Heading to the Ft. (Trip Report)

[surferrat]

Heading to the Ft. for a week. Have a good spring break and a trip report when we return!!!!!

 

[Shannone1]

Heading to the Ft. for a week. Have a good spring break and a trip report when we return!!!!!

Have a GREAT time !! Can't wait to read your report

 

[Colson39]

Have a great time! Cold front coming in today, at least for this weekend you should have some really nice cool weather, even better since I bet this is the last cold front of the season!

 

[CottontailCurl]

Have fun, tell everyone Howdy for us!

 

[stacktester]

We'll be there Monday. Hoping to meet some other FW nuts.

I'll be in the red crew cab Chevy pulling a Keystone Hobbi.

 

[akamom]

Have fun!!!! I can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[surferrat]

Ahh...back to REALITY........

Back from the Ft. and boy do we miss it already. Our trip lasted from the 16th to the 22nd and boy it started out nice and slow and then bam....it was over...

The trip there was a little nerve racking. Leaving around 10am from Jax heading down 9A to 95 and down I4 was not so bad, besides the bad weather and the drivers that like to pull in front of you and stop (Thinking you can stop a 7k lb. TT on a dime). 9A does have the construction going on at JTB but it was not bad at 10ish...EARLY AM and Rush hour going through Jax., and taking 9a can get nasty but if you don't mind the hold up then go for it. Just depends at what time you go through there depends on how congested it can be.

Anyway, the rain started pouring just past St. Augustine (due to the cold front) and the white knuckle gripping of the steering wheel began. We had to stop and get our Jack Russell in the TT to avoid him getting wet. He doesn't like to ride in the cab, so we place him in the kennel in the bed. Traffic was not as bad as I thought it would be, but like I mentioned the idiot drivers who think they can pull in front of you and stop was very annoying.

We decided to bypass the 417 toll and take I4 straight down to WDW. Traffic was ok with a few minor stalls within the city or Orlando.

Made it in around 1:30 and checked in pulled into the 1900 loop and that is where the fun began. I guess I had a brain fart and took me about 25 minutes to back the dang thing in. Between my DW yelling where to go and another camper there it seemed as if I was just not in the right frame of mind. Finally got the camper all backed in and all set up, dogs walked, kids fed and off to the MK. At this point DW looked at me and said that ever sinking feeling..."I forgot our tickets"...So after drooling at the Prevost 1600 loop we had to go to the MK and get copies of our tickets as the CM reprinted our AP...

Headed to the MK and the lines surprisingly short. Between 3 and 9 we were able to hit Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Pirates and Buzz.

Headed back to the Ft. to meet my BL and his DW who were coming in from West Palm, got their tent up and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Since BL and his DW have not been to Disney in many many many years and only planned on being there for 1 day we had to do as much as we could the very next day. So the next day we hit AK first and hit Everest, Kili., Dinasour, then hit EPCOT to do MS, Nemo's Adventure and Figmnet, then the countries...back to FW for lunch then a 30 min power nap. Then the rest of the evening at MK. Luckily we go every 3 months and now how to work the fast pass system to our advantage...They got in a lot of rides and shows without standing in lines that would have wasted their day....

The rest of our days at consisted of cool weather but nothing to complain about. The lines were not long, at least to us they were not, and the weather was cool but not freezing. We were able to go to the laugh factory which was open, and the imagineers did an excellent job there.

DS who hit 42" was able to ride Space Mountain and the little guy did an excellent job and earned his Space Mountain Pin and even rode it 4 more times during our stay. This was a big thing now that the entire family can ride it instead of DW and DD then DD then me. Now if I can just get them to ride Tower of Terror....

Tried Pirates again after being disappointed in the minor changes and still the same conclusion that we still miss the guards at the end of the ride and the changes really did not make it any better...

The last few trips to the Jungle Cruise have been very disappointing and we decided to give it one more try...../sigh....no good..the skipper was terrible and I think my family has forever given up on the once good comical skippers we have seen in the past.....

One of the days we were at MGM the kids were disappointed at becasue the Back Lot tours were not using people from the audience because the water was just to cold. No biggie there, they just like the entire theatrical presentation.

DW also decided she wanted one of those multi fast pass lanyards and DD asked a cast member who told her who to look out for and to follow them in case they started giving them out....So for 30 min. my family and other families were stalking these poor souls. And do you think they got them!!!!!.....Ohh no...after 30 min of wandering and following we decided to go see Indy. When we came out guess who was done giving out the lanyards..... Missed by a mere minutes....

Overall the trip report wraps up as cool weather, short lines (if you know how to work the fast pass system) and good times.....

Besides the "I left our tickets", 20-25 min. backing the camper in a simple driveway, stalking cast members.....the FT. was great as usual....1900 loop had some great people we met and unlike our last trip report from January...nobody stepped in...well you know what....campers cleaned up after their dogs and it was nice and peaceful.....The only problem at the Ft. were the amount of kids driving around in golf carts....at one point I saw 3 young girls around the ages of 12 driving with a 7 year old in the drivers seat and the 12 year old in the passenger seat steering.... ....and Teenagers trying to do doughnuts around the basketball hoop outside of the 1900 loop.

There ya go....hope those going have a great time.....

BTW....After backing the camper on the side out the house when we returned..I forgot to take of the chains...and started to pull away and lets just say thank god where we park it is soft dirt....nothing a 2 ton jack and some wood could not fix...lol....

 

[Colson39]

Wow, great trip report, I'm so glad you had a good time. Every once in a while backing up a camper turns into an exercise in geometry, I've seen my dad turn his F250 and fifth wheel into a mobile race car he was so anxious to get the thing backed in.

You must have had great weather, we live about an hour and a half south of Disney, and all this week it's been really pleasant days and cool nights, have been able to have the house open and everything. Looks like you left at about the right time, starting to get showers almost every afternoon now, and it looks like soon we'll be into the "every afternoon a shower at Disney" timeframe.

Every time before we leave, if it's just the two of us, or a big family trip, all you hear for the first 2 minutes in the car or truck is, "Do you have your tickets? Ok, where are they? Everyone have their passes?". We've forgotten them or lost our passes before, luckily it's really easy to replace them. Although if you show up at the Magic Kingdom and have to spend 30 minutes waiting in line, in the sun, because you forgot your tickets, that's not always a fun experience...lol