Ft. Wilderness Campground, Orlando, Florida March 11, 2008

Inside the Grand Floridian Hotel
The Contemporary Hotel Resort

The Minnesota "Cowboys"
Talking to Aunt Sharon
The Circle D Ranch
The Grand Floridian from the lake
Riding the boat to the Magic Kingdom

Here we are in Disney again, only this time we are staying at the Ft Wilderness campground. It's really pretty nice. I think it would be better if you had kids because John and I have really seen most of what Disney has to offer but we are doing crazy things now. We got here Saturday and pretty much scoped out the campground on our bikes. Sunday we had to leave the resort to stock up on a few groceries, but Sunday night we went down to the beach area and watched the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom. They do such a great job. Yesterday we went horseback riding.....I wish I could collect 42.00 / person to ride at a walk for 45 minutes. Whatever, it was pretty and boring....I mean relaxing! :) In the afternoon we hopped on a boat to the Magic Kingdom and then caught the Monorail and went to see a couple of the resorts. The Grand Floridian is really beautiful, can't imagine what that costs a night for a family. We then found a bar (imagine that!) and had 2 drinks for 20.00! Met some nice people from Layfayette, IN who were fun to talk to. 2 of their 3 kids are in college and the wife is going back also to get her PHD. At least she works at Purdue so gets the tuition at a better rate. It's fun to talk to other empty nesters to see how they are re-inventing their lives. At 7:00 we went to the campfire sing a long...yes, we sang campfire songs with every child in the park!! We also got to meet Chip and Dale. Even got a hug!!!! Then I coaxed John into staying a little while for the movie, "Mary Poppins"! We made it about 30 minutes! Then we decided to ride our bikes back down to the beach and catch the electric parade that they have on the water and more fireworks! What a busy day, eh???

John and I figure it would cost a family of 4 to stay in a hotel here on the property, go to several parks, eat, buy souvenirs etc...about 7,000.00 for a week...maybe more! Pretty amazing place but also expensive. We figure camping is the way to go, you only pay 80.00/night and can buy your own groceries and spend the bulk of your money on the parks etc.. Enough of the sermon.

Tonight we have dinner reservations at the Ft Wilderness Lodge and it is so beautiful, looks just like lodge in Glacier, only a lot bigger. We will let you know how it is.

The weather has been a little cooler since last Friday night when the cold front came through. We had a terrible storm in Ft Myers that night and like idiots, we went to bed without shutting our front door and closing the roof vents. Needless to say we had water issues in the am! Live and learn! Now the temperatures in the daytime have been in the high 60's and low 70's, which for us Minnesotans is perfect for biking etc...

We have a few other things planned for later this week, but won't tell you about them, I will just say, "Stay tuned."