Birthday celebration at the Fort trip report

[rm0530]

Get ready for a new trip report!

We decided on Aug 8th to make a short trip to celebrate my birthday (Aug 16). We couldn't go the weekend before my birthday due to my MIL's birthday being on the 15th, so we had to settle for the weekend after. We left Friday after work and got home last night around 9pm.

We hit all four parks within two days. Once I get home from work and get pictures ready, it's on!

 

[Born 2 Fish]

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[rm0530]

Day 1-August 20:
We both came home early from work, packed up the bare necessities for our weekend trip, and were able to leave at 3:30pm. We had to stop by the bank for toll quarters and we were off! We arrived at the Fort around 10:00 and were directed inside for check-in. The outpost area had the pioneer music playing outside and really put me in the ‘Fort’ mindset. So wonderful to be back.

I asked for the 1500 loop once inside but the CM made a call and was told it was full. She had us pre-assigned to 2059. She pulled out a site binder and showed us a map of the 2000 loop. Site 2059 was not near a walking path (we explained our issues with our site in July) and close enough to a CS to make us happy. Once we got to the site, we were pleasantly surprised. It was a large site with nice vegetation to make it feel cozy. We’d like to request it again for our Labor day trip.

Deformed Hidden Mickey at our site

It took about an hour to set up camp. MK had EMH till 3am. I was really interested in heading over and soaking up some wonderful atmosphere but DH was not feeling well. I drove the entire way down and he gets car sick if he’s not driving. We showered and were asleep by midnight. Now looking back on it, it was the best decision to stay and rest. I had only finished two weeks into our new school year and my body clock was still adjusting to less sleep. I guess I can’t always be right!

 

[BradyBz12]

Yay a new TR!!

Keep it coming....

 

[jshuff1]

i wouldlike to have a birthday there

 

[rm0530]

Day 2-August 21

We had a very busy day! Our plan was to hit the attractions we hadn’t done in the four previous trips we’ve taken together. I’ve finally accepted it’s impossible to do everything in one trip and have started relaxing. I’m enjoying always having something new to do each time we visit.

Our first park this morning was Animal Kingdom for morning EMH. I was up at 6am, cooked breakfast, and got our Camelbaks ready while DH showered. We always drive ourselves to parks (except boat for MK) and we were walking into AK gates at 8am. It was going to be the start of a good day!

Beautiful Fort sunrise

DH's tea and sausages

My cereal--I went with Frosted flakes (notice I forgot to pack the duct tape in the 'bare necessities' and DH had to use rope to connect the tubing to the front of the A/C)

Our first plan was to head straight for Everest! We took the path outside of DinoLand and apparently we were the only people who had this idea. We picked up fastpasses (didn’t ever use) and jumped in the 10 minute stand-by line. We’ve always done FP or single riders for this ride so I’ve never seen the que. I was very impressed but not surprised by the level of Disney-detail.

It's worth it to wake up early for morning EMH. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Secluded waterfall I noticed. I love how lush and green everything is in AK (except the water!)

Next up we did It’s tough to be a bug, Dinosaur, and headed to Camp Minnie-Mickey for the 10am showing of Festival of the Lion King. Very good show, I loved the monkeys. I can’t believe they performed that show 8 times that day! Finding Nemo’s first show was at 11:30. I wanted to rush over there and wait in line but DH convinced me to calm down and we sat and listened to the band near Flame Tree while eating a snack. The Nemo musical was okay. I enjoyed the puppets but not the music. “In the big blue world” is still stuck in my head.

DH wanted to take the train up to Planet Watch to see the tarantulas (I don’t know if they have those but he said he remembered them from July ’09 visit) but it would have taken up too much time. Next trip! We stopped by Rainforest Café for lunch and were pleasantly surprised by the food. Our server was not so wonderful (no refills at all) but we had a 10% discount with our passes. After lunch we walked back to the car and drove over to Hollywood Studios.

 

[kazlac4]

 

[rm0530]

Once inside the Studios, first stop was Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Fastpasses were all gone so we jumped into the singles line. It took maybe 15 minutes including time spent waiting while the ride went offline. We picked up ToT FP (didn’t ever use), grabbed Mickey bars, and went to Magic of Disney animation. I enjoyed the concept art displays in the que line. Even though I enjoy the computer animation, nothing beats classic Disney animation. Voyage of the Little Mermaid came next. This is my favorite ‘Princess’ story but DH slept through the performance.

I had wanted to explore One Man’s Dream but it was closed, along with TSM. It was sad to see those walls up when I knew so many people wanted to be enjoying that attraction.

We headed down the Streets of America and found Muppet Vision 3D. Not a bad show but it didn’t make my top list of attractions I have to see. We wanted to see Indiana Jones and Beauty and the Beast but since we had waited for both shows at AK, we decided to postpone for the next trip. We headed back to the Fort around 5pm and grilled hot dogs.

 

[rm0530]

While we were eating dinner, a massive storm started. It lasted maybe 45 minutes and we waited at our site until things calmed down. We hopped on a purple Settlement bus and boarded a boat to MK. The minute I walked into Main Street, the rush of magical emotions was very strong! I enjoy and appreciate the other parks for what they are and what they offer, but nothing can top MK for me. DH is a bit tired of it since “we do it all the time” but luckily he is patient.

We arrived around 8:15 and headed straight to Liberty Square to purchase our traditional Christmas ornament. With our new castle ornament safely packed away in my bag, we went across the street for a funnel cake. It was the best funnel cake I’ve ever had. I normally buy one at our national fair every year but they will never compare to Sleepy Hollow. It was light, fluffy, and non greasy. Needless to say, you should all try a funnel cake ASAP!

After the nourishment, we caught a showing of the Country Bear Jamboree. We remarked on the CM’s lack of enthusiasm during the pre-show announcements and after the show was finished, we understood! I’d be annoyed too if I had to listen to that for hours each day. But it was one more attraction we could mark off the list.

After the bears, we rode Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain and then trekked over to the true People Mover! It’s such a relaxing place to rest tired feet.

We exited the People Mover and rushed over to the Tomorrowland bridge to catch the beginning of Wishes, my favorite way to end a day. The park closed at 10pm and we headed to the boat dock after the fireworks. We had planned on relaxing at the site with a bowl of Jiffy Pop but we both crashed into bed right after exiting the bus.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Another great trip report.

This was your third trip this year, right?

Dang, you are catching up with me!

Looking forward to hearing more!

TCD

 

[anolefan]

Nice TR! I like the way you plan your days out.
Looking forward to more!

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Wonderful TR and pics,
I like ya'llz camp set up, very cool.
I'd bet you could have bought a couple feet of Duct Tape at the trading post for round $15.00, (course, it would be Magical duct tape)

 

[rm0530]

Day 3-August 22

I had set my alarm for 5:30am so we could quickly pack and make the most of our last day. I ended up snoozing for 45 minutes. Everything was wet from the Saturday night storm and made it a bit more difficult to pack properly. We finished and left the Fort at 8:30. It’s sad to leave but that’s the beauty of having return trips already booked—only minimal depression.

Our final park was Epcot.

It's nice when you can park close enough that trams aren't needed.

It was having morning EMH from 8-9. We had parked and were walking into the gates at 8:55. We bypassed all the suckers waiting in line for regular admission and went to The Land for Soarin’ fastpasses (which we did use!) Fastpasses safely packed away, we went to Test Track singles, Mission Space green, and Ellen’s Energy Adventure. After all of this, it was 10:50 and we went to wait for World Showcase rope drop.

We skipped Mexico, Norway, China, and Germany. In Italy we checked out the new restaurant. A pizza large enough to share was $36. DH said “It’s probably really good after you get over the fact you’re paying that much for pizza”.

First time I've seen this character

We went to the 11:15 showing of The American Adventure. I couldn’t believe the size of the theater (1000 seats) and maybe 20 were filled. We didn’t encounter crowds at all during our time in the World Showcase.

We visited Japan and had fun picking out candy we were clueless about. We walked all through Morocco, France, and UK but skipped Canada. We thought about eating lunch at Chefs de France but 1)we didn’t want to wait for a table and 2)didn’t want to pay that much this trip. We may eat there another time; the menu looked interesting. We’ve decided to make one ADR for each trip coming up so we’ll see.

It was around 1pm after we finished the Showcase and we were starving. We headed over to The Land and both had the chicken meal at Seasons. That is definitely my favorite counter service in WDW. A great value for the amount of food and very tasty. We used our Soarin’ fastpasses after lunch and still had about a 25 minute wait. We were able to get on row 1 though!

After a quick picture inside The Land (I finally noticed each balloon represents each season. I should really slow down more) we went to Captain EO. I wouldn’t wait for it again but it was nice to see a classic attraction.

After the show it was 3pm and time to head home. I slept for 4 hours of the 6 hour drive, had a yummy dinner at Fazoli’s, and were home at 9pm.

I was really pleased with the level of crowds this weekend. I don’t know if we picked the right parks for the right days or were just lucky. We weren’t able to do everything we wanted but we felt okay skipping things. We love our APs! In the end, we did 9 new-to-us attractions and that’s satisfying for 2 park days.

We will be back next Friday till Monday. Our group will be the largest we’ve had: 7 people. 4 of them are leaving in the morning and 3 of us are leaving after work (DH, BF, and myself). It’ll be nice to arrive and have the site already set up so we can start relaxing immediately. I already have my bag packed. See you for the next TR!

 

[Born 2 Fish]

I must say , ya'll picked a great time to hit the parks ! From all the pics you have shown us , THERES NO BODY IN THE PARKS !! That is so way cool !!

 

[rm0530]

Another great trip report.

This was your third trip this year, right?

Dang, you are catching up with me!

Looking forward to hearing more!

TCD

Yep, 3rd trip and 3 more booked. We need to slow down though, our savings plan is getting neglected. We probably won't renew our passes.

Nice TR! I like the way you plan your days out.
Looking forward to more!

Thanks for reading! I enjoyed your TR as well. I can't wait till we have babies to bring to the Fort!

Wonderful TR and pics,
I like ya'llz camp set up, very cool.
I'd bet you could have bought a couple feet of Duct Tape at the trading post for round $15.00, (course, it would be Magical duct tape)

I must say , ya'll picked a great time to hit the parks ! From all the pics you have shown us , THERES NO BODY IN THE PARKS !! That is so way cool !!

Thanks! I'd totally buy Mickey head duct tape. We were really lucky with our crowd levels. I don't know what happened. Wasn't that weekend the beginning of free dining? Maybe they were all waiting in lines at restaurants!

 

[mgsmom]

I enjoyed your report! Thanks for sharing!