FW Trip Reports!

[Rhonda]

Hi everyone! Let's make this the place for trip reports, after you return from your FW vacations!

If you have questions, please start a new thread, otherwise this thread will get way too big and hard to read.

Anyone want to start us out?

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Feel free to comment on trip reports, this thread will be cleaned up from timeto time and the comments will be moved to this thread:
Trip Report comments thread

 

[lawnspecialties]

Allright, I'll get a little more thorough and get this thread going.

We pulled out of Raleigh January 25th. It was a great trip until our hitch problem in southern Georgia. Tooooo long to rehash that ordeal. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1715344

Day 1: After all was said and done with the hitch on the 26th, we finally made it to the Fort around 3:00pm that Saturday. It was raining but we didn't care. Our new home would be site 533. Nice site but a little further from the Comfort Station than we like and MAN!, what a lot of clearing out they've done. We hit DTD later that afternoon and then did our first "golf cart loopin'" that evening.

Day 2: Got up early to be at Hollywood Studios when the gate dropped. It was a beautiful day and you could tell it was going to be a wonderful weather week. TOT, Indiana Jones, Rock-n-Roller Coaster and more. Around 4:00 pm, we're headed back since we had 7:15 ressies at Hoop-de-Doo. It was fun talking with my dad via Nextel while waiting in line. I was in shorts and a golf shirt and he was saying it was getting down to about 20 degrees in Raleigh that night. The Hoop-de-Doo was once again fantastic. Although the food wasn't quite as good as last time, the show was actually better. We thought all the actors were the same as when we went in Jan. 2006 except for SixBits. He was just as funny if not more. I reserved our table exactly 180 days before the show date and we were about 6 feet from the stage.

Day 3: Epcot today. Once again, we were there when the gate opened. Soarin', Nemo, Mission Space, and for the first time, Test Track. It was closed our last trip. When back at the campground, golf cartin' again.

Day 4: Magic Kingdom Day! While waiting for the boats, one of the smaller ones docks and the CM pulls us from the line. He tells everyone else to catch the larger boat pulling in and tells us we're getting our own "private" boat ride. They do that from time to time and we have a nice conversation with him about the "inside scoop" on Disneyworld and what it's like to work there. When the gate dropped, we were off to POTC. We stayed until a little after noon and then back for lunch at the camper. We needed a break since we'd be headin' back to MK later for the P&P party. That was great and the crowds were extremely low. Little or no wait for every ride.

Day 5: Animal Kingdom Day. Dinosour first. This is Andrea's favorite. Then Expedition Everest! It opened the week we were there in Jan. 2006 but only to AP holders. John and I rode it twice with less than a five minute line wait each time.

Day 6: Today we go to SeaWorld. We bought a single day admission but knew we could get a free day when we got there. Dolphin show, Shamu, and others were really great. Krakken was closed most of day for maintenance and then the line was unbelieveable that afternoon. Atlantis boat ride became Luke's favorite.

Day 7: Back to SeaWorld for second day. Krakken closed again but when it opened, we were already in line. John and I rode twice while Andrea and Luke were back on Atlantis. Seaworld is definitely worth a two-day trip. But now that we've done it, it'll be a few more years until we go back. We hit the Winn-Dixie on the way back to restock our cabinets and refrigerator.

Day 8: Animal Kingdom again. The crowds are getting busier by now but we get in Rafiki's Planet Watch and The Lion King Show. Kilimanjaro Safari line is 50 minutes and they're not doing Fast Passes. We decide to pass. Luke and I hit some kids' rides while Andrea and John ride Dinosour again. While in line for the Nemo Show, their air conditioning breaks and the show is cancelled. Tonight, we get Trail's End "GiddyUp and Go" take out. $24.99 for 10 pieces of fried chicken (all breasts), fries, slaw, and biscuits. For Disney, that's a steal.

Day 9: Back to Hollywood Studios. We're able to catch the stunt show today and it seemed better than the last time. TOT again but by now, we're all starting to get a little pooped.

Day 10: After hearing so much from ynottony, we head over to Trail's End for the breakfast buffet. We're mostly a "pancake family" but those Mickey waffles were awesome. When we finish, we walk around a little and get our pics for disboards: Colson's Crossing and the Trail's End porch. We head back to the camper for a little while and then cart over to rent some canoes. Although I wouldn't recommend them too much on a hot day right after you eat Trail's End buffet, they were a blast. We went all the way around "the loop". John and Andrea were in one and Luke and I in another. Only $11.00/hour for each canoe was reasonable. You're not going to see some areas of the Fort any other way. You can even see the bridge supports on shore for the old Fort railroad. Then we head out to Epcot for the afternoon. Since it's already afternoon, we decide to boat over to MK, catch the monorail to the train station, and then monorail again over to Epcot. Of course, we get the front seat with the monorail driver from MK to the train station.

Day 11: Final Day so we're headin' back to Magic Kingdom. We basically hit our favorites like POTC, BTMRR, Space Mountain, and Haunted Mansion. We head back mid-afternoon for some final Fort loopin' time and to start tearin' down stuff.

Day 12: By 8:40 am, we're pullin' out. Amazing how many RVs you pass on I-95 headin' south while you're headin' north. Sure, I'm glad for those folks but it makes it a little tougher seeing them just starting their vacation while we're headin' home. Almost every RV we pass, I wonder if that's the one assigned to 533 today. One cool thing for me and the boys though was today is the day the NASCAR teams arrive in Daytona. We passed a lot of haulers for the drivers and that was pretty cool. We pull in our driveway at home around 7:15 pm. The dog and the boys go crazy when they see each other.

It helped out with the sadness our last day by ridin' around the Fort picking out what loop we'd request for our next trip. We actually liked 800, 1000, and 1100. Now I see several others here on the dis like 800 so we're gonna' request that for a planned trip around Dec. 11-16. We're also planning another January 2009 trip before our APs expire. Two trips one month apart is gonna' take some planning. Especially financially!

 

[juliegalooly]

Well, I'll have a go at this--tho I'm backing up to our first trip in July, '06.

We left Central KY on a Sunday 7-9-06, (we being me, DH, DD, and DNeice) driving our Jeep towing our 96 Jayco pop-up. First big trip with the camper. No problems other than our Jeep only got about 10mpg! Drove thru to Lake City, FL and stayed overnight at motel. We like Lake City as a stopover cos you can kind of sleep late (10ish) in the a.m., and still make it to WDW by 1 or 2--much easier driving on day 2.

We got up and went and got groceries at a store I can't remember--I thought it was too expensive though and won't go back there. It was a chain store.

Arrived at FW about 1:30--we were so excited. Check in was an absolute breeze. We had requested loop 1500 which we got--site 1503 to be exact. It was way easy to get into--very roomy. Our camper has 2 awnings-one of which is a screen room. Plenty of room for both, plus room for the site's picnic table, grill etc.

Took a long time to set up.(It took way longer than I thought it would.) About a hour into it we went over to the bike barn and got our golf cart--which I highly recommend! Oh SO MUCH fun!
Kids checked out the pool and arcade while me and DH finished. I had planned to cook a big meal--steaks and fixins--which I did about 9 p.m. I learned my lesson tho. Too much work on set up day. We will eat at Trails End on day 1 from now on.

Tues-7/10--up EARLY for way cool boat ride to MK. Had reservations at Cinderellas Royal Table. Very nice. Park was great as usual--not very crowded--hot but not too hot. Rain of course in the afternoon. At supper had res. at Chef Mickey's. Character meals great--but this next trip not gonna do again--takes up a lot of your time (and money). Kids getting older now anyway. Closed down the park after fireworks. Took boat back to FW and fell into bed.
(Note--the comfort station was right next door to us--no noise or odor--very clean, never had to wait one single time for toilet, sink, or shower. Also did laundry a couple of times. Bring your own stuff and some quarters. Had one machine that didn't work and ate our quarters. Drove cart to guest services and they nicely refunded us.)

Wed--we slept late and then went to Epcot World showcase. Very nice day in spite of lots of rain. Back to camp late again.

Thurs--Slept a little late and then went to AK. VERY hot this day. Waited in stand-by for Everest. Worth it of course--DH and I decided that they could take you to the TOP of Everest and drop you to the ground and after waiting for so long, we wouldn't care.

Went back to camp about 5--went to Trails End and got a pizza and enjoyed their air conditioning. (Do not camp in Florida in July without an AC on your camper.) After supper, did some laundry, tidied up, showered, read, relaxed. NOW we're having MY kind of vacation.

Friday went to MGM--best day we had. No big crowds, weather perfect. Went back to camp after Fantasmic (which is NOT to be missed BTW).

Sat, 7/15 was my favorite day. Campground Day! We let the girls sleep in and we drove our cart (did I say this was SO MUCH FREAKIN FUN) down to Trails End and had a quiet b-fast--just the 2 of us. Goofed around. Went swimming. (Must buy souvenir refillable mug--can be filled w/coffee, tea, soda at Trails End and pool bar.) Refilled mug often. After swim--dad stayed in camper to watch a movie (aka napping) while me and girls hopped a bus for DD. It was pretty but after I bought some stuff and came back, I realized that everything I bought there was available at the 2 trading post stores at FW--which are really fun and nice, BTW. Next time I will not waste any on my time going to DD.

If you are bird watchers/critter lovers like we are then you will love the Fort. I saw so many birds, herons,ibis, bunnies, lizzrards, armadillos..can't even remember all the critters. Loved it! Take you camera and your binoculars!

Had supper at Trails End about 6. Girls went to playground. We walked around the Marina area. All went to beach for sunset which was stunning. Electic light parade thing was way fun too. Just fun to people watch and boat watch. We then took in the MK fireworks, the back for showers and bed. What a great day.

Sunday 7/16--went back for other end of Epcot. This day was just too hot to be imagined. No fast passes available for anything we wanted to see such as Soarin'. Ended up leaving about 3 or 4.

Kids went swimming again. We went to the campfire sing-a-long. Girls didn't want to watch the movie so they went to the arcade while the old folks began prepping to leave.

Would have gotten a lot more done if we could have stopped looping around in the cart! I swear--that was so fun--have I mentioned that??

Got up about 8 and finished loading and stowing--pulled out of 1503 by 10:30. We had a great week but wished we could have stayed longer.

We are going back again this July. 22 y.o. daughter going back with us too. Other DD is now 14 so won't have to be so closely watched.

My goals? WAY more campground time. What you read on this forum and in the guide books is 100% true. You could go to FW and never leave it and have a great time. There is a lot to see and do here.

1503--will definately request again. Great site.
No character meals.
I will not rush anywhere.
Gonna skip downtown Disney.
Not cooking the first night there.
Gonna sit more.
Gotta get a cart again!
Gonna ride said cart on every single loop and scope out other future great sites.
Gonna walk around FW more.
If its not too hot, would like to rent a canoe.
Thats about it. If this thread is still active when we get back, I will bore you with another report. I haven't figured out yet how to put pics on here but my daughter probably knows, so maybe I'll get her to do it.

Hope someone reads and enjoys this. We had a blast! See ya at the Fort!

 

[WhereRv]

Here goes:

Left PA at 10 am in 40 mph winds, got 1/2 hour into trip when awning tried to self deploy. I did have a homemade lock on the barrel, so it didn't completely open, but still had to do some roof surfing and tie things up. After 6 hours of 40 mph winds, finally settled down and the rest of the trip was a breeze(pun intended).

Arrived at FW at 2pm on Thursday the 31st. Was assigned 339. I thought this was interesting...they made me sign a form saying I did NOT have any pets, then was assigned a pet loop...???
Set up, made dinner, relaxed.

Second day, Just went exploring. We went to the polynesian for drinks on the beach, and the grand floridian and the contemp. taking the boats & monorail. Also rode the monorail over to epcot, then took the bus to Animal Kindom Lodge. Really nice if you've never seen it. Watched the animals for a while, then bussed back to the Fort for dinner, then to the campfire movie for smores.

Sat: Went to the pool with the kids, then after lunch went walking around the beach area. Some nice trails behind 300 loop too. Sat night watched the boat parade & Fireworks.

Sun: Went food shopping, went to the pool again, then set up for the superbowl. Drank much, ate way too much.

Monday: Went to the Boardwalk & explored the resorts and the whole area. Really nice there too! Went to the Orlando Ale house for Dinner. Then went to Downtown Disney to explore that too, first time there.

Tuesday: Bike riding over to the FW Lodge, explored there, then rode around FW. Went to Pirate & Princess party at 4:30 till midnight. No lines, real nice.

Wed: Rented a golf cart: Good fun right there! drove everywhere! Discovered the second pool. Campfire at night again for smores. (the DW loves them)

Thursdayour last night) Were going to go watch the shuttle take off, but decided not too due to only a 30% chance of it going....it went! So we watched on TV and tried to see it from the fort, too many trees. Went biking again, took the kids to play giant jenga at the pool. Went to Downtown disney to check out Disney quest, realized it cost $32 per kid, LEFT there, and went to Orlando Ale House(my favorite) for happy hour. Smores again at night.
Friday, packed up (had rain overnight) and left by 11, stopped in SC overnight, then got home by 10pm Sat. no issues on the way home!

This was our first time not having tickets to the parks, and it was nice to just do the fort and explore everything without running like maniacs to get to every park(I do enjoy doing that though).
Thats all folks!(whoops, wrong sign off)
See ya real soon!

 

[jimlin]

Our only visit to Disney was back in october 2006. We stayed in the 100 loop sandwiched between a huge Class A and a triple axle 5th. wheel. Quite a contrast to our Coleman Westlake Popup. We were placed here when the person couldn't be found to move out of our site at checkout time on another loop. Almost every day we managed to take a cart ride around the different loops looking at the halloween decorations and the wide variety of rv's used by campers. Enjoyed the breakfast buffet several times and also used the takeout chicken dinner. This was probably the most relaxing campground I've ever stayed at. Although there were plenty of kids around, you never noticed them. They seemed to be so pre-occupied or recovering from visits to the parks. The fort had just the right mixture of stores for the campers without overrdoing it too much on souveniers. This was my first experience with the cm's in a retail situation and I was surprised at how talkative they wanted to be. We did go to the parks every day but returned mid-day for rest and food and when we did return in the afternoon to the parks it was nice to know we had a comfortable place to come back to rest. I only had annoying experience involving teens that seemed to enjoy following us in their cart stopping and starting, turning many times to keep on our tail. Rather than confront them I managed to force them to pass and leave us alone. We are returning in january for a week at the fort and will probably most of the same things again but its always nice to know the fort is there for us when we get tired.

Jim

 

[loudube]

Just got back from Disney two weeks ago. We planned our trip last minute so we stayed at Polynesian for four nights and had a FW cabin reserved for our final two nights. When we checked in to FW Thursday at noon, they told us that we wouldn't have a room for our second night, despite having physical confirmation evidence. We obviously were quite upset and those emotions were further compounded when we were told that there were no rooms anywhere on Disney property and there was nothing they could do to accomodate us. They wouldn't even call other hotels.

Parallel to our experience, there was a large family there for a magical gathering that were being told there group (several cabins) would not be located near each other despite what their coordinator had promised them. The manager at FW told them that they shouldn't have been promised that and that they would speak to the people at magical gatherings. They had nothing to offer the large family and weren't even apologetic about the situation.

I'm in no way a Disney basher, I love the resorts and have no interest in ever staying off Disney property, I just found this experience to be terrible and disappointing and I hope it never happens again.

 

[carissanboys]

I just started a PTR for our "possible" tent camping trip at the Fort November of next year. I'm really hoping we go so that I can do a TR. There don't seem to be many TR's out there of people staying at Fort Wilderness, let alone tent camping. The link is in my signature

 

[RvUsa]

Ok, here goes:

Day one:
Feb 23, Saturday. Well it was finally time to head to the Fort. We got up about 6am, crossed our fingers and looked out the window. Yeah, we only got a couple more inches of snow overnight!!! We threw the pillows, and last minute stuff into the camper, picked up Matt from PapPaps, and we were on the road by 8am, a record for us! We headed out at a whopping 35mph because of all the ice and snow. About 100 miles from home, and 4 hrs later we were out of the snow. Matt called PapPap at the boarder of each state with an update with road conditions, and the current temp. We made it to Summersville Wv, and had to fill up, and it was $3.89 a gallon ( the highest price on the way down). Our goal was to make it to North of Charlotte by that night. We ended up staying south of Charlotte around Orangeburg Sc, at a little CG called Sweetwater Lake. It was basically just a place to park with a lake, and was self service pay. But hey, it had water and electric, and was only $20.

Day two:
Feb 24, Sunday: We got on the road around 9am and headed south. We had a plan to get to Fl for the night. No problem, we made it to the south Daytona KOA around 3pm. We quickly registered and dropped the TT. and headed to the beach!! We were dipping our tootsies in the atlantic around 5:30. We drove the giant diesel guzzlin f-350 up and down the beach for a little bit, then headed to the Ponce Litehouse. We got there around closing time, but got to walk around a little and buy a few souvenirs. We headed back to the cg, and picked up some dominos pizza on the way back. The CG was pretty standard KOA fare. Nothing special and about $40, seemed clean but pretty dated.

Day three:
Feb 25 - D-day!! We got up and on the road around 9am, we made it to the front gates of WDW at about 11am, took some pics on the way in, I was being the consumate navigator and thought I could get to the Fort the back way, well as pulled back out onto I-4 and re-entered the front gates of WDW again, took another pic and followed the signs to the front gate of the FORT YEAH!!! We went through the gatehouse and up to the gates, we checked in, but were told that our site was not ready yet, we had to wait in the parking lot. Well about 1/2 hr later our friends showed up, they came from Tn. We had asked for spaces together and close to the comfort stations because I don't walk well. Well they were sent straight back to their site, we called and ours was still not available. They drove back and someone was still on it, so they called and were told to go back to parking lot and wait. Well 1 pm rolls around and we are all thinking about breaking out the bbq in the lot and firing up some dogs, when we call and they say, that they have a site for both of us, but my site is a "difficult back in" and we are not side by side. We get to ours, and it is not bad, we back in in 1 try. Our friends site is nice too, but about 12 away from us. We asked for non pet, got pet, we asked to be side by side, were about 1/2 mile apart, we asked to be close to CS, my site was as far from a CS as possible at the fort I swear. OH WELL WE WHERE THERE. Got TT set up, and all the decorations put out, Dw went and picked up the GC. Spent the rest of the day hanging with friends, and local relative came to visit.

Day Four
Feb 26 DHS. Well we planned on trying to get to the most AM EMH as possible, so the first day, we went to DHS. We took the Gc to the outpost bus stop, got there around 7:40, bus was allready there, we made it to the front of DHS at about 5 till 8. We headed straight to the back of the park, did back lot, and some characters and worked our way back to front, light crowds and lots of fun. We had lunch at the sci-fi, it was really cool, and good food. Went to LMA and then to IJSS, did the muppets etc and had a great time. We had dine and dash ressies for Hollywood and Vine so we could get into phantasmic. Well H & V was yuck, bland cafeteria food that cost us $90 for 2 adults and a 5 year old. Definitely not worth it in MHO. Well as we leave there, the clouds start rolling in, as we head to phantasmic, by the time we got there, it was pouring, and CM's said it was probably gonna be canx. so we headed to the Fort. Everything made it through storm fine, but came to find out that most of South Fl had blackouts all day. Had a few Kungalooshes and called it a day.

Day Five
Feb 27 goog off day. One thing that the storm did do was bring some C O L D weather with it. We woke up to the 30's, brrrrr this is Fl right, I was expecting the 80's. Well we decided to loop a couple of times till we lost feeling in all extremities. Then hopped on a boat to CR and hoped on the monorail to warm up. Rode around for a lap or 2 and then went to the poly for a while, then we went to TTC, and took the ferry to MK, caught a bus to boardwalk and had lunch at the brewery place there. It was really good too, and some of the beer was pretty good too. Well relatives called and wanted to meet us at DD. So hoped a bus over there and met up. Went to the Harley dealer, did the whole shopping thing, and then hopped a bus back to the Fort. Of course it was at the wrong end, so had to take another bus to marina to get GC. Lesson learned. We fired up the BBQ again, and had some steaks and kungaloosh.

Day Six
Feb 28 Magic Kingdom!!! Well early EMH again, caught the boat, and hit the front gate at about 8 am. Went straight to tomorrow land, did buzz, cp, TTA, indycars 2x and the carousel before we had to wait for anything. It was really cold, so bought Matt a jacket at the store in the toon town, and some childrens tylenol too, just go to the sewing counter, they have it for infants to adults. He we later came to find out was getting strep throat, thanks relatives! We then worked our way around towards HM, stopped to watch woodys roundup, and at lunch at Pecos bills, Here is a tip, if you eat outside, make sure to guard your food, the seagulls are relentless. They stole my sons burger right off his plate. We did all the regulars, and watched the parade. We then went to ride the BTMR, which is awesome when you are in an ecv, no line, and ride it 2 times. Did the rest heading towards the front, ended with jungle cruise and some shopping then waited for the electro lite parade. Headed back to boats and home to the fort. AWESOME DAY!

 

[RvUsa]

Day 7 Friday
Feb 29th Goof off day. We did the coolest thing today, our cousin who is a CM took us to property control today. If you don't know what it is, it is the best kept secret of WDW. If you know a cm, they get to go here and buy stuff that is discontinued, or damaged for 75% off or more. We got $400+ stuff for around $45. 10 or more shirts, toys, gifts etc. They even have golf carts and disney vehicles there. I almost bought a toaster that cooked mickey's face into the bread, it was like $4. They have a diferent building for less outdated stuff and better things. Like air hockey tables, lights from all star music, and about 100 computers, hp for $50. Well after we loaded up the truck, we headed out for lunch, went to Smokey Bones, then to camping world for some supplies. Went to publix for some english candy and then back to the fort for the Hoop dee doo. It was awesome as always. Love it even though we had seen it before.

Day 8 Saturday
March 1 Beach Day. Our friends left today, we had bfast at TE and it was great, Andria and the kids ate with us before they left Dana didn't make it, he was a sick as a dog, and she didn't want to drive, but they left. (only made it about 4 hrs up the road) Met the relatives again and headed over to the gulf. We went to St Pete, checked out the bay the bridge and the beach, beautiful by the way. We took a vote and the guys won, we had dinner at Hooters in Bradenton, and then headed back to the fort, on the way back we had some prescriptions called into a local walgreens, and then spent 4 hrs trying to get them filled, it was terrible, I swear we were the only ones that spoke english, and the only ones with prescription coverage. Well we made it back to the Fort around 1 am.

Day 9 Sunday
March 2 We were supposed to go visit relatives in Venice, but were to sick to try. We just hung out at the fort, looped a little and refilled the refillable mug about 20 times. We did make it out to play mini golf at fantasia, which was fun. And in the evening, our relatives came over and we went the campfire, it was ms julie, who did a wonderful job. We watched the 1st half of Aladin, and headed back to the camper. We ran to the store and then drank some kungaloosh to kill the germs and turned in for the night.

Day 10 Monday
March 3 Animal Kingdom. Hit the early EMH and went straight to the safari, I highly recommend doing it early, everything was out and about. We did the jungle trek and the train, then headed to camp minnie mickey and did the circle of life (awesome) and then did some of the kidstops. We then headed to dinoland and had lunch at restrauntasuarus, not bad, but nothing special. We did Dinosaur, I didn't like it, my knees were crammed into the seat like there was no tomorrow. We then cut over to Nemo the musical (also awesome) and checked out the parade, it was warm enough to ride cali, fun fun fun and then went back to ride safari again, no where near as many animals out, but did see a hippo outside the water, so that was cool. Did some shopping then caught a bus to WL and went to wipering canyon for dinner. That was a lot of fun, DS loved it, and got to ride a horsey around the room. Took the boat back to the Fort, and of course the GC was at the other end, I thought we learned this lesson before. OH WELL GREAT DAY.

Day 11 Tuesday
March 4th another goof off day. We took the boat over to CR and went to chef mickeys for Bfast. I thought it was pretty cool, got to meet all the characters and Matt was impressed. ( for tony's information, the waffels at CM are NOT the same as TE, TE are a lot better). We hopped on the monorail and went to MK to catch a bus to Coronodo springs to check it out, then we went to the swan and dolphin, took the boat to the yact and beach, ate some ice cream at beaches and cream. Then hopped the bus back to the Fort, guess what, we were at the wrong darn end again AHHHHH. We went Outback for dinner, (best meal of the trip) and back to the tt for the night.

 

[RvUsa]

Day 12 Wednesday
March 5 Epcot. Well no EMH today but got there at 9am. Straight to TT and right on, then over to soarin, and almost right on, did nemo matt found a hidden mickey, and our favorite the boat ride in "the land" livin with the land. (found a hidden mickey) did most everything else in future world, including ellen, YAWN. Went to Wshowcase and did almost everthing there again. Rode test track again with FP, no wait and we tried cokes thing, yikes some of those are terrible, we ate at electric umbrella. We stayed around for Illuminations, and then had to wait about 1 hr for a bus. Only time we had problems.

Day 13 Thursday
March 6 Last full day at the Fort. We looped and looped and looped, and did some shopping at the meadows, Erica slept in the hammocks on the beach for a while. We had lunch at the camper and then headed over to realatives house for the day, met up with some old friends and had some supper. It started storming again by the time we got back to TT so didn't get to pack up till morning. Sad day all in all.

Day 14 Friday,
March 7. Time to go home. He got packed up and left the fort around 11, we tried to stay 1 more night but they said they were full, even tho many said there were tons of empty spots that night. We headed north and made it to the South Savanah KOA, same standard KOA fare, but the bugs, holy cow..... terrible.

Day 15 Saturday
March 8, We were going to go the rest of the way today, but everyone told us how bad the roads were up home so we kinda just took it easy and made it to Wytheville KOA, not bad, we have been there before, better than most KOA's.

Day 16 Sunday
March 9, We took our time and just drifted home, the roads were fine got in around 4 pm and went into post fort depression.

thanks for watching

John

 

[ftwildernessEASTER08]

Hello Campers,
Our trip report begins with the itenerary that we followed 99% of the time.
We had 6 in our party. We had the Disney Dining which was great except there are too many desserts included.
We were in loop 2000 or Spanish Moss Loop. Not an especial attractive loop. It looks like a fire happened in the middle of it or they chopped down most of the trees or something. We ate breakfast each morning at camp. We took our mickey waffle iron. My husband cooks this! We also had a neat little gas camp toaster for bagles. We took a microwave for the bacon and such. We have a cooler that has a plug in and acts like a little fridge.
After 2 days we decided to rent a golf cart and had to wait a day to get one. (Reservations suggested)


Arrived Ft. Wilderness campsite Sat. March 22st check in is at 1pm
Camp address: 4510 N Fort Wilderness Trail, Orlando, FL 32830
To Do:
Set up camp (Our battery died at the check-in post and the FW staff jump started it quickly It took us 2 hours to set up camp under a drizzle of rain.
Magic Kingdom was open til 3:00am !Rode Big Thunder 3xs! saw Spectromagic Parade. Space mountain broke down- so long wait there.

Sun March 23rd
Easter Sunday
Easter Mass at Contemporary left camp at 9:00am for 10:15 mass
Then spent day at MGM
There was hardly anything Eastery in the Parks except I did collect the Easter Pins and Stitch on the World Of Disney Store at Dowtown was holding an Easter Egg.
We saw the Beauty and the Beast Show.
MGM Sci-Fi Dining at 8:35 pm Reservation - The Steak was good at the Sci-fi dining 6 of us fit into a car.
Camping was cool at night -dipped into the 40's. It didn't rain aside from the drizzle on the first day. We used cots in tents with warm sleeping bags.
We liked the tent camping!


Mon March 24th
Magic Kingdom AM (VERY CROWDED - I wanted to leave!) so we went to Animal Kingdom after our Lunchtime reservations 12:55 at the Liberty Tree Tavern at Magic Kingdom
Then we went to Animal Kingdom which was very pleasant at night! Crowds are fine during the Extra Magic hours.
We went to camp mickey to get autographs saw the bug's life 3d show and then went on the dinosaur ride. Ran to use our tray service on the Dinning plan before the pizza place closed! whew! Took lots of photos with the photo pass program. Over 80 photos are on our CD!

Tues. March 25th
Went to Epcot (spent whole day at Epcot)
Notes:1:20 lunch reservations at the Garden Grill –
Epcot had (Extra Magic Hours past 7:00pm for Future World) World Showcase stays open until 9:00pm Illuminations at 9:00pm. at 11:00am got our Test track fast passes- they were for 4:50-5:50pm. We did a lot of pin trading and milling around the coca cola experience. We walked through a lot of the attractions. Had fun! Character dining was fun! The line for soaring was 2 hours during the day. We waited until evening to do that. We went on Figment's ride Oh, By the way we had a "FIRST TIME AT DISNEY WORLD" guest and we got her a pin to wear to that affect. We looked at the landscaping as it was during EPCOTS flower fest. Then we used our Test Track Fast Passes - A fun Ride! But we had to wait as the ride broke down for about 1/2 hour. Then spent the rest of the evening in World Showcase mostly around the American Experience (Our 7 year old loves American history and the Presidents- so...) Our 12 year old daughter loves Funnel cakes- so...) Then we went on Mexico's boat ride. Then I ordered a Bloody Mary at the Tavern in England. And sipped it until Illuminations. We sat on the terrace directly in front to watch. Great view!



Wed. March 26th
My husband and 11 year old son went to Animal Kingdom extra early (for 7:00am). They rode the Yehti 4xs and ate a tray service breakfast. They came back to camp and we all went to Typhoon Lagoon . We were lucky to go and have a nice time this day. The next day was crowed with school groups.
From Typhoon Lagoon we had to hurry our group up to be back at camp to go to the Hoop De Doo Revue 4:30 . (Good thing we had a golf cart!) Hoop De Doo was Great!!! We spent an enjoyable evening at Magic Kingdom!
Highly recommend the Monster Laugh show. An Interactive Audience show.




Thursday March 27th
Tried to go to Blizzard Beach but it was closed due to being "filled to capacity" so we went to Typhoon but the same crowd!!!
We broke a rule and when to the Port Orleans Resort to use their Pool. We felt justified to do this with both water parks closed.
Then to MGM for 3:30 Hollywood and Vine diner reservation.
Saw the block party parade before our meal for the Fantasmic Show 8:30pm Seating. We were able to to a lot of fun things. Rode the Rock n Roll roller coaster. I went as a single while everyone else saw Indiana Jones' show. In the single's line at the Rock-n-roll coaster it took 40 minutes! We went on all the attractions we wanted to do. We realized we had a table service left on our dining plan. I went to guest relations at MGM and were able to get lunch reservations for the next day at Wolfgang Pucks Cafe at Downtown Westside. Leaving MGM was crazy crowded after the last fantasmic show!






Friday March 28th
Check out by 11:00am
It took us 3 hours to break camp!
but we did it!
We then went to Disney Quest (arcade) great way to end the trip!
lunch reservations at Wolfgang Pucks Cafe at Downtown Westside.
I had the pumpkin Ravioli which is delicious!!
Shopped at the world of Disney. Then got on the rode.

Bye Disney World.

 

[olbear]

Here is a link to our Anniversary trip report at the Fort last year.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1539885

Blessings,
Winnie

 

[ammie98]

First off,I want to thank everyone for all of your advice for our trip, we absolutely love the Fort and can't wait to come back next year! We stayed in loop 2100 4/26-5/4. We really loved Blizzard Beach. We also went to typhoon lagoon but the slides at blizzard were better (we thought anyway) Summit Plummet was crazy! I can't believe my 9 yr old loved it! We had so much fun at the dance party at the meadows pool! They played very good music and even some disco!The campfire was fun too I got to dance with chip (much to my husband's and daughter's dismay they are much too mature for that nonsense ha ha) Hope I get to meet some of you next time we come down! We definately plan to relax more the next time. DD wanted to see both water parks which left us only 2 days of R & R so next time we will have 6 days of R & R and only 2 days of parks!

 

[clkelley]

Here's a link to my blog with pictures from the 4th of July GG:

http://mouseketab.blogspot.com/2008/07/fort-wilderness-party-july-3rd-6th.html

 

[YodaGirl]

I love reading everyone's reports! I'm Fort living vicariously through ya'll until May!

we were there in July '06 also...in a pop up with no air conditioning too see, your not the only crazy ones.
enjoyed your report

We tent camped in FW back in July '04 (wk of July 4th). That was, um...interesting. It was DH's first trip. I told him to get the tent set up because it was going to rain, but noooo...he said it didn't LOOK like it was going to rain. He'll listen next time.

 

[nessz79]

Kind of a double post as I also put this as a regular post. However, I think that it better fits here...

We just got back from our first ever trip to the Fort! We had soooo much fun!

We went for a 3 night trip...it's our last hurrah before school begins again (DH and I are both teachers with one starting Kindergarten this year).

A summary of what we did:

Day 1:
Arrived by 10:30 AM. Had a super, super nice guy check us in (can't remember his name). He told us the reason they hadn't put us down for Loop 100 is that they still had us down as taking a pet, even though I had called to change that. He said we could have Loop 100 but would have to wait. Loop 600 was available then. We said yes! So we had Site 605. Very nice, very close to the campfire and a decent but manageable walk to the Marina.
We parked, set up, and walked around. We took the ferry to the Wilderness Lodge to look around, then to the Contemporary to ride the monorail. Came back to the Fort, had a snack (we had a large late breakfast that day), took naps, barbecued some steaks. I then had some friends come to visit us for a couple hours and we headed over to the campfire program which was awesome!! I wish I had another day for that as I was busy talking to my friend most of the time when I would have loved to be singing along, etc.
We ended the night with the Electrical Water Pageant and fireworks. This was Sunday and the beach was very packed. Luckily, we had chairs. The music was piped in by the marina and it was wonderful.

Day 2:
Downtown Disney in the morning, Earl of Sandwich for lunch.
Naps.
Pool time. Very nice. I knew it would be basic, but it was still a pretty large pool and I was happy.
Barbecue dinner. Yum.
Walk to the Post for ice cream, sit in rocking chairs, walk around.
Bed early.

Day 3:
Magic Kingdom day. We took the boat to the Contemp and walked to the Magic Kingdom. I wanted to get there by 8 for the opening of EMH and we did. I think we exhausted our poor kids. We did lots of rides, won dream Fastpasses , and left by 12.
Fort for lunch in the RV. Naps. This was the first day that both kids really slept. Relaxed til about 5.
Back to MK until close to 10. Didn't need to see Wishes as one of our kids is very noise-sensitive and we were happy enough watching it from the beach Sunday night.

Day 4:
Left by 9 AM

I'm going to try to upload the pics soon!

We're hooked!

We want to come back soon in the cool season and just do the Fort. So many things I feel we missed.

Thanks to everyone for all the great tips and advice! I was a walking Disboards while there, much to DH's annoyance (but I think I was handy).

We had the most ancient looking RV there if anyone saw us. Sorry if anyone was next to our beast!

 

[camperhappy]

The last trip to FW was June 2007. We brought our friends along with their two year old daughter. At the time our daughters were 4 and 4 months. We pulled into FW on Saturday June 23, ate at Trails End, relaxed by the pool and went to bed. On Sunday we went to Animal Kingdom with DH's sister and fam. They didn't like the heat so we didn't stay long, headed back to Trails End and then to bed.

On Monday we went to Magic Kingdom, back to the camper for dinner and then we were heading back to MK. The key word is "were". DD 4 fell on the steps in the camper that go to the bunks, hit her cheek on the strip that connects the carpet and vinyl. I decided stay back and put the girls to bed. When DH came back about 12:30am from MK we turned on the light to look at DD's face and it was swollen on one side like a softball. Thank goodness we had friends to stay back with the little one and we took off for Celebration hospital. While the wait was long, the staff was wonderful, we would highly recommend them. They did CT scans, gave her some sidewalk chalk said it was a huge pool of blood that would eventually disolve and by 6:30 am we were headed back to the camper. I took the girls to Trails End for breakfast and we relaxed the rest of the day.

That night we decided to venture out to Epcot, got in the Character line and they were wonderful, big careful hugs and pics. Goofy picked her up and swung her around in a big hug. Some people stared and some people were polite enough to ask. Had to laugh, one guy in the Meadows Trading Post asked and when I told him she fell on the steps going to the bunks he brought his kids over to show them why they shouldn't run in the camper. After all of this we still had a great time and now we know our way to Celebration hospital, but hopefully we will never need it again.

 

[disney4dan]

A little late, but wanted to get a trip report down for our stay at the Fort in early August 08.

Left the house at about 4:30am on Saturday, Aug 2 with plans to go from MA on Rte 2 to Rte 91 into CT, pick up Rte 84 toward Scranton, PA. Then Rte 81 into VA with plans to cross over on Rte 77 to Rte 26. The early start helps keep the bickering down between the little ones as they will sleep for a few hours. Our oldest, Justin age 16, was going to stay with a friend Alex and the two of them would fly down on Aug 5, saving room and grief on the road trip.

When we got onto Rte 81 south in PA, we decided to change the route and cross northeast VA diagonally on Rte 17. I had discussed this with others on the board, including LarryJ, and we were glad for the change. Nice rolling hills in the area with no traffic and enjoyable drive. Stopped at Fredericksburg VA KOA for a one night stop. No photos, but we managed to get a pull through site that we could stay connected to the truck for easy out in the morning.

We left Fredericksburg at around 8:00am the next day for a liesurely ride down Rte 95 to our next stop in Hunting Island State Park just outside of Beaufort, SC. The stress of the ride was starting to set in, kids were consistently entertaining themselves by bickering and fighting (we're talking kicking and punching now) since mid-day Saturday. There was a little confusion on the route to the campground as the signs have you take a route around Beaufort and near Parris Island in order to avoid the main streets in the town. We checked into site 95, and the attendant told us that only one dump station was open, the one near the entrance. We turned around and discovered that this station was poorly designed on a curve, requiring people with travel trailers to pull forward onto the road, then back the trailer closer to the dump area (more stress as Nancy and I "discuss" why the connections really need to be closer than 25 feet and how much lead time is needed to corner the rear of the trailer when backing up! ).

Once emptied, we take off for the main state park road to discover that there really isn't a good spot to turn our rig around. The dump station area was designed to have people dump on the way out, with no way to make a turn and head back into the CG. Really wishing I brought the portable blue tank at this point. We managed to turn left to the area for the lighthouse parking area. One look at that entrance road told is that we could not "assume" that we would encounter a large parking lot, so our only option was to do a three point turn and back the trailer out onto the main road. As you can imagine, this is always a good time . With bright shiny smiles and eager hearts, we adopted a "damn the torpedoes" attitude and just did it. Fortunately, my guardian angel (you know, the one on Prozac) must have been at work because the road was empty. A few minutes later and we're backed into our W/E site close to the beach but shaded by nice trees.

Two nights of rest and relaxation at the beach was what we needed to rechrge the batteries and get ready for the Fort. After all, the kids really needed some rest to have the energy to carry on the fighting in the back seat. And in the trailer, the beach, the water....
On the morning of Tues, Aug 5 we departed HI State Park at around 6:00am when the gates opened, discovering that the other dump station was working fine, and were on the way south. One stop at the WalMart SuperCenter near the Florida/GA state for some groceries and last minute items and we were making good time. On the way, Nancy discovered that the new truck came equipped with a hidden Mickey in the dash and took this photo:

When we checked in to the Fort, we were told that our requested loop (1400) was full, but they had a better location for us. We got site 401 right at the entrance to the loop. Initially, I was not happy due to the distance to the Meadows Pool and campfire area, but found that being close to the Marina was great. Noise on the road was not bad, because the AC in the trailer covered that up for the most part. Could hear the water pageant and fireworks each night. This photo was taken from the walkway near the road. Did not get a good shot to show the AC set up for the tent, but you can see how we put the tent inside the screen room to provide some protection from the rain for the AC. I have more site photos in another thread.

Spent the afternoon setting up the site, kids went to the pool while I assembled the tent inside the screen room, and then off to Downtown Disney for Earl of Sandwich. I had to go to the airport at 10:00pm to get Alex and Justin. Justin decided to surprise us during his stay up north by getting dreadlocks for his hair. I think he was disappointed that we were not upset, but what the heck, it's all good. Here's a photo of him with Matt waiting for HDDR. We discovered that Justin is really sun sensitive after his surgery, and can not tolerate the heat at all. Luckily, WDW is set up for him to enjoy sleeping late in an air conditioned tent and late nights in the parks.

Nancy, Rachel & Alex

And the requisite shot of kickin back on the porch

Justin asked politely if they had Mac & Cheese available at HDDR, and our server was kind enough to score him that and two hot dogs for the finicky eater.

Rachel enjoying the fried chicken

We hit EPCOT a lot, mainly for the ability to hit a variety of rides or shows. Got our photo taken with Al & Jasmine near Morroco

We spent a lot of time in the water to avoid the heat and humidity, hitting both Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. Fortunately, Nancy's brother loaned us the waterproof digital camera that they have and we got a lot of good photos and video having a blast in the water.

Well, this is getting pretty long and I'll just say that it was hot, the Fort was great, not too many storms, saw lots of rude foreigners cutting the long lines and Disney did nothing about it, being experienced with past trips and flexible schedule let us find ways to enjoy the parks despite the downsides. I have to rant about the slobs who can't be bothered to walk the 5 feet to a trash can and have to just dump the ice cream wrappers and water bottles wherever they are. Can't blame WDW for this, as they were doing their best to keep up, but man the place was a dump.

I also wanted to give props to the concierge at the Fort for steering us to an RV place on Rte 192 near Rte 27. Our power converter burned out while at the Fort and we manged to get a good replacement (slightly more powerful than the one we had) for a fair price ($250). Another observation to make: while at WDW we learned of an unexpected death of one of my cousins. I was not able to locate any sympathy cards, even asked some CMs and they could not think of any place. I figured maybe you would need to ask, just like you would for Tylenol or Advil at most stores, but even the folks at the writers stop in Hollywood Studios could not find any.

Well, to finish the trip off, we all went back to the Earl of Sandwich on the last night for a feast, followed by a trip to Goofy's Candy to load up on sugar for the trip home. This shot is of Matt and his stash taken for his dentist:

Hope you all enjoyed the post. Please take small children by the hand and check for your belongings before exiting the ride .

 

[Shan-man]

This resource is no longer available here, sorry.

 

[railmail]

Just got back from our first trip ever to FW. What an adventure, we're already checking out the Disney site for future plans to return. We left Kentucky the day hurricane Ike hit Texas and we didn't know if we were going to be able to find gas by the time we were halfway thru Georgia. We were hearing tales from folks that gas was scarce in places and VERY expensive if you could find. Some suggested that limits were going to be enforced, PANIC!!!!

We had planned to stop for the night in Perry, Georgia but decided to press on just in case that gas would be in short supply on the next day. We wanted to be close enough to WDW so that one tank of gas would get us through the gates. So, we continued on to Jennings, FL, topped off the tank and set up camp at 10:00 pm. Really nice campground right off of I-75, but quiet enough to feel secluded. Tension was high concerning gas and everything, we were too keyed up to sleep much. But Hey, if were in the fort and there is no gas available, sorry, boss, I can't get back to work for a few days, haha. DH figured that things would settle down while we spent the week at the fort, and he was right .
We had requested the 1500 loop, but were placed in 429, man did they do us a favor. We were close to the marina, only about a one minute bike ride away. DH had read a lot of these threads that mentioned taking your bikes, so we had dug them out of the barn to bring with us. Hint one: ALWAYS BRING YOUR BIKE!!!! We really enjoyed biking around the campground to see the area and check out the Meadows Trading Post.
Our package included a 6-day park hopper pass of which we used 4 days during this week. We also upgraded the pass to add 4 more days for future use. Lucky us, prices had went up since our package was reserved, but we got the additional 4 days at the old price.
Spent Sunday at Epcot and Magic Kingdom for the additional evening hours. Went back to the Magic Kingdom on Monday, spent Tuesday in Hollywood Studios, hit Animal Kingdom on Wednesday, Downtown Disney on Thursday, and had to leave on Friday.
Each day we went back to the campground in the late afternoon to check on our pups, who had elected to relax in the camper enjoying the a/c and listening to the radio. One night they just had to go out at 1:30 am, DW braved up and walked them around the campground loop. What a surprise for ALL when we came face to face with our first armadillo. Jeez, do they really have armadillos in Florida? Came back to the camper and woke up DH to inquire about the residence of armadillos in Florida , he said yes. The earlier heavy rains from trop storm Faye had left quite a bit of standing water in the 400 loop, but we never saw any mosquitos Disney does a WONDERFUL job of insect control, sure wish we knew their secret for home.
On our trip to Downtown Disney, we happened to take a meal at the Earl of Sandwich, it was wonderful....no wonder everyone talks about it.
We left Friday morning headed home and arrived there Saturday afternoon. Vacation weeks go by much faster than work weeks. We thinking that our next trip to FW will be for a 2 week stay, same amount of gas, much more time for fun. More bang for the buck