OFFICIAL OCTOBER 2017 pretrip and trip report!

[FtW Mike]

Oh.... I see, you are devising to outline a process to develop a schedule that will allow for the direction of movement in an adequate fashion for sufficient execution with minimal supervision based leadership channels from your local organization to strategically schedule, with oversight controls and input from multiple channels while tactically wielding the information with the intendance, through detail manipulation to posture the planning effort.

Thanks for Clarifying it.


~ Eschew Obfuscation ~

See you got it and if all else fails remember the 7 P's Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pxxx Poor Performances

 

[peg110]

Indeed!

I am now exhausted though.

 

[ruthies12]

Well the beginning of this thread was hilarious and I'm so glad I get to join in on this TR!!!!

So our plans are to leave our Kentucky home on Wednesday October 4th when DD gets out of school and start the 14 hour drive. Hope to make it south of Atlanta to twin oaks. The next day should only have 5 more hours to do and hope to arrive at the Fort around 2 pm. We have a premium site booked and I will be requesting 400 loop again cause we loved being so close to the marina last time. It will be me, DH, and DD 8 and DD 4 and our furbaby 10 year old saint bernard. Our plans are :

Thurs 5th- check in, set up, dinner at chef mickeys at 5:45 pm.
Fri 6th- MK with early morning EMH, bibbidi bobbidi boutique for both girls at 11:10 am, then lunch at the castle at 1:10 pm.
Sat 7th- Start the day at HS, then go to Disney Springs for shopping and dinner, DD8 wants to do the balloon ride.
Sun 8th- Epcot all day hitting up some food and wine booths
Mon 9th- DH and DD4 staying at the campground to relax, DD 8 and myself will be going to Universal (we upgraded our tickets to annual passes for only 30 bucks when we were there last fall on a girls trip), probably just for the afternoon and then we'll all go to the campfire together that evening.
Tues 10th- Epcot again probably, possibly AK, waiting to see how exciting Pandora is.
Wed 11th- AK, might make a tusker house ADR with rivers of light viewing if they ever open those reservations
Thurs 12th- late breakfast at Trails End, then heading to MK for Pirates League makeovers for all four of us at 2 pm then staying for the Halloween Party dressed as pirates.
Fri 13th- Sleeping in, maybe swimming in the afternoon, DD8 and I might do one more afternoon at Universal, then we have ADR at 1900 Park Faire at 5:10 pm. If we aren't too tired afterwards, will go to the campfire.
Sat 14th- Will do an early morning at MK for rides, then go back to campground for a nap and to pack up the camper, then back to MK for dinner at BOG at 6:35 pm then staying for fireworks.
Sun 15th- the saddest day, heading home, will leave very early am cause it's a long drive doing 14 hours straight.

We have - campsite booked, 7 day tickets bought from undercover tourist, above ADR's made except for the tusker house one. Still need to get- Halloween tickets!

 

[ruthies12]

serenitygr- we definitely need to meet up since we will be there at the same time!!

Forgot to mention my mom and her husband will be with us this trip, hoping we can get campsites near each other, they have a big ol diesel pusher, it's nice! their campsite is booked and they are on some of our ADR's with us.

 

[morrik5]

Hi, My name is Jennie and we're Fort virgins. We will be driving from Windsor Ontario Canada. We check in October 21-27. We have a new to us A class motor home. We are a family of 5. DS 13, DD 10 and DS 3.

We will be in the parks daily and attending MNSSHP.
Dining reservations are made.

Currently we are completing some improvements on the motor home. New headers, new O2 sensors, new hydrolic lines and new flooring.

I enjoy reading about Fort Wilderness. We have booked a premium site. Could you recommend your favourite loop and tell me why please. Looking forward to learning more about the Fort

We're from Oshawa, Ontario - enjoyed the 1100 loop also because of its proximity to the Trading Post, pool, playground and bus stops at the end of the loop. It's a nice quiet loop with lots of room.

 

[PigletPink]

Sorry, not camping. Remember FW as a child. It was wonderful.

 

[Bdev13]

I'll jump in! DH, myself, DD 4, and DD 3, heading down with our TT from CT for our first stay at Fort Wilderness. Our plan is to leave at midnight on Oct 18th, stop in SC then head in the next day. We will be at the Fort from the 19-27, and then sadly make our way back up north over next 2 days. We reserved a preferred site and golf cart, but hoping to switch to full hookup or premium.

Right now we have an idea of what we want to do, parks daily and typically 1 ADR each day, knowing things always change. We are currently debating about going to Legoland this trip as well. We typically only do half days in the park, so excited to explore/relax at the Fort. This trip we are hoping to do a late non-MMNSHP night at MK, which will be the first time our kids as our previous trips we were always at the resort at night.

Right now our to be changed about thousand times plans are:
19th arrive: possibly do MK after setup
20th: MK (hoping to possibly get Mermaid makeovers)
21st: Tratorria (B), Epcot, Kona (D) for DH bday
22nd: Hollywood or Legoland; H&V (B)
23rd: AK; Tusker House (L);
24th: MK; CRT (L) (DIY BBB makeover at the camper)
25th: Ohana (B); pool; MK night
26th: whatever anyone wants to do park/pool, etc; Ragland Road (D)
27th: Trails End; drive north :'''''(

 

[peg110]

Right now our to be changed about thousand times plans are:

You must be related to my Wife.

 

[Sb4]

Hi! We will be there the oct 22-27 as of now. I'm not sure what we are doing yet, but we have resort reservations and ADR. We are trying to decide if we want to do a day or 2 at universal, either before or after the Fort, or during the short time we are there. So much is up in the air right now, but we are excited!

 

[tltay2005]

Just a quick update- pretty excited! It looks like I have found a much better savings on LEGOLAND tickets!! We were planning on buying 4 adult tickets, and then getting the 2 younger twins in free with the "buy one adult/get one free" coupons. But after researching more on the DIS boards (of course!) I found out since we homeschool, we are eligible to purchase our tickets for the special homeschool rate. We just have to bring proof from our school district that we do indeed homeschool, which should not be hard to do! So instead of over $300, our tickets will end up costing about $125!! That is such a HUGE savings! Just the difference in that will pay for 2 of our Halloween party tickets! So excited!

I will give you an early "Welcome" to Winter Haven, my home town for all my 48 years! Legoland is my backyard neighbor ( I share a fence with their property). If you need to know anything about the area, just ask. Hope you have a great time.

 

[tltay2005]

Ok, I am jumping in hoping it will bring me luck on securing a reservation from 10/27 - 10/31 (but am flexible a day before or after). I am kicking myself for not making reservations earlier, but we wanted to make sure we would enjoy Halloween there (vs. being home, as we always do a big haunted yard and go all out). So we wanted to wait until after our 2016 trip. Well that was just dumb, of course we loved it!!! Now I am trolling the website multiple times per day hoping for an opening. My sister and her family have ressies, my sister in law and her family has ressies.....but I have none . I will not give up and I hope to see some of you there.

 

[Sb4]

I will give you an early "Welcome" to Winter Haven, my home town for all my 48 years! Legoland is my backyard neighbor ( I share a fence with their property). If you need to know anything about the area, just ask. Hope you have a great time.

My parents live in Winter Haven, very close to Legoland as well! They have a giant RV that we will be staying in at the fort. Can't wait!

 

[Teamubr]

Ok, I am jumping in hoping it will bring me luck on securing a reservation from 10/27 - 10/31. I am trolling the website multiple times per day hoping for an opening.

Keep checking. It seems like days start opening up as you get closer to the 60 day mark when packages have to be paid in full. Kind of nerve racking, but hopefully you'll have it by August/September.

j

 

[bama_ed]

Tomorrow is my 180-day mark. I'll make some dining reservations for our park day (probably only going to do one park day) and see what happens. So it will be finally time to do something.

Bama Ed

 

[Boomer1]

We have reservations for Oct. 22- Nov.5. Hoping we will be able to go, the house is in need of some renovations so depending on finances we may have to cancel. The good news is we still have our reservation for a month in January.

 

[tltay2005]

Keep checking. It seems like days start opening up as you get closer to the 60 day mark when packages have to be paid in full. Kind of nerve racking, but hopefully you'll have it by August/September.

j

Thanks, that is what I am thinking. I hate to have my hopes riding on someone else's misfortune, but right now that seems like the only way we are getting in.

 

[jabrabu]

I've been working on my plan as well. I've had good luck in the past doing the morning EMH and riding lots of attractions before noon, so I typically plan around that, but now my son sleeps later and we may stay up later, so I have a hybrid plan with a couple of morning EMH days and some other days where we can sleep a bit later. Planning to get 5-day hoppers, and also may add the water park option.

13th: Drive south from MD. Hoping to get to Savannah area or maybe even Jacksonville.
14th: Arrive at WDW and check into Shades of Green. Maybe go to Disney Springs. Watch MK fireworks from Poly beach or Trader Sam's. (Was hoping to get Ohana ADR for this day, but nothing available.)
15th (Sunday): Check out of Shades of Green. Check in at the Fort. Then go to MK (closes at 7pm for MNSSHP). Set up camp. Eat at Trail's End. Maybe campfire. Watch Hallowishes from Campground.
16th: AK for the day (morning EMH). Our family loves that park, especially our son, and I'm looking forward to Pandora. May do Rivers of Light dining pkg if I don't get a FP for it.
17th: Water Park option. Maybe Disney Springs and/or Mini golf. Campfire at night.
18th: EPCOT until afternoon, then monorail to Ohana (3:40pm ADR), then MK for evening (late EMH).
19th: DHS. Probably not a full-day park for us. Might take boat to EPCOT to eat (Food and Wine). Then maybe go back to DHS for Galactic Fireworks, or maybe back to Fort to relax.
20th: MK (morning EMH). Lunch at BOG (2pm ADR). Then anything else we want to do (probably back to AK).
21st: Check out. Drive toward home.

 

[bama_ed]

Well I went through the motions and made some ADRs at the 180+10 mark.

I don't know if I am going.

I don't know who else might be going IF I get to go.

So I made reservations for four people.

I chose the MK for our one park day this trip during Halloween week. Given I want to avoid the MNSS party nights, that limits me so I chose the Thursday after Halloween (which is on a Tuesday this year). I made an 1120am ADR at The Plaza (they go walk-up only for a couple hours after that time) because it's not only one of the more affordable Table Service restaurants, I actually like the menu choices there. Reubens, meatloaf, etc. We ate there a couple trips ago and enjoyed it.

I made a second ADR at 550pm that same night for Table Service and the Jungle Scupper's Canteen. The menu has been overhauled to where there are some acceptable choices. I know the food snobs in the DIS Dining Forum look down their nose at anyone who didn't go for the original wild menu. Hey, there were talking about ME! My tastes are pretty simple. But I hadn't eaten at it yet - I have done BOG at dinner 3X the last couple times so I'm over that (loved it but ready for something different).

I do have one question ahead of my October visit.

Concerning the the new soft opening of Main Street and some shops there an hour before the official opening: if MK officially opens at its standard 9am rope drop time and the front gate therefore opens at 8am, is the first big boat from the Fort pier departing around 830am (for the rope drop) or 730am (for the soft opening)? I know the little boat starts around 630am and runs FW-WL-CR in some direction and that I can ride THAT to CR and walk it in but if the big boat left around 730am for a 9am rope drop, I would be fine with that.

I am coming into Lake Louisa State Park on Saturday night, early Sunday over to the Fort with a Preferred site reservation (aiming for one of my 4 favorite sites in 100 loop), hang at the Fort mostly Monday and Tuesday for the Halloween activities, Wednesday who knows, Thursday MK, Friday who knows, Saturday soak up some SEC football, Sunday head home.

I hope I get to go! I hope to see several of you there. Or else Terri might get my site if I have to cancel...

Bama Ed

 

[mtnminnie]

we will be at the fort over Halloween for a week. We are an extra large tent camping first time visitor kind of family.

 

[ruthies12]

Woohoo!! Just bought our Halloween party tickets!! Going October 12th and have ressies at Pirate's League at 2 pm (using a regular day ticket as well as party ticket). So excited!!

I leave in 2 days for a weekend trip to the dark side for some harry potter love. Going to hit Disney Springs Friday night though for a bit!