ImDownWithDisney

St Joseph Peninsula SP, Grayton SP, Top Sail Hill, Fort Pickens.....Top Sail is full hook up.

If you come up I 65 to I 59, our local CG is pretty nice (Noccalula Falls CG) or you could go on up to Trenton, GA and stay at Cloudland Canyon SP. Beware of the stretch of I 59 between Gadsden and Fort Payne. It is under construction and is terrible. Use US Hwy 11 as an alternate.

I've been following since page 1....thanks for the TR. Quality.....and quantity, as usual!

Great TR and congrats on your marriage! Your wedding photog has some serious skills!

My wife and I honeymooned at Wilderness Lodge, and we also received a free upgrade to concierge. We didn't have shirts, but they asked if we were celebrating anything. Also, one night at Artist Point we received a free desert when our waitress noticed that my wedding band was shiny and new. She asked if we were newlyweds, then brought us dessert with champaigne. Disney rocks at things like that.

I've thought about locking our kids in the pass through storage for a bit......same thing?

A few thoughts about this wonderful TR....

What great parents you guys are for giving your kids this experience. The sights, experiences, and memories will shape their lives in ways they don't even realize yet.

You guys packed a lifetime of normal vacation into one trip.

Your pictures are great, and your writing is also. You could definitely write a travel book of sorts, IMHO.

Your pictures also illustrate what a great country in which we live. The diversity, wide open spaces, beautiful landscapes would be hard to find anywhere else.

Wow....looks tasty

Awesome report so far Holly!!

I agree with the boat horn. For me I love hearing the higher-pitched whistle of the resort boats. Just the thought of that sounds brings a smile to my face.

^this!

Awesome story, pics, and camper. That is one nice looking camper with a great floorplan. I would like to have one similar to that one day.

That's a lot of decorations.

FWIW, they need to fix that 5'er before the front falls off. That's a ton of water damage/delam.

Great report. It is tough to leave. That is a neat pic of the castle.

Thanks....wished we could have met up at the Fort....next time

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing all your experiences with us. :)

It was my pleasure!

Sorry- I missed the end of your trip report.

I just wanted to say that I enjoyed meeting you at the Fort.

And, I enjoyed your trip report.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

I look forward to hearing about the next one.

TCD

Thanks. I hope I didn't freak you out when I flagged you down. It's hell being famous, isn't it?

That really is a cool pic of the castle. Glad we got to meet up at the Fort...maybe we'll see you again next year.

Nice to meet you too, Dave. You have a great looking family. Hopefully, we will be there again next Thanksgiving.

Great job! Thanks for taking the time to share it. I'm so looking forward to next year's trip with the newest little fiend.

I :heart: babies!

Good. You can baby sit while the wife and I try to regain our sanity. ;-)

Again, loving the pics. Especially the one of the castle in the distance.

Thanks and I am glad you guys enjoy them.

One thing that I like about photography is that it sometimes lets you see things differently or in a different perspective. You don't have time to admire the view while on the ride, but having a pic lets you.

It is tough to leave! Hopefully, it won't be long until y'all return! Thanks for sharing, I am already looking forward to seeing your girls in the teacups next trip!

Thanks! Me too!

We hope to be back next Thanksgiving....with the 3rd kid.

Well the time had come.....last full day at Disney. The last day is the day you dread from the moment you check in. We always do MK on our last day. I think it is a good way to say goodbye, and the girls get do to their favorite things one last time.

True to form, we were up early and did rope drop at MK. It was a very nice Saturday. I couldn't think of anywhere else that I would have rather been.

We had one must do mission this day. Hair wraps at Pirates! The girls had not stopped talking about them the whole trip.

As we walked down Main Street I caught a whiff of something good. I found that smell in Casey's Corner in the form of huge cinnamon rolls. We all enjoyed one outside while people watching. It was good way to start a MK day.

Next stop was SM fastpass line. After acquiring fp's we were quickly aboard BTMR. I think it is now the girls favorite ride at MK. We rode twice in a row without a wait each time. That was the 6th and 7th ride on this trip.

After BTMR we cruised over to Pirates for a quick ride and to get the wraps.

Crowds were still pretty non existent that morning. We sat there for a while watching the wraps go in. The lady doing it was really nice. She was a former resident of South Carolina, who moved south for better weather. I was surprised to learn that she actually did not work for Disney. It seems they have decided to sub out the hair wrapping work around WDW.

$53 of wrapped hair later we were aboard a boat at POTC. This ride never gets old for us, and is one of my favorites.

After the ride the girls just had to have a pirate hook each. Disney marketing at its finest. As we walked out we found a pirate readying the stage for a show. The girls were front and center and eager to see Captn Jack. When he finally came out and said that he saw many good pirate helpers in the crowd, both kids turned around and handed their hooks to us. DD5 even slid behind mom. It seemed they were not ready to be helpers.

But the show was very good, and all of the kids were made honorary pirates afterwards.

After all of that it was time to fastpass SM. During a last ride on SM I had idea of taking some pics of the plunge. So I took my camera on this ride. I really hoped to be on the front row, but we were put in the 3rd. Consequently, my pics have a back of a head in each one. I had hoped of getting some unique shots. I don't recall seeing any of the plunge in any TR's.

Look out below!!!....I really wish this lady's head wasn't there...oh well

This next shot may be may favorite non family pic of at Disney to date. It's not a perfect shot by any stretch but I love how the castle looks. To me it makes the MK look down right huge....like the castle is miles away. I don't think that I have ever noticed the castle while riding SM either.

Next up was some more teacups, and we decided to all eat a hot dog at Casey's, instead of waiting till we were back at the Fort.

After lunch we made our way back to the Fort, and we spent the rest of the day enjoying our last day there.

I did a lot of this each afternoon

and also sat at the beech for a while while the rest were napping. It was a fitting end to a great trip.

We rolled out the next morning.

I snapped this one while Tish was in tending to our bill.

It was tough to leave.

Alrighty, its Friday, I don't have to work tomorrow, I am feeling better, I've caught up on some great FF material, and its time for an update.

Thanksgiving Day was spent mostly with my wife's family at Floridays Resort. She doesn't get to see them very often since they all live out of state.

Before we headed over to Floridays we dropped our pup off at Best Friends. $16 for 6 hours was a fair price I supposed. We didn't want to leave him in the camper all day long. This was the first long trip with the dog, and I am not really a fan of carrying an animal camping....mostly because I don't like having a dog dictate some of the schedule...but I digress. To be fair, though, he's a good dog, he doesn't mess in the camper, doesn't bark, or do anything really. He's pretty lazy. The staff at BF were cool, and the place was top notch.

After we returned to the Fort that night I did some looping with the kids until they were out. It was a good day. Lots of thanks for family, friends, blessings, family time, vacations, great memories, etc, etc.

On Friday we were up and about early. The mission for the day was Animal Kingdom. We had some breakfast and were quickly aboard a bus. I have a love/hate relationship with the buses. I love the memories of riding the buses as a kid. It doesn't feel like a complete trip without boarding a Disney bus. Although, I hate being packed on one with a bunch of smelly idiots. Thankfully, that did not happen on this trip.

We arrived at AK just after rope drop and quickly made our way through the gates. The animal habitats after the entrance our one of my favorite areas of AK. We took our time through there, then I hustled to EE for fastpasses. Along the way I snagged some special FP's to the Lion King....they didn't stop you from getting another set of FP's.

I snapped this pic with my phone (no Nikon this day) on the way to EE.

Once at EE I took DD5 while mom waited with DD4. Laurel is not much of a risk taker, and she wasn't super stoked on the ride at first. But after the shock of it wore off she was excited to have been on it.

While we were riding EE, mom had to stuff napkins in Lizzy's shoes so she would meet the height requirement (we had to do this for Space Mountain too..lol).

Lizzy is much more of a risk taker,and she loved EE from the get go. That's the way it usually works with those two.

After EE we walked over to the safari ride and basically walked on with little wait.

This was one of the better safari trips for us.

We saw some cool antelope looking critters, a baby elephant, and the male lion was awake. As a matter of fact he stink eyed us pretty good as we drove by.

I didn't take any pics of the safari, because after a few years I realized all of the pics always look pretty much the same.

After the safari we realized that our FP's were almost out of time. The FP's also said that late arrivals would be shot dead...not really, but they had a definite cutoff time.

So I grabbed the stroller, and we hoofed (ran some) it to Lion King. We arrived with 1 minute to spare!

The show was great as always. I think any show is good when everyone in the family enjoys it.

It was soon lunch time. We had planned on going back to the camper for lunch and rest, but I decided to roll up into Rainforest Cafe. I always get the pastalaya there, and I was craving some that day. We had a good table and a great lunch.

And with that we were headed back home...err I mean to the Fort. But it was starting to feel like home at this point.

Next up...last full day at Disney.

A damn fine update, indeed. I rode my mountain bike down that trail one day, but I encountered some very fresh horse tinkle, so I turned around before the good stuff. Good find, TCD.

Me too. And it turned into a sinus infection for my drive home. Good times.

Me too. Mine is so bad that all of my upper teeth hurt when I breathe hard through my nose. 3 days into antibiotics now. Total suckage.

I still have some more pics, but I have been sick as a dog lately.

Cool update!

Did you notice that the ferris wheel is moving again on the model city? It was DOA last time that we rode the peoplemover.

While sorting through some pics for my other TR I was thinking about how our kids have been to Disney every year since birth. They think that is just what people do. :rofl3:

I also had an idea of doing a TR with a pic of each year. So here goes....

DD5 (Laurel) on her first trip in 2006. She still loves the peoplemover too!



Lizzy was still in the oven on that trip.

2007
Lizzy at the Crystal Palace


Laurel checking out the show at the castle


2008
Teacups!


2009
Autograph session


2010
Teacups redux


2011
Teacups 3.0


Till next year

Edit for 2013

Teacups 4.0

It's nice to hear these compliments.

Being there all the time jades you because things always look the same day in, day out, and after a while you don't really notice much.

I call the trash tongs, manager guilt sticks. The do nothing idiot managers don't dare walk around without them now because their idiot managers would get on their case. Nothing new though. They've been carry them around for years.

Thanks, get into the photos as much as you can. I was always the one taking the pictures when my kids were growing up and now my adult children don't have hardly any pictures with me in them while they were growing up. True story.

Well at least they are being somewhat productive...if they happen so see some trash.

Yep. I do try to get in them when I can.

That is so true, Lou! That is why when I see a couple or family, I try to ask if I can take a picture of them all together!

Yes, $70 is a rip-off for 2 adults and 2 children to have breakfast!

That's pretty cool of you.

Ripoff, fo sho!

Great report! You had me at hello double vodka tonic on Crocketts porch!

They are good!

I couldn't bring my self to pay that much forl breakfast there this year. We did the take out bagel sandwich several times and ate on the porch and the sandwich was good.

I wish that I had thought of that.

Wonderful trip report!!

All your pictures are super.......I especially LOVE the castle ones!

I too could spent hours at the Osborne lights........just love it!

We have a similiar plan as your family, do rope drop, head out around 12:00 or early afternoon and go back in at night.

We rarely have a golf cart, but use our bikes. We do tons of looping on our bikes as well as the path between the fort and the lodge. That path is one of my favorite places in Disney. On quiet days, we bike it at least twice.

My boys, ages 15 and 18 LOVE Toy Story Mania......they learned on-line about how to get your score high enough to get a new screen to pop up. They want to ride it as much as possible. I am glad they do, its how I got to meet the FAMOUS TCD!!!!!!!!

Can't wait for more!!!

Heidi

Thanks! Yeah, I like that path too. I liked it better before WL was built, though.

I've never heard of a lifetime warranty on any camper part from any manufacturer. I have seen a 12 year warranty on roof membranes. Note...this does not cover leaks due to improper maintenance of seams and caulking.

With any camper water is the enemy. Even if it is "new" I would check it from top to bottom paying special attention to the corners of the roof and floor for soft spots and/or leaks.

Not trying to be negative, but it is not uncommon for a trailer to be leaking even when new.

If you store it inside you will be a lot better off in the long run. If not, invest in the best cover that you can find.

I once let a camper sit outside and ruin. I was a tough lesson to learn.

Jayco builds a good product. They are a family owned business too.

This TR is still kickin arse!

So what's this Tonga toast that you speak of?

Alright...time for another update. This one will be a collection of random thoughts and observations with minimal pics.

Thanksgiving day was an off day for us. We hung out at the camper till about 10 and then headed over to Floridays Resort to meet up with my wife's family.

As I have said before I hate going off site. Although the resort is fairly nice I wouldn't stay there. In fact we could have stayed there for free the entire week, but I felt the savings wasn't worth it. It wouldn't be a Disney vacation if we were not at the Fort or on property.

IMO, the Fort looked good (better than our last trip) Thanksgiving week, especially given the amount of people there. The grass was mowed fairly well, Comfort Stations were clean, and trash was at a minimum.

The parks too were in good shape. It seemed to me that upkeep on them was better this year. In the MK I saw several manager type people walking around with those trash bins on a stick and long pinchers for picking up trash. These were not your ordinary white outfit trash dudes. They were dressed up and outfitted with Blackberry's. Maybe a renewed focus on appearance? Could Walt be partially rolling back over in his grave?

I did a lot of bike looping this trip. We don't have a golf cart (yet) so I hit the pedals. I really enjoy bike looping. I have a tradition where I loop every loop and area on my bike each trip. You can go a lot of places were carts can't go...like along side canals, horse trails, between sites, every sidewalk there, etc. My wife wasn't feeling the bike looping too much this year, since she is pregnant. So I would pull the kids around with her bike and trailer. I found out that this is a good way to get the kids to sleep. Several nights I looped until they were sound asleep. It doesn't get much better than that in my book.

These two are getting heavy, though. Old dad would be sweating pretty good at the end.

Also Thanksgiving morning I got the bright idea of eating breakfast at Trail's End. My dad and I used to go there a lot of the mornings when I was young. I have always liked eating breakfast there. So we got there just after they opened and were quickly seated. Ken was our server. I guess he's worked there forever? Anyway, the food was pretty good. I like eating a big breakfast, but I am only the one. The wife and 2 kids just pecked at theirs. Now the bad part. Our bill was $70 with tip. I about pooped a brick. I guess that taught me to look at the prices next time. It wasn't worth half of that based on food. Maybe the kids like it enough, though. It will be a long time before we do that again. Ripoff!

Of course, we watched Wishes a lot from the beach. Let's hope they see fit to keep piping the music in. It's a great way to end the day with the family, and it's free.

Let's talk about the rangers for a second. Secretly, I have thought that TCD has been a little too hard on these guys. That is until I watched night after night this one ranger pace the beach with a lit up traffic directing cone. He seemed to be just making up stuff to do. It brought my relaxation chi down a notch.

This tetherball got a workout each night by a bunch of heathen kids.

Here's a pic for Lou.

I am more comfortable behind the camera than in front....plus as you know a camera steals a little bit of your soul in each shot

L to R (your's truly, #1 kid Laurel, Tisha, #2 kid Lizzy)

I like this tree

For the record you can get a nice Absolut vodka and tonic (double) and view above tree from a nice rocker at Crockett's :)

My wife's family was also having a reunion of sorts in Orlando this week too. So a few trips to the parks were with those guys.

With the wife and kids cruising around with them I could find some time to look for interesting shots of the MK.

I have to admit Tomorrowland has always been my favorite part of MK. Even when I was a kid I always wanted to go there first.

We stayed and watched Wishes with the relatives. A few had never been to Disney before and were blown away with the whole experience.

We also got to see the show projected on the castle just before Wishes. This was a first for us. I was very impressed with it.

Alright....I am finally home from work. FF.net being blocked at work sure does cut down on my fiend time. I feel like I need 4 hrs to catch up on all of the other great TR's and posts here.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty much copies of one another. Each day was started off with a trip to MK, we then returned to the Fort, and went back in the evening.

I was able to do a lot of looping on my mtn bike and Fort exploring during the afternoons.

These pics will be a mix of camera phone and Nikon...I apologize for the crappy phone pics.

I really like these palm trees at night. They made me want to set up a lounge chair and sip tonics.

Random Fort pics

There were tons of birds over the Fort and Disco Island one day

MK fun

Next up...MK at night with some different views