Fort Wilderness

Ok, it has been long enough - I should get to the trip already. Last year was so fun, we chose to do the cabins again this year. We did not have the same positive experience this time. All the trouble was in the check-in. And while the vacation got exponentially better from there, I would say that had this been our first Disney vacation, we would not be going back again. It was that disastrous. However, being the kind soul that I am, I am willing to give them another chance. And probably another. And probably another... But let me start at the beginning... Disney has this great feature where you can check in online up to a week before your arrival. This done, you can avoid the long check in lines, show your picture ID, get your stuff, and be on your way. Sounds dreamy, doesn't it? But in the last 4 times we have gone, it has not worked that way. We still end up waiting in the ridiculously slow line with nothing prepared ahead of time. "Short-staffed" they say - each time. This doesn't sound like a big deal, really, but remember when you are traveling with small children and you have been up a long time already, been on an airplane, blah, blah, blah, it would just be nice if this would be done as promised. But, alas, it was not. So we wait. Only to find out that the cabins we have been assigned were not together. (I think this was paybacks for our making fun of the people who checked in before us last year. It is no longer funny.) We questioned that as we were there for a family vacation and sharing food. Our lady called someone who informed her there just wasn't anything they could do. Now, if there were only two open cabins when we checked in, I would accept that answer, but guessing that was not the case, we were not willing to give up that easily. Mom had reserved a golf cart from home and they had no record of that either, so we had to fill all that out again. Our groceries had not been delivered to our cabin yet but they would send them right down. One week's groceries for 9 people ordered, and they bring 3 grocery bags. Ummm... So we get out our grocery order and start double checking - there is a lot of stuff missing. Three more deliveries later, we finally have it all. In the mean time, mom and I head back up to the front desk to ask again about cabins closer together. All of a sudden - with another call to whoever - they magically have two cabins together that we can move to. So, we had to go back and collect all our groceries and the bags we had with us and move. (Oh, and sorry that my children had already touched every possible inch of the first cabin before we moved out.) We finally got settled in to the right place and then waited for our bags to arrive. We arrived at noon. Our last bag did not make it to our cabin until 10:30PM!! And it was the one with all our sweatshirts - it made for one cold evening! Again, they sited "short-staffed". It also had Abby's blankley - and we had just put the poor girl to bed without it. Boy, were we glad that arrived! And, really, that was the end of it. The rest of the vacation was stress-free from there on out. But that was too much stress for us... Next up? What we did that was fun. By Me.