I live at Disney World. February 2016 edition.

[ependydad...Doug 176]

(We'll ignore that I just left that last trip report hanging...)

When we drove away from our house on June 19, we had no idea that we thought we'd do this long term. Fast foward by 8 months and we've started the residency process in Florida and have established life on the road. The fun side of this is being able to live at some crazy places. How many people can legitimately say that "Disney World" and "Fort Wilderness" are their home? Well, for 2 weeks- this is true for us. Our home is parked at the Fort and therefore, we live at Disney World. Boom.

This visit is split into 2 separate parts- the first week, we're here vacationing. I took off of work and we enjoyed the parks. The second week, starting today- I'm back to work and tomorrow I take my wife in for surgery to remove vocal chord polyps. To make it very real, we had my monster-in-law come down to help out with my wife + kids during recovery. :D

So, on with the TR. After our last stay of a week, I decided that I didn't want to do the Fort again without a golf cart. So, first things first after getting parked- I went and fetched that from Tee Time Golf Carts:

We opted for a 6-person cart as we weren't sure where our big stroller would go and we knew we would have friends near us who were also doing the Princess 5K. Turns out, I'm really glad that we did as we have a wheel chair and stroller and had way too many people on the golf cart. But, here she is:

Here is our site (#862). Nicely private vegetation between sites and not a whole lot behind us. Not bad for not making any requests other than wanting to be near friends:

We did a little more setup and my wife tried unsuccessfully to cut my son's hair. He's a squirmy one and it was ending in tears (wife's not the boy's). I convinced them both to let the barbers cut it. We drove to the marina and hopped onto a boat. Our first view of the castle made me a little sad- the crane is back.

Oh well. Hard to complain about something so insignificant when at Disney World. Besides, shaggy boy needed a haircut!

Only Disney is allowed to spike his hair up (his words).

As soon as that was done, we headed back to the camper as we had errands to run.

Love the short boat ride and the golf cart is just so danged convenient.

We spotted our first turkeys:

Our lights looked pretty pretty:

Since we were camping with friends, I setup the patio for hanging out and visiting:

Our friends got in next to us and they were chomping at the bit to go into Magic Kingdom. Through the craziness of life, we didn't get over there until after 10pm. The park was only open until 11, but we played while we could. Here's the train station:

We got there right as the MSEP was happening. This is literally my only picture from it.

Our friends had a mess with their payment plan annual passes. She figured things out, but we ended up with time for just 1 ride. Everyone wanted to ride Space Mountain, but by my figuring- we could ride Buzz Lightyear first and then still get in line before they shut it down for SM. Longest story shortest, it worked- but it almost didn't because my daughter's back in a wheelchair (same foot issues as always) and they sent us down that queue.

Friend and her youngest:

No pictures from Space Mountain as we were hoofing it to make it. We also had a major meltdown because my son wasn't big enough to ride it. Turns out- the ride requirements for Disneyland's Space Mountain are different than Disney World's Space Mountain. That mistake cost me a light-up sword (which then turned into Mickey ears for Mom and a light-up magic wand for daughter).

On our way out, a grounds keeper/janitorial CM (what do they go by?) was doing a water drawing. The littlest one couldn't see well enough, so I put her up on my shoulder:

That wrapped up our whirlwind first day.

The next morning, we had plans for breakfast at the Cape May Cafe. Hating resort-to-resort transportation, we opted for a taxi. Since there are 9 of us, they told us that we had to go in 2 groups. We've since have been told to tell them that there are 7 of us and just double-stack a kid or two. Interesting cab fares- wife's van cost her $16; my van cost me $22; and a later return trip for our friend costed $13. Doesn't make any sense.

Anyway, here are her boys. The Duffey Bear is my son's- the oldest teen was holding it to be helpful. So, like the good guy I am- I made him pose with it:

I made sure to stick with just healthy vegetables (if pigs and cows eat their veggies, that means I'm eating veggies when I eat them- right?):

The kids liked meeting the characters:

T2 is 12 and won't admit how much he likes Donald Duck, but this was a huge deal for him. He was very pleased:

Goofy visited.

Mom is a fairly new single Mom with the 4 kids. On top of that, she's a primary owner/worker with her Dad's trucking company. A mess happened and she had to go back to her camper to find some papers. We took her kids to Epcot with us and had her catch up later. You all with big families- I don't know how you do it! We had 6 and it felt like almost orderly chaos the whole time.

Waiting on the boat:

I think was actually the first time I ever came into Epcot from that back entrance. We meandered a bit and came across Alice. She did a great job with the kids. I love when the characters can talk and interact.

We stopped in a store where I was doing my best to keep the kids laughing (they were bummed out by Mom not being with us):

My boy loves everything about Star Wars.

His request was to ride the big ball. The kids had been to Epcot but never rode it before.

We made our way to the Disney/Chase character meet and greet where we met Mickey and Goofy but I'll jump into that later as I'm at my picture count.

 

 

[Ivy 36]

Wishing your wife well in surgery and hope she has a smooth recovery.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

5 minutes ago, Ivy said:

Wishing your wife well in surgery and hope she has a smooth recovery.

Same here!

[ependydad...Doug 176]

1 hour ago, Ivy said:

Wishing your wife well in surgery and hope she has a smooth recovery.

 

1 hour ago, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

Same here!

 

Thanks to both- tomorrow is the big day. She has come down with a cold, so we are hoping that they'll still go through with it. This is the second time she's had this surgery, so we're a little "at ease" about it. But, it's never fun to go through...

[keith_h 420]

Hope things go well tomorrow.

I like your title. You might want to copyright or trademark it so Disney has to pay you if they ever try to purloin it.

As far as shaggy boy needs a hair cut. This from the Dad who has a pony tail? 

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Hope things go well tomorrow.

I like your title. You might want to copyright or trademark it so Disney has to pay you if they ever try to purloin it.

As far as shaggy boy needs a hair cut. This from the Dad who has a pony tail? 

I'll let Disney have this one. They gave my family a free FastPass to 7-Dwarves for today (you know, after renewing 3 annual passes and buying 2 new ones). I figure we are square. :)

And yep- shaggy boy. He actually doesn't like it long and wants it cut. When we finally cut it, I'm all for as short as possible. Mom vetoed me since we had family portraits done on Thursday.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Why is it... that no matter how many times I've been to WDW and The Fort, pictures of these places always make me happy??!   :)

Hopefully one of these trips, we'll catch up with y'all!  If you make it back to Stone Mountain... let me know!

[ependydad...Doug 176]

6 hours ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Why is it... that no matter how many times I've been to WDW and The Fort, pictures of these places always make me happy??!   :)

Hopefully one of these trips, we'll catch up with y'all!  If you make it back to Stone Mountain... let me know!

Hopefully we can get together! We are headed north around the beginning of April but don't have a plan figured out just yet.

--

An update on my wife- she is done with surgery. She is still asleep and needs to wake up, but the doc said that things went well. Now she needs to recover, get over the pain, and get her voice back!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

49 minutes ago, ependydad...Doug said:

An update on my wife- she is done with surgery. She is still asleep and needs to wake up, but the doc said that things went well. Now she needs to recover, get over the pain, and get her voice back!

Thank you for the update!

[Beckers 1,136]

Hope she's resting back at the fort! Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Great pictures especially the awning one with the classic OC supports. Glad to hear the wife is doing well.

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Thank you for the update!

Thanks for looking for it. :)

Hope she's resting back at the fort! Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Yep, back home under the care of her mom. I'm off getting prescriptions filled.

Great pictures especially the awning one with the classic OC supports. Glad to hear the wife is doing well.

I do love them dang things! I've actually sold a couple of friends on them and they've bought from Turbs.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

You're off to a great start!

The apron pic is cute. 

Glad your wife is recovering.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

Glad to hear the surgery went well.

So you have friends besides us here? Does your friend know about all of us or do you try to hide that part of your life?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[ependydad...Doug 176]

You're off to a great start!

The apron pic is cute. 

Glad your wife is recovering.

That picture- man, I look as bat-crap crazy as they come!

Glad to hear the surgery went well.

So you have friends besides us here? Does your friend know about all of us or do you try to hide that part of your life?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

It's kind of like mistresses - each one has to know she's not the only, but it's best to keep the world's separate!

We mostly have new friends- those other crazy Fulltime Families. At least they're the friends who end up camping places with us. :)

[Ivy 36]

6 hours ago, ependydad...Doug said:

 

 

Yep, back home under the care of her mom. I'm off getting prescriptions filled.

 

 

I am glad that surgery went well, and hope she is back to enjoying Disney soon!

[dblr....Rennie 224]

I agree with you Doug on the awning mod, my brackets are from OC and the poles from Turb, I like that Turbs can have them powder coat, I did see that OC is making more but not shipping.

[ependydad...Doug 176]

I am glad that surgery went well, and hope she is back to enjoying Disney soon!

Thanks!

[Helmsey......Todd 134]

21 hours ago, ependydad...Doug said:

Now she needs to recover, get over the pain, and get her voice back!

Glad things went well for her but be careful what you wish for!! 

[keith_h 420]

Good to hear the surgery went well.

[ependydad...Doug 176]

21 hours ago, Helmsey......Todd said:

Glad things went well for her but be careful what you wish for!! 

Ha! It's a lot better than the pointing and big eyes that I'm getting now. We are texting a lot and are very thankful that we just started homeschooling the kid on sign language.

20 hours ago, keith_h said:

Good to hear the surgery went well.

Thanks. She's doing alright, but is still in a bit of pain from the breathing tube the anesthesia doctor used.

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Thanks everyone for reading. :)

Being a Disney Chase cardholder has a the perk of a meet and greet at Epcot. Today was the big man himself and the Goofinator.

It's fun to catch him so excited. I missed the cause, but if I recall- he poked Mickey's belly and Mickey poked his back. This picture is right before he came over to tell us about it.

And akin to DIT's Anna honking Ariel's shells... little man grabbed a little handful... (or so it looks)

Even the big kids got in on the fun:

All 6 kids. It became fun for me to loudly announce to the kids that "I don't know what yo momma told you, but I'm nacho daddy."

We then had FP to Figment. I've NEVER (NEVER EVER NEVER) seen a line this long for Figment. Both lines were super backed up.

I had to laugh at the boys. They got a car together and couldn't have been further apart. After the picture, T1 in red slid fully to the right.

It's a family thing, what can I say?

I loved how our 2 families mixed and mingled. There was never an "us vs. them" or even factions of kids that split off from the others. Everyone got along (even the brothers who constantly picked on each other). AND- given the crowded line, the Imageworks area was remarkably not busy.

Back outside, we stopped for a picture. Getting 6 kids to look and focus was no easy feat. I like this one where they weren't entirely ready...

Fountains:

I offered the kids $1 each if they tried Beverly. The two older boys and youngest girl were all over it. The other 2 girls wanted nothing to do with it (my friend's older daughter and my daughter). My son did it to be part of the group. Watch the video..

The sad part is that a late teen autistic kid came in shortly after us. He was around at one of the other machines and tried something that almost instantly triggered his gag reflex. Poor guy threw up on the machine and floor. I notified a pair of cast members and herded my group out.

We made our way to the Living Pavillion and road the boat ride (the Land?). It was a walk-on with no delay.

I need to learn more about Peanut Butter Trees.

We ate lunch there and our friend finally caught back up with us. Poor lady was stuck in her house all day doing invoicing and crap.

We made our way to Test Track which everyone loved. Building a car really is a time suck, but the kids enjoyed it.

Major negotiating between Mom, son, and sister.

Afterwards, we let the kids climb around the cars.

We tried wrapping up our night just prior to the fireworks as we were trying to stay ahead of the crowds and the kids wanted to ride the Monorail. Anyway, walking out...

Coming back around into Epcot, we caught the fireworks from the Monorail. The driver slowed way down so that we could watch them.

A little bit later, we ended up on the bus. The littles wanted to sit on my friend's lap.

We learned an important lesson in the golf cart. While we were plugging it in, there's an extra step with this 6-seater that you have to plug the charger in the back to a plug up in front. We were definitely in the danger zone riding back that night.

Thursday morning, we had photo sessions planned with Magical Pix by Candi Clark. We coordinated a group rate with her since we had a few Fulltime Families there at the Fort. It ended up being just 3 families who did it. But, I'm really excited to see the pictures from her.

Here's the boy with his one on one part:

Here's the girl:

Hibiscus, I think:

I hesitate to post this as I still have my rental. But, I can tell you that you can fit 9 people (with 3-5 of them being small-ish), a stroller, and a wheel chair on a 6-person golf cart.

Our destination was Hollywood Studios but I'm about at picture limit so I'll follow-up with that later.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

On 2/23/2016 at 3:41 PM, ependydad...Doug said:

Hopefully we can get together! We are headed north around the beginning of April but don't have a plan figured out just yet.

--

An update on my wife- she is done with surgery. She is still asleep and needs to wake up, but the doc said that things went well. Now she needs to recover, get over the pain, and get her voice back!

If you end up my way... let me know!  We're at SM, the weekend of April 29th.  Unfortunately we'll miss you at The Fort; we're there mid-April.

Glad the surgery went well.  Make sure she stays ahead of the pain and take those pain medications... you never want to try and catch-up.  It's better to just drug up the first couple of days and then cut back and try to handle the pain. 

 

[ependydad...Doug 176]

21 minutes ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

If you end up my way... let me know!  We're at SM, the weekend of April 29th.  Unfortunately we'll miss you at The Fort; we're there mid-April.

Glad the surgery went well.  Make sure she stays ahead of the pain and take those pain medications... you never want to try and catch-up.  It's better to just drug up the first couple of days and then cut back and try to handle the pain. 

 

Message me with when "mid-April" is. There's talk about us possibly spending a week either at the Fort or down at TT Orlando in early April (5-12). We haven't finalized plans yet, though.

[Helmsey......Todd 134]

The best quote from that video: "it's terrible.....go for it!" That had me cracking up!