Fort Wilderness LIVE-Trip report

[tina.tina]

Better to skin your knee at Disney than home I guess.

We had a couple of skinned knees as a result of uneven steps at the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. DD (who was 10 then) said this same thing!



Your princesses are adorable even when they're grumpy. Thanks for the report!

 

[SamRoc]

Bummer on the bike but their faces the morning after the boutique are priceless!!

I was just going to post the same thing! They weren't happy campers! lol

 

[mightyexplorers]

We started yesterday at hollywood studios, we knew it would be our only chance to ride toy story mania without a fast pass. We had already booked soarin' for the afternoon so we decided to do rope drop at HS in the morning.

We got there about 8:40 and were fortunate to not be to far back in line. here was our view:

Usually when we are heading into a park at a busy entrance time I will tell the kids to go all the way to the left or right depending on where we enter, usually the lines to the ends seem to be a little shorter. This worked great, however we did discover something interesting, the last two lines on the right at HS only have 1 magic band scanner. Most other lines have two. So our line even though were were pretty close to the front only moved half as fast. Consider yourselves warned.

Still we managed to hit Toy Story with only a 15 minutes wait time.

By the time we left it was 50

After we were done with that the older kids headed for rockin' roller coaster, not wanting to wait for that we decided to head to epcot. We decided to walk the trail. It was a nice walk and a good chance to check out boardwalk. I think the walk ended up being faster than the boat would have been anyway. There was a chance to fill up our mugs at the boardwalk bakery along the way as well.

Epcot was the lightest we have seen it and the kids got the chance to get autographs from several characters will almost zero wait time. Starting with walking into Captain Hook on the way into the park.

We finished out the day with Soarin'. It has been a while since we rode it and it did not disappoint. It was also the first successful use of fast pass +. We booked it the night before.

 

[mightyexplorers]

Went for a ride today, they are still keeping guard. I just sleep better knowing we are all safe.

 

[tina.tina]

I noticed the kids are wearing crocs in their pictures. How are they doing? I was thinking of wearing crocs flip flops next time I go.

I hope you're having a great time.

 

[mightyexplorers]

I noticed the kids are wearing crocs in their pictures. How are they doing? I was thinking of wearing crocs flip flops next time I go.

I hope you're having a great time.

We are having a great time.

We all go in either crocs, sandals, or flip flops, whatever is comfortable.

In fact the first thing two of our boys did when we arrived is go shop for their disney crocs.

I like walking around in crocs that I can kick off and sit barefoot in for a while.. Especially in the heat. Although we do keep some tennis shoes as backup in case of blisters.

 

[tiggerdad]

Went for a ride today, they are still keeping guard. I just sleep better knowing we are all safe.

Holy Smokes!

I only thought the squirrels were dangerous!

 

[mightyexplorers]

First I was riding around the fort and I ran into this guy

And that got me thinking ....

Mmm. Now I know why the fort is so popuar around thanksgiving

 

[mightyexplorers]

I have been a little slow in posting lately, but hey I am at Disney World!.

Here are a couple pics from around the fort.

 

[mightyexplorers]

Originally I thought that we would keep the baby in the stroller that he would ride contently in his car seat on the double stroller and that our 3 and 4 year olds would take turns in the second seat. We quickly discovered that that was not the best plan. Fist of all the car seat was just two hot for him to sit in. Second he didn't really like it in there all that much.

We brought a baby bjorn with us and that has worked great for a 3 month old baby. I just wear him and it is pretty comfortable. He stays pretty quiet and that leaves the stroller available for the other two young kids. A couple times we have reclined the rear seat of the stroller and he has slept back there for a bit. The biggest thing, I think, if you are going to do Disney with a young baby is that you have to be flexible. Commando style on a strict schedule probably won't work

We have found though that he is able to go on many of the slower rides with us which is nice.

All in all it has been a good experience with him and not caused us to much pain.

 

[mightyexplorers]

Yesterday we hit magic Kingdom at rope drop. All in all it has been a very busy weekend but yesterday, the park opened at 9:00 by 10:00 we had walked on, Ariel's Grotto, Haunted Mansion, Aladin's carpets, and Pirates of the Caribbean with the small kids. Yes even the baby was able to ride them all.
The older kids walked on Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, big thunder mountain railroad, and the 7 DWARFS MINE RIDE!!. They have had it mostly open this weekend, I think they had about a 45 minute wait but said the wait time was almost 3 hours by they time they were off it. They also walked Tom Sawyer's island for a bit.
We ate an early lunch at Pecos Bill's and were heading out of there by 11:00. At that time it was beginning to get hard to walk and the crowds and the heat was becoming a bit oppressive.
We got the older kids to baby sit for a little while and we went to Epcot for a bit in the late afternoon. It was crowded but still managed a chair in Rose and Crown (bar area)

as well as the Mexican Pavilion patio. It was a good time but busy and we were happy to not have the stroller there.

The boys commented that the mine ride was just OK for them. They still prefer space mountain and some of the other coaster, they said the younger kids would probably enjoy it more. Can't wait to try, we still have fast passes for the official opening day so we will all get a chance to try it for ourselves.

 

[tiggerdad]

Great job so far...

I am really enjoying so far and appreciate the work you are putting into it.

 

[ruthies12]

Loving the posts and the pictures! Can't wait to hear your opinion on the mine train, especially for little ones. I have a 5 year old who is a bit scared of coasters. She rode big thunder on our last trip and thought it was too fast. We might get to go again in August and I'm hoping to take her on it. Please let me know what your little princesses of think of it!

 

[mightyexplorers]

We rode the 7 dwarfs mine ride today. We were lucky enough to get fast passes on the first day they were available before the system crashed.

We loved it. It is right up there with Buzz Lightyear and Peter Pan. The ride starts fast, then pauses in the middle to slowly go through the dwarfs mine, then ascends a hill to finish fast again.

The best part of it is that the hight limit is only 38" Our four year old was ecstatic to be able to ride it. She has been declaring Tower or Terror her favorite ride for weeks (despite never having been on it or seen much of it) but that and most every other coaster is a 40" limit. She measures about 39 1/4" falling just a finger short of most of the faster rides (that she is sure she loves).

I would say it is definitely not an adventure coaster, if that is what you are looking for this one isn't for you. It has a couple of nice drops but isn't heart stopping. I would say it is in between the Barnstormer and Big thunder mountain. It is without a doubt the smoothest roller coast I have ever been on. Not jerky in the least.

 

[mightyexplorers]

You can't beat our site for convienicne that is for sure.

Standing in one spot in front of the settlement trading post I took these three shots.

The boat dock.


Crockets Tavern/ hoop dee doo


and you can just make out our campsite

 

[Teamubr]

You can't beat our site for convienicne that is for sure.

Yep. That's why I love the 100 loop.

j

 

[Boudin]

Thanks for posting this. It's making the long days til October a bit more bearable. I also love late afternoon cocktails at Epcot. I always try and leave time for a little drinking around the world before our dinner reservations.

 

[Mmketeer]

Rode the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train last night at MK. The ride was down when we arrived at 7pm for our fast pass and the CM said it had already been down for 20 min. The stand by line was unbelieveably long for the ride not operating. The CM's told everyone in the FP line they could come back anytime the rest of the night and they would honor it. But, we weren't planning on staying all night and didn't want to mess up the rest of our FP for Space Mtn and Big Thunder, so we waited. Grabbed an ice cream to share and stood in line for about 30 min before the maint crew came out. As they walked by I asked if they fixed it as I was near the front of the line and they said "yes". I thanked them and yelled it's fixed! The entire line gave them around of appaluse as the two waved and walked down the FP line to emerge into the park.
So then the testing of the cars began, one and then two and three went by and presto they opened the line. Their is no interactive que for the FP and we walked right onto the cars. They do not free swing and the ride was super smooth. I have to keep reminding myself that it's a kiddie ride as it is over so quickly. But the tight turns with the limited feel of g-force was really fun while it lasted and the middle part where you stop in the mountain to see the Seven Dwarfs scene like in Splash Mtn was really cute. It was cute, fun and short that's my opinion. I wouldn't wait stand by for it, but it was great with a FP. I personally am loving the new FP system, though I know their are some issues with park hopping still with it. Just my opinion on the ride....sorry I can't post pics on here.

 

[JETS70]

Thanks for taking time to do the trip reports. Reports and pics like these really get us excited about coming back.We have stayed in the 100 and 200 loop and you are right, you can't beat the location. We have requested the 100 loop when we come back in about 3 weeks. This will be the first time at the Fort for our children. Can't wait for them to experience the Fort. The DW and I really enjoyed the day "hanging around the Fort". Great pics, especially the day after Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique day.
I had heard that in either the 100, 200, or 300 loop was a sinkhole. Any truth to that?

 

[mightyexplorers]

Well all good things must come to an end.

We left the fort on Friday and arrived back home in MN this afternoon. We had a wonderful trip. It is such a nice place to be, and I don't know of any other trip that we can take as a large family that can so fully accommodate everyone from the youngest to the oldest child (not to mention mom and dad).

Thursday we spent the day wrapping up some unfinished business at Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

We had a nice final Disney moment coming back to the fort from Epcot around 9. We didn't stay for the fireworks so were ahead of the crowd and decided to ride the monorail and at the transportation and ticket center opted to take the ferry boat to magic kingdom. As we approached the Magic Kingdom with the castle lit up in the background on a mostly empty ferry boat the electrical parade was just starting. The ferry had to pause about 50 yards out to allow the electrical water parade to pass and we all sat there and watched it at extreme close up with the magic kingdom in the background.

It was one of those "Disney Moments" and a nice finally to our trip. Last week had been so busy in the parks that having that last moment almost exclusively with our family was very special.

After our moment we caught our last boat (for this trip) back to the fort with the magic kingdom fireworks lighting the sky outside the window.

It will probably be two years this time before we return, we have decided that it is probably time to sell and upgrade the motorhome, so we will probably list it soon and hopefully be ready to buy again for an early 2016 trip. Not an easy decision, it is funny how you can form a bond with a vehicle but we have many many happy family memories in it.