exciting. Thanks for sharing your story!

You're welcome! It's my pleasure

What a great adventure! I'd love to travel full time for a year or so. Glad you're getting to do this with your family and can't wait to read more.

Thank you! Yes, we are having tons of fun!

 

[DisneyFreak98]

This was our first morning waking up in Disney World! We got up around 7:30, took showers, and ate breakfast outside; it was a beautiful day! Dad had to go sit by the pool for a while so he could use the internet and get some work done, so we were hoping that we would be able to get a modem soon. The morning was spent unpacking, setting up stuff like the cable, and working.
After Dad finished his work around 10:45, he, Mom, and I left for the store. We literally had almost no food, so we had quite a bit of stuff to get. It was so strange having to drive out of Disney so soon after getting there! That's something we haven't had to do in a long time because when we've been in recent years we've had the meal plan. We had to stop by the post office, Walmart, and Winn Dixie. Shopping was pretty uneventful and boring, so there's not much to tell about it. We did find that we are not big fans of Winn Dixie, though, and we haven't been back there since that day. We just buy groceries at Walmart now. On a side note, I would just like to say that Walmarts down here are SO MUCH bigger than Walmarts up north. The Walmart here is HUGE! Anyways, shopping did end up taking longer than we expected, and we didn't get home until almost 2:00. Once we got home, we had to unpack all of the groceries and stuff, then Dad and Sam hooked up our water. While we were gone, Sam was able to get our modem, so we finally had internet! That was a relief!
By the time we finished putting away the groceries and everything, it was almost 3:00. We had plans to go to Magic Kingdom for the rest of the afternoon and evening, so we got ready to go! We took a boat over to MK and got there a little after 3:00. It was still Christmas here, too!

When we walked in, we saw that there was a crowd gathered, and we realized that the Festival of Fantasy parade was about to start! I was really excited to see this parade, so it was perfect timing. We were able to find a good spot to watch near Town Hall even though there were already quite a few people. Festival of Fantasy was even better than I expected, and I was so glad we got to see it!

After the parade was over, we fought our way through the crowd to get to Adventureland to use our Pirates FastPasses! After that we didn't have any more FP's until after dinner, and it was only around 4:00. So, we checked some wait times and decided to ride Under the Sea with Ariel. We were going to get a train to Fantasyland from Frontierland, but there was a super long line, so we decided to walk. We fought our way over there and ended up waiting in line for about 30 minutes, which wasn't that bad.

After we rode Ariel, it was a little after 5:00, so we decided to get dinner at Pinocchio's. It wasn't too crowded in the restaurant, so we were able to order fairly quickly. Mom and I shared a cheese flat bread, Sam and Travis shared a pepperoni flt bread, and Dad got the Italian flat bread sandwich.

We love those flat bread pizzas, and everything was very good. After we ate we had a little bit of time to kill before our next FP, so we decided to ride the Carousel, which didn't have a line.

I also got this picture of the castle from there:

After we rode the Carousel, we saw that Mickey's Philharmagic only had a 15 minute wait, so we decided to go there. After the Philharmagic, our FP's for the Mine Train were ready! We were so excited to finally get to ride this after watching it being built for the past 2 years. The Mine Train definitely did not disappoint! I didn't get any pictures because we went through the FastPass line, but I think I got some at another time. After our great ride, we had a decision to make. We had Big Thunder Mountain FP's at 8:00, but it was only 6:30. There wasn't anything else we really wanted to do that night, so we decided to go check the Big Thunder stand-by wait. The sign said it was a 70 minute wait, which was less than the time until our FP's, so we decided to jut wait. We actually only ended up waiting around 30 minutes, so it was a good choice! After we rode Big Thunder, we caught a train back to Main Street so we could go home. I got this picture from the train station:

We had a great time at the Magic Kingdom, but it was a little weird to just come for a few hours! We caught a boat back home to the Fort, and then took a bus back to Loop 1400. We got home and spent the rest of the night just hanging out and relaxing. We went to bed around 10:00 with plans of going to Typhoon Lagoon the next day!
​