May 8-18 Trip Report!

[Sarah_Rose]

Hey there!

Just wanted to post a quick trip report, because this board was SO HELPFUL in planning our first trip to Fort Wilderness.

Spoiler: I am completely in love with the Fort and I am never staying anywhere else. Ever. Ever.

We really had the best time, and are looking forward to heading down there again sometime very soon. Our next planned trip is Marathon Weekend in January, and I'm very strongly considering renting a popup for that trip.

Ok, let's get this thing started.

So, May 7, I spent the morning dropping the German Shepherds off at their kennel, and Perry the Canary off at his bird hotel. And then I put the littlest one down for her nap, and started packing the car. I'd been collecting all our gear and clothes in big Rubbermaid bins for weeks, so I was pretty much down all my packing by this point.

Here's how it looked when I was done.



And then I loaded the bikes on to the back.



The kids went to bed early and James and I finally got to bed around 11:00. Alarm set for 3:00 am.

May 8

Got up with the alarm at 3:00 and loaded the last minute things into the car - including filling the cooler and loading it in last. The kids were woken up last and put into the car in their PJs. I was hoping they'd go back to sleep, but no such luck. We were only 10 minutes down the road, when my oldest started asking if we were at Disney yet.

We drove until about 3:00 that afternoon, only stopping for gas and a quick lunch. We drove from Toronto to Fancy Gap, VA on that first day. We stopped at the Fancy Gap KOA campground, and we ended up with the nicest campsite I've ever seen! It was HUGE and had its own shelter over the picnic table.





We BBQ'ed some burgers (it took forever - needed more charcoal!) and had a nice first night in the tent. I expected the kids to put up more of a fuss, but they crashed immediately and slept through the night.

May 9:

We got back on the road around 9:00, which was later than I wanted to be, but it took us awhile to pack up the campsite.

Here I am in my environment on this trip. I'm a bit of a control freak, so I ended up doing all the driving. Doesn't hurt that my husband hates driving the minivan!



We arrived at Anastasia State Park at 6:30 and quickly set up before dark. We even had time to do the 20 minute nature walk trail!



May 10:

Mornings are hard.



Anastasia State Park is a beautiful park, and we'll definitely spend more time here on future trips. We quickly packed up the campsite (learned from our mistakes the day before!) and then spent a few hours on the beach.



We were back on the road around 11:00, and on our way to Fort Wilderness!

For some reason, they made us go inside to register. But it was ok, because my kids LOVED just the check in area.



We were assigned site 2053. I was a little sad to not be in the 1500 loop (but not surprised!) but we later learned that the 1500 loop was completely closed while we were there for refurbishment.

Site 2053 is a fantastic site. Nice and big, and it has a HUGE tree overhanging the site, to give it great shade.





We headed to Epcot for a few hours to do a few rides and have dinner, and then it was time for bed.

May 11:

AK day! Everyone was up early, so I cooked bacon in the morning. Mmmmm. We were meeting my DISBoards WISH friend at AK this morning, so everyone was pretty excited to see her!

Quinn practises her "Elsa stomp" on the fountain near Kali River Rapids. She got soaked. But it was ok, because Callum, Kirsty ("Mommy's Friend" as my kids called her), and I got DRENCHED on Kali.



We kidnapped Kirsty to the Fort for the afternoon, and walked around the marina and beach and visited the horses.



Continued in next post!

 

[Sarah_Rose]

May 12:

We had an 8:05 Epcot ADR for the princess breakfast at Norway this morning.



A princess and her castle.



A princess and her steed.



We road Living with the Land and Soaring, and then we were all kind of done for the day. But first, Callum insisted that Quinn and I needed mouse ears.

He picked these out for me.



We went back to the campsite to cook lunch, and then headed off to the Meadows pool for the afternoon.



Then dinner and the campfire.







Munching on marshmallows.



May 13:

MK Day!

I was lucky enough to have a FP for Anna and Elsa - the standby wait was 240 minutes when we got there at 10:00!





It was some of the best character interaction I've ever seen, but I'm not sure they'd be worth standing in line for 4 hours for!

Callum had his first ride on Splash Mountain and declared it "such a big drop that I screamed".



We were done at the MK by about 2:00, and then headed back to the Fort for some downtime and to cook dinner.



I made a trip to the Meadows Trading Post to get some ginger ale and lime for sangria, and I picked up this beauty. Which led to sangria in said beauty.



May 14:

We woke up with no real plans until later in the day. I took this picture just as the sun was rising.



Chilling while I made pancakes.



We biked over to Wilderness Lodge to show the kids the lobby. My husband and I stayed here for our honeymoon, five years ago.



Spent some time at the pool.



And then it started to rain. We were in the pool when the rain started and it was immediately a DOWNPOUR. Like, rivers running off the overhangs, instantly. The lightning and thunder started a few minutes later, and then they closed the pool.

Well, back to the campsite, which was now a lake.





Nothing else to do, we headed over to the MK. The storm hit with particular intensity as we were getting off the boat at the MK dock, and we were instantly drenched. Oh well. We mostly wandered around for a few hours, because everything outdoors was closed because of the storm, and everything indoors was mobbed.

Finally, it was time for our Be Our Guest reservation at 6:30. Mmmmm.... sauteed shrimp and scallops in puff pastry...

No one was too sure about meeting the Beast at the end of the meal, though.



We got out of BoG around 8:30, and then took the kids on a hunt to find their souvenirs. By the time we got out of the park and on to the boat, the kids were asleep in their stroller.



It was 9:30 when we pulled up to the marina, so we decided to stay on the beach to catch the water pageant while the kids slept. They slept right through it, and through the bike ride back to the campsite.

May 15:

It took us FOREVER to get the campsite packed up that morning, but we made one last trip to the Meadows pool around 9:00, to get everyone tired out before we got into the car. Finally got on the road at 11:00, and it POURED for most of the drive up the I-95.

We had booked Fort McAllister State Park near Savannah for the night, but we arrived during a downpour and we chickened out. We went for a walk to check out the fort (and got eaten by deer flies pretty badly the entire time) but then got back in the car to drive for a few more hours.

We stopped for the night at an Econolodge in Walterborough, SC. We were wimps. Yup. And it was AWESOME.

May 16:

The plan was to get going early and stop for the night somewhere in West Virginia.

Walterborough Waffle House.



We stopped for lunch at some point in Virginia and I checked the weather for anywhere that we could conceivably stop. High of 50. Low of 34. NOPE NOPE NOPE. And a big glass of NOPE on the side. We didn't have any of our cold-weather camping gear. I didn't even have socks.

So, we were faced with a choice. Get another hotel room for the night, or else just keep driving.

We kept driving.

Arrived home in Toronto around 2:30 am - the kids were absolute troopers, I have to say. Not the ideal end to our trip, but it was the best choice we could have made with the conditions.

Anyway, so that was our Toronto to Fort Wilderness adventure. After sitting under the trees at dawn, sipping my coffee, I'm not sure I can ever go back to a resort food court. I'm converted. I just need to figure out how to make this January trip work - I'm not sure we can drive down, and I'm not sure I want to be in a tent in January. Looks like it's either a cabin or rental camper for us!

Thanks for reading!

 

[4077]

Love the report!!! Kids are sooo cute! Glad you had a great adventure...was a fun read for me! Good Luck with planning the next trip!!

 

[tina.tina]

Thank you so much for this report. It sounds like you had an awesome time and your kids are so cute! We are about an hour away from the Fancy Gap KOA. We might have to check it out this summer. Thanks for the tip!


We are thinking of tenting at FW next June and I had a couple of questions:

Did the rain soak in/run off quickly after your campsite turned into a lake?

What kind of camp stove do you have (or are you super-camper and cooked pancakes on the grill?)

Do you get to camp anywhere near the beach at Anastasia State Park?

 

[bama_ed]

Wonderful report!

The Fancy Gap KOA was featured in the 2013 KOA directory book as a "Rising Star" KOA (owned less than 5 years by the current owners). The write-up was very flattering. Good choice there.

The picture of the two kids asleep in the stroller at night on the dock is precious. Keep it handy for their teen years when they might be picking on each other to remind them that they used to get along.

Did you ever find out was type of refurbishment was going on in loop 1500?

Good job!

Bama Ed

 

[Disneypeach]

thoroughly enjoyed your TR! You have very cute kids! Love the pic of your princess in the early morning...I know that feeling!
Peach

 

[tiggerdad]

She seriously had that "What do you mean breakfast isn't ready yet?" look on her face.

Seriously cute kids.

 

[nabi]

Nice trip report! Thank you for sharing your journey.

 

[articfox676]

Great trip report. Thanks for taking the time to share with us.

Glad you trip home was safe.

Making plans for your next trip will be fun.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

Love the report!!! Kids are sooo cute! Glad you had a great adventure...was a fun read for me! Good Luck with planning the next trip!!

Thanks for reading! It was definitely an adventure!

Thank you so much for this report. It sounds like you had an awesome time and your kids are so cute! We are about an hour away from the Fancy Gap KOA. We might have to check it out this summer. Thanks for the tip!


We are thinking of tenting at FW next June and I had a couple of questions:

Did the rain soak in/run off quickly after your campsite turned into a lake?

What kind of camp stove do you have (or are you super-camper and cooked pancakes on the grill?)

Do you get to camp anywhere near the beach at Anastasia State Park?

Thanks for reading! To answer your questions:

Once the rain stopped, it absorbed into the ground pretty quickly. It rained until about 8:00 on that day, and we were back at the campsite at 10:00 and it was totally dry. Also, we looked around the other sites during the rain, and our site was the only one of of 10 or 12 that had flooded, so I think it's just bad luck if you get a "lake" site. Luckily, our tent did not leak at all, even though there was a puddle under one side of it for a few hours.

We have the Coleman Perfectflow 2 Burner Stove. This one. It's basically the Coleman stove that all of our families owned when we were kids (well, if you were the camping sort...). It worked great, although there is a definite fine line between "perfect" and "Cajun style (aka blackened)" for pancakes.

The beach at Anastasia State Park is seperated from the campground part, so you don't really camp anywhere near the beach area - it's a short drive or bike ride away from the campground. That said, WHEN we do this trip again, we are definitely spending two nights there, so we can have a full day to play on the beach. There is a sandbar in the water, so even my little kids could wade out a fair ways and not even be knee deep.

Wonderful report!

The Fancy Gap KOA was featured in the 2013 KOA directory book as a "Rising Star" KOA (owned less than 5 years by the current owners). The write-up was very flattering. Good choice there.

The picture of the two kids asleep in the stroller at night on the dock is precious. Keep it handy for their teen years when they might be picking on each other to remind them that they used to get along.

Did you ever find out was type of refurbishment was going on in loop 1500?

Good job!

Bama Ed

Thanks! The kids are pretty scrappy right now (typical 4 and 2 year old stuff!) so the moments when they do get along are pretty precious. I think this trip did wonders for them, though. You could see the evolution in their relationship as the days went on, as they learned to play together without outside distractions.

I had read some reviews of campgrounds for any place that we were likely to stop, and Fancy Gap KOA had amazing reviews - they were definitely deserved! They have a small fishing/boating lake, a pool, and the sites are spacious and very nice. It was also 10 hours (12 hours with stops) from our house, so it makes an excellent overnight stop for us if we want to get out of the north on the first day.

We biked over to the 1500 loop one day, but the entrance to the loop was completely blocked off and we couldn't see anything going on. We thought about sneaking in to check it out, but a Disney facilities truck slowed down and gave us a *look* as we stood at the entrance, and two adults on bikes with two loud little kids in a bike trailer are about as unsneaky as it comes.

thoroughly enjoyed your TR! You have very cute kids! Love the pic of your princess in the early morning...I know that feeling!
Peach

She seriously had that "What do you mean breakfast isn't ready yet?" look on her face.

Seriously cute kids.

Seriously, she gets that look from me. It's my "why isn't my coffee mug in my hand?" look.

Nice trip report! Thank you for sharing your journey.

Thanks for reading!

Great trip report. Thanks for taking the time to share with us.

Glad you trip home was safe.

Making plans for your next trip will be fun.

I'm really looking forward to planning the next trip! It looks like my parents will be joining us (we need babysitters for the morning of the half marathon - I'm running the Goofy (the half and the full marathon) and my husband is running the half) so we're looking at reserving two campsites and two popup trailers. And I'm a SAHM and my oldest will just be in Pre-K next year, so I might just stay for a couple weeks while my husband heads back to work....

Thanks again, everyone, for reading!

 

[indimom]

Loved your report and the adorable pix of the kids! You made me homesick for the fort (had our first tent camping trip last summer and LOVED it!).
We stayed in 1500 last summer and they also dried out very quickly after the rain. The biggest "water" problem we had was the lack of sunny space to dry our towels. lol.
I'll be looking forward to your January report. How many of the Disney runs have you participated in? Any favorites? Minis, marathons, or both? I did my first mini in 2012 and loved it. I fell off the wagon last year because I started nursing school and just couldn't keep up with the running, but I'm currently back at it, and my daughter started running last summer. She has participated in a few 5K and 10K runs since then. I would love to participate in one of the Disney minis with her someday. Sounds like such fun!

 

[jbrostek]

What a wonderful trip report, too bad you where comming back when literally 4+ inches of rain was falling from SC to PA. So I don't blame you on take the hotel, after the front passed the weather got chilly. In the panhandle of WV that night it got down to 39, enough for me to turn the heat in the 5th wheel on as I was out camping in it.

I think you have a good plan going for the trip, I will say for the Marathon weekend you should pack for 3 seasons. And you might see all 3 in a single day (cold rain, sun and 60's, followed by warm rain.) Going with the popup is a great idea and I would only suggest a couple of 1500 watt heaters (one for each rental) as you will need heat at night and its helps reduce propane use of the built in heater.

With all of the reviews I hear about Fancy Gap KOA, I think I will have to look into that as one of my long weekend destinations. It is not a very far tow for me and could be as fun as going to Luray, VA. Which BTW the Jellystone Luray is a good alternate heading northbound even though its a bit off the highway.

 

[Cotillard]

Great report! You are so organized. I loved your photos and congratulations on planning such a successful trip.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) I loved your report.
2) And, thankful you had such a great time at Our Fort.

 

[JanL]

What a great report. I am so impressed about how you portrayed tent camping with small kids. So many folks don’t think it is possible, but most of my generation vacationed that way, before everybody and their brother owned RVs. It is the least expensive way to travel and such fun, too. It helps to be flexible (motel if rainy or cold / take a nap til the rain stops, etc.). Your kids will have such grand memories of these times

 

[SamRoc]

Great trip report! I love the picture of your kids in the stroller together.

 

[CamperMomma]

Great TR! What brand of bike trailer/stroller is that? It looks more sturdy than the In-Step one we had that I finally sold b/c the kiddo had a hard time sitting upright in it.

 

[Teamubr]

Alright, now you've gone and done it.

I had come to terms with not going to the fort this year. We are re doing our kitchen from the studs up and that ate into a WDW budget. Going to the mountains for a week around one of my races outside Denver instead.

But now that I read your amazing TR and saw the pics (kids are adorable and you are also a cutie), I'm trying to find a way to get to the fort instead.

It would probably be easier to swing if we tented like you, but my DW has had her days of tent camping and I'm pretty sure she was serious when she said "NEVER AGAIN!" Just the diesel fuel bill to tow the 5er down and back is $1000.

Have fun at the marathon(s). If you need a 50 year old, race car driver, nanny to watch your kids instead of grandma and grandpa, let me know. That's a valid reason to go to the fort... I'm helping out fellow DIS'ers.

j

 

[jojosam]

What a wonderful trip report. 76 days and we get to return "home" again, too! The Fort is the only place I've ever stayed on Disney property (the first time was way back in 1976!!), and I have such fond memories. My family wouldn't stay anywhere else!

 

[tci1212]

Loved your trip report We will be camping there in July,renting an RV fromFlorida camper rental. This will be the first time actually camping there , always stay in a cabin. I purchased the same Ft wilderness mug word of caution do not put in dishwasher or microwave, I did and now the logo is gone completely . Was your wait for Anna and Elsa long? We have the fp for this in July but was wondering with FP is it a long wait? We will have 5 kids with us and some of them are impatient,