Not really a trip report just a few thoughts on a recent trip

[Northerngirl--Lori 5]

Great trip report. I'm not missing the pictures at all. The way you describe everything, I can picture what you are doing. thanks for sharing!

[Cortezcapt (Derek) 156]

3 minutes ago, Northerngirl--Lori said:

Great trip report. I'm not missing the pictures at all. The way you describe everything, I can picture what you are doing. thanks for sharing!

Thank you

[Cortezcapt (Derek) 156]

Saturday afternoon is where we left off.  We were all tired and ready to get back to camp and relax and that's exactly what I did. Took a nice cool shower, had a sandwich and laid around for a bit. Mom wanted to go see the fireworks from the beach so we made some cocktails and headed down to the settlement, well of course there was no golf cart parking so we decided to check at the other end of the beach and found a spot on the Rd to park the cart. We had taken chairs and walked down to enjoy the evening before the fireworks. Well then my friend texted they had changed their minds and we're coming down. Her and her DIL made it down just in time to watch the fireworks. Then we sat around and chatted till the EWP came by. 

Well I had got my second wind and had changed a few of our fast passes to later so I was gonna head back to the MK but had to go back to the trailer first.

Got my stuff from the trailer and went next door to see if anyone want to go back with me. Now nights at the MK are my favorite times there, I'll just go and wonder around maybe catch a ride with a fast pass or if the line is short. Well nobody wanted to go, but friends son said to ask his wife again she was easy to persuade. So after a yes, no, yes, we were off to the MK. First stop was jungle cruise, unfortunately the captain that was running our boat and seemed fun when she pulled up switched off with another. Well this poor girl really should have been at the haunted Mansion or somewhere else, she was not jungle cruise material. Everything just seemed to fall short. Next was pirates, then off to the haunted Mansion. Our second winds were winding down the park was closing so back to the Fort we went. 

After an uneventful park exit and boat ride we got back and called it a night, everyone else was in bed.  Next day would be packing up and heading home.

[Cortezcapt (Derek) 156]

Woke up Sunday morning and didn't want to go home! Isn't that how it always is. I got up and started putting stuff away and getting ready to pack up. Mom asked if I wanted to stay another day she wasn't up to helping with anything. After a few calls to the Fort and some back in forth in my head we decided to just head home and had requested a late check out, just noon.  Then my grandfather called, wanted to let me know there were some strong storms coming through and it was going to be a windy, and possibly rainy ride home. Well that kicked me into gear, gotta get packed up and try to beat the weather home. 

Now my friends have only had their trailer a little over 2 years and he can be a bit neurotic when it comes to some things, I definitely tell him that to his face. I started packing up about an hour after they did, and finished a good 45 mins before they did. We do all the same stuff, as checking the tires, loading up the cart, dumping, cleaning, packing and storing, he had 4 people, mom did help me a little with inside stuff, but not much. Well everything went fairly smoothly except a blowout in the sewer hose, thankfully it was only the grey tank I was emptying at that point.  

 

Then there was a possible Fort Fiend sighting! I was back behind the truck and looked up as a golf cart went past, and it looked a lot like TCD and his girls going by. Sunday 4/15 in the 800 loop was that you? Haha I had already taken all of my signs down and by the time my slow mind processed who it was (or at least who I thought it was) they were well past. 

Well we we're packed up by this point and ready to go, didn't need the late check out after all as I think we pulled out right about 11am. It was a slow ride home, definitely a stiff breeze but made it home safe and sound and before the rain hit. Got what we needed out of the trailer, had some lunch and I finally got my nap.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Good job with the report!  Thanks for posting.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

You were there when WWW2018 was happening? You should have come by to say hello.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Cortezcapt (Derek) 156]

On 4/30/2018 at 11:40 AM, DaveInTN said:

Good job with the report!  Thanks for posting.

Thank you

On 4/30/2018 at 1:01 PM, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

You were there when WWW2018 was happening? You should have come by to say hello.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 

We were there from 4/9-4/15. 

 

I'm kinda ashamed to admit I'm not sure I looked ar Fort Fiends much while we were there, didn't realize that y'all were there. Sadly didn't even go looping! 😭

 

And the worst part we had stuff to make drinks in pineapples and Brandy Alexanders and made neither..... 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

On 4/30/2018 at 11:33 AM, Cortezcapt (Derek) said:

Then there was a possible Fort Fiend sighting! I was back behind the truck and looked up as a golf cart went past, and it looked a lot like TCD and his girls going by. Sunday 4/15 in the 800 loop was that you? Haha I had already taken all of my signs down and by the time my slow mind processed who it was (or at least who I thought it was) they were well past.

Good eye. 

We were there and out looping on that Sunday morning. Rocky and I even saw some Wild Women who were recovering from a night at Trader Sam's. 

TCD 

[DaveInTN 3,247]

10 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Good eye. 

We were there and out looping on that Sunday morning. Rocky and I even saw some Wild Women who were recovering from a night at Trader Sam's. 

TCD 

So when you say they were "recovering from a night at Trader Sam's", do you mean recovering from the alcohol, or from the size of the check at the end of the evening?

[wdwpoohbear...Jennifer 40]

55 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

So when you say they were "recovering from a night at Trader Sam's", do you mean recovering from the alcohol, or from the size of the check at the end of the evening?

Probably both!

[Beckers 1,136]

On 5/2/2018 at 1:08 PM, DaveInTN said:

So when you say they were "recovering from a night at Trader Sam's", do you mean recovering from the alcohol, or from the size of the check at the end of the evening?

😂

[Beckers 1,136]

I’m seriously jealous of the amount of popcorn consumed on this trip. 

[Cortezcapt (Derek) 156]

On 5/5/2018 at 11:35 PM, Beckers said:

I’m seriously jealous of the amount of popcorn consumed on this trip. 

There was definitely a lot of popcorn, probably would have been more but we forgot the bucket one day. 😭

[Cortezcapt (Derek) 156]

Well this these to be turning into the neverending, no picture having trip report. 

 

The day after we arrived home the throne aka toilet that Dometic sent to replace the one that had broken arrived. Standard plastic Dometic toilet, the more I thought about it and dreaded replacing it the more I just wanted to go buy one with the ceramic bowl. That's what I did, drove up to to RV alley (I4 and 75 where lazy days, general RV and camping world are almost within spitting distance) and went on the hunt. Now I had seen camping world had a good price on the one I wanted, but that was the online price. After some looking around general RV came out to be the same price it was going to cost me at camping world to get the throne and a Good Sams membership. Well I really dislike everything camping world so I went with the general RV, this is where I'd be kicking myself in the butt later on. Anyway got it home and all hooked up not a bad job, just always dread messing with toilets. 

 

Started talking with some friends about going up and staying at lazy days the weekend of the 4th, then driving to Epcot and seeing Herman's Hermits on Saturday. Well their trailer was at lazy days for a repair and they didn't know if it would be done in time, no problem plenty of room up there we didn't need a reservation. 

 

Tuesday rolled around and we decided what the heck we'll see if there are any sites open at the Fort. Sure enough there was Thursday - Sunday, "can I book Friday - Sunday", nope. Ok Thursday it is, wasn't a hard sale and I didn't really push for checking in on Friday. Wouldn't you know my phone quit working after making the reservation so I called Verizon and they were gonna send me a new one through warranty, but it wouldn't come till Thursday. Now are FedEx drivers really don't come at a regular time and I didn't want to sit around the house all day waiting for them so had it shipped to the Fort ( was told when I called to get the correct shipping address there would be a 5.00 charge, when I picked up the package there was no charge).  Next update will be checking in Thursday. 

[Cortezcapt (Derek) 156]

Got up Thursday morning and got everything hooked and loaded up. Mom was scheduled to have surgery Monday morning so this was a get her mind off it trip. We ended up leaving the house about 1200 and made it up in good and we were pulling in about 2pm. Had a very nice gentleman check us in and we chose site 860. 860 was the site our friends had last trip and stay shaded most of the day the only thing we forgot was there wasn't much privacy between it and site 862 next to it which is where we had stay. We did drive around a bit to see if any other site caught our eye and was surprised by the number of people there already on a Thursday afternoon. We set up went down and picked up my cell phone and just hung around the the Fort the rest of the afternoon. That evening we took the golf cart down and watched the fireworks from the beach. When we got back to camp I noticed some wires in the the awning rail and a hole where they go into the trailer that I had never seen before, after closer inspection the wire gaurd/molding that slides into the arm to hide and protect the wires was missing. My best guess is it must have slid out going down the road. That reminded me that the CO/LP detector wasn't working right. Well I had no luck finding the awning piece online but did find the CO/LP detector and guess who had the best price, Camping World ugh.....

 

Friday morning I called lippert to try to find the piece for the awning, nice gentleman who knew exactly what I needed, had me take some measurements and here's where I held my breath waiting for the news of how much it would be 3.00 oh that's great, wait shipping is 26.00 haha. He suggested trying to find a dealer that might have one laying around or shipped in.

So off to camping world we went.  I knew I was going to have to sign up for Good Sams if I wanted to get the Detector at a reasonable price and a few days before the possibility of either a Texas trip or Michigan trip in the fall came up so figured might as well have get it. I really don't understand camping world, you can look online and see something (a sale price usually) but when you go into the store the Members sale price is usually more expensive and if your not a member even more. In my mind I would think they would want to get you into the store with discounts equal to or greater than their online prices. At least for me shopping in the store usually leads to more impulse purchases than shopping on line, plus a great time to push the new products on you. This is exactly what happened had to have a look around and ended up finding a chair on clearance that was comfortable so that was my impulse purchase. When we got to the register told them I wanted Good Sams membership and asked if they would match the online price, with a membership and proof of the online price they would! So now I'm a Good Sams member and kicking myself for not doing it when I bought the toilet. Oh well

[Travisma 1,317]

3 hours ago, Cortezcapt (Derek) said:

I really don't understand camping world, you can look online and see something (a sale price usually) but when you go into the store the Members sale price is usually more expensive and if your not a member even more. In my mind I would think they would want to get you into the store with discounts equal to or greater than their online prices. At least for me shopping in the store usually leads to more impulse purchases than shopping on line, plus a great time to push the new products on you. 

That happened when I got a battery for my wife's car last week.  Looked at Advanced Auto on line got the price and a pop up saying if I ordered on line ans picked up at the store I could get 20% off.  Last time I did that the store clerk told me they would match or better the on-line price if I came in and got it there.

So I go to the store at the end of the street, he quotes the same list price as on line, I ask about the 20% and he says he can give me 10% or else I can go home and order it then get the 20%.

I went to Wal-Mart instead. 

And stores wonder why they are going out of business.

[Beckers 1,136]

3 hours ago, Cortezcapt (Derek) said:

I really don't understand camping world, you can look online and see something (a sale price usually) but when you go into the store the Members sale price is usually more expensive and if your not a member even more. In my mind I would think they would want to get you into the store with discounts equal to or greater than their online prices.

One of the pet stores is like that too. It was cheaper to order on line and do in store pick up than just walk in the store and get it myself. When I realized that I stood there, ordered it on line for in store pick up, went to Target next door, got some stuff and then went back and got my item. So now they had to have an employee stop what they were doing to pick it off the shelf, bag it and set it aside. Then the person working the register had to go and get it from the back for me. 

[Travisma 1,317]

41 minutes ago, Beckers said:

One of the pet stores is like that too. It was cheaper to order on line and do in store pick up than just walk in the store and get it myself. When I realized that I stood there, ordered it on line for in store pick up, went to Target next door, got some stuff and then went back and got my item. So now they had to have an employee stop what they were doing to pick it off the shelf, bag it and set it aside. Then the person working the register had to go and get it from the back for me. 

People were doing that last fall for the tabletop Blackstone griddles at Wal-Mart.  The store price was a lot higher than the on line clearance, so they would order it on line while shopping and stop at the pick up window on the way out.

[Cortezcapt (Derek) 156]

6 hours ago, Beckers said:

One of the pet stores is like that too. It was cheaper to order on line and do in store pick up than just walk in the store and get it myself. When I realized that I stood there, ordered it on line for in store pick up, went to Target next door, got some stuff and then went back and got my item. So now they had to have an employee stop what they were doing to pick it off the shelf, bag it and set it aside. Then the person working the register had to go and get it from the back for me. 

 

6 hours ago, Travisma said:

That happened when I got a battery for my wife's car last week.  Looked at Advanced Auto on line got the price and a pop up saying if I ordered on line ans picked up at the store I could get 20% off.  Last time I did that the store clerk told me they would match or better the on-line price if I came in and got it there.

So I go to the store at the end of the street, he quotes the same list price as on line, I ask about the 20% and he says he can give me 10% or else I can go home and order it then get the 20%.

I went to Wal-Mart instead. 

And stores wonder why they are going out of business.

 

6 hours ago, Beckers said:

One of the pet stores is like that too. It was cheaper to order on line and do in store pick up than just walk in the store and get it myself. When I realized that I stood there, ordered it on line for in store pick up, went to Target next door, got some stuff and then went back and got my item. So now they had to have an employee stop what they were doing to pick it off the shelf, bag it and set it aside. Then the person working the register had to go and get it from the back for me. 

 

5 hours ago, Travisma said:

People were doing that last fall for the tabletop Blackstone griddles at Wal-Mart.  The store price was a lot higher than the on line clearance, so they would order it on line while shopping and stop at the pick up window on the way out.

I tried ordering online and picking up in the store with camping world but they won't let you do that. I even called their online help number and as soon as I said I didn't have a Good Sams number the guy got very nasty. Oh well, I plan to milk that Good Sams discount for all I can. I want airbags for the truck, new tires for the trailer before we go out of state, I'm sure the list will grow. 

[Cortezcapt (Derek) 156]

On the way back to the Fort we stopped at Twin Peaks which is on Winter Garden Vineland road almost to S Apopka Vineland rd next door to the Ale House. We were going to go to the Ale house but it was packed (lunch time) so we decided to give Twin Peaks a try. Now I knew enough to know it was something along the lines of a Hooters "Twin Peaks" but other than that knew nothing about the restaurant or what they served. This place had excellent food, I didn't try the wings but had a perfectly cooked piece of salmon. They have scratch kitchen so every is made from scratch per your order want light breading or extra on your fried pickles they'll do it. Not a huge menu, mostly burgers and such, but definitely good. Their claim to fame so to speak is 29° drafts and there's a digital sign on the wall tell you what the temperature of the beer coming out of the tap is. I wasn't in a beer drinking mood at the time so didn't really look to see what they had, I know they had 3 house brews the Dirty Blonde, Knotty Brunette, and Dropdead redhead. Now the one downside to this place was it was loud, music and I'm sure when it's full people wise as well. Overall great food, not horrible prices and a good atmosphere if not a little loud. They also offer covered patio dining and a firepit area. 

 

After stuffing ourselves it was time to head back to the Fort for a nap. 

[Cortezcapt (Derek) 156]

After a nap we decided to head over to Epcot to see Herman's Hermits. We drove since we had the scooter and were contemplating heading to HS after to see if there was anything special for the May the 4th be with you. Talk about Epcot being packed or at least the parking lot appeared to be but then it was about 6pm on a Friday. By the time we got back to the back of Epcot they were just finishing up the middle show. So we decided to go get in line for the 8pm show. We got in line and at a good spot in the shade, just as they finished the last song you could see a mad dash coming from the theater back into line. The people who pushed in behind us had been to both shows so far that day and planned to come back Saturday, wow I mean it's a fun show but that seems a little much to me. This is where we had an encounter with possibly the worst British people (I know sterotyping is not good) but having several British friends that seem to pride themselves on being able to stand in line/queue these 2 were horrible examples. They were all over the place pushing, moving around, stepping in front of people, they did keep apologizing but still. Finally the show was great, a lot of fun and singing along.

 

Now this trip I did take a lot of pictures and videos, however Sunday when we got home the screen on my phone went black and wouldn't come back on, so lost all the pictures I took. 

 

After the show we decided not to stick around for the fireworks but didn't want to go back to the Fort and didn't have time to get to HS. Well what else is there to do besides go see yehaa Bob. We were able to get a table in front of the wall and hung out for about 2 hours or so before heading back to the Fort and off to bed.

[keith_h 420]

On 5/11/2018 at 8:48 PM, Cortezcapt (Derek) said:

On the way back to the Fort we stopped at Twin Peaks which is on Winter Garden Vineland road almost to S Apopka Vineland rd next door to the Ale House. We were going to go to the Ale house but it was packed (lunch time) so we decided to give Twin Peaks a try. Now I knew enough to know it was something along the lines of a Hooters "Twin Peaks" but other than that knew nothing about the restaurant or what they served. This place had excellent food, I didn't try the wings but had a perfectly cooked piece of salmon. They have scratch kitchen so every is made from scratch per your order want light breading or extra on your fried pickles they'll do it. Not a huge menu, mostly burgers and such, but definitely good. Their claim to fame so to speak is 29° drafts and there's a digital sign on the wall tell you what the temperature of the beer coming out of the tap is. I wasn't in a beer drinking mood at the time so didn't really look to see what they had, I know they had 3 house brews the Dirty Blonde, Knotty Brunette, and Dropdead redhead. Now the one downside to this place was it was loud, music and I'm sure when it's full people wise as well. Overall great food, not horrible prices and a good atmosphere if not a little loud. They also offer covered patio dining and a firepit area. 

 

After stuffing ourselves it was time to head back to the Fort for a nap. 

We ate at one in Winston-Salem one afternoon when we were out and around. We did like the food and the beer was decent as well. Not sure I would go to the one we visited with children. There was snow on the ground and I told the wife we should have brought a couple of extra coats for the waitress as I couldn't believe they had them dressed (undressed more like) like that when it was below freezing. 

[Cortezcapt (Derek) 156]

Well its been busy around here with Drs appointments and some stomach issues with my dog, kind of forgot about this. 

 

So Saturday i wanted to go fuel up the truck so we headed out, got some diesel and decided lunch was in order. So in the now pouring rain we headed out for some lunch. Ended up at Fridays in the Crossroads plaza. My mom wasn't feeling great so we headed back to the trailer and just hung out took naps and relaxed. Debated going to the MK later Saturday evening, but just didn't trust the weather so called it an early night and went to bed.  

 

Woke up Sunday more it was still sprinkling but had quit by the time I started packing up. Everything went smoothly got all packed up and ready to go just had to hook the truck to the trailer. Well for some reason at this point I decided to go change my clothes before I put the slide out in. Got cleaned up and changed and started hooking the trailer up, well of course that's when it decided to start pouring rain again. Now when shopping for travel trailers I had 2 things I looked for 1-being able to get to the bathroom with the slide in and all packed up, 2-getting to the fridge with everything all packed up. Well when it came down to it access to the bathroom won out over access to the fridge. Luckily I had packed all of my clothes into a bag to make it easier when we got home and was able to grab some, get dry and changed. It was a slow but uneventful trip home.

 

Wasn't the best weather, but it was the get away we needed before the busy stressful upcoming weeks. 

[Cortezcapt (Derek) 156]

My mother had her surgery on the 7th of May, the day after we got home from the Fort. Everything went well and she is recovering slowly but surely. She did have to have a follow-up procedure this past Friday and will have to have some more treatments, but the Drs are all happy with her progress and the progress of all of her treatments. 

 

A Fort Wilderness / Disney trip the weekend before major surgery might sound strange to some but it did help to relieve some of the anxiety of the surgery and stress from the months of chemo leading up to it for both her and myself. I sort of stressed over going as lists of thing I should/could be doing at home ran through my head, but once we hit the campsite that all drained out and the Disney bubble took over. My mind frame went from there's all this stuff not getting done to oh well it'll still be there and it's nothing that can't wait. 

 

Though we have annual passes and have kept them up over the years we tend to do Disney differently then most. The Fort is what really draws us in with the parks being an added bonus of something to do while staying at the Fort. That's not to say we won't/don't do day trips up to the parks for events or things we want to see, but spend as much if not more time out of the parks as we do in them. We like visiting the other resorts, or attractions around Orlando and just relaxing at the Fort. 

 

Thank you all for reading along, again I apologise for not having any pictures in this report. I promise the next time I'll step up my picture taking and hopefully don't loose them all again. This report started as kind of a way to kill some time and get my mind off things and it really helped to do that. I'm looking forward to setting up a trip with with some close family friends in the fall and a possible Texas trip within the next year.

 

One more side note, talking with one of the surgeons nurses about having just got back from the Fort we found out that the surgeon is also a Disney pass holder and fan. So I have been trying to come up with a unique Disney themed thank you gift for him.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I think a trip to the Fort the weekend before surgery makes a lot of sense.