June 2 thru June 7 tent camping

[crznut]

Hi All!

Just back from the fort. DH & DW. We live about 25 miles from disney.
We visit frequently. This is our 2nd fort stay and are planning a 3rd for Oct.
We have lurked this wonderful board for sometime and hope to contribute
worthwhile fun info!

We had a great time camping at the fort! Truly magical! Beautiful sunny weather, no rain. With planned ADRs and afternoon swimming, heat was not an issue.

Nights were cool. Perfect for sleeping. No problems at the camp site. Always felt safe as were our belongings.

We want to share more details of our stay. We want to post a few pics also but need to post a few more times for the priviledge.

More to come!

 

[crznut]

We rented a golf cart for the length of our stay. Very convenient and fun transportation. We only used the bus from the outpost to go downtown & to Typhoon Lagoon once.

 

[mash]

Yes! A new trip report. Keep it coming...we love to read them all. Great job so far.

 

[crznut]

We arrived to check in at about 10:30 am.

Even though there were only two motohomes ahead of us to checkin, we parked and went inside. There was no one in the "online checkin" line, so the person took us to check in. Our site 2007 was ready.This took only a few minutes and we were off to pick up our resereved golf cart. Again this took only a few minutes and we were on our way!

DH drove the golf cart following me to our site.

 

[crznut]

2007 had great shade tree coverage and was beautiful! It backed up to a small waterway and cabins beyond that.

Can't wait to stay here again!

 

[crznut]

The only park we visited was one day at Typhoon Lagoon. We had one ADR each day. We spent time each day cooking breakfast, relaxing, swimming,
looping, shopping, visiting other resorts.

We did the sing along and outdoor movie once with a hotdog and marshmellow roast. Great relaxing evening. Chip & Dale were very cute!

Our first evening we had a 7:30 pm dinner ADR at Narcoossee's. We took the boat from the fort to the Contemporary. Then the Monorail to the Grand Floridian

 

[crznut]

The Contmporary leg of the journey.

 

[crznut]

So far I am happy how our pics look but my typing is horrible & I really need to spell check! Please bare with me! This revue will not just be pics but with written thoughts attatched.

Thanks for following!

 

[crznut]

We really looked forward to this dinner. This trip is celebrating our 23rd anniversary. First time at Narcoossee's.

DH found thie meal to be his favorite this trip. I loved it as well.

The restaurant was very pretty and lively, service friendly and welcoming. We felt right at home. There were families, couples & and people in "buisness" attire.

Everyone was enjoying themselves. We ordered two appetizers, pot stickers
and the crabcake. The crabcake was very good and flavorful. We split the steak and lobster dinner. The steak cut like butter and the lobster was not rubbery and tasted great. We Will return July 4th for dinner and fireworks!

 

[crznut]

The restaurant is beautiful at sunset! This could not have been a nicer evening from beginning to end!

After dinner on the porch.

 

[crznut]

The first day was hassle free and magical! We loved our comfy campsite and dinner transported us to a fine celebration experience.

We loved the cable tv hookup at the site. Relaxing over breakfast and or watching morning news is not our normal routine. We did it this vacation just "cause we could"!

Service this day everywhere was great and Disney like.

Thank you Disney people!

After dinner we headed back to our site, falling fast asleep on a surprisingly
comfy air mattress. ZZZZ


Contemporary timeshare building at night. Would love to stay there!

 

[proudmomof4]

Enjoying your report, keep it coming.

 

[2goofycampers]

Great job loving the pics and commentary. Nice set up also.

 

[crznut]

Thanks again for following along!

Our second day at the fort was Friday. We slept well on our air mattress. It did get cool during the night and blankets were needed. We have a tall fan that we placed in front of a window. It worked well to keep us cool all night.
Acually very nice outdoor sleeping weather!

We like to cook breakfast at our site. Coffee, blueberry mickey pancakes and scrambled eggs. We enjoyed the cable tv service and morning news. Enjoying a slow paced relaxing was a great treat.

The site stayed cool till around 11:30 am. Then it was off to check out the pool.

The pool area got busy towards the late afternoon. Saturday being the busiest. We did not detect locals at the pool during our stay. Everyone seemed to be guests and fairly well behaved.

After cooling of in the pool it was time to head to the Wilderness Lodge for dinner at the Artist Point.

We love to visit the lodge. This was our first dinner at he Artist Point.
We love to relax in front of the fire place. Our honeymoon was spent at Yellowstone. Disney has done a great job with this lodge.

The lodge has a nice gift shop with wilderness merchandise. Here a few of the cute items for sale.

We had a 7:30 pm ADR at the Artist Point. We were seeted quickly at a table for two. The inside of the restaurant was pretty. Not too noisy this night.

This was the view from our table. It overlooked the inside walkway and then out side to some rocks. Not a great view. The environment did not match Narcoossee's in our opinion.

Service was good. DH had the buffalo steak with mac n cheese. I loved the mac n cheese. He shared with me. It was too rich for DH. Almost like a desert. Very creamy. I thought the steak was great too. DH still prefered the tenderloin steak at Narcoossee's.

I had the Copper River salmon available only a few weeks out of the year.
Perfect! Possibly the best salmon I have eaten. It has been hard to find good salmon anywhere in Florida. We are from the northwest and spoiled. It was however ony served with a few vegetables. Delicious but not filling.

While I prefered the bread at the Artist Point, Dh prefered the Narcoossee's bread. Artist Point bread was denser and richer, Narcoosse's bread had a crunchier crust. both were nice. Sorry no photos of the meals.

We took the boat back to the fort. The fireworks were to start soon so we wated at the beach. First came the electric parade.

Then the fireworks complete with the wishes soundtrack!

We enjoyed a conveneient golf cart ride back to our site and then off to bed.

 

[bama_ed]

Great TR so far.

Your setup at the campsite is proof that "tent camping at the Fort" DOES NOT MEAN "roughing it". You had all the creature comforts of home there it looks like. Way to go!

Look forward to the rest of your TR.

Bama ED

 

[hotmamac]

Great job! Can't wait to hear more!!

 

[crznut]

Our 3rd day was a saturday. We enjoyed not having to wake up to an alarm.
Mornings were very pleasant weather wise at our site.

We noticed a few more campers has arrived for the weekend. Still the comforts stations were not crowded.

After a relaxed breakfast at our site we headed over to the medow's pool.
Yes the cabin's pool was closed. This was the busiest day at the pool. Still we found lounge chairs to sit on. It was nice to cool off in the pool, but a little crowded. We loved watching the kids on the new waterslide and splash area. Very cute.

We had 8:00 pm ADRs ath the Polynesian Aloha Dinner. We foung the hotel
grounds beautiful. Yes, we could spend a week there!

We saw the new Ohana's line set up. A new separate line was set up just for walk ups. There were about 30 people in that line. Good luck. We love Ohana's!

This was the line to check in to the Aloha Dinner.

We are used to lines, no big deal. We knew we would be obligated to the picture taking, it's customary, no big deal. Then we had to wait in another holding area. Still, OK they are just getting prepared right?

By the time we were seated DW had to use a restroom. We were questioned if we had paid to be there and a resort card was requested. We thought the dinner was prepaid? Maybe it was just a crdit card hold. Anyway, this has never happened at Hoop Dee Doo. Already not fun. Then the restrooms were located in another building roped off. After having to move the ropes to
re-enter the reataurant DW was questioned about re-entering. Not professional or typical of Disney.

The food was not very good. Ribs were tough, chicken not cooked enough,
very plain rice, broccoli almost raw. Basically dinner was bread and pineapple.

The dancers were very good, and parents enjoyed taking pics of the kids hula dancing on stage. We did not stay for the whole show. Workers did not seem at all surprised that people were leaving before the show was over.

We only chose this dinner because we could not reserve Hoop Dee Doo.
We have done this twice and loved it. Food, service and show.

We still enjoyed the tram and boat ride back to the fort. Good to be home!
It was a nice evening to do some looping before turning in.

 

[crznut]

Sunday was a very fun day. We woke up at 7:00 am. This was the only day we had anything planned early. We drove our golf cart to the out post and waited for the bus to "Typhhon Lagoon and Downtown Disney. We arrived at the outpost at 8:10 am and the bus arrived at 8:45 am.

The bus stops first at Typhoon Lagoon and then Downtown. We had tickets to the House of Blues Gospel Brunch. We got off the bus Downtown and first stopped at the Earl of Sandwich for a cup of coffee. we were early for the Brunch. We enjoyed a stroll through town

We were impressed by the new Leggo displays.

Then we approache the HOB. Aline was forming ot check in

Check in was quick and we were shown the buffet area, drink station, though we had a server, and then our table for to on the ground floor. We had a great view.

The restaurant is just plain cool, relaxed and well, hip. It was a very enjoyable experience. Great service, tons of great food options. Didn't try everything we wanted. Too full! The entertainment fun and upbeat. Can't wait to go back.

We left the restuarant content and coninued to do some shoppng. the wea a local school band playing in the amphatheater.

More Leggo Land

We love T Rex too! did not eat there this day though.

The balloon.

The day was heating up. We had brought swimsuits with us. We wre ready to head over to Typhoon Lagoon. It was a bus trip there. Being sunday it was kinda busy. We still found great chairs by the lazy river and had a sool enjoyabel day!

 

[crznut]

After returning to the fort, we were getting hungry. We packed a few items for the outdoor movie and dinner at the firepit. Hot dogs, a few fixins & marshmellows. And a few cold beverages.

We took along comfortable foldable chairs, a small table, pokers and a small cooler. We had a great time roasting marshmellows with complete strangers of all ages. The signalong was fun and humorous. We loved Chip and Dale.
Dale kissed DW's hand even without invitation. Beware, he's smooth! The movie that night was Enchanted.

After a fun filled day it was time to head back to our site and turn in.
ZZZZZ.

 

[crznut]

Hello again everyone! I will attempt to finish my report today. Overall, our stay at the Fort and all the fun amenities made for a wonderful vacation.

This morning we again had a slow start, enjoying breakfast at our site. We visited the pool. This was a monday. The pool was not busy at all. Very relaxing.

We had a 2:00 pm ADR for tea at the Grand Floridian. We have wanted to try this for sometime. We really enjoyed this. We both had the Buckingham Tea.
We foung everything very good, nice unrushed service.

After the tea the orchestra started playing in the hotel foyer. A very nice touch to a relaxing afternoon.