I apologize in advance for typos as most of this will be typed with one or both of my children hanging on me.
This is my first trip report and I’m relatively new to the camping board, so I’ll start with a little background. My husband (PaddlesUp) posted a few weeks ago about camping with an infant and someone suggested trying it in the backyard. Since with live in FL, land of the HOAs, we are not allowed to pitch a tent in our backyard. We only live 35minute from the Fort – so we decided it was close enough to the backyard and booked a long weekend to try in out before the craziness of Halloween.
Our family is me, DH, DD (3 ½), and DS (born 8/24/11). Both my husband and I grew up camping. Him with the Boy Scouts (he’s an Eagle Scout) and me tent camping with my parents and in an airstream with my grandparents, sister & cousins. They took us to Fort Wilderness every other year or so growing up. My husband’s and I’s first trip together was in college winter camping in Vermont. We didn’t start camping again until DD was 1 – first trip was, of course, Fort Wilderness. Though my husband is a HUGE Disney Fan, he had never stayed or done much there other than Hoop prior to our marriage. Once I moved down here I had to see the campfire sing a long – a favorite when I was a kid. I remember stopping to buy chocolate chip cookies to give to Chip & Dale. My grandparent always took us to Hoop, River Country and my grandmother’s favorite – Discovery Island. Sure wish I would have appreciated it a little more growing up.
Though we live close, we try not to visit the parks too much so that Disney will be special to our children like it was for both me and DH growing up. So we decided to focus this trip on seeing the parks and our Halloween trip on hanging out at the Fort since all the Halloween festivities would be going on. Plus, this would allow us to eat out instead of cooking at the site, which I thought might me a bit stressful.
Thursday Oct 13, 2011
Since my husband works in the area, he went to the Fort to check in and we met him there. Plus that gave us more room for all or stuff. He checked in and got a free up-grade to the 1800 loop – you are probably thinking – GREAT! Well, we tent camp with a large 10 person tent (I originally purchased to hold all our SCUBA gear when my Dad & I dove the stone quarries back in Ohio, but has worked great when my parents or friends camp with us) and the sand pads aren’t very big in that area. I’ll admit that I kind of lost it (darn postpartum hormones). So my husband said thanks but no thanks to the up-grade. We finally ended up at 2035, which is right next to the pathway to the comfort station.
By this point we were burning daylight & both my husband & I were frazzled by my meltdown. And now my daughter was incessantly asking about seeing the movie. My dear sweet husband basically set up the tent by himself with 3 year old who wanted to be very helpful, but always managed to instead be in the way while I pulled myself together wondering if we should just scrap it all and go home. Then I remembered reading a post that someone had written that they would eat worms dipped in pesticide in order to be at the Fort and decided I should just try to be happy (for any of you who remember your postpartum time this can sometimes be difficult).
So our plans for having camp set up done, taking a nice boat ride to Contempo Café and then catching the Movie were scraped. DH dropped us off at the campfire just as the sing-a-long was ending. (Thank goodness we purchased a golf cart and didn’t have to take the time to set the bikes up). Then DH went to the Contemporary to get dinner & bring it back to us – which took forever. DH is on a restricted weight loss diet so it took a bit to get something put together he could eat. We ate while the movie finished and then DD insisted on marshmallows after the movie was done – luckily she gets bored quickly with holding the stick over the fire & pretty much eats them raw, which saved us sometime. DS ate at the beginning of the movie & was very mellow throughout luckily since my DD would have been devastated if we had to leave with a fussy baby since Daddy wasn’t there.
We then headed to Trails in hopes of filling our mugs. On the path back, we saw a deer even backed up for a better look and it didn’t move less than 5 feet away from us. Unfortunately in our haste to get to the campfire we didn’t bring our camera. Trails was already closed. So back to the campsite to finish set up. DH decided to go past the 2000 loop towards the group sites hoping we might see an armadillo. Growing up they used to cross in front of you on your way to the comfort station & every time we go to the Fort I mention the lack of them having not seen one since I was a child. Right past the loop one crossed the street in front of us – Hurray!
Back at the site I took the kids to get ready for bed while DH went to the comfort station to blow up the air mattresses (no wanting to disturb our neighbors with the noise since it was getting pretty late at this point). Finally to bed – the weather was perfect no fans needed. DS slept great in his swing & woke up once during the night to eat just like at home.
Our set-up:
from the Comfort Station path:
While the proximity to the Comfort Station was nice, you could hear the door every time someone entered or exited the ladies room. DH thought here was something wrong with the door as it sounded like it was slamming, but I think it is probably normal.
And our poor attempt at decorations. I need to find time to pick up some before our Halloween trip.
This is my first trip report and I’m relatively new to the camping board, so I’ll start with a little background. My husband (PaddlesUp) posted a few weeks ago about camping with an infant and someone suggested trying it in the backyard. Since with live in FL, land of the HOAs, we are not allowed to pitch a tent in our backyard. We only live 35minute from the Fort – so we decided it was close enough to the backyard and booked a long weekend to try in out before the craziness of Halloween.
Our family is me, DH, DD (3 ½), and DS (born 8/24/11). Both my husband and I grew up camping. Him with the Boy Scouts (he’s an Eagle Scout) and me tent camping with my parents and in an airstream with my grandparents, sister & cousins. They took us to Fort Wilderness every other year or so growing up. My husband’s and I’s first trip together was in college winter camping in Vermont. We didn’t start camping again until DD was 1 – first trip was, of course, Fort Wilderness. Though my husband is a HUGE Disney Fan, he had never stayed or done much there other than Hoop prior to our marriage. Once I moved down here I had to see the campfire sing a long – a favorite when I was a kid. I remember stopping to buy chocolate chip cookies to give to Chip & Dale. My grandparent always took us to Hoop, River Country and my grandmother’s favorite – Discovery Island. Sure wish I would have appreciated it a little more growing up.
Though we live close, we try not to visit the parks too much so that Disney will be special to our children like it was for both me and DH growing up. So we decided to focus this trip on seeing the parks and our Halloween trip on hanging out at the Fort since all the Halloween festivities would be going on. Plus, this would allow us to eat out instead of cooking at the site, which I thought might me a bit stressful.
Thursday Oct 13, 2011
Since my husband works in the area, he went to the Fort to check in and we met him there. Plus that gave us more room for all or stuff. He checked in and got a free up-grade to the 1800 loop – you are probably thinking – GREAT! Well, we tent camp with a large 10 person tent (I originally purchased to hold all our SCUBA gear when my Dad & I dove the stone quarries back in Ohio, but has worked great when my parents or friends camp with us) and the sand pads aren’t very big in that area. I’ll admit that I kind of lost it (darn postpartum hormones). So my husband said thanks but no thanks to the up-grade. We finally ended up at 2035, which is right next to the pathway to the comfort station.
By this point we were burning daylight & both my husband & I were frazzled by my meltdown. And now my daughter was incessantly asking about seeing the movie. My dear sweet husband basically set up the tent by himself with 3 year old who wanted to be very helpful, but always managed to instead be in the way while I pulled myself together wondering if we should just scrap it all and go home. Then I remembered reading a post that someone had written that they would eat worms dipped in pesticide in order to be at the Fort and decided I should just try to be happy (for any of you who remember your postpartum time this can sometimes be difficult).
So our plans for having camp set up done, taking a nice boat ride to Contempo Café and then catching the Movie were scraped. DH dropped us off at the campfire just as the sing-a-long was ending. (Thank goodness we purchased a golf cart and didn’t have to take the time to set the bikes up). Then DH went to the Contemporary to get dinner & bring it back to us – which took forever. DH is on a restricted weight loss diet so it took a bit to get something put together he could eat. We ate while the movie finished and then DD insisted on marshmallows after the movie was done – luckily she gets bored quickly with holding the stick over the fire & pretty much eats them raw, which saved us sometime. DS ate at the beginning of the movie & was very mellow throughout luckily since my DD would have been devastated if we had to leave with a fussy baby since Daddy wasn’t there.
We then headed to Trails in hopes of filling our mugs. On the path back, we saw a deer even backed up for a better look and it didn’t move less than 5 feet away from us. Unfortunately in our haste to get to the campfire we didn’t bring our camera. Trails was already closed. So back to the campsite to finish set up. DH decided to go past the 2000 loop towards the group sites hoping we might see an armadillo. Growing up they used to cross in front of you on your way to the comfort station & every time we go to the Fort I mention the lack of them having not seen one since I was a child. Right past the loop one crossed the street in front of us – Hurray!
Back at the site I took the kids to get ready for bed while DH went to the comfort station to blow up the air mattresses (no wanting to disturb our neighbors with the noise since it was getting pretty late at this point). Finally to bed – the weather was perfect no fans needed. DS slept great in his swing & woke up once during the night to eat just like at home.
Our set-up:
from the Comfort Station path:
While the proximity to the Comfort Station was nice, you could hear the door every time someone entered or exited the ladies room. DH thought here was something wrong with the door as it sounded like it was slamming, but I think it is probably normal.
And our poor attempt at decorations. I need to find time to pick up some before our Halloween trip.
I'm in, great TR.
