Michigan to TN to THE Fort to TN and back to MI

[Calway]

Hello everyone. I used the DIS boards for 90% of my information to plan my camping trip at The Fort. Once I planned my dates I called for my TN reservations first even through our trip would be in October.
I used the Bing map on MSN page and had a quick map made up from my home in MI all the way to the Fort in Buena Vista, FL. I tried to figure out what would be about half way and then began looking for a campground near Knoxville, TN. One I did find I investigated on a park review site. It mentioned being small roads to navigate so I found Lazy Acres in Lenoir City, MI. I tried making reservations but I was told they'd have a site for us. I also called Raccoon Mt. in Chattanooga, TN for our return trip on our way home. They took my credit card and send me a confirmation. Both campgrounds were pull-thru sites and we needed that since we were newbies to the RV world.

Now I was really to make my reservations for the fort. Never camping at Disney I had no idea what to expect talking to a cast member on the phone. The guy was pretty helpful and suggested a preferred site when I told him I didn't want a premium site. I was confused about the full hook-up vs. preferred. I had to call back and add Disney Dining and the next person I spoke to also told me that Disney's web site had the wrong prices for full and preferred...they were reversed. It may not seem important but it can be confusing when Disney's site lacks information and incorrect information. I posted questions on the camping thread if I didn't find the information from reading other peoples' posts. The regulars on the camping thread were very helpful. In other words...this site and All Ears(for dining) gave me all the info I needed to get ready for my trip.
I went to Theme Park and Attractions thread daily to read everyone's questions and comments and would post questions as I planned our days. I easily had 4 or 5 months to read and plan.
We had 10/19-10/25 reserved for the fort. I called a few times and talked to Disney about why only one of us would get an e-mail invitation for our birthday when I had registered both of us. When you get all excited about taking your trip and one of you(me), (the planner) doesn't get any confirmation that your birthday will be during your trip it can be a wee bit disappointing. This is my first time visiting the mouse on my birthday. I believe Disney tries to be as helpful as they can since they must field millions of calls. I was given a manager who finally got the right e-mail sent. We both had our birthday invitations and were ready to go. The manager also mentioned that my rv dimensions weren't listed in our reservation. She took them and then said I could called the campground in a few days to confirm the info I gave her. In that call I mention how I wish the campground had preferred sites and he tells me "all you have to do is ask!" I'm excited now thinking how great that will be since backing up can take along time.

THE TRIP
O.k., it is 10/17 6a.m. and the trip finally begins. It took over 11 hours to drive to Lenoir City, TN. I did call a week before our trip to see if our reservations were still there. The first time I called the owner's daughter said "you have to go to Cades Cove!!!". She said she'd have a map for us. I reminded her about it when I called that second time that she'd have a map.
I made my own map to Townsend where the Tuckaleechee Caverns were(found this on Bing) and then map directions to Cades Cove which is suppose to be the most beautiful part of the Smoky Mtns. and the first settlement of people who originally lived there. I never heard of it until she mentioned it and I researched it.
As we drove to Lenoir City we'd stop to get gas and would unlock the 5th wheel to go instead of using the gas station's restroom. We were able to move along pretty well. A few gas stations seemed small to navigate around but we tried to stop in less populated areas so we were able to pull that behemoth around. It is only 29.10 feet but plenty big for us.

At Lazy Acres our spot was taken so we just took another spot. It was just as described in the park review, not much to look at but a good campground. This was the day of the cold snap and the rv was freezing from hauling it all this way from MI. The pull thru was easy to navigate although we had a steep hill to get up to the rv sites. We took out new rv out about 8 times since Memorial week-end and discovered quickly that the furnace didn't work. We had used it before this trip here and there. I knocked on an RV door that was open with the screen door and found a kind camper to help us. I think I knocked on the right door because come to find out he was a retired truck driver who was camping for a month. He tried to trouble shoot as we had the mechanic on the phone from our rv dealership. Together they said we had no spark because the fly wheel couldn't turn fast enough. It sounded horrible. We hurried over to Walmart and bought a space heater and then made our planned dinner in the rv. We'd be fine. We also had an electric blanket too.

The next morning we took off for Tuckaleechee Caverns and Cades Cove. We had a fabulous day. The cave tour was 2 hours long and $14 each. It was well worth it. I haven't seen too many caves. We only have mines in Michigan.
Cades Cove wasn't too far down the road from there. It was Sunday and we followed a caravan of vehicles through the 11 mile loop. Some people would pull over and go walking down paths to see the original buildings. We stayed in the truck and drove and took pictures along the way. We took many mountain pictures with fall colors and plenty of deer shots. It took about 2 hours. We then found a restaurant with a view of the Smokies and enjoyed a big buffet. We got back to Lazy Acres and went for a walk around the campground. The owner's home had a very large yard with six goats playing on a tire sticking out of the ground. Very cute and entertaining. I'm glad we took that little walk or we would have missed that .
The bathhouse was large and the showers were huge. It was only $22 a night.
Thanks for hanging in here with me. I'm getting to Fort Wilderness next.

 

[Calway]

We left Lazy Acres in Lenoir City and we are on our way to Fort Wilderness! We got mixed up in Atlanta and missed our turn and some how ended up going south on the 85 instead of south on the 75. By the time we discovered our mistake we were too far over to the left to go barreling over to the right to continue on the 75. It was not easy finding an exit to turn around. We probably went 10 miles out of our way and it was a Monday and although around 10a.m. there was too much traffic. We turned off an exit and into a little gas station which had bars on the store clerk's window. We got turned around and back on the road to get to the 75.

All was well going all the way to Florida, just a long drive. We again would stop for gas and use our own restroom. Once on the Florida turnpike we could see lots of construction to our right with new signs put up for our exit, unfortunately the exit was split and we of course picked the wrong way. We had to pay 25 to 50 cent tolls to turn around and were worried we'd run out of quarters as these tolls are unmaned. We thankfully laughed about this but then got off the exit at a different point and unsure which way to turn. We pulled over, got gas and asked in the gas station for directions. AAA had us going around the back and the guy in the gas station told us we'd get lost going that way. I asked a few people pumping gas and they all were unsure of the area. One kind gentleman in a Hummer told me the way and all though we had no landmarks for miles we ended up at the back of the fort! We ended up in the overflo parking and couldn't see where to drive into the fort.
We walked up to a building and checked in. As we pulled out of overflo to go up to the next turn two deer were standing on the side of the road in the lawn. That was a pleasant surprise and possibly a good omen.
Of course when we did get to the fort we are told there are no pull-thrus which I have read in the camping thread that there weren't any, although I mentioned earlier that one person on the phone said to ask for one. We asked at the gate for help with backing up. By the time we got to our site one Disney worker and a regular camper from the 1600 loop had met us to help us back up. The camping guy did all the hand directions and we were in our site in under 3 minutes. I asked the guy if he was on the Dis boards but he didn't know about them. It was getting dark so we set up as fast as we could and then took off for the marina.
We were in site 219. We had to walk up to the front of the two hundred loop and then walk over to and through the 100 loop to get to the dock.
It was extra magic hours at MK that night on 10/19.

We are on the boat and heading to MK. We walk into the park and Spectro Magic is in full swing. The entrance is packed but we squeeze to the right and see Tink slide across the wire as we are just underneath her. We walk to The Plaza although we have no reservations and get in. I read a food review that the plaza had a good reuban or something like that. We wanted burgers so ordered those, a malt, a shake and we still got dessert which I asked if he'd wrap it. We got huge brownies in those little clam shells. You are suppose to get them in ice cream but we already had a malt. Sorry to say but the burgers were not very tasty. Everything was well made but the meat was not to our liking. The bill came to 50 bucks. What a laugh. All of our other sit down meals were already reserved and were much better than The Plaza.
Dinner over we head to the rides. I walked into a store and got a bag for our brownies. We rode Buzz, The Teacups went to Haunted Mansion and then to The pirates of the Carribean. We went back to the boat which met up with the water parade and then RV sweet RV. More to follow.

 

[Calway]

10/20 Tues. and we have plans to go to MK. It's early hours for Epcot and the crowd level is suppose to be lower at MK. It is also MNSSHP tonight which we will not be attending.
After the opening welcome we went to the rope drop area then went to Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Small World, Snow White, Cinderella's Carousel, Thunder Mt. Railroad and then Nancy rode Splash Mt. I can't do drops.

We took the monarails to Epcot and headed over to World Showcase for lunch. We see all the booths set up for the Food and Wine festival and are looking at the signs to see if we want any of the items using our snack credits. We went to Morroco for a counter service. Nancy had chicken and I had lamb. My sides were good too although I wasn't sure what they were. We went over to a booth at the F&W festival and Nancy used a snack credit to buy a trio sample of cheese. She liked it so well that she went back our last night and bought two more plates of cheese. We had a lot of snacks to use up.
Back to our campsite and we put up a string of pumpkin lights a big plastic pumpkin face and our camp sign which I printed from the camping thread from Big Daddy Rog a picture of Musket Mickey. I stained a board and decoupaged Mickey onto it. It says Camping Gals Carol and Nancy. Sorry no pictures.

I already had decorations in the RV. We drove all the way with a huge cut out black cat in the back window. We don't know how visable it was but thought maybe drivers steered clear of us to avoid the black cat. Ha.
I did hang a little green mickey head in four windows but you'd have to be pretty close to see them. I quit asking people if they knew about the Dis Boards after awhile since know one knew what I was referring too. I never noticed any lime green Mickeys either.

Our decorations were very minimal compared to some sites. It was like eye candy walking around looking at all the decorations. We rode our bikes around to look at some of the decorations. I say some because I didn't realize how big the campground was. One loop we passed each time we walked to the marina had over twenty blow up figures on it. It had a lilltle sign advertising their travel agency.

Will write about Crystal Palace next have to take off for a bit.

 

[kaguilbeau]

Thank you for taking the time to post this.

I know what you mean about missing your exit and having to pay additional tolls.

I remember our last trip, I went to great extremes with the map to make sure we didn't get turned around - - and we did anyway. DH, great as he might be, doesn't drive well when we aren't sure where we are going. And he really doesn't like having to 'turn around'!

 

[Calway]

Thanks for reading about getting lost. We were extra careful on the way home and followed our directions closely through tricky areas. I see you'll be at the Fort soon. I hope you have a good trip.

 

[Calway]

It is still our first full day at the Fort and we are heading back to MK for reservations at Crystal Palace. We went to Disney in 2006 staying at the French Quarter and had the dining plan then too. We went to Chef Mickeys and liked it so decided to try another character meal. We got to Crystal Palace an hour early and waited to get in. Although we had checked in early we still had to wait and maybe got in 15 minutes early. There was lots of traffic and tons of people dressed in costume waiting to go to MNSSHP. One couple were dressed in turn of the century outfits that looked authentic. She wore a Womens Vote sash with the long dress and big hat and he had on a suit and hat with a little mustache.

Once seated inside we had a plesant meal and plenty of choices from the buffet. We got individual pictures with Piglet, Pooh and Tigger. I mainly focused on the prime rib, mashed potatoes and lots of broccoli before trying a few desserts. We left at 7:15 thinking we'd be escorted to the gate. The streets were packed with people coming in. There were a lot of good costumes, adults and children alike. One couple was dressed as a devil, the wife an angel and the daughter part devil/angel.
We saw people sitting on the street curbs with no braclets for the party and no intention of getting up and leaving. We walked to the exit and looked at all the people in all their get up. What fun it was. As we left the park with a big group we had to be held back as a huge crowd entered the park.

The monorail ramp looked packed so we decided to head back to the boat to the campground instead of going to Epcot. Once on the boat we watched more and more people all dressed up entering MK for the party. It seemed as if the line never ended. When we got back to the dock there were a few people in costume waiting to take the boat. It must have been a busy night for MNSSHP.
We walked around the campground some to look at decorations all lit up.

Each night I could hear the fireworks and could open the bedroom shades and see them. I could see over the trailer next to me since we were a 5er and they were a TT. Then the water parade would go by and it was really loud but I couldn't see it.

 

[jriae2000]

Great report. We left the Fort on the 16th. I miss it already. Cant wait to read more.

 

[OhMari]

I'm glad you came to the board to tell us about camping or pulling your RV to WDW.
I am interested in pulling our trailer down next Labor Day. Our's is 48ft. and I'm worried there won't be a big enough campsite. Did you pay for the Dining Plan, or were you able to get the Free Dining Plan?

Also, we will be in Gatlinburg next month and I think we are going to check out Cades Cove. We only have one day too. I hope the leaves will still be pretty, but I doubt it.

Looking forward to the rest of your report.

 

[Calway]

jriae2000 What loop were you in?

OhMari Wow 48' You'd want a premium site. We loved parking on cement/blacktop in the preferred site...being new at this we have only had dirt or gravel. We noticed how level we were with little movement.

Yes, paid for dining plan as is not offered to campers. I did save up Disney Rewards on my visa and paid for our camping and a little more.

When we went to Cades Cove it wasn't peak yet, but it was a week later when we were in Chattanooga.

 

[Dizney_Luver]

Jumped over from the Camping board to read about your adventures, sounds great so far!

 

[Calway]

O.K., back to the trip. On 10/21 Wednesday we went to rope drop at Epcot. We stopped first at the Contempo Cafe by taking the smaller boat to the Contemporary, so we could then take the monorail over to Epcot.
The Contempo has machines to make selections which doesn't give you many choices. We used one counter service for a big breakfast platter and a snack credit for a danish.
We had plenty of time to get to rope drop and scoot(not run) to Soaring. We were put in line 1 center so we were on top. We love Soaring. We got out and got a fast pass. We did the Finding Nemo ride and then went back to ride Soaring. Line 1 again but on the right side this time.
We rode Figment of your Imagination (cute) before heading to Mexico for lunch to split a counter service. It wasn't bad. I did give a few bits of the soft tortilla and rice to those big white birds. I'm bad. I can't help it. I just throw a little down on the ground without disturbing other diners. You eat outside and it wasn't crowded.
Back to the Fort to go swimming. We rode our bikes. Nice ride but it is clouding up. The pool is fabulous but it tries to rain so we don't stay long.

We had dinner at Kona Cafe. The waitress was really good. The food was good but the meat was tough. I'm spoiled by eating mostly tenderloin when I have steak. This was rib eye only it looked the same as Nancy's strip steak. The sides and dessert were good. This was the first dinner where a tip was requested on our bill, not suggested. We always leave 20% and then more if we have good service. She got more.

Back to Epcot to Spaceship Earth. I was surprised that the ride element is updated. We got to fill out info on the screen in our ride about our future and then see our pictures on a large screen after exiting the ride. We then e-mailed the picture home. We were in scuba gear. Pretty funny. Not so funny, we never got it. We waited to use a computer as the woman in front of us sent several e-mails. By the time we got our chance we had some scrolling to do to get our photo. I remember one of the Inoventions had an e-mail booth three years ago. I still have that e-mail photo.
We did go to one of the Inoventions area too on our trip but I can't remember when. We played around with a little piggy bank and put it into 4 different machines to teach about savings. We also hit The Cool Club a few times to get a little free pop. I like the ginger flavored one.

Earlier in the day we got a fast pass from test track before leaving the park in intentions of using it later that day. Epcot was open for EMH that evening and it was very crowded by then and it may have been only around 6:30p.m. It took a bit to get on Test Track but was a fun exhilerating ride.
Off to the World Showcase which was getting pretty crowded around the booths of the F&W Festival. Lots of strollers to navigate around. We went over to Norway and rode Malestorm which is always fun. I forgot your boat reverses.
We made it an early night and went back to the RV. just in time to see Flash Forward and Grey's Anatomy. It was my only night to relax and watch a little tv.

 

[Calway]

Happy Halloween everyone! I bet MK is hopping right now.
Welcome Disney Luver

On 10/22 Thursday it is early EMH at MK so we go to Animal Kingdom. My original plan was to go to MK in a.m. and hop over to AK since we had reservations at Tusker House at 1:30 and then would be seated for 3:15 Nemo show or we could have slept in and went to AK before lunch.
I was trying to be flexible and go with the flow on some days.

We took the little boat again and went to Wilderness Lodge to eat at Roaring Forks before boarding their bus to AK. A woman on the bus yesterday mentioned how there were so many things to order for counter service.
I had the pancakes and Nancy had that platter again. We didn't have to use machines. Nancy was able to get cheese again on her eggs so she was happy. I'm a pancake freak yet I have a difficult time trying to find any that are good. I like real eggs too, so the breakfast cs was just ok.

We didn't plan on rope drop and I'm not sure how late we were but it was still early. I had planned for us to take our time and see things this time. Three years ago in June(ugg,the heat)we ran to the safari, rode that, Nancy rode Everest and we looked around and the people were knee deep so we left shortly after that. Later I realized I never saw the tree up close.

This time we got a fass pass for Kilmanjaro Safari and then walked the trails of Pangani Forest before going on the safari (after argueing with Nancy that we'd have to wait 20 minutes to go on the safari anywas so why not walk the trail..and this is after she said I trust your judgement and know you have it all planned out. Ha! We went through a few of those debates.
My plan was to enjoy the animals instead of walking by the exhibits which we completely missed last time. We got good views and pictures of the tree.
The safari was next and our driver was a really good tour guide. We saw more animals than last time.
We walked Maharajah Jungle trail next. I think that is were we saw the vine lady. I've seen her on tv and was surprised to see her live. We saw her twice! She was cool to observe. We saw bats , tigers and gorrilas from those two trails and a monkey area before looking for DinoLand. I wanted to ride Dinosaur. From what I read in other threads I was assuming it was a simulator. I knew the jeep would shift up and down and big dinosaur heads would come close but I didn't expect the vehicle to run along a track like it did. It was a great ride. It was just as fun as test track and then some.

We ended up going over to Dinoland from there. I was interested in Primeval Whirl but thought Nancy wouldn't like it from what I had read. We got up to it and I was doubting going on it. It looks like a wild mouse but a bigger car that spins. I can spin but hate the drops.
Some poor man and his son had to ride with us since we can't be only 2 in a car. I remember going up the hill and hoping not to go down any hills..so far so good. As we head up the next turn and you'd think you'd drop a bit our car spun around and around as it traveled the curves. I loved it. I could tell Nancy was not enjoying herself. She felt a little ill after that. It was a cute ride. Just my speed.

I started rethinking the Nemo show wondering do I really want to wait around to see the show. I also had seen some of it on that same tv show were I saw the vine lady. We looked at the buffet at Tusker House. Nancy wasn't thrilled with the idea of African food. If it were dinner time maybe we could have found plenty to eat but we weren't that hungry. I cancelled my reservations and we decided to go to counter service Yak and Yeti. The chicken was breaded and had very little flavor. Nancy wouldn't eat any of it. She drank the pop and I got a frozen lemonade for dessert. I was just finishing up as the rain came. It wasn't that bad but everyone was moving and many were exiting the park. I know that is suppose to be the best time to see the animals but we had seen all that we had wanted to see. It stopped raining as we got to the exit and then got a bus that took us dirrectly back to The Fort instead of going to Wilderness Lodge first.
The rest of the day was spent enjoying the campground. We got a reservation for Trail's End.
We rode our bikes up to loop 700 since someone on the bus said they had the site with the spider web. Well it was a bigggg web! Many of the sites in that loop were over the top! One site had a whole blow up haunted house in front of their trailer. A few people had an organ player on an organ or a hearse with horses. I don't think I had ever seen so many different blow up types of decorations before.

I liked Trail's End restaurant even though I had read they were not that good anymore. I assumed that whoever cooks for The Hoop Dee Doo also cooks for Trail's End, but then I do like fried chicken wings. We did Hoop Dee Doo three years ago and it was similiar food but of course much more variety at Trail's End.
We left the restaurant on bikes in the dark, but all the Halloween decorations made it easy to guide our way. I watched the whole fireworks show from the bedroom window again. Unbelievable view!

 

[Calway]

It's October 23rd, Nancy's 48th birthday. We had reservations for Tutto's Italian restaurant in Epcot that night. For the morning we went to Hollywood Studios.
We needed to get Nancy's fun card so we rode our bikes up to the front of the campground to get a bus. We didn't want to mess around waiting at the Settlement for a bus to take us to another bus. I wasn't sure how long it would take us to get to 'Will Call' and then into the park for rope drop. I've read all about getting to TSM first thing in the morning. We even ate cereal in our camper not sure about what the morning would be like.

Nancy got her fun card for merchandise after the woman at the window tried to convince her to take the fast pass card instead. She had to call me over to the window not sure what to ask for. I mentioned I'd be getting one tommorrow for my birthday too and the woman said I should get one for the rides since it would be crowded in MK the next day. I told her we went on most of the rides already. She gave Nancy a birthday button along with the fun card for $79 but never offered me a celebration button. Someone later that day told us about the celebration button.

At rope drop we ran with the crowd to get to TSM. Usually Nancy tells me, "I'm not running! I'm on vacation." She ran. We were the 4th car to go through the ride that morning. It was more fun then Buzz and easier to shot since you only had to pull a string with a little ball on the end. Our competition was a teen boy in the other car. He beat our scores. We had to laugh as we walked out. We commented on how good he was and he had a glove on one hand. He mentioned how he was trying for a higher score or something like that. I was ready to get a fass pass when Nancy said she couldn't do it again. Her arm hurt too much from playing. I was surprised since It was not as hard on your wrist as Buzz is. Once we got out of the building the fass pass line was extremely long. I wouldn't have gotten in that line anyway.
We walked through the museum all about Walt Disney skipping the film that follows. After taking the Great Movie Ride we went in search of something to eat. Starring Rolls was open and I read they had sandwiches and to die for desserts. It was a good choice, but such a tiny place to order and keep in line to get your items and then pay. Once we knew what we could choose we were loaded down with too much food. You get a bag of chips with your large wedge of sandwich along with a drink and a dessert. We had a ham and a turkey sandwich, a fruit tart and a butterfinger cupcake. If you like Butterfingers don't go into Hollywood Studios without missing getting a Butterfinger cupcake! It was my favorite dessert on the dining plan. It wasn't that big but easily 6" tall. It was a fudge filled chocolate cupcake covered in buttercream frosting and then coated in a butterfinger shell. Wow.

Our plans were to see Indiana Jones and Lights, Motor, Action. We got to both shows early and had plenty of time to sit around. I didn't want us to miss these shows and there wasn't much else we hadn't seen before.

A quick look in the shops and we were ready to go back to the campground for a break before heading back out for dinner in Epcot.

We saw Taylor Dayne before and after Nancy's birthday dinner at Tutto's restaurant. She was really good. We were glad to be able to see her.

Our dinner was very good but cost extra so we could get salads and beer for the birthday girl. Nancy had bowtie noodles with a white sauce and had a giant chunk of mozzarella cheese with tomato wedges for her salad. I had a mixed salad and the salmon. Our waiter was very good and friendly. I gave him a good tip. All the waiters came over and sang Happy Birthday in Italian. It was the 4th time that night...lots of birthdays. Nancy got an extra dessert too. She liked it better than what she had ordered. She got more beer at the festival while we watched more of Taylor Dayne.
Two long bus rides home and we got to catch the end of the fireworks on the beach and watch the water parade. That was a good way to end the night for Nancy's birthday.
Tomorrow...my birthday and our last night.

 

[Calway]

It's our last full day at WDW Saturday 10/24 and it is also my birthday. I'm 54.
I'm picking MK to celebrate my birthday in the morning. Also who doesn't want to go to MK one more time before the vacation is over?

We leave tomorrow but the trip isn't over. We still have to drive to Chattanooga, TN and stay at a campground there for two nights before heading back to MI.

We take the little boat again to the Contemporary to go to the Contempo Cafe again. This time I tried the ham and egg sandwich skipping the bread. It was large enought to split. I got a banana for one of my drinks and hope the cashier didn't get in trouble as they aren't suppose to substitute. My meal was very inexpensive compared to the platter Nancy orderded again.

One of the monorail workers suggested we get my birthday fun card at the transportation station "will call" instead of going to MK's "will call". He said it would be much faster. I got my fun card for merchandise, after showing my park pass along with a birthday button and a celebration button for Nancy.

We waited at the left entrance just like last time before the park opened and talked to a older gentleman who also had on a birthday button. I said Happy Birthday, but he said he was 10/25 and was wearing his button everyday. He said he got free icecream yesterday. I said I didn't want holes in all my shirts so one day was enough. He said he'd get as many holes if he could get something for free. Funny.

Once at rope drop we headed for Haunted Mansion. I wanted to ride it one last time. We also did other rides we hadn't done yet like Jungle Cruise and The Railroad. We rode Thunder Mt. again and skipped The Hall of Presidents once we saw we would have to wait 20 minutes. Nancy wasn't too into it anyway.
We went to Tomorrowland and rode Stitch. I heard bad things about it but it was ok. Kind of cute. I didn't mind the spitting and I held the bars up when they went on my shoulders as it hurt a bit. Bad posture. I remember this ride from some alien ride a long time ago. I missed the puff of air on my neck as I held the bars up. Nancy reacted as did most of the people did. She liked it and Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor too. We rode Transit Authority and finished up with Carousel Of Progress, which I like. "It's a beautiful tommorrow".
Someone must have stood up in the next room as we could hear a worker tell someone to stay seated. It put our room off track for a bit and we eventually caught up to the correct scene.

The Noodle place wasn't open so we went to Cosmic Rays. I wanted to sit by the singer but no tables were available in that room. We split our last counter service and had the rotisserie chicken. The workers all sang Happy Birthday to me after we ordered at the counter. It's fun when you wear your birthday button and listen to most of the workers say Happy Birthday, Carol. It is kind of special. Nancy went into the camp store yesterday and one of the workers put on a recording of Goofy singing happy birthday to her. I missed it since I had walked ahead to the rv. She was thrilled and embarrassed at the same time.

We had to pack up a few things and get the truck hooked to the rv since we'd be leaving in the morning. No more RV showers, boo hoo. It is really convenient to get ready like that in the morning.

One last dinner at Epcot next.

 

[Calway]

This being our last night at WDW I wanted to take the boat one last time. I like it better than the buses.
We had a fabulous dinner at Le Cellier in Canada in Epcot. The dining area was much bigger than what I had imagined from reading about it. We sat in the middle of the restaurant so it wasn't dark as I've read too. Maybe it would be darker near the wall.

We both had the filet without mushrooms. Once I mentioned I'm allergic to them and Nancy doesn't eat mushrooms our waiter said he had to send the chef out to us. He was nice and I mentioned he could still cook my meat on the same grill as the other filets since they came with mushroom.
One thing I noticed was my filet was loaded with pepper. Nancy's was blander. We both tried each others filets. She figured hers was closer to the mushroom filets on the grill.

Our waiter was very attentive and made the experience a nice time. My dessert came on a plate decorated in chocolate, spelling out Happy Birthday with little chocolate balloons on chocolate strings. It was a nice touch.

Nancy got to try a few beers and wasn't charged much. She gave our waiter a good tip too.

We went up and down the World Showcase of Epcot looking to spend my birthday fun card. Nancy spent hers this afternoon at the camp store. She got a green zip up hoody with orange and yellow Minnies on it. A two pack of Mickey and Minnie socks and a hard plastic Mickey Halloween pumpkin bucket.
She's a M and had to get a large. That left me out of getting anything since I'm XL. Most t-shirts have that wide collar on most of the larger t-shirts that are mostly guys shirts so I passed on them.

We were able to see more of Taylor Dayne and Nancy got more beer. She only went to the F & W booth for cheese samples using snack credits to bring back to the rv.

I went to Mexico and saw the cool little jacket I bought three years ago and they still had them but nothing really different so I bought a ceramic cat bank that was lime green with painted flowers on it. It was all I had left on my card after getting birthday presents for Nancy...a Puma shirt from Italy and a Taylor Dayne greatest hits cd. I only had to spend under a dollar to finish my purchases. Thanks Disney.

We went to one of the stores on the end. I think it is called Port of Entry and bought 4 containers of cotton candy to bring home and our snack credits were used up.

Our last ride back was monorail to monorail then to the campground boat. Illuminations was going off as we headed to the monorial, so that was the lastest we had ever stayed in Epcot. Pulling into the campground from the boat we passed the water parade, just like we did the first night we were coming back on the boat. Awww. It was a nice end to our WDW visit!

Next...leaving The Fort and driving to Chattanooga, TN.

 

[Calway]

If I had to pick which meal I enjoyed the most on the meal plan it would have to be Crystal Palace in MK. I like variety but I usually go for the same things.

I didn't care for the chicken wings so I went with the prime rib (very good),
the mashed potatoes and fresh cooked brocolli. The meat was so good that I didn't need any kind of sauce or gravy. The sauces were just ok. I actually dipped my meat into those delicious mashed potatoes with each bit.

Key lime pie and a little bit of carrot cake and I didn't need any icecream.
I'm not big on chocolate although I can't stop thinking about that Butterfinger cupcake from Starring Rolls in DHS. That has to win for best dessert!

O.k. it is back to the morning of 10/25 on Sunday morning and we are leaving The Fort. Yesterday we stopped at Main Street Bakery in MK and with 2 snack credits got 2 big blueberry muffins for our last breakfast at The Fort.

We head back the way we came from AAA directions and soon we are on the Florida turnpike heading for the 75. As we got closer to Georgia we were ready for Atlanta. We were going to watch very closely as to not get tripped up here as we did on the way to WDW.
Georgia has a H.O.V. (car pool lane). I don't know why they can't call it that or put up a sign for those out of towners who have no idea what that means.
On our way south on 75 we saw H.O.V. and 75 S so we get over to that lane. Not far down the road we see 75 S again 4 lanes to the right and we are stuck were we are and going onto the 85. If I was driving a car I'd probably zip over if I could, but driving a truck with a 30' 5er attached isn't something I'm use to driving.
Heading N on the 75 we are eyeing those H.O.V. signs with distain as we can only guess V must stand for vehicle. We follow AAA to a T and get through all of the congested areas of Atlanta. Surprisingly, it is still pretty busy on a Sunday. Many hours later we make it to Chattanooga, TN and are looking for our exit to get to Raccoon Mt. campground.
The roads are very mountainous and we are very tired at this point. We find our campground and get a 10% AAA discount if we pay cash. This campground looks similiar to Lazy Acres in Lenoir City but it is $30 dollars a night vs $22 dollars but has cable and mountains from every viewpoint.
It's an easy pull thru. We cook our planned dinner and even have a little campfire.
Tomorrow we go on the campground's cavern tour.

 

[Calway]

This will probably be my last post of the trip.
We get up for our tour of the Racoon Mt. caverns and being a Monday and probably a slow time as summer is over we are the only two on the tour.
Racoon Mt. Caverns is privately owned and similiar to the feel of Tuckaleechee Caverns we saw the week-end before in the Smokey Mts. We didn't have to duck hardly at all along this tour. The man who discovered Ruby Falls discover this cave first. This one isn't as commercial. We actually met a tour guide who was returning that morning since he didn't wanted to work at Ruby Falls anymore. Maybe we'll see it someday when we are older along with Lookout Mt. They both cost money to see. Our tour was $12 each since we were camping with them.
One unusual part of the cave was something called a shield. It is where water came rushing through a small hole in the cave and left behind a large flat piece of pressured rock. No expert so hard to describe. Remember the seals you could put on an envelope where you'd melt a wax material and press a metal seal into it. Kind of looks like that but very large. It is suppose to be rare. we got to see salamanders too. One was black and one was orange.
Maybe two cavern tours in one trip was too much, but I liked Tuckaleechee Caverns better and it was double the time to explore then this tour.
Racoon Mt. also has spelunking tours too, but I'm not in shape like I use to be. Maybe I would have tried that when I was in my twenties.

After our tour we drove up to the top of Racoon Mt. to the TVA. This was free and was beautiful. It is has a huge pump station that generates electricity for 7 different states when they have an emergency shortage. We had great views of the Tennessee River and mounds of hilly mountains filled with trees in their fall glory. Two woman volunteers were in a building at the very top of the mountain and were able to explain how the TVA operated. There are diffferent roads for different views and you could also see two other mountains up there two. Must of been Lookout Mt. and not sure of the other one. These were all the Mts. we were surrounded by in our campsite.
Our last tourist place to visit was about an hour away. I found out about Fall Creek Falls State Park by reading a tourism book on TN. We say beautiful countryside on our way there and then found a restaurant inside the park. The ladies at the TVA told us about it. It had an inn and a conference center. It was a modest buffet but as long as I can get fried chicken I'm happy.
We drove to the biggest falls which were spectacular. We also walked down to the bottom to see the falls on ground level. The sign said it was a strenuous walk and it was! It was a cool day and I had my jacket off for most of the walk. Once you get half way down the steps disappear and you have to find your own paths among the huge rocks. I love walks like this although they are tough when you are already are over weight and struck with hotflashes through most of the day. I still like to be active. We got great photos. We drove to another falls that you see from your vehicle and then drove back to Racoon Mt. taking a different route. We found a great look out place to pull off to see another beautiful vista on our way into Chattanooga. Those two lane roads can make you a bit dizzy and I have to swallow to clear my ears, but what views! It's getting dark as we make our way over to our campground so we will wait until morning to hook up the truck.
The next morning we have the long ride home to Michigan. We drove a total of 2,800 miles.
Thank you all for reading.