Another magical week at Disney! My first TR!

[*Michele*]

Characters: Michele (me) ~ 38 ~ SAHM of one, married to Dale. Dale ~ 41 ~ A Chief in the U.S. Coast Guard. Joshua ~ 9 ~ All around great kid Maddie ~ Our 13 year old Jack Russel Terrier

This is our 4th trip to WDW and definitely one of the best! We purchased our TT last August and, even though we love the resorts, we couldn't wait to try the Fort! We'll probably stay there from now on!

Day 1 (Saturday, Aug 14): We keep our camper (Homer) on our local Army base and we were there bright and early to load him up and be on our way. The drive went smoothly and we had our site set up by 3pm. We were assigned to 613, and I was a little concerned with the lack of shade, but I really liked the location of the loop.

After an early dinner of brats, we took off on the golf cart (that our neighbors in Savannah so graciously let us bring to the Fort) and did a little exploring, drooling over other RVs (Although I didn’t see that anyone had my dream camper, the Grand Junction 355RL, lol), checking out the beach and the Settlement Trading Post.

At 7:30 we head on over to the campfire, our ridiculously large marshmallows in tow (They were the size of my palm. Every time someone made a comment about them I gave them one, lol! ), and at eight Cowboy Bob took the stage. Loved him! (We loved all the singing cowboys actually!) Chip and Dale make their appearance and for some reason, even though it’s called Chip and Dale’s Campfire sing-a-long, I didn’t realize that the characters would actually be there. (Sometimes I wonder about myself…) Such a treat to see them! We met Chip and had a lovely time eating our marshmallows, singing and dancing. We then went to the beach and watched the boat parade (very cool, we had never seen it before) and watched the final performance of Summer Nightastic. Loved that they piped in the music and dialog of the show to the Fort! A great start to our vacation!

 

[mnsprk]

Welcome to the Wonderful World of FIENDom Don't stop now with the TR.

 

[Lil' Lisa]

I'm in!!!

 

[deanna85]

your camper looks really nice. I can't wait to have one...some day Were you there the night they showed "Cars" a few weeks ago? I saw someone with huge marshmellows too. I had never seen them so big before.

 

[auntie]

Looking forward to reading more about your trip.

 

[PrincessNP]

Great start to the TR!! Keep it coming!

 

[Magicbus]

Its Pizza and beer night.

The kids are a little young for beer. Wait until they're at least five.

 

[kampfirekim]

The kids are a little young for beer. Wait until they're at least five.

Stop it Magicbus! You're cracking me up!


Michele, your TR is off to a nice start. Can't wait for more.

 

[anolefan]

Woohoo! another TR. Can't wait for more.

 

[*Michele*]

Thank you! The TR won't be as epic as KFKs, but I'll do my best.

your camper looks really nice. I can't wait to have one...some day Were you there the night they showed "Cars" a few weeks ago? I saw someone with huge marshmellows too. I had never seen them so big before.

We were there that week, and went to the CF several times so it may have been us!

Day two is quite long but I'll post a little of it tonight:

Day 2 Sunday Aug 15 ~ Try and sleep in, but we’re at the Fort! We decide it’s going to be a lazy day of running a couple of errands and playing at the Fort. We make a trip to Winn-Dixie to get some dairy and fruit (There were a few CMs there in their different attraction uniforms). Our only other errand is to go to MK to activate our Military tickets (When you purchase your tickets at your local base, they give you a voucher that you activate at the parks.) I wanted to get it done so we could just go into the park on Monday without waiting in a long Guest Services line in the morning. So, at 11:00am, we hop on the boat to MK.

On our trip to MK, we see a bit of River Country and Discovery Island. The deckhand tells my son all about RC and how DI used to be a bird sanctuary , that everything is still there, but it’s full of snakes so my son probably doesn’t want to go poking around in there, lol.

We walk up to Guest Services, and the line isn’t too bad, but I’m glad we decided to get it out of the way. We have a lovely CM from Macon, GA whom we have a nice chat with, she gives us our Anniversary buttons (celebrating our 13th!) and a celebration button for DS. As the CM hands us the buttons she says “Be sure to wear them, magical things can happen when you wear the buttons!”

As we leave GS I notice a CM just inside the turnstiles with a stack of Times Guides and I ask my husband to grab one. The CM is talking with another couple so we wait a moment before asking. The CM says ‘Sure, why don’t you come inside and I’ll give you the guide and map.’ We explain that we weren’t actually coming into the park today, we were just there to activate out tickets. The other couple is still standing there, also celebrating their anniversary, so we all start chatting away with each other and the CM. (One of my favorite things about Disney is how easy it is to talk to everyone!) Find out the CM is named Brick and he’s originally from Indiana (as am I) I of course made reference to the show ‘The Middle’ (poor man has probably heard that a thousand times.)

Brick again asks if we’re sure we don’t want to come inside. We tell him that it’s already noon and our “big plan” for the parks was to be there early mornings, back to the camper by 11ish and then back to the parks around 5, thus avoiding the heat. Brick says “well, ok, but I was going to invite you to join us in the Volunt-ear parade if you came in.” !!! My family has never hurled themselves through a turnstile that fast in our lives!

Tomorrow, the parade!

 

[auntie]

 

[MadFF]

Okay, me too!

More, more!

 

[*Michele*]

We are ridiculously giddy as Brick takes our information and lets us know to meet him at the fire station at 2:30. OK, 2 ½ hours to kill, not hard to do at Disney! I’m so thankful I grabbed my camera and water bottles when we left our camper. We start to wander and I look for a water fountain to fill our bottles. A very nice CM standing on the steps of CP waves me over to come on up and fill them from the big water jugs they have for people waiting to get in. Yay, super ice-cold water! We jump on the first ride we come to, which happens to be the Aladdin Ride. No wait! We then go to PotC, again no wait! Grab a FP to Thunder Mountain and take the train to Toontown. Hop on Barnstormer, very small wait, maybe 10 min, and wander into Tomorrowland where we ride the Space Ranger Spin.

The Evil Zurg!:

We have time for one more attraction so we choose to do the Laugh Floor. We ask the CM at the entrance if he thinks we’ll have enough time to see the show and he says we’ll have plenty of time to get back to the Fire Station.

As I sit down my son tells me my head is on the big screen. Ack, there I am! My caption is ‘needs a hug’. I’m thinking well I should be safe for the rest of the show, but of course, when Buddy Boil starts saying “I’m reading minds in the audience, I can hear one going ‘not me, please not me, pick anyone but me” my head pops up on the screen again! We do a funny ‘guess the number’ bit and although I was a wee bit embarrassed, I had a great time!

At 2:30 we head over to the Fire Station to meet Brick, his helper Matt, a wonderful photographer named Meliss, and our driver Christopher( I *think* I have the names correct). We practice our wave and smiles and we each receive a certificate and Mickey ears! (This is only my third set of ears in 38 years! I have my original ones from the early 70s, (Photo for comparison) and I had a pair of peach ones from The New Mickey Mouse Club (1977) but I have no idea what happened to those.)

 

[*Michele*]

Off we go down Main Street! Now, instead of wondering how “that family” got to be in the parade, we are that family! I told my husband that we were now in a hundred vacation photos and facebook pages, lol!

The parade ends in Fronteerland and we are dropped off in a back area just around the corner from the open area of the park. We have a few minutes before that actual parade starts and we get to see Miss Piggy, Kermit and Sweet-ums the Muppet up close.

(This is a super special treat for me! You wouldn’t believe the amount of Miss Piggy items I had as a child. I *may* still have a few dolls tucked away in my closet. Ahem…) There is a large yellow line painted on the asphalt that as soon as the performers cross, they can ‘relax’ and then they go behind a gate.

Brick, Matt and Meliss have appeared with bottles of water, towels and more photos to take. We are allowed to watch the main parade in a special roped off area, (I sooo wanted to stay in the nice shaded area, lol) but it was so hot, we decided to forgo that.

We take a walk back to Tomorrowland (notice how empty the front of the castle looked. Crowds on Sunday were great!)

as our son wants to get out of the heat and see the Laugh Floor again. Just as funny the second time (with different voice actors) and thankfully no giant head on screen incidents at this viewing, lol!

Time to go back to the camper. We stop at the Exposition Hall to pick up our free parade photo.

Another great CM helps us and tells us he’s actually good friends with the man that drove the fire truck, Christopher. (I seriously want to just hang out and have cocktails with these people!) We also see Meliss the photographer and again thank her for the excellent photos.

We spend the rest of our evening grilling at our camper and hanging at the campfire. Really, a perfect day!

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Great job so far on your report!

Awesome that you got to be in the parade!

Pixie Dust at its finest!

I hope that there was a lot more magic for you.

TCD

 

[indimom3]

How exciting! You guys looks so happy in that picture!

 

[Lil' Lisa]

That's so cool that you got to be in the parade! I'm jealous! Nah, I'm really happy for you. That is a memory that you will never forget.

 

[kampfirekim]

You got to be the big head on the screen in the M.I. Laugh Floor AND be in the VoluntEars parade!?

I feel giggly inside.

Loving your TR! Keep it coming and don't leave anything out!

BTW, you have an adorable family.

 

[kazlac4]

Great TR so far. You guys are SO lucky to get to be part of the parade..wow, such a magical place!

 

[clkelley]

That sounds like a WONDERFUL surprise to be in the parade. However, did you have to use a day off your tickets to enter??

I know the military salute tickets are only 4 days and it would seem that would mess up your plans for later in the week.