SPRING BREAK VACATION 2020

This was to be the best vacation ever!!!!! For nine months we planned a trip to Walt Disney World with the Meyers during Spring Break when the kids were out of school. It took 9 months to plan because that how long it took to get reservations at Ft. Wilderness campground. I have been hearing for so long how much people love that CG and how they would come back year after year and stay for so long. Many just come for the CG and never go to the parks. Everyone loves it with the spacious campsites, woods, wildlife and activities what was not to love? There are special Holidays that get booked up far in advance like Halloween and Christmas. The CG goes all out for holidays and campers decorate their campsites very extravagantly. I have been on FT Wilderness FB pages. forums and website reading and learning as much as I can to take advantage of everything that is there. The Meyers juggled their life and schedule to be there too. Excitement was in the air. We all purchased tickets to Disney and coordinated our Fast Passes to take advantage of the shorter lines and I booked us a dinner show for the Hoop Dee Doo Review right in the CG. It was an exciting day when our Magic bands arrived. 

                                                            Everything was going great.

We loaded up the MH over Saturday and Sunday so we were ready to go by Monday. We left early on Monday the 9th. after putting the kitties in their backpacks and driving over to the MH. We decided to drive to Tifton, GA and stop for the night at the KOA which is one of our favorite CGs, We always seem to get the same site number which is a nice pull thru with good wifi. That is important since we ended up using a lot of our data time at home because our internet carrier has been down a lot.  It was a nice stop for overnight.

The next day  our plan was to drive to Ocala for an overnight stop. We arrive early in the afternoon which gave us a little time to drive by Mary Ann's and Dad's house. The new owners have done a great job keeping up the outside.

When I sold the house it had a huge oak tree in the front yard. The new owners, The Coles had it removed and had the lawn repaired so that you couldn't tell that it was ever there. They also trimmed all the big trees in the back. Mary Ann would be so happy to know they are taking such good care of it.

David and I made a trip to Bealls to shop as they were having a great sale and they only have these stores in Florida. David found a new pair of walking shoes and I found a new top and a pair of summer pants for Disney. We went to Carrabbas for an early dinner and back to the CG.

The next day we were headed to Orlando and the KOA CG for 3 days so that we could be ready early on the 14th to check in to Ft Wilderness.  The KOA CG was easy to get to, but it was a very tight CG with you neighbor being very close. We were careful to not be in crowded areas and to wash our hands often and use sanitizers  whenever we touched anything else. 

Our campsite was a back-in which was tricky due to the closeness of the other RVs. Once we got in we were good to go and we were right in front of the lake.

Since we were here for 3 nights it gave us a chance to drive around Orlando and go by our old house and a few other familiar areas. The house we lived in was new at the time and the trees in the neighborhood have now filled out  and grown over the street. It certainly looked different than when we lived there. I think the same people that bought it from me still live there.

We had time to drive past Ryan's old school and daycare as well as the Cancer Center where I worked. It was amazing that it was all still there. It still looked pretty good too. The traffic in Orlando

was horrible and it was nice not to live there any more. We had planned to buy our groceries for Ft Wilderness in Orlando and with the corona-virus situation building I thought i'd better head to Publix. When I got there they did have toilet paper, so I picked up one package just in case. Luckily, I already had sanitizers and wipes long before we left so we were all set. In Publix the shelves were empty of rice and in the meat dept, chicken. Must be those Cubans getting ready for lots of chicken and rice.

We had a nice, quiet time at the KOA. It was in the 80s, so it was good that I had some summer clothes to wear.

It was here than we received word that  Disney World was shutting down on Monday. This was Saturday and we texted Ryan and Najla. Najla was worried that the kids wouldn't have a place for Spring break and that Disney might also close Ft Wilderness. I couldn't find another place in Orlando or St Augustine that we could go. We decided to go ahead to Ft Wilderness until we could make other plans. It was a sad and scary day. All that planning and money for tickets. 

 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭  So so sad.