Disney & Our First Move

As I mentioned, we made it to Disney with not a whole lot of fan fare. We got parked, settled, and started a little bit of unpacking. But, our primary goal for the week was to play at the Disney World parks. "Camping" at Fort Wilderness is more "hoteling" for us- we don't hang out at the camper a whole lot and are generally on the go, go, go.

I did learn that I think I'd like to plan for the cost of a golf cart rental next time; it is just more convenient than waiting for the buses within the campground (to then wait for a bus to your actual destination). We either walked to the marina and took boats or we drove the truck.

Here's a rundown for our week. For more photos than you can shake a stick at, checkout my Flickr Album.

Magic Kingdom for a classic Disney start

My wife even made us matching tye-dye Mickey shirts. She did a great job on them.

We watched a parade, had lunch at Be Our Guest, rode some rides, and watched the Main Street Electric Light parade. Here we are later in the day:

Us on Main Street

Animal Kingdom

We started our day at the Tusker House for breakfast with some characters in safari outfits, waited in a hellishly long FastPass+ line for the safari, checked out the adventure center + petted animals, I got lost trying to leave on my own, and ended the night at Downtown Disney (or Disney Springs as it is now called).

Outside of Tusker House after Breakfast

Breakfast at Trails End and then Hollywood Studios

Breakfast at Trails End is a staple for anyone camping at the fort and, thusly, deserved a spot in the subheading. We had breakfast and then made our way to Disney's Hollywood Studios where my son rode Tower of Terror and loved it.

40" Minimum and 40" Kid = FUN!

Another Magic Kingdom Day

We went back to Magic Kingdom where we met Mickey, rode some rides, started playing Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, watched the Festival of Fantasy parade, got haircuts at the barber shop, watched Wishes Fireworks, and finally rode some more 40" Minimum rides. It was a big day!

On "Hi-Ho" as my son calls it

Finished with Epcot

We finished our park days with a visit to Epcot. My daughter is a huge Duffy fan and has been disappointed the last few visits that we haven't been able to make it for visits with him. That was rectified! We had a late morning and then took forever getting to Epcot. After we got on the boat, Mandie realized that I forgot the stroller's rain cover- so I got off of the boat and headed back to the camper. While there, I moved the truck to help our new neighbors get into their spot. In the meantime, my wife was pushing my daughter in a wheelchair (she injured her ankle a while back while hiking) who was pushing my son in a stroller. She pushed this double-tow combo up the looooonnnngggg ramp to the monorail only to find out it was down between Magic Kingdom and the Ticket & Transportation Center (the TTC; which gets you to Epcot). Back down the ramp and to the ferry she went. Once at the TTC, she took a monorail to Epcot. They road Spaceship: Earth while I finally caught up. (Holy convoluted story! Sorry!)

Once we got to Epcot, things smoothed out. We took son onto Soarin' for his first time (again with those 40" minimum rides) and then got some lunch. From there, we made a bee-line to see Duffy, walked partway around the world, and started getting my daughter's Epcot World Showcase passport filled out. Dinner at the Rose & Crown Pub.

The Kids Visiting with Duffy

WAAAAAY More Pictures

As I mentioned above, if you want to see a figurative TON of pictures, I posted a bunch to a Flickr album.

VIEW THE DISNEY PHOTOS ON FLICKR

Moving onto Thousand Trails Orlando

Outside of our overnight stops, this was our first official "weekly" move. It is a bit of a cheat at 13 miles or something like that and we're here for 2 weeks. But hey, we moved. And, even though it was a short move, we still parked in a Walmart parking lot for a super yummy, but oh so not healthy, lunch of Taco Bell.

Quick Stop for Lunch

But, of course, what should have been an easy move had its own challenges:

Packing up the chaos just added more chaos. I can't wait until we're settled in and we have places for everything.
When retracting my landing gear, one wouldn't go up. Ultimately, I figured out that one of my new Steadyfast stabilizer bars were frozen in place. The locking screws got ~~bitched~~ buggered up over the winter; I didn't lube them and then the factory return over salt covered roads has taken its toll. I don't blame the Steadyfast bars (actually quite love them still). But, I did have to remove the foot from the landing gear and put the bars into the truck bed. Took a while to figure out that's what it was, but we got it sorted enough to get going.
Thousand Trails Orlando has jokes. All of the TT Parks are first come, first served- you drive around and pick your site. This isn't terrible, but this campground has limited 50-amp spots that are near the pool/rec. center. We finally found a site, got backed in, leveled-up, and I went to plug in electric to find a note inside of the box that said, "50 amp not working". Rather annoyed, I called the Welcome Center and they confirmed that this site was falsely labeled as 50amp because of issues with the transformer. Off we went to find a new site.
I was attacked by a lizard. I grabbed a stool out of my front storage hatch and this miniature dragon jumped out at me. I won, though- his tail popped off.