Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2016 49 minutes ago, Beckers said: It kind of bothers me that they don't capitalize the names at Small World. I'm far from a spelling, grammar or pronunciation expert but large companies should be. LOL. The all lowercase thing is part of the small world brand. Check out lettering on the attraction building and park maps. Using all lowercase letters on the display screens is a cute nod to that. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beckers 1,136 Posted June 9, 2016 Report Share Posted June 9, 2016 53 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said: LOL. The all lowercase thing is part of the small world brand. Check out lettering on the attraction building and park maps. Using all lowercase letters on the display screens is a cute nod to that. TCD I guess I just showed my lack of Disney knowledge! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fladogfan aka Gretchen 259 Posted June 9, 2016 Report Share Posted June 9, 2016 Maybe this means they will spare the trees on shore. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2016 19 hours ago, Beckers said: I guess I just showed my lack of Disney knowledge! I didn't notice it until recently, but they do not have any capital letters on the sign outside the ride or on the park maps: 19 hours ago, fladogfan aka Gretchen said: Maybe this means they will spare the trees on shore. I think those trees are safe. Since they are calling these cabins the Copper Creek Cabins, I think they're going to be building a fake creek that runs along the shoreline. It will be interesting to see how they do that. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2016 The big night finally had arrived. Mrs. TCD arrived at the cabin not long after we all go back from our park visits, and then the pre-gaming began. I cranked up my frozen drink maker and started cranking out the Kungalooshes. They were a surprise hit with the kids. Twin #1 used her graphic design skills to make matching t-shirts for us to wear. This is the design that was on the back (their names were printed there up top, but I always remove those to protect them from creepy internet stalkers) : I put a tablecloth and runner on the picnic table so it would be ready for some flip cupping: We served the Kungalooshes in plastic cowboy boots: It was fun watching the wagons and carriage rides go by: I was under strict orders to put my camera away- the girls wanted control over all photos taken that night. They took a lot, but I don't have access to any of them yet. I will have to add those later if I ever do. I did get this shot showing the birthday girls and their guests having a wild time on the porch (kids and their phones, am I right?): You can see in that photo that I had moved the cooler out to the porch. A couple of the photos the girls took that I did find on their social media accounts: I made several pitchers of kungalooshes, and everyone had a great time. Then it was time! We just walked over to Pioneer Hall and headed in. I have very few photos from the show. We had a great time. Of course, when the actors came in, Claire made a bee-line right to me and hopped right on my lap and began with the whole "I thought you told me your were coming tomorrow night" thing, and asking who Mrs. TCD was. I had a big spotlight on me, and the kids were howling: Mrs. TCD was a good sport about it all. She is used to me being mauled in public by strange women. That's what she signed up for when she married a good looking fellow like me. We had a Six Bits that I had never seen before in my life. The girls thought he was cute: He played the part much more seriously than any Six Bits I've seen before, but he did a good job, and the show was great, as usual. Here's something funny - I found this photo on Instagram taken by some random stranger who was there at the same time as us- if you look over to the far left you can see Mrs. TCD and me in our red shirts: There had been big talk before the HDDR about going to a bar afterwards, but that talk all died down after dinner. We all went back to the cabin, and some more of the girls friends showed up. We had a big cookie cake for the girls and they drank a bit more. Mrs. TCD, my oldest DD and I slipped out of there around midnight and headed back to the camper. Sorry, but that's all the photos I have from that night. The lack of photos doesn't mean we didn't have fun. Actually, I was too busy drinking, eating and laughing to take photos. The night was an unqualified success. And for the rest of their lives, the TCD twins have cemented their Fiend status by celebrating their 21st birthday at the Hoop Dee Doo. You may think that this TR is near the end. If you do, you're mistaken. We still had two more nights at the Fort after this, and my photo taking picked back up. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dblr....Rennie 224 Posted June 10, 2016 Report Share Posted June 10, 2016 WOW, looks like you all had a great time at the HDDR!!!!! How does that commercial go....oh yes PRICELESS! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beckers 1,136 Posted June 10, 2016 Report Share Posted June 10, 2016 I need to redo my 21st birthday. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DaveInTN 3,247 Posted June 10, 2016 Report Share Posted June 10, 2016 it's a small world. get it? small as in small case. the only thing not small about it is the obnoxious level. that's off the charts. Beckers and Avatab.... Steve 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547 Posted June 10, 2016 Report Share Posted June 10, 2016 Wow! What a celebration they had! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
momof3kids-Yvonne 596 Posted June 10, 2016 Report Share Posted June 10, 2016 What a great way to celebrate a special day. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mouseketab.....Carol 1,261 Posted June 10, 2016 Report Share Posted June 10, 2016 Looks like lots of fun!!! We celebrated the boys graduations at Disney, but wasn't able to pull off their 21st birthdays with anything remotely like what you did. Dinner and their first legal drink was about all we managed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fladogfan aka Gretchen 259 Posted June 10, 2016 Report Share Posted June 10, 2016 They'll always remember their 21st!! What a great way to celebrate. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lklasing 16 Posted June 11, 2016 Report Share Posted June 11, 2016 I got behind but am now caught up again. And like Dory before, me, I had all sorts of great comments to make on several prior posts, but they're gone now. It looks like the twins had a great birthday celebration and like it's not over yet. :) One question I remember intending to ask - You mentioned earlier about requesting loop 100 for a cabin. I've always heard that they only give those to people staying short term (a night or so), so they will be available to a VIP if one were to come around. But y'all were clearly there for several nights. If we had just one cabin reserved for this upcoming trip, I'd think we might have a shot, but I'm guessing that getting both of the loop 100 cabins would be too much of a longshot. But it's still something to think about... Looking forward to more updates! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CoachClough 12 Posted June 12, 2016 Report Share Posted June 12, 2016 All fantastic! I want frozen drinks at the fort!!!!! And you're way nicer to your kids than I am to mine. Allowing them to banish your camera and all... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547 Posted June 12, 2016 Report Share Posted June 12, 2016 42 minutes ago, CoachClough said: And you're way nicer to your kids than I am to mine. Allowing them to banish your camera and all... Amen! I hope they appreciate the great father that he is! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ivy 36 Posted June 13, 2016 Report Share Posted June 13, 2016 The TCD girls have wonderful parents! What a great birthday celebration,... decorations and beverages look and sound amazing! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
caveat lector 181 Posted June 13, 2016 Report Share Posted June 13, 2016 Awesome job partner. Another fabulous TCD TR entry. As I'm celebrating >21 birthday this week, I will look forward to another entry in lieu of a birthday cake. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2016 On 6/10/2016 at 2:48 PM, dblr....Rennie said: WOW, looks like you all had a great time at the HDDR!!!!! How does that commercial go....oh yes PRICELESS! Absolutely true. There were a lot of moving parts to pulling this off, and it turned out great. Only it wasn't priceless- even with the discounts scored by Twin #2 it was rather expensive. But worth every penny. On 6/10/2016 at 3:08 PM, Beckers said: I need to redo my 21st birthday. I got to go to the HDDR for my 40th and 50th, BD, so you still have plenty of chances to redo your 21st. On 6/10/2016 at 3:12 PM, DaveInTN said: it's a small world. get it? small as in small case. the only thing not small about it is the obnoxious level. that's off the charts. Truth. Poor Twin #2 gets to work there, too. She says the song doesn't bother her. I say how can it not. On 6/10/2016 at 3:31 PM, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said: Wow! What a celebration they had! Yup. It was epic. One that they'll never forget. And that was the plan. On 6/10/2016 at 3:35 PM, momof3kids-Yvonne said: What a great way to celebrate a special day. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk It really did turn out great. On 6/10/2016 at 3:37 PM, mouseketab.....Carol said: Looks like lots of fun!!! We celebrated the boys graduations at Disney, but wasn't able to pull off their 21st birthdays with anything remotely like what you did. Dinner and their first legal drink was about all we managed. If it wasn't for the fact that Twin #2 was able to score us discounts on the accommodations and dinner, the scale of this celebration would have been much less. On 6/10/2016 at 5:06 PM, fladogfan aka Gretchen said: They'll always remember their 21st!! What a great way to celebrate. I think they will. On 6/11/2016 at 11:07 PM, lklasing said: I got behind but am now caught up again. And like Dory before, me, I had all sorts of great comments to make on several prior posts, but they're gone now. It looks like the twins had a great birthday celebration and like it's not over yet. :) One question I remember intending to ask - You mentioned earlier about requesting loop 100 for a cabin. I've always heard that they only give those to people staying short term (a night or so), so they will be available to a VIP if one were to come around. But y'all were clearly there for several nights. If we had just one cabin reserved for this upcoming trip, I'd think we might have a shot, but I'm guessing that getting both of the loop 100 cabins would be too much of a longshot. But it's still something to think about... Looking forward to more updates! I still don't know how the 100 loop cabins work for sure. All I know is that we have now stayed in both of them just by asking. The people who were next to us on this trip said that they were just told that they got assigned to this cabin, and they didn't understand how special that was They were there for three nights. I have a friend who was randomly assigned one of the cabins once- no request, it's just where they got assigned. I think getting both would be a longshot, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? How awesome would it be if your group got both of those cabins? If you do, let me know, I want to come to the party! 19 hours ago, CoachClough said: All fantastic! I want frozen drinks at the fort!!!!! And you're way nicer to your kids than I am to mine. Allowing them to banish your camera and all... As my kids have become young adults, I have learned that I have to choose my battles. 18 hours ago, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said: Amen! I hope they appreciate the great father that he is! Thanks, but I'm not that great. Mrs. TCD and I do the best we can. 14 hours ago, Ivy said: The TCD girls have wonderful parents! What a great birthday celebration,... decorations and beverages look and sound amazing! Thanks. Parenting is a learn on the job profession, and it's gone well for us so far. 12 hours ago, caveat lector said: Awesome job partner. Another fabulous TCD TR entry. As I'm celebrating >21 birthday this week, I will look forward to another entry in lieu of a birthday cake. Thanks, Fred. Happy Birthday to you. I wish you could make it to the Hoop Dee Doo! I'm working on that next update for you right now! TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2016 Time for an update. We left off with the end of the twins' birthday celebration on May 28th. Mrs. TCD, our oldest, and I spent the night in the camper. I never got a straight story of how late the party at the cabin lasted, but the neighbors told me that it wasn't noisy, so I'm thankful for that. Mrs. TCD and I felt obligated to feed the kids breakfast the next day. I suggested that I go into the cabin and whip something up. Mrs. TCD, being the brains of the TCD operation, told me that was a really bad idea. So, instead, I headed out to a Dunkin' Donuts that I saw when I had picked up the golf carts, and came back with a couple boxes of donuts. I left them on the cabin porch, and sent a text to the twins that there were donuts there for them. I got some for Mrs. TCD and I too, and we enjoyed a peaceful morning of coffee and donuts at the campsite. We did a bit of looping both before and after our oldest woke up. At some point, the girls hit the showers, and I got to do a bit of looping. It was past 8:30, and we hadn't heard anything back from the twins. I went by the cabin, and the donuts were still sitting where I left them. I guess they were all going to sleep in. Oh well, I had a cart and my camera- so I took a tour of the Settlement area. It was another beautiful day: I miss the River Country wagon. I hate how this enclosure was left to mock me: The old River Country entrance: RIP Pop's Place: I didn't even bother poking around the pavilion on this trip- it didn't look like anything new was going on over there: I also didn't even bother peeking through the gaps in the green fence- I'm sure that everything is still rotting away on the other side of it: But hey- there's another one of those mysterious Hidden Mickeys on a rock: The crepe myrtle trees near Crockett's Porch were getting ready to bloom, but there were still no flowers yet. In the past couple of weeks, the trees around where I live have begun to bloom, so I'll bet these have too: Here we are back on the 2000 loop, and here's another look at the good old TCD camper parked in the dirt on our campsite. So, far, we had been really lucky with the weather. We had been at the Fort for three nights, and still not a drop of rain. That's really unusual this time of year when thunderstorms can be a daily event. And the humidity was no where near as bad as we've experienced on previous Memorial Day trips: I'm going to call the rest of the morning and afternoon on this day the lost day. We finally heard from the girls and went to the cabin, and visited there for a while. There were various possible plans for what was going to happen on this day, but they had not been finalized yet. We got those nailed down that morning. The plan was that the young folks were going to go and have a fun day at the MK. There had been talk of going to Trader Sam's in the evening, but the kids instead took me up on the offer to provide a cook-out at the cabin. We still had plenty of drinks left, including supplies for a couple more pitchers of Kungaloosh, so cook-out at the cabin it was. That meant I needed to make a run to the store. The kids eventually got going and to the MK. Mrs. TCD had a ton of things to do at home and decided that she would bow out. So, that left me to go to the store. Which was fine. I just went to the Winn Dixie since I know where it is, and it's never been too busy. It got super cloudy while I was out, and I thought we were in for rain for sure, but it passed. I got all the provisions loaded into the cabin, and got going on preparing what we would need for dinner. This is a shot of the campsite across from the cabins on the 100 loop. These folks had two annoying dogs that they left tied outside. I thought I was taking a photo of them, but I don't see them in this photo. Note how they adhered to the park your vehicle on the pavement rule: These folks next to them were with them- I think they had a dog too. Or those other two dogs did enough barking for three: I was really glad that the kids agreed to a cook out tonight, because I really wanted to use the grill that comes with the VIP cabin. Here we go: While the coals got ready, I got to use one of the rocking chairs on the porch and watch the wagons and carriages go by again: Those coals look about ready: But, the kids weren't back yet, so I waited a bit longer before putting the burgers on. That gave me time for one more beer and another chance to watch a carriage go by: I got a text that the kids were on the way back, so I got the burgers going: I also through some hot dogs on the grill, and it all turned out great. Note that everyone had worn their matching t-shirts into the MK: That girl on the end of the bench there on the left was one of the twins' roommates from their College Program at Disneyland. She's from Alabama and had flown in for the weekend. She was only able to go to the MK today, and had terrible luck. When they were just about to board the Mine Train ride, it got closed because of those clouds and thunder that I had seen when I was at the store. They never got to ride it. They also couldn't ride the People Mover because it broke down right when they got there. Everyone was worried about what would happen that night at AK, as we had FP+'s booked for the new night safari and Jungle Book show there. After we ate, everyone hung out at the cabin for a bit. We all planned to go to AK to see the new nighttime stuff, and headed out in the Big Blue Excursion at around 8. The weather seemed like it was going to be fine, but it started to rain right as we entered AK. As we headed back to the new seating area for the Jungle Book show, we heard a tremendous boom of thunder. Uh-oh. I believe that our FP's for this show told us to report between 8:30 and 8:45. We had FP+'s for Expedition Everest that were good for just before the show, and we were planning to ride it before taking our seats, but could see that the seating area was pretty full as we approached at about 8:20 pm. Like at a lot of shows that offer FP, they clearly were letting FP guests in way before the stated return times. Seeing how full the seating area already was, we decided that we had better go on in and get seats. Just as we were about to scan our MagicBands, an announcement was made that the show was delayed, and the CM's at the scanners stopped scanning and said that they were going to evacuate the theater. The guests in front of us asked if the show was cancelled, and the CM said no, it was just delayed. But, if they preferred, they could use their FP+'s for the later show and come back then. It was raining pretty hard by now, and we thought that sounded good. We just needed to figure out what there is to do in AK when it's raining. We still had time left for our EE FP+'s so we decided that we could go and ride that in the rain. Not so fast, because right as we headed that way, an announcement came on that EE was closed for weather too. That announcement told us that we could go to Dinosaur or the safari, and It's Tough to Be a Bug. That was all that was left open for guests to do- three attractions- and the park was packed: They weren't letting anyone in to EE: AK may be lacking in attractions, but it's not lacking in bars. I decided to be a big shot and by all the kids a drink at the bar that they built in the old paper FP area: Dang it, drinks are expensive at WDW. And, I doubt that they had any alcohol in them. We found a little awning to stand under, and drank our drinks. The lightning got crazy then, and they announced that they were opening the EE queue so guests could seek shelter. They let us bring our drinks in there, so we found a spot in the queue that was under cover and we sat there. That ended up being a fun and different experience. I got to wander around the queue and stop and look at things that I normally would speed by at rope drop. Or not see at all when using a FP. I'm sure most of you know that there's a Yeti with Mickey ears in one of the display cases. I took this photo in case you didn't know that: There's a part of the queue that is themed like the office of an Everest tour guide or something. There's a lot of detail in this small space: The EE version of the TCD twins: I took this photo thinking I could use it for the "Where in the World" thread here on FF.net, but I think it would be too hard: The rain let up a bit, and the My Disney Experience App said that the Safari ride was still up and running, so we decided to head there to cash in our safari FP+'s. I couldn't believe they would have the safari ride open during a thunderstorm, but the app said they did. On the way there, we stopped in Zuri's Treats. The young lady from Alabama hadn't been to AK since this had opened and she wanted to see it. And, I'm glad that we did. Because we ran into a TCD TR celebrity in there! Look, it's Big Wendy!: You've probably heard a lot of things about the night safari ride. It's all true- all of it. I tried to take a few photos of things on the safari, but they say no flash, and you're in a bouncy truck in the dark. You can imagine how that goes. Here's my photo of the fake sunset. There were allegedly hyenas roaming around here somewhere, but I'm not convinced there were: In an effort to not be unnecessarily negative, I'll just say that I didn't care for the night version of the safari. But, all was not lost- the rain stopped, as did the lightning, and we had unused Jungle Book show FP+'s we could cash in. So, we headed back there. When the CM scanned our MB's he told us that we didn't have FP+'s for this show. Oh, we know, we told him- we had them for the first show. You know, the one that got cancelled? He told us that was nice, but they couldn't be used for this show. What the Fort? That isn't what we were told earlier. This guy must be mistaken. Nope, said the grouchy management type backing him up. Get lost. This line was only for guests with FP+'s for the second show. If we didn't have them, we needed to walk all the way around to the standby side. Which we could see was pretty much full. Fail. But, we headed that way. As we did, we saw guests filing in to the FP return line that we had just been denied access to. It was basically just a mob, with no CM's telling guests to keep out. Fail. Monkey see monkey do. We got in the line with everyone else. As we stood there hoping this would work, I got this email. It was sent at 9:44 pm: I had to read that thing three times to understand it. They were telling me that I could not use my FP+ for the first show for the second, but that I now had a FP+ for any attraction in any park? WTF? Anyway, we stayed put in that FP return line along with all the other guests who didn't have FP+'s. We could se they were not using the scanners at the theater entrance, and those grumpy CM's who told us to get lost had apparently given up and left. And in we went. That was our first mistake. I kid. I kid. Here we are- it looked so promising with the floating stages and such: That's the standby seating area over there- it is pretty full: I'm not sure if something was supposed to happen on the floating stage in front of us, but nothing did. A bunch of Bollywood type dancers came out and repeated some basic dance moves on a platform that I hadn't noticed earlier: Over to the left of the empty stage in front of us, there were some singers. I didn't notice them until the show had been underway for a bit- I thought the audio was recorded- but there were live singers on that one stage: You can see one of the water projection screens in that last shot too. This one was showing wolves. The show went on long enough that I was ready for it to end. Again, I don't want to be negative, but I'll just say that I care for the Jungle Book show less than I care for night safari. I'm not that dense of a person, but I really had no idea what was happening in that show or what those Bollywood dancers had to do with anything that the singers or water screens were doing. Very confusing. The show ended just a few minutes before 11, which gave us time to get in to the Expedition Everest queue and ride it! So, the evening was not a total loss. On the way out, they were doing the projections on the tree of life. Interesting: You can kind of see a lion face in that last photo. Then we got the heck out of there. It ended up that we had fun at Animal Kingdom despite all of the weather-related problems. Those weather-related problems are going to cause problems for people, though. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547 Posted June 13, 2016 Report Share Posted June 13, 2016 Where is a picture of Mrs. TCD at the Fort? And Rocky? Where was he? Sounds like nighttime at AK isn't worth losing sleep over. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Momof6....aka Marty 769 Posted June 13, 2016 Report Share Posted June 13, 2016 Have you seen the new Jungle Book movie? I am wondering if you needed to see the movie to understand the show. :/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2016 1 hour ago, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said: Where is a picture of Mrs. TCD at the Fort? And Rocky? Where was he? Sounds like nighttime at AK isn't worth losing sleep over. Those are some good questions. I know that there are photos that include Mrs. TCD. Twin #1 is supposed to be posting those somewhere on her social media empire. When she does, I'll swipe a couple and post them here. Good question about Rocky. The original plan called for him to be included as a guest in the camper. But, we couldn't get anything other than a partial hook up site. I even made him a reservation at Best Friends, but we finally had to give up on that plan, and he had to go to his normal kennel. He loves it there and they love him, so he doesn't mind, but they don't have tetherball there. 21 minutes ago, Momof6....aka Marty said: Have you seen the new Jungle Book movie? I am wondering if you needed to see the movie to understand the show. :/ Nope, it's not that. I did see the new Jungle Book movie, and was surprised by how much I liked it. Unless I fell asleep and missed it, I don't recall any Bollywood dancers or American Idol style singing in that movie. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799 Posted June 13, 2016 Report Share Posted June 13, 2016 Caught up! I love the shirts and the very Pinterest-like decorations. Epic birthday! We're not doing the Jungle Book show. We opted for a mommy night out instead after I saw the reviews. Sounds like we made a good choice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
caveat lector 181 Posted June 14, 2016 Report Share Posted June 14, 2016 You are a good dad. First CFA, then dunkin donuts. Most importantly listening to Mrs TCD. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted June 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2016 18 hours ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said: Caught up! I love the shirts and the very Pinterest-like decorations. Epic birthday! We're not doing the Jungle Book show. We opted for a mommy night out instead after I saw the reviews. Sounds like we made a good choice. Thanks. Skipping the Jungle Book show is a good move. I think a kid would get bored really fast with the show. It will be interesting to see what kind of crowds this show draws as the word gets out about how mediocre it is. It's certainly not worth wasting a FP+ on. 15 hours ago, caveat lector said: You are a good dad. First CFA, then dunkin donuts. Most importantly listening to Mrs TCD. It took me a long, long time to learn that it's best to listen to Mrs. TCD even when I think I'm right. I'm a slow learner, but I did finally learn. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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