Fortless- A TCD Trip Report with a twist.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Yes, it's another TCD trip report.

I'm just cranking them out lately.

That's because we've been lucky enough to have a lot of visits lately.

The only problem is that they are short visits.

And this one is really short.

Just a day.

But a TCD day is not like one of your days.

We go HAAM (don't look that up on Urban Dictionary).

No surprise there.

So what's the twist?

This trip was Fort-Free.

Not by my choice.

But, that's how it went down.

We went to Disney World and didn't see the Fort.

At all.

I can't think of the last time that happened.

It's got to be more than 10 years.

But- like they say:

"It is what it is."

What does that mean anyway?

I don't know.

I hate that saying.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is was a Fortless trip.

Like the title says.

So, maybe you should cut your losses and stop reading here.

Wait!

Come back!!

While a visit to the Fort would have made this trip better, that doesn't mean we didn't have a good time.

Or that there will be no surprises or revelations in this report.

In fact, there will be both.

So, let's get this thing started!

In case you don't remember, we had just been to WDW two weeks ago.

We went to the first Star Wars Weekend of the year.

There's a trip report for that .

So, why go back?

Because we can.

And because we had some unfinished business.

We needed to meet a couple more Star Wars characters.

And, there was some new stuff elsewhere in WDW that we needed to check out.

That's right- in the mere two weeks that had passed since our new visit, there was new stuff at WDW that we hadn't seen.

And we like to see new stuff.

If you do too, keep reading, because I have some new stuff to show you.

And, if you are one of those people who actually read what I type, I have another surprise for you. We ran into an old friend on this trip. A lot of you know this old friend, and will be interested in what I have to tell you about this old friend.

I think that sets the stage.

So, let's get this thing off the ground.

This all happened on June 2, 2012.

It's the usual cast of characters. Just TCD and the TCD twins.

We left the TCD home base at 5:30 am. Yes, that's early.

But, that's how we roll.

We arrived at our first destination-Hollywood Studios- at 7:00 am.

I got a sweet parking space in the second row.

So far. So good.

We headed out.

During Star Wars Weekends, they have "celebrity" guests available for meet and greets and autograph sessions with the guests. I put the word celebrity in quotes because that term is used very loosely on SWW's. From what I have heard, the questionable celebrity status of the special guests does not stop the Star Wars fans from lining up at 4:30 am for a chance to get a Fastpass to meet a celebrity. Really.

When we were making our plans for this visit, I asked the TCD twins if they wanted to get to Hollywood Studios early enought to line up for a celebrity Fastpass. Luckily, they said no.

Anyway, here's the folks in the celebrity Fastpass lines. This was around 7:15 am. I guess some of those people had been there for three hours. Note some of them have chairs and coolers:

You can see here that there are five lines:

Each line is for a designated celebrity:

So who are they?

Well, starting with the first line, closest to the camera, the lines are for the following:

- James Arnold Taylor- He is a voice actor for the animated Clone Wars series.

-Ashley Eckstein- She is a voice actor for the animated Clone Wars series.

-Silas Carson- He played Nute Gunray in The Phantom Menace. Who is Nute Gunray? You tell me.

-Catherine Taber-She is another voice actor from the animated Clone Wars series.

And last, but certainly not least:

-Jake Lloyd- He played the very young Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace. I wonder what ever happened to him? Apparently, nothing. But, here he is!

From what I could tell, Jake's line was the longest.

I know that the first two celebrities have been here for all the SWW's, so the geeks have already had a crack at them.

Here's one last look at the folks in line. Look at the crazy stuff they are wearing! I think I see a lady in a cape. And some dude in an Auburn t-shirt. In public. Crazy:

Since all of those geeks are in line waiting for celebrity Fastpasses, the turnstile lines aren't very busy at all.

We hopped on line at about 7:15, and only had about four folks ahead of us.

At just a little before 7:30, something started to happen right in front of us.

When we were here two weeks ago, I noticed that they had boxed off an area near the entrance with some banners. They obviously were hiding something, but I didn't think much more about it.

Well, this morning, I saw something was going on in there. Look- I see a stormtrooper! :

Somebody else saw him too- look that person on the left in this photo is pointing:

Look what happened next:

How is that for futuristic technology?

So, what's going on here?

Those strormtroopers are heading up here:

Where?

Here:

What, you don't see anything?

How about now?:

The stormtroopers perform a bit of a comedic skit up there on the roof:

The even involve the audience below:

Here's a nice stormtrooper on the turnstile roof shot. You don't see this every day:

You know what?

I took too many stormtrooper on the roof photos.

But, what do you want me to do with them?

Throw them out?

They are perfectly good.

So, sorry, but here are two more:

That has to be all of them, right?

Wrong.

There's one more.

This one has a bird flying by in the background.

So, at least its different from the first 50:

Is that enough strormtrooper photos?

I think it is.

Anyway, the skit was over, so I had to get back in line.

We waited for a couple of minutes.

Which allowed me to get a shot of this guy taking photos with his ipad. He's right behind the guy in the middle of the photo giving me the stink-eye:

What's the stink-eye for?

I don't know.

I guess some people object to being in TCD trip reports.

By 7:30, quite a crowd had assembled:

What is wrong with people?

The published opening time for Hollywood Studios is 8:00 today.

Why would all these dummies be standing here at 7:30, when they could be doing something better with their time? Like sleeping.

Because they know something that I know.

That the gates will really be opening at 7:30.

And they did.

And, this is what you get for being an early bird:

In less than an hour, that empty street will be wall to wall people.

But, not for us.

We headed straight for Toy Story.

We will pick it up from there in the next post.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Sweet ... I am in

[Disneyzombie-Brenda 10]

Woo Hoo back at Studios! Looks like there are a lot of Walmart type greeters waiting for the crowds.

[NVWSSV 25]

Very nice! Lets go!

[anolefan 8]

I'm back, and in for this report. I don't think I will ever get caught up on all the reports during my time away, but will start fresh here.

We got back in the saddle with a trip to the Fort this past weekend, to bad you didn't stop by, we may have crossed paths.

I have not heard of any of those "celebrities", except for Jake Lloyd (only after you explained who he was).

Continue on :)

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Cool! I never tire of Stormtrooper shots, btw. There is just something uber cool about them.

[Brent... Just Brent 83]

Im in. Sorry you weren't at te Fort. Would have been great to see you and the twins.

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

"It is what it is."

What does that mean anyway?

I don't know.

I hate that saying.

Think of it as the modern version of Hakuna Matata. :)

[wdwpoohbear...Jennifer 40]

I can't believe it...I actually catch a TCD report on the first page! I love the pictures of the storm troopers as well. Are we going to get a visit from your cousing Yuri?

[stefa70 205]

I think you are quickly becoming a Star Wars geek.

One question......

Did they have my shirt when you were there?

[SCTigerCock 171]

Great! :jumpforjoy

[ajcjmom 8]

I'm in!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Sweet ... I am in

Well done. That was quick!

Woo Hoo back at Studios! Looks like there are a lot of Walmart type greeters waiting for the crowds.

Yep. There were a lot of them too.

Very nice! Lets go!

Heck yeah!

I'm back, and in for this report. I don't think I will ever get caught up on all the reports during my time away, but will start fresh here.

We got back in the saddle with a trip to the Fort this past weekend, to bad you didn't stop by, we may have crossed paths.

I have not heard of any of those "celebrities", except for Jake Lloyd (only after you explained who he was).

Continue on :)

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Tom!

It's great to see a post from you!

Glad to hear you made it back to the Fort.

How about you post a little trip report?

I'm sorry I didn't know you were there. I might have made it over for a quick visit.

Cool! I never tire of Stormtrooper shots, btw. There is just something uber cool about them.

Now you tell me.

I could have taken a couple dozen more shots.

Im in. Sorry you weren't at te Fort. Would have been great to see you and the twins.

I know.

I had every intention of getting to the Fort.

In fact, I lobbied hard to go there for dinner.

But, it didn't happen.

Think of it as the modern version of Hakuna Matata. :)

I like that.

You are right.

I can't believe it...I actually catch a TCD report on the first page! I love the pictures of the storm troopers as well. Are we going to get a visit from your cousing Yuri?

Nope.

This is a 100% Yuri-free report too.

Yuri is resting up.

I think he's going to have a busy fall.

I think you are quickly becoming a Star Wars geek.

One question......

Did they have my shirt when you were there?

Thats a big negative on the Star Wars geek.

And, I did look for your shirt.

None.

Now that I think about it, I am not sure they ever sold them here.

I saw a bunch of them again this trip.

I think they must be for sale somewhere else.

TCD

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

Early morning at the Studios!! I seem to do a lot of those, but then that's the only way to ride TSM, and I LOVE TSM, so I wait in the early morning line, then we usually head somewhere else.

[We4mickey 6]

Always ready for a TCD report, carry on!

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Another TCD TR!

I love the storm trooper on the roof pics....I can't wait to see what special guest will be making an appearance in the TR. I must confess that I also thought you were talking about your uncharasmatic russian cousin. Keep it coming oh jedi master of the trip report!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Don't look now, but here comes the second update already.

That is how it's done!

As mentioned, we were let in at 7:30, and by 7:35, I was holding Toy Story Fastpasses with an 8:15 return time.

Nice.

Since we were there, we hopped on line, and walked right to the loading area:

And off we went:

There was some kind of technical problem going on with the ride, because we stopped and waited for about 5 minutes at the end:

But, we were done before 8.

On our previous SWW visit, we had spent about 45 minutes that first morning waiting to meet Chewbacca.

I had heard through the grapevine that Darth Vader is less of a diva than Chewie, and that he had been showing up for his meet and greets by 8 am each morning.

So we headed over to see if that was true.

I asked a castmember if DV would be out at 8.

And for once, I got a straight answer.

Which I really appreciated.

Most of the time if you ask a castmember a question, you get some kind of vague response. They give them scripts for FAQ's you know. But, every now and then, you will run into one who will just answer your danged question. What is so hard about that?

The answer was yes, by the way.

So we got on line.

Does this look familiar? :

This is what they were going for:

There were maybe a dozen people on line in front of us.

If that CM was telling the truth, this would be good.

I have heard of guests waiting an hour to meet Darth Vader.

I didn't want to be one of them.

Sure enough, right at 8, I heard some familiar music.

And look what I saw:

I can't tell if the lady pointing in this photo is the same lady who we saw pointing at the stormtrooper earlier. But if it is, I should have followed her around that day. She was pretty good at the pointing. I guess she needed to do that, in case her kid wasn't sure which one of those people walking toward us was Lord Vader.

Anyway, Darth Vader marched majestically toward us:

I loved his demeanor. He pointed at the first guest in line, and summoned her over:

This girl had brought her own light saber, and knew exactly how she wanted to pose.

Impressive.

She wouldn't have trouble finding a date around here.

That's if any of the geeks like girls:

Also ahead of us was this family.

They all had their own light sabers.

They could not figure out how to pose, though, so the photographer had to intervene. The photographer did a good job:

They had a mom with them.

But she wouldn't get in the photo.

Which is too bad, because that would have made a nice Christmas card.

Make sure not to miss the dad's facial hair.

Nice.

The TCD twins were next:

They did not approve of either of those photos. They said they weren't ready.

I think they're fine.

So, we had accomplished one of our goals.

It was just a little past 8.

What now?

We could have waited a few minutes to ride Toy Story again.

But we decided to go get some breakfast, maybe snag another Fastpass, and then ride Toy Story.

I asked the twins where to for breakfast.

Last time, we just had cinnnamon rolls from Starring Rolls.

Twin #1 said that she thought they had breakfast sandwiches over by Rock N Rollercoaster.

I said lead the way!

So, we headed over there.

Twin #1 was right.

At the last stand there by Tower of Terror, they were selling breakfast sandwiches. There weren't many choices. You could have egg sausage and cheese on an english muffin. Or egg bacon and cheese.

The twins went with the sausage. I went with the bacon. That was a hard decision to make.

While we waited for the food, I decided to duck over to RNR to get Fastpasses.

Then I joined the girls at our table.

For Dave:

I had an ephinany here. I make breakfast sandwiches like that at home. And sometimes when we camp. I never thought about the two sausages on one sandwich. Brilliant.

Those were good.

So, now the plan was Toy Story and back to RNR.

The girls said they weren't in to doing all the walking just to ride Toy Story again.

This is why I hate that they are enforcing the Fastpass return times now.

In the old days (which were only a couple of months ago), we would have not worried about getting right back to Toy Story.

So I had three Fastpasses that were going to go to waste.

But, that is not how we roll.

Does anyone remember that I found three Fastpasses just sitting there waiting for me the last time we were here?

Well, what goes around comes around.

That is really true in case you didn't know.

So, I had to give these Fastpasses away.

I headed out to Hollywood Blvd. to find the lucky recipients.

I needed a party of three.

I didn't see any:

But I did see a couple with nice red hair:

Wait, let me give you a zoom on that couple:

Isn't it amazing how people find each other?

Well, this was taking a long time.

Finally, a dad with two good sized kids in a stroller came wheeling by.

I handed him the Fastpasses.

He was surprised.

But when he realized what I had given him, he was happy.

Awesome.

That's how it's done.

Then I rejoined the girls.

We had plenty of time before we needed to use our RNR Fastpasses.

So, we rode TOT.

I got this shot when the doors opened:

After that, we still had time before we needed to ride RNR.

So what next?

We decided to go and look for some droids.

TCD

[MetalDad 33]

I feel like I'm in early too...new ground for me!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Early morning at the Studios!! I seem to do a lot of those, but then that's the only way to ride TSM, and I LOVE TSM, so I wait in the early morning line, then we usually head somewhere else.

Yep.

From right after opening right up to closing, the Toy Story line will be the longest in the park.

Another TCD TR!

I love the storm trooper on the roof pics....I can't wait to see what special guest will be making an appearance in the TR. I must confess that I also thought you were talking about your uncharasmatic russian cousin. Keep it coming oh jedi master of the trip report!

Nope.

Nobody has met Yuri. He has no friends.

I am talking about a real Friend of the Fiends.

Some newbies may not remember, but I know a lot of people will.

And Yuri is not Russian.

He is from the DR.

I really think he's from Cuba.

But, he says DR.

I feel like I'm in early too...new ground for me!

Heck yes.

You are on page one, baby!

Bragging rights!

There's a chance for one more to jump on page one.

Who will it be?

TCD

[stefa70 205]

Darth Vader scares me, and frankly, so do some of the guests walking around.

The girl posing with her light saber looks downright serious! It's all very strange to me.

I am bummed about the Yoda shirt. Maybe I'll do a google search and see if I can find them. Thanks for looking though.

[Live4FW 30]

I think I know who the special guest is. Does Saratoga Springs have anything to do with it?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Darth Vader scares me, and frankly, so do some of the guests walking around.

The girl posing with her light saber looks downright serious! It's all very strange to me.

I am bummed about the Yoda shirt. Maybe I'll do a google search and see if I can find them. Thanks for looking though.

You are right about the guests. I am not sure there is any better people watching than at SWW.

Sorry about the shirt. I'll keep an eye out for it too.

I think I know who the special guest is. Does Saratoga Springs have anything to do with it?

Wow, Scot.

You had me stumped there for a minute.

But, it's not Sundee.

Now that you mention her, I ought to go and look for her some time.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Just to make sure we are off to a good start, one more update today.

We rode TOT, as planned, and then the girls made a pit stop before we headed over to RNR.

I hung outside the restrooms and did some people watching.

I noticed a weathervane that I had not noticed before, so I took a photo:

It's right there behind the Scoops restaurant:

That Scoops restaurant is where we got our breakfast sandwiches that morning,

I turned a bit for a photo of the RNR entrance. There is a big group coming out of there with matching tshirts:

It was right here that I heard the sound of a small plane flying somewhere above.

I looked down the street and saw it- it looks like a speck up near the top center of this photo:

The plane was towing a banner:

We are looking at it backwards, but you can tell that the first word, in red, says "WARNING:"

Nobody else seemed to notice the little plane with its little banner.

But I did.

I tried to get another shot, but the palm trees blocked part of the banner:

Let's take a zoom on that photo:

Can you read that?

It's still backwards.

And the word "WARNING" is now covered.

But that says "Gay Day at Disney 2Day."

What?

Gay Day?

At Disney?

2Day?

OMG, I thought.

I am at Disney.

There might be Gay people here!

What was I going to do?

I looked up to see if I had read that tiny banner right.

But, the plane just kept on going:

And then it was gone:

I guess somebody paid good money for that plane to fly overhead with that warning.

Whoever it was wasted his or her money.

Because here is the reaction of the crowd:

Nobody cared.

And neither did I.

So, we headed over to RNR.

But, we still had some time.

So, we popped in to Darth's Mall.

That's the big temporary gift shop they have set up in a backstage area next to RNR.

They have a character meet and greet area in there.

We got on this line:

So what is this line for?

To meet the droids!

There they are up there meeting two Princess Leia's:

I guess those girls are sisters. You would think one of them would have agreed to be someone else. But, they both wanted to be Leia I guess.

As we waited, a castmember told us that in 20 minutes the droids would be replaced by Luke Skywalker. The crowd groaned. Sorry, Luke, but we all wanted to meet the droids.

The line moved pretty quickly, so our chances looked good.

The droids moved around and interacted with the guests. That was cool.

It got me to wondering how R2D2 was being controlled.

I figured maybe there was a camera and someone behind the screen.

That was a good guess.

But, then Twin #2 pointed out the dude with the black ball cap in the back center of this photo:

He had been lurking around there the whole time, and kept reaching behind his back, and pacing around:

What is his problem?

Our turn came, and I forgot about the guy in the black hat.

I had been criticized by the twins for my Darth Vader photos, so I was set on redeeming myself here:

It looks like the girls are talking to C3P0, doesn't it?

They were.

We didn't know he talked to guests.

Darth Vader didn't.

But he did.

And he was hilarious!

Whoever was in that costume did a great job.

The voice was dead on.

Here's the pose:

The photopass photographer grabbed my camera and told me to get in the shot:

That was fun.

As we gathered our stuff to go, I noticed the guy in black hat again:

You may remember that I ran into some suspicious behavior like this on a prior trip this year. A guy with a similar bag was lurking around PUSH the talking trash can. I pointed him out to the crowd and yelled "Stranger Danger!" and he had run away. That guy got away last time. I wasn't going to let this suspicious punk get away. He probably was working for the Empire. C3P0 and R2 were in trouble. I asked a nearby geek if I could borrow his light saber, and then I yelled out for my rebel allies in the tent to join me in apprehending this bad guy. Everybody just looked at me like I was nuts. Even the guy in the black hat. So I gave back the light saber and let it go.

But, if C3P0 or R2 turn up missing, it's not on me.

On the way out of the tent, I looked for Stef's Yoda shirt, and didn't see it.

We did see two shirts that we liked:

And then we headed over to RNR to finally ride it.

TCD

[YENSIDCAMPER 66]

Just got in on the report no idea how I missed you that morning. We did much of the same things. Can't wait to read your report and see how the TCD gang rolls through the day.

[stefa70 205]

TCD

Good for you for trying to save the droids from a possible attack of Black-Hat Man. But check out the young girl in the center of the photo. I think you may have been creeping her out, or she thought you were hot. One or the other. :rofl2:

Sharing a family story: Since I moved to Florida in 1983, my father (who still lives in NY) thinks I am a complete redneck. One afternoon, after too many cocktails, we were discussing someones new deck on their house. I then came up with this doozy. (in my best southern drawl)

"That's a perfect example of stupid people, spending stupid money, on stupid s**t!"

He still laughs about it. Here is another place that this statement is appropriate. Whoever rented that plane, to fly that banner, obviously has more money than sense. I wish my life was so mundane that I had to worry about strangers sexual orientation. Good Lord! I'm happy that no one seemed to even notice.