Trip Report 11/24-12/03-07 Cheers, Jeers, and Tears - at FW?

[CottontailCurl]

So! Hopefully there's not a time limit to get trip reports out here, here's mine 2 months late. It's not really a play by play but just observations of our stay and some pictures to go with them.

Check-In at Fort Wilderness: It was a balmy 80 degrees outside, beautiful blue skies, but it still felt like Christmas. The check-in area was beautifully decorated. Here are a couple pictures of the decorations:
Stockings are hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Mickolas soon would be there:

I've come to love this Sampler, to me it means 'we're here'!!

 

[CottontailCurl]

We liked the new improvements made to the bus system. We give the themed music and announcements a cheer, but we did miss the interaction with the bus drivers. There were a couple drivers who turned off the music and announcements and went to old school ways. One was awesome and gets a big cheer for being one of those kind of CMs who seems to really enjoy what he's doing - he even saved us later in the trip by helping us track down a lost backpack with camcorder in it . I believe the other was just tired of the music and turned it off, he also turned off his own voice and didn't tell anyone which loop we were at or anything. I think we enjoyed having FW background music in the bus even more than we usually would have because the real music had been replaced with Christmas music.

Buses at the Outpost Bus Stop:

Nekkid cabin on the way to our campsite (this is where everyone in the family starts staring in disbelief at all the loopage visible since the clearing started):

 

[CottontailCurl]

After we made our way to our campsite on the 2000 loop, we tried to set up camp but found all the clearing to be a big distraction. My oldest daughter went around taking pictures as evidence for CSI: Lake Buena Vista. There was a lot of "I can't believe this" and "What have they done?" , "I think I can see to the next loop over", "I think I can see the marina!". After we got everyone to focus again, we got to work. I figured it was what it was and we'd make do with what we had. One of the strangest things about it was how the loop seemed smaller with everything exposed. Another was that the inner comfort station, which would have been out of sight and out of mind before, was 'right there' where we could see it and hear it because there was no buffer between us and it. I was ready to stay there and go with the flow, but my husband surprised me by suggesting we move since the loop was so far away from everything. He wanted to be near the 'action'. We were able to get a new site in the 1500 loop.

The inner section of the 2000 loop:

Sunset on the 2000 loop on that first day (this is a site across from our first site on the outer part of the loop):

(PS Jeers to the clearing)

 

[CottontailCurl]

Trying Forget Reality 101 - hammock on a beach.

(Below) Right around the corner from those trees would be the ex shoe tree, now tree tree. Right foot was in the sand, pushing. There was enough space on the hammock for me and my husband.

The view from a moving hammock:

To the right:

Above:

To the left:

Big cheers for Hammocks on the Beach . My husband and I came back another day, it was night actually and kind of chilly by that time in the week. We snuggled together and watched the stars above us.

 

[CottontailCurl]

Not so hidden pine-cone Mickey my youngest made near the bus station:

View from the phone beside the ticket and information booth (I was on hold with the front desk for a loooong time and got bored):

Full moon over bay lake, taken while in line at the dock:

You *might* be a Disney Freak (This was a tri-circle Mickey in the clouds above the light post, except by the time we backed the car up to take a picture the clouds had shifted into this side-view of Mickey. You see it, dontcha, dontcha?) :

The beach from the boat:

Above the fireplace in the trading post (even the mantel has a travel trailer, and I don't!!):

This is the Fort on Drugs:

 

[CottontailCurl]

I had to add these pictures of the castle. It was so pretty, like a dusting of snow on the castle that was glistening in the moonlight. I don't have a tripod and don't take night pictures well with my camera so I'm very happy I was able to get these by bracing my arms on a fence and not using flash.

Christmas scene in the Yacht Club lobby - even this little plastic man has a pop-up and I don't!!

America, spread your golden wings, sail on freedom's wind, cross the sky.
Great bird, with your golden dreams, flying high, flying high.
Restless one, in a world of change, keeping dreams aloft, in the rain.
Spirit free, soaring over clouds, of time, of time.
America, you must keep dreaming now. Dreaming of promise now, of your pioneers.

 

[CottontailCurl]

Tears at Fort Wilderness? Really? You'll never guess who caused them - Sundee! We went to the campfire sing-a-long and movie more times this trip than any other trip, I almost feel like Sundee should adopt us. She never failed on any of the nights to entertain us and, although the skeleton of the sing-a-long was the same each time, she shook things up to make each night have its own flavor (don't read this section if you've never been to the CF program and don't want to spoil any of it).

One night part ways through the show she announced that as she was coming up the aisle she noticed a celebrity was in the audience (this is where everyone snapped their necks trying to see WHO it could be). It was Davy Crockett himself! She asked him to come up to the stage and there in front of us was a cute little boy who was about 8 or 9 and wearing a coonskin cap. She asked him to stand there with her while she sang his song to him and said he was to act out each part as she sang it. He was so funny! He really got into it "went off to Congress to serve a spell, fixing up the government and laws as well"; I think she had him pretend to write out a law and he did it with style. He did such a good job acting out Davy's life!

Then another night she invited a couple to come up onto the stage with her; a husband and wife who were sitting in the audience. When they got up there she announced it was their 40th anniversary! Lots of applause for them and then she asked them a couple questions about themselves. The last question was "What's kissing like at 40?" They were like 'huh'? She says "well, show us!!" and they kissed. She asked them to stand down on the ground in front of the stage because she had something else she wanted them to show us - the husband was like . She asked them to put their arms around each other and dance to the music. Then Sundee started singing in a tone I've never heard her have in all the times I've seen her show, it was more soft, more clear, it was a song just for them:

"I'll always remember the song they were playin',
The first time we danced and I knew,
As we swayed to the music and held to each other,
I fell in love with you.

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?
Would you be my partner every night?
When we're together, it feels so right.
Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?"

Even now, I've got tears.

Thank you Sundee for many magical nights.

 

[CottontailCurl]

Live long and Disney.

 

[JodyLynC]

Thank you for the wonderful review! We will be staying in a cabin this May and are looking forward to it!

 

[PolynesianPixie]

That was so nice! I had to chuckle at your hidden Mickeys because we find them everywhere! Stain on the carpet? Can't clean it up~it looks like Mickey! Bruise on a knee? It doesn't hurt, because it looks like Mickey! It's so nice to know that there are other Disney freaks out there!

 

[BigDaddyRog]

Wow......Ctail.......that made me wanna be nice to my lil' ol'lady today. You sure know how to tell a story.

 

[CottontailCurl]

Thank you for the wonderful review! We will be staying in a cabin this May and are looking forward to it!

Your welcome! Can I ask you - are you able to see the Sampler and Full Moon pictures? There's supposed to be a streak of moonshine on the water and a little boat in the foreground. I could see these pictures on my photobucket account but can't see them well when I looked at them on here.

 

[CottontailCurl]

That was so nice! I had to chuckle at your hidden Mickeys because we find them everywhere! Stain on the carpet? Can't clean it up~it looks like Mickey! Bruise on a knee? It doesn't hurt, because it looks like Mickey! It's so nice to know that there are other Disney freaks out there!

Yay, it is good to know we're not alone! I take the freakishness a level further, though by taking pictures of it. After drinking an iced mocha at the Writer's Corner in MGM three pieces of the circle-shaped ice fell into a Mickey formation up against the side of the cup. I see nothing wrong with taking these kind of pictures .

 

[CottontailCurl]

Wow......Ctail.......that made me wanna be nice to my lil' ol'lady today. You sure know how to tell a story.

Aw, Thanks! It was so sweet watching the anniversary couple, I told myself that that is what it's all about. Marriage (and life) isn't perfect, it's ups and downs, good days and bad. Sometimes it's making it to 40 years without having the police come and put one of you in jail .

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Yay, it is good to know we're not alone! I take the freakishness a level further, though by taking pictures of it. After drinking an iced mocha at the Writer's Corner in MGM three pieces of the circle-shaped ice fell into a Mickey formation up against the side of the cup. I see nothing wrong with taking these kind of pictures .

I thought I was the only one who knew about the Writer's Corner. Keep this one under your hat - we don't want riffraff like tungpo1, Gatordad or BigDaddyRog showing up there.

 

[PolynesianPixie]

Yay, it is good to know we're not alone! I take the freakishness a level further, though by taking pictures of it. After drinking an iced mocha at the Writer's Corner in MGM three pieces of the circle-shaped ice fell into a Mickey formation up against the side of the cup. I see nothing wrong with taking these kind of pictures .

Not a darn thing!

 

[Gatordad]

mgm is actually kinda cool.

 

[BigDaddyRog]

I thought I was the only one who knew about the Writer's Corner. Keep this one under your hat - we don't want riffraff like tungpo1, Gatordad or BigDaddyRog showing up there.

You guys got me on that one...I dont even remember SEEING a place called Writers Corner....thats not the place next to SCI-FI Theater, with the couch is it?

 

[PolynesianPixie]

Get with the program~it's Hollywood Studios now!

 

[BigDaddyRog]

I prefer MGM to Epcot OR AK...we always do it as our last park, not on purpose...just always has happened that way. Its so much more laid back and the street performers are really funny. and ya get to sit down for all the live shows (Beauty/Beast,LionKing,etc)....sitting is good, I like to sit. Sometimes I spend the whole day just sitting, and sometimes I even ponder.