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A Surprise Trip to the Fort!


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On Tuesday we left the cabin around 9:30 thinking we'd have plenty of time to make our first FP+ which expired at 10:30. We were wrong.   There was a huge line of people waiting for the boat

Okay, I know I said I wouldn't do another trip report.  But this trip was only four days long, so I'm gonna give it a try. Many of you know that David and I had reservations to be at the Fort fro

So on November 2 we all flew to Orlando -- Jean Ann from Texas, two other friends, Mary and Ceil, from Connecticut, and me from North Carolina.  We all arrived within a few minutes of each other and q

16 hours ago, Cortezcapt (Derek) said:

Great photos as always Gwen. So glad you were able to get away for a few days and so far sounds like you had a blast. 

Thanks, Derek.  Yes, we did have a blast!

14 hours ago, alexwyattmommy said:

I wanted to post earlier, but lost connection.

Thank you for taking the time to give us a trip report. I love your photos.

Thank you too!  Glad you are enjoying my pictures.

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On Tuesday we left the cabin around 9:30 thinking we'd have plenty of time to make our first FP+ which expired at 10:30.

We were wrong.  

There was a huge line of people waiting for the boat.  But the boat didn't have room for our two scooters.  Lots of people in line behind us got onto the boat, but we were told we'd have to wait for the next trip.  One boat was down for maintenance, and so they were only running one boat, and it would be 20-25 minutes before they could get back for us.

 

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So we sat and chatted at one of the tables near the dock.  And of course I started snapping photos.

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After a really long wait, we finally made it onto a boat.

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And arrived at MK around 11:00 ...

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Tuesday continued ...

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And then another problem.  Mary's magic band didn't have her tickets attached to it.  We spent another 30 or so minutes at Guest Relations getting that straightened out.

Finally we stepped into the park and surprise, surprise!

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Have to take mom to a doctor's appointment now.  Will post more later.

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Mary, Ceil, and Jean Ann rode Pooh.  The FP+ line was too long for me to stand through it.

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We had lunch at Casey's ...

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And then rode the People Mover ...

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Next up was our FP for Buzz.  None of us played very well, but we had a great time!

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We decided to do a little shopping before our early dinner reservation.

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I really enjoy taking photos of the window displays, but I can never find the right time of day to avoid the reflections.

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We had early dinner reservations at the Contemporary.  So everyone was hopping onto the monorail.  But I had another idea.  I'd always heard about the walkway from the Contemporary to MK and wanted to see what it was like, so I decided to ride over on it.   And guess what?  I beat them!

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I went up to the second floor and checked us into the California Grill.  So excited -- I hadn't been there since it was Top of the World.  The menu doesn't exactly appeal to David.

So after several minutes the rest of our little group arrived.  We were ushered up to the restaurant and were quickly seated.

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We ordered drinks ... I can't tell you what they were since I can't find them on online menus.

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One comment here -- I was so looking forward to taking pictures, but the windows were ABSOLUTELY FILTHY!  I couldn't believe it.  Here's an untouched picture I took, putting my lens right up to the window.

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The rest of the photos I'm showing you aren't great.  They have been heavily processed in Lightroom and PhotoShop to cut through the grime.

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Then our food arrived.

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My bison steak (it was absolutely delicious -- not quite as tender as a filet, but the taste made up for it):

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Ceil's flatbread:

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Mary's sushi:

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And Jean Ann's filet:

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Sorry.  Must stop here.  Have to take mom to two doctor's appointments today.

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Love your photos, don't worry about the ones you reject, I had a friend that took photos for a living and he told me if he get one good shot out of 2 rolls of 35mm film he was  happy and sometimes he only got one good shot out of 10 rolls. This was a fellow who traveled all over the world taking photos at important events like super bowls,  and world leaders for famous magazines and such.

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2 hours ago, BigTom said:

Love your photos, don't worry about the ones you reject, I had a friend that took photos for a living and he told me if he get one good shot out of 2 rolls of 35mm film he was  happy and sometimes he only got one good shot out of 10 rolls. This was a fellow who traveled all over the world taking photos at important events like super bowls,  and world leaders for famous magazines and such.

As a former pro photographer I can second this, I used to cringe when I saw how much we spent on developing and printing photos that weren't usable and I believe that digital photography has been a true blessing.

But....  even with digital I still end up taking several different shots of important scenes, and rejecting most of them (if not all of them! LOL) later at the computer.....   

And I also love your photos Gwen, there's no question you have the eye for it   :-)

 

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21 hours ago, Avatab.... Steve said:

As a former pro photographer I can second this, I used to cringe when I saw how much we spent on developing and printing photos that weren't usable and I believe that digital photography has been a true blessing.

But....  even with digital I still end up taking several different shots of important scenes, and rejecting most of them (if not all of them! LOL) later at the computer.....   

And I also love your photos Gwen, there's no question you have the eye for it   :-)

 

Yes, I agree about digital photography.  Such a blessing and a dollar saver.  Thanks for enjoying my photos!  I was an art major in college (design) and have since transferred my dubious creativity into photography.  It's so much quicker and cleaner!

10 hours ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

Your pictures are wonderful! 

Thank you!

10 hours ago, slices said:

Enjoying the photos
 

Thank you too.  Thanks for reading along!

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Thank you for taking the time to clean up the window grime.  Those photos look great and I wouldn't have known how hard you worked after the fact to make them so.  Wonder why they don't clean the windows?

How was the sushi?

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On 11/16/2017 at 7:45 AM, BigTom said:

Love your photos, don't worry about the ones you reject, I had a friend that took photos for a living and he told me if he get one good shot out of 2 rolls of 35mm film he was  happy and sometimes he only got one good shot out of 10 rolls. This was a fellow who traveled all over the world taking photos at important events like super bowls,  and world leaders for famous magazines and such.

Thank you!

On 11/16/2017 at 8:23 AM, twiceblessed....nacole said:

California Grill is the one at the top of the Contemporary... correct?  We've never been there, but the views look so awesome.  Next year is our 20th wedding anniversary; Tom and I may need to figure out a way, to have dinner there :wub:

Yes, CG is at the top of the Contemporary.  I didn't expect the food to be as good as it was, but it was worth every penny!  It would be a great place for an anniversary dinner.

On 11/16/2017 at 9:08 AM, Tri-Circle-D said:

Great job so far, Gwen.

It's awesome that you got to Fort!

Way to go, Jean Ann!

TCD

Thanks, TCD.  I'm glad we got to experience a cabin too.  Jean Ann is a very special friend.

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51 minutes ago, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

Thanks, TCD.  I'm glad we got to experience a cabin too.  Jean Ann is a very special friend.

I love all these wonderful kudos I'm getting, but it's time to 'fess up!  I was going anyway, and because I was renting a cabin, there was room.  Gwen and I are both Southern girls; we know there's always room for one more.  Plus her situation fit the theme of the trip which was "I need to get the heck outta Dodge right now before I do something that isn't going to be pretty!"  Gwen, you were a perfect roommate, and I'm so glad you were able to make the trip!  It wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without you!

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4 hours ago, Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie said:

I can't believe how nasty those windows were, that's disgusting. All the Christmas decorations is getting me super excited.

Those windows looked like they haven't been washed in at least 20 years.  They were truly disgusting.

i was really surprised to see the tree up in MK.  Have they already taped the Christmas parade?

4 hours ago, Okieatheart said:

I love all these wonderful kudos I'm getting, but it's time to 'fess up!  I was going anyway, and because I was renting a cabin, there was room.  Gwen and I are both Southern girls; we know there's always room for one more.  Plus her situation fit the theme of the trip which was "I need to get the heck outta Dodge right now before I do something that isn't going to be pretty!"  Gwen, you were a perfect roommate, and I'm so glad you were able to make the trip!  It wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without you!

Jean Ann, you so deserve all the kudos.  If I hadn't gotten the heck outta Dodge when I did,  I think I would have exploded.

Last night I contacted our TA and officially told her to cancel the rest of our Fort reservations.  Then i went into MDE and cancelled all our remaining dining reservations.  And then I cried.  The one thing that's getting me through all this is looking at my photos from last week and remembering how wonderful it was.

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So let's finish up on Tuesday ... more doctored photos to remove the window grunge.

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Disney was testing some fireworks from 6 to 8 pm, so we had a special treat.

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I had on my Happy Birthday button, so after dinner the waiter brought me this cupcake.  He said it was Boston cream cake.  Even though I'm a low carber, I just had to taste it.  The cream was chocolate, and it was delicious!

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After dinner we hopped on the monorail again and went back for a brief visit to MK.

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Happily Ever After started just as we were leaving the park.

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We took the boat back to the Fort.  Jean Ann and Ceil hopped on the golf cart.  Mary and I took a purple bus back.  We were dropped off between 2700 and 2800, and it was unbelievably dark.  The lights on the front of our scooters would only illuminate the sidewalk about 2' in front of us.  Thankfully I had carried a flashlight with me!

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Great pictures of the MK Christmas Tree!  It's so nice you got to spend at least a little time there.

FYI, Several years ago I went on one of those Behind the Scenes tours and they took us to the holiday decoration warehouse. The man in charge at the time was telling us how great it was when they changed the Christmas Tree to LED lights. He said they used to have to run all kinds of power cables all over the place and put temporary covers over them on the sidewalks so no one would trip over them,  but once they started using the LEDs they could run the whole tree off of one regular outlet.  B)

 

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On 11/17/2017 at 5:33 PM, Avatab.... Steve said:

Great pictures of the MK Christmas Tree!  It's so nice you got to spend at least a little time there.

FYI, Several years ago I went on one of those Behind the Scenes tours and they took us to the holiday decoration warehouse. The man in charge at the time was telling us how great it was when they changed the Christmas Tree to LED lights. He said they used to have to run all kinds of power cables all over the place and put temporary covers over them on the sidewalks so no one would trip over them,  but once they started using the LEDs they could run the whole tree off of one regular outlet.  B)

 

Thanks!  Even with LEDs I'm surprised they only use one outlet.

9 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

Awesome!!!!

Awesome!!!!

Awesome!!!!

Thank you! 

Thank you! 

Thank you!

7 hours ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

LOVE the pictures!!!!!

Thanks!  Hope you have a wonderful week at the Fort.

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