TCD's College Road Trip (via the Fort)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Time to move along.

After wolfing down our cinnamon rolls, we headed through the castle and into Fantasyland.

We were last here in November, and since then, Dumbo I heard that Dumbo had been closed and removed.

We wanted to see what that looked like.

On our way to the castle, we saw the horse and wagon that we had seen earlier waiting for some passengers who wanted to travel back to the entrance. You can see what a cloudy morning it was, but so far the rain had held off:

Here is how things look at the former Dumbo site:

This may not seem like a big deal to you, but to me it was kind of sad.

Dumbo used to be a BFD (that's Big Fort Deal) to the TCD girls.

I can remember when Dumbo was THE ride that we had to ride first upon our arrival to the MK.

That means I can also remember waiting in that danged line. Sometimes for a very long time.

I know Dumbo will be relocated to a new place in the expanded Fantasy land. But it won't be the same.

One more comment about those Dumbo photos- I was surprised that the construction walls have been moved so far out into Fantasyland. I know from seeing the drawings that a big wall is going to be built somewhere in this area. I guess they are getting ready to get going on that.

Since we were right here, we decided that we ought to take in some Fantasyland attractions. We haven't been on Peter Pan in a while, so I got some Fastpasses from Peter Pan, and then we headed over to It's A Small World. At the entrances to IASM, we could see that there is a lot of work going on in the area of the old Skyway tower:

We have heard from Monique that there is a path being build here that is going to take folks to somewhere over by the Haunted Mansion. You can see the top of the HM in the photo above.

After IASW, we headed over to the Haunted Mansion. This wall was up right next to the shop there by the entrance:

My guess is that this will be where the aforementioned path begins (or ends?).

There was some discussion on another thread about the possibility that this new path would result in the removal or relocation of the pet cemetary near the HM exit, but the pet cemetary seems to be well out of the way of this rumored path:

You can see that there is one of those green construction fences there behind the pet cemetary, but from the way things look, the pet cemetary isn't going to be impacted by the new construction.

Speaking of the pet cemetary, here are a couple of shots of it, including a photo of good old Mr. Toad:

Poor Mr. Toad. He used to have a whole attraction featuring him. Now, he is stuck in the back corner of the pet cemetary. He ought to use Stitch's agent.

From HM, we popped over to Pirates and got our Captain Jack fix. The new fog projection feature was not working. I haven't heard that this was removed, so it must have not been working that morning.

By the time we finished Pirates, our Peter Pan Fastpasses were good, so we headed back that way.

Then, we headed back to Space Mountain. It was getting near the time we planned to head back to the hotel to check out our room before heading over to UCF.

On the way to Space Mountain, we admired some of the new construction that we could clearly see over the fence tops.

This is the new Beast's Castle:

Over by the teacups, we could see a lot of work going on in the area where the new Dumbo rides will be:

It is kind of weird to see all of this new stuff going in. When I first looked over this way when we were by the carousel, I thought this big white thing was Space Mountain, but it is going to be a big circus tent:

All of the rock work that you see around here is part of what will be the new Arial ride:

The big curved roof that you see in this photo is the cover of one of the new queues for Dumbo. From the artwork I have seen, there are going to be two queues for the two Dumbo rides:

Here's a look at the Beast's castle from over by the teacups:

Here's a look toward where the new Dumbos will go. In this photo, if you look right under the crane's arm, you can see what looks like the top of one of the new Dumbo rides, and way in the back a new brick building. I think that is going to be some kind of kid's play area:

This tree identification sign was in one of the planters there by the teacups. These types of signs used to be all around River Country, and for some reason, I enjoy knowing little tidbits of information about the trees you see around Disney World. That is why I took this photo:

Since these tree identification signs are pretty rare these days, it is obvious that current WDW management thinks differently about a little detail like this than the management used to in the good old days. I like these signs, and I wish there were more of them.

When we got to Space Mountain, we were going to use our Fastpasses. But instead, I got another set of Fastpasses, and we decided to hold on to them all for when we came back later after our tour.

From here, we headed over to the bus stop, and back to All Star Music. Our bus was waiting there for us, so we got back quick.

Then we found our room.

We were in building 6, which has a country music theme. This area is as far away from the main building as you can get. But I liked it just fine.

There was a big fenced in area in the center of our building and building 5, with nice landscaping, and even some picnic tables:

Our building was decorated with a big pair of boots:

Can you imagine the size of the butt on the cowboy who could wear those boots?

Wait, forget I said that.

Thanks.

From here, we will be heading over to UCF.

I have a few photos to share showing what we saw there, and then we will be heading right back to WDW.

TCD

[Lil Lisa 53]

It is nice to see that fantasy land is coming along. I wish they would hurry up!

You didn't give Peter Pan a glowing review. You must have been as disappointed as we were.

No comment on the cowboy butt. Nope... Can't make me!

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

Nice update!

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

1. I am going to have to ride PP again to see if we still like it.

2. Fantasyland does look a bit sad without Dumbo...

3. No comment on cowboys or their boots/butts.

4. time for laundry.. wheee

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

It is nice to see that fantasy land is coming along. I wish they would hurry up!

You didn't give Peter Pan a glowing review. You must have been as disappointed as we were.

No comment on the cowboy butt. Nope... Can't make me!

I don't have a problem with Peter Pan.

None of us think it's worth waiting a long time to ride, but we still enjoy an occasional ride.

I think we all used to more impressed by it, but I would hate to see it removed.

Good job on not taking the cowboy butt bait.

Nice update!

Thanks!

1. I am going to have to ride PP again to see if we still like it.

2. Fantasyland does look a bit sad without Dumbo...

3. No comment on cowboys or their boots/butts.

4. time for laundry.. wheee

Good job on your list, as always.

Check back for another update after you get done with the laundry!

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We have reached the point in our trip where we will be leaving WDW and heading over to take a look at the University of Central Florida.

I will cover that in this post, and then, before you know it, we will be back at Disney World.

As already mentioned, the purpose of this little trip was to take the TCD twins over to visit UCF.

This is something that all high school juniors are encouraged to do.

We did this four years ago with the oldest TCD DD.

And now it was the twins' turn.

I love these college visits.

They are so predictable.

And sometimes unintentionally very funny.

We had an appointment for the 2:00 pm presentation and tour. I have been to UCF before, and didn't really look that carefully at a map. I figured that it would take no more that a half hour for us to get there from WDW. So, I told the girls we would leave at 1. That would give us plenty of time to get there, park, maybe look around a bit, and then report for our tour.

I should have looked at a map.

There are several different options on how to get from WDW to UCF. Google maps shows this route:

I didn't look at Google maps.

I looked at my nice paper map that I keep in my car.

I saw that 417 went from WDW, around a lot of the congestion of Orlando and I-4, and went pretty close to UCF. I have driven along 1-4 through Orlando on a Friday afternoon. The 417 way looked longer, but I also figured there would be less traffic. What I didn't realize was that it was about 45 miles from the Fort to UCF via this route.

So our plan to arrive early and take our time getting to the welcome center flew out the window as I peeled in to the UCF parking lot at 1:59.

But, we made it to our tour on time.

It was great.

I love this type of thing.

We were first shown a video that made the very clear point that UCF is the best institute of higher education in the universe.

And then one of the students employed by the welcome center fielded questions.

Of course, there was one mom who had questions.

Isn't there always?

I love it.

This mom, as expected, had a very complicated and personal question relating to whether or not her daughter would receive credit for the multiple AP classes she was taking. She was careful to make sure that we all knew how many AP classes her brilliant daughter was taking. The poor woman had no clue that everybody takes AP classes these days. The mom was, of course, not satisfied with the initial response from the student assigned to answer the questions from the crowd, so she had to ask a follow up question. The daughter who went with this mom looked like she wanted to crawl under a rock.

Good times!

Of course, I had been duly warned before we arrived not to do anything that would embarass my daughters. And, I didn't.

I had to sneak the photos that I am about to share, because the twins didn't want me taking photos either. I mean, that's embarassing, you know?

After the presentation, we met our potential tour guides. I love this part too. Everytime I have visited any college, the tour guides are always the same- they are obviously chosen to show us how diverse the student population is. We got a young African American woman, who was delightful. I guess we weren't supposed to notice that she was the only African American that we saw all day.

Our tour began in front of the library where they have this big fountain:

I have to admit that is a pretty nice fountain.

But, even though there are steps leading down to the water, nobody is allowed to go in that water, not event to stick your feet in it, except for one day per year when they let everybody jump in. That one day per year sounds like a lot of fun. But the rest of the year, it would bug me that I couldn't even stick my feet in that fountain.

We were next walked around the gigantic library, and we stopped at the large, open green:

The building across the green is the school's auditorium. And the buildings behind and to the left of it are for student housing. The school's new football stadium is under those big lights you see to the right. All of that stuff is relatively new. The stadium was not there when I toured the campus with my oldest daughter four years ago.

This is all interesting to me, because the economy is pretty bad in Florida these days. We can't pay our public school teachers very much, and there is no money for State parks and that type of thing. Yet, this University has been on a building spree.

We also learned on our tour that UCF is allegedly the second largerst public university in the country. Only Arizona State University has more students. I found this fact hard to believe, but I guess it's true.

We were told that the oldest building on campus was the library, which itself didn't look very old.

Everywhere else we looked, we saw new buildings.

This is the psychology building:

This is just a classroom building:

This is the Public Affairs building:

Our tour guide joked with us that UCF stands for Under Construction Forever.

I don't think she was joking.

Only this joke isn't so funny to me, because I know who is paying for all of this.

Me.

Along with my fellow taxpaying Floridians

We were taken in to the engineering department building, where we were shown this display:

Do you recognize that rocket ship looking thing?

Yes, that is a Space Mountain ride vehicle.

According to our tour guide, Disney World contacted UCF because it was having a problem with people falling out of the Space Mountain vehicles. The engineering students at UCF came up with the idea of using the t-bars that we see in the photo. Something about that story seemed fishy to me, but that is what our tour guide said.

This car? was on display next to the Space Mountain vehicle:

This is the atrium of the engineering building:

Do you see those yellow stars up there at the top of the columns? That is art. An artist got paid for that.

We were next taken over to see the gym, which is free for all students to use.

I have seen this before.

It is the nicest gym I have ever seen.

Here is some of the equipment:

And this is the indoor track:

Right outside the gym is this great big pool, just like you had at your college:

Please do not miss the hammock stands there at the lower left of the photo. Our tour guide told us that there would be a bunch of hammocks strung there if the weather hadn't been so cloudy.

The last tidbit of information our tour guide shared with us was the fact that UCF will be joining the Big East football conference in the Fall. That was supposed to impress us. Those of us who know a little about the Big East were not impressed. For the second largerst public university in the country, UCF has a pretty poor football team.

But, I was reminded of something important after the tour, when we stopped to get a smoothy and saw this sign hanging with some other UCF memorabilia:

Ouch!

We were done with our tour by 4.

And then we headed back to WDW.

The girls liked UCF a lot.

I have to admit that they do a good job on the tour.

That is one pretty campus.

That's all I have to say about that.

Now, back to WDW!

TCD

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Great report TCD!

A few things:

1. My CP went to UCF and really liked it.

2. The fog effect in POC wasn't working when we were there in a January either.

3. Looking forward to more.

WBI

TCD, We must have posted at the same time. Man that campus looks great! I drove through it back in 2005 and I didn't see any of that.

I'm going to give the CP a hard time about going to school at a resort! lol

I don't think it was all there while she was but I know they got the stadium while she was there.

WBI

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

You should have said something!!! When I was working down in Orlando for a good stint back in 2009, my office and hotel was about a mile from the UCF campus, and I spent plenty of evenings and weekends burning up 417 back and forth, and yes it is most definitely 45 miles!! But 417 is most definitely the way to go.

[mgsmom 9]

Oh, poor Dumbo! I knew it would be gone before our trip this summer, but it's so sad to see it actually happen! DD is where your twins were years ago, Dumbo is the FIRST thing she wants to ride. And then, she wants to ride it again! Oh, I hope the new one is ready for us in July!

Nice tour of UCF - thanks so much! Boy, that really is a lovely campus. I can't help but think that the "real world" might be quite a let down after 4 years of that! Or in some of our cases, 4 1/2 or 5 years... :rofl3:

Are they definitely staying in-state, or are you also looking elsewhere?

[we3peas 12]

UCF has really changed. I unfortunately graduated from there. When I was there we had to park in dirt lots, not nice parking garages. My car would get stuck at least once a week and I would have to wait for a nice hero-type person to come save me. We also had people who sharked us for parking spaces no matter where you were parked because there were never enough. Now they have a fancy bus system that goes to all the nearby apartments and picks up kids. Every classroom seemed like a mile away from each other. Wait-they were, that's how they were able to build all that other stuff.

As for size-was the guide specific about how they were calculating it? My guess would be acerage, not students. Because UCF does have a lot of land. OIA does the same thing-it's all in the marketing.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Great report TCD!

A few things:

1. My CP went to UCF and really liked it.

2. The fog effect in POC wasn't working when we were there in a January either.

3. Looking forward to more.

WBI

TCD, We must have posted at the same time. Man that campus looks great! I drove through it back in 2005 and I didn't see any of that.

I'm going to give the CP a hard time about going to school at a resort! lol

I don't think it was all there while she was but I know they got the stadium while she was there.

WBI

Hmmm. I have not heard anywhere that the image on the fog effect thing at POTC has not been working- but I wonder if that was announced somewhere?

Good to know that the CP liked her time at UCF. Two of my nieces have gone there, and my older DD has a lot of friends there now.

Also, I meant to mention in my post that Mrs. TCD's older sister attended there for a couple of years before transfering to FSU. Back in those days, UCF was known as Florida Tech. The name wasn't changed to UCF until 1978.

You should have said something!!! When I was working down in Orlando for a good stint back in 2009, my office and hotel was about a mile from the UCF campus, and I spent plenty of evenings and weekends burning up 417 back and forth, and yes it is most definitely 45 miles!! But 417 is most definitely the way to go.

So, I wasn't imagining that it was a lot longer drive than I thought it would be.

It surprised me actually. I had this vision of the girls going to school there and being able to zip back and forth to WDW. But a 90 mile round trip isn't exactly what I would call a zip.

Heck, Lakeland is closer to WDW than UCF is.

Oh, poor Dumbo! I knew it would be gone before our trip this summer, but it's so sad to see it actually happen! DD is where your twins were years ago, Dumbo is the FIRST thing she wants to ride. And then, she wants to ride it again! Oh, I hope the new one is ready for us in July!

Nice tour of UCF - thanks so much! Boy, that really is a lovely campus. I can't help but think that the "real world" might be quite a let down after 4 years of that! Or in some of our cases, 4 1/2 or 5 years... :rofl3:

Are they definitely staying in-state, or are you also looking elsewhere?

They have announced the new Dumbo(s) will be open in March, so you will be good to go by July.

The deal is that the girls will be attending a Florida public university. That's how we planned things, and going out of state and paying out of state tuition is not going to fly.

The oldest TCD DD is looking at grad schools, and will be looking at a couple out of state. We don't have a plan in place for that, but we will be working on one.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

UCF has really changed. I unfortunately graduated from there. When I was there we had to park in dirt lots, not nice parking garages. My car would get stuck at least once a week and I would have to wait for a nice hero-type person to come save me. We also had people who sharked us for parking spaces no matter where you were parked because there were never enough. Now they have a fancy bus system that goes to all the nearby apartments and picks up kids. Every classroom seemed like a mile away from each other. Wait-they were, that's how they were able to build all that other stuff.

As for size-was the guide specific about how they were calculating it? My guess would be acerage, not students. Because UCF does have a lot of land. OIA does the same thing-it's all in the marketing.

I think a lot of public universities were like you described UCF up until recently.

As you know, Florida High School graduates who meet some pretty light requirements are entitled to Bright Futures scholarships, funded by lottery money, which cover quite a bit of their tuition. The schools have grown fat off of this subsidy. UF, where I went to college ages ago, was also kind of run down and old when I went there. Now, there are all kinds of new buildings and other facilities, as well as all kinds of crazy artwork everywhere you turn.

UCF bases its claim on being the second largest public university in the country on its enrollment, not the size of its campus. When I Googled this to check, I noticed that the sources that come up are primarily from Wikipedia. How much do you want to bet that someone at UCF contributed that data to the Wiki articles? I have a hard time believing that UCF has more students than all other universities in the country, except one.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

1. My college was community so we shared with everything with the highschool next door... so no pool.

2. 90 miles is better than 1009.. just saying.

3. done with laundry.. obviously

4. avoiding updating my own tr...shamelessly!

[Lou... 3,118]

But 417 is most definitely the way to go.

You're such a wimp Carol.

I attended Full Sail University a few years ago, which is near UCF, and it was up I-4 and the 408, five days a week.

What's a few cars next to you.

As for size-was the guide specific about how they were calculating it? My guess would be acerage, not students. Because UCF does have a lot of land. OIA does the same thing-it's all in the marketing.

Nope, it is the 2nd largest in enrollment.

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

This is the Public Affairs building:

This is where I would have got in trouble. I would have said something to the effect that I like to keep my affairs private. Oh well, that's me and my daughters probably won't let me take them on college visits. Good report and no, I didn't have a pool like that at my school, I don't even think we had a pool.

Best Regards,

Norm

[Heidi-meetsTCD@TSM 5]

Yeah, I don't know how they pick the family of the day.

I'm sure it must be some castmember's job to do that.

At Epcot, they have a mock-up of a Test Track car that the family gets to ride in all the way to Test Track. That is pretty cool.

TCD,

Back in 2005 we were picked to be family of the day at Epcot!!!! (We ALWAYS do rope drop at all of the parks.) We were waiting in line at the ticket turnstiles and a cast member approached us and began talking to us. He asked how many we had in our party and we told him there were four of us. He then asked us if we would like to be the family of the day!!!!! Of course we did! He brought us into the park and to the test track car that was parked behind Spaceship Earth. (He told us they only look for a family of four or smaller, because that is all the car will hold.) At park opening our driver drove the car in front of Spaceship Earth where we waved to the crowd, we then drove back to Test Track, where we had two rides around the track. After the second ride a cast member brought us down to the photo area and gave us our test track photo. It really was a "magical" moment for us!!!!

Two years ago, my young cousin went to Disney for his honeymoon and he and his new bride were picked to be the family of the day at The Studios.

My "dream" has always been to get picked at the Magic Kingdom!!!!!

Oh, and we have the green Fort Wilderness mugs too.........I really like the looks of the new one!!!

Heidi

[Heidi-meetsTCD@TSM 5]

TCD,

Ok, I am all caught up.

That is quite the impressive looking college!!! My oldest is a freshmen at the University of New Hampshire........tuition/room & board is a little over 25,000.........lets just say that UNH looks NOTHING like UCF........NOTHING!!!!!!

We also used to do the mad dash at rope drop to Dumbo.......good times!!!!

When we don't stay at the fort, we usually stay at the All Star Music. We have stayed in every section, except the County Fair. It always seems to far away for me.

Looking forward to more.

Heidi

[CKCK 45]

But, I was reminded of something important after the tour, when we stopped to get a smoothy and saw this sign hanging with some other UCF memorabilia:

Not funny. Their one claim to fame...and one of our most embarrassing games!!!

[CKCK 45]

Oh, and woo hoo, I made the 4th page...

I suck.

[FtWildernessFamily...Holly 25]

Not funny. Their one claim to fame...and one of our most embarrassing games!!!

CKCK - I thought of you when I saw this picture...

[stefa70 205]

I'm back!! Looks like you've been taking your time and I haven't missed too much.

I've never been to All Star Music, only the others. I'm happy that you were in the country section. You didn't happen to see Zac anywhere hanging around, did you?

The gym at UF looks amazing! Of course being in the business, my brain said " Wow that's a lot of treadmills and ellipticals to repair and clean!" The consoles on those are basically computers, translation: They act and malfunction just like any other computer, and are the most expensive part to fix. :banghead:

Also, not every member is considerate enough to wipe them down when they are done slinging sweat all over them, and wiping someone else's sweat is not a fun job!

It makes me kind of sad that the girls are headed off to college. To think of seeing you at the Fort minus the girls just doesn't seem right.

When we went to Gainesville last week, we left the bar around 1:00am and I needed food! In Inverness, the town basically shuts down at 10:00. What a shock to see kids roaming the streets and playing soccer in fields in the wee hours of the morning. I guess I'm getting old and forget that young uns don't go to bed at 9:00!

[4Brians.....Todd 103]

I'm a little late to this party, but let me return to page 1 for a moment.

I have a small "public service announcement" about the following subject:

The cinnamon rolls from the Main Street bakery.

I know that DaveInTN raves about these.

And, one thing that I have to give Dave credit for is that the man knows his food.

So, we got a couple cinammon rolls:

I have to say Dave is right about these!

Boy, were those good.

TCD

From "The Healthy Snacks Blog"...

The Top 5 Health Benefits of Cinnamon:

1. Cinnamon is effective in fighting infections, ulcers, and head lice. (I don't get the connection :thinking-smiley: )

2. Cinnamon has anti-inflammatory properties.

3. Cinnamon helps people with Type-2 diabetes control blood sugar.

4. Cinnamon is an excellent source of dietary fiber, iron, and calcium.

5. Studies have shown that cinnamon improves memory.

Well folks...there you have it.

Apple?...Carrot sticks?...Celery?...

No thanks. I'll have one of those ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls.

Whooda thunk it? They're actually good for you! :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

1. My college was community so we shared with everything with the highschool next door... so no pool.

2. 90 miles is better than 1009.. just saying.

3. done with laundry.. obviously

4. avoiding updating my own tr...shamelessly!

Another good list.

I'm glad you got that laundry done!

You're right about 90 miles being better than 1009. I just was surprised by how far UCF actually was from WDW.

You're such a wimp Carol.

I attended Full Sail University a few years ago, which is near UCF, and it was up I-4 and the 408, five days a week.

What's a few cars next to you.

If it hadn't been a Friday afternoon, I would have taken I-4. But, I was willing to drive a few more miles to avoid getting stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. There was very little traffic on our way there and back, so I think I made the right choice.

This is where I would have got in trouble. I would have said something to the effect that I like to keep my affairs private. Oh well, that's me and my daughters probably won't let me take them on college visits. Good report and no, I didn't have a pool like that at my school, I don't even think we had a pool.

Best Regards,

Norm

I had to hold back many comments on the walking tour. We still have some more of these to do, so I didn't want to get un-invited after the first one. I'll probably let it all out on the last tour.

As far as I know, the only pool that students could use at UF when I attended there was the indoor pool that they used for swim meets. It wasn't exactly a place where it would have been fun to hang out. I'll bet they have a pool like this one at UCF now, but I haven't seen it. They will probably take us by there on our tour.

TCD,

Back in 2005 we were picked to be family of the day at Epcot!!!! (We ALWAYS do rope drop at all of the parks.) We were waiting in line at the ticket turnstiles and a cast member approached us and began talking to us. He asked how many we had in our party and we told him there were four of us. He then asked us if we would like to be the family of the day!!!!! Of course we did! He brought us into the park and to the test track car that was parked behind Spaceship Earth. (He told us they only look for a family of four or smaller, because that is all the car will hold.) At park opening our driver drove the car in front of Spaceship Earth where we waved to the crowd, we then drove back to Test Track, where we had two rides around the track. After the second ride a cast member brought us down to the photo area and gave us our test track photo. It really was a "magical" moment for us!!!!

Two years ago, my young cousin went to Disney for his honeymoon and he and his new bride were picked to be the family of the day at The Studios.

My "dream" has always been to get picked at the Magic Kingdom!!!!!

Oh, and we have the green Fort Wilderness mugs too.........I really like the looks of the new one!!!

Heidi

That's cool that you got to be the family of the day.

I figured that it was just a random thing and that they were looking for a small family as opposed to single folks or big groups.

I am not sure, but I think they may have recently stopped using that Test Track car.

TCD,

Ok, I am all caught up.

That is quite the impressive looking college!!! My oldest is a freshmen at the University of New Hampshire........tuition/room & board is a little over 25,000.........lets just say that UNH looks NOTHING like UCF........NOTHING!!!!!!

We also used to do the mad dash at rope drop to Dumbo.......good times!!!!

When we don't stay at the fort, we usually stay at the All Star Music. We have stayed in every section, except the County Fair. It always seems to far away for me.

Looking forward to more.

Heidi

Yes, we were in the Country Fair section. It was about a quarter of a mile walk from our room up to the lobby and bus stops. But, I liked staying in the Country Fair section. The piano pool is right there, and it is quiet there. It can get crazy and loud around the main pool.

Not funny. Their one claim to fame...and one of our most embarrassing games!!!

Yes. I imagine that was very embarrassing.

Almost, but not quite as bad, as Georgia losing to a Big Ten team in the Outback Bowl this year.

As an SEC fan I didn't like either of those outcomes very much.

Oh, and woo hoo, I made the 4th page...

I suck.

No you don't!

This report got to page 4 in just a day.

So hopping in now is fine!

CKCK - I thought of you when I saw this picture...

I did too.

We have quite a few Georgia Bulldog Fiends.

I made sure to post that photo for all of them.

I'm back!! Looks like you've been taking your time and I haven't missed too much.

I've never been to All Star Music, only the others. I'm happy that you were in the country section. You didn't happen to see Zac anywhere hanging around, did you?

The gym at UF looks amazing! Of course being in the business, my brain said " Wow that's a lot of treadmills and ellipticals to repair and clean!" The consoles on those are basically computers, translation: They act and malfunction just like any other computer, and are the most expensive part to fix. :banghead:

Also, not every member is considerate enough to wipe them down when they are done slinging sweat all over them, and wiping someone else's sweat is not a fun job!

It makes me kind of sad that the girls are headed off to college. To think of seeing you at the Fort minus the girls just doesn't seem right.

When we went to Gainesville last week, we left the bar around 1:00am and I needed food! In Inverness, the town basically shuts down at 10:00. What a shock to see kids roaming the streets and playing soccer in fields in the wee hours of the morning. I guess I'm getting old and forget that young uns don't go to bed at 9:00!

Nope- I didn't see Zac.

But I know he was somewhere in Florida, because he played in Tampa on the 28th.

I thought All Star Music was nice. One detail that I had never noticed before is that as you walk through each section of the resort, the music changes to fit the theme of that section. So, when we got to the Country Fair section, they played Alan Jackson and Carrie Underwood, along with a lot of other current Country Music songs. I thought that was a nice touch.

And, you would have to see that Gym in person to really appreciate it. Those cardio machines were just one section of the gym, on the second floor. On the first floor, they had all kinds of weight machines and free weights. There was also a four story rock climbing wall. I think there was an indoor pool on the floor beneath the inside track. It doesn't look like they are pinching pennies around there.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm a little late to this party, but let me return to page 1 for a moment.

I have a small "public service announcement" about the following subject:

From "The Healthy Snacks Blog"...

The Top 5 Health Benefits of Cinnamon:

1. Cinnamon is effective in fighting infections, ulcers, and head lice. (I don't get the connection :thinking-smiley: )

2. Cinnamon has anti-inflammatory properties.

3. Cinnamon helps people with Type-2 diabetes control blood sugar.

4. Cinnamon is an excellent source of dietary fiber, iron, and calcium.

5. Studies have shown that cinnamon improves memory.

Well folks...there you have it.

Apple?...Carrot sticks?...Celery?...

No thanks. I'll have one of those ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls.

Whooda thunk it? They're actually good for you! :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy

Well, thanks for that PSA!

Now that you mention it, I did feel great after wolfing down that cinnamon roll!

But, I'm not sure about the head lice thing.

It didn't seem to help much with mine.

Maybe you have to rub it on your head?

But, I'm not sure I would want to eat the cinnamon roll after that.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Well, thanks for that PSA!

Now that you mention it, I did feel great after wolfing down that cinnamon roll!

But, I'm not sure about the head lice thing.

It didn't seem to help much with mine.

Maybe you have to rub it on your head?

But, I'm not sure I would want to eat the cinnamon roll after that.

TCD

that's just funny.. I don't care who you are :rofl3: