A Grand Gathering filled with Bats, Geysers, and the Fort

[amylevan]

Welcome! C'mon in and have a seat! I'll tell you all about our February trip to Fort Wilderness!

I have grown up camping, and while the majority of that time was spent in a tent, my parents did own a pop up for several years when I was younger. My parents sort of got away from the camping thing as my brother and I got older, but before my parents retired they purchased a 5th wheel camper in order to spend some of their new found free time exploring the country. And I use the term “camper” only in the loosest sense of the word. : It has a fireplace, a king size bed and a full kitchen for goodness sakes. Several of my aunts and uncles followed suit and soon there were regular camping trips. DH, never being one to enjoy sleeping in hotels, soon wanted to join the camping party without giving up the comforts of air conditioning. So, we bought our 5th wheel camper in 2009 – the summer that my son was born.

After a few local camping trips, we hauled our camper to Louisville, KY, to visit some of DH’s relatives in May of 2011. It was a 12 hour drive, and we had a great time. DS (then almost 2) did absolutely great on the drive, and so I popped the magic question. Since we made it to KY and back with no problems, how would you feel about taking it Disney?

I absolutely adore Fort Wilderness (and WDW for that matter). My parents had been spending a little time there every winter, and had flown DS and myself down to visit a couple of times. DH had never been there, and isn’t particularly fond of WDW to begin with, but I had rewards dollars burning a hole in my pocket, and DS is a huge fan of Disney Junior, so….

We’re going to Disney World!

DH was willing to make the trek, if we invited along the family that we often camp/vacation with. So we invited them and my parents, and soon we had a grand gathering of 3 camp sites planned for a week in February, 2/3/12-2/11/12. (Camping is made for being with family and friends after all…)

Cast of Characters:
Me: HUGE WDW fan, thrilled that I finally have family to share my love with
DH: not a WDW fan, jokingly refers to it as a “People Trap designed by a mouse”
DS2.5: huge Mickey Mouse and Disney Junior fan

DM: my mom, has only recently discovered her love of WDW (post-retirement)
DF: my dad, not a WDW fan, but is a fan of the winter weather in FL so he goes along with my mom’s newfound love
If you had asked me 5 years ago whether my parents would ever be annual pass holders, I would have laughed in your face. They took my brother and me on the “mandatory” family WDW vacation when I was in 4th grade and never went back. My dad hates crowds. My mom was a teacher who couldn’t vacation doing the school year and was not going near the state of Florida in the summer. Then they retired. Suddenly they were spending 2 months in Florida every winter in their camper – with 2 weeks at WDW. My dad goes on and on about the quality of Fort Wilderness while my mom gushes about the attractions and shows. Funny how things change.

DFH: DH’s best friend since they were in elementary school, also not a WDW fan
DFW: His (5 mos. Pregnant) wife, only been to WDW 1 other time, a long time ago
DFH4.5: their daughter; a princess lover, first timer
DFS3.5: their son; just on the autism spectrum, first timer
DFHB: DFH’s brother (how’s that for initials!?), who lives in south florida, joined us for a few days

And we're off..

 

[amylevan]

Thurs & Fri, Feb 2 & 3:

We live in the Lehigh Valley, PA – about 17 hrs door to door nonstop from Fort Wilderness. I have been to WDW 13 or so times, and I have only driven one other time. DH and I drove down during our junior year in college to visit my grandparents during spring break. All I remember from that trip is that I swore I would never drive again. So here we were planning on doing the drive, with a 5th wheel camper, and a 2.5 yr old. What are we, crazy?

And did I mention that I have never driven the truck with the camper on it? (That thing is HUGE!) In fact, I’ve only ever driven DH’s truck a hand full of times, nevermind with that behemoth on it. We did figure that driving straight on a flat highway in the slow lane was the easiest place to learn, so the thought was that through parts of South Carolina and Georgia, I might take over for an hour or 2 to give DH a break. (Not that he would sleep with me driving, but maybe he could at least take his eyes off the road…)

In an effort to get as much driving done as possible while DS was sleeping, we decided to drive through the night on the way down. We figured that after a week in WDW, we would be too tired to drive straight through on the way home, so we planned on staying in a hotel on the way back. (SPOILER ALERT: Due to unforeseen circumstances, this was not to be…stay tuned…)

So, DH worked a double shift on Wednesday, and Thursday I went to work, DS went to daycare, and DH slept the day away. When I got home on Thursday, we had dinner, gave DS a bath and put him in his pjs, and were all ready to leave about 2 hrs ahead of our target time. Then, DH checked the tire pressure one last time. Alas, we had a leaking tire. It was 5:30pm, and we wouldn’t be going anywhere until we found someplace open to fix the tire (and we don't exactly live right around the corner from civilization). After a few frantic phone calls, we located a Sears Auto center that was open and had a technician available. They are about 25 minutes from our house, and the guy told me on the phone that their technician would be there for another 30 more minutes, and then they were closing for the night. So DH raced off to get the tire fixed. Obeying all traffic laws in the process...

Luckily, he made it and they fixed the tire. We were officially on our way at about 7:30pm – a half hour after our target time. Not too shabby. Our friends live about 1.5 hrs SE from us, and got on the road around 3pm. My parents were already in Fort Wilderness awaiting our arrival.

Disney World, we're on our way!!!

The most direct route from our neck of the woods is straight down I-95. However, you cannot pull a trailer with propane through the tunnels in Baltimore. Since we’d have to detour around Baltimore anyhow, we opted for a different route altogether. We headed west on I-78, south on I-83 to 15 south to 270 east to 495 (Beltway) to 95. This drops you on the western loop around DC. We had a very pleasant drive with little to no traffic until we got on the Beltway. We got there about 11:30pm to discover that they had 5 lanes merged down to 1 lane for construction. (Ever try merging in bumper to bumper traffic with a 5th wheel – it ain’t pretty!) It actually looked like they were getting ready to lift some sign structures over the roadway, which would require a full closure, so we got through just in time.

After we got south of DC, it was smooth sailing. I was in and out of consciousness for parts of VA & NC. (Hey I worked that day!!!) Our friends had pulled into the first rest area in SC to catch a few hours of sleep, so we pulled in for a little nap at about 5:30am. Unfortunately, we had our 2 dogs with us, and they immediately started barking at the tractor trailers, which of course woke DS up. And once he’s up for the day, he’s up. So, we decided to get back on the road. We left a note on our friend’s window, and off we went. We stopped for breakfast at around 8, at which point our friends caught up to us, and we convoyed the rest of the way. (This here’s the Rubber Duck…we ain’t gonna pay no toll!)

We pulled under the Welcome Gates around 2:30pm. All in all, the drive wasn’t as horrible as I remembered, and DS was an absolute delight – no whining or complaining! He fell asleep around 9:30pm and slept til 5:30pm – not even opening his eyes when we stopped for a potty break sometime around midnight. And DH didn’t even need me to drive.

We had reserved premium sites and linked all 3 of our reservations via a Grand Gathering number. I followed that up with a fax asking the Fort to please place us near each other, and if possible, near the settlement. My parents had checked in the night before and were placed in site 415 – just the loop I had in mind. When they checked in, they verified that we were to be in 416, and our friends in 417.

So imagine our surprise when our friends were given a site in a partial hook-up loop at check-in. There was no way that their camper was fitting on a tent/pop-up site loop, and they had paid for a premium site! After some research, it appeared that the guests who were in 417 had decided to stay a few extra days, and when the cast member went into the system to extend their reservation, they unlinked our reservations and moved our friends. After a little delay and some moving around, they were reassigned to a site in the 500 loop – a premium loop, but not the same as ours. Bummer.

The 400 loop was great – just a hop, skip and a jump from the settlement and marina, and not too far of a walk to the Meadows.

After our long day (and night), we set up camp, put some burgers on the grill and called it a very early night. I’m pretty sure that I was sound asleep before 9pm.

 

[amylevan]

Sat, Feb 4:

A word of warning, our friends and I are mean parents. Our kids try every ride and/or attraction that they are tall enough. If they don't like it, they don't have to repeat it, but we all try em out first. That's just how we roll. So, on with our WDW touring!

I am a very Type A personality. I love lists and schedules and Microsoft excel. (Geek alert!!! And of course Disney. So, I was the unofficial tour guide on this trip, and the butt of many jokes. (Our friends joked that they were going to make t-shirts that said “We’re with Tour Guide Amy!” ) But I had a plan for the week, and everyone was thankful when they weren’t standing around trying to decide where to go next.

We camp with our friends often, and in the past they haven’t always been “up and at ‘em” in the morning. We had warned them that we would be ready to go at a certain time each day, and would leave without them if they weren’t ready to go. Saturday was our Animal Kingdom day, and I wanted to be headed to the busses by 8am. And wouldn't you know it, our friends were at our campsite ready to go by 8! I was so proud.

Since the 400 loop is just a short walk from the settlement, we always caught a bus to the outpost from there since all 3 routes stop at both places. We figured that makes it 3 times more likely that we won't have to wait long for an internal bus. And most times, there was a bus already sitting there when we arrived.

DFS started to cry a little when we climbed onto our first bus. He goes to preschool on a bus, and apparently he was afraid that he was going to school! After we calmed him down and assured him that we were going someplace much more fun, we arrived at the outpost to discover that a bus to AK was waiting for us (no I hadn’t planned that!). We were off on our first theme park of the week!

We got through the turn styles a little after 8:30, and after potty breaks and checking out the animals on our way through the Oasis, we reached Discovery Island just as the rope dropped. While most people made a mad dash for the safari or EE, we headed towards Triceratop Spin. (I wanted our first ride to be something everyone could go on!) There was no wait, and then we headed off to Dinosaur!

DFD is quite possibly the bravest 4 yr old that I know. She will ride anything and everything that she is tall enough for. (She was about 43 inches this trip.) So my parents and DFW (motion sickness prone & pregnant) stayed with DS and DFS while the rest of us rode Dinosaur. Shockingly (insert sarcasm), DFD was not a fan. At all. Tears, hiccups, the whole works. Luckily, she bounced back quick. And this was the only ride she had a problem with the whole trip.

From here, we headed over to Expedition Everest with the intention of grabbing FP. The standby time was only 5 minutes though, so instead we decided to just ride it while we were there. DFD was a little miffed that she wasn’t tall enough. (She was thisclose). So, DH, DFH and myself got in line. We didn’t actually have any wait - just the time it took to walk through the queue. I seem to recall DFH yelling at me for not mentioning that we would go backward, but all-in-all it was a good ride.

From here, we walked through the Maharajah Jungle Trek, where my DS discovered his favorite animal. The tigers? No, too typical. The Komodo dragon? Nope. The deer-like animals? No. The bats? Yes, the bats. Blood sucking, flying rodents. Yick. All week, when asked what his favorite part of the trip was, he would reply “The Bats!” And why you ask? Because they are upside down!!! And so began my mom’s adventure to try and find her grandson a stuffed bat.

But really, we drove over 17 hrs to a land filled with magical places and characters, and DS’s favorite part of the whole trip was the bats. We could have saved a lot of time and money and gone to the zoo.

After discovering our love of bats, we headed towards the safari. There was a 20 min standby wait and the typical 40 min return time for FP, so we grabbed FP and headed for the Pangini Trail. After gawking at the apes, hippos, fish and birds, our return time was open, so we used our FP on the safari.

After the safari, we were ready for lunch! DFW is a much better mom than I, and packed lunches for her family most days. The rest of us needed to buy some fast food. So we headed to Pizzafari and grabbed some tables in the far corner of the back room so that we could spread out. After Italian sandwiches (yum!), ceasar salads and pizza, we headed over to It’s a Bugs Life.

DS has still not forgiven me.

DS and DFS were definitely not fans of the “Bug show”. DFD didn’t mind the show (not that she wanted to see it again, mind you), but after huge man-eating dinosaurs, I guess some life-size bugs weren’t really that scary. (It is our job to ensure that our kids have something to tell their psychiatrist about in the future, ok?)

After being scarred for life, we headed towards my absolute favorite show in all of WDW – Festival of the Lion King. We had a little time before the next show, so we met some characters in Camp Minnie-Mickey.

I was not sure how DS would react to the characters. We had been in Chick-fil-a not too long ago, and there was a party going on, so the cow was there. DS was ok with the cow from afar, but had a "please don’t get too close to me" attitude, if you know what I mean.

So we got in line behind our friends to see Goofy. DS is a fan of Goofy’s goofy ways on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and we figured we’d let him see his friends approach Goofy first. And like a good friend, what is the first thing DFS does? Squeeze Goofy’s nose and step on his feet. He showed DS that there is nothing to be scared of. DS goes right up to Goofy and gives him a big hug! Hooray, we have character interaction!

The kids loved Lion King. Well, DS and DFD did. DFS managed to fall asleep. He has a knack for falling asleep whereever/whenever he needs to. It's really quite impressive.

After the show, we decided it was time to head out.

An uneventful ride back to the Fort was followed by an uneventful dinner. (Spaghetti and home made sauce anyone?)

After dinner was a trip to the campfire for s’mores and a sing along with Chip n Dale. Unfortunately, DS had stubbornly refused to nap, and he was shot. So we only made it through one song before returning to our camper to put DS to bed.

We were still a bit tired from the drive, so DH and I were also in bed early, but 1 more nights sleep and we were fully recovered.

 

[disney<333]

Joining in! Great start! Your family is beautiful.

 

[amylevan]

Sun, Feb 5:

Super Bowl Sunday!

Here is where I must admit that my advanced planning failed miserably. I am a huge (HUGE!) Giants fan. And in our grand gathering of 10, I am the only football obsessed one. My dad watches occasionally, but not religiously. My DH will occasionally watch with me, if only to cheer on the team playing the Giants to get me all bent out of shape.

Anyhow, if there are any other Giants fans reading this, you understand why at the time of making dining reservations 180 days out (August), and especially when I was revising reservations in November, I had little expectations of them making the Super Bowl. Preseason we were all moaning the lack of free agency moves and the lack of a receiving corps. (Idiots that we were…) Then they lost what, 4 in a row? And while I was aware that Feb 5 was the Super Bowl, I also knew that there were no other football fans in our group. So I made dinner reservations at ‘Ohana for 5pm, figuring that I could skip the big game if the Giants weren't in it.

My bad.

The SECOND the giants beat San Fran, I was frantically trying to estimate how long it would take to eat and get back to the Fort. It was gonna be rough.

Anyhow, back to the day at hand. We are headed to the Magic Kingdom and the Giants are in the Super Bowl! Can there be a better day?

I absolutely adore the boat ride to the Magic Kingdom from the Fort. So much more relaxing than a bus, and the weather was beautiful! We were a smidgeon late, so I missed the opening ceremony as I was trying to get through bag check. But we were through the gates and on our way to Fantasyland by 9am.

Our first stop was the tea cups. DS has not really been on any ride like this yet, but he had an absolute wonderful time laughing in his cup with Grandma and Grandpa. DH decided he would try and make me sick by spinning us as fast as he could.

After the tea cups we rode Pooh – still a walk on. After Pooh we grabbed FP for Peter Pan and rode it’s a small world. We saw Mickey’s Philharmagic (which DS refers to as Donald’s movie – wouldn’t Donald be proud?!?!)

Since it wasn't time for our fp yet, we headed over to Splash Mountain - which was a walk on. Grandma, Grandpa, DS and DFW passed on it, but even DFS had a great time. We then had to stop for pictures with Jesse & Woody (which was easily a 20 minute wait.)

We went back to ride Peter Pan, had lunch at the Columbia Chowder House and rode the Haunted House. We then took the train to the front of the park for our afternoon break.

An awesome morning!

After we got back to our campsite, I tried unsuccessfully to get DS to take a nap. Mind you, this is the same kid who will crash for a nap at home and I’ll have to wake up 2 hours later. I was tired and annoyed, and so I put DS in his stroller and walked over to the Meadows Trading Post to check out some merchandise. Wouldn’t you know that he fell asleep within a min of walking, and stayed asleep in his stroller until we got on the boat on our way to dinner at ‘Ohana.

I checked in at the podium at ‘Ohana about 4:45 (where the host admired my Giants shirt!). They don’t open until 5pm, and at about 5:05 we were seated. DH is a huge fan of the “meat on a stick” restaurant, and the food didn’t disappoint. DS and DFD had a great time sweeping the coconuts. I tried not to look at my watch - much.

At some point I got up to go to the bathroom, and laughed as I passed the waiting area. Guys were huddled around the tv watching the pre-game. Am I the only female football obsessed fan anywhere?

I walked past the tv on our way out of ‘Ohana, but the game was literally just starting – so no score. And as we are one of the only people left on the planet without a smart phone, I would be scoreless until we got back to the Fort.

Monorail to MK… Boat to Fort… Could this trip get any longer?

I originally had visions of watching the game outside with my dad and a mini-party, but DH and DFH headed to Walmart for some camper parts, and it started to rain – a florida downpour. So we put DS to bed and I watched the game alone in my camper. I won’t bore you with football details, but suffice it to say I went to bed a very happy camper.

Go Giants!

 

[amylevan]

Mon, Feb 6:

Have I mentioned that DS is a huge Grandpa’s boy? So every morning, my early riser says, “I waked up! Can I go see Grandpa now?” Since they live about 3 hrs from us, and they don’t see each other often, DS was all Grandpa, all the time, this trip. If Grandpa was otherwise engaged, Grandma was an ok replacement. If she was busy, Dad would have to do. Only if all else failed, would DS seek out Mom. Gee, thanks.

Anyhow, every morning DS headed straight to Grandpa to make Mickey pancakes. Meaning DH and I had relatively easy mornings. It was kind of nice.

Today was a mix of Sea World and Epcot. We thought the kiddos would enjoy Sea World, so we added it to our itinerary. To be honest, for the price, I’m not sure it was worth it.

And knowledgeable readers may wonder how a Giants fan could head away from WDW when Eli Manning would be there for the MVP parade. Let’s just say it was very difficult driving away from the closest I’ve ever been to THE Manning brother.

Anyhow, my parents and we crammed into our truck (me in my Giants shirt!), and our friends followed us over to Sea World. No sooner had we pulled out of our camp site when the “Check Engine” light appeared. We are 1000 miles from home and have to pull a 10,000lb plus camper home. Not what we want to see. Lucky for us that my dad has one of those nifty things that can read a truck’s computer to see what the code is, and oh, did I mention that DFH just happens to be a mechanic?

When we got to Sea World, the men read the code on the truck, DFH called a friend who works on Dodge trucks to see if he can decipher it, and well, forgive me but I don’t remember all the details. All in all, they decided that we’d be ok, but I didn’t have a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Our first stop in Sea World was Manta. To my surprise, my dad joined DH, DFH and myself, while Grandma, DFW and the kids sat and waited. This was a unique coaster - the whole laying down thing is very different. Not incredibly great or particularly long, but the initial feeling of going through the loop while lying down was pretty cool.

From there we headed to the sting rays and the dolphins. We were there just in time for the dolphin feeding, so the daddies took the kids in to feed them while the moms and grandparents watched and took pictures. Word of advice - they are very serious when they say beware of the birds. :

After that, we saw the dolphin show, which was enjoyable but a little long for the little guys. We headed over to Atlantis and Kraken, but the line for Kraken was too long, so we just rode Atlantis (DH, DFH, DFD and myself). The log flume/roller coaster combination is interesting, but it’s a short ride.

Our AAA had reduced Sea World tickets that included a lunch voucher, so we grabbed some food before heading to see “One Ocean”, the latest Shamu show. This particular show is different from the past in that the trainers are no longer in the water with the whales (i.e. no bottle rockets or swimming with them…); a result of the tragic death of a trainer. It was ok, but nothing really spectacular.

After the show, we saw the sharks and the seals before one last ride on Atlantis. We headed out early afternoon.

We went back to the campground, where the plan was to nap before my parents and my family headed out to Epcot for dinner at Le Cellier. Our friends were going to meet us for Illuminations later.

There was no napping.

Our dinner reservations were for 5:30, so we headed out and got to Canada a little after 5. DS started a Duffy bear in the Kidcot station while we waited to be seated. Dinner was great, as expected. Love the cheese soup and pretzel bread, and who can resist a steak or salmon. Yum.

After dinner, we perused England, France, Japan, Italy and Germany while we waited for our friends to arrive. DS decorated his Kidcot bear while the ladies shopped and my DH and dad dutifully followed us around. As much as DH can take or leave WDW, he really does enjoy the atmosphere of the World Showcase. And really, who can blame him?

Our friends met us around 7:30 and we got some snacks, funnel cakes and tiramisu. We did a little more browsing and grabbed a bench across from Japan on the lagoon for Illuminations. My parents decided that they were beat, and since they would be here for another week after us, they’d see the show another time. So they left around 8pm.

DH and I looked around and realized the place was dead. Empty. As in I have never seen the World Showcase with so few people. Normally, we watch Illuminations from the far side of the lagoon because of the swarms of people. But since the place was so dead and we had little ones with us, we decided to watch from the other side to make a quicker getaway.

Would you believe that at 8:40, we found a spot big enough for the 7 of us along the fence near Canada? That is how dead we are talking. Oh, and DS and DFS fell asleep in their strollers as soon as we walked away from Japan. And slept THROUGH Illuminations. Fireworks and all.

After Illuminations we followed the masses out of Epcot. As we got to our bus station, one was just pulling out, meaning that we were first in line for the next one. (First in line for a bus, with no wait, after Illuminations????) THAT is how empty the park was.

Within 10 minutes we were on our way home, and after successfully getting DS to sleep without really waking him up, we went to bed ourselves.