TCD's Kickin' Off Summer 2011 @ The Fort Trip Report

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

Ok, note to self ...bring camper into parking lot at HS for prime parking spot. :rofl2:

This is great and looking forward to reading more. :popcorn:

[daddyphat808 - Eric 16]

The parking thing is the same for Epcot as well.

TCD awesome report as always! Now go watch a Star Wars movie! Lol

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Another great report...a friend of mine posted his video of Hyperspace Hoopla when he went there over a week ago...he is friends with a few of the entertainers and what a hoot!!! glad you could share your pics with all...I am a Star Wars Geek and actually made the weekend one year and they do it up great. I am hoping that the new ride will be awesome...have you been on it yet?

Nancy

Oh yes, I have been on the ride several times already! I usually am not a big fan of this type of simulator ride, but the addition of 3D and the changing videos makes this one a must-do for us now.

Does your friend who knows some of the entertainers know anything about who plays Chewbacca in the show? I would love to see what this person looks like. IMHO, he stole the show.

My girls are HUGE Star Wars fans. We raise'em smart here in TN. :)

I have no doubt that your girls are smart. Doesn't Not Cindy home school them? They must get their smarts from her.

"Why is there a hamster dressed as slash?" :rofl2:

That looks like a good time, and I don't know a lot of Star Wars! ( but I do know what an ewok is! )

FREE BIRD!!!

Yeah.

FREE BIRD!

TCD, I don't think anybody would be upset even if you post the TR a month later..We just love reading them...

Thanks, Dave.

Well I was going to make dinner but I got a beer instead. Thanks TCD. :dance: Keep it comin'.

Jeanne

Hooray for Beer!

You are a true Fiend!

Free Bird!!!

Nope... not just a Florida thing...

Really?

In Minnesota too?

I wonder how this fad got started?

It's funny.

But it's also old.

Free Willy!!

LOL!

:bellringer:

Yup, just what he said! Keep them coming!

Thank you, too.

I asked DH "Hey - you're at a concert and the band is taking requests. What do you expect to hear?" He says "Free Bird. Duh."

Not just Florida.

And I am so disappointed. I can't believe that your girls have seen NONE of the Star Wars movies! :popo: You should be ashamed...

I'm not a Star Wars geek, just a junkie! :dance:

That show looks like a LOT of fun!!

That show is a lot of fun.

And, the girls have actually watched a bit of Star Wars lately. They have been playing the movies on TV. They were telling me about one where they were trying to, or maybe did burn Darth Vader, but then he came back. They were asking me what that was all about. I had to tell them I had no idea. I never saw that one. They also saw Jar Jar Binks in one. I have seen Jar Jar Binks, but not the movie he is in. Couldn't help them with any info on him either. Since we liked Star Wars weekends so much, though, we are going to get ahold of the first movie, and start with that. Maybe they will become Star Wars Geeks after all.

Interesting to hear your DH's comment about Free Bird. I didn't know if that was just a Florida thing, but I guess not.

OMG I'm finally getting in on page one of a TR - and it's a TCD TR to boot!

:banana:

Hey Monique.

Nice of you to join us.

What are you, becoming a responsible worker or something?

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Sounds like it's gonna be a fun weekend!

Yes. It was a fun weekend. And I should mention that since our passes were blacked out beginning Saturday, the rest of the Weekend was all Fort. So, there will be a high Fort content in the rest of the report.

I told you you would enjoy the show, even if you're not a "star wars geek".

Dave, thanks for suggesting this. I'm not sure I would have bothered without your recommendation, and we did thoroughly enjoy the show.

Those Star Wars pics are great. I've never seen one of those shows before.

Well, we hadn't either.

It is my understanding, and the performers on stage made several comments confirming this, that the stage and location are new. I think it used to be harder to see.

FREE BIRD! Its not just Florida

OK, Texas, too.

Who knew?

Dang - I missed getting in on the first page! But, I'm in! :popcorn:

Almost, Leslie, almost.

You have to be quick around here these days.

Glad to have you on board!

I'm here!!! I have seen all the Star Wars. I like them. But somethings are a little much for my taste.

Nah! This isn't too much.

It's fun.

That show was awesome, made me feel like I was there. I only have a month and a half to go. Can't wait for the rest of the trip report.

Dan

Thanks.

Glad you got to see the video.

By the way, I tried to do one of those "embedded" videos, and it looked fine when I wrote the post, but then it didn't after I posted it. Can anyone tell me what I did wrong with the code?

Ok, note to self ...bring camper into parking lot at HS for prime parking spot. :rofl2:

This is great and looking forward to reading more. :popcorn:

A caveat:

I think I only got front row because I was there so early. Later in the day, I'll bet it's a different story.

The parking thing is the same for Epcot as well.

TCD awesome report as always! Now go watch a Star Wars movie! Lol

When I have been to Epcot with the trailer in tow, I have been directed to a special parking area over by where the Epcot kennel used to be. There are 20 or so designated RV spaces there. This is a great place to park, as it is close to the entrance and the monorail.

TCD

[stefa70 205]

Free Willy!!

Dave, you have fathered 4 daughters. STOP Freeing Willy! :rofl2:

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

Dave, you have fathered 4 daughters. STOP Freeing Willy! :rofl2:

:rofl2: :popo:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OK, I am ignoring the Free Willy comments from S70, and moving on.

BTW, I think S70's DH must hijack her account from time to time and make some of these comments. Sometimes it seems like they are coming from a dude.

Anyway, Free Willy notwithstanding, it is time to move along.

Because we have a long way to go.

But, here is something odd.

I'm already done with my photos from Friday.

Things didn't go quite according to plan for us.

We enjoyed Hyperspace Hoopla immensely, and stayed at HS for an hour or two after that.

The plan was then to get back to our site and rest-up for a trip to the MK at around midnight, with the plan of staying to 3 am.

The problem is that the resting-up didn't happen.

We got back to camp at 10-ish, and did some looping.

Then we headed to the marina at around 11:30.

We were at the gates of the MK just before midnight. Our black-out dates began on 6/11, and I didn't want to chance the machine kicking back our tickets because the date had changed at midnight (although I don't think it really would have).

So far, so good.

But, we had skipped the resting-up.

Remember we left home at 6:15 in the morning.

Which meant we had been up since 5 am.

Around 1 am, old TCD started to feel a bit tired.

One of the TCD twins made the first comment about maybe not being able to make it to 3.

The other twin and I told her to man-up (even though I was tired myself).

At about 1:30, the other twin admitted that maybe she didn't want to stay for another hour and a half.

I hate to admit it, but I agreed.

I had hit the wall.

It's a shame, too, because the park was emptying out nicely.

And, our passes are now blacked-out until mid-August.

We headed out, and hopped a boat back to the Fort at about 2 am.

What a bunch of losers we were!

I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

So ended our Friday.

But, I was up with the sun on Saturday!

And we planned on being around the Fort all day!

And we were.

Except we went to WL for lunch.

So get ready for some Fort pictures.

A lot of Fort pictures!

Starting now!

Here's the TCD campsite for the weekend. Good old 1512. We had this exact site for the same weekend last year. Liked it then, and liked it now. Look how much space and privacy it has:

Here we are just across from the site, next to site 1510, looking across the canal at sunrise. If you look closely at the bank of the canal, you can see that something is walking over there:

Here's another look at that something (sorry for the foggy camera lens):

That's a wild turkey going about her business.

Here's a look at the TCD campsite from just across the loop:

And another look from the loop:

You can see this site has a lot of trees and flowers. It gets direct afternoon sunlight, which is not good in the Summer, but it's still way better than most sites at the Fort.

From here, I headed down to Trail's End for the first cup of coffee.

Coffee in hand, I headed out for some exploring.

Where do you think I went first?

Did someone say 617?

That is a really good guess!

But, wrong.

First stop was River Country.

Nothing fancy.

Just the standard shots though fence openings and from atop the picnic tables.

This is the picnic table graveyard. You can't see the picnic tables because the brush has really grown up here:

This is the back of an old food service building. You can see it through the same fence opening as the picnic table graveyard:

This is outside the forbidden zone. These impatiens are still here from the glory days of River Country. I think that is pretty cool:

Next stop, up on the picnic table by the fence.

Here we can see the front of the building that we looked at two photos ago:

This shot is taken from the same spot, just turned a bit to the left, you can see an old prop trunk lying there on the ground:

There is yet another small opening in the fence just past here, and this photo was taken from that spot:

If you look just to the left of the main tree trunk in the photo above, you can see some cinder blocks in a pile, and if you look through the leaves to the right of that, you can see the remains of the old wall that was put up when they first closed River Country. The wall fell down a while ago.

Here's a shot taken from the same spot where you can see the cinder blocks clearly, and the mystery blue tanks in the background:

Moving along, we are now over by the old main pool for River Country. There is a gate here, and I can just squeeze my fat hand and camera through the opening. Which provided these photos:

In case you are wondering, yes, those are mature cat-tail plants growing in the pool.

Wow.

Say what you want to about River Country, but they built the place to last. These fake rocks, which are identical to some in the MK, still look serviceable:

Notice how they even went to the trouble to carry out the rock theme by placing fake rocks at the bottom of the posts outside the Restroom/Shower building:

Now we are turned to look toward the old River Country entrance. Make note of the ferns growing on the trunk of that big Live Oak:

These ferns are called resurrection ferns. When it is dry, they shrivel up and look dead. But as soon as they are hit by water, they perk right back up again and look like this:

They must still use the sprinkler system back here, because it had not rained much at the Fort in early June.

Moving just past the Live Oak, you can see that the multi-trunked tree near the center of this photo has some type of marker in front of it:

Here we are looking at that tree. Look at the bark:

This marker tells us all about this tree:

You want to know something interesting about that tree?

I remember it from when River Country was open.

It is in a prominent place right in front of where Pop's Place restaurant used to be.

I remember this tree and the sign.

Because my grandfather was a huge Crape Myrtle fan.

He and my grandmother moved from NY to Florida in the early 70's after they both retired.

My grandfather had lived in the city all of his life.

He went nuts with gardening when he moved to Florida.

He had one of just about every kind of tree and plant you could think of in his small yard.

For whatever reason, he was really fond of Crape Moy-tels (that's how he pronounced the name with his New Yawk accent).

I had never heard of Crape Moy-tels before by grandfather started growing them.

So, I always think of him when I see this tree.

My grandfather just died a few years ago.

He lived to be 95.

I hope I got his genes.

Back to our story.

I thought of my grandfather as I admired the River Country Crape Moy-tel.

And then I looked down.

And I saw this:

The photo doesn't really show it, but this was a really big feather:

Just lying there.

By itself.

I don't know where it came from, except it must have been from a big bird.

I thought it was remarkable enough to take a photo.

Actually two.

And, then I didn't think much more about it.

But, something has happened since that has made me think about this feather quite a bit.

This post is long enough, so I will pick up with my feather story in my next.

TCD

[stefa70 205]

OK, I am ignoring the Free Willy comments from S70, and moving on.

BTW, I think S70's DH must hijack her account from time to time and make some of these comments. Sometimes it seems like they are coming from a dude.

TCD

Oh, you can't ignore me! I have been married for almost 22 years, so I know a thing or two about willies! Nothing good can come out of it, when he has been freed!

I have run a gym for 20 years, which is just like a local bar. (but healthier) I have to be able to "run with the big dogs" or I would have had a nervous breakdown years ago. I guess maybe I am like a dude, but with boobs! :rofl2:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Oh, you can't ignore me! I have been married for almost 22 years, so I know a thing or two about willies! Nothing good can come out of it, when he has been freed!

I have run a gym for 20 years, which is just like a local bar. (but healthier) I have to be able to "run with the big dogs" or I would have had a nervous breakdown years ago. I guess maybe I am like a dude, but with boobs! :rofl2:

Oh boy.

Even though you say I can't ignore this, I think I had better.

Let's just say you are a remarkable woman, and then let's move on.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I owe you the feather story.

And here it is . . .

I saw a big feather.

So what?

Well, after I got back from the Fort, I was reading a book that a man from my church had given to me to read. It is just a small, locally published book about people's experiences with feeling the physical presence of God. The author of the book, who collected the stories, said in her foreword that there was a time when she was compiling the book that she reached a block. She prayed, and then over the next day, she found several feathers in odd places. She spoke to a friend who told her that feathers have spiritual significance. This is why American Indians and ancient Druids wore feathers- they have spiritual significance. Also, in literature, the feather is used to symbolize the soul. Interesting stuff. I thought it was just a feather. But maybe someone was trying to tell me something.

Anyway, I left the feather where it was.

And nothing unusual has happened to me.

So I guess all it means is that a bird shed a feather.

It is still kind of weird that the guy gave me the book right after this happened, though.

Does anyone remember how that feather floats around in the Forest Gump movie?

What does it mean?

I don't know.

So for now, we shall move on.

We are still here in the area of old River Country.

This is the landscaping that got planted where Pop's Place used to stand. It sure has grown a lot in the last year:

These are the picnic tables that they put out for folks to use while waiting for the Backyard BBQ in the old River Country Pavilion. You can see that Crape Myrtle we looked at earlier there in the background of the photo:

Here's a shot of the weather vane up on top of the pavilion:

And another shot of the weather vane, with an unusual tree in the foreground:

Here's a look at that tree, which, incidentally, has is own marker sign:

Here's the marker for the tree, which tells us that it is a River Birch. I can't say that I have seen any other of this species anywhere around the Fort:

Here's a look inside the pavilion. It is basically just a roof over a bunch of picnic tables:

Here we are looking toward the old entrance. The area in the photo just before the building that you see is where the River Country water tower once stood:

From here, we bid River Country adieu for this visit, and head back to Trail's End for a refill on the coffee.

On the TE porch, I snap this photo:

Those trees in the center of the fenced in area are Crape Myrtles. And they were just starting to bloom.

The flowers around this sign have been replanted since I was last here. Looks like maybe they are getting ready for July 4th:

Here's a couple of shots showing the blooms on the Crape Myrtle tree:

Here we are just a bit forward from where the last photo was taken, looking on toward the marina. According to plans recently filed, the grassy area you see toward the back of the photo is going to be made into a new golf cart parking area:

Now we have walked to the other side of the oval fence, and we are looking toward Pioneer Hall:

I love how the rays from the rising sun hit Pioneer Hall in this shot:

Here we are looking at the Settlement Playground. The River Country Wagon is still MIA:

Is that wagon ever coming back?

At least we know where it is.

It's right here, hidden behind the Settlement Trading Post:

As long as we are here, we might as well take a look and see if there is anything new down the pedestrian path. The entrance looks the same:

The canal behind the 100 loop doesn't look too hot:

This is the little opening that you come to as soon as you head down the path. This is where they stored all of the material for the Settlement Trading Post roof project. This is also where the new dining pavilion is going to be built:

There is nothing indicating that construction is going to be starting anytime soon.

In fact, the old survey markers around here are almost completely obstructed by vines and brush:

Here we are at the end of the trail.

Look, a bunny!:

Here's a closer look at the bunny:

Here's a look at Bay Lake from here. That's Space Mountain photo-bombing my photo there on the left:

Let's try a little comparison here. This is the same area on a foggy morning earlier this year:

I think it's neat to compare those two photos.

Isn't it?

Here's another photo from that spot, turned to the left a bit. You can see Space Mountain, Cinderella's Castle, and, of course, Bay Lake Tower there across the lake:

Uh-oh, I hear some type of vehicle approaching from this direction:

True confession time.

I drove my golf cart to get here.

Which is a no-no.

This is a pedestrian path only.

So, please explain why there are always so many tire tracks on the path?

But, that is no excuse.

Rules are rules.

And, it seems I have a bit of a problem.

Because my cart is about 100 yards up the path.

And this fellow has just popped out of the woods and is heading towards me:

Gulp!

He has a light on his golf cart!

It looks like I'm in trouble!

Big Trouble.

With a capital "T."

Crap.

(can I say crap?)

We will find out what happens to old TCD in the next post.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

We met quite a few people with the same cart problem...... :siren: None of them teenagers.... Waiting to see what happened......

Thanks for the pictures... I miss the Fort...... still. I've been wondering if I can persuade hubby to make a trip sooner.....

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Lie lie lie, you could always tell him you were looking for your cousin Yori!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[anolefan 8]

Great photos of the Fort. I always see something new that I have missed when looking at all the trip reports.

In your report, I have never ever seen the signs in front of the trees with the description on them.

I love Fort photos and never tire of seeing them.

Can't wait for more.

[MicknMin...Holly 54]

This marker tells us all about this tree:

No, that marker is missing some very important information. Did you know that Conyers, Georgia is the Crape Myrtle Capitol of the World? Nope, neither did I until a few years back when I saw a sign in my town telling me that. The weird thing is that I have lived here for over 20 years and can honestly say that I haven't seen all that many crape myrtles around town.

[ftwildernessguy 778]

Just mention my name if you are going to get into trouble. CM's fear me almost as much as Bobby himself.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

[mgsmom 9]

Great updates! I just love your pics of the lake!

Let me catch up - first of all, it may be helpful for you guys to watch Star Wars Episodes 4-6 first (the original three movies) and then go back and watch Episodes 1-3 (the new movies). I think that if I hadn't a good grasp of what was coming, it was a little tricky to follow the storylines of the first 3. They were heavy on special effects and light on plotline.

Secondly, love the Crape Moy-tels here, too! :banana: We actually have 21 wax moy-tels in our backyard. They are a version of CM that stay leafed (is that a word?) all year long. You can let them grow as shrubs or prune them into trees - much like the Crapes. They don't really "bloom" but have a beautiful aroma and attract lots of birds and butterflies. We have them growing along the fence for privacy. They do very well in drought, or whatever. Very hearty. We chopped ours back to stumps about 7 weeks ago and they've already grown about 3 feet since then.

And lastly, I really hope you didn't get in any big trouble with the Dis-po-po. Am anxious to hear what happened!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We met quite a few people with the same cart problem...... :siren: None of them teenagers.... Waiting to see what happened......

Thanks for the pictures... I miss the Fort...... still. I've been wondering if I can persuade hubby to make a trip sooner.....

I am about to reveal what happened.

Sorry for the wait.

And, I hope that you can persuade your hubby to take you to the Fort sooner too!

Lie lie lie, you could always tell him you were looking for your cousin Yori!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oy.

Yuri!

Leave him out of this.

I haven't seen him in a while.

That means he is bound to show up soon.

Like maybe on my next visit?

For some reason, I'm sure he will be around if the construction ever gets started on the new "improved" Fort.

Great photos of the Fort. I always see something new that I have missed when looking at all the trip reports.

In your report, I have never ever seen the signs in front of the trees with the description on them.

I love Fort photos and never tire of seeing them.

Can't wait for more.

Tom- The signs are just around the old River Country area. There used to be a lot more. I think there are still some beyond the fence.

No, that marker is missing some very important information. Did you know that Conyers, Georgia is the Crape Myrtle Capitol of the World? Nope, neither did I until a few years back when I saw a sign in my town telling me that. The weird thing is that I have lived here for over 20 years and can honestly say that I haven't seen all that many crape myrtles around town.

Wow!

You are so lucky to live in the Crepe Myrtle capital of the world!

I'd love to see a photo of the sign.

Just mention my name if you are going to get into trouble. CM's fear me almost as much as Bobby himself.

Thanks, Jim.

I am not above name dropping.

I will keep this tidbit in mind.

Oh come on Monique.

You already know how this is going to turn out.

This is TCD we are talking about.

Great updates! I just love your pics of the lake!

Let me catch up - first of all, it may be helpful for you guys to watch Star Wars Episodes 4-6 first (the original three movies) and then go back and watch Episodes 1-3 (the new movies). I think that if I hadn't a good grasp of what was coming, it was a little tricky to follow the storylines of the first 3. They were heavy on special effects and light on plotline.

Secondly, love the Crape Moy-tels here, too! :banana: We actually have 21 wax moy-tels in our backyard. They are a version of CM that stay leafed (is that a word?) all year long. You can let them grow as shrubs or prune them into trees - much like the Crapes. They don't really "bloom" but have a beautiful aroma and attract lots of birds and butterflies. We have them growing along the fence for privacy. They do very well in drought, or whatever. Very hearty. We chopped ours back to stumps about 7 weeks ago and they've already grown about 3 feet since then.

And lastly, I really hope you didn't get in any big trouble with the Dis-po-po. Am anxious to hear what happened!

1. That sounds like a good SW strategy. As a matter of fact, a SW movie was on TV last night ,and we watched the end of it. It is the one where Anakin goes to the dark side, and becomes Darth Vader, and then Natalie Portman (don't know her character's name) has twins. Luke and Lea. What the Fort? I never new Luke and Lea were twins? There was a good fight scene between Yoda and I guess the guy's name is the Emperor. I never saw him before- but he was in charge of the bad guys at the Hyperspace Hoopla, so we all learned a lot from just that brief viewing. And the girls liked what we saw, and we all want to see more. I'll bet we will be the first people who became SW Geeks from attending SW weekends.

2. I learned something interesting about Wax Myrtles recently. There is a show called Dual Survival on one of the cable networks (I think maybe Discovery channel), which I watch from time to time. It follows two guys acting out how to survive in different scenarios. One guy is a hippie who never wears shoes and the other guys is a former Special Forces type. Interesting concept. In a recent episode, they were "lost" in the Everglades. The hippie found a wax myrtle tree and rubbed the leaves all over himself. He said Native Americans used Wax Myrtle leaves as mosquito repellent. Who knew?

3. You are about to find out what happened with me and the fellow in the golf cart.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I know you are all dying to know what happened with the castmember in the golf cart.

So, I will leave you in suspense no longer.

Actually, this turned out to be sort of a false alarm.

This guy wasn't the po-po.

I could read what was written on the front of his cart before he got very close.

Maybe you can make it out in this photo:

This guy was just from the Marina.

I don't know where he was going in such a hurry.

I have thought about this since, and looking at the guy, and thinking about how fast he was going, and his reaction when he saw me, I am guessing it was a donut run.

He didn't even slow down.

He didn't say a word.

I'm not sure he even noticed me.

Or my golf cart as he zoomed by.

This was a man on a mission.

It had to be donuts.

The thing is, I have no idea where he was going to get any donuts in the direction he was traveling.

So, that's admittedly a major flaw in my hypothesis.

But, I don't have an better one to offer.

This is what we call a non-event.

So, let's get back to our exploring.

The whole time I am back here, I have heard the annoying sound of a small gas engine.

The sound was coming from this:

That's a pump.

I have seen it here before.

And so have a lot of you.

They apparently break this thing out when it hasn't rained for a while.

And they pump water from out of the Fort's canal system into Bay Lake.

Here's a closer look at the pump, from the bridge that crosses over the canal:

That's Bay Lake in the background.

Here's where the pump takes the water in:

Looks yummy.

This always seems odd to me.

Because there is a dam right here:

And, I think it was designed to be opened on occasions when they want to let water in to Bay Lake.

I guess it doesn't work in really dry conditions?

Here, I am heading back toward the TCD cart. You can see a bunch of tire tracks there in the sand, and there is Space Mountain sneaking in to the photo on the left:

It isn't just golf carts and pedestrians who come back here.

Look, there's some type of animal track here, too:

Using my keen powers of deduction, I have arrived at the conclusion that this foot print was made by an animal with hooves. I think maybe a Rhinoceros or possibly a small Elephant. Maybe something that escaped from Animal Kingdom?

I came up with an idea for a photo as I was standing here.

Wouldn't it be cool if I could somehow incorporate the essence of the Fort and WDW in a single photo?

I could see Space Mountain right under the branches of this Cypress Tree. But, but the sun was washing it out:

I stepped a little closer, and tried again. This is kind of more like I was thinking:

Here are some more attempts, which I made by moving around just a bit:

I then tried this shot with more of Bay Lake in it:

And then this one which includes Discovery Island, the Contemporary Resort, Bay Lake Tower, Cinderella's Castle, and Space Mountain:

Here's a look down the shoreline of Bay Lake from this spot:

This is the little cove into which the water was being pumped- it empties right into Bay Lake:

I hadn't noticed it before, but there is something interesting floating there in the water. Take another look. Do you see anything odd?

How about now?:

How about now?:

GATOR!!!!

OMG!

It's an alligator!

This is where any Yankees reading along should be shocked.

And those of us who live in Florida should yawn.

There are alligators all over Florida.

But, it is still kind of a rare thing to see one at the Fort.

And, we have just seen one.

I decided to go to the other side of the canal for a closer look.

I could have walked, but since I had my golf cart, I drove over there.

Another big no-no.

Don't tell.

When I got to the other side, the gator knew he had been spotted, and he submerged:

And look- now that I'm breaking major rules by being on the other side of the canal with my golf cart, there's another Castmember driving by:

He didn't stop either.

More donuts?

I don't know.

I scanned the water for the gator.

I looked toward the dam:

And across the little cove:

He got away!

Not so fast . . .

What is that swimming out into the lake?:

GATOR!!!!

I ran up the bank a bit for a better shot.

And I noticed that this fellow was stalking some birds.

I have some more photos of what happened next.

Which you will get to see in my next post!

TCD

[stefa70 205]

I stepped a little closer, and tried again. This is kind of more like I was thinking:

TCD

PHEW! Glad you escaped unharmed from the donut seeking marina guy!

I loved your idea of the first picture. My favorite thing about the fort is being surrounded by complete madness, but still in the midst of nature.

But the next picture I like even better. Did you notice the heart carved into the tree? I can imagine a nice young couple (remember when we all did sappy things like that? ) standing out looking over Bay Lake professing their love. Or maybe they were honeymooning? The possibilities are endless! So sweet! :heart:

[anolefan 8]

TCD

Enjoying your report and photos!

And for all you fisherman out there, I have caught some decent sized bass right here in the area TCD posted. The water looks pretty bad right now though.

I may have to give it a shot sometime soon!

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

This is what we call a non-event.

So, let's get back to our exploring.

Glad it turned out to be a non-event so you could keep exploring!

Another great report!

The whole time I am back here, I have heard the annoying sound of a small gas engine.

The sound was coming from this:

That's a pump.

I have seen it here before.

And so have a lot of you.

They apparently break this thing out when it hasn't rained for a while.

And they pump water from out of the Fort's canal system into Bay Lake.

Here's a closer look at the pump, from the bridge that crosses over the canal:

That's Bay Lake in the background.

Here's where the pump takes the water in:

Looks yummy.

This always seems odd to me.

Because there is a dam right here:

And, I think it was designed to be opened on occasions when they want to let water in to Bay Lake.

I guess it doesn't work in really dry conditions?

I don't know this for a fact but I think the weir (or dam) is there to seperate two drainage basins, with the canal being on the downstream side. If I remember right the water elevation in Bay Lake is usually at least a foot higher than the water elevation in the canal. So if they opened the weir they would drain Bay Lake, at least until the two basins equalized.

When they pump the water from the canal (lower basin) into Bay Lake they are short ciruiting the system to keep the lake water levels up. Some places do that to keep entrance lakes or lakes near a building that a lot of people see full so they look better.

Sorry didn't mean to sidetrack your trip report and get all water management on you. lol Just thought I'd share.

I'm ready for more of this awesome report!

WBI

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I have never seen the FW popo catch anyone using carts down in that area.

I like the pictures from underneath the tree. That's how I like to remember the Fort. One of the first things we did after getting setup was to wander down that very path from the 300 loop. We returned two nights later to catch the water pageant/parade and the fireworks over MK. Honestly, I almost prefer watching the fireworks from that path by the lake.

As a matter of fact, that might be the exact spot where we found the man & his child watching the parade. He talked to us about his tradition of coming EVERY christmas to the Fort (wahwahwah)......

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Glad it turned out to be a non-event so you could keep exploring!

Another great report!

I don't know this for a fact but I think the weir (or dam) is there to seperate two drainage basins, with the canal being on the downstream side. If I remember right the water elevation in Bay Lake is usually at least a foot higher than the water elevation in the canal. So if they opened the weir they would drain Bay Lake, at least until the two basins equalized.

When they pump the water from the canal (lower basin) into Bay Lake they are short ciruiting the system to keep the lake water levels up. Some places do that to keep entrance lakes or lakes near a building that a lot of people see full so they look better.

Sorry didn't mean to sidetrack your trip report and get all water management on you. lol Just thought I'd share.

I'm ready for more of this awesome report!

WBI

One of the best things about TCD reports are the tidbits you learn about WDW along the way. Please don't apologize for it.

Wonder if anyone has called about the fish food yet?

[lklasing 16]

Just catching up and loving the report! I have to say that crepe myrtles are my favorite tree. They just thrive in the heat that wilts everything and everyone else.

Great pics of FW/MK together! And, scary pics of the gator(s)!

Looking forward to more. :)