TR | Tent Camping (21 days)

[ilovedisneymm]

Well we're back! From door to door our trip has managed to reach 23 days & 21 of those at Disney. I'm sore, tired, and a good 5lbs rounder. We drove from IL (16 hours each way) and towed a small trailer with golf cart. We had a few bumps in the road this trip but all in all it was still a great one! Everyone is home and safe and I call that a win in my book! We went from 72 degree and brilliant sunshine to 24 hours later, -15 below wind chills. The kids are watching cartoons in their pjs and I don't see getting out of mine for at least a day or two. I have running water, indoor plumbing and a nice full cup of coffee so lets get this trip report started. It will take me some time to finish it off as I have taken a silly amount of photos on three different sources (my real camera, my iphone and the hubby's iphone). I took daily notes of the highlights on random pieces of paper and stuffed them under my cot at night. Rain came in on the second to last day and soaked them all, so I will do the best I can with the details. A smarter person would have done two things, (1) kept notes in a spiral bound book and (2) kept those notes in a safer place.

So this is my most current family picture of us, just your everyday average small town farming family.

Melissa, homeschooling mamma
Daniel, farmer
Kailan, too cool for Disney at this point & busy with college courses & cheerleading
Grace, lego master builder
Daniel, litte farmer

 

[PaHunter]

Glad you made it home safe. Sorry to hear about the below zero temps, have them here also. Look forward to the pictures. Have about 3 week left and I will be taking my own.

 

[Disneypeach]

so glad y'all had a good time and got home safely. Looking forward to your TR!

 

[ilovedisneymm]

We were going to come in on a Saturday but after joining this forum and following the advice of Bama Ed & Snow Medic, we moved our trip up a few days and came in on a Thursday in hopes for a good site. I'm sure glad we did cause it was overflowing come that Saturday. We would have arrived and the 1500 loop would have not been an option and would have been stuck over in the 2000 loops with those flying skateboards, Snow Medic mentioned in his last report. Let me add that his description was spot on! I requested the 1500 loop, near the back and with the most foliage and privacy possible with the online check-in. I also called the big D and had them note the sizes of our two tents. They are 11X17 and wanted to insure we had enough tent pad to accommodate. We had site 1509 and it fit our requests to a T!

Here are some pictures of our set up. I will apologize in advance for the so so quality of the photos in my report.

The two beds on the ends are Coleman deluxe cots with pads and they are very very nice to sleep on. I was worried about the comfort level but it was just fine. The kids slept on two twin air beds. I doubled them up in the day for room to walk around in and for the kids to play or watch a bit of tv and at night I would just set them side by side.

If you are planning on tent camping in the winter months, I strongly suggest small space heaters and electric blankets too. We each had an electric blanket and the heaters kept the air in the tent nice and cozy. Weather ranged from low 40s to mid 70s.




View attachment 1102

 

[4077]

Cool set up!! Excited to watch this report!

How long to get all set up once you at site, I am curious..

 

[AlishaDisney]

I am amazed at how organized you are. Did you bring all of that with you?

 

[DisneyNole12]

Following along!!! I would love to stay at FW for such an extended trip and your set up is awesome!
Cant wait to read more and see your adorable little ones!

 

[FortWildernessCamper]

What a great set-up you had with those tents. Looks like you could stay for a good long time!

 

[hushupu]

Nice set up. I am assuming you drove down. How big of a vehicle did it take to get all the gear and people down there?

 

[PaHunter]

Nice set up,like the plastic shelving and carpet.

 

[tina.tina]

I am so excited to read your report. Thanks for the pictures so far. Your idea of camping looks a lot like mine!

 

[coastalhh]

What a fantastic setup. How did you get everything there? I need packing tips.

 

[ilovedisneymm]

Cool set up!! Excited to watch this report!

How long to get all set up once you at site, I am curious..

Thanks. It look a full day to set up and a few hours the next day too. We could have done it all in a day but were exhausted from the long drive down. Polishing touches & grocery shopping were done the next day.

I am amazed at how organized you are. Did you bring all of that with you?

Yes! We went grocery shopping the following day too.

Nice set up. I am assuming you drove down. How big of a vehicle did it take to get all the gear and people down there?

What a fantastic setup. How did you get everything there? I need packing tips.

We brought down our mini van and it was perfectly packed to the brim. The trailer held the golf cart, one of the folding tables, shelves, box fans, cooler and we packed the cooler full of all the kitchen stuff like coffee pot, toaster, electric skillet, dishes, mini crock pot, etc. We also mounted the double stroller on the top of the van.

 

[Goofy14sure]

WOW! That is a nice set up! Looking forward to the report!

 

[ilovedisneymm]

Day 1 | Thursday

We arrived at Fort Wilderness around 11 am and the lady at the front gate welcomed us Home!

Daniel dropped me off at check in and went and unloaded the cart with the kids.



Site 1509 was assigned to us, it was a very nice site with lots of shrubbery and trees. Site 1512 next to us was open and it too is a very nice site, bigger but not as private. We thought about switching before someone else check in but decided to stay with 1509 cause of all the privacy around it and it opened up the "woods" in the middle where the kids ran and played within eye & ear shot. I also really like site 1521 cause it is right next to the tetherball area and the kids loved to play there, it is closer to the road though but not too close. All in all my favorite sites were 1509, 1512 and 1521 and I'm not sure which would be my favorite cause they all have their great qualities.

We had most everything set up by dark. We could have finished if we hurried but I like neat and tiddy and things done right so I settled for almost done. We cancelled our TR reservations because I knew we wouldn't be done in time and I knew we would all be too dirty to go inside to eat. We settled for looping around (driving the golf cart around looking at other campsites, RVS, cabins), TE to go down by Bay Lake and watched the fireworks. It was overcast that night and hard to see but we were so tired it didn't really matter. We were just happy to be at the Fort. We went to bed early and could hear the electrical night parade from the tent, it brought a great big smile to everyone. Light rain came in that night and we all slept like babies. The tents held up great with the rain. We didn't seam seal it either. The only rain that came in was in the closet areas, a small puddle in the back corner of each. Towards the end of our trip a larger rain came in and quickly and that did pool a bit of water under my cot and my cot only. The only thing that got damaged was my notes to do the TR with so please excuse me for some mix ups that I'm sure will come with this report.

View from behind 1509 & 1512



The tree of life where the 1500 loop kids gathered and played pretend!

 

[ilovedisneymm]

Day 2 | Friday

We went to bed early the night before and I woke up about 5am happy and unable to go back to sleep. I decided to go get groceries in the dark, on my own, with no clue where I was going. I woke Daniel up to tell him what I was doing and he managed to mumble at me. I went to the closest Walmart and should have settled for the pricey Win Dixie down the road. The Walmart is a good 15 minute drive. We later found the Publix and that is my future go to grocery store for our future trips.

A few hours and a few hundred dollars later, I was back. With FOOD, lots of food and water and beer!

The kids were up and playing and giggling so I feed them a box of donuts like any good mom would for breakfast. Daniel and I unpacked the groceries and finished setting up.

We blew a tire on the trailer 20 minutes before we arrived at the Fort and Daniel quickly fixed it with the spare. We wanted to go ahead and get the new tire taken care of now since we weren't going into the parks or had anything big planned.

Disney of all places had the tire we needed! So we picked up a new tire, washed the van off and stopped in at the outlet stores to pick up a new swimsuit for the Grace.

Once back we took the kids swimming and grilled out and went to bed early.

 

[ilovedisneymm]

Well I'm just going to keep going here with my TR. The kids are busy playing with all their toys. I guess being away for three weeks makes those old toys look new again My ankles are killing me cause I fell down a flight of stairs at Toy Story Mania (more later about this) so I don't really care to unpack right now. I thought I would want to take care of all that first but whatever, I'm still sore and tired and yes, still in my pajamas at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

Day 3 | Saturday

Lets go to the Mine Train, I mean Magic Kingdom. Today was suppose to be a crowd level of 7 and it sure was. I knew it was going to be the busiest day of our trip so we made rope drop! I'm kind of upset that the big boat doesn't get you to MK before opening ceremony. I knew this from prior trips so naturally we took the resort boat over to the contemporary and walked to MK from there.

Now this is where the Grace beings to cry and she cries a lot in this trip. Every opening ceremony, every parade, every princess meet in greet, before, during and after BBB and a few more tears of joy here and there.



We had fast passes for Mine Train, Rail Road & Peter Pan.

We rode Buzz Light year first as it has become tradition for us. Then, Rail Road three times before our FP selection as it is their all time favorite ride! Rode a few more rides and had lunch at Pinocchio's Village and it was Yum! The flat bread pizza is good and the price is decent. We then stopped in at Couture Castle and purchased some Tinker Bell items. Used our Fast Passes and then the crowds came and we left.

Mine Train is really a cute ride. The swiveling carts are fun and you can't help but dance a little when the hi ho song start up.

TIP - It is better to ride this first thing or later in the day when the sun is not so harsh as the sun puts such a glare on Snow White's house it is hard to see her and the dwarfs inside. I'm not sure why the designer's didn't think about that when constructing it. I imagine in time the windows will be replaced. Also, I recommend putting your child to the right as they can have a better view of her house at the end of the ride.

 

[ilovedisneymm]

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[Disneypeach]

Sorry to hear you got hurt! hope you feel better soon!

Love your tents! Boy, I sure wish we'd had those when I was a kid...we had an old Sir Edmund Hillary Sears blue canvas monster! Very heavy and leaked like crazy when it rained. But we still had a ton of fun camping...I even brought it down to the Fort once when I was in my 20's...long time ago.

 

[ilovedisneymm]

Day 4 | Sunday

BBB appointment scheduled for 8am with a 9am opening. We had a Disney driver pick us up at our site and drop us off at the front of MK. He was scheduled to pick us up at 7am and arrived at exactly 6:58. Daniel and little Daniel took the golf cart down to the outpost and parked it for our return on the boat later that day. The driver kindly made a second stop to pick up the Daniel's down at the outpost. We arrived around 7:20 at MK and were first in line to enter the park.

The wait...



The first ones in...



The welcoming from the Fairy Godmother's in training...



Grace & Daniel after the BBB. They loved it, but Oh how I wish they would have better hair style selections. Are you a rocker chick or a princess??? She picked it, she loved, so I will love it too.



My handsome Knight!



So let's go meet some Princesses now that we are all dolled up, shall we?

We had FP for Cindy & Rupunzel and then directly after for A&E. But since we were done with BBB by 8:45 and no one in the parks yet, we were able to walk right in for A&E.