The TCD Gang Springs Forward at the Fort- A Spring Break 2014 TR

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

He kids love the Muppets so they would have loved this event.

We try to teach them about things that are actually good entertainment and not just garbage like most of the stuff today.

Thats why we have introduced them to the older disney movies and cartoons, Looney Tunes, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, etc.

[kampfirekim 260]

 

 

Is it a Disney World trip?

 

I, too, have nothing more to say about the spankula.

 

 

Yes it is.  We'll be at the All Star Sports Resort.  

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Kim, I hope you and your family have a wonderful trip!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I have to confess I've never seen a Muppets movie.

 

Looks like you had a great time.

 

I'm not a big DD fan, so we don't go there often.  And if we do we drive or take the bus to/from the fort.  Assuming DD doesn't have buses straight to the parks, I'd probably take a bus to the Yacht Club and then a boat to DHS.

 

Well, now I've seen one more Muppet movie than you have.

 

It was fun, and I'm glad we went.  I also am not a big Downtown Disney fan.  It's too much of a hassle to get there.

 

Yacht Club and the boat would work- but we were in a hurry.  That would not have been a quick trip. 

 

I don't even know how to respond to the pictures on the link. Thank you for sharing, I think.. I'm a little scared.

 

Glad that you liked them.  It could have been a lot worse.  You have to figure that most of the people there were like us- they just were there because it was free.  I don't think there were any hard core Muppet freaks.  Well, there was that guy with the puppet.

 

Also, a number of those photos have more than 2 people in them so there must have been a lot of employees' family, friends, next door neighbors, etc. allowed to break the rules.

 

Yes, I noticed that too.  Something funny was going on there.  It happens at a lot of Disney events.  We made great efforts to get in to a free Disney Channel Games concert once only to find a that a group had already staked out the best general admission seats.  They were family and friends of Disney executives. 

 

Thank you!   :drool1:

 

My guess is boat from DTD to Epcot and then boat to DHS.  That would probably take way too long.  But I really like boat rides.

 

Yeah, the wait for the Epcot boat at Downtown Disney would take way too long for sure.

 

Theres a boat from DTD to EPCOT?

 

I did not know that.

 

Id take the boat to OKW or POFQ and hop the bus from there. It would be less stress as you are right there near the boat launch after exiting the theater.

 

The boat would work.,  And OKW and Port Orleans were definitely the resorts that would work best to make a transfer to a DHS bus, but I thought a boat would take too long.  We went a different way.  I'll share that in the next update.

 

I knew I should have checked my facts first.  I might have dreamed that boat.  i tend to do stuff like that.

 

That's OK.  Better for you to find out now than to one day find out after having waited all day for the boat to show up.

 

I have actually seen all the Muppet Movies.  Granted I liked some better than the others.

 

 So, in your honest opinion is this one a pay full price, see it at the dollar theater or wait for it to come out on DVD movie?  

 

I have nothing to compare this movie to, so I can't give you an honest opinion about whether it's worth paying full price for.

 

The movie reviewer for my local paper gave it a B, and pretty much concluded that it was the best you could hope for as far as Muppet movies go.

 

He kids love the Muppets so they would have loved this event.

We try to teach them about things that are actually good entertainment and not just garbage like most of the stuff today.

Thats why we have introduced them to the older disney movies and cartoons, Looney Tunes, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, etc.

 

That's awesome.

 

I wish you could have been there.

 

If I ever win another Muppets meet up, I'll let you know.  You can dress up as Sam Eagle and say you're me.

 

Yes it is.  We'll be at the All Star Sports Resort.  

 

Awesome.

 

Nothing wrong with that.  I love the All Stars.

 

You will, of course, at least need to pay a visit to the Fort.

 

Kim, I hope you and your family have a wonderful trip!

 

Me too!

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Update time.

 

We left off with Twin #2 and I at Downtown Disney, having just enjoyed the Muppets Most Wanted Meet Up.

 

We were invited to participate in some festivities that they had going on for St. Patrick's Day at Downtown Disney, but we were late for our Rock 'n' Rollercoaster FP at DHS.  So, we needed to roll.

 

We knew that Twin #1 and my oldest daughter had made it to DHS, because they texted us this work of art:

 

 

You can never go wrong with a snack shaped like Mickey.

 

As I mentioned in the last update, we needed to figure out the best way to get the DHS.  There are no direct buses to the parks from Downtown Disney.  So whatever choice we made would require traveling to a resort and catching some form of Transportation to DHS.  I knew there is a boat that leaves from not far from the movie theater, and that there are routes that go to Port Orleans and Old Key West from there.  But, the boat is slow.  And, if our timing was off, we could be in for a long wait.  I decided that our best bet would be to take a bus.  We would go to the bus stops, and try for Port Orleans, Old Key West, or Art of Animation.  Those all are not far from DHS.

 

So we headed to the bus stop.

 

There are all kinds of construction walls up at this end of Downtown Disney. They're building a BAPG (Big A** Parking Garage).  How big?  Here's a photo of a drawing of it they had on a wall:

 

 

That's big.

 

Bigger than the BABH at the Fort, even.

 

We walked swiftly past the St. Patrick's Day stuff.  We were already past it when I thought that I should have taken a picture.  This is the best I could do at that point.  It shows a stage that they had set up outside the movie theater.  There was a band playing what I presume was Irish music.  I'm sure there would be some dudes with no shirts and tight pants arriving shortly to hop around and kick their legs.  So, if you like that kind of thing, you can apparently watch it for free at Downtown Disney around St. Patrick's Day:

 

 

For a time reference, I took that photo at 5:26 pm.  We obviously were going to miss our Rock 'n' Roller Coaster FP+.  We knew this, and had already texted the others to let them know that they should go ahead and ride.  They had, and were going to watch the Beauty and the Beast show and then wait for us outside of the Fantasmic entrance.  We tried to move our Rock 'n' Roller Coaster FP+ time with the MDE app.  No such luck.  Today, the app was working, but it said there were no more available times.  So much for the wonderful flexibility that they have been touting about this new program.

 

Disney will tell you that it can take an hour or hour and a half to get from point A to point B in Walt Disney World using their transportation, and to plan accordingly. We needed to be at Fantasmic between 6:25 and 6:45 in order to use our FP+'s.  So we needed to get to DHS in less than an hour.  I've mentioned before that we always seem to get transportation pixie dust, and today was no different. When we got to the bus stop, an Old Key West bus was just pulling up.  But, down the way a bit, we saw that there was an Art of Animation bus loading, so we headed to it, and hopped aboard.   On the bus, we looked through the goodie bags that we had been handed after we met Sweetums.  There were some green bead necklaces in there, and some kind of passport for the St. Patrick's Day party at Downtown Disney, and some Muppets trading cards.  And a pin.  Like the kind you trade. So, that was nice.  This is a closer look at the buttons we were given:

 

 

That photo was taken at 5:32 pm, when we were already seated on the bus.  We took off right after that, and I snapped this photo of the construction walls we passed as we pulled out of Downtown Disney. That was 5:32 pm:

 

 

We went straight to the Art of Animation resort. There was nobody in the DHS bus line.  Which meant that we may have just missed the bus.  But it also meant we would definitely be on the next bus.  We had about a 10 minute wait, and then were on our way.  Apparently, Downtown Disney was the place to be tonight, as there were no other guests going to DHS with us, but all of these folks has lined up since we arrived to go to Downtown Disney:

 

 

That last photo was taken at 5:57 pm.  This one was taken right after- just to show that the Art of Animation Resort looked like it was pretty full- this is the busiest I've ever seen the parking lot:

 

 

This next photo was taken at 6:09 pm as we were walking toward the DHS entrance.  So, we made it from Downtown Disney to DHS in just over a half hour. That's pretty good. You can see the long line of guests waiting for the Epcot boat over there.  They may not all make it on to that boat.  That's another reason to take use the buses instead of the boats:

 

 

Here's a look at the topiaries they have in the entrance area.  I'll bet after the Flower and Garden show, they'll put one of the topiaries from there over here.  Also, you can see that the sun is setting. Tomorrow, the sun will be setting an hour later:

 

 

And, here we are heading toward the Fantasmic entrance.  The park is kind of busy:

 

 

We found the other girls, and sat on the curb and did some people watching.  Our FP+ return time was for 6:25-6:45, but they were already letting guests in to the Fantasmic theater, and they were streaming past us.  I suggested to the girls that we go ahead and go in, but they wanted to wait until 6:25, like we were supposed to.  We had never done FP+'s for Fantasmic, so I wasn't sure how that worked.  I know that showing up early for a FP+ usually does you no good,  So we waited.  I figured they had a nice area reserved for us, so we would be fine.

 

At 6:25, we headed in.  Along with a pretty big mob of folks.  About halfway in, there was a line of FP+ scanners, and we had to scan our Magic Bands before proceeding on.  There were a lot of guests with FP+ reservations.  As best I could tell, they were herding all of us with FP+ reservations to the side of the stadium further from the entrance, and non-FP guests were being directed to the sections closer to the entrance.  We kept moving with the crowd, and when we go to the theater itself, we found that the center sections were already full.  We were directed to keep walking ,and finally arrived at the section which was second from the end of the theater.  We selected our row, and this is where we ended up:

 

 

That photo was taken at 6:35.  We had entered the walkway to the theater at just past 6:25, which was the earliest time we were allowed to.  And this is where we ended up.  Not awful, but not special either.  That was a complete and total waste of a FP+.

 

Plus, we now had a 25 minute wait for the show to start.  We would have done just as well to have not used FP+ and entered the theater 15 minutes later.  There were seats just as good as ours open on the other side of the theater that were available to guests just walking in.

 

Oh well.

 

Now we know.

 

Since we were all together for the first time on this trip, I needed to document that with a selfie:

 

 

Props to the gentleman a few rows up for a good photobomb.

 

I don't think we've ever been in this theater when there was any daylight left.  The sun was setting, but we could see the stage pretty well still, as it wasn't dark:

 

 

The theater continued to fill in, but it never did completely fill up:

 

 

We enjoyed the show, as always.

 

Our favorite part is the end where Steamboat Willie drives the boat with all the characters on it:

 

 

If you watch what happens during this part of the show, you will notice that the characters are constantly moving around so that the view of them is good for everyone seated in the theater as the boat passes by their section.

 

There is something funny that happens at the end that the twins noticed on a previous trip, and I decided to try to get a photo of it.

 

You see how Ariel is sitting there on the back of the boat?  She can't move around while the boat is moving, as she would have to hop around on that fin.   Flipping that fin, you don't get too far. Legs are required for jumping and dancing.  So while the other characters move around, she just sits there:

 

 

When the boat finishes crossing in front of the stage, and goes behind the set, the characters all move off of it:

 

 

But, look at that spot where Ariel was sitting:

 

 

Take a closer look:

 

 

Do you see that blob?  That's Ariel. Prince Eric just throws a blanket over her at the end, and she hides there.

 

I don't know why, but we find that amusing.

 

So, that was Fantasmic.

 

Now it was time for our Toy Story FP+'s.

 

We headed there.

 

Here's a giant Etch-A-Sketch photo:

 

 

My oldest daughter took this photo in the queue:

 

 

I have no photos of our scores.

 

There was some kind of malfunction in the final scene of the ride, and the ride stopped.  When it resumed, they just moved us through, and we didn't get to shoot at the final scene or get final scores.  What a rip off.  If I felt like wasting time, I would have complained to someone and requested that we be allowed to ride again.  But, that would have probably taken a long time, and we were ready to go.

 

BAH photo:

 

 

We had decided that we would eat at the camper tonight.  So, we headed back there, and I whipped up a batch of modified Pirate Jeff's Macaroni and Cheese.  We ate kind of late.  The Electric Water Pageant came by as we were eating.  Good Lord it is loud from site 114! 

 

We hung around camp for a while.  My oldest was tired from a long week and traveling that morning, so she wanted to take it easy.  The twins wanted to go to the MK.  So I went with them.

 

You may have heard that the moat around the castle is drained.  They have equipment down in it:

 

 

Twin #2 wanted to see the Mine Train ride, so we headed back there.

 

She hadn't seen the big King Triton statue yet:

 

 

While we were in the neighborhood, we saw there was no wait to ride Ariel, so we took a ride:

 

 

As we have watched them put the finishing touches on the Mine Train ride, a question has arisen in my mind about all the trees they have on the mountain. Are they real?  They look real.  At least most of them do.  With the walls down, I was able to stand beneath this one:

 

 

So, what do you think?

 

It's fake.

 

You can see the metal supports for the branches if you look closely:

 

 

From there, we popped in to Storybook Circus and rode Dumbo:

 

 

The new lighting on the new Dumbos is cool:

 

 

 

We finished with Dumbo at around 12:20.  The park was closing at 1.

 

Time for some ice cream.

 

And then we headed back to camp.

 

That was a good day.

 

But, the funest day of our trip was the next day, Sunday.

 

We did three big things that day that we had never done before.

 

And there were a couple of huge wildlife surprises at the Fort that morning.

 

We will get started on Sunday in the next update.

 

TCD

[Beckers 1,136]

The blanket on Ariel's head made me lol. They couldn't come up with something better than smothering her?

[kampfirekim 260]

 

 

Awesome.

 

Nothing wrong with that.  I love the All Stars.

 

You will, of course, at least need to pay a visit to the Fort.

 

 

 

 

At the risk of being lynched.  I am kinda looking forward to packing a simple suitcase or three, not having to clean out and prepare the camper, not having to cook and making the trip down in the comfy car vs the less comfy truck while saving a lot of gas money.

 

With that said, I'd still rather be at the Fort but this will be great.   The boys (yes, even G... PTL) like baseball and football and will definitely enjoy the theming BIG TIME!  On a very cute note and just to crow a little... G's progress has been astounding.  He will sit through an entire Braves game happily while joining in on all the crowd activities and loves the Tomahawk chop.  In fact,he gets a little confused and will shout CHOP!  Go GAMECOCKS! when he sees a bumper sticker on our way to Columbia.    Sorry for being lengthy but I am so darn proud and happy. :)

 

Go Braves!  Go Gamecocks!  and GO GATA!  ;D

[Starbuc71 162]

I never knew you couldn't catch a bus to a theme park from DTD. I wonder why? Can you catch a Bus from a park to DTD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The blanket on Ariel's head made me lol. They couldn't come up with something better than smothering her?

 

It makes no sense to me either.

 

Since she's out of the water and with her prince, shouldn't she have legs?

 

And if not, why can't the prince just carry her?  Seems kind of rude to just cover her with some old blanket.

 

At the risk of being lynched.  I am kinda looking forward to packing a simple suitcase or three, not having to clean out and prepare the camper, not having to cook and making the trip down in the comfy car vs the less comfy truck while saving a lot of gas money.

 

With that said, I'd still rather be at the Fort but this will be great.   The boys (yes, even G... PTL) like baseball and football and will definitely enjoy the theming BIG TIME!  On a very cute note and just to crow a little... G's progress has been astounding.  He will sit through an entire Braves game happily while joining in on all the crowd activities and loves the Tomahawk chop.  In fact,he gets a little confused and will shout CHOP!  Go GAMECOCKS! when he sees a bumper sticker on our way to Columbia.    Sorry for being lengthy but I am so darn proud and happy. :)

 

Go Braves!  Go Gamecocks!  and GO GATA!   ;D

 

Makes sense.  Sometimes the Fort is too much work!

 

That's awesome about Gabe.  Maybe he could go to an FSU game some time.  There's always plenty of Chop there.  Much more than I care for.

 

I never knew you couldn't catch a bus to a theme park from DTD. I wonder why? Can you catch a Bus from a park to DTD

 

The reason I've always heard is that they don't want freeloaders showing up there and parking for free and then taking a bus to the parks.  And, there are no buses from the parks to Downtown Disney.

 

So, the hard-core freeloaders park at the Fort and other places and take the bus to the parks.

 

That place is run by a bunch of geniuses.

 

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I can't remember if I commented this before or just thought it... ha ha! But your pictures make me want to stay close to the Settlement. That must be nice. But you also mentioned something that concerns me... the EWP noise. That thing is LOUD, even from far away in the campground.

 

Other notes:

 

The DTD parking deck is going to be HUGE.

 

The Ariel smothering is funny, but Z wouldn't approve of them treating his girl that way.

 

Good job to the girls and their Mickey snacks.

 

Is AK the park you visit the least?

[YENSIDCAMPER 66]

Thanks for the report it is a great way to start the day!

 

 

I never knew you couldn't catch a bus to a theme park from DTD. I wonder why? Can you catch a Bus from a park to DTD

 

Warning: useless information: Lou or someone else may chime in on this with better information, but IIRC at one time TTC was the hub for all buses and you had to go there to transfer to another bus line, that was in 98 I believe, then around 2000 DTD became a transfer spot and sometime after that you could no longer go to a resort from a resort or from anywhere that wasn't a theme park.  Anyone else recall this?

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

The fantasmic shenanigans must depend on day of week, crowd levels, etc.

On the day we saw Fantasmic in december, we would never have gained entry without FP+.

Almost the entire theatre was filled with dinner package guests and FP+ people before we got in.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

The blanket on Ariel's head made me lol. They couldn't come up with something better than smothering her?

 

I so agree!

 

On a very cute note and just to crow a little... G's progress has been astounding. 

 

Kim, that's great news!  

 

On the day we saw Fantasmic in december, we would never have gained entry without FP+.

Almost the entire theatre was filled with dinner package guests and FP+ people before we got in.

 

Aaron, we had the same experience in November.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I can't remember if I commented this before or just thought it... ha ha! But your pictures make me want to stay close to the Settlement. That must be nice. But you also mentioned something that concerns me... the EWP noise. That thing is LOUD, even from far away in the campground.

 

I really liked being in the Settlement area. But, I felt disconnected from the rest of the campground. That EWP music was so loud that we couldn't even hear a normal conversation at our picnic table.  That's hardly a big deal though.  You know what time that's going to come by every night, and that it will end soon.  Much better than backing up to a bus stop or a campsite overflowing with people not from this land.

 

The DTD parking deck is going to be HUGE.

 

It appears so. I never really paid attention to its size on the plans we've looked at earlier. That drawing with the bus next to it makes in look much bigger than I thought it would be.

 

Is AK the park you visit the least?

 

Yes.  But it wasn't always that way.  When Expedition Everest was new, we used to go a lot more.   Also, we used to ride Kali River a lot.  But the girls don't like getting drenched anymore.  That messes up their hair and make-up.  And that broken Yeti makes EE less fun.  So, we don't go to AK as much.  In fact, this trip, we didn't go at all.  That was mainly because of the FP+ glitch that let me get around the tiers at DHS and Epcot.  I figure we needed to take advantage of that. 

 

Warning: useless information: Lou or someone else may chime in on this with better information, but IIRC at one time TTC was the hub for all buses and you had to go there to transfer to another bus line, that was in 98 I believe, then around 2000 DTD became a transfer spot and sometime after that you could no longer go to a resort from a resort or from anywhere that wasn't a theme park.  Anyone else recall this?

 

I do remember when everything came and went from the TTC.

 

I don't remember DTD being a transfer spot.  But, I recall that for a while, there was no park to park bus transportation.  That changed when they started pushing the park hopper option.

 

 

The fantasmic shenanigans must depend on day of week, crowd levels, etc.

On the day we saw Fantasmic in december, we would never have gained entry without FP+.

Almost the entire theatre was filled with dinner package guests and FP+ people before we got in.

 

They didn't have tiers for the FP+'s when you were there in December, did they?

 

With the tiers, the only guests with FP+'s for Fantasmic would be those who passed on Toy Story, RNRC and the Beauty and the Beast show.  That probably isn't too many people.  So, they must set aside less space for FP+ now.

 

Also, were you at the early or late show?

 

Aaron, we had the same experience in November.

I don't think they had tiers in November, did they?

I guess there is some benefit to having a FP+ on a busy day. But, you could just show up early and get a seat. If it's that busy, that FP+ would have been better used on something with a long wait time.

TCD

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

No tiers.

Early show

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

No tiers.

Early show

 

Same here.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

At the risk of being lynched.  I am kinda looking forward to packing a simple suitcase or three, not having to clean out and prepare the camper, not having to cook and making the trip down in the comfy car vs the less comfy truck while saving a lot of gas money.

 

With that said, I'd still rather be at the Fort but this will be great.   The boys (yes, even G... PTL) like baseball and football and will definitely enjoy the theming BIG TIME!  On a very cute note and just to crow a little... G's progress has been astounding.  He will sit through an entire Braves game happily while joining in on all the crowd activities and loves the Tomahawk chop.  In fact,he gets a little confused and will shout CHOP!  Go GAMECOCKS! when he sees a bumper sticker on our way to Columbia.    Sorry for being lengthy but I am so darn proud and happy. :)

 

Go Braves!  Go Gamecocks!  and GO GATA!   ;D

This post was my favorite of the day.  :heartsmiley:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

No tiers.

Early show

 

 

Same here.

 

OK, so I'm guessing there were way more guests with Fantasmic FP+'s when there were no tier limitations (and paper FP's to boot).  It seems like now they just have a small, not so great space set aside for FP+.  A total waste of a top tier FP+.

 

If you really want to see Fantasmic, you are better off showing up at least a half hour before the show.  You will get just as good a seat. 

 

The Dining Package area was in the center of the theater.  I don't think it used to be in the center.  I guess since those guests had to pay something for that privilege, their placement got upgraded. 

 

 

This post was my favorite of the day.  :heartsmiley:

 

That's true.

 

It's good to hear that Gabe is doing well!

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

OK, so I'm guessing there were way more guests with Fantasmic FP+'s when there were no tier limitations (and paper FP's to boot).  It seems like now they just have a small, not so great space set aside for FP+.  A total waste of a top tier FP+.

 

Our FP+ area was in the nosebleed section the farthest away from the exit.  The worst seats possible!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Our FP+ area was in the nosebleed section the farthest away from the exit.  The worst seats possible!

 

 I misunderstood you then.  I thought you liked having a FP+ for Fantasmic.

 

If you didn't have the FP+, you more than likely would have shown up earlier and gotten better seats closer to the exit.

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

The year before we tried to get into Fantasmic ... showed up an hour before the performance and were told by the CMs that there was no way we would get in.

 

So in November we got FP+, expecting to have great seats.  We showed up at least 30 minutes before the performance.  At that point they were only admitting people with FP+.  Our seats were in the next-to-the last section at the very top and against the guardrail with at least a 25' drop right behind us.  The family stood on the seats to see ... scared the you-know-what out of me.  So much so that I left the family and moved to the last section a little further down from the top.  And prayed during the performance.

 

Thankfully only one of the eight people in our group liked the show (Miracle, age 3).  We won't be back.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The year before we tried to get into Fantasmic ... showed up an hour before the performance and were told by the CMs that there was no way we would get in.

 

 

What time of year was that?  An hour before?  I have never heard of it being that busy.

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

November 4,  2012.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

October 2012.

 

October?

 

And you couldn't get into Fantasmic even when you showed up an hour before the show?

 

That makes no sense to me.  I don't understand it.  We've been at peak holiday time, and only once was the show full, and even then they were letting guests in for a standing room only location.

 

Something unusual must have been going on.

 

TCD

[kampfirekim 260]

 

 

Makes sense.  Sometimes the Fort is too much work!

 

That's awesome about Gabe.  Maybe he could go to an FSU game some time.  There's always plenty of Chop there.  Much more than I care for.

 

 

 

The Fort is worth the extra effort, but since we're going during the school year and this trip will be sandwiched between a lot of other activities for scouts and school I will embrace having less stuff to do for vacation. :)

 

I have thought the same thing.  Gabe would LOVE and FSU game.  He would also like the Gata chomp just not as much as the Tomahawk Chop.  You can never have too much chop.

 

 

You got the same spot for Fantasmic that we always have gotten.  Seriously, every time. I must have center seat repellent in my blood stream.  Great photos and reporting!  Thanks in advance for dragging this out until May.... if possible.