PrincessNana

Thanks Everyone. That answered my question...I think I'll just let all my relatives fend for themselves.

If we wanted to stay at the Fort for 4 to 6 weeks in the summer, will they cut you a little break on the daily rate? Just wonderin!

Great TT! I know you and your family are going to make alot of great memories. :wiz:

Looks amazing!

Thats the beauty of a pop up. Although this was our assigned site, we were able to turn our pop up by hand to take advantage of everything that site had to offer. I think they filled that area with cabins now. So Sad.

Great trip report, I'm looking forward to more. I have to confess to liking the McGriddle - do they still make it? Are you going to the fort the first week of Decemeber??? Just wondering if I might have a shot at getting site 912 :dance:

It looks beautiful - any information you may have on campgrounds would be helpful.

I'll start checking into them. Our coastline is not heavily developed like Florida so don't expect alot of traffic or as many camping options. You can camp on the beach here, but it is always pretty windy and there won't be any shade. There would also be random people walking by your camper also. I know on our end of the island there are several nice campgrounds (paved, pools, etc.) with boardwalks over the dunes to the beach . I'll check to see what is available in South Padre. One thing you would want to be careful of in South Padre is where exactly the campground is located. There are 100's of campgrounds in the area because we get alot of winter texans every year. The campgrounds that cater to the winter texans are not usually near the beach. Thank you for the compliment on our beaches, our coastline is beautiful, most of it is still pristine (no development). You will see all types of birds , dolphin and assorted other wild animals. You might even find a nest of baby Ridley Sea Turtles.

Also, there is a Schlitterban (water park) on South Padre. If during your trip, you want to go over the border, please let me tell you a safe place to cross.

Karen

Well, we all had BIG hair, BIG glasses, matching shirts and socks and the whole Flash Dance shirt look. But, on the plus side, I didn't have any wrinkles :rofl2:

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The kids and I love building sand castles - they give private lessons right on the beach there - I am really considering a trip there perhaps in 2013. Anyone ever been?

I live just alittle north of there...what would you like to know about the area? South Padre is real close to Mexico, but its not safe to go over the border right now. There are alot of shops and hotels right on the beach, great fishing, parasailing, jet bikes etc. I'm not sure about the campgrounds, I'll check them out. At Spring Break, its full of college kids...you don't want to be there at that time. I live outside of Port Aransas which is on Padre Island..but the north end.

This is a picture of 5 Branches Campground on Lake Vallecito in Colorado in June 1988. This was the most beautiful, pristine campsite we ever had. Right on the banks of the Little Pine River. I think this campground is still there, but its alot more developed now. I'm sure I couldn't pull right up to the bank of the river anymore. My husband caught a state trophy Rainbow Trout in that river.

By rladams at 2011-07-18

Great report. I agree with Rita, I didn't see any hillbilly either. Your dogs a so cute. My DD has a yorkie-chihuahua mix that looks just like yours. I always pick up a Christmas ornament or two trip also. Now I have so many I have decide which ones I will use every year :rofl2:

The last time we came (two years ago) we brought a trailer with our golf cart and assorted chairs, riding toys, etc. My DIl had it posted on Facebook before we even got out of the neighborhood...our friends are still laughing at us. I'll see if I can find the picture...I guess its still on Facebook.

By rladams at 2011-07-18

All we need is an old grandma sitting on top smoking a pipe!

I'm so glad you had a fun vacation! (Getting extra nights is always a bonus.) :) Our oldest son went on the Pirate Cruise a few years ago... but they were still using the yellow life vests. I love the cool pirate themed ones. Looks like they're doing a nicer job making the boats looks more pirate-ish too. He loved it then I know he'd love it now! It is soooo worth the cost to see the looks on the kids faces isn't it? I really enjoyed your report!

Thanks, I actually had fun writing it once I got started. That Pirate Adventure was the best money we ever spent, they are still playing pirate...even Allie who is a "TWEEN" you know! Sorry we didn't have more time to visit with all the fiends. The next time we come, Louis and I want to just stay at the campground and let the kids and their parents go to the parks.

Your pup is adorable. Is he Weimariner (sp) and Lab? His color is beautiful. That snake didn't look like a baby in the picture. I know there's poisonous snakes in Florida, but somehow when your at Disney you forget about real life. Thanks for the reminder...now we're wondering what we trampled over in the woods behind our campsite. I don't think I looked down once...I was more concerned with water moccassins in the pristine :rofl2: canal behind our campsite.

That is the best part. It is so funny to see the cloths we all wore back then. Please post them I promise we won't laugh. >:D

Everyone would laugh :rofl2: And my worst nightmare would be that someone would put them on Facebook. I'll work on blocking out our clothes, hair and glasses...maybe then.

Thanks Andrew. Our next trip is planned for the first week of December. I've always wanted to see the Christmas lights so we're trying to get in as many trips as possible before we retire. Also, we're hoping our friend Cheryl will be well enough to come for at least a few days.

I love these old pics. I could spend all day flipping through old photos like these. Thanks

I'm glad you're enjoying them. I have some more but I don't want to post them because we look ridiculous in the clothes we were wearing. What were we thinking???

I love these old Discovery Island photos!

Thanks for posting all of the photos.

By the way, the submarine ride at WDW was called 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. There is a great website about it here: www.20kride.com . That site has great information about the attraction and its demise.

TCD

Thanks Andrew, I couldn't remember the name this morning.

I found some more. These pictures are from the summer of 1981. Its amazing how some things never change.

By rladams at 2011-07-17

The Jungle Cruise

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This is the old ride Captain Nemo (can't remember the exact name) and the Nautilus

By rladams at 2011-07-17

I think this one and the next one are from Discovery Island

By rladams at 2011-07-17

I couldn't find a special place to post these, but I wanted to share. These pictures were taken about 1985 or 1986 in the summer. Boy, the crowds have sure grown since then.

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Here's some old pictures from Ft. Wilderness. We were camping in our Coleman Pop Up which we absolutely loved. I can't remember what year this was, but looking at my kids I think it might have been 1985 or 1986.

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We loaded up on Sunday and headed home. Another great vacation at Fort Wilderness!!

Our last day at Disney World was spent at Downtown Disney where we bought our traditional disney Christmas ornament before heading home.

Here's a few shots of our campsite. No matter what we do, we always end up looking like the Beverly Hillbillies!

By rladams at 2011-07-16

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This is Suzy in dire need of a grooming.

By rladams at 2011-07-16

Allie and Colton at the Contempory.

By rladams at 2011-07-16

This is Allie and Nikki...another poor dog in need of a grooming. The girls didn't like wearing their Mickey Ears.

Oh how I would have loved to have gone to see Harry Potter. Hopefully, in a few years when we go back we can have time to go. I am wanting to see the new movie but I wanted to rewatch all the others first. We have one of the top grossing theaters in the country about 5 minutes from my house. It's way too busy to go see it right now so that gives me a couple of weeks to watch all the movies.

The girls loved it and took about 100 pictures. I tried to pick just a few that would appeal to everyone. They reread all their books and watched the movies again before they came.

The heavy rains on Thursday and the not so promising forcast convinced us to change the rest of our vacation plans. We had been planning on leaving Friday morning, driving down to Key West and spend a couple of days before heading home. But, we couldn't see driving for 8 hours in heavy rain and possibly spending the next 2 days sitting inside the motorhome with the kids so we cancelled out that part of our trip. I called the front desk to see if they could accomodate us for a couple of more days and they could!YEA! :banana: But they asked if we would move because they had a grand gathering coming into our site. No problem for us, they let us pick any open site but we chose to stay in the 900 loop and moved up to 932. It wasn't my ideal site, but it was only for two days. We still had a day left on our tickets so we decided to spend it at Magic Kingdom. It actually turned out to be a great day. It rained really hard, but not forever, and the temperatures were probably in the 70's.

We headed over to Fantasyland and rode Snow White and then Peter Pan's Flight. (Have to leave, so I'll finish this later) The wait time for Peter Pan was about 60 minutes, so Pops (Louis) and Allie headed over to Space Mountain. Out of the mouth of babes, after riding Peter Pan, Colton said, " That was the best ride, it should have lasted longer." While waiting for Louis and Allie to come back, we decided to ride Dumbo, again. Amanda begged off because she is afraid of heights and gets sick. So, Nana and Colton go to ride Dumbo. In the meantime, Pops and Allie make it back from Space Mountain and don't want to ride Dumbo. Colton said," Why don't they want to ride Dumbo? It's the most fun ride here!"

By rladams at 2011-07-16

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The best way to end a fun day at Magic Kingdom is to watch the lighted parade. We've had our cookies and milk and now we're waiting for the parade to begin.

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Thursday, July 7 is the day Allie and Amanda are going to Universal Studios to see the new Harry Potter Land. Louis and I had planned on taking Colton back to Magic Kingdom when he said the most magical thing to us. "Would it be ok to just stay at the motorhome and watch tv and go swimming?" Nothing could have made us happier!

The girls headed off and brought back alot of pictures to share.

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After having a great time with Harry Potter, they got soaked in the heavy rains while waiting for their shuttle back to the campground.

Wednesday, July 6 we have scheduled Hollywood Studios and another character lunch. This was the morning we met KampFireKim...the only time we managed to get everyone up,dressed and moving at a reasonable hour! We made it to the park just about at the rope drop. We were determined to get to the Toy Story Ride, if nothing else than to get a fast pass. When we got there the line was only 30 minutes. We got in line,rode it and then when and got a fast pass for a second round. The times worked out perfect for our lunch and when we were planning on leaving the park.

By rladams at 2011-07-16

After the ride, Colton wants to get a few autographs.

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Next thing on the list was Playhouse Disney and hopefully Jake and the Neverland Pirates would be performing. We weren't disappointed. After enjoying the show, we took in the Little Mermaid show and then headed over to Hollywood and Vine for lunch. Although we think the character meals are overpriced they do have an excellent buffet.

By rladams at 2011-07-16

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This was snapped just about the time Allie was telling us she was now a "TWEEN" and would not be posing with anymore characters. Fat chance when you have a "Flashy Mom."

After lunch we hit Toy Story again and then rode Test Track (never again for me!) before heading back. The girls were planning on a Harry Potter day and wanted to rest.