Ready or Not, Here We Come! **Updated/TR on Pg2**

[AnotherAlice]

Yay! A trip report!!!
I love your TT - I think I have seen that floor plan online with the slide in the rear - is that where your bed is?

Yes, that is where our queen bed is. There is another queen bed at the front with a bunk over it. We picked this baby up from Craigs List. It looks great, inside and out. The people who sold it were super nice and gave us all kinds of stuff like the original price sticker from the window, manuals, dealer brochures, etc. They even gave us a cover and the hitch off of their truck! And we got a terrific price - it was a one of a kind deal.

 

[AnotherAlice]

I'm in!

Awesome!

 

[AnotherAlice]

It's tomorrow.

LOL! Yes, it is so I better get started!

 

[AnotherAlice]

Yay! A trip report! Even though I just got home from the Fort, I can't wait to read about your trip.

And I want to read about yours!

 

[kazlac4]

Don't you just love the warm and fuzzy feeling you get when you first get to the Magic Kingdom ticket booth area..all the planning and anticipation is over..the magic starts here! . Can't wait for the rest of your report!

 

[AnotherAlice]

Day Two (Sunday June 27)

Magic Kingdom:

Since we had stayed up late at the pool the night before, we were not off to an early start Sunday morning. In fact, we stayed in a cycle of being up late and sleeping in for the entire trip. It ended up being a good thing though on Sunday because if we had taken off early, I would not have seen this at the campground:

To get to the MK, we took the ferry. We had Give a Day, Get a Day vouchers so we needed to swap them for tickets first. I was expecting a huge line but we were able to walk right up. If you have these vouchers and don’t know where to go, it’s the small gazebo-shaped building in front of Guest Relations right outside of the MK. Also, don’t forget to ask for a pin. You will get a large round pin with Ms. Piggy and Kermit on it and CMs will thank you for serving when they spot it.

As soon as we walked into MK we could see that Main Street was crowded. But, as the day progressed and the crowd dispersed, it really wasn’t as crowded as we originally thought. I even heard one CM say it was a “slow day”. We chose Sunday because of the extra magic hours until 2am. The first site that caught my attention on Main Street was the characters. I have quite a collection of my kids with various Disney characters and am always looking for more but I lost out because the rest of the family wanted to get moving. We were slowed down just a bit as the Street Party parade rolled by. This is a great opportunity to embarrass your kids if you want to.

We have been to the MK several times and every trip is different. The objective for this trip turned out to be to ride all the big rides and fill in the fast pass waiting time with as many other rides as possible. We were able to accomplish our mission and then some. We stayed until 1am but we really didn’t even need the extra magic hours to do everything we wanted. Here are a few pictures from the day:

For some unknown reason, we got stuck on the Pirates ride for at least ten minutes. We sat staring at Captain Jack bobbing out of the barrell a hundred times! My DD can do a really good impression of it!

Watching the fireworks right after riding Space Moutain:

This show rocked!

Of all the times I've been to MK, I've never riden the Astro Orbiter until now. Its a fun ride - a lot like Dumbo but you are in a rocket and the ride is up higher, you take an elevator to get to the platform.

Sword fighting at midnight:

Day Three - Chillin at FW - Check back later for more details!

 

[Minnie&Mickey]

And I want to read about yours!

I keep saying that I'm going to write one, but so far I haven't been able to get motivated. I might start working on one tonight.

 

[kaguilbeau]

Great job on the report! In some pictures, the crowd looks surprisingly small.

Looking forward to more!

 

[sixAMmom]

These pics are awesome! That sword fighting one you should summit to ALLEARS.NET, it was really cool. Can't wait for more!

 

[DaveInTN]

Great pics and great TR! Keep it coming.

 

[mgsmom]

I love all your pictures!

 

[AnotherAlice]

Kazlac4, Yes I do get a good feeling when arriving at the Ticket Booth but I also get a bit anxious too! That might make a good thread: How do u feel when u reach the gates?

Holly, I have to admit that writing a TR is harder than I thought it would be! But, I think DISers would enjoy reading even a small condensed TR if you have the time.

Kaguilbeau, the crowd was pretty thin. We rode the Barnstormer two times in a row at 10:30pm. The CM let one new rider on after our ride and told the rest of us we could stay on! That has never happened to me before at WDW, especially a popular ride like that one. We were skipping the parade, etc., because we've seen them, but still.

sixAMmom, thanks. I like the cool effects the swords made too. I'll check into that.

DaveInTn, thanks and I will. I still have to cover DQ and BB before I'm finished.

mgsmom, thanks! I don't think you can take a bad picture at WDW!

 

[stefa70]

Great pictures! Colors are beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

 

[AnotherAlice]

Day Three (Monday, June 28)

Just Hanging Out

We knew we would all be tired after a long day at the MK so this day was set aside for hanging out at the campground. The kids were excited because they knew they would get to swim as much as they wanted. We started the day with a hearty breakfast. My mother had given me a handy gadget for cooking quick meals and it really did work. I made some great omelets for breakfast and later in the afternoon, I made pizzas with it. The pizza wasn’t pretty but it was delicious!

This day is easy to sum up: eat, swim, eat, bike ride, watch the rain, swim, eat and swim. I have to admit though that I was constantly looking around for green mickey ears on this day and it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. I just wasn’t seeing any and was feeling a little let down. Fortunately, M&MlovesMickeyMouse (I hope that's right) came over to our campsite in the evening to introduce herself. She was only one site down and had seen my ears. She did not have hers out yet but was going into town later to print a copy. It was so nice having another DISer close by. We got to chat several times while I was there. BTW, she puts out a cute display with pink flamingos.

Day Four - Disney Quest & DTD - Coming soon

 

[m1tchells]

Trip Report June 26 - July 1​

On the way over, my DS came up with a game of “punch buggy” monorail style which would ensue for the duration of our trip. Red One, Punch! Blue One, Punch! And he could spot them a mile away!

We adopted our own version...punch bride! Everytime we see a Disney bride....wham! No punches pulled! Many a night we have come back to the CG nursing a sore arm! As crazy as it sounds....it has become one of our many Disney traditions! BTW...we are all "adults" so kids are all safe.

 

[kampfirekim]

Looks like you're having a great time Alice! Sorry I haven't chimed in...but I get the E-mail notifications and have been keeping up w/your TR there. Nice pics!

 

[ghester]

Loving your trip report Waiting for more

 

[AnotherAlice]

Hi everyone! Thanks for following along! Here's Day Four:

Day Four (Tuesday, June 29)

Disney Quest and Downtown Disney

As I mentioned earlier, we had GAD tickets and Disney Dollars from Visa. We decided that the best way to optimize our trip was to use the Disney Dollars to upgrade our one day tickets. We were able to add the WP&M option for around $27 per ticket and still had some Disney Dollars left over for shopping, etc. This worked out really well for us because we had not been to Disney Quest or the water parks before and we were curious about them. IMO, our kids were just the right ages for DQ because there are height restrictions on some of the virtual reality rides. No worries though if you really want to take younger children, there are just some things that they will not be able to do. Oh, and there are not many bathrooms at DQ. My DD and I had to walk up two floors to get to the nearest one, so plan ahead. There are five floors inside DQ. Each floor has fun things to see and do. We spent about four hours there and did everything we wanted. The crowd was minimal but we did have to wait in line about 20 minutes for the most popular attractions (Buzz Lightyear’s AstroBlaster and Pirates of the Caribbean). Our family’s favorite was the Pirates of the Caribbean by far. You really have to work together. One family member is captain and steers the ship and everyone else must shoot like crazy at other passing ships to sink them and win the gold. It was a riot! Here are some pics from DQ:

We also did some shopping while we were in Downtown Disney. We are pin collectors so, of course, we had to get some pins. DD likes to collect the cuties; DS likes the Star Wars series and I like to collect our favorite places and rides. For this trip, I picked out the Fort Wilderness pin. We also hit Lego Land for some keychains and the toy store to fill up our own giant Mr. Potato Head. Loads of fun!

For lunch, we chose the Earl of Sandwich. It was sort of by default because we were looking for something easy on the budget. I am soooo glad we ate there! It was budget friendly and it was scrumptious! I had the best veggie sandwich ever!!! I’m not a vegetarian, I just love my veggies. If you do too, you have to try this restaurant. There are plenty of other delicious choices as well to suit everyone. (FYI, there is a cafe inside DQ if you just want to stay there.)

We left DTD in the early evening and headed back to the campground with intentions on seeing the Chip and Dale sing-along and movie together. Unfortunately, while preparing dinner, we blew a fuse. Remember, we are newbies so have mercy. DH would spend the next two hours fidgeting with the thing, making a trip to the store and numerous phone calls. A FW campground worker was able to come over to look at the problem and said that the switch just wasn’t flipped back far enough. DH had flipped it – just not back far enough. DH was a good sport though! He even came down to the campfire during the middle of this ordeal to have his picture taken with a chipmunk! We all wore t-shirts that night with the Fort Wilderness logo BigDaddyRog designed. They were so cool and the chipmunks just loved them and so did the CMs at the Meadows TP. DD and I stayed long enough to watch the movie that night which was The Fox and the Hound. DS wasn’t interested so he hung out with DH. The movie ended around 10:15pm which was too late to catch the fireworks down at the beach. We’d have to wait another night for that. Instead, we closed down the pool once again.

Coming up next - Blizzard Beach

 

[kampfirekim]

Hooray! Looks like you're doing great even if you are newbies! Glad DH was a good sport and got his pic w/a chipmunk! When camping, things will often go wrong, but the key is to never panic, stay positive and keep a good sense of humor about it. Besides, it always makes for a funny story later. Seems to me that you're having a magical time and you're doing a nice job on the TR too!

 

[AnotherAlice]

Day Five (Wednesday, June 30)

Blizzard Beach

The kids slept in the latest on this day. To pass the time, I went out for a bike ride around the 1600-1900 loops. And lo and behold, I spotted some green ears! I don’t know if I broke any kind of DIS protocol, but they were sitting outside so I introduced myself. It was the Millers. They were very hospitable and we sat and chatted a bit. We talked about RC, among other things, and I told them that I was sad that my kids wouldn’t get to play there like I had. However, when Mr. Miller informed me of the horrid amoebas swimming around in lake water I didn’t miss RC quite so much anymore. As I was riding off, I saw an Auburn GC so I knew a few more DISers had arrived at the fort.

We made it to Blizzard Beach before noon and it was crowded. There wasn’t a vacant beach chair in sight. We lucked out as some people were leaving and we quickly took over their spot that was in the shade. I would suggest you get there early if you want a premium spot. Or, you can reserve a cabana with perks if you are so inclined. I don’t know how much those cost but it might be fun.

Sorry, I don’t have any pictures to share from BB because my camera isn’t waterproof. The gift shop sells some for $20 if you want one but I didn’t feel like bothering. I’ll just tell you that the water park was tons of fun and I recommend it. I also recommend that you wear those water shoes that fit snug on your feet. We didn’t have them and were hopping around on the burning hot sidewalks. I’ll know next time. Oh, I do have this one picture of a souvenir I bought while I was there. It’s my lime green mickey ears bracelet. Isn’t it cute!

We left BB right before a rain storm blew in. We were ready to go anyway so no problem. We waited in our TT for the rain to quit and then headed out to FW beach to watch the fireworks. We made a quick pit stop in the Meadows TP and bumped into AuburnJen. I’m glad we got to meet before my trip was over.

Here are some pictures of the Water Parade and fireworks from the beach:

Our kids joined in on a game of capture the flag (with a flip flop):

It was a great night and surprisingly (LOL), none of us wanted to go to the pool that night and swim.