Freezing cold, Hot, Wet & Cold Again TR-2011 with a tribute to Born 2 Fish!

[stefa70]

Hi all! Just returned from a long weekend at the Fort, Thursday 20th-Monday 24th. Before I start this TR, I thought I'd give a small pre-trip report so you will better understand my title.

After we returned from our last Fort trip in November, we decided to renew our annual passes as a X-Mas present for the kids (Nathen & Amanda) So I booked the week of January 17th-24th. I figured that would give us a few weeks after X-Mas, my B-day and New Years to get the house back to normal and get the rv ready to go. We also got a new TV and surround sound system which would need to be installed before we left. Christmas day comes along, and my father (in NY state) sent us Disney gift cards....BONUS!! Less money out of my pocket for the Fort! Then my loving mother buys the four of us plane tickets to go to NY to see my father, my Grandfather (who is 91) and so Amanda can see snow. This is where life got crazy!

If you read my last tr, you know we took Jordan (son's BF) with us on our last trip to WDW. He is leaving for the Army on Feb. 7th, and is the ONLY person I would trust staying at my house and dog-sitting for Mason. We knew the snow in upstate NY was in a fury at the time, and we also knew we had Fort reservations for the 3rd week in January, so we were kind of on a time limit. So we decided to squeeze a weekend flight to NY in between.

We flew up late Thursday night (the 6th), and came home on Monday morning
(the 10th) It was a great time, Amanda got to see, and play in, the snow......And the first day we woke up it was 9 degrees! Not exactly my idea of a vacation, but I knew it was only for a few days, and I still had my WDW trip to look forward to!

Looking out the window of my Dad's !

My little "snow buddies"

Amanda's first snow angel!

Sledding!

So the freezing part is over, now we get the rv ready to go...............maybe!

 

[SCtigercock]

 

[stefa70]

Has anyone ever heard of a tape measure? Yeah, me too, I just never think I need one! When I picked out the new tv and surround sound for the rv, I did what any good woman does....does it look good? and is it inexpensive? Works for me!!

After Trevor (DH) removed the old concertcrap system (Forest River fans know what I'm talking about) we found the old system was about 4 inches deep (the new one was about 12...oops) and of course the tv was too big for the hole the previous one was in.....(another oops!) But I had all the faith in the world that DH could figure it out, and he did! So what if the tv doesn't fit in the hole? As for the surround sound system, we didn't want to put it anywhere else and lose valuable cabinet space, so Trevor built me an extended shelf over the tv, stained it to match the rest of the wood, and voila! It came out nice and I now have an extra shelf above it to use for dvd's or whatever. He put a piece of trim under the feet of it so it won't slide out, and I was thrilled to death!

Needless to say, this took a little longer than we expected, so we decided to cancel a few days off of the fort and just go Thursday the 20th. The best part of living so close is knowing we can always book another trip when things have settled down......and it's warmer!

We also had decided that Jordan deserved one more fort trip before the Army, and he had given his 2 week notice at his job, so he would be able to go with us. We bought him a one day ticket for X-Mas so he could spend a day at one of the parks he hadn't been to. (We went to MK in November.)

I have never faxed in a request, but decided we really liked 554 when we were there last time, so I faxed it in the Friday before we left.

The rv is put back together, we're packed, and on our way. Coming up......how was the check in process?

 

[stefa70]

You guys are such a cute couple!!! I'm in!

LOL! That's actually Nathen (my son) and his GF Amanda, but thank you, they sure are cute! Trevor and I are much older and not so cute!

 

[stacktester]

LOL! That's actually Nathen (my son) and his GF Amanda, but thank you, they sure are cute! Trevor and I are much older and not so cute!

She'd look ok if she would ditch all that 48 junk she has hanging around.

 

[SCtigercock]

She'd look ok if she would ditch all that 48 junk she has hanging around.

AMEN!

 

[anolefan]

You are off to a great start!

The very first photo of the snow is awesome, postcard quality. I love it.

What a nice thing you did for your sons BF!

Can't wait for more.

 

[stefa70]

She'd look ok if she would ditch all that 48 junk she has hanging around.

AMEN!

Don't fret little ones, the new season is about to start, maybe JJ will give someone else a chance!

You are off to a great start!

The very first photo of the snow is awesome, postcard quality. I love it.

What a nice thing you did for your sons BF!

Can't wait for more.

Thanks a bunch! That means a lot coming from you as I have seen your pictures. Believe me, I would rather look at the snow picture as a postcard, than to be living in it!

Thanks for following, Working on the next post.............

 

[SCtigercock]

Don't fret little ones, the new season is about to start, maybe JJ will give someone else a chance!

Ahh, how sweet.
Really?!
Promises Promises Promises Promises Promises
Looking forward to the new NASCAR year. And he is da man to beat. I am interested to see how the changes are going to impact Gordan and Jr. And if Hamlin can repeat his sucess this year.


Enjoying the report.

 

[stefa70]

Thursday- arrived at the Fort around noon. A nice young man waved us into an empty lane, and we went through the "process." He seemed to be taking a long time, but it always does to me, as I am ready to get settled in. Then, he called for back-up.......never a good sign! He couldn't figure out how to use gift cards, he apologized and explained that they were using a new computer system. For our troubles, he didn't charge us the pet fee for Mason so that saved me $20.00! We got site 550, which is exactly the area I requested. So, we started setting up:

Looking out from the back of 550:
To the right:

To the left:

Jordan decided to ride with us, as Nate & Amanda wouldn't be able to come down til that night as Amanda has college classes on Thursday night. He helped us set up and then took a snooze before I even got the beds made up:

I put a pork loin in the crockpot, as I had promised Jordan pulled pork sandwiches, and we took off on the cart to see what was going on. We came across this on the 300 loop:

Not sure what they were advertising, but I think it was a bar. They were from Canada, and it was in French Not sure if you can see, but it had a 60hp motor on that little boat! Pretty neat set-up.

Went through the 800 loop, where there was an R-POD camper right on the corner. We noticed a small wisp of smoke/steam? coming out of the a/c. Trevor & Jordan said "It's probably steam" It kind of nagged at me through the whole loop, but as we came out the other side, a lady jogging by had flagged down a disney worker to check it out, so we drove on. By the time we went through the 900 loop, we heard the sirens! We went back that way just in time to see a worker bust in the door, and the flames inside! I didn't take any pics as I thought that would be tacky. Thank God, no one was in there. I felt terrible thinking of the poor people who were going to come back to that. Later on, there was crime tape roped around it, the next morning it was gone, with just a small pile of ash where it sat. What a bummer!

Went back to camp, ate dinner, and tested our other new tv for the screen room:

Nate & Amanda arrived around 10:30, and we hit the sack as we "planned" on going to DHS on Friday. Notice plannned is in quotations....................

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Hello S70-

You are doing great on your trip report!

I love the photo of the jeep with the boat on the roof and good job reporting on the RPod fire.

Can't wait to read more!

Whoops! Well, they are cute! Now you have to post a pic of you and the hubbs. I bet you are just as cute.

I would like to see a photo of S70 standing next to Lil' Lisa. I think y'all might be about the same height!

TCD

 

[jjbescher]

I will be coming in April with my Rpod and I better not have a fire in mine.

jon

 

[stefa70]

Hello S70-

You are doing great on your trip report!

I love the photo of the jeep with the boat on the roof and good job reporting on the RPod fire.

Can't wait to read more!



I would like to see a photo of S70 standing next to Lil' Lisa. I think y'all might be about the same height!

TCD

Thanks TCD, I was so happy to meet you and the twins!! It was so random, I guess it was just meant to be!

I will be coming in April with my Rpod and I better not have a fire in mine.

jon

OH MY, I hope not either! I felt so bad for them that it gave me a stomach ache. Imagine coming home to that!

 

[anolefan]

Really like the set up.

Are those popup gizmos on your bunk end? If so how are they? We have been on the fence about buying them.

Can't wait for more.

 

[stefa70]

Friday- Woke up around 2:00 am to POURING rain!!! Not a good start to a day we had planned to go to DHS. The temperature was not bad, as opposed to Thursday when we sweat like crazy setting up, so I thought "maybe it will stop pouring and we can still go to the park." I don't mind a little drizzle but this?

Obviously, we needed to change our plans. Thank goodness we did, it rained like that almost all day! Even the dog didn't want to be out in the screen room:

The good side of things was for the first time in 3 years we spent a lot of time in the rv. We watched our new tv, played cards & ate junk food! Kind of a nice change. The kids took off to have some of their own fun.

On the porch at the tavern:

In the game room:

In between rain showers, we took Mason for a walk, then went for a quick bike ride. WHile walking the loop, we had seen some signs on sites that said "Northern Pioneers." I never did find out what that meant but while bike riding through the 1500 loop we saw this:

Since the weather was so crappy, we thought it would be a good night for a GAG dinner. I sent Trevor down to pick it up, and he called me about 10 minutes later to tell me our key to the world charge had been denied for being over the limit! WHAT THE FORT!!! It was the first time we had used it!! I freaked out, took the truck up front where the lines were crazy long, so I went back and called instead. A sweet lady knew instantly what happened, the nice young man who checked us in never put a phone number into the computer, which makes the new computer say "no charging" She assured me that the balance was zero, and she apologized.

We ate our GAG and decided we needed to get to bed early for DHS on Saturday. (It was early magic hours at 8:00 am, which is exactly why I didn't want to go on that day) It was a cool, VERY WET day, but I was at the fort so, no biggie!!!

 

[stefa70]

Really like the set up.

Are those popup gizmos on your bunk end? If so how are they? We have been on the fence about buying them.

Can't wait for more.

Yes, those are gizmos. I definately think they help, the first cold camping we did without them, we had some condensation on the inside top of the canvas, haven't had that since. We do still get some condensation under the mattresses if it gets really cold, but that could be because the mattresses are heated and we have them cranked up when it's chilly. I do notice a big difference in the summer, to help reflect the sun. I went back and forth on them since other people just bought solar blankets from Cabelas, but by the time you buy those and something (clips) to attach them with, you're about at the same price as gizmos, which are fit to your model, and come with clips as well.

 

[stefa70]

Saturday- Woke up around 6:00, walked the dog, and got ready to go to DHS. The rain had stopped, and the temperature was not to bad. Amanda and I decided we were wearing shorts to the park. Yeah, it was cool, but we wanted to be comfortable! We had the age-old discussion of "Do we want to drive the truck or take Disney transportation?" We decided on taking the bus. Of course, there was a car accident, so we had to take the LONG way around. No big deal, we weren't in a hurry & I had time to take a couple of pics:

We arrived at DHS, activated our passes and away we went! First up,(for the kids, I'm a wimp) R&R roller coaster:

They were only gone about 20 minutes so I took a couple of pics of the surrounding area:

No one wanted to ride tower of terror, so we headed over to Toy Story. The wait time said 40 minutes so we decided to go ahead and wait. It was actually only about 15 minutes. This was my first time on this ride, and I loved it!! Imagineering at it's finest!!

We then went to the backlot tour. It was too chilly for anyone to volunteer to do the preshow, so that was a little boring. But Jordan enjoyed it as he had never been there. It's always fun to see things through a "newbies" eye.

We strolled down the streets and snapped some pictures of the boys:

We went to the Muppets show:

After the Muppets, we did the Great Movie Ride, which is one of my favorites! I love the Wizard of Oz section. By then it was 11:00 and we were all starving. The first show for Indiana Jones was at 11:30 and we wanted to make it so we grabbed a funnel cake to share and found a seat in the theater. We planned to have a real lunch in between the Indiana Jones show and Lights, Motor, Action which was at 1:20.

Continuing in next post........

 

[stefa70]

I'm not sure what Indie was doing at this point. I guess it's his "macho pose"

Amanda wanted pizza for lunch, so we went to Pizza Planet and got a bite to eat. While they were getting food, I went out and got a table. This is where I encountered my first meltdown of the day. No, not a child having a meltdown, but the father! He was yelling and cursing like crazy, even the F bomb!! I'm no prude, but there is never a reason for F bombs in Disney! The mother gathered up their stuff and left. No pizza for them! We got to Lights, Motor, Action show about 1/2 hour before the show. Normally everyone tries to sit dead center, lower levels, right? This time everyone was looking for sun, because it had really cooled off!! Amanda and I were regretting our shorts decision at this point!

We decided after this show, we were going to bail, as we knew Mason would need to go potty. If the kids wanted to stay and ride R&R again, they could take a later bus. Trevor and I parted ways with the kids, and headed towards the gates. I was walking about as fast as my short little legs would carry me, as I was freezing! By now, there was quite a good crowd in the park, so I was weaving & bobbing to get out. Suddenly Trevor says "There's the TCD twins.....& TCD!!!" I felt like a teenage girl at a Justin Bieber concert. So I stopped them and introduced myself. The first words out of his mouth were "I thought you'd be taller" Now all three of them were adorable but I would not exactly describe TCD as statuesque!
They had just drove over for the day, so it was a very random meeting, and I was thrilled to have met them.

We took the bus back to the fort, where I immediately put on jeans and made some coffee. The kids joined us not long after. We ate some dinner and got the cornhole boards out.

We put some LED lights on the inside so we could play in the dark. Just "go towards the light!"

I love the Mickey lamp at night!

I snuggled down in bed while the games carried on. We knew Sunday would be a hang around the fort day as Nathen & Amanda had to leave on Sunday night! I do have some good pics taken on Sunday that would make Frank proud!

 

[clkelley]

.................

 

[ntsammy5]

Trevor and I are much older and not so cute!

I like you guys!