Other Stuff - Disney World - October 5th - 21st

Mickey's No So Scary Halloween Party





On of the boats on Bay Lake/Seven Seas Lagoon for transportation to the Magic Kingdom/Wilderness Lodge from Ft. Wilderness


The construction of the "mystery" tower at the Contemporary

A couple of shots of the Wilderness Lodge


And the one night I actually got to Pleasure Island "very" early. Emil Bleehal was in the PI Live booth explaining why he was at Pleasure Island and before he actually made his entrance into the Adventurer's Club.

Universal/Islands of Adventure - Disney World - October 5th - 21st

We spent Wednesday, October 10th at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. While these parks don't have the repeat appeal that Walt Disney World has for me, I still like to go over there for a day every couple of years. The one thing these parks do have is loads of visual appeal!! I snapped almost 200 photos that day. Here are the best of the phots.

Eat To the Beat Concerts - Disney World - October 5th - 21st

I went to several Eat to the Beat Concert Sets during my trip

Juice Newton

Starship with Mickey Thomas





Little Richard







David Cassidy

Gatherings of Friends - Walt Disney World - October 5th - 21st

Me with Mickey & Pluto

The "group" on Tower of Terror. The contrast of us old pros on the left compared with the newbies on the right that were absolutely terrified made this a GREAT picture!!!

The "group" in front of Rock n Roller Coaster. Pam, Allison's mom, Allison, Lori, Jack's daughter, Carol, Sen, Big Brian, and Jack.

These are my friends David and Buff, that spent the first week in my campsite with me.





These are some of the folks at the big meet & greet on Saturday. I see Marta, Bruce's daughter, Jenn

This one has Pam, Laurie, Rob, Kim, Allison, Kenny, & Jack?

With Chip and Dale on Sunday morning. Denise, Pam, Jenn, Sean, Jack, & Carol


Here is the gathering at my campsite.
Sean, Pam, and Jenn


Sean, Bruce, & Randy






Randy, Pam, Jenn in the back, and Brian

Randy & Jack

Pam & Randy

Pam, Randy, Jenn, and Sean

rbthnthschl and his partner (from DisBoards), Pam, Jenn, and Brian


At the campfire

Brian, Denise, and Sean (and the red cups with wine :-)

Kenny, Allison, Jack, Randy

Allison, Randy, Pam

At mini-golf

Pam, Allison, Marta, Sam, Jack

Allison, Jack Sean, Bruce, Pam, Randy

Bruce, Jack, & Randy

At Jungle Cruise

Mickey Mom's Friend, Pam, Mickey Mom

Noshing around the world

Sam, Denise, Bruce, Marta, and Amy

Pam, Sean, Jenn, & Laurie starting with Daquiris

At Trails End for Breakfast

Sean, Pam, Brian, Bruce, Jenn

Mickey Mom, Jack, & Randy

At the Main Street Train Station

Randy, Pam, Brian, Bruce

Mickey Mom & her friend with Chip & Dale

Jenn and Denise fighting at Pirates

Jenn, Brian, Sean, Pam, and Denise at Trails End

Randy at the Main Street Train Station

Disney-MGM Studios - Disney World - October 5th - 21st

Here are a few shots around the Disney Studios. For some reason, I took very few pictures around this park.
Me in front of the Sorceror Hat (BAH).


Me & Rick (my hubby) in front of Sorcer Hat in September.

Walt's plane that he used to survey the property before purchasing it.

Animal Kingdom - Disney World - October 5th - 21st

These are pictures of the various shows, plants and animals around Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Festival of the Lion King



Beautiful Flowers



Wonderful artitecture, theming, and authentic performing groups











And of course, the animals

Magic Kingdom - Disney World - October 5th - 21st

These are various prictures around the Magic Kingdom

The Barbershop Quartet performing on Main Street


Some pictures from the afternoon parade




Casey's Corner Piano Player


From the Hall of Presidents


The Enchanted Tiki Room




Haunted Mansion



The Liberty Bell


Tommorowland The Laugh Floor Warehouse and Stitches Great Escape


The Mad Hatter and Alice

Pooh & Tigger

Sonny Eclipse


Space Mountain

Some great decorations

Space Mountain

Carousel of Progress



Main Street Buildings

Not very clear, but this is Walt's Window

Restaurant in Tomorrowland (often closed)

Buzz Lightyear

Stitch


A sign at Splash Mountain

Main Street Halloween Decorations



Cinderella's Castle

Jungle Cruise Skipper






The Main Street Train Station at Night


Inside the Train Station during the Day

Jessie

Small World

Laugh Floor




Space Mountain

SpectroMagic Parade


Some photos inside Guest Relations of Walt & Roy

Epcot - Disney World - October 5th - 21st

Me at Spaceship Earth

Me on Test Track

Me & Rick (Hubby) in front of Spaceship Earth in September


I had dinner at Teppan Edo one evening at the Japan Pavilion. It was a wonderful dinner. The servers and chef had the perky meter on "high" that evening :-)



This is a group of drummers that play at the Japan pavilion periodically throughout each day. Very good.


This is part of the Morrocan Pavilion

This is Voices of Liberty that sings in the American Pavilion throughout the day. An outstanding accapella group.

A picture from the boat ride in the Mexico pavillion

They have boats that you can take for a scenic, but slow ride across World Showcase Lagoon. You can walk faster, but if your feet are tired, it's nice.

This is part of the Canada area in World Showcase


These are pictures from inside the American Adventure attraction


Snow White. I generally don't wait in line to see characters, but if I can snap a good shot while other folks move out of the way, I will.

A ray in one of the tanks at the Seas with Nemo and Friends



This is a group called Mo Rockin at the Morrocan pavilion. They play throughout the day.

Mickey Mouse even in Morroco

The Japan Pavillion

Inside the American Adventure Lobby



This group is called Off Kilter. Good looking guys in skirts playing Celtic Rock music. Need I say more :-)

A shot of the English Tea Garden in the UK Pavilion

Just an interesting prop setup I found near the water.

This is a Indian Dance troup at the Oklahoma display area. This was set up for the Food & Wine Festival

Genie & Alladin


Illuminations - Reflections of Earth. A great night time fireworks and laser show over the lagoon


Character Central at Epcot. A great place to wait in line to get pictures and autographs of characters.

Club Cool. They have FREE samples of Coke products from around the world. Try the Beverly!!

Some Food & Wine Festival Booths set up. This is a great time of year to visit Epcot if you love food. Samples of food, wine & beer from countries all over the world. Each sample runs from $2 - $5 and there are paid and free food & wine seminars throughout each day.




This is an acrobat troupe from China. This kids do some amazing stunts.


Walt Disney loved trains. This is an extensive train setup in the German pavilion with a beautiful German village and countryside.


Spaceship Earth at night. The attraction is currently closed for refurbishment. Can't wait to see what they do with it.

Spaceship Earth during the day


This is Epcot's Dancing Fountain. It is beautiful to watch the water jump to music. It is really spectacular at night, but hard to get pictures.


These guys are the Jammitors. They do a neat show using garbage cans as drums. They perform several times per day.




Innoventions is place where they have displays from various corporations showing off neat products. You can also try a Segway there. There are also paid tours to ride a Segway around Epcot and Ft. Wilderness.

Epcot recently celebrated their 25th anniversary on October 1st.

Campgrounds Part II - Disney World - October 5th - 21st

This is the campground I stayed in on the way home from WDW. It was the Starke/Gainesville KOA in Florida. http://www.koa.com/where/fl/09248/ It was fine for an overnighter, but one of their main rules was no freestanding awnings or screenrooms on RV sites. Well since most Tiny Trailers and Teardrops don't have attached awnings, I wouldn't recommend it for a T@B or Teardrop gathering. Also, it was too far off the interstate for a future overnighter. I think I'll plan my drive differently next time and stay at the KOA just North of the Georgia line.

These are all just pictures of interesting campsites I found while going around all the loops in my electric scooter one day.

War Eagle!!!


Somebody rented an RV to stay at Ft. Wilderness





This was in Loop 1700. Why is there a wooden post in the back corner of every site??


Just a pretty picture of the trees.




Halloween decorations. Note the garbage can. These are disbursed throughout the loops and are emptied several times each day.










A playground in the campground.




More halloween














This cabin plus 1 other is in the 100 loop which is at the front of the campground near the marina. These cabins are mostly used for visiting executives, but occasionally a regular guest will be assigned to one.

More ground clearing in one of the loops.

Some folks have some unique golf carts



More Halloween

A cute Aliner

The pathway in the 900 Loop to the Group Camping Area

The group camping area. This area can be reserved for groups of 15 or more. There is a comfort station, no electric and limited water. They have fire pits and benches. Some Scout Groups and Youth Groups camp here on the weekends. It is almost always empty during the week.


A great classic Airstream.

Another Airstream

Check out the Mickey Ears Lampost

Halloween

This is the Meadows Trading Post. This is in the center of the campground. In this area is also the main pool, the Bike Barn where you can rent golf carts, bicycles, canoes, kayaks, and paddleboats. There is also an outdoor theater in this area where they have a marshmellow roast, Chip and Dale Sing a Long and a Disney Movie under the stars each evening.

More Halloween

Campgrounds - Disney World - October 5th - 21st

For those of you who saw the post earlier, I decided to rearrange the blog a bit. The trip was way too long to give a detailed blow by blow. So for the first post here are pictures of campsites.

Here are a couple of pictures of the campsite where I stopped on the road for before heading to Ft. Wilderness at Walt Disney World. Easy pull through site. Level enough that I could plug in and run the Cool Cat and not worry about it not draining. http://www.koa.com/where/ga/10101/






Next is Ft. Wilderness at Disney World. This is so far the best campground I have ever stayed at. Friendly for all types of rigs except for the humongous ones. Some of the sites are a little tight for the really big rigs and only two pull through sites out of 700 something sites.

Fort Wilderness has three levels of sites. Partial hookup (electric and water). Full hookup (electric, water, and sewer), and Preferred Full hookup (electric, water, sewer, cable, and internet, closer to amenities). Many folks say that Ft. Wilderness is expensive, but one thing that Ft. Wilderness does allow is up to 10 guests on each site and no limit to tents (in addition to one camping vehicle) and additional awnings. As long as it will fit within the confines of your driveway and sand pad, you can set it up. Many state parks I've been to only allow one camper or one tent on the site, so a party of four adults in a camper and tent would have to get two sites, not so at Ft. Wilderness.

On to the pictures.

The entrance to Disney Property.



The check-in window. You drive through and they take care of all the paperwork without you ever leaving your vehicle.



My campsite as we set it up. We had my camper, 4 EZ-Ups, a small utility trailer and a 13x13 tent set up. This is site 2020 in a partial hookup loop. It was right across the road from a comfort station.

Here is the path to the comfort station, and some brush clearing they are working on. The 2004 hurricanes did a lot more damage than they originally thought and with the lack of rain there is a real threat of trees falling and fires, so they are doing a lot of clearing.

This is one of the transportation hubs at Ft. Wilderness, there are plenty of buses to take you anywhere on Disney property. No need to drive around.

This is golf cart parking near the bus stop. You can drive a golf cart, bicycle or electric scooter throughout the campground. You can only drive your car to and from your campsite.

One of the horse stables at the campground. There are horse trail rides and pony rides available.

If you want to bring your pets, you must reserve a "pet loop" and if you want to leave your pet at your campsite while you are at the parks, you must have a hard-sided camper. They have a great kennel on property where you can leave your pet during the day (and can leave overnight), but you must come and walk your pet twice a day.

This is one of the buses running through the campground to pick up folks at their loops.

This is a typical comfort station. Men's side, women's side, and laundry in the middle. Also a pay phone, and house phone to call the front desk, make dining reservations, or to contact any other department on Disney property. There is also park schedules, and campground activity schedules posted.

This is Randy's setup. He was there for three weeks. Lucky dog him!!

This is the layout of a typical partial hookup site.

My driveway must have had a bit of a slope to it as my airconditioning drainoff was draining toward my rug, so I added some hose to encourage it to drain and soak into the sand.

I bought and added some more Mickey Mouse stuff to the kitchen.

My friends staying in the tent left after the first week, so after their tent was fully aired out I took it down and rearranged the campsite a bit. With three EZ-Up shelters I have almost 300 square feet of dry space outside my T@B, and I bet I could put up the tarp walls and heat or AC some of that outside space if I so desired.

This is a picture of a fellow DisBoarder that flew in and tent camped!! It was great meeting you!!

Ft. Wilderness also has 7 loops of Wilderness Cabins for those that want to "gently" rough it. They are in the process of remodeling the interior of the cabins. This loop was closed and empty. They were also doing some clearing.

These are pictures of the small pool and laundry facility by the cabins.

A piece of River Country still exists!!! (This was a water park at Ft. Wilderness that has since closed down)

Joe Wheeler State Park - September 28 - 30, 2007

Here are a few pictures from our weekend at Joe Wheeler State Park in Alabama. www.alapark.com This was a very lazy weekend for us as we spent most of the time at the campsite just napping, reading, watching/listening to football and relaxing. We gave two tours of the T@B.

The campground itself was georgious with lots of privacy between sites, a paved driveway for each site, and each site has water, electric, and sewer. There was also a concrete picnic table on a concrete pad, and a charcoal grill at each site. The bath houses were spacious, clean, and had plenty of hot water with good water pressure.

The river access directly from the campground is not that good, however. On the map, it looks like our site was right on the water, but there is actually quite a distance and dropoff to the water.

We did venture out for a bit, and found a pier in the public picnic area that we tried fishing on for a bit.

The property also has a lodge with a restaurant, a golf course, tennis courts, and a marina.

Thanks for reading!!

Coming Next: I'm leaving tonite for 16 nights in my T@B. 1 night at a KOA just north of Macon, GA, 14 nights at Ft. Wilderness Resort & Campground at Disneyworld, and 1 night at a KOA near Gainesville, FL.

I will have the laptop with me so will try and update each evening.

Carol & Rick

Permanent Graphics and Lock Box

I finally got the permanent vinyl graphics installed on the MOUSE-KE-T@B.

We went with fewer ears this time, but I still think it looks cool :-)

Also is a picture of a lock box we bought to leave the keys at the campsite so we don't have to keep up with them.

Thanks for looking!!

Carol & Rick

Coming next, our weekend at Lake Wheeler State Park