Our Four Day Camping Report...

[disneyfan'ole]

Alright my little chickadees, the wife feels that I need to post some of my thoughts following our 4 day first ever camping trip to the fort. Who knew you could learn so much by spending some quality family time at Disney.

(1) Apparently my 9 y/o daughter is a carnivorous hunter. As a large turkey strolled through our campsite, our daughter makes the shape of a gun with her fingers, says "bang, dinner" & then smiles at us. Mind you neither of us are hunters by any stretch of the imagination.

(2) Nothing good ever follows the words "Hey ya'll watch this". Sitting poolside, we began to take bets on how many more times a grown adult can dive head first down the slide before hurting himself. The answer: 4 times before he hurt his elbow & chin. Darwin at his best!

(3) Watching overloaded golf carts cruise down the road hitting bumps only to spill drinks all over the riders makes for a very funny evening. I love people watching...

(4) Mother nature always gets even. Sitting with our daughter, watching a young lad (at the encouragement of his parents) chase after some geese & ducks...only to have a goose turn around and chase him. Who knew you could have such entertainment for FREE!

Finally a few other tidbits...renting a golf cart is a wonderful idea for getting around inside the fort (I personally highly recommend Kenny); The comfort stations are some of the best we've seen; Ice is a bit overpriced considering it's just frozen water; Yellow flies hurt like the dickens when they bite; Take time to enjoy everything the fort has to offer and if you come with an open mind and mood to relax...you're sure to enjoy your time here!

 

[disneyfan'ole]

Day 1: We packed up the family wagon (a la Clark Grizzwold) and headed out from Tampa to Disney World. Traffic wasn't too bad and we made it there without any trouble. Check in was a breeze thanks to the online check in option Disney has. We simply drove up to the check in (we're tent camping this go round), gave Jyl our names and a photo id and it was off to find our campsite. We were placed in the 1500 loop which turned out to be a very nice place. There were plenty of kids for our daughter to play with, it was close to the swimming pool and the Chip Dale Campfire.

We set up our tent, canopy, kitchen area and immediately began enjoying the sights, sounds & smells of the fort. We grabbed an early dinner as it was nearing 4:30 and Kenny (our golf cart guy) should be calling soon. We grilled some dogs on the grill, so nothing really difficult. Kenny called and we met him at the overflow lot to pick up our golf cart. Talk about a painless experience. We couldn't have been happier. We cruised around the fort and checked out some of the other loops.

We cruised over to the Settlement Depot, checked out the water activities, relaxed on the beach and stopped by some of the playgrounds. It was getting dark, so we decided to catch an early shower at the comfort station and go see the Electrical Water Parade. We never had to wait for an empty shower and there was always plenty of hot water! Off to bed now...EPCOT tomorrow!

 

[disneyfan'ole]

Day 2: Wow! Did it get cold last night! It's April in Florida and we were actually cold last night. We had a beautiful breeze as we went to bed and decided to leave a couple of windows open in the tent to enjoy it. We fell asleep all comfy, but awoke about 3:00am shivering. Note to self...zip the windows tonight! Breakfast was eggs, sausage & toast on the grill. We met up with my brother, his wife & my parents and headed to EPCOT. It wasn't very crowded, but I was extremely disappointed with the Flower & Garden Festival. It seemed as though they had cut back on the displays significantly.

We had lunch at Via Nappoli in Italy. I highly recommend eating here at least once if you've never done it before. The pizzas are out of this world. Between the 7 of us, we killed off two mezzo metro pizzas that are supposed to feed 5 people. Tums...here I come!

Back at the campsite, this was our parents first look at our set up. My mother, who swore up and down she'd never go camping, is now on our case to make reservations for November so she can join us. She apparently thought the sites didn't include water, electric or cable. Hello....it's Disney! Hamburgers, grilled corn on the cob, baked beans & potato salad were on the menu for dinner. We took the gang for a ride around the fort in the golf cart and bid them good bye later that evening. Time to hit the showers and off to bed...the wife wants to be at MK for rope drop!

 

[disneyfan'ole]

Day 3: Much better! We slept with the windows up and enjoyed a lovely night. Up at the crack of dawn, showered and ate breakfast before heading over to the marina to catch the boat. The MK opened at 9:00, but the wife wanted to be there way before that. *NOTE" The ferry between the fort and the MK operated 30 minutes prior to opening! SO, the crafty folks we are, we took the ferry over to the Contemporary and then caught the monorail to MK. We got there with plenty of other folks to catch the opening show. A must see if you've never done it before.

They dropped the ropes and the mad dash was on as everyone headed in their own direction. We headed over to Rapunzel's meet & greet since our daughter was wanting to see her. We made it into the 1st showing and were out of there in about 30 minutes. They have this whole procedure well worked out. We hit a few of our favorite rides (Pirates, BTMRR, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain), grabbed a Dole Whip before heading back to the fort.

We spent the afternoon relaxing poolside until we got a little hungry and headed to the site for lunch. After lunch, we headed back to the pool until 7:30. Then it was back to the site to shower and off to MK again for EMH in the evening. What a difference! We got there in time to see the Main Street Electrical Parade, ducked in to see the Princesses & Mickey (total wait time 5-7 minutes) as the crowds headed out. We rode the Jungle Cruise, caught Wishes while we were riding BTMRR, rode Haunted Mansion again and ended it with It's A Small World.

We're starting to drag our butts now, so back to the site...

 

[disneyfan'ole]

Day 4: Time to pack and head home. Another beautiful night in the fort. Breakfast, skipped the showers since we're going to be sweating and started to pack. Finished packing, time to freshen up, one more time around the fort before dropping off the golf cart and heading home. Be back in a few months...

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Tell your wife "thank you" for mak'n you post a report for us,
Very cool report, really enjoy'd it. Ya'll make me real jealous with Fort envy,,sounds like a very awesome time !
I can't wiat til it's our turn again.



Your mom is right,, get them ressies made.

 

[scboyd]

Great trip report... Thanks for sharing.

 

[OK GRUMPY]

Great Trip Report! ARE YOU HOOKED?

 

[rluey29]

You cooked alot at your site. How did you keep all of the meat/eggs cold until you were ready to cook them?

 

[bama_ed]

Ice is a bit overpriced considering it's just frozen water;

Ya know this is Disney World, right?

Nice trip report! You're close by in Tampa. You can be our "weekend correspondent" if you chose to accept this assignment.

Thanks for the TR. Love camping/tent/popup reports from the Fort.

Bama ED

 

[2goofycampers]

Great TR, thanks. I dub thee official " how are the showers" question answerer. It seems like you spent a lot of time there.

 

[shem]

Great report! Thanks for sharing!

 

[disneyfan'ole]

You cooked alot at your site. How did you keep all of the meat/eggs cold until you were ready to cook them?

Ice, lots of ice! (this is the wife speaking ) I also froze our burgers before so they would thaw slowing in the cooler. I also put a lot of the meat at the bottom where it is colder and the opening and closing of the cooler wouldn't bother it.

Next time we would take more coolers and separate them into: Drinks, Condiment (small cooler so easily reachable), meats/food.

 

[UMADDBG]

Thanks for sharing....makes me want to go home!!! I really miss the Fort!

 

[OKGirlie]

Hi, Thanks for the report.

So I've never been to the fort or Disney but we leave in 47 days!

How early did you leave the fort to make the 9am opening of MK? My daughter's only wish is to see Rapunzel and Flynn so I know we have to be there well before opening and high tail it to them when it opens. I just want to make sure we leave plenty early enough to be able to do that.

Thanks

 

[DisCamper]

Hi, Thanks for the report.

How early did you leave the fort to make the 9am opening of MK? Thanks

I you are at the marina dock around 8am you have no problem being at MK by 9am

 

[dblr]

If you want a tip on keeping things cold when we had a pop up we would freeze water in gallon milk jugs( leave a little room in the bottle) then out 1 or 2 in a cooler with your frozen things or keep 1 cooler that you will not need to go in alot,it stays frozen for awile then as it thaws it will not melt and get all your food soggy.

 

[OKGirlie]

I you are at the marina dock around 8am you have no problem being at MK by 9am

Thanks

 

[YellowXterra]

The opening of MK is something to see,

 

[mash]

Great trip report. It's clear that I need to do more people watching next time I am there!