DaveInTN 3,247 Posted January 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 Ok, thanks again for the prayers, everyone. They are working, because my blood pressure has come back up today and I feel a bit better. In fact, I feel up to writing an update....so let's do that! When I last posted, I left off with a teaser about us enjoying the 3 P's of Fort life. So...what are the 3 P's?? Well, for us, those would be Playgrounds, Pool, and Pina Coladas!! INC had gotten into the Fort late on Saturday night (or technically very early Sunday morning), so we spent a lazy Sunday morning drinking coffee at the campsite. Elsa....I mean, Anna....swept the pad for us. Of course, it wasn't too long before Anna was asking to go to the playground. And since 100 is so close to the Settlement playground, that's where we went. Elsa...I mean, Anna...got in some good old swinging time. Stella enjoyed the freedom that comes with getting a bit older and possessing your very own refillable mug. Life is good for a 12 year old at the Fort! And INC and I were enjoying a beautiful, blue skied fall day....soaking up the rays, the sounds of boat whistles, and the background ambiance of folks walking to the marina, waiting for Trails End reservations, and zipping around in their golf carts. And when I said Blue Skies....I meant it. Check out that color!! We hung out for a while, and then we decided to go to the pool to check out a Bingo game that had been listed in the Activities schedule. We've previously enjoyed playing Bingo at the campfire area, or the picnic tables at the Meadows, so we thought this would be a good time. We headed toward the pool on our cart, and saw BPG hard at work at the 500 loop bus stop. We got to the pool a bit early, so just hung out for a while. It was a somewhat cool day, so the pool was dead. Anna decided to do what she always does....make new friends. When it got close to Bingo time, I asked someone where they were doing the Bingo game. They pointed to the activities area at the pool where they do all the kids activities, like dance contests and such. No tables...you just got a bingo card from an activities CM and they did the game right there. Which meant, it was geared toward kids. Which also meant, there were MANY false Bingo callings by kids who were either trying to be funny, or didn't know how to play. And it also meant, the prizes were the same crappy prizes they give during all the pool activities. In previous years, they've had some really good prizes like Disney board games, bluetooth speakers, and the like. Today, the prizes resembled the crap you get at a Chuck E Cheese when you cash in your skee ball tickets. Lame. And obnoxious. But the kids enjoyed it, which is the point I guess. Later that day, we decided that it was a nice day to head to the Boardwalk and wander around. Well, we actually had an ulterior motive for going in that direction. We had a dinner ADR at Beaches and Cream! So we bused over to DHS, and walked the pathway from there to the Boardwalk. At the Boardwalk, we came upon a bar, and a drink sounded good. And since oldest DD is of age, she got to partake too. I ordered a Pina Colada, and a gold Margarita. They were actually fairly strong, considering it was Disney. Someone felt left out. LOL. We made our way over to the Beach Club, and still had some time to kill, so we checked out the Christmas decorations. We headed back outside to the B&C podium and checked in. I was a little worried, as our ADR was for 8 people since I expected Gwen and Caleb to be with us. I had not had any luck reducing the size of the reservation before arriving. But I check in and said we only had 6 people, and it was no issue. Considering the size of the restaurant, and the tiny tables they push together for larger parties, I imagine they were fine with it. That left an extra table to give to someone else. We were, of course, planning on having a kitchen sink. But we also wanted dinner, so that came first. Some posing and faces were made. I always tell the kids...if you make a face, I am going to post it anyways. LOL. I don't have any pics of dinner....but everyone was very happy with their choices. They actually have an interesting and good veggie burger here. I seem to recall the kids having burgers, or chicken tenders, and maybe one of them had grilled cheese. And B&C has good FRIES! Ok, on to the star attraction. We ordered the Kitchen Sink. And since my girls aren't into all that fruity crap with their ice cream, we ordered the non-fruit variety....which basically has more of the brownies, cookies, fudge and all that goodness. Oh, but we did want the cherries. Many photos ensued. I'm guessing this ended up on Snapcrap, or whatever. Before diving in, I excused myself to go to the rest room, and when I got back, this is what I found. Ok, that's a lie. I had my fill with the rest of them. Some more than others. Most impressive, right? Well, that is a good place to stop. We still have lots of fun stuff coming up. Including breakfast at a place that we have surprisingly never tried previously. Plus Thanksgiving with the folks that spawned DIT. Stay tuned. Avatab.... Steve 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveInTN 3,247 Posted January 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 7 minutes ago, Lou... said: I never thought you'd stoop this low in order to get more up arrows. Give it up or I'll post that I'm having double quadruple heart and lung bypass surgery as well as suffering from hang nails on all my toes. But just in case, on the off chance, that you're not making it up, hope it all works out. After all, I need you healthy so that I don't feel guilty having so many more up arrows than you. I had a suspicion that you only resurfaced because I was gaining on you. Disgraceful. Simply disgraceful. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
momof3kids-Yvonne 595 Posted January 30, 2018 Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 They serve other food at Beaches and Cream? All we ordered was french fries and The Kitchen Sink. You did much better on finishing yours than we did. Next time I am making sure Drew is with us to help us out. Glad you are feeling a bit better. Keeping you in my prayers. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dblr....Rennie 224 Posted January 30, 2018 Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 It feels strange the first time when the kids are old enough to partake in a alcoholic drink with the parents but as they get older and buy you a drink it improves. Loved the look on Anna's face when she was left out. Great job on the ice cream, I bet it was fun Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799 Posted January 30, 2018 Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 So sorry to hear about your heart issues. I hope you continue to improve. Can you believe I’ve never had a kitchen sink? Looks so good!Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LONE-STAR 370 Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 I haven't had a kitchen sink since 2002 it may be time to change that. I like the no fruit idea. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twiceblessed....nacole 433 Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 Mercy Dave... please get healthy. Praying that they can determine the cause and (if possible), that cause can be removed. Health issues... stink. We saw the carousel; I was amazed at the amount of ingredients it took to make it! The kids, of course, just wanted to eat it. lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fladogfan aka Gretchen 259 Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 I'm amazed only 6 people were able to demolish that sink! Yummy! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
caveat lector 181 Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 On 1/21/2018 at 7:47 PM, LONE-STAR said: I have always wanted to go to Dolly Wood. I wondered if there was a campground near it so you didn't have to drive to it. Is there a charge for the trolley? I agree and want to go too. I believe Dave might me on the Dollywood chamber of commerce. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Part-Time Paradise 4 Posted February 1, 2018 Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 Man, this is quite a year. I'm soiling my fruit of the looms if I can get one big trip in per year. Good to hear you're on the mend a bit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveInTN 3,247 Posted February 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 On 1/30/2018 at 1:40 PM, momof3kids-Yvonne said: They serve other food at Beaches and Cream? All we ordered was french fries and The Kitchen Sink. You did much better on finishing yours than we did. Next time I am making sure Drew is with us to help us out. Glad you are feeling a bit better. Keeping you in my prayers. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Thanks Yvonne. And yes, there is a full menu of burgers, sandwiches, hot dogs, salads, etc. Although in reality I'd be perfectly happy with fries and ice cream. And so would Anna. On 1/30/2018 at 3:18 PM, dblr....Rennie said: It feels strange the first time when the kids are old enough to partake in a alcoholic drink with the parents but as they get older and buy you a drink it improves. Loved the look on Anna's face when she was left out. Great job on the ice cream, I bet it was fun It's funny watching my oldest daughter try alcohol. She and her 3 roommates have watched a movie on a Saturday night and enjoyed some wine (they are all in their mid-20's...my daughter is the youngest in the group). And my daughter has never been a partier, so this is her first time doing this. She's handling it in a mature way, which I like. But it's weird listening to her talk about it. She can't possibly be old enough for this. LOL. On 1/30/2018 at 4:56 PM, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said: So sorry to hear about your heart issues. I hope you continue to improve. Can you believe I’ve never had a kitchen sink? Looks so good! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk You really need to do the kitchen sink, but it's too big for the 3 of you. If only you knew some people that would share it with you. On 1/30/2018 at 8:56 PM, LONE-STAR said: I haven't had a kitchen sink since 2002 it may be time to change that. I like the no fruit idea. Yeah, I like fruit but have never been crazy about it on my ice cream. On 1/31/2018 at 6:59 AM, twiceblessed....nacole said: Mercy Dave... please get healthy. Praying that they can determine the cause and (if possible), that cause can be removed. Health issues... stink. We saw the carousel; I was amazed at the amount of ingredients it took to make it! The kids, of course, just wanted to eat it. lol Thanks Nacole. Wasn't that carousel cool? I like it better than the GF gingerbread house. On 1/31/2018 at 7:30 AM, fladogfan aka Gretchen said: I'm amazed only 6 people were able to demolish that sink! Yummy! We are 6 warriors. LOL. 17 hours ago, caveat lector said: I agree and want to go too. I believe Dave might me on the Dollywood chamber of commerce. I should get a cut of the action. 11 hours ago, Slapwacky said: Man, this is quite a year. I'm soiling my fruit of the looms if I can get one big trip in per year. Good to hear you're on the mend a bit. Yeah....2018 won't be that way, that's for sure. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveInTN 3,247 Posted February 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 We need to move on. This report has reached the one month point since I started it, and it's dragging on. Probably 2 or 3 updates left and we can put it to bed. But there is some good stuff, so don't go away just yet. One problem with doing a trip report several months after the fact, is that sequence of events become fuzzy. I typically would rely on the time stamp on my photos, but for some reason those got a bit mixed up in some cases. But in reality, it doesn't matter much what order things go in. For example, this update will include a breakfast out, and a few pics of a Fiend gathering. I'm pretty sure the gathering occured before the breakfast....but so what? I'm going to show breakfast pics first, then get to the gathering. Deal with it. Many people that go to WDW often have a place that they will say "I know it's hard to believe, but we've never been to ______". Sometimes there are places, or restaurants, or experiences that we just never get to. For us, considering the Lodge is our favorite hotel resort, and we enjoy eating breakfast out, it was hard to believe we'd never had breakfast at Whispering Canyon. We had lunch there nearly 20 years ago, but never breakfast. So I decided to book an ADR there one morning, looking forward to seeing the girls' reactions to the various antics at the restaurant. I can't believe how old my Stella is getting. Today is actually her 12th birthday. After being seated for breakfast, the CM's made an announcement that the wooden horse races were about to begin. Of course, Anna was all over that. The kids got a kick out of the ketchup routine. But they didn't want it to happen to them, so when one of them needed some ketchup they quietly asked the table next to us, that had around 20 bottles on it, for a bottle. I wanted to make a scene, but they convinced me not to. Breakfast was quite good. INC and I each had oatmeal...which was good steel cut oats served with fresh fruit and a bagel. Stella and Anna both enjoyed some Mickey waffles. Izzy loves breakfast, and wanted to try the all you care to eat platter. It's nice that they'll serve the platter for just one person at a table. I may or may not have snuck a few bites of her potatoes. After breakfast, we decided to hop over to Disney Springs to check out some of the new stuff there. We wandered all over the place, including getting our free sample at Ghirardelli (I love those darn little squares), we checked out the World of Disney store, and eventually we made our way back over toward the Coke store. I wanted to check out the roof top area where they have the flights. We decided to try one of the International flights, which ended up being a lot of fun. Yes, it even includes Beverly. Which surprisingly tasted better than a couple of other beverages on that tray. Anyways, that was that day. Like I said earlier, we had also had a Fiend Gathering on the porch one evening, early in the week. If I remember right, we scheduled it early in the week before Aaron had to head for home, but then they ended up at Epcot that day and couldn't make the gathering anyways. Fortunately I was able to visit with them another time...and we still had a great time visiting with Fiends that we have previously met, as well as those we were blessed to meet for the first time! I took no pics at the gathering, so I'm sharing a couple that Kelly gave to me...which you've probably seen before but here you go anyways. Mo, Nacole and yours truly. INC, Jason and Kelly. I don't have any pics of either Brian or Tom. I need to take more pictures next time. But like I've said, I had no intention of writing a report at the time, so that's what happens. Next time, I'll snap more frequently. There was one thing in particular about this gathering that I wish I had a pic of. Mo brought a big tray of her world famous, decadently delicious, Lobster Mac n Cheese. Let's just say I might have hurt myself on that stuff. And there were leftovers, which she graciously let us take back to the RV. So I continued to hurt myself on it over the next couple of days. If you ever end up at a GG with Mo and she brings that dish, don't pass it up. Also, as long as we are hanging out at the Trails End porch, I'll post a pic of the pathetically unlit Fort Christmas tree. The last time we stayed at the Fort during the holidays, over Christmas of 2014, the tree had a big square area that wasn't lit. It looked pretty bad. But the rest of the tree was lit. Well, this year over Thanksgiving week, the entire tree was unlit. Early in the week, I thought maybe they were waiting until Thanksgiving to plug it in. But it still wasn't lit at the end of the week. I thought that was bad show. Regardless, we still enjoyed it. I'll leave this off here. In the next update, the DIT Parental units arrive to spend Thanksgiving with us. Plus, we expose our kids to Trader Sam's, and learn a bit more about the limits of sensory overload with Anna. Coming up.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twiceblessed....nacole 433 Posted February 1, 2018 Report Share Posted February 1, 2018 Today is Stella's 12th?! It's Bailey's 11th! Slow down time!! It was great seeing everyone at TE... thanks for organizing that Kelly Quote Link to post Share on other sites
momof3kids-Yvonne 595 Posted February 2, 2018 Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 Happy Birthday to Stella! The only time I have been to WDW with Mo is for WWW. Do you think I could convince her to bring the lobster mac n cheese for that? Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted February 2, 2018 Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 Stella is 12? How? That means she's going to be a teenager next year! Can you survive a 4th teenage daughter? I'm not sure I could. Anna looks like she had a blast at Whispering Canyon. Good times. You should get her one of those wooden ponies to ride around the campsite, so she can take a break from sweeping LOL at the Settlement Christmas tree. I guess the idiots in charge got tired of the annual roasting they get for displaying the tree with burnt out patches of lights. The genius who came up with the idea of just unplugging the whole thing will probably be promoted to head manager next year. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799 Posted February 5, 2018 Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 Glad some of us got to meet up on the porch. That's always a good time! I've never eaten at Whispering Canyon at all, but that is going to be fixed in June. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveInTN 3,247 Posted February 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 On 2/1/2018 at 1:39 PM, twiceblessed....nacole said: Today is Stella's 12th?! It's Bailey's 11th! Slow down time!! It was great seeing everyone at TE... thanks for organizing that Kelly Yesterday was my Emma's 22nd birthday. Talk about making a guy feel old. On 2/1/2018 at 10:22 PM, momof3kids-Yvonne said: Happy Birthday to Stella! The only time I have been to WDW with Mo is for WWW. Do you think I could convince her to bring the lobster mac n cheese for that? Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk No, she promised to save it all for me. On 2/2/2018 at 7:54 AM, Tri-Circle-D said: Stella is 12? How? That means she's going to be a teenager next year! Can you survive a 4th teenage daughter? I'm not sure I could. Anna looks like she had a blast at Whispering Canyon. Good times. You should get her one of those wooden ponies to ride around the campsite, so she can take a break from sweeping LOL at the Settlement Christmas tree. I guess the idiots in charge got tired of the annual roasting they get for displaying the tree with burnt out patches of lights. The genius who came up with the idea of just unplugging the whole thing will probably be promoted to head manager next year. TCD I certainly hope I survive a 4th teenage daughter, because if not that means I have left raising Anna to INC. She says that if I die, she will kill me. 1 hour ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said: Glad some of us got to meet up on the porch. That's always a good time! I've never eaten at Whispering Canyon at all, but that is going to be fixed in June. Yes, it is. Are you going for breakfast, lunch or dinner? You know you can get bottomless milkshakes for breakfast, right? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twiceblessed....nacole 433 Posted February 5, 2018 Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 22 minutes ago, DaveInTN said: Yesterday was my Emma's 22nd birthday. Talk about making a guy feel old. Well... you ARE old. Me, not so much Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveInTN 3,247 Posted February 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 Thank you to all who are still hanging in there, reading and commenting. Progress has been slow over the past week or so with me not feeling well, but finally, mercifully, we have come to the end of this report. This should be the last update, of the last trip of 2017. We'll cover Thanksgiving and Black Friday in this post, and then we'll head home and say goodbye. One nice thing for us when we visit the Fort is that we usually get a visit from my parents. They love the Fort, having brought us there as kids in the 70's. Until a couple of years ago, they had their own motorhome and would sometimes camp with us, but my Mom's declining health put an end to that, so in recent years they've typically booked a room at Port Orleans for a night and hung out with us for a couple of days. This time, PO was too pricey, so they found an offsite hotel near Disney Springs that worked out nicely. They arrived on Wednesday, and as we typically do when they visit we went resort hopping. My parents love to ride the boats and monorails! We headed to the dock to catch a MK boat. The plan was to hop on the monorail from there and visit some resorts. For some reason, I always must get a pic of the deteriorating boat. Take note....it looks like someone is getting an artistic pic of the American flag. This is important to note because only 6% of teenagers realize that their phones have cameras on the back, in addition to the front. Good for him! My memory is fuzzy, but apparently we ended up at the GF to see the gingerbread house. I recall that we had lunch at Gasparilla Island Grill. I also recall that I am consistently disappointed in this restaurant. We used to enjoy it, and for some reason despite not liking it for at least 5 years, I still keep going back. I need to remember that, especially since I really enjoy Captain Cooks and should just go there. Anyways, after exploring a bit and eating a bit, we monorailed back to the MK to catch the boat back to the Fort. I can't believe my baby girls is now taller than my mother...who herself was 5'8" before age caused her to begin shrinking. The next day was Thanksgiving, and we planned to cook and eat dinner at site 109. I had considered going out to eat that day, as we've cooked Thanksgiving dinner at the Fort many times and figured it would be nice to try something new. Several months back, I actually could have snagged HDDR or MBYBBQ reservations for all of us. Then the reservation system told me that it would cost $600 or more for our group of 8, and cooking at the site sounded like a great idea again. In the past, I've always used a Big Easy to cook our turkey. But I wanted to try something different. I have seen lots of people use one of those counter top roaster ovens for turkeys, and I found a well reviewed one on Amazon for $35, so I ordered it for the trip. Not wanting to take chances with our Thanksgiving dinner, I tested it on a turkey a couple of weeks before our trip, inviting my daughter and son in law that weren't able to spend Thanksgiving with us over for an early celebration. It went well, other than not browning to my satisfaction. Being that we were at home for that first attempt, I threw the turkey into the home convection oven at the end to brown it up nicely. I knew I wouldn't be able to do that at the Fort, so I figured I'd try to butter it up, start the cooking process on the highest temp setting , and not touch the lid at all. Did that work to brown it? Not really, but it was still an extremely moist and delicious bird, and I'd have no problem doing it again that way in the future. Still, the Big Easy provides better overall results, IMO. Anyways, here's a pic showing the roaster oven hard at work on Thanksgiving afternoon. Here is our dining canopy, along with the standard DIT camping chandelier. I've been bringing that chandelier to the Fort for over a decade now. Because, you know, I'm a classy guy and all. I hope someday that when I'm gone, my girls will tell their grandkids about their great grandfather, the classy guy who camped with a chandelier. My parents had brought our Christmas gifts to send home with us, since they weren't going to be with us for Christmas. They told me to put them in storage and bring them home to Tennessee to unwrap on Christmas morning. Yeah, sure. We opened them that evening. I got a bottle of scotch. Anna got a new set of building blocks. She LOVES building things with those blocks. The next morning, my parents stopped back by the campsite after checking out of their hotel, to say goodbye. Being that this was our last day, we didn't really have many plans, other than a dinner ADR at Kona Cafe later in the day. So we hung out, did some last day bike riding, took a walk, went to the playground, etc. After lunch, we got ready and headed to the Poly. While our dinner reservation wasn't until 5:30, but there was something else I wanted to do first. Yes, Trader Sam's!! I knew TS's opened for the evening at 4pm, and that they allow kids under 21 until 8pm. I also knew that this place could be difficult to get into, especially for a party of 6. Having a dinner ADR at 5:30, we didn't have a ton of time, so I wanted to try to get in right at opening. Since we didn't have any plans that day, I was willing to wait in line before the bar opened. We arrived at the door around 3:10pm, and there was no one else in line yet, so we claimed the first spot in line. Within 45 seconds of us getting in line, several other people walked over and got in line behind us. I believe they may have been simply lurking in the area, not committing to the line until others started lining up. Within 10 minutes, there were probably 25 people in line, and at 3:30 when a CM came out to begin handing out buzzers, the line had reached it's opening capacity of 51 guests. It's kind of amazing that we'll all stand in line for the opportunity to buy grossly overpriced drinks. Regardless, the atmosphere is fun and I wanted our kids to experience it at least once. With a buzzer in hand, we probably could have wandered around for a half hour until the doors opened, but since there are limited tables that can accommodate 6 people, and if possible I wanted a particular corner booth that I thought would be easiest with Anna, we stayed put as first in line. At 4pm on the dot, they opened the door and our buzzer went off. We went inside and straight to the booth I had my eyes on. We ordered drinks and some pot stickers, and everyone enjoyed the fun ambiance, the cool decorations, and the CM antics when certain drinks are ordered. Notice anyone missing from those photos?? Right, where's Anna? Check out that last picture of Stella, and you might see her shoes and ankles. As soon as the first "event" happened....thunder and lightening, accompanied by shouting of "two shots of rum!", she went into sensory overload and began freaking out. We couldn't get her to calm down, because that was soon followed by other fun but very loud things, along with fake rain, flashing lights, and sound effects. Basically, everything that makes Trader Sam's fun was a nightmare for her. Anna is not what I would call a kid with sensory issues, overall, but this was just too much for her. I was prepared to bail and just leave, but thankfully Stella had the magic touch with her little sister. She set her up with my phone to watch videos, with the table shielding her from most of the scary things, and we were able to finish our drinks and appetizers. But note to self....do not take Anna back to Trader Sam's. After paying the bill, which could have fed a small village in Asia for a month, we headed upstairs to check in for our dinner at Kona. I don't have many pics of dinner, but INC and I both had some noodle dish. And apparently one of the kids had a sandwich of some type. After dinner, we split up. We sent all the girls back to the Fort, with the promise that they could stop for Mickey bars for their last night before heading to the motorhome. INC and I had something else in mind....a magic cookie bar at Roaring Fork. We headed via monorail to the Contemporary, where we stopped for a photo op. Then we boated over to the Lodge to get our dessert. We had not yet been to Roaring Fork on this trip, so we enjoyed the expanded and improved outdoor seating area there. And of course we enjoyed our magic cookie bar. And that, my friends, is the last picture I have. That night, I again didn't sleep great, so we pulled out of site 109 around 4am to head for home. That ended up being both good and bad. Bad, because there was some very dense fog along the entire length of the Turnpike in the dark that morning. So the first hour and a half of the drive was slow and stressful. But once we got on 75 and past Ocala, the fog cleared a bit. And leaving that early ended up being good because, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, 75 north can be a nightmare. Where we made it home by 4pm CT, it took others heading just to Atlanta longer to get home than it took us to get all the way to Nashville. Well, thank for again for sticking with this report! It's been fun reliving our year. We don't have nearly as many trips to Orlando planned in 2018, but we do have some fun things on the books, and hopefully we'll get to central FL at least once later in the year. Onward to 2018!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mouseketab.....Carol 1,261 Posted February 5, 2018 Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 16 minutes ago, DaveInTN said: Notice anyone missing from those photos?? Right, where's Anna? Check out that last picture of Stella, and you might see her shoes and ankles. As soon as the first "event" happened....thunder and lightening, accompanied by shouting of "two shots of rum!", she went into sensory overload and began freaking out. We couldn't get her to calm down, because that was soon followed by other fun but very loud things, along with fake rain, flashing lights, and sound effects. Basically, everything that makes Trader Sam's fun was a nightmare for her. Anna is not what I would call a kid with sensory issues, overall, but this was just too much for her. I was prepared to bail and just leave, but thankfully Stella had the magic touch with her little sister. She set her up with my phone to watch videos, with the table shielding her from most of the scary things, and we were able to finish our drinks and appetizers. But note to self....do not take Anna back to Trader Sam's. That night, I again didn't sleep great, so we pulled out of site 109 around 4am to head for home. That ended up being both good and bad. Bad, because there was some very dense fog along the entire length of the Turnpike in the dark that morning. So the first hour and a half of the drive was slow and stressful. But once we got on 75 and past Ocala, the fog cleared a bit. And leaving that early ended up being good because, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, 75 north can be a nightmare. Where we made it home by 4pm CT, it took others heading just to Atlanta longer to get home than it took us to get all the way to Nashville. With regards to Anna freaking out, it may have been because it was towards the last of the trip, she had been in sensory mode all week, and that was all she could handle. Several years ago, we went to WDW with a friend and her 3 yo grandson. He was absolutely awesome all week, and took everything we threw at him in stride. On the last night of our trip, we went to Rainforest Cafe, and in the Thunderstorms there, he lost it. We did have to take him out of the restaurant. Perhaps much earlier in the trip she could have handled it. The Sunday after Thanksgiving is worse than the Saturday. We were on a Thanksgiving trip, (oh gosh probably 15 years ago now), and left late Saturday night and went as far as Ocala, then Sunday morning continued North. Once we hit the Georgia line, we never went above 35MPH all the way to Atlanta. Of course now, Georgia has completed the 3-lane I-75 project. (On that particular trip I-75 was 2 lanes each direction in Georgia) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
momof3kids-Yvonne 595 Posted February 5, 2018 Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 Thanks again for sharing this trip report. I have come to the conclusion that not only am I sad that it is over, but I realized not once in 2017 did I get to see the Statz family. Who gave our kids permission to grow up and start having lives anyways? Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mouseketab.....Carol 1,261 Posted February 5, 2018 Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 2 minutes ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said: Thanks again for sharing this trip report. I have come to the conclusion that not only am I sad that it is over, but I realized not once in 2017 did I get to see the Statz family. Who gave our kids permission to grow up and start having lives anyways? Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Same here!!! I betcha it's been 2 years since I've had an Anna hug!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dblr....Rennie 224 Posted February 5, 2018 Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 Great trip report enjoyed following along, and just incase for future Thanksgiving trips to the Fort and what looked like a wonderful dinner...........we are available!!!!! Just saying Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Part-Time Paradise 4 Posted February 5, 2018 Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 What a year. Thanks for documenting and taking us along. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twiceblessed....nacole 433 Posted February 5, 2018 Report Share Posted February 5, 2018 Thanks for taking us along, on your amazing 2017! Such great pictures and details. Loved the trip report! Here's to an equally amazing 2018. Lots of laughter, adventures and the blessing of good health. Hope to get the chance to see y'all again...very soon. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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