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Twenty One!: The TCD Twins' 21st Birthday Jamboree at the Fort


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33 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Yeah, it could.  But not as much as when Chainsaw Guy shows up to clear-cut the understories of the loops.

A little twine is fine- Disney doesn't care about trees and that silly environmental stuff

TCD

If the trees die, that will give them a reason to replace them with cement and fiberglass ones...

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I need to post this last batch of photos so I can be done with this TR, as I'll have another one to start next week. And, I still need to take that trip. Heck, I still need to pack for that

So is it just the 1500 and 2000 loops where Disney allows it to be like the lawless old west where anything goes? Are us lowlife tent/PUP owners $$ not as good as the TT and the rolling mansion R

Shall we call you Dory?

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1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Yeah, it could.  But not as much as when Chainsaw Guy shows up to clear-cut the understories of the loops.

A little twine is fine- Disney doesn't care about trees and that silly environmental stuff. 

TCD

Like, you know, discharging your dishwasher into the woods.

[I'm sure you got the clothesline reference]

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49 minutes ago, Travisma said:

If the trees die, that will give them a reason to replace them with cement and fiberglass ones...

LOL.  Well, actually, it's not funny.  They seem pretty intent on eradicating the wilderness.

10 minutes ago, shoreline99 said:

Like, you know, discharging your dishwasher into the woods.

[I'm sure you got the clothesline reference]

I thought that you were making a reference to our favorite cupcake (may he rest in peace), but I wasn't sure.

Good one!

TCD

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Does Mrs TCD or your older daughter speak Spanish? If so they should have joined in on the conversation. Probably would have quieted down those other ladies for a bit.

My brother speaks Arabic. It's funny to see people's faces when he starts speaking to them. The first reaction is shock, but then they usually love it and have long conversations with him. He can also speak Turkish and Indonesian.

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Update time.

It's now the big day: Saturday, May 29, 2016.

This being Memorial Day Weekend made it tough for Twin #2 to try to get days off.  She was originally scheduled to work on Saturday night, but was able to swap shifts so that she would just have to work the morning.  That was the good news. The bad news is that she had to work one of those new Morning Magic shifts at the MK where guests pay to enter the park early and have breakfast and exclusive use of the Mine Train and some Fantasyland attractions.  She needed to be on stage at 7 am.  And this was the night after their pre-party at the Hangar Bar.

Twin #2 asked me to come by the cabin at 6 to make sure she was up and to give her a ride out to her car in the overflow lot.  I didn't want to do it, but it would be a bad thing if she didn't get up to go to work, so I did.

I was surprised when I walked in the cabin to see Twin #2 was up, but also fully dressed in her costume and ready to go.

Good show.

So, I ran Twin #2 out to the parking lot, and then continued on for a small mission.

The other kids would be getting up in a bit to get ready to head to Epcot, and I felt responsible to provide breakfast.  I told Mrs. TCD that I would go into the cabin and make breakfast for everyone, but she told me that the kids who didn't belong to us might not appreciate that, and that I ought to just bring them something.  I had asked them about this the night before, and they asked for Chick-Fil-A biscuits.  So, I made a CFA run.  I wasn't sure what time they opened.  Now I know it's 6:30, as I arrived a few minutes before then, and had to wait for rope drop.  I got the biscuits, and headed back to the Fort.

I parked the Big Blue Excursion on my site, and then grabbed the golf cart to make a delivery to the cabin.

Which is how I ended up here at 7:01 am on this Saturday morning- you probably can't see them, but there are a bunch of lifeguards doing some kind of training session at the pool:

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I looped around 1500, and it looked to me like no one had even slept in the tent city that was erected around the communal kitchen.  There were no shoes or anything else outside of the tents.  There was just a handful of adults on the communal site.  Weird.

Speaking of the Fort failing to enforce rules, here's a small motorhome that was enjoying one of the sites on 1500:

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Here's a Tag trailer.  These folks had the tent attachment accessory.  I always smile at that because the tent is way bigger than the trailer:

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On my last visit to the Fort, I didn't spend enough time visiting my favorite spot, so I made a point of stopping there and drinking my CFA coffee and eating my chicken biscuit while I gazed across the lake:

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I don't think I've mentioned the weather yet.

I've camped at the Fort on Memorial Day weekend several times- and the weather has always been the same:  hot, muggy, humid with plenty of rain.  Well, so far on this trip, we had none of that.  In fact, it was actually cool and pleasantly not very humid on this beautiful morning.  We had some thunder the night before, but it never rained on us at the Fort.  Sweet.

Did you notice those domes on the ground in those last two photos?

They caught my eye as soon as I approached this area.  At first I didn't know what they could possibly be.  But, when I go closer, I saw that they are those big metal bowls that they use for campfires, flipped over:

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What I don't know is why there were three of them here and what they were used for.

There was one here last year when they were doing that Walt's Wilderness Tour, but I don't think they're offering that tour anymore.

One more photo of my view from that morning:

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After I had polished off the biscuit, I headed down the path:

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I don't know why I bother to look, but I did, and to no one's surprise the covered wagon that is supposed to be on display in front of the Settlement Trading Post is still rotting away behind it:

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The Settlement swings, on the other hand, are not missing:

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I still had some coffee to sip, so I parked at the end of the sidewalk by the Clementine's Beach sign.  Usually, that is a nice and quiet place to sit and look at the lake, but there was a big group of youths walking up and down the beach- at barely past 7 am.  I have no idea where they were trying to go, and I don't think they did either:

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I did take a spin through the River Country entrance area over there, but didn't see anything newsworthy:

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And nothing new on this side of the Pioneer Hall/Trails End building:

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I stopped by the cabin briefly to drop off the biscuits.  No one was up yet, so I headed back to 2024.  Here's a sunrise over the TCD add-a-room shot for you:

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It was still nice and cool and quiet around my site, so I thought it might be nice to enjoy some hammock time:

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I thought that was the 900 loop over there across from my site, but it's the 1000 loop:

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And that is the 2100 loop over there- which used to have cabins on it, but is now apparently being converted back to a camping loop:

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This nice mud bridge was constructed by someone across the ditch by the 2100 loop:

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It looks like you could lose a shoe in that mess.

Here's a look back at the good old TCD camper:

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Although it is on the 2000 loop, I really like this campsite.  It was nice and dark the night before.  The last campsite we camped on was next to a big streetlamp on the 1400 loop and featured a view of the Abomination.  I liked my nice dark, quiet campsite here a lot better:

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As an added bonus, there is a primitive bridge behind 2024, and it's a lot less muddy than the one we looked at a few photos ago:

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I took a quick stroll across that bridge and ended up right behind the 2100 loop.  There were no fences, signs, or anything saying that I had to keep out, so I took a look around:

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I shared a bunch of photos from the 2100 loop on another thread, and rather than repeat them here, here's the link if you haven't already seen them:

After that little walk, I headed back to the hammock and took a rest- there was a magnolia tree right above me and there was a squirrel in there going to town chomping on the flowers.  I didn't know they ate magnolia flowers, but they do:

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It was getting near 8 am now, and more and more folks were starting to be out and about- there are some dogwalkers across the canal there behind the 1000 loop:

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Some more TCD hammock POV pics:

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My CFA coffee was long gone, so I made a pot in the official TCD coffee maker.  This item used to be used in the TCD home, but we hated the design of it, so it ended up as camping equipment.  Note that the loose handle was securely fixed with some nice tape:

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My quiet moment of enjoying a fresh cup of coffee at my picnic table was interrupted by some really loud children playing out in the loop.  It was just past 8, so I guess it was OK, but my daughter was still asleep in the camper, and I thought the parents of those kids should have told them to keep it down:

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If those kids were trying to wake everyone up on the loop, they were successful, as my daughter got up not too long after the ruckus started.

My daughter grabbed her chicken biscuit, and we headed out to loop our way down to the 100 loop.

On our way out of 2000, I ran into a long lost Fiend:  Brandy from the Family of Bears.  She said she was staying on the 2000 loop, and she had a large toddler with her who was a baby the last time I saw him.  We spoke for a moment, but she had to chase her kid,  I Intended to find her site and stop by for a longer visit, but I never saw her again.  If you're reading this, Brandy, it was good to see you again.

I guess we hadn't looped around the 1200 loop, so we did that on this trip.  A few campers on this loop had Memorial Day decorations up.  Like these folks:

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Here's a Mickey lamp design that I've never seen before:

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That guy with the nice tow rig and trailer who does the Christmas Tree farm every year was in his spot on 1200, but no decorations this time:

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I need to meet this guy and find out his story.  He somehow manages to get the same nice spot on every trip.  I wonder how he does it?

I can't remember why I took this photo- maybe to show how these folks set up a tent way off their pad.  It looks like it's a preferred or full hook up site, but I don't remember where it was:

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We stopped by the cabin and found that everyone was up there.  Twin #1 and her cabin guests were going to head to Epcot- she really wanted to show her ID and buy a drink there.  I had made us all FP reservations at the MK months earlier, and I had some good ones, so my oldest DD and I decided that we would go to the MK and we would all meet up later back at the cabin.

We headed back to 2000.  On the way there, we checked on the group camping area, and saw that it was really busy:

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The thought occurred to me that the group on 1500 might have been bumped out of group camping over to 1500.  If so, that doesn't make it right.

This is a good place to stop.

We will pick it back up with some afternoon MK photos- in addition to riding some rides, we were going to try and find Twin #2 there.

TCD

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I'm laughing over the tape on your Krups handle and remembering the conversation we had a few years ago about the flaws in Krups' design.  I also relegated mine to the RV, but last year I had enough and threw it away.  Bought a cheap coffeemaker that works a lot better.

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3 hours ago, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

I'm laughing over the tape on your Krups handle and remembering the conversation we had a few years ago about the flaws in Krups' design.  I also relegated mine to the RV, but last year I had enough and threw it away.  Bought a cheap coffeemaker that works a lot better.

I like to use the old coffee maker.  It reminds me of simpler times.  The coffee is good.  One of these trips, the handle is going to fall off, and then I'll have to break down and get a new one.  I won't have to buy one, though.  There's another reject from our house waiting in the wings.

2 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

kermit.jpg

Hey, look at you, making memes.

Very good.

Transferring was a tough decision for Twin #2.  She has only been at UCF since January, and hasn't gone through a football season there yet.

The Rosen School of Hospitality Management, where she attends, is a small campus that is remote from the main campus.  She has enjoyed the small environment there and its proximity to WDW.

The move has allowed her to continue as a WDW CM, which has been a great thing for our family (and for her too).

TCD

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5 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I like to use the old coffee maker.  It reminds me of simpler times.  The coffee is good.  One of these trips, the handle is going to fall off, and then I'll have to break down and get a new one.  I won't have to buy one, though.  There's another reject from our house waiting in the wings.

Hey, look at you, making memes.

Very good.

Transferring was a tough decision for Twin #2.  She has only been at UCF since January, and hasn't gone through a football season there yet.

The Rosen School of Hospitality Management, where she attends, is a small campus that is remote from the main campus.  She has enjoyed the small environment there and its proximity to WDW.

The move has allowed her to continue as a WDW CM, which has been a great thing for our family (and for her too).

TCD

I have no doubt it was a great move for her, and that her experiences in Tallahassee will serve her well.  It was just too easy an opportunity to take a shot at FSU.  :lol:  

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I have a question about the free cupcake at Sprinkles. How do you get it? I signed up for their perks program, but haven't gotten an e-mail or a free cupcake show up in my account. I saw something on Facebook about it and all they said was to sign up for the perks program.

Looking forward to more of the trip report!

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2 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I like to use the old coffee maker.  It reminds me of simpler times.  The coffee is good.  One of these trips, the handle is going to fall off, and then I'll have to break down and get a new one.  I won't have to buy one, though.  There's another reject from our house waiting in the wings.

Hey, look at you, making memes.

Very good.

Transferring was a tough decision for Twin #2.  She has only been at UCF since January, and hasn't gone through a football season there yet.

The Rosen School of Hospitality Management, where she attends, is a small campus that is remote from the main campus.  She has enjoyed the small environment there and its proximity to WDW.

 

TCD

Isn't that next door to the Rosen Shingle Creek  Resort on Orangewood/Universal?

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Hey, look at you, making memes.

Very good.

Transferring was a tough decision for Twin #2.  She has only been at UCF since January, and hasn't gone through a football season there yet.

The Rosen School of Hospitality Management, where she attends, is a small campus that is remote from the main campus.  She has enjoyed the small environment there and its proximity to WDW.

The move has allowed her to continue as a WDW CM, which has been a great thing for our family (and for her too).

TCD

Steve had an interview with AMD in Orlando back in April. He still hasn't heard back. But if he were to get the job and accept it I imagine he would adopt UCF as one of his teams. Mostly because of who their head coach is now.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

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1 hour ago, sherryberry said:

I have a question about the free cupcake at Sprinkles. How do you get it? I signed up for their perks program, but haven't gotten an e-mail or a free cupcake show up in my account. I saw something on Facebook about it and all they said was to sign up for the perks program.

Looking forward to more of the trip report!

You just give them the phone number you used to sign up.  They punch it in and verify.  If something is wrong, you can just use your phone and sign up there again.

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15 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

I have no doubt it was a great move for her, and that her experiences in Tallahassee will serve her well.  It was just too easy an opportunity to take a shot at FSU.  :lol:  

I understand.

Go Gata.

13 hours ago, sherryberry said:

I have a question about the free cupcake at Sprinkles. How do you get it? I signed up for their perks program, but haven't gotten an e-mail or a free cupcake show up in my account. I saw something on Facebook about it and all they said was to sign up for the perks program.

Looking forward to more of the trip report!

My daughter actually took my phone and did whatever needed to be done to get the free cupcake.

As DJSamuel says below, when I got to the register, the CM asked if I was redeeming a free cupcake offer (which I think everyone was), and asked for my phone number, which he keyed in to the register.  And I got a free cupcake.

One thing Twin #1 found out is that she gets some kind of bonus points for each customer that she entices to sign up.  That could be a rewarding project for an enterprising Fiend.

13 hours ago, Travisma said:

Isn't that next door to the Rosen Shingle Creek  Resort on Orangewood/Universal?

Yes. 

In case you don't know, Harris Rosen donated the land that the campus sits on, and then apparently developed the land around it.  It's still a work in process, but it all seems really nice:

History

The Birth of a Top Hospitality College

With more than 3,000 students taking classes on a unique and state-of-the art campus, in the heart of Orlando’s hospitality and tourism corridor, with distinguished faculty and experienced industry executives, the Rosen College of Hospitality Management could already be considered one of the finest hospitality programs in the world. And surely the future portends even greater success for the University of Central Florida’s (UCF) unique branch campus. But, as with any great enterprise, in order to fully appreciate current and future accomplishments one must first begin to understand the history and evolution of the program.
When the Rosen School of Hospitality Management (as it was then called) opened its doors on January 5, 2004, one could easily predict a bright future. The Rosen School had become a reality due in large part to the generosity of local hotelier Harris Rosen, who donated the initial $18 million in money and land that jump started the construction of the new campus. Soon, many other central Florida hospitality companies — including Walt Disney World, Darden Restaurants, the Universal Orlando Foundation, Sea World, Marriott, and the Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association — were also contributing funds to the project.
 
https://hospitality.ucf.edu/about-rosen-college/history/
 
 

 

By the time the new campus opened at the beginning of the Spring 2004 semester — a Mediterranean-inspired, resort-style facility with 18 classrooms, a world-class library, a 200-seat dining room and bar, a stunning beer and wine laboratory, two spacious teaching kitchens, a 400-seat auditorium, and wireless Internet access throughout campus — it was clear that Rosen was unlike any other hospitality program.In reality, however, the establishment of the Rosen campus was the culmination of a much longer journey for those involved with UCF’s efforts to educate future hospitality leaders.
12 hours ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

Steve had an interview with AMD in Orlando back in April. He still hasn't heard back. But if he were to get the job and accept it I imagine he would adopt UCF as one of his teams. Mostly because of who their head coach is now.

That would be awesome if he got the job in Orlando.

I had to use Google to see who UCF's new coach was- I really don't follow their team at all.  For as long as I've known, they had that grumpy old guy coach.  It's good to see that they have a new coach.  They play in an easy conference and have an easy schedule, so maybe they will win a few games this year.

12 hours ago, djsamuel said:

You just give them the phone number you used to sign up.  They punch it in and verify.  If something is wrong, you can just use your phone and sign up there again.

That's exactly how they did it when I was there.

1 hour ago, CoachClough said:

Another great chapter.  Really makes me wish our next trip was sooner...

Thanks.  I wish your next trip was sooner too.

You know, you can do something about that if you want to.

TCD

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1 hour ago, ependydad...Doug said:

Page 5 and caught up. I had comments, but I've forgotten them by now. Sounds like a wonderful trip.

Thanks, Doug.  Glad that you're reading along.

57 minutes ago, Beckers said:

Shall we call you Dory?

LOL.  Good one!

54 minutes ago, ependydad...Doug said:

That's one of the nicer things I've been called, so yeah- let's go with that.

LOL.  Poor Dory Doug.

TCD

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Update time.

I forgot to post another photo at the appropriate time, so here's a bonus photo from Friday, the 27th.  When I first came back to the cabin following setting up the campsite, the twins were nowhere to be found.  Which was odd.  They hadn't told me that they were going anywhere.  I thought that maybe they were hiding and would jump out at me, but I looked through the cabin, and they were gone.  But the other golf cart was there.  I figured maybe they had run over to the trading post or something, so I just chilled.  Then I heard their voices.  Coming from outside.  I headed out behind the cabin, and found them in their hammocks:

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It's good to be a TCD twin.

Now, back to our report.  It's still Saturday, May 28th.  I've been at the Fort since Thursday the 26th, and I have yet to step foot in a park.  And, it's not like I was sitting around doing nothing.

I planned this trip far enough in advance that I was able to take advantage of the 60 day FP+ booking window.  At the time, they hadn't announced that Soarin' would be reopening, or that there would be a new show and that the night safari would be starting at AK.  So, I booked us FP+'s at the MK, including 6 all at the same time for the Mine Train.  I rarely do that.

Of course, long after that planning was done, Disney changed the game on me and announced a bunch of new stuff that would be introduced over Memorial Day weekend.  It ended up not being a big deal because Twin #2 had to work, and Twin #1 wanted to go and have some drinks with her friends at Epcot-they weren't interested in riding any rides.

Mrs. TCD had hung back at the TCD home base until now.  She was preparing some snacks for the HDDR pre-game and also had to pick up some balloons and the birthday cake.  As a teacher, this was also a super busy time for her at school, as it was the last full week of classes, and she couldn't take Thursday and Friday off.  So the plan was for her to come over on Saturday.  When we last talked, she agreed that since everyone was busy in the afternoon, she would just shoot for a late afternoon arrival.

That left some time for my oldest DD and I to head to the MK, and that is what we did.

We took the boat.  It was another beautiful day, but it was getting hot:

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The Shoe Tree still has a good crop:

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Good old River Country continues to sit and rot:

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They are still going to town on the DVC project at Wilderness Lodge:

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The rumored new restaurant building is getting bigger and bigger, with out buildings being incorporated into the design:

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For some reason, our boat went to the south of Shipwreck Island, and followed along the shore on the other side of the main Lodge buildings.  That gave me a good luck at all the construction going on over on this side, which is substantial-they have also cleared along the shoreline here, but the silt fences are up from the actual shore.  I have seen some reports that the new bungalows they're building here are not going to be sitting out over the water like the Polynesian's do.  The placement of the silt fence seems to be consistent with that rumor:

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I am not sure what they're doing as far as renting out existing rooms at the Lodge.  On the other side, which overlooks the DVC building, it is my understanding that all of those rooms are being renovated, and are not being rented out to guests.  That's good, because guests on that side would have a huge construction project to see from their balconies.  But, it looks like guests on this side would have the same issue:

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Here's that berm that we saw from the bus back on Thursday when we went to Disney Springs:

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When we got to the other side of Shipwreck Island, we found out why we had come this way- an MK ferry was heading out to the dock on the far side of the Contemporary Resort:

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The MK didn't seem particularly busy, but the Mine Train must have been down for a while, because the FP return line was long- and we had to wait out in the hot sun for a bit before we got into the cool mine.  The FP return line doesn't have the shade and fans like the standby line has.

But, we made it on- and had the treat of sitting behind a couple who were riding for the first time.  The woman was acting like this was a real rollercoaster, LOL:

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We could have swapped our Magic Bands and re-ridden the ride, but the FP line was still backed up, and we were hot.  We decided to head someplace cool- to DIT's favorite ride.  We didn't have a FP for this, but we could see that the outside queue was empty, so we figured it would be close to a walk-on.  What we didn't know is that they had all of the inside queue open, which I have not seen them do in a long time:

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The line still moved fast, and the AC in there was nice and cool, so it ended up being a great choice.

After that, we visited the nicest restrooms in the park, and watched Gaston for a while.  I really like this little corner of the MK:

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After that, we wanted to see if we could find Twin #2.  I knew that she was working at small world and Peter Pan today, and had been there since the early park event.  But, I knew from past experiences that it's like finding a needle in a haystack when trying to find an attractions CM, because they rotate around to different positions at the attractions all day long. 

But, it ended up that Twin #2 was the first CM that we saw- she was right in front of Peter Pan:

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Those are my free Zootopia sunglasses from the Disney Parks Blog meetup in case you're wondering.  I need a new pair of sunglasses, and those were all I had handy.

Twin #2 was holding up very well under the circumstances, and was excited that her shift was almost over.  She was going to head straight to the cabin as soon as she could so she could hopefully take a nap before the big night.

My DD and I acquired a paper FP that was good for small world, so we headed in there for a ride. 

We got seated behind a mom and her two kids.  The mom must have been some kind of professional phone photographer or something, because she spent the whole ride trying to get just the right angle for her blurry photos.  And she had some sweet tats too.  No biggie, though, I could see the ride on her phone screen:

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We've been on this ride and the Haunted Mansion a couple of times since they started doing the Magic Band reading baloney.  It had never worked for us before.  But lookie here- that screen says "andrew.":

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I cracked up when I saw the other screen- it was reading the fake MB's I had in my backpack- I know they were mine because I use names that can be for a male or female -like Hunter and Ashley- and there they were:

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Then it was time for lunch and FOF.

We headed though the castle and toward Casey's Corner.

Some random ballerina was having a photo shoot in front of the castle.  OK:

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We got our corndog nuggets, and found a spot on the shady side of the street- it was really hot at this point. 

A photopass photographer came by, and we had our photo taken:

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(again with the glasses)

There were two high school bands pre-parade:

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FOF was FOF.  We still like it:

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The Mime left us alone.  So it was a good day.  Look how hot those folks on the other side of the street look standing in the hot sun.  I imagine that curb was too hot to sit on:

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I don't know how these guys with the fur costumes don't pass out:

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The dragon pilot treated us to some fire on Main Street- a lot of times there isn't fire for this part of the parade:

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I was glad when that balloon got here- I was ready to head back to that air conditioned cabin:

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We heard from Twin #2 and her gang, and saw that they were enjoying some adult beverages in Epcot.  I thought it was cute that one of the drinks she went for was a grapefruit beer in Germany- they have seen me stop for those for years.  Your kids really do watch you, so remember that:

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On our way out of the MK, DD suggested that we pop into the Main Street Bakery that is not a Starbucks to get a cold drink we could enjoy on the ride back.  I got a half lemonade/half sweet tea drink. I told the barista that my name was Pappi, and she did a good job spelling it creatively:

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From here, we headed straight out to the Fort boat and back to the cabin.

It was time to start the preparations for the big evening.

TCD

 

 

 

 

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