GradyBunch

I'm with you on that.  

 

We did AP's once...back in 2009-10.  And we did 3 trips that year, for the same reasons you laid out.  For our family, that was when we began to get "Disneyed out", to the point that by this past year we had reached a point where we have no plans to go back.  For us it was too much.  There are so many other places we want to see.  But I recognize that I'm in the minority around here in that regard.  

You nailed it DIT...this is my fear exactly.  Thank you for talking me down...I think

Spring break and Christmas at Disney with a low key fall break somewhere in beautiful east tennessee may be the ticket next year.

Yes.

Even with the efficiency factor (from accountant to accountant)?

We normally camp at the beach on one of our breaks.  The third disney trip would be $$$ comparable to that, which is making it hard to pass up.

Funny you would mention Tennessee as just last week I drove from Nashville to Toronto.

 

The drive from Toronto to Disney is in the 21-24 hr range, depending on route, weather and who's driving. My husband LOVES to drive and is quite comfortable doing 14 hours straight by himself. I think he's nuts!

 

I'm leaving next Friday for a week at Disney but will be flying this time.

Awesome that you will be there next week and 14 hours driving is impressive.  I drive the full 12 on the way back but it takes me a day to recover.

We've also done long weekends being 12 hours away (without the camper though). Leave mid afternoon on a Thursday, book it down past Atlanta, stop for the night, get on down to Orlando pretty early on Friday. Then have Friday, Sat, and until about noon on Sunday. Then run straight back home on Sunday.

 

Hubs is retired, so can sleep in on Monday, and I can sleep in the car, so ready for work on Monday :)

That's next level stuff right there...I like it

I've made 3 trips in a year and I live in Canada!

That's a much longer drive than from TN.  Impressive

Just curious, how far?

You did it!

 

Great job!

 

I'm glad that you came back to finish your report.  The photos in the last updates were great.   I love the big smiles on your girls' faces when the were meeting Anna and Elsa.  And 3/4 of you seem to really love the thrill rides.

 

Poor Reese.

 

TCD

Yay! And just a shade under 5 months later.  Thank you and the smiles are definitely what make it all worth it.

Great TR!

 

If I ever went on the thrill rides, my face would look like Reese's too.

We still pull those pics up and laugh...bless her heart, she is a good sport

Crazy question here but i would like to hear from folks who make multiple long trips to Disney more than twice a year. The trip from our house to the Fort is around 12 hours.

The way this started is the wife and I would like to experience for the kids to experience Christmas at the Fort one year. We already have ressies for Spring Break 2016 and next week we could book our 2016 Christmas dates.  This brought us to the fact that annual passes would make sense for us to purchase.  Which in turn got me thinking about Fall Break 2016...see where this is going?  Too much?

Ahhhhhhhh...Fort Days!  These are the best days of our vacation by far.  Not much picture taking on this day.

But relax, relax and relax.  And we finally got to take a shower in our camper today.  No more mandatory shower trips to the

comfort station thanks to Frank's.

We had a late breakfast at Kona, it was a nice relaxing ride over...relax is the name of the game today

Tonga Toast was awesome

Back to the fort and we did some looping...found this site that we liked

713 has made it on our list of sites to stay in

very shady

So has 624.  As a matter of fact this is the site our inlaws requested for Spring Break 2016...

The 600 loop is a boom or bust loop IMO...there are about 5 really good spots and the others have zero shade.

HDDR for dinner!!!  Love this for two reasons

*beer included

*boss paid for it

Side note:  I work for a really good local company still family owned...the owner is the son of the founder..Thank you buddy's!

The beauties and me...they loved getting all dolled up for dinner, especially after a relaxing campground day

here are the types of canned pics you get with the memory maker...meh

Fort day was, as usual, a success.   A lazy day for us is a must.  We wandered over to the meadows and saw a pretty good movie

alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

10:30 and the entire bunch was asleep...Tomorrow is AK day and we were kinda getting sad at this point.  You know, the time of the trip when you get close to leaving, kind of sad.

Days always seem hotter at AK, or is it just me?

The photographer told us to do this...

and not one special little effect...silly guy

There, that's better

Nice little shot of EE in the background...Get ready Reese!!!

But first this happened.  As we were walking around a corner, Pocahontas came out of some special door and we almost literally ran into her.

She grabbed the girls hands and walked them to her autograph spot.  Made for some nice photos.

I was not allowed to hold hands with her and walk, however.  

This was really cool.

OK, so back to reality and on to Everest.

And for the record, Reese really does enjoy coasters.  Well, she claims to enjoy them.

Let's zoom in a bit

Sheer...Terror...

We only spend a half day here so let's go get the obligatory Tree of Life photo.

Back to the Fort in the PM for more rest and relaxation.  Tomorrow is our final full day then it's back to the grind.

We drove to our final ADR to have breakfast at Boma.  This was our first time at animal kingdom lodge and we really

liked it.  

The wife liked this little get-up in the gift shop, till she saw the price...Vera Bradley+Disney=$%$

Leaving Day:

Not a fan of this day whatsoever, but we had a wonderful trip and can't wait to get back here!

The End

GB

X2 - Great pics.

 

Also enjoyed our lunch at the best BBQ place in Knox-vegas!

 

Hoping to camp at Anchor Down in November, as our August is booked!

We are booked there November 6-8 site 20 up on the hill!  

UT - SC weekend...

Hope you guys are available

Sorry to hear about the broken arm but happy you are continuing your TR!

It was imperfectly timed for sure...beginning of summer broken arm is blast

Broken arm...bummer! No more Turtle Talk, so sad....gotta love Nemo though! Super cute pics :) 90...wow!

Very very hot every day...felt just like when we normally go in september

What is this about broken arms, I had one- a fall, my son had one- car accident, 2 friends children- fall on monkey bars and 1 broken leg all in the past 3 months and now you get in on the action. Sound like an epidemic to me.

Yikes, I am very careful when l do anything now.  

This is a fun report. I'm all psyched to finish reading!

Thank you...summer is busy!!!!

It's ok-- it doesn't matter that you take your time with the TR, just as long as you keep swimming ,... er I mean just keep posting, just keep posting :)

Your daughters are adorable!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you, they both look exactly like the misses

Got to meet these fine folks recently camping at Anchor Down! Makes these pics all that much better!!!

Brother Rob it was a pleasure to meet you guys at Anchor Down!  And i can't wait to see you all again next month.

I'm here and in. Sorry about the trouble at the start.

Seems like there are always a few things that go wrong...could've been much much worse.

And it's rope drop day at Magic Kingdom, everybody is excited!!!!

Well, most of us are.  We are normally  NOT the early morning family who is out the door and on schedule, but on this particular day we are killing it. On the boat by 7:15 and in line for rope drop by 7:30 ish.

We work our way up to the front right area to give us a good view of the show and have a shorter path to 7DMT.  

Awesome view of the show.

Reese is starting to wake up by now.

Just to pause for a second and get a little sentimental.   The next pic is the reason we come to disney...these shots make all the fuss, blood, pain, etc worth every second.

Rylee is pumped and ready for 7DMT

So here is the goal for today (remember, i am the planner)

Ride/Do the following and make it to our BOG ressies at 10:30

-7DMT

-Peter Pan

-Splash Mtn

-Thunder RR

-Barnstormer

-Enchanted Tales w Belle

Reeeeadyyy...go!

Another cool MM picture...everybody is awake and loving it!

We all are pumped up and really enjoying 7DMT

Wait, upon further review....Reese is having an emotion shift..

"What the Fort" she must be thinking

OK Reese, let's go to something a little slower since it's early

but by the look on her face, i think some of the trust is gone

more of a cautious stare now...

We didn't get any pics of her on BTMR, but her Expedition Everest face is priceless.

Now to meet Belle...both girls got in on the action

No memory maker pics for this one...had to use my camera phone, not too shabby

Well we did make our ressies...like right at 10:25

No food pics, sorry.  But the food wasn't bad and the girls loved theirs which is saying a ton!

Now on to part B of the MK Day plan...back to the camper to relax for several hours before coming back to 

MK tonight for dinner and fireworks.

Reese didn't partake in the rest part but instead headed straight out to play.  Rylee and Mom napped while 

I helped watched Frank fix our sink.  Less than 5 minutes and we finally had water at the campsite...whew

Left the Fort around 4:30 back to MK...the weather this week could not have been better...just awesome

This pic was a big deal

As was this one 

Even Mom got in on the action.

Dinner was great at Liberty Tree Tavern...Our first time trying it and wow!!  it may become a staple

We had fastpasses to see the fireworks...great spot minus the big freakin lamp post

Love this one

And after a long day we are heading back to the fort...remember the whole "rest" thing that Reese completely ignored earlier?

And I'm "didn't take a nap" Reese...and I have cable.

Everyone slept wonderfully this night....

Tomorrow's a Fort day...and we were soooo ready for it

Wow...in true procrastinator fashion here it is a few months later and I am continuing the report.  In my defense I just got out of my cast today from a broken arm...as a matter of fact, the last time I posted an update selfie sticks were legal, so there's that.

Anyway, moving right along to Epcot.  This was our first time to see the flower and garden festival as we are normally here for the food and wine deal in the fall.  

We had FP for soarin at 9:10, meeting mickey and the gang @ 10, and some japanese to each for lunch...all the while throwing some living with the land and spaceship earth in there.  So let's go!

Anna and Elsa...heard of em?  The girls loved it.

#sisterlove

ok sure...let's all do it...Disney get's it

Love this pic as it shows the "other" side of my dear Reese...check it

She recovers quick..here is the golf ball

Very excited about getting our pic taken with Minnie....so much that reese and I are digging out some food from our teeth.  awesome.  Rylee and Miss Beautiful are on point tho.

So after all the photo fun we headed over to Japan for lunch..Katsura Grill

The wife loved it, the girls didn't, and I wasn't very impressed.  So we grabbed some "frushi" and caught the boat back across the lake. Frushi was just ok, not great.  But the real meal we were here for was tonight at 5:45...Teppan Edo

But first Rylee and I hit mission space:green.  She loved it and wanted to hit the orange but i chicken'd out, wasn't sure that katsura stuff would stay down.  We had ton's of time to burn till dinner so the girls shopped while I wandered aimlessly throughout the store waiting for them.  But it was a nice break...and it was air conditioned.

Oh yea, March this year hit record high's at disney...90's erry day.

Sad news:  The girls have outgrown turtle talk with crush     But we hit the seas with nemo so that made up for it.

Now...finally....Teppan Edo, which was awesome.  We found some "good luck" here as well.  We were sat with another family that was awesome and had kids the same age as ours and we had lot's in common.

Game changer:  Have you ever eaten caramel corn from Karamel Kuche?  It will change your life, on the way out we stopped in and picked up some treats...by some treats, i mean we dropped like half a c-note in there.  

I had heard it was good but wow, they must put crack in it or something.  

Not much else to report other than we headed back to the fort to relax and get ready for tomorrow...Rope drop at MK

Great pics to come...

love it...I'm in!

Loved this.

The whole "if you forget anything you can just buy it when you get there" rule does not apply to the ladies. Sometimes it's just not the same. Glad it worked out for you this time. May you always be this lucky :)

Me too.  Luckily hair dryers are fairly easy to replace.  That and we go through a half dozen of them a year anyway.  Now we have one that is just for the camper, complete with auto retractable cord.

Late, but I am reading along.  Your family is beautiful.   :)   Thanks for reminding me to put hair dryer my packing list.   ;D   I have already have a large pile of stuff I have to bring with us in the corner of my bedroom.  I am sure my husband thinks I need to bring the whole house with us.

Thank you very much and yes, a hair dryer should be a fixture on the list.  Not for me tho, I am on the other side of the spectrum when it comes to hair.

Growing up I hated having curly hair.  Now I love it.  Wash it, towel dry it, comb/brush out any tangles add some mousse or gel work that into my hair and I'm done.  I rarely ever use a hair dryer anymore.  

They burn my male pattern bald spots so I stay away from them too.

"She forgot her hair dryer :o"

I read this part of the TR to DW, and she agreed wholeheartedly that it was indeed a very BIG DEAL!

Indeed...I was a bit surprised that they don't have them in the comfort stations tho.

Yep... no matter how hard we try, how long the packing list is, we always seem to forget one or two items every trip.   It's nice that Walmart isn't too far off property; it's almost a guaranteed trip for us :)

Good point on it being a guaranteed trip...I will probably build it into the the arrival day itinerary next year. 

The wife reminded me last night that I left something out of the report from the first day, and it was a major major thing that I left out.

She forgot her hair dryer  :o

Apparently this is as big of a deal as forgetting the camper when you have 3 females in the house.

Remember the guy/hero at the gate?  We asked him if there were any of these on site to purchase or "borrow".  I thought maybe the cabins had them.  

They do not.  Walmart did.  They also had an extra hose and some really cheap and cool disney things that we bought for grandmother and papaw.

That was my nickname at another job (not Rylee).

 

Nice photobomb.  That girl must'a made her Daddy proud.

 

Great job on the TR.

That is one bad a%$ nickname

Yea, she even went with the tongue out...very ladylike

Thank you.  Hope to get more in today

I'm finally in!  Just back yesterday afternoon from WWW.

 

Your family is absolutely beautiful.  You've made a great start on this TR.  Can't wait to read more.

 

 

 

We used to pull a TT with a four-door Ford F-350 dually and the golf cart in the bed.  For lack of a better term, we used a "hitch extender."  It's a straight bar that attaches to your TV hitch and your TT hitch to give you more room to maneuver.

Just got back from WWW?  Very very jealous and thank you for the compliment.

I have heard a few people that use hitch extenders as well and they seem to work.  If I didn't have the Husky hitch then I would need one.

Late but in. Great report so far. 

Thank you

You may want to go check one out as soon as you get there. They go fast.

Keep writing, love the style, I am fluent in RNE.

Thank you.  RNE really doesn't get the credit it deserves does it?  You must work at it daily in the south to keep your iron sharp.

You have a beautiful family. Us accountants know how to pick 'em. LOL.

Sorry about the plumbing issues but Raglan fixes everything.

Thanks DIT.  I'm not sure about you but I definitely outkicked my coverage.

And what Ragland doesn't fix, the liquor booth outside of Ragland sure will.  

"And it's no nay never (clap clap clap clap)"

Great update!!  LOVE all the MM pictures :)

 

The First Aid stations at the parks are wonderful.  I ended up with heat exhaustion a couple of years ago and spent several hours at the First Aid station at the MK; if not for that place, I am convinced that I would have ended up at the hospital.  Bummer if you have to make a visit... but so thankful that they are there!  Those and the baby stations are great; one area that Disney definitely excels at (in my opinion :)  ).

Thank you and yes, the first aid stations are the best.  The lady at HS really hooked me up with everything i needed for the rest of the trip which saved me a walmart trip!

I can't tell you enough how much I love these pics.  Thank you for posting.

"Duh, from RV!  Can you believe that I haven't seen this movie yet?  It is now on the must see list."

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=g5MYIsARoQo

 

That is one of the more heartwarming scenes in movie history. 

You really do need to watch "RV", the whole family can see it.

 

Trip report is great so far, anxious to read & see more.

I have now seen way too many clips on this movie on youtube to not see the movie...we are looking forward to it.

Well, I missed page one, but I'm here.

 

You did an excellent job on that first post, and look forward to the next.

 

Choosing the 600 loop was a bold move, but it looks like you got a great site.

 

Sorry about the water problem and the blood, but it seems like there's always something like that on every camping trip.  I hope the rest of your trip was all good luck.

 

TCD

Correct,  We really got lucky with the site on the 600 loop.  I took some pics and there are only 3-4 sites that I like in that loop, just based on shade. But the location is really good for us.  619,622, 624 are all shaded and really close to the bridge.  I didn't realize how non shady the loop was until we got there.

I am really looking forward to reading more on this thread.  We are contemplating Christmas 2016 at the Fort as well.

Moving right along.  At the end of our eventful day 1 we used a FP+ to watch the MSEP before heading back to the Fort.  I wouldn't recommend this normally, but we were only spending a few hours here that night and it worked out pretty good.

Oh yea, thanks to TCD for shedding light on why in the world so many people were dressed up at MK.  It was dapper day! 

See the "Strange Things" TR page 4 for more details on this.  It was strange.

Day 2 - Hollywood Studios

The second day at WWW is really a transition day for us and we try to keep it light.  HS is always a good day to do that.  For us it's more like a half day unless you wanna stay and watch Fantasmic (which we kind of want to do but haven't yet).  Instead we opted for an early morning to get the lil girls signed up for the JTA and a 5:00 dinner at Hollywood and Vine, with some FP+s in there of course.

Wait....I guess I should let you know that I am a planner, and I love to plan Disney as much as I love going.  So, we had little itineraries for each day and DD9 was in charge of the printed version (in which she took great pride in) and of course the wife and I had it on our phones.

Today's Itinerary:

Sign up for JTA

Rocking roller coaster

star tours fp

Muppets (my favorite)

Pizza Planet

Toy Story FP+

Frozen sing along FP+

Jedi Training Academy

Beauty and the Beast

Voyage of the Lil mermaid

Hollywood and Vine

Fort Time!!!

So we grabbed breakfast on the go, which were these little sausage egg cheese biscuits from Aldi that I had never tried...delicious!  We hopped in the cart and headed to the outpost and hit the jackpot on the bus...it was waiting for us as we pulled up.  This trend would continue throughout the trip.  So today was already better...jackpot on breakfast and buses.  Winning!

Rylee's first time on RRR..she's addicted now which is a great thing.  Maybe I can get her to ride some of the coasters at Dollywood with me.

Reese wasn't tall enough yet, but not sure she will be the daredevil anyway.  You be the judge based on some photos to come.

Disney really does this MM thing well.  great pics and I didn't have to lug my camera around with me.

This is just a fun pic..all the faces crack me up

vs my camera pic on RRR...prolly could have used a selfie stick here

Saw them on sale at target when we got back from vaca.  I know many of you may be rushing the store right now so.....

anyway...hey look, Sully!

And we got photobombed by chick on the left.  Good job.

How skurrrry are we?!?!

Mike!

Look closely and you will see that I man'd up today and went with a pink and blue polka dot band aid verses the fairies. 

Man card in tact. 

Did you know that the fort doesn't have a basic first aid station?  I was told this by more than one CM and was 

shocked.  Turns out that I had to go a first aid station in the park that day and have them look at my finger.  They were 

great.  Gave me some special bandaids for fingertips and some salve (waiting on a reason to use that word).

They also told me that I will probably lose the fingernail, yuck.

In line for Star Tours, which is my favorite line.  Rylee digs it

Getting ready for JTA...Reese looks ready and Rylee looks like she had a little something to relax her.  

Plot twist:  Only one of you a Jedi will become - Yoda

Based on this pic my money would've been on Reese.

But I would be wrong.  One look at this guy and Reese tapped out.

Which was OK...but this guy's get-up was awesome.  

The star wars geek in me was really excited.

Rylee going up against Darth Maul.

The force is strong with that one.

Here is a link to the video if you wanna check it out.  Warning, this could cause vertigo and you will have to hold your head sideways for much of it.

http://s1383.photobucket.com/user/allen_grady/media/Disney%202015/Hollywood%20Studios/6A232CF1-3415-4DBE-8FFD-4ACD3B6FEB20_zpspgh4bhmo.mp4.html?sort=3&o=9

But yay! She is now a jedi.

Great pic minus the purse cleavage strap.  Kinda sketchy huh?

Ate at H&V and headed back to the Fort to close out the day.  The girls went over to the meadows and watched 101 Dalmatians and the wife and I chilled at the camper.  Another thing I liked about the 600 loop is the girls can walk across the bridge to the meadows and we can relax.  Very nice.

Leak update:  I asked the front desk person who they recommend for RV repair and she gave me a sheet of paper with several companies on it.  I will post a pic of it on here if i can find it.  It was now Sunday and we still couldn't use the water in the camper, luckily we weren't too far from a CS.  I called and texted half the names on that list and didn't get a response.  TBC

"First, I have been racking my brain trying to remember this scene. Help!"

Ahh, the scene is when Robin Williams is attempting to hook up his sewer line for the very first time on the rented RV.

The 2 guys helping him show him how to connect the 2 sections of hose using a "Y" coupling.

As he holds the "Y" coupling up high, the sewage begins to crest right in front of his face; "TURN IT OFFFF!"

Hahaha

Duh, from RV!  Can you believe that I haven't seen this movie yet?  It is now on the must see list.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5MYIsARoQo

Looking forward to reading more. 

 

Like someone else mentioned, I like your writing style

Thank you, my wife is proud

Great start. Keep it coming!!!!

Will do

Good start. Love the crew cab, and anyone who washes the truck no matter what the weather!

Glad I am not the only one.  I was bummed this year because we didn't see a good car wash close to the fort, but on the way out saw a truck and RV wash on hwy 50 (I think). Definitely gonna hit it up next year.

I'm in. Page two bragging rights.

Your off to a great start.

You have a beautiful family.

Ragland Road first day rezzie. Winning.

Thank you and Ragland is a GB arrival day tradition.  This year was during St. Patrick's Day week so it was a little more crowded than usual so I'm glad we had early ressies.  We did get a chance to talk to the dancers (they are really irish btw or have mastered the accent) and asked them about the crowd on St Patties day and they said it was the busiest day of the year by far.  I would think you might want to stay away on that day if you aren't into crowds.

Great start! Hope there's more good luck than bad luck in your trip!

Great start and what a way to overcome problems, go to a great place to eat!!!!!!

Well it's disney and we signed up for good luck...they never disappoint.

Great trip report so far and sorry for the bad luck.  The good thing is that it did it while you were at the trailer, but imagine being at the park and coming back to that issue!  Quick question.  How do you tow with the golf cart in the bed of the truck.  It appears that your tailgate is down a bit in the picture above.  Does that interfere with your tongue jack?  I have looked at getting a golf cart, but cannot figure a good way to carry in a 6.5' bed of an F250.

ugggg.  I read a thread on here where that happened and I thought of how lucky we were.  

I will probably always turn the water off from now on when we go to the parks.

The golf cart dilemma - I actually spent a good deal of time researching this before I pulled the golf cart on the truck to see if it would actually work and you may have to do the same.  It depends on how jacked is your truck, which hitch you have, is your golf cart raised, does it have a back step/platform, how high is your tongue jack, and where is it located.  

I have a Husky hitch which sticks out a little further than some of the other ones which helps the back platform...this gives me more room and I can actually have my tailgate down without hitting the jack.  With that said, I would have to remove my LP tanks if the tailgate was down to keep the platform from hitting the tanks.

So when i pull my cart all the way in I use ratchet straps to secure my tailgate up as far as it will go against the rear tires and it works.  I do have to remove my bed cover which is a little bit of a pain.

Hey look, I learned how to multiquote

You should have stopped...lurkers always welcome too!

Definitely will in the future

Great start on the trip report! You have a great looking family! Sorry things started out not-so-great.

Thank you.  It was nice to get the bad stuff out of the way on day 1.  You know, the whole "eat your frog first thing" mentality

First trip report "sign-in" for this guy!

I love where all this is going, and I could almost picture Robin Williams shouting "TURN IT OFF!!"

First,  I have been racking my brain trying to remember this scene.  Help!

Second, pretty sure that I wasn't near as graceful as I was skipping over stuff and jumping hitches

I'm in!  Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip!  Sorry for the early injury, love the face painting on the girls and the pictures... super cute!! :)

Thank you.  It get's less painful, I promise

Great start!

 

I like your writing style.

 

Hope you got the leak fixed.

 

WBI

My wife will love this comment.  She is a teacher and I am an accountant, her style is correct and my style is more RNE (red neck english)

Oh that leak...that's on day 3. 

On board and waiting for the rest.

BTW, we drove by your site while we were there...started to stop by, but I was a lurker at the time and didn't want to be a creepy stalker