A Buckeye - Better Late Than Never - Trip Report

[BuckeyeFortFan 35]

Hey there everyone! Thanks for jumping in! I have never written a TR before, but during every trip I have told my wife that I was going to do one this time. Well, after 4 trips to the Fort in a little over a year she has finally nagged me into doing one.

First things first. We live in Ohio, and can see I-77 from our house. It is nearly 1000 miles from home to FW. We drive a super cab F250 and pull a 29 ft Jayfeather. There is me, my wife (BuckeyFortMama) and our four kids, DD8, DD6, DS4 and DS1. For those of you who are paying attention and are good at math, in the last 13 months we were fortunate enough to drive 8000 miles to and from the Fort with the 6 of us in the cab of the F250. We are a close family, to say the least! This was also our 4^th October trip in the past 5 years as we believe this is the best time to be at FW.

This trip took place during the 10 days or so prior to the Halloween weekend, which has been covered so well in other TR’s. We left home on a Wednesday evening after the kids got out of school. It was raining like crazy while I hitched the up TT. I had a rain coat on and it was saturated (as were my shorts) by the time we were ready to leave.

The wife and kids were dry though, and very excited to be on our way!

And it rained all day. Here is a view heading down I-77 towards West Virginia.

Our first nights destination was the KOA in Whytheville, VA., about 300 miles from home. We pulled in about 10:30 pm. It was in the 40’s and windy. We have learned in this situation to leave the kids in the warm truck while we plug the trailer in and get the heater cranking. We then shuttled the kids into the trailer and went straight to bed. I do not have any pictures of the Whytheville KOA as it was dark when we arrived and still dark when we rolled out in the morning at about 6:30 am.

Here is a view of the sunrise over the valley east of I-77 in Virginia just before crossing into North Carolina. I’m not sure of the official name of the area but the view is marvelous and this morning was no exception.

We kept the sunshine the rest of the day. I snapped the few pics from this day when we stopped for breakfast at a Bob Evans North of Charlotte.

The rest of the day was a marathon driving session. Our original plan was to overnight at the KOA north of Jacksonville and then ease on into FW on Friday morning, but….. as we had gotten an early start and we were making good time, we thought “What the heck, let’s see if we can get into the Fort tonight!” We knew our arrival would be late but waking up at Fort Wilderness beats waking up at a KOA any day. So my wife placed the call.

Tune in for the next installment to find out if she had any luck!

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

Yay! I'm so glad you're doing a TR! Your family is precious and I was so glad to see y'all again! I can't wait to hear more!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Great start Steve. You have a beautiful family!

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

:popcorn:

[Millermouseketeers MaryAnn 150]

I hope you had a great time! I look forward to the rest.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

YEAH!!!! Another trip report!!! I'm IN!!!!

[TnBob 311]

now here is a report I can read without my eys hurting keep it coming and keep it big!

[Heidi-meetsTCD@TSM 5]

My kids are 15 and 18 now, we had one year when we had 4 Disney trips in a 12 month period (we live in NH) that was a FUN year for sure!!! it gets harder as the kids get older, enjoy it while you can!!

Looking forward to reading more!!

[stefa70 205]

Steve, it's about time you wrote a trip report! (You should know by now, ALWAYS listen to the wife, we know best. )

I was bummed that we missed you over Halloween. We came by a couple of times, but no one was home, then we tried again, and you were gone!

Looking forward to the rest. :suspense:

[BuckeyeFortMama 43]

Thanks Stef (hope I am spelling it right). He needs to be reminded how intelligent I am.

I am bummed we missed you too! Would have been nice to catch up again.

[BuckeyeFortFan 35]

So, as we headed south between Columbia and Savannah, my wife placed the call to WDW reservations. The cast member was extremely helpful. She was actually able to find our reservation and then was able to confirm that we could add a night even though it was that night! Woo Hoo! And then, I told my wife “ask her if there are any passholder discounts.” She asked. Silence. More silence. And then she came back on and said “this never happens but there is a discount site available and we will need to credit you $33 when you check in.” WHAT??? Not only do we get to pull into the Fort a night early but Disney was going to pay me to do it? AWESOME!! (I know, I know…It was my money, and they were only taking a little less from me but hey…..Pixie dust is in the eye of the beholder!) We did lose half of our deposit at the KOA but we came out a little ahead in the end.

So I drove.

And drove.

And drove.

700 miles. In a crew cab truck. Three of us in the front seat and three in the back.

And then….. we were there.

Through the Disney gates. Through the MK gate. Right on Vista Boulevard and left into Fort Wilderness. It was about 10 pm. We were beat. Beat but happy. Here are the kids after we let them out of their seat belts at the front gate.

I have never checked in this late before and I expected to have to pull up to the outpost and go in to the office to check in. I was wrong. Here is the crew waiting at the check in post for us.

Only one lane was open but no one else was checking in at that time so it worked out pretty well for us.

One thing I do not worry about when going to the Fort is site assignment. I really don’t think there is a bad site there and as TCD recently taught us, sometimes the thing you think you will dislike the most about a site is what you enjoy the most. We were assigned to site 1313. Oooooooooo…spooky.

Actually it was a great site and we like the 1300 loop very much. I have also never backed into our site this late before, and I apologize to anyone near us that was awoke by the ear splitting creaks from my Equalizer weight distribution system. Here is a shot after we backed into the site. Nothing is set up and the TT is still on the truck.

And this is the way it stayed for the night. BTW, can anyone see what is wrong with this last picture? It is dark but if you direct you attention to the back of the site you will NOT see a picnic table! It took me a few minutes to realize it myself but I knew it could not have gone very far. As many of you know, those suckers are heavy! A quick survey of the sites on either side of us provided me with the answer. The site to our left contained a small travel trailer, 2 large tents, 2 dining flys and…….2 picnic tables! This surprised me a bit. I have been to state campgrounds and even private campgrounds where, if it wasn’t busy and surrounding sites were empty, we would grab an extra picnic table and bring it to our site, but it never occurred to me to do that at the Fort. I planned to go see them in the morning but within a few minutes a nice lady came over and apologized for using the table. She said our site had been empty all week and every day they considered borrowing the table, but had just decided to go through with it earlier that day. I made a quick trip to the CS while the kids got into bed and when I got back the picnic table had been returned. I then hit the sack. The plan was to set up the site in the morning and wait for Kenny to bring the cart. Then …….we would do whatever we wanted because it was like a whole extra day at the Fort!

We awoke relatively early the next day, about 7 am. We made some coffee and fed the kids some brecky. We had gotten our phone call from Kenny the night before and he was going to bring the cart by at 11 or so. I got to work stabilizing the TT, putting out the awning and hooking into water and sewer. The wife and kids put up the Halloween decorations we had brought.

After all that was done we still had time to kill before our cart arrived so we did some exploring. First, a walk to the playground at the entrance of the 1200/1300 loop.

Then it was off the Meadows Trading Post to check out the merchandise. Here is a shot of the bridge behind the trading post as we walked.

I don’t have any pics from inside the Trading Post as there was nothing new or interesting to take a pic of. Here are some shots of the scenery behind the trading post. The Bike Barn…..

The path to the dock…..

The lake towards and the foot bridge from the 600 loop. The movie screen at the campfire is visible on the right….

We then walked over to the pool area for some crafting. Here are some views as we cross the bridge towards the pool…

…..and the spray area. It was chilly, no one was in it.

No one was in the pool either.

The pavilions were local-free today!

The kids did some crafts ….

….and then we headed back to the campsite to meet Kenny and our cart. Here are some pics of the canal under the foot bridge heading towards the 1500 loop.

Now it was back to the site to wait for our Kenny Cart!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

WONDERFUL!!!!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

How great is that, you got an extra night and a bonus. Hooray for you!

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

That's Pixie Dust in my eyes too!

[pezheadval 32]

I'm enjoying your trip report. I recognize your trailer...love the Musket Mickey on it! Your sign also stood out to us as my 5 year old is randomly obsessed with Ohio and Buckeyes. lol

[stefa70 205]

Great update, beautiful pictures!!

Any time Disney says the words "credit you" it's magical to me!

How spooky that you were assigned 1313 on Halloween week?!?!

I love your Halloween sign "Welcome Fr iends with the tape over the R. Way to support! :bravo:

I'm loving this report, and can't believe you've been holding out on us all this time. (Should have listened to your INTELLIGENT wife.)

[polkadotsuitcase 12]

Such a fantastic TR so far! Your family is absolutely adorable, and yet again, I'm getting wistful for the kids' younger years. Can't wait to hear more!

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

I have been known to borrow a picnic table before. I do alway return them if some one shows up. (But it wasn't me this time). Great TR so far.. looking forward to the rest.

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Great trip report I love how we can ride along the whole way, really great pictures looking forward to more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BuckeyeFortFan 35]

Yay! I'm so glad you're doing a TR! Your family is precious and I was so glad to see y'all again! I can't wait to hear more!

Thanks Rita, it was good to see your guys too. I hope I can keep this TR rolling!

Great start Steve. You have a beautiful family!

Thank you so much :heartsmiley:

now here is a report I can read without my eys hurting keep it coming and keep it big!

If it is big it is purely by accident, but I will try!

My kids are 15 and 18 now, we had one year when we had 4 Disney trips in a 12 month period (we live in NH) that was a FUN year for sure!!! it gets harder as the kids get older, enjoy it while you can!!

Looking forward to reading more!!

Fortunately I have come to this realization before it is too late and we are trying our best to make all of this time we can, even if it kills us!

Steve, it's about time you wrote a trip report! (You should know by now, ALWAYS listen to the wife, we know best. )

I was bummed that we missed you over Halloween. We came by a couple of times, but no one was home, then we tried again, and you were gone!

Looking forward to the rest.

Did you really come by or did you dream that you did after too much punch!

Thanks Stef (hope I am spelling it right). He needs to be reminded how intelligent I am.

I am bummed we missed you too! Would have been nice to catch up again.

Hush woman!!! I am trying to do a trip report here!

How great is that, you got an extra night and a bonus. Hooray for you!

Hooray for me!

I'm enjoying your trip report. I recognize your trailer...love the Musket Mickey on it! Your sign also stood out to us as my 5 year old is randomly obsessed with Ohio and Buckeyes. lol

Your 5 year old is destined for greatness. Next time I will bring my Brutus!

Great update, beautiful pictures!!

Any time Disney says the words "credit you" it's magical to me!

How spooky that you were assigned 1313 on Halloween week?!?!

I love your Halloween sign "Welcome Friends with the tape over the R. Way to support!

I'm loving this report, and can't believe you've been holding out on us all this time. (Should have listened to your INTELLIGENT wife.)

I have to give the credit to my wife for the pumpkin sign, she was also the one who wanted to cover the R in FRIENDS. But obviously she has a superior intelligence...she married me.

Such a fantastic TR so far! Your family is absolutely adorable, and yet again, I'm getting wistful for the kids' younger years. Can't wait to hear more!

Thank you so much, more on the way soon.

[BuckeyeFortFan 35]

Kenny brought the cart by the site at about 11:30 am. I always want to get a pic of Kenny but that guy is fast! He’s there and then he’s gone! We saw him several times around the Fort during the week, but he was always moving. I don’t know if he is busy or ducking the Fort PoPo. I’m sure it’s the former but I like to imagine it’s the latter and I am part of a golf cart underground network! Anyway….here is the picture of cart #1.

I call it cart #1 because Kenny is going to trade if for a 6 person cart tomorrow! It was already booked for this day. This 4 person cart was great. Fast, clean, looked like new.

We then decided to have lunch at Whispering Canyon over at the Wilderness Lodge. We had tried it once before and it was good….similar to Trails End but they have all you can drink milkshakes. So we did a little looping on our way to the settlement bus stop. Sorry no pics from this time. I think my picture taking is proportionate to the fullness of my stomach, i.e. when I am hungry no pictures get taken. Just a theory.

We rode the bus over to the Wilderness Lodge. On our way I caught a glimpse through the trees of an older couple on a golf cart motoring on up the pathway to the Wilderness Lodge but again, no picture. Here are some pics I did take, likely after eating.

After lunch we walked down to the WL dock, checking out the pool and geyser. We then caught the resort boat back to the Fort.

And for your River Country Fanatics….

When we got to the Fort we started to walk to where we had parked the golf cart, over by the bus depot. On the way I stopped at the will call window for the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue. We had made ADR’s a week before for the 9 pm show, and I needed to pick up the tickets as well as have our Tables In Wonderland discount applied. For those of you who didn’t know, the TIW gets you 20% off of the late showing of the HDDR, which meant another credit from Disney to me! While I did that the wife and kids walked over to the TCD Ranch and saw the horses. This cast member was giving “Dave” a bath.

Dave is a Percheron, as is the Headless Horseman’s mount. We asked the fellow washing him (whose name I have forgotten, sorry) if Dave was the Horseman’s horse. It turns out he is not. Apparently Dave is quite the lazy one and not suitable for the fiery steed of Sleepy Hollow legend. The man did mention several other horses that alternate at the task of carrying the Headless Horseman, and the tone of the cast member as he discussed the horses gave me the impression that he himself may actually portray the decapitated specter at times.

We then left the ranch area and hopped back on the golf cart. We did a little more looping and I grabbed this pic for TCD….

On the 400 loop we saw dozens of these signs, I thought someone here might be familiar with the group but it looked like a large GG…

Next we stopped at the playground by the 300 loop and let the kids burn off some energy. We hoped they would get tired enough to nap before the late HDDR.

Look….a tetherball actually on its tether!

We went back to the camper after getting some delicious Nescafe at the Meadows and put the kids down for a little while. Next it was on to the HDDR. I don’t have any pics from outside of Pioneer Hall but once we sat down I got some cornbread in me and had the strength to take some!

This was our 6^th time at the HDDR. We love it and I was saddened by the change of the cast, especially the Six Bits character. A recent TCD TR had me prepared though, and sure enough….

It was Dip Shits. He did a good job, and if I had not seen the show before and had nothing to compare to he would have been great. Oh well, a la vita. My goal for the HDDR is to get my money’s worth in alcohol. It has never happened, but by gosh, I will keep trying. Here are my sangrias.

The obligatory napkin waving….

And the Straw…..Strawberry…..Strawberry Short….Strawberry Shortcake!

Our waiter, Thomas, asked the kids if they liked strawberry shortcake and DW told him they really like the whipped cream, so he brought the dish full of only whipped cream in the above picture. Awesome. Finally the washboard finale…

We then waddled, full of chicken and shortcake, back to the golf cart and drove back to the TT for bed. Tomorrow is our first day of parks and it’s AK to start us off.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Another cool day!!!! I'm gonna be at Hoop De Doo on Thursday night!! Can't wait. I haven't been since 2004 and honestly don't remember a lot of the show, so it will all be new to me!!!!

[H in SC 85]

Buckeye FF, I am really enjoying your Trip Report. Like Ol' Bob I like the large print.

Great PICS and Great story telling. Keep it coming please. :)

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

I have come to realize that I, like H and Bob, also like the big print! I have never been to HDDR, but maybe will get there one day. Kenny is a sweetie, isn't he!

[stefa70 205]

1 .Did you really come by or did you dream that you did after too much punch!

2. But obviously she has a superior intelligence...she married me.

1. Yes, I swear I came by!! No dreaming after the punch, I believe it takes brain cells to dream.

2. Even the most intelligent people can have a lapse in judgement.

I have only two comments on the latest post

1. All you can drink milkshakes? :holysheep: How did I not know that?

2. Strawberry shortcake.

(If those bowls were a bit bigger I could wallow around in that whip cream...heaven!)