Fortunate Family of 4 Finds Fun At Fort For 5th Time: UPDATED 5/26 About This Page:

[RocklandRVers]

A Trip Report April 23-April 29, 2005


Fortunate Family
Me: Age 49
DW: Age 46
DS: Age 15
DN (Dear Nephew): Age 14
DD (Dear Doggie): Age 7 (in dog years he is my age woo hoo)

Our story begins following our December 2004 trip. DS, who is very close with his cousin Mark who is 3 weeks younger and in many of his classes, begs me to take Mark along with us to Disney. To be very honest, with building our new house coming soon, we had planned on not visiting at all in 2005.

But we love WDW and FtW so much I had to give in…with certain conditions. The trip would have to be short (5 days max) and DS and DN would have to earn money to pay for their park passes which I estimated to be $250 each.

Our school district, like many in the Northeast this year, split Spring Recess into 2 smaller periods: One near Easter and the other near Passover. We figured Easter to be the busier of the two so we chose the second. Because of the way the recess was structured, we would have to take the boys out of school for 3 days, but no big deal since they both were doing well. So with the assurance that the guys would hold up their end of the bargain, I made reservations for FtW for April 23-28. That gave us 3 days in the parks and 2 plusses to hit PI and a water park.

As anyone in our neck of the woods will tell you, winter was rough with several snow storms. It was depressing for DW and I to commute to work on these tough days, but our employers don’t close due to a few feet of snow. The boys on the other hand turned the white stuff into green as they set out to shovel sidewalks and driveways. By mid February, DS had already made his goal of $250 with DN not far behind. A few warm days made it look as if winter was over, but more snow came and the guys worked hard to push DN over the top with some extra to spare.

We had enough leftover days and plusses from old park hoppers to cover one of us this trip. I contacted ticketmania and bought 3 new MYW tickets which arrived in just a few days postage paid. Now all we had to do was to wait for the huge pile of snow and ice that the snow plow had mounded up in front of our RV to melt so we could dewinterize and get packed. Each day as Spring neared and the days warmed, the mountain would get smaller. Finally we could see the grill, then the bumper and license plate. Then it rained a few days and the final pile dissolved so that we could uncover and start the engine that had slept since before the New Year.

We charged up the Gem and backed it out of the trailer to give it a wash and some maintenance. Now all we need to do is get stuff packed and we are ready. Since we had gotten such a late start this season, we were rushing almost to the last minute to get all ready, but that’s normal for us.

Coming up next: Day One of the long drive

[DebbieG]

Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!

Debbie

[Tara O'Hara]

I am so looking forward to this report!

[DrDolphin]

Great start!!! Can't wait to read more.

[lauren-roxy]

Looking forward to reading about your trip!!

[Annabel]

Great start - more please

[luvnwdwgal]

Yay!! Another trip report!!

[RocklandRVers]

Day One:

Finally the big day was almost upon us. The plan was that DN would sleep over the night before we left since we wanted to leave early. DS had a Lacrosse game which meant DW and I had to rush to get ready. Finally DW insisted I go to bed at 8:00 pm while she picked up the boys so I could be rested for the drive. We decided to keep things quiet that the boys would sleep in the RV that night. We knew they would be too antsy to sleep anyway and I needed quiet to rest.

I was also anxious and found that I tossed and turned. DW joined me at around 11:00 and was surprised I was not fast asleep. Now that she was there with me I felt better that she wasn’t frantic with the last minute stuff. We drifted off to sleep. The buzzer went off at 3:00 am. Did I really want to do this? DW had set the timer on a much needed pot of coffee so we got up and moped down the hall and I turned on the cable traffic and weather channel to see what was happening. The big news was a huge back up on the NJ Turnpike northbound for a major accident with fatalities. Southbound rubber necking was beginning to back up traffic too. OH NO!!! Weather was going to be good until we got south of DC.

We let the boys sleep. They had showered the night before and said they would forego breakfast just to get a few extra minutes sleep. DW and I had coffee and a lite bite to eat and got our showers. While I packed a couple of last minute items and woke the sleeping beauties, DW gave DD a long walk. By 4:30 we were off and running. Our local roads were empty and as we neared NYC we still missed the morning rush.

Our morning was uneventful until we got down near the end of the NJTpke where they were still cleaning up the accident. It was a horrible scene! Traffic was at a dead stop for miles and we heard people had been stuck behind the mess with no place to go since shortly after midnight. Traffic was being diverted around at the exit before but it would take the rest of the day to undue the tieups.

To our delight the Del-Mar-Va traffic was heavy but moving well. We got past DC without incident. We took our usual I-295 bypass around Richmond and cruised on into NC. Somewhere near the southern part of NC we hit about a 5 mile backup due to construction. This took us about an hour and a half to get through. We found that the lanes went from 4 lanes down to 2 due to replacement of an overpass. Of course nobody obeys the warning signs and waits until the last possible moment to merge into line. This drives me crazy. I love it when truckers block the lanes to prevent jerks from jockeying over lane to lane. If everyone would just patiently and courteously just merge over at the first sign and stay there until the lanes closed, traffic would move along well. Instead we sit inching along in white knuckle stress hoping nobody cuts us off. GGGRRRR!

We had decided to stop in Richmond Hill, GA (just south of Savannah). I had made a reservation at Motel 6 and asked for 2 ajoining rooms. The rooms were about $30 each and allowed us to bring our DD. It saved us from having to make up bunks only to have to take them apart in a few hours the next morning to get on the road. Its not too bad doing that for 3 of us but with 4 it is a hassle I didn’t want to struggle with the first night.

As we got nearer to GA a huge thunderstorm hit. It was not as bad as the one DS and I encountered on our June trip in about the same area, but it was still bad. We kept going although at a greatly reduced speed. I knew we would be delayed at least 2 hours from my ETA at Motel 6 so I decided to call and confirm. Motel 6 reported that they too had severe weather and no power! Oh well surely in an hour and a half things would be better.

We were right. The torrents of rain had lessened to a mist and the thunderstorms were gone. Motel 6 had their light on for us as advertised. Of course at almost 10:00 check in was a breeze since nobody else was in line ahead of us. We got 2 nice basic rooms and the got the guys to agree to go to bed as soon as they could. I basically hit the pillow after watching a little news and went off to sleep.

Coming up: We arrive and experience “Deja Vou All Over Again”

[lauren-roxy]

Great start, can't wait to read more!!

[RocklandRVers]

Day Two:

The next morning we “slept in” and got on the road at about 7:00 after a quick stop for coffee. We only had about 5 more hours to FtW! We hit a little traffic around Jacksonville, but nothing major. Soon we were in Daytona I-4 for the last hour on to Orlando. Just outside of Orlando we came to another standstill. Another bad accident had occurred and we could see helicopters and news vans with satellite links on the shoulder.

This tied us up for 45 minutes. Now the anticipation is building. DS has me start playing our Disney CDs to get us in the mood. The miles clicked by and we get off in Lake Buena Vista to go past DTD and into FtW the “back way” which avoids the toll booth traffic. Our security CM finds our name on the list and welcomes us back. We pull up to an empty check in booth and are quickly checked in and on our way to 1643. Now anyone who knows us will recall we like 1900 and especially 1918. Well our magic ran out for this trip and it was because FtW was packed! No matter, 1643 was fairly close to the comfort stations and was as good a site as any so we backed in and hooked up and set up camp.

The boys headed for the showers having worked up quite a sweat in the 80+ Florida sun and DW and I took a ride around in the Gem car. We headed for the Meadows and I got a bottle of cranberry raspberry drink they always have on hand while DW got us a bag of ice from the machine outside.

On the way back to camp, I called Alamo. They were also very busy and couldn’t come get us in the shuttle until 3:30! So once back I asked the guys if they didn’t mind waiting or we could unhook and drive over. They opted to wait an hour and a half and begin enjoying FtW by riding their bikes around to explore.

Our original plan for our first night was to hit Pleasure Island’s Adventurer’s and Comedy Clubs but we were much too tired and the weather had turned. We had heavy scattered showers much of the early evening.

Once we finally got our Alamo minivan, we drove around Disney to show DN the lay of the land and then headed to Kissimee to hit some gift shops. After a lot of taunting by DS, I finally gave in and went to dinner at Las Vegas Buffet where we had eaten twice before.

DN does not get to go out to dinner much. Being in a family of 6 kids makes any meal an expensive proposition. Unlike DS, he was unfamiliar with the “all you can cram into your face” concept my DS has become expert at practicing. With some prompting, however, they got into a competiton matching each other plate for plate while DW and I were full on just 2 visits to the buffet counter. Of course being young athletes they burn it off so no worries. My main thing was a concern over making themselves sick. That didn’t happen.

Once back at the campsite, I was beat. The long drive left me tired. My plan was to go to the campfire show to see Sundee and maybe catch part of the movie for that night, Tarzan and crawl into bed early.

The boys grabbed their bikes and headed off for the show. DW and I took the Gem Electric Car and made a stop at the Meadows Trading Post for some insect repellent which is always a must at the campfire. We took the long way around and entered the 1400 loop to come into the campfire area “the back way”. As we turned in by the comfort stations and were about to head down the path to park our Gem, a very polite CM from Korea, Kevin, stopped us and informed us that we were not allowed to bring the Gem and that we would have to park it back at our site. WHAT!!???!!! I explained our July trip where the General Manager, Brian Britton, had personally given permission for us to “drive anywhere golf carts are allowed”. Kevin of course was following his orders and immediately called for his supervisor. Joanne (?) came and I jumped out of the car to greet her and shake hands. DW afterward said I intimidated her as I got out of the Gem and began talking. I agree I was firm and had Brian’s policy on my side but did not intend to scare anyone. Anyway she was also not in a position to make a decision even though she knew all the people (Stephanie, Doug, Ana and Brian) that I name dropped as proof of my credibility. I asked her one last time to look at this situation logically as a group of pre teens drove past us in a rental golf cart. My Gem is essentially the same length, width and weight of a standard golf cart except it has safety features of a passenger car making it a much safer vehicle that what they rent plus I have my own liability insurance coverage so FtW would not be on the hook for any damage God forbid there was an accident. She explained the difference was “the golf carts are part of a private rental fleet and my Gem car could be licensed to driven on the street”. So in other words since I didn’t rent from Disney, I am being discriminated against? She denied this of course and apologized that the rules about so called Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) which the Gem was classified as being were specific and could not be changed by her. She had Kevin make sure he had written down our site number and that someone would “get back to us”. Bottom line though Sundee’s show was nearly over and we wasted time discussing the logic of the issue with someone who didn’t have the power to make a decision.

The boys had called us several times to see what the hold up was. We explained and DS recalled our July trip and offered to be my witness. No sense, I told him. The folks empowered to make decisions were not available and I was too tired to get into it tonite.

We went back and I watched some TV from my bunk while I yawned and tried to keep my eyes open while DW walked the dog. It wasn’t very long before the guys came back to the site and got ready for bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day at Magic Kingdom starting very early at park opening.

Coming Up: DN’s first visit inside a Disney theme park

[RocklandRVers]

Addendum:

I almost forgot. We met a fellow Passporter who by coincidence was about 5 sites away: ftwildernessguy! He and his son were zipping around on these cool Schwin electric scooters and recognized our RV and Gem car. We said hi a few times during the stay as we took some time in between the parks to drive around FtW or relax back at our site. So nice to put a name with a face finally.

Hope you had a good time too ftwildernessguy!

[ftwildernessguy]

It was a real pleasure meeting you. We had a great time. Too bad about your traffic woes on the way down. Now, if you had just left a day earlier like we did, you would have breezed down without a hitch! Next time, better consult with ftwildernessguy

[RocklandRVers]

[ QUOTE ]
It was a real pleasure meeting you. We had a great time. Too bad about your traffic woes on the way down. Now, if you had just left a day earlier like we did, you would have breezed down without a hitch! Next time, better consult with ftwildernessguy

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you brave I-95 all the way down or did you take an alternate route?

[DrDolphin]

Great update - although I am sorry to hear about the GEM Car issue... hope it got resolved.

[Colexis Mom]

Great start More please