Hot Fun in the Summertime-TCD's August 2012 TR

[ftwildernessguy 778]

I like Saana. I especially like the African Savannah equivalent to a lobster tank. I really enjoy picking out my own entree like that.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I like Saana. I especially like the African Savannah equivalent to a lobster tank. I really enjoy picking out my own entree like that.

Do you get to hunt it yourself? And if you're not successful and the animal wins, will the chef prepare you for them to eat?

[stefa70 205]

There's nothing wrong with an update being on the "short side."

I think Josephine would be much cooler if she were to play ring toss with the pedestrians going by.

I have not watched Princess & the Frog yet, and now I'm not sure if I want to. That Dr. Facilier is creepy!

Is he a bad guy? Into voodoo maybe? Freakin me out a little.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

That group of pirates is on a kids' only pirate adventure. We did it a few years ago, but i forget how much it cost. It wasn't too painful ,IIRC, and the kids had fun. They each got a pirate bandanna with mouse ears on it.

Yes, that is it. There is a current trip report being posted by FortPartyof4 which describes her experience with this.

I guess it would be fun for kids to do.

Some of them looked awful young to be drinking beer, though.

1. hulu hoop toss sounds fun... how did she do?

2. looks like the twins pixie dust was working well

3. lunch with a bus driver.... what did he have for desert?

1. Josie was very good. She got most of the hoops on the post.

2. True- that was some major pixie dust running into that character.

3. Lou did not have dessert. I am not saying if Gail did.

I like Saana. I especially like the African Savannah equivalent to a lobster tank. I really enjoy picking out my own entree like that.

I get it.

At first, I was about to say there is no lobster tank there.

But now I get it- you are talking about the zebras and giraffes right outside the window- funny!

And, sorry, but I was spelling Sanaa wrong. The two A's come after the n, not before. My bad.

Do you get to hunt it yourself? And if you're not successful and the animal wins, will the chef prepare you for them to eat?

Come on, Dave.

Zebras and Giraffes don't eat meat.

Stop being silly.

There's nothing wrong with an update being on the "short side."

I think Josephine would be much cooler if she were to play ring toss with the pedestrians going by.

I have not watched Princess & the Frog yet, and now I'm not sure if I want to. That Dr. Facilier is creepy!

Is he a bad guy? Into voodoo maybe? Freakin me out a little.

That would be a riot if Josie tried to get the rings around guests. There are some that she would be happy to try that on, I'm sure.

Yes, that Dr. Facilier is creepy. The girls pointed out his long, fake fingers. And, he was in character, asking them where Tiana was, etc.

He is definitely a bad guy. He is into vodoo, and they call him a shadow walker. Stay away.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I said there would be a longer update, and this is it.

We are still on Saturday.

I had just had lunch at Sanaa with Lou and Gail, and now I was on my way to Hollywood Studios.

I made it there without incident, and caught up with the twins.

They wanted to hang around for something that would be going on at around, 5, so we had a bit of time to kill.

We went ahead and took another ride through space on Star Tours.

And then we ducked into the Muppets show. It's been a while since we've seen it. And, it isn't bad. Plus it has great AC. Which was an important consideration today.

There are all kinds of interesting props in the pre-show room. But, I focused on this one:

Why?

Because of this:

That is Twin #2's Rowlf pin.

But it says Rolf.

That's right.

An error.

The manager in Dumbo last night actually pointed that out to us.

Apparently, this is a well known thing in the pin trading world.

Who knew?

Not us.

There actually are pins just like Twin #2's that spell Rowlf's name correctly.

But, I don't think the mistake pins are that rare, and, therefore, aren't worth a lot of money or anything.

Still, that was a pretty big boo-boo.

We enjoyed the Muppet show.

I am good for a while on that one.

Next up, we walked by Toy Story.

The sign said 120 minutes for the wait.

But nobody was standing outside, so I doubt that.

But, we kept going.

Next stop was the Animation Academy.

This is where we wanted to be around 5 anyway.

There is a secret event that happens here each night around that time.

The girls found out about it when they stumbled upon it when they were here in June.

First, though, I needed to flex my artistic muscles.

Here's my drawing of Pluto:

That is really good for me.

The girls, of course, did much better.

Here's Twin #1's drawing:

And Twin #2's:

Here are all three together for ease of comparison. That's mine up top, Twin #1's in the middle, and Twin #2's at the bottom:

When we exited the Animation Academy, the fun was on.

The whole room was loaded with characters.

We saw Mary Poppins, Alladin, Genie, Captain Hook, Belle, Mulan, and more.

There normally aren't that many characters in here.

But, at around 5 on nights when the Fantasmic show is after 7:30, they have a bunch of surprise characters come out all at once.

This is a great place to meet rare characters if that is your thing.

All in one place, in the AC, with short lines.

Perfect!

We hung out in there for a while.

And then it was time to go.

It was raining pretty hard when we came to the exit.

No problem, we would just break out the ponchos. I had taken one with me when I went to lunch, and I left two out in the camper for the girls to take with them.

One problem.

Neither girl brought a poncho.

Where did I go wrong with those two?

Not a problem, our ponchos are kind of beat up, and we need a couple of new ones.

So, here we go:

Cute, huh?

The only thing is that the girls wanted Minnie ones, but they were all out.

Since it was raining, we decided to head back to camp.

We decided to have dinner at the site.

I whipped up my modified version of Pirate Jeff's Macoroni and Cheese:

That is always a hit with the TCD gang. And there is no way Mrs. TCD would ever eat that, so it was all good.

We spent a little time in the camper watching the Olympics.

And, then in was time to get the show on the road.

The MK closed at 10 pm tonight, and no other parks were open later.

I thought that was odd for a Saturday in the summer, but that was the deal.

We wanted to get some new SOTMK cards, so we needed to be at the MK by 9. They stop handing out the cards an hour before the park closes.

Not a problem, we left the site a little after 8.

Correction, maybe there would be a problem because here is the line of folks waiting for the MK boat at 8:19 pm:

The rain had stopped, but there were some interesting clouds hanging around over our boat:

For some reason, the MK boat docked on the resort boat side. I asked one of the castmembers there why, and he said they weren't using the other side of the dock tonight.

I wonder if that drunk guy driving the slow boat broke the dock?

Apparently not, as both sides were back in use the next day.

I snapped this shot as we got near to boarding the boat:

I didn't think we would make it on, but we did.

And here we go:

We made it to the fire station and collected our cards with almost no time to spare.

Even though we got 15 cards between us, we didn't get any of the cards we needed to complete our set.

Boo.

The Main Street Electrical Parade was set to begin at 9, so we just had time to cross the street and claim a spot near the Emporium, right across from the fire station:

We have never watched the parade from here. It was kind of cool, because we could see backstage as the floats got ready to join in the parade:

Even though I have seen him many times now, I still think the young man who rides atop the dragon is a strange one:

After the parade, we planned to just hang around to watch the Magic, the Memories and You show on the castle.

Main Steet was packed, so we just hung out around this end of it.

The girls looked in the gift shops.

I waited near the door.

They had a bunch of designer purses there.

You would not believe the prices.

I did, because I know purses are expensive.

I have three daughters, you know.

I wanted to get a photo of them, but this lady wouldn't move. So she gets to be in a TCD trip report. I will not say anything mean about her hand sewn outfit:

We moved on to the candy room and got to watch a castmember make Mickey ears on caramel apples:

They were doing booming business:

I had received an anonymous tip recently about being able to see the guy who plays Tinkerbell in Wishes crash land somewhere behind Tony's bakery, so I took a peek back there at this time. I couldn't see the wire, so I decided to save that for another time.

We headed out to the street for the show.

It is hard to get a good photo of the show from this far from the castle, and this is the best I could do:

This is the first time we've been back since they took down the big construction wall around the bakery end of Main Street. It was good to see that gone.

Wishes was set to begin at 10.

Then there would be a mad stampede out of the park.

We headed for the boat then.

And we were on our way back to the Fort while the fireworks were still going.

Like a free fireworks cruise.

We spent the rest of the night watching the Olympics and looping.

At 11:30, the twins said it was time to try out the soft serve ice cream at Trail's End.

So we did.

They give you a little paper dish and turn you loose:

I will also note that for the 15-20 minutes that we were there, we were the only customers partaking of the late night menu on a Saturday night.

I asked the castmember on duty how it was going. She said that they did a little bit of business typically after the fireworks when folks are heading back from the beach, but on Fridays and Saturdays, not much between 11 and 12.

She said that this was a six week experiment.

I am thinking it is going to be put down as a failure.

Which is a shame, because it really isn't being promoted.

The ice cream was good, though.

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Random thoughts:

Those cloud photos are beautiful.

You should never attempt to witness Tink crashing into the wall. Some things are better left to the imagination.

It would be a shame if the late night hours at TE are eliminated after the experimental period. But I guess it doesn't pay to keep the place open just to sell a couple cups of ice cream on the odd chance that you are at the Fort.

[stefa70 205]

I need one of those ponchos, I love them!

I think you all did a fine job on your drawings.

That woman purse shopping can afford those purses because she's wearing hand sewn clothes. ^-^

I'm not a huge ice cream fan, but I do try to get a Tollhouse cookie ice cream sandwich at the trading post, at least once per trip.

Yes, I know you can get them almost everywhere, but they don't taste the same if they're not from the Fort.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Random thoughts:

Those cloud photos are beautiful.

You should never attempt to witness Tink crashing into the wall. Some things are better left to the imagination.

It would be a shame if the late night hours at TE are eliminated after the experimental period. But I guess it doesn't pay to keep the place open just to sell a couple cups of ice cream on the odd chance that you are at the Fort.

Well, it's worse than that- we only bought one ice cream. So they paid the lady at the register and I assume someone was in the back to cook, to sell one cup of ice cream between 11 and 12 on a Saturday night.

If they gave me a chance, I would spend more money there. They would need to be open when we get back from the parks, though, and that is usually pretty late.

I need one of those ponchos, I love them!

I think you all did a fine job on your drawings.

That woman purse shopping can afford those purses because she's wearing hand sewn clothes. ^-^

I'm not a huge ice cream fan, but I do try to get a Tollhouse cookie ice cream sandwich at the trading post, at least once per trip.

Yes, I know you can get them almost everywhere, but they don't taste the same if they're not from the Fort.

Oh, yes, I know those ice cream sandwiches! We call those Chip-wiches, although I'm not sure that is the official name. Twin #1 loves them.

TCD

[SCTigerCock 171]

Been away, but finally caught up.

1. Going back several pages to the golf cart trailer. I think it is AWESOME!

2, The pipes in the canals look like speed bumps for canoes. Especially ones, being pulled/towed by golf carts. Not that I ever thought about that.

3. Boo the @#$%^ hotel. Boo to screwing up the Fort!

4. Awesome TR, Thanks as always for sharing.

And I don't want to number this b/c I don't want it to be true, but could they run a small boat from the POS hotel to the lake through that canal? Say it ain't so! I don't cares if ya lie.

[ftwildernessguy 778]

Not a bad job piling the soft serve in the little paper dish.

[BassMaster 7]

Thank goodness Genia didn't mention BM. I'm thinking maybe BassSlayer. How des that work for ya?

[BassMaster 7]

Now, I must talk about Josie. I love her. Some time last year we needed Benadryl and she gave me directions to the Walgreens near the fort. My son and I ate breakfast there at TE and I talked to her for about a half hour, about all kinds of stuff, especially how long she had worked there and the changes and the people; great stories. I ran into her this past July trip and said hi. I thanked her again for those directions to Walgreens that she gave last year. She didn't remember my name, but definitely the stash.

[We4mickey 6]

Love the new ponchos! Note to self, do not bring old ponchos on next trip, buy new.

[BassMaster 7]

Oh, TCD, did I happen to mention that this was an excellent TR. Yeah, just did. Thanks for sharing.

[wdwbound 0]

A quick comment on the "mystery shopper" checking up on the bus drivers. Years ago I was one of those people in Maine that would shop at Wal Mart, Burger King and other large companies and small. Home office in these companies request firms to independently contract shoppers to review how their personnel deal with John Q. Public. So it is usually a third party that actually handles the "transaction". Haven't done it in quite a few years so I am sure that procedures have changed, can't think that there would actually be anyone that is employed by Disney that would have to turn in any other CMs.

[ftwildernessguy 778]

I believe I could handle making mouse ears on caramel apples. Had to go back and correct the iPad spell check. It changed apples to anoles. I believe there might be a need for someone at the fort to put mouse ears on the anoles, though.

[stefa70 205]

Twin #1 loves them.

TCD

Ya know I am keeping a list for the Twins and I. A few more years and we will:

Drink punch, eat ice cream cookie sandwiches, and do the Cupid shuffle! :jumpforjoy

[3Mouseketeers....Eddie 8]

was wondering where you picked up the trail to FWL at ? would like to try it in Oct when we're there

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Been away, but finally caught up.

1. Going back several pages to the golf cart trailer. I think it is AWESOME!

2, The pipes in the canals look like speed bumps for canoes. Especially ones, being pulled/towed by golf carts. Not that I ever thought about that.

3. Boo the @#$%^ hotel. Boo to screwing up the Fort!

4. Awesome TR, Thanks as always for sharing.

And I don't want to number this b/c I don't want it to be true, but could they run a small boat from the POS hotel to the lake through that canal? Say it ain't so! I don't cares if ya lie.

Thank you for your insightful comments.

As for your last question, the way things currently sit, no they couldn't run a boat from the hotel out to Bay Lake. But, if they remove or raise the golf cart bridge and do something with the dam behind the 300 loop, they could. That would be a long boat ride. But, maybe not longer than the ride from Port Orleans to Downtown Disney. I say they won't have a boat running down the canal. But, who knows?

Not a bad job piling the soft serve in the little paper dish.

I will let Twin #1 know that you approve. She could have probably doubled that, but she was the only one in Trail's End at the time, and the castmember was giving her the hairy eyeball.

Thank goodness Genia didn't mention BM. I'm thinking maybe BassSlayer. How des that work for ya?

Then we would be calling you BS?

I'm not sure that's a good idea.

How about BMB- for BassMaster Ben?

Or BMW- for BassMaster West (since there is already a BMS and you live West of the Fort) (plus BMW has a certain panache to it).

Or, just leave it as BM.

If we can call a Giddyup And Go a GAG, I guess we can get used to calling you BM.

Now, I must talk about Josie. I love her. Some time last year we needed Benadryl and she gave me directions to the Walgreens near the fort. My son and I ate breakfast there at TE and I talked to her for about a half hour, about all kinds of stuff, especially how long she had worked there and the changes and the people; great stories. I ran into her this past July trip and said hi. I thanked her again for those directions to Walgreens that she gave last year. She didn't remember my name, but definitely the stash.

Josie always says hello to the twins and I and acts like she recognizes us. I'm not sure if she really does, but she is pretty convincing.

That woman can talk non-stop, but I really do enjoy listening to her.

She has seen it all. Literally. She is a treasure. We had a long chat this time about her views on people complaining that the Fort is not the same as it used to be. According to Josie, it's not the Fort that's changed, it's the people. In her special way, she made a very convincing argument to support her opinion.

I already said it, but I'll say it again to anyone reading along, if you have a chance to chat with Josie, you should. You will be glad that you did.

Love the new ponchos! Note to self, do not bring old ponchos on next trip, buy new.

Yes, the girls first spotted these about a year ago.

I think they started out in Japan, but have finally made their way over to WDW.

They are much better quality than the thin clear ones that they have been selling lately.

Oh, TCD, did I happen to mention that this was an excellent TR. Yeah, just did. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you, BMB or BMW or BM.

A quick comment on the "mystery shopper" checking up on the bus drivers. Years ago I was one of those people in Maine that would shop at Wal Mart, Burger King and other large companies and small. Home office in these companies request firms to independently contract shoppers to review how their personnel deal with John Q. Public. So it is usually a third party that actually handles the "transaction". Haven't done it in quite a few years so I am sure that procedures have changed, can't think that there would actually be anyone that is employed by Disney that would have to turn in any other CMs.

You know, I always thought these mystery shopper jobs were a scam. I think it would be a fun job. I wouldn't mind being the guy who tries to get on the bus with a beer. If the driver didn't stop me, I would be getting paid to drink beer. Who has a better job than that?

I believe I could handle making mouse ears on caramel apples. Had to go back and correct the iPad spell check. It changed apples to anoles. I believe there might be a need for someone at the fort to put mouse ears on the anoles, though.

Got to love spell check.

Stupid computers.

Why would anyone put mouse ears on an anole? An apple yes, of course. A lizard, no way.

Ya know I am keeping a list for the Twins and I. A few more years and we will:

Drink punch, eat ice cream cookie sandwiches, and do the Cupid shuffle! :jumpforjoy

Now that is a scary thought.

The twins drinking punch.

I'm glad that is still 3.5 years away.

was wondering where you picked up the trail to FWL at ? would like to try it in Oct when we're there

You are asking about Wilderness Lodge, right? It's just called Wilderness Lodge. Not Fort Wilderness Lodge. Us Fiends have to get that right.

That trail begins right across from the current location of the horse barns, in the Settlement area of the Fort.

The trail head is directly across from the old River Country bus stop.

The main trail is paved all the way to the Lodge. The nature part of it is packed sand, but it was easy to ride a bike on.

It's a very nice walk or ride, and October would be a great time to try it out. It's about a mile from the Fort to the Lodge.

Thanks for posting on this report! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Saturday night ended up being an early night for us.

There were not EMH's at any of the parks, so that ice cream ended up being the last hurrah.

We watched some of the late night Olympics coverage, and then we turned in around midnight.

Since we had slept in on Saturday, we had plans for another rope drop on Sunday.

Which means I was up before the sun on Sunday.

After a shower and getting the coffee going, here we are at the swamp next to the 1500 loop at 6:28 am:

The moon and an unknown planet were still high in the sky:

One thing that ended up being a bummer for us is that the annual Perseids meteor shower was supposed to be really good this year, and was supposed to have been at its peak the night before. It was really cloudy when we went to bed, and we didn't bother to wake up in the middle of the night to try to see it. When I first realized we would be at the Fort for it, I thought that would be a good thing, but after looking at the sky at night, I realized that it really doesn't get that dark at the Fort. The sky kind of glows at night from all the things that are lit up around the Fort.

I had not yet checked on River Country on this trip, so that is where we are heading.

I took the scenic route out behind the 300 loop.

No golf carts are allowed back here, so I naturally parked by the no carts sign and walked.

Have you ever heard the term "Like a deer in the headlghts?"

Well, this deer was staring right into mine, but then she moved on after I finally got my camera out to take her photo:

That is still a deer in the headlights, though.

I am not sure if I mentioned this yet, but I hate the fact that you can see the damned darn cranes for the Four Seasons resort project when you look down the canal behind the 300 loop.

At least it was dark enough this morning that I wouldn't have to worry about that:

Wait a second.

Do you see those lights there in the trees to the right of center in those two photos?

That is the damned darn cranes!

This photo doesn't really do a good job of showing how obnoxious those cranes are. But they are. Since they are lit up, you can catch glimpses of them through the trees at various places in the Fort at night. And, if you can see the cranes through the trees, what do you think will happen once that hotel opens and they have it all lit up like the other Disney resorts? There will probably be blinking lights on cell antennas on the roof too.

Maybe I'm one of the few who cares about this, but that is going to stink! Talk about having the illusion that you are in the wilderness shattered! Why did they have to put this thing right up to the border of the Fort? I know the answer to that one- because they are advertising that this hotel will offer views of the MK and its fireworks-that is why. In the meantime, us filthy campers will have the view of a giant ugly building and blinking cell antennas at night. Yay!

Here we are at my favorite spot in the pre-dawn:

This is the view to the right from that same spot:

See, I like that. All of that is far enough away from the Fort that it doesn't bother me in the least. The men with vision who gave all the thought to where things would go in WDW and at the Fort got it right. The Fort is supposed to be in the wilderness. When they built Wilderness Lodge, they did a good job of placing it so it can't be seen from the Fort, and vice versa. That was smart. Now, we have a new breed: The Idiot Managers. They don't think about stuff like this. They just think about the quick buck. I've said it before and I'll say it again, when they thaw out Walt's frozen head and he sees this, some people are going to be in big trouble.

Sorry about that rant. But sometimes IM's read message boards. So, if one of you is reading this, you had better watch it. You might think you're safe now, but Walt will get you. This Four Seasons thing is bad, but that DVC resort y'all are planning- I'm saying it's not just going to be your job. There will be blood. Walt might be a zombie- you never know. This frozen head thing is not a proven science.

Alright, now, you IM's can stop reading. Go do something. If you bring back the steak fries with the GAG's, I'll put in a good word for you with Walt. Maybe he'll let you keep your job.

The rest of us will continue on our way . . .

Here's the moon and that planet from my favorite spot:

By the time I hiked all the way to River Country, the sky was pretty light.

So, I got this lovely photo. Got to love that green water and the cattails:

I parked at the end of that sidewalk by Clementine's beach, and looked at the pretty sky:

This guy has a cool job:

Looking toward the marina:

I did a little looping.

I wanted to get a photo of this trailer on the 700 loop- they have decals next to their windows to make it look like they have shutters. But, I think they put them on the wrong sides. Don't you? :

Have you ever seen such a thing?

Me neither.

There must be a good reason for that.

I know that I already posted a photo of my favorite site in all of the Fort. But, it was empty at the time.

So, we need some with a big motorhome backed in.

Here you go:

So awesome.

I already mentioned that there were lots of survey stakes all over the Fort. I figured I needed to take photos of them, and at the time, I had not yet figured out why they were there. As I took these photos, I finally made the connection that these were at all the crosswalks, and I later saw and heard that the wood stakes mark the places where new light poles are going in:

My tour around the Fort was brief this morning, as I needed to get the girls going so we could head to the bus stop.

The swamp next to the 1500 loop was much better lit when I headed back that way. I love the fog hanging around this morning:

Here we are at the Outpost Bus Stop at 8:23 am. As long as a bus comes soon, we will make it to Hollywood Studios by 9 no problem:

I didn't know the trail rides started this early, but apparently they do.

The morning started out nice and sunny:

Since there was no bus in sight, I decided to stroll up to the old kennel building and see if there were any signs of new construction about to begin around there.

Here we are on the path to the old kennel:

Check out all the pretty flowers! :

This is a look toward the area where the new blacksmith shop will go, according to the plans filed with the permit application. The new barn will be in the far background of this photo:

Believe it or not, that is the 30th photo in this post.

Time to start another one.

We will pick it up where we are leaving off, with some more shots around the old kennel, and then we will be on our way to Hollywood Studios, hopefully for rope drop.

TCD

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

I wanted to get a photo of this trailer on the 700 loop- they have decals next to their windows to make it look like they have shutters. But, I think they put them on the wrong sides. Don't you? :

Have you ever seen such a thing?

Me neither.

There must be a good reason for that.

Looks like the right side to me, the hinges would put the rounded corners next to each other (although it does look weird). Definitely have never seen such a thing, and probably wouldn't put them on my camper, if I had one.

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

A really pretty quiet morning....

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Looks like the right side to me, the hinges would put the rounded corners next to each other (although it does look weird). Definitely have never seen such a thing, and probably wouldn't put them on my camper, if I had one.

I see what you're saying. It doesn't look right, though.

For some reason, these do not seem to have caught on.

A really pretty quiet morning....

Yes, but it is about to pick up . . .

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I have such a sense of peace after seeing those pics. Would that star be mercury or venus?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We still have a long way to go in this report, so here comes another update.

At least this one will get us to Hollywood Studios.

We were here, admiring the flowers and pastoral area around the kennel.

Very calm and serene. Like you're a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of WDW:

Hang on.

Look above the trees in the center of that last photo.

That couldn't be.

Could it?

It is:

It is the stupid cranes!

Messing up the view from here too.

I chose to look the other way:

You see that light pole there? I hope that's the look of the new poles they are talking about putting in all around the Fort. That one looks like it's 30'. That is what they are showing will be going in at the four way stop. That won't be bad.

Here we are looking back whence we came:

Just a shot of the general area around here- maybe someday soon this is all going to be ripped up:

From what I understand about the plans for the new barn, the stuff we see here is still going to be here after the new barn is built. The new barn is going to be to the right of all of this, outside of the area depicted in this photo:

This is a look back toward the bus stop from here. You can see the bus stop there in the right center of the photo:

This walkway you see here leads back to the bus stop and trail ride loading area-this all will remain as is even if the new barn and blacksmith shop are built:

There was a turkey standing right in front of the kennel building all by itself. That was odd. It was standing there pecking at what looked like some kind of feed on the ground:

This is not right.

They have gone to great lengths to tell us guests not to feed the wildlife, and here is this poor turkey eating feed right by the road. Why?

Just as I am admiring the turkey and trying to figure out why someone is feeding the wildlife, two buses came pulling in the lot.

Maybe one of them is the Hollywood Studios bus?

Nope. This one is going to DHFW, it says so right there on the sign:

What is DHFW, you ask?

Sorry, that is a trade secret.

I can't tell you.

I have heard about this from Lou, but this is secret stuff only bus drivers know.

Not really.

DHFW means Dead Head Fort Wilderness. I think that means the bus has been sent to Fort Wilderness without any passengers.

The bus stopped there for a minute, and then the sign flashed Hollywood Studios.

I needed to macht schnell.

And I did.

So, I didn't make it to the other side of the kennel, which is where the new barn is going. But, I did see it, and there is no sign of anything happening there. No survey stakes or anything.

By the way, if you have any interest in such things, we had arrived at the bus stop at 8:23, and this bus was here at 8:27. I consider that to be an acceptable wait time.

I took a couple of photos on my quick walk back:

The buildings you see here are outside of the scope of the new proposed construction, and will stay:

Here we are on the bus and on our way. We took seats in the back of the bus, and Twin #2 is facing backward in this photo:

I took that photo for a reason. That road you see back there out the window is the castmember road that goes back to the maintenance area. Beyond that do not enter sign, you see a small berm that is used to shield our view of the golf course just beyond the tree line. Well look above that berm. You see that dead tree? Do you see a big rectangular thing sitting there behind the tree?

How about now? :

That's the Four Seasons project. So, I think the building is going to be pretty visible from the Fort parking lot.

Boo!

Have I mentioned that I am not a big fan of ugly hotels looming over Fort Wilderness?

Did I mention that they are going to have a lazy river over there?

As Carol noted, it had been a quiet morning.

We would make it to Hollywood Studios before 9 easily.

Maybe since it was a Sunday, things would be quiet around there too.

Not so much.

It was pretty much a madhouse.

The bag check area was awful.

Huge back up.

And of course our line was manned by an ancient woman who actually thought she was supposed to check the bags. She was making people open up every compartment, and even pull stuff out so she could inspect it.

Argh!

We finally made it past there.

Which I guess was not a big deal, because the turnstiles were still locked when we got to them at 8:54 am.

My hopes of a quiet morning at Hollywood Studios were quickly dashed.

This is what we saw:

What the heck is wrong with people?

Doesn't anyone have anything better to do than to go to a theme park at 9 am on a Sunday morning?

Jeeez!

This crowd required a possible change in strategy. Did we really want to run with the bulls tourists with strollers all the way down Hollywood Blvd. just to ride Toy Story first?

No, we didn't.

So, the plan was, I would go solo to Toy Story to get Fastpasses, and the twins would go ride Tower of Terror. We would meet up in the Rock N Rollercoaster courtyard, and then ride it. We would then adjust the plan from there.

So, that's what we did.

The twins went their way, and I went mine.

Here I am at Pixar Place, it is 9:06 am, and it is already packed:

I got Fastpasses right away.

The return time was 10:30, which is a later than I expected. I think when it's busy, they extend the first Fastpass return time to limit folks from cramming in to that line too soon, and also to limit the ability to get another Fastpass for an hour and a half, when on slower days, that time is less.

Whatever.

The plan worked fine. I met the girls just a few minutes after I got there, and we went on that wild limo ride:

There is a little craft area for kids outside of Rock N Rollercoaster, and they had a Princess and the Frog poster hanging there. Look, it's Dr. Facilier:

He is a creepy dude.

After this, we stopped for a breakfast sandwich there at the stand by TOT.

Good stuff.

Then we had time for Star Tours before 10:30 would hit and we would ride Toy Story.

There was no wait at Star Tours.

And guess who was picked as the Rebel Spy?

If you guessed Twin #2, you were smart, and you were right:

The official tally is that Twin #2 has been the rebel spy 5 times now. Five. I have been the rebel spy once. And Twin #1 has been the Rebel Spy zero times. ZERO! And she is mad about it. I told her they must sense the dark side in her. I know that I do.

While on our wacky ride through space, Yoda popped up and acknowledged Twin #2. I thought I ought to get a photo, but I forgot about the whole 3-D thing, so now when I look at the photo, I'm not sure if this was really Yoda. It kind of looks more like Stef to me:

By the time we got back to earth, it was time to use our Toy Story Fastpasses, so we headed that way.

I will stop this post for now, as I have a bunch of photos I have of something we saw over in that part of the park that I want to keep together in one post.

TCD