AC in A2......Aaron

It's a bit of a drive, but I'm thinking Yoder's in Sarasota might fit the bill.

The Iron Horse!! I recommend the pork sandwich.

The trick is to come up with a "better" excuse for why you need to be there anyway.
Kind of like what I do when I say to Brian "Hey, we haven't seen the castle lighting ceremony yet, let's pop over to the Magic Kingdom for a bit"...and then make a bee line to Aloha Isle when we get there!

early indoctrination into the imbibing society

More info "from the Mouse" here...
http://www.fortfiends.net/forum/topic/7183-my-disney-experience-app-launching-in-august/

I didnt even know there was a specific AP holder website. Thanks Mo. I learned something new today and its only 12:12

Here are a few from BLT/CR. They are taken with my Iphone3 so nothing of great quality. These are from 2011. We were in a lakeview room but we could see the MK by looking to the left off the balcony and from the LR window. We watched wishes several nights and they have the music on one of the TV channels. I still prefer watching them at the Fort or Poly beach though. I am wondering if we are the only people here who own DVC and love the Fort with a passion? There must be at least a few others. I will hate it if DVC builds at the Fort. The Fort is a completely different experience that needs to be left alone IMO. Our next trip is Feb 2013 and we are staying in a PUP (FortCamperRental.com) for 5 nights/6 days before going to BLT for 8 nights......then a return trip to the Fort in Dec 2013 for 8 nights. We love both experiences (but I like the Fort a better....I hope to be able to stay there for extended periods during the winter in retirement years). Anyways the few pics are below:

From ImagineeringDisney. Follow the link for lots more photos...
http://www.imagineeringdisney.com/blog/2012/7/22/wdw-construction-polynesian-village-resort.html

I woke up early Saturday morning, excited to the point of nausea (could be the beer's fault too )
Around 3:00 pm, we got word that Jordan's father, Mike and Jordan's uncle were heading out. We hopped in my Jeep and headed east.
*Amanda had to be in Fort Lauderdale this weekend for a baby shower, so she wasn't able to go. Her younger sister, Bobbi, went in her place.

We stopped for gas and I needed caffeine!
White chocolate caramel cappuccino. Imagine for a second, ME, excited and all jacked up on caffeine!

Have you ever seen a bumper sticker that says:
"If your not the lead dog, the view never changes"
That also applies to horses.

It seemed like HOURS before we came upon the airport sign. (it was really about 45 minutes)

Our exit! :jumpforjoy

After numerous tolls (Damn that Beeline Expressway!) Orlando International is in our sights.


Now my phone is blowing up with texts and calls from Mike.
"we're here, where are you guys?"
"we're gonna grab a bite to eat, let me know when you get here"
"Flight is delayed from Dusseldorf, it will be 5:32 pm:
Thanks Mike! Like I needed him to add to my anticipation. :drama:
We finally make our way up the parking garage.

And drove up and down the aisles to find a parking space.
Phew, finally parked. In the elevator banks we found a family of armadillos. Only in Florida

Being at MCO, of course, Disney was not far from our minds.

Riding up the escalator to the gates.


A quick "touristy" photo with Nate and Bobbi.

Now, more texts from Mike.
"we're going out to the gates, tell them your meeting military and they'll let you out there with a pass"
The line through security was horrendous, as it usually is, and when we glanced at the arriving flight board, Jordan's plane was landing early at 5:15. It was just about 5:00 at this time, so we told Mike we would stay at the main hub and wait.
This would also give his immediate family a few minutes to greet him, before we went in for the attack.
Honestly this was the longest 15 minute wait of my life.
(Notice both mine and Nathen's half smiles. We were not in photo shoot mode, we just wanted to see Jordan home and healthy!)

Even Trevor had a keen eye on the exit gate.

The kids got as close as they could with being tackled by TSA.

Nate was wearing his camo crocs, his Army shirt, and his Infantry hat that Jordo had left behind for him on his last visit. Bobbi had her camo shirt on, but left his sign she made in the truck.....I told you, we were excited and unfocused!
I'm wearing the dog tags that he had made for me. His picture is etched on the front, and on the back it says
Mother of an infantryman. I love you.
:heart:
Drumroll please...............We spot him! (directly under the word enter)

And the picture that says it all!

Funny conversation between two 20 ish men:
Jordan had called Nate on Monday and said
"Bro, when I get home, if I cry, it's not because I've become a pu**y, it's just I miss you guys so much!" :rofl2:
We all knew there would be tears.
I let Trevor be in charge of the videoing. I have trimmed it down to about 40 seconds to give you the gist.
Imagine the beginning, about 2 minutes of waiting, discussing how much longer, wondering what side he'd be on..... then about 2 minutes at the end, hugging, crying and chatting. (Most of the crying was me :hah: )
You will see Jordan spot Nate and run off to the left, and Bobbi intercept him at the pass before he could get there, the boys reunite, then me hold him like any mama would, and finally Jordo say "Pops!" (to Trevor, which turned the video into a view of a plant, wall and our feet, which is why I trimmed it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC_LE5BtUf8&feature=plcp
With the sobfest over, we made our way out.



We piled in the elevator and I tried to get a shot of everyone, but cut poor Mike out. Oops.
Jordan's dad, Jordan, Trevor, uncle, Bobbi and Nate.

One last look as we parted ways. Jordan was both excited and exhausted.

We got back to Inverness, thrilled to death that we finally had him home safe. Nathen spent the evening at Jordan's house and I fell asleep around 9:00.
He will be home until the 13th, then back to Afghanistan until December. We're not going to think about that for now and concentrate on loving and squeezing him for the time being.
So many families aren't lucky enough to get their loved ones returned from war, we are going to savor every moment!
Thanks for riding along, and all the past support you guys have given. As much as I adore writing Disney trip reports, this one was extra special.
:hugs2:

For some of you long term fiends, you will know who Jordan is. For those who don't, I will give you a bit of back story.
Jordan is my son's BF. They met a couple of years ago and hit it off immediately! Jordan was essentially raised by a single Dad, who is a nurse at Shands hospital in Gainesville.
Translation: Jordan never really had a Mom around and Dad worked endless hours to support not only his own children, but also another young man (Mike) who's family left a lot to be desired.
Jordan fit into our family like a glove, and I couldn't love him any more than if I had given birth to him myself. He spent most days and nights here, including Christmas mornings.
Jordan had spent his high school years in ROTC, with the plan being to enroll in the Army. But before he left for boot camp, we took him on his first trip to the Fort and he instantly became a fiend.
November 2010 - Jordan's first Fort souvenir.

And back again in January 2011.


He was to leave at the end of January to begin boot camp in Georgia, then off to Washington for training before being deployed to Afghanistan.
We were all sad to see him leave. When we came back to the Fort in March, we brought GI Jordan with us.

He rode bikes

He drank beer

Played cornhole

And went to all the parks with us.


I had started a prayer thread for Jordo on FF.net, and got some great responses. I made an album with his Disney trip pictures and printed all the prayer/well wishes out and mailed them to him at boot camp. It was a great way to raise his spirits and give him a piece of home.
On our annual Nate's birthday trip, he got a brief leave (before being sent to Washington) and drove straight to the Fort at 6:00 AM to be with Nate.

We got one more brief visit in October, and then he was sent to Afghanistan.
We did our best to keep up with him through phone calls & facebook, but we thought about him constantly.
Every time we would get word that he was getting a leave, we would get excited, only to be then told it was going to be a "little while longer"
Frustration is an understatement!
He would post pictures when he could, to ease our fears. (Jordan is on the right)

Now that I've given the back story, we will time travel to last week.
Jordan is finally given a date! He will be arriving in Tampa on Wednesday the 25th, sometime at night.
I was determined to be at the airport, at all costs. Because I open the gym at 4:00 am, I knew it was gonna be a long night/morning, but well worth it.
Wednesday comes and we are informed Jordan is now stuck in Kuwait and his papers aren't complete. It's looking like Friday evening before he arrives. :banghead:
I would go on a military rant right now, but it wouldn't do me any good, so we're just going to grin and bear it.
Friday rolls around and Mike comes over to tell us that FINALLY, it's set in stone.
Jordan will arrive in Orlando at 5:30 pm on Saturday. We had some friends over and "celebrated" on Friday night. Even with many beers and little sleep, we were going to be there when he got off that damn plane!
Continuing in next post...............

Thanks for sharing this story Stef! I got a bit choked up there for a second. My family has been very lucky to have my brothers come home each time they have gone off to war also. You can never take it for granted. The back story made me feel nothing but love and respect for your family too. It was great to see him come home and I will pray he returns home each and every time he ships out and into harms way.

For the first nine years, I use to do a full day every week at the Orlando airport greeting 4 or so families.
As I greeter I would hold up a GKTW sign at the exit to the gates, take them to get their bags, set them up with a rental car and making sure they knew where to go.
But my work scheduled has made it difficult to do that so I haven't been able to get into a regular rotation.
It was fun and I could spend about 45 minutes with the wish child and family.
I now fill in for my wife when she can' t make it. She also volunteers there.
Now that I know that I'll be working certain nights every week, I should be able to get back on a regular schedule.
I'm thinking I'll switch to volunteering at the village a couple of mornings each week instead of at the airport. The village is only five minutes from my house.

Ya, but will it work with this?

Those of you at WDW have probably seen the large sign just before the bus entrance to TTC on Seven Seas Dr. that warns of construction ahead.
The odd thing is that there is no construction going on, at least not yet.
They are going to refurbish the TTC parking lot.
It really is way over due for repaving.
It will be done in phases as it's impossible to shut it down completely.
The project is expected to last well into next year.
The TTC lot is used by non-Disney on and off property resort buses, Lynx, Shades of Green, bus to AK, and bus to HS.
It's also the overnight staging area for MK's next day buses.

I also found articles on the vietnam cave. They rank them on length, depth, and largest chambers.....If you go to the NPS website, they are very specific in saying that Mammoth is the LONGEST cave. They measure it by miles.
By the way, in the three of caves I have mentioned in this post (Mammoth, Jewel and Wind Cave) they do not believe they have finished with exploration. Sometimes they have to weigh effects of exploration against potential harm. For instance, at Wind Cave they have reached a chamber of water so pure that they were, as of last July, unsure if they would pursue exploration past that lake. They do not want to introduce contaminants to the water.

A Large... No Mammoth Update:
Welcome to our latest stop. Mammoth Cave is the longest known (explored) cave system in the world. It has more than 390 miles of explored passages. Something to know: White Nose Bat Syndrome is affecting certain cave systems in the United States and if you have visited any other caves before Mammoth Cave and you are wearing the same shoes you will have to treat your shoes before venturing into the cave and EVERYONE walks over treatment matts upon exiting. If you have questions call before purchasing your tickets. My shoes got a 5 minute bath and a 10 second rinse. No big deal.

America has 3 of the 5 longest caves in the world. Jewel Cave comes in 2nd and Wind Cave is 5th. Wind Cave was 3rd until a year ago. According to Ranger Rose, Mammoth Cave is a dry cave. I wonder if that is why we didn't get the lecture on Carbonic Acid (Jewel, Wind, Oregon Caves). As a matter of fact, we only saw too examples of Flow Stone in the cave.

Here are two examples of "Historical Graffiti". Historical Graffiti is anything done prior to the National Park System taking over. Anything after that will "get you a meeting with a new ranger, wearing a gun, and the price of your ticket will go up exponentially".


Here is a tip - Lead the Pack or Bring Up the Rear
If you really want to hear the guide well, lead the pack. You will also have the easiest time keeping up. The Ranger sets the pace for the tour. If you are in the back, you are always playing catchup.
Having said that, in every tour, the best place to get photos is in the back. In the middle of the pack the group is just following the leaders. In the back you can pause to snap that picture without disturbing the crowd. Just make sure you take one picture and keep up with the group. At some caves, you only have the one Ranger so the group is responsible for keeping together. Not everyone remembers this.

Unlike at Jewel and Wind Cave, most of the tours at Mammoth are mammoth in size. They send in two rangers for every group. One leads the tour and talks and the other one brings up the rear and turns off the lights. We found that the back was just as informative as the front. The kids enjoyed watching the lights go out behind us. We also found out information that we wouldn't have gotten in the middle of the pack. As well as some good tips for stairs in the cave. (If the head room gets tight, walk down backward). Granted there were a few times we had to speed up to catch the group.

Back into the "real world" aka the heat and humidity.

So I decided to take the Mickey lamp I won in the last raffle and get it wired and put together today.
I used one of the outdoor, heavy duty extension cords that I use for exterior illumination at Christmas time and got her all squared away.
The weirdest thing happened though, it's like the Mickey came alive........and wanted showed all of his various sides and allegiances:
Notre Dame Mickey

Brookyln Dodgers Mickey

Dale Junior fan Mickey

This next one is what DS and DD were working on at the time:

They were playing the Iron Bowl with DS's little football guys and apparently Auburn blew out Alabama.....FYI.
More Mickey...............
Jedi Mickey

Indiana Jones Mickey

Bunker Hill Mickey

DD's redneck waterslide.....wait how did that get in there?

and here comes the best Mickey Lamp accessory ever............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................


I hope you enjoyed this fun-filled, wacky, and ridiculous posting!
It was fun taking two of the items I won in the last raffle and turning them into something to use together!!

Antietam - The Bloodiest One Day Battle In American History

Things I learned at Antietam -
1. McClellen was given a synopsis of lee's plans to invade the north
2. A southern sympathizer was in the group McClellan announced this to and made sure Lee knew.
3. All of the union soldiers at Harper's Vally were paroled.
4. 23,000 causalties (wounded, missing, killed)
5. It ended the first invasion into the North
6. Maryland has a dual Memorial (confederate and Union). Although Maryland did not secede from the Union, it was a border state and truly split between the sides.
7. It was the single bloodiest one day battle in American History.
8. At one point in the battle, one group of soldiers highest ranking officer was a captain because all the officer were causalties.
9. Antietam is still used to train Military Officers.
10. The Bible of Dunker Church was stolen by a Union Soldier but returned in the years after his death.
11. Technically Antietam was considered a stalemate by many historians. We were told that Lee showed up on the second day to renew the battle but McClellan did not. However, Lee went back across the Potomac abandoning the field to the Union. Lincoln used this to announce the coming of the Emmancipation Proclamation, giving the war the dual purpose of reforming the Union and freeing the African American Slaves.

Things I didn't learn at Antietam
1. The battle lasted a mere 12 hours.
2. After eight hours, 15,000 of the 23,000 casualties were already killed or wounded. Most of these occurred in the cornfields at the north end of the battlefield.
3. Not all of the Union forces entered the battle.
4. Union -killed 2,100, wounded 9,550, missing/captured 750 (approx numbers)
5. Confed - killed 1,550, wounded 7,750, missing/captured 1,020 (approx)
6. Six Generals Killed
7. 500 cannons were used in Antietam with 50,000 rounds firing.






There is a couple of things at the battlefield that I do not have pictures of. The weather turned on us so I did not get the Antitam National Cemetary or Burnside's Bridge.

So I decided to take the Mickey lamp I won in the last raffle and get it wired and put together today.
I used one of the outdoor, heavy duty extension cords that I use for exterior illumination at Christmas time and got her all squared away.
The weirdest thing happened though, it's like the Mickey came alive........and wanted showed all of his various sides and allegiances:
Notre Dame Mickey

Brookyln Dodgers Mickey

Dale Junior fan Mickey

This next one is what DS and DD were working on at the time:

They were playing the Iron Bowl with DS's little football guys and apparently Auburn blew out Alabama.....FYI.
More Mickey...............
Jedi Mickey

Indiana Jones Mickey

Bunker Hill Mickey

DD's redneck waterslide.....wait how did that get in there?

and here comes the best Mickey Lamp accessory ever............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................


I hope you enjoyed this fun-filled, wacky, and ridiculous posting!
It was fun taking two of the items I won in the last raffle and turning them into something to use together!!

OK, this is what a TR from me looks like, not a lot of writing not a lot of pictures but a TR none the less
this is Peanut, this was her first trip to WDW,hence the name of the report

We left home it was a nice day, the tropical storm Debbie was churning in the gulf and we were heading towards the gulf, not too smart, huh?
We packed up the camper, golf cart and grand kids and off we went down I65 into Alabama where we met up with Carol and Rick to pick up some goods for the raffle, nice short meet and off we go. All went well and we stopped for the night at Pecan Point campground just south of Dothan Alabama where we've stayed before. We go through Alabama via I65 to Montgomery, 231 to I10, then to I75, a route some don't like but we do.
Ozark Al has a campground that is half way for us but if the kids don't have a come apart we try to make it to Pecan Point about an hour down the road (less driving the next day). We usually don't make it that far with the kids, they usually are ready to stop by the time we hit Ozark but not so bad this time (key word: this time).
We settled in at Pecan Point and who should pull into the site but........wait for it........Rita and her Momma aka Oldkoot! We had a nice visit, the kids drew Rita and Oldkoot some pictures and did what fiends do best, shot the bull.
Well the good times end there, in the morning it didn't look too bad, cloudy with a little sun but mean looking clouds in the distance. We got going and rain into some rain about a mile or so down the road but not too bad. We hit the state line then on to I10 and it was raining a little harder but not too awfully bad, did I say awfully bad, well I lied, it was awfully bad. Little did I know it could get worse, we hit I75 and it was up from awful to terrible! I was pouring and the wind was blowing us all over the road. Trucks passing would spray so bad that you couldn't see anything until they got well ahead, by now we were traveling at a max speed of 55 and holding on for dear life at that.
We got down to the Gainsville area and I had had it, we were lucky to be going 50 MPH by then and the kids were getting tired of sitting, although they had no clue as to what Kathy and I were going through trying to drive and navigate. I told Kathy to call Grand Lakes RV resort in north Ocala for a spot, we had stayed there a few yrs ago and Doodle had stayed there the night before so we knew it was easy to get there and Doodle said it was only $22.50 a night. We pulled into the campground and got a nice pull through spot across from the CS and I got out in the pouring rain and hooked up and in we ran.
It continued to rain, no it continued to POUR the entire evening, Ty and I deceided to go across the road to the CS to the shower, we striped down to shorts and flip flops and run over. We ran over and the water was at least a foot deep on the short walkway leading into the door, guess what flipflops do when you run through a foot of water.......my back was soaked! Oh well on the way out I was a little more careful with my shiney clean body.
About 5 in the morning the sun was shining and woke me up, I was surprised and hoped it would be a good day, went back to sleep and got up at my regular crack of 9, sun still shining brightly. We got ready and off we went, the entrance to the campground is about a mile off the main road, at the main road there was a huge puddle about a foot deep so we went slowly through and on our way in the sunny sunshine, forrrrrr about a mile.
We got back onto I75 and again we were in the soup, rain and wind, not a real bad wind but with a travel trailer a little wind is a lot of wind. Onto the fort we went rain all the way, when we got on the turnpike the wind got bad and we were all over the road again so I got an idea, yeah I do get ideas once in a while. I deceided to get off the turnpike and go down RT27, maybe the lights would give me a break once in a while and the trucks wouldn't be running all over me as much. It seemed to work, it wasn't as bad. So after 750 miles, wind, rain and 40 pee stops for 3 and 7 yr old girls we made it to the fort.
We were about to check in when Doodle called or texted and Kathy says someone was trying to steal our site, again! Appearantly they were in the site across the way and didn't like the water that collects over there and deceided they were gonna just move, not with Doodle on the job they wern't! Doodle sprung into action and kicked their site stealing butts out of there! Good one Doodle!
Well we checked in and off to the site where Mike and Doodle were waiting for us. Mike guided me into the site and OUCH a damn honey bee stung me on the thumb. I hadn't been stung by a bee since I was a kid, it stung a bit! No real sympathy from anyone there so I soldiered on and set up the trailer.



that is about all the pictures we have for the fort believe it or not, next if I can will be Peanuts first MK experiance.
Sorry, I didn't know I was on Kathys SN when I finally got this done, be asured it will have all the misspellings and poor grammer you are used to.
Bob

Today was my opportunity to meet fellow Michigan Fort Fiends. So at 3 o'clock we hopped in the Mustang and headed to Birch Run.
The long lonely highway. Actually it is only about 30 miles from our house to the campground.

Almost there!

I see the campground!

Hi, Linda!!

And Dave!

Aaron with some of his prizes!! He was a happy camper!

He was so happy he got me a prize too!!

Jeff (gots2pit)!

Loads of food and it was a delicious!!





And finally a group picture.

This was the only picture I have of Momof many and her beautiful family. Let me tell you, Breckyn is soooo pretty!!
We had a wonderful visit and have already decided this is something we will be doing again!

Tell him, right back at him!!!!!! :heart:
I admit I was a "little" scared to scroll down to the pic to start wtih.... :rofl2: :flush2:
So now I owe him a shirt, and diecast............ :clint:

Very awesome pics!!!!

Fun report! Thanks!

I wish we could get up to your next GG.