Short “No Parks” Trip Report

[mom24girlz]

A couple days before Christmas I realized that my family needed a break from “real life”. The only problem with needing a break is that we were also pretty broke from making Christmas happen. I figured that I could eeek out $400 for a quick getaway. After polling the family and giving them a few different options on what we could do for our “broke man’s” getaway, we all unanimously decided on a trip to the Fort. This was perfect because the girls had received $50 Disney gift cards from their Aunt and Uncle. I was confident that we’d be able to do the trip and stay within our budget and then I started planning……

The cast for this trip is myself, DH, DD 16, DD 13, DD 21, and DGS 21 months.

Original trip plans: We would be at the Fort from Jan. 16th – Jan. 20th and no parks. ($238.52)

* Visit Poly for lunch at Captain Cook’s and a Dole Whip ($60)

*Mini Golf at Disney’s Winter Summerland ($70)

* Visit Disney Springs and lunch at Earl of Sandwich ($40)

*Visit Animal Kingdom Lodge just to check it out

*Dinner at Trails End ($200)

*Souvenir shopping at the Character Warehouse (Girls will use their gift cards.)

So, yes, my budget $400 trip morphed into a $650 (including gas) trip. The hubby gave me the ok but the extra money would have to be pulled from our main vacation fund which is currently there for a cruise we’d like to take this year and Annual Passes we’d like to get this year.


So that is what we planned, but here is what actually happened…..

4 days before we were supposed to be checking in our oldest daughter informed me that she had a job interview on the morning of the 17th. So, with sadness in my heart I called Disney to see if we could drop a day and check in on the 17th. The customer service rep was hilarious and totally top notch. She had to put me on hold to check with Mickey to see if there was anything they could do to make the change to my reservation. I wasn’t on hold very long, but when she came back she apologized for leaving me on hold for so long. She said that Stitch was up to his usual shenanigans but that she had good news. Her boss, Mickey, okayed the changed. I thought it was hilarious and enjoyed her being completely “in character”, hubby thought it was a bit too much.

So dd21 had her interview at 9:30. The night before, I asked her to be sure that she had everything she needed packed up and in the roof top bag (I’m not sure what this thing is called but it’s a black bag that we put on top of the van. Maybe cargo bag???) I had the two younger girls do the same thing. Before she left for her interview I asked oldest dd if she had EVERYTHING she needed in the bag. She said yes. I reminded her that we would not be able to come bac home before getting on the road. We would be leaving directly from her interview. She said “The baby and I are all packed up. Our tent is in the bag and everything. We’re good.”

On the morning of the 17th hubby took DD 21 to her job interview and dropped her off. He came home and we got the van loaded and just hung around at home until DD called to say she was ready. We got that call at about 12:30, we picked her up, hopped on I275 and we were on our way. We only live about 1.5 hours away so we were pulling in right around 2:15pm. As we were approaching the check in line, DD 21 says “Wait a minute. Did anybody pack my air mattress? I “think” I forgot to pack it in the big bag.” Hubby asks what she means by she thinks. Is she saying that we possibly have it. DD says she didn’t pack it and hubby who appears to be getting aggravated says he will head to Walmart after we get set up. While we were at the check in station, I remembered reading on here that the Fort will sometimes have cots to rent. I asked about it, the cast member calls someone to see if they have any, they do and 1 will be delivered to our site! Perfect, thank you Disney!!!

If these pics load they are of the girls and grandbaby from our trip to the Fort last May and a just a random pic I had of DH and I that I thought was pretty cute.

 

[bama_ed]

Glad it worked out for you, mom! Yeah, us dads get all the dirty work "I'll run to WalMart while you folks enjoy the campground". That kind of thing.

The tent picture looks like you had good weather.

Tells us more.

Bama Ed

PS - when you upload the pictures, there is an option to show them full size rather than the thumbnail option it defaults to. That would make them easier to view without having to click them. But glad you shared some pix.

PPS - I got a Dole Whip at the Poly on my trip last month. Sprang for the souvenir bowl $5 extra. Best souvenir I've had last few trips, honestly.

 

[4077]

Yeah...so how was the campground time? What did you do? How were the meals? More more more !!! well, if you have a chance...

 

[cruising spud]

So, now I am curious.....how did the rest of your trip go?

And, did you daughter get the job?

 

[mom24girlz]

One thing I left out is that about 10 days prior to our scheduled check-in, I called and requested loop 1500. We’ve stayed in both tent loops and prefer 1500. It’s not in our budget to rent a golf cart and we are spending most of our time at the Fort, so being in 1500 would be much more convenient. On the way to the Fort I got a text message that our site was ready and we were assigned to site 2061. I called and asked if there was any way we could be changed to 1500. The only site in 1500 available for our entire stay was 1504. I was a little nervous about bus noises and comfort station traffic but we took it.


(This is our set up from last may, but we did the exact same setup this time.)

Set up was quick and it looked like weather was going to be great. We had checked the weather before leaving home and it looked like we would be rain free every day except possibly Thursday. Thursday was showing a 60% chance of rain, but this was Tuesday and everything was beautiful. DD21 has her own 6-person tent for her and grandbaby. Her tent is an insta-tent (think that’s what it’s called) and she had it up in about 5 minutes. Our tent is a Wenzel Timber Ridge 10 Person Tent. It is very spacious and perfect for the 4 of us and took us about 20 – 25 minutes to get it up. Within about 1 ½ hours we were pretty much done setting up and ready to start vacationing. Everyone was hungry so the girls and I decided to make our journey to the Poly for a meal at Capt. Cooks. Hubby was going to visit a high school friend of his that lives in Orlando.

We used the internal busses quite a bit during our stay. We caught the bus down to the Settlement area and walked down to catch the Magic Kingdom boat. The wait was only a few minutes, but long enough for us to meet a wonderful couple from NJ. I ended up talking with them the entire boat ride over. We got off the boat at Magic Kingdom and got on the Monorail that would be going to the Contemporary, TTC, and the Poly. We enjoyed looking around the Poly and checking out a couple gift shops. We got directions and headed back to Capt. Cooks. I ordered the Pork Nachos, I can’t remember the name of what DD13 and DD16 ordered. It was a noodle dish that they shared and they also got a brownie. We ate at an outdoor table overlooking the pool area. Once I was done eating DD21 walked over and grabbed Dole Whips for both of us. We enjoyed them and to our surprise we got to enjoy a the Torch lighting ceremony.



Shortly after that ended we made the trek back. We just did everything in reverse, monorail to Magic Kingdom --> boat to Ft. Wilderness --> internal bus back to loop 1500. At this point we were all pretty tired. The younger girls road their bikes around the loop for a bit, dd21 and grandbaby showered and settled in, hubby and I set outside feeling incredibly blessed.

 

[FortForever]

I can't wait to read this in depth when I get home this evening! We, too, are planning a $400 trip. We have weekday annual passes, that only cost $13.65 per month, so we will be able to do the parks. Our money is going to the campsite, gas, tolls, about $30 to four Figment Scavenger Hunt at the Arts Festival, our yearly Christmas ornament, and a bit in the budget for anything that comes up.

We're staying five nights at a tent site. We have a full kitchen with refrigerator and freezer. I have precooked and frozen all of our meals for while we are there, so plan to spend nothing on food at Disney. We are not counting the $111 I spent in groceries against our budget since we would have eaten the same at home. Anxious to see if we can do it. We do plan to take at least one day away from the parks to do other things as well, so very much looking forward to reading your trip report. Everyone looks happy in the pics! Can't think of a better place than to be than Disney.

 

[FortForever]

The younger girls road their bikes around the loop for a bit, dd21 and grandbaby showered and settled in, hubby and I set outside feeling incredibly blessed.

Beautiful! Looking forward to the rest of your trip report as we pack for our own budget trip.