Well, here is my first trip report. It's going to be a little slow, since I have to watch the girls at night and be forewarned that there aren't a lot of pictures of the Fort, since it was girls first trip to Disney. The cast of characters included myself at the age of 43, my wife Anne who is 34, my 70 year old mother who also name is Anne, and my darling daughters Cadence and Claire who are 4 & 3 respectively.
As some of you may or may not know, we decided not to tell the girls we were going and make it a surprise trip. Of course we had to tell them we were going somewhere, so we told them we were going to a race track that I had gone to and since they have been to Watkins Glen before this was nothing new, so off we went.....
We left at 11PM on Friday and this was a stop off in South Carolina at the welcome center on Saturday morning.
Cadence loves pine cones and SC has some big ones, so she was excited to find these.
We finally got into Florida and headed to the race track.
Got a tip to go around Jacksonville on 9A, it was simple and a nice quiet ride. Going to Daytona, we always headed down 95, now we have solved that nightmare.
We than proceeded to tell them, that we had about an hour to get to the campground we were staying at. We jumped on I-4 and headed West.
Made good time to Orlando and started seeing the signs.....
Down 192 we went and headed for THE SIGN where we were going to tell them.
Here is a link to the video of the magic moment.
http://youtu.be/Zyptn5wQikI
That's it for this segment, more tomorrow.
Best Regards,
Norm
That is an AWESOME story and video :goodstuff: I love the video's of kids in the airports or on Christmas morning when the parents say "We're going to Disney". It really warms my heart to watch their joyous reactions.
My parents did something similar to visit my Grandparents in FL. We did go to Disney as well. We used to go for "Mystery" rides as a family. One day my parents said lets go, and we're going to pack a bag just in case we stay overnight. They had to tell my bro because he had a paper route. My sister figured it out from watching the signs. I, being the youngest, did not know and stayed quiet and well behaved until I saw the sign that said Welcome to Florida. The way my mom tells it I said Florida, is it the same Florida where Grandma and Grandpa live?....Yes.....Can we visit them.....If you want.....Yeah!!! And then I wouldn't shut up and kept asking the "are we there yet question"
I want to do the same to my son.
Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer. Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.
Well, we get through these gates....
we take a right and finally get to see this....
We get to the gates, and there was only one other camper, so we drove right up to a window and started checking in. It was only 11AM, so our site wasn't ready yet, but they were going to give us a site on the 1500 Loop and they would text me when it was ready. I was happy we got what I requested, so a little magic happened early.
After about an hour wait, we got the text and headed for our new home for the week, site #1519. We got set up and here are a few pics of our site.
I made the Mickey lamp, with some PVC, a 12"globe and 2 6" globes, used an old Christmas tree stand for the base. Cost a little, but my girls loved it and now it sits in their playroom.
Rented the golf cart off site at Teetime Golf Cart Rentals. A lot cheaper than Disney.
<img src="http://http://im1.shutterfly.com/medi...../ry%3D400/" alt="http://http://im1.shutterfly.com/medi...../ry%3D400/" />
Fortfiends.net is a site about Fort Wilderness and Disney that has a lot of info if you need it. A lot of trip reports and pictures.
I put the girls princess tent underneath the rear bunk to use to put the empty bins and golf cart charger. Worked out like a charm and we had much less clutter laying around in and out of the camper.
All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better site. It was on the canal, good vegetation to the left of us to block the other site, and far enough away from the bus stop to barely hear it. My mom was a little far away from the comfort station, but she managed. Also, we did rent an ECV for her to get around the parks from Apple Scooter Rental and I recommend them. The chair was waiting at the Outpost when we checked in and after we set up, I went up and got it, and rode it back to the campsite.
Also had some wildlife the first day run through. These were pretty good size turkeys.
Won't bore you with the rest of the trip, but Fort Wilderness, was a great place to camp. If you ever get a chance, or are on the fence about going, definitely go. We had a blast and can't wait to get back there in 2013. BTW, the van pulled well and we got 12 MPG while cruising between 65-68 MPH.
Hope you enjoyed the pics and if you have any questions, just ask.
Norm
I love the kids reactions, especially that your older daughter remembered to say thanks. I agree totally with you about Ft. Wilderness. If you're going to Disney and have a camper, you're really missing out if you don't stay there.
In some respects, I wish we had surprised our kids like you did as well as waited another year or two for our first trip there. The boys had a great time, but probably didn't appreciate it as much as yours since they were a little older.
Regarding fun pics from Disney, I call this one "Down and Out in Animal Kingdom":
The boys are 9mo and 3y in the picture (8 and 5 now).
Wow, what a great story. Thanks so much. I can't wait to take our son there. He's only 16 months old so we'll wait a couple of years before we go so he can appreciate it more. I am also a member of FortFiend.com forum and have been lurking around for a few months now asked a couple of questions. As the DS gets older I'll probably ask more questions before we start the planning process.
Thanks and don't hesitate to ask any questions. My full report is on fortfiends, and it can be found here http://www.fortfiends.net/foru.....page__p__1 00456
if you haven't seen it already.
Best Regards,
Norm
Yes, we left at 11PM on Friday and I drove around Richmond and into NC than my wife drove most of NC, til we got gas and than I drove the rest of the day. We stopped at Exit 3(Kingsland) in GA for the night on Saturday at a hotel (DO NOT STAY AT THE COMFORT INN) and we got there before dark, so I'll say about 5PM, which was good. We walked to the Waffle House for dinner and checked out a couple gift shops to unwind a little.
The next morning, Sunday, we left at about 7AM and got to the Fort Wilderness gates at 11AM. Site wasn't ready til 12, but you can check in and they let you park in the overflow lot. We got on a bus and went to the Marina area of the campground and in an hour they sent us a text that our site was ready, worked out well.
It still took the two days, but we wanted to get to the campground as early as we could, so we wouldn't be wasting a day. So the perfect goal would be to get to the GA state line.
The biggest test was the girls, but they made the trip no problem. we go to the OBX every summer, so they are used to the 10 hour ride, but they were great all the way to FL. They didn't even watch one movie on their DVD players, they slept, played with the doodle boards and my mom would read them a book every now and than. We stopped at every welcome center so they could stretch and we didn't hurry. Honestly at 65MPH, it was the slowest I have ever gone down I-95, but it actually wasn't that bad. They were even good on the way home.
Never been to Key West, but want to get there. Actually my mom will be there next week during the Disney Cruise she is going on.
Best Regards,
Norm
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