Trip Report 2 Broke Guys & A Dog get Ft Wilderness Cabin Fever (but not COVID-19!)

Yes, yes, it's been awhile. Yes, I'm still sitting on all of our 2019 trip reports. (Great stuff happened - take my word for it!) It will be fun to write those (eventually) because they are from a world before this world we couldn't have imagined at the time - so many WDWmagic meet & greets without masks or elbow bumps. I'll get to writing those eventually, but it's a big commitment of time, and I don't have so much of that lately. (That means - sigh of relief - business is good. It also means when business was bad/closed in the Spring, I worked more than ever and had even less time! If I was Waiting To Exhale, this little WDW trip I'm about to detail was that wonderful and much needed expulsion of a very deep breath.)

Who:

Me: Tony (bad pic in avatar. Will replace with a pic from this trip when done.)

Husband: Brian (I'm sure he'll love this candid shot.)

Dog: Kylie. (Fresh pic just for this TR, posed about 30 seconds ago. 58 pounds of German Shepherd/Chow Chowness.)

Where: Walt Disney World Fort Wilderness Cabins (first time staying here! Booked last year but changed before going. Yes, they take pets!)

When: September 29-ish to October 2.

Why: hey, it's my day off, I can type whatever I want! Warning: it's short - really short - although if you know us, you know most of our trips are about that short. This time, it's a lot less jam-packed. But I'm telling ya, this trip was just what the doctor ordered.

 

[MinnieM123]

Tony, I just stumbled upon your TR a few minutes ago, and glad I did! I'm loving the cabin and happy that you both are having a nice break. Even though there was a glitch about the food, the rest of the vacation so far sounds like fun! Kylie seems to be enjoying herself, too!!

 

[MickeyCB]

I'm in and don't think I've ever seen a trip report with so much going on in less than 24hours?!

 

[krisri18]

Here and ready for the next installment!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Following along! The cabins are adorable and Kylie is gorgeous!

Love it! Excited to follow along!!!

Thanks for the intermission, also need to get some work done, but enjoying reading your report!

Late but here. That cabin is adorable!

Thanks, folks!

Kylie is a pretty girl. She will be 11 around Halloween (we don't know the actual day, just the month, so it's fun to make it Halloween!)

Nobody's late! (I'm late for everything.)

Kricket and I are late, but definitely following along!
View attachment 503497

Hello to Kylie's cuz!

Sounds like you are going with the flow on this one! Let me know if the Terrace is all its hyped to be.

Getting there...

Oof...I knew where this was going. Ft. Wilderness is 3x the size of Epcot. The golf carts are worth it! ($62/night btw).

Finally, an answer! I wish they would have told me when I checked in. Probably wouldn't have rented one, but would have avoided the lunch-that-never-was!

I said it when I met you in person, and I will say it now, Brian, HUBBA HUBBA!!!

Did you say it out loud? Btw, I concur.

Lastly, sorry to babble, why are the no mosquitos at the cabins???

Because I wasn't there when you were. All the mosquitoes in Florida track and chase me. They got me when I walked Kylie outside behind the cabin in the morning.

You’re no slice of bologna yourself!

Tony Baloney!

Tony, I just stumbled upon your TR a few minutes ago, and glad I did! I'm loving the cabin and happy that you both are having a nice break. Even though there was a glitch about the food, the rest of the vacation so far sounds like fun! Kylie seems to be enjoying herself, too!!

You know we make the best of everything - especially at WDW!

I'm in and don't think I've ever seen a trip report with so much going on in less than 24hours?!

So much? So far we basically drove up, checked in, and one of us is still sleeping upright in a chair!

Here and ready for the next installment!

Welcome to you and everyone else! Thanks for taking the time to read. We hope we can share some info about the current state of the World and help you decide if you'd like to go now or wait. And specific stuff about the cabins!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

For the rest of the evening, we pretty much chilled, sipped, and watched some TV. Pro-tip: bring an HDMI cord. We didn't. Couldn't smartcast from the phone to the TV, and they have limited channels. An HDMI would have let us hook the laptop up to the TV and continue watching Kingdom on Netflix (we've been slow-binging it at home! Talk about hubba hubba, @Darstarr !)

(except that fourth guy on the right. He's whack.)

I think we watched some of The Masked Singer. Mildly entertaining. Better with more Crown Vanilla. We thought about walking to the bar, but Kylie didn't seem quite settled enough to leave alone. Maybe if we had another day. I was just glad and content that we had a solid plan for the next day. So, off to bed...

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Some of you may understand what it was like growing up in the ‘70’s, thinking how cool it must be to have bunk beds like the Brady Bunch had.

When my little brother was born, I thought it was a cinch we’d finally get them, since we were going to (eventually) share a room.

Tony’s mom: “We’ll see.”

That means no in Italian.

So, while they had a perfectly nice and comfortable queen bed in the room, and a kind of small flat screen TV, after B fell asleep (and I drunk raided those Famous Amos cookies) I climbed up to that top bunk.

The view from here:

Yes, yes, it was awesome. Kylie walked in and was confused until I whispered from up there and she looked up.

At some point after a nap, I switched to the bottom bunk just to experience them both. (Top bunk is better!) For the record, they were both comfy. Your kids will be lucky to share them. And each has its own night light that fits the theme.

Where better than Disney to act like a kid? Wish fulfillment, 40 years later.

I got up about 7:30, knowing B would sleep longer. I thought how could we possibly miss rope drop when rope drop was 11AM? Epcot was open from 11-7 that day. (One full time shift?) We still had to take Kylie to Best Friends, but in the meantime, a mosquito-filled jaunt in the woods “exploring.”

She’s not great at posing while walking.

Did we make rope drop?

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Did we make rope drop?

Of course not. I just told you I’m late for everything!

We took our time getting ready (OK, I did while B kept sleeping.) That was all fine until B was supposed to pick up on my signals that it was time to get it in gear because check-in at BFPC was always slow, and now they do it from the curb.

So, fashionably late at about noon, we arrived at Epcot, and amazingly didn’t get a parking spot at the furthest end of the row! (Brian would remember later that we didn’t even look at the name/number of the row )

And twenty minutes after that, I was texting another WDWmagic member because we couldn’t find World Showcase (and that was really funny!)

 

[Tiggerish]

All the “2020” themed merch was half price - but who the heck wants to memorialize that?

So true!!!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

After taking the wrong path at least 3 times, we found our way towards World Showcase. There were walls up everywhere, it was kind of disorienting because nothing was recognizable as a point of reference (and I have no sense of direction!)

They did make giant signs on the walls, but somehow they don't jump out at you. They are big, colored arrows, but you don't instantly realize they are arrows because the end "arrow part" isn't very pronounced. At first glance, it just looks like a sign with a rectangular, colored background. (Trying to help you guys out who are going soon so you don't waste 20 minutes LOL!)

I had the sense that we had a lot of leisurely stroll time - eating, drinking, attractions if lines were short - there was nothing to do until dinner! (Although dinner was at 5:30.)

The weather being on the cloudy side was perfect. It was still nice and warm (not hot) and keeping the direct sun away made the masks more comfortable to wear. I have been wearing masks all along since the Spring - mostly KN95 (the sideways duck bill looking ones) since we are both high risk, and I was often in higher contact situations for work. (The difference is the KN95 is supposed to offer some measure of protection to the wearer, whereas the cloth ones mostly just protect people around the wearer.) They are also warmer than the cloth ones, so I was a little concerned how that would go. I did not generally consider us to be in a high risk situation since we were mostly walking around outside and staying away from people, so I was open to the idea of buying a Disney cloth mask along the way. At this point, I was keeping options open. We loved that hand sanitizer stations were everywhere.

More than anything about COVID, we were so happy to be there. This is our place, we were doing our thing - it was very "normal" despite not being normal. You take your happy where you can get it, folks. And it sure as heck was here.

On to the first booth!

 

[Darstarr]

Talk about hubba hubba, @Darstarr !)

Totally what I was thinking!!!

 

[Swissmiss]

I am so loving your TR. Very jelly about the cabins - been trying to stay at the equivalent at DLP but it hasn’t worked out because it is the only hotel at DLP that doesn’t have transportation to the parks and I usually go by train (a bit more than 4 hours by train, a bit more than 5 hours by car ...)

 

[93boomer]

After taking the wrong path at least 3 times, we found our way towards World Showcase. There were walls up everywhere, it was kind of disorienting because nothing was recognizable as a point of reference (and I have no sense of direction!)

They did make giant signs on the walls, but somehow they don't jump out at you. They are big, colored arrows, but you don't instantly realize they are arrows because the end "arrow part" isn't very pronounced. At first glance, it just looks like a sign with a rectangular, colored background. (Trying to help you guys out who are going soon so you don't waste 20 minutes LOL!)

I had the sense that we had a lot of leisurely stroll time - eating, drinking, attractions if lines were short - there was nothing to do until dinner! (Although dinner was at 5:30.)

The weather being on the cloudy side was perfect. It was still nice and warm (not hot) and keeping the direct sun away made the masks more comfortable to wear. I have been wearing masks all along since the Spring - mostly KN95 (the sideways duck bill looking ones) since we are both high risk, and I was often in higher contact situations for work. (The difference is the KN95 is supposed to offer some measure of protection to the wearer, whereas the cloth ones mostly just protect people around the wearer.) They are also warmer than the cloth ones, so I was a little concerned how that would go. I did not generally consider us to be in a high risk situation since we were mostly walking around outside and staying away from people, so I was open to the idea of buying a Disney cloth mask along the way. At this point, I was keeping options open. We loved that hand sanitizer stations were everywhere.

More than anything about COVID, we were so happy to be there. This is our place, we were doing our thing - it was very "normal" despite not being normal. You take your happy where you can get it, folks. And it sure as heck was here.

On to the first booth!

We had the same reaction. Masks did not ruin our “happy place” at all.

 

[Loco_driver]

I’ve been slowly catching up while at work. Really enjoying the TR. It features Ft. Wilderness and a dog, so it’s pretty much perfect already!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Remember: all diets are off at WDW!

First booth: chosen because it was the first one we stumbled across once we found our way out of the labyrinth - this was not a country.

The menu:

We ordered both the corned beef and the skirt steak, and split a swine brine.

We both preferred the steak, but both were good - and the brine was fine! This was the second time I’ve had a meat garnish in a drink, and it’s a mixed bag. It tastes good, but the ice cubes give it an odd texture.

Being our first table, it was a little awkward - we didn’t want to touch anything, put forks down, etc lol. I would have loved a wipe dispenser or something. We did appreciate that there were more tables than usual, including some with chairs.

Continuing the animal theme, this creature struck a pose as we walked to our next destination.

We had no planned route, just stopped at each booth and ordered something if it struck our fancy. No hurry. No nonsense. People mostly stayed out of our way, but there were some clueless/brazen folks. (Feel free to substitute a similar sounding word for “folks.” No matter how long I live in FL, I’ll still always be from Jersey.)

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Tony’s mom: “We’ll see.”

That means no in Italian.

I think that’s universal Mom-speak for no.

 

[Tiggertoo56]

Enjoying the details so far, looking forward to more.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Next up - the Impossible booth.

I am a fan of the Impossibles more than the Incredibles. But I have the burgers all the time, and if you’d read the TR from last year that I haven’t written yet, you’d know we had the sliders last year and they were “OK.” (That was actually our intro to Impossible stuff. It seemed so exotic back then!)

So, I ordered the meatball, and Brian mentioned the pudding made with avocado, so I grabbed that, too.

But the star of this booth was the tea! Loved it. Bookmarked it as a possible (ha!) repeat. If we had a girl or a pack mule with us, I would have liked to keep the plastic mason jar - but there was no way I was carrying that around all day.

The pudding was really pretty and deserves a close-up!

Despite the avocado ingredients, we think that green topping was dyed graham cracker crumb. It looked prettier than it tasted. It was not too sweet, but still rich, and a relatively large amount. I would skip it unless you’re already into very healthy eating. Now that tea...

ETA: oh, yeah - there was a meatball! Obviously not super memorable, but nice to try something different - which is what this is all about, right?

 

[Tony the Tigger]

We were happy. I thought we’d better take a pic before we got too fat. For one of us, it may have been a moment late.

There’s my handsome husband hiding behind me like Carnie Wilson in every Wilson Phillips video. We could both stand to lose a few pounds for the sake of health.

Walking would help, right? Let’s go!

All the way to...America? We sat and finished our tea and pudding (I had been walking with it but not eating while walking, which is a no-no) and the timing lined up perfectly for an afternoon nap, er, lesson in history.

The entrance was noticeably empty. We took a socially distanced seat near no one. Some seats had signs on them to skip them.

Expecting to nod off, neither of us did. To the contrary, I was moved by the show more than I had been in recent years. We as a country can seem so far away from these ideals right now.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

After the show, we were treated to a show!

The princesses could use a nice limo, but this was cute!

We attempted to find our usual rest room (to the left of the restaurant) but it was temporarily closed. We easily found the other one to the right of the restaurant.

Then we had a run-in with some white trash.

We didn’t bite at many countries. We’d read the menu, realize it was either something that didn’t sound great, or was a repeat, and move on.

So naturally our next stop was the Hall Of Leftovers.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

This was in the place where they had special events last year - we enjoyed a something or other back then with a wonderful WDWMagic couple who shall remain nameless until I write our 2019 TR!!

I’m really bad at remembering what they call everything, but the idea was to bring back a bunch of “old favorites” from past F&W festivals under one socially distanced roof. So - “The Hall of Leftovers.” (That’s not what they call it. ) There was at least one memorable item here! Let me grab some pics.

Here’s what the inside looked like.

At least part of it. A good number of tables, and someone was walking around cleaning them as guests left.

There were several stations, but we only patronized one:

OK, that’s only part of the menu - but there’s a reason for that.

Brian got a cheese plate (I’m not really into cheese.)

I am, however, outrageously into banana flavored anything. And that plastic cup contained the Cider Boys Banana Bliss Hard Cider - which I must track down. This was not a banana milkshake, but the banana flavor did come through beautifully. That was a highlight, right along with that vodka berry tea from earlier!

While in there, a woman sat down at the piano and played Disney classics. We were glad to see a live entertainer still on the payroll.

Speaking of which, as we walked, we saw a group of new CMs getting trained, despite all the news. It seemed to be for janitorial duties(?) (white uniforms?) We hoped they weren’t demoted from better positions!