August 2016 coming quickly....

[Teamubr]

Great pics, Jets70. And it sounds like you had a great time. Interesting on the low wait times. I guess the slow summer continues.

j

 

[JETS70]

Great pics guys, Jets70, you be careful on the way home.

Thanks tiggerdad. Will do.

 

[JETS70]

@amcc ...if you are going to take the boat to the Contemporary then you definitely want to walk as the resort monorail will make stops at the other monorail resorts before stopping at MK.

 

[peg110]

Great pictures @JETS70 Sounds like you had a good time. Safe Travels. We will be heading to the fort in 4 days and checking in on Sunday. It's a maiden voyage for our new TT and I am a bit concerned as this one is larger then the last, by almost 10 feet.

We did a lot of our shopping for the food and stocked up the fridge and pantry. The only real food left to get are those perishables like milk and bread as well as some lunch meats. DW has her and DD11's clothes (and "Stuff") mostly packed. She has "Disney" clothes (not necessarily Disney themed clothes but clothes bought FOR the Disney vacation) where I, on the other hand, have not packed ANYTHING yet as far as clothes go. The plan, however, is to have it all packed by Thursday night. Go to work on Friday, come home, hitch up, pull out and head down the road.

DW has to work later than I, so I will pick-up "Subs" for dinner (DW will have a "Wrap") That way we can eat before we get on the road. DW will eat hers as we travel (depending on time and if we are on schedule or not).

So much to do and the time is dwindling down. The excitement, however, is increasing, exponentially.

 

[ruthies12]

Thanks for the update on the beach!! I was wondering....

 

[jbrostek]

Jet70 - Safe travels on your way home.

Peg - You might notice the extra 10, but it wont be a dramatic change like going from a 38' bus to a 40' 5th wheel.

A full weekend of activities around here. Food is pretty much purchased and Caren spent the time with the kids to make sure they where packed up before they went back to their Fathers for a few days. After a week of thunderstorms every evening I finally got to finish cleaning and waxing the RV. I will say if you do it yourself find a system that works. It took me some time to find a process and a rhythm that worked. But once I did it was about 4 hours total to do the whole camper. I will not let it go another 2 years like I did last night, the amount of oxidation did slow things down considerably. I did also get the truck cleaned inside and out and put a fresh coat of wax on it.

Tonight we start loading up the fridge and double checking check lists. That way we are sure we have everything we need packed up for the trip. I still have the last run to Walmart and the Grocery store to get the last of the perishables. The fluffy pup also needs a bath tonight, so it will be lots of activities until the end. But then a full week of no work is ahead in the happiest place on my earth. Still planning to hit the road Thursday night and get south of the metro area, then continue on Friday and arrive there on Saturday.

 

[Boomer1]

For those of you travelling, either to FW or home I wish you safe travels. Thanks for the trip reports and photos. We are just over 2 months from our FW trip, so reading about your adventures let's us get to experience a little of your trip with you. Thanks for including us.

 

[WorldWacky]

We arrive in 4 days! We will be visiting the parks while we are there and hope to make it to EMH at MK one morning. This is a quick trip for us so we won't have bikes and no rental golf cart. EMH starts at 8 - will the buses be running to get us to the Marina early enough? I believe the resort boat is the one that starts earlier, hopefully early enough to get me to MK by 8. I'm hoping that IF the buses start a 7, we get on a boat by 7:20, and then walk to the MK (not sure if monorail will be quicker to grab or if walking is quicker), we should be at security by about 8, if all goes as planned. If anyone has any transportation thoughts about my plans, please let me know as this is the one thing that is stressing me out a bit.

We've stayed often at FW but have never gone to the parks while there. We usually travel with ALOT of things to make our campsite comfortable but we are trying to simplify this time - no EZ UP tent, no bikes, no refrigerator, no fans - since we don't plan on being there much time at all. Let's see how it goes. We are sized out of all the value and moderate resorts (family of 6) and the price to stay at the Fort is just so much more appealing...

The smaller boat to the Wilderness Lodge and Comtemporary leave the Fort dock at 6:45, the larger MK boat leaves a half hour before park opening so on an EMH 8:00 opening, it left at 7:30. This wasn't enough time for us with the security lines. They were EXTREMELY thorough. So much so that DH sent the kids and I in to ride 7Dwarves whole he continued to wait. We should have taken the boat up the Contemporary and walked. Lesson learned.
JETS70(Steve) I saw you guys pulling out yesterday. Again, it was so nice meeting you guys!
Saturday night we went to Disney Springs. Yikes! What was I thinking?! I had lost track of the days and didn't even THINK about how it was a weekend evening. It was a madhouse. If you're into shopping, this is the place for you. Personally, it was a bit too mall-ish for me. I preferred the older section over by Rainforest Cafe.
A few thoughts on yesterday-we went to Blizzard Beach. It's a nice park. But, we have a very nice water park at home and Blizzard Beach is small in comparison. BB definitely wins in the category of chairs and shaded pavilions, but the kids kept asking what other slides there were and we had already done everything. It truly takes a full day to work through all the slides at Splish Splash but we were finished with all the slides at BB in 3 1/2 hours. We went back to repeat a few though. We'll see how they like Typhoon Lagoon.
We had breakfast today at Boma. It was delicious. I especially enjoyed the bobotie and French toast bread pudding. Then we explored Animal Kingdom Lodge both Jambo Hpuse and Kidani Village. It was raining and the animals were loving it. They were so active. It was a great way to spend the morning!

 

[WorldWacky]

 

[tiggerdad]

Forget turkey legs, give me one of those...

 

[jbrostek]

2 days to initial departure!!! I was doing so well in preparing and packing. The RV was polished, truck got a full inside and out detail and wax. I had 3 evenings (or so I thought) to get everything loaded. And then life happens!!! I have an interview tonight at 6, worth making the time for, I still need to make the last shopping trip. I have not loaded my clothes in the trailer, but did start loading up all the food. I know we will get it done in time, but then Caren's AC systems (yes both!) are acting up and not working well. My house is at least running well, but the house is almost unbearable. Thankfully last night was cool so that helped her, but now we are trying to schedule that before we leave.

I need to take a deep breath and just expect that I will need to do a half day Thursday or see if I can work remote that day so I can have it all set and ready to go in time. We are all excited to get on the road and heading south. I need to make a few phone calls today as well to check and see how my plans for stops will go and my planned locations are not completely booked up. I always have alternatives ready, but the initial plan shouldn't be too bad.

 

[peg110]

Don't you love it when "Life Happens"

I am along the same track as you, although without the AC issues at home.... It just seems though that things come up. I had things I was going to do yesterday to get ready, but alas, Not as planned.

I had to come home from work, but then jump on a conference call for work. At least that allowed me to do things at home (Cordless speaker phone and mostly just had to "Listen In" to the call). So I was able to get dinner "Prepped" (Zucchini Casserole. Yum!), our bed linens and blankets (for the house) washed and then After dinner, the Grass was SCREAMING to be cut. So I did it. 2 hours later, hot and sweaty, I got cleaned up (ah.... refreshing) and relaxed for a bit of TV before bed. Got virtually NOTHING done towards camping. Well, I suppose the other stuff was to help us along that way, but not directly towards the camping.

I have conference calls until about 4 PM today. That may not sound so bad until you realize I start work at 6 AM. (and don't get OT). I am able to flex my time though, so this will make my Friday (My departure day) easier. I will be able to leave work sooner to get those final things done. Hooking up the TT and the last minute loading.

Final Stretch....

 

[jbrostek]

I work in IT, believe me I get what you mean on the long days, no OT and conf calls. One thing I failed to mention is I did get 3 new fuel rods direct from the vendor. Now that Disney has kiosks about I think these will be great for keeping phones charged. You just trade your discharged one for a new one!!! Buying direct we saved 10 bucks a pop, but they ship from CA so it was close on getting it in time.

Tonight after the phone interview I have a dog to wash, and start loading up the camper. I had originally planned to work a full day Thursday, I think I am going to have to make that a half. I can't really take off, but if they want a full work day out of me it will need to be from home.

I cannot wait to get going through, and its like this every trip (sans heat/AC issues thankfully) but I am so looking forward to hitting the road.

 

[peg110]

Fuel Rods? It sounds like they are portable batteries, but what's this about "trading"?

(PS, I am in IT too! )

 

[peg110]

http://wdwnt.com/blog/2016/06/break...-revolutionize-how-guests-charge-electronics/

Just found them. Interesting....

I have a RAV Power. It's a bit heavier but I can charge 3 phones from dead, easily with the RAV Power. I can even do 2 phones at once. It also claims to be able to charge a dead iPAD to full although I don't have an iPAD to confirm.

 

[amcc]

It's been raining so much these past afternoons that we haven't been able to open the popup to pack it and check if water has gotten in. On our last trip, one of the bunk ends was wet and had water pooling twice. It took a heavy rainstorm at FW to notice that water was dripping from the AC unit. My husband tightened the bolts as they were completely loose! We realized that the threads on the long bolts must be old and travelling loosens them so we need to tighten them each time we arrive somewhere and open it.

We've decided to take the bikes just so that we can ride to the dock to be there for the 6:45 departure. My kids love rides so I want to maximize low crowds but come back for a midday break. I haven't been to a park on a weekday in forever!

 

[4077]

It's been raining so much these past afternoons that we haven't been able to open the popup to pack it and check if water has gotten in. On our last trip, one of the bunk ends was wet and had water pooling twice. It took a heavy rainstorm at FW to notice that water was dripping from the AC unit. My husband tightened the bolts as they were completely loose! We realized that the threads on the long bolts must be old and travelling loosens them so we need to tighten them each time we arrive somewhere and open it.

We've decided to take the bikes just so that we can ride to the dock to be there for the 6:45 departure. My kids love rides so I want to maximize low crowds but come back for a midday break. I haven't been to a park on a weekday in forever!

Don't you love it when "Life Happens"

I am along the same track as you, although without the AC issues at home.... It just seems though that things come up. I had things I was going to do yesterday to get ready, but alas, Not as planned.

I had to come home from work, but then jump on a conference call for work. At least that allowed me to do things at home (Cordless speaker phone and mostly just had to "Listen In" to the call). So I was able to get dinner "Prepped" (Zucchini Casserole. Yum!), our bed linens and blankets (for the house) washed and then After dinner, the Grass was SCREAMING to be cut. So I did it. 2 hours later, hot and sweaty, I got cleaned up (ah.... refreshing) and relaxed for a bit of TV before bed. Got virtually NOTHING done towards camping. Well, I suppose the other stuff was to help us along that way, but not directly towards the camping.

I have conference calls until about 4 PM today. That may not sound so bad until you realize I start work at 6 AM. (and don't get OT). I am able to flex my time though, so this will make my Friday (My departure day) easier. I will be able to leave work sooner to get those final things done. Hooking up the TT and the last minute loading.

Final Stretch....

Will keep my eyes out for you...we're leaving Friday to drive too! (But sans trailer and headed to Beach Club, so haven't been reporting) Can't leave until 1 PM...going to head out "western" route to start out....78 to 81 but then cut down 70 and 270 to hit western part of loop by DC and stay night south of Richmond. Should be hitting DC late enough to not be bad. Will cruise all the way to Marriott at Lake Buena Vista Saturday night and check in Sunday morning. Safe travels all!

 

[Teamubr]

Wow.

Your prep/work/get ready to leave days are as crazy as mine. Good luck and remember work will still be there when you get back. And I can relate on the conference calls (I take the late ones in the car on the way home), 50+ hours a week. Closer to 60 on weeks before vacation. I sort of also work in IT (my IT friends say I can't deny being an IT geek). I'm a nurse that manages an IT department and specializes in healthcare informatics. You want some seriously funny conference calls, you should listen in when we try to explain clinical things to computer nerds. You hear. "WOW! That really happens!" a lot.

j

 

[peg110]

You want some seriously funny conference calls, you should listen in when we try to explain clinical things to computer nerds. You hear. "WOW! That really happens!" a lot.

I can imagine. As a Former EMT I have seen some pretty wild things there too. I speak computer Geek as well as "Whacker" (That's what they call 'em here those that run on the ambulances, particularly the volunteers and even more so the "Young" ones.)

 

[jbrostek]

Just to show how small this world can be. I have been working in Medical IT for the last 15 years. First with MHS (DoD hospitals) and now the civilian side of that. The real crazy stuff to hear is how Drs. talk about moving Petabytes of data per year like its mailing a post card. The medical side of the house and procedures really don't surprise me, nor what happens to equipment.

So last night my interview went really well I think. I heard from the corporate recruiter today, he wanted to schedule up an in person interview. But somehow forgot I live in VA, not WA. So no, I cannot come by next Tuesday for a 1 hour interview (not to mention I will be in FL which I told him that on Friday.) So we shall see how he sorts out that his thoughts, but I am not taking a position on the west coast unless its 100% telework.

I did get the pup bathed and more stuff sorted and packed for the trip. Tonight is when I will focus on loading up the trailer. Doing checks for any last items I might need to pick up so tomorrow I will be ready to hit the road at a reasonable hour.