Four resorts, one long weekend, and a birthday to remember!

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

2 hours ago, sherryberry said:

 

I also tried the rice cream, in Norway. This was not at a food kiosk. It was at the bakery, in Norway. The rice part was not sweet, just very creamy. So, it paired very well with the sweetness of the strawberries on top. I liked this one.

 

Rice Cream, Yummmm! I discovered this many years ago at Akershus before they changed it to all princesses all the time. It is now a must stop to get one every time I visit World Showcase :)

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I always have to get the school bread at the Norway bakery.  Not sure I've tried the rice cream. 

You got some great pics of HS at night! 

[sherryberry 35]

Old Key West is great for the size of the rooms and even the patios are larger there, you can actually fit more then a couple of people compared to the one at other resorts.

The patios there are awesome! With a table you can actually sit at. Wait until you see the patio at the next resort - so narrow!

That pecan tart looks delicious.
Like you I prefer the traditional artist singing the Christmas songs instead of the newer artist redoing them.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

I think that tart may have had chocolate in the bottom also.

Rice Cream, Yummmm! I discovered this many years ago at Akershus before they changed it to all princesses all the time. It is now a must stop to get one every time I visit World Showcase :)

I almost got the rice cream again on our last trip, a couple of weeks ago.

I always have to get the school bread at the Norway bakery.  Not sure I've tried the rice cream. 
You got some great pics of HS at night! 

I think the credit for most of those pictures will have to go to Kenneth. I stole quite a few from his camera. I’m sneaky!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

That OKW one bedroom unit looks amazing- so much space!  

I agree with everyone who liked your (or should I say Kenneth's) DHS nighttime photos- they are excellent. I really like the new location of the DHS Christmas tree. They did a good job with the decorations in DHS this Christmas. 

Now, let's have some more of this great report!

TCD

[Travisma 1,317]

On 2/2/2018 at 10:35 AM, DaveInTN said:

And they make an entire carousel with horses and characters at the Beach Club with only 96 pounds of flour.  LOL.  

But isn't the beach club a lot of chocolate?

[sherryberry 35]

That OKW one bedroom unit looks amazing- so much space!  
I agree with everyone who liked your (or should I say Kenneth's) DHS nighttime photos- they are excellent. I really like the new location of the DHS Christmas tree. They did a good job with the decorations in DHS this Christmas. 
Now, let's have some more of this great report!
TCD

I love all of the space that a one-bedroom provides at Old Key West. When my cousin came over from japan years ago, we had a three-bedroom grand villa. She and I went in and ran through every bedroom screaming. It was so nice!

But isn't the beach club a lot of chocolate?

The horses and characters are all chocolate, aren’t they?

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Great DHS nighttime shots!

[sherryberry 35]

So, we left off with ending the day with dinner from Earl of Sandwich and dessert from Sprinkles.  I think we actually took the cupcake back to the room to eat it.  That was Friday night and the third resort of the trip.  Saturday, December 2nd was my actual birthday - the reason we made this trip happen. I woke up that morning to a video from England from my friend's 2-year old son.  Such a cute start to my birthday.  I also told Kenneth that I would love to have breakfast at Olivia's before we head to the next resort. Here's the view from our room that morning.

We walked over to the Hospitality House and were seated immediately at Olivia's. One of my favorite menu items at Olivia's is the grits.  So cheesy and good! I also had an omelet with potatoes and a biscuit. It was too much food and I didn't finish it, but it was a very good meal to start out the day.  Kenneth had oatmeal and a continental plate. He also had a parrot punch to drink (coconut rum, melon liqueur, peach schnapps, and pineapple juice). Kenneth couldn't finish all of his food either, so the pastries were packed up to move to the next resort with us.

After filling our bellies, we definitely needed that walk back to the room. Once we got back inside, we got everything packed up because it's moving day again!

Our final resort of the trip is the Beach Club. This is actually one of our "home" resorts and usually hard to get into (because of that awesome pool). The last time we stayed there, I wasn't really feeling it because it was starting to feel run down and dirty.  They've since remodeled and these rooms are looking kind of fancy! We walked around and checked out some of the Christmas decorations in the DVC building and of course, the carousel, until our room was ready.

And look at the view from the room! We were looking right into Epcot!

Next, we'll head into Epcot!

[sherryberry 35]

We came out through the back of the Beach Club and walked over to Epcot. 

There was some more food that we wanted to try for the holidays.  First, we had to get Kenneth some beer! He had the beer flight from the American pavilion.

We also tried the food offerings in that area. One had turkey and the other one may have been pork tenderloin.  I'm having a hard time remembering much about these meals. I think they were probably just okay.

We went back over to France to grab some pastries to put in the fridge for dessert and breakfast in the morning. I think one was a coffee cream, éclair, chocolate mousse, and crème brulee.

We took the food back to the room and I think I took a little nap while Kenneth watched some football. After resting for a bit, it was our plan to head to the Magic Kingdom. We decided to go back through Epcot and jump on the monorail to head that way. Plus, I never really took the time to see the Christmas tree at Epcot.

I don't remember much of what we did at Magic Kingdom. Looking back at pictures, it seems we did at least do the Jingle Cruise. That was a new one for us, since we don't make it down this time of year.

We tried not to stay out too late that night. We needed to get on the road as early as possible, because we were hoping to pick the dogs up on Sunday before their animal hospital closed (they board with their vet). We did make it in time.  And the final shot from this trip - looking up towards the Beach Club after getting off the bus.

I appreciate y'all reading along on this trip. That is the end of the best-birthday-ever trip.  But, I've learned from the master of trip reports. I'm looking at you, TCD. I'm going to include some bonus material. Because we just got back from the Fort about two weeks ago!

[sherryberry 35]

We went to the Fort! But first, we stopped at the Okefenokee at Stephen C. Foster state park for a couple of nights. I love this park for two reasons:

1. gators - I don't see gators where I live. We hear rumors that there's some in Lake Lanier, but the sightings are scarce. I have a strange obsession with gators that stems from fear and fascination.

2. This park is recognized as a dark sky park. Once we get through the main entrance of the swamp, we drive 18 miles to get to the campground. They have a night-time speed limit and you seriously have to keep an eye out for wildlife.  We had to slow down a couple of times to let deer cross the road.  The frogs are also super-loud! We had the windows up and could hear them as clearly as if the windows were down. I remember the first time Kenneth and I stayed here. We sat out under the stars and couldn't see anything around us. It was really kind of creepy - you jump every time you  hear something, because you can't see what it is.  We always try to plan our trips there when it's close to a new moon, so we don't have too much moonlight keeping us from seeing all of the stars.

It was cold when we made this trip though. This was our first camping trip to Disney after purchasing our tiny trailer, Earl. With it being so cold, we spent a lot of time in the trailer with the pups, blasting the heat.

Here we are, on the drive down.

Here's the canal at the park. You can rent boats and kayaks here to ride out into the swamp. We still haven't done that. Truth be told, I'm not getting in a kayak in a swamp filled with gators. I might get in a jon boat, though.

And the campground and Earl backed into his little campsite.

When we were hunkered down in the trailer, Dakota was happy to lay in the sun.

And when it's cold outside, you need to eat and drink to stay warm!

I wish it was a little warmer so we could enjoy the campground more. I guess one good thing about the cold is the lack of mosquitoes. The previous spring when we stayed there one night, in passing, we had to cover every inch of ourselves with bug spray. Even our hair! After surviving a couple of nights of cold, in the swamp, we headed on down to the Fort. Since Kenneth does all of the driving (I offer to help), I think he was glad to spit the drive into two different shifts. Next update, we'll start on our time at the Fort!

 

[sherryberry 35]

Great DHS nighttime shots!

Thanks!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Congratulations on moving up to a trailer. I hope there are more photos of it- it looks cool!

 TCD 

[dblr....Rennie 224]

The rooms at the Beach Club look they are set up exactly like the ones at Saratoga Springs but definitely updated, yes the balcony is narrow but looks longer then some resorts.

Love the new little trailer, looks compact, best of luck with it and enjoy

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

Loved this TR, moving from hotel to hotel every day was something.  Looks like you made it part of the experience, great.  Good photos too.

Cute little camper, dogs seem to approve of it.  When the kitchen pulls out what is the space inside camper used for?

[sherryberry 35]

On ‎2‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 8:57 AM, Tri-Circle-D said:

Congratulations on moving up to a trailer. I hope there are more photos of it- it looks cool!

 TCD 

Thanks! We had no plans on getting one for a long time, but it ended up just being the right time for us.

On ‎2‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 10:37 AM, dblr....Rennie said:

The rooms at the Beach Club look they are set up exactly like the ones at Saratoga Springs but definitely updated, yes the balcony is narrow but looks longer then some resorts.

Love the new little trailer, looks compact, best of luck with it and enjoy

There's a few balconies at Beach Club that are very unique. I guess this one was really long since it's a one-bedroom. We've gotten some in a studio that are HUGE! And the trailer is very compact! I'll show how compact it is, in the next update.

On ‎2‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 12:21 PM, fladogfan aka Gretchen said:

Loved this TR, moving from hotel to hotel every day was something.  Looks like you made it part of the experience, great.  Good photos too.

Cute little camper, dogs seem to approve of it.  When the kitchen pulls out what is the space inside camper used for?

I really wasn't looking forward to moving every day, but we said we would just try to pack pretty light and it wouldn't be a big deal. It wasn't so bad, but I definitely would prefer one room for the whole trip, lol. The dogs seem to like the camper, and they are the main reason we purchased it. Crazy, I know. But, we really wanted them to be able to stay at the Fort with us.  It didn't completely work out. I'll get into that in a bit.

[sherryberry 35]

So, I think I might stop for just a minute and give a little background on how we ended up with a little trailer.  We used to frequent the local airstream dealer here because we're slightly obsessed with airstreams.  This dealership also has a lot of other unique campers that you won't find at a place like Camping World. In all of our visits, we got to know a lady at the dealership (Chris) and told her early on that we are not in a situation to purchase anything for a long time. But she always spent time with us when we were there and was always available to answer any questions we might have. She would also email us whenever they got in a certain airstream model that we wanted to see. All of this, knowing we weren't going to buy. We pass this dealership on the way to see Kenneth's mom (you can see it from I-85), and Kenneth saw these tiny trailers from the road one day when he was headed to take his mother to a doctor's appointment. We had looked at A-liners before, because we know some models will fit in our garage (we live in a neighborhood where you can't keep a camper on your property, but we can hide one in the garage). So, we measured the height of the door opening and the length of our garage and then measured one of these campers at the dealership. We spent some time inside and made a few trips, looking at these.  The trailer is made by intech RV - Kenneth was already familiar with intech trailers, so he started doing a lot of research on the RV side of the company. Well, they marked these trailers down a good bit, and ended up marking it down enough where we thought we could buy one. We got with Chris and asked her about financing, how much to put down. And voila, we are now the owners of a tiny trailer that can be stored in our garage at home!

This was the day we went to sign papers and did the walk-through to learn about all of the features of the trailer and how to use everything. Definitely an easier walk-through than most trailers as this doesn't have a bathroom or any kind of plumbing whatsoever. It's very small and basic.

There's a slide in the front-part of the trailer that comes out and has a stove with two burners and a fridge/freezer. We usually use this for ice cream and just use our coolers for all of the refrigerated items.

We also really like that the trailer has cargo doors on the back. That was actually one of the selling points for us, because it makes loading it with camping gear so much easier for us.  That was one of the main reasons we looked at these instead of the T@Gs. There are two mattresses inside, that when you lay them side by side, make a queen size bed. The cubby holes above the bed are really deep and hold a lot of stuff. I also had to make curtains for the trailer and had to come up with a way to hang them. For now, I used command hooks and cheap curtain rods sitting on those hooks. We'll come up with a more permanent solution. This trailer also came with one of those SUV tents, that attaches to the back of the trailer, expanding our living space a bit.

And, here's how well Earl fits in our garage, even with too much junk in there.

Next, we'll get back on track with our visit to the Fort!

 

[sherryberry 35]

We pulled into the Fort on Sunday, January 14. I forgot about faxing in a site/loop request before we headed down, so I called (on the way to the Okefenokee) and added requests for loop 1700 and a list of about six sites on that loop that we would love to end up in.  When we arrived we had a site in 1700 and upon driving into the loop, it looked to be the last empty spot in there! Every winter, we camp in 1700 and recognize a few regulars that spend the winter down there. I'll be honest with you - I really like this loop because of these people. They're all a little bit older and quiet campers. And you have to love walking through there and seeing the big yellow lab laying in the front window of the camper. 

We still love to tent-camp, so we packed our tent for this trip. We got our tent set up with our mickey lights shining on the side. We also had some friends that made a mickey lamp for us, for Christmas!

We also made sure to pack Dakota's favorite toy for this trip!

We have annual passes this year, so we had to figure out how to keep the pups comfortable and safe while we're away. We set up a pen in Earl (so Buzz wouldn't destroy the inside of the trailer). We got them situated with toys and their beds and slapped a diaper on Buzz - separation anxiety, he likes to pee on things when we leave him. We had the windows open because it was too cool at the time to run the air, but would be too warm later to run the heat. They had a heated throw that would stay on for a couple of hours, so that would cover the morning hours when it was a little cooler.

We hopped on our bikes and rode up to use the bathroom before we went to catch the bus to the park. After using the bathroom, we decided to ride back around just to make sure the dogs weren't being crazy. The closer we got to the campsite, we could hear Buzz. {bark, bark, bark, silence for a few seconds, bark, bark, bark.....}. I bet he would do this all day. No way were we about to do that to our neighbors. We nixed plans to go to the park, loaded the pups into the truck with us, and drove to Publix to do our grocery shopping for the week. Kenneth and I took turns running into the store to buy groceries. There were certain things he needed to look at to buy (such as whatever beer he wanted to drink for the week and what kind of charcoal he wanted to use on the grill) and then I went in to buy whatever I needed to cook the meals. We got back to the campsite and unloaded groceries and got everything put away in the cooler, freezer, and in the kitchen area. And then we threw a couple of steaks on the grill for lunch.

We also got our hammocks put up.

We bought some ice cream while we were at Publix and also heated up some hot fudge. We had hot fudge sundaes that night.

The next morning, we got a pot roast set up in the crock pot. This was a Mississippi pot roast recipe that my sister found on facebook. Roast with Au Jus mix, ranch dressing mix, a stick of butter, and pepperoncinis. So yum.

I also told Kenneth that I really want to go to a park. But putting the pups in the camper wasn't going to work. They used to stay at Best Friends on our past trips, so we took them over there and put them in daycare. We basically had the whole day to go to the parks. We headed to Epcot!

Another festival! More food booths! And we are planning for some cold weather! I think I'm going to stop there for tonight.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I like your trailer. 

Do you need a reservation to use Best Friends daycare?  How much do they charge? 

[sherryberry 35]

I like your trailer. 
Do you need a reservation to use Best Friends daycare?  How much do they charge? 

Thanks, Dave. We just walked in to Best Friends and they were able to take Buzz and Dakota. They did say that it would be best to go ahead and reserve days so we don’t get there and they don’t have space for them. The daycare we got them in is basically just in a kennel. I think you can add playgroup, but we already didn’t plan on spending the money to put them in there at all. And we also don’t tend to do parks from sunrise to sunset. We stood there and picked what days we would reserve for them. After their second day, we decided to drop one of the days we had them scheduled for. The girl behind the counter said that if we had paid a deposit (we weren’t asked for one at any time) that we would have lost that deposit for not giving two-days notice of the cancellation for that day. At that time, I was glad we didn’t pay a deposit because we’re bad about not being super planners. And we were kind of put on the spot to pick what days they would go there, with us not knowing what days we for sure wanted to go to the parks. I’m one of those people that cancels fastpasses the night before because I realize I just want to be lazy and hang out. So yay for not losing a deposit, lol! For two dogs, we paid $57 a day. That was with a DVC discount (which only saves you a few dollars, I think).

[DaveInTN 3,247]

10 hours ago, sherryberry said:

 

Thanks, Dave. We just walked in to Best Friends and they were able to take Buzz and Dakota. They did say that it would be best to go ahead and reserve days so we don’t get there and they don’t have space for them. The daycare we got them in is basically just in a kennel. I think you can add playgroup, but we already didn’t plan on spending the money to put them in there at all. And we also don’t tend to do parks from sunrise to sunset. We stood there and picked what days we would reserve for them. After their second day, we decided to drop one of the days we had them scheduled for. The girl behind the counter said that if we had paid a deposit (we weren’t asked for one at any time) that we would have lost that deposit for not giving two-days notice of the cancellation for that day. At that time, I was glad we didn’t pay a deposit because we’re bad about not being super planners. And we were kind of put on the spot to pick what days they would go there, with us not knowing what days we for sure wanted to go to the parks. I’m one of those people that cancels fastpasses the night before because I realize I just want to be lazy and hang out. So yay for not losing a deposit, lol! For two dogs, we paid $57 a day. That was with a DVC discount (which only saves you a few dollars, I think).

 

Thanks for the info! 

[dblr....Rennie 224]

That is a very nice little trailer and it sounds as if you dealt with a pretty good dealer and sales person that knew her stuff. She was never pushy and knew what your needs were, one sales guy I send folks to is like that and will also check your tow vehicle so it can pull what you want, great trip report and your like us, comfortable in both DVC units and a camper.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Great TR. and happy belated birthday. 

It would be fun, once, to try several resorts in one trip  

Which DVC is your favorite resort and why?

Love the trailer. Especially how the doors open into the living room. (Tent, lol)

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

Awesome, love your little trailer!!!!

[slices 16]

Trailer looks nice, I've just been googling the specs. Something we would consider if we ever upgraded from a tent. Have the same restriction on needing to keep in the garage.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

That is a neat little trailer with the tent addition looks roomy.

Good for you thinking of your fellow campers (barking dog) and of the dogs.  I wonder if there is a way you could get the little guy use to being left in the trailer?  Maybe set him up at home in the garage, do often enough for him to stop the yapping.  Then move camper to driveway,  then farther out to a shopping parking lot.

Has anyone dealt with this problem and solved it?