Tony

Are last morning in the camper. We all got up and got ready for breakfast. Up at the ranger station they had a waffle breakfast for 4 bucks a person. We had very little food left this was perfect. I started a load of laundry kids got ready for the pool. My husband and I then started to pack up. We would not be going in the camper again till we got home and we needed all my Nieces stuff and a over night bag for us. I finished up the laundry and we closed up the camper. It was still warm out but much less humidity from down south.
We parked up at the front and found the kids. I had bought a extra pizza the night before so cold pizza was for lunch.
My husband joined the kids in the pool and on the waterslide. They where having a great time! Me not so much my sunburn was the worst today! After a couple of hours we all played mini golf. There was a women there from the local magazine who took are picture we are famous. The kids got a slushie  we took a couple of photos and it was time to leave. We had a 4 hour drive to southern Illinois to visit family.
We arrived just in time for dinner we went out to a Asian Buffet. We had a nice visit and both kids where tired and went to bed early. The next morning My sister in-law made us a big breakfast before we hit the rode for the last time. We had a 6 hour trip a head of us. We made it back with no problems and I took my Niece home. I was sad to see her go and I think she was a little sad to leave us.
All in all we had a great time and the weather wasn't to bad. The kids got along great! We did not get to do everything we wanted but, that's what next time is for. My son keeps asking me when we are going back. He says once a year isn't enough we are raising him right lol! I have learned my lesson with the Florida sun and the water. I will never again say I Don't Need No Sunscreen. I have never had such a bad burn and I hope I never do again!
Thanks for reading along to my first trip report!
 

Well as of yesterday afternoon, still no tiki mugs at trader sam's maybe I'll back out there Monday afternoon and poke around again. When asking CM's at the bars they haven't heard of a release date.

Well as of yesterday afternoon, still no tiki mugs at trader sam's maybe I'll back out there Monday afternoon and poke around again. When asking CM's at the bars they haven't heard of a release date.

Someone needs to come up with a shirt like this. Giant Snarky head on the front and on the back #TeamFortFiends.

I'll be there 10/12 for my B-day I'll swing through and have a look.

I don't have the photos to prove it but my digital bread crumb trail tells me that I did the Laugh Floor after this (henceforth abbreviated as MILF - you've been warned). I probably did MILF 3 or more times on this trip and not once did I get the bit they used to do where they pick people from the audience to be Mike/Sulley/Randall/Boo. Do you remember that? Here's a picture I took in Aug 2015 because the guy in the row ahead of me was picked to be Mike (with one I) - you can see my arm and phone in the picture.

That one was a lot of fun. Now they only do the bit where they can tell you the capital of any country. I hope I just got unlucky on this trip and that the Mike/Sulley gag is still in rotation.
This is also a good point for me to talk about FastPass. Was it here where I read the trick about refreshing MDE? If it was then thank you because I used it several times successfully. Here's the short version. Say you want a FP for MILF at 4ish but all it will give you is 7ish. Book the 7 pm FP then go back and edit it and say you want to change the time. Keep refreshing until you see a time you like better. It may offer you 6:something. Take that, then edit again and keep refreshing. Before you know it you get the time you want. This even sometimes works for different attractions. Want Pirates but can't get it? Book Haunted Mansion, then edit. Boom. Pirates appears. I have no idea why/how this works but it does. I suspect I had good luck with this because I was searching for a party of 1. Your mileage may vary for parties of 2 and up.
From MILF I went to City Hall to tell them I thought Kasha was a great Jungle Cruise skipper. They always seem so happy to have someone giving them good news. I imagine most of their day is unhappy people. I was done with the MK for the day so took the monorail back to the TTC and drove to the GF.
I know not everyone is a fan of signature dining and think it's not worth the money,  but I made myself an ADR at Citrico's to take advantage of their 30% discount for AP holders. You can read about that dinner here.
While at the Grand Floridian I noticed they had some Halloween merchandise out. I don't think it was there the day before when I went for tea. Either way,  Halloween is my favorite holiday so I was enjoying the merch.

That was it for excitement for the day. I drove back to the time share and did some laundry for my sister. Here's what my Fitbit thinks I did as a step count. 11.37 km converts to a little over 7 miles.

Tomorrow is my first park day with my BIL and kids. Stay tuned for rope drop at AK. My sister opted out of all our park stuff except for one.

That's part of the problem. Any CM encouraging freeloading should be reprimanded and if it happens again fired. I have no issue if they wish to use the Fort in their off hours with their family and friends but helping to organize large groups to take over the resort from paying guests is going too far.

Made it.  Thanks.  Since the beer lines are down, I will have a small but quality supply of beer (St Pauli Girl and Leinenkugels Summer Shandy) along with Kungaloosh and frozen pina coladas at the Outback.  Stop by for an adult beverage.

I am planning a trip to assess the damage Irma did to the 3000 loop.  Beer lines are already scheduled for replacement, so mainly I will be focusing on the massage parlor.  I can't hook up the Outback, however, until I hit at least 650 likes.  So it's all up to you! 

It's a shame, but it seems like members of this board are not as interested in trip reports as they used to be. Which is fine.  Things change. I am not sure at this point if I'll ever bother writing another.
This is true.  It was nice to just enjoy the trip, and not worry about trying to document everything we did.
TCD

It was the highlight of all the posts from the past week!
 
Sorry Robin, but if you've been lurking, you know how threads get hijacked until the original poster jumps back in a gets everyone back in line!

I don't want anyone to misunderstand. I love the fort. It's the place I wish i could stay ever time we go to WDW.     Sometimes when we are staying at another resort I'll head to the fort and just walk around and soak it all in.    I've been known to take the boat from the MK and have a beer, all by myself, on the porch.  I especially love it at christmas time.    I'll grab a beer (or two) at the settlement trading post and walk to the meadows rec area and back.    And since I don't own a RV I have to rent one which costs us even more.  Sadly the Fort is just out of my budget.   I also loved our Disney cruise but it too is out of our budget. 

Ray, sounds like a great plan!!!!!!!! We will be at Saratoga Springs over the Christmas rush, we will need to get Jason and meet up at the porch for that beer!!!!!

Just a heads up for anyone who may not be aware. We can now book all the way to January 3rd, 2019 for most site levels. Premium should be open tomorrow.
This means all the holidays for next year are open for booking.
If you even think you may want to book Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas for 2018 now is your best time to lock it down.
If booking a campsite only it's just the cost of one night and you can cancel later if your plans change. If booking a package it is a $200 deposit and you can cancel up to 30 days before arrival for a full refund. 
If you would like to book something just message me at [email protected] and let's get you set up while the availability is there.

It wouldn't mean a lot to me if they based it on the new movie as opposed to the original.

Hey, we all work together here.  :)

I'd love to be there right now, in a crowd less Epcot, drenched in sweat walking from one country's air conditioning to another.
Sounds pretty great to me, and much better than working on these TPS reports.
WBI

Now if they start putting out Barf Bag dispensers due to the rowdy crowds, it might be time to go camping elsewhere! 

This may be a repost, but nevertheless here are some cool pics.
 
 

This will probably get a lot of people upset, but here goes.
 
Yes the Magic is gone!  
What killed it?
Friggen CELL PHONES!
It's bad enough that teens and adults are walking around the parks with their noses stuck in their phones and not watching where they are walking.
But it absolutely sickens me to see kids in strollers or being carried playing games on phones while missing the wonders of everything Disney.  Same with kids walking while on phones and missing what's going on around them.
I guess those parents have more $$$ than brains and let the cell phone/tablet be a baby sitter and the kids miss all the sights.  What a waste of $.  Should've just left the kid at home.
We have become so attached to these electronic leashes that we can't go a day without them. 
And Disney encourages their use with MDE, Disney shopping, trying to get dinner reservations etc.

Monday brought us back to Castaway Cay. Shardi decided that since we are fair skinned European descent, easy to sunburn, rarely get to the beach people, that she would rent a Cabana on Castaway Cay for our second day. It is a bit pricey but has some very good perks. You get soft drinks and snacks, snorkeling gear rental, bicycle rental, and golf cart service to run you around the island. The Cabanas are at the end of the beach. Each Cabana has its own fresh water shower to rinse off. I am not sure if it was by design or not but the Cabana area has its own swimming area separated from the other swimming areas. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea.





It was a great hangout. We were the first Cabana renters to check in for the day. I immediately hit the smaller swimming area with the snorkel. It did not take long to cover most of the area. I found two Conks and a fairly large hermit crab. That is a size 13 foot for reference. I took them all three to the off limits area, outside of the swimming area and released them. 


After lunch, Shardi and I got a pair of bicycles and headed for the observation Tower. I had wanted to visit it on our first cruise but is was so hot and another 1 mile walk to get that that we stopped at the airplane. So with bikes, an overcast and somewhat cool day, we made it.

We then went down to the adult beach followed the path to the right all the way to the end. That was a much longer ride than anticipated. It is a great view when you get there.


We enjoyed the Cabana as much as we could, and were the very last to leave. We were given a golf cart ride to catch the last shuttle from Pelican Point back to the ship. We were not the last ones to go back aboard, but we were close to it. It made for a wonderful second day on the Cay. It started raining shortly after getting back aboard. We had dodged another day of rain while on the Cay. 
That night was Pirate night. After supper at Animators Pallet, we were greeted by this, I guess Ninja Monkey, upon our return to the stateroom.

We were so exhausted from our second day on the beach that we stayed in the Stateroom and went to bed early.
Tuesday was sea day. It rained most of the day making it hard to enjoy the top deck of the ship. We spent part of the day watching movies in the theater. We started with the new edition of Beauty and the Beast, then finished with Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales, in 3D. We had waited to see if it would be shown during the cruise, because what could be better than watching Pirates of the Caribbean while cruising around in the Caribbean! After supper we packed our bags, got a bit depressed about the cruise coming to an end, and went to sleep.
 

Thanks for sharing the best time of day at the Fort.  I love taking my morning walk while it is quiet and peaceful.  I feel like I am on vacation just looking at the photos....

Interesting thread.
I think every Disney fan often asks "is it worth it?"  I know that I do.
I've been lucky to have visited WDW from the time it was just the MK and a few hotels all the way up to now.  Has the quality declined?  No question, it absolutely has.  Are the prices to high?  Of course they are. You definitely get less bang for the buck than you used to. Are there Cast Members who should be working somewhere else?  Absolutely.  Has inept management wrecked some things at the Fort?  Heck yes.I could make a long list of things that are gone that used to be very fun and enjoyable.
But, is the magic gone?
No. Not at all.
The TCD gang just returned from a long Memorial Day weekend stay at the Fort.  We were in that mob of guests who packed Animal Kingdom for the opening day of Pandora.  The Fort was packed to the gills on Saturday and Sunday night.  It was hot and humid.  The sound didn't work for the fireworks at the Fort Wilderness beach party on Sunday night.  And we loved it.
I can't wait for my next trip to the Fort.  There's no place I'd rather be.
TCD

If you are still enjoying your trips, and making good memories with your kids, by all means take those trips.  Keep in mind that everyone on here is in different stages of their Disney relationship.  Some have been going for many years and are jaded.  Others have been going a long time and will continue, as they simply love Disney.  Many more are in the early stages of their Disney crush and the magic is still being made.  If your only doubts about continuing on your journey are due to the opinions of others, please pay them no attention.  You may come upon Disney burn out on your own, in your own time.  But if you're not there yet, go and enjoy yourself.  Even I, a recovering Disney addict and sometime hater, still find many things at WDW that I enjoy, despite my complaining.  Don't let me or anyone else get you down.    

I didn't know Sophia had a soul.
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