If you don't believe me, it made the cover of Surfer Magazine (World wide coverage mag).
Yeah that's Palm Beach, FL with Palm Beach local Peter Mendia (owning it) doing it's best impersonation of Hawaii. I bring this up as 5 years on, I'm still annoyed I missed the event of a lifetime, but I had a good time anyway and I digress...
This was the fourth year we went for Mickey's Halloween Party and Lucy's cousin had booked us two nights in Ft. Wilderness way back in January. We were going pretty early this time, late Sept. but that was what was available for the Campground.
As you know from previous post, Hurricane Irma came knocking and like an unwanted house guest stayed way too long, and made a big mess of everything.....Including Disney World. The storm hit about 2.5 weeks before our reservation so I wasn't worried, but they hung up a sign that basically said closed until further notice.
Fort Wilderness finally reopened about 2 weeks later (lots of trees to cut up), and I decided to look and see if there was availability on Thursday night too (we had Fri and Sat already). Sure enough as I hoped many cancellations and OH LOOKY it's Florida Residents time! I nab us a campsite for about $40! Wow, half off regular pricing!
I take the whole day Thursday off of work so we can arrive early and also swing by the Co-op and visit for a little while as they want to check up on their big 350 project and there are a couple little odds and ends to address. On the way up it's business as usual and take I-95 to Melbourne, US 192 to Norcossee Road and slide up into Orlando on the east side of things. Everything goes well with the visit and we are soon on our way to the Mouse House.
I arrived with a Thursday afternoon agenda and it was Trader Sams! If you know me you know I'm a tikiphile. Last time we couldn't get into Trader's as our kiddo isn't 21 yet. We ended up on the patio out back which was nice as we watched the fireworks over the Magic Kingdon while sipping drinks. However, before 8PM they allow underage in the bar, so here we come! It's a small intimate bar that only holds 56 people (if I recall the sign correctly). We got there about 30 min after they opened and put our name on the wait list. We then immediately went outside to get a Dole Whip! Dole Whips are only sold at the Polynesian and in Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom.
They are so delicious in fact, that Shag (world famous tiki artist) did some artwork for WDW and included them in it.
Wandering around the lobby and gift shop while we wait, I see a tiki exactly like I have at home. Some internet research found that they were sold by Target a few years back. This one was in far better shape than the two I was given by a friend.
Nautilus
Barbancourt Pango Rhum, Appleton Estate Reserve Rum, Combier Crème de Pêche de Vigne Liqueur, Tropical Juices, and Falernum. Served in a souvenir Nautilus
Not our video below but skip to the 1 min mark for inside the bar and you can see some of the different things that happen with a couple of the drinks. I really liked the eruptions and the hurricanes.
The next day we had a leisurely morning of sleeping in and having breakfast followed by putting up the tent for her cousin and our pop up canopy to complete our camp for the weekend.
We then headed over to the pool area and it being a weekday only a few kids in the pool so I used the waterslide quite a few times. Around 2PM we came back and cooked a big lunch as tonight was the party in the Magic Kingdom. The weather was starting to spit rain and the forecast was not looking good for the next few hours.
We arrived at the Magic Kingdom around 5PM and headed right for Space Mountain as we had a fast pass. We got there and it had just reopened and the line was stupid long. Even with the fast pass it was looking like an hour or more. We rode the people mover and Carousal of Progress and then checked back. The line didn't look any better so we figured we'd come back later after the park closed and it was only party people in the park.
As we made our way ALL THE WAY across the park to Adventure Land, it started to rain. I wanted the ride the Jungle Cruise as I love the old campy original rides in the park the best (as I rode them as a little kid). In this pic the rain wasn't so bad yet.
As you can see I went all out on the costume this year. The funny thing was people were asking me who I was dressed like. Um, me? Ha Ha Ha. Take a good look at that goody bag, cuz I left it on the Jungle Cruise! By the time we got there it was really raining. Amazing, no wait! We go right up and they load the boat. Yours truly is the last on the boat and sitting right next to the opening in the roof where you get in and out of the boat. Every time the boat turned the water ran off the roof onto my pants and into my shoes. I was pretty annoyed that they didn't keep us out for the next boat where it would have been drier. I just couldn't wait to get out of the boat and left my candy bag on the seat...
From there we went on the Pirate ride twice and then the rain let up. We celebrated with more Dole Whips and then off to Thunder Mountain. By now it was past 7 and the free candy giveaway was in full swing.
In order to get the girls to wait for Peter Pan's ride, I had to go on It's a small world. When my daughter was 2 she saw these girls and jumped up in the boat and yelled "Hey, it's three of me doing the hula!" and started dancing in the boat. At 13 she is now much less impressed. The rest of the night went pretty well and we finally got back to our campsite around 1:30 AM.
I woke up the next morning and realized just how much it had rained the night before when I was getting the full immersion Jungle Cruise ride....They did after all build Disney in a swamp.
This was immediately next to our campsite and was dry the day before. About a foot deep in the middle. If you zoom in you can see the ibis. Oh and when I woke up in the morning a saw the cutest little bunny hopping around our tent site.
The rest of the day we spent with our cousins, going to the pool, then checking out the Contemporary and Polynesian again. Fun afternoon, then headed back to the campsite in hopes of seeing the Chip and Dale fireside movie, but the weather got wet again. Luckily we had the pop up tent so the grown ups sat out enjoying adult beverages, while the kids played games in the coach.
The next day we hung around and went to the Trails End restaurant for the all you can shovel in you face buffet. It's probably one of the best dining options in all of Disney. Excellent food, and it being Sunday was a brunch so they had a mix of food we hadn't had before. By the time we were done, we had to pack out as it was check out time. The cousins hung around but they live alot closer than we do, so we backed up and headed south....
Last pic is a little blurry but you can see the candy bags and they are FULL.
On the way home, we took a slightly different route, using Canoe Creek Road instead of 192 to 441. Nice change of scenery, although using it as a short cut is a short term thing as LOTS of new housing developments going in along the first 20 miles south of Kissimmee. Certainly not the Florida I grew up in!
Grey is our usual route, blue is Canoe Creek Rd. I don't think it was any quicker really, but a nice change of pace. On that stretch the coach turned 6666 on the odometer (106, 206? we don't really know). I asked Lucy to snap one as I was driving, but it's a potato pic at best...
That was late September and aside from weekend duty as a dressing room for Pirate Fest in Boynton the old girl hasn't been out. That'll change with a trip to Aburndale, FL this weekend for the NIGHT OF DESTRUCTION.
