We broke all the rules...

[indimom]

Wow! Great chapter!

Bummer about your credit card! Hope you were able to get that squared away.

Don't worry, we'll get back to that....

So they warned you about the gators but did they say anything about the brain-eating amoeba? That's what scares me about the waterways in Florida. "Stay out of the d*mn lakes!"

Nope, not a word about that. But I did mention it to my family when I saw a preschooler playing on the shore of Bay Lake one evening. She was practically laying in it. Made my skin crawl!

Still, the canoeing sounds like a lot of fun, and I think I would do it.

That is hilarious about the frog chorus- thanks for including the sample of the sounds. I remember not being able to sleep one night on a trip to the Caribbean because of tree frogs!

Looking forward to reading more!

The frog story just goes to show how tiring a Disney vacation can be. I think I could have slept through an earthquake each and every night.

I had no idea that you could go canoeing at WL! If Hannah and I are able to find some free time we might just head over there to do it as that would be a relaxing activity. If not this trip then it's definitely something to consider on trips going forward.

Loving this report so far. I cannot wait to see what happens on your next day.

I've got to say, this trip opened our eyes to the wide variety of activities you can find at Disney. They really do have something for everyone! We didn't get to do nearly enough of these extras. I would love to go back for like 8 days, with only 4 days in the parks so we could enjoy these types of down-time activities. I think that would be a lovely way to experience Disney.

Lovely! I've never read a TR where someone stayed in a tent at FT Wilderness! Sounds interesting It's always cool to get a different perspective on staying at Disney.

I agree. This trip was very different than our prior trips, but equally (or more) fun...

LOL about the frog choir! I'm a country girl too and have always had ponds on my land, so I can imagine how it would sound like an electronic device!

Can't wait for more

When I woke up clear-headed the next morning, it seemed almost ridiculous that a video game was my first thought. It's kind of funny how your brain works soooo slow identifying things when you are tired/sleepy.

 

[indimom]

Sunday, July 21st dawned sunny and beautiful. We were ready for a fun-filled day at DHS. We made one unhappy discovery first thing in the morning. Matt had left his tennis shoes outside the tent on the rug and a short overnight rain shower had drenched them. And the only other shoes he had were his nike sandals he used for the pool and showers.

He doesnt typically wear sandals for any length of time, but he thought they were comfy enough to wear to the parks, so he put his tennis shoes out in the sun to dry and moved on to preparing breakfast.

While he cooked, I headed to the shower room to fix my hair. I was determined to straighten my hair so I would look human in our family pictures from this trip. I knew from experience that my hair curls and frizzes in humidity; but Indiana is humid too, and it will usually hold most of the day when I straighten it. I thought this would be the simplest hair style to manage on a theme park trip and expected the same results here that I get at home.

The kids were dressed when I got back, and we sat down to a breakfast of Hash Browns, Eggs and Sausage. Matt and I had coffee, while the kids had OJ or water. By 8 a.m., we had our meal cleaned up and were ready to head to the park early!

But, since we had some time, we decided to drive to the Settlement Trading Post to restock our ice in the cooler just in case. There is no car parking the Settlement, but we didnt want to deal with waiting for the bus in the morning, so Matt just dropped Emily and I off at the walkway, and he and Garren drove around a bit while we went to buy the ice.



Emily snapped a few pictures as we wandered along.

In front of the Trading Post, there is a wagon. We were surprised to see the wagon covered in what looked like vultures. LOL. I honestly dont know what these birds are? Any guesses? But, with the torn up top of the wagon, it really gave the feeling of an abandoned or wrecked wagon from some early pioneers trip out west. Kind of neat. Emily was impressed with the birds.




While she photographed the birds, I headed up to the door of the Trading Post, only to be greeted with a sign indicating they didnt open until 10a.m.

Hmmm, recalculating.

I guess well have to pick up the ice later. No big deal, but maybe I should have read the info packet we got at check in a little closer. I would never have guessed they would open so late.

The drive to DHS was uneventful (I downloaded locations from one of the Dis websites  Ive forgotten which, but could find it again if anyone needs a recommendation  and they worked perfectly throughout our trip. No mystery destinations in cast parking or getting lost the entire trip!) We pulled into the parking lot at 8:30 a.m. sharp.

We photographed our parking spot so we wouldnt lose the car, and walked to the front of the park.

As we headed for the turn styles I got a glimpse of my first Tour Group. Woh !! I finally see what everyone has been talking about. This group was HUGE!!! We quickly headed FAR FAR AWAY from the group, toward a line at the far right. I did not want to get behind that pileup at the start of my day, especially if there was a chance for communication issues when they tried to enter the park.

The park opened a couple minutes early, shortly after we entered the line, and we followed the crowd to Toy Story Midway Mania. The tour group were trapped and waiting on each other at the entrance, and I cant say I was too upset about it. That was a ton of kids!!

Im also a bit glad we arrived late today. In the past, we have arrived at the parks super early, and were at the front of the rope drop pack. I have to say, following the rope drop crowd is much easier than being in the middle of the nightmare.

By the time we got to the ride, there was still only a ten minute line and we walked straight through past Mr. Potato Head and all the cool kid-friendly features of the line. No longer a wait than when we were crowded in with the masses, minus that rush/stress. It is a shame we always ride this first, because we rarely have time for photos of the ride line and it is really cool!


(This photo of Matt and I in the line for TSMM will give you a good idea on why I quickly gave up on straightening my hair on this trip. This is 9 a.m., no more than two hours from when I straightened it, and already trashed. UGH!)

But on with the fun! I love this ride. So much fun!! Although we like it, we typically only ride once because of the crazy mobbed area around it. We just arent fans of the crowded areas at Disney and avoid then at all costs (thats the major reason we didnt do MK on this trip, it just gets twice as crazy as all the other parks and with the new Fantasyland, I feared a breakdown from someone in my family.).

From TSMM, we headed over to ToT and RnRC, on the way we weave around the now arriving tour group. I cant fathom how they keep that many people together, especially teenagers. I would never want that job. Yikes!

I asked Em and Garren which ride they wanted to do twice (in case we couldnt get to them both with FP) and they decided on ToT. So, we headed there first, got our FPs and then jumped in the regular line. We had about a 15 minute wait and Emily pull the camera out for a couple pictures.



Emily had a strange obsession with light fixtures on this trip. Youll be seeing more of these. Lol.




We even managed to get a redneck ride shot!


We were in the back left of the ride, and had a blast. I forgot to count how many times we dropped, but it was quite a few this time. Is it still random? I know it used to be. There was a tiny little girl in front of us, who I thought would be frightened, so I couldnt help checking out her response after the ride. As soon as the ride stopped, she tells her daddy I want to do that again! Too cute!

As we left ToT and headed to RnRC, we discussed our strategy for the next hour or so. Our ToT FPs were from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. I figured we could ride RnRC standby, hit ToT with our FPs and then return for RnRC fastpasses before 10:30 am easy. Matt said no way would we get it all done in that time, It would be after 10:30 before we finished our second run on ToT. Garren agreed with me, and Emily thought wed get RnRC done before our ToT FP time even started, forcing us to wait.

We decided to make a wager on it. Losers buy ice cream. (Its probably not fair to wager with people who dont do the research. I had no doubt I would win. Ive read too many trip reports and too many posts on the Dis to be wrong about the ride times this early in the morning. Ha ha. But who am I to say NO to an ice cream bet??? )

We had our crazy limo drive on RnRC (complete with a very blurry redneck ride photo)


and were back to ToT at 9:45 a.m.

Garren and I WIN!

As we approach the elevator, we are placed in the second row on the left. We get in our spot and I hear a family of four standing next to us talking, The mother is saying Is this the front row? I dont want the front row&I told them I didnt want to be in the front row.

She had a look of panic on her face and I look at the chart on the wall to check. Sure enough, they are front left. I offer to swap with them, since we had the same size group, and they jump at the chance to move back a row. So, we scored front row seats for our second run. Nice. Thumbs UP!


I tried to put both hands up this time, but when we hit that point of no gravity, I felt my purse lift off my shoulder and had to drop one hand to hang on to it. Lol. I look a little conflicted in that picture.

We take a short bathroom break at this point, and that is when I discover the horror that is my frizzing hair. That Florida Humidity and Indiana Humidity are definitely NOT the same thing. Holy Cow. Day Two and I realize that trying to straighten my hair is going to be wasted effort. Blah. Im pretty sure this is the last day I even attempted to style my hair.

As we were leaving the ride and discussing the rest of our day, I came up with a problem I didnt have an easy solution to. We had planned on getting RnRC FPs to use later. But, we were also heading to Star Tours, which I knew had a newish video. I had never read whether this now made Star Tours busier with longer lines.

To Be Continued...

 

[indimom]

Continued....
What is we got over there with RnRC FPs in hand, only to find an hour long wait??? Well, that would throw off my whole plan. I decided to hold off on the RnRC fast passes so we could get Star Tours passes if the line was too long to wait in. Better safe than sorry, I wanted to make sure we got on ST because Garren really likes it and its something new to try.

Didnt I feel silly when we arrive at Star Tours and it has a 10 minute wait.??? Hmmm, should have picked up those RnRC FPs after all. Oh well, well get some more later in the morning. We hop in line to check it out.

Backstory: I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but three out of the four of us have issues with motion sickness (all but Garren). We all take Dramamine every morning to help with the rides, but sometimes we still have issues. Well, Star Tours has always been one of the rides that is hard on Matt and I. Simulators do not go well with motion sickness.

Matts situation has gotten much worse over the years, while I seem better able to cope than in the past. He decided not to risk the ride so soon after RnRC (motion sickness can be cumulative and worsens when you do too many coasters/simulators in a row), and to wait and see what I had to say about the new movie. Maybe hed try it later, if I gave it high marks.

So, Matt walks us through the line, then takes the chicken exit while I head in with the kids. I got the very back seat to the left. I had never noticed this seat before. Its an 'extra' seat that sits at the very top of the stairs that run up that side of the ride vehicle.

Im sad to say that that is about the last thing I can tell you about this ride. The old ride was a little rough on me, This one was a killer.

I didnt see more than the first minute or so and I had to look away from the screen. Usually, if I start feeling icky, I focus on the area to the right or left of the screen, where I can see the room move. If I can match up the movement I feel with what I see, it eases the motion sickness. AND, I still get to catch a bit of the show from my peripheral vision. But because of my location so far to the left, and up against the wall of the ship, I couldnt do that without getting too much video also.

Realizing Ive got a bigger problem than I initially thought, I tried to look away from the screen entirely and just focus on the ride vehicle movements, this should solve the issue, but the wall to my left was so close it wasnt helping to coordinate my eyes and my balance to straighten out my topsy-turvy stomach.

Uh oh, Ive got a problem. Ive had lots of experience mastering motion sickness, I know all the tricks and tips and usually manage all right, but this time I was a bit worried.

I closed my eyes, breathed slowly and deeply and prayed for the ride to end. Ugh. I will never step foot in that ride again. It sounded like a fun story line, from what I heard, but it was by far the worst experience of the entire trip for me.

Emily didnt love it either. But her seat toward the middle let her manage a lot better. Needless to say, we skipped the Fast Passes. No way were we going to brave that simulator again. And Matt was so thankful he had opted out.

At this point we decided a more tame diversion was in order, so we headed to one of my all time classic favorite: The Great Movie Ride. On the way, we detour for RnRC FPs. I just love GMR, even though it is very tame and somewhat corny. I like it better than any other old classic, even Pirates and Jungle Cruise and Small World. I don't know why. I just do. And, I like the still scenes from the movies even more than the silly gangster car jacking schtick. I wish they had more scenes like the one from Oz or Aliens.

My only other wish, that just once, I would get the other ride option. Ive seen the same one every time, and its been many. Id really like to see the other show just once for comparison, but I guess Ill just have to live with report I read on the Dis for now.




Next, we check out a couple shows. First on the list was The Little Mermaid. I havent seen that one since 2005, but I remembered enjoying it. We hopped in the lengthy-looking line 10 minutes before the next show. I couldn't judge if we would make the next showing or not. When the crowd entered, we hadnt made the cutoff. Bummer. But, since, we were about 20 people back, when they moved the line up a few minutes later, we were able to enter the preshow area and complete our wait in the cool dark preshow area. The kids weren't all that excited about this show, but being cool and comfy kept our spirits up until the next show.

And I burned the time, snapping a picture or two of the family. This is the only good one though.


As it happens, this was one of our longest waits of the trip. From beginning to end, I'd saw we waited about 40 minutes?? But, you cant always get the timing just right for shows, so I didnt let it bother me. And really, it wasnt a bad wait at all.

We watched the show and I was surprised to realize it was much shorter than I thought. Not a big deal, just short. The puppets were cute and I still think the transition from mermaid to human is pretty smooth for a stage production. Its also fun to see the faces of the little kids in the crowd. They really love this show!

Then we headed to the new Pirates of the Caribbean show. I know from the Dis that this isnt all that highly rated, but I figured it would fill some time and well, I just wanted to see it. Ha.

So, I drug the family in with no warning. It was... well... interesting. And that's being generous. The video effect was good, as always. Pretty good camera work that made it appear Jack Sparrow is actually there on the ship. But, the show was a bit silly. And you really need to be in front to even see what's going on with the key holder interaction. We were in the back on the left, so we missed the entire thing with the child volunteer and the key. But, I figure it was worth doing once, with no wait.


This was about the best photo I could get of this show. It's very dark in there. (I left it large, so you could see what little detail there is.)

By the time we finished, our FPs for RnRC were almost due, so we headed back that direction. At this point, the topic of ice cream came up. After all, I did win a bet.

We decided to save our ice cream for later in the day, when we came back after our late lunch/early dinner at the campground. Matt was still not feeling the best from his morning of coasters, so he opted not to use his FP.

This gave us some room for discussion. The kids could ride twice if they wanted to (I didnt mind). But Emily didnt think she could handle two back to back rides. Garren loved the idea. So, it was decided that Emily and Garren would ride once, then Garren and I would ride.

They headed off to the FP entry point, and Matt and I found a spot on the retaining wall in the shade. While we were sitting, I noticed Matt examining his right foot. Sure enough, he had at least one blister in full bloom, and almost his entire foot was red and irritated from the sandal. Ugh. Bad idea.



We waited for quite a while, or so it felt, but the kids were finally heading our way. Emily and Matt settled in on the retaining wall, and Garren and I headed for FP returns. We made it all the way in to the hall before the soundstage, and the ride had a breakdown.

We talked to a couple families around us in line. One from the UK, one from the northeast, and waited some more. I texted Matt, chatted some more, and waited a bit longer. We were waiting at least 20 minutes, and I finally decided to see if I could get a FP for later in the day. I walked back to the CM who took our FPs ealier. She handed me two anytime passes and said under her breath Please leave discreetly. Um, okay.

On the way out, I got a glimpse of the FP line and realized why. It was HUGE, well past Matt and Emily on the retaining wall. And the standby line was worse.

Hmmm, Im pretty sure they didnt want to give passes to every single person standing there to come back later. That could screw up ride times for the rest of the day. Sure, am glad I got our passes. With that out of the way, we could head out of the park and back to Ft. Wilderness for lunch. Thanks to the anytime passes, we didnt have to rush or fret about our break and could return to DHS at our leisure. Yeah!

Up Next:

Chapter Five: No kidding, this time we really were robbed& SAVE ME and A stranger sat on me. Sunday, July 21st.

 

[natebenma]

Still lovin' the report!

Bummer about the wet shoes and incoming blisters. That can make for a tough trip!

So simulators and motion bother most of you? I'll be interested to hear how the Universal portion of your trip goes.

Sounds like a great morning so far at HS, though! Some Toy Story, without a huge wait, a couple of nice rides on ToT (very nice redneck photo), RNR. We won't mention ST.

Great movie ride is enjoyable, I was surprised when my teen and preteen actually wanted to do it this year. We had the cowboy scene once, a few years ago and boy is it a nice change from the gangster!

I have only seen the Little Mermaid show once, solo, while the rest of my gang was getting their Indiana Jones on. Good show, but I know it is one I can't drag my guys to.

on scoring the anytime FP!!!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Wow you managed to get a lot done in a short space of time
It's great that all your research paid off with ice-creams
Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[lsenquiz]

"Gearing up and Driving, Driving, Driving…. Friday, July 19th"

It has been a crazy week because Gabriel started back to school last monday so I am a little late to the party for your TR. So glad to see you started through.

Glad you guys got an early start and that the drive was uneventful.

Sleeping in a rest stop was always our hotel of choice when we used to drive from Ohio to Florida every year when I was growing up. I know there was a time that it was not save but the rest stops along interstate 75 have really beefed up their security over the years.

Sounds like even though Emily had figured out you were going to Florida neither child had figured out you were going to Disney so good for you guys on keeping the surprise. In the end was the suprise worth it or do you wish they had been part of the planning. I am torn about whether I could ever do a surprise trip because we do so much in the months before as a family to get ready for Disney.

 

[lsenquiz]

"Chapter Two: We’ve been robbed! Saturday, July 20th"

I am impressed that your Garmin worked on Disney property. Always in the past ours works great until we get inside Disney and then it has a major fail. I was told once by a CM that it was the way Disney registeres their roads?????

Sounds like the morning of check in was a little cool. I can not wait to hear about the rest of the week. I am really hoping for cooler mornings and evenings for our September trip. I figure the weather has been strange enough this year that we may have a chance.

Awesome about the mix-up with your campe site. Sounds like a little got thrown your way.

I know what Carlo's means about gators. My dad has lived in Florida for 15 years and he has a pond in back of his house. There is always at least one gator in there. When it reaches 8ft he call and have it removed but then a new one moves in immediately. I was very surprised about the bear. Interested to see if you saw any.

I am very nervous about the size of Ft. Wilderness. I do not want to spend the extra money on a golf cart and wonder if you have any suggestions on what we should request for a cabin location?

Love the pictures you took of the site. It looks like you are on top of a cement slab but I guess that is sand

Did the swampy area mean lots of mosquitoes? That is one thing we have never encountered at Disney but I am wondering if that is because we have never been to Fort Wilderness?

Can't wait to hear how the A/C worked as that is the major obsticle between me and camping.

I have heard that the comfort stations at Disney are top notch.

My Daughter has frizzy hair and she does not even bother to bring her straightener to Disney anymore as it is usually a complete waste of time.

Glad to hear that the pool was fun. Gabriel is one that would join into the activities so we need to make sure you get there a couple of time during our stay.

Honey Boo Boo is a big source of embarassment for us Georgians!!!

 

[lsenquiz]

"Chapter 3: We have NOT been robbed! And "Are there Gators in there?" Sat. July 20"

I have only attempted the Walmart near Disney once but that was enough. Never again no matter how much money it would save us. Publix is pricer but totally worth avoiding the crowds.

Interested to see how you resoved the CC issue. Last year this happened to my cousin during our trip. When she called her bank that explained that Disney sends all their CC transactions through California and the bank has a policy to deny anything that goes through California. So she was not allowed to use her CC for the entire trip. Lucky you had cash. That would not have happened with me as I usually do carry a penny in cash with me.

The water at Disney can look very scary due to all the pine pollen that accumulates. It makes it look like a nuclear waste dump. We want to canoe while we are at the Fort but dumping over is a real concern for me.

I love the chat you had with Garren. I would have felt the need to have the same type of chat with my oldest son

We bought water proof pouches for our camera and phones for our upcoming trip because we really wished we had had them in May with all the rain. I am thinking it will be a wise purchase with some of the activities we want to do.

Love the canoe pictures. I think this might be the first time we are really getting to see current pictures of Matt and Garren??

How much was it for 30 minutes on the canoe?

Interesting about the A/C. I actually have more of a problem being cold then hot (although I prefer just right). When we were there in May/June we had a terrible time keeping our hotel room from freezing. There were many days when we did not use the air at all or we just ran it for a couple of hours before bed and then turned it completely off before we went to sleep.

I did not watch the frog video yet but I wonder if the frogs are coqui? They are originally from Puerto Rico where kenny's family is from and can be very hard to get used to.

 

[indimom]

Still lovin' the report!

Bummer about the wet shoes and incoming blisters. That can make for a tough trip!

So simulators and motion bother most of you? I'll be interested to hear how the Universal portion of your trip goes.

Sounds like a great morning so far at HS, though! Some Toy Story, without a huge wait, a couple of nice rides on ToT (very nice redneck photo), RNR. We won't mention ST.

Great movie ride is enjoyable, I was surprised when my teen and preteen actually wanted to do it this year. We had the cowboy scene once, a few years ago and boy is it a nice change from the gangster!

I have only seen the Little Mermaid show once, solo, while the rest of my gang was getting their Indiana Jones on. Good show, but I know it is one I can't drag my guys to.

on scoring the anytime FP!!!

Yeah, the morning went really well. We didn't have a rush/rush type of itinerary. There were a few activities we were not interested in, so that made it pretty slow paced and relaxing.

The motion sickness issue is always something we plan long and hard for. We do fairly well with meds, but we've still had some questionable moments. Universal took a lot of negotiating since they have so many rides like that. I'll definitely include that in my report when I get there.

Wow you managed to get a lot done in a short space of time
It's great that all your research paid off with ice-creams
Looking forward to hearing more!

Yeah, I really scored that time. lol. I didn't feel the least bit guilty making use of my endless research.

"Gearing up and Driving, Driving, Driving…. Friday, July 19th"

It has been a crazy week because Gabriel started back to school last monday so I am a little late to the party for your TR. So glad to see you started through.

Right there with you, things are getting nuts here too.

Glad you guys got an early start and that the drive was uneventful.

Sleeping in a rest stop was always our hotel of choice when we used to drive from Ohio to Florida every year when I was growing up. I know there was a time that it was not save but the rest stops along interstate 75 have really beefed up their security over the years.

Sounds like even though Emily had figured out you were going to Florida neither child had figured out you were going to Disney so good for you guys on keeping the surprise. In the end was the suprise worth it or do you wish they had been part of the planning. I am torn about whether I could ever do a surprise trip because we do so much in the months before as a family to get ready for Disney.

Honestly, I think I would have given them a heads up at least a little bit before the trip. We had a couple misunderstandings due to the surprise. And I'm not sure it was worth all the stress of trying to keep it under wraps.

"Chapter Two: We’ve been robbed! Saturday, July 20th"

I am impressed that your Garmin worked on Disney property. Always in the past ours works great until we get inside Disney and then it has a major fail. I was told once by a CM that it was the way Disney registeres their roads?????

I've heard all the horror stories too, and I really wasn't sure if it would work, but those downloads were great! We were able to use the voice command option and it got us everywhere we wanted to go. Our only "difficulty" was the 'distance to turn' was not as accurate as we typically find it.
For example, the Garmin would say it was still 100ft to our turn, and we'd realize we were right on top of the road. That sort of thing. Once we knew that, we were able to work with it, and just watch the signs a little closer so we didn't overshoot the mark at turnoffs.

Sounds like the morning of check in was a little cool. I can not wait to hear about the rest of the week. I am really hoping for cooler mornings and evenings for our September trip. I figure the weather has been strange enough this year that we may have a chance.

I'll be hoping for you. It was definitely a very different vacation weather-wise than we've taken in the past. Much cooler (although still humid most days). And we had our best Epcot day EVER thanks to those cooler temps...but we'll get to that.

Awesome about the mix-up with your campe site. Sounds like a little got thrown your way.

Oh yeah, I was sooooo happy!!!! And Matt realized very quickly what a life saver it was also.

I know what Carlo's means about gators. My dad has lived in Florida for 15 years and he has a pond in back of his house. There is always at least one gator in there. When it reaches 8ft he call and have it removed but then a new one moves in immediately. I was very surprised about the bear. Interested to see if you saw any.

You know, I had no idea there were bears in Florida until this spring. My sister lives in the Destin/Navarra area, and they had a juvenile bear IN THEIR YARD this year! She took pictures! I was like !!!

I am very nervous about the size of Ft. Wilderness. I do not want to spend the extra money on a golf cart and wonder if you have any suggestions on what we should request for a cabin location?

I can't really advise you on the cabins. I would check with some of the experts on the Camping board. I know a lot of people rent a golf cart from off-site vendors. I'm not sure how painful that price is, but it might be worth it. We actually thought bikes would be ideal since you could split up.
Otherwise, there are the buses that revolve around the campground. They certainly do the job, it just means you have to wait a bit (which we weren't interested in doing since our trip was sooo short). Might not seem so bad when the trip is longer.

Love the pictures you took of the site. It looks like you are on top of a cement slab but I guess that is sand

Yes, that's sand. Pretty hard packed sand. It was a perfect pad. We've stayed at lots of different campsites, but this was the best pad, by far.

Did the swampy area mean lots of mosquitoes? That is one thing we have never encountered at Disney but I am wondering if that is because we have never been to Fort Wilderness?

Honestly, it wasn't too bad. Em got a couple bites, but nothing awful. I would bring bug spray just in case. I'm sure the screen house helped a bit.

Can't wait to hear how the A/C worked as that is the major obsticle between me and camping.

Don't worry, I'll give you a full report!

I have heard that the comfort stations at Disney are top notch.

They were very nice. I only saw them looking less than immaculate one time, and I'm sure we just happened to stop in right after someone with muddy shoes and right before custodial came to clean up. Every other time, it was perfectly clean (and air-conditioned, bonus!).

My Daughter has frizzy hair and she does not even bother to bring her straightener to Disney anymore as it is usually a complete waste of time.

I feel her pain. Grrr. I really, really wanted to get a couple decent pictures this time, but it was not to be.

Glad to hear that the pool was fun. Gabriel is one that would join into the activities so we need to make sure you get there a couple of time during our stay.

Honey Boo Boo is a big source of embarassment for us Georgians!!!

You poor thing... Indiana has had a few embarrassing characters over the years also, even one who will not be named who hung out in D.C.

"Chapter 3: We have NOT been robbed! And "Are there Gators in there?" Sat. July 20"

I have only attempted the Walmart near Disney once but that was enough. Never again no matter how much money it would save us. Publix is pricer but totally worth avoiding the crowds.

Ahhh, I should have included that plan in my PTR, you could have set me straight. That place was a nightmare!!!

Interested to see how you resoved the CC issue. Last year this happened to my cousin during our trip. When she called her bank that explained that Disney sends all their CC transactions through California and the bank has a policy to deny anything that goes through California. So she was not allowed to use her CC for the entire trip. Lucky you had cash. That would not have happened with me as I usually do carry a penny in cash with me.

We actually planned to use the cash for everything EXCEPT gas and groceries. So, we had enough cash, it wasn't a huge, big deal. I was just annoyed with her attitude.

The water at Disney can look very scary due to all the pine pollen that accumulates. It makes it look like a nuclear waste dump. We want to canoe while we are at the Fort but dumping over is a real concern for me.

I love the chat you had with Garren. I would have felt the need to have the same type of chat with my oldest son

You live with them long enough, you know which ones will put you in the drink. I'm pretty sure Matt had a panicked sound in his voice as he practically screamed "I get Emily" and ran for their canoe, leaving me in the dust with the wild child... My hero.

We bought water proof pouches for our camera and phones for our upcoming trip because we really wished we had had them in May with all the rain. I am thinking it will be a wise purchase with some of the activities we want to do.

That's a good idea. If we ever get back, I'll have to look into those.

Love the canoe pictures. I think this might be the first time we are really getting to see current pictures of Matt and Garren??

Probably. All the siding pictures were pretty far away because I was trying to get the whole house in.

How much was it for 30 minutes on the canoe?

I think it was about $7 for each canoe. Not bad at all.

Interesting about the A/C. I actually have more of a problem being cold then hot (although I prefer just right). When we were there in May/June we had a terrible time keeping our hotel room from freezing. There were many days when we did not use the air at all or we just ran it for a couple of hours before bed and then turned it completely off before we went to sleep.

I did not watch the frog video yet but I wonder if the frogs are coqui? They are originally from Puerto Rico where kenny's family is from and can be very hard to get used to.

Matt much prefers to be hot, so the daytime temps never bother him. The rest of us manage okay in the day also. But, we also know that sleeping in heat and humidity can be a challenge, we had a few weeks last summer when our a/c wasn't working and the second floor bedrooms were miserable. So, we were a bit concerned. Add to that all the warnings upon warnings you get from the Dis about the Orlando heat and humidity, and we were very concerned. I'll let you know our final verdict as we go along....

 

[SuperNEMOfan]

Reading about the motion sickness really makes me ponder star tours.

Usually rides don't bother me very much. The only one that turned my stomach was Harry Potter....I can't watch screens and be moving. Maybe we will pass it up this time

Oh no I hate incoming blisters! I'm so prone to them. I bought new shoes for my trip and have been running in them so hopefully no blisters this time around!

 

[indimom]

Reading about the motion sickness really makes me ponder star tours.

Usually rides don't bother me very much. The only one that turned my stomach was Harry Potter....I can't watch screens and be moving. Maybe we will pass it up this time

Oh no I hate incoming blisters! I'm so prone to them. I bought new shoes for my trip and have been running in them so hopefully no blisters this time around!

I gotta say, this was my worst experience of the trip, even compared to Forbidden Journey. We figured out how to manage that ride, and I'll share what worked for us when I get to that part of my report. But, ST kicked my fanny. lol.
This is our first trip really dealing with blisters, and they were a royal pain. But, we came up with a solution that worked for that too, which you'll hear about later.
I think breaking in your shoes before the trip will help a lot. (Well, that and keeping them dry, lol.)

 

[indimom]

Chapter Five: No kidding, this time we really were robbed, SAVE ME, and a stranger sat on me. Sunday July 21st.

Back at our campsite, we made an unpleasant discovery. We were robbed. And for real, this time!

I had not put our dry foods inside a tight closing container, and some squirrels (we suspect) enjoyed part of two packs of hamburger buns, a couple hotdog buns, and almost an entire banana. Oops. Basic camping 101 and we fail!

Oh well, there was one regular loaf of bread untouched, so we made some sandwiches, had veggies and dip, some watermelon and chips. We used melted ice from my half-gallon jugs to make lemonade and Gatorade. A nice filling lunch. Of course, now, we would have to go back to the store for more bread in a day or so. Another offsite shopping trip hadnt been in the plans, but, it was our own fault so we just rolled with it, threw away the contaminated stuff, carefully sealed up the rest, and headed to the pool for a cooling swim.

The kids enjoyed the pool while Matt and I tried out the hot tub. I think I would love this perk in the winter months, but for summer it was just too warm. We only lasted about ten minutes, then headed back to the pool for a shocking adjustment then a quick swim.

After our break, Matt checked out his tennis shoes. They were still wet from their rain shower. He debated which would be worse wearing wet tennis shoes or continuing with the sandals that were already building blisters. He stuck with the sandals, probably a mistake, and we headed back to DHS for the evening.

First on our agenda, a ride on RnRC. We were able to get another close parking place and headed in. As we walked toward the front of the park, we could see there was some typical afternoon Orlando weather building, but since most of the attractions we wanted to see were indoors, we decided not to worry about it and continue with our plans.

We had just finished scanning our cards and fingers at the turnstyles, when there was a sudden and very loud BOOOM of thunder that made everyone, guests and Cast Members alike jump and even produced a number of loud squeals.

An older CM sort of laughed, jumped again, and then threw himself into Matts arms like he needed protecting. Carlos #3. LOL. SAVE ME!

The kids thought this was GREAT! You should have seen Matts face in that first second. Priceless! Matt and Carlos shared a good laugh, along with many people around us, before he got back to work, and we head onward toward our crazy limo ride.

We were heading up the street toward B&B, ToT and RnRC, when the chanting started nearby and we saw that a large tour group was headed in the same direction. On the off chance that they were carrying fast passes to RnRC also, we decided to speed up and get ahead of the masses.

We weaved and dodged our way up the street single file, only to realize that there are more tour groups ahead of us. Several of them. Yikes! The street is packed and getting to harder to navigate by the second. What a huge wave of people. As we pass by the Beauty and the Best show, I realize that seems to be where all the groups are heading. They are crowding at the entrance waiting for the next show. Several groups. Several very LARGE Groups! And the group behind us was crowding in there as well.

The groups proceed to try to out-chant each other. Boy, that was something else. Lol. In fact, it was so interesting, I had to snap a couple pictures (now that we were no longer in danger of falling in behind the large group at RnRC FP return. ).


Notice the lady in blue. I wasnt the only one who thought this huge group was photo worthy. Ha.

At this point, Ive got to note, all the tour groups we saw this week were very well behaved. They were patient, they didnt cut lines, and they would move if they noticed they were blocking the way. Most of the time, they appeared to only chant when they were waiting (like in this instance) or when they were gathering up to head away from a ride or area ( I got the impression this was intentional to draw the attention of any stragglers, but who knows?).

Either way, it didnt bother us a bit or impact our touring in any way. We did try to avoid getting in any lines behind them so we didnt increase our wait time drastically, but otherwise, they were just an interesting diversion as we tried to discover what country they were from and why there was such a disproportionately large number of girls in these groups. (Any guesses on that one??) Otherwise, they were just a large group of teens we had to swim around on occasion, and all appeared to be behaving well despite the many bad reports Ive read over the years.

The rain was still not apparent, but people were flooding to the exit, fighting against the tide of tour groups, so we hustled single file to the coaster, and Garren and I jumped in the FP line and were quickly into the sound stage and onto the ride. Whew, what a rush! Garren, in particular, really loves this ride. And we all agree its one of the best in all four parks. Such Fun!

As we were exiting, we felt the first drops of the afternoon rain shower coming in, so we decided to head to some indoor attractions. First stop? Animation Academy. We really enjoy this little show. We had about a ten minute wait and then were let in. The artist threw out some characters names to try to find one that not many guests had drawn before. He found three that were uncommon: Bolt, Grumpy and another Ive forgotten. We voted and Grumpy won. Matt was disappointed, he wanted to draw Bolt. Lol.

I kept our pictures so I could share them with you all, and now I cant locate them. But, they werent too bad, really. If I happen to find them, Ill post them later because I want to get this up tonight.

When we were finished, we checked the weather, and it was pouring cats and dogs outside, so we wandered through the displays and character areas for a bit before deciding to wander along under the building overhang and see if we could reach One Mans Dream without being forced to pull on ponchos.

Surprisingly, we made it there, with very little exposure to the weather. We had never checked out this exhibit before, so we spent a good amount of time there exploring. Garren was not impressed (yawn), but he suffered through it for our sake.

Following our museum tour, we decided to check out the Blacklot Tour which we skipped in 2010, and the Muppets Show. Arriving at the Backlot, there is a rope up, with a crowd of people waiting. The attraction is only scheduled to be open until 7 p.m. and its now 6:30 p.m. Apparently, they closed for the rainstorm and no one is certain if they will reopen or not.

A CM was tossing out Disney trivia for the crowd, but we were too far back to really participate. But, we took this as a sign that they were at least attempting to get the ride going before its closing time. Otherwise, wouldnt they just close up the line and move on to other things??

We debate wasting our time waiting, and decide to give it a try. After about ten minutes, we hear a cheer go up from the front, hmmmm, promising, and five minutes later, the line is open and we head inside. There is a decent sized crowd and we proceed up the ramp.

We chose the center of three aisles and settle in for the wait. A few minutes later a grandmotherly lady and young girl enter the line from the far right, cutting across all the aisles until they find their group in the left aisle right next to us.

I had been standing with my hand on the handrail that separates the two rows, and grandma proceeds to lean back and sit on my hand. Seriously, I had to tug my hand out from under her tushie.

I stand back for a minute or two, then unconsciously, rest my hand on the handrail again. A minute or so later, grandma moves, and settles in on top of my hand for a second time. Seriously.

I dont know how she missed me pulling out my hand the first time, but this time I was annoyed and pulled it out a bit more forcefully, sort of hoping she would notice. Well, she didn't, but Matt noticed. Observant guy he is. And when grandma moves a third time and nails him with her HUGE backpack, he makes some goofy comment about attack of the killer backpacks just loud enough for grandma to hear.

This time she catches on. She apologizes for bumping into us (I still dont think she knew she sat her fanny on my hand twice???) and we proceed to have a friendly conversation until the line moved into the water tank part of the show. You know, its hard to stay annoyed with a person who is apologetic and talking nicely to you. Lol. Oh, and I kept my hand off the handrails from that point on. Lesson learned. I didnt want to feel up any other passersby.

We got an abbreviated show at the water tank. Do they not take volunteers anymore Or what that just because of the rain?? Im not sure, but it was rushed and kind of silly without the volunteers on stage. We walked through the short exhibit. The kids enjoyed the couple items they recognized, but I will always say this part is too short and the labels are too small. Then it was on to the ride itself and yet another funny experience with a vacationing family.

We had just loaded into the tram and the doors were in place, as another small group made their way onto the ride platform. There was a small delay as they reopened the first car to load more passengers. It was at this point, that my husband nudged my shoulder and pointed at the area where you line up for the next tram.

There was a boy about Garrens age standing there and he was sporting the ever popular boxers under athletic shorts with the athletic shorts super low on his hips, letting the top 4 inches of boxers to show. Matt kind of laughed and shrugged, being a good-old-boy he thinks this style is hilarious. I looked over in time to see the boys dad (at least Im assuming it was his dad) had noticed Matts reaction.

He looked from Matt to the boy, back to Matt, back to the boy. I was just starting to think, Oh no, Matt you started something, hes going to be angry when the dad reached out toward the kid, and&..






pulled his athletic shorts down.



HE PANTSED HIS OWN KID! Then just stood there laughing with half the people in the tram while his kid punched him in the arm and yanked his shorts back up.

ROFL Oh, my gosh, I couldnt believe it. And neither could Matt... All because hes a busy body. (I was still a bit embarrassed that he got caught laughing at someones kid Yikes!) And I felt bad for the boy, but he didnt seem too embarrassed, just annoyed with his dad.

At that point, the tram pulled out and we left that family behind to duke it out.

Matt and I had the kids to sit on the left side of the tram and caught a couple decent photos of the action part of the ride.




After the ride, we meander through the exhibits on the way to the exit. This received much attention from both Matt and Emily, who will proudly proclaim their love of the Superman. He is the only REAL super hero (ask Emily, shell tell anyone who will listen). While he may be superhuman, I think its more heroic to risk your life and limb, so Im more impressed with human characters like Green Arrow or Batman (besides, Superman is a goody-two-shoes. I prefer a bit darker hero& Lol) Can you tell we debate this often at our house??

Anyway, we got the required photo.


And moved on to Muppets. If there is a chance this is going away with the Star Wars expansion, I wanted to make sure we got to see it one more time. We picked up our required Ice Cream on the way. Matt and Garren had Mickey Bars, Emily had a Mickey Sandwich, and I got a Frozen Banana. All of which, we washed down with a Sprite. The ice cream was a nice refresher after our busy day, but a water would have been a better chaser, if you ask me....

There was a nearly empty room in the preshow area. It was nice to relaxing to not worry about bumping into people.
A young family with a baby and toddler/preschooler were busy chasing the little one around the room. She was clearly enjoying the freedom/safety of the open area to run about a bit while mom or dad hurried along behind. Such a cutie.

Before long, the theatre opened. With so few people in the crowd, we were encouraged to sit anywhere in the theatre that we liked, so we chose a center seat about 2/3 of the way back where 3D effects are supposed to be at their best.

As usual, it was a great show. Funny. And the 3D was great.

I was glad to hear that Emily enjoyed it. Her 3D vision is not great since her eyes dont work together all that well. In general her gross 3D is decent when her vision is stable, but fine 3D is nonexistent due to scarring in her central vision. Her gross 3D can be better or worse if shes having a flare up or bad vision day. So, you just never know, and I wondered if she would get anything from the cool 3D movies at Disney and Universal.

In this case, she really enjoyed this show and said she got many of the effects. Not sure if that was good video, good seating, or just a good vision day, but it worked for her. Other theatre productions were not as good later in the week. (Like I said, its a toss up.)

By this point, we were starting to wear out. Matt likes Fantasmic, but no one else was interested, so we decided to head for the exit.

A few more photos on our way out of DHS:



Ha ha, Gotta Love Mike!

On the way home from DHS, we stopped for gas and more bread at a convenience store. Once we were back at the tent, Matt showed me all of his blisters. OY. He was in bad shape. Two full blown blisters on his toes. And a couple serious hot spots on the top of his feet. His tennis shoes were still wet from our first night and we debated giving them a tumble in the dryer before we headed out.

But, since we have a water park day tomorrow, we decide to just give them a little more time to dry. He wouldn't need shoes the following day anyway.

Matt made hamburgers, and we ate more fresh fruit and some garden corn I brought from home. We needed to fill up the coolers with more ice, so we decided to locate the ice machines which we were told were somewhere near the comfort stations.

Em and I grabbed some quarters and went in search of the ice machine. A friendly woman in the laundry room, pointed us in the right direction, but warned us that the ice was pricey and the machine had been broken the week before. We found the machine where she said, and realized it was still broken, so we gave up on restocking the coolers tonight. Wed hit another loop in the morning, and pick up some ice there to bring back.

The night was very cool and comfortable so we didnt even turn the a/c on. The frogs woke me once more on this night, but after that I was either too tired to notice or had gotten used to their noises, I never heard them again. Lol.

I apologize for the lack of photos in this post. There were some days when we just didn't pull the camera out much?? But, I promise my next two posts will be a little more picture heavy.

Up Next: Chapter Six: Who knew there were tougher water slides than Summit Plummet? Matts Arial Acrobatics. Monday, July 22nd.

 

[DisneyFanatic09]

Joining in!!! Yay for a block one nursing student I am currently entering block two! Looking forward to your TR

 

[angelicamy12]

I'm really enjoying reading your trip report! My boyfriend and I have nearly decided to book a last minute trip in November and are doing a Disney/US split trip too so I cant wait to read the rest of your TR!

 

[bluejasmine]

Do you have a pic of the inside of the tents? Im very curious! lol Did you sleep on air mattresses?

 

[golf4miami]

Great updates! Sounds like you guys had a VERY productive MGM day. I'm only a little sad that you guys didn't hit up the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play set and that's only because it'll be closed for renovations while Hannah and I are there on our trip.

I think how your day went is going to be a solid model for how Hannah and I want ours to go when we get down there. The only difference being that we will probably ride ToT as many times as possible and RnR only once.

I can't wait to see what's up in your next update because your title definitely has me on the edge of my seat. haha

 

[Chief Powhatan]

I love to hear a trip report from the Fort. We stay there every year in an RV.

In a world full of bad Wal-Marts, that one near Disney is the worst. I try my best every year to avoid it, but I always somehow find myself trekking through it at least once.

I look forward to the rest of your report.

 

[lsenquiz]

Chapter Five: No kidding, this time we really were robbed& SAVE ME and a stranger sat on me. Sunday July 21st.

I would have been totally bummed about the squirrels getting some of our food but even more bummed about having to enter another store!

Lunch sounds delicious and I am total impressed by your ability to keep to your plan and eat your meals at camp. I totally stink at that. The last 5 years we have gotten a two bedroom villa with a full kitchen for our September trip and I always say we will eat some meals in the room and we absolutely never do.

I am usually a big hot tub lover but I am with you I cannot do them in the summer.

Poor Matt and his blisters. I am struggling with what to do with Kenny on our next trip. We had so much rain in May/June and he was often miserable walking out with wet tennis shoes. I would love to get him a pair of good walking sandals that can get wet with no problems but he has just never worn anything but tennis shoes so I am not sure how he will do.

I have skipped RnR the last two years in order to let everyone else ride while I stay with the little ones. I may just ride it again this trip to see if it is still as much fun as it used to be for me.

The thunder at Disney can be incredibly loud! I just love a cast member that can be funny on the spur of the moment

We have been lucky to never encounter a tour group in all our trips. However, if I do I will need to ask them why they chant.

I do love how people exit the park when it is threatening rain. This is exactly why I want to be prepared to power through it (ponchos and the right shoes are all we really need!). I just love taking advantage of the low crowds after a good downpour.

I feel for Matt not getting his choice about drawing the character he wanted. Gabriel had the same experience when we went to the class but a super amazing CM saved the day (update will be in my last TR post). I hope you find your pictures. I kept ours also and will be posting them with my TR update.

I am impressed that you made it clear to One Man's dream without getting wet. This attraction is a must do for our next trip because I have never done it. I may have to make other arrangements for the rest of the group as I doubt they will be the good sport Gavin was.

Awesome that you eventually made friends with the lady that sat on your hand twice but I have to say it is really amazing to me how people really only live in their own world. You see so much of that at Disney. Good for Matt for eventually saying something!!!

We have not done the backlot tour in a couple of years but the last time we did Kenny was chosen to participate. It did make the whole thing more interesting. Hopefully they were just catching up from the rain delay and have not eliminated that for good.

I have to say I found the incident with the boy and his father very interesting. Although I would never do that to my child in public I did spend alot of time telling my oldest DS25 to pull his darn(not the actual word I used but more appropriate for the DIS) pants up when he went through that phase. I could see where a parent might reach the end of his rope and just pull them the rest of the way down since they are half way there already. I will be the first to vote yes if they ever try to pass a law in our area banning that type of dress.

I am glad that Emily was able to enjoy the Muppets. So much is going 3D that is must be hard for her on a bad eye day.

I am surprised they charge for Ice at Fort Wilderness. I guess because people need it so much more there? We frequently fill our cooler at Boardwalk and just use the Ice Machine

 

[natebenma]

Nice update!

I haven't seen anyone mention Moleskin with the discussion of incoming blisters. We are big fans and bring along various sheets of this and small scissors to help as the blisters start to form. I am ususally pretty good, but I think I literally had a small patch on all 10 of my little piggies on our last trip.

Even in the happiest place on earth, you must deal with thieves! I'm sure the campground squirrels are some of the best fed around.

Great interaction with the turnstile Cast Member.

More great interactions with the woman who sat on your hand. twice. maybe she had an itch. EWWWWW!!!

Backlot tour is one of my youngest son's favorites and between the early closing and weather delays, it can be tough to fit in. We had the abbreviated, no volunteer version when we were there the week before you. I think it was weather, but not sure.

Muppets Rock!

We haven't done Animation Academy- I would really like this but the rest of the family isn't interested.

And a word on Tour Groups- we thought they were much better behaved this year than on previous trips. Also, it seemed like there were more, smaller groups than some of the seas of people we have seen in the past.

For the most part, they didn't affect our plans, but when the groups have and use FP on an attraction it really screws things up.

 

[indimom]

Joining in!!! Yay for a block one nursing student I am currently entering block two! Looking forward to your TR

How are you liking school?? I start MOnday, so I'm just starting to get nervous now! They gave us 15 chapters to read and about 6 pages of notes to memorize by then, so I'm already busy, busy, busy. I think the next couple years are going to be NUTS!!!

I'm really enjoying reading your trip report! My boyfriend and I have nearly decided to book a last minute trip in November and are doing a Disney/US split trip too so I cant wait to read the rest of your TR!

That's one of the rules we broke on this trip. We like both parks so much that we always swore we would do them each on their own to get the most value out of a trip (it's also more cost effective that way since multi-day passes are so much cheaper than one-day). BUT, with credit card rewards to cover our shorter-than-average Disney stay and tickets, and more rewards to cover the two nights at Universal, we just couldn't deny the obvious logic and give it a try.
In reality, it was really nice spending time at both. They each have their strengths, and so it's a bit more diverse, if that makes sense. We had a great time, and I would absolutely do it again!

Do you have a pic of the inside of the tents? Im very curious! lol Did you sleep on air mattresses?

Sadly, I'm a picture loser. I meant to get tons of shots around the campsite and I completely failed. My little point and shoot died before the trip and Emily had her camera most of the time, so I missed out on a lot of photo ops.
As for the tent. I can at least describe the set up. It's a 16X16. It's divided into three sections.
The front 8X16 is set up so you can use it as a living space or screen room. We didn't bother since we had the screen house.
Emily took the left half of that space, and we used the right half (where the door was that we entered through) for shoes/clothes/bags/toiletries/electronics/etc. I have some collapsible Thirty-One bins that I use for grocery shopping at home, and we organized everything in those.
The back half is separated into two areas that are 8X16 each. Garren had the right half. And we kept the 3 section pop-up laundry hamper in there also. His area had the most space for it (and I didn't want smelly stuff anywere near me, ha ha). Matt and I took the back half. We used a full size air mattress. Em and Garren slept on/in sleeping bags.
We have some internal hooks that we also used to hang shirts that might wrinkle.
That's about it. Everything else was stored around the site or under the screen house.

Great updates! Sounds like you guys had a VERY productive MGM day. I'm only a little sad that you guys didn't hit up the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play set and that's only because it'll be closed for renovations while Hannah and I are there on our trip.

We did. Probably our best day at that park ever. You know, I completely forgot about the play area. We've visited it on past trips, but didn't even think of it this time. Matt and I even have a photo or two from our trip in 1993 when we were young 20yos. That's something else. If my scanner was working, I'd show ya. lol. It's a pity you'll have to miss it this time. But, as a bonus, if they are renovating now, I'm going to assume that it stays when they expand Star Wars? So you should be able to visit again someday.

I think how your day went is going to be a solid model for how Hannah and I want ours to go when we get down there. The only difference being that we will probably ride ToT as many times as possible and RnR only once.

Sounds like a solid plan to me!

I can't wait to see what's up in your next update because your title definitely has me on the edge of my seat. haha

It was an interesting water park day, I just wish they took video at the water parks cause this one might have been worth some money.

I love to hear a trip report from the Fort. We stay there every year in an RV.

As a first experience, I gotta say we loved it. Well, except for one small bad spot which will be explained in fine detail later. Let's just say, if we go again, we're going to have to invest in a camper ourselves.

In a world full of bad Wal-Marts, that one near Disney is the worst. I try my best every year to avoid it, but I always somehow find myself trekking through it at least once.

I have made it a lifelong vow to never, ever step foot in that Walmart again. We are NOT crowd people and that made me feel like we were in the middle of Main Street at parade or fireworks time! YIKES!

I look forward to the rest of your report.

Thank you! And please keep commenting. I love to hear what people think, or any future tips they can share with me.

Chapter Five: No kidding, this time we really were robbed& SAVE ME and a stranger sat on me. Sunday July 21st.

I would have been totally bummed about the squirrels getting some of our food but even more bummed about having to enter another store!

We found a way around that somewhat. Not that it was cheap, but we didn't care at that point.

Lunch sounds delicious and I am total impressed by your ability to keep to your plan and eat your meals at camp. I totally stink at that. The last 5 years we have gotten a two bedroom villa with a full kitchen for our September trip and I always say we will eat some meals in the room and we absolutely never do.

Well, we still have a few days to go....how will we do from this point forward??? That is the question.

I am usually a big hot tub lover but I am with you I cannot do them in the summer.

Poor Matt and his blisters. I am struggling with what to do with Kenny on our next trip. We had so much rain in May/June and he was often miserable walking out with wet tennis shoes. I would love to get him a pair of good walking sandals that can get wet with no problems but he has just never worn anything but tennis shoes so I am not sure how he will do.

My only advice would be to bring two, or even three pair, so that you can keep swapping for dry shoes. The rest of us had multiple shoes but Matt only packed one pair of tennis shoes and his shower sandals. Big, Big, Mistake. Huge.
And on the subject of shoes? Those Clarks sandals I bought were amazing. I didn't have any pain or discomfort the entire trip! Wonderful sandals!!

I have skipped RnR the last two years in order to let everyone else ride while I stay with the little ones. I may just ride it again this trip to see if it is still as much fun as it used to be for me.

You should. I swear it was more fun on this trip. I can't say why. I felt like I could see more in the ride, so it was a little more exciting with glimpses of the track now and again. Maybe they added a bit more lighting?

The thunder at Disney can be incredibly loud! I just love a cast member that can be funny on the spur of the moment

I agree. Those are the things that stick with you. The spontaneous moments of laughter. Awesome.

We have been lucky to never encounter a tour group in all our trips. However, if I do I will need to ask them why they chant.

This was a first for us, as well. It was interesting, but not the nightmare I had been led to believe.

I do love how people exit the park when it is threatening rain. This is exactly why I want to be prepared to power through it (ponchos and the right shoes are all we really need!). I just love taking advantage of the low crowds after a good downpour.

I agree, although that thunder was soooo loud, I did, for just one short crazy moment, think: Should we really be doing this? Lightening isn't something to play around with. Then, the insanity passed, and I headed back into the magic.

I feel for Matt not getting his choice about drawing the character he wanted. Gabriel had the same experience when we went to the class but a super amazing CM saved the day (update will be in my last TR post). I hope you find your pictures. I kept ours also and will be posting them with my TR update.

Ooh, I can't wait. I'm finally starting to get caught up on all the trip reports I was reading. Sounds like he was blessed with a ton of pixie dust on this trip. I hope your next trip is equally magical!

I am impressed that you made it clear to One Man's dream without getting wet. This attraction is a must do for our next trip because I have never done it. I may have to make other arrangements for the rest of the group as I doubt they will be the good sport Gavin was.

We had to dodge through a short stretch of rain, but there was an awning for most of the way there. Although we had to "excuse me, pardon me, coming through please" for quite a ways. A strange number of people wearing ponchos were still huddled under the awnings waiting for the rain to pass.

Awesome that you eventually made friends with the lady that sat on your hand twice but I have to say it is really amazing to me how people really only live in their own world. You see so much of that at Disney. Good for Matt for eventually saying something!!!

Yeah, he's a lot more outspoken than I will ever be. In the end, I just concluded that she wasn't rude, she just lacked sensation in her buttocks.

We have not done the backlot tour in a couple of years but the last time we did Kenny was chosen to participate. It did make the whole thing more interesting. Hopefully they were just catching up from the rain delay and have not eliminated that for good.

That's what I'm hoping because the whole thing was just kinda sad and uninteresting without the humor of a thousand gallons of water spraying on some unsuspecting tourist.

I have to say I found the incident with the boy and his father very interesting. Although I would never do that to my child in public I did spend alot of time telling my oldest DS25 to pull his darn(not the actual word I used but more appropriate for the DIS) pants up when he went through that phase. I could see where a parent might reach the end of his rope and just pull them the rest of the way down since they are half way there already. I will be the first to vote yes if they ever try to pass a law in our area banning that type of dress.

Well I was a bit horrified at first, but the kid didn't seem upset about it, so I let it go. But sheesh, Matt, could you "talk about people" without being so obvious next time. Apparently, that's an art which is lost on my dear husband.

I am glad that Emily was able to enjoy the Muppets. So much is going 3D that is must be hard for her on a bad eye day.

It's not too bad. She doesn't particularly love the 3D movies in theatres (two hours of that can set off motion sickness so we avoid them most of the time), but it can be a bummer when there are cute little videos like this. She also can't see the 3D effects on the DS games. And fine motor skills, like threading a needle, can be a challenge without depth perception but she's not a big fan of sewing anyway. .

I am surprised they charge for Ice at Fort Wilderness. I guess because people need it so much more there? We frequently fill our cooler at Boardwalk and just use the Ice Machine

You hit the nail on the head. With restocking coolers, they go through a ton, so they charge for it. A little bit of an annoyance, but it wasn't "that bad." It cost us about $4 each time we topped off the cooler which was 2 or 3 times the entire trip.

Nice update!

I haven't seen anyone mention Moleskin with the discussion of incoming blisters. We are big fans and bring along various sheets of this and small scissors to help as the blisters start to form. I am ususally pretty good, but I think I literally had a small patch on all 10 of my little piggies on our last trip.

I actually had some because it worked so well for me during our two week trip in 2010, but we couldn't seem to get it to stay on his toes. I can't figure it out, because that stuff stuck like glue on my feet. Maybe we weren't using big enough pieces or something. He also tried First Aid at DHS (I forgot about that in my report, I think) but band aids are a complete waste of time. They didn't last ten minutes.

Even in the happiest place on earth, you must deal with thieves! I'm sure the campground squirrels are some of the best fed around.

I'll bet they are. We saw them getting in and out of the trash cans numerous times, and they were pretty brazen even when we were around the campsite. They would come right up to the screen house and you would have to stomp your feet to scare them off.
I forget what day it was, but Matt and I walked around the tent one morning and came face to face with a wild turkey. And it wasn't the least frightened of us. In Indiana, turkeys are skittish critters, you almost never see them, and we have plenty.

Great interaction with the turnstile Cast Member.

Yep, Carlos #3 was a riot!

More great interactions with the woman who sat on your hand. twice. maybe she had an itch. EWWWWW!!! is right! I didn't need that visual. Ugh, now I need to wash my hands again.

Backlot tour is one of my youngest son's favorites and between the early closing and weather delays, it can be tough to fit in. We had the abbreviated, no volunteer version when we were there the week before you. I think it was weather, but not sure.

Yikes! I sure hope so.

Muppets Rock!

Agreed!

We haven't done Animation Academy- I would really like this but the rest of the family isn't interested.

You should take yourself some time. It is a nice little show and the pictures turn out pretty good, even for non-artists.

And a word on Tour Groups- we thought they were much better behaved this year than on previous trips. Also, it seemed like there were more, smaller groups than some of the seas of people we have seen in the past.

Any idea why the groups are like 90% female? We were trying to figure that out the entire week...

For the most part, they didn't affect our plans, but when the groups have and use FP on an attraction it really screws things up.

That was our basic "avoid the tour groups" plan of attack and we did fine also.