The open October 2015 pre-trip report

[serenitygr]

Oh gosh- haven't had much time to be on the boards this week, so was very excited to see "it has begun"......

We've been crazy busy this week, which is good because the time goes faster that way... We are down to 16 official days until departure. That is Monday the 28th- we are heading for Minneapolis/St. Paul that afternoon to spend the night at a hotel near the airport, and flying out at 6:50 the next morning! Still have LOTS to do to get ready!

We are in our 2nd year of homeschooling, so that's what me and the 4 kids are doing each weekday. Joe- our other half- is out trucking across the USA, trying to make enough money we can get our bills paid ahead a little bit so we can enjoy our vacation and not worry about anything getting behind.... We have our last horse show of the year today- we'll be leaving for that in less than an hour, in fact!

We don't have much vehicle preparation this time, since we are flying down, and renting from Florida Camper Rental. (definitely not like a couple years ago when we drove the rolling turd down in the middle of winter! But we still have lots to do! Since we live on a horse farm, and also raise dogs, we need to get our house sitter prepped. We are very lucky that it is my oldest twins dad who agreed to stay here- taking care of the horses is fairly easy, but taking care of 20 dogs can be a challenge! This summer we raised 42 Basset Hound puppies, and the last 6 leave this coming weekend, so at least he won't have that to do!

I'm also trying to figure out how to make shirts. I ordered some cool pictures from an Etsy shop that I can print onto transfer paper, and make our own shirts, but I've never done it, so it's a little bit daunting... The fact that our main printer is a laser jet makes things even more difficult. I think I have to get our old ink jet hooked up and try that....

Other than that, our itinerary is pretty much set up! Fast passes booked, dinner reservations set up, magic bands have arrived, suitcases are sitting here waiting to be packed, and we're starting our menu/shopping list for when we get down there...Tours booked, Pirates cruise booked on my birthday! horseback rides booked, and bass fishing excursion for my youngest son booked! Holy cow I'm getting excited just thinking about it all!

Guess it's time to get ready to head to the show! Can't wait to follow along and join in with everyone! We're pretty much open the afternoon/evenings of Friday and Saturday, October 9th and 10th, in case anything is going to be tentatively planned for a get together. We'd be happy to contribute to a pot luck of any kind! Not sure how good we'll be at cooking in this camper, but I think we'll have the hang of it by then!

 

[sirenia88]

Trip report added to the M&G thread. Enjoy! 26 days and counting....

 

[snowmedic]

we raised 42 Basset Hound puppies

My DW loves your avaitar pic, We have a brindle basset. She says yours are adorable.

So far we have looked into tickets for WonderWorks, from the internet it looks like there will be a lot of fun an interesting things for them to learn about for schooling. We are waiting to see if tickets for Aquatica goes on sale before we head down. Last year before we left we where able to buy Pay for a Day play for the rest of the year tickets just before we came down, so watching e-mail for that info. As I have said in my previous post we don't do Disney parks and last years horrific experience just reminded us of why we don't do them. We love the Fort and will always come back, just not the parks.

We are down to having over half our ressie paid for so wont be so bad on the wallet when we get there if the rest isn't paid before we leave out in 25 days.
The kids are moving along on there schooling, even on the weekends so they wont have to do any while we are vacationing. They have started fundraising for the co-op that they go to every other Friday for school. They are the top sellers in the school, so when they heard they are going on Vaca. the school decided to do the fundraiser early.

We keep adding things to our totes to bring down with us. Our AP's are in the car ready to go and be used. I got a new decal for the car, it came in yesterday. For those of you that go over to the Universal forum you probably know which one I am referring to. Unless there is a request to see it, I will not post it here as it is not Disney or Fort related.

Hope more people start posting pre-trips and pics soon. More to come as the countdown continues.

 

[benjyt]

This is embarrassing.

In three weeks, we'll be spending our first night at FW. And just a few minutes ago, I finally ordered our tickets. Five days at the parks, October 6th for MNSSHP.

No Fast Passes yet. No dining reservations. Oh, the shame.

 

[snowmedic]

No Fast Passes yet. No dining reservations. Oh, the shame.

Nothing really wrong with that. I know that some people, ok, a lot of people go all out crazy planning things right down to the last second. It must be nice to be able to see into the future. Not that its a bad thing, but things do happen.

We don't do any planning ahead of time other than when we want to go on vacation. We already know what our first meal is the day we check in, the GAG from trails end, then as we have dinner we discuss what we want to do the next day and we go off and do it. No fast passes or express passes in our case, and no dinning reservations. I work in a fast paced environment, and being on vacation it gives me a chance to slow down. So what if I have to stand in line for 45 minutes to go on a ride, we don't have to rush through, standing in line and looking at the different facades and theming of each attraction is also fun.

You got the most important part of your vacation, to me, already done. Deciding that you want to go to Disney. Have a great time and don't stress to much about the rest.

 

[benjyt]

We don't mind too much, either. I've got a pretty good idea of what we might do at any time during the week. The MNSSHP on the 6th was the only real decision to make. Otherwise, I have to pretend that I don't have a plan so that my wife doesn't get suspicious...

 

[tiggerdad]

Unlike Snowmedic, my wife and kids would disown me if I took them and gave them no Disney parks. In fact, I had thought about going to Legoland one day but my kids voted to stay on Disney property instead, so the girls win out again. The only dinner reservation we have is at Trail's End on the evening of our arrival day. I have made FP+ choices for each day, but the only day for certain is the 12th where we will be doing the Food and Wine (weather permitting) and the 13th for the Halloween Party.

Today was spent working on the lamp post and spending the day outside with the kids since the weather here was really nice today. I got the PVC caps and with some debate decided to paint them yellow instead of black to give some variation.

Here is the post with the cross piece in it, yes that is Ironman playing in the background. My daughters were helping out in the shop and wanted a movie to watch.


Here is the finished product with the yellow caps and the flag that we will be hanging from it at the Fort.



Also, I was coming home from town yesterday and my neighbor was cleaning out his garage. He was throwing out some old Halloween decorations and I ran across this old faded thing





As you can tell it needs some tender loving care, but if I can pretty it up it looks like it would make a nice free piece to put out on display at the Fort, maybe a picnic table topper?
We'll put some work into it and see how it goes.

 

[sirenia88]

Looking good there Tiggerdad. My wife and I are debating to get some decorations for the camp site. I did Christmas lights last time since it was "Christmas time" in November. The main thing for us is we would not use them at home. Who knows what is in store this year at the campsite. Looking at the schedule, I do not think I will be at the campsite that much either.

 

[tiggerdad]

Okay, been a busy few days but have managed to work on some things for the upcoming trip.

First off, about all the picture problems that are going on with the Dis. Some of you have noticed some pics not coming through while others are able to see them. Some of you, I have noticed, have lost your avatar pictures, while some of you now have your old avatar pics (BamaEd, this morning your avatar was the Forrest Gump with his Alabama headgear on). I've spoken to the moderators who assure me the webmasters are aware and it is going on all over the Dis. There is a thread in the technical forum where people have been posting their complaints: http://www.disboards.com/threads/avatars-reverted-to-old-pre-new-boards.3446526/

Hopefully they will get this fixed as I have been having some problems seeing some of the pics on the Live September thread and it is getting me a little bent out of shape.

Now back to the pre-trip projects. I showed you guys that poor abandoned Halloween pumpkin decoration and so I made a stab at making it presentable again, if for nothing else, so it can have its day on the Disboard and its week at the Fort. So I cleaned it up nice then hit it with a few coats of orange paint. When I got done it was so orange that I felt like a Tennessee Volunteers fan, so I put a little splash of yellow in there to break it up a bit.



When it dried I taped it up and gave the base and stems some hunter green...


Finally, I put a little grey on the stems to give them that slightly dried look and here is the finished product with a new light in the base of it.

 

[snowmedic]

That cleaned up really nice. Haven't been doing much in the line of prep work. Right now just been busy at work so I can have things caught up before we head down. We did get these in the mail today



So I guess we are getting closer to our check-in day. Will post more as things progress.

 

[sirenia88]

Is it go day yet? Not for another 3 weeks. Hopefully in 21 days I will be on a bass boat. The Trailer had a good cleaning last Sunday in anticipation. We found some Disney Halloween cling ons during the cleaning process. However, we are going to hit up the RV show this weekend at Hershey. Start looking at the next rig for our family's camping adventures. Much like morning rush hour traffic, we are just creeping along....

 

[serenitygr]

Is it go day yet? Not for another 3 weeks. Hopefully in 21 days I will be on a bass boat. The Trailer had a good cleaning last Sunday in anticipation. We found some Disney Halloween cling ons during the cleaning process. However, we are going to hit up the RV show this weekend at Hershey. Start looking at the next rig for our family's camping adventures. Much like morning rush hour traffic, we are just creeping along....

Are you doing one of the guided Bass fishing excursions, sirenia88?

 

[JETS70]

Tiggerdad...... nice find on the abandoned pumpkin decoration. Looks better than new. You might want to keep it out of sight of the neighbor. He may want it back.

 

[tiggerdad]

Jets70, he offered to buy it from me.

Hey Vince, good mail arrival, mine came in the mail today


I also managed to find the Minnie Mouse welcome light as well to match the Mickey Mouse I posted about earlier

 

[tiggerdad]

Oh, and Vince, here is a picture of that AC unit I told you I would bring to help keep you guys from getting too hot during your stay


Well, the week is winding down to the weekend, and the Alabama vs. Ole Miss showdown in T Town. The plans right now are for SouthAlabama5er to ride up and meet us and we're heading over to tailgate with the famous BamaEd. Kickoff is set for 8:15pm, so it's gonna be a late one. You guys make sure you watch the game, not only will you see a good matchup, but you might get the extra special benefit of seeing the three of us during the crowd shots!

 

[lindsey]

We have a short camping trip this weekend, pigeon forge. We will be able to confirm what is in camper, and if we need to add anything.

 

[tiggerdad]

Jealous!

Pigeon Forge, then a month later Disney World!?

 

[sirenia88]

Are you doing one of the guided Bass fishing excursions, sirenia88?

Yup. I did one last year and it was worth every penny. The guide was from South Jersey so we spoke about all things New Jersey plus did some fishing. We spent about 45 minutes in front of river country and caught a number of bass in the area. Then we shot across the lake and manage to hit on a few over there as well. The WDW Fishing experience is just a really nice experience that few really know about.

 

[serenitygr]

Yup. I did one last year and it was worth every penny. The guide was from South Jersey so we spoke about all things New Jersey plus did some fishing. We spent about 45 minutes in front of river country and caught a number of bass in the area. Then we shot across the lake and manage to hit on a few over there as well. The WDW Fishing experience is just a really nice experience that few really know about.

That is so good to know! We booked the 2 hour one for 2 people our last Saturday there- it's my younger (10) year old sons special birthday gift, because all he really wants to do in life is fish. He doesn't really even like many of the rides at Disney- just the stuff with animals. So I'm so glad we found this for him. His typical afternoon, after his school is done, is to ride his bike a little ways down the road to the boat landing, and he fishes there for hours. Then if he catches something he'll put it in his bucket and hang it on his handlebars, and brings it home for his older brother to clean. He doesn't think he'll like fishing at Disney because he doesn't think he'll catch anything, but I have a feeling he will love it

 

[sirenia88]

Ok yeah Your 2 people will probably fish off a pontoon boat for the added room and comfort. I usually have a bass boat take me out for the 2 hour period. During the time I was out, I caught 2 with my guide catching 10 or so. So they were definitely hitting. The guides will set up all the poles and you can request type of reel and bait as well. I fished with some top water lures as well as a rubber worms. If they catch something, the guides have you reel them in if you so choose. One thing to remember, everything is catch and release. The fish are pretty much use to the noise of the lake. The guides do know the waters and were fish generally school. They are not chumming the waters to increase your chances of catching something. My guide was telling me they are one of about 20 Disney employees who are guides on the waters of WDW. You fish other waters of Disney as well not just the 7 seas and bay lake. Many employees don't even know these guys and gals exist. Remember to make sure your party tips them as well if they hit hard that day. Your son will enjoy his on water time with the fishing experience.