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Another Auld Lang Syne: The TCD Gang Rings in 2014 @ The Fort!


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Any chance those are rare turtles and their habitat has to be preserved? 

 

Now, there's an idea!

 

Those poor turtles picked a pretty nasty place to hang out.

 

FUEGO

 

Was that you all four times?  Or did KFK's ghost get you?

 

 

Hey Norm!

 

Glad to see a post from you.

 

Could be.

 

It isn't looking good for you on that little wager we made a couple years back.

 

I have a picture of the younglings with the BBQ snowman prop from the last trip.

Someday maybe I'll even share it.

I have been in a funk since we came back and haven't been able to bring myself to do all the uploading and such for a TR.

 

I am sorry to hear this.

 

Snap out of it, man.

 

I think posting a trip report might cheer you up.

 

Also, won't you enjoy looking back on it in the future?

 

Get going, man!

 

Fuego!

 

And Aaron, get out of your funk and get busy!

 

No on the Fuego.

 

Yes on Aaron getting busy.

 

Also- I still need someone to tell me if they know that person with the Snarky in site 114.

 

Somebody has to know.

 

TCD

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Yay another report!   War Eagle!!!    I have never seen the garland in person so bummer.  But it also irks me a little that it blocks the view of the castle.   I was in the night time parade when I wa

OOPS....My bad it's a case of fat fingers on an 8" screen... Didn't see it until you mentioned it. That is one thing that we need is a way to correct those.

The CM with Hullahoop is Barbara. She is a legend among anyone who has worked MS. She is Walt reincarnated as a woman. She is a blast to work with and always has a smile on her face and dances around.

My son and I were looping and had to stop for several minutes in front of 114 to allow a MH to back in across the way.  The gentleman guest from the party staying on 114 walked over to assist the driver of the MH, and his wife walked out into the road and was talking to another guest from the loop.  I overheard her say they were from LA and are friends of Judy's.  But didn't meet them personally or get a name.  From what I could tell it looked like a family of 4.  They checked out the same day I did, though, we looped by late morning and they were gone.

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The description you wrote about being down near the dam and looking out at Bay Lake, is EXACTLY how I feel when I am standing there and in other parts of the fort. I too, will stand and think of the thousands of people cramming in the Magic Kingdom while I stand in a solitary part of the fort. I share the amazement that I can be on WDW property and be in such a quiet and peaceful area. I often kinda feel bad for all of the souls that have NO idea that Disney isn't all about rides/crowds/lines, but that Disney also has this amazing area called Fort Wilderness!!

 

I too have not seen anyone waterski on Bay Lake in years......many, many years. Back in the early to mid 80's my brother and I waterskied on Bay Lake once a year. We LOVED it!! We have a summer place on a lake here in NH but none of the boats we water skied behind up here had the power of the motor boats at the Contemporary. I remember it was "so expensive" to do it, but my parents happily paid the price for us to go. (yes, these are the same parents that told us in the 70's that it was too expensive to ride the train in Fort Wilderness!!! Go figure!!)   

 

I didn't realize that you get on your boat for the fishing excursion at that other dock. We did the fishing trip twice back in 2004 and 2005 and at that time you just got on and off your boat on the side of the main dock.

 

Can't wait to read about your New Years Eve!!

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The description you wrote about being down near the dam and looking out at Bay Lake, is EXACTLY how I feel when I am standing there and in other parts of the fort. I too, will stand and think of the thousands of people cramming in the Magic Kingdom while I stand in a solitary part of the fort. I share the amazement that I can be on WDW property and be in such a quiet and peaceful area. I often kinda feel bad for all of the souls that have NO idea that Disney isn't all about rides/crowds/lines, but that Disney also has this amazing area called Fort Wilderness!!

 

I too have not seen anyone waterski on Bay Lake in years......many, many years. Back in the early to mid 80's my brother and I waterskied on Bay Lake once a year. We LOVED it!! We have a summer place on a lake here in NH but none of the boats we water skied behind up here had the power of the motor boats at the Contemporary. I remember it was "so expensive" to do it, but my parents happily paid the price for us to go. (yes, these are the same parents that told us in the 70's that it was too expensive to ride the train in Fort Wilderness!!! Go figure!!)   

 

I didn't realize that you get on your boat for the fishing excursion at that other dock. We did the fishing trip twice back in 2004 and 2005 and at that time you just got on and off your boat on the side of the main dock.

 

Can't wait to read about your New Years Eve!!

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My son and I were looping and had to stop for several minutes in front of 114 to allow a MH to back in across the way.  The gentleman guest from the party staying on 114 walked over to assist the driver of the MH, and his wife walked out into the road and was talking to another guest from the loop.  I overheard her say they were from LA and are friends of Judy's.  But didn't meet them personally or get a name.  From what I could tell it looked like a family of 4.  They checked out the same day I did, though, we looped by late morning and they were gone.

 

Thanks for that information.

 

But, I think I found the mystery Fiend. He or she goes by CUNWDW here on ff.net.  Check out this old TR, that looks like the same motorhome, right?:

 

http://www.fortfiends.net/forum/topic/6021-cunwdw-trip-photos-from-april-1-april-8/#entry146123

 

post-2656-0-04104500-1333918690.jpg

 

But there's still a mystery.

 

It looks like CUNWDW hasn't posted for more than a year.

 

 

The description you wrote about being down near the dam and looking out at Bay Lake, is EXACTLY how I feel when I am standing there and in other parts of the fort. I too, will stand and think of the thousands of people cramming in the Magic Kingdom while I stand in a solitary part of the fort. I share the amazement that I can be on WDW property and be in such a quiet and peaceful area. I often kinda feel bad for all of the souls that have NO idea that Disney isn't all about rides/crowds/lines, but that Disney also has this amazing area called Fort Wilderness!!

 

I too have not seen anyone waterski on Bay Lake in years......many, many years. Back in the early to mid 80's my brother and I waterskied on Bay Lake once a year. We LOVED it!! We have a summer place on a lake here in NH but none of the boats we water skied behind up here had the power of the motor boats at the Contemporary. I remember it was "so expensive" to do it, but my parents happily paid the price for us to go. (yes, these are the same parents that told us in the 70's that it was too expensive to ride the train in Fort Wilderness!!! Go figure!!)   

 

I didn't realize that you get on your boat for the fishing excursion at that other dock. We did the fishing trip twice back in 2004 and 2005 and at that time you just got on and off your boat on the side of the main dock.

 

Can't wait to read about your New Years Eve!!

 

Good to know that someone else "gets it."

 

I'm not sure if the fishing excursion customers use that dock or not- maybe the CM's pick them up at the main dock.

 

Our New Year's Eve experience is coming, but first we need to get through the morning of December 31.

 

Dave! Come back!

I didn't mean to scare you.

TCD is going to blame my fondness for Good and Plenty on your disappearance if you aren't back soon.

 

You are right.

 

Your fondness for Good and Plenty makes you suspicious.

 

I'm going to keep an eye on you.

 

 

I found this video that shows Discovery Island and River Country: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0duD3jj5XMk

 

I love that video!

 

This is one that we had on VHS back in the day.  The TCD girls watched that over and over again.

 

More recently, I bought a DVD copy of it, and I keep it in the camper.

 

It was cool seeing some of that stuff in its heyday again, thanks for the video

 

Agreed.

 

:waiting2-smiley: I've been waiting on this update all weekend.....It's Monday...my day off. 

 

Sorry.

 

I had to do my research on CUNWDW and also I was posting on the DVC Leaked Plans thread.  I'll get working on the update now.  There should be one posted before noon.

 

TCD

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Update time.

 

It is still morning on December 31, 2013.

 

We have just left the old River Country area, and are heading back toward Pioneer Hall.

 

But first, I have to take a turkey photo:

 

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It used to be a bid deal to see a wild turkey at the Fort.

 

Now, I see them all the time.

 

And, they aren't afraid of people either.

 

Why did the turkey cross the road?:

 

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Here's one of the last photos of this year's Christmas Tree that you will see:

 

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I got a coffee refill inside, and thought I'd set a spell.

 

All the rockers were open:

 

268_zps4bc020e8.jpg

 

I chose the one looking toward the marina, next to the small Christmas tree:

 

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The view from here is hard to beat.  As a bonus, the Christmas music track was still playing:

 

270_zps9bf5b026.jpg

 

Did you notice how quiet it was even around the Settlement?  Campers are a different breed.  I'm sure at the All Stars, guests were in near riot mode loading on to the park buses.  Here at the Fort, nobody was really out and about.

 

I hung out on the porch for a while, and then headed back to camp.  I would need to get the girls going, as we planned to hit Epcot for the afternoon before coming back to the Fort to prepare for our assault on the MK tonight.

 

On the way back to 1000, I looped around the 800 loop and found a long lost fiend.

 

It was anolefan.  He's a long time member, but has been very quiet lately.  He says he's too busy to spend time on here.

 

We had a nice visit.  He especially enjoyed talking some college football.  I used to tease him four or five years ago for being A Nole Fan (that's where his name comes from).  Now it was his turn to do the teasing.  He let me off easy.  He and I agreed that this was FSU's year, and that they were going to win it all.  We were right.

 

Anyway, if you're reading Tom, it was good to see you.  Congratulations on another FSU National Championship.

 

When I got back to camp, the girls were all still asleep.

 

I decided to whip up a big breakfast, and then wake them up.  That usually works good.

 

I took a pit stop first.

 

Look at how the azaleas in front of the 900/1000 comfort station are blooming.  In December.  We have had a very warm winter.  Which means we won't have a good azalea bloom in the spring.  Oh well, I guess I'll take an early azalea bloom over a blizzard:

 

271_zps648c4fc4.jpg

 

Here is the TCD outdoor kitchen as I'm setting up.  Note that if I set up there on the back of my site, the folks sitting in the bus stop would have been able to swipe a sausage.  It was weird being that close to the bus stop.  I could hear peoples' conversations:

 

272_zps7d4f15b1.jpg

 

It seems we have a stretch of time now where there are no photos.  What happened was I fixed breakfast, got the girls up.  We ate.  Then we looped.  Then they got ready to head out, and I cleaned up around camp.  I guess I was too busy to take pictures.  I also think I was charging the camera then.  We had a long day coming.

 

After all of that, here we are on our bus to Epcot.  This photo was taken at 1:06 pm.  We are standing on the bus because it's packed.  Look out the window at all those cars:

 

274_zpsd8b682db.jpg

 

275_zps2934c8f7.jpg

 

We heard on the bus that the MK was closed again because it had reached capacity.  What happens then is they send everyone to Epcot.  I have never heard of Epcot being closed because of capacity.  They apparently are content to pack as many suckers as are willing to pay into Epcot.  And the suckers were everywhere today.

 

Here's a shot of the masses of guests waiting in lines at the Epcot ticket windows.  These people showed up at Epcot at 1 pm on New Years Eve, and are voluntarily forking over $90 a head to come in to a packed park.  Amazing:

 

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Every single entrance scanner was open, and there were lines at all of them too:

 

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The entry area was mobbed.  We had to weave in and out of the guests to make our way through.  We were heading to Test Track, because we had a FP+ there for 1 to 2 pm.

 

This is a photo which was supposed to show the tip board as we headed toward Test Track.  We had just passed the Electric Umbrella, where they actually had those posts and ropes set up outside for guests to wait in line before they could even go in and order.  There must have been 100 people in line.  You can't read the tip board, but it say the wait time for Test Track is 240 minutes:

 

278_zps681eecec.jpg

 

In case you're not good at math, 240 minutes is 4 hours.  The posted stand-by time for Test Track was 4 hours!  I have never heard of that long of a wait.  Wow.

 

Somewhere in this mob is the line for the pretzel stand.  I can't see it anymore, but I could see it as we walked by- it was really, really long.  Just to buy a pretzel:

 

279_zps680ecf8e.jpg

 

It was just past that pretzel stand that we came upon this scene.  You can see that there's a Test Track CM standing there to point guests to the end of a line.  The actual Test Track entrance is a long way from here- you can see the ride building there on the other side of the monorail tracks:

 

280_zpsf49fa560.jpg

 

It turns out that line was the single riders line.

 

We got to keep on going.

 

Here's how things looked up at the entrance.  For some reason, the red lights of the return time signs don't show up well in my photos.  The posted times show 240 minutes for standby and 100 minutes for the single rider line:

 

281_zps263c8bbd.jpg

 

The stand-by line was out of the building, and snaked all around the area behind the FP machines:

 

282_zps94a644b1.jpg

 

This was supposed to be a cool photo showing a 240 minute wait time.  Fail:

 

283_zps9b5905b8.jpg

 

I think you can read the 100 for the Single Rider line, and the FP return line shows the current time was 1:31 pm.  Time for us to go in:

 

284_zpsccd466e5.jpg

 

This is where I have to reluctantly admit that FP+ is awesome.  We were able to visit Epcot on what may be the busiest day of this year, and have a FP to use allowing us immediate access to an attraction with a four hour wait time.

 

At one time, they had FP riders bypass the design area of the ride.  That was fine with me, but apparently other guests didn't like that, so we had to go through the design room:

 

286_zps6c322a84.jpg

 

For some reason, the TCD girls really enjoy the design room.  I don't.  But, I guess it appeals to young people.

 

Twin #1 and my the oldest TCD DD set out to make their car as small as possible:

 

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Twin #2 and I shared the other station, and she set out to build the biggest car possible:

 

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Small:

 

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Big:

 

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Finished #1:

 

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Finished #2:

 

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There's a guy with a camera strapped to his dome:

 

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Since we were a party of four, that meant we got to ride with two single riders. I think our guests were a father and son.  They were not from this land, and the son stared at me the whole ride.  Made me a little uncomfortable.   Fuego:

 

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I took that ride photo at 2:03 pm.

 

Not bad.

 

We were on and off Test Track in half and hour.

 

That's about the best you can do even on a non-busy day.

 

The next item on our agenda was to find a place for lunch.

 

We figured that around now might be a good time to eat lunch.  It was past 2 pm.  The lunch crowds should have died down by now, and it was too early for an early dinner.  That should work.

 

You'll have to wait until the next update to see if our plan was a good one.

 

We are at the photo limit for this update.

 

TCD

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Fuego! I'm guessing the place is still slammed and the lunch lines are long. I've never seen crowds that bad.  

 

Here's what I don't get about a 4 hour wait.... that means people see a 3 hour wait and continue to get in line. Lots of people. 3 HOURS!!! 4 HOURS!!! Nothing is worth waiting that long, certainly not Test Track.

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Sorry.

 

I had to do my research on CUNWDW and also I was posting on the DVC Leaked Plans thread.  I'll get working on the update now.  There should be one posted before noon.

 

TCD

No problem at all! I saw your research...that took a few I'm sure.

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Ha ha! Best part of the entire update!

 

That European guy ruined your ride.

 

Someone explain to me the Fuego joke. I don't get it.

 

And please don't tell me it means "fire" in Spanish. I get that part.

 

Last New Year's Eve TCD was in Epcot, and there were many annoying people yelling "Fuego!" during the fireworks.

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Ha ha! Best part of the entire update!

 

That European guy ruined your ride.

 

Someone explain to me the Fuego joke. I don't get it.

 

And please don't tell me it means "fire" in Spanish. I get that part.

 
 

Saying we were packed in like sardines doesn't cover it.

We were packed worse than sardines.

The show was supposed to begin at 11:40 from what we heard. It didn't help matters that it started about 10 minutes late.

Bad show there Epcot.

NYE2012239.jpg

FUEGO!:

NYE2012243.jpg

I said FUEGO! because that's what all the nice people not from this land who had invaded our space screamed loudly in our ears.

Why are the people not from this land so loud?

We could all see the FUEGO. Why did they need to scream?

I guess they didn't realize that there is a narrator for this part of the show, and a story is being told.

After all, they are not from this land.

But, they love FUEGO!

The Illuminations part of the show ended at around midnight:

NYE2012257.jpg
 

 

That was the beginning of the "FUEGO" joke 

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