WHat do you mean the golf cart isn't one of the park rides? My Aug 11-15 trip report

[libba]

Well - gonna start this thing with introductions. Not big on putting pictures up ( DH is freaky about that stuff) but can give you the trip details.

Me - 48 year old nurse who works part time and is full time Mama to DD age 11 1/2 ( that half is always important). A true Disney fan - husband thinks I am nuts as I live vicariously half the year reading others trip reports on Dis even when we are not headed to Disney. New to the RV thing but loving it!

DH - 46 year old. Has made his year to buy our "test" RV used off Craiglist. 1998 Jayco travel trailer. Was totally surprised when HE camae up with the idea to go to Disney. He has always been anti-Disney ("too busy" "not relaxing").

DD - 11 1/2 and starting 6th grade this year. Loves anything fast. Famous quote after getting off the Dueling Dragons ride two years ago was "Wow I think I threw up a little in my mouth - let's go do it again!"

Our game plan for this trip was to be really laid back. Two parks only - Animal Kingdom and EPCOT. These were the two parks we did not do when we took DD when she was 4. No dinner reservations made. Breakfast stuff and snacks packed along with our favorite alcoholic beverages for late evening fireworks viewing. Will do the first day this weekend. Hope you enjoy - I am intimidated by the fantastic trip reports on this board!

 

[bama_ed]

Go on....

Tell me more.

Bama ED

PS-where is home/how far did you come to get to the Fort?

 

[mash]

Awesome! A trip report. Nothing to be intimidated about. Everyone here loves a trip report. I hope you enjoy writing it and posting it as much as we will enjoy reading it.

 

[libba]

We drove from Mobile AL to the fort after driving from Birmingham to pick up our daughter at her grandparents. Drove straight back to Birmingham from the fort. Took about 12 hours with stops.

 

[bama_ed]

Libba,

I'm in hoover which is a suburb of birmingham near the Galleria Mall.

Did you go to the Fort via Montgomery, Dothan, and Tallahassee or did you head to Atlanta then take i75 south?

We've done both routes and i generally prefer the Dothan route and it takes us about 11.5 hrs.

So tell us more about your trip.

Thanks, Bama Ed

 

[2goofycampers]

I'm in. No pics needed I have a good imagination.

 

[photogal06]

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[libba]

Bama Ed - We live in Vestavia. Took the Montgomery, Dothan, Tallahassee route back but had to go I10 to I 75 down. Miles and miles of trees with nothing to look at. Much prefer the route you take!

Headed to Bama for sorority bid day but will post day one tomorrow!

 

[libba]

Up early in Mobile to leave for Disney. DH and I had arrived in late the night of the 10th, had a glass of wine then headed straight to bed! My inlaws had breakfast and more importantly coffee ready for us! We had left travel trailer hooked to truck in front of the house so all we had to do was hop in and head out.

WOW is I-10 a boring drive. Kinda like a long pine tree tunnel with nothing to look at. I was not feeling well the first part of this trip. I think I had a bit of a bug but thank goodness it was manageable and not one of those hang your head in a barf bag things. DH still contends it was nerves about how the trip would go since it was our first long haul with the trailer. Who knows! I do tend to have one of those type tummies.

Anyway - we left Mobile at 8 AM central time and arrived in Orlando at around 6:30 PM eastern time. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the Fort from the interstate! GOOD LORD at the traffic. We were thrilled to finally see the front gates of Fort Wilderness! A wonderful lady named Amanda greeted us with bright smile and welcomed us to our first time at FOrt Wilderness. Our assigned loop - Timber Trail - loop 1600 - site 1641.

We got the trailer parked after a few glitches. Wow that is a tight space to park off that loop. The family next to us were sitting out with drinks watching the whole thing. I laughed and made a comment about providing the evening's entertainment and the dad said - no worries - that was us yesterday evening.

By this time we were so exhausted I cranked up the stove to cook the hot dogs instead of the grill. DH had driven the whole way and he said he just wanted to mix his favorite alcoholic beverage and do nothing until bedtime. SO wine and drink poured and dinner eaten we sat down to plan the next day.


Tomorrow: The clan does Animal Kingdom and DH decides he MUST have a golf cart!

 

[Princess Bette]

I'm coming along for the ride! Great start - can't wait to hear more!

 

[happy_redhead]

I'm in! Can't wait to hear more. Thinking about planning a quick trip in January as a surprise for my boys!

 

[iuki]

Thank you for taking the time to share your adventure. Looking forward to the rest of the trip report. We live about 35 miles from FW and still haven't made it yet. We're waiting for next month when most schools start.

Can't wait to experience FW for the first time.

Anticipating more of your report.

 

[bama_ed]

We got the trailer parked after a few glitches. Wow that is a tight space to park off that loop. The family next to us were sitting out with drinks watching the whole thing. I laughed and made a comment about providing the evening's entertainment and the dad said - no worries - that was us yesterday evening.

I'm ashamed to say that the wife and I sit outside and will watch folks back in (and even offer to assist if desired). That's when you can see communication skills in action.

Bama ED

 

[serenitygr]

I'm ashamed to say that the wife and I sit outside and will watch folks back in (and even offer to assist if desired). That's when you can see communication skills in action.

Bama ED

LOL- BamaED- I'm assuming you mean the communication skills of the couple driving the camper/rv? That will be us next Christmas(2013). I'd be happy for assistance, but not so sure my "better half" would feel the same, so we'll probably be one of those who provide "entertainment"...

 

[chanson2]

Joining! Had to laugh at the 'communications' post from bama_ed! DH's favorite line is "I can't see you....."

Our first trip to the fort, we were assigned a site in 1800 loop we just could NOT get into. (30 ft TT, with ditches on both sides of the campsite, and parked vehicles on the inside of the loop) Finally called a CM, who tried to guide us in as well - he finally gave up and gave us a different site (see Hubby, it wasn't just my lack of guidance skills...) But we've survived with the TT for about 8 years now!

 

[libba]

After our first camping trip and much cursing and yelling we take walkie talkies on camping trips. Cuts down on the child learning new cuss words! Be back later to post our first park day!

 

[LHARPSTER]

Joining! Had to laugh at the 'communications' post from bama_ed! DH's favorite line is "I can't see you....."

LOL....My DH says the same thing!!! LOL

I can't wait to hear more!!!

 

[bama_ed]

LOL- BamaED- I'm assuming you mean the communication skills of the couple driving the camper/rv? That will be us next Christmas(2013). I'd be happy for assistance, but not so sure my "better half" would feel the same, so we'll probably be one of those who provide "entertainment"...

Yes, serenitygr, that was what I meant.

Believe it or not, I did think carefully how to word that line before I finally settled on "communication skills".

Honestly, the reason why it's funny is that to some degree or another that's been any of us at one point. Fortunately for me my two sons became excellant spotters (they know to stay where I can see them in my side mirrors).

Okay, libba, please continue. I'll shut up now.

Bama ED

 

[libba]

Day Two - Animal Kindom or the day we became 'those people'

SO - like I said this was laid back Disney trip. We slept in!! Like didn't get up until eight. I got up first - as always. When you normally get up at 3 AM sleeping until eight is a dang miracle! Turned on the coffee pot ( my fav. thing about camping) and waited while the coffee brewed. Then took my cup outside so the rest of my folks could sleep. When I finally rousted them up I had finished two cups of coffee and walked around the whole loop. I swear I looked for dis stuff everywhere and saw NO ONE!!! After we got in gear we walked up to catch the bus to Animal Kingdom. About halfway DH proclaims CHANGE OF PLANS we MUST have a golfcart!!! SO we went to the front office to rent a cart. Done deal! On to Animal Kingdom.

We arrived at 1130 and DH said he needed food first. Stopped at a CS in the Oasis area - cannot remember the name. I was still feeling puny so dd and I split a turkey and cheese on focaccia. It was HUGE so I nibbled mine and had a coke and was feeling a bit better after lunch. We went straight to the safari - walked right on! Gotta love it! SAw TONS of animals- elephants, including a baby, giraffe, lions, hippos, zebra, etc... I was surprised because I was scared they would all be asleep that time of day. It started getting really cloudy and looking like rain which was a welcome relief since it was about 106 with the heat index. Got off safari and headed to pull a fast pass for the river rapids. I was ghastly hot and it was the right time to walk over and see Nemo. Asked my husband if he'd be embarassed if I stripped in the blessed AC. He of course assured me he would not be embarassed at all. He's so easy!

So after Nemo we walked out to discover it was raining! Felt great though and we wlaked over to pull a fast pass for Everest. About this time DH says "NO WAY am I riding that thing - you go". Now folks - I hate heights AND I get motion sick. But for my child I agreed - I can deal with anything for 3 1/2 minutes right?

Ice cream break for DH and DD since at that point they had shut down Everest due to thunder. We took DD to "it's tough to be a bug". SHe is rabidly bug phobic and her daddy thought it might be good for her. Of course she ended up in his lap. I think she was actually disappointed that she didn't get to feel the roaches running under the seat! By this point they had started Everest back up - you could tell by the screaming! So we walked back over and there was only a 10 minute wait. Walked right on! Of course I was less than thrilled but spent the few moments we had to wait praying for strength and not to come off the ride and promptly puke my guts up! Luckily I did not do the second but DUDE no one told me that thing went backwards.

Finally it was time to do Kali River Rapids. Asked if there were lockers and told no. Explained to the very nice CM that we got burned on the water rides at Universal last year. She smiled sweetly and said "I really should n't say this but you really won't get THAT kind of wet on this ride". SHe was kind enough to get us plastic bags for our cell phones just in case though. So you can probably guess what happened right? YES - we got SOAKED - like even our underwear! DH kept saying that if just his underwear would be dry he would be happy. We looked for the sweet CM but couldn't find her - we alwys seem to have that type of luck.

To end our day we decided to eat at Rain Forest Cafe - wet bodies and all. Had a 10 minute wait even with no reservations. Had some excellent quesadillas for our appetizer. DD got the kids pasta, I had the coconut shrimp skewers, and DH had the shrimp trio. DD devoured hers and had one of my shrimp skewers. I liked the coconut shrimp but thought the sauce was nasty! I am really partial to OUtbacks sauce. DH like the shrimp that was wrapped in bacon and stuffed with crab but had the same opinion about the dipping sauce for the coconut shrimp. He said the scampi on his had no taste.

We headed back to the fort, took blessedly hot showers in the immaculate bath houses, and went back to mix a cocktail before heading out to watch the light show and Wishes. DH said he had NEVER seen a bath house that nice - ever! Water pick shower heads and spotlessly clean! Loved chilling at the dock and watchingWishes - with the soundtrack - which was the last time we had the soundtrack! Glad we didn't miss it! DD thrilled to the golf cart ride and proclaimed it the best part of the trip!

 

[projectGemini]

Excellent TR so far!