sherryberry 35 Posted May 2, 2014 Report Share Posted May 2, 2014 I know a lot of people here have been visiting the Fort for a long time. Last year was our first time staying at the Fort - we enjoyed it so much, we decided to do it again this year! We were on site 1729 last year, and really liked being there. We were close to the comfort station, and the site worked really well for our tent. We faxed a request and asked for that particular site again, but were assigned site 1725. The site we wanted was empty, but this site looked like it would accommodate our tent nicely. We decided to just stick with it. So, here we are. I'll give you a little bit of background on us. We are Vacation Club members and head to Disney about three times a year, from Braselton, Georgia. We've always been interested in trying to camp (especially at Disney), so we decided to finally give it a shot. We hope to camp at least once a year, if not more. We have two poodles, both about eight years old. We got Buzz at the animal shelter in Dahlonega, Georgia and Dakota was rescued by some friends of ours - they ended up needing to find her a new home, so they approached us. Buzz and Dakota go to Disney with us and stay at Best Friends pet resort - we try to go by and play with them every day. Here's Buzz and Dakota: Now, on to the trip! We left on Wednesday morning very early. We set the alarm for 1:30, but ended up snoozing until 2:00. We were tired - we didn't go to bed until about 11:00 the night before. Tuesday was my sister's birthday, so we had joined her and some friends for a late lunch. When we got home from that, we immediately started loading our vehicle. It didn't take us that long to load the car - we had some packing that we were trying to finish up as well. We had originally planned on taking our truck, but we think it might need a new thermostat (and didn't have time to get it done before vacation), so we had to load the Durango instead. That was a challenge! We folded down the second and third rows, and had that whole area stacked all the way to the top! I was pretty sure I was going to have a panic attack because everything didn't look like it would fit. We managed to get everything we needed into the car, and called it a night. We went ahead and took showers and packed all of our toiletries, so they were ready to go in the morning. After three hours of sleep, we got up and grabbed our last few bags and crammed them in the car. We got our pups in the car and hit the road. We went down one exit and went to the bank, got gas, and grabbed some breakfast at McDonald's. After that, we didn't stop again until we were at the Florida welcome center. We took turns running to the bathroom and then walked the dogs for a bit. We left the welcome center and drove all the way to the Best Friends resort. After the dogs were checked in, we went to the Fort and got our Magic Bands, keys to get in the bathrooms, and the information packet. This was around noon. We pulled up to site 1725 and contemplated asking to be changed over to 1729. After Kenneth scoped things out, he decided that the tent may work better on this site. We started unloading the gazebo and tent because we wanted those to be set up first, in case it started raining later. We got the tent and gazebo up, and then we put the rainfly on the tent and a tarp on the gazebo. At this point we were really tired and needed a snack, so we ate some crackers and okra pickles and then sat under the gazebo for a while. We were getting really comfortable, so we set the alarm on our phone so we could take a little nap and then get up to finish setting up camp. While we lay in our chairs, under the gazebo, it started to rain lightly. Next thing we know a really nasty storm was upon us. It came so quick! We had our tent staked down, but hadn't attached any guy lines to it yet. One side of the tent was being pushed in by the wind. It was pretty scary - I was sure that was it for our tent and gazebo. It got so bad, we ended up having to sit in the car for a while. After everything settled down, we got the rope out and started staking out some lines. This was our site on our first day: Very simple - just the basics. Since we had someplace to sleep, we made a run to Walmart to get a few groceries and anything we may have forgotten to pack. We weren't there very long and when we got in the car to come back to the Fort, I started to get really sick. I was getting worse and worse. Kenneth ended up stopping the car to get me a ginger ale out of the cooler. When we got back to the tent, I had to lay down - I was done at this point. I couldn't eat anything that night and I just couldn't do anything else. I think lack of sleep, stress, and getting wet from the storm earlier had just really wore me down. That was it for day one - I was done. I think we ended up going to bed at 8:00 that night. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
momof3kids-Yvonne 595 Posted May 2, 2014 Report Share Posted May 2, 2014 I'm in on this one too! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beckers 1,136 Posted May 2, 2014 Report Share Posted May 2, 2014 I'm in and hoping your illness was short lived! Lack of sleep and stress don't do my belly well either. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sherryberry 35 Posted May 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 Yesterday, we ended up waking up at 4:00 in the morning. We went to the comfort station to get our showers before it started to get busy. We made some coffee in the tent, and tried to plan our day. Magic Kingdom opened early for extra magic hours, so we got on the boat to head that way. We went to guest relations to pick up our premium annual passes and Tables in Wonderland card. We didn't even go into the park - we had other plans. We walked to the Contemporary, for breakfast at the Wave. This is one of our favorite breakfasts on property. We go here for the buffet because we just LOVE some of the items offered - bread pudding, sweet potato pancakes, cheese grits (these are soooo good), and biscuits and gravy. After breakfast, we came back to the Fort and worked on our campsite a little bit more. Cleaned up the tent and spruced up the gazebo area. We also needed some more ice for our cooler, but the ice machine at the 1700/1900 loop comfort station was out of order. We checked the 1600 comfort station, since it was close. This sign was on it: See how it says to go to 1700/1900 for ice? That's not gonna work. We drove to the comfort station on the 1500 loop and it looked like it was working. We got our bag ready, put our money in and.....nothing. I was pissed. I hit the machine and stomped over to the phone. I called the front desk, I think, and told the lady that our ice machine didn't work and that 1600 doesn't work (and refers us back to our comfort station) and now this ice machine stole our money! She asked me if the machine was out of ice. I asked her how I could tell and she said she didn't know, so I told her that I have no idea. When I was put on hold, I told Kenneth that I'll just suggest to her that someone just bring us some ice. When she got back on the line, that's exactly what she said they would do. We ended up having 20 pounds of ice delivered to our campsite! Now that we had the campsite a little more organized, it was time to play. We headed over to the Magic Kingdom. I had booked us some fastpasses but I don't think we used a single one. We rode the peoplemover (one of our favorites) and the speedway. We went to the Columbia Harbor House for dinner. Kenneth and I both had the broccoli peppercorn salad. When we left the Magic Kingdom, we discussed getting the dogs and bringing them to the campsite. So, that's what we did! We had set up some lights under the gazebo, but they attracted so many bugs. We ended up sitting under the gazebo with Buzz and Dakota, by the light of a single flashlight. When we started to get sleepy, we took the pups into the tent and we all got settled into bed - just like being at home. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sherryberry 35 Posted May 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 I'm in on this one too! Thanks for reading along! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sherryberry 35 Posted May 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 I'm in and hoping your illness was short lived! Lack of sleep and stress don't do my belly well either. Thank you! I was much better the next day. I guess I just needed a good night of sleep! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beckers 1,136 Posted May 3, 2014 Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 I would have been mad about the ice too. I'm glad they made it right!I am going to look up the wave, I have heard a lot about it but never have been. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Big Kahuna aka John 71 Posted May 3, 2014 Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 In on one !!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799 Posted May 3, 2014 Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 I'm in! Hoping that your illness was short and there is better weather ahead! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
momof3kids-Yvonne 595 Posted May 3, 2014 Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 Sounds like a great first day at the Fort. Well except for all the trouble you had to go through to get some ice. Glad it ended up working out for you. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveInTN 3,247 Posted May 3, 2014 Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 I'm glad you felt better on day 2. Looking forward to reading more.....and glad to see some pood forn!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Katman1356...Jason 1,140 Posted May 3, 2014 Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 I am reading along as well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sherryberry 35 Posted May 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 I would have been mad about the ice too. I'm glad they made it right! I am going to look up the wave, I have heard a lot about it but never have been. I prefer breakfast over any other meal at the Wave. Went for lunch one day and I wasn't too impressed. In on one !!! Yay! Page one! :D I'm in! Hoping that your illness was short and there is better weather ahead! Thanks, feeling much better! About the weather.... Sounds like a great first day at the Fort. Well except for all the trouble you had to go through to get some ice. Glad it ended up working out for you. I'm glad the ice ended up working out too. We got 20 pounds of ice for $2! What a deal! I'm glad you felt better on day 2. Looking forward to reading more.....and glad to see some pood forn!! More food pictures coming! When I travel with my sister, it's bad.....we're like, "No one touch your food until we get pictures!" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sherryberry 35 Posted May 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 I am reading along as well. Thanks for reading along! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jmaul 65 Posted May 3, 2014 Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 Yesterday, we ended up waking up at 4:00 in the morning. A 4am start? I need you to talk to the other 3/4 of my family on how to do this. Sucks about the ice. We had no problems in the 800 loop while we were there. Score on the 'home delivery' tho. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sherryberry 35 Posted May 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 This morning, we got a later start than we planned. Since we had the dogs in the tent with us, we had to take turns going to the showers. Once we were cleaned up and dressed, we walked the dogs and then took them back to Best Friends. We tend to keep an eye on the weather forecasts when we're on vacation and we knew that it was supposed to rain a lot today. Because of that, we signed the dogs up for Stay and Play (a four-hour playgroup with other dogs). Best Friends has webcams in the play areas so we can watch the dogs in their playgroup. While we were at lunch, we think we found them (they're hard to find - Buzz is 9 pounds and Dakota is 6 pounds). In this screenshot, we think that's Dakota on the dogbed, in the corner. Buzz is on the right. After getting everything squared away at the kennel, we headed back to our campsite for breakfast. We had coffee and Frosted Flakes. We relaxed for a while and then left to go to the Magic Kingdom. We had a fastpass for Thunder Mountain from 9:25-10:25. We walked up to our bus stop at 9:45. I didn't realize it was that late! We were going to have to hustle to make our fastpass time. We walked into the Magic Kingdom at 10:17. We did a little bit of running and a little bit of speed-walking, while dodging between people. We got in line right at 10:25. It took us four minutes to get up to where we scan our bands. We were in! Four minutes late, but it was okay. Peter Pan was our next fastpass, but we still had a little bit of time. We ducked into Small World because it had a posted time of 20 minutes. We planned on meeting some friends, who just happened to be here this same week, sometime today. We knew they were on their way. When we came out of Small World, they were right there waiting on us. It was time for our Peter Pan fastpass, but we headed over to Gaston's and had some LeFou's brew with them and talked (while it poured down rain outside). After talking for a while, we parted ways (we could still use our fastpass and they had fastpasses for Hollywood Studios). The rain was really coming down at this point. We don't do ponchos - we carry around those big golf umbrellas. They keep us dry for the most part, but our feet were soaked! Our last fastpass was for Space Mountain. We rode that after a ride on the peoplemover. When waiting in the fastpass line, the weather really started to get bad. I was glad to get into Space Mountain! After Space Mountain, we were just trying to figure out our next move. We were getting hungry, but knew it would be tough to get seated in the Magic Kingdom. The park was pretty crowded, which surprised me considering the crappy weather. We discussed some of the different sit-down restaurants on the monorail and ended up picking Kona Cafe, at the Polynesian. This was a great meal. We started with the pork buns appetizer: Kenneth and I both ordered steak with teriyaki and pineapple salsa: For dessert, I had the chocolate banana creme brûlée: Kenneth had the Kilauea torte: Excellent meal! We were exhausted after eating and planned on going back to the tent to just be lazy. We walk out to the monorail station and find out that the monorail was not running. According to the cast member there, they had to shut off power to repair a chain that had broken (when they were trying to add another train to the line). There was no telling how long it would take. We walked out to the boat dock at the Polynesian to ride over to the Magic Kingdom and then we caught the boat to the Fort. We've been hanging out in the tent since we got back (we left Kona around 4:00). We just got in from chilling under the gazebo. When we went out to the gazebo earlier, I reached up into the corner to grab the plug for the lights. My hand touched something and a bird flew out of there - scared the poop out of me! Our original plan for tomorrow was going to be Animal Kingdom, but we don't want to go when it's raining (looking at the forecast, it's going to be ugly). I went in to the Disney app and changed the fastpasses over to epcot. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveInTN 3,247 Posted May 3, 2014 Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 Mmmm....creme brulee. I haven't had that in a long time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sherryberry 35 Posted May 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 Yesterday, we ended up waking up at 4:00 in the morning. A 4am start? I need you to talk to the other 3/4 of my family on how to do this. Sucks about the ice. We had no problems in the 800 loop while we were there. Score on the 'home delivery' tho. A 4:00 start is not the norm for us! Even though it was good to get started early, that won't happen often. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sherryberry 35 Posted May 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 Mmmm....creme brulee. I haven't had that in a long time. And this is my favorite creme brûlée at Disney! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beckers 1,136 Posted May 3, 2014 Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 Mmmm....creme brulee. I haven't had that in a long time.I don't think I have ever had it Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799 Posted May 3, 2014 Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 I love good creme brûlée, and that looks divine! Sorry about the weather.Our last trip to the Fort was a rainy one. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Big Kahuna aka John 71 Posted May 3, 2014 Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 Nice set up and love the pups... Weather is always better at Disney than at home regardless what is doing. Someone needs to call Jose and get the ice machines working.. :rofl3: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sherryberry 35 Posted May 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 Mmmm....creme brulee. I haven't had that in a long time. I don't think I have ever had it Oh, it's great! There's a layer of chocolate under the custard! I love good creme brûlée, and that looks divine! Sorry about the weather. Our last trip to the Fort was a rainy one. We try to make the best of the weather. We just get out there in it. :) The best part about all of this rain - it's comfortable in the tent, even in the middle of the afternoon. Nice set up and love the pups... Weather is always better at Disney than at home regardless what is doing. Someone needs to call Jose and get the ice machines working.. :rofl3: Thanks! We'll definitely take a rainy day at Disney over a sunny day at home! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547 Posted May 3, 2014 Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 I'm in! Hope the weather cleared up for you and you didn't get sick again. That salad at CHH looks terrific. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dvccamper 32 Posted May 3, 2014 Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 Sorry to hear you started off to a bumpy start but it sounds like you are settling in and having some fun. I love that picture of the dogs at Best Friends with Dakota just chillin in the corner, so cute! Disney trips are even exhausting for them!We love Kona Cafe, we always have a good meal there. Any updates on how the construction is going there?Have fun! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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