Birthday trip report! WDW & Fort Wilderness for 8 nights! March 8-16 2019

[2rad4u]

Monday, March 11, 2019 - the day of reckoning...

Day # 5

Here we go! AK today with FP's for FOP, Everest and Kilimanjaro Safari!!!!

Wait, you are going to ride FOP? I've sweated this day since Saturday night and am SWEATING it badly right now.

FOP is going to make me hurl and I know it. Wait, you have Dramamine, right? But, I've never taken Dramamine. I have NO IDEA if it will work, if I'll still get sick, if I'll die right away from some strange side effects (have you seen drug commercials latley?).

What am I thinking!!! Geez, you are a wimp... I slam 50mg of Dramamine and here we go!

As we whizzed by our loop sign I thought to myself, is this the last time I'll see this sign?



First stop - Kilimanjaro Safari

That truck looks like it'll be a bumpy ride...

 

[2rad4u]

Some safari pics -

 

[2rad4u]

So the ride on the Safari truck went great! No nausea at all and I'm feeling pretty good.

Next we check out the gorillas...

We found this to be kinda sad and made our way out of Africa.

 

[2rad4u]

FOP or die, or both, heck I don't know cause I no ZERO about FOP cause I have PURPOSELY not watch any videos or read any commentary about the ride itself. All I know is it's supposed to AWESOME!!

We hit the FP lane and we are gone! It seemed like only a few minutes and we were NEXT. In my head I'm screaming WAIT WAIT WAIT but my face says "here's another goober looking to ride FOP for the first time without a clue". Yep, that's me in a nutshell...

Total emotional and physical mess on the inside, but on the outside I'm a 10 year old with an ear to ear smile.

Did I tell you I got zero pictures in or around FOP. That's how messed up I was. I'm a picture taking fool.

So, here we go. I'm trying to get on the contraption and my body is tightening up so I am fighting the "leaning forward" part.

There is a young boy to my left who is having the time of his life. Jibbering up a storm. I'm not sharing the enthusiasm...

Here we go, the ride is starting and I have no choice but to squeeze the handlebars as hard as possible....

 

[2rad4u]

Freaking Awesome!!!!

I'll admit some of the fun was lost due to my worrying about getting sick but all was good and I made it out alive!

The ride itself was awesome! I know I hooped and hollered several times after I realized the first "drop" wasn't going to make me immediately vomit. It was an awesome ride and I was so pumped when it was over!

My DW was relieved as well that I was back among the non-wimpy humans and maybe we could continue our trip without any drama. How wrong that assumption turned out to be....

Now, we're on to Expedition Everest!!!!

These are literally the ONLY two pictures I took in Pandora. The excitement got to me...

 

[2rad4u]

A Word of Warning
Some parts of Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain may be scary for children. This attraction features loud noises, fast drops, high speeds, dark places and frightening creature effects.

Uh huh....

It was incredible and I felt fine before, during and after! Dramamine works (which surprised me) and I'm glad it did.

After FOP and EE I'm ready for anything! What a great day. The weather is perfect and I'm riding coasters and not getting sick.

Next is our lunch reservation at on of our favorite restaurants!

 

[jeffrey1966]

I noticed A LOT of this. Sadly I must say.

Everyone looked like they were getting ready to enter the octagon, not WDW!

The reason many of those people don't look happy is because they aren't headed back to Fort Wilderness at the end of the day!

 

[2rad4u]

Rainforest Cafe

Okay, okay, Rainforest Cafe may not be on everyone's "Top Restaurant" list, but we love it! And, I have a reservation!

We love the atmosphere and the food has always been great (we've been twice in our life, the last time in 2005...)

Seating was quick even though we were early. We had great seats and a great waitress.



Notice the bandanna? DW said I looked silly, but when she got hot I soaked hers (had it in my pocket the WHOLE time) in ice water and wrapped it around her neck. She immediately said oooooohhhhh that feels good. Yea, honey, simple trick from my backpacking days.

I had the combo - steak, ribs and shrimp. Ate it all...







We had a great time and a great meal. So far the vaca is a 10!!! Let's head back out to AK.

 

[2rad4u]

Getting that perfect picture of the tree of life (never happened...)

I stood here for and hour and a half (lie) trying to get the perfect picture and PEOPLE just kept getting in the way.

My selfie game stunk today so we'll all have to do with the lookeloos in the background...





Our AK day was done and we headed back to the camper. We were tired but we had a great day and accomplished everything we wanted to.

AK is also where I discovered cinnamon almonds! These became my FAVORITE snack and I ended up eating 4 or 5 more bags as the week progressed. Each day was a game to find the food stand with the cinnamon almonds. The DW was not so enthralled...

Also, the stand in AK had Coke slushies. The greatest thing ever!!

Day 6 and Epcot is tomorrow!!

 

[2rad4u]

Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - Epcot is for the hungry...

After Saturday night and the puke fest I was not looking forward to our Soarin FP's. After Monday @ AK and my domination of FOP and EE I was pumped!!!

But first, lots of people and flowers....

 

[2rad4u]

Soarin was awesome!!! Let's do Mission Space!!! Ummmm

So, we rolled through Soarin with our FP's and it was awesome. Dramamine in the AM and I evidently can ride anything!!

So, what exactly is Mission Space? I have no idea, I don't remember it from our trip in '05 (was it even here, I have no idea) and I just made a FP for it cause, let's face it, Epcot doesn't have all that much.




Going in were told 7000 times to do the green mission or we'd die. DO NOT DO THE ORANGE MISSION. Over and over and over again.

WTH? We ain't skeered (I was). We're going ORANGE.

You know it's real when they have bonafide, real deal, medical quality puke bags RIGHT THERE IN THE COCKPIT!

Within reaching distance of your seat.

I was like, cool, let me grab a few of these for later (never know when the Dramamine might wear off).

I an't gonna lie, I didn't push a single switch. If me being an engineer on the mission was critical, we'd all die....

That **** was INTENSE!

But... No motion sickness. People I am a motion sickness inducing ride BOSS!!

 

[2rad4u]

More flower pics...

 

[2rad4u]

Time to eat!!! Let's find something good >




What restaurant is FROZEN and why is it in Norway? IDK...




How about Japan? We love Hibachi and I like Sushi. Teppan Edo will do!!!





Dang, that didn't take long. C'mon man, get to cooking!!!



A little Hibachi steak? Why yes, yes I will thank you very much...

For dessert we stepped outside for some Frushi. We are stuffed!!!



After walking around the world and enjoying ourselves immensely it was time to call it a day and head back to the camper. Or, maybe we could catch the monorail and grab a drink....

 

[2rad4u]

Let's rest a little before we go out

We decided to ride the bus back to Fort Wilderness and take a break before we headed out on another monorail pub run. It was hard to leave the hammock, i'm not gonna lie...



Time to jump on the boat over to MK and then grab a monorail over to the Polynesian!!

What a spectacular evening for a boat ride!!!! The weather cold not have been better all week!!

 

[PaHunter]

Getting that perfect picture of the tree of life (never happened...)

I stood here for and hour and a half (lie) trying to get the perfect picture and PEOPLE just kept getting in the way.

My selfie game stunk today so we'll all have to do with the lookeloos in the background...



View attachment 389975

Our AK day was done and we headed back to the camper. We were tired but we had a great day and accomplished everything we wanted to.

AK is also where I discovered cinnamon almonds! These became my FAVORITE snack and I ended up eating 4 or 5 more bags as the week progressed. Each day was a game to find the food stand with the cinnamon almonds. The DW was not so enthralled...

Also, the stand in AK had Coke slushies. The greatest thing ever!!

Day 6 and Epcot is tomorrow!!

Love the selfie, the girl in the background airing out her butt is funny.

 

[cruising spud]

2rad4u,

When you were at the St. Augistine KOA, could you walk to the beach from the campground, or did you drive?

Thanks for the info. We are headed down to Disney in a few weeks, and we, too, were going to stop at St. Augistine for an overnight.

 

[2rad4u]

Love the selfie, the girl in the background airing out her butt is funny.

That is hilarious!!!

 

[2rad4u]

2rad4u,

When you were at the St. Augistine KOA, could you walk to the beach from the campground, or did you drive?

Thanks for the info. We are headed down to Disney in a few weeks, and we, too, were going to stop at St. Augistine for an overnight.

No, the KOA is about a mile from the beach, but it's a super easy drive and the pier has a nice parking lot with beach access.

Come right out of the KOA onto Pope Road and that takes you straight to A1A (beach road), make a right and the pier is right there on the left.

Mapquest has the route from the KOA to the pier at exactly 1 mile. Could not be easier.

Continue on A1A for a few hundred yards and you'll come to Sunset Grille. I highly recommend it!!!

Have a great trip!

 

[cruising spud]

2rad4u,

Thanks for the info. I am going to look into the KOA.

 

[FtW Mike]

Fell a few days behind as weather here negatively has affected our internet provider. So some random musings.
On day 3 you should have gone for the in the park Home Run instead of a triple Not doing a Tower of Terror ride is almost sacrilegious. I do sympathize with after effects of motion sickness ( Teacups in MK is only ride on my NO HOW NO WAY) list I find Dramamine taken well in advance a big help as is having something in me before starting a more gooder idea.
Good catch on the levelers nothing worse than having a serious problem arise at departure time Know from personal experience.