Wagon East! Trip Report

[bigredbill]

The journey to the Fort:

We ended up taking off after work on Thursday, December 29th. We were loaded up with DVD's, books, toys, and electronic games to keep the four children (ages 12, 10, 4, and 1) busy on the route.

First stop was in Missouri -- Oak Grove KOA. Very clean - would recommend this place. Got in after hours (which would be the theme of the trip). Staff had all of our info in a packet taped to their front door. The showers and bathrooms were very clean. It was hard to imagine that they had been cleaned almost 10 hours prior to our arrival. I tracked in a little mud as it had been raining. Felt bad for mucking up their floors, so I got down on my hands and knees and cleaned them.

We didn't get up and moving like we should have the next morning. With a long day ahead of us, leaving the campsite at 10:30 AM was a mistake.

Sitting in the camper watching a little Spongebob after breakfast...

 

[bigredbill]

Day two of drive:

We drove in four states on day two: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. This was a looooong day, and we were happy to pull into Clarksville that evening (again, after the campsites hours of operation). Upon djbogue's recommendation, we stayed at the Clarksville RV Park. Again, impressed with the cleanliness of the facilities. It was a great recommendation -- thanks djbogue!

Highlight of the day may have been driving by the arch in St. Louis. I didn't realized that the interstate ran right by it -- quite a sight! My wife snapped a couple photos as we drove by.

 

[TOGA]

Looking forward to the trip report, so I'm in...

The pictures were neat {I had to right-click on the red-x-icon and picked 'open in new tab' to view them}. It seems like you've got some real troopers there and are handling the long trip well so far.

Waiting for more....

 

[bigredbill]

Night Three:

Night three was pretty uneventful. It was New Year's Eve, but we were all a bit pooped and didn't stay up to see the New Year in. We stayed in Cordele, GA at the KOA. Again, excellent stop. Very clean and the sites were huge. I had a hard time finding our spot at first, as the sites were about twice the size in width as the previous two stops. Definately recommend this place.

Again - we got a late start the next morning. My ten year old was up at 4 am in tears and holding his abdomen. I thought he was having an issue with his appendix. We called our insurance company, and then spoke with a nurse. I was up with him until 7 am. Turns out he may have had a touch of the flu. After a couple of trips to the bathroom, coming out both ends, he was able to sleep. I needed to get some rest and slept past my alarm. Which meant we would once again be pulling into our campsite in the dark -- at least this time it would be at the Fort.

 

[bigredbill]

The Fort and, "Hey, this is not our site..."

So we pulled into the Fort around 6:30 PM. We were greeted by "We upgraded you from your Preferred Site to a Premium Site." Now this comment probably did not get the reaction that the CM expected, as we had really wanted to stay in a Preferred loop. We told her that we didn't want a Premium site, that we had spent many days searching to get into a preferred location, as it would be much more convenient for our family to be in walking distance of the marina and Settlement.

Well, there were no preferred sites left. Somewhat frustrated, we went to our site, 1119, which was a very nice site near a comfort station. However, it wasn't what we wanted. We decided to contact the Fort and see what alternative they may have. We stated why we wanted to be in our preferred spot -- the convenience of it. We now had to catch buses everywhere, which isn't easy with a double stroller and little ones. We asked if they would comp us a golf cart as it appeared they had a ton unrented. The answer was "no". Later that night, a manager from the Fort called us back and told us we could move to Loop 100 the next day. It was a pain to have to hook up and move -- but it was a satisfactory alternative -- so that is what we did.

While the 1100 loop was very pretty, we were next to a large group of college-aged kids. A lot of drinking going on in that site. Two of the men were having an arguement in the CS on where they had stashed their bag of weed in the van. They were both drunk and didn't seem to mind that others could clearly hear their conversation. We welcomed the move.

 

[bigredbill]

Site 106...

After watching Nebraska beat Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl (an extremely frustrating second half where the Cornhuskers essentially imploded during a very winable game), I moved us over to the 100 Loop, site 106. 1119 certainly had it's advantages in some ways -- much larger and even surface. I had a very difficult time getting the trailer level in 106, as the site was pretty uneven. Did the best we could, but there was definately a lean.

Other than that -- what a difference in convenience. Loved being able to walk to the marina and the Settlement. There were a few interesting folk in the 100 Loop. Some with tons of Christmas decorations. Some might think their displays were gaudy, I think they were fun. My kids sure liked them.

 

[bigredbill]

From the Fort...

One of the sites with a lot of decorations. I give these folks credit -- it appeared that they rearranged some of the items on a daily basis.

Our (rather boring compared to those above) site...

 

[bigredbill]

I don't think this is a pet loop....

One of our neighbors in loop 100 had four dogs on their site. Now, if I remember correctly, only 300 is the preferred pet loop.

These dogs didn't make a peep and I wasn't going to say anything to the fine folks at the Fort about them. But it did get me thinking about a thread a month ago where several pet owners were concerned about Disney eliminating the opportunity to have pets at the Fort if too many people broke the rules.

Perhaps this family had received some sort of "OK" from the Fort to have the dogs in the 100 loop. Not sure. I do know they didn't bother anyone. Quite certain that my troop made a heck of a lot more noise than those pups. I hope they don't eliminate children from the Fort due to my family.

 

[bigredbill]

More shots from the fort...

Mickey hocking goods in the Meadow's Trading Post:

Heading to the Magic Kingdom via boat:

Can't see the forest through the trees...

 

[bigredbill]

Crowds and temps...

This was the earliest in January that we have come to WDW. Wow - not doing that again. The crowds were crazy the first three days we were there. The CMs told us that they had record attendance and had to shut down admittance to the parks.

My older sister has a medical condition with one of her legs and had to use a scooter (I called it her stroller - she wasn't amused) each day. That allowed us to bypass some of the lines. Felt bad for the folks that were standing in line for an hour plus to ride a <5 minute ride.

Crowds shrank significantly by Thursday and Friday, the 5th and 6th. We still stayed in the parks until closing time to take advantage of the shorter lines though.

And then there was the cold. It was very cold Tuesday and Wednesday. We had kids wrapped up in winter jackets. This also helped with the crowds late at night. Disney made a fortune off of hot chocolate sales. It warmed up on Thursday and Friday, but was still pretty chilly at night.

 

[bigredbill]

Animal Kingdom...

This was our third trip to WDW, and marked the first time we spent time in the Animal Kingdom. We didn't think we'd care for the park that much. I have to admit, I wished we had done it sooner.

My wife and I slipped away and ate at Yak and Yeti. While I am not much for taking photos of my food, here is the Dim Sum platter we had as an appetizer. I had the Malaysian Seafood Curry -- which was tasty. My wife had the flank steak and shrimp -- good also. Sorry, no photos. Was busy digging in.

My bones are still rattling from the Dinosaur ride. I thought I would enjoy that more than what I did. I must be getting old.

My four year-old loved Dino-rama...

And finally my ten year-old son, who for some reason became a little timid on this trip. He loves to go on the rides, but sometimes needs a little encouragement. He was not going to go on Expedition Everest. We assured him that he would love it. Took a lot of prying before he went. It was his favorite ride of the trip.

 

[bama_ed]

Site 106...

After watching Nebraska beat Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl (an extremely frustrating second half where the Cornhuskers essentially imploded during a very winable game), I moved us over to the 100 Loop, site 106. 1119 certainly had it's advantages in some ways -- much larger and even surface. I had a very difficult time getting the trailer level in 106, as the site was pretty uneven. Did the best we could, but there was definately a lean.

Other than that -- what a difference in convenience. Loved being able to walk to the marina and the Settlement. There were a few interesting folk in the 100 Loop. Some with tons of Christmas decorations. Some might think their displays were gaudy, I think they were fun. My kids sure liked them.

Bill,

Loving your trip report.

I think the way the Fort works with pet loops is in the Preferred group, loop 300 is the designated pet loop ..... BUT ..... 100 and 200 will be assigned pets in an "overflow" situation. I believe this is the same way with the other categories of loop types. Meaning, essentially, pets may be encountered in any loop. This is not a problem as long as the owners are responsible (clean up after the pet, care for it during the day, and are considerate of their neighbors).

I'd be interested to hear about any time you spent in the Fort looping, swimming, doing the campfire or movies, and also what you thought of the new Fort-specific merchandise in the Trading Posts. Did you get anything?

Bama ED

PS - sorry about your Huskers. I actually watched that game since you had talked about it here on the DIS.

 

[bigredbill]

Bill,

Loving your trip report.

I think the way the Fort works with pet loops is in the Preferred group, loop 300 is the designated pet loop ..... BUT ..... 100 and 200 will be assigned pets in an "overflow" situation. I believe this is the same way with the other categories of loop types. Meaning, essentially, pets may be encountered in any loop. This is not a problem as long as the owners are responsible (clean up after the pet, care for it during the day, and are considerate of their neighbors).

I'd be interested to hear about any time you spent in the Fort looping, swimming, doing the campfire or movies, and also what you thought of the new Fort-specific merchandise in the Trading Posts. Did you get anything?

Bama ED

PS - sorry about your Huskers. I actually watched that game since you had talked about it here on the DIS.

My kids and wife went swimming Sunday and Monday evenings, January 1st and 2nd, at the Meadows. They enjoyed it -- there weren't many braving the weather, and my wife spent most of the time in the hot tub with some other ladies. It just got too darn cold at night after that to think about swimming.

We didn't have a cart -- so no looping. Ended up spending most of the days in the parks, and did not attend one of the sing-alongs or movies. Probably one of our biggest mistakes was not allowing more time in the Fort. We really needed to be at WDW for about 8-10 days, so we could spend five in the parks and enjoy the Fort on the remaining ones.

As for the merchandise, not sure if these items are new or not. But I picked up one to put on our bookshelf. Pretty nice, about a foot high. Has "Fort Wilderness" carved into the back.

BTW -- congrats on the National Championship game. I didn't get to see it, as we were still driving. I heard Bama dominated and Miles is taking a beating for playing it too conservative.

 

[bigredbill]

Back when my son was five, we took a trip to Washington DC. Once there, he informed me that his teacher wanted him to bring back "a Cuban's ear". A little shocked by that statement, we asked him to clarify what he said... same response. Took a few seconds, but we realized that his teacher asked him to bring her back a "souvenier" and my son heard her wrong.

Well, here are a few souveniers we brought back. We collect Christmas ornaments from each of our trips. Here is one with the new 2012 design...

A magnet with the 2012 design (I know, I am a big spender buying magnets)...

A couple of pins with the 2012 design. My kids are big on the pins. My older two have two lanyards each full of them -- some for keeping and some for trading. They started collecting them on our first trip in 2008. I figure that these pins are something they will have for a long time and can show their kids them before their adventures to WDW.

 

[2goofycampers]

I am loving the TR. Thanks BRB.

 

[bigredbill]

My wife was kind enough to download a book on her kindle and read it to me periodically while I was driving on the trip. We didn't plan well and get any books on tape, but this was a good alternative.

The book we selected was Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. It is the biography of Louie Zamperini. Truly an outstanding individual. If you like non-fiction, and inspiring stories, I'd highly recommend it. The story kept us on the edge of our seats during the long trip.

Well, that is going to be it for tonight. I will add more dialogue and photos tomorrow. Good evening.

 

[cruising spud]

Bill,

Thanks for sharing. It is always fun to see pictures of Disney World. We were at Disney one time at Christmas, and you are so right, the weather is hit and miss. One day we were bundled in winter coats, and the next, we had on shorts.

Kathy

 

[rajak73]

Love the trip report. Waiting patiently for next report! We are heading out end of Feb.

 

[bigredbill]

On our second full day we went to Hollywood Studios. It also happened to be the coldest day of our trip. Ended up having to buy a blanket from one of the Disney Stores there. My daughter bought a stocking cap with some of her Disney money. Hot chocolate was flowing freely.

While the plan was to eat at least two meals at the camper, my wife wanted to do at least one nice meal in the parks for our family this trip. Since we were in Hollywood Studios, she selected the character meal at Hollywood & Vine. We had eaten there back in 2008. I am happy to report that the food was much better this time. Not really into buffets, but there was a good selection.

There were five characters there. I think this was the "B" team. I had never heard of four of them. Anyway, my four-year old seemed to enjoy it. I was a bit surprised when the bill came. For our group of six plus a one-year old, it was over $200. Somewhere a Golden Corral was green with envy.

Some shots from lunch and of Hollywood Studios...

OK, I knew who Handy Manny was. But what the heck is this thing? Some deranged panda bear?

This guy is taking a break from his work off the Somali coast...

 

[bigredbill]

I have got to say, the new 3D Star Tours ride at Hollywood was pretty cool. I enjoyed the old one, but the new version is much more entertaining. Only wished it was longer!