My first trip report- May 2-12

[MoDisneyCamper]

I confess, I’m guilty. Of reading hundreds (may be a slight exaggeration) of trip reports and not writing one of my own. So, here is my attempt to rectify that.

A quick introduction. I’m Joyce and my husband is Steve. We’re from a suburb of Kansas City, Mo. Oh, and our dog Katie. We have two grown kids who did not join us on this trip.

On our way down, we stopped in Atlanta to see the Jimmy Carter museum. One of our goals is to go to all the presidential libraries.

We arrived at the fort on Monday, May 2.
We were suppose to be in the 300 loop, but due to some mix up, we got an upgrade to the 500!!
I love the 500 loop, we stayed there back in January of 2009

So, we get settled in and then out to eat at Wilderness lodge.
We had never eaten at the Whispering Canyon, and Steve got to pick.

Next up is Magic Kingdom and Epcot

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Very good start Joyce, !
Great pics too ! And I really like your bike/scooter thingy.

Okay , waiting patiently, thank you,

 

[2goofycampers]

Thanks Joyce, I could use a TR about now or anytime.

 

[MoDisneyCamper]

Very good start Joyce, !
Great pics too ! And I really like your bike/scooter thingy

Thanks Frank! The bike/scooter thingy is called a "kick bike". Kind of like a scooter for adults. It is soooo much fun!

Thanks Joyce, I could use a TR about now or anytime.

I agree on TR! I'll add more later today. Got to work this am.

 

[mash]

Thanks so much for posting a trip report Joyce. So many folks are posting trip reports lately and it is wonderful to hear everyone's different adventures to/from the Fort and the things they did while at Disney. You are off to a great start and I am looking forward to reading more.

 

[weaverlfc]

Wilderness Lodge Looks amazing, cant wait to visit there and eat there when i stay at FW next Jan.

Am i right in thinking you can cycle/walk from FW to Wilderness Lodge?

 

[2goofycampers]

Wilderness Lodge Looks amazing, cant wait to visit there and eat there when i stay at FW next Jan.

Am i right in thinking you can cycle/walk from FW to Wilderness Lodge?

Walk, bike ride, bus, boat and drive.

 

[suzicute20]

Nice Pictures! I live in Atlanta - Carter Library is nice.

 

[MoDisneyCamper]

Thanks for all the kind replys!

We each have a 10 day park hopper pass, no expiration and our plan is to only use 5 days this trip and then save the other 5 days for another trip. Our first full day at the fort was Tuesday, so we head out to MK.

One of our favorite rides is Splash Mountain. Our last visit, the ride was closed, so this is where we headed first.

Oh, a little warning here, we've been to WDW 5 times before this trip, so I have all the usual pictures. Tons of castle pictures, pictures of the EPCOT golf ball, etc., so I took "different" pictures this time.

After several hours there we realize that this trip is not going to be like our Jan 2009 trip! It’s much more crowded and HOT! We head back to the fort and then latter that afternoon we went to EPCOT because we have reservations for Via Napoli, another first for us. We both really liked the pizza and atmosphere.

 

[cruising spud]

Okay, you have inspired me. The next time we hit the fort, I am going to take pictures and do a trip report.

 

[bama_ed]

MoDisneyCamper,

Thanks for the TR. You've got a cute Class C RV in your pictures. Did you bring/tow a vehicle too?

Also, how many presidential libraries have you been to?

Thanks,

Bama ED

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Where was the leather back/soft shell turtle picture taken at ?
And where is Rapunzel's Tower at ?

Great pics, love'm !

 

[MoDisneyCamper]

You've got a cute Class C RV in your pictures. Did you bring/tow a vehicle too?

Also, how many presidential libraries have you been to?

Thanks,

Bama ED

Thanks! We love our Born Free. It's a 2005 24 Rear Bath. We bought it last year and have really enjoyed it. Prior to this we had a pop-up and an a-liner, but we were just tired of towing. I've never been able to back up with a tow, but I can put this Born Free anywhere. We both love to travel, so we've decided that if we're going to be anywhere for any great time, we'll just rent a car. We've gotten some pretty good deals on rentals, so it really isn't that much more. We also like to go camping around our home area, so if its somewhere close, one of us drives the BF and one drives a very economical car we have. We're going camping at Branson this fall for about 5 days and staying at a state park. It's about a 3 hour drive for us and we're going to drive the car and rv down then. It works for us.

So, far- Truman (Independence, Mo.), Eisenhower (Abilene, KS), and now Carter. We're planning on going to Clinton's when we go to Branson this fall. I know we've got a ways to go! That just means more road trips, right??

Joyce

 

[MoDisneyCamper]

Where was the leather back/soft shell turtle picture taken at ?
And where is Rapunzel's Tower at ?

Frank, I think the turtle picture was taken at EPCOT, and same for Rapunzel's tower. The turtle was over by Innovations??? and Rapunzel was over by Germany.

And thanks, I was wondering what kind of turtle this is. We don't see this kind in the midwest!

 

[night_guy]

Thank you for the lovely trip report, Although I have never been to Disney and perhaps never in my lifetime I enjoy hearing your magical stories and pictures as well.

 

[MoDisneyCamper]

Ok, I think I'm up to Wednesday.

Wednesday is an off day, we just laze around!! That is my idea of a vacation! I think we did go to Downtown Disney this day. It’s amazing to me the things you can do at WDW that is free or almost so. I love sitting on a bench and watching people.

These pictures were taken at DD over by Basin.

The details, and "art" I think are what keep us all coming back. Disney could have just "thrown" up a plain brown building and still have made money, but instead the company takes the time, effort and money to put this on the building...

While we were having a snack, a parade of little girls who had just been to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique came by.

Thursday, we pick a rental car and that evening we go to Fantasia Gardens, another first. This was a lot of fun. I was surprised that we had to wait about an hour for our time, because it did not seem that crowded, but when we were actually out on the course, we were not hurried at all.

On Friday we drove to the coast and visited Kennedy Space Center. Sorry, no pictures. Somehow, we left the camera in the camper! We were both VERY bummed. Not bummed enough to drive all the way back, but bummed enough to buy a cheap disposable camera. And, we still don’t have those developed yet. We both enjoyed KSC, but I don’t think we’ll be going back. It was interesting and well done, but to tell you the truth, the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, KS has more artifacts, and things to see. Who would think a small town in Kansas would have “… a U.S. space artifact collection second only to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and the largest collection of Russian space artifacts outside of Moscow” (from their web site). I'm glad we visited, and we almost got to see a rocket launch, it was weather delayed, but one we saw everything in just a couple of hours. It was also very busy with school groups that day. I told Steve "I bet every kid in central Florida comes here on a field trip". The kids were all behaved, just a LOT of them.

 

[UMADDBG]

Your photos are beautiful.....enjoying your report.

 

[we3peas]

Loved your pics of the Carter library. We (dd and I) a couple of years ago during the drought GA had. Our pics just weren't that good. The only fountain that had water was the Olympic Park shooting fountains where all of Atlanta goes to cool off(at least it seems that way).

We've visited Carter's, JFK's, and Truman's libraries also. We try to work them in whenever we travel near one.

 

[MoDisneyCamper]

Saturday Another first for us at WDW: La Nouba. We had been to a performance in Kansas City and had enjoyed it so we both were looking forward to this. And it was GREAT! No pictures, sorry. I don’t really remember what else we did on this day. So, here’s a couple of random pictures:

This is our dog, Katie, wondering where we're going and when will we be back.

At the dog park.

In back of our camper.

Side view:

Sunday was mothers day! Talked to both of my kids and then headed to Boma’s for dinner. We had eaten here before and I think it’s my favorite place to eat. I love the variety and flavors.
One more post and this trip report will be done!

 

[MoDisneyCamper]

Monday: I have lots of pictures from this day. One of Steve’s favorite places to eat is Sci-Fi Dine in.

We then wandered around Hollywood Studios

One of my part-time jobs is working in a library, so I HAD to get these:

Me and Walt:

Steve and Bob:

Fantasmic:

We hopped over to MK about 10:00pm because it was EMH and the park was open until 2:00am!! I’m a night person, so this sounded like loads of fun to me. But, I think everyone else thought the same thing. Space Mountain had a 40 minute wait at mid-night! Then it broke down! Splash Mountain wasn’t bad- I think only about a 15 minute wait.

Our last full day at the fort was Wednesday, May 11. Bummer. I think we went back to EPCOT and then MK at night. Our last first for this trip was this night and our favorite first of this trip: The fireworks Desert Party!! I’ve read all the reviews, good and bad, but I LOVED it.

We tried to get a picture of Tinkerbell flying over head, but it was all blur.

Since this trip was 2 months ago, I've had time to think about it. We had a great time and are planning our next trip back, but in November when it will be cooler! I love the fort, but next time maybe only 6 days there with the 5 days left on our ticket. There are other parts of Florida I'd like to see-such as the keys. We did a lot of things this trip that we haven't done before-some were "keepers" some weren't.

Ok, I have finished this report and the guilt is gone!!!

Joyce