bdm

Day 6 (Half way point)

So with Aunt E now here we had to visit the MK again.  So up early and on the dock for that 8:30 boat that arrived at 8:20 WTF?!?!

Everyone got in the park with no blue Mickey Rings, and, I noticed for the first time my Magic Band not only made fancy noises when scanned but also had some purple mixed in with the green go light!  Fancy

After 2nd coffee, First was at P & J. it was off to Castle Photos

Then DUMBO!!

Cody didn't want to ride with Aunt E as he had not quite warmed up to her just yet.

Then it was off to some visits with old friends, Last time at disney cody was 1 1/2 and didn't take to well to visits with mickey and the gang but this time he did really well. 

So after the visit, we had a FP at 11 for pirates, but it was only 945 or so.  So we strolled over to Small World and what do you know the wait was only 10 minutes.  BOOM 

Again spent the whole ride being told to look this way and that way, and I had to sing the song so be thankful I didn't take video...

After Small World, we wondered on and I noticed Haunted Mansion only had a 5 minute wait (Cant be right).  So we jumped in the line walked right into the first room and direct into the stretching room with about 10 other people.  Bonus.  It all happened so fast I didn't get to snap a single picture, Fail on my part.

It seemed Walt was smiling upon us so we continued to wonder towards Pirates only to find the Tiki Room pre show was wrapping up and very few people were in the que.  Boom into Tiki Room we went for some singing Birds and Plants

Codys favorite part was the singing Totem, guys on the walls playing drums.  Upon release we had to spend quite some time checking out the Totem polls.  He was quite frustrated they didn't say hi to him.

As we exited I went to get the stroller and thought to myself, wow what are the odds of Jungle Cruse being walk on.  So i took a look and saw 65 minute wait.  Guess we will have to wait for our 2pm fp.

On to Pirates as our FP as about 1/2 over.

Raced through the FP que and down to our boat.  I was gifted once again with a seat all alone in the back of the boat. Though I was trying to get the rest of our group ready for the on ride photo and miss the chance to look amazing.

Turns out Cody loved the ride, but not the drop.  

After Pirates we headed to Tortuga Tavern for hot dogs and turkey legs.  While there I did some card SotMK trading with the usual cast of locals that linger there.

Time for a break, as it time to feed the Boy his lunch.  Second half of day 6 will be coming out after his bed time. 

12 hours ago, Slapwacky said:

11 days, nice!  In

yeah it was a great trip, the hangover from such a trip isn't as great

4 hours ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Love all the pictures!  Your wife is such a cutie...does the girl ever take a bad picture?    And your sweet little man... I miss my kiddos falling asleep on me.  Too fast...

Believe it or not... we have yet to have a Dole Whip.  Not one.  After all these years and all these trips...still haven't done it.  I think I'm afraid that I'll find (yet another) favorite 

I've very selectivity on what pictures i post :)

You need to get a Dole Whip asap.

3 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

Loving your TR. great stories and pix. 

I hate late people!!!  

IMHO it shows a lack of respect for the people who are stuck waiting.

when we do disney with family, DW, DD and I tell the rest of the group we are leaving the resort at X time and if they are late to text us when they get to the park.  And we will let them know where we are.

I’m to old and cranky to wait for people anymore.  ?

Looking forward to reading more. 

I spent my youth waiting on my mom, and now my middle age waiting on my wife.  Its something i've come to expect.

2 hours ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

Great TR!

thanks

On the Fifth Day, Daddy called for Rest!

So no pictures on this day, but a lot went on.

First, headed over to Contemp for Breakfast with Grandma.  It was their departure day thank God, they will be greatly missed. Breakfast was at Wave, a reservation was made by Grandma for 5 people at 9am, Turns out it was for October 14th, Not October 15th.. They were very accommodating and got us seated with in 15 minutes.  After that snafu tensions were running high, so I did what any man would do and suggest the women foke go to disney springs and I'd stay around and take the boy swimming.  This was meet with great celebration, and a fine breakfast was had by all.

By 10:30 all the women were packed into a Minnie Van and off to Disney Springs (Grandma does not do public transportation).  Cody and I jumped no a boat back to the fort scampered over to the 400 loop and got on our Swimming Costumes (Pepper Pig reference).  We jumped on the first bus headed to the meadows and I setup base camp with towels, toys and snacks.  We were going to have a great guys afternoon swimming.  

We splashed, we swam, we even went into the kid's pool and went down the little water slide.  Then he wanted to go down the Big water slide.  I was only one person, so sending him down and not having someone at the bottom to assist him in the massive current would cause me, and maybe him much trauma. Luckily for me, a life guard that Cody befriended from an early trip to the pool was spending a day off swimming and agreed to take him to the top of the slide and send him down to me to catch.  As he confidently climbed the stairs I watched, he waited patiently in line for his turn.  Next thing I know is see him come marching confidently back down the stairs to the edge of the pool and proclaimed, very loudly, "No way daddy, that loooooooks waaay to dangerous for me"

Around 2pm we packed up our base camp and headed back to the 400 loop.  Cody need a nap, and daddy wanted to get some work done.  We arrived back at the camper got changed and laid down only to have Mommy, with many MANY bags in tow come busting into the camper proclaiming she found the perfect shirt, by the sheer volume of stuff, I believe she found several perfect shirts.  So now nap was out of the question.  Witch was fine since mommy's sister was do in and mommy and cody were going to go to the Airport to pick up Aunt E then they were going to AK lodge for dinner.  I smilled and said "Great Idea" knowing full well that a 3 year old with no sleep who spent most of the day in the pool would be a joy at a fancy table service at 7pm....

Not long after their reservation started I received this photo via txt

So mommy got to enjoy her meal while using our sons head as a napkin!

Well at least I got some work done and spent some time riding my back around checking out decorations.

Day 6 Back Again to the MK)

23 hours ago, Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie said:

When doing trips to WDW rest days are a must.

No kidding!

22 hours ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

Your wife's first ever Dole Whip? Well now that she has had one, she needs to try one with rum in it. You should send her to WWW (otherwise known as Wild Womenz Weekend ) so she can do that.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 

On a later trip to Epcot we did an Dole Whip with Rum

15 hours ago, kadancer said:

For us the orange dole whip was a must do.  Not so crazy about the pineapple either and miss the orange dreadfully. 

Orange...  

14 hours ago, alexwyattmommy said:

Thank you for writing this up and giving us pictures.

It has been fun tagging along with you all so far.

I've spent a lot of time reading others so I figure time to give back

13 hours ago, caveat lector said:

Dude, you appear to have nailed the new picture posting process. Excellent work.  Your first pic is what I consider to be a gem of the Fort experience.  You wait on a dock, before boarding a boat, which drops you off at the MK front door. It is a great way to start any day.

Note: tardiness drives me crazy. With cell phones more ubiquitous than public restrooms, there's no reason to leave someone hanging. You handled it with great restraint.

My mom, and wife are always doing something on their cell phones, until I call them.  Then they cant seem to find them or hear them ring..  Other than the recent Dole whip incident, its what will cause me to contact my Attorney.  

12 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I love it that your son loves the Country Bears.  That is some quality parenting.  Good job.

TCD

On our first go around ofCountry Bears he spent most of the time waving Hi to Buff, Max and Malvin and turning my head so I could watch them..

8 hours ago, Robin said:

Two years ago we went with my then four year old Nephew his favorite ride was it's a small world we rode it three times in one day!

Only 3 times in one day...

Day 4 (Oct 14), and off the the Magic Kingdom we go!

Once again up bright and early around 6:30, Every one showered, and to Trails End for some breakfast!!

Once at the dock we were inline for that 8:30 boat that arrived promptly at 8:45 and we were off to the MK and Everyone was excited, even if some of us are trying to play it cool

Grandma and company were delayed once again, I was notified they were running late by a text that came 15 minutes after our appointed meeting time at the entrance to MK..  We made great use of the time to get some pictures, WITH MAGIC!

Once Grandma and company got through security and through the mickey buttons (this is always a problem for my mom) were headed down main street for coffee.  I questioned why we needed to stop for coffee after arriving 30 minutes late, but was quickly and "politely" we will wait in the line for coffee.  And so we did.

But after coffee everyone was excited so we got a great family photo by the castle, too bad it was bright and sunny (10:30ish) so some of use squinted a bit.

After that we had an 11:15 FP for small world, and come hell or very hight water I was making that FP..  As you can guess we got to the fast pass entrance, the boy used his "mickey button, my mickey button, and mommy's mickey button to get us checked in and down the ramp we went.  Just in time to see the Small World Clock hit 11:30! Its like i planned it or something.

Never the less, with in moments we were on the boat doing the wave, YMCA and other commands from those sitting in Village Haus with the others in our boat looking very bafulled. 

Our next FS was haunted mansion, so we left the stroller in the Small World Parking lot and scooted over and got our ghost on.  Cody made sure Mommy and Daddy knew where each ghost was by pointing and loudly shouting "Look a Ghost Daddy!", I didn't count but I'm pretty sure he did it around 999 times....

So now we had two attractions behind us, and it was def time to eat, I have no idea where we ate, but I'm sure it was good or at least good for Disney Quick service..

After lunch the boy dozed off to sleep so Grandma kept and eye on him as Mommy Daddy, and niece headed for Big Thunder Mt, it was only a 15 minute wait.  It was Mommy's first trip down the mountain and she love it.  Grandma was sitting in the shade near County Bear so you guess it, time for some Singing Bears!!

Let me tell you the boy LOVE IT.  So much so after the show Weldell was out side and he ran up to him hugged him then asked, told him to sing.  We got some Autographs but no pictures

Next up was a FP for pirates.  As we made our way over we had to make a quick trip to Aloha Isle, I heard rummer of this treat called a Dollwhip or something.. Anyway it was my wifes first ever dollwhip, she was less than overjoyed with the experience, I quickly contacted my lawyer who advised me that Lack of enthusiasm for a dollwhip was not grounds for divorce.  I may seek a 2nd opinion.

Anyway on to Pirates,  fairly uneventful, the camera was not working, so no pictures of me doings something amazing, with great hair and a killer smile.  After the ride the boy was singing Ho Ho, Ho Ho a pirates life for me.. Not Yo Ho... I found it amusing. 

After that I was spent, it was in the neighborhood of 62,000 degrees and again over 100% humidity.  So back to the camper for a little down time and digging in the sand.  

Dinner was again at Trails End them off to visit with Chip and Dale for some evening fun in our PJs.

Day 5, A day of rest

7 hours ago, Northerngirl--Lori said:

great report, looking forward to the rest!

Thanks for keeping up with me!

14 hours ago, kadancer said:

The picture in the splash zone at the pool is adorable.  We rode on many monorails this summer with poorly functioning AC.  Small World is my standard for "I have arrived in Disney," so I fully understand your little guys anticipation. Thanks for sharing.

11 hours ago, caveat lector said:

Awesome job on the trip report.  I always thought it was just my kids that said "I have to go and it's urgent." Sure, it's 1 am in the middle of southern Georgia and I'm hauling 35 ft of trailer.  I bet it will be easy to find an open, safe , available bathroom....ugh.  your report takes me back.

10 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I'm in!

This report takes me back- it really is a different experience touring WDW with a pre-K child.

So, you're the one responsible when the AC doesn't work in the monorails?  I wish you would stop that- it's nasty to be packed in to a monorail car without adequate ventilation.

TCD

I was really lucky, our train car was not very full and it was the beginning of the day so BO was at a minimum.

9 hours ago, Beckers said:

I'm in! Glad you got the pictures working! Your son is adorable and for Pete's sake take that kid to Small World ??

Trust me, by the end of the trip report you will have seen enough of small world....

8 hours ago, Helmsey......Todd said:

Great pics! Looks like the little man loved seeing the characters.

He really did take to them well, as you will see in the next few days.  When we went when he was about 1 1/2 he hated all of them but Pooh.

7 hours ago, Robin said:

My son also does not hate Beverly. Great report thanks for sharing your son is super cute!

Beverly is just not pleasant. 

5 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

Jungle cruise. 

Nope

2 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Skipper Canteen. 

Yup

Day 3 Epcot with Grandma, and Niece.

Right off the bat, Grandma and Niece who were staying at the Contemp didn't transfer to the Epcot monorail and were lost in to the resort monorail for 20 minutes.  Not a great start to the day but hey, we are at Disney so lets just relax...

After Grandma and company arrive at the Transportation center we all get on an Epcot Monorail only to find the AC isn't working all that great and its already 45000F with enough humidity to drowned you if you take a deep breath. And per usual, its my fault the AC isn't working all that great.

Then getting through baggage checked and scanning Magic Band and finger was another huge hurdel for Grandma and Company.  Even the 3 year old did it on his first try!!

None the less just about an hour after scheduled arrival we are in the park just in the nick of time for our Meet with Mickey and friends, but first the line for Daisy Duck is short so zip over for a signature and photo opp.  

We purchased the photo pass option so I let the pros do all the work.  

Made it to Micky with 4 minutes to spare, and yes I heard a lot about how I would devastate the Grandson if we missed mickey...

Love his some Goofy! 

My man putting the moves on Minnie!

Then the big man himself.  Success, now off to The Land for Soarin.  Had to do the kid swap, and he wasn't all that jazzed about missing out on something,  But a mickey bar fixed his mood. 

After Soarin, and the Land boat snooze we decided to grab a quick service lunch.  Then the boy was starting to wear down and it was Damn hot so we went to club cool and yes, everyone did the Beverly challenge.  My wife, didn't hate it said it tasted like bad tonic water. 

At this point the boy had had it, we strapped him to his stroller and let him cry it out until he fell into a blissful sleep, somewhere between England, and France.

Then this happened :)

At Mexico he woke up, and demanded Small World, so of course we went on Gran Fiesta Tour, and sold it as Small World.  I dont think he bought it 100% but he was happy enough to be on an attraction.

After that I was finished, and we headed back to the Camper, it was after 4 and we had dinner setup at Wave and I wasn't going to wave smelling like I smelled.

Day 4 Back to the Magic AND FINALLY DO WE MAKE IT TO SMALL WORLD!!

12 hours ago, dblr....Rennie said:

I'm in, great start but I couldn't see the pictures.

Pix fixed, thanks for the heads up

11 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

I’m in.  Ready for more. 

So was the cave in Nashville?

Somewhere between Knoxville and Memphis???

But I to can’t see the pix. 

As someone stated it was The Lost Sea.. Good old fashion road side Americana 

9 hours ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

I'm in too. Was this the cave you are talking about? http://thelostsea.com

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 

Thats the place

6 hours ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

I'm so sorry that we missed, meeting you!  That would have been nice.

Bummer about there being no playground at your overnight stop... when I took the kids out west in June, I intentionally stayed at KOAs, so I knew there would be a playground.  I get, counting on that!  Glad to hear that the stop went well anyway.  The spot was nice.

LOVE the family picture above.  So cute!!

I agree... we really enjoyed the burgers at the chuck wagon as well! 

The pool... it was hot a few of those days!  We definitely made good use of the pool.

 

One would think being at the fort for 11 days we would have had more than enough down time, but as you will see we were on the move.

6 hours ago, Helmsey......Todd said:

I'm in as well and looks like you had a good start to the trip.

I'm betting you stopped at the Lost Sea in Sweetwater on the way down (as someone else mentioned). 

It was The Lost Sea

5 hours ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

Yeah! You made it to "The Disney!" I just love that. Love the excitement in all of your eyes in your family photo. Your son is just so darn cute.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 

He loves his The Disney.  Thanks for the kind words, 3 hours before that pic there was not excitement in those eyes.

5 hours ago, Seals said:

Great start!  Love the asking where Haunted Mansion and Small World are at the stopover. 

He refers to the Haunted Mansion as (trying to spell it as he says it) The Haunted Mooshion 

Well after 9 park days we had no accidents.  Followed everyone advice and kept after him to go when ever one of us had to go and it worked out.  The one and only accident was during a 3 hour nap.  I say success. 

2 hours ago, keith_h said:

I can't see the picture.

fixed

Day 2 (October 12) started much like day one.  Birthday boy was up around 5am, again asking about The Small World..

So instead of fighting to get him back to sleep we started to slowly get moving.  First order of business was to start the truck and get fuel.  So as i headed out to get fuel for the truck the Birthday boy and Mommy set to work getting things ready to roll.  

About 30 minutes later I was back at camp ready to go only to find my two traveling companions sound asleep...  So I started to pick up the toys and pack up snacks for the day in the truck.  Not long after I finished up and sat down to eat did everyone wake up and demand donuts. Another trip to the local quick shop to buy donuts, then back to the camper and we were off, around 7am.

My big fear was leaving at 7am we would be stuck in Rush Hour traffic in Atl, as we were rough 45 minutes north.  The travel Gods were with us on this day and we breezed into Atl and hit the HOV lane and continued unstopped cruising right around 65 mph.  Just around 11am I noted the gps was going to put us into our stop just south of gainesville around 1-2pm.  The wife made a executive decision "The Fort or Bust".

So she got on the phone with Disney and they were able to add Today to our reservation.  What luck, they Can squeeze another $300 out of us.. :)

Flying through the SunPass toll lanes we were blazing the Florida turnpike asphalt at a whopping 68mph.  Suddenly Google Maps notified me of a large backup that would cost us 45 minutes!!!! But just as heart break and despair crept in, and moments before tears broke out, Google rerouted us by passing the affected area and saving getting us to the fort at 5:07pm.

Some where along the way I received a text message and email form Disney saying my site was ready.  We drew Site 431, and we were happy with our draw.  So as we pulled in the checkin like was about 4 or 5 deep at each bay and we headed through the returning guests, through the overflow lot and back into the fort.  Found our site backed the camper in hooked it up and around 5:30pm the blender was singing the victory song of a job well done.

Right about the time my 2nd frozen drink was "letting go" our neighbor pulled up.  He had seen me go through returning guests and after getting hooked up came over and asked what was up with that.  I explained I did online check in about a week ago and got my text around 11 or 12 and headed right to my spot.  He was frustrated at how long it took to get campers checked in and was annoyed he didn't know about online check in.

After the wife got the beds ready and decoration setup we headed out to get our mugs and start the explore, as well as get some dinner.  First top P & J to get mugs and see all the people getting ready for Hoop De Doo.  We got in on the fun and had a pic taken.

As you can see birthday boy was excited to be back at "The Disney" but still wondered where the Haunted Mansion was and Why no Small World...

Next stop the Pool and Sing along.  We got dinner at the chuck wagon and I got to say it was really good, not the fastest food service but well worth it.

After dinner and most of the movie we headed back to the camper past the comfort station where the Boy had to use his "Mickey Button" (magic band) on all 3 doors.  For a Birthday gift I was given one of the designer limited edition Haunted Mansion Magic bands and every once in a while it was make a noise other than the normal, its sort of a tolling bells.  We got it twice on the bathrooms.. Kinda cool.

Day 3 Visiting Epcot with a Toddler. 

Just got home from our sons 3rd birthday trip to Disney from Oct 12 - 23 and boy was it a great time

So lets start at the beginning shall we..

We departed home on October 11th, the plan was to leave around 9am after a good breakfast, but all that was spoiled when the boy came down the stairs at 4:45am and said "are we ready to go to The Disney".

The camper was already packed, and we just decided to get up and get moving so by 6am we were hitched up and headed south along I-75.

I may as well been alone until about 15 minutes from the Tenn border when from the back seat came "Daddy, I need to go pee pee", followed closely by the copilot saying, "Yeah me too and its urgent".

We made it to the Tenn welcome center just in time, and took the very last parking spot for Trucks / Trailers...  It was a quick break as the crew wanted to get some more nap time in and everyone was hungry at this point.  Lunch on the road is always a win in my book.

We pulled off the highway between Knoxville and Memphis at some cave with an underground lake.  Spent about 2 hours wondering around and stretching our legs. (forgot my phone in the truck so no pix)

Our planned stopover was about 40 minutes north of Atlanta at a place called Harvest Moon RV Park.  Their website and the RV parks app I use said they had a pool and play ground.  Upon arrival around 3pm it was very apparent they had neither of these.... 

It was a nice stopover location, the pull through spots were gravel and very large, plenty of fuel stations near by so I could unhitch and full up.  The boy had a blast riding his bike around and playing with his trucks in the rocks.  He did question why no haunted mansion, or small world.  The concept of a stopover did not register i guess.

I was in bed very early (8ish) as I did not have the luxury of a morning and afternoon nap... 

Day 2 was to take us to just north of the Fort, more on that in the next post.

Thanks for posting the review.
I need some clarification on this paragraph:
Are you saying that you can approach a driver and ask the driver to accept you as a rider, and then cancel the car that is on its way to you?  I appreciate that saves you time, but that's not a cool thing to do to the driver coming to get you.
Also, you spent $20 to use a Buzz FP?  That can't be right.  Plus Buzz is at the MK.
TCD

So it's still on a limited release, if you're staying at the fort find a drives have them txt you and it will activate you're lyft app for Minnie van.

I've used it 4 times so far and other than some issues I have with how they scheduled pickups it's great. They come direct to your site, the park dropoff locations are in the bus area but closest to gates.

Currently they only have 25 cars on the road. Peak time is 3-7pm expect to wait 15 min for a car.

They can and do travel roads busses don't if traffic is bad.

There are some work around to make pickups at parks faster.

Request a ride, once it's accepted wait,. If a driver shows up with a drop off let them know you are going to cancel current ride and re request a ride and they can accept the ride. There are no cancelation fees charged as with normal Uber / Lift. This saved me about 20 min on a trip from mk to hs for a buzz fp.

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I got my requested loop on my online check-in.. saved my about 30 min of sitting and waiting. The camper next to us saw us bypass check-in and got to his site after I popped my first beer in my chair after setup.

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I put 11am as checking. I did it about 7 days early

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We check out on the 23, or 24

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We were on 75 around 2pm and got a text from Disney with our site number.

Upon arrival I used the returning guest entrance, as there was about 12 or so cars in the other line. Went through overflow parking into the Campgroung right to my site.

Could not have been easier.

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Wow, they got you guys packed in there tight.  It does look like a great time.

I'm in

Packing the camper today and the question came up, do we need to pack pool towels?  

Do the fort pools have towels like the other resorts?

18 hours ago, mouseketab.....Carol said:

I'm not seeing your picture. There was a discussion earlier about something weird you have to add to the silly long url from google photos to get them to show up here.

changed the ending to -tmp.jpg  should work now