Big Dudes September Vacation (From Terror to Tenderness) Picture Posts Included

Big Dude

<font color=red>Tagless in New Jersey<font color=g
Joined
Sep 5, 2000
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Hi everyone. This is my trip report followed by pictures (a lot of them) with captions of this memorable trip. I'm going to try to keep this all in one link so it is going to be quite long. I don't expect you to take it all in at one time, but if you do get interested, just bookmark the link and come back to it from time to time. If you don't want to read all of my banter, just scroll down to the picture links and take a look. Give them some time to load because they do contain a lot of pictures and sound also. By all means, feel free to comment after you have looked at the thread. Let me know what I can do differently or if everything was ok.

Now, the cast of characters: Me, DW, DS (12), DD (10), DS (2). Stayed at Fort Wilderness Campground in a cabin from Sunday 9/9 to Tuesday 9/18.

Sunday 9/9
After careful preperation the days before (I sent 3 boxes of food (dry and frozen) via Fedex on Friday to arrive at Fort Wilderness on Saturday and instructions to hold until I arrived on Sunday) and making sure all of our paperwork and PS's were in order, we headed off to the airport at 5:00 am for a 6:30 flight. The flight went without incident and we arrived at OIA at 9:00 am. We were greeted by our Tiffany Towncar driver (Luiz) and we were off to our 1/2 hour grocery stop. Luiz was a really nice guy and he stopped at a new store for us that had really reasonable prices. Since I shipped most of our food down already (I'm a supervisor for a shipping and receiving dock with access to dry ice) I just had to pick up the essentials....you know, beer, wine....things of that nature.

Arrived at the cabin and called Kindercare to verify reservations for babysitting to come to our cabin on Thursday night. Then called John Barnett to schedule delivery of our golf cart on Monday. Unpacked and headed to the marina to catch a boat to the Magic Kingdom. Mind you, we have unlimited length of stay passes so park hopping is ok. Arrived at MK and saw the Magic Moments parade. Crowd was pretty light that day and was going to get even lighter in the days to come. After the parade, we went to get my youngest DS's first haircut. Bobbie was the barber and she did the most wonderful job. We hopped on the monorail and headed over to Epcot. DS and DD got to sit up front with the driver. They said it was very cool. Once at Epcot, we went on spaceship earth and took in some little sights, things like talking water fountains, living statues, character greetings etc. Off to see Tapestry of Nations. This was the last day it was being performed so I just had to see it. I managed to tape the entire parade while getting some other photos. After the parade we had PS's for Rose and Crown. DD was complaining she wasn't feeling well. I asked for a patio seat so we could watch Illuminations later. The server took us to our table and it was the absolute best one for viewing ILL. Unfortunately, DD was feeling worse and we had to leave before ordering. Not to worry though, we had an Ill. cruise scheduled for the following Sunday. Back to the cabin for a good night's rest.

Monday 9/10
John from Golf Carts of Central Florida was at our door before 8:30 as promised with our cart. We took it down to the marina and grabbed the boat to MK for breakfast at Cindy's Castle. This was a gorgeous morning. We arrived at 9:15 for a 9:30 PS and were seated at 9:45. Barbara S. was our server and she was very nice. Some cool things we saw in Cindy's castle were a suit of armor, Jaque and Gus (the mice) sitting on a rafter in the waiting area and various characters. The following are the ones that visited with us: Fairy Godmother, Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, Prince Charming and Jasmine. After breakfast (a nice served buffet) we went on Snow Whites scary adventure and the MK train around the entire loop. Back to the cabin for rest, nap for the little guy and swimming. We met a nice couple from Ohio and let them in on some of the Disney secrets that I had learned here on the boards. When we went back into the cabin, housekeeping had arranged our stuffed animals in a pyramid. (we do leave an envelope for them each morning so this became a normal occurence with the stuffed animals) It started to rain from 3-5 that day so we relaxed in the cabin. (Imagine that, relaxing on vacation!)

We went to the trading post for some souviners then hopped on a bus to Downtown Disney. Made a bee-line to Disney Quest and went/did the following attractions: Cyber Space Mountain (virtual rollercoaster) Virtual Alladin, Virtual Comix, human pinball and a raft ride. Went to the cafe for some cheese and regular french fries. There are water containers (free) in the cafe and cheesecake factory that have great water in them. It doesn't taste like park water. Back on a bus to TTC then to FW. Ernie was the CM bus driver and he also gets the favorite CM of the trip award. He had many funny tales but among them my favorite was what EPCOT stands for.
1)Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow or
2)Every Person Comes Out Tired or, my favorite
3)Every Parent Carries One Toddler.

Tuesday 9/11
Made breakfast in the cabin and went to the front desk to purchase e-night tickets. Off to MGM. Took some pictures, rode Rock N Rollercoaster (walk-on), Tower of Terror (also a walk-on) then went into a souviner shop. Sat down to have a Turkey Leg (yummy). Went to get another drink and a CM told me they were evacuating the park. I remember them talking of a possible hurricane but that wasn't supposed to be here until Friday. Caught some conversation about some terrorist attack but did not realize the gravity of the situation until I got back to the cabin at 10:30 to turn on the TV (SIGH):(

Life would never be the same. I explain a little more in the picture posts. We pack the kids up and take them to the pool until 3:30. Back to the cabin to change and catch the 5:00 show of Hoop-De-Doo Review. I loved this show as did DW and the kids. We had seats up against the stage right in the center. The actors/actresses did their best to take our minds off of the days events. Headed back to the cabin and did a little night swimming.

Wednesday 9/12
It was a somber mood today. We met the maids (Isabel and Donna) and thanked them for their work. We were now off to Typhoon Lagoon. The kids hit the wave pool, then the slides and a cruise around on the lazy river. At about 11:45 the skys opened up and we had what seemed to be a real Typhoon. Everything was soaked and it was a cool rain so we all got the chills. Back to the cabin for lunch. After the rain we headed over to Epcot. Sent home some e-mail postcards (see pictures) and checked out other things in Innoventions. As you will see in the pictures, there is hardly anyone in the parks for the rest of our trip. Wanted to go to Ice Station Cool but it was closed for rehab. Grabbed a fast pass for test track (really didn't need it) then went to Mexico to eat. Heriberto was our server and gave us great service. The food was also very good. Took the boat ride in Mexico then over to test track. I video taped the entire ride. Did some more people watching and "minor" attractions ie. fountains, lighted sidewalks etc. Back to FW via monorail and boat.

Thursday 9/13
Quick breakfast of cereal bars, pop tarts and yoo hoos. Off to MK for EE. Met 2 really nice CM's (see pictures) at Space Mountain. As I mentioned before, the crowds were non existent. Walked onto the following: Dumbo 2x, Tomorrowland Speedway, Adventures of Pooh 2x, Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear 2x, Country Bear Jamboree, Space Mtn., Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Alladins Magic Carpet Ride, Jungle Cruise and The Blue Line. Over to Peco Bill's Cafe for double cheeseburger and fries then on to Small World, Peter Pan and Ariels Grotto before the rain came. Back to the cabin and swimming in the rain (it was a lot warmer that the Typhoon Lagoon day).

Ming from Kindercare arrived at 8:30 so me and DW were off to Pleasure Island. First was the Adventurer's club where we had a drink and visited the "Mask Room". That was a real hoot. We then went to the Jazz Club for a Cuban sandwich, cocktails and a nice cigar. Christian Valenzuela was the entertainment and was really good. The Comedy Club was next and that was a very very good show. Back to the cabin at 12:30. Ming said the kids were great. We asked if she had the right cabin. We did notice the snacks took a huge hit that night.LOL

Friday 9/14
This was an interesting day. We woke up to a FW CM knocking on our door. He said the campground was being evacuated. Seems a little gal named Hurricane Gabrielle wanted to visit. He said that we were being evacuated to the Contemporary. (hey, I always wanted to stay in a Deluxe). They told us to take only our essentials. We were assigned room 7345 which had 2 queen beds and 1 day bed. 1 less bed than we had at FW. Since we didn't bring any food I knew the visa was going to take a hit. We scoped out the resort and we saw a sign for a lunch for displaced Fort Wilderness guests. I thought "hey, cool, free lunch". I went in the room and they had a buffet of sandwiches, chips, sodas and cakes. I looked closer and saw $4.00 per sandwich. Holy Cow! I told the CM standing there that I was insulted and that for the inconvenience the lunch should be gratis. We left and went to the California Grill. Great food and great service. More expensive than the buffet but well worth it. Checked out the arcade and went back to the room. DW went to the salon for a perm and DD got her very first manicure. They came back to the room at 6 and the rain stopped. DS and I hopped on the monorail over to MK where we went command since it was open until 9:30 that night. Buzz 4x, Space Mtn 3x, Alien Encounter, Splash Mountain, BTMRR 3x. This was the very last ride of the night. We saw some of Spectromagic and caught the fireworks from BTMRR. All in all a pretty good displacement day.

Saturday 9/15
Ordered room service for breakfast and was informed that FW would open at 11 am. Well, there's 1/2 a day shot. Got back to the cabin after waiting in traffic and got DW and the kids settled back in. DW started to make lunch and I said I was going to the fron desk to get some restitution for the preceeding day. CM Drew was the lucky one to listen to my dilemma and he must have realized he was dealing with a veteren. I explaind the whole scenario from being displaced to another resort with less beds, not being able to take food (which we had in our refrigerator in the cabin) with us and the loss of our e-tickets due to the terrorist attacks on Tuesday. I guess it pays to be the squeaky wheel because I received my money back for the e-night, $10.60 refund for the refrigerator I ordered at the contemporary for the little ones juice and food, $49.67 refund off of the California Grill bill because we couldn't bring any food with us and $48.62 refund, which is 25% on the difference of the room size of the Contemporary vs the Cabin. This all took about 1/2 hour but Drew was very professional and I never lost my cool. I just imagine that others who didn't speak up never got a thing back. We headed to DD again, this time for shopping then the Lego Store and DQ again. We had dinner at the cabin and went swimming at night.

Sunday 9/16
Woke up early to get to our PS at Donald's Breakfastorus at Animal Kingdom. Great interaction at this Character breakfast. Then went to Festival of the Lion King, Tarzan Rocks, Tough to Be a Bug and Dinosaur. We then did some animal watching then back to the cabin for lunch and a nap at 12:30. We then went to the Boardwalk resort via bus to TTC, bus to MGM, water taxi to Boardwalk. Stopped at Ice Cream shop and took in some street entertainment. Met Beauty and family for our pre-planned Illuminations cruise. The captains name was Jeff and he was, in my opinion, the ultimate captain. Very funny and personable. After the cruise, caught a bus to DD then a bus to TTC then a bust to FW. No real easy way to get back with the exception of a taxi.

Monday 9/17
We had breakfast at the cabin and went swimming. I had the golf cart picked up because we wanted to have plenty of time tomorrow morning for MK. Took a nap and went to get pins and flex gifts from the Trading Post. Off to MGM for dinner at Hollywood and Vine, getting the Fantasmic Dinner Package Coupon. Did the Great Movie Ride and caught some street performers before Fantasmic. Fantasmic is a must see in my book. Back to the cabin after the show.

Tuesday 9/18
Made breakfast at the cabin then got on a bus to TTC then to MK. Got to MK for Fantasyland rope drop. DD got picked by CM to open Fantasyland that day (see pictures). Went on Dumbo, Legend of Lion King, Snow White, BTMRR, Goofy's Barnstormer, Splash Mountain and walked right into the judges tent to meet The Mouse. Met the Mayor, Brer Bear and Liverlips along with a bunch of other characters. Took the boat back to FW. I had one of my workers send an empty box to me so I could fill it with souviners and any sharp objects that could be considered weapons at the airport so I could ship it back via Fedex prior to our leaving. I shipped the box and then went swimming. Over to the Trails end for all you can eat dinner buffet. To the front desk where we met Luiz from Tiffany again. He seemed like a different man. You could see the pain in his face from the events of the past week. We shed a few tears and he told me that I was the 2nd trip he had done that week since Tuesday. Everyone else cancelled. We arrived at the airport 2 1/2 hours before our flight. They check our bags thoroughly and even frisked me at the metal detectors. I had no problem at all with that. Waited for 2 hours near the gate watching TV and I checked out everyone that was getting on my plane. When we started to board I was the 1st one on and I stood near the door looking at everyone as they boarded. Only 20 people on the flight that normally seated 120. The flight took off at 9:20 and we were back in Allentown at 11:30.

Sorry for being so long winded. I only hit the major points as far as attractions went. We did many other things that, I'm sure, slipped my mind. I did my best to write down as much as I could remember for that day. It will surly be one of the most memorable trips for me. As far as traveling goes, I'm not going to let those (enter your own expletive here) terrorists get the best of me. I just booked a trip to Cancun for November 15-18 for DW and me so they could put that in their pipe and smoke it! If anyone has any questions, fire away and I'll do my best to answer them.

Here are the links to the pictures.



Picture Post # 1

Picture Post # 2

Picture Post # 3

Picture Post # 4

Picture Post # 5

Picture Post # 6

Adam aka Big Dude
 
Thanks for posting! I really enjoyed your trip report (I didn't think it was too long). I enjoyed the pictures as well. Thanks for taking the time and effort to share it with us.

Beth
 
Adam & family:

Thank you SO much for sharing all of your pics!!! You got some really nice shots in there. I'm glad that all of you were able to make the most of your vacation during that stressful week. You are right, Adam; you were there with your family and that was the most important thing.
 
I loved your trip report! Tell your wife I think her hair looked GREAT! What a nice way to pamper yourself! The pictures were fantastic. Thanks so much for taking the time to Post them. We are leaving for WDW and the BC in 11 days for a 2 week trip!!!! I will taking lots of pictures and will Post them when we get back! Thanks again!
 

Hi Adam - Enjoyed your picture posts and trip reports. I'm glad you got those refunds, you certainly deserved them.
 
wow! thanks for taking the time to do this. It was great.
 
And I thought I was organized!!!!!;) Thanks for posting such an informative and interesting report! Sounds like a great family trip...makes me anxious for ours!:earsgirl:
 
Fantastic report-I enjoyed it so much! The pictures were great. I am ready to go back myself.
 
Thanks for posting the pictures they always make me want to be there. IMHO I don't see why Disney owed you any $ for putting you up in the Contemporary for free for your own safety I would think that staying in the camp ground on the edge of hurricaine season carries an assumption of risk in this happening. :confused: :confused: :confused:
 
Loved the report and the pictures were great. You were really able to get some great pictures. Glad you were able to have fun despite the world troubles!
 
Thanks AmyBWV99 for your kind words and honest thoughts. The reason I asked for a partial refund was because of the way it was handled by the resort itself. Picture waking up to a knock at the door saying we were being evacuated and we had 20 minutes to "report" to the front desk to catch the bus to the contemporary. Remember, this is all after the attacks a few days prior and I have my 3 children including the 2 year old to think about. I called the front desk and asked them what the deal was and they explained to me to bring only the essentials. I asked them if I should bring food and they said no. Mind you, I had a refrigerator full of food because we had the stove/microwave in the cabin.

When we got to the Contemporary, they had is in a room way out at the furthest reaches of the garden building (away from the main building where the monorail goes through). In the cabin we had a total of 4 beds. DS (little) slept on the bottom bunk, DD slept on the top bunk, DS (big) slept on the double bed and DW and I slept on the murphy bed. At the Contemp. there were 2 queen beds and a daybed (total of 3 beds). That meant that the little guy had to double up with the big guy or mom and dad. He ended up with the big guy (he (little guy) ended up falling out of the bed in the middle of the night). DD slept on the daybed.

I felt I paid a good deal of money to have comfortable sleeping quarters and even requested to get 2 adjoining rooms to accomplish this when checking in. They said I would have to pay for an extra room. The cabin was a great deal larger than the contemp. room and certainly had more amenities. I understand your thoughts about safety and the cabins are really trailers with a disguise, but I feel that Disney was not prepared to handle this situation in an expeditious manner. After all was said and done, a total of about 1 full day was lost (FW opened at 11 am and the busses going from the contemp. to FW would only run from 11 to 1 that day) That meant we couldn't go to a park in the morning without feeling rushed to get back to gather up "the essentials", catch a bus and get settled back in at FW. To me that was unacceptable and the reason I asked for the partial refund.

Adam
 
Thank you for the wonderful trip report and great pictures! I loved how you captioned each photo. Can you please tell me what camera you used for the photos? Was it a digital? All of your shots came out great and I especially loved the last "postcard" shot. Thanks again for sharing! :D
 
Thank you Chinadoll. The camera I use is a Sony Mavica FD89. It is a digital that uses 3 1/2 inch floopy discs as the "film". It's really easy to use and seems to work really great for me. It has a 3X zoom and the battery lasts for about 1 1/2 hours if left running continuiously.

Adam
 





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