We arrived at the Fort!

John slept in a little bit this morning; he really needed it.  Poor guy was exhausted from not sleeping well the night before.  But we were on the road around 5am.

Traffic was fine for the most part; we had just reached the point where we wanted to be at Disney.  When we finally turned on to I-4, we were excited that traffic was going well, so we stuck with that route rather than turning on to Love Bug Road.  Unfortunately, a car accident happened up before the Disney exits and we got stuck in a traffic jam.  Luckily, no one seemed hurt and because this is a vacation trip report, I won't RANT about rubber neckers and their--- anyway.

 (I can't believe all the tents in that graphic; if you add up all the tents I've seen over the years, they wouldn't add up to half that many. ;) )

Such a relief to turn into Disney World; we had a brief rain as we pulled into Fort Wilderness, but it immediately stopped and stayed beautiful the whole rest of the day.  We got exactly the site we hoped to get!  We're right across from the dog park; just cut through the back of our site and voila! The entrance is right across the street!

Setting up is easy with the new camper; John got his ECV for the week (he has bad arthritis in his one knee), and we took the dogs to play in the park.  We had dinner at Trails End Restaurant; a great choice because not only is it a favorite and right here in our resort, but we were crying out for good food after a couple days of junk.  The buffet hit the spot, and right after I gave my body the good food it needed, I had red velvet cake and soft serve ice cream on the side. :)

The only hitch in a perfect check-in is our golf cart: for the first time, the guy we rent from has let us down.  He hasn't returned our phone calls for days, but his one associate swears everything is fine.  We're hoping it will all be cleared up in the morning.

Daytona seems to think we got the new RV so he could sprawl out on the big bed in the master bedroom.  

Tomorrow starts all the big plans!

We go into Magic Kingdom tomorrow!  In fact, tomorrow is one of the reasons why John wanted to be here at this time of year.  Gay Days started today and I said what a great positive experience it was the last time I saw it, he wanted to experience it too.

We're going to Be Our Guest Restaurant for lunch; we're hoping if we go early, we won't have longer than a half hour wait. I've read nothing but good reviews for the counter service, so this should be fun!

The park is open late, so even with crowds, we'll get to see things.  More importantly, we've already promised each other not to let it get to us, but if it's crazy with people, we'll find a nice spot and just soak up atmosphere and doing one of John's favorite things: people watch. :)  Plus, coming back to the Fort to take the pups out.

In fact, one last walk for tonight and then it's off to bed!

Enjoying the journey!

We have a new RV, much bigger and no more fold out beds or tent ends.  That alone adds new excitement to this trip.

But we also decided to do something we've talked about for some time.

We took the Cape May ferry instead of just shooting down 95.  We had a beautiful morning for it!  Clear, balmy, smooth water.  And the dogs got to do something only Casey has ever done before, when she used to travel on sales trips with John: sit on the upper deck in her own chair and have a PB&J Uncrustable.  In fact, John teased that they were "Livin' la Vida Casey". 

He also joked that he was going to take every life jacket out of the compartments and cover his entire body with them. He knew we'd be ok without them. :)

Another new thing: we went through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. What gorgeous views!

It was really nice to have something different.  The ferry was a wonderful way to start the trip!

We got on 95 and stopped for gas & something to eat: our tradition of Waffle House.  The whole trip was very smooth, the new camper pulled like a dream.  We had one slight problem: Daytona somehow broke a toenail too low.  Poor thing; we have a pet first aid kit so I cleaned it up, he got the toenail off himself, and he felt better after a little while.  He's not showing any problems or pain with it, thank goodness.  In fact, he's been enjoying himself the rest of the day.

We are staying at Bass Lake Campground tonight (free wifi, baby!) and just relaxing. So nice having the camper all set up, just walk through the door like a hotel room except our clothes are already unpacked. We'll get an early start again tomorrow.

So what's that countdown to Disney?

My childhood

found here on tumblr

Happy Mother's Day, Mom

Thank you for everything you did for me.  I love you and  I can feel your hug right now.

And in your honor today, since I have to wear dark clothes for our matinee, I'm going to wear my Fighting Christmas Trees hat (plus one of your necklaces and a bracelet I have from you).  It makes me smile to remember the times we laughed together and wore these.

 
to all the Moms.  Please hug yours for all of us who can't hug our Moms today.

Songs in the Key of Rifftrax

This is so hilarious!!

The Cast Member "Thank You" card for our upcoming trip

To give to Disney World cast members who do a good job. I also give their names to Guest Services so it goes in their files for bonuses and reviews:

John's reaction: "it's really gay. Perfect!"

Time to get ready for another Disney trip!

I've been working on two community theater shows, so I've only paid attention to the trip countdown in an abstract way.  Today I blinked and realized we leave 3 weeks from tomorrow!

We have a new RV -- really nice, our own pet friendly hotel room. And John surprised me with this trip!  He's wanted to do Star Wars weekends and Gay Days for years, and realized we can't keep putting things off.

Besides this first time experience for him, we're going to the new Be Our Guest restaurant for lunch (quick service) and several other new things. We're also taking the Cape May ferry on the first part of the trip, something we've wanted to do for years: we're going to enjoy this journey.  And we'll get to see some of our good friends while we're done there.

The blog background photo is by Samantha Decker.  And I'll have to get the webcam ready to go, plus make up cast member cards.

Fort Wilderness, we're coming home!