surferrat
<font color=blue>SURF? And get my wings wet? Dream
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2005
- Messages
- 808
Here is the full trip report in no particular date order:
First off, Thanksgiving at the Ft. was excellent as usual! We were in the 914 loop, which by far is one of our families favorite loop. We had 3 other families in our loop which we booked under the Magical Gathering and 1 family in the 1300 loop only, only because they did not bring their pet. We also had another family who stayed in Old Key West and we were able to get everyone together for a great Thanksgiving Lunch. Normally we make reservations but this year decided it was time to just have it a the camp grounds and since we had a a large group everything turned out just the way we planned. Football..turkey.....friends....at the Ft. = Good times!
Was able to meet with Stackster for a brief moment. As I was on the phone someone was driving around in his golf cart right in front of our spot. Just kept sitting and waiting patiently and driving around and around. I was trying to get off the phone but you know how that goes. At some point I was beginning to wonder who this was and either 1) I was too loud the night before. 2) They were going to sell me a magazine subscription to help them go to college.
. 3) How did I make my Mickey Lamp Post and were they could buy one. (always the popular question) 3) They saw my Bulldog magnet (Then I noticed this person was wearing a Gator Hat) or 4) They wanted to chat. I settled on 4 but 2 was a close second. It was Stack! Great to meet a fellow Dis member and unfortunately we were only able to talk for a few minutes. I was hoping to break out the scotch or the beer, but alas the famous words out of DW "We are ready" ended that.
DW, DS, DD and DD's friend were surprised one morning when they were able to get the Dream Lanyards! Like I said in a different post, we don't have to stalk the Disney CM's anymore which in turn has the Disney police stalking us for stalking the CM's!
While I was doing the normal fast pass runner and heading to the Space Mountain, they decided to head to the Barnstomer. As they were exiting, they were greeted by a CM who proclaimed them as winners! ( I am sure DD thought YAY 7 day cruise or a night in the Castle), but it was the Lanyards and they were so happy! (Now two catches to this...There was a family of four ahead of them at the exit, but they stopped. Maybe to take a picture of the boat near the exit, or to pass out snacks, or to pull out the map to see where to go next....and DW and the kids walked right past them and got the last of the lanyards! Second , we go to Disney about every 3 months and use the Fast Pass system very well and know when to hit the rides w/out standing in line for more than 15 min. So...the point is they did not use the lanyards as much. It was a great souvenir and like I said before no more stalking!
The Ft. was packed and the nice thing the boat to the Kingdom was running straight back and forth with no stops at the the Wilderness Lodge. I am assuming they decided to run it this way because of the amount of people there. I was amazed at the amount of people at the parks. I think Stack mentioned how busy it was. I was UNREAL! Thanksgiving seems to be getting busier and busier each year, and this year it was busy! The late nights at the Kingdom was fine, but during the days, you better go in the morning to ride rides and grab your fast passes for later on that evening or even that night.
If you have the brown Ft. Wilderness mugs, they are still accepting them. They are no longer selling them, but you can still refill for that morning coffee, mid day coffee, afternoon coffee and night coffee. I was even talking to a CM one night who said those are nice to have because they don't sell them anymore. So any questions on being able to use them or not is simply answered. Yes!
They have new golf cart paper work that they give you at check in. I have not seen it before, so to me it was new where the laws about the golf cart are simply stated. Especially when it comes to teenagers and kids driving. Even though the Ft. seem to have more security than ever, there were still many who were breaking the rules, but to be honest it did not seem as bad. The bad thing was still not giving the right of way to cars or the bus. As for the bus system. It was pathetic! At least the orange bus had some serious issues. One night it broke down at EPCOT and another night they lost the bus! From what I understand some people were waiting over and hour and some nights the bus would go right by the loop turn off the lights and never stop. Some people just started walking. Another time there were 6 of us on the bus and the bus driver decided as we left the OUTPOST, he decided he was going to drive the bus like we were on space mountain. He tried to be funny by turning off and off the lights and talking in a deep voice about how he was going to make this ride a very scary ride and how riding his bus he would get us there faster than ever. Well, on the first turn where you hitch and unhitch, he took the turn about 30-40 mph! My DS fell out of the chair. We were lucky he was fine. As we made the turn near the next hitch and unhitch area, an elderly lady fell out of her chair. The bus driver refused to stop and she could not even move. Well he finally stopped and decided to check on her. Mind you to stops AFTER the accident. Loop 700 he stopped turned the lights on and her husband and I helped her back to the seat. You could tell she was not feeling well and was very upset. I heard from our friends that he was still doing this later on when they returned.
As for the weather. It was GREAT. One night it was very cold, but nothing to extreme and on Turkey Day it was ore of a light sprinkle. So we just put up two canopies for our Turkey Day Spread.
As for the parks:
HH changes were great! No breakdowns while we were there. Unless you knew when to hit the rides or how to use the fast pass system efficiently, you were in line for a serious amount of time, they already had some changes to laugh factory which continues to be a big hit!
EMH is over rated! We have done it so many times that the amount of people staying at the resorts is making the EMH more of a walking and shopping time for us and letting DD and her friend do what they want.
Getting to MGM at opening and getting a 1:45 fast pass for RRC confused the hell out of me. Then to find out by a CM that they are limiting the amount during each window is baffling.
Getting at EPCOT 30 min after they open and finding out Soarin' has no fast passes really bites. Good thing we had fast passes for test track and Mission space or that would have been a busted day.
Hey try the robot races where at Innoventions East. You race robots and build your own at the end. Want to know how tired you really are? Try that!!!!
hmm...bored yet?
Pictures soon to come!
Now comes the task of: booking for MLK, spring break and turkey day for 2008. So far no luck but it always works out!
Oh and nobody hit the guard shack this trip!
First off, Thanksgiving at the Ft. was excellent as usual! We were in the 914 loop, which by far is one of our families favorite loop. We had 3 other families in our loop which we booked under the Magical Gathering and 1 family in the 1300 loop only, only because they did not bring their pet. We also had another family who stayed in Old Key West and we were able to get everyone together for a great Thanksgiving Lunch. Normally we make reservations but this year decided it was time to just have it a the camp grounds and since we had a a large group everything turned out just the way we planned. Football..turkey.....friends....at the Ft. = Good times!
Was able to meet with Stackster for a brief moment. As I was on the phone someone was driving around in his golf cart right in front of our spot. Just kept sitting and waiting patiently and driving around and around. I was trying to get off the phone but you know how that goes. At some point I was beginning to wonder who this was and either 1) I was too loud the night before. 2) They were going to sell me a magazine subscription to help them go to college.
. 3) How did I make my Mickey Lamp Post and were they could buy one. (always the popular question) 3) They saw my Bulldog magnet (Then I noticed this person was wearing a Gator Hat) or 4) They wanted to chat. I settled on 4 but 2 was a close second. It was Stack! Great to meet a fellow Dis member and unfortunately we were only able to talk for a few minutes. I was hoping to break out the scotch or the beer, but alas the famous words out of DW "We are ready" ended that. DW, DS, DD and DD's friend were surprised one morning when they were able to get the Dream Lanyards! Like I said in a different post, we don't have to stalk the Disney CM's anymore which in turn has the Disney police stalking us for stalking the CM's!
While I was doing the normal fast pass runner and heading to the Space Mountain, they decided to head to the Barnstomer. As they were exiting, they were greeted by a CM who proclaimed them as winners! ( I am sure DD thought YAY 7 day cruise or a night in the Castle), but it was the Lanyards and they were so happy! (Now two catches to this...There was a family of four ahead of them at the exit, but they stopped. Maybe to take a picture of the boat near the exit, or to pass out snacks, or to pull out the map to see where to go next....and DW and the kids walked right past them and got the last of the lanyards! Second , we go to Disney about every 3 months and use the Fast Pass system very well and know when to hit the rides w/out standing in line for more than 15 min. So...the point is they did not use the lanyards as much. It was a great souvenir and like I said before no more stalking!The Ft. was packed and the nice thing the boat to the Kingdom was running straight back and forth with no stops at the the Wilderness Lodge. I am assuming they decided to run it this way because of the amount of people there. I was amazed at the amount of people at the parks. I think Stack mentioned how busy it was. I was UNREAL! Thanksgiving seems to be getting busier and busier each year, and this year it was busy! The late nights at the Kingdom was fine, but during the days, you better go in the morning to ride rides and grab your fast passes for later on that evening or even that night.
If you have the brown Ft. Wilderness mugs, they are still accepting them. They are no longer selling them, but you can still refill for that morning coffee, mid day coffee, afternoon coffee and night coffee. I was even talking to a CM one night who said those are nice to have because they don't sell them anymore. So any questions on being able to use them or not is simply answered. Yes!
They have new golf cart paper work that they give you at check in. I have not seen it before, so to me it was new where the laws about the golf cart are simply stated. Especially when it comes to teenagers and kids driving. Even though the Ft. seem to have more security than ever, there were still many who were breaking the rules, but to be honest it did not seem as bad. The bad thing was still not giving the right of way to cars or the bus. As for the bus system. It was pathetic! At least the orange bus had some serious issues. One night it broke down at EPCOT and another night they lost the bus!
From what I understand some people were waiting over and hour and some nights the bus would go right by the loop turn off the lights and never stop. Some people just started walking. Another time there were 6 of us on the bus and the bus driver decided as we left the OUTPOST, he decided he was going to drive the bus like we were on space mountain. He tried to be funny by turning off and off the lights and talking in a deep voice about how he was going to make this ride a very scary ride and how riding his bus he would get us there faster than ever. Well, on the first turn where you hitch and unhitch, he took the turn about 30-40 mph! My DS fell out of the chair. We were lucky he was fine. As we made the turn near the next hitch and unhitch area, an elderly lady fell out of her chair. The bus driver refused to stop and she could not even move. Well he finally stopped and decided to check on her. Mind you to stops AFTER the accident. Loop 700 he stopped turned the lights on and her husband and I helped her back to the seat. You could tell she was not feeling well and was very upset. I heard from our friends that he was still doing this later on when they returned. As for the weather. It was GREAT. One night it was very cold, but nothing to extreme and on Turkey Day it was ore of a light sprinkle. So we just put up two canopies for our Turkey Day Spread.
As for the parks:
HH changes were great! No breakdowns while we were there. Unless you knew when to hit the rides or how to use the fast pass system efficiently, you were in line for a serious amount of time, they already had some changes to laugh factory which continues to be a big hit!
EMH is over rated! We have done it so many times that the amount of people staying at the resorts is making the EMH more of a walking and shopping time for us and letting DD and her friend do what they want.
Getting to MGM at opening and getting a 1:45 fast pass for RRC confused the hell out of me. Then to find out by a CM that they are limiting the amount during each window is baffling.
Getting at EPCOT 30 min after they open and finding out Soarin' has no fast passes really bites. Good thing we had fast passes for test track and Mission space or that would have been a busted day.
Hey try the robot races where at Innoventions East. You race robots and build your own at the end. Want to know how tired you really are? Try that!!!!
hmm...bored yet?
Pictures soon to come!
Now comes the task of: booking for MLK, spring break and turkey day for 2008. So far no luck but it always works out!
Oh and nobody hit the guard shack this trip!
