goingquackers
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2005
- Messages
- 167
This is my first attempt at a trip report, so excuse my writing skills. I am not good at remembering the details so I will just give you what I can remember.
Me- Nate(28)
Wife- Jen (30)
Daughter- Paige (4)
Niece- Jamie (14)
Nephew -Junior (14)
Day 1
We got a late start on Saturday morning out of Chicago. We woke up before 8am and started getting things ready. We had packed all of our clothes the night before but somehow we couldnt get out of the house till after 3pm! This was our first camping trip to Disney and we wanted to make sure we had everything (we found out later, we missed some of the most important things). We are not seasoned campers, if fact this was only our second time camping. You sure do need a lot of things when you dont stay at a hotel. I had to leave a bunch of things at home because the SUV wouldnt carry it all.
This trip was planed as a budget version of our normal Disney vacations. We planed on camping at Disneys Fort Wilderness, cooking at our site and only visiting the parks for a few days. We found out later we are not budget people when it comes to Disney, so we had a change of plans as you will find out later.
My Niece and Nephew both 14 were coming along on this trip. I was prepared for the worst driving in close quarters with 2 teenagers and our 4y/o daughter for 20 hours. I bought a pull down LCD screen and DVD player for the trip, but I didnt have time to install it, so we left it at home. It sure would have come in handy. The Teens were well behaved and the ride went smoothly. Since it was my Nephews first trip, we talked about Disney, well I talked about it, I am not sure anyone was listening though.
I gave myself 2 days to get to Disney before our reservation at Fort Wilderness. I was able to gather enough strength to get us to Orlando at 2pm without stopping to sleep. Since we were a day early we started looking for an inexpensive place to spend the night. We stopped at a Howard Johnson on Irlo Bronson road (just a few mins from Disney gates). I was quoted $55 by the front desk. I was just about to pay, when I decided to look around the property first. While checking out the pool I decided to call the HOJO central reservation from my cell phone. I was quoted $24 a night for the same hotel I was in. I booked it right away and paid with my CC. The front desk person was shocked and honored the reservation. I was so proud of the deal I got; the wife was tired of hearing about it.
The HoJo was very nice for $24 a night. The rooms were clean and the pool was nice also. Our Daughter had fun at the nightly ice cream party. The Teens went swimming and I slept after a Pizza Hut dinner.
More to come ..
Me- Nate(28)
Wife- Jen (30)
Daughter- Paige (4)
Niece- Jamie (14)
Nephew -Junior (14)
Day 1
We got a late start on Saturday morning out of Chicago. We woke up before 8am and started getting things ready. We had packed all of our clothes the night before but somehow we couldnt get out of the house till after 3pm! This was our first camping trip to Disney and we wanted to make sure we had everything (we found out later, we missed some of the most important things). We are not seasoned campers, if fact this was only our second time camping. You sure do need a lot of things when you dont stay at a hotel. I had to leave a bunch of things at home because the SUV wouldnt carry it all.
This trip was planed as a budget version of our normal Disney vacations. We planed on camping at Disneys Fort Wilderness, cooking at our site and only visiting the parks for a few days. We found out later we are not budget people when it comes to Disney, so we had a change of plans as you will find out later.
My Niece and Nephew both 14 were coming along on this trip. I was prepared for the worst driving in close quarters with 2 teenagers and our 4y/o daughter for 20 hours. I bought a pull down LCD screen and DVD player for the trip, but I didnt have time to install it, so we left it at home. It sure would have come in handy. The Teens were well behaved and the ride went smoothly. Since it was my Nephews first trip, we talked about Disney, well I talked about it, I am not sure anyone was listening though.
I gave myself 2 days to get to Disney before our reservation at Fort Wilderness. I was able to gather enough strength to get us to Orlando at 2pm without stopping to sleep. Since we were a day early we started looking for an inexpensive place to spend the night. We stopped at a Howard Johnson on Irlo Bronson road (just a few mins from Disney gates). I was quoted $55 by the front desk. I was just about to pay, when I decided to look around the property first. While checking out the pool I decided to call the HOJO central reservation from my cell phone. I was quoted $24 a night for the same hotel I was in. I booked it right away and paid with my CC. The front desk person was shocked and honored the reservation. I was so proud of the deal I got; the wife was tired of hearing about it.
The HoJo was very nice for $24 a night. The rooms were clean and the pool was nice also. Our Daughter had fun at the nightly ice cream party. The Teens went swimming and I slept after a Pizza Hut dinner.
More to come ..
