Your first day...

mh1973

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 10, 2007
What time do you usually arrive at the Fort? What do you normally do your first day. We will be arriving on a Friday around 5 pm with our 5th wheel. Should we try to do a character dinner that evening? Maybe Chef Mickey's? I don't know how long check in takes and we obviously need to set the camper up, just not sure how much time we will have to do anything.

We will be driving about 8-9 hours.
 
Arriving that late I would just try to do counter service unless you want to eat late. If you get caught up in traffic or have any delays you'll miss the ADR anyway. I've heard that Port Orleans which is right around the corner from the fort has a good food court. Somebody correct me if that's not true. It is a pretty short drive however.
 
Last trip we arrived at 10 a.m., set up our 5r and went to TE for lunch (but that was before they changed lunch). This trip will probably set up and eat lunch at trailer. Meeting our DD, SIL, GS and DS at Downtown Disney later in the day. Arriving after 5 I'd not make any real plans because you're looking at after 6 before you get all set up.
 


Arriving that late I would just try to do counter service unless you want to eat late. If you get caught up in traffic or have any delays you'll miss the ADR anyway. I've heard that Port Orleans which is right around the corner from the fort has a good food court. Somebody correct me if that's not true. It is a pretty short drive however.

I agree Donnie, the food court at Port Orleans FQ used to be a little better than the one at Riverside(Dixie Landings) either one are good for a quick counter service that stll has the Disney touch.

The likelyhood of everything going right and the time for setup would mean pushing for time, for my family it takes all the fun out of it, we typically wait till the first full day before scheduling anything other than beer drinking.
 
When we have the time we sometimes run to a park for a couple hours. Most of the time, we get set up and then take a ride around the campgroud in the cart. This normally ends with a short fishing trip just before dark. OK, I take a fishing trip and Lisa rests up for the next day:lmao: .
 
On our most recent trip I had planned on grilling dinner after we got set up. We arrived by 3:00 and got set up, and then I didn't feel like grilling after the long drive. So, we ended up hitting TE right at opening time, and ate too much and felt like slugs after riding for a day and a half and then hitting the buffet. So...I decided that next trip we will either take the boat to WL for counter service at RF, or just have something simple and pre-prepared like fried chicken and mac n cheese from Publix or Walmart. Come to think of it, fried chicken, beer and a bike ride around the campground sounds pretty good right now.
 


...I decided that next trip we will either take the boat to WL for counter service at RF, or just have something simple and pre-prepared like fried chicken and mac n cheese from Publix or Walmart. Come to think of it, fried chicken, beer and a bike ride around the campground sounds pretty good right now.

The fried chicken carry-out from TE is quite good and a decent value. Take it back to camp to get to feeling settled in and enjoy your own (i.e. cheap!) beer. Dave, I'd like to join you for that bike ride about now, sounds great!

My favorite arrival routine is to stop by Downtown Disney before even heading to the Fort and drop in to the Earl of Sandwich (good and reasonable) and do a little window shopping at World of Disney and the Christmas shop. Strolling around is a nice break from the drive and helps me to catch the Disney excitement that probably waned a bit during the drive.
 
I agree about Earl - great place - in May we're doing Raglan Road first day but we're on DDP and staing at POFQ.

Shan, are you still all Santa'd up?
 
Yeah, I did get a bit of a trim, and I've got some brown root showing but I'll take care of that soon. For right now I think I'd like to keep the look all year, but we'll see how I feel about it once hot weather rolls in! But, hey, I'm still listening to Christmas music and am watching Elf as I type, so I'm a little eccentric to start with!
 
Hey I just looked at your TR for Nov 2007 and we were there at the same time at the Fort. I thought you looked familiar? I gues you met my sister, Debbie on your last trip! Bummer for you! :lmao:
 
I agree with We4mickey and Mike.

You should have a drink, set up camp, have another drink, get the cart, have another drink, go fish'n for a short while, have another drink, and relax at the campsite,,,in that order.
You'll prob. be too sloshed to go anywhere, but you won't care. :lmao: What the heck, it is your vacation !







have a great time ! (Frank posted this, not Denise,,sorry)
 
You'll prob. be too sloshed to go anywhere, but you won't care.!

I remember about 6 years ago Deb was very sloshed and she dragged me and her husband to MK. Interesting trip. That's when I got my incredibly neat goofy ears in front of TE. They don't sell them anymore
 
We like to arrive around noon, have a quick lunch, get settled and have dinner at the Trails End. Then if the MK is open we will catch the boat over and enjoy the evening there.
 
Hey I just looked at your TR for Nov 2007 and we were there at the same time at the Fort. I thought you looked familiar? I gues you met my sister, Debbie on your last trip! Bummer for you! :lmao:

Were you that scary drunk dude with camo on? LOL. Yeah, I'm sorry to have missed you! LOL Yeah, I did meet Deb... and I have the pic to prove it:

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I met Rick too, but alas, no pic!
 
We usually arrive early - about 0930 - check in, park in the overflow lot since our site is seldom ready, check the pooch in at the kennel, take the bus up to the marina, then the boat to WL and have lunch at Roaring Forks. When the campsite is ready, we set up camp (or at least I do while FWGirl naps), have a beer and make dinner.

Last trip we had lunch with Mike and Lisa, even though we didn't know it at the time.
 
We usually leave NH on Friday and arrive at the Fort on Sunday anywhere from 3 the earliest to 11pm the latest (that is a story itself). We set up camp and then go to TE for dinner. On Monday we just go out to get breakfast and pick up groceries. We don't go to the parks until Tuesday. My oldest DS and Home Boss just want to hang around the Fort and play in the pool, or ride their bikes, which is just fine by me. My youngest DS and I on Monday afternoon make an adventure riding the world transportation system to pick up an ice cream at DTD. We make this a very long adventure the last trip was Bus, Boat, Monorail, Monorail, Bus, Bus, icecream, bus, boat, bus, campsite the whole thing took 3 hours.
 
I try to arrive about checkin time, get setup and do my Wal-Mart run. I usually just grab drive-through at Burger King that first night.
 
We usually arrive early - about 0930 - check in, park in the overflow lot since our site is seldom ready, check the pooch in at the kennel, take the bus up to the marina, then the boat to WL and have lunch at Roaring Forks. When the campsite is ready, we set up camp (or at least I do while FWGirl naps), have a beer and make dinner.

Last trip we had lunch with Mike and Lisa, even though we didn't know it at the time.


I figured you would have been paranoid enough to really wonder why we were looking at ya'll and whispering,,I was trying to be covert but, thats not one of my strong points,,unless of course your used to that sort of thing:lmao:
I am however proud of myself for thinking it was you guys before we had gotten 1/2 way to WL...:rolleyes1
Maybe I do need a non DIS life
 
Also beware of some shady characters that will put some type of lime green gang sign on your camper if it is found unattended by one of it's members. It is usually a insignia made from 3 circles with the gang members "street" name on it..Jim unfortunately fell victim to this band of lawbreakers while waiting for his site.
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