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First Christmas Trip to Disney for the Buckeye Fort Family


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December 21, 2012

We typically talk about doing a trip report but when it comes down to it, we do so much in such a short time that a trip report seems like a big undertaking on the way home. We get our Disney money’s worth each and every time we make the long trip to the Fort.

But we had a great time over the busiest week of the year, so I think it’s worth sharing.

Got on the road at 7am. It was snowing when we left home.

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This trip is so different without the F-350 and fifth wheel. The main difference was having 2 drivers. BuckeyeFortMama doesn’t drive with the camper attached. The early hours of driving were tense with 40mph wind gusts and a wintery mix,

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but then we settled into the normal 800 mile drive to Disney long about the northern Virginia border.

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We did see this fancy camper permanently attached to a flatbed trailer.

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By 5:30pm we were just past Columbia, SC and wishing it were warmer than 48 degrees and the Garmin was saying 12:15am arrival.

We pulled under the Magic Kingdom gates at 12:23am I took a picture to prove it.

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Not bad time considering the Buckeye Fort Family consists of 6 people (4 of them under 9) and we didn’t have our attached bathroom for quick rest stops. The Fort was of course decorated for Christmas and the lights were on. Welcome Home…

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although not quite right since it was a cabin trip so we parked and WALKED IN to get checked in.

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Right time to use them when you've got an ECV that is too heavy to lift in and out of the truck 4-6 times a day. And ANY time I'm going to Epcot cause they serve the Orange Slushies and Peach Snap! ye

Heck yeah, you can come along! Just don't wear any NASCAR stuff. We like to give the illusion that we have some class.

:rofl2: Forget it, I'm out!

December 22, 2012

The only day we slept in on our vacation. When everyone was up we went grocery shopping at Winn-Dixie and then hit Bob Evans (we are Yankee’s and Bob Evans is an Ohio tradition-GO BUCKS). Then we had to get all the salt off the Expedition so we found a car wash.

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Back at the camper. I mean CABIN. We said that the whole trip!

We picked up our Kenny cart and hit the MK-you ain’t there until you’ve seen the castle. Here we are on the dock-just another piece of each vacation that feels like HOME!

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It was late in the day so we went straight for the barber shop to get the boys haircuts.

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The 2yr old fell asleep in the chair and the rest of the family watched the Christmas parade.

We grabbed new sorcerer’s cards and little mermaid fast passes and then went to the laugh floor, rode the people mover then headed for dinner at the Harbor House. We went to the castle forcourt for the “Celebrate the Seasons” show after dinner than headed to Gaston’s tavern for hot cocoa and a cinnamon roll

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and met the man himself while we waited for little mermaid fp’s to come valid.

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We rode The Little Mermaid ride and then headed for the boat dock and back to the fort. It was about 9 pm and the MSEP was going down Main Street on our way out.

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December 23, 2012

On Sunday we kind of slept in again but Buckeye Fort Fan and the kids went to the MK by 9 or so to ride BTMRR a few times ( it’s the kids favorite), eat a crummy lunch at the Tortuga Tavern and play sorcerers. Buckeye Fort Mama and ‘the baby’ stayed at the fort for a down day-

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enjoying pizza and chocolate milk at Davy Crockets as a reward for setting up the Fort Fan’s sign and Brutus. It was a surprise for him when he got home from the MK with the kids.

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I just have to say, I love the attention to detail in the Christmas decorations all over WDW. The fort decorations with the bandana bows and frontier theme are some of my favorite, but I may be a little bias.

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Our friends flew in late that afternoon. We met them at Downtown Disney so we could get their tickets and we had dinner at Ragland Road and then home to rest up for the early morning rope drop the next day.

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I'm in and loving it!!

Love the snow pic, that's the beauty of it before the heavy, dirty, slushy stuff.

My boys dug the old camper. We're used to that kind of thing around here. :)

The 2 yr old sleeping in the barber chair is priceless!

More please...

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December 24, 2012-Christmas Eve

Headed to the dock at 6:15, ours were the first two golf carts at the dock.

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It was cold and dark, but everyone was ready for the big day. 5:15 wake up most days in order to OWN the park for a few hours---so worth it!

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We watched, danced (at least the kids) and sang along with the Casey Jr opening as the sun came up. Then we walked on Barnstormer

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AND (deep breath)

Dumbo, Buzz, Winnie the Pooh, the Carousel, Small World, Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise, Aladdin and Pirates. We also picked up FP for Peter Pan, Little Mermaid and BTM during all that. Our little ones were on a mission to ride, ride, ride.

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And yes our little man knows the parks like the back of his hand but always insists on a map.

We didn’t need our PP FP’s but we used our LM and BTM FP’s before lunch. We changed the 4 girls in our party into their princess costumes so we could enjoy our Cinderella Lunch.

I’ll save you most of the princess details.

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We had a ball during lunch and got Ariel talking all about seaweed food (a little reminiscent of the Shrimp scene in Forest Gump-she just kept going on and on).

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By the time we got out of lunch the park was BUSY. We left the castle and headed for Tomorrowland to ride the people mover. We had to stop and watch the stilt guys at the dance party do Gagnum Style. It was awesome, those guys amaze me!

Then we did the laugh floor. Two of our girls got their joke read by Marty, and then they were picked to help Marty tell another joke and he realized he had just had told their joke. It was a cute Disney moment.

We ended up in frontier land for the 3:30 Christmas parade across from the Diamond Horseshoe.

After the parade we walked right into Phil-har-magic after fighting the throngs of people between Frontierland and Fantasyland. We had a Belle in her village dress so we just had to meet Gaston again. He said she had the Belle scowl down pat, to which our Belle replied of course...

“Gaston-you are perfectly primeval.”

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*****EXCESSIVE PICTURE WARNING******

-I totally blame TCD

-you will soon understand why

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We checked into Be Our Guest and listened to all the people (mostly foreigners) trying to get a table on stand-by. The best wait we heard was a 90 minute one. The guy in front of us asked “Well, when can we get a reservation?” He was told they are booked until June.

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You weren’t allowed on the bridge unless you were holding your pager.

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The restaurant was awesome. We were in the West Wing (much to the dismay of our girls), right in front of the fireplace.

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The kids hated it.

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Thunder and lightning kept going off every 10-15 minutes that would transform the picture of the prince into a beast. Buckeye Fort Mama loved the folded napkins that looked like roses.

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The food was great, but the Grey Stuff indeed was delicious.

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TCD BE OUR GUEST CHALLENGE

TCD-THIS IS FOR YOU- Courtesy of Buckeye Fort Fan

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WHEW!!!

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I'm in!

Thanks DaveInTN for giving this newbie the nod! I see your sign a lot when we are down at the Fort!

Can't wait to read more!

I'm trying to get more on and you know.....work and take care of this crazy family of mine.

Cool! Me too!

Seriously??? We're married. You were there!!!! You drank THE BEERS I took pictures of!!!!

I'm in too! Looking forward to more!

Thanks for the support

Great start, I am in!

Wow, that was a long driving day for you but good for you doing it all in one day.

We have those kids conditioned, they are just like us when it comes to getting to the FORT! Normally one of them is jammed between us in the front seat. They were riding first class this trip so there was NO complaining.

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Great start!

Loved the trailer on the flatbed. Genius!

TCD

:yaysmilesa-smiley: :yaysmilesa-smiley:

TCD IS READING MY TRIP REPORT!!!!!

I'm here and reading along!

Thanks for checking my report out. I hope I don't disappoint!

I'm in and loving it!!

Love the snow pic, that's the beauty of it before the heavy, dirty, slushy stuff.

My boys dug the old camper. We're used to that kind of thing around here. :)

The 2 yr old sleeping in the barber chair is priceless!

More please...

You betcha!

Love seeing this trip report for 3 reasons....

1. Love seeing the christmas point of view

2. Love seeing a cabin trip

3.Love seeing families with little ones :)

The cabin part of this trip was different. Way different!!! But I'm not regretting it now that we are home and my camper is still salt-free in the barn.

I'm in! Love the picture of DS falling asleep during his haircut. Priceless!

He normally fights his haircuts, but you know DISNEY MAGIC!

I am in! Irish/Wolverines fan looking forward to more Buckeye reporting!

Thanks for your support. BTW...An Irish/Wolverine is a mythical creature, in the same category as a Buckeye/Wolverine.

Wow! The BOG beer grand slam.

We're not worthy!

We're not worthy!

In the word's of the immortal Alice Cooper.....You're worthy, You're worthy.

Wow!! on the beer!!!

We really enjoyed the West Wing, sorry the kids didn't like it.

I had 2 girls that wanted the ballroom. The boys were indifferent. The thunder got to be a little too much at times. Maybe I should have taken the BOG TCD Beer Challenge and the loud thunder wouldn't have bothered me either.

Page one!! Yippee!

Wow, you do a lot in a day! Quite impressive given all of the little legs that have to move around the parks.

As for the challenge - well done!!

I burped just from looking at all that beer!

You're excused!

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