momof3kids-Yvonne

When I joined Fort Fiends my girls were still in elementary school. My son was just starting high school.  They are all grown now. It’s difficult even trying to plan a weekend away sometimes where we can all go. Like I mentioned in the Defeated Creek GG thread. Our lives are moving in different directions. 
I was thinking the other day about it and I was thinking it is like a neighborhood. When my family moved in to our neighborhood it was brand new. Like just a few streets done and most of us had small children. You would constantly see children playing and lots  of neighborhood planned activities As the children got to be older the neighborhood became more “quiet.” Some of the original families have moved away and new younger families are moving in. I am seeing an increase in neighborhood activities. 
I think the same will happen here so long as we remember to let people know about Fort Fiends. Yes people can go on Facebook, but let’s be honest how many of us cringe at some of the advice given there. I do not go to Disney or camping nearly as much as most of you. When any of my friends outside of here ask me for advice or a question, I always say, “ Well what I learned from my friends at Fort Fiends is...” 

I have enjoyed all the Trip Reports and fun posts from everyone that posted them, whether it was Disney related or not.
 And I appreciated the time and effort they put in them. A big Thank You!
I hope more people will come back and share their trips and other interesting info going forward.
This forum has always had the most friendly and respectful people. I am honored to be a part.🙂

For me, we've actually lost some interest in Disney and the Fort. The uptick in prices, the fact that we can no longer buy an annual pass at present, and the pandemic, has put a damper on our enthusiasm for things Disney. (Especially since we just traveled cross country for three weeks, for less than a week at the Fort)

I think the biggest problem with trip reports is the huge increase in Photobucket's pricing. They were the easiest to use Photo hosting and linking service. Nothing else since has compared.

I'd put it down to a natural ebb and flow, compounded by COVID issues. As things return to normal, and people start camping at the fort again, I bet there will be an uptick.  For those of you going to the Fort, be sure to advertise the site with your snarky signs and magnets. 😃
I'm one of the folks who came here through the great trip reports that show up.  I don't even camp, but I do love hearing about all things Disney.  With a number of the older poster's not as active anymore, we just need an infusion of new-to-the-Fort folks to get the board rocking again. 

I agree, we had fun the year we were able to go.  Maybe next year.

Rene and I  enjoyed it when we went a coupe of years ago but this year between COVID and daycare for our latest grandchild our trip plans have been put on hold.

Buc-ees is a tradition for all us okies heading south into texas.  
No matter what else you get there you have to try their homemade potato chips. 
thick cut with just the right amount of salt. 

The Magic Returns to the Village
We are thrilled to announce that nearly 10 months from the day that we said goodbye to our last wish family in March, we will be getting back to our mission of spreading joy and creating the happiness that inspires hope for critically ill children and their families by reopening our beloved Village beginning on January 17, 2021.
https://www.gktw.org/covid19/

That sounds like completely insane shopping amusement park... annnnnnnd I'm writing it on my list for our next trip.  

Here it is, and it's pretty darned snazzy!



https://www.facebook.com/doctordisney/posts/4188357094521687

I think Jason will probably disagree with that. If that was the case he wouldn't be up at 12:01 am looking for reservations.  He always posts when reservations will open up and tells everybody to let him know so he can book.

Either weekend could work for me. Assuming all goes well and I can make it of course. 

We are always interested.  If a weekend is picked we will try to make it work.

I'm up for any weekend, but like later in the month.

... will be 18 months long!  🙂
I think we all figured they'd make it last as long as possible - see (Several Years) of a Million Dreams - but this is the first I recall seeing of a definitive timeframe for the celebration.
Also, apparently the color scheme is... EARidescent.  Oh the merchandise!!  💜
 
https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2021/02/the-worlds-most-magical-celebration-begins-oct-1-at-walt-disney-world-resort/?CMP=SOC-DPFY21Q2wo0218210008A&fbclid=IwAR1rtkNn6I4hZLmighGsiYxgjg2OeAgm3Zg2UwYeVJZgk9NrIoXh-r7JhDI

I might be in a tent but if I can make I am going to try to do so. Any weekend should be fine with me. 

I know that camping gatherings are on hold until all this junk is behind us, but I still wanted to thank each and every one of you for sticking around and keeping the "dream" alive of one day getting together again.  On this day, 10 years ago, a couple of minutes after midnight, this forum began.  (I then, 10 minutes later, was unceremoniously banned from Voldemort, lol)
We recently had our Wild Womenz Weekend 2021, with COVID restrictions of course, and it was one of the best evah!  Some of our regulars couldn't make it at the last minute, but we knew they were there in spirit.  
COVID has been especially hard on teachers and being one, I have never, ever, been so swamped in my life.  We all know that life gets in the way for all of us and for anyone who is still really hurting from COVID, you are in my prayers.  
As I enter the twilight years of my education career, I am stepping up our focus on social media for FortFiends and beyond.  We will be moving forward with an Instagram and Ticktok page for FortFiends and this year renewing our trademark and applying for a logo mark (I think that is how you say it?  TCD?  help me out here) for Snarky, our mascot.   You may see in the coming weeks a tiny change to the bottom of the website.  Chris and I are merging the three businesses into one LLC.  FortFiends will be a DBA of Snarky Enterprises, along with the other two companies.  Nothing that you are used to will change, except names.  This will make things much easier come each tax season.  I will be updating the store to include our logo for the year and take out old and dated things and freshen up the look, with SuperGeek's help of course.  
Chris and I appreciate each of you and treasure the people who help behind the scenes.  They help in ways most of you will never know, but count on to keep things moving along.   Over the years, we have had many ups and downs, but all in all, I would say that my most treasured friends are fiends.  Fiends are the type of friends that just pick up where they left off, now matter how long of a time apart.  I look forward so much to WWW each year that if I dare say I am too busy to go, Chris will physically push me out of the door.  Even the girls know I am a squirrel and get distracted and call to make sure I am on the road.  You just can't find people like that in the normal universe.  They are friends you hold dear to your heart.
I challenge each of you, myself included, to make yourself get out of the house and go camping this year if you have been in hiatus. If you haven't, I challenge you to go more.   I also challenge you to invite people to this forum to discuss and share the love of camping.  We have regulars, yes.  We always need more regulars!  I plan on going camping more to just get out of the house.  We keep going virtual school then in person, then virtual and so on.  It is nice for a change and I know if I need it, so do you.  
If and when the world gets back to some kind of normal, we will be planning a 10th anniversary grand gathering.  I have no clue where or when because...COVID.  I do however seem to think it needs to be somewhere a little more affordable than the current rates at Disney.  Some of the WWW womenz have suggested a couple of new RV parks that will be opening soon around the area.  I will be checking them out for upcoming events.  I do know that WWW is expanding (hopefully) to a twice a year event.  Honestly, that makes me giddy!  Maybe the men can start to have a weekend without the women????
Please give a shout out to Monique, who is our trusted and love logo makers of all things Snarky, who designed our anniversary logo again.  We could not survive without her.
Until we meet again in person
Jen (and Chris, aka SuperGeek)

I need to start working on my backpack camping skills. 

Yikes... that is off-the-charts wrong. By that logic, if I pull up with my tent gear strapped to the back of a motorcycle I should be able to get a Premium Meadows site for next to nothing! 
A good argument for not taking the word of a self-proclaimed "expert" on YouTube as gospel.

Oh and even if you use a travel agent such as myself you still have control, we just do the tedious work of sitting on the phone with Disney for you. Yes any changes or payments have to go through us after we book for you but we work for you. At least I do. I try to respond to all of my clients in as quick of a timeframe as possible. 

Local Florida Union Says Some Workers Were Recalled
It’s nice to deliver some good news on Christmas Weekend.
And we’re pleased to post that a local union says things are looking just a little better in Orlando.
 
https://mickeyblog.com/2020/12/26/report-some-wdw-cast-members-recalled-to-work/

Yvonne, this is a difficult question to answer quickly.  I think I'm gonna do a mini trip report because I have a lot of pros and cons resulting from this trip that I'd like to share.  
Unfortunately our annual passes expired at the end of our 2019 trip, and since we thought we wouldn't be back for nearly a year we didn't renew.  So we were stuck paying nearly half what the AP would have cost for just a 7-day ticket.
But what a wonderful time you will have not camping!  Such a special time in your lives!
 
ROFL!
Gretchen, we had an accumulation of freezing rain at home on Wednesday morning, but thankfully by the time we made it home in the afternoon the temperature had risen enough that everything had melted enough for us to safely make it home.
 
We're still getting Dolly unpacked and situated for the winter.  (Thankfully we had her winterized right before we left the Fort).  Unhappily settling back into home.  Those of you who know me well understand that Mother Nature and I aren't happy with each other right now.
Anyway, I'm getting my photos off my laptop and onto my desktop ... starting to go through and edit them.  Didn't take nearly as many this trip.  As soon as I can get a handle on them i plan to start a mini trip report.  This was a trip like no other, both good and bad.  Both disappointments and pleasant surprises along the way.  We would absolutely go back and do it all over again.  But at the same time this trip has forever changed our perception of future trips.  Will explain more later.
 

The weather must really hate me!  I've been miserably cold the entire time we've been here.  Wishing I'd brought my heavy coat.  Yesterday I wore thermals, a turtleneck sweater, a sherpa-lined hooded sweatshirt, and still froze.  I just hope you're enjoying this, Gretchen!
My aunt and uncle lived in Lakeland before they passed away.  They never admitted to having cold weather down here.  They just called us whenever we had snow and laughed and told us how warm their weather was!
If you all need a good laugh, my 72 year old husband just got carded at the trading post when he tried to buy a bottle of wine!

Sitting in our "site" at the St. Augustine Flying J eagerly awaiting tomorrow morning when we can make the short hop on down the road to the Fort!
This morning in SC we met a new motorhome owner who is an avid Disney fan who just completed her first trip to the Fort.  I told her all about our group and also about our site app, which she promptly downloaded.  Her name is Michelle, and she and her family drive 1600 miles from Maine to the Fort.  Hopefully you will see her here soon!