A Fiend Looks at Fifty-A TCD Birthday Trip Report

[stefa70 205]

That's it! From now on I am going to refer to my junk piles as "cabins." Who knew I had so much valuable property? :rofl2:

TCD, I am looking forward to your theory.

It's funny you say that, as soon as I saw the inside of the cabin I thought of my "junk drawer." Everything that doesn't have it's own place, goes into the junk drawer to be sorted out at a later date.

It would sound much more high-class to say "I really need to clean my cabin" as opposed to " I really need to pick up my junk piles"

[TheLug 10]

REALLY??? WTF!!!!! That was a MAJOR BUMMER!!!! I wanted Melvin!!!

Or at-least a goose!!! Because they always prevail!!!

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Monique- I am doing my best to get by the Fort for Halloween. And, even if we can't make it for the 31st, I am going to try to at least be there on the 28th and 29th. I have a few things to work out- so we will see.

TCD

Yay either way - we'll be there starting 10/22!

OMG IS IT TIME YET!?!?

sorry... I'm counting the minutes at this point...

Really nice spelunking in the cabin. I'm willing to bet no one else has gotten in there with a broom stick and duct tape.

[ImDownWithDisney 342]

I've enjoyed reading another great TCD TR.

I'm surprised the Disney po po didn't sweep in when you tripped that motion sensor......must have been off, huh?

[stacktester 78]

At first I thought that box with clear drawers was a desiccator. If you don't know what one is it's a unit used to dry stuff out. Usually there is a compartment for silica gel which is the drying agent. The microscopes are what made me think of this because maybe what ever was in the desiccator would be looked at.

What a mess to have all that cleaning stuff lol. It seems we've seen our fair share of Disneys not so clean areas. Imagine what the cost of that bad boy tour would be.

[Lou... 3,118]

It seems we've seen our fair share of Disneys not so clean areas

You ain't seen nothing.

It's not that it's unclean, it's just that there is so much stuff they have to store away that it's everywhere.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

My guess is that you have stumbled upon the control center for the Iranian blue tank experiments. The phone number is likely to their travel agent in the event they need to make a hasty retreat. DAC is the airport code for Dhaka, from which you can connect directly to Tehran. (Ignore the S, it's not important to my story). The speakers are used in their sonic crowd control experiments. The bug spray? Well, it's Florida for crying out loud. The bugs are everywhere! Pressure washer? To clean the blue tanks of nuclear material I would guess. And the microscope? Well Duh! Atoms are small, you know?

[Lou... 3,118]

Oh, oh, Dave's in hi-jack mode. Hold on tight. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

[Discamper 394]

Happy BirthDay TCD Andrew you did it again GREAT Trip Report

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I have know theories, but I would think with all the cleaning supplies in there some one should be CLEANING. It's not like they have to worry about bugs cause they have supplies for that too

Great coup, Andrew. I'll be waiting to hear your theory :wave1:

You are off to a good start- the cleaning supplies and bug spray must be important clues, right?

Great exploring TCD!

Isn't DACS the central control for all of Disney parks for rides and parades? Yup I just googled it, Digital Animation Control System.

I'm going to say that the speakers and receiver are to there to pipe in the music from Magic Kingdom for the fireworks. They have the direct line to DACS in case there are any problems they can call it in. I'm guessing that number isn't published anywhere and is probably meant for internal use only.

As far as the other science stuff I would guess that they used to have Fort sponsored activities for kids there, but along with lots of other Disney activities they are now a thing of the past.

Another idea that you would know about it, do the Haunted wagon rides go around there? With the bottle of fog stuff and the speaker setup maybe they use it for part of the haunted rides?

Those are my thoughts for now.

WBI

Well done again, Grasshopper.

If you want to be all logical and stuff, then your thoughts are definitely on the right path.

But, what if whoever has set up this cabin wants us to think that all of this stuff is there for some benign purpose.

What if this is really the work of some kind of evil genius?

You have watched Scooby Doo before, right?

Well, DACS stands for Digital Animation Control System and the cabin was used for a scene in Zapped! starring Scott Baio. That's as far as my imagination will wander right now.

Best Regards,

Norm

Hmmm.

Now Scott Baio I have heard of before. Chachi, right? Joanie's boyfriend?

But, Zapped I have not heard of. Maybe they can work it into the Fort's movie rotation instead of Lemonade Mouth, which I understand they are going to play every 3rd day in the month of November.

Bummer! I was hoping there would be something really exciting inside the cabin. Science equipment, bug spray and cleaning supplies? In other words, junk. Just a place for Disney to store stuff they don't know where else to put.

How ironic is it that you called DACS parade central and got....... DACS parade central!

Looking forward to your theory!

As I said, what if "they" want you to think it is just random junk.

Is this all just random junk?

What if that phone number was put there to throw us off track?

If I recall, when the cabin was first moved to that location, it was used by the YES counselors for some type of nature class. I remember the cabin being referred to as interpretive training center, or something to that effect. So that's why the science stuff is there.

Are you sure that was a pressure washer and not a generator?? I HAVE been back there when they had the speakers out and playing the Wishes music. The CM was using the plastic chairs, and it's obvious why the bug spray is there.

Hmmm.

This is interesting.

You are right, there used to be benches and a fake tee pee out there by the cabin. They did conduct some type of educational classes out there back when the Wilderness Swamp Trail boardwalk was still there.

And, I am pretty sure that those were pressure washers, but they were right under the window, so I did not get a good look at them. It is possible that one or both was a generator.

So, you have actually seen the speakers in use?

Do they wheel them out the front door, or do they uncover the window? I am guessing the former, since you said you saw the castmembers in the chairs.

That's it! From now on I am going to refer to my junk piles as "cabins." Who knew I had so much valuable property? :rofl2:

TCD, I am looking forward to your theory.

I hope you don't have junk piles like that!

REALLY? ? ? WTF!!!!! That was a MAJOR BUMMER!!!! I wanted Melvin!!!

Or at-least a goose!!! Because they always prevail!!!

Oh, so you are going to start with that goose business again?

You just drank another pitcher of Kungaloosh, didn't you?

Yay either way - we'll be there starting 10/22!

OMG IS IT TIME YET!?!?

sorry... I'm counting the minutes at this point...

Really nice spelunking in the cabin. I'm willing to bet no one else has gotten in there with a broom stick and duct tape.

Wow! Your trip is almost here! Awesome!

I think you are right that no one has explored that cabin before. I have always wanted to know what was in there. Good thing I had my photography equipment (the broom stick and duct tape) with me.

I've enjoyed reading another great TCD TR.

I'm surprised the Disney po po didn't sweep in when you tripped that motion sensor......must have been off, huh?

Oh, so that was a motion detector.

That's pretty high tech how they put it up there in the ceiling like that.

I wonder why they needed a motion detector to protect this crap?

Or maybe it isn't crap at all?

Hmmmmm?

At first I thought that box with clear drawers was a desiccator. If you don't know what one is it's a unit used to dry stuff out. Usually there is a compartment for silica gel which is the drying agent. The microscopes are what made me think of this because maybe what ever was in the desiccator would be looked at.

What a mess to have all that cleaning stuff lol. It seems we've seen our fair share of Disneys not so clean areas. Imagine what the cost of that bad boy tour would be.

A desiccator?

Wow!

Maybe that is a desiccator?

What are the alcohol prep pads for?

A bad boys tour?

That idea has some merit.

What if we put together a FW behind the scenes tour? You could take people on the horse trail (allegedly). I could take people to take photos of River Country with broom sticks and duct tape (allegedly). We could desiccate some stuff and look at it with those microscopes. I could borrow the RMOG's fishing boat and take everyone out to Discovery Island. People would probably pay five bucks for that type of tour. We could be rich!

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

You ain't seen nothing.

It's not that it's unclean, it's just that there is so much stuff they have to store away that it's everywhere.

Yes. This all really wasn't that messy. It was cleaner than I expected it to be.

I am sure that there are much worse areas.

One of these days, I need to get a good look at those big buildings near the entrance.

My guess is that you have stumbled upon the control center for the Iranian blue tank experiments. The phone number is likely to their travel agent in the event they need to make a hasty retreat. DAC is the airport code for Dhaka, from which you can connect directly to Tehran. (Ignore the S, it's not important to my story). The speakers are used in their sonic crowd control experiments. The bug spray? Well, it's Florida for crying out loud. The bugs are everywhere! Pressure washer? To clean the blue tanks of nuclear material I would guess. And the microscope? Well Duh! Atoms are small, you know?

Finally!

A plausible theory.

Atoms are pretty small.

So I've heard.

I like how you tied in the blue tanks.

But, this isn't what I think.

I think this is the secret lair of Dr. Lou.

Not the football Dr. Lou.

The EWP hating Dr. Lou.

I think this is where he is cooking up his evil plans to destroy the EWP.

He uses that phone number to monitor the EWP.

He had to write it on the wall like that because he is losing his memory in his advanced age.

And, his cell phone has a rotary dial, so it doesn't save numbers.

Notice how he was encouraging a hijack in his next post?

He's trying to throw us off his trail.

Oh, oh, Dave's in hi-jack mode. Hold on tight. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

So, you are anxious for us to go off on some tangent and not discuss your secret lair?

Things that make you go hmmmm?

Happy BirthDay TCD Andrew you did it again GREAT Trip Report

Thanks, Todd.

But, keep reading.

There's still a bit more to come.

Remember, I promised to reveal six new things that I saw on this trip.

And, so far, I have only revealed two!

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OK- all kidding aside, here is what I think is going in with the stuff in the cabin:

• the science stuff is left over from when they used to have education programs out there.
  

• the fog juice is there from the Haunted Carriage Rides. They use the old cabin as a prop on the ride. Typically, they set up a fan and lighting and a fog machine on the side facing Bay Lake, and they usually have curtains on the window that faces the lake blowing with the fan.
  

• the speakers and wires and phone number are all there because they do occasionally play the fireworks sound track from here. But not always. I am not sure why they sometimes do and sometimes don't.
  

Now, let's move on.

From the cabin, I headed down to Trail's End for some coffee.

I always like to take a photo of Pioneer Hall at sunrise, so I headed over to the wagon ride area to take the photo.

As I looked over there, I saw something:

And that something that I saw also saw me:

I slowly walked a little closer:

At first, the deer looked like it decided to leave:

But then it decided to look some more:

Then it decided to keep eating:

Then, it finally decided it was time to go:

So it is considered a sport to shoot one of these things?

Really?

How hard is that?

Anyway, I came over here to take a photo.

Not of a deer.

But of this:

I like how the sun is just hitting the top of the building.

I took another shot from just a little different angle:

Nice.

I already told you about two new things that I saw down here at Trail's End.

Remember, the new sign on the drink machine and the sweet tea?

Well, I've been holding out.

There was something else new.

And I think I like this change, too.

There are two new items on the Breakfast Take Out Menu.

Look for yourself:

Breakfast sandwiches?

I like that!

I don't like the price.

But it's Disney, so you have to expect that.

Actually, they would probably charge more for this type of thing at one of the quick serve places.

I didn't get a chance to try one of these yet.

But I promise that I will.

They both sound good to me. Especially with breakfast potatoes.

I'll call the breakfast take out menu change the third new thing.

Which means there are still three more changes to report.

But, for those, we have to go somewhere else in the Fort.

First, here's a peaceful morning shot from the porch of Crockett's Tavern:

And here's a playground shot, including the spot where the old River Country Wagon belongs:

For our next new thing, we will be traveling all the way up to the Outpost.

Be sure to check back for that.

TCD

[stefa70 205]

Aww man, I gotta check back? Of course I will, wild horses couldn't tear me away from a TCD report.

I think you may be on to something with the Evil Lou theory. I'm going to keep a close eye on that guy.

I do not consider shooting a deer a "sport" but to each his own I guess. The sad part is the deer in Florida are more like big dogs, not like the big ones up north.

Great shots of the settlement area. I really like the last one with all the flowers in bloom.

I'm not a big breakfast fan, but the breakfast sandwiches do sound good. I especially like that they are on a bagel instead of a biscuit like most places serve. Nice find!

Carry on......and I'll be back (in my best terminator voice) :)

[Lou... 3,118]

Ain't no one shooting Bambi or Bambi's relatives at WDW.

What concerns me is that the deer seem to be getting closer and closer to people and busy roads.

We just received a notice about being extra careful as a lot of incidents have occured lately, mostly at night.

And I thought I was keeping my feelings about the EWP, under wraps.

It's purely a safety issue. You're not supposed to have electricity near water.

[Discamper 394]

Ain't no one shooting Bambi or Bambi's relatives at WDW.

What concerns me is that the deer seem to be getting closer and closer to people and busy roads.

We just received a notice about being extra careful as a lot of incidents have occured lately, mostly at night.

And I thought I was keeping my feelings about the EWP, under wraps.

It's purely a safety issue. You're not supposed to have electricity near water.

8 of us saw a bus/ deer incidents around group camping one night

[LONE-STAR 370]

Not enough posting today TCD. We need more.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Hmm, those bagel sandwiches sound pretty good. I can imagine sitting on the porch some morning with a mug of coffee and one of those sandwiches, watching the people make their way to the marina to go about their days.

I think I've just planned one of my mornings at the Fort!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Aww man, I gotta check back? Of course I will, wild horses couldn't tear me away from a TCD report.

Thanks, S70.

Actually, it looks like you won't have to check back after today.

The end of this report will be posted today.

Ain't no one shooting Bambi or Bambi's relatives at WDW.

What concerns me is that the deer seem to be getting closer and closer to people and busy roads.

We just received a notice about being extra careful as a lot of incidents have occured lately, mostly at night.

And I thought I was keeping my feelings about the EWP, under wraps.

It's purely a safety issue. You're not supposed to have electricity near water.

It used to be a very rare thing to see a deer around the Fort.

Then, it became pretty common to see them in some of the remote areas at night.

Now, they are everywhere. And, they are out in the daylight.

I can't think of a recent trip where I haven't seen many deer.

When they become too big of a problem, Disney will undoubtedly do something to make them quietly go away.

8 of us saw a bus/ deer incidents around group camping one night

I think this will become more common. I had one run right in front of my car when we were returning back late one night.

As I mentioned above, as soon as it costs Disney some money they will address the problem.

Not enough posting today TCD. We need more.

I have just a bit more.

Then, I will need to start planning my next trip.

Hmm, those bagel sandwiches sound pretty good. I can imagine sitting on the porch some morning with a mug of coffee and one of those sandwiches, watching the people make their way to the marina to go about their days.

I think I've just planned one of my mornings at the Fort!

Hey, you just planned one of mine, too.

Maybe I will see you there!

TCD

[kampfirekim 260]

Did you see the motorcooler at the Fort?

I saw one there once before I saw this bunch. It was on NYE one year. Way after midnight. There was a guy driving one that had another hitched behind it like a trailer. He was on the motorized cooler, his girlfriend was on the trailer. We saw them around the Meadow Trading Post, heading toward the Settlement. We were out looping around, and actually passed him again several minutes later. He had run out of juice, and he riding along, pushing with his feet. The girlfriend didn't look too happy.

TCD

Yes, the motorcooler was seen at the Fort. I said it was last year but actually it was 2 years ago in the 1400 loop. The great thing about motorcoolers is that if your battery dies you can push it OR just have lunch... whichever.

As always great report! :worship:

Now we know what is in the cabin. AND I can actually afford breakfast at Trails End now. :yay:

[stefa70 205]

Thanks, S70.

Actually, it looks like you won't have to check back after today.

The end of this report will be posted today.

TCD

Bummer!

I hope you're still working on the Halloween weekend, even if it's just Sat. & Sun.

[Discamper 394]

We had a motorcoolers looping with us 4th July 2009 he was right up front and ran with us thought all the loops and most of the night

This guy

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Well. this is it folks.

The last batch of photos.

But, it is a good batch.

In just this one post, I will reveal the final three new things I saw on this trip.

Actually, I will tell you about four, but I didn't get a photo of one of the changes.

So, it is Sunday morning.

It's time for me to get packed up.

But, first, I needed to take a quick ride up to the Outpost for a few photos.

When we checked in on Thursday, I noticed some really tall sunflower plants growing in the garden next to the lobby building. I wanted to get a photo of those. So I did:

Do you know that sunflower flowers turn to face the sun?

Well these plants were still waiting for the sun to rise enough so they could begin with the facing the sun thing. For now, they looked kind of droopy.

Here's another shot of the garden:

This is another one of my favorite places to visit in the Fort. They do a great job keeping this garden up all year long.

I never noticed the weather vane on top of the lobby building. Here it is, set off by the beautiful blue sky:

And, here's one more look at the garden:

As long as I was here, I figured I might as well take a look in the lobby. Maybe something was new in there?

Sure enough, I did find something new. For those of you keeping track, this is the fourth new thing I saw:

How do you like that?

Who says the Fort is neglected?

We now have a Monsters,Inc. penny smashing machine.

Earlier this year, it was a Bear in The Big Blue House penny smashing machine.

Now we are cutting edge.

For us anyway.

There is a small discussion board that I visit from time to time which is dedicated to the Fort Wilderness Railroad. There is very little activity on that board, and the information posted on it is often fabulously wrong. On a visit to that site earlier this year, someone posted that the old FWRR poster that has been in the FW lobby forever had been removed. I knew that I had seen the poster earlier this year, but I thought it was possible that it had been removed, so I checked. It turns out that this was just more fabulously wrong information. The poster is still here:

I saw something else new in the lobby. Technically, I could count this as something new, but I am not sure if it really is something new, or just something I never noticed before. Here it is:

That's a barrel full of riding ponies. In the lobby. Have you ever been in the lobby when it is busy? Can you imagine a bunch of kids riding around on those things in the lobby when it's busy? I would like to see that. Maybe sometime when one of you with a bunch of kids is visiting, you can make that happen.

That's all I saw in the lobby.

But there was something else I wanted to look at while I was in the area.

When we checked in on Thursday, I noticed that it looked like there had been some digging going on in the area near the back of the little log building that sits in the middle of the check-in lanes. It was obvious that there had been some digging, but I really didn't pay much attention to it. It really didn't look that different to me, but I decided to snap a photo anyway so I could possibly compare the new photo to some earlier ones. Here's the photo I took on this visit:

Doesn't look like a big deal, right?

Well, here are some photos I took this past February:

Do you see what's new?

They took out two trees, and put in a new sidewalk.

That's the fifth new thing.

And, I also think I may have answered a question that was posed back in September here on ff.net.

Specifically, a couple of folks mentioned that the Mouseplanet website had reported that there was a building permit pulled for work that would be done between September 13 and 30th on the front entrance/path of travel which would result in temporary traffic flow changes.

I was there between September 22 and 25, and this is the only evidence of any work having been done in the entrance area. And, I haven't heard of any other work that was done. So, I think this may have been what the Mouseplanet post was referring to.

I didn't see anything else new about the building:

It was time for me to move on.

Do you remember me mentioning that there was a new crosswalk sign installed at the 700 loop exit, near Hilda's site? I said there would be more on that later.

Well, it's later.

It seems that the Fort management must have gotten a volume discount on signs, as there are a bunch of new ones up. Let's take a look . . .

The Trail Ride sign you see here has been there for a while. But note there is a new yellow sign there in the background:

This sign is new:

I guess there really are a lot of deer in the Fort these days.

Enough to warrant a new sign anyway.

This crosswalk sign is new. And, note how skinny this guy's legs are. The old ones had chubby legs. Why the change?:

As I headed down Fort Wilderness Trail, I noticed this guy in the hitch/unhitch area:

I have seen him at the Fort a lot.

He had been camped on the last site on the 400 loop all weekend. But now he was taking off. Check out his toad:

Does anybody know him?

Like I said, I have seen him at the Fort a lot.

He is from South Carolina.

And is fond of Confederate Flags.

Now, back to the crosswalk sign explosion.

Look at this- there are now three crosswalk signs in front of the 1200/1300 loop entrance :

There's one of those old fat leg signs, along with two others:

Here's a shot just down the road and looking the other way- more signs!:

You can see four crosswalk signs in this photo:

And three in this one:

From what I saw, it looks like the plan is to have a crosswalk sign about every 10 feet or so along Fort Wilderness Trail.

Safety first!

Plus it looks nice too.

Doesn't detract from the aesthetics at all, does it?

So that is the sixth new thing- a lot of new crosswalk signs.

I really needed to get back and start with the packing.

But, I also really needed a photo of bear rock.

What to do?

Bear Rock!:

What a view!

Another one of my favorite spots in the Fort:

I didn't see any otters this morning. Look how smooth the water is!

I noticed that the leaves on this sycamore tree are just starting to turn. You can see that a few have even already dropped:

Here's my last photo from this trip.

It's the Meadow Trading Post just after sunrise:

For some reason, there were no rocking chairs anywhere on the porches of the Meadow Trading Post.

I hope maybe they are just being refinished or something.

They need rocking chairs on the porch of the Meadow Trading Post.

And with that, I headed back to camp and got busy packing.

I was able to get everything packed and got on the road before it rained again.

But, we hit a lot of rain on the way home.

It was a great trip.

And now I'm 50.

It doesn't feel too bad so far.

Thanks for reading along.

But for now . . .

TCD is out!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Another great report, Andrew :banana:

[Discamper 394]

Thank You again Now I can't wait to get back to the Fort

[Hotmamac aka Misty 11]

Super job, as usual.

By your next trip there may be a skinny legged guy riding a motor-cooler sign!