Is it a bad sign for the vacation when you faint on the plane? COMPLETED!

[DisMomAmy]

Originally Posted by winkers

sorry, couldn't resist!

[MRYPPNS]

Merry Christmas from our home to yours.

May Santa leave Dole Whips under your tree and DVC points in your stocking!!!!

~Best Wishes for the Holidays,
Heidi, John and Liam

[DisMomAmy]

Merry Christmas to you and your family Heidi!
What a cute card!

I wish you Dole Whips & DVC points too - lets hope Santa tries to overcompensate for the bad economy!

[ILuvCrush]

Merry Christmas Heidi!!

love the card!

[winkers]

Merry christmas! I love your card!

[Charleston Princess]

Merry Christmas, Heidi! I am so glad that we have become friends through the DIS! Here's hoping for 200 points for AKL in my stocking tomorrow!

[Lady Lallie]

Merry Christmas!!

[LISAMWDW]

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

[MRYPPNS]

I hope everyone had a great Christmas....I know we did.

We'll all sick in my house....a little present from my parents when they came over on Christmas eve. But I did manage to write an update today. It's my goal to get thru the 2nd day of our trip by the end of 2008!

[MRYPPNS]

When I left you, it’s was about 10 am on Monday and we were getting packed up to head to the Petty Farm at Fort Wilderness Campground.

The walk to our car from our room was maybe a minute. I really do think that CBR is a great resort if you have a car with you. I had been afraid that traveling to and fro around Disney would be hard because I had read that the signage wasn’t very good. Not true. I do think you need to know what theme park the resort you are going to is associated with….I knew most by heart but there’s were our little laminated map of WDW property came in handy. TIP: When you are driving yourself to one of the MK resorts the “exit” for them is immediately after you go thru the parking toll plaza all the way to the right. Make sure you are in one of the right most lanes going thru the ‘toll’ booth. I’m glad I knew this ahead of time or we would have ended up in the TTC parking lot…..which in hind sight wouldn’t have been such a bad thing!

Getting to FWC is easy. There is a big parking lot for visitors that is easy to find. DH gawked at the couple of big RV’s that were parked there. Right in this area is the stable for the trail rides and a bus stop. I asked at the trial ride building how to get to the pony rides/petty farm and was told to take the bus to the “Settlement” area. This would be our first Disney bus experience with Liam and the big stroller and all of our stuff. We managed. * I have a funny story, well funny to me because it goes to show that people don’t read on vacation or don’t even do the most basic of planning for Disney. A family was waiting at the bus stop with us….it seems as thou they had been waiting quite awhile for their bus (which I didn’t really understand because the busses for each park had come and gone while we waited for the internal shuttle). Someone in the group decided to look at a map/guide. They were headed to MK! And just now realized that they had to take the boat to get to MK. Hope they weren’t in a hurry.

Liam wouldn’t sit down on the bus (never does) but looking out the windows entertained him. We arrived at our destination and got everything re-packed into the bottom of the strollers and started walking around. Within a few minutes we spotted the pony ride/petty farm area and let Liam get out of his stroller, we were the only people there.



(I would continue this plan of letting him get out of his stroller and to walk around anytime we felt we were in a confined safe area for him to do so. Little boys need to burn off energy!) So we get into the fenced in area and see the little ponies….but no petting farm animals…not a one. I never asked what happened to them and I should have because I don’t know if they are gone for good or if it was just a seasonal removal. I was very disappointed to say the least. Oh well…we still had the pony ride to try.

The pony care takers were just getting going for the day and none of the ponies were saddled up yet so I knew it would be some time before we could get Liam up on one. Let’s just say that he still hasn’t gotten a pony ride yet……



As he was walking near one of the ponies it decided to let out the whinny of the century. That sacred Liam so I knew it was going be a no-go on the pony. We’re 0 for 2 at this point and we have been there less then 10 minutes. Back in the stroller for Liam.

We decided to walk around and check out the area since we were already here. I have no interest in camping at FWC….there is too much to do in the morning to get ready for the parks in a hotel room….. I can’t imagine the work there is when you are camping. No thanks. And no thanks to the cabins here as well, the campground is just too huge to get around and no food court….but I’ll get to that in a minute.



We stumbled upon a big stable….and when I say big….I mean huge stable! I knew that the horses that they use in the Magic Kingdom were kept here but I didn’t know you could see them. We walked around checking out these giant draft horses and the little display area as well. But I think the coolest part for me was the fact that I had no idea about this stable and the little museum-like display. Just proof once again that as much as you think you know and have seen at WDW there is still more to discover.













From the stable we decided to head towards the water so see what else there was to do. I took some pictures for my DIS friends as we were walking along.











And then we saw it….the one thing we knew for sure that Liam would love to do……….



Swing on a baby swing at the playground! Now I probably don’t have to tell the Mom’s of little ones that baby swings are hard to find at most playgrounds. So I was very excited to see this, as you can tell Liam was too. Then he tried the big climbing slide thing for a few minutes but it was really too big for him to navigate.





At this point we right near the Pioneer Hall area of the campground which seems to be the heart of the resort. I can’t say it had much of a heart beat this day. Potty breaks were had by all and then we started thinking about lunch. The Trails End buffet had just switched to an all cold lunch buffet…basically sandwich stuff and cold fried chicken. And for $13 per adult plus the cost of drinks I didn’t think it was worth it….if you are counting….add that to my list of mistakes this vacation when you hear about the lunch we actually had that day. What I really wanted there was a food court or a grab and go market so we could sit outside and have a picnic of sorts. Unfortunately the take out from Trails Ends doesn’t start until 4pm, there is no food court and the “Chuck Wagon” is in a different area (and I believe is only open at night). So moral to my story….if you are visiting FWC near lunch time just plan to go to the buffet!
According to my notes we left at 11:15 am to get back to our car. I estimate we were there about an hour….kinda of a waste of a morning if you ask me. But now we can say that we’ve been there which is always helpful in planning future trips. Back on the bus I at least got the satisfaction of knowing that getting the rental car vs. taking Disney buses was the correct move. Liam was antsy the whole bus ride and it was hard for me to hold him….. (DH had to deal with all the stroller and stuff). We got back to the car and took a few minutes to decide where we wanted to have lunch.

[TarzansKat]

I'm sorry to hear that everybody is sick! That's just no fun at all.

I love hearing about your trip though, thanks for taking the time out to write an update! You know, I never realized all the horses were there? I mean, it totally makes sense, just not something I knew.

It seems like having a car was really helpful for you guys. I'm always wary of that, but I think if I ever want to convince DH to stay at CBR, we may have to consider it.

[Charleston Princess]

Those are gorgeous, gorgeous horses! Your pictures just make me want to stretch out my hand and pet them.

[If U Had Wings]

Glad you had a good time exploring Fort Wilderness. I haven't been there in ages, since I saw the Hoop De Doo back in the late 80's.

I'm thinking of doing the Segway tour there on my next trip.

[MRYPPNS]

Originally Posted by TarzansKat

It seems like having a car was really helpful for you guys. I'm always wary of that, but I think if I ever want to convince DH to stay at CBR, we may have to consider it.

For me, I think CBR could be done without a car if my kids were older. But since I knew I wanted a car no matter what for this trip I thought it would be a good time to try CBR.

Originally Posted by Charleston Princess

Those are gorgeous, gorgeous horses! Your pictures just make me want to stretch out my hand and pet them.

They were really calm and just beautiful....and I don't consider myself a horse person but I asked DH if we could bring one home since techinally we do have horse stalls still on our property.

Originally Posted by If U Had Wings

Glad you had a good time exploring Fort Wilderness. I haven't been there in ages, since I saw the Hoop De Doo back in the late 80's.

I'm thinking of doing the Segway tour there on my next trip.

I think the Segway tour there would be fun! and probably my only reason for going back there.

[MRYPPNS]

When I left you, we were sitting in our rental car at FWC deciding where to go for lunch……

According to the spread sheet our choices were to drive into Orlando to find something (not a good choice with that Wendy’s meal still fresh in our minds) Earl of Sandwich (which we deemed too far away…remember this is only our second day of driving around so we haven’t really clued into how quick everything is to get to….we’re used to the Disney buses that drive you around in a circle to get anywhere) and Pepper Market at CSR.

Pepper Market won.





I had wanted to eat there since seeing MickeyNikki’s pictures and review. I knew it was more expensive then a regular QS place and that there was a 10% service charge because someone sat you and got your drinks. I just didn’t know how expensive this lunch was going to be…
We got Liam the hot dog meal. ($4.75) Instead of chips we got an orange section and a chocolate chip cookie as his dessert. DH and I didn’t know what we wanted as there are a lot of different choices so we split up. I ended up ordering a taco salad with chicken. ($12.50) It was made to order so I had to wait for it. As she was making the salad part I saw her dump a big thing of black beans on it…ugh! I got her to make me new one without the beans. I wish there had been a description of the salad on the menu board but there wasn’t. And I had to get salad dressing from another section which I found odd. DH got the ½ rotisserie chicken that came with fries and grilled veggies. ($15.95!) And DH and I each got a soda ($4.38). Now I must say that all the food was really good and fresh. Liam ate all his lunch too. But $44 for lunch? Way too much money and we didn’t even get dessert! We won’t be back unless we are on the dinning plan, then it would have been a deal. And we got there just in time too because the convention that was going on at CSR just let out for lunch after we got our food. If we had gotten in after them we would have been there for a while.

Here’s some bonus shots of CRS:










Now it’s 12:30pm and we decided to head back to the resort so Liam could nap. He fell asleep in the car on the way and DH carried him in. Thankfully our room had already been cleaned by Mousekeeping. I don’t remember what I did while Liam napped but I’m pretty sure that DH played his computer game on the laptop.

When Liam got up from his nap, I changed him into his swim diaper, swim “trunks” and UV blocking t-shirt. I packed up some drinks, the beach towels that I had brought from home (all Disney themed of course!) and some toys for Liam. And off we went to the kiddie pool.

First let me say that I thought this kiddie play area was just perfect for the 5 and under set. Of course there were older kids playing there too…..and one paid for it with a bloody nose when he went down one of the slides head first.









Liam stayed around the edge for awhile getting used to it but wasn’t afraid of the water at all. He got braver the longer we stayed….going next to the structure and checking things out. He just had a wonderful time and I knew we would have to find time to go back.



















On our way back we stopped at the beach to play in the sand. That didn’t last too long because Liam wanted to play in the lake more then in the sand.









We then went back to the room to get ready for dinner.