Happy Fall Y'all! TCD's September 2013 Not So Scary TR

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We made it.

 

For a while, it looked like it wouldn't happen, but it did.

 

The entire TCD gang made it to the Fort for a visit from 9/26 to 9/30.  Four nights.  Not all of the gang was there for the whole time, but everybody was there at one point.

 

With the TCD girls all off at college, this took quite a bit of planning.

 

First, three football schedules had to be consulted.  For that weekend, both UF and FSU were playing away.  And Auburn was idle.

 

Second, we had to figure out transportation.  Southwest ran one of those $39 flight offers a couple of months ago, and I was able to snag a round trip flight for the oldest TCD DD from Atlanta to MCO for $39 each way.  The twins figured out a date and time to meet in Gainesville and drive down.

 

So we were set.

 

I packed up the trusty TCD camper, and headed east at a little after 10 am on Thursday morning, the 26th.

 

We had incredible rains in central Florida for Monday through Wednesday, but when Thursday rolled around, it was looking pretty good.

 

I was flying solo for this part of the trip, so I had to drive and photograph at the same time.

 

Here we are at those magical gates:

 

 

And here's an even better sign:

 

 

The last time I was here, there was a line of guests at the guard shack.  Not today:

 

 

The car in front of me had some kind of complicated issue which took a lot of talking and hand gestures to resolve.  You would think people who drove all the way from Hawaii wouldn't have so many questions:

 

 

All of that really didn't take very long.

 

Then it was my turn to pick which lane to pull into.  But, look at this beautiful scene:

 

 

I've checked in to the Fort coming close to a hundred times, but never have I seen multiple open lanes with no wait.  I am not sure if you can see it, but there's a castmember near one of the lanes on the left waving to me with a big Mickey hand on a stick.  I headed that way.

 

And pulled right up, and the CM began to check me in:

 

 

I was trying to figure out what that white thing above the CM's head was.  It looks like some kind of antenna or something.  Looks serious.

 

I noticed they had all the lanes in front of me coned off.  I guess this is some kind of new traffic control:

 

 

Over here to the left, I think that Please Turn Your Engine Off sign is new:

 

 

I always have turned my engine off anyway- and I remember CM's asking me to do so in the past.

 

I was lucky to have an efficient CM, and before I knew it, I was on my way.  As I pulled forward, something besides the cones looked different to me:

 

 

The area looks much more open.

 

Then I realized why.

 

Those SOB's chopped down another tree!

 

You can see it here in this screen cap from Bing maps- right in the center of the photo:

 

 

That was a nice tree.

 

If they keep chopping down trees, there isn't going to be much Wilderness at the Fort.

 

Anyway, time to head to my site.

 

I'll bet you thing we're going to the 1500 loop, right?

 

Wrong.

 

I couldn't get a reservation for a partial hook up site.

 

So, I reserved a preferred site.

 

At rack rate.

 

I hate to pay rack rate.  Plus I'd rather be on a partial site.   So, I contacted a travel agent, and asked her to see if she could find me a discount or a cheaper site.

 

She found me a AAA discount.  One of the few times in all my years as a AAA member that I was able to score one of those discounts.  But, it was for a premium site.  With the discount, the premium site was less than a preferred site, and that was the best deal I could get.  So I took it.

 

Then I had to choose which loop I wanted to be on.

 

I consulted with the TCD girls.

 

We all agreed on the 900 loop.

 

And, that is what I got.

 

Site 911.

 

A very nice site.

 

I forgot to take the before photo.  But, I didn't get too far before I did remember:

 

 

Note that there is now a separate electric box behind the stump for the electric and cable hook ups.  The last time I was on the 900 loop, which was two years ago, all the utilities were there on the stump.

 

I took a photo of the site marker to text to the girls so they would know where to come when they got to the Fort- I joked that I wish they had given us an easier number to remember:

 

 

I went to town after snapping those photos.

 

I got the awning set up and the camper popped up, and then it rained hard for about 15 minutes.  Long enough to get everything wet.  But, then it stopped, and that was the last rain for the day.  I put the camera away while it was raining, and didn't get it back out until after I finished.

 

The twins showed up at around 2 pm, just as I finished with the last of the set-up.

 

I had two TV's along with us on this trip- one for inside the camper, and one for the screen room.  I needed a cable converter box for the inside TV, so I headed up to the Meadow Trading Post to get a box.

 

Here we go:

 

 

All that rain sure made the grass grow:

 

 

And got all the ditches good and full:

 

 

If you're looking for some Halloween gear, they've got you covered at the Meadow Trading Post:

 

 

Mickey is looking good in his proper clothes:

 

 

This was my first look at the Joffrey's coffee machines at the Meadow Trading Post also note that there is now a hot cocoa machine- no more messing with packets of powdered hot cocoa:

 

 

The cable box check out was simple.  All you need to show is a KTTW card, and it doesn't have to have charging privileges.  You have to fill in a one page form, and you're good to go. 

 

I heard from good old Lou.  I contacted him earlier to let him know I was heading to the Fort, and I asked him if he wanted to meet us at Epcot that evening for the first night of the Food and Wine Festival.  Lou did, and sad he would meet us there around 6-ish.  My daughter's flight from Atlanta was scheduled to land at 4:45, so 6-ish seemed doable to me.  The plan was for her to ride to the Fort on the Magical Express.  Lou convinced me that might not be a good idea, as it could take an hour and a half or even two hours after her flight landed before she finally got dropped off at the Fort.  Lou said I should go and pick her up and head straight to Epcot.  So, that's what I did.  I've never driven to the Orlando airport from the Fort, but it was an easy, uneventful drive.

 

I met up with Lou and Gail at the front of Epcot.  The girls headed off together, and I walked around with Lou and Gail.

 

Our first stop was Brazil, where they had a couple of new items, including Crispy Pork Belly:

 

 

I tried the pork belly, and Lou tried the scallops.  The pork belly was great.  I want to have it again.

 

We next stopped by Australia, and I got to meet Gary, of ff.net fame.  He was working as a greeter/passport stamper at Australia, and seemed to be having a great time.

 

Next stop was South Korea, where I just had to try the Kimchee Dog.  I've never had Kimchee, and I wanted to try it.  This is what it looks like:

 

 

Wait, you say.  That looks like a plain old hot dog with coleslaw and mustard.  Well, that's what it tasted like too.  Some Kimchee.  The mustard was nice and spicy, though.

 

The next place we stopped was Germany.  You know I had to get the bratwurst on a pretzel dog:

 

 

There is a photo of me eating it.

 

But, I am not posting it since this is a family board.

 

I am happy to report that the pretzel roll was not stale.

 

And that sausage was no bratwurst.  I'm not complaining though, as it was good.

 

Next, we stopped at Italy.  I got the ravioli, and Lou and Gail got a sausage and peppers.

 

Cute couple alert:

 

 

After that ravioli, I was feeling full.  There was something I wanted to try in France, so I passed on the next few places.

 

Oh, I forgot about the beer.

 

I wanted to get one of the grapefruit beers in Germany again, but they were all out.  Fail.

 

I got a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat at the Hops and Barley stand in America.

 

That was good.

 

We stopped in Morocco, where Lou got a chicken roll.  It looked like an egg roll.  But it wasn't.  The sun was setting then:

 

 

Then on to France.  They no longer have the Coq a Vin that was one of our favorites.  This year, they have Boef Bourguigon.  I tried that.  I don't know how to pronounce the second word, but the first one is not pronounced "beef."  It sounds more like "buff."   At least that's what the sneering French CM said back to me, when I ordered the beef.  The buff is served on mashed potatoes, and is pretty good.

 

From here, we headed around through the UK and Canada.  It was near 8 by now, and I got a text from the girls that they were heading for a ride on Test Track.  Lou and Gail said they had to get going, so I headed on over to Test Track.  We got in one ride, and were finished at just a little before 9.

 

We all decided to pass on Illuminations and head back to the Fort.

 

Back at the Fort, we hung out at the site, and the girls were up well past midnight chatting and laughing.

 

We met Mrs. Troll as she was walking the loop with the Troll dogs, and she told me the Troll himself was out at their site.

 

So, I headed on over to the Troll's site, and got to listen to some live Troll Rants^TM.

 

We finally called it a night around 1 am.

 

That's about all there is to tell about the first day.

 

But, there are still three full days and part of Monday to tell about, so don't go too far.

 

TCD

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

I'm in :)

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

I'm in!

Of course the pork belly was good, it's un-smoked "BACON".......

[devores 382]

First page

[Beckers 1,136]

I'm in!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

First page too!

[Beckers 1,136]

Where is Dave to page hog? I may need to do one or two post in his honor to try and secure all the hot spots on page 1.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Where is Dave to page hog? I may need to do one or two post in his honor to try and secure all the hot spots on page 1.

 

Oh, I am here.  But I'm a bit scared to post....being afraid that Andrew will actually post a picture of him eating the sausage.  So I am going to stay quiet. 

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Do you people have any idea how hard it is for me to stay quiet?? 

 

So...I will comment on a couple other things. 

 

That kimchi dog looks like garbage.  Does not look like real kimchi to me.  Like you said...looks like slaw. 

 

The pretzel roll looks too little.  Makes the sausage look quite strange. 

 

The trading post is looking pretty nice these days.  I would love to try out those new coffee and cocoa machines.  INC and I love going down there in the evening without kids, and I make a nice 50/50 mix of decaf and cocoa to sip on the porch.  Wish we could get back there sometime. 

 

Ok, that's about all. 

[.....Gary 85]

Did I make the top of page two???

[Beckers 1,136]

I agree the sausage pretzel roll looks sad.

Oh and Dave we have a battle of the losers going on our fantasy football this week. Me vs you lol

[Specularius 102]

I'm in...looking forward to the report.

[.....Gary 85]

Do you people have any idea how hard it is for me to stay quiet?? 

 

So...I will comment on a couple other things. 

 

That kimchi dog looks like garbage.  Does not look like real kimchi to me.  Like you said...looks like slaw. 

 

The pretzel roll looks too little.  Makes the sausage look quite strange. 

 

The trading post is looking pretty nice these days.  I would love to try out those new coffee and cocoa machines.  INC and I love going down there in the evening without kids, and I make a nice 50/50 mix of decaf and cocoa to sip on the porch.  Wish we could get back there sometime. 

 

Ok, that's about all. 

You are right Dave, my fears were totally unfounded.  I spent all day Sat. passing those dogs out and couldn't smell a thing.  As anyone who has been there knows, it you can't smell it, it AIN'T kimchi!!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

You are right Dave, my fears were totally unfounded.  I spent all day Sat. passing those dogs out and couldn't smell a thing.  As anyone who has been there knows, it you can't smell it, it AIN'T kimchi!!

 

I've never been to Korea, but I did date a Korean girl for 3 years in college.  Her mother's house smelled like rotten cabbage, fermented fish and hot sauce.  That was close enough for me.  I learned to eat the stuff to not offend her mother, but I never did like it.  And eventually I got to tell her exactly what I thought of it.  LOL> 

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

FPBR!!

 

Now going back to read.

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

I'm in.

I miss the bus pilot around here amongst others.

Looking forward to more.

[Memphis 105]

I'm in

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

In again

[wdwpoohbear...Jennifer 40]

First page bragging rights!  I love the food and wine festival!  Can't wait to hear more!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

I'm here with the rest of the gang.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I'm in!

 

And robbed of page 1 again. Thanks Dave.

 

Looking forward to the report. I think you guys are going to make it there more than you think.

 

Live Troll Rants! Love it.

[shoreline99 137]

I'm in!

[caveat lector 181]

Whoa.........looks looky here. An honest to goodness TCD TR about a stay at the fort. Bonus!!!!!

I've heard you talk about college football's impact on your schedule before. It never really resonated with me until this year. Now, when DW and I want to see DS, we consult the football schedule first. You are a wise man TCD.

Captain Lou has his head tilted just right, and I'm sure he's wearing a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap. Don't try to convince me otherwise, I'll just assume you are doing something fancy with Photoshop or your purple pen.

Pretty sweet flight deal at $39 and getting a AAA discount to boot. Hope you used some of that luck to buy a Powerball ticket.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

 

 

 

I was trying to figure out what that white thing above the CM's head was.  It looks like some kind of antenna or something.  Looks serious.

 

 

I am in. Also I can answer what the white thing is. At least what I suspect it is. It looks like a wireless access point. Probably to provide good reception to the Ipads they are using sometimes for check in. 

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

Where's Bob?

 

Go Braves!