slices

Wouldn't that be at Universal.

Just got the Fort Wilderness ears, thank you for prompt service. I have put them away until the end of the month, as an anniversary present for my wife. I'm sure she'll love them. I showed my daughter your etsy site, and told her she could have a pair if she got her math grade up by our next trip in March.

Here's a bonus post. We still had the plusses to use and felt bad about not doing a waterpark, so two weeks after this we drove to Typhoon Lagoon for the day.
Really wish we'd gone sooner, we were all really impressed.  Next time I'm getting a large locker when they say one backpack in a standard they mean a small backpack. This would have been easier if we'd gone from the Fort, we would have gotten there earlier, be able to charge to the magic bands, and not needed to carry a credit or gift card on me, and would have gotten towels for free.

Got there about 11, a little surprised there is no bag check here.
Took advantage of as many photos as we could as we still had a valid memory maker and we left our phones in the locker so not too many photos.  I wouldn't mind getting an inexpensive waterproof camera for next time, anyone have any recommendations?  Saw a range from what looked like expensive cameras, phones in those pouches, go pros and even a few people just holding their phone in the wave pool with no case!
Got a locker and then found some chairs by the wave pool, did this for a bit and the kids did the bay slides. Then we got a couple of the refillable cups and went to get some lunch at Leaning Palms. I had to run back to the locker to grab a credit card because, although we'd bought a Disney gift card with us I forgot about the cost of the drink cups.
Anyway, no photos of lunch but the kids had pizza. I don't know why they keep insisting on pizzas when they aren't very nice. I had the chipotle chicken rice bowl and was very impressed. Much nicer than I would have expected at a water park. Since we'd only gotten two refillable cups, I got a beer. Didn't get the souvenir cup this time.
After this we head to the lazy river, getting into those tubes isn't easy. My wife eventually gets one of the chair shaped ones, which is a lot easier. 
My son and I get out before the others and end up meeting them back by the wave pool. 

Headed to the slides next, the kids did Keelhaul Falls and Mayday Falls, and my wife joined us on Gankplank falls.  I really enjoyed Keelhaul found it quite relaxing.
Had a two-hour drive back so, went to get ice cream before getting changed and leaving. Had a quick look in the shop, thinking of getting a rash guard shirt but didn't see anything worth buying given the prices.

We keep meaning to get over to Beaches and cream and do the kitchen sink, but this is the sand pale.

Just as well we were leaving now as a storm was starting.
Will definitely do a waterpark again, was much better and a lot more shaded than we expected. The only other park I've done was Wet and Wild before it closed and I guess I was expecting more like that.  
Still at some park days and plusses to use but this is it for this trip.

Moving on, and wrapping this up, Gem and Disney Springs.
Gem minning was closed.

Didn't end up as Disney Springs as my son didn't quite seem him self.
My wife went to  fetch breakfast while I packed away. 

Kids were happy to help this time so went faster.  Although as I moved the kid's air mattress to fold it, I noticed a hole in it, so we ended up throwing it out. When asked both kids told me it was like that all night,  does make me wonder why I bothered with it given they didn't say anything.  My wife sept out the tent, which as good given I think there was still sand from last time. She wants a folding broom for the next trip.  She also found a squirrel-sized hole behind where the air mattress was and a few Mickey Goldfish crackers.
I have a strict rule about no food in the tents only in the EZ up for this reason. Had words with the kids and will tape the hole.
Were packed and out of there before 11, nice thing about leaving on a Monday rather than a Sunday is chick Fila being open on the way home.

Probably could have done with a quiet day at the Fort after that but we only had the weekend and it was Food and Wine. So off after a light cold breakfast at the site we got the bus to Epcot.

This is the bus we got.
Got there about 9:15, which wasn't bad going.
Headed to the festival center to see if there was any chance of signing the kids up for the children's cooking thing.

I knew this was a long shot so wasn't too surprised when the CM told me they were fully booked. Apparently, they booked out around 9am on the previous day. I had actually considered upgrading my wife or myself to an annual pass, and doing a quick run into Epcot Saturday night to get them registered for this, but sounds like it would have been a waste of time anyway.
While we were there we dodged the lines of pass holders and checked out the chocolate experience, getting free samples as we went.


Had booked fast passes near here, so off to Mission Space. The first time we'd done this, did green this time, kids want to do orange next time we are here.

Kids swapped themselves around as my daughter wanted to be in command, and my son wanted to be engineer so that was good.

Spent quite a bit of time here.

Next fast pass was test track.

My wife won't do test track again, and in case you can't tell by the photo I'm only there for the kids. Next time I'm at Epcot my sister is taking them on it.
While she was waiting she'd picked up some snacks.

Once we were done we noticed Taste Track was open, it's always closed when I'm that way. Now part of food and Wine.
I tried a Cronut and got the kids pancake milkshakes which I guess is a Wreck it Ralph II thing.

I like the cronut but my wife wasn't impressed.

Checked out the new play area, until it rained before going to Figment our last Fast Pass.

Then it got a bit chaotic, my daughter and I went to flavors of fire, but had to cut some cash out as they weren't taking card right then.

The Black Water Porter.

Corned Beef

And the Piggy Wings, my daughters choice. My wife and son got a slushie in light lab and then the pumpkin chocolate drink at the chocolate place. Met up with them there, and my got in the long line at the refreshment port for poutine. Too busy and hot for my son, to be honest, I thought I'd be leaving Epcot around then, but he just asked to go to Mexico because the pyramid is air-conditioned. He wanted to do the ride before eating, it was a 20-minute  guess we all had the same idea!
Wasn't sure my wife would do this one, so took some video for a change. This is just from my phone.
 
As we were coming out of the pyramid,  we see my wife who is disappointed she missed the ride, my son wants to do it again anyway. So I go off for more food.


Followed by the Greek Nachos.

My son ended up eating most of these.  We headed towards Norway to use the restrooms, ran into Tony around there. Went in the shop for a bit to cool off, and  plan what next.  I had booked Candy Sushi but my daughter didn't feel up to it at that point.  My son just wanted to go to the UK before leaving, so we double backed through show place plaza into Canada.

 

Not part of food and wine but my wife like's the Magners Irish cider they sell in the UK beer stand, so I got a Bass Ale to keep her company. My daughter went off into the shop with her gift card and bought a couple of overpriced British candy bars, don't think I've ever paid that much for a Lion bar. While my wife was finishing her cider I waited in  line for the Irish sausages.

One of the slowest lines there, you know it's bad when you get welcomed to the front of the line. The Guinness Baileys shake must have been popular, they ran out of Baileys before I got to the front.
Had some debate about what to do next, I originally had wanted to get over to MK a bit after this but that was thinking that we wouldn't last this long.  Decided to head back to the Fort, and start thinking about dinner.  We were fed up of walking around with small plates,  I had a quick look to see what was available and grabbed an early dinner reservation for Garden Grill at 5:35.  Wasn't planning on character dining, but it was on the way out and sit down.  I guess if we hadn't booked this we may have gone to Wilderness Lodge.
 

We've had breakfast there before so weren't that bothered about the characers but still had a good time, and wanted to try dinner here for a while.




Unfortunately we son started feeling unwell and didn't eat much. We headed back after this and both kids had an early night, it had been a long day.
 
 
 
 
 

Probably could have done with a quiet day at the Fort after that but we only had the weekend and it was Food and Wine. So off after a light cold breakfast at the site we got the bus to Epcot.

This is the bus we got.
Got there about 9:15, which wasn't bad going.
Headed to the festival center to see if there was any chance of signing the kids up for the children's cooking thing.

I knew this was a long shot so wasn't too surprised when the CM told me they were fully booked. Apparently, they booked out around 9am on the previous day. I had actually considered upgrading my wife or myself to an annual pass, and doing a quick run into Epcot Saturday night to get them registered for this, but sounds like it would have been a waste of time anyway.
While we were there we dodged the lines of pass holders and checked out the chocolate experience, getting free samples as we went.


Had booked fast passes near here, so off to Mission Space. The first time we'd done this, did green this time, kids want to do orange next time we are here.

Kids swapped themselves around as my daughter wanted to be in command, and my son wanted to be engineer so that was good.

Spent quite a bit of time here.

Next fast pass was test track.

My wife won't do test track again, and in case you can't tell by the photo I'm only there for the kids. Next time I'm at Epcot my sister is taking them on it.
While she was waiting she'd picked up some snacks.

Once we were done we noticed Taste Track was open, it's always closed when I'm that way. Now part of food and Wine.
I tried a Cronut and got the kids pancake milkshakes which I guess is a Wreck it Ralph II thing.

I like the cronut but my wife wasn't impressed.

Checked out the new play area, until it rained before going to Figment our last Fast Pass.

Then it got a bit chaotic, my daughter and I went to flavors of fire, but had to cut some cash out as they weren't taking card right then.

The Black Water Porter.

Corned Beef

And the Piggy Wings, my daughters choice. My wife and son got a slushie in light lab and then the pumpkin chocolate drink at the chocolate place. Met up with them there, and my got in the long line at the refreshment port for poutine. Too busy and hot for my son, to be honest, I thought I'd be leaving Epcot around then, but he just asked to go to Mexico because the pyramid is air-conditioned. He wanted to do the ride before eating, it was a 20-minute  guess we all had the same idea!
Wasn't sure my wife would do this one, so took some video for a change. This is just from my phone.
 
As we were coming out of the pyramid,  we see my wife who is disappointed she missed the ride, my son wants to do it again anyway. So I go off for more food.


Followed by the Greek Nachos.

My son ended up eating most of these.  We headed towards Norway to use the restrooms, ran into Tony around there. Went in the shop for a bit to cool off, and  plan what next.  I had booked Candy Sushi but my daughter didn't feel up to it at that point.  My son just wanted to go to the UK before leaving, so we double backed through show place plaza into Canada.

 

Not part of food and wine but my wife like's the Magners Irish cider they sell in the UK beer stand, so I got a Bass Ale to keep her company. My daughter went off into the shop with her gift card and bought a couple of overpriced British candy bars, don't think I've ever paid that much for a Lion bar. While my wife was finishing her cider I waited in  line for the Irish sausages.

One of the slowest lines there, you know it's bad when you get welcomed to the front of the line. The Guinness Baileys shake must have been popular, they ran out of Baileys before I got to the front.
Had some debate about what to do next, I originally had wanted to get over to MK a bit after this but that was thinking that we wouldn't last this long.  Decided to head back to the Fort, and start thinking about dinner.  We were fed up of walking around with small plates,  I had a quick look to see what was available and grabbed an early dinner reservation for Garden Grill at 5:35.  Wasn't planning on character dining, but it was on the way out and sit down.  I guess if we hadn't booked this we may have gone to Wilderness Lodge.
 

We've had breakfast there before so weren't that bothered about the characers but still had a good time, and wanted to try dinner here for a while.




Unfortunately we son started feeling unwell and didn't eat much. We headed back after this and both kids had an early night, it had been a long day.
 
 
 
 
 

I've tent camped in 1500 twice and liked it. Setup last time was a 2 tents and an EZ up.

Monsieur Paul was real good, a little pricey.
Duck was unbelievable and so was the chocolate dessert.

Before I start talking about Thanksgiving I feel that I should mention despite celebrating Thanksgiving for the last 13 years (strangely most of them outside of the US), I'm not American and it wasn't something I grew up with.
 
The plans for Thanksgiving probably changed the most. Originally we had Raglan Road booked and had to have breakfast while resort hoping. Resort hoping got dropped in favour of the Thanksgiving activities and Raglan Road got cancelled as I was able to get a reservation at Backyard BBQ.
 
Started off the day with cinnamon roll Turkeys cooked in the cabin. The oven may too small for a real Turkey but perfect for these.

 
After breakfast no one was interested in the scavenger hunt so I took my daughter down to the corn hole game after walking down to the outpost to get our tickets for lunch, she then lost interest so we shopped.

I decided to walk back to the cabin rather than wait for the bus, even cutting through the group camping area I got complaints of my feet hurt.
 
My son was happy doing crafts.

 
We headed to the pool to soak tired feet, my wife and son joined us after doing crafts before we got dried off and headed to the settlement.
 

 

 
Kids played for a bit while I shopped.

 
Then to lunch, this was the 2.30 seating my prefference would have been earlier do I was hungry.
 
I stuck to the Turkey, Ham and sides with a but of salad and some beer of course.

My wife started about the same before getting a plate of Mac N Cheese and ham.

 
The kids, well one had a burger and Turkey.

The other one had Mac N Cheese and Turkey with gravy.

 
I think I got both kids up for to dance once but they weren't that keen.

 
We jumped a bit when the trick roper came on but that was fun to watch.
 

 
Mickey Ice Cream bars and pumpkin pie before we left.
 
 
We had a carriage ride booked so later so we killed some time taking the boat to the contemporary.
 

 
We got the monorail to the Grand Floridian


 
This was mostly just to buy gingerbread

 
Back on the monorail.

 
Taking the MK boat this time.
 

 
We let the kids play on the beach for a bit before getting our carriage tour.
 

 
This is a really nice way of looping. I got what photos I could but it was dark I was using my phone and moving.
 

 
Quite a few of these inflatable Turkeys.

 
We had a few people come out of their campers and wave. My daughter said she felt like a celebrity.


 
I did see a Fort Fiends sign but couldn't make it out.

 
 

 
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Waited a while for a bus but got back to the Fort around 3. I walked to the cabin while my wife and kids moved the car. I think they may have gotten lost in overflow given I beat them there. First time in a cabin. Was nice using my magic band to open something other the the comfort stations. Unloaded, got the stuff from the cooler in the fridge, is it just me or does anyone else feel that the size of the fridge is out of proportion to the oven.
 

 
Kids explored I poured myself a beer, the cabin only had mason jars.

 
Then I set up the decorations, yeah should have brought more will next time.
 

 

Once we settled I ask if anyone wants to go back to Epcot, when we left it was with the intention of going back. Logistically this had to involve at least one child. Nope, ok maybe its not wanting to wait for a bus, what if we upgrade to park hoppers and do MK. Nope both kids tired. This is where I wish we went often enough to justify APs since I really wouldn't care then.
 
Well my daughter wants some snacks and we need milk(Next time we're putting milk and soda in the cooler but it was the first time we used it). So she and my wife get the bus to the trading Post. My son wants to go to the pool, initially he was wanted to go to the meadow pool for the slide. But he decided to try the pool by the cabins rather than wait for a bus, so he rode his bike over. I walked he still needs some help which I can't provide if I'm cycling. He was glad he this did pool, it was almost empty. Rows of sun loungers empty and you could actually get in the hot tub. Mostly people staying in cabins judging by the towels.
My only gripe would be the cost of the vending machine, my son actually told my wife it only took card. Not true I just find it easier not to carry cash when swimming.
 

 
Headed back to the cabin for a discussion about dinner, originally thought we'd eat in Epcot so not much planned. Son wants hot dogs cooked on the camp fire. My daughter on the other hand doesn't want to go out at all. I comprise and cook burgers and hot dogs on the cabin BBQ grill.
 
Now I had put my BBQ tools in the car but didn't really think we'd use them. The charcoal I'd bought from home was meant to be easy lighting and explicitly states not to use fire lighters or lighter fluid. However I had issues the last time I used it, and have been using the road trip at home recently. Didn't bring the road trip as was unsure about using near the cabin. I will say one thing I didn't need was the grill brush, was nice and clean.
 

 
By the time my wife and son get back with supplies I have about 4 coals glowing. Fortunately they bought lighter fluid.
If we do this again I'm putting more stuff in the cooler trading Post is a bit limited. After dinner I did smores over the grill.
 

I offered to take the kids to see the fireworks but my daughter was tired and ran her self a bath and went to bed. My son just flopped on the bed. We let the kids have the bedroom and took the couch.
 

 
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Publix sells it, at least they do in Bradenton but that may be due to a large number of transplants from the north. My father in law is  of Polish decent. He's originally from Fall river before retiring down here, and has mentioned a number of kielbasa shops in the area.
 
 

I want to try the curry chicken pockets.   

I hope that's all it is and it's resolved soon.  We've eaten at Kona a bunch over the past 10 years and we get the occasional hiccup in quality or service, but it's never been worse than that and the majority of the time it's very good.

Saw these in a magazine today.
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I agree I like nothing better on a vacation than to park the car once I get there and not move it again until I go home. Used to manage this quite a bit on vacations in England. Given that things are generally a lot more car centric here, it's really nice  not to have to drive at Disney.  Plus Epcot is actually one of the few places where both of us  tend to have an adult beverage. Prior to last year I was the only one in the house driving so being able to have an adult beverage at a place I'm not sleeping is a bit of a novelty. 

My SIL gave me a Cameo lesson this weekend. She just made a ton of stuff for her daughter's wedding. 
Now I must have one.  Her daughter also has one that she has never taken out of the box. My SIL says she will probably sell it to me when her first rent payment is due.  
I didn't know besides cutting the vinyl stuff I could also cut fabric for my sewing projects. Maybe Santa can bring me one if the other one doesn't pan out.

First time staying at the fort booked for the end of March, just had an email today saying our magic bands have been shipped. Seems real now, we've done a couple of days  at the Disney parks before, but this will be the first time staying at the fort. 
Only doing three days this time to see how it goes. Last time we went tent camping was  in England before we moved to Florida so this will be quite different.  Managed to get a few more bits of equipment in the sales, so pretty much set  other than needing to replace the sleeping mat we thew out when we moved.   Don't think we'll be doing much cooking, beyond making tea and coffee. We have reservations for most meals as long as things go to plan.
I've been lurking here for a week or so and the site has been very useful. Decided it was about time I said hello.