CCIntrigue...aka Gwen

Arrived at the Fort on September 25. Got evacuated on the 27th to POR We were finally allowed to return to the Fort yesterday. I think there are a few other Fiends who will be at the Fort while we're here. Would love to see you. Please stop by and say hello!

Happy birthday to Olivia!

Monday morning the weather wasn't great, but by lunchtime it had improved. We went to the Magic kingdom for the last time this trip ... always a sad visit. Neither of us was in the mood to stand in a long line, so we went to the Country Bear Jamboree just because a show was getting ready to start just as we went by. Then we saw Goofy's cavalcade again. That seemed to be the one that came by way more often than any of the others. A little while later another cavalcade came by. Does this float look familiar? Next we went to the Hall of Presidents.

Saturday morning weather wasn't the greatest. It was cool with a misty rain. After breakfast we drove over to DHS ro ride the skyliner over to the new Riviera Resort. It was the only way we could figure out to see the resort because Disney was being very strict about letting us on properties other than the Fort. I had hoped to get some good photos from the air, but between the rain and the black film on our skyliner car they didn't turn out very well; Anyway, we weren't very impressed with the resort. Then we went over to EPCOT. By the time we arrived the rain had stopped.

Congratulations! Yes, if we get to make the trip we will be in a cabin at the Fort. Driving down Monday, February 8, and driving back home on Saturday the 13th. Wish we were staying for 2 months! What campground will you be at?

Hey, y'all! I'm back! And my little finger is working better now, as you can tell. I have about 4" of incisions on my elbow, I had a severe case of ulnar nerve entrapment in my elbow that was corrected. Basically I had the same thing as carpal tunnel syndrome, only it was in my elbow. I ignored it too long, and it was to the point that it was either surgery or lose the use of my hand. I'm 10 days post surgery, and you wouldn't believe how well I'm healing. I was unbelievably blessed with a wonderful surgeon, no pain, not even having to take pain pills after surgery, just everythin

Thank you, thnk you1 yes, surgery went well. cAn't type to gret yet but am getting there. sorry i didn't get tR finished before surgery but life got in the way. Hd lots of ernds to run to get ready for surgery. by the way my little finger that types the A is the one most involved in my problem. I hve to stop nd use nother finger to type an A. becuse I think it's working when it isn't.

David tried to make a funny remark, but apparently this person was humorless. Isn't that the only restroom on the 4th floor? I'd hate to be a parent with a young child who suddenly thinks they can't wait. Right now I'm just hoping that Trail's End will be back again. This just didn't feel right ...

I have no idea. I went back and looked carefully at my photos of each of the 12 trees. It appears that the only 2 trees missing lanterns are the main Disney Springs tree and the one inspired by Pluto. The Pluto tree may have had a lantern on the opposite side ... I'm just not sure. The one for HM looks fine to me too, but the rest of them are just plain odd.

Friday was our second MK day. And it was finally in the low 70s, beautul, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. We rode Peter Pan's Flight and Haunted Mansion, walked around awhile, had some popcorn in the shadow of the castle, and left. It was time for us to visit the horse barn. Wow! This horse's name is Owen. He was being groomed for an event at Golden Oak that evening. The groomer said he's young and a little hard-headed. He listened to her pretty well. She would say 'Owen, put your head down,' and other things like that, and he would do i

Thursday was another non-park day for us, so we went to Disney Springs. We arrived around 11;00 and made our way to the second floor of the parking garage to get in the long line for our temperature check and then the security check. It took a good while to get cleared. There was a long line waiting to get in World of Disney, so we skipped it for the meantime. We had lunch at the Polite Pig and did the Christmas Tree Stroll. I took pictures of all the trees, I won't post all of them here unless someone requests them. Here are three of the most unusual ones. The Lion King:

On Wednesday morning we had breakfast again at Whispering Canyon Cafe. i'm sure you all know that the shenanigans there have been discontinued because of COVID. Instead our server decided to provide his own entertainment. As we came out of the Cafe, we had greeters: Then we drove over to EPCOT. It was another really cold day. We got in line to enter the temporary MouseGears. The store is small. This picture shows about 25% of it: It's pretty much just a warehouse experience right now. Not the fun stop it used to be. But it was warm in there! This wa

The next day was Tuesday, December 8. It was cold, cold, cold. Even David was cold. It was our Animal Kingdom day. When it's hot, AK is really hot. We found out when it's cold, AK is REALLY cold. And with all the shows closed, there's no way to stay warm without going from one restaurant to the next. We rode the safari, walked both trails, and ate at Flame Tree in the small sliver of sunshine we could find. Here's a few photos: DID I SAY IT WAS COLD?

I thought Runaway Railway was great too, but David not as much. I think the long wait really got to him. It was so much easier for me since I was sitting in my scooter. The next day was another no-park day. David develops what to me is a weird affliction while at the Fort. He has an allergic reaction to the Disney bubble. The longer he's in contact with it, the worse his reaction becomes until he just has to escape for awhile. But to me, once inside the bubble, it's almost heresy to even suggest I extend even one toe outside that bubble. And we'd already ventured out three times --

Well, guys, I found out this afternoon that I will have surgery on my elbow a week from tomorrow, 1/19. My surgeon won't know how extensive the work will be until he actually gets into it. I'm praying for the short version rather than the long version and the much more complicated recuperation it entails. Anyway, I'm going to try and get as much of this TR finished as i can before Tuesdsay! The next day was reserved for Hollywood Studios. The one attraction I really wanted to experience since it had opened since our last visit was: We waited about 50 minutes in line, wh

The only long line we waited in was for Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway. It was posted at 60 minutes and took us around 50. Yeah, that empty river is quite a jolt. It looks like they are repairing the riverboat track. Huge chunks of it are missing. If all goes well, we will be together there soon!

Our First Park Day! Finally Saturday arrived. We had survived 6 days without going to a park. Would I want to do it again? A definite no! We had reservations for Magic Kingdom. Oh happy day! We had heard horror stories about it taking 1 - 1.5 hours waiting in line to get onto the boat at the marina, so we drove to the TTC and took the ferry over to the MK. Big mistake. It took us forever. After getting our temperature checked and going through security, we finally got into the park at 10:30. But finally we were there. I was home. i could breathe. And the crowd

Finally Friday arrived. We started the day with breakfast at Whispering Canyon. This meal was $23 per adult, not including beverages. David selected the Heritage Skillet (biscuits and gravy not pictured): and I ordered the Carnivore Skillet: The food was good, but it didn't compare to our breakfast at Chef Mickey's. After we ate we went to Publix in Celebration and then went back to the motorhome to clean it up because we were having some very special guests that afternoon! Grumpy and Grandma came to visit! It was great spending time with them. The af

Wow! If I went out on FB and said I didn't love the new castle colors I'd be crucified! But then of course some of those nuts think it's heresy to criticize Disney about any little thing at all ...

We didn't find one server anywhere who was working at their pre-COVID restaurant. As I said earlier, Joy from TE is working at Olivia's. Our server at The Wave said she is a new hire because of none of their previous servers would come back there. We found out Ken from TE is now working at Le Cellier in Canada.

One of the few good changes due to COVID is that many of those once-noisy restaurants are much quieter now that seating is spaced so far apart now. I'll bring that up again later in my TR. Great! I'm not alone! Words can't express what I'm feeling for our country right now ...

Under our original reservations we would have been at WDW on my birthday. But since we deleted the first two weeks I decided to celebrate my birthday two weeks late on December 3. Our tradition is that I pick a Disney restaurant we've never been too before. I wear my Disney ears that I've worn every year for the past 15 years or so on my birthday (even to work!) And this year I totally ignored my low carb diet and ate things I haven't had since 2002. And loved every single bite without feeling one sliver of guilt! No signature or fancy restaurant for us this year! Where did w

NaCole, David and I have had such long discussions about this ... we are convinced this has evolved into not a political or societal issue but rather a spiritual one. When we finally get to see each other again, I'll explain! Mo, welcome! That ornament takes the award for the most original one we saw.

The next day we stayed around the Fort until dinnertime. Then we went over to the Contemporary. David had the beef medallions (which was filet), abd I had the pork dish: Then we split this dessert: It was good, but frankly we thought the meal at Olivia's was better. The cost was approximately the same.

So let's get this TR rolling again. That evening we went over to Olivia's for dinner. Dining reservations, even with lower crowds overall, were much harder for me to come by. And then the restaurants have limited menus. Each restaurant always has a vegetarian option. And then a fish option (not a seafood option but fish, like mahi mahi or tuna or "catch of the day"). Which only leaves 3-4 options for people like me who don't like vegetarian or fish options, and lots of times one of the remaining options is pasta, which I don't eat since I'm a low carber. Bottom line: we didn't have