Roughing it--Disney Style!

Another thing checked off of the bucket list :)  Camping at Disney's Ft. Wilderness resort, who knew such a thing even existed, and it's been around since Disney World opened in the 70's!!  Getting there was a little adventurous though, since the directions once we exited the highway were "follow the signs"  We got a little nervous when we were pulling up to the magic kingdom parking booths, but that was exactly where we needed to be!

 

As you can see from the picture, it rained a little while we were there.  But no worries we just piled up in the van...put on a movie and passed around snacks until it let up enough to get a fire going.  I really wish I had a picture of Angel starting the fire in the rain, it was miraculous!!  Here we are making our way to the bus to make it to the other side of the resort, it was quite humorous to see how much the kids loved riding the bus, I think it was the highlight of the trip for them!!

 

Caterpillars everywhere!!  We even managed to unintentionally bring some home with us!

 

the kids supervising the setting up of the tents!

 

The waterpark there was pretty awesome!!  It was a little while before we figured out the bus system, so Angel dropped us all off, went back to the campsite to park the van, and then headed over.  Yes next time we will get a golf cart!  There was the kid water splash play area that Jaina loved!  She even got comfortable enough to start going down head first, crazy girl!!

 

Jaina even went down that twisty slide a couple of times, however the last time she went she ended up backwards and upside down, needless to say...that was the end of the sliding for the day :)  Ryan has been really making a lot of progress with the water...he and Noah were taking turns timing themselves to see who could stay under the water the longest!  We were quite impressed!!

 

 

And you know...it's not real camping unless there is an arcade....actually this place has two!!

 

 

Chip and Dales Campfire Sing along!!  The boys were anxiously awaiting the fire to get going so they could roast there marshmallows!

 

 

Pure Joy....Ryan's very 1st smore!! 

Jaina just wanted the graham cracker!

 

Jaina was so excited to see the chipmunks, until they got up close :) 

 

Dancing with their new furry friends!

 

We were all pretty beat by this point, but we made it to the beach area to watch the magic kingdom fireworks and the electrical boat parade.  It was really cool, the music for both was piped in to speakers at the fort so we got the whole experience!!  I am so glad that we went, the kids loved it!

 

 

Day two, breakfast and then out to the ferry and monorail!!

 

 

The boat ride from the fort takes you to a couple of the resorts, where you can then hop on the monorail.  Can you see Angel's birthday pin?!  All of the cast members we saw wished him a happy birthday :)

 

 Here we are outside of the Contemporary Resort just before boarding the monorail.

 

 

One of the really cool things that you see from the monorail is the entrance to Magic Kingdom, Space Mountain, and the castle.  Ryan and Jaina were so excited when they spotted the castle, guess we will be making a trip there soon, I think they are ready!!  We will definitely be back to the campsites, there was so much more to do that we didn't get the chance...fishing, renting the little two seater boats, the petting farm, the wagon rides....next time!!