On the road from wny 4/9/14 - 4/23/14

[jeffrey1966]

Hey jeffrey,

When u were at the Fort in loop 100 did u catch any of the Masters on tv?



Bama Ed

Bama Ed, Yes my father and I played 18 over at LBV and then went back to the campsite to grill some burgers and watch Bubba earn his 2nd jacket. It was a great day. I remember following your report last year and telling myself that this year I would watch the final round at the Fort. Maybe one of these years things will line up and I'll get a chance to meet you during Masters.
Jeff

 

[RandolphNY]

Friday, We returned to Magic Kingdom. We ran into more rain on this day. Luckily we were inside the big thunder mountain railroad when this hit. Probably waited for over an hour, but once the storm passed through, we were able to ride it.

Surprisingly, splash mountain did not open right away so we headed over to Pirates.

By this time, I had understood the fastpass enough and had been able to reschedule and widen out the times. We were able to take in more of the park.

We returned to the fort and cooked dinner. After dinner, My wife and daughter went to downtown disney. My son watched some bball and I went to sleep.

Saturday, we went to Animal Kingdom. AK has become my favorite park. It is more relaxing and you feel like you can slow down. We had lunch at the tusker house. This was another buffet style meal and well priced. We even had character visits.

We attempted to visit Blizzard Beach, but it had cooled off and the water seemed really cold.

We headed back to the fort, had dinner and relaxed until the scheduled water pageant. I guess it became too windy, because it was cancelled.

I told the family that we needed to get a good nights sleep, since Sunday would be our last day and I wanted to get to Epcot for the early hours.

Sunday, I am so glad we did arrive at opening. I scheduled our fastpass for MK, so I wanted to get to the test track with no real crowds. We even were able to squeeze in another soaring.

Now here is where the day gets stressful. The kids wanted something to snack on. I reached into my wallet and the credit card that I used for lunch at AK, was missing. I went through my wallet, the wife through hers and no luck. I quickly went on my smartphone and confirmed that there had not been any charges on it.

I attempted to call and really didn't get anywhere, so I went to customer service at epcot with no help. I decided to head on over to AK. Guess what? For some reason I jump on the bus to Hollywood. Oh, great, now I am making the day more stressful.

Once at AK, I went to the customer service desk and they were able to confirm that the card had been given to loss and found, BUT if you don't go to loss and found on the same day, items are sent to MK. I was able to make a call from AK to MK ticket and transportation area to confirm that they did have it.

Now I am on the bus, spending more time getting places. Anyway, I was able to pick up my credit card and move on......(to be continued)

 

[RandolphNY]

continued from Sunday....

So once everything was settled with finding my credit card and meeting up with my family at MK, it was time to sit down to watch the New parade.

I mentioned earlier to keep a secret, which most of us fellow campers are good at. Anyway, I was so glad to use a FP for the Parade. Awesome parade and location and with breathing room was the best.

After the parade, we headed back to the fort to fix dinner on the grill. There is nothing like cooking your own steak and we love charcoal. I was suprised that the grill wasn't totally clean, but once wiped down, it worked fine.

After dinner and relaxing for a bit and beginning the teardown, we headed back to MK. Took in some more sights and then went to the FP location for Wishes. Again, you couldn't have asked for a better location (Secret).

For me there is nothing like starting the trip at MK and finishing it there. Maybe its the boat ride at the end, but it truely is magical.

We finished tear down in the morning (Monday) and was on the road by 10:30.
Our travel route was I4 to I95 to I77 where we stayed just outside of Charlotte, NC at a KOA in SC after a 10 hour drive. This KOA was fine. Just need to watch for it real fast after getting off the exit.

Our final stretch was 14 hours leaving at 8:30am and arriving home around 10:30pm. Our route of travel was continuing on I77 to Cleveland to I90 and I86 home. Wind throughout WV and Ohio along with the winding roads made for a very tough trip home.

Kids were back to school on Wednesday. Wife and I cleaned up the RV and returned to our "normal" life.

Summary:

 

[RandolphNY]

Summary:

a) I will never try to do a non-stop trip again. More than 10 hours is pushing it.
b) Universal is a great area with well priced meals. Definitely avoid Islands of Adventure during the weekend. Highly recommend the KOA in Kissimmee.
c) Campsite cost. Think through how much you will be relaxing at campsite. If you are on the go and only sleeping, don't feel you need a premium site.
d) Slow-down. As much as I had planned to relax, I wish I had let the kids take off on their selfs (18 / 15) and kicked back.
e) I won't do waterparks or Park hoppers again. For me I spent too much money for those purposes. If you do the waterpark, map it out ahead of time. Instead of Park hopping, take advantage of the fort activities and pools.
f) Fastpass. Do Not Schedule on top of each other. You are not there to run around to ride, rides.
g) Fastpass. I would do it again for all of the shows. Use them during the day, not at early or late hours.
h) Hollywood show, "Fantasmic" Go to the Late show when it is darker.
i) Don't overpack. We took too much cold stuff with us upfront overpacking our refridgerator. Probably bought more ice for coolers than I wanted to. Once down there, stop at the wally world and stock up then.
j) I was surprised that store prices at the fort especially for milk was not too bad this time.

Finally, HAVE FUN AND RELAX!!!!!!

Kick back, it's a vacation.

(I hope I did not overly bore you will my story. Hopefully, on a return trip, I will be able to meet up with some of us fellow Dis'ers. Also, if there are any fellow WNYers that want to Convoy down, lets plan a trip.)