TCD's Pre-Halloween 2012 Trip Report

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Epic fail. I haven't seen the Little Mermaid since it came out. Remember, I raised one boy. He wasn't a fan of Ariel.

If you're not going to publically announce what you saw, send me a PM. It's making me crazy...ok, crazier.

Good job on the CM butt shot. Every TR should include a butt of some sort.

Dude, you are slow today (and yesterday).

I said "did you see what I did there?"

It's a figure of speech.

When someone does something clever, you say "I see what you did there."

When you do something clever, you can say "did you see what I did there?"

Capiche?

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I hope you're caught up, because we are moving out.

Here we are heading back to the Fort.

I took this photo primarily to show that despite the new buoys, the east end of Bay Lake is unchanged and there is no sign of anything going on over that way:

It's been a while since I took a photo of the Discovery Island shipwreck, so here goes:

There goes a MK boat:

As far as I could tell, there were no problems with the boat service today. I think it was just bad planning that caused our long wait for a boat the night before.

Here are a couple more shots of Bay Lake. I truly appreciate the fact that aside from the Fort, Wilderness Lodge, and the Contemporary, the shoreline is just beautiful trees. This shot is of the shore across from the Fort:

And this is one more shot of the east shore of the lake:

Upon our arrival to the Fort, we stopped by Trail's End for a drink, As usual, there was an interesting cart parked there.

I have no idea what the heck is going on here, but I salute High Tech Redneck, whoever he (or she) is:

We then returned to our site to take care of a business matter which we had postponed up to this point.

I am not sure if other families do this, but for as long as I can remember, we always dump out or Halloween candy and take inventory of it.

I guess we get some kind of satisfaction out of seeing it spread out before us in neat little piles.

Here's what that looked like:

Please note that Twin #1 is humoring me by drinking out of her Gaston mug. See?, I wasn't stupid to pay nine bucks for that cheap mug.

I don't know how or when these got slipped into our bag, but look how many boxes of raisins we got stuck with? What am I supposed to do with these? :

One more completely candid shot:

At the end of the Halloween parade the night before, the CM's walking along the Goofy float at the end passed out these lolipops to the crowd. That was something new:

As you can see, they are Mickey shaped, and we didn't know this until we opened one, the other side actually had the details of his face on it:

After we got the candy packed back up, and hung high in a tree to protect it from the black bears roaming the Fort, we took off for some pre-dinner looping.

Over on the 1600 loop, it wasn't pre-dinner, it was time for dinner. The sign says dinner was at 6:00 pm:

And right on schedule, there they are:

That is a big group of people back there at the curve of the loop.

We decided to let them eat in peace, plus they were blocking the loop, so we headed in to the 1700 loop. These folks weren't eating yet. Just drinking beer, playing cornhole in the loop road, and milling about:

We slowly made our way around 1700, and then headed on out. We were taking the long way to Trail's End, where we would be getting our GAG.

These bikes were all parked behind the HQ tent for the 1600 loop group:

These folks had tents everywhere:

From the looks of things, they bent that ten people per campsite rule.

But, since when are rules enforced at the Fort?

We all know they are more like suggestions.

You want to put 30 people on two sites?

And then all invade the Comfort Station at one time?

Who cares?

Bring it on!

As long as your money's green, all are welcome at the Fort!

Speaking of overloaded campsites, we needed to check on the weekend warriors on the 2000 loop. Remember my prediction that it would be packed by this evening?

I was right:

Now, it really was time to go order dinner.

So we headed that way.

Nothing wrong with taking a quick detour through the 600 loop, right?

So I could get this photo:

I think these folks might be from Wisconsin.

Just a hunch.

We see them every Halloween.

Same set-up.

And usually the same site on 600.

Say what you want- they are consistent.

When you loop on 600, you know where you come out?

Right across from 700.

So, we had to go.

This is the first site on 700:

And, this is the back side of the Thriller campsite on the 400 loop. But, there was no Thriller there yet:

Next stop, Trail's End.

I ordered the GAG and was issued my beeper.

I like the beeper idea.

It gave me a chance to sit here:

Do you feel a sense of deja vu?

Well, you should, we were just here this morning.

The flowering bushes are still hiding the River Country Wagon's empty spot:

The chicken was ready in about 15 minutes.

So, I hurried in to get it.

While I had been on the porch, the twins had been out on a joy ride in the golf cart.

I had texted them when the beeper went off.

I checked for them in the golf cart parking lot.

They weren't there, but this interesting cart was:

The Troll posted a photo of this same cart (at least I think it's the same) in his September 2012 TR.

I wonder who owns it?

As I stood there, the twins pulled up with the cart:

My chariot awaits.

That's 30 photos.

A full update.

Next up, we devour some chicken.

And then it's time for our evening plans.

Which, at this point, were still not firm.

TCD

[stefa70 205]

Dude, you are slow today (and yesterday).

I said "did you see what I did there?"

It's a figure of speech.

When someone does something clever, you say "I see what you did there."

When you do something clever, you can say "did you see what I did there?"

Capiche?

TCD

I call FOUL! I stared at that picture for an hour looking for "what you saw."

I won't use that saying, it's very rare that I do something clever.

BTW: did you just call me a dude?

[stefa70 205]

YES! I always took inventory of Nate's Halloween candy.

I would tell him I was checking to make sure it was all safe, when in reality I was pocketing the good stuff.

He caught on by the time he was about 5. Brat!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I call FOUL! I stared at that picture for an hour looking for "what you saw."

I won't use that saying, it's very rare that I do something clever.

BTW: did you just call me a dude?

Yeah, I sometimes call my daughters Dude.

No offense.

With all due respect.

And do not sell yourself short, you say clever things all the time.

No pun intended by that short reference.

Hey, as long as we're talking, you know what stinks?

Last year, on this very day, you and I were at the Fort.

Boo!

TCD

[SCTigerCock 171]

A little to the left and up from the bottom right corner, look for a circle with two little circles above it.

Let me know if I need to break out the purple crayon.

TCD

Thanks! :jumpforjoy

You can now carry on with the TR....oh you already have!!! :rofl2:

Purple Crayon on future hidden/concealed Mickey's would be appreciated. :beathorse:

[SCTigerCock 171]

Yeah, I sometimes call my daughters Dude.

No offense.

With all due respect.

And do not sell yourself short, you say clever things all the time.

No pun intended by that short reference.

Hey, as long as we're talking, you know what stinks?

Last year, on this very day, you and I were at the Fort.

Boo!

TCD

TCD, stick to Dude. You sure can't call her "Lady".

:clint:

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Any parent that tells you they don't snatch their favorite candy from their kids' Halloween stash is either lying or is allergic to chocolate. And I only put that last choice there for Jen. My kids have never tasted a Butterfinger, Twix or 100 Grand in their lives. I told them years ago those candy bars are made in China from cat urine.

[SCTigerCock 171]

I told them years ago those candy bars are made in China from cat urine.

:rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2:

Do you give any candy out?

Or take Tony's philosophy that we don't have to turn on the porch light b/c the motion sensor will cut it one when the kids come into the yard. KNOWING, that kids don't come to dark houses or yards? Yet, we buy HIS favorite candy to hand out every year and he always wonders why we have left overs?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Thanks! :jumpforjoy

You can now carry on with the TR....oh you already have!!! :rofl2:

Purple Crayon on future hidden/concealed Mickey's would be appreciated. :beathorse:

OK, I'll sharpen the purple crayon. I do have another HM coming up.

I don't think this one will be hard to spot.

If it is, let me know, and I'll circle it for you.

TCD, stick to Dude. You sure can't call her "Lady".

:clint:

Harsh.

And y'all are friends.

Any parent that tells you they don't snatch their favorite candy from their kids' Halloween stash is either lying or is allergic to chocolate. And I only put that last choice there for Jen. My kids have never tasted a Butterfinger, Twix or 100 Grand in their lives. I told them years ago those candy bars are made in China from cat urine.

I don't care what everyone else says, you are a friggin' genius!

Or take Tony's philosophy that we don't have to turn on the porch light b/c the motion sensor will cut it one when the kids come into the yard. KNOWING, that kids don't come to dark houses or yards? Yet, we buy HIS favorite candy to hand out every year and he always wonders why we have left overs?

Same thing with Tony, I don't care what everyone else says, he's a friggin' genius right up there with Dave.

TCD

[stefa70 205]

Yeah, I sometimes call my daughters Dude.

No offense.

With all due respect.

Last year, on this very day, you and I were at the Fort.

Boo!

TCD

Well, since you said "with all due respect" you're good.

Yes, we were at the Fort. It had just poured rain. This was the day the Gator Gnome was welcomed into the TCD family.

Happy Birthday GG!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OK, one more update for today.

I would like to tell you that this one gets us through the end of Friday.

But it doesn't quite do that.

We took our GAG back to the site and ate it.

Good stuff!

I don't have any photos.

It was kind of dark out, and a GAG is hard to photograph anyway.

It's good, but it just looks like a bunch of buckets.

During dinner, our discusion turned to our plans for the evening.

It was a nice night. So, we all agreed we should go to a park.

The only park open late was the MK, which was open until 11.

But we had been there yesterday and today.

And, we planned to head to Epcot tomorrow night for the Food and Wine festival.

AK was already closed.

That left Hollywood Studios.

But, what would we be able to do there with no Fastpasses?

We checked the times guide.

There were two showings of Fantasmic tonight.

The last one was at 9, which was also the park closing time.

We figured if nothing else, we could see Fantasmic.

So, off we went.

We drove our cart to the Outpost and took the bus.

The park was kind of busy when we got there.

We tried Star Tours. But the line was out the door. We don't do that.

We then walked all the way over to TOT.

People were already lining up for the Fantasmic show.

We did that once.

It was dumb.

Never again.

The line I mean, not Fantasmic.

So we rode TOT.

Here's our pic.

We are in the second row there on the right:

By the time we did that little bit, it was just about 9:00.

So, we heaed to Fantasmic.

No line now- we just walked right in and sat down.

We never used to go to Fantasmic. I don't know why, but we didn't.

Now we always do.

The girls love this part:

For some reason, Twin #1 really likes Megera from the Hercules movie, so she snapped a couple photos of her:

This is a really impressive collection of characters:

The last time we saw Fantasmic, there was some kind of problem, and scenes were cut out, like this one:

Tonight, we got to see the whole show.

It finished around 9:30, and after the slow walk out, it was around 9:45 pm when we made it out to the bus stop.

The MK was still open for an hour and fifteen minutes.

Maybe they would have the BOG restaurant open for guests to see since they were serving VIP's in there tonight?

This would be our last chance to try, as the castmember previews were set to begin the next day, and word was no regular guests would be let in while those were going on.

So, we decided to go for it.

But how to get there?

What would be the quickest way to go?

What would you do?

Here was our plan- we decided that we would head to the bus stops, and take either the Contemporary or Fort bus, whichever one showed up first. The bus stops are right next to each other, so that factored into our plan. If the Contemporary bus came first, we would take it and walk to the MK. If the Fort bus came first, we would take it to the Lodge, get off there, and then take the MK bus.

As we walked that way, we saw a Contemporary bus was already there and loading.

So we hopped aboard.

We pulled right out, and were on our way.

We went straight to the Contemporary, hopped off, and walked to the MK.

We made it by about 10:10 pm.

Not bad.

We had 50 minutes to check out Fantasyland again.

We headed on back.

The gates and front door of Be Our Guest were open,

Win!

We headed on it.

We were greated by a nice castmember who directed us into this little room lined with suits of armor:

This was kind of like a hallway, and the few folks who were there in front of us rushed on through.

We stopped to take photos.

There was a castmember in there who chatted with us.

He said we were smart to stop in this room.

Because there were some cool things in it that people missed by rushing through.

We asked him what.

He said wait.

And be quiet.

So we waited quietly.

I took a few more photos:

There were screens that looked like computer monitors in the middle of the narrow room. They were displaying what looked like sheet music written in French:

These suits of armor had amazing details:

But we didn't notice anything cool, like the castmember had suggested.

Just as I was about to ask him what he was talking about, I heard a sneeze.

It came from a suit of armor.

Then another one spoke in a loud whisper, saying, I assume, God Bless You, in French.

Then the one across the aisle snored.

The one next to him whispered something to him in French.

And so on.

These suits of armor were enchanted.

We thanked the castmember for suggesting that we wait.

We asked him if he had any other tips or secrets to share.

He said he knew where a Hidden Mickey was.

He gave us a clue.

But he made us find it.

And we did.

I liked this kid.

We then asked him what else he had.

He said that was it.

He confessed that this was the first time he had been in the restaurant too.

He normally works at Peter Pan, but was recruited to work the special event tonight.

He had been stuck in just this room all night.

He had heard a lot from those suits or armor.

From there, we walked on and entered another room.

This one had a big fireplace in it:

Isn't it strange how those shields on the mantle are blank?

I'll bet something is going to be projected on them.

It sure looks that way.

Opposite from the fireplace, there were rows of computer screens in this room:

These screens will be used by lunch guests to order their meals.

I couldn't see how you pay or where you pick up your food, but I have since learned how that works.

This light fixture hangs above the computer monitor room:

I have never seen a quick serve restaurant like this!

The sheet music theme carried on into this room:

From this room, we were then invited to take a look in the main dining room. There were velvet ropes there keeping us from walking in to the dining room- there were still a few VIP's in there eating, so we could just look. This is what we saw:

It is kind of dark in there, and big, so it's not easy to photograph.

What you see here is a huge room with a high ceiling. You see those windows on the far end? They had a projected outside scene playing on those windows which are actually giant monitors. It looked like there was a forest out there, and it was night and snowing. Really, really, cool!

If you watch the Beauty and the Beast movie, you will see that this ceiling matches up with the one depicted in the dance scene in the movie:

We admired this view for a while.

And, then headed back out to the entry foyer.

There are two other dining rooms in this building.

But only this one was open for us to see tonight.

This stained glass window was in the foyer:

This arch is over the doorway that we used to exit the dining room:

And that was it for our tour tonight.

That made our dash over here from DHS worth the effort.

On the way out of the restaurant, I noticed this gate which blocks off some stairs:

I wonder where those stairs go?

I'll need to check on that some time.

For now, though, we decided to move on.

We had enjoyed being alone in Gaston's village last night, and now we had another chance to do that again.

So we headed to Gaston's Tavern.

We had not seen this room yesterday:

Check it out- Gaston and LeFou were playing darts in here- look at the darts on the wall:

LeFou may make good brew, but he's not much with darts:

Since we were here, we went ahead and checked out the room we sat in yesterday to eat our pork shank. We were the only ones in it:

There is a little room off to the side of this room which has this really cool antler light fixture in it:

There is a raccoon hat thrown up high in those antlers. I think I remember something about this from the movie, but I need to watch it again to see:

Remember how I said the new restrooms back here cool?

But I couldn't take a photo because it was full of dudes?

Well, we were the only ones back here tonight.

So, I ducked in the men's room for a photo.

I wanted to get a photo of this thing:

Anybody ever seen one of those?

That's a far cry from those troughs we were talking about earlier in this report.

To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure exactly what that thing was or how to use it.

But, it seemed pretty simple.

I went ahead and started to do my business.

But then.

Wow.

Have you ever heard that saying "Like spitting in the wind?"

Only with another word there in place of spitting?

Well, now I know why they say not to do that.

Goodness, it was like a hurricane in there!

It made quite a mess.

Who thought these new fangeled urinals were a good idea?

Probably it was Phil Holmes.

Dummy.

Not to worry.

I didn't let that episode stop us.

And, luckily for me, all the mess shot out from the sides of that thing, and not on me.

I met up with the girls at the fountain.

Which we had all to ourselves.

We stopped for a little photo session there.

And, then we moved on for one last attraction before the park closed.

We will start there in the next post.

By the way, remember I said we saw another Hidden Mickey?

There's a photo of it in this post.

Bragging rights to whoever finds it first.

TCD

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

That thing on the wall is a hand dryer. Look up dyson airblade. Lol

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

That thing on the wall is a hand dryer. Look up dyson airblade. Lol

Now you tell me.

You would think they could have put up a sign or something.

TCD

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

. Lol. I am in tears right now laughing at the image.

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

I see a Mickey head in the knight's "tools of the trade" it's not really hidden.

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

This stained glass window was in the foyer:

One word: Pants

[anolefan 8]

Now you tell me.

You would think they could have put up a sign or something.

TCD

Funny! I would have fallen for that one if you hadn't written about these bad boy hand drying machines on another report in the past. I don't have as good a memory as you, but I'm pretty sure it was on some other site. :)

Love the pictures of the restaurant. Did you see any recognizable VIP's?

[dvccamper 32]

On the way out of the restaurant, I noticed this gate which blocks off some stairs:

I wonder where those stairs go?

I'll need to check on that some time.

TCD

I would think the stairs lead to the West Wing. But the gate looks like the cell where the Beast had Maurice locked up.

With three daughters I estimate I have seen Beauty and the Beast at least fifty times. Sad, but true.

Too funny on the urinal, that made me laugh. When my oldest started school there was a drinking fountain in the classroom, built into the wall. She wouldn't use it because in her words "I think boys go to the bathroom in there."

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I found the hidden Mickey without reading the answers posted. That made me feel very good. Thank you, I needed to feel good tonight.

[stefa70 205]

:rofl2: Ya can't beat bathroom humor!! Good stuff.

We're taking off for a few days. Keep up the great work and I'll catch up on Sunday.

:wave1:

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I am caught up!!! Officially caught up.

We not only go through the candy we barter for favorites/allergy can't eats.

[BuckeyeFortFan 35]

One word: Pants

What can you say. He's French.

[Hotmamac aka Misty 11]

Be our Guest looks amazing!!! But I may be biased as Beauty and the Beast is my absolute favorite!! Yet another reason for me to get my next trip planned right away!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

The restaurant looks beautiful. I wish the dinner menu appealed to me more....both in price and selection of food. I still think I'll cancel my reservation and try to grab lunch there instead.