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Day One- June 23
Get ready for 9 days of trip reports with this bunch http://www.intercot.com/boards/wink.gif. Let me introduce you to the gang:
Minnie Mouse- that's me. My new nickname by one of the adult leaders stuck with me throughout the week.
15 Boy Scouts ages 11-17, plus one Eagle Scout (18) who was half scout/half leader for this trip.
13 adult leaders and chaperones. (Only 2 scouts came without an adult family member)
7 extended family members who did not camp with us (one family stayed in the WL, the other at an off-site condo)
I have been planning this trip for a full year. I have done all the travel arrangements, programs, campsite, group meals, schedules/itineraries, etc. I have planned which Merit Badges we will work on and have provided each scout with a workbook for that purpose. Several other adults have planned the campsite meals/grocery shopping. One family has rented a car we can use for shopping. Another leader volunteered to ship much of our gear directly to FW.
This is my big day- I am praying furiously that all goes well and that my love for Disney is infectious and that the "scouting" aspect of the trip proves itself.
Here we go...
It's 3am and I've already been awake for 30 minutes before my alarm is set to go off. I've finished my shower and am getting last minute items into my duffel bag. It is raining, thundering and lightning http://www.intercot.com/boards/eek.gif. Oh boy- is this the way we want to start the trip? Woke the kids up at 3:15, John got up at 3:30. We all get dressed and into the truck. At 4:00 we pull out of the driveway to pickup another scout. Already I have forgotten my sons' medicine and we have to return- it's only 1 block away- so we're still OK.
It rained the whole way to the airport. A stop at Wawa for coffee, juice & bagels wakes us all up a little more. We arrived at 5:10- about 10 minutes later than I commanded everyone to be there (oops). Anyway, Spirit Airlines did not make us wait until everyone arrived to begin checking us in. About half of our group were checked in when we got there. All 35 of us had completed check in without any difficulty by 5:45. Now we wait til 6:45 before we can board the plane. One mom, who is not coming on the trip with us made yummy blueberry muffins for everyone. We took a few group photos, had bathroom stops, said goodbyes to those we were leaving behind and finally boarded our plane. By now the weather was clearing, no more rain! We took off just about on time.
The whole group was subdued (it's still pretty early), we relaxed, had soda and pretzels, and chatted on the way down. I had one scout who had never flown before, and several people who hadn’t flown in quite awhile. We all enjoyed the flight. We arrived right on time to more rain!! I arranged for a towncar service to pick us up and they were right there at the bottom of the escalator waiting for us with 3 vans. However, with a large group like ours, they do not bring your bags to the car for you... we all had to get our own gear (all 52 bags!) and lug them down the escalator, across the street and to the vans. That's OK, we're scouts, and we're used to backpacking, etc.
It stormed all the way to Fort Wilderness- lots of lightning and hard rain. We pulled up to the check-in building and found everything was all set. We got our key cards. I had to ask what they were for- after all- we didn’t have any doors to open (we were staying in tents) and we couldn’t charge anything to the "room." They were for the bathrooms- they lock the comfort stations at night. Later we found out they don’t lock the group area comfort stations- so we never used the key cards at all. We also got the real key cards for the one cabin our group had. It took some persuading to get the drivers to take us in to the campsite. They are usually not allowed (for security reasons) into FW proper. But they said OK and dropped us off (in the rain) at the Creekside Meadow bus stop. Our group's site was about 60 yards away. We sent some adults out to check out the lay of the land and then decided to go ahead and set up the tents. We had 11 boxes shipped down before us, and the FW van brought them over right away.
We had everything in place just as the rain was stopping and the sky was clearing. There are 6 group sites in Creekside Meadow. We had the "orange" site and only one other site was occupied. They were a group a of Girl Scouts who were leaving the next day. I only saw them once. It was now about 12:30 and we were starved. We had planned to go grocery shopping for our week's food, but no one could wait another couple of hours to eat- so we decided to head over to Trail's End Buffeteria for an all-you-can-eat lunch. I reminded everyone we had 5:00 PS for Whispering Canyon- another all-you-can-eat meal, but we pigged out anyway! It was GREAT!
We walked back to our campsite and explored along the way. The guys decided to swim, now that the rain had stopped. The pool isn’t fancy at FW, but certainly adequate. They had fun outdoing each other's jumps and playing chicken in the shallow end. It wasn't at all crowded. Then we walked back to the site. Right next to us was a sand volleyball court that would get A LOT of use throughout the week. They had a game going in no time.
We headed over to the Wilderness Lodge at about 4:15. It is difficult to move such a large group around and we had to add much more transfer time to everything than you would normally do for a family vacation. We took the launch from FW and checked out the awesome lobby until our table was ready.
This dinner was fun. We had 3 long tables along the rail by the lobby. We had 3 servers who kept us in ample supply of drinks and food. The table with the younger scouts had an excellent server who kept them laughing. He had them in jail, tied one up and paraded him around the room. Had the whole table take 3 laps around the lobby (on stick horses) shouting "Be Prepared, Be Prepared" for not immediately answering his question about the Scout Motto. The scouts kept him on his feet as well, hiding his rope until they got dessert, etc. We ate and ate and then ordered brownies a la mode- 2 huge plates per table. Yum http://www.intercot.com/boards/tasty.gif
We took the boat back and had a reflection service on the beach at Fort Wilderness. This is a camping tradition with us. We all (35 people) stand in a circle and each take a turn sharing our "Thorns and Roses" and something for which we are grateful. A thorn is something that happened that you didn’t like, and of course a rose is something you especially enjoyed. It takes a bit of time, but makes you stop and think about how much fun you are having. Some people's roses are other people's thorns, but that just shows us that we are all different. It was a great ending to the day and just the beginning of a perfect week. We all showered and got ready for bed. Tomorrow morning we get up at 5:45am!!
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Linda aka: wendy*darling
Intercot Staff: Disney & Orlando Dining
[email protected]
DVC owners at the Wilderness Lodge Villas
WDW:
4/92 (MK day trip only); 9/93 (Poly); 10/96 (DL & BC); 6/98 (YC); 2/00 (Contemporary); 12/00 (BWI)
Next: June 2001 (Fort Wilderness tent camping with the Boy Scouts!!)
[This message has been edited by wendy*darling (edited July 02, 2001).]
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Wow ! Our trip was wild enough with just five of us !
Nothing quite like trying to set up tents in pouring-down rain, huh ?
While I'm definitely hungry for Day Two, I suddenly have this over-stuffed feeling from reading the dining experiences.
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Ed, aka TiggTigg5
[email protected]
Intercot Staff Imagineer
A moment of silence, please, for the occupants of the ill-fated Boat # 13...
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silver surfer reviews
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What a group!
Thanks for sharing!
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beth
[email protected]
Intercot Staff Member
"Love and Mercy that's what you need tonight. So Love and Mercy to you and your friends tonight."
For more fun on all things Disney, check out our sister site, www.webdisney.com
For fun and info on the land that started it all check out our sister site: www.intercotwest.com
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AWESOME - Can't wait for the next installment!
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'72 - Polynesian Resort
'81 - Polynesian Resort
'84 - Contemporary Resort
'93 - Dixie Landings
'99 - Wilderness Lodge
'01 - Off Property
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I am IMPRESSED!!!
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Nana to Brad, Alex (and Dustin-not yet born)
Becky (aka Bradleysnana)
Intercot Staff
[email protected]
Do you hate having to pay long distance calls to Disney only to be placed on hold? Are you looking for the best resort rates available? Do you want a stressfree vacation? Call Kingdom Magic Travel at 1-800-425-0306 or http://www.kingdommagictravel.com
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Welcome Back!
Off to a pretty good start I would say. So how long did it take to set up camp? How many tents? I have many transportation questions, I can't wait to hear how you did it all!
BTW, love the group name. http://www.intercot.com/boards/wink2.gif
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Chuckyroadplayr
Intercot Staff: Disney Camping
[email protected]
"Too much sanity may be madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be".
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Thanks to you Chuck- I think we have a GREAT group name http://www.intercot.com/boards/supergrin.gif
It only took us about an hour to set up our 17 tents, a screen house and our extra large canopy (it covered 2 long picnic tables and provided shelter from the rain and the hot sun).
We tried just about every form of transportation that is available in WDW- and we had extraordinarily few problems. Only one 50 minute wait for a bus stands out- more on that later.
Day 2 should be up by tomorrow. I'm trying to get these done before those parts of my brain turn to jello.
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Linda aka: wendy*darling
Intercot Staff: Disney & Orlando Dining
[email protected]
DVC owners at the Wilderness Lodge Villas
WDW:
4/92 (MK day trip only); 9/93 (Poly); 10/96 (DL & BC); 6/98 (YC); 2/00 (Contemporary); 12/00 (BWI); 6/01(Fort Wilderness tent camping with the Boy Scouts!!)
Next trip: ??? Can't be soon enough :)
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Wow! I am impressed with your organizational skills! It's hard enough for me to get my family of 5 moving. Can't wait to read about the rest of the trip! http://www.intercot.com/boards/bounce.gif
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74-offsite
76-Poly
80-Poly
83-Poly
90-GF
93-CBR
96-offsite
99-offsite
99/00-SOG
next up-02-FW Cabin
I'll always remember the Magic!!!!!!
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Wendy, you are a Saint! http://www.intercot.com/boards/eek.gif
It sounds like your efforts are paying off so far!
Great first day!!
I can't wait to read more!
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~Carol
"To get to the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain."
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I've been waiting with anticipation for these reports and your first was fantastic, I can't wait for more, thanks!!!
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I agree, you are a saint....I too love the name of the group!!
http://www.intercot.com/boards/grazy.gif http://www.intercot.com/boards/rollsmile.gif http://www.intercot.com/boards/grazy.gif
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...the most wonderful things about Tiggers, is I'm the only one.
Ray(aka TiggerRPh)
Intercot Staff : Disney & Orlando Dining; The Water Cooler
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Despite the rain, sounds like an amazing beginning! http://www.intercot.com/boards/smile.gif Setting up camp in the rain sort of reminds me of the Camp Granada song: "hello Muddah, hello Faddah". http://www.intercot.com/boards/wink.gif I like the way you ended the day with the "Thorns and Roses". I'm glad to see that all your hard work and planning is paying off! http://www.intercot.com/boards/smile.gif
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Jane
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Wow, what an undertaking! Great report and sounds like a great first day (even with the rain.) Can't wait to read the rest! http://www.intercot.com/boards/smile.gif
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Samantha
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35 people?!?!? http://www.intercot.com/boards/eek.gif I have a hard time with TWO!
I'm going over to read the rest right now...
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"...I say believe in the future. The world is getting better."
-Walt Disney
In the works:
-Islands of Adventure, Sept 2001
-Walt Disney World, Sept 2001
-DisneyLand, Feb 2002
