An Open Live Trip Report the Last Week of March 2014

[Rland8228]

33 day's feels like and eternity!!!!

 

[bama_ed]

Great pics Ed, my daughters and I just toured through the horse pics and the oldest loved them. Asked if we would ever meet ya...we'll have to work something out in the future. My wife became homesick looking at the pic of 420, she asked how the squirrels were doing...

Funny you should mention them tiggerdad. A big one with the furry tail keeps saying you still owe him money. Something about a dice game behind the camper while DW was away. He's put out an APB for you. I'd stay in a Full site next time here if I were you. Just sayin......

Wanted to post that we went by and introduced ourselves to Ed after seeing his post this morning. Was so nice to meet someone who I have posted with before. Ed your site looks great and good luck with your plans on a new RV in the future. We will see you again before you leave as we usually make our rounds every other day thru all the loops with the Corgi's so keep an eye out. Again so nice to meet you.....Mike

Please do come around again tomorrow, Corgidad/Mike. I should be around the Fort most of tomorrow.

"new RV in the future"

Are you kicking some tires on a new rv? What type? Enlighten the rest of us please

Connor, this trip while wonderful has shown me that our needs have changed and what once suited us no longer does. I have some plans in motion and it will take a few weeks to see if they work out. But you KNOW I'll want to tell it on the Camping Board as I've drooled over everyone else's news for the last 10 years.

Ed, your Mickey light looks great - I'm envious! Glad y'all are having a good time, and hope the weather continues to be great. We're having a cold 'blast' again, and would love those temps! How is FP+????

NoM. Thanks for the comments on the light - I'm glad it's done There are MANY around the Fort, some with a multi-color bulb inside. I see many white bulbs, one red so far, and I'm the only green. The weather has been nice. Today was EPCOT day and it was forecast to have a decent chance of rain. Naturally since I came prepared with mini-umbrellas for everyone, the rain stayed away. Supposed to be a decent chance again tonight and into the morning. Tuesday night it's supposed to be in the 40s and sunny but only in the 60s on Wednesday.

I'm completely unimpressed with the FP+ at least based on my EPCOT experience today. I'll explain why when I go into what we did today.

Loving the trip report! We will be down for spring break next month, so obviously this is just adding to my excitement!! Less then 3 weeks to go

How are the temps? We stayed at the Fort last year about this time, and that awful cold front came through. We ended up in pants and long sleeve shirts the whole time. This year, we are especially looking forward to some warm sun after the crazy winter in PA.

Well it was in the 80s when we checked Saturday and should be in the 40s tomorrow night.

Good luck with your upcoming visit. April should moderate things I hope for you - maybe take out the lows. I was at the Fort last April and it was wonderful weather-wise.

Thanks for a great trip report. It's ALMOST as good as being there! We are coming back down in October and all our kids/grandkids will be joining us. It's their first time camping at the Fort for the little ones and I can't wait. I will show them the pics on this thread to give them an idea of the area!

Kazlac, you are quite welcome. Sounds like a wonderful multi-generational trip you have coming up. We've done those (we were the middle generation) and they are special. I plan to show some more Fort pix tomorrow of some of the different camper setups as well as hope to make it to the Chip & Dale Singalong.

Great pics of the Fort, DW a 2 DD's are enjoying seeing the Fort again.
Keep them coming, wishing we were there also.

Loving the pic of the liquid lunch. Best kind of lunch there is.

snowmedic, I don't want to give the wrong impression.

Okay there was a beer in the picture I posted of the HDDR food.

Sure, there was another beer in a huggie in the dinner picture last night with the steak.

Admittedly, there was the R&C Harp lager today with lunch (fish and chips).

And I must confess, there is a beer in the same huggie tonight as I type this.

I heard the water in Florida had a sulpher taste to it so I'm taking the safe route.

You're updates are making the day for a lot of us. Keep it up Ed! Looking forward to going back to the fort!

Thanks, Clint. I'm going to focus on keeping this TR basically on the Fort for pix and only a little on the parks.

Libba- glad to see you finally got to have some fun! Hope the rest of your trip is smooth.

BamaEd - LOVING the pictures! I'll be checking back. and I just have to add that is super sweet that you went to check on the dis poster who was stuck, I have to say that is one of the things I love about camping is the friendliness, I swear campers are a different breed of people

ruthies, thank you but to be honest, I'm not so virtuous and pure. I have to admit that I didn't know it was our very own libba in trouble. Her situation spread through the Fort grapevine and by the time I heard it, it was dark but I still wanted to check it out. I thought to myself...



I'm glad things worked out for her.

We got in Saturday afternoon after a 22 hour straight drive. Had a few small problems setting up, but the only thing we did in Illinois was drain the anti-freeze from the water lines. It's still below or near freezing in IL. Anything here is always better. DD and DS and I are having a great time. DW flys in on Friday, then we fly the kids home on Sunday, so we can spend a few more days here by ourselves. If you are looking for something unique for your campsite, come check out the 1300 loop at night. I don't know how it is done yet, but I need one. A guy on the backside of the loop has 2 Mickey head rope lights and the traditional Mickey head post light, but he also has a small laser. There is a small laser about the size of a can of vegetables pointed at the rope lights. The effect looks like a mirror disco ball, just not spinning. There are spots in the trees everywhere. His vehicle looks like it is pokka-dotted. Pretty cool.
Hope everybody is having a good time down here. Let's get some more sunshine. I was suppose to have a new rig by now, but we love our Bayside popup and van, so life is still great. The fifth wheel will get here when it gets here.

I will try to get over there tomorrow night JJ4. And glad you made it.

 

[Jeepin Dad]

Ed,

I got the note you left on the truck, sorry we missed you. We've been going pretty hard since we got here and haven't spent a lot of time at the campground. I think tomorrow we are going to slow down a little, we are going to do Animal Kingdom in the morning then be back at the campground by mid afternoon, we have dinner reservations at Trails End and I promised the boys we would do the campfire. Our real down day isn't until Thursday when we aren't doing the parks and only have Mickey's Backyard Barbecue scheduled.

 

[bama_ed]

Ed,

I got the note you left on the truck, sorry we missed you. We've been going pretty hard since we got here and haven't spent a lot of time at the campground. I think tomorrow we are going to slow down a little, we are going to do Animal Kingdom in the morning then be back at the campground by mid afternoon, we have dinner reservations at Trails End and I promised the boys we would do the campfire. Our real down day isn't until Thursday when we aren't doing the parks and only have Mickey's Backyard Barbecue scheduled.

I understand Jeepin Dad. That's the nature of a Disney visit. If I don't see you tomorrow afternoon, stop by 418 on the way to TE for dinner.

Okay about today at EPCOT.

I had planned to take the boat to CR or MK and then monorail over to EPCOT for something different. But the chance of rain (particularly in the evening at going home time) put the nix on that so we drove over and back. Funny, now as I type this (10pm and EWP just finished) we're getting the first steady sprinkles of the day.

As a precautionary measure before I left this morning, I dropped my awning to its connected limit. I wrote about my awning pole mod on my last TR. Basically I use adjustable painting extender poles.



It didn't rain all day. (Until tonight that is).

I had made 3 FP+ reservations and I've made it plain I HATE that much advance scheduling. We ended up only using the Soarin' FP+. At rope drop we walked onto Test Track (I like the new version), then hopped around and saw the things we wanted to. After lunch we looped around the countries. I was disappointed that a lot of the scheduled live entertainment I enjoy there (Voices of Liberty, Off Kilter, the drums in Japan) weren't scheduled to perform on today, a Monday.

As far as FP+ goes, I like it for the ticket media and even using it as a FP media, but I still wish FP could only be obtained day-of-visit. That would make changing parks almost irrelevant before the day you actually arrive at the park.

As for EPCOT, I have to put it sadly in the category with DHS. I thought to myself, maybe it's because I come to WDW almost annually but EPCOT is so been-there-done-that for me. But then I looked at my signature and I haven't been to EPCOT since the Nov 2009 visit. This was Flower and Garden time and there were lots of beautiful topiaries. But for me at $100 per day, a theme park has to offer some sizzle. We left EPCOT by 630pm because we saw/did everything we wanted to.

One good side note about today was I took a piece of advice from our poster cousineddie. He says when he's in a Disney park, sometimes he eats meals at restaurants in the park's nearby hotels. Good food, less crowded. So today at EPCOT I would have naturally opted for a counter service meal there for dinner. But instead we went to the Contemporary, parked in its lot, and ate dinner at the Contempo Café there on the monorail level. That is the CR counter service alternative. The grilled sandwich I had with turkey and cheese was actually quite delicious. It actually had thin sliced apples in with the melted cheese which gave it a slightly crunchy, sweet flavor and texture. Okay so the CR wasn't near EPCOT but the point is I thought beyond the park I was in. Thank you cousineddie!

Just hangin' out here at the Fort tomorrow. Hope to put up lots of campsite/trailer pix and make the Campfire/Singalong.

Good night from the Fort.

Bama Ed

 

[tiggerdad]

Ed, you can tell that tree rat I said he was "nuts"...

I won the dice game fair and square...

Dang mafia squirrels...

 

[bama_ed]

Ed, you can tell that tree rat I said he was "nuts"...

I won the dice game fair and square...

Dang mafia squirrels...

Oh tiggerdad, don't talk like that. He'll find out. This is him - does he look familiar?



I also want to comment on the backside of the parking lot (the overflow area). When we got here on Saturday our site wasn't ready so I cruised over there and had to get in an awkward space. People were parking on the grass because there were no big spaces available. However, while it was full, there was a lot of inefficiently used space like this.



One little cargo trailer taking up a whole spot. Two of these could be parked back to back if it had been available for the first trailer. Sunday afternoon, though, things opened up and there were actual empty spots. Speaking of which, there are a few empty sites around the Fort too. Weekends are busy here so I guess checking in on Sunday (or later) is best for getting a request.

Bama Ed

 

[Bayoumama]

Enjoying the TP and pics sooo much !!!! Can't wait for our trip early December. I'm ready to see it for REAL.....it will be our first trip to the fort. Can't wait to hear and see more from your trip!!!

 

[Tilyeea]

Got here on Saturday and we are on 1601. Went to Epcot yesterday and it was packed. Hanging around the Fort today to explore. Hope everyone is having a great time.

 

[bama_ed]

Got here on Saturday and we are on 1601. Went to Epcot yesterday and it was packed. Hanging around the Fort today to explore. Hope everyone is having a great time.

Howdy Tilyeea. Now that we know where you are, I just might come lookin' for ya.

Enjoying the TP and pics sooo much !!!! Can't wait for our trip early December. I'm ready to see it for REAL.....it will be our first trip to the fort. Can't wait to hear and see more from your trip!!!

Mama, oh it's real all right. I hope you have a successful visit at the end of the year.

This morning was damp from the overnight sprinkles and on the cool side but now after lunchy the sun is trying to come out. The breeze is a little stronger but the forecast is for sun and 70s today.

I had a distinguished visitor this morning, none other than The Rusty Scupper. We chatted for over an hour and he's a very nice man. He's one poster who knows how to gig me so it was special meeting him. He's a numbers kinda guy in case you couldn't tell by his recent reply about the cabin shower head water flow rates in a different thread (only carried the flow rate out to two significant digits, Rusty? ). Thanks for dropping by.

A little bike reconnoiter is in order, isn't it? First, if you're unsure of what kind of tow vehicle to get, my advice is to err on the big strong side. Like this guy with the semi.



But heck, if your semi has a big enough sleeper cab, who needs to pull a trailer?



Here's a tent camper in 2000 with a clever set up. Along with a tent, there are two wooden tripods (one in view here) with a hammock slung between them and a shade/rain fly stretched over for element protection. Pretty slick set-up.



Here is a nice simple set-up in 2000. It's proof you can camp at the Fort in a simple way and it still works.



Down past the Creekside Meadow Group Campsite the road was blocked off with a fence for construction of some kind.







At the CM Group Campsite one pod (of the four) were set up with 10 Disney rental tents with cots inside. I'm going to find out how much they go for.







This unusual hybrid in 1500 had a clamshell-like tent cover over a bunk.



In 1600 in the site next to the 1600/1500 Comfort Station had six (count 'em) six tarps tied up in the trees to cover the site. An EZ up is on the left and a tent was under the awning on the far right.



Of interest to us old FW Railroad fans is this water pipe near the entrance to 400. The original second station on the FWRR (other than the main one up at the Fort entrance) was here near the 400 loop entry. This water pipe served as a backup water supply in case the loco's ran low and couldn't make it around to the front where the main water tower was. This pipe in the past has been covered with a big wooden barrel but now it is exposed.



More out and about. Gonna ride bikes with DD.

Bama Ed

 

[bama_ed]

Got here on Saturday and we are on 1601. Went to Epcot yesterday and it was packed. Hanging around the Fort today to explore. Hope everyone is having a great time.

Tilyeea, went by your site and saw your 'Clan' sign. No one was home - you must have been out having fun.

Headed up to the Outpost area (check-in). There is a golf cart problem in that area specifically, a parking problem as we all know and it was bad today. The regular lot there was full and the overflow went back across the start of the horse trail down toward the hook-up loops.





We get questions some time about Disney Magical Express dropping/picking up at the Fort. There is a designated DME stop at the Outpost Check-in building.



Disney golf carts are all sold out today.



For the group campsite (or individual campsites), tent rental is available as I showed in the pictures. The number to call is 407-939-7807 for group reservations (and tents too I guess) Monday-Friday 9a-4p. Sites are $10 each (group), tents are $30, cots $5, all per night. Firewood $25 for half bin, $50 full bin.



At the Outpost I asked for and spoke with a member of the Fort Management Team (not a Cast Member but management) about several topical issues. The issue of ghost campsite rentals for on-site benefits is not as prevalent as it sounds. Supposedly they do an eyeball check to see if checked in sites are set up on in the evenings. There was a little back and forth while the manager said Disney gets the revenue from them or me either way. I said yeah but do they book multiple nights, eat at HDDR, spend at the TP, and rent golf carts? No response. They also looked at it at their hotels (Value I would guess). The problem with cutting off on-site benefits based on their check-in/check-out dates is tied up with offering those same benefits to Annual Pass holders, etc. Camper rentals are permitted but they have clamped down on off-site golf cart rentals. They must be met off-Fort property.

Our poster libba and DH stopped by the site just now to chat and we laughed good naturedly about their problem Sunday night. DH said he's already had all the excitement he ever wanted on this trip and he would be happy if the rest of it was plain ol' boring!

The sun has come out and it is a beautiful day. The kids are soaking up a little Trails End wifi and DW is napping in the popup. It's turning out to be a gorgeous day.

Bama ED

 

[tiggerdad]

Interesting information about the water pipe at the entry of 400 loop. I remember the barrel, but never knew that it was covering that up. I thought I had a pic of it but I went back and can't seem to find it. Good info.

Good see a manager called out on the ghost site problem...even though there really wasn't a good answer to the problem.

I'm not sure about that squirrel pic. I remember the dice player having more tattoos.

I'll teach em...next trip I'm bringing the dog...

 

[Disbug]

...I'm not sure about that squirrel pic. I remember the dice player having more tattoos. I'll teach em...next trip I'm bringing the dog...

That should cause some mayhem!

Enjoying the report, Ed!

 

[libba]

Loved meeting Ed this afternoon! Spent the morning at the magic kingdom. Horrid crowds today- DH was over it by lunchtime! Did our FP rides... Peter Pan, haunted mansion and big thunder mountain RR. Also managed a walk on at buzz lightyear with only a 30 minute wait. After BTMRR we decided we were done and hopped a ride in the monorail to the contemporary. DD doesn't remember staying there so we took her around then hopped a boat back to the Fort. Dd and I spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool and I took advantage of there wifi to download a book I had bought. Tomorrow is our laid back day with brunch at Boma and DTD and Raglan Road for dinner. Decided to change parks for Thursday. Gonna do animal kingdom instead of MK again. Tonight is the traditional meal at whispering canyon!

 

[cousineddie]

We have been going nonstop until this morning. We had nothing planned until a noon fastpass on soaring, so we slept in until eight or so. He wife and I left the teenagers in the camper and we went for b'fast in contemporary and met them in Epcot along with our traveling neighbors who are staying in the cabins. Today might be the only day we've stayed in one park, as we've had afternoon FP+s and dinner in Mexico tonight.

Tomorrow maybe MK until lunch or so and then over to DHS and Brown Derby for dinner.

 

[bama_ed]

What a productive afternoon. Rode bikes and played cards with the kids at the site. Had a visit from DIS poster Jeepin' Dad finally and bumped into him and the family at the campfire singalong (DW is having a birthday this week .) Rode up to visit WeCamp2 in the 900 loop and had a pleasant chat with him (he's from the Birmingham area like I am).

For supper we had the previously grilled chicken breasts with take-out sides from Trails End again. This time we got 3 16-oz containers of mac-n-cheese (large) and only 2 large sides of cornbread. Costs per unit were as previously reported. The 615pm show for HDDR was lined up and it was busy. While waiting for the food I took a picture of the side porch with tables where people can eat their TE takeout if they wish.







This trip report is being read far and wide. How do I know that, you ask? Well today a lurker reading the TR out there in internet land contacted her father who was staying here at the Fort and told him to come by my site and say hello for her. So I am here to report that Rick from Illinois did come by to say hello for his daughter but he did not know her DIS board name. (would have been a helpful piece of info). Okay, one of you out there needs to fess up. Who did it?

After supper it was over to the Campfire Singalong. Cowboy Mark King was strummin' and singin' with Chip and Dale. The fire needed a little help getting started but the marshmallow action was rocking. Also note the new (to me since the last visit) benches around the campfire bowls.













Cars was the movie tonight.



The Meadow pool had a few visitors and the front of the Trading Post was lit up too.









Finally after the movie stared I checked out loop 1300 per DIS poster jaredjohn4's recommendation. In a site along the canal a camper had a green scatter laser that cast a pattern on their car like a planetarium that didn't move. It was hard to capture in pictures but the green bits of light were on the car, up in the trees, and on any surface within its cone of light. Definitely different.







Tomorrow is Magic Kingdom. Or as we used to say when the kids were little, Dumbo-Do-Or-Die-Day.

Bama Ed

 

[JETS70]

Hey Bama Ed, sounds like (and looks like) you are having a great time. The DW and I really appreciate the pics and the trip reports. : 3 more days and we start our journey to the Fort. I hate it that we are going to miss most of you. Sounds like you are having a great time meeting and saying hello. We gave the camper 1 last go over and all looks good. Now I just have to contain myself until Friday at 4.

 

[libba]

Had a good dinner at Whispering Canyon last night. So good that I am not hungry this morning. Certainly not hungry enough to eat a Boma buffet! Thinking we may eat pancakes at the camper and do a little shopping at the Meadows this morning before we have our DTD afternoon. Anyone ever do the mini golf or Disney quest? We have tickets to both with our package

 

[Jeepin Dad]

We had been going hard ever since we left PA at 2 a.m. on Friday. Yesterday afternoon we finally slowed down a little and had a couple hours of downtime at the campground. It was nice to meet bama ed, we had a good dinner at Trails End, and we enjoyed the sing-along and movie under the stars.

 

[Rland8228]

Loving the trip report everyone! Getting us really excited about our trip!

We still have not decided between the HDDR or the backyard barbeque. Any suggestions would be great!

We had been going hard ever since we left PA at 2 a.m. on Friday. Yesterday afternoon we finally slowed down a little and had a couple hours of downtime at the campground. It was nice to meet bama ed, we had a good dinner at Trails End, and we enjoyed the sing-along and movie under the stars.

Jeppin Dad hope you are having a great time, we got about an inch of snow last night, so much for spring.

 

[Rland8228]

Had a good dinner at Whispering Canyon last night. So good that I am not hungry this morning. Certainly not hungry enough to eat a Boma buffet! Thinking we may eat pancakes at the camper and do a little shopping at the Meadows this morning before we have our DTD afternoon. Anyone ever do the mini golf or Disney quest? We have tickets to both with our package

Hi libba we did Disney quest last time, in our opinion we went because the tickets were free with the package we just had to purchase DS ticket. We decided that if we had to pay for all of our tickets we probably would not have done it. Some of the stuff is pretty cool especially since my adult man child(DH) had been going through gaming withdraw lol. We will do it again this time when we come down as it is still something to do. We have not done the mini golf yet and would really like to this time around as well. Hope you have a great day1