Mrs. Turner Reunites with Her Pirates

[amylevan]

I officially welcome you to my trip report!

Let’s meet our heroine: (That’s me!) I am married to a non-Disney fan. And that non-Disney fan has been a trooper and gone to Disney with me 3 times since 2000. Because he loves me. But now he has put his foot down and is not going back until we have kids of our own to take. And we do not have kids. Yet. So after our last trip with his family in October 2007, I didn’t think I’d be going back anytime soon.

Set the scene: My parents have only been to WDW once - in 1988. I was in the 4th grade. Big hair and parachute pants were all the rage. New Kids on the Block and Bon Jovi rocked my walkman. (Bon Jovi still rocks my ipod, but NKOTB has long been put to rest). The Magic Kingdom and EPCOT were all alone in the world. Horizons and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride were some of the best rides the World has to offer. End scene.

Since then, I have been to the most magical place on earth 8 more times. My aunt (my mom’s sister) goes more than once a year. My mom is very jealous of us both and has been dying to go back. But my dad is not a theme park person.

Or a hot weather person.

Or much of a people person.

But my dad retired last year, and is mellowing into a completely different person. And he agreed to (finally!) take my mom back as long as they didn’t go during the heat of the summer. She is still working, a high school English teacher, so the best time for her is during NJ Teacher’s Convention. Hello Jersey week.

So one cold January day, I was out and my mom called up my hubby and asked if we’d dog-sit for that fun filled week in November. My hubby, being the exceptionally smart and wonderful man that he is, knew that that meant that HE’D be dog-sitting and that I’D be tagging along with them. Smart man.

Sure enough, the moment I got home that day I called my parents up and begged to join. They agreed, but then they felt they had to invite my brother along also.

So at almost 30, ahem, I am going on vacation with my parents and brother and leaving my hubby home with our 2 jack Russell terriers and my parents Boston Terrier. He may have a busier week than us.

Now for your reading pleasure, I introduce the cast of this voyage:

Your narrator: 29, that’s me! Let’s call myself Mrs. Turner, because I can dream can't I? Lover of all things Disney, particularly Captains Turner and Sparrow, bridge engineer by day, cheerleading coach by night. The engineer side of my personality is evident in most aspects of my life, as I am your typical Type A personality who makes lists and schedules for everything! Wife to one non-Disney hubby who is extremely understanding and is letting me get my Disney kicks without him. Because preventing me from visiting my happy place is grounds for divorce.

Scott, DB25, my brother. Baseball fanatic and all-around good guy. He can (and does!) hold a conversation with anyone. The politician of the family. A die hard Mets fan (condolences accepted). Has only been to WDW once, also back in 1988. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his girlfriend who couldn’t join us because she is in her last year of veterinary school.

DF, my daddy. He is retired and enjoying it tremendously. He has worked hard his whole life, and now he is playing hard. I am definitely daddy’s girl! Generally dislikes crowds, heat, and amusement parks. Loves fishing, hunting and non-theme park vacations.

DM, my mom. She is a high school English teacher and a first rate mother. Has never been diagnosed with ADD, but we are convinced she has it. Cannot sit still for the life of her and doesn’t always focus (watching movies with her is always a treat – “what did he say?”, “why did he do that?”….) But we love her anyway. She is also severely claustrophobic and doesn’t do elevators or other situations where she can’t see a way out.

More useless background info: My parents are big travelers. And they always taught us that we should see all this country has to offer before we go off to visit other countries. When I was in 7th grade, they dragged my brother and me on a 3 week “see the country” tour. We camped in the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. Saw Mount Rushmore, Bryce Canyon, Salt Lake, etc. And while I cherish the memories now, spending 3 weeks in a mini-van with your family is not the ideal vacation for a teen. My parents have been to just about every state except Hawaii. (Alaska was last summer). When my dad retired, they purchased a 5th wheel trailer so that they could continue to see the country at their own pace. (My mom is “past the tent camping phase” as she puts it, and my dad has never been one for motels…) Once my mom retires, I expect that they will hardly ever be home.

So where did we stay for our week in November? You guessed it – the Fort Wilderness Campground, in their 5th wheel. It may be officially called camping, but it is definitely not the same thing. It’s essentially an apartment on wheels…complete with a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, sofa bed, air conditioning, satellite tv and internet access. The only thing that had me a little worried was the mantra that my parents have been quoting ever since they bought their trailer – “The trailer is made to serve drinks for 6, dinner for 4, but only sleeps 2.” My brother and I crashed on the floor on blow up air mattresses.

This may be an old fashioned family vacation, but I drew the line at spending 17 hrs in a truck with my brother and parents. Been there, done that, NOT going back, savy? So my parents left Jersey after my mom got out of school on Friday, Oct 31. They split the drive between Friday night, Saturday and Sunday morning, camping as they went. And my brother and I flew down Sunday afternoon.

Will my brother and I survive without killing one another? Will the trip live up to my mom’s expectations? Will I leave my husband to marry a pirate? Will my beloved Giants repeat as Super Bowl champs? Is anyone actually pondering these questions? Stay tuned!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

To my knowledge, I've never read a Fort Wilderness TR. Looking forward to seeing how FW compares to a traditional resort stay.

At one point I had a secret desire to rent an RV and drive the family down for a week. Then I saw the movie RV and that dream died. (Somewhere around the "dumping of the waste" scene.)

 

[amylevan]

Not only was my husband willing to let me go on vacation without him, he also drove my brother and me almost 2 hrs each way to the airport. Maybe I won’t leave him for a pirate.

Maybe. irate:

We had a 12:45 flight out of Philly, and we live just shy of 2 hrs north. But my hubby had some plans for the day, so he wanted to leave the house at 8 so that he could get back to tackle some chores.

So we arrived at Philly at about 9:45 – 3 hours before our flight. And there was NO security line. Seriously. We were at our gate before 10. How on earth do you kill almost 3 hours at an airport when you are anxious to get to the land of mouse?

I read some articles in my magazine. Went to the bathroom. Bought another magazine. Read an article or 2. Bought some candy. Read another article.

Finally at a little after 11, my brother was tired of my restless ways and took me into a bar to buy me some lunch. It was Sunday, so there was NFL game day stuff on the tvs to entertain for a little while. It was D-day after all – the day my Giants take on the Dallas Cowboys, a family holiday.

I can’t remember the name of the bar at the moment, but we were in the E terminal. This place had THE BEST fries. They were seasoned and absolutely yummy! Anyway, after some food and football talk, we headed back to get ready to board our flight.

The flight that I had scored A18 & A19 boarding passes (Southwest) for. And for anyone flying over a daylight savings time weekend in the future, here’s a little tip for you. If your flight is at 12:45 on the Sunday that daylight savings time ends, you can check in for your flight beginning at 1:45 the day before. NOT 12:45.

So after unsuccessfully checking in at 12:45 (and 12:46, 12:47, 12:48…), I finally realized the error of my ways and tried again at 1:45. (That is 15 minutes of my life that I will never have back. ) I finally scored the above mentioned numbers and the much coveted EXIT row seats.

And we were off!

Goodbye Philadelphia, Hello Mickey!

 

[amylevan]

The flight was largely uneventful but fast. We took off about 15 minutes late and arrived 7 minutes early. The pilot must have had a need for speed.

Once on the ground, I was convinced that the pilot had a hot date. He literally gunned it on the taxi ways. So much so that my brother leaned over and asked me if we were taking off again.

And literally 5 sec later I heard some guy a few rows back ask the same question.

The pilot was clearly late for something. (Maybe he had reservations at the castle?) Either that or Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards were behind that cockpit door.

Anyway, once we were released into the airport we gave my parents a buzz to let them know we landed safe. They gave us their site number and we headed off to the fake monorail. They also informed us that they scored tickets to the 9:30 Hoop De Doo.

My parents, who usually eat dinner at 5, and are almost always in bed by 10, had made reservations for 9:30 at night. Does anyone else see anything wrong with this? Especially on the first night of a week long, exhausting vacation?

Months before our trip, I tried to get everyone’s input on dining reservations. They couldn’t comprehend the need for reservations months in advance, so I just picked restaurants I thought they’d enjoy. Then, about a week before the trip, a friend of my dad’s told him all about the Hoop De Doo, and the all you can eat/drink food. My parents wanted to know why I didn’t make reservations there. I told them it was too late now, it was likely sold out. (Admitingly, I was quite grumpy. I had begged for their input earlier, and now they wanted to know why I hadn’t picked this particular place.)

Well, they stopped by the ticket window after they checked in, and found out I was right, the 5 & 7 shows were sold out for the week. So they decided to get tickets for the 9:30 show for that evening. I’m still not sure what they were thinking.

So anyway, we found our way to the Magical Express counter where I was presently surprised to find no line. Last year we waited about 20 minutes just to check in!

We followed the red carpet and were immediately placed on a bus. Or as they like to be called - motor coach. Because that sounds so much classier than bus.

Within 10 minutes we were on our way. The quickest I’ve ever gotten out of MCO. Unfortunately, Fort Wilderness was the last stop. And we got the grand tour – Old Key West, Saratoga Springs, Port Orleans Riverside, French Quarter, and finally Fort Wilderness.

The bus dropped us off at the Outpost, which is located at the front of Fort Wilderness. The campground is sort of long and skinny with the Outpost and the bus stops to EP, AK, DS, DTD and the water parks at the front and the Settlement with the boats to MK and WL and Contemporary at the back. It is a HUGE campground.

We consulted a map to figure out how to get to our site, only to determine that in the hour since we talked to our parents, we forgot the site number. I was convinced it was 237 and my brother was convinced it was 273.

However, since either one would be on the 200 loop we headed for a Yellow bus.

FW has 3 bus routes that run daily between the Settlement and the Outpost. The purple and yellow routes snake to the side stopping at various stops near camping loops. The orange route goes right up the middle with only a few stops. We later figured out that our loop was close enough to the settlement that we could walk there, and thus take any bus headed that way.

But this time, we hopped on a yellow bus and took it to the next to last stop. We located the 200 loop, which incidentally only goes up to 237, and spotted our parents trailer.

Notice that the numbers stopped at 237, not 273. I knew I should have wagered something!

All in all it took us a little over an hour and a half to get from the plane to the camp site. Not too shabby for free transportation.

Which also meant that I was at the site in time to catch some of the Giants game!

One of the best advantages of staying in a trailer was the satellite television. I love Disney as much of the next girl, but the tv options at the resorts are a bit limited. But my parents hooked up their satellite and we were able to get all of their channels. And with just a flick of the switch we could still catch Stacey count down her favorite attractions. The best of both worlds!

The Giants were kicking Dallas’s behind, but I was too anxious to sit still and watch the game. There was a resort to explore!

 

[OhMari]

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