I recently found the DIS boards and have enjoyed all the information. Reading trip reports while I planned really helped me become excited. So here I am to share my recent trip. This is my first ever report and I hope you all enjoy. Its long but Ive added various pictures for your viewing pleasure 
Our camping adventures started when we were browsing Target back in January. Most everything in the camping section was on clearance. We found a Coleman tent for $40 along with other odds and ends. We have been buying things each paycheck. I think we are finally complete with everything we NEED (wanting is different
)
The first trip we planned was a trip to the Fort in July with my sister-in-law and her boyfriend. We wanted to visit US for Harry Potter and do it as cheap as possible. I have booked a partial site with the 15% code for 5 nights. My DH and I wanted to practice a little with our new gear before taking two new campers with us hours away. We did two short weekend trips at state parks where it rained both times. We had fun regardless and were excited for July.
Here comes the part I call DIS addict. I had been reading various boards ever since I booked our July trip. In a nutshell, I felt July was too far away. I convinced my DH to book at weekend at the Fort for our 1st anniversary (May 30th). At the last minute we ended up buying premium annual passes. We liked the idea of added flexibility for planning and the motivation for future trips.
We wanted to go May 28-May 31. We debated for a few days if we should do it or not and waited too late to book a partial. We had to move up to a full hook-up site. Nothing was available for our exact dates. Luckily from reading the camping boards I knew to search for more days. I ended up having to book two more days to get a site and then called to cancel them. Very tricky system for people not in the know.
Day 1-May 28th:
We left around 8am Friday morning. My last day of the school year was Wednesday so I was celebrating two exciting events! DH was just happy not to be waking up for work. We are about 6 hours away. The drive was very easy. Straight shot down I-75 and then the turnpike.
We arrived at the Fort around 2pm.
After setting up camp we rode our bikes to the marina and hoped on the boat to MK.
We picked up our passes at will call and went for lunch at Columbia Harbour House. The upstairs seating was open and not crowded. It was a perfect, relaxing start to our vacation. After eating, we hit Haunted Mansion, grabbed a FP for Big Thunder, explored Tom Sawyers Island, rode Big Thunder, then hopped on the monorail to Epcot for evening EMH (9pm-12am).
View from our table. We spotted many not-so-magical faces.
I was very excited for this bridge. It was closed last year.
Around 8pm we found an open spot along a fence in Canada and waited for Illuminations.
As soon as the show was over, we booked it over to The Land for Soarin. We avoided this ride last summer because of the wait time but thought we would give it a try during EMH. The line was already 45 minutes when we arrived. I enjoyed the ride but wouldnt wait that long again. After leaving Soarin, we grabbed dinner at Seasons and hopped on Living with the Land boat ride. It was cool to tour the greenhouses at night and wonderful to sit down after standing in line for Soarin.
We hit Spaceship Earth on our way out and boarded a monorail back to the TTC. I knew transportation would be available up to 1.5 hours after closing. I had mistakenly assumed that meant ALL transportation. Im sure you all know the monorail we needed to get back to the MK and on to the resort boat for the Fort was not opened. MK had closed at 9pm that night. One of the workers at the monorail station informed us that we should have taken a bus to the Fort from Epcot. However, he made a phone call. Another monorail worker picked us up from the TTC in a van, drove over to the Fort, and dropped us off in front of the path to the marina to get our bikes. We had to bike back to our site in the 1800 loop after midnight. Very exciting night! And boy, we felt stupid! Back at the marina I spotted some Fort history; the Lawnmower tree!
Our camping adventures started when we were browsing Target back in January. Most everything in the camping section was on clearance. We found a Coleman tent for $40 along with other odds and ends. We have been buying things each paycheck. I think we are finally complete with everything we NEED (wanting is different
) The first trip we planned was a trip to the Fort in July with my sister-in-law and her boyfriend. We wanted to visit US for Harry Potter and do it as cheap as possible. I have booked a partial site with the 15% code for 5 nights. My DH and I wanted to practice a little with our new gear before taking two new campers with us hours away. We did two short weekend trips at state parks where it rained both times. We had fun regardless and were excited for July.
Here comes the part I call DIS addict. I had been reading various boards ever since I booked our July trip. In a nutshell, I felt July was too far away. I convinced my DH to book at weekend at the Fort for our 1st anniversary (May 30th). At the last minute we ended up buying premium annual passes. We liked the idea of added flexibility for planning and the motivation for future trips.
We wanted to go May 28-May 31. We debated for a few days if we should do it or not and waited too late to book a partial. We had to move up to a full hook-up site. Nothing was available for our exact dates. Luckily from reading the camping boards I knew to search for more days. I ended up having to book two more days to get a site and then called to cancel them. Very tricky system for people not in the know.
Day 1-May 28th:
We left around 8am Friday morning. My last day of the school year was Wednesday so I was celebrating two exciting events! DH was just happy not to be waking up for work. We are about 6 hours away. The drive was very easy. Straight shot down I-75 and then the turnpike.
We arrived at the Fort around 2pm.
After setting up camp we rode our bikes to the marina and hoped on the boat to MK.
We picked up our passes at will call and went for lunch at Columbia Harbour House. The upstairs seating was open and not crowded. It was a perfect, relaxing start to our vacation. After eating, we hit Haunted Mansion, grabbed a FP for Big Thunder, explored Tom Sawyers Island, rode Big Thunder, then hopped on the monorail to Epcot for evening EMH (9pm-12am).
View from our table. We spotted many not-so-magical faces.
I was very excited for this bridge. It was closed last year.
Around 8pm we found an open spot along a fence in Canada and waited for Illuminations.
As soon as the show was over, we booked it over to The Land for Soarin. We avoided this ride last summer because of the wait time but thought we would give it a try during EMH. The line was already 45 minutes when we arrived. I enjoyed the ride but wouldnt wait that long again. After leaving Soarin, we grabbed dinner at Seasons and hopped on Living with the Land boat ride. It was cool to tour the greenhouses at night and wonderful to sit down after standing in line for Soarin.
We hit Spaceship Earth on our way out and boarded a monorail back to the TTC. I knew transportation would be available up to 1.5 hours after closing. I had mistakenly assumed that meant ALL transportation. Im sure you all know the monorail we needed to get back to the MK and on to the resort boat for the Fort was not opened. MK had closed at 9pm that night. One of the workers at the monorail station informed us that we should have taken a bus to the Fort from Epcot. However, he made a phone call. Another monorail worker picked us up from the TTC in a van, drove over to the Fort, and dropped us off in front of the path to the marina to get our bikes. We had to bike back to our site in the 1800 loop after midnight. Very exciting night! And boy, we felt stupid! Back at the marina I spotted some Fort history; the Lawnmower tree!
We grabbed some Mickey bars and rested in the shade. 
But we knew we could see the show again in September and didnt worry. After our second ride on Space Mountain, we had had enough. We gave away our inherited FPs to a couple gawking at the 80 minute stand-by line and rode TTA again. By that time, the 11pm showing of Spectromagic was going on. It took a while for us to reach Frontierland after navigating the parade traffic. We made it to Splash Mountain around 11:30 and walked right on. Big Thunder was next and it was listed as 20 minutes but we walked on as well. We headed to Adventureland and EMH had started when we reached Pirates. The rest of the night went wonderfully. We rode Pirates, Jungle Cruise (much better at night), Aladdin, Dumbo, Mickeys PhilharMagic, Snow White, and Peter Pan. The most we waited was 10 minutes for Snow White. It was my first time riding Aladdin and Dumbo. I would never wait during the day to ride these. This may change once I have kids but even then I might wait for EMH. We stopped at the Main Street Bakery for a snack and then found Mickey and Minnie outside Sir Mickeys store. The line for pictures was 5 minutes. The photopass photographer took her picture and then used our camera to take a picture. We ended our evening on that note and headed back to the Fort around 2:30am.
