Halloween Weekend Trip Report

Here is the Halloween trip report, finally!!

Location: Disney's Ft. Wilderness Campground
Site: 1621, Full Hook Up Loop


This trip was so much fun! We were a part of the DISboards October Grand Gathering...which, btw, was the only way we were able to go for Halloween as Ft. Wilderness is the place to be!

Two other friends of ours went. My friend, Paula, came over with her hubby and son on Thursday (the 28th). Caleb and their little boy, Griffin, are best friends. They took Caleb over with them on Thursday so he and Griffin had some time together before the rest of us arrived on Friday.

We headed over Friday (the 29th) around noon. Our other friends, David & Barbara, came over around the same time as well. When we got to the Fort, there was a long line of campers. Lucky for us, we left the camper in the parking lot so I walked into the tent/cabin registration and checked in. So we got in quickly.

Disney assigned the 1600 Loop to the DISboards October GG. We had a site right next to Paula and Jay and the Barnett's site was about 5 down from us.

Here is a side view of our site - site 1621. It was tight getting in but overall, we really enjoyed it. Especially since this (below) was our morning view behind us!

Saturday morning --- up early making breakfast, but not before Mark caught this picture of sunrise behind our camper. Loved being on the water....mosquitos...not so much fun.

First activity for Saturday.....MUMMY WRAP UP. This is Taya all wrapped up, however, she busted out before the race began.

And their off! Caleb and Delena participated in the race...neither won and both were out of the mummy wrap by the time they reached the finish line. Toilet Paper was everywhere!

After hours of non-stop playing between 3 campers.....(and carving 3 pumpkins)...the kids headed over the the Meadow Swimming Area for Spooky Crafts. Do you notice something? Me, Paula and Barbara are helping the kids while the dads sit back and take pictures!

Next up was the Golf Cart parade! So much fun. I had no idea decorating golf carts could be sooooooo creative! I loved this pumpkin carriage, especially at night!

Flintstones cart. There were actually 2 different Flintstones carts. The kids loved standing in the parade line waving. Some people in carts actually through out candy and beads.

This one was my personal favorite...the slinky dog from Toy Story. I believe this one actually won the best for decoration.

Another cute cart. Caleb loves the monorail so this was one of his favorites.

Pirate Ship. Here the kids are with the Barnett Boys...Peyton and Blake. They have all been friends forever, so neat to go camping with them.

Another Toy Story cart - very cute...love the little Buzz Lightyear being towed along.

Here are our pumpkins for the pumpkin carving contest. Barbara brought a kit and the pumpkins so the three families each entered one. None of us one. I didn't get a picture of the winner but it was a pumpkin carved like an Airstream camper painted silver...too cute.

Halloween morning picture. We are hoping to get one of these sites for Christmas since we are getting the kiddos fishing poles!

Early morning fun. Mark found a nice place to hang our hammock, of course the kids love playing on it.

Sunday morning...Pet Parade. Yes, that is a cat in the parade...beautiful cat but it was none to happy to be in the parade. There were actually two cats in the parade and the other cat won...he was dressed as Tuna Fish.

Yep, we entered our Scotty in the parade! Delena walked McKenzie in the parade.

Here is McKenzie in her costume. She was a princess (I bought it at the Dollar Store for $1). Guess I need to find a better one for next year. OH and she didn't like being in the parade either. And she was none to happy to see cats!

Here are the kids waiting with McKenzie for the awards.

Finally, camp or treating arrived. The campers went all out decorating their sites. We also did camp or treating at 5, before dark, which I actually really enjoyed! Our friends, Betsy and her family, came over that evening to camp or treat with us and have dinner...chili (yummmmm).

Here is my kids, Griffin (Paula's) and Brandon, Sam and Aidan (Betsy's). We met up with the Barnett's after this picture and finished camp or treating.

We had a great time with our friends. We met several DISers....Lorna, Jen, JW, Melissa, Bob, Donnie and a few others that I only know by their DIS names. We look forward to next year - Halloween at the Fort!

Anniversary Trip

I am so far behind posting this trip report! I hope to get Halloween weekend posted as well this weekend (we will see)!

Anyway, we had an awesome time on our Anniversary Trip. Quick stats:
Location: Disney's Ft. Wilderness Resort
Campsite: Site 1902, Full Hookup Loop

On with the report!


I finally nabbed the trophy picture. I guess we go so much I don't pay a whole lot of attention to this but don't have one for my pictures either....so without kids in the back asking "how much longer?" I remembered to take it! Now my pictures are complete.



After arriving around 2:30pm, we set up camp and then headed over to Boma's at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The food was actually really good. This is an African buffet. I especially enjoyed the soup, couscous, tender roast and my new favorite thing: Zebra Domes! Be beware...dinner for just the two of us - $80! OUCH! (Not that good of food).





Saturday we spent the day riding bikes and relaxing at the camper. We rode down to the Marina and just hung out on the beach for a bit. This is on the dock at the Marina. We did eventually head over to the Magic Kingdom for fireworks around 10PM but only stayed about 45 minutes because it was crowded. This wasn't a crazy plan....the park was open until 3AM for resort guests.


Site 1902 from the front. Although the 1900 loop doesn't seem to be among the DISboard favorites, we enjoyed this spot. We might actually request it for Thanksgiving.....we'll see. Sometimes part of the adventure is seeing what site you get!


Site 1902 is the first on the left so we had a lot of side space that leads up to the road. This would be a great site for Holiday light decorations!


Here is the other side view of our site from back in the wooded area. Campers said this area of the loop goes underwater during the rains, which makes it somewhat undesirable - but no rain our weekend!


Another front view at Dusk. I love my Mickey Lamp!

Sunday morning, we requested a late checkout and took our time loading up. Disney let us park the camper in the parking lot for the week because we were checking back in on Friday for Halloween weekend.

I have been busy this week trying to plan out all next years camping trips. I didn't realize how quickly popular holiday's book up! Here is a somewhat tentative schedule for next year...with 3 certain bookings already:

January - (Booked) Ft. Wilderness for Delena's Birthday trip (Jan. 28-30). This is 2 weeks after her actual birthday since it is on MLK weekend and they were all sold out.

February - Long Point Park in Melbourne (booked). Our first non-Disney camping trip.

March - Hillsborough River State Park (booked). This is for Caleb's 7th birthday!

May/July - Memorial Day & 4th of July - we will go somewhere.....not sure yet.

August/Early September - Ft. Wilderness. Our passes expire 9/1/11, so we will try to get a week around that time (unless we are able to renew them).

October - already booked for Halloween with the DISboards group :)

November - We will take our first out of state trip and head to NE Georgia to visit Mark's family. After the fiasco taking place this year for Thanksgiving, we will spend next year with Mark's family. I am researching parks and campgrounds now and will book something in the next few months. (BTW, the fiasco isn't Ft. Wilderness, I am excited to be camping at Disney for Thanksgiving!!)

Thats all for now! Hopefully Halloween will be posted this weekend.