Official March Trip Reports

I agree with tltay2005 with driving to Fantasia Gardens. The parking is right there and has never been full. My DS and I usually play the "Fairways" side. He is pretty good and played golf competitively and I "have a set of clubs". We play it for a bit of friendly competition but we would both say that it can be frustrating at times. OK........lots of times. :mad:

From the Disney website on Fantasia Gardens.
Resembling a traditional golf course built on a miniature scale, this course emphasizes skill over chance. Sand traps, bunkers, water hazards and sloping greens make the Fantasia Fairways Miniature Golf Course an exciting challenge, where par-3 and par-5 holes range in length from 63 to 109 feet long.
 
I agree with tltay2005 with driving to Fantasia Gardens. The parking is right there and has never been full. My DS and I usually play the "Fairways" side. He is pretty good and played golf competitively and I "have a set of clubs". We play it for a bit of friendly competition but we would both say that it can be frustrating at times. OK........lots of times. :mad:

From the Disney website on Fantasia Gardens.
Resembling a traditional golf course built on a miniature scale, this course emphasizes skill over chance. Sand traps, bunkers, water hazards and sloping greens make the Fantasia Fairways Miniature Golf Course an exciting challenge, where par-3 and par-5 holes range in length from 63 to 109 feet long.

Thank you sir
 
We are not doing any parks, so no fast passes to make, but I did make one dining reservation, breakfast at the Poly. I have heard that the Tonga toast is really good, so I guess I will have to give it a try :p. Really no other "set" plans, just go when and where we feel like it. I like the idea of not being stressed to be anywhere at any certain time.
 
We are not doing any parks, so no fast passes to make, but I did make one dining reservation, breakfast at the Poly. I have heard that the Tonga toast is really good, so I guess I will have to give it a try :p. Really no other "set" plans, just go when and where we feel like it. I like the idea of not being stressed to be anywhere at any certain time.

Amen to that!

My biggest issue with FP system and typically we eat more at camper than on Disney property so we are free to roam.
 


More good news today. Turns out the last day girls have school, Friday March 9 is a fun day, which means no tests. This being the case, I'm probably gonna let the girls miss that day and leave out about 3AM or so and find me a campground close by and pull in there giving me a full night's sleep prior to coming into the Fort the next day.

@bama_ed , some info on that state park would be much appreciated sir.
 
@bama_ed , some info on that state park would be much appreciated sir.

Dude, my go-to is Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont about 30 min from the Fort. You get off the Turnpike at the exit before the winery on the right and follow the highway through Clermont and LL is on the far side of town where they are expanding Hwy 27 from a 2-lane to 4-lane right in front of the park entrance. When I've booked a pre-night in March there I've had to do it pretty far in advance.

However, March is still "winter" in some parts and the snow birds generally book up many of the Florida state parks until Easter. Lake Louisa shows full that night 3/9 (only a cabin open). You can keep checking or try Frank and Denise's place at Thousand Trails which is south of LL on Hwy 27 for a few dollar more.

https://www.thousandtrails.com/florida/orlando-rv-resort/policies

On Hwy 192 there is Lake Magic and Tropical Palms and the Kissimmee KOA.

Further up I75 is O'Leno state park. I've got a night at Stephen Foster SP which is very close to the I10/I75 interchange when I come down a few days after you because I couldn't get into LL either. So Foster leaves me a couple hour drive into the Fort on my arrival day.

Florida State Parks can be reserved at: www.reserveamerica.com . I have to say I'm a fan of Florida SP's as a whole.

ED
 
Thanks Ed,

Yeah, saw they were full and was just checking out 1000 trails on the web. Probably gonna go ahead and grab it.

@2goofycampers , any input or advice?
 


Yeah we plan on leaving on Sunday March 11 but it won't be at 6am or early like that. We have a family wedding on Saturday night so an early get-away the next morning is not in the cards. We'll do good to get away 10am-noon so going as far as Foster SP is probably as far as I would want to go that day.

Pulling into the Fort is always exciting though.

ED
 
Thanks Ed,

Yeah, saw they were full and was just checking out 1000 trails on the web. Probably gonna go ahead and grab it.

@2goofycampers , any input or advice?
It's not the Fort but we like it. The back part is lots of foliage like the Fort was before the big clean out. The front part is cleared with a tree here and there. It will definitely do for a night. There are 2 Walmart's and 2 Publix nearby. The one toward Clermont has cheaper diesel than the one near Hwy 27. Sonny's BBQ is a fav of ours also.
We use rvonthego.com to book. There is also Lake Magic which is closer to The Fort. For one night I'd probably stay there. Miller's Ale house and Publix and RaceTrac is there.
 
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Thanks Denise.

Went ahead and grabbed a spot at 1,000 Trails. Got a "Retail Site"? not sure where in the scope of sites that falls but I'm not looking for anything more than a place to park and hook up.

Figure it's worth a shot just to see it and next time I might try Lake Magic for a comparison.

Appreciate the input on diesel. I was debating about going ahead and unhooking that first evening and going to fuel up before heading on in. I'll decide that when I get there and see how I feel and what the weather is like.

This is gonna be different. I'm gonna roll into the Fort not strung out on Mountain Dew and lack of sleep. This'll be a first for sure.
 
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2 weeks ago I got our MBs in the mail.
IMAG0806.jpg

Today, the second set arrived. I didn't know it at the time, but originally I had 2 separate reservations and was able to bridge them together. Not realizing I got different bands even though it was all the same trip.
IMAG0812.jpg
 
30 Days for us.

We got FastPasses when the 60 day window opened. Seems to me like the "newness" of FOP is wearing off a bit. Back in December, the only FP for FOP we could get was mid-day on departure day (6 days later). This trip, they were available everyday during the week.

We have a few ADRs, including two overlapping at Akershus for breakfast and lunch at BOG. We're trying to decide which to cancel. Has anyone done breakfast at Akershus? How about dinner? We have never been and the food looks good, but $50 pp is tough to swallow first thing on arrival day. We also want to try The Edison at DS.
 
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dalir,

I've never done breakfast (or any meal) at Akershus for the record.

Today I nailed down a few details about our upcoming trip in March.

The backstory is my daughter is a temporary Cast Member through the Disney College Program this spring so she gets all kinds of discounts, some of which she can bestow on us. Sadly, there were no CM discounts available for the Fort campsites when we were ready to book (and didn't expect any really given it's El Primo spring break time in my neck of the woods). But the restaurants have a good list of discounts at 20%/40%/50% so we will be taking advantage of those where we can.

Our goal is to maximize the dining discounts where we can and also get around to other resorts and eat in their restaurants and nose around and check them out (did that last trip with a Beaches 'n Cream ADR at Beach Club and it was nice to see the other resorts and eat).

Here are our current plans towing my Aliner popup from Alabama):

  1. Monday March 12: arrive at the Fort (Tent site reservation), dinner at Hoop Dee Doo 4pm show (50% off :dancer:). Oh yeah, you bet I chose Cat 1.
  2. Tuesday March 13: use the free Cast Member 1-day park hopper ticket to hit DHS first at rope drop to hit the major stuff then boat to Epcot for lunch at Coral Reef (40% off :banana:) and dinner at Via Napoli (no discount :sad: but DD's choice). FP's made at Epcot which is open till 11pm that night. I gotta see when Voices of Liberty will be singing that day.
  3. Wednesday DD has to work so no plans but DW and I will saunter over to Boardwalk (her work location) and stalk/watch her while she is working for a few minutes. No plans as of yet.
  4. Thursday is a lunch reservation at AKL Saana (40% off :banana:) since none of us have ever seen AK Lodge and a dinner reservation over at Port Orleans Riverside at Boatwright's (40% off :banana:) . I love POR as it's a great destination for the boat ride to Disney Springs. After Boatwright's, we're gonna hopefully stick around for Yeeha Bob's 830pm show (seen it once, would love to again).
  5. Friday morning head home. DD doesn't know her work schedule yet but if she is available in the morning (as in scheduled for the afternoon/night shift), I might do Trails End breakfast at 40% off :banana:before pointing the 'Burban north and pulling out.

It feels strange to be stalking the Dining Reservations the way I have but I am going to maximize the CM discounts while I can on this trip and subsequent ones. It will probably cause me to binge on Disney and then react/cure by staying away for a while but so be it. I won't get this opportunity again.

We have a CBR reservation at a CM discount for an April long weekend and one for May at one of the All Stars when we come down to move DD back home. She is only there for the spring. But I have quite the ADR list in my MDE (I am ashamed to say) to make use of the Dining Discounts for the April and May visits. We haven't been to Epcot/DHS for a while so that's why we're hitting it this trip. AK I still can't get motivated for even with the new stuff.

We plan to leave home Sunday morning in Alabama and go as far as the I75/I10 area at Stephen Foster State Park which will leave us a 3-hr drive to the Fort the next morning. It's a new SP for us and given we have to make a late start on Sunday, it's a good place to try out.

Bama Ed

PS - oh and for the Discounts, :dancer: is used for 50% (only place doing that is HDDR at early or late shows not middle), :banana: is used for 40% (about 20 park/resort restaurants but it is B/L/D dependant on most), and :bounce: will be used for 20% (which has a longer restaurant list and looser time-of-day choice). Like I said, in MDE my ADR list in April and May is embarrassingly long. :rolleyes:
 
Only dining I have booked is our arrival evening we booked the dessert party to view the fireworks. Outside of that, it's eat as we go.

Usually we book TE on the Disney app like the morning of if we decide that day to alter our plans and do a lunch or dinner at the campground. I am considering some locals at the resorts, but nothing too much. I just don't like the schedule tying me down.

Now, if I was getting discounts...
 
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Ed ADR list is impressive. Only Caution is for Saana We ate there once and even the mild milder foods we tried were way over spiced for our taste. Have yet to try them but I have heard Beaches and Cream is very very good. Fox News's Sean Hannity gave the Ice Cream there a rave review
The one thing I don't see is a lot of free time to play Warmer/Colder with Michael
 
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