March 2016 Pre Trip and Trip reports

[Sundancer330]

That's why I own a weather rock.

If it's wet = raining
If it's hot = sunny
If it's white = snow
If it's gone = tornado

Here is the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore version of your weather rock.

 

[amcc]

Big step forward in our preparations for our trip - we got a new (to us) Suburban that can pull the popup and carry all 6 of us and our gear. For the past year, we've done all our camping with my husband pulling the camper behind his Explorer and me driving our minivan with the leftover gear and extra children I'm so glad I don't have to drive this time!!

We are opening it up today to measure for the counters and the table. My dad is a contractor and I had asked me to keep an eye out for some granite scraps but then I thought that the rattling and bumping would probably cause that to crack quickly. So we've decided that we are just going to get a nice piece of wood and paint it and round the corners. Any suggestions or other ideas? I wanted the formica with the shiny retro border but my husband is cheapening out due to the car purchase.

 

[4077]

Never realized the price of Formica (maybe it's that darn shiny retro border)

Meant to ask...you have any exterior shots of the pup opened up?

 

[tltay2005]

Well we got our new golf cart battery charger in Saturday and it went back today . It must of been dropped during shipping because it was damaged. Have to admit, Amazon is really good with returns. I emailed them Friday, and the vendor contacted me Sat. with a prepaid return label. They are shipping us out a replacement today .

Got a house sitter lined up for our four legged family members, so we are getting things all set for our trip.
Going on a quick weekend trip to a local state park, then I can start my serious planning for the Fort.

 

[peg110]

Have to admit, Amazon is really good with returns.

I have to agree with you there. I am a Prime Member and have only had to have a few returns. They have all gone very smoothly. They email me a RS label, I print it out and drop it of at UPS, and in a day or two I have my refund.

 

[bama_ed]

Update here.

Well this trip next month is shaping up as a blow-out trip. Not because I love WDW at all - but because I ain't coming back in spring for a LONG time as I have for many years due to the school calendar. We typically came to WDW in spring as a family but now that my last kid is a HS senior, I ain't tied down to that no more.

Our schedule is shaping up to check in at the Fort on March 19 Saturday and head to MK for the pm; spend all day Sunday in the MK and watch DD march with her high school band before the Main Street Electrical Parade; Monday sleep in and spend a couple hours at MK.

Tuesday go over to DD's high school hotel and "check her out" and keep her with us. Tuesday is a down day.

Wednesday is a day all frickin' day at MK since it has EMH till 2am and DD want to hang in till the last minute. UGH. We got FP and two ADR set (dining will blow the budget for sure but that was a DW request).

Thursday is a spring training game with the Braves that night at WWOS. I plan to sleep in after the 2am close and have an ADR at the Poly for some Tonga Toast later that morning.

Friday afternoon we will be in Lakeland for a Detroit Tigers game at Tiger Town.

Saturday night will be a game at the Houston Astros complex (still need to get that ticket). Why 3 games 3 days in a row? Because I won't be back in March for spring training probably EVAH!

Sunday is Easter Sunday and hoping for Easter Mass again this year at the Contemporary in the morning as in past years. DD wants to do some putt putt and I'd like to ride the boats from DHS over to Yacht Club, Board Walk, and Swan/Dolphin to check out those properties.

Monday we have an ADR at Disney Spring so that will be our shopping day over there. Might ride the boat back and forth from Port Orleans like I did on the Marathon Weekend last year. It's a nice ride.

Tuesday is another MK day with FP+ and Wednesday will be going home day on March 30.

In the MK we have ADR for Liberty Tree Tavern and The Plaza for lunch and then Tony's and BoG (2x) for dinner. Again I don't normally do this but our future trips will be WAY different. So blowout it will be.

I'm taking the Aliner to Gulf Shores this weekend for the first trip of the spring (see the Gulf Thread) and then it will be getting ready for WDW.

Bama Ed

 

[amcc]

That certainly is a nice trip - you'll barely be at the Fort! I forget people go to the Fort and actually go to the parks.

We are actually heading to the parks this weekend Fri-Mon but staying at Caribbean Beach. Can't wait to see the baby's reactions. I think he is tall enough for Thunder Mountain, Splash and Test Track so things will be new all over again. After this weekend, it's a whirlwind leading up to my brother's wedding a week before we head out camping. Gonna need some relaxation after the out of town guests, dinners, big reception, and all the kids in the wedding party.

 

[tiggerdad]

Ed, that's some planning you got going on there.

Sounds like my 2012 and 2014 trip. Makes my head hurt to have that much planning in place for a "vacation".

Since March is off the table for your future runs, when are you wanting to try and go? Any particular season you are wanting to enjoy or just shooting from the hip?

 

[bama_ed]

Since March is off the table for your future runs, when are you wanting to try and go? Any particular season you are wanting to enjoy or just shooting from the hip?

Well, tiggerdad, I already have a reservation on the books for early next January 2017 for the Marathon weekend. I'm going to sign up for the suffering of the Full Marathon and I thought I had my two brothers on board to also come down and choose a race that weekend that fits them (5k, 10k, or Half). But I have detected some wavering (whimpering) in their commitment. Sign-up is this April so that's where the rubber will meet the road. But I will be there then for sure and get my McFlurry.

I have penciled in my head a September 2018 trip for when Alabama comes down to Orlando Labor Day weekend to open the season against Louisville. But that's just a rough idea.

And amcc, I feel like there is still plenty of Fort time in my plans. Tuesday, Thursday-Monday are all non-park days with some baseball and other WDW stuff thrown in. I'm going to need/want my down time.

Bama Ed

 

[tltay2005]

Bama Ed, very impressed with your planning. Have to ask, do you do it alone, or does the DW help (or do most )? My DH never helps with any planning. He is a "throw some stuff in a bag and let's go" type of person, where as I have to plan every detail. Can't wait to read you trip reports, sounds like a very amazing trip. Would love to see a video of the band. My son was in the marching band all four years of high school, and I have to admit, I miss it.

 

[peg110]

Bama Ed, very impressed with your planning. Have to ask, do you do it alone, or does the DW help (or do most )? My DH never helps with any planning. He is a "throw some stuff in a bag and let's go" type of person, where as I have to plan every detail. Can't wait to read you trip reports, sounds like a very amazing trip. Would love to see a video of the band. My son was in the marching band all four years of high school, and I have to admit, I miss it.

That's me. Throw it in the bag and go... The DW does tons of planning, but at least I get to give some input. (not to say she uses it, but I can give it.)

 

[bama_ed]

Bama Ed, very impressed with your planning. Have to ask, do you do it alone, or does the DW help (or do most )? My DH never helps with any planning. He is a "throw some stuff in a bag and let's go" type of person, where as I have to plan every detail. Can't wait to read you trip reports, sounds like a very amazing trip. Would love to see a video of the band. My son was in the marching band all four years of high school, and I have to admit, I miss it.

tltay2005, to tell you the truth, I can be an uber planner when I have to be. Although I don't wanna be.

I do the planning in my house. DW said, "I want us to eat out more this trip" and DD said, "I want to stay in the MK till 2am and play putt-putt". That was the extent of their contribution. So I planned tickets, days in parks, ADRs, the baseball games, and all that. And as I've said before, I hate having to do it all in advance with this new system.

In the past we would have bought tickets once we arrived on property, selected the parks to attend the night before, and made maybe 1 or at most 2 ADRs. That's kinda the way I am when I go to the beach. Very unstructured but with a punch list that I usually finish by the time to go home. However, these days for a WDW vacation, sadly, you have to plan PLAN well ahead or get run over by those who do. I can't walk up to BoG and expect to get a table at the dinner hour during Easter week. It ain't gonna happen.

I realized that this is really my first FP+ vacation. Last trip down was for the Half Marathon and we didn't go in a park (I was there to run the run). Only made one ADR at Disney Springs. Trip before that, FP+ was still in the planning/testing stages and it wasn't in use when we were there. Which is probably why next time (for the Marathon weekend), I won't do any park days and will do maybe 1 ADR.

The one thing not on my bucket list for this trip is I wish there was going to be a launch over at KSC by someone like SpaceX because I am a SpaceX geek but it's not in the cards this time around. We've done the KSC tours/visit and although I know launches sometimes get scrubbed, I would have liked to have driven out somewhere near by, sat on the hood of the car, and hear the thunder of lift-off.

Bama Ed

PS - and I plan to post in this thread while I am there.

 

[Hemali]

I am new to rv'ing and new to Disney. We are going to be driving down on March 6th to check in March 8th at Fort and stay through 10th. Any advice and recommendations very appreciated. We are traveling with 7 kids and 2 adults. We opted not to do the dining plan so we can do two days at park instead. Any advice on quick travel foods appreciated too. Thanks

 

[bama_ed]

I am new to rv'ing and new to Disney. We are going to be driving down on March 6th to check in March 8th at Fort and stay through 10th. Any advice and recommendations very appreciated. We are traveling with 7 kids and 2 adults. We opted not to do the dining plan so we can do two days at park instead. Any advice on quick travel foods appreciated too. Thanks

Hemali

I assume you will come in on the night of the 8th, go to a park on the 9th, check out and go to a park on the 10th. First be aware you can drive your rv on the last day to the park and not have to pay since you are still a resort guest for that day (but you have to be out of the campsite by 11am). So you can check out and drive to a park and park in its oversized vehicle section or park in the main lot at the Fort (off to the side where the other RVs and towables are) and use bus transportation back and forth to the park that day - up to you.

We have a camping menu thread or two which you can find if you use the SEARCH function up near the top left of the screen and use key words like "recipe" or "recipes", particularly in the title, to find it on the Camping Forum. Lots of good advice there.

You can also pack a picnic lunch and/or snacks into the parks and store it in a rental locker till its time to eat. Use common sense - no glass, no alcohol, no hard sided coolers. There are inspections for type of bag or bigger brought into the parks. We have done this to save money and to save time leaving the parks to eat and come back.

Finally there is a charcoal grill at your site that you can fire up and grill a mess of burgers and hot dogs or chicken breasts. Sides like french fries, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, etc. can be purchased for a nominal fee at Trails End Takeout (the double door between Hoop Dee Doo Review and the Trails End restaurant door) at dinner time. We've done this too.

Your trip will be here very soon. Good luck to you!

Bama Ed

 

[tiggerdad]

I am new to rv'ing and new to Disney. We are going to be driving down on March 6th to check in March 8th at Fort and stay through 10th. Any advice and recommendations very appreciated. We are traveling with 7 kids and 2 adults. We opted not to do the dining plan so we can do two days at park instead. Any advice on quick travel foods appreciated too. Thanks

As far as traveling foods while we are on the road, we make some sandwiches prior to pulling out. The kids also like the cheese snack sticks, crackers, etc. Typically we keep our smaller beach cooler in the cab with us to keep these things in.

 

[Hemali]

Out dates got changed to April 12 to 15th. Thanks for all your input. We will be travelling with a cooler as the fridge in our rv isn't currently functional. Any advice on best way to keep things fresh or food that will keep better? We do sandwiches but I figured with no fridge that will last maybe first two days at most. I thank God for helping me find this site.

 

[Teamubr]

Any advice on best way to keep things fresh or food that will keep better?

Freeze as much as you can. It will work as ice and keep other things cool. By the time it thaws, it will be ready to eat. If noth melts fast enough and you have a microwave, you can defrost it when you need it.

j

 

[awmiii]

We are headed back down to the Fort for the first time in 6 years 3/19-3/26. Our 12yo daughter has not idea. She thinks we are headed to Key Largo to go diving. THe plan is not to tell her until we pull into the Fort.

 

[tltay2005]

Just got back from a quick weekend trip to a local state park. Great weather for camping. Took our two dogs, and realized that it's time to let our "old" man go. He is in liver failure and went downhill pretty quickly. At least we got to spend one last camping trip with him.

Since our Fl resident annual passes are not good for our stay, we are going to try to get to Epcot for the Flower and Garden Festival in the next couple of weekends. Will post some pictures if we do.

The replacement battery charger came in Friday and DH is going to the golf cart place to get our new batteries this week. Bought a few more Easter decorations for the cart and the site. Other than making my menu for the 4 days and the packing list, I think we are all set for our Fort trip.

 

[tltay2005]

For those traveling to the Fort this week, here is the 7 day forecast.