Our first ever trip finally happened! Just back from a week at the Fort Nov. 2014!

[sarahmae3]

Well, we just got back from our first ever family trip to WDW! I spent most of yesterday downloading and organizing photos and video, and I can't wait to share our trip report with all of you! We spent a week at WDW and as the title says, we stayed at the Fort Wilderness Resort and Campgrounds.

Introducing your cast of characters:


First up is: Me! I'm Sarah a stay at home mom who has been wishing, hoping, and planning to go to WDW for the past 10 years! (There are no pictures of just me, glad I got the Memory Maker so I'm at least in some of the pictures!)

Next up is: My DH. He was mostly just along for the ride, but I think he enjoyed himself.
Fun Fact: We met back in 1999 when we were working at a local amusement park for the summer!

DS1: He's your typical sully teenage boy who is obsessed with video games! It's not always easy to get a picture of him.

DS2: Is our only family athlete (in a family of geeks and nerds), and is currently a martial arts orange belt. He also happens to be one of the more tentative ones in our family when it comes to the rides.

DS3: Our daredevil/stuntman! We could not get him to quit climbing everything the entire trip. Has never met a thrill ride he didn't like!
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DD: She's our wild child! She loves everything girly and the princesses, but she's also very brave and bold. She makes me nervous because she tends to "leap before she looks".



In case you want to read my pre-trip report:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3329309

 

[sarahmae3]

Saving this one for chapter links.

Travel and Arrival at the Fort
Our Morning at EPCOT
Later that evening...
Jedi's laugh on the inside!
Tower of Terror, searching for characters, and the lights!

Also, here's a link to my dining report if you're interested:
7 Days of Free Dining!

 

[sarahmae3]

Travel and Arrival Day(s):

We left the St. Louis area around 4pm on Saturday, November 15th. As we left town it was snowing pretty hard and we passed by a major accident that had just happened! Our plan was to drive overnight, and hopefully arrive around Noon the next day. We picked up some supper and ate on the road, then we put in a movie for the kids, and afterwards they pretty much slept the whole time except for my ODS who couldn't get comfortable. My DH drove most of the way, and I took over for him when he needed to rest. When we were about two hours away from Orlando, we stopped at Waffle House to wash up and have some breakfast.


Well, we made it safely to Fort Wilderness around 11:30am and I was happily surprised that our cabin was ready! I did online check-in ahead of time and had requested an early check-in, among other things and was pleasantly surprised that I got all of the things I had requested.

After driving to the cabin and testing out our magicbands to open the door, we all changed and headed straight for the pool! It was nice and warm, and I knew the kids would want to swim so I'm glad we decided not to go to a park this day and just swim instead.


We hadn't figured out the buses yet so we just walked to the pool. We had a great time swimming, but unfortunately I had a major fail and forgot my camera, phone, and sunscreen. Afterwards we picked up our refillable mugs from the Meadow Trading Post. The next few days the weather would not be as nice to us...



Of course, the kids didn't want to leave the pool, but after swimming for a while we dragged them back to the cabin because we had somewhere to be!


That's right, I was able to get a Cat. 2 ADR for the Hoop Dee Doo Revue and I'm so glad I did! The food was great, and the show was funny! We didn't have the greatest table since I booked only a couple of days before we left, but that didn't matter much. We all enjoyed this very much, from my preschooler to my teenager, plus DH and I. It was one of the highlights of our trip!!!



We went to the early show, so afterwards we walked down to the boat dock and rode over to the Contemporary where we got on the Monorail and rode it all the way around once just to see everything! It was cool to see the castle all lite up at night. Then we rode the boat back to FW and headed to our cabin to watch a little TV and get ready for bed.


We were all pretty tired and knew we wanted to be up early the next day for our day at EPCOT.

 

[mymommom]

Wow I'm first We were there the same time as you - came in on the 14th and swam on the 15th. Yes it was beautiful and by Monday it did change - but we just put on our ponchos and went!! We originally booked at the Fort, but switched to POFQ so I can't wait to hear about your trip

 

[sarahmae3]

Wow I'm first We were there the same time as you - came in on the 14th and swam on the 15th. Yes it was beautiful and by Monday it did change - but we just put on our ponchos and went!! We originally booked at the Fort, but switched to POFQ so I can't wait to hear about your trip

Thanks! We didn't miss a park day due to the weather either, but man we were freezing half the time. I would be interested to hear about your trip also.

 

[sarahmae3]

So the next morning, we were all up and at 'em pretty early and we headed out and caught the bus(es) from our cabin to EPCOT. We got there at just the right time, because although there were some people in line in front of us waiting for Rope Drop there was a very large crowd coming up right behind us! While waiting I took individual pics of the kids and we all studied the map. Once we were let in we made the mad dash towards Test Track since I was unable to get a fp for it... only to find out that it was down because of 'technical difficulties'.

We then decided to go ahead and try Mission:Space, however I personally didn't want to ride it and DD was too short (cue meltdown that occurred every time she was too short for something! ). So I decided to take her over to the gift shop/play area at the exit to wait for DH and the boys. She was able to make a pressed penny which made her happy. Then we went and played in the play area, and we were doing the game simulation when Dh and the boys got done. ODS and DS7 loved it! Dh and DS10... not so much!



Once everyone was ready to leave the area, we all needed a little snack so we got a pretzel, a popcorn, and a smoothie to share... plus DH had water bottles in his backpack. I had forgotten to pack snacks and sunscreen again! By this time the line for Test Track was way out past the little water play area so I'm guessing it opened at some point or else people were just waiting to see??? Anyway, we decided to head over and explore one of the Innoventions and then over to Nemo and Turtle Talk with Crush which we had a FP+ for. I feel like it was a total waste because we still had to wait quite a long time in the 'holding room' for the show to start. My kids didn't really know what to expect, and it was hard to get back to them when it was over, but it was a cute/funny show.



After that we had a FP+ for Soarin' which I was nervous about because I don't like heights, but for DS10's sake I didn't let my nervousness show. When we were let on I helped the little kids get their seat belts through the loop and then I finally got a seat. Once it started, I was just in awe - we all LOVED it! I thought it was really cool how they have the added scents to make it seem more real. By the time we were done there, we were all very hungry so we ate lunch at Sunshine Seasons. (You can check out my dining review on that in you are interested.)


When we finished eating, it started to sprinkle a little and I had already had planned a mid-day break for us to head back to the cabin so that is what we did. Of course, we had to stop and get a couple of pictures from the photopass photographer before we left. I'm glad we did because these were the only magic shots we got the whole time!

By this time it was raining really hard so we all got a little bit of down time, we played some board games, and ate dinner in our cabin to save some of our meal credits for later.



Did we make it back to EPCOT that evening... stay tuned to find out!

 

[sue_88]

Nice reporting! Looks like you were making some great memories.

 

[Kirby]

Enjoying what you have written so far.

I leave in two days and can't wait!

 

[sarahmae3]

Nice reporting! Looks like you were making some great memories.

Enjoying what you have written so far.

I leave in two days and can't wait!

Thank you both! Have fun Kirby! It went by so quick!

 

[sarahmae3]

After eating, doing some laundry, and resting a bit... we all put on our jackets and some of us got out our ponchos and headed back to EPCOT so we could tour the World Showcase. On our way in we stopped to do Spaceship Earth which everyone really enjoyed (even though DD selected Chinese on our screen), it was one of our families favorite attractions we did that day!

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My DH wanted to see Norway to get some lefse, I wanted to see Germany, and my ODS wanted to see the U.K. So even though it was dark and rainy, we made our way around the WS mainly just looking around at things, tried some snacks, took some pics in the areas.

There were hardly any people in the park, or at least in the WS. About 10min. before the Illuminations was about to begin, we had finally made it around the WS and just grabbed a quick open spot to watch the show. It wasn't the greatest spot, but we could still see most of the show which was really cool. I'm glad we were able to watch it because it ended up being the only evening show we were able to see the whole week!! We started leaving the park about 4min. before the show was over so we were able to be partly ahead of the crowds leaving the park.

We took the bus back to FW, another to our cabin, and pretty much went straight to bed! DD actually fell asleep on the bus! Tune in for our next day of fun at HS!

 

[CanadianPaco]

I'm in!!!

 

[sarahmae3]

I'm in!!!

Welcome! Glad you are following!

 

[sarahmae3]

This was our earliest day, as we were all up, ready, and out of the cabin by 7:30am to head to Hollywood Studios! It was also our coldest day - around 40 degrees and windy! We knew the kids would want to do the Jedi Training Academy and so we made sure we were there early. There were only a few families in line in front of us, and as we waited a LOT more lined up behind us. Once we were let in we walked quickly to the sign up at the Radio Tower and the line was already nearly out of the building.

I left my Dh and the three kids who were able to participate in line for that, and ODS and I decided to head to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. We lined up for that but it hadn't opened yet. I told DH to try and sign up for the 10:10am show and then meet us at the RnR. We were still in line (although it was moving) when DH and the kids showed up to meet us, so they were able to get a child swap fast pass since DD was too short to ride. I knew it was a roller-coaster that went upside down, but oh my, that was quite the ride! I thought I was going to die and my eyes were watering so bad - it was a good thing I put mine and ODS's glasses in my purse! Our ride photo is hilarious - I look like I'm crying/screaming, and ODS' eyes are as big as saucers. After we were done, DH and the kids met us at the exit and I tried to convince the boys NOT to ride it but off they went with DH and rode it anyway! They thought it was quite the ride too!!



Afterwards I found out from DH that the earliest time all three kids could do the Jedi Training was the 11:20am show, so that is what they signed up for - which is good because we would have not made it back in time for the 10:10am one! So we headed back that way, stopping to meet Daisy but we didn't have time to meet Donald because we had to make a bathroom stop before reporting for the Jedi Academy.

The kids each got a button with their name on it, and were fitted for a robe, and then lined up by height. My DD was the smallest one, and my DS10 was the tallest - they were so excited! The line "Jedi's laugh on the inside" is from when it was my DD's turn to fight Darth, they told her to laugh at danger but she didn't so he said "That's okay, Jedi's laugh on the inside". He also told her to "Duck!" "You didn't really need to did you!" because she was so small. The show was great! It was really funny, and so cool to see the kids get to fight Darth Vader. I think it was their favorite part of the day - and ODS, DH, and I all enjoyed it as well even though we couldn't participate.

After defeating Darth Vader, we headed over to see the Indiana Jones Stunt show. I didn't care whether or not I saw this, but DH and the boys really wanted to so I went along. It was actually a really cool show and I think we all enjoyed it! Afterwards, we checked in for our dining reservation at Sci-fi! You can check out my dining report if you'd like. Check back here later to hear about the rest of our day at Hollywood Studios!

 

[sarahmae3]

After having lunch at Sci-fi, we decided to brave the Tower of Terror! The queue and themeing on this attraction are great! This was the longest line we waited in, for about 40 minutes. We were all surprised that the elevator moved forward, not just up and down. Three of us liked it, and three of us didn't! I'll let you guess from the ride photo who!

Afterwards we kind of just wandered around for a bit, did some shopping, and tried to find characters but none of them were out! We also used our Fastpass for Toy Story Mania, which we all loved! We checked out the animation building (but didn't do the class), and finally we saw Phinneas and Ferb were coming out so we got in line for them right away.

After that we wanted to get to Pizza Planet before it closed as my DS7 is a huge fan of the TS movies, and they all like arcades. After eating, we went to see the Osborne Lights and loved it! The kids wanted to hold out their tongues and "eat" the snow but I told them not to!

By the time we made it out of there everyone was tired and cold so we headed out. I had read earlier in the day that Fantasmic! had been canceled for that night, but then I found out later that they did go ahead and have it... bummed we missed it, but we got a little bit of time back at our cabin to relax before bed.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Congrats on getting to WDW after 10 years of planning! That must have been quite the feeling when you finally got there

Sounds like a really good first day as you got to relax a bit but also got some Disney goodness in with the Hoop Dee Doo Review - glad you enjoyed it!

Sorry things didn't work out for Test Track but glad you decided to go ahead and do Soarin' and that you loved it so much. It is a great attraction, though I am anxiously awaiting the new movie

Glad you got to see Illuminations - it is a really good show and seems like for one day you got to see a lot of EPCOT. Oh, and our last trip my son clicked on "Deutsche" for Spaceship Earth so I feel your pain

That's great that they all got in to the Jedi Training Academy - some times that line can get so long and jumbled people don't make it all all even if they go over first thing. Your daughter is just about the cutest Jedi ever and I love "Jedi's laugh on the inside"

 

[sarahmae3]

Congrats on getting to WDW after 10 years of planning! That must have been quite the feeling when you finally got there

Sounds like a really good first day as you got to relax a bit but also got some Disney goodness in with the Hoop Dee Doo Review - glad you enjoyed it!

Sorry things didn't work out for Test Track but glad you decided to go ahead and do Soarin' and that you loved it so much. It is a great attraction, though I am anxiously awaiting the new movie

Glad you got to see Illuminations - it is a really good show and seems like for one day you got to see a lot of EPCOT. Oh, and our last trip my son clicked on "Deutsche" for Spaceship Earth so I feel your pain

That's great that they all got in to the Jedi Training Academy - some times that line can get so long and jumbled people don't make it all all even if they go over first thing. Your daughter is just about the cutest Jedi ever and I love "Jedi's laugh on the inside"

Thank you so much! It was an amazing feeling - very exciting! We all had a really good time. Stay tuned to hear about the rest of our trip!

 

[sarahmae3]

On our Magic Kingdom day, we had a 9:40am ADR at Crystal Palace so I wasn't in a huge hurry to get everyone up and out the door. We did still manage to arrive at the MK just before Rope Drop, however we had to wait a very long time for the boat to take us there and it was very cold! After going through the line to get in, we considered trying to meet the talking Mickey but the line was 40min. and they hadn't even opened yet. So, because of the cold (and lots of complaining from the kids) we headed inside some of the shops along main street to look around and pick up some souvenirs and gifts for family. Once we were done with that we walked back out and tried to find our way past the "construction walls" to the Crystal Palace. We had to wait outside a bit, but once we were in and seated we had a great breakfast! (See my dining report for more on that.)


After eating we headed left towards Adventureland! My kids spotted the big tree house and wanted to play on it but we told them we would come back later (we never did).

We did head to Pirates of the Caribbean and we all liked that, afterwards my DS7 really wanted to do Splash Mountain but I talked him out of it since it was so cold! Then we got in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We had a bit of a wait there, but we did all really like BTMR.

(Photo evidence of the climbing I mentioned in my original post.)

Then we walked around some more and the kids were fascinated by these birds we kept seeing.

We decided to do the Haunted Mansion - which I know lots of people really like, but I did not care for at all! I felt like a lot of the attractions are just repeats of one another with a different theme so it was just blah.

After that my DD saw Rapunzel's tower and wanted to go in it, but of course you can't... cue third meltdown of the day. She did cheer up when she saw the carousel so we all got in line for that. She loves carousels, and this one was no exception... she didn't want to get off when it was over and was hanging on so tight I had to pry her hands off and carry her out.

By that time it was almost time for our FP at Be Our Guest, so we headed over that way for lunch. The kids didn't really like their food so they didn't eat much... which didn't bode well for our evening at the MK.

 

[sarahmae3]

Okay, I've been MIA for a while and I don't know if anyone is even still following this but I want to finish it anyway! My daughter asked to look at the pictures and her autograph book from our trip today, and she wants to go back and see more princesses! So we last left off after our BOG lunch at the MK...

After having lunch, we went Under the Sea, and then my DD really wanted to meet Ariel but the line was an hour long so we decided not to do that and distracted her with Dumbo. The play waiting area was really cool, but we barely got to spend any time in there before they paged us. After Dumbo, we did get to met Goofy and Donald and then did the Barnstormer.

Then my DH led us down this little back pathway to the Tomorrowland area. We had a fastpass for Space Mountain and used rider switch here as well, spending some time in the arcade. UGH, I did not like SM at all! We did the Tomorrowland Speedway which DD thought was cool because she could drive but the boys thought it was dumb and slow because they were expecting go-karts. We got to see part of the Dance Party they had going on with the Incredibles but we were too far away to interact with the characters. By this time the kids were getting kind of tired, hungry, and cranky... But we had already used our TS and QS meal credits for the day so we were down to just snacks. So we walked around a bunch trying to find snacks that everyone wanted and felt were a good use of our snack credits. It was dark by then, and I had been trying to get my family to head towards Main Street but they were not cooperating. Then it was time for our FP for the 7D Mine Train so we headed over there and everyone really liked it, but thought it was too short!

After that we had to head over to our FP for Enchanted Tales with Belle. They picked my Dh right off to be one of the knights, which is hilarious because he is like the last person I could see being in a play or anything with the princesses. Sadly, my DD did not get picked for a part even though she was front and center so she got to be plate.

By the time we were done with that it was about 20min. before the evening lighted parade was about to start so we finally headed towards Main Street and I got this one and only picture of the castle.

Main Street was super crowded and there was nowhere left to stand and watch the parade. The CM's just kept ushering us up and down the sidewalk (which I understand). Everyone was pretty cranky at this point, and so very much to my dismay we eventually decided to just leave the park. We took the boat back to Fort Wilderness, and grabbed some snacks and hot chocolate and sat at the tables near the beach to watch the fireworks. We were freezing, but at least we got to see some of the fireworks and hear the music from the beach. After that we just went back to our cabin and went to bed.

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Hi!
Just found your Tr and I have really enjoyed it so far! We are also from the St. Louis area. We are driving through the night on our next trip! Everyone thinks we are crazy, but I think it's the way to go! Although our kiddos are a bit younger 4 and 6months at travel time, so maybe we ar crazy we have been considering the cabins the last few trips, and are most likely going to do them for our Christmas 2016 trip. I love the atmosphere there, perfect for the holidays!

Anyway nice to "meet" you and your family. Looking forward to the rest.

 

[sarahmae3]

Hi!
Just found your Tr and I have really enjoyed it so far! We are also from the St. Louis area. We are driving through the night on our next trip! Everyone thinks we are crazy, but I think it's the way to go! Although our kiddos are a bit younger 4 and 6months at travel time, so maybe we ar crazy we have been considering the cabins the last few trips, and are most likely going to do them for our Christmas 2016 trip. I love the atmosphere there, perfect for the holidays!

Anyway nice to "meet" you and your family. Looking forward to the rest.

Hi! Glad you are following along. We just moved to the StL area about a year ago. I think driving through the night was great, and hopefully it will work well for your family too. Over Christmas we drove up to visit family in MN, and we drove during the day and the trip seemed to take forever whereas our Disney trip was actually longer but it went more smoothly. We really liked the cabins, they seem more 'homey' and 'private' than a hotel, plus the wildlife was really neat too!