The Agony and Ecstasy of our trip

[mmfancipher 31]

Hello,

I'm getting the agony over with first.  On the way down we had minor problems with our Suburban and camper and coming back we had MAJOR problems with our suburban.  On the way down our tension pulley broke so the engine belt was shredded and that caused overheating and a hose burst.  And the battery to the camper died.  2 hours later the suburban was fixed and when we stopped at Smyrna, TN we replaced the camper battery.  On the way home we had to replace the alternator, tune up, oil change, fix 3 miss firing spark plugs, and a couple of other parts I can't remember.  Somehow the exhaust pipe got moved so it was touching the spare tire so it caught fire as we were driving down the road.  I had to put it out with the fire extinguisher from the camper.  Suburban died on the exit ramp from I-57 to I-74 near Champaign, IL.  We were stranded for 17 hours and towed the last 400 miles home.

Next the Ecstasy!!!

 

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Please tell me the ecstasy is better than just getting the fire put out before the Suburban burst into flames?  Hopefully it involves actual Disney magic?? 

Because wow, that trip sounds harrowing.  I mean, the spare tire is in pretty close proximity to the fuel tank, right?? 

And this, folks, is why you must check those fire extinguishers regularly to make sure they still have a charge!  Can you imagine how this might have ended if you went to get the extinguisher from the camper, squeezed the trigger, and nothing?  Glad that didn't happen! 

Ok, on to the ecstasy!!  Please?!?

 

[mmfancipher 31]

Yes, to both.  Gas tank right next to spare tire and lots of Disney Magic.  We had jugs of water too, but the fire extinguisher was faster and more accurate.

 

[mmfancipher 31]

We also had lots of company on the side of the road after the fire.  Police and firemen.  Someone must have called 911.

 

[mmfancipher 31]

We scheduled this trip to celebrate my youngest son's graduation from High School and his leaving for Marine Boot-camp.  So all of us made the effort to get the time off.  My wife, oldest son (27), oldest daughter (24), youngest daughter (21) and youngest son (19).  We arrived at Jetty Park Campground on May 30th.  The camp sites looked bigger on satellite pictures, but it was fine. We liked the campground.  Nice and close to the beach!  We stayed there for 2 nights and had a GREAT time on the beach with the wife and kids!  All the kids got sun burned!!  Our youngest daughter said "how did I get sunburned?  We've been at the beach before and I never got burnt!".  My wife looked right at her and said "The last time we were at the beach you were  young enough that I could tell you to put sunscreen on and you would".  My daughter said "True, true."  We saw a cruise ship off the coast all the time we were there.  Someone said it was a Disney ship.  The morning we left the beach for the Fort we walked along the beach and picked up trash.  There are trash cans on the beach so not sure why people can't use them.  Next stop Fort Wilderness!!!

[Robin 48]

Thanks for sharing your trip!

People are lazy thanks for picking up!

[kadancer 82]

Great title, wish the agony part was not so very accurate.  Reading along for the Ecstasy.

[ThemeParkCommando 81]

Whew!  What an adventure to get there and back again.  Can't wait to hear about the good things! Sorry you had such a hard time getting there and coming back. 

[mmfancipher 31]

After a GREAT time at the beach we headed for Fort Wilderness!  About two hours later we are on WDW property!  Somehow we took the EPCOT exit instead of the Fort Wilderness exit!  We said hello to the EPCOT security and turned around and took the correct exit.  We later drove that same road several times and can't for the life of us figure out how we screwed that up.  We decided it was the excitement of being at WDW for the first time in 8 years.  That's our story and we are sticking to it.  We checked in to the Fort with a very nice person from France.  We had asked for the 900 loop, because we had stayed there the last two times and really liked it.  But we got the 600 loop.  A little disappointed, but we are just going to go with it.  Missed the 600 loop entrance, so had to cruise the loop to get back around.  This wasn't our fault!  The person who checked us in drew the line to the 600 loop exit, so I was looking farther down the road.  Again, that's our story and we're sticking to it!  Entered the 600 loop and found our spot, 610.  We backed in.  The Fort Fiend app said it was a medium difficulty.  My wife said that it was the easiest back in she ever did!  We setup the camper and went to the Meadow settlement just to look around.  This is going to sound sentimental, but I always feel like I'm walking into my local small town store when I enter the Settlement.  We then went to the pool and hot tube.  Next day the Magic Kingdom!!!  Remember I said we were a little disappointed with getting the 600 loop?  We had a water front site.  We really liked that.  The 600 loop might be our new favorite loop!  Didn't see any alligators or snakes, but did see an armadillo!  Forgot to mention that we also went down to the beach and watched the Electrical Water Parade.  I love watching it.  The nightly movie had light participation. 

Edited June 28, 2021 by mmfancipher
Forgot stuff

[Robin 48]

Love your lights! I have the exact same feeling.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Have we reached the ecstasy, or are you going to tell us your camper burst into flames, or rolled into the lake?  🤣

That site looks nice.  I remember being at the Fort when they were adding those sites (had to be 2009 or so?), and not liking what they were doing.  But that looks like a pretty spot to sit, drinking coffee and watching for stuff to pop up out of the water.  As long as it isn't anything that wants to eat me.  Wait, is that your next update?  Did your dog get eaten? 

[mmfancipher 31]

Dogs were left at the kennel, so no problem there.  No more agony.  Just ecstasy from here! 

 

[Lou... 3,118]

3 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

Have we reached the ecstasy, or are you going to tell us your camper burst into flames, or rolled into the lake?  🤣

That site looks nice.  I remember being at the Fort when they were adding those sites (had to be 2009 or so?), and not liking what they were doing.  But that looks like a pretty spot to sit, drinking coffee and watching for stuff to pop up out of the water.  As long as it isn't anything that wants to eat me.  Wait, is that your next update?  Did your dog get eaten? 

The agony continued, they watched the EWP.

[LONE-STAR 370]

What a intro to this report. Its never boring crossing the country with a rv. We've had our share of rv issues going to Disney. But the truck i just trade in when the warranty is gone. I've had a truck note for a little over 20 years now(that sounds horrible when you type it out,20 years!). Enjoying your report.

[mmfancipher 31]

We got up early and walked to the docks and waited for the boat.  There was a line, of course, but we didn't wait that long for a boat to show up.  It unloaded {why? It was a little after 7 so they already had enough? forgot something? Made me curious.} and then loaded.  We got to the front of the line when they stopped allowing people to get on.  No worries, because we could see the next boat heading our way.  5 to 10 minutes later we were boarding the boat.  We had to wear masks on the boat even though half the people were outside and all the windows were open.  Oh well, it's the rules so we followed them.  We got off of the boat a little before 8 and went right in.  We had Photopass so stopped and had pictures taken whenever we could, besides taking our own pictures.  Had to do all the main things.  Space Mountain, Carousal of Progress, Tea Cups, Philharmagic, It's a Small World, Peter Pan, Little Mermaid, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Jungle Cruise (repeat 8xElephants have great memories.  I wish I had that kind of memory!), Pirates and Tiki Room.  We had lunch at Crystal Palace.  The limited menu was a little annoying, but it tasted great.  So I'll not complain too loudly.  The Cast Members were GREAT!  Not a bad experience with anyone.  Again, it was the rule so we followed it, but having to wear the mask while in line outside was annoying.  I can understand inside in the queue, but not outside.  Many people were not doing it anyway.  If the queue was outside maybe 50% had their masks on correctly.  Inside in the queue it was like 90%.  And if you didn't have your mask on at the time the ride picture was taken you couldn't get the picture.  That happened to us once.  After that I made sure everyone kept there masks on.  Just had to ride Splash Mountain again!  The horror!!  It was a GREAT day.  We enjoyed everything and everyone.  We did miss the fireworks though as we were leaving for the night.  Next Disney Springs!!

 

[Live4FW 30]

On 6/28/2021 at 6:09 PM, Lou... said:

The agony continued, they watched the EWP.

Sorry Lou I never tire seeing the EWP.  It is one of the oldest things that hasn’t changed.  I pray it lasts at least till my future grandkids are old enough to watch and remember it.  First saw it in 1992 and all my kids love it.

[mmfancipher 31]

We slept in this day and took it easy and then went to Disney Springs around 1:00 PM.  We wondered around in the shops until 3 when we ate at Raglan Road.  The server was great and the food was very good.  We also sampled the Raglan Road Signature Collection flight.  Good stuff.  My youngest son bought a long board, it was called a skate board when I was a teen-ager, at Ron Jon's.  Never road one before he bought it.  When we got back to the campground my oldest son taught him how to do it.  My youngest son also went to the Lego store while we were still wondering around World of Disney.  When we met him outside of it he had a VERY large Lego bag.  He bought himself a Midieval Blacksmith shop and a set for his girlfriend, she likes Legos too.  When we met him and saw the large bag he looked at us and said "This is your fault.  You shouldn't leave me unsupervised in a Lego store."  When we started planning this trip we told our kids that we would pay for the Campground, park tickets and the sit down meals.  Snacks and souvenirs were on them.  So it was his money so it was on him really.  It's a tradition to buy Christmas ornaments for everyone when we visit WDW so we did.  We then went back to the campground to visit the pool and hot tub.  Next we visit the Place That Can Not be Named!

 

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Really enjoying reading about your trip. 
 

[mmfancipher 31]

My wife is a HUGE Harry Potter fan, so we had to go to Universal.  We got the 2 park 2 day tickets and Studios had early entry this day at 8 so we made sure we were there at the gate by 7:30 am.  I must have missed it, but we soon found out that if you aren't staying at a Universal Hotel or have a special ticket you can't do anything but wander around the open stores until 9:00 am.  So that's what we did.  It was okay, just a surprise.  We did Gringott's first thing.  It was fun, but we all felt that the ending was kind of MEH.  Then we did Minions, They stopped it near the end because someone in the back was using flash to take pictures during the ride.  Told them to stop and then started the ride again.  Rip-Ride Rockit, my head just kept hitting the head rest like a super ball.  Mummy, Transformers and wondered around DIagon Ally for a little bit.  Ate at Reichters for lunch.  It was just burgers, but it was good.  We took the "Train" from Diagon to Hogsmead.  We did the Jurassic water ride and saw a real dinosaur! (A Florida lizard) Spiderman, Forbidden Journey, Jurassic Center (Man that has gone down hill since 2013), Dr Suess land (it was pouring down rain at this time) and the 3 Broom Sticks.  My oldest daughter(24) got picked at Ollivander's.  My youngest daughter (21) really wanted to be picked for this.  They were standing next to each other and Olliander looked like he was going to pick her, but he picked my oldest daughter.  Youngest daughter was glad oldest daughter got picked but really wanted to be picked!  I think Universal should give the wand to the person who gets picked.  It would be a great PR move and would not cost them too much.  All of my kids bought wands, so I don't think it would hurt them.  Again we had a very good time.  

 

[ThemeParkCommando 81]

23 hours ago, mmfancipher said:

  I think Universal should give the wand to the person who gets picked.  It would be a great PR move and would not cost them too much.  All of my kids bought wands, so I don't think it would hurt them.  

 

It would be a nice PR move, but can you imagine the ramp up in tears and other entitled parent complaints?  Kids being told by their parents that the only way they are getting a wand is if they are picked so they can get the 'free' one.  Parents going ballistic when their precious doesn't get picked, so now they have to buy a wand.  Parents trying to bribe the employees or otherwise game the system.   It'd become a nightmare.

[mmfancipher 31]

You're right.  I was assuming reasonable people.  What was I thinking!! 😀

[mmfancipher 31]

We went to Blizzard Beach the next day.  We got out of the truck, we drove, and asked "Everyone have their Magic Bands?" I hear "We need our bands?".  from both of my sons.  Get back in the truck and go back to the campground, get the bands and head back to BB.  My wife and I added Magic Bands to the "Do you have " questions we ask before we leave the campground.  (hat, sunglasses, wallet, water, sunscreen and now Magic Bands) This was just a chill day.  doing some slides and the lazy river.  Just relaxed. 

The next day I got up before 7 am and tried to get into the Rise of Resistance ride.  7 clicked over and I'm hitting the buttons and ..... queue full!!  Boooo!!!  Went back to sleep.  We got to the Hollywood Studios around 8:30 am.  Did TSMWM, Star Tours, Tower of Terror, Rock N Roll Coaster, Muppets, Slinky Dog Dash, Alien Saucers, MIckey & Minnie Railroad, Smugglers Run.  A little before 1:00 pm I'm in the line for Rock N Roll Coaster and we're getting closer and closer to the front of the line and it's getting closer and closer to 1.  Twenty feet from the front of the line it turns 1.  Pushing buttons!  And the queue is .......  WE'RE IN!!!  Woo Hoo!!  We ate at Hollywood and Vine.  Again food was good and the Cast Members were great.  Went to Rise of the Resistance.  We enjoyed it.  It was an unusual ride.  I had no idea what it was.  You get on a ride, then off and then back on.  The 'First Order' troops were very good.  We were being 'detained' and the Officer in charge said something, can't remember what it was, but it was a song title and someone else started singing the song and I started laughing and couldn't stop.  He walked up to me and wanted to know what I was laughing at and I told him and he shook his head and walked away.  Like I said we enjoyed the ride.  We also enjoyed Smuggler's Run.  There are 6 of us so we filled the Millennium Falcon.  The two non pilot kids were complaining about the other 2 kid pilots when we got off the ride and the Cast Member said "I was going to ask how it went, but we could see.  Not very good."  Everyone laughed.  The kids saw people carrying around boxes all day, but we didn't know what was inside.  We then saw 2 people stop and sit down and open the box.  Inside was a remote control droid.  I looked up the Droid Shop to get information on it.  The kids showed some interest in it so I and tried to get a reservation but there were none.  (This is to be continued.)  Trying to reenact a scene from 8 and 14 years ago my 21 year old daughter jumped on my back so I could carry her on the way out.  For some reason I couldn't carry her as far as I did those 2 times.  Another GREAT day. 

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

Enjoying your report.  Thanks

[mmfancipher 31]

This day we headed to Animal Kingdom!  Everyone have hats, sunscreen, water, wallet and Magic Band? Good.  We drove there.  We prefer to do that.  We went straight to Flight of Passage and got to the end of the line were the path gets to Africa!  It moved fairly quickly.  This ride was great!  Good job!  Then we did the River ride.  It was OK at best.  Then we did Dinosaur, Everest, the trails, safari, the bird show (that was neat) and Though to be a bug.  You had to get into line for The Lion King show an hour before it started.  We decided not to wait in 95 degree heat and no shade.  We had dinner reservations at Cinderella's Castle at 5:15 (Only time we could get in and my YD would had killed me if we didn't get in.)  So we left AK around 3:30 and drove to MK.  When we got there the "mini-parade" with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Pluto went by us.  We saw several of these while we were at WDW.  Not as good as a regular parade, but it also didn't block the street for 20 minutes.  Got to the Castle and checked in.  At several of our reservations we joked that everyone needed to sit down while we waited, because it seemed that once everyone sat down our table would be ready so we would all have to get up.  We liked the food and our Server was very good.  Cinderella came out every 30 minutes or so and waved to the crowd.  My YS showed what barbarians we are by stabbing his corn on the cob with his knife and ate it that way.  That's why we can't have nice things!! We road Splash and Space Mountains again.  Then we headed back to the campground.

 

[mmfancipher 31]

We are heading to Universal IoA today.  We did the Hulk, Dr Doom, Spiderman.  Then we ran into Captain America!!  Had to take pictures with him.  I asked the kids if they wanted to do Popeye/Bluto water ride.  They said yes.  I told them you WILL get, not wet BUT SOAKED.  Again they said yes, so we went on it.  Got SOAKING wet.  I asked "Do you want to do Dudley-Do-Right"?  They said We're already soaked so why not.  Rode it and got soaked again.  That's ok.  I will say that it was probably me not doing something right, but I had a hard time getting into and out of the Dudley-Do-Right log ride.  I'm not a big guy, 5' 10" and 180 pounds, but I really had trouble getting out of it. We say Popeye and Beatty Boop.  The kids know who Popeye is but I don't know if they know who Beatty Boop is.  Three of the kids wanted to do the new Velciraptor roller coaster.  I was done with really intense roller coasters so I sat out this one.  The kids really liked it.  We went to Hogsmead after that.  We did Forbidden Jouney.  The kids used their wands to do the little spells in front of the windows.  They thought it was amusing.  The first day we came to IoA Hagrid's bike ride was virtual queue only and couldn't get on it.  Today was a regular queue.  We got in the queue.  We were in line for a long time 45/60 minutes.  We could see the "bikes" and it broke down!  We waited for a while and decided to leave.  We took the "train" back to Diagon Ally.  We did Gringott's, Shrek, Mummy and Transformers.  We ate at Mel's.  It was a long wait.  At Reichter's the ordering app worked well.  At Mel's not so well.  I don't know if it was a network issue or what, but it took a long time for our order to get to them.  We shut down Studio. They closed at 8:00, but IoA closed at 9:00 so we left Studios and went back to IoA and headed for Hagrid's.  We got on this time.  I was delegated to the side cart by my wife!  The nerve!!  We really liked the ride.  It was cool.  We had another great day.