Suzy and Perla Skip the Lines Again: From roughing it to the lap of luxury

[hollybearsmom]

I really like the in depth dinner report, we are going there for our first time since 95 this August and don't remember the antics...we will be in for a good time won't we?!?

 

[houseful of boys]

Donald and I were seated within 5 minutes. Suzy and her clan weren't seated until 6:40 p.m.

We are people who usually eat between 5 and 5:30. Plus, we had set up camp in the heat all afternoon after driving 4 hours that morning. This combination of events led to a not so enjoyable dinner. Once we finally got sat down (30 minutes after checking in) our entire conversation for the first half of dinner was Milo ranting about the bad service. "We're paying big bucks to be here........I am not giving any tip.........Ok, If I give a tip, what would you have me do to show my unhappiness with this experience.........Somebody has to be held responsible" You get the idea. We were hungry and tired. After he got food in his stomach, he never did complain to anyone and left the customary tip.

The other bad thing about being seated so late was we weren't done until 8:00. About the time our desserts arrived, McQueen realized that we weren't gonna make it back in time to go swimming and even if we did go swimming, the slide would be closed. So the tears and ranting began from him.

So my dinner started with ranting and ended with ranting. All the while, I could see Perla's family having a grand, ole time.

This was my second visit to WCC and although I would never discourage someone else from trying it (the food is decent, not spectacular, but decent). I don't think I'll be back. Both times just didn't work out for me, I'd rather spend my money elsewhere.

Ok. Enough time spent bringing this TR down. Ready for some more FUN!!!!! Perla, what's next??............

 

[estherhead]

I really like the in depth dinner report, we are going there for our first time since 95 this August and don't remember the antics...we will be in for a good time won't we?!?

If you love American food, straight up, you will love it. And honestly it's worth it just for an excuse to take the boat ride from MK to the Wilderness Lodge and an exploration of the Lodge.

The antics can vary greatly from server to server. But we've experienced in our two visits: 15 bottles of ketchup, LARGE glass of water with a huge straw, teasing about t-shirts, on our first visit Boo was dressed as a parrot (long story there) and they brought her crackers, doing the hokey-pokey, participating in a parade of little wooden horses and coconuts, being harrassed for a variety of things, having things hollered about us across the restaurant, etc.

This isn't on our every time list, but in 3-4 years I can see us wanting to do it again. We like the food, we like the interaction, and we love the Wilderness Lodge as I've made very clear. You'll have a great time!

We are people who usually eat between 5 and 5:30. Plus, we had set up camp in the heat all afternoon after driving 4 hours that morning. This combination of events led to a not so enjoyable dinner. Once we finally got sat down (30 minutes after checking in) our entire conversation for the first half of dinner was Milo ranting about the bad service. "We're paying big bucks to be here........I am not giving any tip.........Ok, If I give a tip, what would you have me do to show my unhappiness with this experience.........Somebody has to be held responsible" You get the idea. We were hungry and tired. After he got food in his stomach, he never did complain to anyone and left the customary tip.

The other bad thing about being seated so late was we weren't done until 8:00. About the time our desserts arrived, McQueen realized that we weren't gonna make it back in time to go swimming and even if we did go swimming, the slide would be closed. So the tears and ranting began from him.

So my dinner started with ranting and ended with ranting. All the while, I could see Perla's family having a grand, ole time.

This was my second visit to WCC and although I would never discourage someone else from trying it (the food is decent, not spectacular, but decent). I don't think I'll be back. Both times just didn't work out for me, I'd rather spend my money elsewhere.

Ok. Enough time spent bringing this TR down. Ready for some more FUN!!!!! Perla, what's next??............

Yes, we did have a good time. Donald loved our server, he and she swapped sarcastic comments happily. He loved the smoky steak. We were served quickly. He isn't a huge fan of the ribs. And neither am I. But I love the brisket. The mashed potatoes are yum. And I'm sorry, but no place where people willingly get up and hokey pokey can be bad.

We actually did the hokey pokey TWICE on this trip to WDW. I'm quite certain that the huge majority, like 99% of visitors to WDW never hokey pokey there, not once. And we were hokey pokey doing fools. Cause that's how we roll.

But, if I'm going to be completely honest, the Suzy clan did not look like they were having fun and it did bring me down a bit.

In retrospect of negative things 24 hours into our vacation I would have changed two things:
1) spend $89.00 on a hotel our first night.
2) make these ADR's for 5:30 and plan on swimming after dinner from the very beginning.

Everything else had been super duper.

 

[estherhead]

So the Perla clan was done with our extremely large and filling dinner and I had a mission: get an autograph book. It was VERY important as I have tried creative autograph books/ideas. None of them work the way they should. Sigh. I guess I'm just a purist and need the plain ole blue one. Mulan LOVES getting autographs and missing even one (despite us already having full autograph books of the same characters at home) is a tragedy she never lets me forget. Buzz, who by this point was truly bored to tears with the waiting/eating thing since he's not really very into food, ditched his family to go with us.

There was a bit of confusion as we still weren't sure if our immediate family was going swimming or not (I was unaware of McQueen already having a meltdown on the subject, I just knew it was gonna be rough going no matter what.) I had already decided no. Donald had told our girls he would probably take them. Probably emphasized. But after a bit of discussion we decided (as a couple) that we'd prefer to stick with Suzy's clan so there wasn't sadness and unfairness between our kids on the very first night.

So Suzy thought we were going back to the camp. But really we were hanging around the lodge waiting for them to finish. It was about 45 minutes of hanging.

Believe me, we were able to entertain ourselves.

Be one with the totem pole:

We then went in to the gift shop. It was our first gift shop of the week and we very much enjoyed ourselves. I bought earrings, an autograph book, and some magnets. Donald and the girls had a long conversation and look-see at the Vinylmations. There was pin trading. There was showing Mom and Dad things that were interesting. There was playing with stuffed animals.

Then I needed to go potty and hiked back across the lobby. When I came back, everyone was gone. So, and don't tell anyone, I stayed in the gift shop ALL BY MYSELF and looked at things that interested me, just me, for a whole 10 minutes. What luxury!

Here is where I found Donald and gang, not missing me one bit:

I then went to retrieve the stroller outside of the WCC where we had left it and we headed outside around the little fire pit. Suzy and Milo and gang were there very shortly and we headed back to the boat, chitchatting and getting excited for the next day. It was here that the adults knew no one was going swimming. It was pushing 8 o'clock and though the adults were in a great mood, some of the smaller ones were getting a bit cranky. And the next day was our biggest day, and the only one with a pretty set in stone itinerary, of the whole trip.

But we distracted the children with the nearly full moon:

We have 100 pictures of that moon. It was GORGEOUS. But you can't tell in a single one of the pictures. What is it about nature that makes you wanna take a picture?

"Oooo, it's the mooooooonnnnn. Take a picture!" Even though you know NEXT month there will be another full moon. And it, too, will be beautiful. Come on, admit it, you have at least 100 pictures of sunrises and sets in various locations. Despite the fact the the sun both rises and sets EVERY single day and there is never a reason for a picture since you can see a similar event right outside your house twice a day, every day. But you still have a bunch of pics. Probably one even framed.

We humans are a strange bunch.

Once off the boat dock some of us decided to take the bus. There was a bit of a crowd which I always take as a positive thing because it means no bus has been by recently. There are three buses that loop Fort Wilderness and two of them would work for usurple or orange. So I figured it'd be a short wait.

Donald, Charming, and Ariel walked from the get go. The rest waited about 2 minutes before Suzy declared the wait too long and headed off. Mulan and everyone else followed leaving Boo and me. And the stroller, my cheesecake bag, and my purchases bag. And a bus route I was uncomfortable with. And a walk back from the bus stop (which I'd never been to) in the dark to a site I'd been at once.

I stood there as my crowd left me and quickly assessed the situation as potentially a disaster leaving Boo and I both crying and wandering aimlessly in the Wilderness, and chased after them. As I caught up with them about 200 feet from the bus stop, the purple bus came. Darn it!

We walked that VERY long mile back to the camp site.

McQueen, unbeknownst to me, was already in full meltdown. As I caught up with Milo and McQueen McQueen was, in a panicky and very loud voice, freaking out about staying outside where the snakes were sure to eat him alive. Milo was doing his best, since he is quite experienced in the McQueen department but when McQueen started yelling, "I don't want to stay here, I just wanna go home," I spontaneously said, for better or worst, "At least there aren't bears here. Not a single bear lives in Florida and I know that for a fact."

Bears are a big deal to McQueen and he is quite sure they will eat him alive frequently, so I knew he'd be comforted by this. And sure enough, it did make him be quiet for a moment. "No bears?"

Milo jumped on that like a flea on a dog and McQueen quieted down. Milo talked for about 30 seconds about how Disney deported all the bears in Florida to Yellowstone before McQueen interrupted, saying, "But what about alligators?" Sigh. After a 20 minute walk, which seemed about an hour, we were back at our campsite. Thank God.

Here is the one photo I took of this momentous event:

For those of you coming from the Camping Forum, you know exactly what this is. A homemade with $30.00 spent at Lowe's/Home Depot Mickey Lamp Post. Now, I'm a handy person. And pretty much any craft project that I see on here I wanna do. And the Mickey Lamp Post was another one, right up my alley. I even had Donald read the thorough directions on that forum and the follow up post last month by the guy who tried and failed. But finally good sense got the best of us and we opted out.

But that didn't stop me from wishing I had this guy's. I woulda put in a green light bulb, though. Duh.

So over the bridge, over the hill, and through the forest, to our camp site.

We arrived at 8:30. The girls and I went to shower and there was no one there! Sweet! Guess 8:30 pm is a good time. I took Boo with me in the wheelchair accessible one and this was awesome! The shower head went up and down and there was a bench there. She absolutely LOVED this and happily showered, happily let me wash, condition, and comb her hair. It was super great.

Ariel had forgotten her towel, despite my laying it ON her toiletries container AND asking her if she had it as we walked out of the campsite. Do NOT get me started on Ariel and towels. Seriously. Anyway, I leant her mine since I knew she'd finish first and told her to bring me another one back. Knowing there was NO chance this would happen, I told her if she didn't bring me a towel back there would be no BBB for her the next day.

She brought me a towel. Whew!

Back at the ten I laid out and figured out the complicated clothing for the next day. And then Mulan and I sat on the rug inside our tent and dug into our desserts. As a reminder here is what we ordered (these are Suzy and Milo's)
Smores cheesecake:

Apple pie:

We got the smores cheesecake. But instead of apple pie we got some berry fluffy thing. Mulan and I were very disappointed. Why hadn't we checked? We were at the WL for an hour after ordering this. But we called Boo in and I fed it to her, she LOVED it, and Mulan and I split the cheesecake. We were SO happy to have the rug. It was just so comfy and homey.

At this point we hopped back to the Comfort Station and brushed our teeth, and then we were ready for bed, probably around 10. Every night before bed I re-blew up the air mattresses so they were super full. I started reading my book on the iphone (no light needed) and there was a LOT of noise outside. My girls were soundly sleeping:

And soon Donald was softly snoring as well. I drifted off about 10:30. Only to be awakened minutes later by kids screaming. I am not a wilting violet and am not the least bit concerned about offending other parents by calling out their kids, if the need be. However, I didn't holler at these kids. The main reason was I would decide to get out of my cozy bed and then they'd fall quiet. Only to scream 5 minutes later. I finally figured out they were playing hide and go seek as at 11:30 p.m. the "safe" tree was the one literally outside my tent.

So I was ready to get out of bed for sure this time and their dad called them over and the talking stopped. As I drifted to sleep for the final time, I knew if there was any kid antics again I'd holler at them first thing and not let it go an hour.

And with that, I'm gonna leave you for one more chapter to see how my mid-night potty needs might go.

 

[Dugette]

Enjoying reading all about your camping experience! I think it's the first Fort Wilderness TR I've read. Glad your trip went well and can't wait to hear more!

 

[estherhead]

Enjoying reading all about your camping experience! I think it's the first Fort Wilderness TR I've read. Glad your trip went well and can't wait to hear more!

Thanks! A lot of Fort TR's are actually on the camping forums but are mainly about the fort with just little diversions into the parks. So I really wanted to put this on the TR board for people who don't camp at WDW to hear about it. The camping really was a small part of our trip. Our trip was much more about WDW as a whole so truly belongs here on this board.

 

[houseful of boys]

And soon Donald was softly snoring as well. I drifted off about 10:30. Only to be awakened minutes later by kids screaming. I am not a wilting violet and am not the least bit concerned about offending other parents by calling out their kids, if the need be. However, I didn't holler at these kids. The main reason was I would decide to get out of my cozy bed and then they'd fall quiet. Only to scream 5 minutes later. I finally figured out they were playing hide and go seek as at 11:30 p.m. the "safe" tree was the one literally outside my tent.

We were also all in bed by about 10:00. Everyone asleep around me. Charming and Buzz had their own tent with a double air mattress. I was sleeping with Jack jack and McQueen on a queen and Milo was on his own twin mattress. I am not a person who sleeps easily so I watched something on the ipad to help me relax (I think maybe Private Practice) and after that tried to sleep. Now, what you don't know about Perla's comments above is that she has nerve deafness in one of her ears so when she sleeps she lays on her "good" ear so she only hears a fraction of the noise the rest of us do. I cannot stress to you how loud this group of kids was (sounded like they were ranging in age from about 7 to 12) (and I was in a tent, which is just a thin piece of plastic between me and those sound waves). It was Saturday night, the campground was quietly buzzing with families so there was more noise than you would expect in general after 10pm. However, these kids were playing hide and seek directly behind our campsite from 11:00 to 12:00. I could have stood the game, I am an easy going mom and I know how much fun it would be to play in the dark while camping. EXCEPT one of the younger girls kept freaking out because she was playing hide and seek IN THE DARK. So she kept screaming bloody murder when someone would sneak up on her. So I would just drift off and SCREAM, I would consider getting up and telling them to knock it off but then I didn't really want to haul myself out of bed so wouldn't and would start to drift off again until SCREAM. But finally, about midnight, they settled down. And my family never stirred. AND those kids left the following day so it was only an issue that first night, Thank goodness.

The upside of only having a thin piece of plastic between you and the world was the following morning, I woke up to the sound of a whipperwill. LOVED that!

 

[sly1971]

If you love American food, straight up, you will love it. And honestly it's worth it just for an excuse to take the boat ride from MK to the Wilderness Lodge and an exploration of the Lodge.

This isn't on our every time list, but in 3-4 years I can see us wanting to do it again. We like the food, we like the interaction, and we love the Wilderness Lodge as I've made very clear. You'll have a great time!

Hi Perla,

Loving reading your report and I share your affection for WL. Looking forward to my third stay there this Nov/Dec (yay - Christmas at the Lodge!). If you need a little "hit" of WL on a future trip, may I recommend trying the quick service on site. The Roaring Forks has terrific salads and yummy fresh sandwiches made to order and for dessert, the most wonderful brownies ever. Mmmm. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

 

[ksl5f123]

I am loving your TR. I just read the whole thing. Your descriptions of your preparations were so detailed and fun to read. I have never thought about camping at WDW before (I can understand McQueen's worries about being eaten by snakes), but you are making it sound like a lot of fun.

One question from someone who hasn't camped in 18 years - do you just leave your stuff in the tent during the day our do you load it into your cars? You mention having ipads and other things that I would worry would walk away.

 

[estherhead]

Loving reading your report and I share your affection for WL. Looking forward to my third stay there this Nov/Dec (yay - Christmas at the Lodge!). If you need a little "hit" of WL on a future trip, may I recommend trying the quick service on site. The Roaring Forks has terrific salads and yummy fresh sandwiches made to order and for dessert, the most wonderful brownies ever. Mmmm. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

I'm a big fan of brownies, so I'll have to check that out!

I am loving your TR. I just read the whole thing. Your descriptions of your preparations were so detailed and fun to read. I have never thought about camping at WDW before (I can understand McQueen's worries about being eaten by snakes), but you are making it sound like a lot of fun.

One question from someone who hasn't camped in 18 years - do you just leave your stuff in the tent during the day our do you load it into your cars? You mention having ipads and other things that I would worry would walk away.

That is an interesting question and at first we were concerned about things being stolen. But once there and set-up, our concerns went away.

For example, I went ahead and brought my iphone dock so I'd have a clock and we could play music while we worked (set-up and break down.) I worried that if I felt insecure it would be a real hassle to unplug it and stick it in the vans. But I was SO happy to have it. To have a real alarm clock make my tent that much more homey. And I never even worried for a single second that someone would steal it.

Not sure about Suzy, but Donald and I did lock our Mac laptop in our van while at the parks. It was no big deal to do, and we knew we'd feel more secure.

There is no riff raff wandering about at the Fort. Everyone there belongs there and is enjoying a family vacation.

Obviously, things can be stolen anywhere, and if you're going to worry, you would want to lock things up. But we didn't have so much as a PopTart bothered (by humans... but that story is coming up. )

I absolutely loved everything about this camping trip and if you enjoy tenting, you should go for it. If you don't enjoy tenting, you won't enjoy it at Disney, either.

 

[houseful of boys]

One question from someone who hasn't camped in 18 years - do you just leave your stuff in the tent during the day our do you load it into your cars? You mention having ipads and other things that I would worry would walk away.

I fully intended on putting all valuables in the van every morning and locking up. (mostly the iPad) But I live in a small rural community and am a person who doesn't lock the door when I leave my house for the day. Therefore I never did remember to do it. I would never recommend this approach for other campers. I'm sure it's extremely naive.

 

[estherhead]

Quick update, we got the Photopass all edited and ordered and it has already shipped. I have one update before the BBB (when I need the Photopass pics.) So I'll do that tonight or tomorrow and then, hopefully, it'll be here and I'm planning on Monday beginning a new chapter every day. I know, I know, I'm ambitious but I really think I can do it!

Suzy and I are hashing out the details on our June trip and it is VERY frustrating because the June AP discounts aren't out yet. We have one night that we want to stay on WDW property and they, I guess, really don't want our money because they are making it impossible! But that is another story and another TR and the whole reason I'm gonna cruise right through this one.

Stay tuned, this TR becomes a party in very next update. (But for now I'm off to enjoy sunny and 70 degrees which is right outside my door!)

 

[estherhead]

So after our irritating start to a good night's rest, I fell asleep and slept straight through till 5 a.m. When I woke up and seriously had to go. Fortunately, we had remembered to set out our KTTK card and a flashlight before we fell asleep as they lock the Comfort Stations at night. So I grabbed my KTTK and flashlight (which I didn't turn on) and headed out.

Other than the unzipping of the tent (which is so LOUD) this was completely painless as the CS was RIGHT there. Seriously, we were so close that it was only about 10 steps further than the bathroom in my bedroom. Course, there is hardwood flooring between my bed and bathroom. And this one had dirt. But thanks to the little rug and the pink bin full of flipflops I just popped them on and was there instantly. There was no one about and in about 30 seconds I was back at our campsite.

This time I went in the "front" door past our vans and grabbed 3 throw blankets as our tent was a tiny bit chilly (it was like 60 degrees or a smidge cooler.) I also turned on the heater. It was a little electric heater I already had and I was worried it wouldn't do much to heat "the outdoors". But I had brought it anyway. Cause pretty much, I'd brought anything I could possibly think we might need.

I threw a Dora blanket over the girls and I snuggled back into my bed, now slightly flattened, and rolled toward Donald, then snuggled together under the extra blankets. I fell asleep again! I was so surprised. But just 30 minutes later I woke up again and heard Suzy being awake. I listened to the birds outside. It's very strange that birds are completely different in Florida than in Ohio. And I couldn't pick out any but the Whippoorwill, as Suzy already mentioned. But it was really nice and I remembered again how much I LOVE waking up in a tent. Suzy and I texted a bit, of course. Getting our plans finalized so we could direct everyone secretly without them knowing we were doing it.

By six I couldn't stay in bed anymore as we had a REALLY busy day and MK opened at 8 a.m. So I got out of bed and it was so WARM in our tent! The heater worked like a dream! And I turned on the green lantern for a tiny bit of light.

Side story! When at Dollar Tree I found these battery operated lime green paper lanterns (they were with Easter stuff) and I decided, basically because they were Dis green, that I had to have some. So I bought three. I have no idea where the other 2 ended up, but we hung one in our tent. This was so perfect as it added enough light to function without bothering the sleeping people.

So, I turned it on, gathered my stuff and set out the girl's under clothes for under their princess dresses. This was the most complicated day to pack for ever! This day's clothing took up and entire plastic bin. Anyway, I sat out what I thought the kids could handle, and took mine over to the bathroom.

As I was putting on my make-up and doing my hair and brushing my teeth a mom and her little girl came in their jammies to use the facilities. As they were washing their hands the little girl says,

"Mommy, is it morning?"
The mom said, "For some people, yes. For other's it's the middle of the night."
To this the little girl says to me, "Are you going to Magic Kingdom?"
Really, I should have said no. But I was excited. And I'm fairly truthful.
To this she turned to her mom and said, "Why aren't we going to Magic Kingdom right now?" With that the mom glared at me. Ha, ha! Spreading good cheer at 6 a.m. in the bathroom to total strangers. Pretty sure that little girl wasn't going back to sleep.

When I got back to the tent, big surprise, my family was still asleep. So I made a little noise. Well, the tent door unzipping and rezipping didn't hurt my cause.

And I sat on the air mattress which flopped Donald into the air. That didn't hurt my cause either. With very little obvious awakening on my part, everyone was awake by 6:30. Our tent was SO toasty warm. It was awesome. The girls got up & changed right there in our 80 degree tent on their comfy rug in our tent that you can easily stand up in. LOVE that. I was thrilled.

I then spent the next 10 minutes searching high and lo for Mulan's phone charger which she had lost. Grrr! 10 year olds! I did find it, by the way. And later realized I'd had Buzz's all along which is the EXACT same plug, already plugged into our surge protector. Hers was in the back pocket of our van. And when I found the plug (which she'd been panicking about) and plugged her phone in, I discovered it had full bars. Whatever.

When I got out to try and scrounge breakfast together from pretty much the grocery store Suzy and I had brought, I discovered Donald had made coffee. By this point everyone was awake (except the littlest ones) and we were talking and having a grand time. Whoops! Hope we aren't making too much noise at 7 am like the kids at midnight! Well, no one was screaming bloody murder, I'll give us that. It was more just general "we're at Disney World having the time of our lives" breakfast conversation. No screaming.

At this point I thought, really I did, "Best campsite EVER! Suzy and I ROCK!!!"

And you know why else we rock? Our families got up at 6:30 a.m. and at 7:10 we were walking out of our campsite. Dressed, breakfasted, coffee-ed up, campsite clean, day bags packed. That's right. We are that good.

So what exciting free Disney transportation did we use this morning? We walked. I think I've beaten that horse to death. But just wanna make sure you know, we walked.

It's a mile.

And Suzy, bless her heart, had BOOKED it to the dock. She did this mile in 15 minutes flat. Well, some of us didn't. So when we actually got to the dock, the boat was pulling up. Suzy turns and hollers, "It's HERE RUN!!!" So Charming and me and the stragglers who were meandering (cause it was like 7:20 a.m. and we're on vacation) start RUNNING! That's right. I ran. Full out. Coffee in hand. For no reason. Cause once we were AT the dock, it was another 5-10 minutes before we were allowed on.

Whatever.

We get on the boat and take the best seats (right up front) and the captain is AWESOME! Buzz immediately says, "Are you trying to be a sailor guy?" Oh dear. Suzy says, "I think he likes to be called Captain." The sailor guy/captain's reaction to this was to hand everyone stickers!

Then Buzz talks to the captain trying to be a sailor guy again, "I know everything about Disney World." Uh-oh. What will happen this time? The captain says, "Me too! How many water bridges are there in the world and how many are on Disney property?" And Buzz doesn't know.

Did I mention I LOVE WDW? The answer is 7. Three at Disney World. He knew the other 4, but I didn't care enough to remember. Buzz LOVED this and they had a little interchange of Disney trivia.

Couple things to note. One, Jack-Jack carries his breakfast around with him at WDW for the first hour of the day. THIS is why, in Suzy & my opinion, we all come home with colds every time. His breakfast is a giant germ magnet. But, he does eat it all when all is said and done. Also, he has the cool stickers which I've only ever seen on this boat ride. Ever.

Second, the green flagged boat means: straight to Magic Kingdom! LOVED green boats!

I was quite concerned about the crowds as we arrived in plenty of time and this is at 7:30 a.m. and there are already a ton of people! In September at 7:30 there is NO ONE!

We watched the show, positioning ourselves at the left entrance. No reason, just did.

It's Mickey and Frontier Donald!

"3, 2, 1 Let the Magic Begin!!!!" "Magic wrapped up in pixie dust..."

Five minutes before 8 am, we were allowed in. Sweet! This was the one morning Suzy & I were stressed out about. I had actually called every morning for two full weeks to see if I could get my BBB appointment changed since I had made it for 8:40, which would have been PERFECT for the 9 am opening scheduled when I made the appointment. But 3 weeks before we left, they changed the opening to 8 a.m. Thus making my perfect 8:40 appt the stupidest time ever.

But there was no changing it. So we were gonna try and accomplish everything we possibly could in that 40 minutes and be religious about collecting FP's.

CASTLE!!!!

As we walked through the castle, I slowed down a little as I love that mosaic, and Boo said, "Mom!!" So I stopped, thinking something was wrong. She turns around and says, "Mom! It's exactly like I wished it!" I cry anyway when I see the castle on each trip. But that was ridiculous.

First stop: DUMBO! While we were in line for that (3rd Dumbo ride of the day! Score!) Suzy went to get Space Mt. FP's. She really needs to tell you this whole story, but basically this started a WHOLE thing. It gets crazier and crazier but we'll just start with her Space Mt. experience after this post.

So we rode Dumbo.

It is always a big thrill for Boo to hold the plastic ticket and put it on Dumbo's ear. And she, of course controls my Dumbo. Because of this my Dumbo was very erratic making it difficult for me to accomplish my goal of seeing over the fence. But I did manage a few glances:

By this point Suzy was back and hadn't had to use our tickets to get Space Mt. FP. Because we know what we are doing, we knew this meant we could get MORE FP's right away. Score! So we got Peter Pan as the plan was to ride Winnie the Pooh next so we could try out the new line, not available when you use FP. But sadly, Pooh was closed.

So we opted to ride the other super slow loading ride, Astro Orbiter. I know this made us walk a bit more, but to get Dumbo and AstroOrbiter out of the way when you have little ones is a very good thing. No one complained, believe you me. When your goal is no lines, this is a great thing to do.

Astro Orbiter had NO LINE. None. So we were on that elevator up right quick.

Milo doesn't ride this ride as he doesn't enjoy this particular height thing. But as we were dividing up whoever was dividing us thought we had an odd number (11) and McQueen volunteered to ride alone. So then we realize we don't have an odd number and you have those plastic tickets. So we told him he'd have to ride with Charming. Oh my goodness! You'd think we told him he had just stepped in dog poo. Also, we had different color tickets which should have put us on different elevators. Guess neither us nor the CM's had their A games going yet. Then when we were actually getting in the rockets, after dealing with the drama and McQueen shaking it off, we somehow HAD miscounted yet again and he did ride alone, as did Charming. Whatever. Get it together people. We don't need a McQueen melt down at 8:15 a.m.

Here is the leg room. If you do not bend easily. If you are over the age of 40 and DON'T have kids under 5. If you are taller than 5 foot. If you weigh more than 100 lbs. This is not the ride for you.

But we ride it anyway.

Every trip. And every trip Donald, Suzy, and I ponder as we go back down the elevator how many more trips we can reasonable expect our aging bodies to fold in quite this way.

It is nice, however, to see all of MK first thing in the morning from the air. I find that quite delightful. I LOVE the feeling of flying and flying over the MK, Awesome! But really, it is a tight and cramped fit. And I'm 5'5 and 150 lbs. Just sayin'.

Then we had our first true magic of the day (other than just the general magic floating about.) Alice spied ALICE!

I had never considered meeting Alice. And it worked out great as there was only one family in line and Ariel looked way more like Alice BEFORE BBB than after. So I was happy to have there pictures with Ariel having her blue bow in her hair.

Alice actually seemed more excited to see Ariel as Alice than Ariel seemed to see Alice herself. But they were both pretty excited.

Look how cute they are! Ariel and I had opted to just have white socks because we thought stockings might be hot, but other than that & our bow being blue instead of black, I think we did good. Even the shoes!

We didn't have a lot of time left and we thought if we went ahead and did the teacups we wouldn't really need to be at this corner again. So those that can hack it, hopped on. I wasn't amongst that group.

And that, my friends, was our first 30 minutes in the park. By they time they got off, it was time for BBB. I was concerned there would be a line and didn't want to waste any more time on the BBB than necessary. Certainly I didn't want to stand in LINE! Because we don't do that. I was hoping that at 8:30 in the a.m. lots of families were late. And even though Donald & I desperately had to pee (coffee!), we went over anyway. We could go potty any ole time. And the girls didn't have to go. Just a little sacrifice for our three princesses.

And now, you all must wait. Because the Photopass is COMING! And just a little preview before the real story: my three girls had two dedicated Photopass photographers. SCORE!

 

[YensidCamper]

I am absolutely loving this TR. I caught on from your tent pictures on the FW board. I am so glad I did. We thought we were Dis fans, we are learning how to do it. My wife loves the fact you guys are from her home state. We are both reading along. Can't wait for more.

 

[hollybearsmom]

What a great morning! Anxious to see the pictures. Loving your tr.

 

[YodaGirl]

Love your TR thus far! We LOVE camping at the Fort. I'm glad that y'all had the chance to experience it.

Suzy and I had spent 6 months, no maybe 12, pondering what would make a homey tent. Here are the things we decided on and that also worked. Here is my little tour of the above photo:

I need sheets and a comfortor, not sleeping bags. If it were really cold I would want a sleeping bag but it wasn't and I loved my choice. Also, there is a rug. This was HUGE in comfort as instead of tent floor which is dirty, we had a rug to sit on every morning and do hair, play with toys, etc. The rug is now an essential part of tenting for me.

Also, the pink bin out side our door was for shoes. All shoes go off & in the bucket. I also brought a little broom. Next time I'm going to bring a bigger broom.

The green bucket didn't go there. It held sunblock, Off, and after sun lotion, goggles, sunglasses, etc. Outside lotions and personal gear.

Nice set-up. We normally tent camp. We just got a pop-up, so I can't wait to try it out. I'm thinking that I might miss the tent a little, though...

The hose comes with the site, we didn't bring it.

I hope that you didn't use the hose. People have been known to use it for black water purposes.

 

[YodaGirl]

McQueen, unbeknownst to me, was already in full meltdown. As I caught up with Milo and McQueen McQueen was, in a panicky and very loud voice, freaking out about staying outside where the snakes were sure to eat him alive. Milo was doing his best, since he is quite experienced in the McQueen department but when McQueen started yelling, "I don't want to stay here, I just wanna go home," I spontaneously said, for better or worst, "At least there aren't bears here. Not a single bear lives in Florida and I know that for a fact."

Bears are a big deal to McQueen and he is quite sure they will eat him alive frequently, so I knew he'd be comforted by this. And sure enough, it did make him be quiet for a moment. "No bears?"

Milo jumped on that like a flea on a dog and McQueen quieted down. Milo talked for about 30 seconds about how Disney deported all the bears in Florida to Yellowstone before McQueen interrupted, saying, "But what about alligators?" Sigh. After a 20 minute walk, which seemed about an hour, we were back at our campsite. Thank God.

Actually, there were a couple of black bears who had managed to escape to Fort Wilderness (last year, I think?). But I won't tell if you don't.

As we walked through the castle, I slowed down a little as I love that mosaic, and Boo said, "Mom!!" So I stopped, thinking something was wrong. She turns around and says, "Mom! It's exactly like I wished it!" I cry anyway when I see the castle on each trip. But that was ridiculous.

I don't know if it's the pregnancy hormones, or what, but that made me cry a bit, too. So sweet!

 

[DisDreamz]

Can't wait for more! Yours was my very first trip report that I read way back when (and that trip convinced me to give a vacation home a try for our next trip ).

What is going on here? Someone is trying to strangle himself?

 

[ellajeansmom]

I'm caught up - glad I didn't miss too much. Your campsite looks great, very homey Apart from some minor bumps it sounds like a wonderful trip so far!

Looking forward to the BBB pics, it was definitely a highlight for my girls on our trip

 

[estherhead]

I am absolutely loving this TR. I caught on from your tent pictures on the FW board. I am so glad I did. We thought we were Dis fans, we are learning how to do it. My wife loves the fact you guys are from her home state. We are both reading along. Can't wait for more.

Thanks! I love good, clean family entertainment. And I always love fellow Buckeyes.

What a great morning! Anxious to see the pictures. Loving your tr.

I can't WAIT to show you all the BBB pictures. The money is outrageous when you have three little girls! But for one time, it was totally worth it. And I do not part with my money easily!

Love your TR thus far! We LOVE camping at the Fort. I'm glad that y'all had the chance to experience it.

Nice set-up. We normally tent camp. We just got a pop-up, so I can't wait to try it out. I'm thinking that I might miss the tent a little, though...

I hope that you didn't use the hose. People have been known to use it for black water purposes.

A pop-up would definitely be the route I would go if not a tent. Almost as in touch with nature as a tent but a real mattress. I bet you'll love it!

I never did use the hose. The only thing I ever need water for was coffee. I'd just take the pot with me and wash it out in the Comfort Station and then we used bottled water to make coffee. Florida water=gross. But I had no idea the hoses had other purposes.

Actually, there were a couple of black bears who had managed to escape to Fort Wilderness (last year, I think?). But I won't tell if you don't.

I don't know if it's the pregnancy hormones, or what, but that made me cry a bit, too. So sweet!

What! No way I'm telling anyone this. But you don't have to lock up your food in bear boxes. So I just assumed. If bears are in Florida, why don't they have bear boxes? We just left our food in our kitchen area in plastic containers.

Can't wait for more! Yours was my very first trip report that I read way back when (and that trip convinced me to give a vacation home a try for our next trip ).

What is going on here? Someone is trying to strangle himself?

KathyRN was my first TR years ago. You always have a tender spot for that first TR, ya know?

McQueen was getting out of the stroller. That's how they get out, they duck under the bar. But it does make an interesting photo.

I'm caught up - glad I didn't miss too much. Your campsite looks great, very homey Apart from some minor bumps it sounds like a wonderful trip so far!

Looking forward to the BBB pics, it was definitely a highlight for my girls on our trip

Thanks! It truly was a great trip. With eleven of us, we can't ask for a perfect trip. That's impossible. We just shoot for imperfect but amazing.