It's The End of the World as We Know It-The TCD Gang's Last Fort Trip (BC)

[CKCK 45]

TCD bonus installment with Starbies in the rain and Duckie Dynsasty wannabee with headcam = perfection

 

woo hoo

[CKCK 45]

That was the weakest cavalcade I have ever seen.  

 

I would say that maybe they pulled the calliope because of the rain, but that wouldn't make any sense since when I caught it in the Citrus Parade it rained a ton.  

[devores 382]

The rainy day cavalcade has been going on for a while. But, it takes allot for Disney to call off a parade. The decision is often made within minutes of step off. Disney would much rather delay than cancel the parade. So it would have to be a significant weather event to call it off.

 

Does anyone know why the parade stepped off from Frontier land this particular day?

 

BTW, I was working this day, but was with Rapunzel. (AKA I was working MS)

 

The nook you are standing in is one of my favorite spots to take photos when working MS. There are a few along MS on either side, I believe 4 in total.

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Not sure how they can call that a parade with a straight face.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Leave it to Disney to turn 3 cars of characters into a "Rainy Day Cavalcade!!"  What was it Lou said recently?

 

MARKETING!!

 

That blue wagon sure is shiny and pretty, but you're right - it ain't no calliope.  What the Fort?  Just guessing, but maybe the rain put a damper on that too?

 

Big fat BOOOO to obnoxious teens, but from the sounds of it that should be "klassy"... with a "K" 

 

I'll definitely look for you napping in that nook next 24 hours at MK.  

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

People who step off the curb SMB.

 

Wet butt SMB.

 

The wagon instead of the calliope SMB.

 

Tour groups SMB.

 

Now you would think the whole thing SMB, but you were at MK while the crowds were heading for the exits so it was likely an epic evening and I am looking forward to the rest!  Thanks for sharing the bonus trip!

[devores 382]

I don't think the rain is the reason for the wagon change. In order for this to be in the parade, it would have to be in place and hitched up well before the rain started. There is too much logistically to change that at the last minute.

 

Maybe they had planned on it being there but something happened to it (stopped working, something broke, etc)

 

Or Disney Parks Blogs doesn't know what they are talking about. But I believe there was a fiend that reported that the head of the TCD ranch had mentioned it would be in the parade. But I also know that it was supposed to be refurbed prior to, so maybe the refurb didn't work out or took longer than expected.

[Beckers 1,136]

Omg I couldn't deal with wet butt. That drives me insane, which I why I don't ride water rides.

Speaking of your purple crayon. We were at the library the other day and there was a book called Harold and his purple crayon!

Made me think o you.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Boo to the short parade!

 

Yeah.  But I understand.  What else could they do?  It would be a mess for them to have all of those floats and CM's march in the rain.

 

TCD bonus installment with Starbies in the rain and Duckie Dynsasty wannabee with headcam = perfection

 

woo hoo

 

Starbies?

 

So is that a thing?

 

I thought Twin #1 made it up.

 

That was the weakest cavalcade I have ever seen.  

 

I would say that maybe they pulled the calliope because of the rain, but that wouldn't make any sense since when I caught it in the Citrus Parade it rained a ton.  

 

As far as I know, that is the only cavalcade I've seen, so I didn't have a frame of reference.  Dumb me- I thought it was an OK cavalcade.

 

I was thinking the same thing about the calliope- if they just spent a bunch of money fixing it up they wouldn't want it getting drenched.  If there was an actual restoration, then there would be a lot of shiny new mechanical parts that they wouldn't want getting wet.

 

The rainy day cavalcade has been going on for a while. But, it takes allot for Disney to call off a parade. The decision is often made within minutes of step off. Disney would much rather delay than cancel the parade. So it would have to be a significant weather event to call it off.

 

Does anyone know why the parade stepped off from Frontier land this particular day?

 

BTW, I was working this day, but was with Rapunzel. (AKA I was working MS)

 

The nook you are standing in is one of my favorite spots to take photos when working MS. There are a few along MS on either side, I believe 4 in total.

 

I don't know why it came from Frontierland, but I've seen it go that way before- particularly on busy days.  Do you know?

 

I thought about texting you and tracking you down, but my plans were very uncertain.  For a while, I seriously thought about not coming over at all because of the rain.  And, I wasn't sure that we would stay long.  I did look for you in your knickers up and down Main Street.

 

So, you take photos in the nook?   What, do you have guests stand in it and take their photo? Is that a good place for a photo?  I swear I have never noticed it before, and now you're telling me there are four.  I am pretty sure the door in the one I was in is fake, as the gift shop is right behind it.  I thought maybe it was for a closet or something, but I checked the knob, and it just turned and turned-so the door must not open.

 

Not sure how they can call that a parade with a straight face.

 

That was not a parade.

 

It was a cavalcade.

 

But, your point is well taken.  A cavalcade sounds kind of majestic, which this was not.

 

 

Leave it to Disney to turn 3 cars of characters into a "Rainy Day Cavalcade!!"  What was it Lou said recently?

 

MARKETING!!

 

That blue wagon sure is shiny and pretty, but you're right - it ain't no calliope.  What the Fort?  Just guessing, but maybe the rain put a damper on that too?

 

Big fat BOOOO to obnoxious teens, but from the sounds of it that should be "klassy"... with a "K" 

 

I'll definitely look for you napping in that nook next 24 hours at MK.  

 

Yes, got to love the Disney marketing machine.  Three old cars and a few characters is a cavalcade.

 

But, as I said above, what else could they do?  At least they did something.

 

What was more impressive marketing, in my opinion, was how they rooked all of those dance moms and dads into paying to come to WDW to see their little darlings run down Main Street in the rain.  It is interesting to me that the dance thing was not cancelled.  No way were they going to cancel that and have to face parents asking for a refund.

 

People who step off the curb SMB.

 

Wet butt SMB.

 

The wagon instead of the calliope SMB.

 

Tour groups SMB.

 

Now you would think the whole thing SMB, but you were at MK while the crowds were heading for the exits so it was likely an epic evening and I am looking forward to the rest!  Thanks for sharing the bonus trip!

 

That's a lot of Monkey Butt sucking.

 

But, I have to agree with you on all counts.

 

Stay tuned to see if you're right about the epic evening.

 

I don't think the rain is the reason for the wagon change. In order for this to be in the parade, it would have to be in place and hitched up well before the rain started. There is too much logistically to change that at the last minute.

 

Maybe they had planned on it being there but something happened to it (stopped working, something broke, etc)

 

Or Disney Parks Blogs doesn't know what they are talking about. But I believe there was a fiend that reported that the head of the TCD ranch had mentioned it would be in the parade. But I also know that it was supposed to be refurbed prior to, so maybe the refurb didn't work out or took longer than expected.

 

I think it's pretty well established that the ding dongs who post on the Disney Parks Blog don't know what they're talking about.

 

Yesterday, July 2, this was posted:

 

 

So, what I want to know is whether the calliope was in yesterday's parade or will be in any of the parades this week.

 

I agree with you- it is unlikely that the blue wagon was switched for the calliope at the last minute.

 

 

Omg I couldn't deal with wet butt. That drives me insane, which I why I don't ride water rides.

Speaking of your purple crayon. We were at the library the other day and there was a book called Harold and his purple crayon!

Made me think o you.

 

What?

 

Harold and the Purple Crayon?

 

I am going to sue!

 

That little creep stole my idea!

 

J/K

 

Mrs. TCD is a pre-school teacher.

 

I know Harold and his antics well.

 

If you haven't read the book you ought to.  And, if I'm not mistaken, there are many sequels.  Spellbinding stuff.

 

TCD

[devores 382]

The photos I take depend on the group. I usually have them sit on the steps and it makes a nice family picture with no one around, or I do the magic shots there with the kids so you don't have other peoples butts in the picture. But I have to be near them for it to work. I cant wander too far from my assigned position.

 

The parade starts from Frontier land for two reasons.  

 

There is a location backstage where they stage the parade prior to step off that floods. When it rains enough, they cannot stage the parade there as it is flooded.

 

The second reason is MS is sloped down toward the train station. Part of the optical illusion (if you didn't know this, sorry for ruining it for ya)

 

When the street is wet, some of the bigger floats cannot get started on the wet pavement if they have to stop. This is also the reason you never see the horse drawn trolley never stop on MS heading to the castle. It always stops heading toward the train station. The horse cannot get the trolley moving again if it has to start uphill.  

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The photos I take depend on the group. I usually have them sit on the steps and it makes a nice family picture with no one around, or I do the magic shots there with the kids so you don't have other peoples butts in the picture. But I have to be near them for it to work. I cant wander too far from my assigned position.

 

The parade starts from Frontier land for two reasons.  

 

There is a location backstage where they stage the parade prior to step off that floods. When it rains enough, they cannot stage the parade there as it is flooded.

 

The second reason is MS is sloped down toward the train station. Part of the optical illusion (if you didn't know this, sorry for ruining it for ya)

 

When the street is wet, some of the bigger floats cannot get started on the wet pavement if they have to stop. This is also the reason you never see the horse drawn trolley never stop on MS heading to the castle. It always stops heading toward the train station. The horse cannot get the trolley moving again if it has to start uphill.  

 

Awesome post- thanks for sharing all of that information!

 

I didn't know that about the flooding and the parade.  But, there are times when the weather is fine that I've seen the parade go the wrong way.  The most recent time was right before Christmas and it was the Christmas parade.  But, I guess that came from Frontierland because that's how they do it for the Christmas parties.

 

I never thought about Main Street being slanted, but I did notice how the water ran down along the curbs toward the train station.

 

TCD

[CKCK 45]

 

Starbies?

 

So is that a thing?

 

I thought Twin #1 made it up.

 

 

I'm just going with the flow.  Trying to be hip, you know?

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Did you by chance happen to ride buzz?

[devores 382]

Awesome post- thanks for sharing all of that information!

 

I didn't know that about the flooding and the parade.  But, there are times when the weather is fine that I've seen the parade go the wrong way.  The most recent time was right before Christmas and it was the Christmas parade.  But, I guess that came from Frontierland because that's how they do it for the Christmas parties.

 

I never thought about Main Street being slanted, but I did notice how the water ran down along the curbs toward the train station.

 

TCD

 

There could be other reasons as well, those are the most common though. It could be an obstruction they cant move in time as well. The special parades (Halloween, Christmas) always start from Frontierland.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm just going with the flow.  Trying to be hip, you know?

 

Good luck with that.

 

Especially when your girls become teens.

 

Mine hate it when I try to be hip.

 

Personally, I think I'm pretty cool.  My daughters don't think so at all.

 

Did you by chance happen to ride buzz?

 

No.  I certainly had the chance, but it didn't fit in with our plans this time.  I will be getting there and trying to get a high score though.

 

TCD

[CKCK 45]

 

No.  I certainly had the chance, but it didn't fit in with our plans this time.  I will be getting there and trying to get a high score though.

 

TCD

 

CKCK 6.0 spoiler alert:  later in my TR I have a Buzz score to share.

[Heidi-meetsTCD@TSM 5]

Woohoo, another TCD trip report!!!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

CKCK 6.0 spoiler alert:  later in my TR I have a Buzz score to share.

 

Oh man.

 

I need to work on my Buzz skills.

 

I've never had a Buzz score worth sharing.

 

Woohoo, another TCD trip report!!!!

 

Not really.

 

Just bonus material.

 

TCD

[Heidi-meetsTCD@TSM 5]

Not really.

 

Just bonus material.

 

TCD

Good enough for me!!!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Continuing on with the bonus material, we had just endured the dancers, blue wagon, and cavalcade and had Fastpasses in hand for Space Mountain at 4:15.

 

That left us with about an hour to kill.

 

We headed up Main Street, which was not so easy with so many people leaving the park.  This could be good, we thought.

 

Twin #1 suggested that we head back to New Fantasyland and ride the Mermaid ride.

 

The TCD girls really like the Mermaid ride.  I don't hate it.  I was thinking that some of the AC in there might help with my wet butt situation, so I agreed- let's go.

 

Whenever we have a chance to walk through the castle instead of around it, we do.

 

You know how all of those people were leaving?

 

Well, there were a bunch hanging out under the castle:

 

 

As far as I'm concerned, this is just a passageway, not a place to hang out.  But, with no CM's in sight to tell people to keep in moving, it apparently is a place to get out of the rain.

 

That was a little too crowded for my taste.

 

We eventually made it past all of the geniuses with their parked strollers and through to the other side of the castle.

 

Every time we see the new Mine Train ride, it is obvious that a lot of progress has been made.  There are a lot more fake rocks and track here than there were just a month earlier:

 

 

The thing is- there is still all kinds of scaffolding and stuff there and it looks like they have a long way to go-especially on the side opposite what you see in this photo.  Is it just me, or is this ride taking forever for them to build?  It seems like the whole Magic Kingdom didn't take them as long to build as this one ride.

 

I'm not sure if we had ever seen the Beast's castle in the rain, but now we have:

 

 

Even though I just took this photo two days ago, I was trying to remember why I took a second photo of the Beast's castle:

 

 

Then I remembered.

 

An average sized bird- like a pigeon- flew up and landed on one of the spires of the castle.  It was messing up the whole forced perspective thing.  So I took that second photo to show that.  The only problem is that what I saw quite clearly doesn't really show in the photo, not even when I zoom in on the bird.  Fail:

 

 

Here we are in Gaston' village:

 

 

All of these guests in their clear plastic ponchos kind of ruined the illusion that we were in a French village:

 

 

Hey- here's something new- they opened up part of the construction fence, and you can see all of the detail on this side of the Mine Train mountain:

 

 

That has to be one of the nicest themed stroller parking areas I've ever seen.

 

So, here we were at the Mermaid ride.  With all the people leaving the park or loitering under the castle, there shouldn't be much of a wait here at all.  Right?

 

Wrong.

 

The posted wait time was 50 minutes, and you can see that there are people in the queue way outside of the caverns:

 

 

Thanks.  But no thanks.

 

How about another look at the new stroller parking area?:

 

 

I've already shared this prediction, but I think that new building there on the left will be a Little Mermaid gift shop when the construction walls come down.  Either that or a Starbies.   Make note of these predictions so you will be impressed when I am proven right.  Again.

 

So the Mermaid idea was a fail.

 

Why was there a 50 minute wait?

 

I guess a bunch of folks went in there to get out of the rain?

 

Now what?

 

We didn't know.

 

We still had more than 45 minutes to go before we could ride Space Mountain.

 

The walkway to Storybook Circus was open, so we went that way.

 

The Casey Junior Splash Zone didn't have many customers this afternoon:

 

 

 

It wasn't real busy back here.  Look- hardly any strollers are parked in the stroller parking area:

 

 

Right around here we heard the train whistle.

 

Hey, how about a round trip ride around the MK?  That would be fun, and we would be kind of out of the rain.

 

For some reason, though, the train stopped for just a minute and left the station empty:

 

 

 

Another fail.

 

We weren't doing too good here.

 

Twin #1 said let's take the walkway to Tomorrowland and ride the People Mover.  That was a good idea.

 

So we went.

 

I've never seen this dog walk area in use, but maybe one of these days I will:

 

 

It is located conveniently next to a designated smoking area:

 

 

Walt loved him some smokes, but I'm not sure he would have approved of this:

 

 

The ash trays are themed nicely:

 

 

But, they need a CM to empty these once in a while, no? :

 

 

Enough of that.

 

On to the People Mover!

 

Where we found a line.

 

A line!

 

To ride the People Mover.

 

There must have been a lot of people in the park today.  Because a lot left.  And a lot were standing under the castle.  And here were a lot standing in line to ride the People Mover.

 

I like this photo.  There's a grumpy girl on the left, and a happy girl in the middle.  Attitude matters:

 

 

Not only was there a line at the People Mover, but there was a legitimate crowd gathered at the Carousel of Progress:

 

 

Basically, Tomorrowland was a mess:

 

 

 

Even though there was a line for the People Mover, the line was moving, so we joined it and rode.  We were fresh out of ideas.

 

It wasn't bad.

 

Look at those crazy guests riding the race cars in the rain:

 

 

Twin #1 and I were recently discussing the Space Mountain queue.  Do you realize that the queue goes under the train tracks for the Magic Kingdom railroad?   You can see in this next photo that when you enter the queue, you are first in a building that is separate from the actual mountain:

 

 

Do you see the blue wall on the side of the mountain in this photo?  That is where the train passes between the mountain and the separate building at the beginning of the queue:

 

 

A train just happened to be passing by at this moment, and we could see the steam rising from the gap.  You can't really see it in that last photo, but here's the train moving on.  Note that now it has passengers:

 

 

We ended up stopping for a couple of minutes when we were inside of Space Mountain.  After we stopped, there was a brief period where the cars started to go backward.  We had never had that happen to us before.  We were stopped in a really dark part, and it was a strange sensation to move the wrong way in the car.

 

Eventually, we began moving in the right direction, and got our tour of Tomorrowland.  There's a crowd down there at COP:

 

 

And, here's something you rarely see.  An actual line for Stitch:

 

 

What the Fort?  A little rain and people lose their minds.  A line for Stitch?

 

When we got back to the station, the CM offered to let us go around again.  We thought about it, as we still had 20 minutes to go before we could use our Fastpasses.

 

But, I had another idea.

 

Why not go on COP?  That would be the right amount of time, and wouldn't it be interesting to ride it when we aren't the only guests in the theater?

 

So, we will head there next.

 

In the next update, as we have reached the photo limit for this one.

 

TCD

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

 

 

 

Wow - that is a boatload of progress since we were there at the end of May!  And yes, it does seem like this attraction has been under construction for 2 years.  Oh wait... they cleared the site for this in March 2011 so....

 

 

 

Oh yeah and clearly the rain was seeping into people's brains if they were actually waiting in line for Stitch. 

[CKCK 45]

A lot of fails there for sure, but I'm always a fan of the People Mover.  

 

I was hoping since you were already wet you would just play in the Casey Jr. Splash Zone.

 

oh well.

[alexwyattmommy 181]

My youngest loved the people mover.  We rode it before the Dessert party and then he wanted to ride it again that night before we left the park.  It is his newest favorite ride.

[Hotmamac aka Misty 11]

I love bonus material!!! 

 

I think it's nice that you got to do something special with Twin #1. Each summer I take one day with each kid, solo, for a mom and me day and they love it. So do I. Now if only we could make it to Disney for those days...

[mikmouse 3]

We left off wondering what was going to happen at 3 o'clock.

 

And before I let you know what happened, I need to back up and share what it was that brought us here.

 

Two weeks or so ago, the Disney Parks Blog announced that there would be special Limited Time Magic things in the parks for the whole first week of July.

 

What really caught my eye was the announcement that the old Disney calliope would be part of the festivities.  It says so right here:

 

 

(I used the purple crayon to point it out for you),

 

If you're a true Fiend, you know that calliope was put on display in the Fort Wilderness horse barn a few years ago.  And there it stood until some time last year when it mysteriously disappeared and was replaced by some other wagon.

 

Word was that the calliope was sent out to be put in working order, and that it would perform one day again in the MK.

 

It looks like that day had finally arrived!

 

And I planned on being there to see it.

 

At a little before 3, the parade came on down Main Street:

 

 

Woo Hoo! It's the Fire Chief! :

 

 

 

But what is that wagon doing there?

 

This is not the calliope!:

 

 

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice wagon:

 

 

 

 

But, that is not the calliope.

 

That wagon does have a Fort connection.

 

It was put on display at the Fort last year, and was there in the horse barn through the early part of this year:

 

 

 

What the Fort?

 

Where is the calliope?

 

Those Disney Parks Blog people sit on a throne of lies!

 

Oh well, we were here, we may as well watch the parade.

 

Next up came some dancers:

 

 

And a float with some patriotic characters in it, but no parade:

 

 

 

Now what?

 

No sooner had we asked that question, that the friendly Disney announcer came over the park PA system and announced that the parade was cancelled because of the rain.  But, he went on, we should keep our seats, as the Rainy Day Cavalcade was on its way!

 

Rainy Day Cavalcade?

 

Have you ever heard of that?

 

I hadn't.

 

We could see that something was coming down the street.

 

Some new guests had taken the place of the Dance Moms and Dads, and they decided that they would stand out in the road and watch:

 

 

An ineffective CM came by and asked them to please get up on the curb.

 

They ignored her.

 

Well, I had enough.

 

I yelled- "Get out of the street."

 

They didn't move.

 

Typical teenagers.

 

They were not going to win.

 

I yelled again.

 

They still didn't move.

 

I yelled yet again and said "PLEASE GET OUT OF THE STREET!!!!"

 

I knew that they heard me.

 

And I yelled yet again.

 

I guess they got the message, because they got out of the street.

 

Not without dropping a couple of F bombs on the way.

 

Classy.

 

Very classy.

 

But I won.

 

They lost.

 

Go me.

 

There was no way those snotty brats were going to stop me from seeing my first Rainy Day Cavalcade.

 

And here it comes!:

 

 

Mickey and Minnie got to ride in the big car:

 

 

 

Then along came Chip and Dale:

 

 

We recognized that car and that driver.  He has driven us in that car before:

 

 

We were on the Chip side:

 

 

You can see the rain falling in that last photo.

 

Apparently a cavalcade only requires three cars, because that's all we got.

 

Last came a car full of princesses:

 

 

 

 

And, then all the people fleeing the rain.  This photo was taken at 3:12 pm:

 

 

There were a lot of people leaving:

 

 

Maybe that would mean low crowds and short wait times!

 

But first,  I had a problem that I needed to assess.

 

Apparently, the Main Street sidewalks are all slanted so they drain into the road.

 

Good idea.

 

But that meant that I had been sitting on top of a waterfall for the past half hour.

 

And my pants were a little wet:

 

 

When we visit the parks on rainy days, I bring a change of clothes.  But my change of clothes was back in the car, and I didn't feel like going to get them with the crowds that were heading out to overwhelm all the transportation modes outside of the park.

 

So, I carried on.

 

Wet butt and all.

 

By the way, do you see that little nook I'm standing in?  It's covered, and the rain wasn't falling on me in there.  It's right around the clock on Main Street.  In all of my visits to the MK, I have never noticed it.  Never.

 

The next time they have a 24 hour day at the MK, this is where I will take my nap.  If you're there, look for me.

 

From here, we ventured back into the park.

 

We had about an hour before our Space Mountain Fastpasses were good, and we had some ideas as to what to do until then.

 

TCD

 

In all our years of going to MK, we got to see the "Rainy Day Parade" only once, thank goodness.  But at least they try to put on something for guests who may have this one and only visit to MK.