rm0530

Oh how I wish I was in the 1500 loop again for this New Years!

It's nice to have some detailed pictures of these items. Most of the time when I'm at WDW, there is so much to look at and I start to feel overwhelmed. Sensory overload!

Can I put in a request for you to do a researched tour of Main Street?

Directly down the road past the shopping plaza (very good selection of stores) with the (regular) Target, there is a mall (you want to avoid it), a Sams Club, Lowes, etc. To the left of the interstate there is Macon State College. This used to be the happening area of Macon but has gone downhill in the recent years. They have built a new outdoor mall in North Macon, it's off I-75, exit 172 I think. All the crowds and development are springing up in that area. I'm glad to hear you had a positive experience!

Great report! 2 ice creams AND smores? You are my kind of girl. I'll take sweets over real food any day.

I agree with parking at that mall! We made the mistake of going there once on a Saturday evening, notice I said ONCE. I honestly thought we were going to die at any moment just trying to find a parking space. :whew:

Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

Oh man, Disney eating doesn't compare with real life. It seems we need a snack every hour or so. I suppose all the walking we do creates a large appetite...

We went back the next day (was Sunday morning) and parked before they opened. We got a nice spot but everything was full when we left an hour later. Couldn't believe the number of people!

First off, let me tell you I loved your trip report! Looks like it was a great weekend!

And secondly...let me just say that you are obviously one of the more intelligent Fiends around here. Ya see, I, too, like the new sign. But there are MANY who do not. So you are SMART! And they are....well.

Haha thanks Dave for being on my side!

After swimming, we rode back to #2059. It was noon on Saturday in WDW and we hadn't spent any money yet...Naturally we decided to visit an outlet mall!

We had lunch at Panera on Vineland and went to the outlets

But we couldn't find parking. It was horrible! We kept on driving and went to the mall on I-Drive, mostly because they have this:

Watermelon...perfect for a summer day

This mall has the better Disney outlet and I picked up a few Christmas presents. We shopped for about 2 hours and then came back home

We biked to Trails End and ordered 2 Lone Riders

We ate on the porch and had plenty to watch between the BBQ and HDDR starting soon.

We needed dessert! We locked up the bikes and took a boat and monorail for a Dole Whip. It's vacation, you can have ice cream twice in a day!

We walked around the grounds and found a quiet spot by the quiet pool.

With our bellies full, we came back and went swimming at the cabins pool. I miss the deep end!

We stayed in the pool for about an hour and then biked down to the beach for EWP and Wishes! We heated some coals on the grill and I made this beauty

We headed out around 10am the next morning. We haven't been back since

Thank you for reading and for posting your own reports to ease my Fort withdrawals!

Wow!! Looks like fun!!!

Great pictures looks like you had a good time.

We've taken 2 short weekend trips and they've both been awesome!

Wait until TCD sees this report.

1. CM area that you shouldn't have been in

2. CM got onto you about being there

3. The quiet peaceful spot is his favorite

He will love this!

I haven't canoed at the Fort since I was about 6, and keep saying I'm going to also. Time just slips away and I haven't had a chance.

You will be happy to hear that I am a much better canoe-er than bike rider!

TCD has taught me well! I however am awful at canoeing. I can only hope to go straight and not fall out!

So we headed back down the trail and ended up in a cast area we weren’t supposed to be

I like the new sign /hides

We went to visit the horses

A CM got onto us about being back there so we left

We went back to the Settlement Trading Post and headed down the path by the preferred loops and found this

This IS a great spot. There’s thousands of people across the lake but we were surrounded by nature and peace

We rode up to the Meadows. I keep saying I’m going to kayak or canoe. I really want to!

and DH stood in the pool to cool off

Cool! I've never taken that dirt trail on my bike.

Could be because I tend to crash A LOT, especially in dirt.

Haha! It was interesting to try out the new bike on the dirt. Learning the gear shifts took some practice and I only almost crashed once!

Nice report Stef!

Celebration looks awesome. I will have to visit sometime!

I want to kidnap Mason and just snuggle him!

I'm with you on parades. We plan our nights in MK to avoid to parade route.

Can't wait for next month :)

I enjoyed reading this. I'm sure it's awesome to travel with an entire group of "Disney people". My family enjoys it but it's not the same!

Looking forward to your opinions about HP. I've been a fan since the books started coming out and we've been to the park twice. I hope you tried the frozen butterbeer!

Thank you all for reading along :) Let's get started on Saturday

It’s Saturday morning, we are on vacation at the Fort, and have no park tickets. What do we do? Set an 8am alarm! We had big plans for the day. We had bought new trail bikes that week and were anxious to explore the Fort and break them in.

First thing was breakfast. Bacon and Mickey pancakes!

Mickey comes with us for each trip

From the road. It’s a cozy site!

We started traveling this way towards the group camping area and then cut over to the middle of the Fort and headed towards the exercise trail.

We found wildlife on the trail

The only picture of me taken on this trip so here you are!

This is a relaxing way to reach the Wilderness Lodge

However we didn’t finish the paved trail to the Lodge. We cut across the road and traveled down the dirt trail that hugs Bay Lake

This is where the trail ends

We turned around and headed back towards the Fort

It’s time for some summer fun during a dreary winter!

Our annual passes expired over Memorial Day weekend and we had decided not to renew. We had a rough summer and started having Fort withdrawals. We made a last minute decision for a short weekend trip. I had one weekend left before I had to go back to work and I happily didn’t have to play around with the reservation system.

July 22-24, here we go!

DH took off on Friday and we started out with our traditional Chick-fil-a breakfast. We have a six hour drive straight down I-75 and the turnpike, it’s not too bad. It was uneventful until we merged onto 429 and the only patch of rain was exactly where we needed to be.

I enjoy entering this way. There’s never any traffic and I can soak in the opening magic without disruption.

This did not bode well for setting up camp…

This building looks nice and peaceful. It was hiding slow lines and one grumpy woman.

A management woman was walking the line, promising us our turn would come ASAP, and making small talk. The manager came to the woman behind me and asked how her visit was going.

“This place should be renamed “Wait Disney World”. That’s all I’ve done here. Anything I want to do requires waiting. I can’t even get around this place without waiting for a bus. I’ve had enough!”

Now I don’t know what she was waiting in line for but I’m sure she wasn’t going to be satisfied. These types of visitors baffle me. You’re on vacation at the Fort! Why would you want time to hurry by??

The horseshoes resemble a hidden Mickey

And a REAL hidden Mickey...

We were placed in 2059 for the 3^rd time. It’s always been quiet, close to the CS, plenty of room, and easy access to the road for our bikes.

The nice vegetation behind us.

I like this Mickey

We brought the barebones set up and it took an hour with the rain.

For TCD! We forgot the bricks in the minimal packing.

We went to DTD and tried a new place for dinner, Pollo Campero-Fresh A Peel. Our first experience was tainted due to the rain. Everyone was crowded in and taking their time at their tables while waiting for things to clear up. It was reasonably priced and I would try again later!

We visited the Lego store, picked our traditional ornament, and headed back to relax in the tent and A/C!

It took me a bit but I've just finished reading all 32 pages! I love having a DaveInTN report! Your family is precious and now even more so with Anna! I'm thrilled to see her so happy and comfortable.

A few comments:

Emma totally won the dole whip contest. Hands down!

I love the TCD/Anna picture and story. He's about to lose the twins to college. If he adopts, we can have 18 more years of trip reports!

I'm going to head over to Kona Cafe ASAP and get some Tonga Toast. Yummm.

Good, I'm not too far behind!

In the Space Mountain pic, it looks like Twin #1 is signing the word 'help'. Appropriate since she's about to plummet into space! (I can understand the turkey but as an ASL interpreter, my brain automatically sees signs lol)

I love the new Fort merchandise! I've emailed merchandise services a few days ago to see about ordering some but no response yet.

We've had dinner one night on the porch and it was great! 2 Lone Riders, 1 picnic table, and a lot of people watching between the BBQ and HDDR.

I woke up early one day last year during our Christmas visit and set out. The Settlement was empty like your pictures and it was a great moment. It was quiet and i had the decorations all to myself. I really hope they leave that area alone, especially the wooded walking path.

I'm looking forward to the next report. Hopefully New Years??

I promise I haven't forgotten about this! It's been hard adjusting back to the work schedule and I'm behind on many things. Let's finish this up!

Day 4- Monday, March 28

We woke up this morning to rain! We took advantage of the rain and rested in the room for some time.

Around 11:45am and after constant thunderstorms, we decided to forgo a park and spend the day at DTD. Sadly, the rain continued all day. We had lunch at Pizza Hut near DTD, dinner at Cracker Barrel and dessert at Dippin’ Dots.

Some of my purchases at DTD

Day 5- Tuesday, March 29 We woke up at 7:30 and spent about two hours getting ready, breakfast the food court, and packing the car. We headed to the Studios this morning and we weren’t feeling it. We only rode RnRC singles and Backlot tour. I did purchase this shirt though. I spotted it in February but held off.

We drove over to DTD and had lunch at Earl and at 2pm, we headed up the depressing drive north on I-4.

Back to GA and came home to this

She's probably thinking "You can't leave me again if you can't get your suitcase!"

I borrowed a friend's DSLR camera for this trip. I didn't want to use it in bad weather and that's the reason for the limited pictures for the last two days. I did use it to take pictures of some prints I had of trips I took growing up.

My first Fort visit in 2000. I didn't go to WDW until 7th grade. My kids will be trained early and probably have an AP at the age of 3.

The Pooh gang are my favorite characters. These are from dinner at the Crystal Palace.

2003

And that's all we have for March! I have 2 more reports to catch up on but not sure when I will have a chance. Thank you for following along!

Our first stop inside MK was first aid. DH had gotten stung while at the TTC. Some ointment and an ice pack later, we headed off for Splash fastpasses. The temperature was starting to heat up and the relief? Mickey bars! Pirates offered us some a/c and then it was lunch time.

We decided to take the boat to Wilderness Lodge for lunch at Whispering Canyon Café. Family style BBQ skillet? I’m all about that! We arrived at the tail end of the lunch hour and I’d like to attribute that to our less than stellar service. We hardly saw the waiter to ask for refills on drinks and food. We did enjoy the quality of food but the overall experience wasn’t wonderful enough that I feel compelled to return.

After lunch, we toured the MK resorts. We boarded the boat to Contemporary and monorail to Poly, GF, and MK. It was the first time his parents had visited these resorts and I go any chance I have.

This was as close to the Fort we got this trip. We were a sad couple of Fort lovers

Look how fancy I am...Myspace bathroom pic in the Grand Floridan! (I don't have a myspace but ya know :rofl2:)

Back inside MK we went to Monsters Inc where my Father-in-law was “That Guy”! He has the perfect personality for this role and was excited to wear his sticker for the rest of the day. He got lots of attention from guests and CMs.

We jumped on the People Mover, Indy Speedway, Buzz and then DH got attacked by an ECV. We were walking to the bathrooms near Space Mountain and an old woman was driving behind us while watching the dance party by the stage. I guess the music got her excited because she accelerated and ran into his leg. He tripped and she glared at us as if we got into her way. I felt bad for him—two accidents in a day at the happiest place on Earth.

We took a break and had a snack before starting back up for the evening. We rode Teacups, Philarmagic, Small World, Haunted Mansion, dinner at Harbour House, 10pm Wishes and castle show, Splash, Big Thunder, Pooh, Space Mountain, Pirates and then the long trek to the car at 1:30am. Very long day!

Future Beauty and the Beast area

Hidden Mickey, anyone?

Awesome, detailed report! I love that you included all the pictures of Pop! We had many good times staying at Pop Century, that's where my granddaughter and my Mama stayed for her first trip so it will always be special to me. I think they have one of the best food courts, but I have to get my food and go outside, it's loud.

Thanks :) Yep, you're right about the noise level. It was not designed to absorb sound, that's for sure! I was pleased with my meals from the food court. Our first night's dinner was a little blah but they were closing in 30 minutes and not making anything fresh.

I am headed for Pop in less than 48 hours and the timing on this TR is perfect. Like you said, it's not the Fort, but I could not convince the kids to go on another road trip from here in MA.

Have a wonderful trip! Wow a road trip from MA, you are brave! We complain about our 6 hour drive!

Another great report!

I visited Epcot several times during this year's Flower and Garden festival, and never noticed the TS3 characters in the Germany train display.

Also, I love the photo of the strangers recreating the Lion King pose. That's a great idea for a photo. Too bad my kids are all too big for this now!

I'm looking forward to the rest of your report!

TCD

I've seen enough pics of the TCD girls to know they would be up for posing. I'm sure they would promise anything for a WDW trip!

Day 3- Sunday, March 27

I was the first one up and ready this morning at 9. I walked to the food court and had breakfast while others were getting ready. I took a mini tour of the resort and went back to round up the rest of the family.

The bowling pool in the 50s section

70s section

Resort map and my feet

For the 4 value resorts, Pop is the only one with its own buses. The Allstars share buses between the 3 resorts.

The main pool behind Classic Hall (check-in, food, shopping, arcade)

The bridge leading over the old Legendary Years area. It's now becoming the Art of Animation resort

Nice new construction

And then 10 year old abandoned buildings

The buildings were right by the 50s parking lot. Bad eyesore!

At 10:45 we drove to MK. It was hard knowing I’d have to park, take the parking tram, and take a monorail to get to the park. We really appreciate the Fort MK boat and took it for granted until now.

Beautiful babies! I have a student who took a wish trip to GKTW when she was 7. She has nothing but positive things to say about the experience. Thank you for going back and writing a report for us

After the tour, we used our Soarin’ fastpasses and then walked through the butterfly garden. The area was really crowded and hard to maneuver through the paths and strollers.

We then started our tour of the World Showcase. Mexico boat, America movie (I had a nice 30 minute nap), Voices of Liberty, France street show, UK comedy street show, and then back to The Land for ADR at The Garden Grill. I enjoy family style restaurants and the ability to request more of whatever you want. The dinner was fabulous. The characters were just an added bonus but we were there for the food. We requested seconds on salad and beef. We weren’t rushed through the meal and the restaurant made an entire rotation by the time we were finished.

Look at these adorable strangers!

The train town has mini festival banners and TS3 figures. Love it!

Promoting "African Cats"

It was now 7pm and we went to the Living Seas through the gift shop, Spaceship Earth, browsed Art of Disney store and Mouse Gears and watched Illuminations. At 9:30 we drove back to Pop and called it a day.

Awesome pixie dust from the chef at WL! I've not had anything like that happen to me but I love hearing about it from others.

Your DD is precious and I love her animal collection!

:bravo:

Thanks for the great report and pictures :banana:

Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

Thank you all for reading!!

Hi Kim, I'm finally catching up and I took notes..

The funnel cakes at Sleepy Hollow are better! Make sure you try on next time. It was the best funnel cake I've had.

I'm anti-poncho. I tried for a while with the WDW ones but it was too frustrating! The hood wouldn't stay on and the sleeves only covered half my arm. I now take my rain jacket and leave in my bookbag.

Great pictures from the Epcot monorail. I haven't done that since 2008, I think. It's wonderful to get a view of the park before you are able to get inside. Really builds the excitement!

I've never noticed the play area on Tom Sawyer's Island. I can't wait till I have a kid and an excuse for playing! I do love the barrel bridge though. I've been known to cross, turn around and go back on the bridge, and then cross again (as long as no kids are waiting to play..)

We went to Seasons for lunch before our Behind the Seeds tour. DH’s parents are avid gardeners and I knew they would enjoy the tour. I wasn’t expecting much (I can’t keep a plant alive) but I ended up enjoying myself. The tour lasted from 12:00-1:20 and was cheap---I think $15.30 each with our 15% passholder discount.

The entrance for the tour

They explained how they used "Biological Control"--certain bugs to control other bugs who destroy crops

This tree was from a Mickey's Mini Garden (seen in picture above). Our guide was great! She was interning for 6 months at The Land

We all guessed which pumpkin weighted the most. I think the far left was the largest.

The glass for the alligator tank was covered and was empty. I asked the guide about it and she said they remove the gators once they reach a certain age and start again with a new batch of babies.

We each got a handful of fish food and stood in a circle around the tank. We all threw in the food at the same time. Every fish inside jumped up and made some splashes.

Thanks for sharing the photos from inside the WOL pavilion. I used to love Body Wars and Cranium Command!

Did you say the gift shop had leftover merchandise from an outlet mall?

Enjoying the report!

The outlet mall had leftover merchandise from the festival hehe