Friends together at Ft. Wilderness, 8-13 July

[tkd lisa]

Day One, 8 July
Our travelers:

S Family
Me, single mom, 42, loves living in Tampa, many trips to Disney, 2nd camping trip
DD, 15, loves thrill rides and Japan
DD, almost 14, loves the animation studio

K Family
DFr, my college roomate, also 42. One Disney trip as a child, then 2 days with their son in 97 or 98.
DFrH, 44. He took 4 or 5 Disney trips as a kid, then the 2 day trip with their son.
DFrSon, just turned 13. The above mentioned 2 day trip as a child, which he doesn't remember.

Background: My college roommate and her family always camp the two weeks around 4th of July. This year, they decided to camp at Disney and asked us to join them. They have a camper, and we used a tent.

This is mostly a Disney a trip report about the parks, if you have questions about the Fort, just ask, and I'll be happy to answer them.

Plans for the day:

Meet up at Disney in early afternoon. Set up camp, then exchange K families tickets and visit MK for a few hours. Have dinner at Ohana, and maybe finish at MK for a couple more hours.

What really happened?

My family got out of church a little later than I planned, but we checked into Ft. Wilderness by 1:30. The CM who checked me in seemed to be very new. He was a little bit ditzy, and almost forgot to return my drivers' license. He also forgot to give me our KTTW cards (but I didn't catch that until later). We were assigned site 1622. I figured we'd be somewhere in that area, since we had a preferred pet loop, and there are only 4 loops in that category. We were just past the cabins, and fairly close to the Meadow's pool. DS and I set up our tent, and about 2:15, I headed back to drop the van in the parking lot up front so that my friends could drive in with the travel trailer. I actually passed my friends driving in. I went to the check in area to get KTTW cards, and there was a very long line. It took about 15 - 20 minutes to get to the front, but I finally got my keys, then took the bus back to our site. DFr had gotten the KTTW cards that had originally been printed when they checked in, which is why they had to print new cards for me. DD, DFr and I headed out to do the great ticket trade off next, while the guys finished setting up the travel trailer.

We drove over to the TTC, because I thought there was a guest relations window there. It turned out that we had to go to the MK entrance, so we hopped on the monorail. The ticket return was very simple, and with refund securely back on my friends credit card, we headed towards Shades of Green. We took the ferry back over to pick up the van, then drove into Shades of Green. Unfortunately, there was a HUGE line there, and it wasn't moving very quickly. I know the people around us had absolutely no idea what kind of tickets they wanted. One guy didn't even know if he wanted universal or Disney, so that's probably what took so long. We waited about 50 minutes, but finally got 5 day Stars and Stripes passes, which started that day. They have made a recent change to S&S. You can now skip a day in the middle of the time period if you like. It used to be that even if you didn't use one of the days of the pass, it expired anyway. Now you can buy a 5 day pass starting Sunday, and take off one day during the week and have it good through Friday.

Back at camp, we swapped vehicles again. Since you can only have one vehicle on the site, and we would be using my van as our primary transportation, we took DFr truck up to the overflow lot.

After all this, we fixed a quick snack before heading off to catch a boat to MK. We were in the park just before 7. DS headed down Main Street to buy a gift for his girlfriend. The rest of us stopped by Guest Relations to get DFrS a birthday button, then we took the train to FronteirLand. DFrS was the guest conducted. While we were waiting on the train, another friend I used to work with back in Indiana called to say they had just left Splash Mountain because it was closed. This guy had been visiting WDW with his family for the last week, and today was their last day. We met up at the train station exit, and I got to see how his boys had grown. They were heading out to eat off-property, so we all walked over to POC where we said goodbye.

Pirates only had a 10 minute wait posted, so we hopped in line. We ended up waiting about 20 minutes. DFrS wanted to understand exactly what this ride was. He's definitely a planner, and does much better when he understands what to expect. I think I did a fairly good job of explaining what to expect without giving away too much. I told him there was a drop (I said "just enough drop that if I had said there was no drop, you'd tell me I lied!"), etc. He really liked the ride, but by this time we needed to get on our way to the Poly. DS met us at the exit, and we caught the monorail over. We were lucky enough to snag the front cab, so DFrS was able to get a good view as we rode around the resort loop! We checked in at 8:25 for our 8:30 ADR and just had time to wash our hands before we were seated, right by the window. Great view of the sunset and the castle.

The kids were looking at the specialty drinks, and DS was lobbying hard for a Lapu Lapu (non-alcoholic). I knew he wouldn't like it, and really just wanted the pineapple so I vetoed this. All the kids ended up with some sort of smoothie, which they really liked. Our servers were Cousin Traci and Cousin Leo. They could have been a little more efficient (especially Leo). Traci did the drinks, and she was fairly quick. We waited a while to get started eating, and we asked for more sticky wings and never got them. And it took several requests to get the steak and pork brought around. DFrS went up as a birthday boy to get a lei, but declined the coconut race. We pretty much missed the sunset, but enjoyed watching the castle change colors.

I'm not sure about the bill. I had paid for the remaining campsite fee when I check in, so we decided that if DFr paid for the two buffet meals we planned, then that would make us even (we split the cost of the campsite). I did use my DDE card for the 20% discount.

Once we finished up, it was too late to get back to MK before Wishes started, so we headed out to the beach. We enjoyed the fireworks, but it's definitely different without the soundtrack. Everyone was pretty tired by this time, so we just headed back over to the campgrounds (ferry to MK, then another ferry to Ft. Wilderness). I set up DD with a sleeping pad in our van (moving out a couple of seats), but she ended up using DFr's couch instead (the camper sleeps 4). The ladies all took showers because we were really sticky, and we were all asleep by about midnight.

 

[tkd lisa]

Day 2: July 9

Plans for the day:

Morning EMH at MGM
Lunch at Sci Fi
Break (water park for K family)
Late EMH at AK

What really happened.

This day went mostly according to plan.

I was up really early (about 4:30, but I got out of bed at 5). It was pretty dark still. I headed out to get another shower. Even with a fan, it was pretty sticky sleeping in a tent. I started the coffee brewing on my camp stove, and had my devotions by lantern light. By the time I wrote up my notes from the day before, it was getting light and other folks were stirring. Everyone got showers, and we had breakfast at our campsite, and piled in my van for the drive to MGM about 7:50.

One thing about camping is that everything just takes longer. You can't just leave things piled up. The dishes have to be washed and put away. And even brushing your teeth is a 10 minute evolution because you have to walk to and from the comfort station. All the stuff has to be stored under the awning in case it rains.

We parked in the first parking section, just beyond the lot where the tour buses let out. DD had sprained her ankle about a month ago while taking care of our neighbors dog, so she was a bit slow. We made it into the park, and I took off to get RnR fast passes while everyone else headed to the Great Movie Ride. While they were waiting on me, they chatted with a group of Dream Team CMs. DFrS was wearing his birthday button, and they gave him a nice birthday pin (it folds up like a card). Meanwhile, I saw Karyn and her family just outside the sweet shop. I spotted Kat first, who looks just like her pictures. Karyn said that they loved OKW, but that everyone had been fairly sick. Today looked to be their first healthy day. She had Steve take a picture of us, which I'm sure she'll post when she returns. Of course, I forgot to give him my camera!

I met up with the rest of our group, and we walked right onto Great Movie Ride. Everyone enjoyed the show, and we headed over to Star Tours to wait until our RnR FPs were ripe. We passed the Dream Team members as we were heading down the street, and waved to them.

DFrH suffers a bit from motion sickness, so he decided to sit this ride out. DD isn't crazy about it either, so she and I took some pictures while we were waiting. Here are a few of them.

You can kind of see DD's tie dyed mickey shirt. The three ladies were wearing them today, while DFrH and DFrS were wearing the spiral mickey shirts I made. DS refused to wear it on principle. DFrH explained that their son really had an elevator phobia, so he wasn't going to ride ToT. He doesn't get in elevators at all, so he couldn't even take the chicken exit.

By this time our RnR FPs were ripe. DFrH decided to sit this ride out too. If his motion sickness gets triggered, it ruins the entire day, and he didn't want to risk it. On the way over to RnR, we saw the dream team again. A quick smile and wave again. DFrH waited in the shade, and played bagman (held all the bags for us) while we skipped right into RnR. DFrS wanted to understand all about the ride. I knew he like rollercoasters, because they have visited Cedar Point many times, so I was sure he'd like it. He was a little leery of the blastoff when we went past the starting area, but his mom convinced him to ride. They were in the seat behind DS and I and I could hear him yelling "cool" during the ride. Once we were done, he told me how much he liked it!

I sent the rest of the crew off to the animation studio, while I pulled FP for ToT, then I stopped at the turkey leg stand and got a big glass of ice water. I walked through the store to meet up with everyone after the movie. I found out that Jesse was the artist today, and DS's friend Timy wasn't working. Everyone lined up for the drawing class, except DFr and I. We headed outside to wait for them, and who came walking up? Our friend Michelle from the Dream Team. I joked that we really weren't stalking her! She wanted to know why we were out in the full sun instead of the shade, and my friend joked that she's naturally cold natured. By later in the week, my DFr did change her mind about that! We had a very nice talk with Michelle. She used to work at the Tampa call center (and is from Tampa). I have a friend from church who works there, and we chatted a bit about them. Michelle talked about some of her experiences with some of the big dreams. She said that she has given away the castle 3 times. One time, it was to a family who was riding the carousel, and she said that was particularly magical. Michelle also told me that the drawing class has been lengthened now, so they only do 2 per hour instead of 3.

While we were waiting, I noticed people coming out with Dream FPs, and Michelle said they had given them to the group who was in the theater right after my family and friends. Oh well, we had FPs for the big ones already, and we were planning on leaving the park after lunch. Our group came out. They had drawn Donald and really enjoyed it. We quick stepped over to catch the 11:50 LMA show next. We had fairly good seats, up high enough to be out of the sun.

Everyone REALLY liked this show. My DFr still works for General Motors (we both co-oped for them in college, which is how we met). And she told me that they build the trucks that are in the show at her assembly plant. I got some fairly good pictures here.

Once the show was over, we made our way out with the rest of the herd. Mooooo! and headed to SciFi for our 12:30 ADR. We were seated fairly quickly in a car in the last row. The K family all had cheeseburgers and shakes or lemonade. My family went with our usual, penne pasta for DD, and ribs for DS. I had DS's cucumber melon salad and a couple of his ribs, and finished DD's leftovers. Our total DDE discount was 18.10 and my part of the bills was $40. The K family really liked Sci Fi, They said their burgers were really good, and they liked that atmosphere. DFrS got a free hot fudge sundae, and a birthday card signed by all the staff.

We headed out about 1:45 and the ladies headed to ToT. The guys looked in a couple of the shops while we were gone. We waited about 10 minutes even with our FP to get into the library. The standby line was up to 70 minutes by this time. DFr really enjoyed this ride! She said that she thought her husband would really like it too.

We headed back to the van, and were at our campsite to let the dog out by about 2:45. This was our longest morning of the trip, but we had that sit-down lunch which took some extra time.

DD's ankle was bothering her, so she stayed in the camper resting it. DFr and I took the boys down to the Meadows pool, while DFrH took a little nap.

Up next, dinner at camp, and evening EMH at AK.

 

[OK GRUMPY]

next please Thanks for sharing your trip!

 

[tkd lisa]

Day 2, part 2.

After we made it back to camp, we spent some time just relaxing. I pulled out my handy passporter, and we looked through the MGM section to see what we had missed. The only things my friends were interested in were the Indiana Jones show, and the Backlot Tour. They also looked over the section on the water parks, and decided to go to Typhoon Lagoon the next day. DFrH wanted to rest today, and my DD was resting her ankle. DFr and I took the boys down to the Meadow's pool.

I haven't seen much description of Ft. Wilderness pools, so I'll take a shot at it. Let me say though that I'm a very bad judge of size. I think this pool was about the size of an Olympic pool, but it was wider and shorter. It was shaped a bit like a "v" with the bend at the rope for the "deep" end. The shallow end had step going down to about 3 feet, while the "deep" end started about 5 feet and went to 6 feet. There was also a round wading pool for the kiddies. There were plenty of chairs and tables with umbrellas.

The pool was pretty crowded when we got there. And it was almost bath water warm. It was still nice to get wet though. The temperature was hovering in the high 90s again, and the humidity was awful. The boys hung out in the deep end, while DFr and I just floated around near the rope. We stayed in about 20 minutes, then got out to dry off. The dark clouds were moving in, so we headed back to camp.

The adults started fixing dinner, while the kids stayed in the camper and played with DFrS's Wii. He had just gotten it with his savings and his birthday money. They had lots of fun all week with this. We had grilled chicken, rice a roni and vegetables with fresh watermelon for dessert. Once everything was cleaned up, we closed up the camper and drove over to AK for late EMH. We had hoped to go on the last safari of the evening, but we didn't get into the park until 7:30, so it was already closed down. We picked up our wristbands in front of the Outfitters store, then headed over to ride Dinosaur. DFr really enjoyed this one! I admit I closed my eyes during the carnitore scene. I'm such a wimp! Once we finished this, we headed out through the roadside carnival. The kids wanted to ride Primeval Whirl, but the line was 60 minutes so we passed.

We walked past the Nemo musical heading over to EE. The standby line was 40 minutes which was going to be too close to the 9:00 showing of FOLK. Single rider line was already closed for the night, so we decided to come back after Lion King. Everyone except DFr and I rode Kali. We held the cameras to keep them dry. The boys got completely soaked on this!

We stopped on the deserted path through Asia and took my only picture of the night. It isn't very good though.

We headed over to Camp Minnie Mickey and walked in just in time for the show. They have added a new tumble monkey, and he's really good! They did some new things which were excellent! The vocalists improvised a bit, and overall the show was great. I think there's a new fire twirler, and he didn't seem as good to me. This is the 2nd time I've seen this show during late EMH, and I think the performers are "freer" during this show. It is always a great show, but the late shows just seem a little more improvisational.

Once we finished up, the boys were freezing, and wanted to head back to camp. We stopped to get DD some candy on the way out.

When we were driving, DFrH asked if we were coming back here in the morning. I told him we had planned to go to MK for morning EMH, and that we would be back Wed for AK's morning EMH. I told him that AK gets hot really quickly so the extra hour in the morning would mean the animals would be more active, and we'd enjoy the park more. He was okay with that, but really didn't want to go to MK in the morning. I looked over the park hours, and re-arranged a bit. Since MK was open late almost all week, it seemed like we could go to MK after dark instead of the morning EMH. We were back by 10:30, but learned that we needed to set up DFrS's bed before we left for the evening, since he was pretty wiped out and was ready to sleep.

Revised plans for tomorrow:

EPCOT for opening, lunch in World Showcase
K family to Typhoon Lagoon
Sandwiches for dinner at camp
MK in the evening

 

[tkd lisa]

Day 3, Tuesday

Plans for today:
MK for morning EMH
light lunch at camp
Water park for the K family
EPCOT by 7, dinner in WS, Illuminations, late EMH

This day was basically just flipped backwards. Since we hadn't really "seen" Wishes the right way, and since MK had late hours all week, we decided to go to MK in the evening. I convinced everyone that we should take advantage of the morning EMH for AK, so that left EPCOT for this morning. I had high hopes that the K family would really enjoy EPCOT. I also have to apologize, because for some reason I took NO pictures this entire day.

I was up about 6:30 and had my coffee and devotions before hitting the showers. Everyone was up when I got back from the comfort station, so we fixed egg mcmuffins for breakfast. By the time we got everyone ready and the dishes done, we left for EPCOT about 8:30, and were at the park shortly before 9. The kids took the K family by Club Cool on their way to Test Track. I went to get Soarin FPs. I guess they had just finished updating the machines, but I had no problems getting the passes. We met up at the entrance to test track, where we had about a 5 minute wait in standby. As I mentioned before, DFr still works for GM, so we asked about the "lounge". The CM told us to tell the CM at the standby line the next time, and we could go up and enjoy some refreshments as well as a nice view of the park. Then we could go to the front of the line. Unfortunately, DFr said she wasn't interested in riding again, so we never did experience this.

By the time we finished this ride, our Soarin FPs were ready to use, so we headed that way. DFrH decided to sit this ride out, but all the rest of us really enjoyed the ride. We then headed over to ride Figment with no wait, then everyone wanted to go on HISTA. My DS has never been a fan of the 3D films. He said that he had seen this on his own this year, but I had never been with him when he had ridden. We waited about 10 minutes in the pre-show, then went into the movie. My DFr is one of those people who can never keep her feet on the floor, so she happened to have her legs under her when the mice came out. But her DH and DS definitely reacted! They all really enjoyed this, and DS even said it was fun.

We headed over to the Living Seas. Nemo had a 60 minute wait, so we went in through the exit, and made it into the next showing of Turtle Talk. My kids just explored the aquarium while we did the show. It was a cute show, and the K family enjoyed it. We did have a REALLY big guy who was blocking DFr view though. We just squished together so she could see around him. After this, we decided it was lunchtime.

DFr and her son like Morrocan food, so they went with DD and me to eat at Tangerine Cafe. Her DH wanted German food, so I sent him with DS around the other side of WS, and we agreed to meet up in Japan so that DFrS could get some candy to take home to his friends. None of them had any concept of how big WS was, so they were quite surprised to realize how far around it would be.

DD and I split a lamb shwarma platter and DD had a coke. Total was $14.95. DFr and her son both had the sandwiches. I think one had chicken and the other lamb. They enjoyed it but said they were different than the ones they were used to. The ones they've had before were more of a wrap than a sandwich. We met up in Japan, where DS had gotten Teriyaki chicken and a lemonade ($8.50). I left DFr watching the end of Miyuki's candy making, while the guys were picking out candy to take home. DS and DFrS both got a marble soda, and DD got a bag of shrimp chips to eat back at camp. With that finished, we headed back to the exit, since everyone was extremely hot by this time. DFr broke my heart on the way out when she said "You know, Tom (her DH) wants to visit the countries, but as far as I'm concerned, we're done here." I couldn't believe that she really didn't like it! The heat and the size really did her in though. We were back at camp about 2:15.

Back at camp, they quickly changed into swimsuits, and took the bus to Typhoon Lagoon. We took care of their dog, and just relaxed while they were gone. They came back about 6:30, and had enjoyed the lazy river, the wave pool, and crushin gusher. They had ridden the family raft ride, and weren't impressed. All that wait, and the ride was only 30 seconds! It took them about 45 minutes to get to TL, and about 30 minutes to get back.

We set up sandwiches, chips, and leftovers for dinner. While we were eating the rain came pouring down. This was the typical FL afternoon rain, where you can't see a thing! The kids went in and played Wii, while we sat outside and caught up a bit. The rain started clearing up about 8, so we cleaned up. DD decided to stay in the camper and watch a movie. We set up DFrS's bed before heading out, then we caught the boat over to MK, and arrived just before 9. We started out in Tomorrowland, but it was fairly crowded. I pulled FPs for Buzz Lightyear, then DFr said she wanted to ride IASW so we headed to FantasyLand. DS waited by the exit for us, and when we came out Wishes was going off above us. I've never seen it from FantasyLand before, and it's really impressive! You miss the castle interaction, but the actual fireworks are almost on top of you. The K family wanted to ride other things, so we made our way into Philharmagic and were in the theater in less than 10 minutes. This was another big hit with them. The 3D movies are definitely good for them. Once we were done here, we headed over to TL to use our Buzz FPs. I pulled out the glow sticks I had brought, and we wrapped them around us, to make spotting our party easier! DFrH decided to sit out Buzz, but the rest of us headed in. DFr and I rode together, and she had over 26000 as we left the first room. But then.... the ride stopped. Unlike other times when it's stopped, they locked the guns and blanked the scores. We sat about 10 minutes, then the ride started. But our scores were zeroed!

When we finished up, DFrH said the only thing he wanted to see was the Hall of Presidents. I was pretty sure it was closed, but we headed that way anyway. And yes, it was closed. They were setting up for the late SpectroMagic, but no one wanted to watch. We made it out of the front gate about 11:10, and the parade started right behind us. It was delayed slightly by the rain. Back in camp and asleep by midnight.

This was the day I was really beginning to worry that my friends weren't having fun. They didn't seem to be enjoying anything, and I was afraid that the heat was just too much for them. We really hadn't been affected by crowds, since we used FP's wisely (and were there early). But I knew that the plans for tomorrow might change things.

Up next:

Some smiles, a missing child, and "what's that sound?"

 

[tkd lisa]

Day 4 Wednesday 11 Jul

Plans for the Day:
AK for EMH
Drop K Family at Blizzard Beach
S family back to camp to take care of dog
Dinner at Boma at 7:00
Maybe Fantasmic

What really happened?

Well, this way a day of contrasts. I woke up about 6:15, just before the alarm. By the time I got my shower, everyone was up. They understood that we really needed to be at this park early. We actually just rinsed the dishes and left them for later. The K family had to do laundry, so the tentative plan was that we would pool hop (legal with my DVC membership) to POR and let the kids swim while we did laundry there.

I missed a turn on the way to AK, so we actually entered the park about 8:15. The kids took the K family over to the Safari while I pulled EE fast passes (good for 10:10). I waited for them near the exit of the safari. I took a fairly good pictures of the gorilla while I was waiting.

I had been pin trading all week. I am originally from Indiana, and I had gotten this Mickey with Indiana pin that I thought my mom would like. But I thought I'd probably trade it away, so I took this picture. You can see I had quite a few nice ones. In fact, the top two were limited editions. The Kwanzaa one is a 500 issue, and the Buzz/Woody one was 2500. I traded that one for two VMK pins later in the week, but the guy didn't want the Kwanzaa pin.

While I was waiting, I saw the dream team come by. The took a family from the jeep over and awarded them something. I'm not sure what it was, but I think it might have been the grand marshal for the parade. I know that as they walked away with the family they said "Now you can't say you've never won anything before."

I looked up from this to see a boy about 4 or 5 standing in front of me. He was just looking at my pins. I said "Do you like my pins?" and he nodded. I asked "Do you have any pins you want to trade?" and he shook his head no. I just could tell that he wanted one, so I asked, "Do you want one of my pins?" and he pointed straight to the one of Stitch with a plunger on his head saying "It's one of those days." Now this was really my DS's lanyard. He hadn't traded for a while, so I'd started wearing it. But he told me the only pin NOT to trade was that one. But I knew that pin was still available to buy, so I gave it to the little boy. He was beaming from ear to ear! He never did say anything, so I think he may have had some sort of disability. His mom thanked me though.

By this time, everyone was off the safari. I told DS that he could either pick out a different pin, or I'd buy him the Stitch one again. DS decided that he wasn't trusting me with the lanyard anymore though, so he took it back. Everyone had really loved the safari. They had gotten very close to a giraffe, and DFr's family had taken LOTS of pictures. I don't have any of them though. If they send me a CD, I may post some later, because I know some were excellent.

It was about 9:15 by this time, and I could get another FP at 9:30. I told my friends that I'd go get one for Dinosaur so they could ride again. And that's when DFr shocked me again. Even though she had LOVED that ride, she said that she didn't want to go again. They just aren't re-riders. But they did want to ride Kali, since she hadn't gone yet. I left them to go down the Pangani Trail and got Kali FPs good for 10:15. DD took these pictures on the Pangani Trail.

I think the meerkat one is particularly good!

I think we went down the Tiger trail next. DS was in charge of the camera this time, and he got this picture of the tigers.

There weren't many birds out, and no one was interested in the bats, so this was a quick trip. We decided to go on EE first, then come back and ride Kali. DFrH sat both of these rides out. He was concerned about the backwards part of EE, and didn't want to get the cameras wet on Kali (and he had ridden Monday night).

Everyone LOVED EE. We were in seats 2,3, and 4 so we had a great view! They really liked the Yeti at the end. DD decided to sit out Kali too so she didn't get wet. The boys sat together, and DFr and I sat together. The boys got soaked. And the seat belt didn't quite hold me in. I ended up Smooshing DFr, and she got the backlash of the boy's wave. Luckily she was in a quick dry outfit!

By this time, DS was getting hungry and asked about a churro. DFrS hadn't had one before, so they headed over to the Churro cart in Africa and planned to meet us at It's Tough to be a Bug. After this, we were going to leave. DS had his phone, and promised to call when they got close. We walked over to the tree, and DD said "Mom, I'm going to look at the Lemurs, OK?" I said "sure, we'll be over here." Famous last words.

The boys call and meet us in front of the store. I say "I'll get DD", but she's nowhere in sight. I ask DS where the lemurs are since there weren't any in my sight. We looked everywhere! I went through every path. No DD. I asked the CMs if they'd seen her. This is what she looked like this trip, so she was pretty memorable! And she and I were wearing matching shirts that day.
I really have a hard time believing that no one had seen her!

She had been gone about 45 minutes, and I was really starting to worry. I even went to the lost children department to report her missing. I told them they didn't need to alert security, but to please send it over the radios. I decided if she wasn't found by 1:00 (about 1 hour 15 minutes after she'd left), I'd call security. I was thinking that she might have gone on into ITTBAB, thinking we would meet her there, and there was a fairly long line. By the time I finished the report, DS called and she was back with them. And that's exactly what she'd done. She thought that she was supposed to meet us "inside". We had a long talk about how I would never have left her outside a ride, etc. Anyway, we all decided to skip the ride and just head back to camp.

We walked back to the van (after wandering around a while looking for it). I opened the doors and reached in to start the a/c. And heard the sound no one wants to hear "grind, grind, click." And the rain clouds were starting to roll in! AAAARGH! I have AAA, and I knew I had brought my card and it was back at camp. Everyone was really hot and hungry, so we took the bus back to camp. I stopped at the check in desk to find out how to reach the car care center, and where the laundry facilities were (since we obviously wouldn't be pool hopping). The rest of them headed to the site to get lunch.

The CM at the desk wasn't able to get through to the car care center, but she told me that the laundry facilities were in each comfort station. They are between the mens and ladies rooms. And just FYI, it's $2 to wash and $2 to dry. I caught the next bus to the site, and grabbed my passporter and AAA card. I called the 800 number on the card and got a flaming idiot. She insisted that the AAA car care center wasn't an authorized towing facility or repair center. She wanted the street address for AK. She told me that I only had 5 miles towing (I looked later and it's 20), etc. I finally found the AAA car care center number in the back of the Passporter (YEAH passporter!) so I politely told her I'd call her back after verifying with the car care center that they were 5 miles or less from AK.

They guy at the car care center immediately took care of me. They care for everyone on Disney property, and yes they would take my AAA. He told me to call them when I got close to AK, and they'd send the flatbed for me.

Meanwhile, DF got the laundry going, and her DH drove me back to AK. We had left their truck in the lot up to that point, but they needed to fill it up with Deisel anyway. We moved the cones in the parking lot to get back up to the unicorn section. A security guy (Jim) checked on us, and when we explained what we were doing, he came up to help us with the van. He tried a couple of tricks with the key, then put a jumper box on the van. It started right up! I thanked him profusely, then said I was taking it to the car care center anyway. I called AAA and cancelled the truck, and DFrH followed me to the car care center. I left the van and my cell number, and DFrH gassed up the truck and we headed back to camp.

By the time we got all cleaned up, and the laundry was done, it was about 5:30. We had 7:00 reservations at Boma, but DD decided to stay back again tonight. Her ankle was really bothering her, and the heat was affecting her stomach too. She ended up having the leftover chicken and rice from Monday's dinner. DFr Trailer had a refrigerator and microwave, which made things much easier. The car care center called just as we were leaving and told me that I needed a new battery and alternator, and that they could have it ready by the next evening. Well, that was an expense I wasn't planning on, but at least it happened while my friends were here to help with the transportation (and not when I was halfway home on I-4!).

The K family really wanted to see Port Orleans, because it sounded neat to them. That's where we'll be staying in September for our free dining trip, so I was interested too, since I'd never seen alligator bayou. So we headed out and made a detour through PO just to look at the buildings. The K family was very impressed and thought it looked like a nice resort.

But then we headed out to AKL. By this time, DFrH was getting pretty good at finding his way there He let us off and parked the truck. The K family was blown away by the architecture of this place! We walked through by the firepit and looked at some of the animals on that savannah. By the time we finished there, it was time to check in for Boma. This was when the funniest thing all trip happened.

DFr had gone into the bathroom while I checked in. She and I passed as I went into the bathroom, so she missed this whole thing. There was a lady with two little boys just in front of me. They were taking up the entire aisleway, and the mom kept saying "Just pick a stall." She went in with one little boy, then the other one just dropped his shorts right in the hallway! I was sure he was just going to let go right there, so I said "Son, you need to go into that stall there!" Thankfully, they were still busy when I finished up, so I didn't have to look that mom in the eye. I couldn't have stopped from laughing!

We were seated shortly after this. DS and DFr decided to have Frunch, the rest of us got soft drinks, then headed for the buffet. Everything was EXCELLENT! DFr and I started with the soup and salad. The guys went straight for the meats! We really enjoyed this meal. The boys finished fairly quickly, so they went out to the firepit (DS had his phone!). As I went up to the dessert line, a lady said to me "Have you dried out from Kali yet?" They were in the raft with us, and they were sitting right across from us in the restaurant. I told them about our horrible afternoon, and we shared a laugh!

DFr asked me what "boma" meant, and I had to say that I didn't know. I said "I know what Jiko means, and I've never eaten there, but I have no clue what Boma means!" So I found Rob, the restaurant manager and asked him. He said that it's not a direct translation of anything. It is really a type of South African restaurant. They are open air, under a tent with a bamboo fencing surrounding the perimeter. They typically serve buffet style with lots of roasted meats. He also sent over Nusheena to our table. Nusheena has been here for 6 months. She's from Capetown and loves to talk about her country. By this time, the boys had rejoined us, and they asked her lots of questions. She was awfully sweet! She took down our recipe requests as well.

By the time we finished up, it was about 8:30, so we headed back by the pool to the other savannahs. The guys had a very nice chat with one of the CMs while we waited on the Night Vision goggles to come out. The K family got some more excellent photos, but I hadn't brought my camera with me.

We were back at camp by 10:00, and a disaster of a day ended up being fairly successful!

Up next.

MK morning EMH, and a dream!
Lupper at camp
EPCOT and Illuminations

 

[CottontailCurl]

Once we finished up, it was too late to get back to MK before Wishes started, so we headed out to the beach. We enjoyed the fireworks, but it's definitely different without the soundtrack.

Thanks for posting your trip report here! I've only read your first day so I'm curious to see if there are any 'getting along' issues with 2 families sharing a campsite, I love that you guys did that!

If you have the chance again, when you're walking from the Poly to the beach for wishes, listen for a speaker and stop by one to hear the narration while you watch the fireworks. We usually go to one that's between the building that's beside the pool and the lake. I told a family that was watching from their ground floor room the speaker was there (just 20 or so feet from their patio) and they brought their patio chairs over to watch/listen with us. We did this last December for the Christmas fireworks and the kids said they got an entirely different view of the fireworks (you can see how they were meant to be when they put the music together with the effects).

 

[CottontailCurl]

I was up really early (about 4:30, but I got out of bed at 5). It was pretty dark still. I headed out to get another shower. Even with a fan, it was pretty sticky sleeping in a tent. I started the coffee brewing on my camp stove, and had my devotions by lantern light. By the time I wrote up my notes from the day before, it was getting light and other folks were stirring.

I love watching Fort Wilderness wake up!

 

[tkd lisa]

I love watching Fort Wilderness wake up!

That was a really nice morning! I hadn't been able to sleep the night before we left (was up at 3:30), so I really wanted to sleep in. But it was just so peaceful. I could hear the birds calling, and people stirring around.

We didn't have any problems getting along. DFr and I roomed together for 5 years, so I was already very aware of her quirks. She's a big-time neat freak though, so I had to prepare my kids for that.

It helped that my kids knew this trip was all about what the friends wanted. We are blessed by living so close to Disney. We've already spent 20 days at the world since February, so there wasn't any griping about not doing the things my kids wanted. And my kids really do enjoy watching other people experience Disney. The only things that came close to a problem were between my DS and DFrS. My DS is a typical young teen boy. He enjoys his time away from the 'parental unit' and expected that DFrS would want to explore with him. But DFrS as an only child is used to doing everything with his parents. And since this was all new to them, he wanted to do it together. I had to explain this a couple of times to DS. I said "It's not that B doesn't want to spend time with you, he just wants to do it with his parents too. If you keep pushing him, he's going to get mad."

Thanks everyone for reading! Up next, the conclusion.

 

[tkd lisa]

Day 5, Thursday, 12 Jul

Our last day together

Plans for the day were totally thrown out the window, so I'm not even going to look up what they were.

We decided to hit MK today. Now don't laugh, but the main things the K family wanted to do were: Splash mountain, BTMRR, Hall of Presidents, Country Bears Jamboree, and the Liberty Belle. DFr was interested in Peter Pan as well. They weren't too sure about Space Mountain, and they didn't want to ride Buzz again (not re-riders).

MK had morning EMH, but since most of what they wanted wasn't open yet, we didn't push it too hard. We took the boat over. Here are a few pictures of DFr and my son waiting at the stop, plus some I took on the boat ride. They are still working on the Contemporary construction.

We got to the park about 8:45 and took a few pictures. I took a couple of them at the Roy and Minnie statue, then we headed down to the partners statue. DS stopped off at VMK, so he wasn't with us.

The K family

All of us minus DS. Now can you really imagine anyone NOT remembering my DD?

Anyway, we headed over to the rope drop at Liberty Square. I sent the rest of them onto BTMRR while I pulled FPs for Splash Mountain (good for 10:10). While I was waiting, I saw a group of people wearing the tie-dyed Mickey shirts. I went up and found out that one of them is on a disney board I visit. I figured they were, since I've never seen instructions for those shirts anywhere else! One set of those shirts had the Mickeys done in black, and I think I'll try that the next time.

I called DS to come and meet us, and he was there before everyone finished BTMRR. They were done about 9:25. The Liberty Belle was just leaving the dock, so we headed over to Peter Pan. The line said 20 minutes, but it was more like 10. As we got off the flying ships, I saw a lady wearing street clothes and a Disney name tag at the exit. Could it be???? Oh yes!!! The Dream Team was at the end of the turnstiles, handing out Dream Lanyards!! Oh wow! This was honestly the best dream we could have gotten! DFrS had watched us pin trading all week, and he had gotten a birthday pin in MGM. Now he had something to put it on. Here's a picture of all of us with our lanyards!

DFr and her DH gave their son their pins, and he started trading away! We headed over for the 10:00 Liberty Belle ride. I had never noticed this little room on the main deck before, so I took a picture with DFr.

Once off the boat, they headed over to Hall of Presidents. I hit the restroom and did some pin trading, then met them at the exit. DFr's family is really interested in American history, so they really enjoyed this. In fact, DFrH listed this as his favorite ride at MK. Then we headed over to the Country Bears. We walked right in, but DS sat this one out. I know I've seen this before, but I think it was back on my first trip to MK when DD was not quite 2. I did have to laugh at many parts of it!

DFrS had become quite the trader by this time. He was focused on the Pirates set (the one with the Chinese letters). I had to explain to him that he wouldn't hurt the CMs feelings if he didn't trade with them. He was trading for things he didn't want just because he didnt' want to hurt their feelings. We headed over to Splash Mountain to use our fastpasses. Everyone liked this ride! DS and DFrS both got pretty wet when we were stopped next to the big drop. We stopped to get a Dole Whip. It really hit the spot and refreshed us. DFr wanted to ride COP, so we headed over to TomorrowLand. And we made a final stop at the Laugh Floor, where we waited about 25 minutes. They've added a couple of new twists to this, which made it better in my opinion.

We were on the boat back to Ft. Wilderness by 2. I got a good picture of the boys on the way back.

You can see DFrS's lanyard was filling up!

We all got showers, then the adults cooked a lunch/dinner. We had steak, mashed potatos and veggies, and finished up the watermelon. The K family decided they didn't want to mess with driving over to Typhoon Lagoon and the adults just hit the Meadows pool. The kids stayed at camp and played Wii. That was a switch, adults at the pool instead of the kids.

I called the car care center, and my van was done, so DFrH and I drove over to pick it up while everyone else got ready for the evening. We decided to go back to EPCOT, but only to see World Showcase. I was also wanting my friends to see the Boardwalk, so we valet parked there using my DVC and visited the model for a bit. DFr's family really had enjoyed the AKL, and were talking about a visit there sometime soon. I told them I could get us studios using my points so they wanted to see how it was set up. We also walked through the Wyland gallery. DS really likes that place!

We made it through the IG by about 7:15, and turned right into France. We watched the movie, then went off in search of an evening snack. We stopped in Morroco to look at the baklava, but that was too sweet looking for DFrH. We stopped back into Japan, where DFrS got some candy.

My DD got some gelato in Italy. They were out of chocolate, so she got vanilla instead. We headed over to Germany, where the guys all visited the chocolate shop. DFrH got all of them a chunk of fudge. DD decided to stay there and stake out a spot for Illuminations. We found a section of fence that no one had claimed yet and I left her there while we headed on down. DFr wanted a smoothie, and we found some over at the Outpost. She got a mixed strawberry and lemonade, and I got a lemonade one. They were really good! It was still in the low 90s even though there was a nice breeze. We walked through the garden in China while DS played with the spinning sticks. By this time we decided to head back to watch Illuminations. The K family really enjoyed this! After it finished, we decided to head back to camp. The K family had a 10 hour drive ahead, and still needed to pack up their camper in the morning. We stopped at America for a potty break, and I was chatting with DFrH about the fireworks. He told me that they had really enjoyed this trip, so I was glad! We watched a little bit of the Boardwalk entertainment, then headed back to the van. We were back at camp by 10:15.

Weather today: Still hot and humid, high 90s.

The best thing today was: Winning that dream!

The worst thing today was: Paying the bill for the van

Up next:

K family leaves, and we head to EPCOT to do the things we had missed.

 

[tkd lisa]

Day 6, July 13, our last day

Plans for today,
K family leaves
S family visits MGM for ToT AP event

What happened?

The adults were up at 5:30 so that the K family could get on the road early. We had a quick breakfast finishing up the cereal and oatmeal, then they finished packing up the trailer. I packed up all the stuff inside the tent, and sent the kids down to get their showers.

The K family was on the road just after 7, and we finished packing up. I had to wait for the tent to dry off enough to pack it up, so we just puttered around. We were finally packed up around 9 and headed to EPCOT. DD took this picture of them taking down the EPCOT wand on the way in.

DS wanted to hang on his own. He hadn't had much of that this trip. DFrS didn't want to leave his parents, and my DS was enjoying the time with him too much. So he gave me his AP, then headed over to innoventions. I sent DD over to TT to wait for me while I pulled Soarin FPs for all of us. The FPs were good for 10:30. I was noticing that this park was MUCH less crowded this morning. It had late EMH the night before, and that seemed to really reduce the crowds this morning.

FPs in hand, I headed over to meet DD at Test Track. We rode single rider, and basically walked right on. DD wanted to head to the Imagination pavilion. She was wanting to draw pictures of Figment, and needed to be refreshed. As we headed across the back pathway where it meets the rose garden path, who was there? Another dream team group!!!! We were the proud recipients of dream fast passes!

And here's the proof of two dreams in a row.

On to Figment to find out that the ride was down for technical difficulties. They said Figment should be in his meet and greet spot between 10:30 and 11. It was about 10 by then, so we decided to head to Livin with the Land, then ride Soarin with DS (he could use the regular FP, and we'd use our dream FPs). DS said he'd meet us at Soarin about 10:30.

I was getting pretty hungry by then (that bowl of cereal didn't last), so I got a key lime pie in the Land foodcourt. It was really good, but DD thought it was too sweet, so I had to finish it myself. That was way more food than I would normally eat, but I'll definitely keep this in mind when we're here in September for free dining. Mom and I can definitely share one of these!

We had a 5 minute wait for Livin with the Land. We didn't bother with the FP, since it was so short. We gave our two extra Soarin passes to the honeymooners in front of us, then headed back to ride JIYI and meet Figment. DD had drawn a picture of Figment while I was snacking and we were riding the Land. JIYI had just opened up, so we walked right on. I took this picture in the gift shop for DD to use as a model.

After the ride, DD said that she saw Figment up in his greeting spot, so we headed up there. Figment was at the door and walked us in. It was a pretty cute spot! Figment really liked DD's picture she drew of him, and he had fun playing with her Stitch ears. I told Figment that she had to have something to match his horns!

From here, we went over to Soarin. DS said he didn't want to ride and would meet us at the exit. Once off, I asked if they wanted to ride Mission Space with the FPs. And DS said "hey I got a dream too!" He was in Innoventions and got another dream lanyard! I took the pins (since he had the full lanyard already), and put the lanyard in my backpack while the kids headed to Mission Space.

I took this picture while I was waiting for them.

From there, the kids were getting hungry for lunch. DS wanted to find out about the ToT AP event, so he decided to get lunch in Japan, stop by the Boardwalk for a churro then continue to MGM. He was going to be our advance scout.

DD wanted to ride the boat rides, then see the new scenes in the American Adventure. So I gave DS some money and his AP and told him to call me when he got to MGM. DD and I started around the Mexico side of WS,. DD asked me to take this picture of the dragon.

Then we used our FPs in Norway for Maelstrom. She decided to have Chinese for lunch. They've really changed their menu. No more lo mein, so she had shrimp fried rice instead. I just nibbled on her leftovers since I was still full from the key lime pie!

We walked into AA to see the Voices of Liberty. I took this picture for my mom, since this was the lady who sang Happy birthday to her back in December.

DS called and said that the AP event wasn't going to start until 6, and it was already full. He said that we could wait in a standby line in case they had some no-shows, but it was almost 100 degrees that day, so we all decided to pass. DS hadn't gotten lunch yet (he didn't want to backtrack to Japan), so he grabbed something at MGM and waited on us.

DD and I watched the American movie. They've added some nice footage to the end about 9/1, Michelle Kwan, Mohammed Ali at the Olympics, and the military heroes. DD noticed that they had cut the clip of Marilyn Monroe (she said "you know mom, that blond lady that smirks"). Overall it was really nice, and seemed more up to date.

Once this was done, we caught the boat back up to Future World, then headed out to the van to pick up DS. I got stopped for a survey just past Spaceship Earth. Since it was in the shade, I answered it. It was a pretty long survey (probably took about 15 minutes, when the longest one before was 3 or 4 questions) about our trip, then we were out the gates. I was able to go up by the taxis to pick up DS, and we headed over to DTD.

We wanted to see about trading the limited edition pins we had, and we wanted to get some locking pin backs for the ones we were keeping. We found a very close parking spot, and headed to the pin trading store. I had forgotten to mention that our friends had offered to get my kids a pin when we all got our dream lanyards. DD picked out a nice one with all the male villians, and DS asked for a dangle charm instead of a pin. He had picked out the pirate mickey, but before the end of that night it had broken. I wanted to see if the big pin store would exchange it, even though we didn't have the receipt.

We stopped by the pro traders. No one was interested in the Kwanzaa pin, even though it was a 500 LE. But one guy was willing to do a 2 for 1 for our Buzz 2500LE. DS picked out two VMK pins and was happy. We went into the store, where the lady did make the exchange for the broken charm. DS decided to get a one piece charm instead and picked out the Star Spangled Mickey instead. They were out of locking backs, but I got a set of regular ones. While we were waiting, I noticed a little girl with a few pins, and a plain lanyard. I asked if she wanted our extra dream lanyard, and she was thrilled! She only had a certain amount of money, and had been just short of getting the last pin she wanted. Since she didn't have to buy the lanyard, she could get the pin!

We headed back to the van, and just got there before the rain. A quick stop at McDonalds on the way, and we were home by 5:00.

The end of another successful Disney trip!

 

[Britt_HeartsDisney]

Awesome Pictures!! And great narration to go along with it!
Makes me wanna be at Disney World right now!!!