Let's Talk Turkey: TCD's 2016 Thanksgiving at the Fort Trip Report

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The TCD gang celebrated another Thanksgiving at the Fort!

We missed last year, as the TCD twins were in California and we couldn't go without them.

Things worked out much better this year.

Before we get started, I'll give you a quick TCD gang update.  No big changes for Mrs. TCD and I.  We still have an empty nest, but we see the girls a lot.  Our oldest daughter had a recent big change- she decided to leave her job at the University of Miami to accept a new job at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.  It was a parallel move for her.  There were some things she liked about Miami, but there were more things that she didn't, so this was a good move for her. And, she's way closer to home.  That job change and move happened at the beginning of November, and she is still settling in. Twin #1 is a Senior at the University of Florida.  She almost had everything aligned to graduate in May, but because of her two Disney College Programs, and some required classes that are only offered at certain times of the year, she's going to be a semester (or two) late.  No big deal.  Those two semesters she worked at Disney are going to help her immeasurably more than finishing her Bachelor's degree in exactly four years.  Twin #2 is a Senior at the University of Central Florida.  Because she transferred there after two years at FSU, she's even a bit further behind.  Same deal though- no big deal.  She's got two part-time jobs working at Disney, and is an RA at the residence hall where she lives at UCF-all great stuff for her resume and future career. 

Since the twins were away from home last Thanksgiving, the plan for this year had been that everyone would try to get home, and we would celebrate Thanksgiving with Mrs. TCD's very big family, which is what we have done every year, except for 2014, when both twins were working at WDW, and we celebrated at the Fort, and one year when we got the crazy idea to take a week long cruise for Thanksgiving. 

But Twin #2 had job complications.  She knew that she would have to work part of Thanksgiving day at her job at Lilly Pulitzer, and at least one other day that weekend at her WDW attractions job.  Sure enough, when her schedule came out, she had to work Wednesday night and Thursday night, but was able to get Friday, Saturday and Sunday off.  She could have driven home for a quick visit on Thanksgiving morning and early afternoon, but that would have been a lot for her.

Personally, I would always go to the Fort for Thanksgiving if we could.  We all love Mrs. TCD's family, but Thanksgiving with them has gotten crazy, with people inviting friends and relatives of new spouses and all kinds of people we don't even know.  It's nice, but we all end up spending the day talking to people we see once a year or less, and not getting to spend time with each other.

Since Twin #2 had the job dilemma, I floated the idea of spending Thanksgiving at the Fort.  This was in early November, mind you.  And we did not have a reservation.  I knew Mrs. TCD wouldn't be in favor of it at first, but I was surprised when Twin #1 also was not in favor of it.  She had a few days off of school, and wanted to spend them at home, not at the Fort in our camper.  Twin #2 loved the idea, and our oldest liked it too, since she wouldn't have to drive all the way home for Thanksgiving.  So, it was kind of 3 against 2.  But, we all know Mrs. TCD's vote counts the most.  I suggested that I at least try and see if I can get a reservation.  Of course, there was no way I could find one on my own, so I contacted my trusty travel agent, and she got to work on it.  I wanted to try for Wednesday to Sunday.  To my surprise, she was able to get Wednesday and Thursday night immediately, but not Friday and Saturday night.  The very next day, she got the other two nights as a separate reservation. So we had two two night reservations, but both were for a premium site, so we were good to go.  Then I had to see about a golf cart.  We were about ten days out at this point.  I knew it was a long shot, but I called Kenny.  His assistant Kelly told me they just had a cancellation, and I could have a cart for the whole trip no problem.  When I reported this back to the girls, I told them it was clearly a sign that this trip was meant to be.

Somewhere in all of this, Twin #2 had worked on Twin #1, and she came on board with the plan.  Now it was four to one, and Mrs. TCD caved.  She likes the Fort and being outdoors, and Thanksgiving at the Fort is a lot more relaxing and less dramatic than Thanksgiving with her family, so she was in too.

Our plans came together nicely.  We planned out a menu, and how we would get everything cooked.  Twin #1's classes for the first part of Thanksgiving week got cancelled (at least that's what she told us), so she came home over the weekend, and we got packed up and headed over on Wednesday, November 23rd.

We've camped at the Fort for many trips over the Thanksgiving break, and knew that it would be packed and crazy.  Since I was arriving on Wednesday, I knew that my site choices would be limited, so I didn't even bother with a site request.  Truthfully, just about any premium site would be fine.

Kenny set my cart pick-up time at 1:00 pm, and the twins had a plan to meet at Disney Springs for lunch before Twin #2 had to go to work there.  I figured I'd take my chances and arrive a little early.  Maybe I'd at least beat the mob scene at check-in.  Because our reservation had been made so close to our arrival, I was able to customize our MagicBands for this trip, but there was not enough time for them to ship them to us.  I did on-line check-in, but I got a message back saying that I would still need to stop and pick up the MagicBands.  So no direct to site text for me.

Packing for this trip was a little more extensive than a normal Fort trip- I had to bring my Turkey Cooker, an extra dorm fridge,  a microwave oven, a couple of crockpots, and miscellaneous other stuff that we don't typically need. Oh and the turkey, of course.  I made a good list and checked it twice, and it ended up that we had everything that we needed.  Twin #1 was going to ride over with me, and come back with me on Sunday, so she left her car at home, and packed up and joined me for the ride over.

My path to the Fort from home takes me right through Tampa, and I waited until about 9:30 for our departure so we could miss the morning rush hour traffic.  That worked out perfectly.  Our drive to Disney World went smoothly.  I don't think I had to even tap the brakes all the way from Tampa to our exit, 62.

Our weather here in Florida has been exceptionally beautiful for the whole month of November.  Wednesday was no exception.  It was clear, and cool- maybe low 70''s, when we pulled up to the magical gates:

The Magic Kingdom parking booths are always decorated for Christmas, although they keep it understated here:

The traffic was surprisingly light coming in, and we zipped right up to the Fort Entrance.  No matter how many times I've been, I always smile big when I see this sign, and extra big when it has Christmas greenery on it:

I was happy to see that there were four check-in lanes open, each with only one guest in it.  So, I just had to pick one, and I would be second in line.  This is always tricky- because you never know who will move on first.  I decided to choose one of the lanes where the CM would be on my side, so I could do the talking and look at the secret notebook when I found out which site we had.

Since everything else on this trip was going smoothly, I knew I'd pick the right lane, and I did.  It was literally only seconds after I stopped and put the truck in park that the guest in front of me pulled ahead, and it was my turn.  Magical!

We had a great CM.  He obviously knew what he was doing, and zipped through the check-in process.  He told us that we were in the 1300 loop.  Which is a TCD gang first.  Not just for Thanksgiving.  For ever.  We have never camped in 1300.  It's never been on my list of loops.  Nothing against it, I just like other loops better.  I asked the CM which site, and he told me we had 1306.  I guessed that would be right across from the Comfort Station, which sounded kind of noisy.  I asked the CM if I could see the secret map, and he showed me.  1306 is just past the Comfort Station, so I thought it would be OK.  The main attraction is that it was ready to go now.  Twin #1 and I discussed it, and agreed that we would at least go and take a look.  If we hated it, I could always call and ask for a different site. 

As we headed to the four-way stop, we were greeted with the Florida version of fall foliage:

We headed to the site, and agreed that it would be fine.  It wasn't looking directly at the Comfort Station, and it had some nice trees in the back.

Twin #1 had been texting back and forth with Twin #2, and the plan was that Twin #2 would come by the site and pick her up and then the two of them would head to Disney Springs.  Twin #2 texted right as we were pulling in to let us know that she would need to make a detour- she had just caught wind that there was going to be a CM preview of the new Rivers of Light show at Animal Kingdom on Sunday night, and she had to stop by and pick up tickets.  Twin #1 told her to come on, and they would stop by and do that on the way to Disney Springs.  Twin #2 showed up shortly after we got to our site, and they took off.  Twin #2 would stay at Disney Springs, and Twin #1 would take the bus back later.

I got to work setting up.  I had to take a break in the middle of set up to go and get my Kenny Cart.  I hate that I have to go off site to do that now, but it's still worth it.  Kenny is great to deal with.  While I was setting up, I saw a familiar face looping by, and got to say hello and briefly chat with fellow Fiend Starbuc71.  He's always there at Thanksgiving.  In fact, in 2014, we ended up camping right next to each other.  This year he got lucky and got assigned to a different loop from us.  It was good to see you, Dave!

By early afternoon, I was pretty set:

One small problem was when I went to set up my inflatable turkey decoration, I found out that he is now leaky and can't hold up his head anymore.  Boo!

I didn't realize that the 1600 loop bus stop was so close to our campsite, but it was right through the woods there:

I heard from Twin #1 right about at this time, and she was on the way back to the Fort. I told her about the 1600 loop bus stop, and told her if there was a Yellow Settlement bus at the Outpost when she got there that she should hop on it.  She did, and I picked her up at the 1600 loop bus stop, and then we looped.

We stopped on the 100 loop to remember the good times we had in the cabin that we stayed in there for the twins' birthday this year, and saw that our twine was still in the trees:

It is there from this:

We did a lot of looping.

Of course, we had to visit the 2000 loop.  There's always something interesting there.  Like this- a minion cornhole game.  Think about that for a second- someone hand painted that.  He or she could have painted anything, and chose this:

Why?

What's wrong with people?

Next stop was the group camping area, where we feasted our eyes on the tee-pees.  We missed seeing them last year, and were happy to see them back:

After a bit, we returned to camp, and I needed to finish up some of the setting up.  I had some extra coolers along, and needed some ice.  Lately, I choose to buy my ice at the Trading Posts, but the Comfort Station ice machine was practically across the street from us, so I went there.  Plus, the 1200/1300 loop ice machine has always been good to me. 

Here's something new, though:

The ice machine no longer takes quarters.

It's credit card or nothing.

There aren't any instructions on how this works.  I've gotten burned by the ice machines dumping the ice before I was ready with my bag, so I got that set first.  Then, I slid my card into the chip slot on the bottom of the card reader.  The digital display said something like "pending," and then with no further warning the ice dispensed.  Not this time ice machine!

Since this was our first night at the Fort, we had to get a Giddyap and Go (GAG) chicken dinner.  We cleared that with Twin #2 and promised to save her some chicken. 

We got our first look at the Settlement Christmas tree when we went for the GAG:

I guess I was too busy devouring chicken to take photos, because I don't have any GAG photos.

After we ate, Twin #1 and I headed over to the MK. They were having EMH's that night until 2 am, but we didn't plan on staying that long- I was able to book us Jingle Cruise , BTMRR and Space Mountain FP's, and we planned to ride those and see the new projection show before heading back to meet-up with Twin #2. 

The MK was very crowded.  We had a bad experience with our Jingle Cruise FP's, and had to wait over 15 minutes to board.  With a FP!  Twin #1 saw that they were taking a boat out of service while we were waiting, which contributed to the slow loading.  I asked her why they would do that when it was busy.  She said that these things are scheduled ahead of time, and they probably didn't have enough Skippers on duty to drive more boats, so when it was scheduled for a boat to go out of service, it would, even if there were long lines.  The FP line at BTMRR was better, but still was longer than we are accustomed to.  No wonder I was able to book those FP's on such short notice- they clearly are issuing more than they used to, which makes the FP's not as good a deal as they used to be.

We still had time to get to the hub grass to see the new Once Upon a Time projection show.  It's good, but I liked Celebrate the Magic better-especially when they would add the holiday stuff at the end.  Once Upon a Time doesn't have any holiday elements in it.

It was pretty crowded after the projection show- like gridlock crowded.  And, they didn't have any PAC CM's around to direct traffic, which is not a good thing.  We heard from Twin #2 that she was let out of work a bit early, and she was already back at the campsite, so we bailed on our Space Mountain FP's and headed back to the Fort.

Our night was capped with some late night looping, and that was it for day one.  It was past midnight we turned in, which is early for us, but the next day was Thanksgiving, and we had a big day planned, with Mrs. TCD and DD1 joining us.  And Rocky too!

But wait, 1300 loop is not a pet loop.  What about Rocky?  No worries, there was a giant dog/polar bear in the site right behind us.  If it was OK for him to be there, then it was OK for Rocky to be there, right?

Well, I think this post is long enough.

Sorry that it was a little light on photos, but that's all I have from Wednesday.

Don't worry, Thursday's photos will more than make up for the Wednesday shortage.

TCD

 

 

 

[Beckers 1,136]

Looking forward to seeing Rocky! It's been to long since we've had a Rocky picture.

[Travisma 1,317]

Great start as always.  Of course I cant see any photos here at work...

[mmfancipher 31]

First page bragging rights!

 

[BigTom 76]

In, bring on the next update

[shoreline99 137]

First Page! Curious to hear how the turkey cooker worked out. Oilless fryer?

 

[Memphis 105]

I'm in!  Our first trip in our new camper in 2001 was 10 days in site 1307.  We really liked the site. we could walk out the side to the 1600 BS or go the other way to the 1300BS.  Back then they had a nice playground with tire swing and slide.  We got so much free ice from that machine from people not being ready for the ice and just leaving.  Plus it was a very generous machine, even when you were ready with the bag it would overflow.  

[Helmsey......Todd 134]

In!
Hopefully Rocky gets some good tetherball time in this trip.

[caveat lector 181]

Woohoo...I'm in a mood to "talk turkey".....get cousin yuri on the phone 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I'm in too and looking forward to more!

[Dalspot ... Karen 21]

I'm in!  I so need something good to think about!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I'm in! Great start. This is just what I need to get excited about my upcoming trip.

I don't think there are really any "pet loops" anymore. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Since the first post was short on photos, I'll make it up with some extras in this post.

I hope that you can follow me here, but the photos in this update and the next one are actually from Sunday, November 20th.  We will cover what happened on the 20th in this and the next post, and then we can move on to Thanksgiving.   Earlier in that week, we all won spots for the Disney Parks Blog Moana movie meet-up.  It was the case of being at the right place at the right time.  One of the twins heard that they were going to be doing a Moana meetup some time that weekend, and we all started stalking the Disney Parks Blog website.  It was one of Twin #1's roommates who saw the post, and we all jumped on it within minutes.  Like all of the blog meetups, this one filled up super fast, and it was just lucky that we saw the posting at the right time and were able to enter.

That meant that we would be doing a day trip to WDW on the 20th, before coming back with the camper on the 23rd.  Sometimes it's hard to be TCD, but it's always good to be TCD.  We ended up starting the week with a free advanced viewing of Moana on the beach at the Polynesian Village Resort, and ended the week with a private CM viewing of the Rivers of Light show at Animal Kingdom.  And in between, we spent four glorious nights at the Fort.  What a week!

Twin #1 was already home from school that weekend, so we headed over mid-day on Sunday.  She planned to meet some friends at Animal Kingdom, and the rest of us planned to meet at the Polynesian around 4- the plan was to eat and maybe have some drinks before the movie.

I dropped Twin #1 off at AK, and then headed to the Wilderness Lodge.  I haven't checked on the new DVC construction for a while, and wanted to do that, and figured today would be a good day for that.

I headed in to the DVC building and took the elevator to the 5th floor, and peeked out the window up there.  Here's where things stood on November 20th:

That large building you see to the left is going to be a new quick serve restaurant.  The little buildings to the right are the new waterfront cabins.  There's also a concrete block structure going up there on the far right- I'm not sure what that is.

Here's another look at the concrete block structure- it's not on the water, and clearly isn't a cabin.  Maybe it's the restrooms for the pool?:

You can see that the new pool is formed and poured down there in the shadow of the DVC building.  It's a lot bigger than the pool it replaced, and I think it's bigger than the main Fort pool:

Now I'm turned to the left- there's some kind of wall being built by the pool:

Here's something fun- last week, after I took these photos, the Disney Parks Blog posted an article about the new additions at Wilderness Lodge, and included this artist's rendering of what's getting built there.  Those kids are standing in one of the balconies in that last photo:

If you want to read about what's going on here, here's a link to the blog article:

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2016/11/new-amenities-coming-soon-to-disneys-wilderness-lodge/

After taking my shots from the top floor,  I headed out back for some shots from ground level.  Here's that concrete block building we were looking at from above- it's there behind the Porta Potties:

There's the new restaurant building:

And the pool, as seen from ground level:

I'm not sure what all of those posts are on the pool deck area- maybe for lights?

Here's that wall-I'm not real sure what it's for:

Here's another shot of the new restaurant building:

That's the existing Lodge building on the left- I think they've been renovating all of the rooms on this side of the Lodge while the construction has been going on.  I've never seen any signs of guests being in those rooms any time I've been by here since the construction started:

After my quick inspection here, I headed to the bus stop to catch a bus to the Fort.

I didn't have a long wait, and we headed over to the Fort.

I got a couple of shots of the old railroad cars that they have right outside of the construction gates.  Since the new pool is going to be themed after an abandoned rock quarry, I can't help but think that these relics will end up somewhere on display when it is all said and done:

When I got to the Fort, I decided to check out the barn.  I had seen photos that week of a Stage Coach, and I wondered if it was on display in the calliope's spot:

The windmill and water fountains are still here:

The Blacksmith shed had its regular Christmas decorations on display:

This little fella seemed friendly:

Here's a photo of the wreath on the other side of the Blacksmith shop along with the sign that has a Hidden TCD:

They had the Sleighs out.  I'm not sure when they started the rides this year, but they were ready to go on the 20th:

The big barn had its wreaths hanging too:

They even slapped some garland and ornaments on the calliope:

That Stage Coach wasn't in the barn.  So I kept looking.  I liked how this sign was casting a shadow, and thought it would make a neat photo.  I like it:

This little guy was having a late lunch:

I guess he's on some kind of diet?:

There's the pony ride barn:

I found the Stage Coach:

As best I can tell, they brought this out to commemorate the Fort's 45th birthday, which was the day before- the 19th.  I have seen photos of Fort CM's posing with Mickey and Donald in their pioneer costumes in front of this Stage Coach.  I have not seen any photos of regular guests who got to pose for photos with those special characters.  Sounds about right.

The Christmas decorations were up on Pioneer Hall and Trail's End:

But the big Christmas tree was not here yet:

There were poinsettia plants and a small Christmas tree on the porch- those looked good:

The decorations looked like they were all up on the Trading Post:

As we know from the first post in this TR, the tree showed up sometime before Wednesday night, but it wasn't here on Sunday:

I came here to see the decorations, including the big tree.  Well, I got some of that accomplished.  While I was here, I heard from DD1, and she was on her way to the TTC.  Time for me to go.  I headed back to the bus stop.  I took one more shot of the Stage Coach:

This Stage Coach has been around before.  I remember that Buckeye Fort Mom told us that this was something personally owned by Walt Disney, and was brought to the Fort and restored.  I think this is the same one that she was talking about in one of her old trip reports.

As I waited for the bus, a carriage came by.  I'm not sure I've seen this one in use before:

A very nervous turkey was hanging around the bus loop.  Trying to hop a bus out of town, no doubt:

Right after this, my bus pulled up.  It ended up being the same bus driver who had dropped me off.  He had driven to the Outpost and back, making his stops along the way, and I caught him as he was heading back to the Lodge.

I'll stop here, and finish up with some Lodge and Moana preview photos in the next update. Then we will move on to Thanksgiving.

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Thanks for the construction update. 2 preview in 1 week... it's good to be TCD for sure! 

[DaveInTN 3,247]

37 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I guess he's on some kind of diet?:

 

Reduces hay waste.  I'm looking at something similar.  

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

Did I still make the first page? Late but caught up. Great trip so far.

[wdwpoohbear...Jennifer 40]

I'm in!  Can't wait to read more!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

21 hours ago, Beckers said:

Looking forward to seeing Rocky! It's been to long since we've had a Rocky picture.

I have a couple of Rocky pictures.  It's been so long since we've seen one because poor Rocky hadn't been to the Fort in a while. He loved every minute!

20 hours ago, Travisma said:

Great start as always.  Of course I cant see any photos here at work...

Glad to have you reading along.  Dang the man for blocking photos at work.  How inconsiderate!

20 hours ago, mmfancipher said:

First page bragging rights!

 

Yes, you're on page one.  Sadly, that's not such an accomplishment anymore around this place.

20 hours ago, BigTom said:

In, bring on the next update

Welcome, I'll keep the updates coming as fast as I can.

20 hours ago, shoreline99 said:

First Page! Curious to hear how the turkey cooker worked out. Oilless fryer?

 

Yes, I used my oil-less fryer.  I love that thing. I have some photos of it coming up.

20 hours ago, Memphis said:

I'm in!  Our first trip in our new camper in 2001 was 10 days in site 1307.  We really liked the site. we could walk out the side to the 1600 BS or go the other way to the 1300BS.  Back then they had a nice playground with tire swing and slide.  We got so much free ice from that machine from people not being ready for the ice and just leaving.  Plus it was a very generous machine, even when you were ready with the bag it would overflow.  

I noticed what a nice site 1307 was.  It's funny that I've never thought of the 1300 loop as a loop I wanted to camp on. It's pretty nice.

I discovered the generosity of that ice machine a long time ago.  It reliably would dispense almost two bags of ice.  They have dialed it down some, but it still dispenses more than a bag full.  I am really surprised that they didn't raise the price with the new credit card reader. I'm sure that will come soon enough.

20 hours ago, Helmsey......Todd said:

In!
Hopefully Rocky gets some good tetherball time in this trip.

You called it.  Wait for the photos.

19 hours ago, caveat lector said:

Woohoo...I'm in a mood to "talk turkey".....get cousin yuri on the phone 

Thankfully, we didn't get a visit from Cousin Yuri on this trip.  But, I'm afraid I'm due.

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

I'm in too and looking forward to more!

I'm glad you're looking forward to it, because I have a lot more!

17 hours ago, Dalspot ... Karen said:

I'm in!  I so need something good to think about!

Don't we all?

16 hours ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

I'm in! Great start. This is just what I need to get excited about my upcoming trip.

I don't think there are really any "pet loops" anymore. 

You should be excited.  There's quite a bit of new stuff to check out in the parks.  And Disney Springs.  And, believe it or not, I liked some of it.

I think you're right about pet loops.  I saw dogs everywhere, including the partial loops. 

16 hours ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

Thanks for the construction update. 2 preview in 1 week... it's good to be TCD for sure! 

I have some more Wilderness Lodge construction photos from the water side that I'll post later.  It's a pretty big project.

15 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

Reduces hay waste.  I'm looking at something similar.  

Look at you.  You're such a farmer.  You're all about reducing hay waste now.  I remember when you didn't care about hay waste.

10 hours ago, Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie said:

Did I still make the first page? Late but caught up. Great trip so far.

You made page one with space to spare.  We've apparently lost a lot of trip report fans around here.

Their loss.

1 hour ago, wdwpoohbear...Jennifer said:

I'm in!  Can't wait to read more!

I'm glad you're in.  And more is on the way.

TCD

[Travisma 1,317]

      20 hours ago, shoreline99 said:

First Page! Curious to hear how the turkey cooker worked out. Oilless fryer?

 

Yes, I used my oil-less fryer.  I love that thing. I have some photos of it coming up.

 

So I'm guessing the Char Broil Big Easy made the trip to the Fort?

I did a 16 pound turkey in ours, skin came out nice and crispy, meat stayed really moist.  Only overdone spot was the wing tips.

 

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

In, and we had 1306 last year, we really liked the site because of all the room to the left and behind and decent shade. Also, just far away from comfort stations, but close enough as well.

Best Regards,

Norm

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OK, I'm going to squeeze in a short update here from the Moana preview day, and then we will continue on to Thanksgiving.

I decided to take a walk through the Lodge lobby on my way back to the parking lot on Sunday, November 20.

The bike rental operation is still relocated out in the breezeway while the DVC expansion work is being done:

The Disney Parks Blog article I linked, which was posted last week, says that I should have noticed that the Villas at Wilderness Lodge have a new name. Not from what I saw:

I did notice that the Mickey topiary that used to stand to the left of that covered walkway is AWOL.

I am not sure how the bicycle rentals actually work here at present- I guess someone has to walk all the way out from the concierge desk to help guests who want to rent a bike.  That's probably not great for business:

You can see the new restaurant building as you head in to the lobby.  You can't really see it in this photo, but I could also see that all the rooms on this side of the building were undergoing some kind of construction work:

The window displays for the store had winter decorations in them:

But the big tree was not yet in the lobby, nor were there any other Christmas decorations around:

Heading out to the parking lot, I also noticed that the buffalo topiary which is usually on display across from the covered unloading area in front of the resort was missing:

The entry area here is usually decorated for Christmas by now, but it wasn't yet:

From here, I headed to the TTC to park.

The instructions for the Blog meetup told us to park at the TTC, as parking at the Polynesian resort would be restricted.  That made sense, so that's what I did.

I met up with DD1 at the TTC, and we chose to hop the resort monorail rather than walk.  We should have walked.  As soon as we boarded the monorail, an announcement came on that we would be delayed for routine maintenance. We heard the monorail power off, which also meant the AC powered off.  Even though it was a cool day, the car got warm fast.  It was packed and we were standing.  Then a baby started screeching.  It was a young baby, and the parents apparently thought it would be fine to let the baby cry until it stopped.  Luckily, the door was open, so we could step out.  I looked down the platform, and saw just the legs of a CM sticking out of an open hatch on the side of the monorail, and could hear the guy banging away at something inside that hatch.  After about 10 minutes, he emerged, and shut the hatch, and they powered the monorail back up, and we got on our way.  Wow.

We had a nice time hanging out in the Polynesian lobby as the rest of our group showed up.  Then we grabbed a quick dinner at Captain Cooks.  Great food and service there!  I tried something new- some kind of Asian meatballs served over rice.  Very good!

We walked past the seating area on our way to where we were told to check in.  I was amazed at how many chairs they had set up for the event:

According to the Disney Parks Blog, they had over a thousand guests at this preview:

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2016/11/disney-parks-blog-readers-preview-moana-at-disneys-polynesian-resort/

If you read that article, make sure you look closely at this photo- you may see some familiar faces (if you know what the TCD DD's look like):

I don't have any photos of my own from the event because they actually confiscated everyone's phones on the way it.  I've been to other Disney Parks Blog events, and they relied on the honor system.  Not here,  they had tables set up, and ziplock bags for everyone to use.  You had to write your name on the bag, and they said they'd hand your phone back afterwards.  No claim ticket or ID required.  That was a bad idea.  Thankfully, we all got our stuff back, but that was a risky way for Disney to handle this.

We all loved the movie.

And we know now that Disney has yet another hit on their hands.

One of the items high on our to-do list for the Thanksgiving weekend was to head over to DHS to meet Moana.

Spoiler Alert- we ticked that one off of the list over the weekend:

That wraps up the Sunday flashback.  We will fast forward to Thanksgiving morning in the next update.

TCD

[dieseldave 5]

I'm in too! Nice update on the Lodge construction.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

31 minutes ago, Travisma said:

 So I'm guessing the Char Broil Big Easy made the trip to the Fort?

I did a 16 pound turkey in ours, skin came out nice and crispy, meat stayed really moist.  Only overdone spot was the wing tips.

Correct.  My turkey was 15 point something pounds.   As you know 16 is the magic number.  I used a rub on mine, and it came out very dark.  Good thing I used a meat thermometer, as it looked done on the outside way before it was actually ready.  Mine came out great too- I liked the crispy skin.

19 minutes ago, parrothead7368 aka Norm said:

In, and we had 1306 last year, we really liked the site because of all the room to the left and behind and decent shade. Also, just far away from comfort stations, but close enough as well.

Best Regards,

Norm

We are site brothers now!  I liked the location and space around 1306 as well.  It's a great site, and 1300 is definitely not as crazy as some of the other loops get.  I've never requested the 1300 loop before, but I might the next time I've got a premium site reserved.

10 minutes ago, dieseldave said:

I'm in too! Nice update on the Lodge construction.

Thanks for reading, and commenting!

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Meeting Moana is high on our list too. I bet it's going to be crazy by then.

The TCD girls are more famous than ever!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Beckers 1,136]

The phone thing is crazy. Why didn't they at least give a raffle stub ticket??