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| Heidi Commerford -- March 2004 -- Walt Disney World (FWC, CSR, BWR)The Crew
March I made three priority seatings: O'hanas lunch at Cinderellas Castle and a character dinner at Chef Mickeys. Background We did a surprise trip for our boys for one week over Thanksgiving and have been counting the months, weeks and finally days until our annual two week trip in April. This year it is going to be a staggering 20 days, almost three weeks! Jim is flying down for the last week. Normally we are all so sad when our Disney vacation comes to an end, but this time we won't be quite so sad. Why you ask? Because exactly two months after we fly home from this trip ( May 3rd) the boys and I with some friends are flying back down on July 3rd . We will be staying at the Pop Century for one week, and I'm sure we'll be amazed by the Fourth of July fireworks display. Anyway back to the current trip. We are spending two weeks with my parents at Fort Wilderness and an additional four nights at Disney hotels. As soon as the Annual Pass codes came out I booked two nights at the Coronado Springs and two nights at The Boardwalk. Neither resort was our choice but it was what was available so I took it. We are all up for experiencing some new resorts. April 14th The word "excitement" doesn't even begin to describe how the boys and I are feeling today. We feel like the day will never pass so we can get on our 6:40 PM. flight from Manchester N.H. It was difficult dropping the boys off at school. They are so excited I imagine it will be hard for them to concentrate today. Mom called in the morning and she and Dad are anxiously awaiting our arrival. They will pick us up at the airport at 9:40. The flight went well. Our pilot was the friendliest pilot I've ever seen. He came out and greeted everyone standing in line to board. After asking the group if they were going to Disney World and getting a resounding "yes" he said that he heard that Disney had closed down for the week!!! Once on the plane he continued to visit with passengers, a very sociable guy! At 9:00 the three of us felt very tired and were getting anxious to arrive in Orlando and get off the plane. We arrived on time at 9:40 as scheduled and were quickly off the plane since we had been in the second row back. We hurried to the waiting monorail and as soon as Jimmy stepped on the doors promptly started to close, I threw out my arm and opened the door and Cam and I jumped on. Found Mom and Dad waiting for us and we headed out to the car. I used Dads cell phone to call Jim to let him know we had safely landed. We made a quick stop at the McDonalds at the Crossroads because the three of us were starving. Arrived at Fort Wilderness at 10:45, I can't describe how good it felt to be back. We felt like we were "home" and to know we had two weeks at FW and another four nights after that was the best feeling in the world. We saw an armadillo at our site, which was very exciting, a great way to start the vacation! Dad and the boys went for a little walk around our loop. (200 loop, site 211) then it was time for bed. We went to sleep with no air conditioner!!! After spending two weeks at Disney for 9 of the last 10 years I can't remember a night when we went to sleep without the air on. (We ended up having the BEST weather we have had in April EVER!!! 80-85 degrees everyday with NO humidity for the first two weeks. The last four days saw some warmer weather and some rain at night but overall we couldn't have asked for better weather!) 4/15 Thursday A quick night! The boys and I were awake at 6:15 and we were all FREEZING. A quick look on the indoor/outdoor thermometer showed 47 degrees outside and 62 inside, Brrrrr!! Around 7:30 the boys and I, complete with mittens, went for a bike ride around the campground. It was great to be back at FW. This is one of my favorite places in all the world. We biked for about 45 minutes and hardly saw another soul, it was very quiet and peaceful. Pretty neat considering this is Easter vacation week and the place is full. On our bike ride we were disappointed to notice the absence of the totem pole by the Meadow Trading Post. It had been a tradition to take a picture of the boys there every year. (Later we discovered that the totem poles by the settlement had been removed as well and replaced with a covered wagon) After the ride we returned to site and the boys got out their trucks and shovels and played in the sand/crushed shells at the back of the site. Squeezed in one more bike ride before we left for Winter/Summerland for some mini-golf. We arrived a few minutes after 10:00 and there were quite a few people there already. It wasn't overly crowded but usually when we get there at opening we have the place to ourselves. The cool temperature (80's) was perfect for mini golf and we had a great time. Mom, Cam and Jimmy each scored a hole in one and Jimmy won a free drink for his hole in one. Winter/Summerland has a trivia question of the day and the first person to answer it wins a coupon for a free round of golf. Shockingly enough I have won this on two occasions but not today. The question was "What is the name of the trolley in Toon Town at Disneyland" I had no idea and still don't. Does anyone know? After golf we stopped by Animal Kingdom Lodge. The kids traded a few pins in the gift shop and then we went out to view the animals. In keeping with tradition we saw no animals in the viewing area. Apparently every time we visit this resort, the animals sense we are coming and run for cover!!! We have no luck in viewing the animals here no matter when we go. Went back into the lobby and headed downstairs to the food court. As we were walking down the stairs my arm bumped into the cast iron rods that decorate the side of the staircase. It was in an area that had no handrail. It really hurt. (I actually had an impressive bruise on my arm that appeared fairly quickly and was still evident when Jim arrived 12 days later!) We wandered into the food court, the boys each filled up a bowl with ice cream and I had an excellent sandwich, marinated chicken on pretzel bread, it was outstanding. Returned to FW where the afternoon was spent biking, swimming, playing in the sand, and biking to the Wilderness Lodge. I called Jim in the evening and had a nice chat with him. I wish he could be here with us now enjoying Disney. The kids were asleep by 8:15. (They had only gotten about 6 hours of sleep the night before). Mom and I watched "Survivor" and the final show of the "Apprentice". 4/16 Friday I was up early again at 5:00. I snuck out of the motor home and went to the comfort station to call Jim and have a shower. I was lucky enough to see an armadillo for the third time ( I saw one yesterday as well) I think armadillos are such interesting looking animals and we all get excited when we see them. I'm sure Florida natives hardly notice them but to us they are pretty neat. It was 50 degrees out this morning but much warmer than yesterday. The boys woke up at 7:00 and after a quick breakfast we went out biking. Didn't need mittens today!! It was so quiet around the campground. I think the morning is my favorite time to go biking. We returned to the campsite and the kids played in the sand and went biking with Dad while I got ready to go to Downtown Disney/Marketplace. At the Marketplace Jimmy and Mom went pin trading while I brought Cam. Both boys got some fantastic pins. Dad got me two of my favorite cookies at the bakery and he went in search of a mailbox for Mom. Later he came to Jimmys rescue by bringing a band-aid to the Lego store for his stubbed toe. Ouch!!! The kids ran through the fountains a few times then we returned to FW. After a quick lunch we visited the large playground. The kids almost had the place to themselves and played a great game of tag. Dad showed up and he and Jimmy played catch with the football. We were really appreciating the great temperatures, around 80 with no humidity, and a light breeze. From there we biked to the Wilderness Lodge and Jimmy, Cam, and Mom were each able to trade for a lanyard pin from CM Sandra. Biked back to our loop, where we were greeted by "our" peacock. Cam called him "inspector peacock". The boys played in the sand for an hour, where they have a pretty impressive construction site going. (We would find out in a few days that we were breaking the rules by letting them dig in the sand, more on that later!) Next we spent about an hour at the pool. Jimmy and Cam were backing up about three steps and than making a running jump into the pool, same thing that they and half the pool were doing yesterday but today the lifeguard told them not to. We have noticed over the years, that each lifeguard has their own set of rules! Had dinner then caught the boat over to the Contemporary for the kid's pin trading night. We arrived at 5:30 for the 7:00-9;00 pin trading and a line had already formed! Jimmy, Cam, and Mom got in line and were entertained with juice, snacks, and the lively conversation with the boy in front of them and his Grandmother. Dad and I rode the monorail around the loop and I called Jim. Kids finally got their turn and they each selected five wonderful pins. There was a lot of excitement as they showed us their trades. We just missed the boat to return to FW so we sat on the dock having snacks until the next one arrived. Relaxed in the motor home until we went to bed at 9:30. Saturday 4/17 I was up at 5:20, this seems to be the trend while I am at Disney. I'm up with the birds, well actually I'm up before the birds! I quietly got up and went to the comfort station for a shower. The kids woke up at 7:00 and we got ready to leave for Animal Kingdom. We have Annual Passes so we don't have to "get our moneys worth" by staying in a park all day. Our primary reason for going is for the kids to play in the bone yard. I'd like to see the Lion King show since it's been a few years since I have seen it and possibly ride the Kali River Rapid ride. The kids would like to be back at the site at 12:00. Mom and Dad got through the ticket gate fine but when Cam went to go through his ticket wouldn't work. The CM told us it had expired and to go to guest relations. I showed her it didn't expire until 11/21/04 but she said it didn't matter, her computer showed that it was expired. The line at guest relations was LONG so I guided the boys to another turnstile to try and get in. At this point it became apparent that every turnstile had broken down and no one was getting in. After a few minutes we were let in but the CM had to stamp my AP with the date. I asked her if that was necessary since we had AP's and she said "yes to verify we were there" Seemed rather odd but we were finally in the park and on our way to Dinoland. We went to the Primeval Whirl and walked right on. This ride scared Cam in November but not today he loved it. Since there was no one waiting to get on we stayed on for another four rides and we had a blast! After the last ride we hurried over the Boneyard where the kids pretty much had the place to themselves. It's a fantastic playground, especially when it's empty of other kids! Jimmy and Cam had a ball running around and we stayed for about an hour. Next was the Dinosaur ride. Cam was nervous about this ride since he had never been on it. We had a five minute wait, then we were hurled back in time to the age of dinosaurs. Both boys were glad when the ride was over, they didn't care for the larger sized dinosaurs and the loud noises. The picture of us at the end was a riot, Jimmy had both ears covered and Cam had a worried expression on his face. Cam was begging for one more ride on the Primeval Whirl so the boys and I jumped into a 10 minute line. After our bodies were tossed and turned one more time we hiked over to the Lion King show where we met Mom and Dad. We were impressed with the show except Cam who asked me twice if it was almost over! We took a ride on the Kali River Rapids then pin traded our way out of the park. We arrived back at FW at 12:45 and Dad and I went and got the take-out buffet at Trails End, Great value and good food. After lunch the boys and I went for a bike ride and a swim at the small pool out by the cabins. The temp. is another 80 degrees and we are so enjoying the comfortable temperatures. In fact it was by far the most comfortable I have been at Animal Kingdom weather wise, Ever!! Mom, Dad and the boys biked to the Wilderness Lodge and each of them got a lanyard pin from CM Inez. The lights were out at 8:30, early opening at MK in the morning. Sunday 4/18 We left the site a little after 7:00 and caught the small boat to the Contemporary. From there we walked to the MK. When the park opened the boys, Dad and I went to Space Mountain while Mom rode some of her favorite rides. While waiting inside SM I turned on my camcorder to record the kids excitement, a CM came over and told me I was "blinding everyone" with the light on my camcorder. It sure was hard to imagine how the tiny light on my camcorder was disrupting anyone's experience but I of course apologized and shut it right off. We rode SM twice then Dad and Jimmy headed over to Splash Mountain while Cam and I took one more ride on SM. Afterwards Cam and I hustled over to Frontierland where we rode Thunder Mountain twice before meeting up with Dad. Dad and Cam rode Thunder while I waited for Mom and Jimmy to exit Splash for their second ride, then we all went on Thunder together. I asked if we could sit in the back and we got the last seat, great ride! Next Dad and Jimmy rode Splash one more time with FPs and Mom, Cam and I went to see Mickey's PlilharMagic. I LOVE PlilharMagic and think the effects are superior! We all met at the Haunted Mansion where the boys and I shared one hotdog, which we practically inhaled! After visiting the 999 happy haunts we used our FPs for the Winnie the Pooh ride. We showed Mom and Dad the picture of Toad handing the deed over to Owl, bounced with Tigger, survived the rainy day then pin traded our way out of the park. We returned to the site where the kids played in the sand and we enjoyed some downtime before going on a bike ride and swimming at the small pool. This was my first day of swimming, it was 87 degrees but with the breeze it's still very comfortable. While I was working on this trip report I was shocked to hear a voice say "Heidi" I looked up to see the secretary for Jimmy and Cam's school. I didn't even know she was coming to Disney much less be staying at FW. She and her family were staying in one of the cabins. We had a nice visit before biking back to the site and getting ready to go check out the new Pop Century Resort. When the boys and I come back in July that is where we will be staying and we wanted to see what it was like. We went into the gift shop, which seemed much larger than the gift shop at the All Stars, and saw CMs everywhere with lanyards on. The boys had a blast trading. Next we checked out the food court and I was a bit disappointed. At the All Stars every day at 5:00 they offer dinners where you can choose from such offerings as pork tenderloin, turkey breast, fresh fish, flank steak etc. These meals come with two sides and a roll and cost around 9.99. The Pop Century has Moms special where every night it gives you ONE choice and the choices included meatloaf (UGH) or fried chicken. Of course there were lots of other things to choose from like burgers, hotdogs, chicken strips, pizza and sandwiches, I will just really miss the other dinner selections. At 6:00 the electric slide started to play and CMs appeared from all over to perform in the food court, we all stood and watched. We toured around the resort checking out the pools and all the buildings. The boys and I thought it looked like a lot of fun. We'll definitely have a good time staying here in July. Drove back to FW. Cam and Dad biked to the Wilderness Lodge and Jimmy played in the sand. Lights were out at 9:15. Monday 4/19 We rode the bus to Epcot. (10 min. wait) When the park opened we made our way over to Test Track. We wanted to run but were advised not to by a CM who said we would be the "first ones on the list" if we ran!!! Wonder what "the list" is? We were able to get in three rides on Test Track and one on Mission Space. (Cam and Mom had four rides on TT) Mission Space will never be a favorite of mine. The pressure on my face and neck on lift off is downright uncomfortable. I'll ride it with Jimmy but its nothing that I have to do! I did enjoy seeing all the pictures of our pioneer space travelers while in line. We brought Mom and Dad into ice station cool and introduced them to Beverly, which they LOVED, just kidding! We continued on to the Land for a bite to eat. I had a veggie wrap, which was outstanding and the kids each had a hot fudge sundae. As we were leaving the park we bumped into the school secretary again, small world! A five minute wait for the bus and we were soon back at FW after our morning of thrill rides. Mom and Dad brought the boys to the Wilderness Lodge looking for lanyard pins then they had some batting practice. During that time I laid down for a nap. I woke up refreshed and when they returned I brought the boys for a bike ride and swimming at the small pool. Surprisingly enough we saw the secretary again! After a fun swim we biked back to the site and the kids played in the sand. At 7:30 Cam, Mom and I biked to the campfire program. Jimmy really wanted to watch the seventh game of the Bruins play-off game so he and Dad stayed behind at the motor home to watch that. Cam did a great job roasting marshmallows and we had some yummy s'mores. Before the singing started a man sitting behind us warned us that he had seen a carpenter bee go into a hole in our bench!! He showed me where and I stuck a pebble into the hole. I'd never heard of a carpenter bee but those things are HUGE!! Julie was the singer and she did a great job entertaining us with all our favorite Disney tunes. Chip and Dale came around and Cam and I had our picture taken with Chip. We stayed for the Chip and Dale cartoon but left before the feature film. We biked back to our site in the dark. Cam went right to bed and Jimmy finished watching the Bruins game. The Bruins lost which was disappointing, now on to the Red Sox season! Tomorrow morning Jimmy and I are going to MGM to ride the Tower of Terror and the Rock and Roller coaster as many times as possible. Since Cam doesn't like either of those rides Mom and Dad are taking him to the Magic Kingdom. Tuesday 4/20 I woke up at 6:00 and Jimmy and I left to catch the bus to MGM at 7:10. The bus pulled right in and we were on our way. We stopped at both the Wilderness Lodge and the Grand Floridian before our final destination of MGM. Once the park opened we went directly to TOT and got FPs and then jumped in line for RRC. The line never moved and then we got word that the ride was still closed and they were not sure when it was opening!! I can't even explain how disappointing this was since our whole reason for coming was to ride RRC and TOT as many times as possible. We retraced our steps and joined the 10- minute wait for TOT. We had an excellent ride, Jimmy and I had the first seat which I've never had before. Exited the ride and were going to go again until we saw a 50 min. wait! We walked back to the RRC which was up and running with a 50 min. wait! Ugh!!! So much for Early Entry, especially with one of the early opening rides broken down! We picked up FPs that were good for 10:00 and returned to use our FPs for the TOT and we walked right on. The CM that was working the elevator was a riot. He walked up behind one unsuspecting women and stood right behind her. She was a bit startled. He was really into his character! We got the front seat again and had another excellent ride. We had over 45 min. for our FP to the RRC so we wandered around pin trading. Unfortunately hardly any CMs at MGM bother to wear lanyards. We walked down NY street and then into One Mans Dream. Both Jimmy and I really enjoyed it. We especially liked seeing the old sign that advertised Fort Wilderness back in 1971. The sign boasted 700 sites, guided canoe rides and train rides. I'm sure most people don't even remember those options, but I do! Twenty- nine years ago when I was eight years old and staying at FW for the very first time the train was running although I never got to ride. The canoe trips were to "marshmallow marsh" and were held in the evening. I never went on one of those either but every night you would hear "hootin and hollering" from the people on the trip. I don't think those have run for twenty years. It was fun seeing the sign and remembering. When we left there we picked up FPs for the Millionaire Show and headed back to RRC with our FPs. Great ride and I loved riding it with Jimmy and sharing his excitement. Afterwards we practically ran to catch the Millionaire show and just made it in the nick of time, getting the last remaining seats. We had a fun time playing along. Jimmy and I left the park and were back at the site by 12:00. Although we had a fun time together I doubt I'll ever go to MGM on an early opening day again. Everyone who enters the park goes for the TOT and RRC, which means the lines get pretty long, pretty quick! At the motor home Jimmy worked on some homework while we waited for Cam, Mom and Dad. A note about homework. We will be here for 20 days and the kids are missing 8 days of school. So far the kids gain so much more from a family vacation in Disney than they lose from missing a week of classroom activities. (I realize this will be different in middle and high school) What I don't like is, it seems like every year Jimmy's teachers send enough homework for all 20 days forgetting that we are also gone for school vacation week and weekends!! Both kids are good students and we have never found that they have missed anything of importance. Cam arrived back at 1:00 with a pocketful of lanyard pins and full of talk about all the fun he'd had at the MK. The three of us went for a long bike ride and then spent an hour at the small pool. I have to mention, all these bike rides also include stops at the Trading Post to check things out! Back at the site we got ready to leave for the All Stars for dinner. I got my favorite pork roast dinner and the kids shared a hot dog and fries. Before leaving we stopped in the gift shop and the kids each traded for a lanyard pin. Back at FW Dad, Jimmy and Cam went to play catch. At 7:30 we all went to the campfire program where we were entertained by CM Sundee with her songs, comedy, and knowledge. Chip and Dale made the rounds and the kids made s'mores. After watching the Chip and Dale cartoon we biked back to the site and picked up our coats before biking down to the beach to watch fireworks. It was an excellent display and from a distance I noticed things I hadn't noticed in the parks like how some of the fireworks appear in the shape of stars and hearts!! Afterwards we watched the electrical water pageant make its way past FW. Returned to the site and went to bed. Wed. 4/21 Jimmy slept until 7:45 and Cam slept until 8:30, which is pretty shocking for those two since at home they are always up between 5:30 and 6:00! I did one weeks worth of laundry between 7:00 and 8:30 and Jimmy did a little math homework. Around 9:00 two CMs, a man and a women all dressed up arrived at our site in a golf cart. They were extremely concerned that the sand/crushed shells behind the motor home had been disturbed because the kids had played in it. I admit they had dug around A LOT but I never realized it would be a problem. They lectured us a bit how it is supposed to be hardpacked and that they "provide places for children to play". Dad apologized and said not to worry we would fix it right away. Dad also took the opportunity to let them know that perhaps their time would be better spent enforcing their own rules since we see people breaking the rules all the time. For example kids under 16 driving the golf carts, two cars parked at one site, motorized scooters, pets being in non pet loops or golf carts driving in areas clearly marked "No Golf Carts". We are a family of rule followers and would never dream of doing something that is against the rules so it was shocking to have two important looking CMs come to our site. As soon as they left we set to work and destroyed the kid's creations and returned the site to its original form. I told the kids they could no longer play in the sand. It was disappointing, as they really LOVED playing in the sand and had such a great time. We rode our bikes to the dam and the kids caught tiny fish with their nets. The weather continues to be beautiful, mid 80s nice breeze. I have been fishing with the kids at the dam during previous April vacations where I am soaked in sweat just standing there. It's unbelievable that for a whole week the weather has been 80-85 degrees, with no humidity and a nice breeze. Next we biked to the Big Bear Little Bear loop and played quite a few rounds of tetherball, before biking to another loop to play basketball. Then we biked to the pool to go swimming. Mid afternoon we biked to the Wilderness Lodge for pin trading with CM Sandra. Jimmy was able to complete his set of license plate pins, which was very exciting. Back at FW Dad brought the boys out to play catch and for a bike ride. We had a planned on going to the campfire program but when they returned Jimmy had a tummy ache so he stayed back with Mom and read a Hardy Boys book while the three of us went to the program. Sundee was performing again and did an almost identical show as the night before. With all the Disney songs that have been written it is hard to understand why she doesn't do different things. Cam was really tired and we returned to the site before the cartoon even started. Jimmy was feeling better and the kids went to bed. Dad and I biked down to Pioneer Hall and sat on the rocking chairs on the porch and people watched. Lights out at 10:00. Thursday 4/22 I can hardly believe one week is already over!! Boo Hoo!!! I was up at 5:30 to be ready to leave at 7:15 for early opening in the MK. Kids got up at 6:45 and were tired at first but woke up quickly and we were on our way. We rode the boat to the MK and got in line to enter the park. We hurried to SM and had a great ride unfortunately they only had one side open so when we exited the ride at 8:25 there was already a 50 min. wait!! Sometimes it seems like Disney likes to create lines! Since a second ride on SM was out of the question we walked over to have a ride on Buzz Lightyear. Next up was the teacups with no wait. Dad and the boys hopped on but their teacup didn't spin very fast so they went and rode a second time. Although the second ride was better it wasn't the best, maybe they need to "refurbish" the teacups with a little oil! We headed over to Frontierland to ride the other two mountains. We stopped for a picture with Big Al who was all by himself, he had a water bottle that he was squirting people with, the kids got a kick out of that. Jimmy and I rode Splash Mountain while Cam Mom and Dad rode Thunder twice. Cam developed a headache while waiting for his second ride on Thunder. I hadn't brought any medicine in with me because his headaches had been under control. Dad and I took turns carrying him to the first aid for Tylenol. Poor guy felt lousy so despite the fact that we had FPs for Mickey's PhilharMagic, and a PS for lunch at the castle we returned to FW. I gave Cam more medicine and he laid down to rest. After about 45 min. he perked up quite a bit so since Jimmy had been really looking forward to eating at the castle he and I returned to the park for our 12:30 PS. As we walked into the park Jimmy looked at me and said "this is fun, just you and me Mom" we smiled all the way down Main Street. We were able to get FPs for Mickey's PhilharMagic and then we checked into the castle. We were seated immediately and as we were admiring our surroundings Jimmy said, " I'm so happy to be here" Jimmy ordered the corn dogs and a raspberry smoothie, which he declared to be the best of the trip! As we were finishing up our meal a little girl who was leaving with her family was swinging her bag of jellybeans. The bag split open and jellybeans went everywhere! The family were embarrassed but were quickly assisted by the nicest CMs who not only picked up the mess but also insisted on knowing where they purchased the jellybeans so they could replace the bag for the little girl. Now you don't get service like that anyplace but Disney!! After our lunch we used our FPs and watched Mickey's PhilarMagic. As we were trying to enter the FP queue there were three people who were apparently early for their FP time so they stood side by side blocking almost the whole entrance for everybody else. When you see these things it just makes you scratch your head and wonder!!!! After another great show we pin traded our way through Frontierland and Adventureland and down Main Street. When we left the park we caught the monorail to the Contemporary. The Contemporary was like a ghost town so I sat down while Jimmy pin traded in all the shops. He came out of one of the shops with a huge grin on his face he had traded for three lanyard pins off of one CM. This was a huge coup!!! It's exciting to find one lanyard pin let alone three! In the end we left the Contemporary with six lanyard pins! We returned to FW by boat and found a note from Mom. She, Dad and Cam had biked over to the Lodge. Jimmy and I biked over to meet them and found them in the lobby. Cam was completely recovered from his headache and had a fun afternoon that he told us all about. The highlight was participating in Earth Day activities at FW where he won a bag of goodies for answering some questions correctly. Returned to our site just long enough to grab our swimsuits then we headed to the pool. We had a HUGE scare on our bike ride to the pool. I was riding right behind Cam when suddenly he literally flew over his handlebars, flipped and belly flopped on the pavement with his bike landing on top of him!!!! I saw all of this in slow motion and couldn't believe what I was seeing! Thoughts of broken bones are running through my mind. Instead Cam stood up looking slightly puzzled but completely uninjured except for scrapes at the end of every toe of his right foot. Two families who were walking behind us stopped to see if Cam was ok. After checking Cam over we got back on our bikes and continued on to the pool. (To this day I have no idea what happened and marvel over the fact that he wasn't hurt!) We went to the large meadow pool where there were plenty of extra chairs. A man at the pool noticed the boys Bruin shirts and asked how the Bruins had done in the play-off game three nights ago, I told him they had lost and then the man said he wished he hadn't asked! The kids swam for about an hour before getting out to play catch with Dad. At 7:30 Jimmy, Cam, Dad and I headed out to the campfire program for the fourth night in a row. This also turned out to be the last night that we attended the campfire program) The kids made s'mores for Dad and I. Poor Jimmy burned every marshmallow he cooked while Cam continued to toast perfect marshmallows every time. We visited with Chip and Dale and although we hadn't planned on it we ended up staying for the movie Snowball Express. Jimmy and Cam laughed throughout the movie and enjoyed seeing the crazy skiing abilities of the star Dean Jones. (Now that we are home they want to rent it to watch it again) We were in bed by 10:30. Friday 4/23 We were up around 7:00 and the boys and I biked down to the dam with our pail and nets. The kids caught lots of minnows and water bugs. I enjoyed sitting and watching them. It was so PEACEFUL and quiet. The Contemporary towered over Discovery Island in the distance and next to that was the Castle and Space Mountain. The transportation boats quietly made there way back and fourth. It's these special times that make Fort Wilderness our favorite place to be. We left the dam and biked to the playground. The kids played on the playground and played catch with each other. I sat at the picnic table and watched quite a few motor homes leaving the campground. I could imagine how sad they probably feel to have their vacation over. We are so fortunate to still have 1 ½ weeks left although I know how quickly it will go! At 9:30 we left for Typhoon Lagoon. Once at the park we got to go right in to the bridge where we waited for the rope to drop. We put our stuff down in a shady spot and headed for the storm slides and Humunga Cowabunga. We rode six times with no wait before heading to the wave pool. The water in the wave pool was surprisingly chilly but we rode the waves until they stopped then we took a short break. As we were having a snack a gross looking bug that looked like a cockroach appeared by our feet. Cam buried him in the sand and we headed to the lazy river. (Two hours later the kids were digging in the sand and that sucker appeared again alive and well!! This time I took matters in my own hands and placed the little guy in the trash can!) We rode the whole circuit of the lazy river three times until we pried ourselves out for a bathroom and snack break. Although we were hot waiting in line to enter the park we were never hot again for the rest of the day. The sun managed to stay behind the clouds and there was a breeze so even though the temperature was in the 80s it was cool. The fact that the water in the wave pool was chilly didn't help and although the boys LOVE the wave pool I couldn't interest them in going back in for the rest of the day. Now we are from N.H. so we know chilly water and there was a drastic difference in the temperature between the wave pool and the storm slides which were like bath water. We went around the lazy river another three times before heading out at 2:30, but not before we bought a couple dozen mini donuts and two strawberry slushes that were fantastic. Returned to the motor home and after showers we went for a nice bike ride. You can tell its Friday because all the "Floridians" are coming in for the weekend. We left at 5:00 to go to the Contemporary for the kid's pin trading night. We arrived 1 ½ hours early and the kids were 6th and 7th in line!! This is very popular with the locals, we have attended this event around eight times in the last three years and we have only met people from Florida. Visited with a Mother in line from Florida who brings her son once a month. My kids are envious of all the people who can work on this hobby year round! While Mom and the kids waited in line I wandered around in the Contemporary having some "quiet time". I had a nice talk with Jim who is very excited to fly down on Monday morning. I went into the fast food place and bought the kids a dessert that looked like a hamburger, it was actually two cookies with frosting in the middle but from a distance it really looked like a hamburger. The kids gobbled it up! The kids finally got their turn and again made some great selections and had a great time. It's ironic because in a park the kids would never want to wait in any line longer than 20 min. but they are very content to wait 1 ½ hours to trade off from this board!! The boat was just pulling away so we had to wait for it to do the whole circuit before it came back to get us. On the boat we visited with a friendly family from Oregon. They had left Oregon on March 14th in their motor home and won't return until late July. They are touring the perimeter of the U.S.A. and would be coming through N.H. in late May. Lights out at 8:45. Sat. 4/24 I was up at 5:30, Cam at 7:00, and Jimmy at 7:30. After breakfast the kids and I went for a quick bike ride before driving to Animal Kingdom. Mom and Dad did their own thing and we agreed to meet at the exit at 12:00. We went straight to the Primeval Whirl and were having a great time until we went around a corner and Jimmy and Cam slammed their heads together. Neither one of them gets hurt to easily but they both held their heads for the rest of the ride. Once we got off I gave Cam some medicine to possibly prevent the onset of a headache. The kids pin traded with all the CMs working the games then we headed to the playground. The kids played for about an hour having another great time. Inside the playground they pin traded with a CM who had a few special pins on his outfit. As we were admiring the pins he told us he got one for working on attractions and one for being a character, he then went on to tell us he used to be Tigger!!! I thought that was a little too much information and a little "unmagical"!! Before we left we searched for and found the three hidden Mickey's. Last summer we bought a hidden Mickey book and the kids were on a mission to find some hidden Mickey's. We left the boneyard to use our FPs for one more ride on the Primeval Whirl. I sat between the boys so there was no chance of them banging their heads together again. Next we pin traded our way to the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Our hidden Mickey book said there were nine hidden Mickey's on the Trek and we had a blast finding each and every one. We enjoyed the whole walk and seeing all the animals but our favorite were the giant fruit bats. They were HUGE, apparently a lot of people must be squeamish with the bats because there was a walkway to bypass the bats all together. The bats made me think of cousin Kathy and her dislike of bats. I'm sure she is very thankful that the bats we have at our family camp are not the size of those critters!!! Our next stop was the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. Quite a contrast in crowds here, lots and lots of people here as opposed to hardly anyone over at the Jungle Trek. We found both of the hidden Mickey's, one of them possibly being my all time favorite hidden Mickey. It was on a bar of soap sitting on the back of a desk. It was so tiny you would never find it if you weren't looking for it!! After we finished the trail we worked our way out of the park. Mom and Dad were waiting for us and we all headed for the car. We were back at the site at 12:30 and I went and picked up lunch for Jimmy and I at Trails End. Jimmy and Cam worked on some homework before we biked to the small pool. The pool was the most crowded I had seen it all trip. Mom and Dad also biked down for a swim before we all returned to the site. A quick change and we biked to the Wilderness Lodge. Kids looked at the pins but didn't find anything too exciting. Returned to the site and the five of us drove over to the Pop Century. The pin trading had been so great here a few days ago we wanted to try it again, sure enough the kids made some great trades. We all had some ice cream for dessert before returning to FW. We hung out at the site before going to bed. Sunday 4/25 I had a hard time falling asleep last night as soon as I laid down my head got all congested. I woke up this morning feeling like my head would explode!! I crawled out of bed to get the boys and myself ready and we all left at 7:15 for the MK. We took the boat to the Contemporary and walked over. While walking over a security guard yelled out a hearty "good morning" greeting. We waved and wished her well in return. We headed straight to Space Mountain and got on pretty quickly. Unfortunately only one side was running again so the boys and I had to wait 20-25 minutes for our second ride, Dad enjoyed a cup of coffee and people watched while we waited. A boy about Cams age who was behind us in line cried throughout the wait because he didn't want to ride. He of course ended up in our spaceship and screamed and cried through the whole ride!!!! He was so loud on the long hill climb that Cam (who was furthest away in the front seat) plugged his ears the whole way. Needless to say it wasn't our most enjoyable ride on Space Mountain!! We met Mom and Dad and headed to Frontierland picking up FPs for Peter Pans Flight on the way. I was really dragging, my whole head hurt and my throat was dry and scratchy. Jimmy, Mom, and Dad rode Splash Mountain once and Cam and I rode Thunder Mountain twice. We met Jimmy, Mom and Dad and we all rode Thunder together, Jimmy and Cam sat together in the back seat and laughed throughout the ride. Next we rode the raft to Tom Sawyers Island. Mom and Dad explored the island on their own while the kids and I checked out the caves. My body couldn't get to the Fort fast enough so I could sit down and rest my head while the kids played. While I was sitting there two CMs came into the Fort. One CM was obviously training the other. He told him that every morning he needed to go into each rifle roost and check each rifle for sound effects. If any of the rifles were not working he needed to call it in. They walked around a little bit and then left. A few minutes later a Grandmother yelled down to her husband sitting in a rocking chair "He's shooting the gun, his Mother isn't going to like that!" Grandpa's reply was "he's a boy, boys shoot guns" he looked at me and I nodded my approval! Mom and Dad showed up after awhile and I used Dads cell phone to call Jim. We had a nice chat, he's excited to fly down tomorrow. I really wished he were with us now because he would have the energy I was lacking due to my head feeling like it would burst at any moment. We left the fort and Mom and Dad returned to the dock while the kids and I went to the other play area for more playtime. We all met at the dock and rode back to the mainland. Mom and Dad said good-bye and went to get some lunch while the boys and I hurried to Peter Pans before our FPs expired. Good thing we had FPs because the wait was a staggering 55 minutes!!! We were unsuccessful in finding the lone hidden Mickey here but will look again next time. At this time my body was ready to leave the park but the kids wanted to go to the Haunted Mansion, so to the Haunted Mansion we went. We found two new hidden Mickey's but not the third near the Opera singer and Grim Reaper. We will look again! The kids were starving so we bought three hotdogs in Liberty Square and ate them in the shade. We did a little pin trading on our way out of the park. (Cam traded for a Mickey scuba diving lanyard pin, which, he was so excited about then he lost it, a few tears were shed over that) We returned to the site where I promptly laid down to rest. I would have given my left arm for a ten minute nap but it was not to be. First Cam was talking loudly to Mom, I finally asked him to shut the door. When he quieted down Jimmy began playing on his bed, which is below mine. It seemed like he was doing jumping jacks down there because my bed was shifting back and fourth. I asked Jimmy to settle down but at that point gave up on the illusion that I might have a nap!! I got up and asked Jimmy to do a little homework. He stretched this out with two cups of milk, a cup of water, and some cookies!!! I stepped outside for one minute to grab our swimsuits off the line and when I returned Jimmy was standing up perfecting his batting swing!!! At this point my patience are running thin and my head just plain hurts. I told Jimmy to finish his homework by the time Cam and I were in our swimsuits OR ELSE!!! Homework finished we biked to the large pool but someone had had an accident and the pool was closed for cleaning, so we biked on to the small pool. I went for a quick swim and relaxed on the lounge hoping that this head cold would disappear!! We returned to the site to change for our bike ride to the Lodge. Mom had just woken up from a nap and reading and Dad was sound asleep. The kids and I ate dinner at Roaring Fork. Jimmy had pizza and Cam had fries. We had a historic moment when Cam who has a strong aversion to most foods tried pizza for the very first time in his life!!!! He managed to eat five small bites, hurray for Cam!!!!! We biked back to FW and Jimmy ended up wiping out on his bike, it wasn't nearly as spectacular as Cams bike accident back on Thursday, thankfully he was fine except for a scraped elbow. We returned to the site where we found both Mom and Dad awake so we suggested to them that we drive back over to the Pop Century for more pin trading and dessert. No lanyard pins this time but tons of people to trade with and they each got some interesting pins. Jimmy had the tye-dyed cheesecake that he loves and Cam had some ice cream. Back at the site I got the kids into bed at 7:45, although they swore they were not tired I had seen signs of it during the day and since we still have another whole week of vacation left I figured one early night wasn't going to kill them!! Once they were in bed I went for a bike ride by myself. The campground was pretty quiet and I enjoyed myself very much, vacation at its finest all the relaxing moments! Monday 4/26 I had a great nights sleep and my head and nose feel much clearer. I went to the comfort station at 6:30 and put in two loads of wash and had a shower. When I finished the shower I put both loads in the dryer and headed back to the motor home. Everyone was up so we got ready for the day. I let Mom and Dad take Jimmy to MGM so they could ride the TOT and RRC with him and I brought Cam to Epcot to ride TT. While waiting for our very first ride at 9:05 the ride broke down, in five minutes it was up and running and we had a fun ride. We got FPs when we exited the ride then got in line again. The line stopped moving and no cars were going on the track so it was broken down AGAIN!! We waited about 30 minutes for our second ride. Used our FPs for our third ride but even the FP line was backed up since it had been broken down so much. We finally got on and were having fun until it broke down twice while we were on it!! We went to pin central and found out about a pin event going on where you could get a card stamped at all four parks, Downtown Disney, The Pop Century, and The Wilderness Lodge. If you succeed in getting all those stamps and returned to Epcot before all the pins were given out you could get a free limited edition Figment pin. Wow that was a lot of places and even though I had NO intention of going to all those places Cam got a card and a women gave me her card that already had two stamps on it. (Read tomorrow to see what power that card had over us!!!) We got back to the site and met Jimmy, Mom and Dad and heard about their morning at MGM. They had gone to the RCR first and it was broken down!! Exactly the way it was when Jimmy and I had gone there last week. Maybe Disney needs to invent a way to keep their most popular rides from breaking down quite so frequently, especially first thing in the morning!! In the end they were able to get one ride on TOT and three rides on RRC. Jims plane landed on time at 11:20 and he arrived at FW an hour later. I brought the boys to the pool while Dad drove to the outpost to pick him up. Jim biked to the pool and we were all so HAPPY to see him. He told us that when he left N.H. a few hours earlier it was cold, rainy and around 35 degrees!! Quite a difference to our sunny warm temperature of almost 90 degrees!! After a refreshing swim we biked to the Lodge. CM Sandra was at the pin cart and was especially helpful to the boys, she also stamped our pin cards and I got a card too. We returned to the site and got ready for our dinner at O'hanas. We rode the boat to the Contemporary and the captain mistakenly said, "Next stop the Polynesian". There is no boat from FW to the Polynesian nowadays but years ago, long before The Grand Floridian or The Wilderness Lodge were built there was a boat that connected FW, the Polynesian and the Contemporary. While we were waiting to be seated I took my annual picture of the boys in front of the lovely waterfall in the lobby of the Poly. I have taken their picture there every April since Cam was one year old. We had a wonderful meal at O'hanas although they were a little slow in bringing out the shrimp and pork. The boys went crazy for the caramel dipping sauce and ate it with a spoon. Our waiter was nice enough to bring over another cup of it for them. We were seated by two tables that were also from N.H. (This proved to be the trend for the week, we saw more Red Sox t-shirts than I've ever seen in my life. I think all of New England must have been vacationing at Disney!!) We rode the monorail to the MK and we all split up. Jimmy wanted to try and ride Splash so he and Jim headed there. Cam wanted to ride Goofy's Barnstormer so he and I headed over to Toontown. Mom and Dad did their own thing. Cam and I went straight there and rode after a five-minute wait. Afterwards we snagged FPs for Space Mountain, and rode both Buzz Lightyear and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. We went to meet Jim and Jimmy at the Haunted Mansion and Mom and Dad were there too. I was dying of thirst so the five of them went on while I went in search of a bottle of water. I was unsuccessful in my search for water, it was 7:45 and all the food carts were closed down. I managed to buy a Gatorade that I gratefully gulped down despite the fact that I don't particularly care for the stuff!!! The next 15 minutes that I waited for everyone were so enjoyable. I was in Liberty Square, it was dusk, patriotic music was playing and people were moving at a slow pace not the frantic rushing around that you see in the morning. It was very relaxing another Disney at its finest moments!! As soon as they emerged from the HM we said goodbye to Mom and Dad and headed to Space Mountain to use our FPs. I have been on roller coasters ten times more thrilling than SM but I LOVE SM and always have. I have lots of fun memories here and it's a ride that I can enjoy with both of my kids. We went to Main Street to watch Wishes. It was as wonderful as when we saw it in November. We went down Main Street with the masses stopping at the camera center to get a stamp on those cardboard pin cards and buy two more pins. As we exited the park we looked up to see Mickey at the Train Station waving good-bye to everyone. There was a FW boat at the dock and we were lucky enough to get on, Mom and Dad were on too. We literally crawled into bed once we got back to the motor home. Tuesday 4/27 We were up at 6:00 to get the boys ready for their guided fishing excursion. The boys, Jim and Dad were going. I could have gone as well but opted not to. Jimmy and Cam were very excited and had been looking forward to going ever since I had made the reservations three months ago. Since it was costing 220.00 plus bait I was hoping it would live up to their expectations. They had to be at the dock at 6:45 so they left the motor home soon after waking up. (I want to add that I picked the early morning time, I know how hot it can get on Bay Lake as the day progresses, I also paid more for the early morning time, it got cheaper as the day went on) After a quick shower I hopped on my bike and rode around the campground. I explored almost every loop and saw maybe a handful of people. I also noticed that most of the loops were half empty. I sat on a bench at the Meadow Trading Post on the back porch, there was absolutely no activity around at all except for a couple of ducks. At that moment I was dreaming about how wonderful it would be to live at Fort Wilderness permanently!!! I returned to the site and got my drivers license and money to go rent a golf cart for the day. Cam was especially looking forward to this. I waited in line at the bike barn only to find out that I also needed my credit card as well. Went back and got my credit card, practically signed my life away on all the forms and finally got the golf cart. I picked up Mom and we drove down to the dock to pick up the guys from the fishing trip and surprise the boys with the golf cart. We waited about 10 minutes for them to return. Everyone got off the boat smiling and happy and I could tell right away that the trip had been a success! Jimmy and Cam declared it the best thing they had done the whole trip!! Everyone caught between 8-15, fish many of them quite large. Their fishing guide Missy was outstanding and really contributed to making the excursion a memorable experience. The fishing trip ended up costing 242.95 plus a 20.00 tip and although this was extravagant for our frugal family it was worth every penny. All the guys had a blast and I am sure that we won't make another trip to WDW without the fishing trip being a part of it. We went for a spin on the golf cart and then picked up our suits to go swimming. The pool was completely deserted except for the lifeguard and the boys loved having the place to themselves. Although it was a bit humid the temperature was only in the mid 70s. The boys swam for over an hour before Jimmy got out to play catch with Jim and Cam and I went for a spin in the golf cart. We weren't gone for too long before it started raining, our first rain in two weeks, so we went back and picked up Jimmy and Jim and rode back to the site. Mom and Jim went to Trails End and picked up the buffet for lunch, again it was very good. The rain continued on and off so we decided to drive to the Pop century to show Jim where we would be staying in July. Mom and Dad headed off to Epcot. We drove the golf cart to the Outpost to pick up our rent a car, and got to talking about going to a few places to get the pin card stamped. We had NO intention of getting all the stamps in time to get the free Figment pin but figured we would get a few more stamps. We showed Jim the Pop Century and were going to get an ice cream and another piece of tye dyed cheesecake but the dessert area was closed. I can't imagine why it was closed, don't people want an ice cream at 2:00 in the afternoon? Hope its open in July or we wont be happy campers!!! We got the stamp and bought a pin as well and decided to go to Animal Kingdom to get another stamp. We parked fairly close and went into the park, got another stamp, bought a pin and considered doing an attraction. There really were not waits for anything but we decided there was nothing that we wanted to do. Seeing the light crowd there we decided to drive to MGM to see if we could get Jimmy on TOT or RRC. We parked and rode the tram in, this was a first for the kids since we normally take the bus or park close enough to walk in. (The magical moments I had been dreaming about after dealing with our favorite rides being broken down in the mornings or in the case of Space Mountain only opening one side to create long lines would be in abundance for the next 24 hours!!) We walked in and saw only a 15 min. wait for TOT and 20 min. wait for the RRC, hey this is as good as first thing in the morning!! Jim and Jimmy headed for TOT and (first magical moment) someone gave them 2 FPs so they walked right on. Meanwhile Cam and I were able to get 4 FPs for RRC that were good in a mere 25 minutes. Hmmm stand in line for 20 minutes or get FPs that are good in 25 minutes!! When we met up with Jim and Jimmy I gave them the FPs for RRC and since Cam didn't want to ride they were able to ride it twice. Cam and I rode The Great Movie Ride which is always enjoyable and picked up 4 FPs for the TOT. We grabbed a quick bite to eat then Jimmy and I went to the TOT, turns out we didn't even need the FPs there was zero wait!! Surprisingly enough there was no wait in the boiler room either and we literally walked right into an elevator! Excellent ride and Jimmy and I hurried around and walked right on again, now this was fun! What a change from Early opening a week ago with the long lines and also a big change from just yesterday when Jimmy, Mom, and Dad came at opening and waited 20 minutes to ride TOT right after the park opened! Another excellent ride and Jimmy was thrilled to ride RRC twice and TOT three times in a little over an hour! After all the bad luck of having the rides broken down this was really FUN!! Met up with Cam and Jim for another magical moment, Cam had traded for the elusive Eeyore baseball lanyard pin. This was really exciting. We got the stamps on the pin card before leaving the park. We hopped on the tram and CM Dennis who rode on the back of the tram proved to be our entertainment highlight of the day!! He had us laughing hysterically. He talked on his microphone and told us how lucky we were to be getting dropped off at our cars and how we were probably going to be going out for a nice meal somewhere while he "poor Dennis" had to work until 11:00 with no break and no food. He hoped he would get lucky and someone might give him a crust of bread. He talked about working until 11:00 and getting rained on and being surrounded with thunder and lightening and possibly snowed on!! At one point he said that we were heading for one more water ride and to put our hands in the air (we did) a minute later we went through a large puddle left over from the earlier rainstorm! As we were getting off the tram he reminded everyone not to worry about "poor Dennis" Dennis was so funny and we laughed and laughed I'm sure we will always remember that tram ride to our car. (Now that we are home we often talk about "poor Dennis") We decided we were all up for a trip to the Downtown Disney to get the last stamp we needed before returning to Epcot to get the free pin, the pin that we had NO intention of ever getting! I figured we would have to park far away from the pin store but another magical moment produced a parking space right up front. We go and get the final stamp on the pin card. It was now almost 7:00 and we debated about whether or not we were going to go into Epcot to see about the pin. I was a little tired but the kids were up for it so we parked at the Beach Club and went into Epcot. The whole way in I kept reminding the boys that depending on how many people had done this all the Figment pins could be gone already, but to remember all the fun we had in just getting the stamps. If it wasn't for the pin card we never would have gone to MGM and we had such a blast there. We lucked out and there were still plenty of pins so the boys each got their Figment pin. It was fun and we felt so lucky that they had the hunt while we were here. We returned to the motor home tired but happy. Cam and Jimmy gave Grammy our extra Figment pin. She was surprised that we had completed the whole card. As I laid in bed I thought how funny it was that on a day we hadn't planned on going to any parks we ended up going to three parks plus Downtown Disney and the Pop Century!!! Lights out at 9:30. Wednesday 4/28 I had a great nights sleep, my head cold is completely gone. I woke up before anyone, had a shower, did a load of laundry and went for a bike ride. Since Dad and Mom will be leaving tomorrow this is my last morning to ride. When I get home and think about vacation perhaps I will miss those times the most! When everyone got up the four of us went for a ride in the golf cart around the whole campground. It was amazing to see all the empty sites, I think back to two weeks ago when we checked in and there were no empty sites at all. We stopped and played basketball, 2 on 2 until Cam fell down and scraped the palms of his hands. Ouch!! We rode the golf cart back to the site and got our swimsuits while Jimmy and Jim returned the golf cart. We didn't stay at the pool long because Jimmy developed a tummy ache so he and I biked back to the site. Dad stayed with him while I returned to the pool. Mom came and went swimming with Cam. After swimming we all biked back and I found Jimmy feeling fine, and happily reading. The six of us all went for one last bike ride to the Wilderness Lodge. CM Sandra was at the pin cart and gave Jimmy a witch lanyard pin to complete his villain set and she gave Cam a lanyard pin from Disneyland. It was so nice of her and the kids were so excited. They made a couple more trades with her and then I asked if I could take her picture with the boys, she had been so nice to them for the past two weeks and seemed to enjoy the pins as much as they did! After I took a picture she gave me her camera and asked me to take a picture for her she then wrote down on a notepad that we were from N.H. We sat down in the nearby rocking chairs for awhile and as we were getting ready to leave she motioned for us to come back. Mom had already left so Jim ran out to get her. We waited while she finished with a customer then she presented the kids with cast exclusive pins and Mom with a beautiful castle pin. We were all very touched by her kindness, its people like Sandra that make WDW the special place that it is! In the afternoon the six of us went for our last bike ride, Boo Hoo, and biked to the small pool. After a refreshing swim we headed back to the site. I stopped at the Meadow Trading Post and bought 8 Mickey ice cream sandwiches to put in the motor home freezer so we could enjoy them in N.H. Jim, Jimmy, and Cam went to the Settlement Trading Post to do some Birthday shopping for me. (My Birthday is exactly one week from today) There is definitely sadness in the air as we know our fantastic stay at Fort Wilderness is drawing to a close. The two weeks that we have spent here have been truly wonderful. I can't adequately express in words how much we LOVE Fort Wilderness. Its so laid back and friendly, a special place to unwind and relax. Believe it or not our family are not big bikers, in fact we rarely go biking in N.H but we so look forward to all the bike riding that we do around the Fort. We got ready and headed over to Port Orleans French Quarter. We had spent a few nights there last year and fell in love with the rib and pot roast dinners. Jim had the pot roast and I had the ribs, they were the best! We rode back to FW and walked to Trails End and took a seat in their wonderful rocking chairs on the porch. We four rocked while the kids played on the nearby playground. Nearby a Dad was telling his friends that he waits all year to sit on this porch and watch his kids play on the playground, and how this is Disney at its best, Amen!! We later found out that both families were from N.H. At 8:45 we wandered down to the beach and got a few chairs to sit and watch the fireworks from the MK. It was another great show. Walked back to the site for the last time and went to bed. Thursday 4/29 I was up at 5:45 to shower and finish packing. Mom and Dad were leaving today and we would be going to the Magic Kingdom and then the Coronado Springs Resort. Dad drove Jim and all our stuff out to the outpost to put everything in our rental car. We said our good-byes to Mom and Dad and headed down to the dock at 7:15 to catch our last launch to the Magic Kingdom. We FINALLY had good luck in getting on our favorite rides in rapid succession. We walked onto Space Mountain three times with no wait, both sides were up and running at 8:00 for the first time this trip. We could have walked on a fourth time but opted to walk over to Frontierland and our other two favorite rides. Jim and Jimmy rode Splash two times while Cam and I rode Thunder three times with no wait. We all met up and Jimmy joined us on our fourth ride of Thunder while Jim went in search of a cup of coffee. I have to mention that on all four rides we sat in our favorite seat, the very last one. We caught the first raft over to Tom Sawyers Island and were intent on finding one of the three hidden paintbrushes that "Huck Finn" had hid that morning. We split up with Jim and Cam covering half the island and Jimmy and I doing the other half. You can't imagine our excitement when Jimmy found a paintbrush!!!! We had looked on other vacations but never had any luck. I snapped four pictures of Jimmy with the paintbrush so we'll always remember it (not that we'll forget!!!!) The kids played in the fort awhile before we caught the raft back. Jimmy gave the CM the paintbrush and she gave him a special pass for our family to go on either Thunder or Splash Mountain. Jimmy of course wanted to ride Splash and since Cam didn't we did the child swap so Jimmy got to ride twice with no wait. Next was our 5th ride on Thunder with FPs then we went over to the Haunted Mansion, with a ten-minute wait. It's funny because before this trip the kids never cared for the Haunted Mansion and now they LOVE it!!! We grabbed FPs for Mickey's PhilharMagic then ducked into the Pinocchio Village Haus for lunch. When I was a kid we used to eat in here all the time but it has been many years since I have stepped foot in here. Finished lunch and we used our FPs for PhilharMagic, we just love this show and I don't think we'll ever get tired of it! We left the park at 1:30 and caught the boat back to FW to retrieve our rental car. We decided to drive to the Wilderness Lodge for one last time and see if Sandra would be at the pin cart. She was and the boys made a couple of trades. We said our final good-byes to Sandra and she wished us a safe trip home. Hopped in the car and drove over to Coronado Springs where I only waited a couple minutes to check in. Check in was fast and efficient and before we knew it we were in our room, Cabanas section A, just what we had requested. Jim had faxed down our request the day before he left. This building is right next to the pool with the big pyramid. We got right into our bathing suits and headed over. We really enjoyed the pool and the excellent slide. This slide was twice the size of the slide at the other moderate hotel Port Orleans French Quarter and Riverside. We had a great time swimming around and going down the slide before we left to get ready for dinner. We strolled over to the Pepper Market and checked out all the food stations as we tried to decide what we wanted to eat. The boys got hotdog meals, which they remarked were not very good. I had the chicken dinner, which was very good and Jim had a fajita that he liked. Now my complaint with this place although I knew this before going in is how they automatically tack a 10% gratuity onto your bill. We paid 3.66 to have a person seat us and bring us our drinks. No one offered a refill or came to clear the table. I think 3.66 is a bit steep for someone to bring two milks a water and a sprite to your table!!! Since we went up to the food station and ordered our food and carried the food back to our table I think adding the gratuity seems a little shady. After dinner we stopped at the playground and I was shocked to read a sign that said the playground was for children ages 2-6. That seemed strange, where were the kids over age six supposed to play?? I have never seen this at another resort!! It would be one thing if there were two playgrounds side by side, one for older kids and one for younger kids. We let the kids play and they had a wonderful time but I was uncomfortable the whole time waiting for someone to come over and reprimand us for playing. (Now that we are home I wish I had gone and asked where the playground was for them to use) We returned to the room and watched some cartoons and Survivor before going to bed. Friday 4/30 I slept until 7:05, Holy Cow I can't remember the last time I've slept that late!!! Jim rolled over and in a groggy voice asked me what time we were leaving for early entry. I reminded him that we weren't going to an early opening park (we would be late if we were!!!) He was going to MGM with Jimmy and I was going to Epcot with Cam. We all got ready and left together for the short walk to the bus stop. The MGM bus came first and Jim and Jimmy hopped on. A minute later the Epcot bus pulled up and we were on our way. Our goal today was to ride Test Track as many times as possible, I had my fingers crossed that the ride wouldn't break down today and create long lines. Cam and I actually ended up in the very first car of the day, which was exciting for Cam. He felt like we were truly doing a "test" run since we had the first car! A CM noticed Cams Red Sox shirt that has Nomar Garciaparra's name on the back, he commented that now he knew where Nomar (who is on the injured reserved list) is, he's riding Test Track!!! Cam and I ended up riding Test Track five times, four times in the first hour than again after with a FP. We also went on the Imagination ride and into the Land before we left the park at 12:00. We beat Jim and Jimmy back to the room by 10 minutes. They had a great time at MGM together riding the RRC three timed and the TOT two times. They also went to the Millionaire Show and the Indiana Jones Stunt show. Jimmy told us that there have been 87 people who have succeeded in making it to the million dollar mark since the show has been open. We pulled on our swimsuits and headed to the slide. The kids really enjoyed taking multiple rides down the slide and swimming around for about an hour before the skies opened up and it started thundering and pouring. The kids enjoyed some down time in the room and watched Toon Disney. When the storm ended I went to the Pepper Market and picked up a fruit bowl and a croissant while the three boys went to the playground, since I got everything to go I thankfully didn't have to pay the gratuity!! At 5:00 we drove over to the Contemporary for our third and final kids pin trading night. We joined the line at 5:30 and were the 11th people in line. After we sat for awhile I spread all our extra lanyard pins out on the floor. This attracted some attention and three kids came over to check out what we had. Two of the kids needed a pin that we had and they in turn had pins that Jimmy and Cam needed so we traded with them. Meanwhile a Mother in line mentioned that her husband had some extra lanyard pins that he might be willing to trade, so Jimmy and I brought our extra pins to him. Another man spotted us and guided us to his table, we had one that he needed and he had one that we needed so another trade was made. We went back to the other mans table and were able to trade with him as well. This was cool, the kids got four great pins and we hadn't even made it to the board yet!! Before they started the line at 7:00 two CMs asked trivia questions, if you raised your hand and got called on and answered the question correctly you won a pin. One of the questions was to name Daisy Ducks three nieces. Jimmy got called on and answered correctly with April, May and June. He won the Donald Duck gold lanyard pin which was very, very exciting! The questions continued on and Cam raised his hand but never got called on. Finally they got there turn on the pin board for the last time this trip. A lot of excitement as they showed us there selections which included some lanyard pins that we hadn't seen yet. We left the Contemporary in the pouring rain and drove back to the resort. All the traffic lights were blinking red and security was out directing traffic. That's the last job I would have wanted, directing drivers who are unfamiliar with the roads at night in the rain!! We relaxed in our room for our last night at the Coronado, before going to bed. While we enjoyed the pool at the Coronado very much we have no plans to ever stay there again. I guess I was comparing it to the All-Stars, which are much cleaner and friendlier. The outside walkways leading to your room looked filthy. Definitely in need of a paint job, perhaps a darker color so the dirt and scuff marks wouldn't be such a sharp contrast on the cream colored paint. The other thing is since it's a convention center many people were there for work, which seemed to result in two things, lots of singles instead of families and the people didn't seem as friendly, perhaps because they were working instead of vacationing!! Housekeeping didn't do any fun displays like they do at the All-Stars and we missed that. The rule at the playground that it was for children under six was ridiculous, unless another playground is provided for older kids. As I have already mentioned I felt it was tacky to add 10% gratuity at the Pepper Market for someone to bring you your drinks. The pool was great fun and we were glad to try a new resort. Saturday 5/1 We all woke up at 7:20. I was awake a few times in the night and it rained quite hard all night, the rain had ended and there was a touch of humidity in the air. We quickly got ready, packed and were driving out of the resort by 8:30. The boys were in their swimsuits all ready for Typhoon Lagoon but I wanted to swing by the Boardwalk to see if we could get pre-registered. I wanted to avoid standing in line after a day at Typhoon Lagoon. We arrived at the Boardwalk and the security guard welcomed us home, nice touch! We went inside and I was waited on immediately, I'm not sure if it was personality types or not but the check-in was much more pleasant than at the Coronado. We were then given a fantastic surprise when we found out the room was already ready for us. We went up to our room, 4274 and housekeeping was just finishing up. We went into the room and my two boys who are not overly observant were completely WOWED by the room!!! They kept commenting on the fancy features and the sheer size of the room. Cam quickly claimed the couch to be his bed for the night. We stepped out onto the large balcony (it was twice the size as some around us) and were pleasantly surprised to see the Eiffel Tower right in front of us. We could also see the American Adventure and Morocco. After being at The Boardwalk for only ten minutes to say that the kids loved the room would be an understatement. They have never seen such a fancy room. They were so excited they even said they didn't want to leave for Typhoon Lagoon and just wanted to stay at the Boardwalk and use their pool. I said that was fine but to really think it through because if we didn't go to Typhoon Lagoon today we wouldn't be going again this trip. They decided to go to Typhoon Lagoon for a couple hours then spend the rest of the day at the hotel pool, so off we went. We went through the ticket gate and my ticket didn't work. It was a brand new 7 day park hopper plus. The CM went to check it for me and came back and said it wasn't a ticket but a room key!!! Huh!! It certainly wasn't a room key and I should have argued with her but instead I ran back to my car and retrieved an extra ticket, also a 7 day park hopper plus. (Since we have APs we have used those all trip but needed the other tickets to get into the water parks) When that ticket didn't work either, I could feel my panic rising, the tickets cost 342.00 apiece and I'm being told that neither one is any good!! I stood in line at guest relations while Jim and the boys waited inside. When I was waited on I explained to the man that I had bought the ticket last April at FW and had never used it. He didn't appear to see any days at all on the ticket and asked me what I thought I had. I told him and I guess he took my word for it because he issued me a new ticket. While I was relieved that that ticket was fixed I was worried about the other one that was now sitting in my car. We went into the park, got chairs and the three boys went directly to the storm slides while I went and changed into my swimsuit. I met them at the slides and we rode them about 10 times with no wait before heading to the wave pool. The park was not crowded at all but instead of families we were surrounded by tons of high school kids. We rode the waves until they stopped then returned to our spot. As Jimmy and I were going to sit down Jimmy and I slammed our heads together. He recovered quickly but I was left with a headache. (My head remained tender in the spot we hit for over two weeks!!!!) Jim brought the boys to the Lazy River and I headed out to the car to retrieve my other ticket to see if I could possibly get that one fixed as well. The same CM was at guest relations, I explained my problem to him and he fixed that ticket for me too, I breathed a sigh of relief! I met the three boys and we all went into the wave pool. It wasn't crowded at all and we had a fantastic time riding the waves. We left the wave pool and rode both the tube slides with a five minute wait then we walked to the body slides and rode those a couple times with no wait. We then went back into the wave pool one more time before we left the park with mini donuts and strawberry slushes in hand. Once we were back at the Boardwalk Jim and the boys went straight to the Luna pool with the roller coaster slide and I brought our stuff back to the room. I relaxed for a bit before meeting them at the pool where we all went down the slide together. The boys loved the slide and were very impressed with it. It went round and round and picked up speed as it went which was fun. We returned to the room for showers and a little rest then we went to the ESPN Club for dinner. It was pretty noisy inside and while Jim loved it the kids and I could take it or leave it. After dinner we walked into Epcot and enjoyed how easy it was to walk from the Boardwalk right into Epcot. We walked around all the countries before returning to the Boardwalk. "Carlos" came out and performed a balancing and juggling act, which was great fun. The rain started as his show ended so we returned to our room. Apparently Cam was quite inspired by the act because when we got back to our room he was juggling anything he could get his hands on!! At 9:00 we were pleasantly surprised to see that we had an excellent view of Illuminations right from our balcony. It was a great show. Afterwards as we crawled into bed I commented on how lucky we were that while the thousands of people who had watched Illuminations in Epcot were now leaving the park en masse to wait in long lines for their bus or the monorail while we were already relaxing in our room! Sunday 5/2 Our last full day of our fantastic vacation, we all hate to see it end and have to return to the "real world"! We didn't wake up until 8:00, which is so out of character for our family! We headed down to the Luna pool mistakenly thinking that the slide was open. It wasn't but the boys swam for awhile, before we changed to go to Downtown Disney. Jim brought the boys pin trading while I shopped by myself at the World of Disney store. I had waited over two weeks to do my shopping here with my AP discount and I realized after we pulled out of the Boardwalk that I had left it in the room!! I had a nice surprise when I was checking out, the CM asked if I had a Disney Club discount and I told her I had an AP but had left it in the room, she went ahead and gave me my discount anyway, which I thought was a very nice gesture. I wandered around the Marketplace until I met up with the boys at the Christmas scene where I took pictures of the boys for our annual Christmas card photo. We then wandered over to the fountain where the boys played for about a half hour until we left. We stopped at the Pop Century in hopes of some good pin trading but the gift shop was mobbed so we left and returned to the Boardwalk The boys headed to the pool and I walked over to Epcot to see the American Adventure. It felt so strange to be walking through World Showcase by myself and not having to tend to the kids wants and needs. I went into the pastry shop in France and bought a chocolate éclair. It was good but a bit pricey at $4.00!! I wandered into the American Adventure early and was pleasantly surprised to hear the singing group. They of course were very good as was the American Adventure. As I headed back through France I saw a street show that I knew the boys would enjoy so I checked the schedule to see when the next show was to bring the kids back to it. I bought an order of fish n chips and ate those on the way out. The CM gave me a bit of a scare when I paid with a 50.00 for my 6.99 fish n chips and she gave me back change for a 20.00. I pointed out her mistake and she told me that "no" I had paid with a 20.00, she checked her cash draw though and saw my 50.00 on top of a 20.00, realized her mistake and gave me the correct change, WHEW!!!! I met the boys at the pool and we all walked back to the room to get ready to run into Epcot to see the show in France before heading to MGM. I was right they loved the show in France and had a good laugh before we caught the boat to MGM. We were really feeling the heat and humidity and appreciated the air conditioning on the boat. Once inside MGM we made a bee line for RRC, there was a posted 20 minute wait and the FPs were good for 45 minutes away. Jim and Cam headed to the Millionaire Show and I grabbed four FPs for RRC and Jimmy and I got in line. The line went very quickly and before we knew it we were in the "stretch limo". Jimmy and I ended up riding RRC four times in a little under an hour, it was great and we had fun together. We met Jim and Cam and got a bite to eat at the ABC Commissary, then we waited five minutes to go on the Great Movie ride. When we exited the ride at 7:30 the skies looked threatening and we were not optimistic that we would be able to see Fantasmic as we had hoped. We went and got a seat for the show and waited perhaps 15 minutes all the while a recording kept saying that the show may be canceled, or delayed due to the weather. When huge bolts of lightening began surrounding the theater we decided that the last place we wanted to be was sitting on metal bleachers so we headed out of there. We made a quick stop in the TOT gift shop and bought the TOT movie. (This was a fun movie but unfortunately it scared Cam and kept him up for a couple hours in the night when we watched it at home, we won't be watching that movie again for a couple more years!!!) We made our way to the boat docks and a boat picked us up within five minutes. After we were safely on the boat the skies opened up and sheets of rain came pouring down. When we reached the Boardwalk I went back to the room with the kids and Jim went to Seashore Sweets and got us all ice cream. We stepped out on our balcony just in time to see Illuminations. It was another great show and we marveled over our fantastic view. After the show we all crawled into the bed that was closest to the sliding glass door and looked out at "our" Eiffel Tower. We all talked about what an awesome vacation it was and what some of our favorite memories were before we got in our own beds and went to sleep. Monday 5/3 I woke up showered, and packed everything up. Cam slept the latest at 7:30 and was crying soon after he woke up due to his sadness that vacation was over. We drove to our off-site rental car agency, ride went well except for the fact that Cam was crying most of the way. A shuttle was waiting to bring us to the airport so we hopped right on. After we checked in our luggage we passed the next two hours by visiting the Disney Store, eating donuts, and watching the fish in the giant tubular fish tank. The kids had fun counting how many times the yellow fish would speed by. Our plane left about 15 minutes late and we had a pretty bumpy ride but arrived on time and safe in Manchester! Another wonderful vacation over!! The kids and I are thanking our lucky stars that in exactly two months, on July 3rd we'll be flying back!!! HIGHLIGHTS
LOWLIGHTS
Heidi Commerford jcom@conknet.com Mail a Comment to Heidi Commerford |
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