WDWForever
05-02-2012, 10:34 AM
Disney World Trip Apr 10-22, 2012 (Driving a camper)
DH - Me
DW
DD1 - 5yrs old
DD2 - 3yrs old
(Continued)
Apr 16
Off to AK and got there for opening. DW and I took turns on Expedition Everest, fun ride. I was able to get a pic of DW in front seat coming out the tunnel for the big drop with our DSLR camera, love that camera. Girls wanted to do the nature trek to see DW's favorite tigers who were out and about for them to see. Got some fast passes for safari before heading to Tusker House for basically brunch. We were about 25 mins early since we were hungry and the lady said she can only input reservations 15 mins before our time. Okay, sat down, 2 mins later she just asks for our name again and off we go. Not too bad. Finally got Daisy's signature. Food was good and mostly typical breakfast buffet. More Mickey waffles. After breakfast, the girls actually didn't want to do the safari ride so I gave our fast passes to a family who seemed to be on their first time in the park. Headed to the Lion King show since both DDs started watching the Ling King movies this past year. They really enjoyed the show especially the aerobatics. DDs wanted to get more SOTMK cards and do more portals, so off to MK for the afternoon. Our early afternoon snack consisted of our must-have for each trip, funnel cake and pineapple float. Yum. Also did a bunch of rides before we headed out for dinner at Narcoose. That place is so good and we had a nice window seat looking at MK. Back to the campground for an after dinner swim in the pools.
Apr 17
Hollywood Studios day. Started at Hollywood & Vine for breakfast to see Jake from the Neverland Pirates for the first time and get more new signatures for the pillow cases. We were there for restaurant opening so the characters came around and saw us soon after we sat down, good timing. More Mickey waffles. Then headed out just at park opening and got fast passes for Toy Story but also waited in standby line since it was only 15 mins wait. I almost had the top score for everything on the board. Oh well. Headed for Little Mermaid show but I didn't notice much of a difference since it was closed down for refurbishments. Then Disney Playhouse of course since my DDs love to catch the bubbles and take home the streamers and gold doubloons. Used our fast passes for TSM again then headed to watch the Beauty and the Beast show. DD1 wanted to try Tower of Terror and did it with DW but let's just say DD1 won't be on it for a while now. But at least she tried it. Off to Star Tours for baby swap where when I went on with DD1, the ride chose DD1 to be the rebel spy, so cute. Went to see the Incredibles and then try the Art of Animation drawing. We were taught how to draw Flynn Rider. DD1 was so excited at first but then a little frustrated because she couldn't keep up. DD2 didn't care and was just drawing whatever she wanted. Had dinner reservations at 50s Prime Time, our waiter played the part, no elbows on the table and "pleases" all around which made it fun. Peanut butter and jelly shake was so good and I didn't know that it could even be considered a dessert.
Apr 18
Early Chef Mickey breakfast, nice that there is a boat directly to the Contemporary from the campground marina. Then off to EPCOT for the day. Finally did Soarin and Spaceship Earth. Of course we did the fairy area and piggy bank game a couple of times again. Picked up a some duffys to color, checked out more topiaries and headed to Le Celliar for lunch for some beer cheese soup and pretzel breadsticks, so good. That place is always crowded, surprisingly they don't somehow add more dining space. Anyways, then walked around the showcase for character pics/signatures and check out more topiaries. Big meal day since we then had Ohana for dinner. On every trip we have to squeeze in Ohana for breakfast and dinner. I'd say it's a must do. Plenty of food (love the noodles) and the girls learned to hula dance.
Apr 19
Our last full day at Disney. Of course we have to end it at MK so we got early Crystal Palace breakfast and finally got Eeyore and Piglet signatures. Then off to Pirates League where DD1 chose mermaid theme and DD2 actually chose the Jake from Neverland Pirates theme, funny. If DD2 wasn't wearing pink crocs she could have easily passed as a boy with the pirate shirt, wig and painted on thick eyebrows. Had to stop for pirate Goofy pics and lucked out as we were the last family in line before Goofy took a short break. Then Pirates of the Caribbean ride and all of Fantasyland again and got some snacks for lunch. Did more portals then headed to 1900 Park Fair for an early dinner. Funny, I forgot which one, but a stepsister said DD2 (with the thick painted on eyebrows) has the same eyebrow problem she does. Way crowded as usual and surprised they now had three different types of sushi available. All the characters seemed to be in the same room at the same time together so we got our pics/signatures over quickly. Then back to the campgrounds to start packing things up.
Apr 20-22
Normally checkout is 10am, we called and we were able to get late checkout of 1pm and similarly a late golf cart dropoff since it was dropped off to us late. Since we were in our RV, we just needed to make sure things wouldn't fall during the drive and all we had to do was unhook. So we made Ohana breakfast reservations (which if we didn't get our late checkout, we could have just drove over there) for of course Mickey waffles. Great last breakfast to end the vacation. Headed to MK for the girls to pick their favorite last rides to do like Dumbo, carousel and It's a Small World. Headed back to finalize checking out and headed to Downtown Disney. With all our meals, we still had a meal leftover on our deluxe dining plan so earlier in the week we made a reservation at Rainforest Café. My girls have been to one near our home so nothing new to them but they like the atmosphere. We had so much food we were stuffed. They let us combine our dessert choices into the one huge lava cake brownie sundae that we all shared. Good idea. Walked around Downtown Disney some more since if we left after dinner for home we would have hit the rush hour traffic through Orlando. It started pouring rain, luckily we were indoors most of the time except getting from place to place. Grabbed some subs from Earl of Sandwich for dinner later. We actually walked over to the West Side of Downtown Disney since the new D Street vinyl store was over there. Of course bought a few things then finally headed out around 7pm. We actually only stopped for gas and Fri night to sleep a little since we wanted to get home so bad. We finally made it home at 3:30am Sun morning. Brought the girls in and some of the food before hitting the sack and unpack later in the day.
Summary
The only Fort Wilderness Campgrounds downsides I could think of are the long wait at times for the internal bus system (prefer golf cart) and the crowded boats going to the campgrounds just before any of the Hoop De Do shows. Other than that, we had a great site near everything, across from the trading post, near the pools, internal bus stop, and comfort station. Great weather since it was hot in the 80s the entire trip, nights/early mornings were cool but good contrast to the days, and it only rained a couple of days. All in all I think this was a great trip, of course there were the expected DD tantrums (heat, hungry, overtired), but the drive to/from went by fast and DDs behaved themselves for the most part and had fun. It was nice that we could bring whatever we want and were not limited to packing suitcases but then again we could buy whatever we want to stuff it away in the camper such as the balloons my DDs finally got. We would definitely drive down again. Using the camper and stop whenever was nice and convenient. Maybe again early next year. We'll see.
DH - Me
DW
DD1 - 5yrs old
DD2 - 3yrs old
(Continued)
Apr 16
Off to AK and got there for opening. DW and I took turns on Expedition Everest, fun ride. I was able to get a pic of DW in front seat coming out the tunnel for the big drop with our DSLR camera, love that camera. Girls wanted to do the nature trek to see DW's favorite tigers who were out and about for them to see. Got some fast passes for safari before heading to Tusker House for basically brunch. We were about 25 mins early since we were hungry and the lady said she can only input reservations 15 mins before our time. Okay, sat down, 2 mins later she just asks for our name again and off we go. Not too bad. Finally got Daisy's signature. Food was good and mostly typical breakfast buffet. More Mickey waffles. After breakfast, the girls actually didn't want to do the safari ride so I gave our fast passes to a family who seemed to be on their first time in the park. Headed to the Lion King show since both DDs started watching the Ling King movies this past year. They really enjoyed the show especially the aerobatics. DDs wanted to get more SOTMK cards and do more portals, so off to MK for the afternoon. Our early afternoon snack consisted of our must-have for each trip, funnel cake and pineapple float. Yum. Also did a bunch of rides before we headed out for dinner at Narcoose. That place is so good and we had a nice window seat looking at MK. Back to the campground for an after dinner swim in the pools.
Apr 17
Hollywood Studios day. Started at Hollywood & Vine for breakfast to see Jake from the Neverland Pirates for the first time and get more new signatures for the pillow cases. We were there for restaurant opening so the characters came around and saw us soon after we sat down, good timing. More Mickey waffles. Then headed out just at park opening and got fast passes for Toy Story but also waited in standby line since it was only 15 mins wait. I almost had the top score for everything on the board. Oh well. Headed for Little Mermaid show but I didn't notice much of a difference since it was closed down for refurbishments. Then Disney Playhouse of course since my DDs love to catch the bubbles and take home the streamers and gold doubloons. Used our fast passes for TSM again then headed to watch the Beauty and the Beast show. DD1 wanted to try Tower of Terror and did it with DW but let's just say DD1 won't be on it for a while now. But at least she tried it. Off to Star Tours for baby swap where when I went on with DD1, the ride chose DD1 to be the rebel spy, so cute. Went to see the Incredibles and then try the Art of Animation drawing. We were taught how to draw Flynn Rider. DD1 was so excited at first but then a little frustrated because she couldn't keep up. DD2 didn't care and was just drawing whatever she wanted. Had dinner reservations at 50s Prime Time, our waiter played the part, no elbows on the table and "pleases" all around which made it fun. Peanut butter and jelly shake was so good and I didn't know that it could even be considered a dessert.
Apr 18
Early Chef Mickey breakfast, nice that there is a boat directly to the Contemporary from the campground marina. Then off to EPCOT for the day. Finally did Soarin and Spaceship Earth. Of course we did the fairy area and piggy bank game a couple of times again. Picked up a some duffys to color, checked out more topiaries and headed to Le Celliar for lunch for some beer cheese soup and pretzel breadsticks, so good. That place is always crowded, surprisingly they don't somehow add more dining space. Anyways, then walked around the showcase for character pics/signatures and check out more topiaries. Big meal day since we then had Ohana for dinner. On every trip we have to squeeze in Ohana for breakfast and dinner. I'd say it's a must do. Plenty of food (love the noodles) and the girls learned to hula dance.
Apr 19
Our last full day at Disney. Of course we have to end it at MK so we got early Crystal Palace breakfast and finally got Eeyore and Piglet signatures. Then off to Pirates League where DD1 chose mermaid theme and DD2 actually chose the Jake from Neverland Pirates theme, funny. If DD2 wasn't wearing pink crocs she could have easily passed as a boy with the pirate shirt, wig and painted on thick eyebrows. Had to stop for pirate Goofy pics and lucked out as we were the last family in line before Goofy took a short break. Then Pirates of the Caribbean ride and all of Fantasyland again and got some snacks for lunch. Did more portals then headed to 1900 Park Fair for an early dinner. Funny, I forgot which one, but a stepsister said DD2 (with the thick painted on eyebrows) has the same eyebrow problem she does. Way crowded as usual and surprised they now had three different types of sushi available. All the characters seemed to be in the same room at the same time together so we got our pics/signatures over quickly. Then back to the campgrounds to start packing things up.
Apr 20-22
Normally checkout is 10am, we called and we were able to get late checkout of 1pm and similarly a late golf cart dropoff since it was dropped off to us late. Since we were in our RV, we just needed to make sure things wouldn't fall during the drive and all we had to do was unhook. So we made Ohana breakfast reservations (which if we didn't get our late checkout, we could have just drove over there) for of course Mickey waffles. Great last breakfast to end the vacation. Headed to MK for the girls to pick their favorite last rides to do like Dumbo, carousel and It's a Small World. Headed back to finalize checking out and headed to Downtown Disney. With all our meals, we still had a meal leftover on our deluxe dining plan so earlier in the week we made a reservation at Rainforest Café. My girls have been to one near our home so nothing new to them but they like the atmosphere. We had so much food we were stuffed. They let us combine our dessert choices into the one huge lava cake brownie sundae that we all shared. Good idea. Walked around Downtown Disney some more since if we left after dinner for home we would have hit the rush hour traffic through Orlando. It started pouring rain, luckily we were indoors most of the time except getting from place to place. Grabbed some subs from Earl of Sandwich for dinner later. We actually walked over to the West Side of Downtown Disney since the new D Street vinyl store was over there. Of course bought a few things then finally headed out around 7pm. We actually only stopped for gas and Fri night to sleep a little since we wanted to get home so bad. We finally made it home at 3:30am Sun morning. Brought the girls in and some of the food before hitting the sack and unpack later in the day.
Summary
The only Fort Wilderness Campgrounds downsides I could think of are the long wait at times for the internal bus system (prefer golf cart) and the crowded boats going to the campgrounds just before any of the Hoop De Do shows. Other than that, we had a great site near everything, across from the trading post, near the pools, internal bus stop, and comfort station. Great weather since it was hot in the 80s the entire trip, nights/early mornings were cool but good contrast to the days, and it only rained a couple of days. All in all I think this was a great trip, of course there were the expected DD tantrums (heat, hungry, overtired), but the drive to/from went by fast and DDs behaved themselves for the most part and had fun. It was nice that we could bring whatever we want and were not limited to packing suitcases but then again we could buy whatever we want to stuff it away in the camper such as the balloons my DDs finally got. We would definitely drive down again. Using the camper and stop whenever was nice and convenient. Maybe again early next year. We'll see.