Fort Wilderness CG, Walt Disney World, FL
April 22, 2007
We only had to drive 70 miles to get to
Fort Wilderness.
So after taking our time and saying our good-byes, we got to Fort Wilderness
just about 1:00pm.
There was a long backup to check-in. They had
4 rows open and there were about 5-6 rigs backed up for each of them.
We ended up taking about 40 minutes to get checked in. We ended up on
site 230. While this site is deeper, it is much more difficult to back
into. The other sites across the road are short so their vehicles were
right on the edge of the road. The road is narrow, so it was a
challenge to get the trailer into the site without bumping into any other
vehicles. I did end up bending my mirror out of position when it
rubbed against a bush on the side of the site.
We spent the afternoon wandering around some of the hotels on the lake. We did not see these last time we were here. The Grand Floridian is quite impressive. After supper at the trailer, we headed over to the Magic Kingdom to watch the parade and fireworks. It was VERY crowded there. After the fireworks, we just found a spot off to the side and let most of the people find there way out. Even an hour after the fireworks, we had to wait in line for the boat to Fort Wilderness. Two boats came, filled up and left before we got far enough in the line to get on the boat.
April 23, 2007
Our legs were tired and sore this morning, so we relaxed
till after lunch. Then we grabbed the bus to MGM Studios. We
came over to MGM back in February from Melbourne for the day. That
visit we saw the big attractions like the Extreme Stunts show. But I
so enjoyed it that I wanted to see that again first thing. This show
is just great. The cars race around a mockup of a little French
village burning a LOT of rubber with the screeching brakes and acceleration.
How they can go so fast and so close without even bumping fenders just
amazes me. Some of the surprises were gone since we had seen it
before, but it was still a great show. For the rest of the afternoon,
we caught some of the rest of the shows that we missed previously.
Then after supper, we people watched till it was time to go into the Fantasmic show. This is a really slick show that is based on the movie
Fantasia. They use use images shown on fountain sprays along with the
accompanying stage show. And of course, it ends with some fireworks.
They have a very large seating area and I never thought it would be filled,
but it was.
April 24, 2007
Today we got on the bus to go to Epcot. It was
nearly noon by the time we got there. First stop was to get a
Fast Pass to Soarin'. The pass was for between 4:50 and 5:50.
The Fast Passes go quickly at this attraction and the standby line is always
longer than an hour. We decided to have lunch at the
UK Rose & Crown
today. In addition to the 'sit down' restaurant, they have a sidewalk
takeout for just Fish & Chips. We had to wait about a half hour to get into
the restaurant and watched a street show while we waited. I had the
Fish & Chips and Barbara had the Ploughman's Salad. The Fish & Chips
were just a bit larger portion than you got outside and twice as expensive.
It was not as good either. Next time I will get my Fish & Chips
outside at the sidewalk concession.
The Flower and Garden Festival is currently going on
through June. The floral displays are very impressive and beautiful to
see. Every pavilion has a different display based on the country.
We spent most of the afternoon going to all the displays. There are so
many, we only saw about half of them by the time we had to go back to the
Soarin' ride. I could easily take this ride several times a day, every
day. It is just fantastic. I tried to take some photos of what
is seen, but they came out too dark.
The 'BoxTops' were the band
playing today at the US pavilion. On the way back there, we stopped at
the TestTrack to see what the wait time was. They have a 'Singles'
line if you don't mind being split up in different cars for the ride.
This line is always much shorter than the 'group' line. Since Barbara
did not want to ride this, I went in and only had to wait 15 minutes to get
on the ride. Great ride.... After the concert, it was getting
late enough that we waited around for the IllumiNations show. This
time we were in front of the Morocco pavilion and found that we were a
little further away from the 'flames' than I would have liked. On the
other side of the lake, you are close enough to feel the heat. Here
you did not. But the wind direction dictated that we could not be
where we wanted to be.
April 25, 2007
We woke up tired today. All this exercise is catching up to us.... So we decided on an easy day to catch up on a show or two in Animal Kingdom. After getting to the park, we had a half hour to get to the 'Finding Nemo, The Musical' show. It is a big seating area, but it was filled up quickly. It was crowded in the park. A lot of kids are in the park. So much for school.... The show is a mix of puppet and singing. The kids in attendance seemed to love it. I could have taken it or left it...
We got on a bus over to the MGM Studios and then promptly got on the boat by the MGM Studio entrance. This took us over to Boardwalk where we wandered around for awhile. It was pretty quiet with not many people around. Apparently this area is more of a night spot than day. We found the Big River Grille & Brewing Works. They brew their own beers. So I had a 'Rocket Red' along with a cheeseburger. Barbara had a chicken sandwich and both were very good. The beer went down real smooth on this hot day. After getting a ice cream for desert, we wandered down the path to Epcot. We people watched for awhile and them headed to the buses to come back to the campground.
April 26, 2007
Today was an Epcot day. This is the best park for adults.... As the bus pulled in, we saw that bus parking lot was filled with charter busses. We later found out that there are a LOT of school class trips here. They are from all over the South. This must be the place to come for class trips.
The first stop was for a FastPass at Soarin'. I
think this is the best ride in DisneyWorld. Now that we had a time of
3:00 for the ride, we headed over to the
French Pavilion for lunch. We
had not eaten here before. They have one selection that is your
'basic' French lunch. It consists of French onion soup, toasted ham &
cheese sandwich and a Creme Broulet. I decided to get that and was
very pleased. The onion soup was the best I have ever had. It
was delicious. The sandwich and desert were also great. We
wondered around taking in the rest of the flower displays that we had not
seen before till we went to Soarin'.
On the way in, we picked up
another FastPass. After a great ride, we wandered to the aquarium for
awhile. Then took the boat over to the US Pavilion to see
The Tokens
in concert. They put on a terrific show. They had the people
singing and dancing in the aisles. They are on again tomorrow; maybe
we can see them again. After going back for our second Soarin' ride of
the day, we got on the bus back to the campground.
April 27, 2007
Barbara did laundry in the morning and we headed over to MGM after lunch. We wanted to see the parade, since we had missed it previously. There was something going on at the ABC TV studio, but we did not find out what it was. We asked about the TV studio at Guest Relations and found out that they do not announce any programs being taped there until a day or so ahead of time. So it is difficult to plan to see some program being taped.
We
took the boat from MGM to Epcot. Just wandered around until we went to
The Tokens concert. They put on a great show and we could watch it
every day. When they play 'Wipeout', the whole arena gets jumping....
After having supper at the
Land pavilion, we watched the Illuminations
fireworks show. The photo shows the larger float that generates the
HUGE flames in the rear. The float in the foreground, have the
fireworks mounted on them. There are at least four of these along with
the fireworks on the side of the lake. We were at the best place to
see the show today, just across the lake from the US pavilion. When
the wind direction allows, this is the place to see the show. There is
a clear view of all the fireworks and flames. Just pick a spot between
the two boat loading platforms that there are no tree branches overhead to
block the rocket views.
Today, Epcot had late magic hours. So we wandered over to the Test Track for a ride in the dark. Barbara waits at the exit for me.... We went to the Canada pavilion to see the movie there and then caught the second Illuminations show of the night at 11:30pm before getting on the bus to head back to the campground. On the way back, at midnight, we saw fireworks going off at the Magic Kingdom. They had the speakers at the park turned up to max volume and music going till well after 1:00am. It was very loud in the campground.
April 28, 2007
We found out that the noise was because of a 'special' called 'Grad Night' They close down the Magic Kingdom at 7:00pm and from then till 4:00am, they have a party for high school grads. The wind is coming toward the campground from the Magic Kingdom and it is very loud again. There are a lot of very unhappy campers here. If it is this loud here, it must be unbearable at the hotels closer to the Magic Kingdom. They should have warned us when we made the reservations. To be sure, we will ask if we come again and avoid coming if they are running any more 'special nights'.
Today we went over to Epcot and had lunch at the German Biergarten. They put on a great spread and have entertainment to go along with it. On the way back out of the park, we stopped in for our last ride on Soarin'. That is a great ride....
Updated: 06/02/2007