TCD's College Road Trip (via the Fort)

[CKCK 45]

Woo hoo

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Lou.. your reputation has just risen about 200 percent! In short, YOU ROCK!!

[Starbuc71 162]

Lou.. your reputation has just risen about 200 percent! In short, YOU ROCK!!

Ditto

[LONE-STAR 370]

What is this Star Wars speak of you do.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

R2-Stef2?

:rofl3:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Blasphemy! ALL of the movies are great!

Well, except Ep. 1. I hate that damn Jar Jar. Meesa no likey him.

I have to agree with you there. What the Fort was George Lucas smoking when he decided to put that character into the story?

I will give him the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe he was going for comic relief. But that character isn't funny, he's annoying!

Well you know, Wilderness Lodge, Fort Wilderness, it's all the same.

Come on, give the lady geezer a break. Adding the WL to the run was a bonus.

I'm so glad I've never made a mistake and gone to the wrong resort?

But seriously, there are way too many really, really, old drivers. If you shuffle or waddle when you walk, you shouldn't be driving a 40' bus with up to 75 people in it.

This getting lost thing is the byproduct of mixing up the bus routes so that the drivers no longer run back and forth from the same resorts. But I have to give credit where credit is due- now that the new system has settled in, it seems to work better than the old way. Sure, sometimes we end up getting packed on to a bus, but the buses seem to come much more frequently.

That's a tapir. No, I didn't have to look it up. I have no idea why that piece of information is stored in my head. There's a lot of stuff I should know and don't, but for some reason I know what that pig-thing is. A tapir.

I somehow feel dumber for knowing that...

OK, it's a tapir.

Got it.

Awesome, another Jedi like myself. I too saw the Original 3 times back in 77. It was a movie to this day makes you go wow when you realize it was made in 1977. George Lucas is sure a cash cow. He makes us stupid fans buy both trilogies again and again when he releases a special edition or blu ray

We thought about the 3 day pass, but we have one trip to the fort at the end of march and we will be christening our sea world season passes. The wife and kids like to have a good day of just fort festivities

I think Lou thinks i hate him. I think someties we don't see eye to eye, but like he says, and I agree, it's all in good fun. He has to be a great guy since I hear nothing but good things about him...lol and he's a Jedi

Dave, I couldn't agree more. I just watched episode 1 the other week and compared to the others, it's really poor. But it's Star Wars and everthing Star Wars is good (Except JAr Jar). You know in a few weeks I will spend the big bucks to see episode 1 in 3D on Imax and with D-box if all possible just because you have to

Hmm.

How did we get on the subject of tapirs and Star Wars?

I guess that's par for the course on a TCD TR, right?

As I mentioned, Santa brought the TCD gang the Blu-Ray set of Star Wars for Christmas. There are great bonus features, which we have barely begun to watch. One of the bonus features was a "making of" mockumentary which was produced in 1977. It is awesome! It is narrated by the guy who narrates those great "frozen tundra" NFL films. It shows Geoger Lucas in his geeky glory. It also shows how they filmed some of the special effects with computerized cameras. That footage is amazing. The computer operated cameras are huge and very primative looking, but I'll bet they spent millions on them. I wonder if we would have the type of computer capablity we have today if it hadn't been for those uber geeks who created this film.

1. According to the internet we are both right. Imperial Walker and AT AT are the same but I thought the At-ats were the little ones.

2. Love Twin #2 hiding on Dinosaur ride... I will always look for it.

3. My husband refuses to watch Star Wars IV, V, VI with me. I can't not quote the movie.

4. Dave.. I have to disagree. the Duel of the Fates rocked out over that duel at the end of Episode II. I waited too many years to see Yoda fight and he was just a forting blur.

5. Go TWIN's for embracing the Force.

6. See I have a love of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (books).. talk about geeked out. Rebel Stand is one of those books... pretty advanced stuff.

7. Sorry about delay.. was doing laundry... again.

8. I'll stop now...

Another great list.

On the subject of AT-AT's, the VW Superbowl commercial that got a lot of hype with the dogs barking ends with a dog coming out dressed as an AT-AT. I saw it on Youtube before the game, but I didn't see it during the game.

Don't tell anyone, but I think I just got an idea for Rocky's costume for the next Fort Halloween Pet Parade.

Hate to poliitely disagree, but that isn't a Tapir. That animal is a Babirusa which is native to Indonesia. See the upward curling tusks? Tapirs don't have tusks. Interesting fact about them, if the tusks are not broken nor worn down, they will continue to grow and eventually pierce the animal's skull.

http://www.google.co...ynzL4vUESqQAIaQ

What's with this polite disagreement stuff?

This is FortFiends.net!

You are supposed to be snarky!

A better post would have been: "Hey stupid-that's a Babirusa!"

Get your head out of your the sand!

I will have to settle this dispute by looking at the sign posted outside of this display the next time I visit AK.

I'm glad I didn't say it was a warthog.

And of course no self respecting Jedi is without one of these running around the house scaring the dog.

Yup, I have my very own R2. He's half the size of the real one but he's still pretty cool.

OK, this isn't fair.

Lou has Melvin the Moose and R2-D2?

Poor Gail.

R2-Stef2?

Good one, Dave!

But, I think R2-D2 is much taller.

You're right. It IS good to be TCD.

I think it's time I spend my winters in fl. I want to be like TCD too

Michele

Your are right about that!

But I was going to wait until the end of the report to say it.

Woo hoo

Thanks for checking in.

I was getting worried about you.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Lou.. your reputation has just risen about 200 percent! In short, YOU ROCK!!

Ditto

Whoa there!

I wish y'all hadn't said that.

Now Lou is going to be turning up the snark!

He works hard on cultivating that thug/snark persona he has on the boards.

What is this Star Wars speak of you do.

Good one, Michael.

I wouldn't have gotten that a few months ago, but now I do.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Whoa there!

I wish y'all hadn't said that.

Now Lou is going to be turning up the snark!

He works hard on cultivating that thug/snark persona he has on the boards.

After that one... he gets at least a free 3-6 months on the snark. I've wanted one of those for YEARS!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Well, it is time to nail the lid down on another TCD TR.

Not to worry, I believe that my buddy S70 will be launching a delightful TR soon, so you can just jump aboard that one when it comes along.

As for this one, let's get 'er done! . . .

So, we were at the Fort on Saturday night.

We had a brief Fiend encounter with Grumpy/Dave.

And stuffed ourselves with fried chicken and very salty Disney fries.

We had to drive home that night.

It might have been a good time to cut and run.

But, that is not how we roll.

Twin #2 pointed out that it was a little after 7, and there would be a performance of The Magic, the Memories, and You at the MK at 7:45, followed by Wishes at 8. We had been to Hollywood Studios and AK already that day. The parks were busy, but not crazy. So, it shouldn't be too bad at the MK. The plan was that we would hop the boat, see the show and fireworks from Main Street, and then head back to All Star Music to retrieve the car and head home.

That was a good plan.

There was, however, one detail that was not accounted for.

Despite our best efforts, we had five pieces of chicken left. Along with a half bag of fries and an almost full container of mashed potatoes. And a box full of biscuits and cornbread.

What was I going to do with the rest of our GAG?

Who says you can't take it with you?

I tossed the fries and mashed potatoes. Those are expendable.

I wrapped the chicken up in the plasic bag our GAG came in, and shoved it in my backpack. I might have some explaining to do at the MK bag search, but so be it.

We hopped the boat and made it to the MK with no trouble.

Then it was on to the bag check.

I chose the line with an old geezer security guard. Which I guess meant I chose a line at random.

The guard took a peek in my backpack and saw the lumpy white plastic bag. There could have been something dangerous in there. But he didn't care. Win! Our chicken made it in with us.

We took our time heading down Main Street. The girls looked around the shops.

At about 7:40 we headed to the hub.

It was busier than I expected it to be, so we had to stand off to the side just a bit.

Here we are in our spot right before the show began:

And then came the show:

We haven't seen this show very often. We have found that it isn't pleasant to watch because it usually means that you have to stand in tightly packed mob. We were in a mob tonight, but it wasn't too bad.

It has been a while since we have watched Wishes from inside the MK. While I love watching from the beach at the Fort, this show is best experienced inside the MK. Here are a few fireworks photos (you can see how packed in we were in some of the last shots when everything is lit up) :

I took all of those photos.

Just for fun, let's take a look at some of Twin #1's photos:

I told you she was the best photographer in the family.

After Wishes finished, we toyed briefly with the idea of sticking around to ride an attraction or two.

But, we decided to get out of there.

Main Street was a solid wall of people.

A lot of people were trying to leave. And a lot of people were trying to head in to the park.

What a mess.

I dreaded what the bus stop was going to look like after we arrived behind all the people heading out in front of us.

Twin #2 had another idea.

She said, let's cut through the gift shop.

We have done that before. The way things are now, you can go the entire length of Main Street inside those connecting shops.

That turned out to be a great idea, because we were able to zip on through the shops. When we exited the last one, and we looked back, there was still a herd slowly moving down Main Street.

We headed right to our bus stop.

This is where we had our weirdest bus encounter of the trip.

Sitting there in the All Star Music spot was a big white charter tour bus. The driver was standing outside welcoming guests to board. He looked exactly like the character Apu from the Simpsons. Exactly. He talked like him too. He had one of the bus' luggage compartments open, and he was asking folks with strollers to stow them there. The guy was not wearing a castmember uniform. He had on a suit. Like a Limo driver. A touch of class.

We got on the bus and immediately caught the overpowering scent of some type of industrial strength air freshener. It didn't work. The bus was a typical charter bus with rows of fabric covered seats, two seats on each side of the aisle. The seats were holding the odor of mildew, sweat, and perhaps cigarette smoke. All of the seats were full as we walked down the narrow aisle. Finally, some people pulled one of their kids out of one of the rows, and had the kid sit on their lap. That freed up two seats for the TCD twins. I got to stand. So did a few more folks who boarded after us.

The good news was that we were on the bus, and we were on our way with almost no wait.

The bad news was that this bus stunk. And there was no air circulating. The air in the bus was warm and moist, and did I mention that it stunk?

This bus was not designed for passengers to be standing in the aisles. I had to hold on to the luggage rack for dear life as Apu sped us to the All Stars. It was really bad when he didn't slow down for the speed bumps in front of the Polynesian Resort.

Also, I have no idea what guests in wheelchairs were supposed to do with these buses. It didn't look like there was any way to accommodate them.

You might think I have told you the worst about our little bus ride.

But I haven't.

I already described the poor air quality in the bus.

And the bad driving.

Well, it kind of made me feel queasy.

I couldn't wait to get off that darned bus.

But, when we got to our destination, we had to wait as folks slowly filed off out the one door up front.

I heard a familiar sound a couple of rows behind us, and then a guy right behind us confirmed that what I thought I heard was, in fact, what I heard: a kid was puking. On the bus. On those nice fabric seats. I could hear him gagging quite clearly after the word came to us that a kid was puking.

And that poor kid was going to town back there.

Fortunately, we were able to move off the bus before we caught a whiff of the vomit. I guess it was a good thing that there was no air circulating in there.

Fun times!

I was never so glad to get off of a bus.

I felt bad for Apu.

What was he supposed to do now?

He wasn't driving an official Disney bus. I'm sure there is a code that Disney Bus Drivers can call in in such situations. But Apu was on his own.

We made a quick stop in the lobby restrooms before heading to the car. Apu came in the men's room and grabbed paper towels and a trash bag.

I can't imagine what that bus was going to smell like for the poor guests who got to ride in it the rest of the night.

To which I say: What the Fort is going on here? How un-Disney is this? Gross!

Since we get to visit all the time, we chalked this experience up as no big deal. But what about guests who were visiting for a once-in-a-lifetime trip? How un-magical it is to be driven around on a crappy, smelly bus! WDW guests pay a premium to stay on site. They deserve better than this.

With our harrowing last bus ride behind us, we stopped at the food court for a last drink.

We noticed that they had the pool-side movie playing, so we stopped outside to take a look.

The projector was set up behind the screen, and was projecting the movie on the back of the screen:

Here's the crowd which was assembled out front:

I have to say that I enjoy the theater under the stars at Fort Wilderness, but it wouldn't be bad watching a movie from a pool lounge chair.

There are quite a few folks who bring blow up screens and projectors to the Fort, and this is something that I have thought about doing too. When I have priced screens and projectors, I have seen quite a bit of variation in prices, and I don't know where to begin. So, I thought I would snap a few shots of the set-up Disney was using here, just to see if I could find that kind of equipment for sale.

Here's their set-up:

Unless I am looking at the wrong one, that is a $2500 projector they are using there. And that doesn't count the Blu Ray player, and audio system they have hooked up to it. The screen also looked like it was a lot bigger than the ones I have seen around the Fort.

So, I am not going to buy the same equipment that Disney uses.

If anyone has any recommendations on a good, reasonably priced, projector and screen, please let me know.

After we checked out the movie, it was time to go.

It was just a bit past 9.

We hopped in the car and headed West.

We were home by 11.

And that was the end of our trip.

That was two pretty fun days.

It is good to be TCD.

The girls liked UCF.

Maybe one or both of them will go there.

Time will tell.

So, that's it for this trip report.

Thanks for reading along.

Until the next one,

TCD is out.

[Lil Lisa 53]

Awesome as always TCD! Thanks for the brief distraction from everyday life. :)

Sorry to hear about the barf incident!

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I have a London Underground story that includes the smell of vomit, homeless man, 30 empty seats, and a crowd at one end of the car. I feel your pain.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Awesome as always TCD! Thanks for the brief distraction from everyday life. :)

Sorry to hear about the barf incident!

Thanks for reading along, Lisa!

The barf incident wasn't really all that bad.

It could have been a lot worse.

I have a London Underground story that includes the smell of vomit, homeless man, 30 empty seats, and a crowd at one end of the car. I feel your pain.

See my comment to Lisa, above.

It sounds like your story would trump mine by far.

At least our barfer did his thing when we were getting off the bus instead of en route.

TCD

[shoreline99 137]

Here's what I have for an outdoor projector setup:

I have a cheapo home theater system with surround sound that I picked up for no more than $100 at Target. It has a DVD player and 5 speakers with 100w per channel. I bet you could pick up something similar at Best Buy or Costco.

That is plugged into a Dell 2400MP projector [about $300 on ebay, currently] and projected on a 12' diagonal screen [also from Target, http://www.target.com/p/Camp-Chef-120-Outdoor-Movie-Screen/-/A-12276917#?lnk=sc_qi_detaillink ]. I think the screen was about $150 when i bought it but it looks like the price has gone up a bit. It's very sturdy when it's all put together and I prefer it over one of the inflatable screens (we borrowed one once).

So, conceivably, one can be up and running for under $600. The kids love it when we have outdoor movie nights when the weather is nice.

[stefa70 205]

Another great report in the books.

You took excellent shots of the fireworks! In fact, if you hadn't clarified that you actually took them, I would have questioned you. That crowd you were in gave me the willies. I end up looking at asses more than anything else.

Sorry to hear about the sick kid on your bus. You're right, not very magical.

Missed seeing you this week. Hope we can get together soon.

[Memphis 105]

Great report as always.

Ya'll always seem to pack a lot into your trips. Boo on Disney for using busses that can't handle what guest "throw" at them. I always thought Disney's busses were bare bones but there does seem to be a method to their madness.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

It sounds like your story would trump mine by far.

At least our barfer did his thing when we were getting off the bus instead of en route.

TCD

I don't know. I didn't have to listen to the barfer.. I just got to smell it for about 10 minutes.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Here's what I have for an outdoor projector setup:

I have a cheapo home theater system with surround sound that I picked up for no more than $100 at Target. It has a DVD player and 5 speakers with 100w per channel. I bet you could pick up something similar at Best Buy or Costco.

That is plugged into a Dell 2400MP projector [about $300 on ebay, currently] and projected on a 12' diagonal screen [also from Target, http://www.target.co...c_qi_detaillink ]. I think the screen was about $150 when i bought it but it looks like the price has gone up a bit. It's very sturdy when it's all put together and I prefer it over one of the inflatable screens (we borrowed one once).

So, conceivably, one can be up and running for under $600. The kids love it when we have outdoor movie nights when the weather is nice.

Thanks for the info! That sounds like a good deal. But, I think I'm going to have to wait on it. There are other things I will spend $600 on before buying a projection system.

Another great report in the books.

You took excellent shots of the fireworks! In fact, if you hadn't clarified that you actually took them, I would have questioned you. That crowd you were in gave me the willies. I end up looking at asses more than anything else.

Sorry to hear about the sick kid on your bus. You're right, not very magical.

Missed seeing you this week. Hope we can get together soon.

Agreed. It was a fun little trip, but nothing like hanging out at the Fort.

Great report as always.

Ya'll always seem to pack a lot into your trips. Boo on Disney for using busses that can't handle what guest "throw" at them. I always thought Disney's busses were bare bones but there does seem to be a method to their madness.

Good pun there, Harold.

The Disney buses are much better designed for what they do. It was a pain getting on and off of this bus, and even though I hate strollers, it is better to let guests bring those on the bus than have to stow them underneath.

I don't know. I didn't have to listen to the barfer.. I just got to smell it for about 10 minutes.

Um, my stomach just turned when I read this.

I hearby declare a moratorium on barf stories.

Thank you.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Thanks for the info! That sounds like a good deal. But, I think I'm going to have to wait on it. There are other things I will spend $600 on before buying a projection system.

Agreed. It was a fun little trip, but nothing like hanging out at the Fort.

Good pun there, Harold.

The Disney buses are much better designed for what they do. It was a pain getting on and off of this bus, and even though I hate strollers, it is better to let guests bring those on the bus than have to stow them underneath.

Um, my stomach just turned when I read this.

I hearby declare a moratorium on barf stories.

Thank you.

TCD

probably not the best time of day to discuss it... lunchtime

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

probably not the best time of day to discuss it... lunchtime

Exactly!

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Exactly!

TCD

sorry....

but you did bring it up first.... :rofl2:

[michele j 9]

Another great trip report. :heartsmiley:

You're last picture of the castle was excellent. You take great pictures as well.

Thank you for sharing.

Michele

[Lou... 3,118]

I always thought Disney's buses were bare bones but there does seem to be a method to their madness.

Yes they are very basic including the driver options. The newest and what will eventually be the only model at WDW are designed such that they can easily be cleaned every day. They are just your run of the mill commuter transit buses. They can take a lot abuse.

BTW TCD, the call for vomiting is "Signal V", as in the letter V. If you hear that, walk away if you can. But that's for Disney buses only. Outside buses don't have contact with the Disney dispatchers, so they're on their own.

If there is a Signal V, the bus is immediately pulled out of service, cleaned by custodial at the bus stop area at each park or DTD and put back into service. The driver waits while this is being done.

In 4 years, it's happened to me twice.

[CDNCruiser 14]

Hi TCD . . . I just sent you a Private Message.

Check your PM's

Gary

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Another great trip report. :heartsmiley:

You're last picture of the castle was excellent. You take great pictures as well.

Thank you for sharing.

Michele

I'm glad you enjoyed the photos, but this kind of flattery doesn't work on me.

You must have me confused with Lou.

Yes they are very basic including the driver options. The newest and what will eventually be the only model at WDW are designed such that they can easily be cleaned every day. They are just your run of the mill commuter transit buses. They can take a lot abuse.

BTW TCD, the call for vomiting is "Signal V", as in the letter V. If you hear that, walk away if you can. But that's for Disney buses only. Outside buses don't have contact with the Disney dispatchers, so they're on their own.

If there is a Signal V, the bus is immediately pulled out of service, cleaned by custodial at the bus stop area at each park or DTD and put back into service. The driver waits while this is being done.

In 4 years, it's happened to me twice.

See, now there is a very good reason why they shouldn't be bringing in these freelance bus drivers. I am certain that Apu wiped up the vomit the best he could, sprayed some more of that industrial strength air freshener, and went right back to work. That is gross, and Disney guests deserve better. And, I should have added earlier that the fact was not lost on me that these crappy buses seemed to be assigned only to the All Star resorts.

I have always thought it to be a very good thing that the Fort shares many of its buses with the guests at Wilderness Lodge. They wouldn't dare send one of these crappy buses to one of the deluxe resorts.

Hi TCD . . . I just sent you a Private Message.

Check your PM's

Gary

Got it!

TCD

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

:whew: I'm all caught up. I started reading when we left the Fort this morning and just finished at exit 69 in GA. Great pictures as always sorry we missed you by a day. I'll be waiting for your next adventure but for now I have 9 pages of new (to me) content to catch up on.