If you're flying to Orlando, why not enjoy a little Disney magic without paying park entrance fees? Our new favorite campground is Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, right on Bay Lake. You get all the perks of being on Disney property and you stay at the best campground imaginable. You can even rent a tent and cots from them and they have it all set up for you when you arrive I'm pretty sure this place is Disney World's best kept secret. So Hubby packed all 6 sleeping bags in one suitcase and we went camping for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. The lowest the temperature ever got was 55* and we loved waking up to the fog from the lake in the mornings.
We flew out Thanksgiving morning and even got to park in the garage for economy prices since the economy lots were full. I knew it was going to be a good vacation just from that! The children did great on the flight and K, D, and I even got some of K's 4th grade homework done by watching the first episode of "The West" documentary on Netflix, which her teacher recommended as part of their social studies curriculum.
It was a joy hearing D giggle on the Disney Magical Express. When we arrived at the campground we had plenty of time to make it to our dinner reservation at the Trail's End Restaurant. There is a playground right next to the building so I sent Hubby and the children to go play while I checked in and waited for our turn. The man in front of me was being so rude to the woman working there that I just wanted to give her a hug by the time she got him taken care of and I told her so. I was grateful these wonderful people were willing to work on Thanksgiving so my husband and I didn't have to spend half our day in the kitchen! I took our buzzer and turned toward the park when the lights started going off. I brought it back thinking it was malfunctioning but turns out, when you're nice and a table opens up early, they will give that table to you.
After dinner we played on the beach, which had wonderfully soft sand. We played until we watched the water pageant go by and then played some more until we got to watch the Magic Kingdom's 18 minute long fireworks. Amazing! I'm telling you, that is the best way to watch fireworks at the Magic Kingdom -- without even being there!
We spent the morning of Black Friday canoeing with the alligators around the campground and I absolutely loved it. Best $30 we spent on our entire trip. Afterwards we took a ferry to eat lunch at the Contemporary Resort. When hubby accidentally spilled soda all over himself the manager actually offered to buy him new clothes at the souvenir shop when he found out we were staying at a Disney site. I was proud of my husband for declining -- it's not like he was drenched -- but kept thinking how amazing Disney service is.
Following our yummy lunch, including flourless chocolate cake for me, we rode around on the Monorail to see the sites and then headed by bus to Disney Springs & Goofy's Candy Company to buy caramel apples. Warning: do not go to Disney Springs on Black Friday! So. Many. People. For a while I was worried we would be late for the Hoop De Doo Musical Revue back at the campground but we were fine. That show is rumored to be the longest running dinner show in America and it was fantastic. Our family had not laughed that hard for months! One of the songs they put in for the holidays was "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" and when N heard it on the radio at home she got a huge smile on her face and asked me if I remembered hearing that song when we were at the campground and how the boyfriend gave her a stuffed hippo when she was done singing. If you're ever at Disney World, it would be worth the ferry ride over to watch it yourself!
A wagon ride around the campground was a great way to end the day except somehow we lost M's raincoat along the way and came back to our campsite to realize someone had stolen our phone chargers and my back up battery case from where they were plugged in by the picnic table. Luckily the gift shop sold chargers but mercy, they were Disney priced! After having K's scooter, D's bike and now those things stolen from us in the past few months, I was pretty bummed and decided it was still my favorite campground, but if we came back we would want to stay in a lockable RV or rent one of the awesome looking cabins. I honestly could stay at Fort Wilderness Campground for 2 weeks straight in those conditions and just go to the parks every other day and spend the other week there, especially if the weather was nice enough to swim at the awesome pool that was a bit too chilly for us to try out.
Saturday we said good bye to loop 1500, convinced it was the best loop in the campground since it was right across from the Meadows. We almost missed the bus due to playing shuffleboard, smashing pennies and grabbing lunch but the bus driver kind of chuckled and promised that he wouldn't have left us behind. We were the only cruisers leaving from there -- most people who take a cruise don't go camping first. lol. And all that stuff that has been stolen lately came back to us in the form of Hubby winning $500. I feel like all is right in the world again.
Check in is so much easier after your first cruise and they give you very handy lanyards for Castaway Key members. We also received the most amazing day packs (one for each stateroom) to take with us on excursions and D is now using one as his backpack for school. We headed straight for food and changing into swimsuits to ride the AquaDuck as many times as possible and swim before everyone was on board. Our staterooms felt like we returned home because the Fantasy and Dream are sister ships and our rooms were in approximately the same place. Since we went the week after Thanksgiving, we were treated to many holiday themed touches that made the trip even more magical. One of those things was the tree lighting ceremony and meeting Mickey Mouse that first day. M and N still say that was one of their favorite things about the boat. The children were also thrilled coming back to towel shapes and good chocolate after dinner at Royal Court.
Sunday was the first of 2 days at sea. K spent most of her free time at the pool, D at kids club, and M and N meeting characters galore, making a notebook “passport” craft, and playing miniature golf and fuse ball with Hubby and I on Goofy's Sports Deck. While waiting in line for Tinkerbell a nice woman behind us gave us tickets to a special princess meet and great. You didn't have to pay for them, but you had to get the tickets from guest services in advance and she had extras so M got to meet Belle, Ariel, Cinderella, and Tiana (a first for us) all in a row with only waiting in one line. I'll take meeting characters on the cruise ship over at the parks any day! After lunch together, pool time, the show Aladdin (excellent), and dinner at our favorite place to eat, Animators Palate, we felt like we had one pretty amazing day! We didn't get picked for Turtle Talk with Crush this time but it was still very entertaining. And this time, thanks to taking Dramamine right before getting on the boat and all wearing Sea Bands, we had no problems with motion sickness the entire week. Boy, does that make a difference!
Monday meant our first time to Mexico! At Cozumel D and M soaked up the crazy Mayan ruins stories (including 
) that can be explained by malnutrition and intermarriage. K hated learning on vacation and N tolerated it. We then rushed around Discover Mexico Cultural Center before a yummy lunch and heading to Mayan Chocolate that adults like to eat and drink and kids do not. So we kind of learned the hard way that our children don't like going from place to place to place in a hurried way, which made us think we shouldn't take a Mediterranean cruise in 2019 like we were thinking. On the walk back to the boat we watched a very talented man make our souvenir that is now hanging up in a hallway. I am very impressed what can be done with spray paint in such a short amount of time. When back on board K opted for the swimming pool again, D went to the kids club, and M and I watched the movie "Coco" and loved it! N tried to watch and wanted to leave, but at least she got to see Olaf's Frozen Adventure and really liked that. (Hubby took her out so I could stay with M.) I'm grateful to him because I honestly think "Coco" is one of my favorite Pixar movies of all time. M and I have been singing "Remember Me" ever since.
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