FW frogs are happy frogs -or- Is it frog mating season? UPDATE-NEW PICS

[Nature Mom]

Well, I decided today that we are for sure returning to the Fort in October. I am missing Disney. I am missing the Fort. I have been sick for weeks and weeks now with pneumonia that refuses to go away. In the past few days I have started to feel like looking at this past trip's pictures and have pulled myself from the blues that have lingered around me for so long. Isn't it amazing how just looking at pictures can do that? So, since I am feeling more like writing and sharing than I have since we came home, I thought I would get back to my trip report. Yes, even this far from when we took the trip. I am determined to finish what I started when I began this report, so I hope you'll keep reading.

Now, back to where I left off:

The day is Friday, September 30th. Our first park day and our first Y.E.S. class. Since I scheduled for us to arrive and set up on Wednesday and then take it easy the rest of that day (which we desperately needed if you recall from my set-up post); and for Thursday to be a day to regroup from the travel/set-up with nothing more than picking up our tickets and wandering around DTD, I made sure our first class was a MK class. I mean, you have to do the MK on your first park day, right?! My DD was so happy, she was bursting with joy to see the castle. I was too though, I have to admit, and so on this gorgeous morning we got ready, jumped into our GC and headed to the marina with huge smiles on our faces and pure adrenalin making us act like we had a pot of coffee each (when in reality I had only a half a pot, lol!).

We were a few minutes early for the first boat, so we stood chatting with other guests and the CM who stands at the rope before boarding the boat. Of course I had my camera in hand and spent a good amount of time snapping...

Waiting for our ship to come in....

Such a gorgeous morning for a boat ride...

Front seat!

I am blinded by the light, hence the squinty eyes, lol....

Side note, the nice gentleman that took this picture for us is on the same ride as us and shows up in our picture on the TOT later the next week. It really is a small world after all!


Remember, green flag means Fort!

River country looks a little scary even in the golden morning light.

BLT standing tall and proud in the morning sun.

water bridge

Sitting off by itself, it looked sad...

Jetting across the water

So Grand!

And now the boat begins to turn towards MK...

As we look, we get our first glance of the castle in the distance. It is not exactly what we were expecting:

Ready for the opening!

All aboard for fun!

Let the memories begin!!

Time for class (but first I had to make time for a pit stop!)

Class begins in next post!

 

[North of Mouse]

Cool Pics!! Why would you not put this on "Trip Reports Thread" so more people could enjoy - mostly, ( I assume, anyway) just campers and a few others visit this site. It's not really just about camping, but your trip.

 

[Nature Mom]

Cool Pics!! Why would you not put this on "Trip Reports Thread" so more people could enjoy - mostly, ( I assume, anyway) just campers and a few others visit this site. It's not really just about camping, but your trip.

Thank you. I don't know why, I just have always posted here. I was going to try to link it over to the trip report board, but don't know how, really or even if I could have the same report in 2 places so I just kept it here where I started it. This is my first real TR, and it is taking me forever and a day to get it done, so I've just been hiding out here in the camping board, lol.

ETA: I did start a TR thread on the TR board. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[bama_ed]

North of the Mouse,

That's a good idea about the Trip Report Board. I like having campers post a full trip report here myself (or at least provide a link to the TR board). I don't get over to many other boards on the DIS so at least if there's a link I'll be able to see it.

Nature Mom,

Sorry to hear about your bout with illness. I'm impressed you picked up your trip report and continued it.

Lots of campers experience that post-partem depression after leaving the Fort (oh, and WDW too). The only known cure is what you have found for yourself: a return visit somewhere on the horizon! That's what I like about the 499 day ressie window. You can always post a future ressie out there, pay the one night deposit, then push it out or pull it up as plans firm up.

Bama ED

 

[Kattabba]

Y.e.s.???

 

[mouse2mouse]

Great pictures! I love your writing style. I love the fort very much and can not wait to some day buy a pop up and make it a yearly event. Right now we do the tent thing as well. Its a lot of work for a family of 6. Your DD has a great smile hope you are loving homeschooling. I did my DS15 and DD12 for 2 yrs. I really wish I had started when they were little.

 

[rapriebe]

Excellent pics, they are beautiful. I agree with Bama_Ed, glad you are posting your trip report here --- most campers do. I never go over to the Trip Reports thread unless I know of a specific person's report. Since I love the Fort, camper's reports are always so interesting to me. Thanks for posting it here, otherwise I would not have seen it to read it. Glad you are feeling better, that pneumonia can be nasty for sure and sometimes very hard to get rid of. Can't wait to hear more about your trip!!

 

[gillenkl]

Love the report and pics

 

[Christymarie222]

Loving your trip report What a wonderful momma/daughter experience!!! Can't wait to read more.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

Well wheres the frog picture? There must be at least one. Im kinda sad, I read though your whole TR (which was really fun) but there was no frog. (can you tell im a frog lover?)

 

[Nature Mom]

North of the Mouse,

That's a good idea about the Trip Report Board. I like having campers post a full trip report here myself (or at least provide a link to the TR board). I don't get over to many other boards on the DIS so at least if there's a link I'll be able to see it.

Nature Mom,

Sorry to hear about your bout with illness. I'm impressed you picked up your trip report and continued it. Thanks, Bama Ed. I am determined to finish it!

Lots of campers experience that post-partem depression after leaving the Fort (oh, and WDW too). The only known cure is what you have found for yourself: a return visit somewhere on the horizon! That's what I like about the 499 day ressie window. You can always post a future ressie out there, pay the one night deposit, then push it out or pull it up as plans firm up. I like that idea...smart thinking!!

Bama ED

Y.e.s.???

Y.E.S. is the youth Education Series. It is classes offered by Disney at either WDW or Disneyland and they cover a wide array of topics. There are several ways kids participate in the classes: one is through a group, and the other is by individual enrollment. Classes are not offered during the busiest times of year, like December and any time during the Spring Break periods, but if you can work your trip around when they are scheduled, the tickets are majorly inexpensive compared to MYW tickets. Here's a link: http://www.disneyyouth.com/individual-enrollment/

Great pictures! I love your writing style. I love the fort very much and can not wait to some day buy a pop up and make it a yearly event. Right now we do the tent thing as well. Its a lot of work for a family of 6. Your DD has a great smile hope you are loving homeschooling. I did my DS15 and DD12 for 2 yrs. I really wish I had started when they were little.

Thanks so much M2M! I want a pop-up but I am content with the tent for now. I miss our travel trailer, but it was in an accident and doesn't pull the same so my FIL set it up as a 'cabin' by the river on his property outside Jacksonville. It is weird being back in a tent all the time again, but I don't mind it at all. We are so tricked out on the inside with mattresses, a little 'closet', drawers, lamp and tv/blu ray that I don't mind at all if my doors zip. lol It is work for a family of 6! We are only 5 and I can remember how tired I would be when we would all be camping together because I was so tired from the work. Now that I look back though, I can't think of any better way to spend time together as a family. While I am in no hurry, I can't wait to be a grandma so I can continue to share the lifestyle with them. We are loving homeschooling. It is so different from what we are used to but I can't think of anything better for DD at this time. I hope we get to keep with it for a long while.

Excellent pics, they are beautiful. I agree with Bama_Ed, glad you are posting your trip report here --- most campers do. I never go over to the Trip Reports thread unless I know of a specific person's report. Since I love the Fort, camper's reports are always so interesting to me. Thanks for posting it here, otherwise I would not have seen it to read it. Glad you are feeling better, that pneumonia can be nasty for sure and sometimes very hard to get rid of. Can't wait to hear more about your trip!!

Thanks so much Rapreibe! Glad you joined in. You are so right about the pneumonia...I have now what my pulmonologist calls chronic pneumonia because I have had it so many times. Unfortunately, I have lupus, so my immune system hates me. lol Being home bound just gives me more time to plan for WDW again, though, so it all works out in the end.

Love the report and pics

Thank you so much! So glad you joined in!

Loving your trip report What a wonderful momma/daughter experience!!! Can't wait to read more.

Thanks so much! It was such a blessing to spend one on one time like that in the place we love so much. Since she's the baby, I am treasuring the time we had together all the more!

Well wheres the frog picture? There must be at least one. Im kinda sad, I read though your whole TR (which was really fun) but there was no frog. (can you tell im a frog lover?)

]Hahahahahaha....of course, of course!! You need a frog picture, how could I be so remiss?! I love frogs, too! Okay...pausing response to go looking for frogs.....

And I'm back! lol (Didn't miss me at all, huh?) So after scouring through around 5400 pictures, I finally found some frogs. Not a lot, and none from the Fort (how is that even possible?! ), but frogs they are. Hope you like!

Colorado River Frog with mate covered up in the hole (found back in Rafiki's Planet Watch)

Blue Poison Dart Frog (also in RPW)

My personal favorite frog in WDW :

A shirt I had to get:

So, now next post will be continuation of first day. Thanks for sticking around!

 

[aceys_h0ney]

I'm loving your report! We haven't been to the Fort yet but I'm so excited. After years of tent camping we just got a hybrid so I'm really excited to set it up at the Fort. I must say that I love your camp set up though. I would probably still tent camp if I had a set up like that lol. Your daughter is a beautiful young lady. I have two daughters around the same age. They are a mixed bag of fun, silly, cranky, and loving young ladies. I look forward to reading the rest of your report.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

I love the frogs! I havent been to the fort yet but soon! two years for my 30th were gonna camp out in august (and roast!)

 

[Nature Mom]

Hello happy campers! It is a magically beautiful day here in the A-T-L, and I am finally feeling better than I have since Christmas and the long winter of pneumonia, plus I finally have a working modem again and don't have to use my phone card to stay connected. Life is good!

I am working on this next installment to continue the day where I left off last, but I have a dilemma that I hope someone could answer for me? After going through the pictures to upload to Photobucket and refresh my memory of how the class went, I see that many pictures have the other kids in the class in them, along with my own DD. Should I not post these? I couldn't find a rule but maybe I didn't look in the right place. I am so picture heavy in my posts, so I know I could cut that out, but I like to show what we did. Seeing is believing, ya know.

Thanks for any input....now back to writing.

 

[Christymarie222]

Hi there! So glad you are feeling better Looking forward to more of your trip report. With regards to your dilemma....I know other people in the past have put black lines/rectangles, or even sometimes Mickey ears over the faces of kids in pics....sometimes even their own kids if they weren't comfortable showing their kids on the Internet. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to do that...lol!
Maybe someone else will chime in on the how to's about that!

 

[Belle4311]

(rented a Sigma 1.4 from advice on Photography Board...love that lens!)

You can rent cameras? Please tell me more about this process. We've got a kinda crappy, small digital, but I would love to have beautiful pics for our upcoming December trip and MVMCP!

Thanks!

 

[Nature Mom]

Hi there! So glad you are feeling better Looking forward to more of your trip report. With regards to your dilemma....I know other people in the past have put black lines/rectangles, or even sometimes Mickey ears over the faces of kids in pics....sometimes even their own kids if they weren't comfortable showing their kids on the Internet. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to do that...lol!
Maybe someone else will chime in on the how to's about that!

Very smart!!! The whole picture thing has completely bogged down this TR! I need to keep writing, but dang...I took SO MANY pictures and want to share them all. Ok, well not all of them, but a lot! I think I will skim down the pics and start back to writing....I would like to get this sucka done so I can Pre-TR the next trip!

You can rent cameras? Please tell me more about this process. We've got a kinda crappy, small digital, but I would love to have beautiful pics for our upcoming December trip and MVMCP!


Thanks!

You sure can!! I used to rent from borrowlenses.com but they are out of CA and the shipping to GA with the added insurance, etc. was higher than the rental. I found a company here in Atlanta (actually only 7 miles from my house!) that rents as well and now I use them exclusively. http://aperturent.com/ We just came back from a camping trip to the GA coast and I had rented a Sigma 50-500 lens (mac daddy telephoto!) and got some great pictures. I loved that I save on shipping by picking it up close to home so I get to keep it longer. I have tried out so many amazing lenses this way and they have cameras as well in case I need to rent backup. My advice is to find a local company near you so you can save on shipping.

Thanks for pulling my thread back up...I needed the brain tickle!!

 

[Belle4311]

You sure can!! I used to rent from borrowlenses.com but they are out of CA and the shipping to GA with the added insurance, etc. was higher than the rental. I found a company here in Atlanta (actually only 7 miles from my house!) that rents as well and now I use them exclusively. http://aperturent.com/ We just came back from a camping trip to the GA coast and I had rented a Sigma 50-500 lens (mac daddy telephoto!) and got some great pictures. I loved that I save on shipping by picking it up close to home so I get to keep it longer. I have tried out so many amazing lenses this way and they have cameras as well in case I need to rent backup. My advice is to find a local company near you so you can save on shipping.

Thanks for pulling my thread back up...I needed the brain tickle!!

Did a quick search and found that it's nearly $200 just for the camera body BEFORE the lenses and shipping! If we had that much extra cash, we'd spend another day or two in the park! I guess I'll just have to wait until we have a real camera of our own! :-(

But, thanks so much for the tip...it's good to know!

 

[Nature Mom]

Did a quick search and found that it's nearly $200 just for the camera body BEFORE the lenses and shipping! If we had that much extra cash, we'd spend another day or two in the park! I guess I'll just have to wait until we have a real camera of our own! :-(

But, thanks so much for the tip...it's good to know!

Wow! That is high! Become fans of the rental sites on Facebook, they often post codes to get a percentage off. I have used codes from anywhere from 10%-40% off. But I agree, $200 is a lot and if I had it to throw around, it would mean extra Disney days/food/treats and not a camera body rental.