trip report and how many cars can fit on one site?

[Tri-circle-D]

Before I move on to Monday, I wanted to talk about the CS. I know a lot of people post that they never have to wait and everything is always clean, or maybe that is just the men? I have to tell you all that none of this was the case for me, but I was the only female in my group.

Sunday evening before the birthday party group left, they all hit the showers, at the same time. Unfortunately for me, I needed to shower too, I had to wait. There were multiple people in each shower stall, they would walk from one to the other and trade shampoo and conditioner, there must have been 3 people in each stall. I even got to hear while 1 mom taught each girl how to wash their hair, and she had to give the instructions to each one individually.

Even after that group left, it seemed like the moms were in the CS with 4 or 5 very small kids each.

Over all the CS was crowded and dirty most of the days we were there, I soon learned to sleep in and go around 9:30 am. There was even a door missing from a stall for a few days.

There was one day though that I saw a security vehicle parked across from TCD's site and I thought "oh no, what has TCD gotten into?" but the Disney po po was standing outside the ladies room side of the CS. As I walked up, a Disney suit came up to me and introduced himself as the fort manager on duty and would I please go into the ladies room and make sure it was empty so he could go in and check on some reported damage. It was empty but it was a disaster, no damage, but a real mess. Toilet paper was everywhere, even in the showers, toilets were not flushed and it was not pretty. He went in and cleaned things up a bit and then came back out and left.

I didn't consider it to be a major problem, but during my visit, I do think the CS at the 1500 loop was not maintained as well as CS's usually are. Something was definitely off.

It could be that there was a dud castmember on duty. Or, it could be that this is something else that Fort management is trying to cut corners on. We can't be sure from just this one visit.

I have noticed that when there are large groups on campsites, you are going to have congestion in the CS's. This is especially true on the tent loops where folks do not have their own facilities to use.

My DD's also had CS experiences with moms and kids in the showers. One time, it was a mom with three young boys. According to my DD, two of the boys were 9 or 10-ish. The mom had them in the women's CS with her, and after the boys showered, they were ordered to wait in the dressing area while the mom showered. And Momma took her sweet time. And the boys didn't want to be there, and didn't want to sit still, so there was a lot of commotion. My teen-aged daughters didn't like the idea that there were boys right outside their shower doors while they were showering. I don't like it either. I don't understand some people, but it seems like there are more and more of them in the world every day.

TCD

 

[DaveInTN]

My DD's also had CS experiences with moms and kids in the showers. One time, it was a mom with three young boys. According to my DD, two of the boys were 9 or 10-ish. The mom had them in the women's CS with her, and after the boys showered, they were ordered to wait in the dressing area while the mom showered. And Momma took her sweet time. And the boys didn't want to be there, and didn't want to sit still, so there was a lot of commotion. My teen-aged daughters didn't like the idea that there were boys right outside their shower doors while they were showering. I don't like it either. I don't understand some people, but it seems like there are more and more of them in the world every day.

That's a tough situation. On the one hand, it could be she was a single mom and didn't feel comfortable letting the older boys shower alone in the men's showers. I can't say I blame her for that. But on the other hand, it could be a different situation where they have a better option but this is the one they chose. And if there are better options I certainly wouldn't choose to have 9 or 10 year old boys in the women's showers! In that case, I am in Camp TCD on this one. My daughters would not like that either, nor would I. You can't tell me there aren't 10 year old boys mature enough to try to sneak a peak!

 

[Tri-circle-D]

That's a tough situation. On the one hand, it could be she was a single mom and didn't feel comfortable letting the older boys shower alone in the men's showers. I can't say I blame her for that. But on the other hand, it could be a different situation where they have a better option but this is the one they chose. And if there are better options I certainly wouldn't choose to have 9 or 10 year old boys in the women's showers! In that case, I am in Camp TCD on this one. My daughters would not like that either, nor would I. You can't tell me there aren't 10 year old boys mature enough to try to sneak a peak!

My objection isn't that the mom brought the boys into the shower so she could supervise them. I don't know her situation, and she might not have had anyone else to help with this. But, I don't see why she had to take her shower then, too. leaving the boys out in the dressing area where nothing good was going to happen.

TCD

 

[proudmomof4]

I'm in! You are soooo lucky to live so close! Being up here in New England makes it harder for us to get there. Can't wait for more!

We are lucky, I just wish we had it in our schedules to go more than once or twice a year.

The world is getting smaller. My brother also works in the comm center. How cool

I sent you a PM

 

[proudmomof4]

I didn't consider it to be a major problem, but during my visit, I do think the CS at the 1500 loop was not maintained as well as CS's usually are. Something was definitely off.

It could be that there was a dud castmember on duty. Or, it could be that this is something else that Fort management is trying to cut corners on. We can't be sure from just this one visit.

I have noticed that when there are large groups on campsites, you are going to have congestion in the CS's. This is especially true on the tent loops where folks do not have their own facilities to use.

My DD's also had CS experiences with moms and kids in the showers. One time, it was a mom with three young boys. According to my DD, two of the boys were 9 or 10-ish. The mom had them in the women's CS with her, and after the boys showered, they were ordered to wait in the dressing area while the mom showered. And Momma took her sweet time. And the boys didn't want to be there, and didn't want to sit still, so there was a lot of commotion. My teen-aged daughters didn't like the idea that there were boys right outside their shower doors while they were showering. I don't like it either. I don't understand some people, but it seems like there are more and more of them in the world every day.

TCD

While I am not complaining that the moms had to bring in their 4 or 5 small children (been there done that), I will say that I have been spoiled by staying in premuim loops for the past 4 years and not having to wait much for a shower and never for a restroom. On the last Saturday morning when the Parks and Recreation girls went en masse to the CS there was a line for the potties.

I think I saw the same mom with the boys on Friday night, the boys were in their pj's and play fighting in the hallway between the restroom area and the showers.

 

[proudmomof4]

Tuesday April 13th

The boys woke up about 9:30 and decided they wanted to go to Animal Kingdom, we decided to drive over, we arrived at little after 11:00.

We had lunch first at Flame Tree and it was really pretty good, then we walked over to EE for fastpasses.

We went through the Majarajah Jungle Trek while we waited for our FP time to arrive. This area was more crowded than I had ever seen it, it was hard to get pics but I did get these two. See what I mean about the goofy faces?

EE was great as always but the Yeti was not working so the area where you would usually see him was just dark.

We walked over to Kilamajaro Safaris and grabbed FP and decided to do the Pangani forest trail. The gorillas were out and active

we were told the baby in this photo was 7 weeks old.

It was then time for the safari and as we went in the FP line we were detoured to the disabled access area and were loaded right onto a truck. Our truck was stopped 3 different times on our journey because one of the ostrich kept laying down in the road.

This giraffe was right next to our truck for the longest of our stops, about 10 minutes, the driver was saying she might come over and stick her head in and lick someone, but she never did.

Here is one of the guilt ostrich, now off to the side of the road.

Also we noticed that the truck took a slightly different route by the cheetah and we ended coming up to the lions from the side rather than from the back, I asked the driver about that and she said they had shortened the routes for spring break to get more people through the ride.

One more shot of the boys with EE in the background

We were meeting up with some friends for the campfire that night so we headed back to the fort.

And of course, DS17 had chili cheese nachos

 

[leagirl12]

I am loving your pictures and report!!

Earlier this week we booked our first trip to the Fort. Unfortunately we have to wait until next year. Seeing your's and TCD's reports is making we really want to time to fly.

I can't wait to go! I have a feeling we will become addicted very quickly so we have decided to go ahead and get AP's and book for Thanksgiving of 2011 as well!

 

[proudmomof4]

I am loving your pictures and report!!

Earlier this week we booked our first trip to the Fort. Unfortunately we have to wait until next year. Seeing your's and TCD's reports is making we really want to time to fly.

I can't wait to go! I have a feeling we will become addicted very quickly so we have decided to go ahead and get AP's and book for Thanksgiving of 2011 as well!

Thanks so much, I hope you have a great trip and yeah, you will become addicted.

 

[proudmomof4]

Wednesday April 14

Every morning and evening some deer would come out of the woods on the other side of the canal. Wednesday morning I decided to get some pics before we headed off to Epcot.

Here are me and the boys just after we got into Epcot.

There were lots for topiaries for the F&G festival

I met up with my friend and we decided to travel worldshowcase.

grass roof in Norway

Germany

Chilling out in China, we decided to stop in some of the countries to sample foods, here they tried orange chicken, sweet and sour chicken and potstickers.

In Germany we had frankfurters and then in America it was chicken nuggets and fries. In France we had crepes and a baguette with butter. My friend's daughter said we really ate around the world.

Landscaping to look like Mickey's head

In Canada

We left Epcot around 7 to go back to the fort so we could get Trail's End to go and and watch the EWP and then Wishes.

DS17 of course got the chili cheese nachos for the 4th night in a row

 

[proudmomof4]

Thursday April 15th

Thursday was just a relaxing day, DH took DS13 to play tennis, we went to the pool and cooked out again, really didn't do much of anything.

Here is a cute little camper which was in the 1500 loop.

This site had 4 cars on it most of the time, here it has only 2

Just some random photos from around the fort

 

[proudmomof4]

Friday April 16th

We wanted to go to MK just to ride Splash Mountain, you see, I had read that there is a not so hidden momento from one the Imagineers who had helped design and build the ride and I wanted to verify it.

We got there just in time for the morning parade.

As you can see, my family is really into parades aren't they?

So we made our way over to SM to grap FP, and then walked back to over to PoC but the MK was very crowded so we decided to find a quiet spot and just sit and wait for our FP time. Has anyone ever noticed the courtyard to far right of the entrance to Pirates? We never had, but we did this day.

We then went over to SM

We did validate the momento left by the Imagineer but I did not click a photo of it since it caught me by surprise. When you are in the laughing place before you start to climb the hill for the big drop, look up at the ceiling, there is a gopher who drops down and says "F-S-UUUU". The Imagineer was either an alumni or a big fan, but DS24 went to FSU so we are fans and wanted to see that.

After that we really took our time heading out of the park, just kind of strolled along taking in the sights. Yes, we just did that one ride, we had just been to MK in February and we have AP so we were ok with that.

 

[proudmomof4]

On Friday we came back from MK to see that the 2 sites next to us had been taken over by about 20 young girls from Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation. There is nothing like having 20 pre-teen and teenage girls in tents in the woods, they giggled and they screamed. They chased every form of wildlife which came within their site, you would think they had never seen squirrels and ducks before. They even started screaming about a carrot they found on the ground.

Saturday April 17th was to be our last day but I got a phone call at 3:00 am that Grandma Bunny had passed away an hour earlier, I let the boys sleep until the sun came up before I woke them up to give them the news.

I decided to go to the CS before packing up and a few yards in front of me I saw them, heading in the same direction, in a huge pack. 10 of the Parks and Recreation gang, I should have walked faster but I just couldn't so they beat me there. There was a line going out the door for the restrooms, the sinks were all packed, there was one stall available but the girls would not use that one because the automatic flusher didn't work and whomever used it last had left.......well, let's just say it wasn't pretty. One of the chaperons kept telling the girls to just push the flush button but the girls wouldn't, they just kept kicking the door open and screaming. I finally tired of this, I was really in no mood to hear the screaming again, so I walked to the front of the line, went in and flushed.

We packed up feeling so very sad and tired, knowing that when we got home there would be so much more sadness to share with the rest of the family.

Thanks to all who read along, we really did have a fun relaxing trip until the last day. Grandma Bunny was a wonderful woman who will be greatly missed by all who knew her. RIP Sophia W. "Bunny" Smith

 

[Disney Bunny]

On Friday we came back from MK to see that the 2 sites next to us had been taken over by about 20 young girls from Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation. There is nothing like having 20 pre-teen and teenage girls in tents in the woods, they giggled and they screamed. They chased every form of wildlife which came within their site, you would think they had never seen squirrels and ducks before. They even started screaming about a carrot they found on the ground.

Saturday April 17th was to be our last day but I got a phone call at 3:00 am that Grandma Bunny had passed away an hour earlier, I let the boys sleep until the sun came up before I woke them up to give them the news.

I decided to go to the CS before packing up and a few yards in front of me I saw them, heading in the same direction, in a huge pack. 10 of the Parks and Recreation gang, I should have walked faster but I just couldn't so they beat me there. There was a line going out the door for the restrooms, the sinks were all packed, there was one stall available but the girls would not use that one because the automatic flusher didn't work and whomever used it last had left.......well, let's just say it wasn't pretty. One of the chaperons kept telling the girls to just push the flush button but the girls wouldn't, they just kept kicking the door open and screaming. I finally tired of this, I was really in no mood to hear the screaming again, so I walked to the front of the line, went in and flushed.

We packed up feeling so very sad and tired, knowing that when we got home there would be so much more sadness to share with the rest of the family.

Thanks to all who read along, we really did have a fun relaxing trip until the last day. Grandma Bunny was a wonderful woman who will be greatly missed by all who knew her. RIP Sophia W. "Bunny" Smith

So sorry to hear about Grandma Bunny. Condolences to you and all your family.

 

[MandMLUVMMandDVC]

ProudMomof4, so sorry to hear of your loss!

 

[lledman]

soo sorry to read of your loss.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

A few random thoughts and observations:

1. You did a great job on this trip report! And it was you first! Hopefully there will more to come.

2. I am sorry that your trip was cut short for such a sad reason. Sorry for your loss.

3. I would like to see a future trip report featuring nothing but photos of your youngest DS. What a ham! That kid cracks me up! Good job!

4. I think I heard this story about the FSU gopher at Splash Mountain, but I also heard it wasn't true. I never knew where this supposedly happened on the ride, so I never checked it out myself. My oldest DD just finished her freshman year at FSU. I will have to check this out.

TCD

 

[proudmomof4]

So sorry to hear about Grandma Bunny. Condolences to you and all your family.

ProudMomof4, so sorry to hear of your loss!

soo sorry to read of your loss.

Thank you all so much for your kind words and thoughts.

 

[proudmomof4]

A few random thoughts and observations:

1. You did a great job on this trip report! And it was you first! Hopefully there will more to come.

2. I am sorry that your trip was cut short for such a sad reason. Sorry for your loss.

3. I would like to see a future trip report featuring nothing but photos of your youngest DS. What a ham! That kid cracks me up! Good job!

4. I think I heard this story about the FSU gopher at Splash Mountain, but I also heard it wasn't true. I never knew where this supposedly happened on the ride, so I never checked it out myself. My oldest DD just finished her freshman year at FSU. I will have to check this out.

TCD

Thanks TCD, we do not have any fort trips scheduled at this time, but I will make notes on my next trip.

We really do miss Grandma Bunny, she was a very special lady.

DS13 really is a ham, he likes to make people laugh.

We read about the FSU gopher in a book called the hidden Magic of Walt Disney World, check it out, maybe you can click a picture of it.