Just back from 1st Trip to WDW and the Fort

ram101

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 10, 2007
Messages
257
We left home (PA) at about 7pm Thursady 9/13 heading for WDW. The trip was not so bad. I work nights a lot so was used to driving at night and also thru the night. Came upon an accident just over the MD boarder which forced us to detour about an hour out of the way to get onto 95!
We stopped in Northern GA for a little nap at about 8 am. Kids ate breakfast, dog walked and I napped. Puilled out of the rest stop at about 10-1030am.
Made it to southern GA where we were pulled over by the GA State Police. He saw our tire on the driver side was going flat and wanted to let us know. fact was it was all the way flat. After about 5 mins with him we pulled off the next exit to the nearest truck stop. Had to call for roadside service on this as the tire was ruined. We spent 4 hours waiting for the repair service then were back on the road.
Back on the road and through Florida to WDW!!
As we got close to the WDW exit it started to downpour. It was raining so hard that we could barely see the road and were going about 15MPH. We made 2 wrong turns after entering property but noticed this as we passed the signs so not too long of a delay.
We pulled into the fort and were waived thru security as they had lost all power, they sent us right up to the check in.
When we arrived there "Leo" checked us in. He was sure to ask if anyone in the group was having a special occasion or not. I told him my DD7 would be 8 on the 15th and that her favorite character was Cinderella! He later had an autographed picture of Cinderella delivered to our site. It was very nice and DS LOVED IT.
After droppin our Saint of at the Kennel we drove to the site we were given.
Leo gave us site 605 and when we pulled in there I found that I was not able to back into the site. I went back to the check in and they gave us site 328 (I liked this one better anyway!) A little small (awning was touching the tree at the side of the site, small sand lot at the rear) but we liked it!
I guess it was 10 or 10:30 when we got in and set up for sleepin! It stopped raining or at least slowed down enough to get the hoses and wires hooked up.

Woke up on the 15th and found a ton of water around the site. We were off to our 1st day at MK. Found the park to be more then I expected and loved it. We had ADRs for DD7 at CRT (2pm). The whole lunch was a suprise to my DD and her younger sisters. We brought along the princess dresses and had them change just before lunch. DD still didn't know what was going on and thought that the dress was her Birthday gift. While the girls were changing I asked the CM if they could have Cinderella or a Princess sign a card and to have a gift delivered to DD. When DD returned from getting changed everyone was complaining of being hungry. We asked DD8 if she would like to have a special lunch with Cinderella and she was overwhelmed to say the least. We all loved meeting Cinderella (even DS9) though you can't tell from the pictures! Arrived at the table and the gift and card were all set out. All of the princesses signed the card. The lunch was great there by the way! I'll stop here, I think I might have gotten carried away with lunch)!!
When we returned to the RV for the night DD8 found her autographed picture of Cinderella and loved it.

Day 2 we spent at MGM and the kids all had a great time. I think we were able to get about 90% of the park in. A big storm rolled in just as we got to Aerosmith's roller coaster and it was closed. We were able to get onto Tower of terror and the evening sight show was awesome!!

Day 3 we spent at the Fort. It was a laundry and relax day (wish we would have planned more of these durring the trip). I took everyone fishing right out behind the camp site. We took a while to find worms (this is the day I wished we had gotten a golf cart) and ended up at both tradding posts with 3 DD taggin along! Caught one fish in about 2 1/2 hours!
After dinner we all got in our bathing suits and went to the pool and to the Camp fire. We had all seen the Princess Diaries and for the DD3s and I we wen swimming after the sing along. We all really enjoyed this. Everyone was a little disappointed that they could only meet Chip or Dale here and not both. We were able to find Chip at MK later on in our stay for the autograph books.
The pool was great. No big slides or fancy decorations but the water was great. Our pool at home rarely gets over 72 because of all the shade! I can't remember the last time I was in a pool this warm!!

Day 4 we spent at Epcot. We missed out on some rides as the lines were long on this day (or at least when we were there) but it was nice. A littel to spread out though!.

Day 5 AK. Kinda felt like we were walking around the fort!! We had seen a lot of wild life around the Fort while were were there. Both 2 legs and 4!! LOL

Day 6 Back to MK for the while day.

Day 7 was shopping at Downtown Disney- Spent way to much time here and left a little later then we wanted. We left for home about 7:30pm. By 9pm we were sitting on the side of 95 with ....yep... another flat tire!! This time I knew it had happened as we all heard it pop! Bout 1 1/2 hours till I got the tire changed (I did it this time).


While we were at the fort we met, Bunnies, lizzards, frogs, a few very big yellow stripped spiders, ducks, a fish and some other unknown type birds! The kids loved chasing the lizzards (DD16 the most)


We all enjoyed our vacation very much Except for the flats. Most of what I learned here on the DIS boards before we left helped us while there. From info about the Kennels and sites to how to make autograph books (the characters loved them). I want to thank you all for the help I received in gathereing my intel for our trip.

DW enjoyed the Fort and wished we had spent more time there. She told me, next time its one day in a park and one day at the fort. Guess that means a 2 week vacation next time!!:banana: :dance3: :yay:

The Fort's Kennel was nice, all of the CM were very nice and helpful. Carolyn and Joyce were the best though! They were very patient of us and our finicky Saint!! If your there anytime soon tell them we said hi!! :goodvibes
 
Thanks for the trip report! Sounds like you had a good time at WDW. You've learned the secret of FW.....,peace, quiet, and ohhh sooo relaxing. A two wk vacation next time sounds like a good plan:cool1: . I can soooo relate to your flat tires. Last trip we had 2 blow out just on the trip down....with the last one right before the Disney exit on I 4:scared1:
 
Thanks for sharing that with us.
We had tire problems on the way home in June, nothing that wasnt easily solved but unsettling nonetheless.

Scott
 
Great trip report :thumbsup2 We are planning a 2 week trip next year and only getting a 6 day park pass. We figure 2 days at MK, 2 days at Epcot and 1 day each at AK and MGM. If we miss something, we miss it. We want plenty of downtime to enjoy at the fort. I think a lot of people don't realize how much there is to do right there on site. It's great :cool1:

Based on what I've read on the board, the 300 loop is a pretty tight loop. I'm glad you were able to find a site that worked for you.
 

Great Report!! I agree 2 weeks is the amount of time I like at the Fort!!!

Oooh, the flat tires scare me!!! That's one thing I'm doing next week is getting all 5 tires on the truck checked and all three tires on the camper checked.

I've seen pictures of folks vehicle and camper scattered all over the road due to blowouts. Don't want it to happen to me!!!
 
Great Report!! I agree 2 weeks is the amount of time I like at the Fort!!!

Oooh, the flat tires scare me!!! That's one thing I'm doing next week is getting all 5 tires on the truck checked and all three tires on the camper checked.

I've seen pictures of folks vehicle and camper scattered all over the road due to blowouts. Don't want it to happen to me!!!


I couldnt even feel it when the left rear blew on my trailer. I caught it right away so there wasnt any damage. I would have never known if I had relied on the "feel" of the trailer, it tracked just fine.

Scott
 
It sounds like you had a great time. Two weeks is what we always do. You always have to make time to enjoy the Fort. We had issues with tires several years ago. It is not a fun time. We have less than 30 days to go!
 
I couldnt even feel it when the left rear blew on my trailer. I caught it right away so there wasnt any damage. I would have never known if I had relied on the "feel" of the trailer, it tracked just fine.

Scott

IIRC that is a real problem, especially on tandem axle trailers and generally tires don't really blow if you're using ST rated tires with their stiffer sidewalls. You can loose one and while the trailer will "lean" some it's the overload on that single tire where that one can actually blow from heat/overload causing a "BIG" problem ... no tires on one side of the trailer. :eek: In addition to always checking my rear views (can only see the tires on my side of the rig with my mirror setup) I use the regular review one (I have a Van w/back windows and my TT has graphics with horiziontal lines on the rock shield) to make sure my trailer is not "slanting" one way more than another and if so I will actually pull off on the side of the road "IMMEDIATELY" to check my TT tires. I also check and feel them at each and every rest stop. I've been following this general procedure for the past 30+ years and over 100K miles of dragging the "farmhouse" all over this great country and it has so far served me well.

Larry
 
Great trip report.

We generally only do parks two to three days out of ten and enjoy FW the rest of the time but being from PA I know you need to squeeze more in. Sounds like it was fun.

We had a blowout with our TT a few years ago.

Our current Cedar Creek FW came with ST tires and I like them better.

Big problems with Chinese tires on RVs these days...according to the Open Road forum.

See you on the road.
 
Yea, another blow out wdw fan here too, whenever we went in april on the trip home we had a blow out before we even got out of florida, we didn't feel it at all and the tire was tore to shreads by the time we caught it. everyone kept saying " do you smell something burning "...we also spent 10 days at the ft and only went to the parks 5 days with one day at universal so we also had some nice down time.
You said you were in the 300 loop, is that a pet loop ? Were you within walking distance of the marina ? TIA
 













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