disney minnie
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2009
We had a GREAT trip!
My son crossed over into Boy Scouts this year and the boys have been camping non-stop. My daughter (5) was sick of them getting to do fun things all of the time and being left out, so we decided to go camping the fun way. My daughter was very excited until the ride down when she realized we were camping OUTSIDE and there are bugs, SNAKES, and bears outside. We quickly let her know that there were not any bears. She then preceeded to tell us that if there were snakes she wasn't going. We of course told her that there weren't ANY snakes at Disney! Just a little white lie.
We arrived at 4:30 and the check-in process is messed up! The guard at the gate told us that we had to check-in inside since we were tent camping. I went inside - not really because the line was out the door - and found that there is not a line for online check-in. Everyone is in the same line. I quickly looked at the drive thru check-in which was almost empty and then jumped back in the car. There was a line for online check-in at the drive through, but the CM directed us to another line. I thought that was a little weird since we told her and then pointed to the online check-in line. We drove up and the man looked at us like we were CRAZY because we were online check-in people. He had to get out of his booth and walk to the other booth to get our stuff. The whole process would have been very quick, BUT the Danskin Triathalon was going happening on Sunday. We had requested loop 1500 and got it, Yeah! but there was a problem... because of the race we would have to leave by 7:00am or wait until 1:00. Well this wasn't going to work for us because we were going to Typhoon Lagoon on Sunday before heading home and we couldn't wait until 1:00. After a lot of changing around we were put in the 2000 loop.
While all of this was going on, my husband was talking to Kenny about the location of the golf cart. They walked over to pick it up and drove it back. After we got our new assignment they followed me to our new home.
The campsite wasn't quite what I expected, but it grew on me. I had seen pictures with great big bushes between each campsite, but that was not the case in the 2000 loop.
Now I'm a planner with lots of lists about what needs to be packed to make our life comfy. I worked very hard to only take the things that we needed and very little extra. My husband still thinks he is camping with the Boy Scouts and needs to go commando style. So the whole time I was planning he was complaining about there being too much stuff. Amazingly, the day before we left I had everything packed and organized EXCEPT for the few things that my husband was in charge of getting. Guess what - he didn't get everything he needed to get and we were running around until 10:30 Thursday night looking for extention cords, etc. I must say that I still reamined in a good mood even though I had wanted to be in bed hours before. I really don't like starting vacations exhausted.
After we set up camp we took a little golf cart ride to look at the spot we were going to be camping. We loved the spot and loved loop 1500, so we will try to request it again the next time.
After the short ride we headed back to camp to start making dinner. We brought steak, potato, salad, and fruit for the kids. We had everything but the potato. Obviously, we are lacking in our campfire potato making skills. After dinner we jumped back on the golf cart to go watch the water parade and then a quick dip in the pool before bed. Once back at camp the kids were crashed before we could turn around. We watched the Grad Night fireworks from our campsite and then hit the hay.
Saturday we woke up later than normal and piddled around a bit. The boys made oatmeal, we straitened up, got dressed and then headed to Downtown Disney. We weren't at Downtown Disney very long. Basically we needed to let the kids look for stuff to spend the money that was burning their pockets, buy patches for their blankets, look for a new Disney game, and then get lunch before heading back to camp. My daughter bought a Jasmine costume and my son bought candy and then decided to save the rest of his money.
Back at camp the adults were ready for a nap. I told my daughter that she could wake me up at 1:45. Well that didn't work. She woke me up every five minutes until 30 minutes went by and I gave up on the nap deal. We all headed to the pool. OH MY GOODNESS was it crowded. I don't know how they handle all of the people in the summer.
We headed back to camp and went for a walk to look at the "group" campsites. I wanted some information for our Boy Scouts. There was a Cub Scout group over there and the Cubmaster was very imformative. Even though we had only walked a 1/4 of a mile my daughter who had insisted in walking in her Minnie Mouse costume was HOT and TIRED. We headed back and dropped my husband and daughter off to shower and start making dinner while my son and I continued to walk.
We WERE having spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad for dinner. After we all showered and I was getting dressed I heard a big OH NO! I had pre-made the noodles and sauce and then put them in boiling bags. The sauce bag was not sealed fully and released all of the sauce into the water. Plan B! We took our salad, bread, and drinks to get some chicken and then sat on the grass and had a little picnic.
After eating, clean-up, and some time on the playground we headed to the Chip and Dale campfire. OH MY GOODNESS it was crowded! I always like to be early to get seats, but this was not the case tonight. The boys dropped us off to go get something at the campsite and we found some seats. We were sitting next to a very nice family. I saw my boys enter and told the family to watch them because they were going to only search the front for me. That is exactly what they did and I was in the back laughing. This was very new to them and I think they started to appreciate me a little more. We made smores, watched Chip and Dale, danced a little, and then watched Tangled. It was a lovely evening.
Back at camp the kids went to bed. We stayed up for awhile and then headed to the beach to watch the Grad Night fireworks. We saw then the night before but I had heard that they piped in the music at the beach. Not the case with Grad Night. Oh well it was still very nice.
Sunday we slept in and then packed up to head home. This did take a little longer than we expected and we didn't make it to Typhoon Lagoon until 11:00. We were so glad that it was too crowded. I was relaxed because we had purchased reserved seats. This included 2 seats, an umbrella, and four towels. We got to the window to check in for our chairs and had to stand inthe same line as the people that were just reserving. The whole thing was VERY inefficient and took forever. We actually ended up cancelling the chairs because they are not near anything and we needed to sit where we could watch our kids. We found two chairs near the wave pool and it was perfect. The day was great and we headed home around 4:00.
Observations:
Loop 2000 seemed like it was the loop for multiple families. There was one group that we called the "hooligans" because the kids were wild. They rode there bikes, big wheels, etc in the middle of the road and then would stop and sit. You would almost have to get out of your car to ask them to get out of the road. This was a non-stop occurance and there were at least 10 children so it was a definite group. We saw one child almost get his twice and we never saw the parents say a word. As a matter of fact there was a group of dads standing by the road talking watching our car get closer and have to come to a stop because the kids were in the middle of the road. We had to asked the kids to move and the dads didn't say a word.
Loop 1500 has separation between campsites. Big bushes give you some privacy.
Golf Cart - we loved the golf cart and rented from Kenny. It was $90 for the weekend
Towels - I was a little shocked that they did not have towels at the pool. We brought towels, but would have loved to used just the pool towels. Why is this? The value resorts have towels. Are they worried that people will steal them? If that is the case then have people check them in and out.
Refill cups - hot chocolate is behind the counter and you have to ask for it, but it is included
Be sure to take lights for night time.
Sand - the sand is everywhere - take a broom
Clothesline - Don't forget some rope to make a clothesline. You will need a place for your towels/bathing suits to dry.
Comfort Station - one may be busier than the other - this was the benefit of the golf cart. When one was packed we headed to the other station
Coolers - take separate coolers for food and drinks - I would love to hear any cooler tricks people have
Noise - the fort is not quiet during the morning, day or evening - Everyone was rockin' and rollin' until 11:15 and then everything was silent. Except the buses...
Doormat - the doormat at the door to the tent worked really well to keep the sand out
Basket for shoes - this also helped with the sand
Tablecloth - we bought a tablecloth for the picnic table and this made it very easy to wipe down the table after eating etc.
Theft - no problems!
Fans - we had one in our tent but the kids didn't and didnt ask for one - we actually bought and brought one, but they didnt need it so I will return it.
Stuff to do - we did not go to the main parks and still did not do everything on our list at the fort.
If I think of more, I will add it later. Feel free to ask questions.
My son crossed over into Boy Scouts this year and the boys have been camping non-stop. My daughter (5) was sick of them getting to do fun things all of the time and being left out, so we decided to go camping the fun way. My daughter was very excited until the ride down when she realized we were camping OUTSIDE and there are bugs, SNAKES, and bears outside. We quickly let her know that there were not any bears. She then preceeded to tell us that if there were snakes she wasn't going. We of course told her that there weren't ANY snakes at Disney! Just a little white lie.
We arrived at 4:30 and the check-in process is messed up! The guard at the gate told us that we had to check-in inside since we were tent camping. I went inside - not really because the line was out the door - and found that there is not a line for online check-in. Everyone is in the same line. I quickly looked at the drive thru check-in which was almost empty and then jumped back in the car. There was a line for online check-in at the drive through, but the CM directed us to another line. I thought that was a little weird since we told her and then pointed to the online check-in line. We drove up and the man looked at us like we were CRAZY because we were online check-in people. He had to get out of his booth and walk to the other booth to get our stuff. The whole process would have been very quick, BUT the Danskin Triathalon was going happening on Sunday. We had requested loop 1500 and got it, Yeah! but there was a problem... because of the race we would have to leave by 7:00am or wait until 1:00. Well this wasn't going to work for us because we were going to Typhoon Lagoon on Sunday before heading home and we couldn't wait until 1:00. After a lot of changing around we were put in the 2000 loop.
While all of this was going on, my husband was talking to Kenny about the location of the golf cart. They walked over to pick it up and drove it back. After we got our new assignment they followed me to our new home.
The campsite wasn't quite what I expected, but it grew on me. I had seen pictures with great big bushes between each campsite, but that was not the case in the 2000 loop.
Now I'm a planner with lots of lists about what needs to be packed to make our life comfy. I worked very hard to only take the things that we needed and very little extra. My husband still thinks he is camping with the Boy Scouts and needs to go commando style. So the whole time I was planning he was complaining about there being too much stuff. Amazingly, the day before we left I had everything packed and organized EXCEPT for the few things that my husband was in charge of getting. Guess what - he didn't get everything he needed to get and we were running around until 10:30 Thursday night looking for extention cords, etc. I must say that I still reamined in a good mood even though I had wanted to be in bed hours before. I really don't like starting vacations exhausted.
After we set up camp we took a little golf cart ride to look at the spot we were going to be camping. We loved the spot and loved loop 1500, so we will try to request it again the next time.
After the short ride we headed back to camp to start making dinner. We brought steak, potato, salad, and fruit for the kids. We had everything but the potato. Obviously, we are lacking in our campfire potato making skills. After dinner we jumped back on the golf cart to go watch the water parade and then a quick dip in the pool before bed. Once back at camp the kids were crashed before we could turn around. We watched the Grad Night fireworks from our campsite and then hit the hay.
Saturday we woke up later than normal and piddled around a bit. The boys made oatmeal, we straitened up, got dressed and then headed to Downtown Disney. We weren't at Downtown Disney very long. Basically we needed to let the kids look for stuff to spend the money that was burning their pockets, buy patches for their blankets, look for a new Disney game, and then get lunch before heading back to camp. My daughter bought a Jasmine costume and my son bought candy and then decided to save the rest of his money.
Back at camp the adults were ready for a nap. I told my daughter that she could wake me up at 1:45. Well that didn't work. She woke me up every five minutes until 30 minutes went by and I gave up on the nap deal. We all headed to the pool. OH MY GOODNESS was it crowded. I don't know how they handle all of the people in the summer.
We headed back to camp and went for a walk to look at the "group" campsites. I wanted some information for our Boy Scouts. There was a Cub Scout group over there and the Cubmaster was very imformative. Even though we had only walked a 1/4 of a mile my daughter who had insisted in walking in her Minnie Mouse costume was HOT and TIRED. We headed back and dropped my husband and daughter off to shower and start making dinner while my son and I continued to walk.
We WERE having spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad for dinner. After we all showered and I was getting dressed I heard a big OH NO! I had pre-made the noodles and sauce and then put them in boiling bags. The sauce bag was not sealed fully and released all of the sauce into the water. Plan B! We took our salad, bread, and drinks to get some chicken and then sat on the grass and had a little picnic.
After eating, clean-up, and some time on the playground we headed to the Chip and Dale campfire. OH MY GOODNESS it was crowded! I always like to be early to get seats, but this was not the case tonight. The boys dropped us off to go get something at the campsite and we found some seats. We were sitting next to a very nice family. I saw my boys enter and told the family to watch them because they were going to only search the front for me. That is exactly what they did and I was in the back laughing. This was very new to them and I think they started to appreciate me a little more. We made smores, watched Chip and Dale, danced a little, and then watched Tangled. It was a lovely evening.
Back at camp the kids went to bed. We stayed up for awhile and then headed to the beach to watch the Grad Night fireworks. We saw then the night before but I had heard that they piped in the music at the beach. Not the case with Grad Night. Oh well it was still very nice.
Sunday we slept in and then packed up to head home. This did take a little longer than we expected and we didn't make it to Typhoon Lagoon until 11:00. We were so glad that it was too crowded. I was relaxed because we had purchased reserved seats. This included 2 seats, an umbrella, and four towels. We got to the window to check in for our chairs and had to stand inthe same line as the people that were just reserving. The whole thing was VERY inefficient and took forever. We actually ended up cancelling the chairs because they are not near anything and we needed to sit where we could watch our kids. We found two chairs near the wave pool and it was perfect. The day was great and we headed home around 4:00.
Observations:
Loop 2000 seemed like it was the loop for multiple families. There was one group that we called the "hooligans" because the kids were wild. They rode there bikes, big wheels, etc in the middle of the road and then would stop and sit. You would almost have to get out of your car to ask them to get out of the road. This was a non-stop occurance and there were at least 10 children so it was a definite group. We saw one child almost get his twice and we never saw the parents say a word. As a matter of fact there was a group of dads standing by the road talking watching our car get closer and have to come to a stop because the kids were in the middle of the road. We had to asked the kids to move and the dads didn't say a word.
Loop 1500 has separation between campsites. Big bushes give you some privacy.
Golf Cart - we loved the golf cart and rented from Kenny. It was $90 for the weekend
Towels - I was a little shocked that they did not have towels at the pool. We brought towels, but would have loved to used just the pool towels. Why is this? The value resorts have towels. Are they worried that people will steal them? If that is the case then have people check them in and out.
Refill cups - hot chocolate is behind the counter and you have to ask for it, but it is included
Be sure to take lights for night time.
Sand - the sand is everywhere - take a broom
Clothesline - Don't forget some rope to make a clothesline. You will need a place for your towels/bathing suits to dry.
Comfort Station - one may be busier than the other - this was the benefit of the golf cart. When one was packed we headed to the other station
Coolers - take separate coolers for food and drinks - I would love to hear any cooler tricks people have
Noise - the fort is not quiet during the morning, day or evening - Everyone was rockin' and rollin' until 11:15 and then everything was silent. Except the buses...
Doormat - the doormat at the door to the tent worked really well to keep the sand out
Basket for shoes - this also helped with the sand
Tablecloth - we bought a tablecloth for the picnic table and this made it very easy to wipe down the table after eating etc.
Theft - no problems!
Fans - we had one in our tent but the kids didn't and didnt ask for one - we actually bought and brought one, but they didnt need it so I will return it.
Stuff to do - we did not go to the main parks and still did not do everything on our list at the fort.
If I think of more, I will add it later. Feel free to ask questions.
