Fun at the Fort - Monday - last day - page 4

[lklasing]

There was simply no need to make your faithful readers wait for the photos to arrive. Your wonderful prose enables us to visualize events without reinforcement of pictures. For example, from the above quote we can correctly guess that the person involved was . . . a blonde.

Oh.My.God. You have killed me with that statement. I have to remind DH Ray all the time that he can't talk about her being a ditzy blond in front of her. You really had me howling with that one. Thanks for the levity on a dreary day here!

 

[jeeperwy]

We love the Fort too!! The Fort was what turned my DH into a Disney fan. Before we stayed there, he didn't want to go, now he's planning the next trip AFTER the one we'll take in March!! We're only a family of 4, so we could stay anywhere, but the cabins keep us ALL sane!!

And Yes, I would like the recipe for the "sausage things". It sounds like something we would like.

Can't wait to read more,
Kari

 

[Dirtslinger]

Great TR so far. Looking forward to reading more. I guess I will have to start my TR soon as well, but first I booked my trip for next year...Nov 24 thru Dec 5. Do you think your family will be there then? Keep the TR going...................



Shannon
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[lklasing]

Kari - my DH is just like yours sounds - pretty much tolerated my obsession with going to WDW until we found the cabins. We had 2 stays at the Poly Concierge, which was great, but even with that, he wasn't willing to stay as long as he is now at the cabin. Just having the ability to have some breathing room has made all the difference for us.

Shannon - I'm so jealous of your reservation! No, we don't have any trips planned right now, but my mind is always scheming. We really enjoyed Thanksgiving at the Fort, so that's always going to be a possibility for us.

Back to Kari - I'm glad you asked for the recipe for sausage things - I was hoping someone would want it. I highly recommend making a batch for the holidays! Here you go:

Leslie's Sausage Things (I can't believe I'm actually putting a recipe on the net - I so don't know how to cook!):

1 pound sausage (we use regular - not maple or anything else wierd)
1 8-oz package of cream cheese (again, regular only - not low fat...)
4 packages Pillsbury crescent rolls (last disclaimer - regular ones only - not low fat, jumbo, etc.). (Tip - Keep the crescent rolls in the fridge until you are ready to use them, and then take each package out only when you are ready to use it so the rolls don't get too sticky.)

Brown the sausage like you would ground beef until done, and then drain. Next, while still hot, put the sausage in a bowl and put the cream cheese in with it. Stir until it is well mixed. Next, take a cookie sheet and separate out the triangles from one package of crescent rolls on it. Put a glob of the sausage/cream cheese mixture on each of the rolls. Then, do what DD Jodi calls "wrapping the packages" - for each one, fold in the corners until the corners are overlapping each other. You don't have to cover up all of the sausage stuff. Do the remaining packages the same way.

Bake according to the package directions, but add about 3 or so minutes or until they are golden brown.

Y'all please make them over the weekend and report back whether you like them or not!

Leslie

 

[lklasing]

Thursday, November 27 – Thanksgiving Day!

I woke up on Thanksgiving morning feeling very thankful to be in the World with my family. Since I had told them to, Kevin’s whole family, except Hope and David (who slept in for the first of many times on this trip), showed up at our cabin for breakfast. Many sausage things were eaten, as well as cereal, toast, poptarts, and the other usuals you would expect. We managed to leave the cabin by 8:15 and hopped the bus to HS.

I don’t remember what the low temp was that morning, but you can tell by the coats and gloves that it must have been pretty cold! But, as the day went on, it definitely warmed nicely.

They had beautiful Christmas trees at each of the parks (I’m sure they had one at MK, though I never managed to get a pic.) Here is the HS tree:

We were in the gates at HS at 8:40. I collected everyone’s tickets and positioned myself as close to the rope as possible, while the others did some pin trading on their way in.

When they dropped the rope, I, along with 10,000 of my best friends, all made our way in a very calm fashion to TSMM. I jumped in line for FPs, and even though I felt like I had done a pretty good job getting there early, had to wait about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, the rest of my group got straight in the standby line, as I had read so many recommendations about riding it once standby and once with FP since it is such a great ride. Well, it is a great ride – a really great one – but if I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t do it that way. I would just grab the fast passes, and then head on over to RNRC and ToT, with the plan to ride TSMM later. The standby line was every minute of the 1 hour posted wait, and by the time we got out and went to the RNRC and ToT area, it was 10:15 or later, so those rides were totally jammed with Thanksgiving crowds. (I do realize, of course, that we had chosen to travel during one of the busiest times of the year, and maybe during a less crowded time, I would do what we did so as to be able to ride TSMM trice, but I’m guessing even then I wouldn’t.) Regardless of all that, though, we had a great time on the ride:

Predictably, Jodi and Lynn had no interest in the HS thrill rides, so they went with Ray while Kevin, Danielle, Nick and I headed toward RNRC.
Kevin and Nick:

Danielle and me:

We had fun with this photographer, who cracked me up because he obviously thought we were all one big family, rather than in-laws:

Given the wait times and return times for FPs, we opted to FP ToT and ride RNRC. This plan was great until they apparently had to change a train (limo) on the track while we were waiting. Since we weren’t close enough to see anything, we had no idea what was going on. All we knew is that we stopped moving at all for about 30 minutes. And, while Aerosmith is fun to listen to in the line for a while, after 90 minutes when the posted time was 50 minutes, it gets real old. But, we made it there finally and rode in the front 2 rows and had a great time.

Meanwhile, Ray, Jodi, and Lynn, who had gone on 2 back-to-back runs on Star Tours, were tired of waiting on us, so we all met up and had some counter service lunch. Burgers, chicken nuggets, turkey sandwiches and pizza – all park fare and all perfect for what it was.

Right as we were finishing up lunch, Hope and David finally arrived. Kevin and Nick stayed and toured with them, but the rest of us were getting ready for a change of scenery. Of course, we first used our FPs for TSMM, which I will admit was especially fun after riding it once already. After that, we bailed and headed back to the Fort. On our way out, though, Jodi found 2 Dream FPs for that day which were totally unused except for TSMM. So, we had fun finding the right couple that looked like they would really benefit from the set and got to make them very happy by giving them the passes.

Part 2 in just a minute!

 

[lklasing]

I cracked up when I got the Photopass CD and saw that Kevin and the rest of the gang apparently ran into the same photographer as we did:

After we left, Kevin, Hope, David and Nick rode ToT, TSMM (using the FPs we had gotten earlier), RNRC again (I think) and saw Indiana Jones – pretty good given the fact that it was Thanksgiving Day!

Meanwhile, when we got back to the cabins, I got the girls situated in Kevin’s cabin while Ray settled down for a nap. Once everyone was taken care of, I took off for a run. I absolutely love to run through Fort Wilderness – running through all the loops and checking out the Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations is especially fun. But this time, instead of “looping” around the Fort, I ran on the trail that goes straight to the Wilderness Lodge. It was a beautiful trail and I was delighted to see a deer who just stared at me as I stared at it for a few minutes. When I got back, Ray was up and the girls were ready to go shop, so we headed to their favorite store in the world – Goofy’s Candy Company! But, of course, we enjoyed the stables while waiting on the bus:

Happily, we made it to the candy store:

After bumping around DTD a little bit, we made it back to the Fort in time for our 6:40 ADR at Trail’s End.

Here’s the FW tree – very pretty:

On our last trip to the Fort, this guy was inside, but he appeared to be enjoying hanging on the Crockett’s Tavern porch with the anxious diners:

The dinner was good, but not nearly as good as the regular (non-Thanksgiving) dinner we had there on our last trip. They were trying to do a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but it just wasn’t as good as it should have been. One thing that jumped out at us in particular was the severe lack of desserts – they only had brownies (which Danielle described as “chocolate bread”) and pumpkin pie, which was very, very, very sad. That pie should have been put out of its misery long before we got there. Regardless, we at least ate a dinner on Thanksgiving and I didn’t even have to cook it, so it was a success in my book!
After stopping to take pictures of campsites on our way back to our cabin of all great campsites decorated for Christmas, we were finally in for the night. Here are some of the sites we saw that night (bear in mind that the pictures don’t come close to doing some of them justice!):

And, even though we were flying and just staying in a cabin, I couldn’t pass up a chance to decorate, so I brought my trusty rope lights:

All in all, it was an amazing Thanksgiving Day! I thought frequently about how much I have to be thankful for. I know it’s a Thanksgiving Day I will always remember.

Up next – off to AK, then we’ll find out the answer to the question, “Can these kids of ours find their way around Fort Wilderness on their own?”

 

[Dirtslinger]

 

[MeMom]

Jill, Brooklynn, and I went over to Fort Wilderness on last year's Christmas trip to see all the decorations. People really do have a lot of fun with it over there! We had seen it on the Samantha Brown special, so we decided we needed to see it for ourselves. Those people that spend weeks and weeks there are so lucky!

The mornings were pretty chilly, weren't they? When the sun came up and we started moving around the parks, it was just about perfect.

Thanksgiving Day we opened Magic Kingdom and did a run through of Fantasyland. We resort hopped, and we had a very filling dinner at Chef Mickey's. We almost had a Dis meet there, but we didn't hear our phones in all the commotion, and by the time we called back, they had left. I think we probably passed each other as they were leaving and we were in line to go in Chef Mickey's.

Great pictures! All the kids are cuties.

 

[lklasing]

Hey Shannon! Hope life is treating you well now that you're at home again.

Jill, Brooklynn, and I went over to Fort Wilderness on last year's Christmas trip to see all the decorations. People really do have a lot of fun with it over there! We had seen it on the Samantha Brown special, so we decided we needed to see it for ourselves. Those people that spend weeks and weeks there are so lucky!

The mornings were pretty chilly, weren't they? When the sun came up and we started moving around the parks, it was just about perfect.

Thanksgiving Day we opened Magic Kingdom and did a run through of Fantasyland. We resort hopped, and we had a very filling dinner at Chef Mickey's. We almost had a Dis meet there, but we didn't hear our phones in all the commotion, and by the time we called back, they had left. I think we probably passed each other as they were leaving and we were in line to go in Chef Mickey's.

Great pictures! All the kids are cuties.

Thanks, MeMom! Yes, the mornings were definitely cool, especially early in our trip. But, I always preferred under-dressing, so I didn't have to deal with an unwanted coat later in the day. I'm glad you made it to FW while you were there - the decorations really are amazing! Much more festive there over Thanksgiving than they are in the middle of the holidays at home!

More soon! Please keep reading!

Leslie

 

[lklasing]

Friday, November 27 – The wake up call came even earlier this morning, at 7:00. Since it was still pretty early in the trip, no one struggled too much to get up, at least in our cabin. Kevin never made it to the grocery store, so he, Nick and Lynn arrived in time for the only big breakfast we made that trip - sausage, eggs, toast, plus more sausage things and poptarts for kids. AK opened at 8:00 and we knew we didn’t want to try to get up early enough for rope drop so we just planned to leave at the same time as yesterday – 8:15. So, we all hopped in our respective golf carts and headed to the Outpost.

Somehow at Disney, even just waiting on a bus can be fun:
Ray and Nick in their new sweatshirts:

This one’s out of focus, but I love it as it shows how much fun we all have while just hanging out together at WDW:

We made it to AK, where they had another beautiful tree.

We arrived by 8:45, which stressed me out even though it had been planned as I like to be a rope drop kind of gal. But, sometimes you just have to lay your OCD nature down and take a breath while letting the rest of the group move at something less than breakneck speed. And actually, it worked out fine with our relatively late arrival. Ray, Jodi and Lynn all rode the Safari, which they said was great with lots of animals around, while the rest of us went to EE.

First we grabbed FPs, then we went straight in the line. We actually had another line malfunction again, but unlike yesterday, there thankfully was no Aerosmith blasting in our ears. The line for EE is so peaceful and really very pleasant. We were relieved, though, when it started moving again and we got to ride. Danielle and I loved it, as we knew we would since we’ve ridden it several times, but Kevin and Nick really loved it. Kevin decided he wanted to ride it several times today, and that’s just what he wound up doing.

Then, we met up with the others at Primeval Whirl, which I was relieved was open as I had read just a week before was still in rehab. The posted wait was 50 minutes, but they managed to get on in about 30 or so. First came Danielle and Nick, followed by Kevin, Jodi and Lynn.

By the time they got off PW, the FPs for EE (don’t you just love abbreviations ) were ripe, so Ray, Kevin and Nick went back for round two while the girls and I played some games. I’ve never let us stop and play games in Dinoland before as it just seems wrong – first, I always deem games like that to be a rip-off, as you are so unlikely to win; and second, we’re at DISNEY WORLD for Pete’s sake – do we really want to kill time playing carnival games when we could be blasting commando-like through the park? Well, this time I relented, probably since I was more outnumbered than usual since Lynn was with us, and guess what? It actually was pretty fun! And even more surprising than that, Lynn won a dragon. (It must have been worth at least $0.25 after playing only $6 worth of games! A real bargain!)

After the exhilarating games, we met up with the boys at KRR. To me, it was nowhere near hot or even warm enough to risk getting soaked to the bone, so I declined and instead, held everyone’s jackets, gloves, purses, etc. while they rode. Amazingly, they got off and not one of them was drenched! Well, that pretty much made it a given that the kids would have to straight back on (no wait on this ride when it’s cold!), and the inevitable happened: they were soaked.

Actually, we’ve had much worse soakings on that ride on previous trips, but they were pretty wet to be wearing blue jeans when it wasn’t very warm out. What cracked me up, though, is that while we were waiting on them to ride the second time, I went to the bathroom where I saw something I had never seen before – a woman standing in front of the air dryer, wearing a shirt, shoes and panties, and nothing else, drying her pants with the dryer! To her credit, she didn’t appear embarrassed in the least – she was just doing what needed to be done to help her enjoy the rest of her day.

By this time we were all starving, so we grabbed some CS lunch. After a planning session, we split up again for yet another round of EE. This time it was Kevin, Nick, Danielle and me, while Ray, Jodi and Lynn played even more games in Dinoland. Jodi won the prize this time. Meanwhile, the rest of us were having another great meeting with the Yeti. We asked to have the first 2 rows and got them. It’s very fun to sit in the front like that, but even better for taking pictures:

(Nick didn’t get the memo that he was supposed to look scared for that one.)

By the time we finished EE that time, several of us were ready to head on back, so Ray, Danielle, Jodi, Nick, Lynn and I all headed back to the Fort. Of course, we had to get as many Photopass pics as we could.

(Part 2 in just a minute)

 

[lklasing]

When we were leaving, Hope and David arrived (nothing like sleeping in at Disney - can you tell I’m not the type to sleep in?), and rode (wait for it…) EE! For those not counting, that was Kevin’s 4th EE of the day. Like I said, he really liked that ride!

David and Hope:

On our way back to the Fort, the bigger ones had to stay in touch with their friends at home, while the little ones (not having any access to technology of their own) just hung out, and then, in Jodi’s case, rested.

When we made it back to the Fort, we just had a relaxing afternoon hanging out with no real plans. Despite the cold weather, the kids had been hurting to go for a swim, so I agreed to take them. I wasn't willing to swim, mind you, but I was willing to take them to the cabin (quiet) pool. I chose that one, even though the other is more fun, as I figured it would be more tolerable for them for the trip back to the cabin since it was closer. They swam for a good while and had a great time having the pool all to themselves. Afterward, they played in and around the cabins for a while, while Ray and I went looping and checked out the Meadows pool. It was quite lively, with lots of swimmers and kids playing games like limbo and musical chairs.

When we got back to the cabin, Kevin and the others were back, so we enjoyed some wine out of plastic cups on the deck. It was a gorgeous day - the high must have been close to 80 with bright sun. Hanging on the porch was one of my favorite parts of the day.

What’s funny about this picture of Ray is that I posted it on a live trip report I was doing while there, and two days later we were at the Marina waiting on a boat when Dirtslinger (Shannon) recognized Ray from the picture and called out “Disser”. It was fun getting to see Shannon and his wife, who looked like they were heading out to a nice dinner without any kids – always a fun time.
And speaking of dinner without kids, that’s what this night was going to be for us. The four adults had ADRs at CG, and I had been looking forward to it since my last time there in May. If you haven’t ever been, you need to. It is sooooooo good!

Waiting on the boat to CR, there was the most beautiful sunset.

After dinner, we enjoyed the view even though we were too early for the fireworks.

As much as we may have wanted to linger over drinks and fireworks at CG, there was one problem: the 5 creatures we left to their own devices back at FW. We were careful to make sure to take the keys to all golf carts with us, to avoid any joy riding, and even made sure they understood the bus system before leaving. And amazingly, it worked! While we were gone, they managed to take the bus to the Settlement to play in the Trail’s End game room, then to the Meadows to play in that game room. Then, they went to the campfire and had dinner of some sort and smores, before heading back to the game room where we found them upon our return. After a little game room action for the dads, we all (as in 8 of us – David had sat out the festivities back at the cabin) climbed on one four-man golf cart and somehow made it back to the cabin all in one piece.

I’m sure we didn’t look like idiots at all.

It was another wonderful day. As I got into bed that night, I had the sad realization that the trip was about halfway over. I prayed for time to slow down as I drifted off to sleep.

Leslie

By the way, just in case y’all thought only the campers decorated to the nines, I was excited today when someone moved into our loop and totally outdid me on the decorations. It wasn’t even close:

Compare that to my previous picture of me with my lame rope lights. But, I was very happy to see such fun decorations on our loop.


Coming up: Breakfast with Mickey and the gang, followed by overt bribery at Epcot.

 

[lklasing]

Anyone still out there? I'm working on my Saturday installment - should have it up probably tonight.

Also, has anyone tried making the "sausage things" yet? They're so easy - I hope someone tries them over the holidays.

Leslie

 

[FlaNative]

Anyone still out there?

We are all here waiting with antici. . .

 

[FlaNative]

. . pation.

 

[DisKate]

I'm here!!!! Especially now that finals are over with!

 

[Villainess]

Is this a giant screen tv they have set up?

 

[lklasing]

Is this a giant screen tv they have set up?

I wish I had taken a picture during the day so you could better see it - it is an inflatable screen, that as I recall had Mickey Ears on top. They then projected the movie onto the screen. It looked like a lot of fun.


Thanks to FlaNative and DisKate too for letting me know you're still out there! Hope the exams went well, DisKate!

 

[islangrl]

Hi! Just joining in. I've only finished day 1 but I'll read the rest later tonight!
So excited for your FW TR. We are a Fort family too. My grandpa used to take my sister, 2 cousins and I every summer. Some of my BEST childhood memories. Once they started DVC he would take us to OKW.
4 years ago when DD#3 came along, I convinced DH that we had to stay at FW. He loves it, and so do all the kids. It's my favorite Disney resort!!
Can't wait to catch up with your report.

 

[Minnie&Mickey]

Keep it coming! I am loving your trip report!

 

[OK GRUMPY]

I'm going to try those sausage things and bring them to work for our Christmas Eve breakfast