DznyRulz
I owe, I owe, it's off to work I go . . . to finan
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2005
- Messages
- 481
As stated above this is not another TCD trip report. I cannot and will not try to compete with the master. This seemingly meager attempt at a trip report is all mine. I won't go into all the details about each day, I'll just hit the high and low lights, what I liked and what I didn't.
Let's start at the beginning. We left home on Saturday morning, 8/8. Home for us is Northern Va., exit 166 off I95. Other than occasional traffic from home to Fredericksburg, Va. the trip was rather uneventful until we got to exit 119 in NC, then this happened.
Total tread separation on the curb side rear tire. Fortunately the damage was minimal. The woven, plastic type fabric covering the bottom was torn up on a couple of places, I'll fix that with duct tape, and the wiring for the side marker light was ripped out. The rubber grommet/wedge lamp base was damaged beyond my repair so I bought an LED side marker light. I liked it so much I bought others to replace all my marker lights. I'm like Monk that way, they all have to match.
Without any further trouble we get to The Fort on Sunday afternoon. I'd booked a preferred site several months ago but we were given a premium site instead. No argument here. We were on 605, one of the new sites in the newly expanded 600 loop. We loved the close proximity to the Meadow (no s) Trading Post, pool and movie so we took plenty of advantage of that.
What we didn't like about our site was the complete lack of shade. Not fun in August, 90+ every day with what seemed like 90%+ humidity. I had the thermostat set for 60 degrees but it got into the mid-70's inside during the day. Not too bad for some folks but then you probably don't sweat like I do. DW was wearing a long sleeve shirt and pants inside most of the time.
Sunday evening things took a turn for the worse. We found out that DW's uncle passed away. We kind of had a feeling something would happen since we got a call from DW's aunt the night before we left that he was at home under hospice care and wasn't doing well. DW's aunt and uncle live in Tavares, about an hour from The Fort. We spent the next couple of days with her aunt, helping her get around and finalizing arrangements. DW's aunt considers her her only relative and it was no problem helping out. Florida sure has some strange laws that we yankees don't so, not knowing exactly when the funeral would be, we decided to stay 5 extra days. Since I didn't have internet access I asked DB to send an email to Rhonda asking her to call us. For whatever reason I never did hear from her. Fortunately I was able to book a new reservation instead of extending our current one. I was also able to score the AAA discount and the nice folks at The Fort let us stay on 605. DW's uncle was buried at Florida National Cemetery, with full military honors, on 8/19 so it's a good thing we decided to stay. It would have been too much to come home on the 16th then turn around and go back.
Since we extended our stay we still had plenty of time for The Fort. We went to the pool.
DW said they wouldn't let me on the slide because I was too old. I showed her, several times. In fact there were just as many adults on the slide as kids. Ignore the message about the video being moved to deleted.
Now that they've finished the construction around the pool it looks great. I also like the changes made regarding the golf carts. Since they moved the golf cart rental location carts are now restricted near the pool, IIRC only one way in and out to the golf cart parking. You no longer have to dodge carts that come flying over the bridge and around the Meadow Trading Post.
We saw plenty of local fauna. I even saw a snake on the beach one night, near the volleyball area. No, not one of our fellow Disers, an actual snake. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera so no photo. DW said I got too close and I'm not sure if it was poisonous, I didn't get close enough to check its eyes. It was either brown with black rings or black with brown rings.
I watched the MK's fireworks from our secret spot several times although on our last night there I was run off. I wonder if it was TCD's friend itchy Brian? I even managed to get a shot of the sound system they keep in the cabin.
I took a drive out to Disney's runway. Ever been there? I was disappointed that DW wouldn't let me try to get up to takeoff speed. It looked like I had plenty of room.
I also played with the toys on the porch at Crockett's Tavern.
This year we took advantage of more of what The Fort has to offer. I went fishing for the first time. Notice I didn't say catching. It seems the fish at The Fort don't cotton to plastic and metal. No siree, only real fish food for them. In fact, we only went to the parks one day this trip. We did Epcot in the morning and hit our usual rides. We'd planned on going to MK in the evening but DW's foot was really bothering her and DS didn't feel like it so I went by myself. I hit all my favorite rides. I ate a turkey leg and watched the parade. I saw the fireworks, close up this time. I even spotted a hidden Mickey I'd not seen before.
One day DW needed to do some school work, she's working on her Masters in Ed., so DS and I went to Gatorland to check out the white gators. If you've never been it's great to get a real close-up at some of Florida's nature.
Around the 16th The Fort started clearing out. Like TCD noted in his TR, I'd never seen The Fort so empty. Like he also noticed, it seemed the 600 loop was filled to a higher capacity than the other loops.
I found something I'd consider the strangest sight at Fort Wilderness during our time there. I was hoping it would be unique to my TR but alas TCD beat me to it. However, I did see it a week before he did.
That about wraps it up. Even though DW and I love The Fort, DS is at that age where he'd rather spend his free time online or texting his friends, two weeks is almost more than enough. I'd probably be good for three weeks. Although I'm sure it's different if you're retired and don't have to get back to work. I'm not sure how long it will be until our next trip there. Hopefully it'll be next year. I don't know if I can take the withdrawal symptoms any longer than that.
Let's start at the beginning. We left home on Saturday morning, 8/8. Home for us is Northern Va., exit 166 off I95. Other than occasional traffic from home to Fredericksburg, Va. the trip was rather uneventful until we got to exit 119 in NC, then this happened.
Total tread separation on the curb side rear tire. Fortunately the damage was minimal. The woven, plastic type fabric covering the bottom was torn up on a couple of places, I'll fix that with duct tape, and the wiring for the side marker light was ripped out. The rubber grommet/wedge lamp base was damaged beyond my repair so I bought an LED side marker light. I liked it so much I bought others to replace all my marker lights. I'm like Monk that way, they all have to match.
Without any further trouble we get to The Fort on Sunday afternoon. I'd booked a preferred site several months ago but we were given a premium site instead. No argument here. We were on 605, one of the new sites in the newly expanded 600 loop. We loved the close proximity to the Meadow (no s) Trading Post, pool and movie so we took plenty of advantage of that.
What we didn't like about our site was the complete lack of shade. Not fun in August, 90+ every day with what seemed like 90%+ humidity. I had the thermostat set for 60 degrees but it got into the mid-70's inside during the day. Not too bad for some folks but then you probably don't sweat like I do. DW was wearing a long sleeve shirt and pants inside most of the time.
Sunday evening things took a turn for the worse. We found out that DW's uncle passed away. We kind of had a feeling something would happen since we got a call from DW's aunt the night before we left that he was at home under hospice care and wasn't doing well. DW's aunt and uncle live in Tavares, about an hour from The Fort. We spent the next couple of days with her aunt, helping her get around and finalizing arrangements. DW's aunt considers her her only relative and it was no problem helping out. Florida sure has some strange laws that we yankees don't so, not knowing exactly when the funeral would be, we decided to stay 5 extra days. Since I didn't have internet access I asked DB to send an email to Rhonda asking her to call us. For whatever reason I never did hear from her. Fortunately I was able to book a new reservation instead of extending our current one. I was also able to score the AAA discount and the nice folks at The Fort let us stay on 605. DW's uncle was buried at Florida National Cemetery, with full military honors, on 8/19 so it's a good thing we decided to stay. It would have been too much to come home on the 16th then turn around and go back.
Since we extended our stay we still had plenty of time for The Fort. We went to the pool.
DW said they wouldn't let me on the slide because I was too old. I showed her, several times. In fact there were just as many adults on the slide as kids. Ignore the message about the video being moved to deleted.
Now that they've finished the construction around the pool it looks great. I also like the changes made regarding the golf carts. Since they moved the golf cart rental location carts are now restricted near the pool, IIRC only one way in and out to the golf cart parking. You no longer have to dodge carts that come flying over the bridge and around the Meadow Trading Post.
We saw plenty of local fauna. I even saw a snake on the beach one night, near the volleyball area. No, not one of our fellow Disers, an actual snake. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera so no photo. DW said I got too close and I'm not sure if it was poisonous, I didn't get close enough to check its eyes. It was either brown with black rings or black with brown rings.
I watched the MK's fireworks from our secret spot several times although on our last night there I was run off. I wonder if it was TCD's friend itchy Brian? I even managed to get a shot of the sound system they keep in the cabin.
I took a drive out to Disney's runway. Ever been there? I was disappointed that DW wouldn't let me try to get up to takeoff speed. It looked like I had plenty of room.
I also played with the toys on the porch at Crockett's Tavern.
This year we took advantage of more of what The Fort has to offer. I went fishing for the first time. Notice I didn't say catching. It seems the fish at The Fort don't cotton to plastic and metal. No siree, only real fish food for them. In fact, we only went to the parks one day this trip. We did Epcot in the morning and hit our usual rides. We'd planned on going to MK in the evening but DW's foot was really bothering her and DS didn't feel like it so I went by myself. I hit all my favorite rides. I ate a turkey leg and watched the parade. I saw the fireworks, close up this time. I even spotted a hidden Mickey I'd not seen before.
One day DW needed to do some school work, she's working on her Masters in Ed., so DS and I went to Gatorland to check out the white gators. If you've never been it's great to get a real close-up at some of Florida's nature.
Around the 16th The Fort started clearing out. Like TCD noted in his TR, I'd never seen The Fort so empty. Like he also noticed, it seemed the 600 loop was filled to a higher capacity than the other loops.
I found something I'd consider the strangest sight at Fort Wilderness during our time there. I was hoping it would be unique to my TR but alas TCD beat me to it. However, I did see it a week before he did.
That about wraps it up. Even though DW and I love The Fort, DS is at that age where he'd rather spend his free time online or texting his friends, two weeks is almost more than enough. I'd probably be good for three weeks. Although I'm sure it's different if you're retired and don't have to get back to work. I'm not sure how long it will be until our next trip there. Hopefully it'll be next year. I don't know if I can take the withdrawal symptoms any longer than that.
Walt did say that the Florida project had enough land available to make all his dreams come true and how he was so right. Is even half the land area developed? Yet, they have a mini-airport. Since Congress will have a new fleet of private planes, maybe they will take advantage of visiting Disney. 
