We're back! Trip report and some pics...

[Tigger0624]

Unfortunately, Taz has to go to work tonight, so we are home... though personally, I could live at the Fort if we could afford it! We had a great trip though and I really did hate to see it end... My mom actually lasted the entire trip in the pop up even with the issues we ended up having- detailed later- the golf cart was so much fun we had it out every day though I think my dad used it more! We were also able to hang out with Stacktester, and meet BigDisneyDaddy, DaddysCoolTV, and TriCircleD We did have some adventures and a lot of laughs- though a shoe was tragically lost...

Sunday morning, we got a later start than I wanted to which resulted in us getting to the Fort later than planned- but were checked in by 3pm and headed to our site in the 1600 loop- 1643 to be exact. We were originally assigned to site 1919, but knowing from my fellow Dissers that there were no Comfort Stations close there, I requested a different loop that would be closer to a CS for my parents. Our site was great- close to the CS, but not too close and plenty of room for the pop up, a cabin tent and screen tent (though we didnt use the screens) with extra room for the boys to ride their bikes and play too So after setting up the pop up, tent and "dining room", we plugged in the extra fridge, set out the coolers, and I put Matt to work putting up some lights...Anyway- since we pulled in so much later than planned, we decided to cancel our late lunch at Crystal Palace for Adrew's 5th b-day dinner and chow down at the campsite instead. So we finally finished setting up and my mom and I set out some decorations and ballons for Andy's Very Mickey Birthday while my dad stole Matt's golf cart again and took the boys out looping

After our dinner at the camper, we loaded everyone (all 8 of us) and the stroller onto the golf cart and headed down to the marina to take the boat over to the Magic Kingdom for Spectromagic, birthday Ice Cream, and Wishes- then of course the kids were too hyped up to call it an early night so we stood for extra magic hours and got in some rides too Thoroughly exausted, we headed back to the camper and everyone fell asleep without incident- and with this crew-that is saying alot!

Monday dawned too early for us so we decided to hang around the campsite for a little bit, took the puppies out of jail- eer the kennel- for a few hours and cooked up some BBQ ribs for lunch and took the cart out to do some looping- after a few too many, racks of ribs that is we loaded everyone up and headed over to Hollywood Studios for the evening where we saw the Indiana Jones Stunt show, which all the boys (my dad included) loved, The Voyage of the Little Mermaid (my pic) and my personal favorite of the entire park- Toy Story Mania!!! By far worth the wait! We went at 9:45 (park closed at 10 EMH) and still had to wait an hour to get in!!! But it was so much fun looking through all the different displays- I swear sometimes they put more into the waiting areas than the rides themselves!!!!

-- I'm having issues uploading pics right now, but I will post some soon- along with more of a vary long trip reprot

 

[VACAMPER]

Glad you had a good time..can't wait for pics!

 

[CampingChristy]

 

[LONE-STAR]

 

[Tiggntaz]

 

[LONE-STAR]

 

[Tiggntaz]

This is getting to be alot of popcorn. I vote for Lone-Star to go pop some more. And while you are up I am getting ready for a new Beer.

 

[LONE-STAR]

So did you like having your own cart with you?

 

[Tigger0624]

OK... hopefully the computer will cooperate now....lol...

Here is a pic of our campsite decorated for Andy's B-day

and another shot of the site that Matt took-

My mom and Andy on the boat ride over Sunday afternoon

The older boys with Bolt and the hamster- Timmy was afraid of all the characters....

On Monday, Matt tried to be all stealthy and get pics of the pool, this is what he managed...

The inside area of Toy Story waiting area- where the lines are...

Taz... you should already know all of this since you were the one taking the pictures!!!! LOL!!!

 

[LONE-STAR]

Wow TSM line was empty.

 

[Tigger0624]

Weird- computer is acting up again... just posted and it disappeared... anywho....

Having our own cart was great! I loved it! Of course, we only stood at the Fort one night prior to this trip and we spent the majority of the time we were there over at the park, not in the campground, so I dont really have much to compare it to, but being able to hop on the cart to go whereever we wanted to go whenever we wanted to was great. Looping was a blast too- though I had heard a rumor about carts in restricted areas and on the horse trails and whatnot- must have been those pesky kids playing cart tag, huh Stacktester?

I forgot to add one of the best parts of Sunday- from the minute we pulled through the Disney World sign, my Dad was saying "We're going to Wally World" and just about every other imaginable quote from the classic Vacation movie... what a character he is!!! Oh and I got to prove my parents wrong which was just about the highlight of my life- they were ridiculing us for spending so much money on the cart saying it was a waste and never use it blah blah blah- but they BOTH admitted what a great investment it was and how much fun it was!!! Especially given the fact that my dad drove it ore than any of us....

The pic from TSM was taken after the parck was technically closed (even afte EMH which ened at 10pm that night) I think we got off of the ride round 10:45 after waiting for an hour.... would have loved to have a fast pass for that one

Tuesday's report coming soon.....

 

[Tigger0624]

OK... this is quite possibly one of my favorite prts of the trip even though it is a non-Disney part

Tuesday morning, Taz and I snuck out of the camper before any of the kids woke up and headed over to Discovery Cove for a wonderful day full of Dolphins, tropical fish and NONE OF OUR KIDS!!!!! I love my boys dearly, but this is the first time in over a year we have had any time without the boys- so we grabbed it with both hands and enjoyed it!!!

Our day started with a continental breakfast of assorted fruits, cereals, danish and beverages and we had some visitors while we were eating that I'm guessing helped out the cleaning staff with crumbs....

Afterwards, we were given our Dive vests and snorkel gear, assigned a locker and lurned loose in the park. The park is gorgeous! The landscaping is amazing. I didnt know where to head first, and our assigned dolphin swim wasn't until 3:15, so we opted to check out the avairy first before heading to the water. Here we strolled around, saw some beautiful birds, and we even got to feed them! They would land right on you and literally eat out of your hands! The experience was amazing!!!!

This guy freaked Matt out a little when he landed on his shoulder out of nowhere

But he got used to it quickly

After walking through the birds, we decided to hop in hte water and test out the Lazy River...

and to test out the new waterproof camera/snorkeling gear etc...

So we coasted along the warm currents of the Lazy River for a while

took in the sights...

then headed for a drink and snack (all included all you can eat/drink all day long) before venturing into the snorkeling areas of the reef and stingray lagoons....

The lagoons were noticably colder than the Lazy River and resort pool areas were, so it took a little getting used to at first. We didnt really know what to expect from the Reef area, but were pleasantly suprized when we floated out into the water to be met face to face with large schools of large fish and rays of many diffrerent varieties...

These guys were behind glass though along with the variety of sharks...

This one was actually bigger than Matt

After the amazing experience of being so close to such large and some very dangerous fish, we decided to take a break and grab some luch. We got a variety of entres including the Tropical Salmon Salad and Cajun Jambalya both were excelent and for dessert shared cheese cake and key lime pie- again both very good

After lunch we layed around the beach watching the Dolphin interactions while we digested and then headed to the Stingray Lagoon to get used to the cooler water again before our dolphin time. There had to be at least 50-60 swimming around this particular reef and some would swim right up to you and smack you with their wings!

Our scheduled Dolphin Interaction was at 3:15, so we headed over to the assigned cabana to meet our trainer and watch the video before going out to the water when we were told that the swims were running a little behind schdule because it "was spring and dolphins do what they want when they want" so we were watching a Sea World Video and talking with the trainers when the park went into what they called Code White- for lightning. After the storm was far enough away, we were taken to the lagoon to meet our dolphin. We were assigned Nate who is the 5 year old, 450lb grandson of the parks largest dolphin Capricorn. Here we got to touch, interact, kiss and even be towed back to shore one at a time. It was a priceless experience. Unfortunately, we werent allowed to bring our own cameras to this area, so I dont have any pics of it uploaded yet. I have to scan in their pic. They do have a photographer and videographer in the water during your interaction so you can purchase those items if you wish....

Anyway... as our Dolphim swim ended- a hge thunderstorm hit and sent everyone running for the bars to grab a cold one and wait out the storm... so we followd suit...

After driving back in lovely I4 traffic, we got back to our campsite just in time for dinner with our boys and my parents- on;y to find out that during the storm, the roof of the pop up started leaking all over my parents bed!!!!

So after cleaning up that mess and having dinner, we then headed over to the campfire and sing a long on the golf cart. Here is a pic of the boys on the cart wearing their Fort t-shirts designed by BDR- thanks again Rog!!!!

Andy went up with the group celebrating birthdays

Then we headed to the beach to watch the fireworks.

After the fireworks, we took the boys to run off some extra energy at the playground where they were dubbed (by us) the Fort Wilderness Terrors before heading back to the campsite to turn in for the night...

Even though it was a half non Disney day, we ended it Disney Style looping on the cart for about an hour

Stay tuned for Wednesday's edition of our report and our journey through Animal Kingdom, Fantasmic and Looping with Stacktester

 

[Whipperwhirl]

Great pictures thanks for sharing - Whip

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Great pics !
We have actually caught a couple of those breed of fish. In the pond in our back yard !! (Okay, maybe I'm lieing about that part.)
What I want to know is , did you get to see the "backside of water"?

 

[Tiggntaz]

Great pics !
What I want to know is , did you get to see the "backside of water"?

Not only did we see the back side of water but I also tooka pic of the underside of water. I will post it when I wake up. I am still at work

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Just popping in to your report to say Hi! It was nice to meet you both at the Fort last week. Good job so far on the trip report-especially the photos. Glad that you all had a great trip!

TCD

 

[DaveInTN]

Great trip report, and I'm envious that you guys got to Discovery Cove without kids! I need to get my wife out alone next trip, and since my oldest will be almost 14 by then we can do it!

My only regret about our trip last week is that I only met one DISer...TCD. I had heard Stacktester was at the Fort, but somehow I didn't even realize that you guys and several others were there. I need to pay more attention to the calendar before our next trip so I can meet more of you guys! It would have been especially fun to meet you, as you have 4 boys and we have 4 girls. Worlds collide!!

 

[Tigger0624]

Ok, I know y'all have been up all night unable to sleep wondering what we did on Wednesday.... hopefully, you were able to get more sleep than I did but for those of you that just cant wait anymore.... here is the next installment of mania that was our vacation

Wednesday we decided to head over to Animal Kingdom for the day. After a jam packed bus ride without even room for one more person to stand up- we finally arrived at Animal Kingdom- and the mayham started.

First we were off to get fast passes for Everest and Kali River Rapids. From there we trekked over to Dinoland where we met up with Pluto and Frank... eer Goofy...

The kids had a blast going through the Dino playground area and after about an hour there, we decided to head over to Yak and Yeti to have lunch. We lucked out and were able to get a table for 8 without ADR's and only a 15 minute wait!

We shared the tempura shrimp, honey chicken, sweet and sour chicken and beef with broccoli. All the food was delicious, if not a bit expensive. According to my parents though, it was worth it to sit in the air conditioning cause it was really hot and sticky out.

After lunch it was time for our Fast Passes, so I took the older 2 boys over the Everest while Matt hung out with my parents and the lil ones... that was a blast!!! One of the best coasters I've been on recently!

After Everest, we picked up Matt and headed over to the Kali River Rapids. Here is a pic of before we got on the ride

And after we got off the ride- Matt got the worst of it

We decided to get some ice cream then and wait for the Jammin Jungle Parade- but shortly after we found a spot to wait, it started to pour. They did start the parade, but it was canceled about 5 minutes into it and never passed in front of us. The storm lasted for about 30 minutes while the older kids ate their ice cream, Matt took a million pictures of the Tree of Life, and Mom and Dad huddled under ponchos trying to stay dry. We then decided to head back over to the Fort and dry off, unwind and have dinner before heading back over to Hollywood Studios to see Fantasmic that night.

We met up with Stacktester and his daughter and headed over to HS for Fantasmic- which was amazing! I had never seen it and I cant wait to go again! One of my fav shows! We went to the 10pm show, so it wasnt all that crowded and afterwards the kids were more than ready for bed (except for the little guy) so we hopped on the back of Donnies cart and went looping for a while till the lil guy crashed...

Thats about it for Wednesday- I tried to cut back on the pictures since most of the ones Matt took were of the Tree or signs around the park. He did get video of the River Rapids ride and Fantasmic, but thats on the other computer

Everyone have a great day and stay tuned for our exciting day at the Magic Kingdom on Thursday along with the adventures of the Great Golf Cart Ride....

 

[LuckyinGa]

Great pictures. Loved the TR

 

[team bradfield]

great pics, looks like all are having a great time..