The TCD Gang Jump Starts Christmas: An Early November Fort Trip Report

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

 

So, did you load up the truck and go?  Wouldn't that be a fun thing to do sometime?  Just spontaneously head to the Fort!

 

 

 

Nope   At $300+ for gas, I think Tom would have "packed" things for me had I mentioned a quick trip...especially after these past 12 months where I was able to talk him into 5 trips, incl one spontaneous trip in June (how foolish were we?!?  June...what were we thinking  . )

 

LOVE the horseshoes as Mickey Heads.  Interesting pic on River Country; don't know a lot about that place.

 

Two weeks until the Christmas tree is up at the Fort, eh?  Bummer...sounds like after Thanksgiving, which will be after we leave next year.

[dblr....Rennie 224]

I'm in late but really enjoying all your great pictures!!!! Great score on the CM letting you near the calliope for better pictures.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I certainly hope you didn't shimmy without me.  I'll be there in a month, you know. 

 

Now I feel bad.  You had better skip the next update.

 

I'm sorry, but I just couldn't wait another month.

 

I predict yours will be going on much longer than mine!

 

Now I'm off to read your next update.

 

We'll see- you have more days and more photos to report on.

 

Wow!  Great calliope photos!  I'm jealous.  We never made it to the horse barn this trip.

 

How could you not make it to the horse barn? 

 

I try to go every trip.  Even if it's just a weekend trip.  There's always something to see there.

 

I wish I could shimmy like my sister Kate.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PjO2lYSKZk

 

That video is good, but do you have one of your sister Kate?

 

Thank you for the pictures. I never knew all that stuff is there. I will try to do a bit of exploring next month.

 

I hope that you do explore!  There's a lot to see around the Settlement.

 

Betty Grable shimmies better than me. 

 

You are much too modest.  You shimmy much better than her (she's dead, right?).  I am not sure about her sister Kate.  I need to see the video.

 

 

Nope   At $300+ for gas, I think Tom would have "packed" things for me had I mentioned a quick trip...especially after these past 12 months where I was able to talk him into 5 trips, incl one spontaneous trip in June (how foolish were we?!?  June...what were we thinking  . )

 

LOVE the horseshoes as Mickey Heads.  Interesting pic on River Country; don't know a lot about that place.

 

Two weeks until the Christmas tree is up at the Fort, eh?  Bummer...sounds like after Thanksgiving, which will be after we leave next year.

 

I didn't think about the gas.  That would be one expensive meal.

 

I said the Christmas tree would go up some time in the next two weeks.  It has always gone up before Thanksgiving.  Which is two weeks from today.  Gulp.

 

I'm in late but really enjoying all your great pictures!!!! Great score on the CM letting you near the calliope for better pictures.

 

Glad you're reading along, Rennie.  You made it in on page 4. Not bad.

 

That CM made my day.  I haven't been that close to the calliope before.

 

TCD

[sherryberry 35]

I'm late, but I'm in! That sunset picture is great! I LOVE the Osborne lights - don't think I'll ever get to see them in person again, so I'm really loving those pics!

 

Glad you liked the sunset pic.  That was also something much more impressive in person.

 

Why do you think you'll never see the Osborne Lights again in person?  

 

Because of work, we can't take time off in November and December. We've been early enough in January to see the lights in the past, but now our January trips will probably be towards the end of the month. I'd love to head down for a long weekend in December sometime, but it's pretty much impossible to swing that!

[CampMImi 22]

Again, I just love these reports because I get to see things that our out of sight.  I don't know much about River Country.  But it just seems to me that Disney would do something about that pool/rock/slide thing, like maybe restore it or something. 

 

I am going to have to go on adventures when I get to the Fort in December.  I have plenty of Fort days set aside. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Because of work, we can't take time off in November and December. We've been early enough in January to see the lights in the past, but now our January trips will probably be towards the end of the month. I'd love to head down for a long weekend in December sometime, but it's pretty much impossible to swing that!

 

Gotcha.  That's too bad. At some point the persistent rumors about the Osborn Lights being removed will probably come true.  But, even if they do, I can't imagine that they would get rid of them.  Worst case scenario is that they move them to another place.  That won't be too bad.

 

Again, I just love these reports because I get to see things that our out of sight.  I don't know much about River Country.  But it just seems to me that Disney would do something about that pool/rock/slide thing, like maybe restore it or something. 

 

I am going to have to go on adventures when I get to the Fort in December.  I have plenty of Fort days set aside. 

 

Good for you.  The Fort needs to be explored.  There's always something to see.

 

Don't hold your breath while you wait for the idiots who run the Fort to reopen the River Country pool.  That's never going to happen.

 

TCD

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

I've been reading, but didn't want to seem anxious and I am a Page 5 kind of guy, so I'm in. I've missed reading the TR's, especially yours, glad I found my way back.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I've been reading, but didn't want to seem anxious and I am a Page 5 kind of guy, so I'm in. I've missed reading the TR's, especially yours, glad I found my way back.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

 

Welcome back, Norm.

 

Congratulations on the 5th page bragging rights!

 

Do y'all have any plans to head to the Fort soon?

 

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Somehow I missed that update yesterday.

 

So cool that you got to get close to the calliope. NOT COOL about only 4 rockers on the porch. Do people actually eat at the high top tables? 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Somehow I missed that update yesterday.

 

So cool that you got to get close to the calliope. NOT COOL about only 4 rockers on the porch. Do people actually eat at the high top tables? 

 

I've never seen anyone eat at the high tops.  They still have four picnic tables around the side.  I think the intent of the high tops is for people to buy drinks at the Crockett's take out window and sit there to drink them.

 

But who wouldn't rather enjoy a drink rocking in a rocking chair?

 

Have I ever shared my opinion that the people who run the Fort are a bunch of idiots?

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

If you were waiting for page 5 bragging rights, this is your chance!

 

Hop right in there and join Norm.

 

Before continuing with this update, I need to correct an oversight.

 

My meeting with Shannon was not my first Fiend encounter this trip.  I forgot that a met a Fiend right off the bat on Wednesday, while I was setting up camp.  It was Okieatheart.  She must have TCD-dar.  I don't know how she found me, but she did.  Nice to meet you OAH!  And Mr. OAH and your friends, too.

 

Now, on with the update . . .

 

We left off in the barn.  And, now that it's all swept up, we will move on:

 

 

I looped around past the Blacksmith shop:

 

 

I was curious about what might be in all of those cardboard boxes over there.  But not curious enough that I bothered to walk over there and look in them. Maybe next time:

 

 

I stopped to admire the old vine-covered windmill:

 

 

Somehow, that frame is still under those vines and is able to support them:

 

 

The sky was very pretty this morning.  It was going to be a beautiful day.  But, then again, all days are beautiful when I'm at the Fort:

 

 

From the windmill, I decided to head back toward Pioneer Hall.  I had something that I needed to do, and I thought now might be a good time to do it.  There weren't too many people around:

 

 

Over at the Settlement Bus Stop, two buses stood waiting for customers. This is another reason that I love the 100 loop.  Early in the morning, and also late at night, there is almost always a bus at the ready to take you up to the Outpost.  The buses stop here and wait for guests to arrive.  You can just about count on being able to catch a bus with no waiting early in the morning or later at night:

 

 

I headed over to Pioneer Hall, made sure the coast was clear, and quickly shimmied right up one of the new posts they installed there on the porch.  I am happy to report that they did a good job sanding the posts down, as I arrived at the top level splinter free:

 

 

The view from up here makes the risk of splinters worth it:

 

 

With sincere apologies to DIT, I hereby claim  FTSUTNPHPBR (First To Shimmy Up the New Pioneer Hall Poles Bragging Rights) :

 

 

I am happy to report that sliding down the pole went smoothly and splinter free as well.

 

From there, it was back to site 127.  Here's how things looked in the daylight:

 

 

Since it wasn't time for Christmas decorations yet, I had to go with my fall inflatables.  Which include a Turkey and inflatables from the schools attended by the TCD girls.  I really need an Auburn inflatable, but they are all out of production, and with Auburn's success last season, the market is strong for used Aubies.  Such as:

 

 

Sorry, I'm crazy, but I'm not stupid.  Or am I stupid, but not crazy?  Either way, I'm not paying $300 for an Aubie.

 

If anyone knows where I can find a reasonably priced inflatable Aubie, please let me know.

 

Thanks.

 

BTW, going back to the photos of our site, please note the location of the official TCD hammock for this trip.  The only place on our site with good trees was in the front/side yard.  That didn't provide much privacy, but it worked. Also note that one of the twins' ENO hammocks is in place. Twin #1 remembered to bring hers, but Twin #2 forgot.  She made a run back to her apartment later to retrieve it.  They're chips off the old block.

 

It was here that I risked my personal safety and entered the camper to let the girls know that we had breakfast reservations, and that they needed to get moving and do whatever it is they needed to do to make themselves presentable to appear in public.  That would take them about a half an hour to forty five minutes.  Which meant I needed to find something to do.

 

Again, at this point, we had no golf cart.

 

I had only brought our little old TV for this trip, as we weren't planning to be around the site very much.  I needed one of the Fort cable boxes for it.  Which meant I needed to get to the Meadow Trading Post.  I decided it was a nice morning for a walk, and I headed that way, up Fort Wilderness Trail.

 

It's a pleasant walk.  There were a lot of guests out and about now, jogging and walking on the sidewalks. 

 

I made it to the Trading Post in no time.

 

I stopped to admire the Fort themed products:

 

 

Note that they had plenty of those plastic mason jar mugs, and plenty of the new travel mugs.  But none of the new ceramic mugs.  They were out of those in both Trading Posts this trip.

 

 Also, check out the t-shirts- they had plenty of the new green short sleeved shirt, and the brown long sleeved shirt, and the women's shirt, and the brown sweatshirt.  What they did not have is any more of the brown "A Great Place to Get Lost" shirts. Those are all gone, and aren't coming back.  Which is a shame, because I like mine, and now wish that I had a back-up.  Also note that the tire cover is the same old black and white one.  A Trading Post CM told me back in July that they were expecting new color Tire Covers, but they have yet to arrive:

 

 

Mickey was still dressed in his fall attire, but Christmas merchandise has arrived and is on display:

 

 

I picked up the cable kit after a short wait for the CM to take back a cable kit and internet kit from the guest in front of me. This guest had mixed-up the components of each kit, and the CM thought that there were pieces missing.  It took a while to confirm that everything was there and get the pieces back in the right bags.  Do everyone a favor if you check-out both kits and take a moment to put things back in the right bags. 

 

I was prepared for another long walk back to the 100 loop, but as I exited the Trading Post, I saw a bus stopping at the 900/1000 bus stop, and I ran to catch it.

 

Luckily, a big slow group was boarding, so I made it, and got a ride back to the Settlement:

 

 

When we stopped at the 800 loop, a couple with anniversary buttons got on the bus, and the bus driver pressed the button to play the recording telling us to wish this couple a happy anniversary. That was nice.

 

I had a nice short walk back to 100 from the bus stop:

 

 

We had easy access to the sidewalk from the back of our site:

 

 

They used to pass out the cable boxes in the cardboard boxes they came in.  Now, they put the four pieces in a padded pouch, which makes things much easier:

 

 

Shout-out to Mrs. TCD for that great fall tablecloth!

 

These are the four pieces that are in the pouch- very simple:

 

 

There have been some slight changes to the Fort cable line-up, but of course none of the idiots in charge have updated the channel line-up page:

 

 

I went ahead and hooked up the cable box, and then we headed to breakfast.

 

We were seated right away, and there were no lines at the buffet:

 

 

Trail's End bacon cannot be beat:

 

 

I did the best I could to put a dent in that pile of bacon, but the bacon won.

 

We rolled ourselves out of Trail's End just before noon.

 

Ms. Josie was hard at work outside:

 

 

 

Ms. Josie invited me to help her with her creation, and she had me place the top two rings on her masterpiece.  When I did, something shifted, and she tried to fix it.  The whole thing then collapsed.  Completely.  Whoops.  Ms. Josie was very gracious toward me, but I still got out of there as quick as I could, and I think that will be the last time I get asked to help.

 

I had expected to hear something about our golf cart before 11 am, but that time had come and gone.  And then we got some bad news.  There was some kind of mix-up, and the guests who were supposed to be turning in the cart we were supposed to be using had decided to keep the cart for the day, and wouldn't be returning it until the afternoon.  This was not the deal,  but there wasn't much we could do about it.  We had planned to hang around the Fort and do some looping until later in the afternoon.  But, now we couldn't.  So, we decided to take a field trip.

 

My oldest DD and I wanted to visit the CM store with the twins on this trip, and this seemed like a good time to do it.  So we went.  The twins always ask me not to take photos when we go backstage, but I often see people taking photos of stuff in the CM store, and I broke the twins' rule when I saw that they had several of the old FW t-shirts for sale.  These were going for $12 a piece, but they only had mediums and smaller.  Nobody wants to see me squeezed into a medium t-shirt, so I didn't buy any:

 

 

The fact that they had the old Fort t-shirts here at the CM store confirms that they're done selling them in the Trading Posts. The new ones are nice, but I still liked these better.

 

After our field trip to the CM store, we headed back to camp to get ready for our ambitious afternoon/evening plans.  You'll hear about those next.

 

TCD

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

Welcome back, Norm.

 

Congratulations on the 5th page bragging rights!

 

Do y'all have any plans to head to the Fort soon?

 

TCD

 

If all goes well, we'll be back next November during Jersey Week. My wife has to finagle the time off, because she is a teacher, but fingers crossed. My youngest will be 3 and is just as big a Disney fan as my other two, and they have been bugging us about when we were going back. We are going to surprise them again, but they are older and can read the road signs, so it may be tougher. LOL

Tentative dates are 11/1/15-11/8/15.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

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

Page 5 BR? I SMB.

It's been busy and I have been a FF.net slacker.

I am caught up now though and enjoying the morning Fort tour as usual.

It never gets old.

$300 for an Aubie seems a bit asinine.

I can't believe you destroyed Josie's creation.

Please PM me the secret pole that you shimmy up to get to the top of Pioneer Hall.

That is on my must do list for January.

[dblr....Rennie 224]

We met Ms. Josie on our trip this summer and told her that she was famous to us because of all we have heard about her from your trip reports. She is very friendly and worth a stop at Trails End just to meet her.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Man... love breakfast at Trail's End! :)    Yay for Ms. Josie, she's up to the 3rd level!  Last October she had just mastered the second level...haha.  Love her.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

If all goes well, we'll be back next November during Jersey Week. My wife has to finagle the time off, because she is a teacher, but fingers crossed. My youngest will be 3 and is just as big a Disney fan as my other two, and they have been bugging us about when we were going back. We are going to surprise them again, but they are older and can read the road signs, so it may be tougher. LOL

Tentative dates are 11/1/15-11/8/15.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

 

That's the same time of year I was there for this trip.  I hope you have the weather we had.  It was perfect (almost).

 

Page 5 BR? I SMB.

It's been busy and I have been a FF.net slacker.

I am caught up now though and enjoying the morning Fort tour as usual.

It never gets old.

$300 for an Aubie seems a bit asinine.

I can't believe you destroyed Josie's creation.

Please PM me the secret pole that you shimmy up to get to the top of Pioneer Hall.

That is on my must do list for January.

 

Josie is not happy with me.

 

PM sent.  Be careful out there.

 

We met Ms. Josie on our trip this summer and told her that she was famous to us because of all we have heard about her from your trip reports. She is very friendly and worth a stop at Trails End just to meet her.

 

Agreed.

 

That lady is a gem.

 

Man... love breakfast at Trail's End! :)    Yay for Ms. Josie, she's up to the 3rd level!  Last October she had just mastered the second level...haha.  Love her.

 

She would have mastered the third level no problem.

 

But then I came along.

 

She didn't say anything to me, but I could tell she wasn't happy when I goofed up her creation.

 

Isn't it great how she gets paid to play with hula hoops?

 

TCD

[Family of Bears 98]

You know why those mugs are out of stock? A little familyofbears mug review thread and those things fly off the shelves.

[lklasing 16]

One day I'm going to be there when either you or DIT are there and I'm going to shimmy right up one of those poles with y'all.  Gotta see that view in person.

 

I love that the resort specific merchandise is back these days, especially at the Fort!  I hated it when they seemingly tried to not carry anything specific to any location for a while.

 

Good job on breakfast at TE.  It's gotta be one of the absolute best values at WDW.  Mmmmmmm.

 

Looking forward to more!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

One day I'm going to be there when either you or DIT are there and I'm going to shimmy right up one of those poles with y'all.  Gotta see that view in person.

Uh... what view are you referring to?

[K2P2mom 2]

 5th page....I am slow but now along for the ride.  I love pictures taken in the Meadow Trading Post...my memory can smell it (I know, it is weird but I swear that place has had the same smell since I was young).   Can't wait to read more!

[LONE-STAR 370]

I bought a second brown Fort shirt last year and I still have my white walking stick one also. As a kid I had a Musket Mickey t shirt but no idea what happend to it. The view from the second story of Pioneer hall is nice.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

You know why those mugs are out of stock? A little familyofbears mug review thread and those things fly off the shelves.

 

I guess so.  They need some help with those $90 thin blankets.  I couldn't even pull the trigger on one of those with a 40% CM discount.  I want one, but not that bad.

 

I don't know where all the mugs were.  I can't believe they sold out of them already.  But neither Trading Post had any while we were there.

 

One day I'm going to be there when either you or DIT are there and I'm going to shimmy right up one of those poles with y'all.  Gotta see that view in person.

 

I love that the resort specific merchandise is back these days, especially at the Fort!  I hated it when they seemingly tried to not carry anything specific to any location for a while.

 

Good job on breakfast at TE.  It's gotta be one of the absolute best values at WDW.  Mmmmmmm.

 

Looking forward to more!

 

OK, it's a deal.  You can shimmy with DIT if we're ever all there at the same time.

 

Yes, Trail's End breakfast is a good value- especially with the 40% off deal they give to Castmembers!

 

Uh... what view are you referring to?

 

I am absolutely not going to think about that.

 

5th page....I am slow but now along for the ride.  I love pictures taken in the Meadow Trading Post...my memory can smell it (I know, it is weird but I swear that place has had the same smell since I was young).   Can't wait to read more!

 

Page 5.

 

Nice work.

 

Glad that you're reading along.

 

Lots of people comment about the smell of the Meadow Trading Post.  I have never noticed the smell.

 

I bought a second brown Fort shirt last year and I still have my white walking stick one also. As a kid I had a Musket Mickey t shirt but no idea what happend to it. The view from the second story of Pioneer hall is nice.

Good move getting the second shirt. You had better take care of both of your shirts, because it doesn't look like there will be anymore of those brown ones.

 

One of these days I need to dig out my Fort Wilderness t-shirts.  I have a few from the '90's that are different.

 

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Yum, breakfast at Trail's End. The bacon there is the best. 

 

I can't believe you wrecked the hula hoops. Poor Ms. Josephine! 

 

That stinks about the cart. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Yum, breakfast at Trail's End. The bacon there is the best. 

 

I can't believe you wrecked the hula hoops. Poor Ms. Josephine! 

 

That stinks about the cart. 

 

I agree about the bacon.

 

Sometime, I need to sneak in a kitchen scale and weigh how much I eat.  it's awesome to have that big pile there like that.

 

Yeah, Ms. Josie was a bit mad at me.  I'll bet she doesn't invite me to help next time.

 

The cart problem was just one of those things.  It all ended up working out fine, as you'll see in the next update.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Let's get this report moving.

 

We left off with early Thursday afternoon.  November 6.

 

We had enjoyed a late breakfast at Trail's End, and had taken a field trip to the CM store.

 

While at breakfast, we made a plan for the afternoon.  We would head over to Hollywood Studios, then hop to Epcot, and then come on back to the Fort.  From there, we would head to Downtown Disney, where we would catch the midnight showing of the new Disney movie, Big Hero Six.  It's sort of a tradition in the TCD household for us to go to the midnight showing of new Disney movies.  Big Hero Six was officially released to theaters on Friday, November 7, but we were going to see it at midnight.

 

Originally, I had made FP+ reservations for the MK for Thursday.  I made those a few weeks back when a bunch of Seven Dwarf Mine Train FP+ times got released.  Since we weren't going to the MK today, I released those FP+, and rebooked FP+'s for the afternoon at Hollywood Studios. That went fine, except that there were no more Toy Story FP+ slots available.  Not a big deal-I booked us for Rock N Rollercoaster for right after a Tower of Terror FP+.  That was efficient.

 

We headed out a little after 3.

 

We still had no golf cart.

 

Which was not that big a deal for us since we were in 100.  We headed to the Settlement Bus Stop, and knew that we could catch any bus to the front.  There was an Orange bus loading as we walked up.  And a Wilderness Lodge bus pulled up right after.

 

That gave me a crazy idea.  Why not jump on the Lodge bus and catch the DHS bus from there?  We would get to the Lodge way faster than we would get to the Outpost on the Orange bus.  So, that's what we did.

 

Like always, guess what bus pulled up right after we got to the Lodge?

 

Yup.  The Hollywood Studios bus.

 

I don't know how we do it.  But I'm glad for the TCD gang bus luck.

 

Of course, the Hollywood Studios bus still had to go and pick up at the Fort.  So, we probably would have caught it had we taken the Orange bus.  But, we got our choice of seats on this bus.  When we got to the Fort, nobody got on.  And, then we were off to DHS.

 

Here's a photo fail  They finally have put up a sign for the new Tranquillo Golf Course which is operated by the Four Seasons on the former Disney Osprey Ridge course.  The sign looks like it's just a temporary one, and looks very cheap.  The only problem is that I somehow missed the sign in this photo.  You can see part of it all the way over on the right:

 

 

We made it to Hollywood Studios without incident, and made our way back to Tower of Terror.

 

As we walked past RockNRollercoaster, we noticed that they had the gates at the entrance courtyard shut, and CM's were standing there turning guests away.  That didn't look good for us, since we had FP+'s for there next, but maybe those gates would be open by then.

 

As we headed to the TOT entrance, one of the girls spotted some kind of commotion over by the gates that lead back to Fantasmic.  We walked back there to see what was going on.

 

We had stumbled upon a special character meet and greet. 

 

Some bloggers call it Character-a-palooza.  But, that's not an official name.

 

They used to bring out a bunch of random characters on certain afternoons in the animation building. 

 

Then they moved that to the New York Street area.

 

Since the Osborne Lights are there now, they apparently have moved it over here.

 

Which is good, because there weren't that many people around.

 

They had Snow White, Mulan, Aladdin and Jasmine, Aurora, and a few more.  And this guy:

 

 

If I am remembering right, Robin Hood was one of the "Long Lost Friends" they brought out for the Limited Time Magic promotion they had last year.  And there were long lines to meet him.  Not for us.

 

The girls took a bunch of photos.

 

None of which made it to me.

 

But, that was a fun surprise.

 

We then rode TOT.

 

Look at how they do the photos at the end now:

 

 

Our RNRC FP+ backed right up to our TOT one, so we headed there next.

 

But, the place was shut-up tight.

 

I've never seen those gates shut like that.

 

There wasn't anyone back there.

 

Not even for the gift shop or the restrooms.  The whole area was closed.

 

We asked one of the CM's what was up.  He said the ride was down, and he wasn't sure when it would reopen.  We asked if it would be today.  He said he didn't know.  That's how there supposed to do it.  The twins then had a private conversation with the guy, CM to CM.  He told them that the ride had been down all day.  It never even opened. And it wasn't going to reopen today.  What about our FP+'s?  They were good at any other FP+ attraction.  But not Toy Story.  Just the lame ones.  For once, we even got the email confirming that:

 

 

Does that seem fair?

 

Not to me it didn't.

 

Remember, I had forked over Mine Train FP+'s to get that RNRC FP+.  And now we couldn't ride RNRC.  I didn't like that.

 

I told the girls I was going to Guest Services.  They went into one of the gift shops.

 

As I walked toward Guest Services, look who was coming in:

 

 

Yup.  Mulch, Sweat and Shears.

 

I am not a fan.

 

Why did they get rid of all the entertainers in Epcot, but keep these guys?

 

They must work cheap.

 

I was helped by a very nice CM in Guest Services.  I explained to him what had happened, and he scanned my Magicband, and just like that we had Toy Story Fastpasses.

 

I found the girls and told them we needed to head over to Toy Story.

 

I rock.

 

Since the big stage is down, Mulch, Sweat and Shears set up right near the hat, and faced the opposite way from how they faced when the stage was there:

 

 

There was plenty of space to accommodate the meager crowd:

 

 

Those guys were as loud as ever.

 

Our new FP+'s were good anytime before park close, so we decided to take a detour on the way to Toy Story.  The girls know that they've been building a new meet and greet area for the Big Hero Six characters, and we wanted to check and see if the characters were out.

 

They weren't.

 

But, we got to see some of the props from the movie they have on display.

 

Since we hadn't seen the movie, we didn't know what these things were. When we got to this case, the girls said they weren't going to look anymore, They thought this silver thing was a bad version of Bay Max, and they didn't want the movie plot to be spoiled from seeing the props.  The big surprise for Merida got ruined for us when we saw some of the toys featuring bears before the movie came out:

 

 

If you saw the movie, you'll recognize this little robot, and the next prop as well:

 

 

 

Now that we've seen the movie, I want to go back there and look at this stuff they have on display again.

 

After the animation building, we headed toward Toy Story.

 

When we got near there, I saw a line entering the Jack Sparrow hologram thing they have there.  I said to the girls that we ought to see it one last time, as they were going to be permanently closing that attraction the next day.  When we walked up, the CM on duty told us that the show was full, but he gave us paper FP cards for the next show.

 

Then it was on to Toy Story.

 

Of course, there was a family blocking the FP+ return area:

 

 

They had Magicbands but no FP+'s on them.  They didn't understand a thing about FP+ or Magicbands. They thought they could just show up at the attraction and use them.  How do people like this function in the real world?

 

There was actually a bit of a wait in the FP+ return line.

 

Which was OK with me, because we were stopped right next to the Etch-A-Sketch, and it was entertaining us:

 

 

Try some of these word games:

 

 

Give up?

 

Here's the answer:

 

 

Here's another:

 

 

And the answer to that one:

 

 

We were there long enough for a third puzzle:

 

 

The answer to that one:

 

 

Well, that was fun, wasn't it?

 

That's one smart Etch-A-Sketch.

 

Too bad we had to go and ride the ride.

 

After that, we were out of FP+'s.

 

And the paper ones we had for Jack Sparrow weren't for another 45 minutes.

 

We voted not to wait.

 

We bolted.

 

There was a long line at the boat to Epcot.

 

And a boat was there boarding.

 

As we walked up, it was pretty clear we wouldn't make that boat.

 

Which stinks, because the boats are like 45 minutes apart.

 

But, our luck held.

 

Another boat was motoring up just as the one at the dock packed the last of the guests it could fit in and left.

 

We got on a nice uncrowded boat and were on our way.

 

Made it to Epcot in no time.

 

We went in through the International Gateway and hung a right.

 

First stop France.

 

Twin #1 got the mushroom gratin.  She liked that last time, and had it again.

 

We then headed toward Japan.

 

On the way there, though, we stumbled right on to the beginning of the new Morocco entertainment.

 

They came right out and disturbed this poor lady who thought she had found a quiet spot where she could check her email:

 

 

We tried to stay for at least one song.  But, it was that bad that none of us really wanted to:

 

 

So we left.

 

We headed around the World Showcase.

 

We hit Japan for some sushi and another one of those Peach Sake Jell-O-shot drinks.

 

I got a Grapefruit Beer in Germany.

 

And, we sampled a few more things as we went.

 

It was a fun time, but my hands were mostly full, which meant no photos on this leg of the trip.

 

When we got to Mexico, we all decided that we had had enough.

 

So we headed out, and back to the Fort.

 

Then it was movie time.

 

The girls checked for times on their phones, and found that they had showings of the movie even earlier than midnight.

 

We decided to try for a 10:30 show.

 

And we debated how to get there.

 

As much as I hated to drive, I decided that is what I should do.

 

The last time I drove to Downtown Disney, I took DVC Way and came in from the Saratoga Springs side.  I thought I could slip in to that first parking lot and beat the traffic around there.  That didn't work, as they had the entrance to that parking lot blocked.

 

So this time, I went the other way.

 

I have the two paths marked on this map.

 

The purple way, which is what we did tonight. is better:

 

 

Before you even get to Downtown Disney, you take a left into the very first parking lot.  You will be on the House of Blues side of Downtown Disney, but the parking was fine.  I'd rather do that than drive through that mess.

 

They had a giant Baymax here for us:

 

 

 

We had no problem getting tickets.  The theater was pretty full, and the crowd loved the movie.  I am glad we went.

 

On our way out that evening, I finally got word that the guests who held over on our golf cart were ready to give it back.

 

So, after the movie, we went and got our cart.

 

Sweet!

 

This is the last photo I have from Thursday night (which was technically Friday morning), which I took as we looped at 1:42 am.  There's a huge buck crossing the road in this photo.  But, Twin #1 took the photo, and I can't see the deer in it:

 

 

It was past 2 by the time we were all back in the camper and ready to call it a night.

 

Another fun day at the Fort.

 

In the morning, I'll have a cart to use.

 

Which means we will start the next update with more early morning Fort photos.

 

Most people like those.

 

TCD