Helmsey......Todd 134 Posted July 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2014 Sorry you didn't feel well! It happens...just picked a horrible time! All caught up. Great updates and overall a great time. Don't worry about the pictures. It's not a 'terrible thing'. You need to enjoy your family through real life, not a viewfinder. Thanks. I figured it was time to put the camera away when DW looked at me at one point and said, "hey there's a bird I don't think you took a picture of yet" :banghead: Is this the sign? The Concierge Club level is right below on the 7th floor That does in fact look like what it was....thank you. Now if I could just get you to tell me what that contraption on the monorail was I will have all my questions (up to this point) answered. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helmsey......Todd 134 Posted July 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2014 Ok, keeping things moving... Wednesday May 7th Today we have some FP stuff planned for HS. Due to the fact our stroller is enormous we decided to drive over (everyone on the busses, you’re welcome) and park there. Here’s the problem, myself and MIL still aren’t 100% so I’m a little iffy on getting out too much. I didn’t even make it to the entrance to HS, we were walking there and decided it would be best for me to head back to the camper and lay down for a bit. If I felt better I would meet up with the group and enjoy the day….that didn’t happen. I went back to the camper and crashed on the couch. And, since I’m the photographer of the group, the pictures are very limited for that day.DW called me and asked if I would drive over to pick them up to avoid the bus with 2 girls, all their stuff, and a stroller about the size of the buss. I hopped in the truck to head over there and this fella was flying around, im assuming looking for food. This is the view behind the 1800 loop, the other campers you see over there are in the 1600 loop. There were TONS of lizards running around out there, so I’m assuming the bird was eating well. I drove back over to HS and parked with the taxis to pick the girls up. They had a pretty full day, ToT, lunch at 50’s prime time, rode little mermaid, and I think they did Rock N Roller Coaster as well. Sorry, no pics… I did have this fella walk next to me as I was driving back, I thought he was going to follow us all the way back to the camper Lets go ahead and move on to Thursday since Wednesday was a bust. Thursday is AK day, we have FP for Everest, Safaris, Kali and going to do lunch at Rainforest Café while we are here. Also, Thursday is date night for us. The grandparents are watching the girls and DW and I will head over to the Poly to have dinner at O’han’as’ Once again we chose to drive over to AK and this is the what it looked like when we get there This time as we were in line to find a spot the parking attendant told me he wanted me to park with the RV’s since my truck was so big, at HS they just had me take up 2 spots. I liked parking in the RV parking, a nice little stroll and you see this We had FP for Everest first thing. My hope was that since it was early we could use our FP and if the line wasn’t bad just ride again when we got off. When we got through the gates we had to wait on M&Fil and this caused us to be close on our FP time so with no camera out, we made our way back to Everest. Standby showed 15 minutes when we got there so we thought we’d be good after our FP ride to just hop back on and ride standby. This is the only picture I have from there, it was right before FIL lost his hat…. We got off and nobody else wanted to ride again so we decided to skip riding standby. Our next stop was the safari so we strolled over that way. The FP line took about 15 minutes or so to get through, it really wasn’t that bad, especially when the standby was already 95 minutes.Here we are entering our 2 week safari trip This looked neat, I have been meaning to look into what this was but have yet to… DD2 for some reason likes crocs so she got excited about seeing this We cruised on a little more and when we got to one spot this fella came walking right by our bus I like these trees I wont post all the pics, that would be too many posts and plus, it’s the same thing you have all seen before J Once we got off the safari it was about time for our early lunch at Rainforest café so we mozied over that way. Again I have failed with the pood forn pics, but most of us just had the burger and they all look that same. DD2 loved to see this fella shake around DW and DD1 Both of the girls really liked all the different animals they had in there, we spend a bit of time after lunch walking around checking the place out and got the girls some stuffed monkeys from the gift shop.At this point we had some time to kill before kali, and we weren’t sure what to do. It turned out while we were eating it got hot outside and after a few minutes of walking around the girls were not happy in the heat. So, we called it a day there. We would head back to the camper and do naps, maybe check out the pool for a bit when the girls get up, and DW and I would have date night. We loaded the truck up and headed back to the Fort. Again I didn’t do a good job of taking pictures once we got back. We went to the pool for a bit and let DD2 splash around. Do you remember the pic of DD1 at the beach? Well, that’s what she looked like the entire time at the pool. So her and I got on the golf cart and rode around. And again, I slacked on pictures. I’ll end this here and pick up with date night in the next post. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jmaul 65 Posted July 1, 2014 Report Share Posted July 1, 2014 Sick at WDW SMB. I know from experience myself. Looks like AK day worked out though. RV parking area at AK. Nice. Love the freebie EE picture. Your face. DW face. The mom up front clinging to her kid. I would have ridden with you again on EE. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lou... 3,118 Posted July 1, 2014 Report Share Posted July 1, 2014 Now if I could just get you to tell me what that contraption on the monorail was I will have all my questions (up to this point) answered. That's called a "work tractor" and it's the equivalent of a tow truck, except for monorails.When a monorail breaks down, and it will, it tows it back to the maintenance building. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveInTN 3,247 Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 That's called a "work tractor" and it's the equivalent of a tow truck, except for monorails.When a monorail breaks down, and it will, it tows it back to the maintenance building. I want THAT job! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799 Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 Sorry you were still sick! I hope date night works out. We love our Disney date nights. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Momof6....aka Marty 769 Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 In! Okay, page 5 bragging rights! I would have made it unto page 2 or maybe even 1 if you hadn't posted so many updates and had such cute kids that everyone had to gush about. Mean time, only one person commented on the cute Minnie tops and nobody commented on the adorable Minnie sandals? Oh yes, loving everything except when your MB misbehaves or you get sick. Looking forward to more! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helmsey......Todd 134 Posted July 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 Sick at WDW SMB. I know from experience myself. Looks like AK day worked out though. RV parking area at AK. Nice. Love the freebie EE picture. Your face. DW face. The mom up front clinging to her kid. I would have ridden with you again on EE. Ya, it was no fun but at least at this point its over with. I liked the parking, short walk and you were at the gates. I'll look for you next time I'm on EE and we can ride together :) That's called a "work tractor" and it's the equivalent of a tow truck, except for monorails.When a monorail breaks down, and it will, it tows it back to the maintenance building. I figured it was some sort of monorail fixing device... I want THAT job! Yes, I would take that job as well! Sorry you were still sick! I hope date night works out. We love our Disney date nights. I pushed through and made the best of it....Date night coming up shortly! In! Okay, page 5 bragging rights! I would have made it unto page 2 or maybe even 1 if you hadn't posted so many updates and had such cute kids that everyone had to gush about. Mean time, only one person commented on the cute Minnie tops and nobody commented on the adorable Minnie sandals? Oh yes, loving everything except when your MB misbehaves or you get sick. Looking forward to more! Welcome to the party :toot: I think DW and MIL had matching Disney themed outfits for the girls every day. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helmsey......Todd 134 Posted July 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 Thursday May 8th (still) Date night!DW and I were looking forward to this a lot. We don’t get a lot of date nights at home, even though both of our mother live a few minutes from us. My mom watches them throughout the week and her mom is a nurse that works nights. I don’t feel right asking my mom to watch them so we can go out, and her mother rarely can do it in the evening so we just don’t have that many date nights. Anyway, M&Fil come over to the camper to get the girls and are headed to the MK with them. DW and I get cleaned up and caught another small boat to the Contemporary, and then monorail to the Poly. The beach as we were showing up This silly little boat showed up while we were waiting, never seen it before. Anybody know about them? After riding the appropriate transportation we arrived at the Poly and over to check in. It wasn’t real busy We got this and waited about 15 minutes until this went off We sat down and they brought the salad and bread. I tried hard not to overdo it.. Next came the potstickers And here is the new lettuce wedge. I tried it, not much to write home about Then this little plate of happiness showed up. I sampled a little of each and enjoyed all of it. Then it was time for the show, the skewers started showing up. A little beef Some pork All DW could talk about was the shrimp. She had been here before and absolutely loved it and was excited for it to appear on her plate And finally a little desert. I wish I had more room to eat that entire plate, but it just wasn’t in the cards After dinner we went and walked around outside to check it out. Beach at night (nice crane) Here is a shot of the buildings being built at the Poly And a view of the GF from the beach At this point I put the cameras up and we had some kid free time for a change. We hopped the monorail and rode over to the MK. It was nice to just stroll around at a leisurely pace, and it was cooler for a change so that was nice as well. About the time the electric parade was starting we decided to bail and head back. We took the scenic route and took the walkway from the MK to the Contemporary and hopped a small boat back to the fort. As we were pulling up to the dock at the Fort the fireworks started so we hung out for a few minutes and watched them. We were both beat so we hopped on our hot rod cart and headed back to the camper and hit the sack. In the next post we will pick up Friday morning, and our last full day. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted July 2, 2014 Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 This silly little boat showed up while we were waiting, never seen it before. Anybody know about them? That is an old boat that has been recycled from a closed attraction at Animal Kingdom. They occasionally will use one of the boats for Fort transportation. They are know to the Fiends as the Slow Boats. They also use these boats for the nighttime Pirate cruises at the Contemporary Resort. You date night sounded perfect. Good job. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EnchantedSurprise 2 Posted July 3, 2014 Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 I look forward to the trip we get to have a Disney date night, Ohana looked delicious per usual. Cute kiddos, looking forward to reading more. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HappyCamper...Deb 61 Posted July 3, 2014 Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 Hungry for Ohana shrimp now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beckers 1,136 Posted July 3, 2014 Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 Chef Mickey's.....or as I call it, the $30 Shoney's buffet.I used to think Shoney's was awesome. I think only because the only time we ate there was on vacation and then they built one up here and I think I came to realize they SMB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beckers 1,136 Posted July 3, 2014 Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 The chef mickey photos are priceless! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveInTN 3,247 Posted July 3, 2014 Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 Slow boats SMB.Ohana bread pudding does not SMB. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547 Posted July 3, 2014 Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 Your date night sounds wonderful. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helmsey......Todd 134 Posted July 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 That is an old boat that has been recycled from a closed attraction at Animal Kingdom. They occasionally will use one of the boats for Fort transportation. They are know to the Fiends as the Slow Boats. They also use these boats for the nighttime Pirate cruises at the Contemporary Resort. You date night sounded perfect. Good job. TCD Ah, I figured someone here would know the story on those boats. And yes, they looked slow. I look forward to the trip we get to have a Disney date night, Ohana looked delicious per usual. Cute kiddos, looking forward to reading more. I highly recommend it! Hungry for Ohana shrimp now. You're welcome :) The chef mickey photos are priceless! :) Thanks Slow boats SMB.Ohana bread pudding does not SMB. Will the Ohana Bread Pudding (OHB) make the DIT scale 3.0? Your date night sounds wonderful. It was, we don't get to do that enough. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helmsey......Todd 134 Posted July 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 Ok, I'm going to finish this baby off today, going to get Friday and Saturday (leaving to go home) in one post. Friday May 9th Today is an Epcot day, but first, we had breakfast at Trails End Some of the goodness we had to select from After eating more that we should have it was time to head to Epcot. Our plan was to drive over again (big stroller) and enjoy the day there. M&Fil wanted to take DD2 with them and go form the Fort, to the Contemporary, pick up the monorail and get to Epcot that way. They had a long trip but eventually made it (after our first FP+ time was up). Heading in Waited forever but this guy never took the shot Scenery Soarin Selfie! We ended up in the front so we didn’t have to look at feet When we got off Soarin the rest of our part had arrived. FIL wanted to ride Living with the Land so that was our next stop. It had a posted wait time of 15 minutes but about 7 minutes later this was my view I have to say, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. We also saw a CM sitting at one of the desks along the ride with his feet up and head back, snoozing away. I couldn’t get my phone out fast enough after I realized he was sleeping, but it was pretty funny to see. Couple more from that ride After we were done floating and learning our Nemo FP+ window was opening up so we headed that way. I got a few blurry pictures from that ride, but will spare everyone those. The best part of that ride was the people watching at the end.Love the hair After chasing that silly fish around we decided it would be good to take a break and have a bite to eat and let the girls cool off. We found some shade next to some high top tables to rest. I stayed with the girls while the rest of the group ran off to find food to snack on. No pics, but we had several different things to try the girls enjoyed spraying themselves with the squirt bottle. After a little rest and people watching we walked over to Mouse Gear to get rid of some of that extra money we had laying around. I have to say, the magic bands really helped out with that and made it really easy.Next up was Mission Space. It was just as I remembered it the last time I rode it. You can see DD1s ear and side of her face in the picture it took Judging from my pictures after riding MS we bailed on Epcot. I was hot again and I would rather be back at the Fort in the shade. We loaded up in the truck and headed back… The plan was to head back and let me start getting the packing process started. Sadly we had to leave tomorrow and I wanted to get a jump on cleaning and packing. The plan was after dinner to head back out to a park and hang for a bit but I decided to hang at the Fort and let DW take the girls and go out with her family for a bit. That allowed me some good uninterrupted cleaning time.And thus ends our Friday. Coming up tomorrow we have a rude awakening, and a slight change of plans to start our trip back home. Saturday May 10th Its now the last day of our trip….time to head home. Looking through the bucket of photos, I have exactly 4 from Saturday, and nothing really special but I'm sharing anyway. I’m up about 6:45 and wondering around in the kitchen when I her DW holler for me, that she needs my help….not good. As I get back into the bedroom I can hear DW1 throwing up. Everywhere. Not exactly how I had hoped our day would start, I don’t want a sick kid vomiting for a 14 hour (over 2 days) truck ride home. Long story short, we got in touch with our pediatrician, they called meds into Walgreens, I made an unexpected trip and we were only set back an hour or so for departure. After getting that taken care of I had a few things to finish up so we could hitch up and get on the road. First thing was to take my hot rod golf cart to a super-secret location for its next passengers. Upon dropping it off I waited at the outpost for a bus to take me back to the loop. While waiting this fella pulled up, I’m hoping someone can decipher the secret message on the marquee (I’m looking at you, Lou) After him trying for some time to get it to change, and some other bus drivers trying to help, he eventually left and went on his way with no passengers. A short time later a “yellow” bus pulled up and picked me up and took me back to the bus stop outside my loop. I have now officially been on 3 modes of transportation, boat, bus, and monorail and I think that about covers all of them J I got back to the camper, hooked up, and sadly we were leaving. We drove to the KOA in Forsyth, GA and spent the night there. We get there 15 minutes too late to order dinner from them so I had to improvise. Luckily we had some food left and was able to create this Not the best, but will work in a pinch. As for DD1 the meds took care of her. She did not have any more issues that day, or the following day driving home. This is a picture of her while we were stopped Saturday night and you would have never known that 12 hours ago she was sick as a dog and not happy. Sunday morning we got up and got back on the road, it was a nice 4 or 5 hour drive (uneventful) and we were home. We weren't ready to get back to the real world but it was time.We will definitely be back to the Fort in 2015 and it will likely be for Halloween. We will do some things different, we definitely learned a lot on this trip. I’m going to end this with one last picture from earlier in the trip. It was one of our favorites and one that will get framed at the house. And with that, this TR is officially over.Thanks to all that took the time to read and comment! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mouseketab.....Carol 1,261 Posted July 3, 2014 Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 That stands for "Dead Head Fort Wilderness" It means it's running empty from some location to Fort Wilderness that is not a passenger route. It might have been on a CM route, then told to go to FW, and start some other route. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
superloopers 2 Posted July 3, 2014 Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 Great trip report! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CitaPita...Carmen 59 Posted July 3, 2014 Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 Just wanted to say thank you for the report! Your girls are super adorable and I hope they had a wonderful time! Now when are you going back? :laugh: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helmsey......Todd 134 Posted July 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 Great trip report! Thank you! Just wanted to say thank you for the report! Your girls are super adorable and I hope they had a wonderful time! Now when are you going back? :laugh: Thanks for the kind words about the girls :)We have ressies for Oct of 2015, but looking to possibly do a Jan\Feb trip with just me and DW :eek: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helmsey......Todd 134 Posted July 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 That stands for "Dead Head Fort Wilderness" It means it's running empty from some location to Fort Wilderness that is not a passenger route. It might have been on a CM route, then told to go to FW, and start some other route. Thank you for that :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
red...Susan 37 Posted July 3, 2014 Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 It was nice to meet you and your family. I am happy to hear you had a good trip. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
momof3kids-Yvonne 594 Posted July 3, 2014 Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 Thanks for the report!Hoping I will get the chance to meet you and your family one day. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.