'Why are we still in GA?' - A brief trip report...

[mickeyfan0805]

As some of you know, we were first-timers at the Fort over Halloween last fall and had a blast. At 2,600 miles round trip, with 3 kids still in school, it's not an easy task for us to camp down there, so it was originally anticipated to be a one-time type of deal (at least for the foreseeable future). Then, of course, we started looking at summer plans...

We were already going to be in TN, some 700 miles from the Fort...
We had the camper in tow...
And our AP's were still good until August...

So...

We got up Saturday morning at 6am, hitting the road by 6:45, telling the kids we were making the full 700 mile trip back to WI that day. 'By the way,' I said, 'I'm going to take a route home that goes west and avoids a lot of the cities, so we are actually going to drop down into GA and head west before we head up.' As the day progressed, they would ask, now and then, 'Are we STILL in GA?' and each time my wife and I would look at each other shocked that they hadn't figured it out. As we passed through Atlanta I was sure they'd get it - why in the world would we be in Atlanta? But, nope!

We passed through southern GA, through Valdosta and were approaching the state line when I see my daughter in the rear-view mirror noting the 'discount Universal ticket' billboards on the side of the road. But still, nothing... Then comes the FL state line and the big FL sign. 'Wait,' our oldest said, 'This route takes us into Florida and we're not going to Disney?!?' 'Actually,' my wife replies...

And there it was, our 3 kids totally shocked that we were just a few hours out from starting our camping trip at the Fort!



The 700 mile trek took us 11.5 hours and we pulled into the Fort at about 6:15. A quick set-up was followed by an immediate departure to check out Toy Story Land. But I am currently waiting for Disney to download some photos and will follow up from there soon...

 

[Teamubr]

Great surprise!

Sounds like your kids are like mine when on the road. My DS will sleep or play on his phone covered in a blanket, completely oblivious to anything going on. I'm fairly sure I could get all the way to the Fort before he would look up. Some of that is just habit from when he would go to races with us. Other than Gateway, the closest track was 5 hours. Some were over 12.

Have a great time!

j

 

[mickeyfan0805]

Arrival night was a quick night out to check out Toy Story Land – we loved it!! We thought the theming was tons of fun and enjoyed the rides.

Sadly, the main reason we tried for an earlier arrival was to get there in time for our FP for Swirling Saucers. So, after a quick stop for our earlier FP at Star Tours, we got in line in Saucers, waited in line, and watched it close down due to mechanical failures. As this was our only FP for this ride this trip (due to the tiering for TSL) we were kind of bummed. Adding insult to injury, cast members proceeded to give us a ‘free FP’ that could be used only for the rest of that day (which had 30 minutes left before closing) and could NOT be used on any TSL attractions. So, their replacement for a tier 1 FP was a tier 2 pass that was only good for 30 minutes. While it was not a huge deal, I generally expect (and experience) better response than that from Disney.

We did get to see Mickey and Minnie at the Red Carpet with basically no wait at all between our two rides.





We had rushed over so quickly that we hadn’t even gotten dinner, so we headed to Wendy’s to wait 57 minutes to get our food!! At Wendy’s!! It was like nothing I’d ever seen. Nuts! ​

Anyway…All in all, on day 1 we got there, got camp set up and had a great first impression of Toy Story Land, but things certainly could have gone better (although, as you will see, we did make it on the Saucers after all)! Still, a less than perfect day in Disney is still better than many of the alternatives!

 

[mickeyfan0805]

Day 2 got off to a much better start. Arriving at Epcot just as it opened we sailed through security and the entrance gates and walked straight to Soarin’ – a 10 minute walk-on let us get right onto one of our favorite rides. As we rode Living with the Land, my daughter and sought to progressively make our way through the alphabet spying things that started with each letter, but we never did find anything for X. Then it was off to Figment (another family favorite) and a stop for a snack and a drink at the DVC lounge in the tower. We headed to the other side to hit our FP’s for Mission Space and Test Track (note – apparently your old car designs stay on your profile until replaced – something we didn’t know before), and by now the heat was beginning to rise. So, it was an online-ordered lunch at the Umbrella, followed by a FP on Spaceship Earth before we headed back to camp.



My wife was nursing a sprained ankle (which happened while hiking in TN the week before), so she stayed in to rest while I took the kids to the pool before an evening of dinner at T-Rex, shopping at the Springs (ornaments, pin trading, the co-op, and more), and dessert at Ghirardelli. The weather began to turn at about 9:30 just as we were headed home, so we settled in for the night!

We give the kids some spending money for each trip, my son decided to spend the major chunk of his on a 'build your own dino' at T-Rex. 'Roary' is his name...

 

[mickeyfan0805]

One of the highlights of the trip was the chance to enjoy horseback riding at the Fort. After a very rainy night we woke up, on day 3, to a beautiful morning and were at the stables at 8am for our ride. We were alongside another family of 5 and had a great 45 ride through the trails. With our son still 8 when we were there last fall, this was the one thing at the Fort the kids really felt they missed out on, so we were glad to get it in.






The ride was followed by brunch at Chef Mickey’s, an afternoon hiatus (which included a run to camping world to try to address my failing thermostat), and then back to Hollywood Studios to finally get our shot on Slinky Dog Dash.



I have read mixed reviews of this ride since it opened but, for our family, it was a hit! Smooth, rolling, fun…we thought it was great. The only disappointment was that we only got to ride it once. We really would have liked to have done it multiple times! As our evening came to a close and the nighttime shows were starting, TSL waits (except for SDD) took a notable drop. We rode TSM 2x with a wait of under 15m each time and, much to our relief, got on the Swirling Saucers ride we had missed earlier in the week with only a five minute wait!

My wife LOVES Uno, so...

 

[mickeyfan0805]

Day 4 was rope dropping Magic Kingdom and hitting a lot of our favorites surrounding lunch at Liberty Tree. All three Mountains were on the FP menu for the morning and early afternoon.







A mid-afternoon departure let us get some rest before an evening trek to Epcot for an extra FP ride on Soarin and then touring the World Showcase with the sun going down. The EMH that night allowed for a much nicer tour of the area, but we were saddened to find Japan closed after 9 (which is what our girls really wanted to get to). Nonetheless, we wandered the showcase while Illuminations was running, dropped in the Mexico for the Three Caballeros (sp?) ride, and had a nice evening.

 

[mickeyfan0805]

After 2 failed attempts, last year, to rope drop Navi, we finally did this time around, on day 5. We pulled into the AK parking lot right around 8:25, got to the gates at 8:45 and were surprised to find that things were already open and running. The official park open time was 9a, but we sailed in, walked to Pandora, found both rides actively operating, and were on and off Navi by 9:05. Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, 2x on Everest and snack were all done by 10:15 and we had an hour to kill before our FoP FP.

Then came the deluge. We got drenched! The park was like a river and people were ducking into any corner they could find. But, we trudged through it, pushed our way through the standby line at FoP (that was so long it was blocking the entrance and continuing way down the trail towards Africa), and waited out the last little bit in the Pandora store. The rest of the family rode (motion sickness on simulators is an issue for me), and we headed over to Kali River for our final FP before leaving the park. It was hot and wet, but, as far as I’m concerned, hot at Disney is always better than not at Disney!

This is me and the two of our three who rode with me on Kali...



The afternoon brought up the one big hitch of the trip! As my wife rested and I was in the trailer beginning to get us ready to head home, it struck me…our plan was to get up early, park the trailer in the lot, head to HS, then come back around 2 to hit the road. Here’s the problem…we’ve never taken a Disney trip with our dog before, so it never crossed our mind...we had nowhere for the dog to go while we were in the park. We couldn't leave him in the hot camper for 3 hours, and we didn't want the kids to miss out on their last rides. I started to look at Best Friends, which needed an interview and all sorts of things that wouldn’t come together that quickly, so off I went to the front desk to plead my case. Hat’s off to the gentleman at the desk (Adam or Andy, not entirely sure), for whom little pleading was necessary. I explained the situation, asked if there was any way we could check out a few hours late, he gave it a quick look and it was no issue. He saved my kids the disappointment of missing out on two of their favorite rides the next day!

The evening was a wonderful opportunity at the end of the trip. A nice dinner at Trail’s End led us into an encounter with some old friends from MA, and then to watch the fireworks and water pageant from the beach. Next thing you know, my wife is point out that EMH at MK are on until 1am, so off we go. I was not at all happy with the transportation (it took an hour to wait for the boat, ride the boat, and get to MK that night!), but we got there at just about 11 as the park was closing. We hit a lot of the small rides we had missed the day before…Pirates, Small World, Philharmagic, Barnstormer, etc… and headed home at about 12:30.

My daughter was still holding up pretty well...

 

[mickeyfan0805]

The next morning it was a quick hit at Rockin Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror before we left town. I love the RnR picks. My oldest looks like she's having fun, my wife looks like she's peeing her pants, my son looks like he's going to die, and my younger daughter looks like she's already dead. Me, I'm just along for the ride...





My son looks similarly terrified on ToT. In both cases, he was incredibly nervous going in, looks terrified in the midst of it, but claims they are his two new favorite rides!



We got north of Atlanta that night (I-75 was down to 1 lane north of the city and we took an hour to go 3 miles!!), drove 640 miles to northern IL the next day, and sailed easily into town at 11:30 Saturday morning.

2 weeks later (half in TN and half at Disney), and 3051 miles driven, we were home. And, not to anyone’s surprise, I already want to go back!! Sadly, I think it will be at least 18-24 months before that happens! I’m grieving already.

 

[snowmedic]

Awesome TR. Your kids look like they had a really great time. We can't go to the Springs without getting DD a Build-A-Dino. I think she has a total of 16 BAB's.
18-24 months is way to long, but happy planning and get back to the Fort as soon as possible for another wonderful trip.

 

[PaHunter]

Looks like a great trip to everyone's favorite campground.

 

[bama_ed]

You're a cool dad, Marty.

Good man.

ED

 

[friendofeeyore]

Wow! What a great trip! Thank U for the great pictures

 

[themojosupreme]

Super family! How fun that you and your wife would surprise your kids until they figured out their geography! Great story telling and wonderful happy pics of your delightful family. Hope you get a chance to get there sooner than what you may think.

 

[JETS70]

Enjoyed your TR and loved the ride pics. The expression on your kids faces...………
Thanks for sharing.
Steve

 

[4077]

Super fun report! Thank you very much for sharing

 

[himandher818]

Very Enjoyable TR. Noting a surprise Disney trip. We were never able to pull it off with our kids. They already knew if we were going on vacation it was to Disney.

 

[mickeyfan0805]

Very Enjoyable TR. Noting a surprise Disney trip. We were never able to pull it off with our kids. They already knew if we were going on vacation it was to Disney.

We've had the joy of doing the surprise trip twice.

The first trip was in 2013 when they were 4, 6 and 8. I wrote a storyline to go along with a scavenger hunt around our house. With each clue they were travelling around Disney World helping Mickey and friends battle Captain Hook who had stolen the crystal that creates Disney Magic. With each friend they found the magic grew and they were able to fill Mickey's magic 'wish meter' to wish together to return the magic to Disney World. Each place they went, unbeknownst to them, was one of the places we would be going during our trip.

Their last clue told them to make a wish and then go to the garage to see if their wish came true. This is what they found...




3 hours later we were on the plane!

 

[tltay2005]

Loved your report. Thanks for sharing.

 

[himandher818]

The first trip was in 2013 when they were 4, 6 and 8. I wrote a storyline to go along with a scavenger hunt around our house.

That sounds like something my DW would do. She was always coming up some game for the kids (they are adults now). 4, 6, and 8 is a great age for kids at Disney. Ok any age is good age, but young like that and seeing the magic through the kids eyes.

 

[MudQueen22]

I've enjoyed reading your posts on this thread so much. I know your children loved this surprise so much.
I wish I had that much self-control. lol!