First Fort Trip, Had a Great time, Thanks all. New pics posted 3/23

[PaHunter]

Well here we are, it is a chilly 28 degrees outside and a coating of snow on the ground. There are 44 days left until we arrive at Disney.
This will be my 3rd trip to Disney, it will be my wife's 2nd and we will be bringing our nephew who is 9, on his first trip.

 

[bama_ed]

Nice looking trailer Chris.

What do you pull that bad boy with?

Also, on your previous trips to WDW have you day visited the Fort?

Bama Ed

 

[mightyexplorers]

An RV covered in cold and snow. I can relate.
Looking forward to the report.

 

[bama_ed]

You say it's 44 days until arrival? I'm gonna need a LOT of popcorn then.



Bama Ed

 

[4077]

Ugh...cold and snow...hate that stuff...

An RV covered in cold and snow. I can relate.
Looking forward to the report.

Yes, yes, and yes.

Thinking

 

[2goofycampers]

43 days now, day to pack your socks.

 

[PaHunter]

Ok, now that Bama Ed has his popcorn and is settled in off we go.

We pull the trailer with a 2003 Chevy 1500. Our trips around here we have averaged 10 mpg. Not great by any means, but for now it works. The trailer we purchased at the end of last summer and got two trips in before we had to winterize. It is 26 foot, but with the slide out has a lot of room. I like the second entrance to access the bathroom without having to walk thru the whole trailer.

Neither of us have been to the Fort before, so this will be a great experience. We love the outdoors and camping. We both work for State Parks.

Haven't packed our socks, yet, but have more than a few tupperware containers hanging out around the house of stuff that does have to be reloaded in the trailer. Took food stuffs, liquids, etc out so they would not freeze and break.

Everyone at the Fort and elsewere enjoy the day, those in the northern states, try and stay warm.

 

[PaHunter]

Today was spent shopping for food in bulk then then wife and I spent the evening portioning it out and vacuum sealing it.

20 lbs of pork loin cut into chops, 15 lbs of bacon, 15 lbs of frozen hamburgers, 10 lbs of frozen meatballs, 10 lbs of ground beef and 10 lbs of eye round cut to steaks.

Some of this was portioned out and of course will be our evening meals at the trailer at the Fort. We figure on coming back most days around 4 doing dinner then heading back out for the evening.

Have a few modifications for the trailer to complete, but not today.

And we plan on coming down 81 to 77 to 26 to 95. Staying in Walterboro, SC the first night. Finishing the drive down on Sunday to set up and relax.

 

[PaHunter]

Mickey Lamp, lit up. Finishing up the base this week. Make sure it will not fall over.

We requested to be in the 400 loop, no real reasoning to that. Just seemed to be a good place.

 

[tina.tina]

You will be passing through my area. If you come through on a weekday you may be on the interstate with my commuting husband! When we went to WDW in April 2011, it was so cool to see the different stages of spring as we went south. We had great weather and I hope you do, too.

 

[North of Mouse]

Today was spent shopping for food in bulk then then wife and I spent the evening portioning it out and vacuum sealing it.

20 lbs of pork loin cut into chops, 15 lbs of bacon, 15 lbs of frozen hamburgers, 10 lbs of frozen meatballs, 10 lbs of ground beef and 10 lbs of eye round cut to steaks.

Wow! That makes me tired just thinking about cooking all that on vacation! I 'do not' cook on a Disney vacation - only on our Smoky Mtn. vacations is it fun for us. (cooking at Disney is 'work' to me ) One thing for sure - you're planning to eat well and definitely will not go hungry!

 

[PaHunter]

Wow! That makes me tired just thinking about cooking all that on vacation! I 'do not' cook on a Disney vacation - only on our Smoky Mtn. vacations is it fun for us. (cooking at Disney is 'work' to me ) One thing for sure - you're planning to eat well and definitely will not go hungry!

North of Mouse, this is something my wife and I do about every six months, stock the freezer. Some of that will be coming with us, but we are only there for a week. I love to cook and cooking at the Fort will be quick things.
Have Pork Chops, Steak, Hamburgers planned as dinner so nothing that takes forever and all cooked on our bumper mount grill.

 

[PaHunter]

Well today saw the Wife and I working on our Mickey lamp. We built the base for the lamp out of PVC and filled it with sand. The base now needs a paint job this week.

Update Jan 31st, Painted the base and had to fix the lamp post itself, had to add a piece allowing me to get the extension cord out of the pipe.

 

[North of Mouse]

North of Mouse, this is something my wife and I do about every six months, stock the freezer. Some of that will be coming with us, but we are only there for a week. I love to cook and cooking at the Fort will be quick things.
Have Pork Chops, Steak, Hamburgers planned as dinner so nothing that takes forever and all cooked on our bumper mount grill.

OK, that clarifies it!! - Was just picturing 'all' that food being cooked!!

 

[PaHunter]

Working on adding a knife board.

 

[jbrostek]

Another recommendation for Disney Vacation dinners in is crock pot meals. We make beef stroganoff, filling for chicken enchaladas that we finish off in the oven, chili, even cooked up a killer batch of meat sauce in the crock pot.

Sure they all needed finishing and sides but that all took 30 minutes or less to boil noodles, rice or just bake the enchaladas to melt all the cheese. Sides where similar like salads, or veggies in a steamer bag or just heated up on the stove. Either way each meal was great and barely took a lot of effort in one shot.

We dont make all of them down there when we go for the two weeks, but we do make some of those dishes and its nice to have less then 30 minutes of work to have a grand meal.

 

[PaHunter]

Well bought the remainder of non perishable food for the trip, and got the knife board stained, and sealed. Looks like it will be monday before I get anything else done, as I am working this weekend. So will post pictures of the finished board when I get a chance this weekend.

More snow coming tonight and tomorrow, see what we get.

 

[PaHunter]

Well today saw me attaching the magnetic holder for the knives to the board and grinding down the screws. Now it has to be mounted in the trailer. Also met the UPS guy at the door today, was excited as he was bringing our Zero Gravity recliners for the trip. Now it is time to wait for the snow to stop, then I can work in the trailer and start packing up all the paper products and stuff that won't be affected by the freezing temps. See how much snow we get.

Well the Blizzard was a bust for our area, got an inch of snow. Still have about 8 inches on the ground.

 

[Southern Bell]

Today was spent shopping for food in bulk then then wife and I spent the evening portioning it out and vacuum sealing it.

20 lbs of pork loin cut into chops, 15 lbs of bacon, 15 lbs of frozen hamburgers, 10 lbs of frozen meatballs, 10 lbs of ground beef and 10 lbs of eye round cut to steaks.

Some of this was portioned out and of course will be our evening meals at the trailer at the Fort. We figure on coming back most days around 4 doing dinner then heading back out for the evening.

Have a few modifications for the trailer to complete, but not today.

And we plan on coming down 81 to 77 to 26 to 95. Staying in Walterboro, SC the first night. Finishing the drive down on Sunday to set up and relax.

When I read this, I think I should cancel some of my reservations! We usually shop at Sams and vacuum seal our meats. It is so much better than anything we will buy in the parks!

 

[PaHunter]

When I read this, I think I should cancel some of my reservations! We usually shop at Sams and vacuum seal our meats. It is so much better than anything we will buy in the parks!

Southern Bell, The wife and I know this works for us camping. So in our case it works for us, and reduces our overall cost of the trip. We have two ADR's for the trip, one at Chef Mickey's for the nephew and HDDR.