TCD is Thankful for Thanksgiving at the Fort Trip Report

[Heidi-meetsTCD@TSM 5]

Heidi, at the top of the page next to your screen name, you will see a small envelope. Click on that and it will take you to you pm's. From there you just open it like you would a post in a thread. :)

Hope you feel better from your chemo soon. :heart:

Ok. I have another question.......I am going to blame not figuring this out due to "chemo brain" it is a valid excuse......the week after chemo is tough.....

Anyway, I found my message from Lou and also another one from Steph. (thanks Steph, I'll PM you back too once I get it figured out.)

I wrote Lou a note today. I pushed the icon that said compose message, I wrote the note and sent it. Now I see in my messages, I have the note I sent to Lou, its like I sent it to myself.....I have no idea if he actually got it or not.....I am thinking not, since it looks like it got sent back to me........

So what did I do wrong and what can I do now. I dont see a button where I can just forward him my note again.

I feel silly that I cant seem to figure that out......however, i am blaming it on the chemo......thats my story and I am sticking to it!!!!

Thanks in advance for any help!

Heidi

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I think you did it correctly. All of your pm's show up in your mailbox in the order that they were sent. If I'm wrong about this someone who knows more about this than I do will be along to help you out.

Hope you are feeling better!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I think you did it correctly. All of your pm's show up in your mailbox in the order that they were sent. If I'm wrong about this someone who knows more about this than I do will be along to help you out.

Hope you are feeling better!

Heidi-

Don't feel bad- see even the biggest largest mostest poster on here isn't quite sure.

What you described sound like the way it works for me, too.

Hopefully Lou will respond and let you know he got your message.

Or, he can chime in here and say he didn't.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OK- it is now Wednesday morning, and it's time to tell the tale of my newest discovery.

You would think that by now I have seen it all.

But I haven't.

In fact, I kind of have this mental list of places around the Fort that I want to visit when the occasion arises.

As luck would have it Wednesday morning presented such an occasion.

Before we go there, let's back up just a bit.

We haven't talked about something that I posted a photo of earlier.

The new Fort merchandise.

Did you notice that the Fort has a new slogan.

It's "A Great Place to Get Lost."

That's what is says on the back of my new t shirt.

And on the magnets and license plates.

If you ask me, that's an invitation to explore.

I think it would be hard for me to get lost in the Fort.

But I'm willing to give it a try.

And while we are discussing slogans, I think some wires got crossed somewhere.

Remember the new DVC slogan we saw?

"A Lifetime of Memories, Year after Year?"

I think that should be the Fort's slogan.

And I think the new DVC slogan should be:

"A Great Place (for your money) to Get Lost"

That makes more sense doesn't it?

Now, where were we?

Oh yes, Wednesday morning.

At the Fort.

It's a great place to get lost, you know.

Since that is what my tshirt says, I figured that was a sign that I needed to go and explore one of the places on my list.

So, I was up before the sun.

That's what I'm talking about!

And, I headed out.

I headed up toward the Outpost.

Look, there are some deer here grazing on this calm, cool, beautiful morning:

Seeing deer at the Fort used to be a big deal.

Now, I swear there are more deer than squirrels.

(sorry for the squirrel reference, Doodle- I'll give you a moment to come back into focus)

I wasn't here to look at deer.

And, I wasn't here to take a photo of this sign:

But I did.

Because the lights were still on.

These lights are kind of new.

They light this sidewalk all the way from the Outpost to where the sidewalk crosses Big Pine Drive right behind my campsite for the week- 1208.

Do you see how close those lights are?

And how bright?

Why?

I walked down the sidewalk one night, and I swear I could have read a book along the way.

It's strange.

The rest of the Fort is kind of dark at night.

But they have this sidewalk lit so it can be seen from space.

I don't know why.

But, that's not what I came here to talk about.

As I said, we are heading to the Outpost.

Can you guess where I am going?

I'll bet not.

But you will soon find out.

Anyway, here we are at the Outpost.

This gave me a chance to add another photo to the TCD collection of _____________ at sunrise.

I call this one Outpost at Sunrise:

I'll bet you're dying to know why I'm here.

Well, I'll tell you.

I'm going to go down this trail:

But it says, Do Not Enter, you say.

I know.

But, it's not a very big sign.

Somehow I missed it.

That Minivan Mom drove past several much bigger signs than this.

And, my tshirt told me that I was supposed to get lost.

I thought maybe I could back there.

I did not go by golf cart.

I'm sure someone would have a problem with that.

Although, I have heard tales that there are certain Fiends who love to travel down this trail by golf cart late at night. I have not done that, but I know some of you have.

I have been meaning to walk down this trail for a long time.

This is the horse trail.

Where all the trail rides go.

I wouldn't dare walk down it during the day. There are always trail rides coming and going, and the horses could be startled.

But, I was here very early.

There wouldn't be anyone using this trail until much later in the morning.

Why was I here?

Well, there used to be some cool things to see along the horse trail. It was a rite of passage for the TCD girls to take their first trail ride at the Fort when they reached the age of 9. Mrs. TCD took our older daughter on her first trail ride here. I remember them telling me that there were things along the path to see like an old wagon, and some old looking buildings, and even some tombstones.

Four years after that, I got to take the TCD twins on their first trail ride. This was in the late fall of 2004, after Hurricane Charley. The trail was quite a mess. There was a lot of brush and fallen trees, and I don't remember seeing any of the cool things that my older daughter had seen on her trail ride.

That ride in 2004 was the last time I had been down that trail. That was seven years ago. I have been meaning for a long time to head down the trail to see how things look now.

And today was the day!

So, here we go.

The first thing I came to, like within a minute, was this gate. I guess maybe they close it sometimes, but it was open today:

Right after passing this gate, I saw cabins through the woods:

Even though I knew the cabins were there, I was surprised to see them.

Back in our cabin days, we stayed in a cabin that backed up to the horse trail. But, we didn't even know it until later in our trip when we heard noises and walked back there to see what was going on. They have obviously cleared out the brush and undergrowth here, and now you can clearly see the cabins from the trail.

This could be useful information to a cabin person who does not have a car or golf cart and who plans on visiting a lot of parks on his or her trip. Some of these cabins on the 2800 loop are like two minutes away by foot from the Outpost bus stop, using that trail. That would be pretty convenient.

If you looked at a map, you would think that to do this you would want a cabin toward the back of the loop. But that would be wrong. I walked through the woods here so I could get the cabin numbers of the closest cabins. Here they are:

So, the closest cabins to the horse trail are actually closer to the beginning of the loop- cabin #'s 2812 and 2814.

As I walked back to the trail, I saw evidence of the clearing activity that I mentioned. This tree obviously did not just fall down:

Here we are back on the path:

It wasn't too long before I came upon this fenced in area on my left:

I call this photo Golf Cart Storage Lot at Sunrise:

They sure have quite a fence here at the golf cart storage area:

Why?

Because this is not just where they store the golf carts.

Something secret goes on back there behind that fence.

So secret that I don't even know what it is.

Solving that mystery is another thing on my to-do list.

But, we aren't here for that today.

Today, we are just walking down the horse trail.

So, I took one more sunrise photo, and moved on:

I then passed by the 2700 loop cabins. The brush is thicker here:

But it is clearer here:

There is still some of the old undergrowth here:

I continued walking down the path:

I came across this distance marker. There were several more along the way. This tells me that so far, I have walked 2/10 of a mile:

Right after I saw that marker, I saw something.

This:

It's an old wagon.

And boy is it falling apart!

I guess that is fine.

I think that's the point.

This is supposed to look like that.

I saw something else next to the wagon.

This:

That's an old boot.

I guess it is there as a prop, too.

This wagon was pretty cool, and I was glad to have a chance to see it. Here's a couple more photos:

As far as I was concerned, finding that wagon made my journey down this path worth the effort.

But, I didn't yet know that there was something much, much cooler waiting for me down the path.

Fortunately, I decided to keep on walking to see what else I could see.

The path comes pretty close to this driveway, which is how vehicles go in and out of the secret area:

The entrance to the Fort is over there:

When you drive in to the Fort, you can see this driveway where I am standing almost directly in front of you. It has a big Do Not Enter sign on it. You will be turning to your right to head up to the guard shack. But, if you went straight, this is the driveway that you would be on.

We are now 3/10 of a mile down the path:

Right past that marker, I came to this gate. If you look straight ahead of the gate, that is where the guard shack is:

Guess what?

That was thirty photos.

That's the limit.

So, I need to break here, and start a new post.

We will be continuing on our journey.

Remember, I said I saw three cool things?

The wagon was the first cool thing.

The next cool thing is cooler than the wagon.

A lot cooler.

And then the third cool thing is even cooler than that.

So, be sure to keep reading.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Pressing on . . .

We continue our way down the path:

The woods here are a lot clearer than they were when I was last traveled this path:

It was a beautiful cool morning.

I love how the sunlight is just hitting the tops of the trees in this photo:

You can see that new pine trees are growing up here beneath the existing trees:

After seeing that wagon, I was hopeful that I would see some of the other old things that there used to be along this path. But so far, all I saw was trees:

The sun continued its ascent:

And, I kept on walking:

It was here that a heard something interesting.

I heard the distinct sound of a large bird taking flight.

You know, a very faint flapping of the wings?

I looked up, but saw nothing.

Probably a big hawk, I thought.

As I continued down the path, I saw this area, where vehicles had clearly traveled:

I followed the tracks, and the path continued:

There was still nothing to see but trees.

Which I was enjoying.

But, I was hoping to see something interesting.

Then I saw something.

Look in the center of this photo, do you see it?:

What the Fort is that?

I had to leave the path to get a better look:

It's a totem pole!:

That may not be a big deal to you.

But it was a huge deal to me.

There used to be totem poles all over the Fort.

But, I haven't seen one in years.

I thought they were all gone.

But, here is one still at the Fort!

That is cool!

Let's look closer:

And guess what, there wasn't just one totem pole.

There was another:

And guess what?

There weren't just these two.

There was a third.

But this one had fallen:

This is the base of the fallen totem pole:

You can see here that someone had attempted to hold this totem pole up with some string. That didn't work so good:

Here's the fallen totem pole again:

And the other two:

I was really surprised to see these.

I wonder why no one has mentioned them?

I thought maybe the horsed didn't travel back this far, but this horse poop told me otherwise:

I had walked away from the path to take those photos.

I took these from the path. I would guess that most folks don't even notice the totem poles as they ride by:

So, how do you like me now?

Is that cool or what?

I think so.

So, those totem poles collectively were the second cool thing I saw.

Does anyone remember when I mentioned the lack of totem poles at the Fort when I posted my Wilderness Lodge lobby photos?

That's what you call foreshadowing.

And I did some more foreshadowing in this post.

Because I gave you a little clue about the third cool thing I saw.

And it was cooler to me than the first two things.

I will get to that in my next post.

TCD

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Cool!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Great find! I wasn't distracted once :rofl2:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Cool!

x2

and soon . . .

x3

Great find! I wasn't distracted once :rofl2:

Good job, Doodle.

I thought the squirrel reference would get you!

TCD

[kampfirekim 260]

HEY!!!! Mine and Rick's mug is up there too!!!! (It was our 10th anniversary, and we were feeling sappy!!)

I hang my head in shame. I didn't realize. Your and Rick's tombstones should be added to the shrine along with TCD's. I will gladly put fresh flowers around it when I visit WDW. Other than that.. all non fiend tombstones must go. ;D

OK, now that I've fussed at Kim, my comments!!

My lesson has been learned. I have taken my whooping like a big girl. LOL.

You know, I meant to give you credit for planting the seed in my mind to take the monorail to Epcot again. I remember you mentioning it and posting photos of it in your trip report, and I remarked that it had been a long time since we had done that.

I think your compromise on the tombstone removal is a great idea. I would also be OK with moving my tombstone to Fort Wilderness.

I get official credit in a TCD TR!? :jumpforjoy: This will go on my fiend resume for sure.

I am actually not completely anti-purchasing bricks or squares of tombstone but I hate that they are right in the courtyard area and you have to go around them. That area used to look much nicer.

Location. Location. Location. :gaah:

Did you say "How sweet is that?" Oh lawdy are you channeling bob and his "To die for" comment. They seemed to have the same vibe. Please tell me you didn't put your hand on your hip and snap your fingers in the air. :rofl2:

Mini Van Mom. What can I say? Mom's are determined whether they drive mini vans or not. She definitely deserved the RWOG award just for her sheer lack of compliance and never say die attitude. If I ever need to be picked up I want someone like her to be the one picking me up.

Looking forward to the cool stuff on the horse trail!

ETA: Apparently you were posting more cool stuff while I was posting! TOTEM POLES!!! THAT IS WAY COOL!!!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

And now, the rest of the story.

We are still on the horse trail.

We have seen the wagon and the totem poles.

This little expedition had already been a success.

But then I saw the third cool thing.

Remember that big bird I heard?

Well, I heard it again, and I looked up and saw it.

I desperately tried to get a photo:

Did anyone see a bird in any of those photos?

Yeah, neither did I.

Which is a shame.

Because I saw a freakin' Bald Eagle!!!

It's true!

A big, beautiful Bald Eagle was soaring right above me.

But it wouldn't hold still and pose for a photo.

So I have no photo of it.

But I know what I saw.

And that was the coolest thing I saw on this walk.

I have seen Bald Eagles in the wild before.

But I have never seen one at the Fort.

Well, now I have.

This little walk had turned in to quite and adventure!

I paused here and stood still for quite a while.

I was hoping the eagle would return.

But it didn't.

So, I continued on.

I noticed these signs nailed to the trees around this part of the trail:

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it ironic that WDW is telling us that it is managing this forest by nailing a sign to a tree with a couple of huge nails?

Although I typically would, I have not called that phone number. The last couple of times I have done that resulted in nothing but the phone being answered by the department listed. So I'm sure somebody with forest management would answer the phone if I called this number. Duh.

As I walked along, I came across this wicked spidah:

And then it was just more forest. Well managed forest, I must add:

I had been back on this trail a while by this point. But, the sun still had not completely risen:

A while back, it was clear that the trail had completed a loop, and that I was heading back the way I came. I passed this marker after a while:

And a little bit past that, I was back at the wagon:

Then it was past the cabins:

And my little walk was done.

I guess I had walked two miles.

And I had seen three cool things.

And, it was just 7:30 am now.

Time for my coffee.

So, off I went to the Settlement.

The whole day lay in front of me.

And it was off to a great start.

In case you can't count, that is three updates to this trip report in one day.

I hope you enjoyed them.

TCD

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

It would be so easy for Disney to clean up the totem poles, repaint them ... and put them back on display at the fort!

There is a Bald Eagle nest at Wilderness Lodge - maybe you saw an Eagle from there.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Nice updates TCD!! I rode that trail on the horses back in 2009. I didn't see the totem poles, and if I saw the wagon, I don't remember. It was a reaaaaaaalllly boring ride. The CMs didn't give us neat history or anything.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Did you say "How sweet is that?" Oh lawdy are you channeling bob and his "To die for" comment. They seemed to have the same vibe. Please tell me you didn't put your hand on your hip and snap your fingers in the air. :rofl2:

According to my man handbook "How sweet is that?" is fine for a man to say, but "to die for" is not.

So, I'm good.

I never do any hands on the hips or finger snapping.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

It would be so easy for Disney to clean up the totem poles, repaint them ... and put them back on display at the fort!

There is a Bald Eagle nest at Wilderness Lodge - maybe you saw an Eagle from there.

Sure they could.

But they took them all down, and just these are left, so I don't see that happening.

I think maybe Native Americans are offended by people using their spiritual symbols as decorations.

And if that is the case, then fine.

But there are still totem poles at the MK. Heck, they even have a couple of cigar store Indians there.

And Wilderness Lodge has totem poles.

And so does the Canada pavilion at Epcot.

Nice updates TCD!! I rode that trail on the horses back in 2009. I didn't see the totem poles, and if I saw the wagon, I don't remember. It was a reaaaaaaalllly boring ride. The CMs didn't give us neat history or anything.

Yeah. My first and last trail ride was in 2004. Even my girls, who like horses, have never asked to go again.

There are a lot of ways that they could improve the trail ride.

But I guess they don't care.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

After seeing those totem poles, I dug through all of the old photos I could find of the totem poles that used to be around the Fort. I have not found any that quite match the ones I saw out on the horse trail.

This is a photo of the oldest TCD DD about 16 or so years ago outside of the Settlement Trading Post:

This photo shows those totem poles:

This is an older photo of the Settlement Trading Post. Those look like different totem poles:

I swiped these photos from another site back some time ago. These show the totem poles that used to be up at the Reception Outpost:

I don't think the totems from the horse trail are the same as any of these, but they certainly seem to be constructed the same way.

TCD

[H in SC 85]

Man! Those old Fort pics are great. The Fort "Old West" theme has eroded over the years, and I don't know why. :)

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Man! Those old Fort pics are great. The Fort "Old West" theme has eroded over the years, and I don't know why. :)

Because it might "offend" somebody, (Serious sarcasm here)

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I loved this update! Bald eagles are way cool!! We have a nest in a preserve near our home. I have been lucky enough to an eaglr once or twice.

[Lil Lisa 53]

Totem poles! How awesome is that! It's so sad that they don't clean them up and put them out where folks can enjoy them. So much of the stuff that made the fort cool is slowly being phased out for something more generic. If they get rid of much more they might as well change the name from Fort Wilderness to Disney Campground.

Great find! You da man!

[Lil Lisa 53]

Totem poles! How awesome is that! It's so sad that they don't clean them up and put them out where folks can enjoy them. So much of the stuff that made the fort cool is slowly being phased out for something more generic. If they get rid of much more they might as well change the name from Fort Wilderness to Disney Campground.

Great find! You da man!

I guess that was worth repeating... :rofl2:

[caveat lector 181]

Very cool things indeed. It's a super day when 3 TCD TR installments are added.

The photos of the wagon are very thought provoking.

The first thought is, it visually represents how the earth "takes everything back." I read an article in TIME quite awhile ago. It talked about how, even at sites of nuclear distasters, the earth and it's ecosystem eventually re-claim. It may start with just weeds growing, but it does start.

The second thought is, "Where did that wagon start it's journey?" Was it in an Imagineers shop, where it was artistically aged to fit the role?. Or, was it some families sole transportation? Is it old enough to have been used when they settled the western part of our great country? If so, can you imagine the families exicitement when the wagons construction was completed? Hook it up to a horse (like one form the TCD stables), and it greatly expanded that families scope of discovery and interaction.

Things that make you go hmmm....

[michele j 9]

Excellent trip report

Michele

[H in SC 85]

Totem poles! How awesome is that! It's so sad that they don't clean them up and put them out where folks can enjoy them. So much of the stuff that made the fort cool is slowly being phased out for something more generic. If they get rid of much more they might as well change the name from Fort Wilderness to Disney Campground.

Great find! You da man!

Well said! That's is what I was trying to say Lisa. Thanks. :)

[Duane 152]

Right after I saw that marker, I saw something.

This:

It's an old wagon.

And boy is it falling apart!

I guess that is fine.

I think that's the point.

This is supposed to look like that.

Maybe the Fort Folks are waiting for this thing to totally disentegrate, then they can move in the old water wagon that used to be down by the Settlement....

So, I continued on.

I noticed these signs nailed to the trees around this part of the trail:

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it ironic that WDW is telling us that it is managing this forest by nailing a sign to a tree with a couple of huge nails?

Man I hope Cupcake don't find out about this little tidbit... :cupcake: or else there will be hell to pay.... Although I don't think we have anything to worry about, you know those are magic Forest Management nails. They would never hurt a tree. :rofl3:

[ImDownWithDisney 342]

A damn fine update, indeed. I rode my mountain bike down that trail one day, but I encountered some very fresh horse tinkle, so I turned around before the good stuff. Good find, TCD.

[Lil Lisa 53]

Well said! That's is what I was trying to say Lisa. Thanks. :)

Great minds think alike!