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

[2rad4u]

My birthday only comes once a year people, once a freaking year. For some unknown reason, my beautiful wife of 31 years decided number 53 was going to be super duper special and she wanted us to celebrate @ WDW and Fort Wilderness....

Can you say Heck yea!!!

My birthday fell on a Thursday, so we'll begin there. Thursday morning, March 7, 2019.

We're scheduled to leave NC at 7:30am. Now, I am sooooo OCD, really OCD, so everything is packed, camper is prepped and ALL I have to do Thursday (my birthday) is to hook up and we are off! Right?

EVERYTHING else is done!

Well, the story takes an evil turn at this point...

A little FYI. We have a 2019 travel trailer that we bought in October of 2018. We planned this trip in November of 2018. We put 2500 miles and 40 plus nights camping between November and March to verify every system in the trailer worked and it was ready for the trip.

From the Smokies to Myrtle Beach and everywhere (well, not everywhere) in between, we went! The camper was ready!

We made reservations at the Fort, made KOA reservations for the trip down AND the trip home, googled satellite images of gas stations between NC and Orlando and planned every fuel stop accordingly.

5 day hopper tickets purchased and magic bands in the glove box! Fast passes were made at the 60 day mark. Got 90% of the big rides and all of the one's on our "must ride" list!!

SunPass was purchased, card stuck on the windshield and money added to the account so I could take the 417 bypass.

Gosh darn it we were ready! Like a boss!

The plan was to be in St Augustine Thursday evening at the KOA which would only leave us a couple of hours on Friday and we'd be at the Fort!!! Easy, relaxing day. No rush, no worries....

So back to Thursday morning, right? All I have to do is hook up, right?

Step one, raise the electric stabilizers. The front set went up 2" and stopped...

Houston, we have a problem, and I'm T-minus 30 minutes to launch...

I could hear the electric motor making a sickening whirring noise (sickening cause NOTHING was moving and the noise was "quieter" then the normal noise).

What to do now?

To be continued...

(this will be long and will take me a while)

 

[2rad4u]

Freaking out! That's all I could think about. Wait, breathe, breathe, take a freaking breathe....

But, but, it's 7am. Nothing is open, nobody to call for help, it's just me and it's my birthday! This was supposed to be EASY!

Checked the manual. Zero freaking help. ZERO.

Step 1 - Hey, no problem. The stabilizers come with a wrench for manual operation right! Whew, no problem.

Step 2 - break the roll pin for the manual crank cause the whole shabang is locked up tight! Tight!

Step 3 - freak out again (I can't go anywhere with my stabilizers stuck 2" off of the ground)

Step 4 - Think. Cut the wire to the motor. Remove 8 bolts and remove the ENTIRE assembly from under the trailer. The entire stabilizer system is in the yard.

Step 5 - Hook up the camper and let's go! (wait, what are you going to do for 10 nights without stabilizers in the front?)

Step 6 - worry about that later, we gotta go

Step 7 - pull out of the driveway at exactly 7:30 am (stressed out of my mind...). At least we're on time.

Here we are at a rest stop. Very streamlined with no stabilizers hanging down in front...

 

[2rad4u]

So... we roll through NC, SC and enter GA without a hitch. Making good time and enjoying the ride (except I'm stressing over the stabilizers).

Then, i have one of those "eureka" moments and realize all I need is a pair of plain old scissor jacks. Hold on, all I need is a pair of plain old scissor jacks?

Yes, that's what I said.

The DW googles "Camping World on I95" and the Savannah store pops up. Right off the highway and right on the way!

Standing on the roadside, in front of Camping World, I pull one of these out of the box and guess what? Happy Birthday to me, cause the bolt holes line right up and the bolts (from my original stabilizers I brought with me) will work! We're in business!!! Whew, now I can relax and enjoy the trip.

We're 100% again. For the moment anyway...

 

[Sjm9911]

Lol , nice , was just going to say that , but you beat me too it. Fix it later have fun now!

 

[cruising spud]

2rad4u,

Okay, I am already hyperventilating. What happens next?

 

[2rad4u]

So we're rolling out of Savannah back on I95 and back on track! St Augustine here we come!

Hey, are those brake lights up ahead? Why in the ^%$# am I seeing brake lights?

A quick check of my rear view observation camera monitor to make sure nobody is right on my tail. Wait, why is the screen black?

Camera and/or monitor failure.... Neither worked again the whole trip! Great, thank you very much.

It's my freaking birthday and everything is breaking!!!!

Sooo, an hour later we're finally moving at the speed limit again. Never saw a wreck, blue lights, construction, nada, nothing.

Just traffic....

 

[2rad4u]

Jacksonville has a bypass. 285 if I recall.

Makes sense to use it, right? I95 through Jacksonville is akin to 4 through Orlando, right? Skip the traffic, right?

Man, that bypass around Jacksonville is crap (at least it was today, my birthday). Another hour slowdown (crawl) around the city.

Finally back on I95 and Jacksonville in the rear view! Mental note to just take I95 through Jacksonville on the way home!

Can we get to St Augustine? I want to see the beach on my birthday.

Here is my happy face after all of the traffic slowdowns...

 

[2rad4u]

Hello St Augustine Florida!

Finally pulled into the KOA in St Augustine. Better late then never. I'm sorry I just realized I didn't take a single picture @ the KOA. Stressed!

5 minutes and I had the new front stabilizers installed and a few minutes later we had the camper set up and the truck disconnected!

Let's go see the beach and get a bite to eat.

Chicken and waffles at the Sunset Grille? Are you serious? Happy Birthday to me!!

The Sunset Grill is right across the street from the pier and a great public access are with a large parking lot. By this time it's dark (time changes Saturday night) so after dinner we take a walk on the pier and look at the ocean. Beautiful night!

Back to the camper for an uneventful nights sleep. Much needed rest cause we're hitting the Fort tomorrow! Day 1 is done...

 

[Sjm9911]

Well the bad lucks all behind you.now. should be smooth sailing from here on out. And happy b day.

 

[bama_ed]

 

[mickeyfan0805]

Oh, the suspense...

 

[PaHunter]

Jacksonville has a bypass. 285 if I recall.

Makes sense to use it, right? I95 through Jacksonville is akin to 4 through Orlando, right? Skip the traffic, right?

No makes no sense on the bypass there. We have been thru since 2015 and even with the construction have always cruised right on thru Jacksonville.

 

[SCDizFan]

Great so far!

 

[snowmedic]

We stay on 95, even around 4:00 pm it’s not to bad.

 

[2rad4u]

Good morning from St Augustine Florida! Day #2 and we wake to sunshine and warm temps! Can I stay here forever? (remember it was in the 20's when we left)

We made a quick trip back to the pier to enjoy the sun and take a walk on the beach. I still forgot to take any pics at the KOA...

Okay, time to head to the Fort!

 

[2rad4u]

Back on the road and we hit more traffic on 4 well before Orlando after breezing down 95 past Daytona. Slow,slow, slow...

We finally get to 417 and make the transition without a hitch. First time on a toll road in my life and we sped through with no problems. The SunPass worked great (checked my account later). Cost us $11.41 from stat to finish. The road was in great shape and we rolled the entire length at 65-70. Loved it.

Ok, here is the money shot! We made it!!!

 

[2rad4u]

Day #2 is a Friday. We're a day early from our "original" plans and this day is a designated "Fort" day. And we're pulling into the Fort RIGHT NOW!

There is NO ONE in line. Zero. It's a little after 11am and I had expected to be in a huge line??? I can hardly believe it as I ease up to lane #4.

The CM is all smiles (and I'm about to bust) and we get right into the details. She acknowledges my request for loop 1100 and immediately tells me we got it! What? We're gong to start off with a home run?

But, our site is not ready... No problem, we'll grab our golf cart, park in the overflow lot, and go ride around!

By the time I parked and DW came rolling up with the GC, I got a text. Can't be, can it? Yes, site 1103 is ready and if I have my magicbands (and we do), we can go DIRECTLY to our site. OH NO YOU DIDN'T!!!

Let's freaking roll!!! I was prepared to return to the front desk if I wasn't happy with my site. I was ready to beg for a better site if needed.

One look at 1103 and I fell in love. This is home for the next 8 nights! A few minutes backing in a setting up and viola!

(Notice the beautiful stabilizers in the front...)

 

[rideswithchrist]

Awesome! Happy Birthday Trip!!!

 

[2rad4u]

So after setting up what's the first thing to do? Eat of course!

Off to Trails End to get our grub on!

This right here my friends is a happy, happy man. Right here I took my first deep breath in over 24 hours!

Rockin that FW shirt from 2005!



After eating we headed out to ride around and explore. We didn't remember much so we just enjoyed looking at everything as if it was new! What a feeling!!!

So, after eating what do you want? A Mickey bar of course (the first of many), so we're headed for a trading post.

A few minutes later and I'm in a rocking chair, eating ice cream and grinning like a 5 year old on Christmas morning! And we made a buddy...

 

[2rad4u]

So, it's Friday night and we're not planning on going to a park today. It's looking like a beautiful evening so what to do?

How about taking the boat over to MK, jumping on the monorail and go bar hopping at the Polynesian, Contemporary and the Grand Floridian?

Didn't have to ask me twice... Gone...

First stop - the Polynesian. Drinks and a shrimp appetizer.



Next stop - Grand Floridian for drinks and another appetizer



Next stop - Contemporary for drinks and I don't remember what else...



What a GREAT first day at WDW and Fort Wilderness.

Stay tuned for day #3. Things take a turn for the worse....