TCD's Pre-Halloween 2012 Trip Report

[fortpartyof4 108]

I am so far behind! But, I needed to chime back in on your NYY bashing. You think I didn't notice your little "spelling error" back there? You're a sly one, Mr. TCD.

You really saw quite a few unique golf carts. And it wasn't even parade week!

I call everyone dude, male/female, young, old. But only people who I know and won't take offense.

We don't sort the candy, but do a big "dump" and assess the haul. The boys have a big trading thing they do with things they don't like or things they really like.

The raisins made me remember a funny story. When I was in high school, I used to go over to my best friend's house to help her and her sister hand out candy. Their mom was a nurse and worked nights. She was also very into healthy eating and they very rarely had any junk food in their home. So, she always bought raisins to give out on Halloween. They lived "in town" as we called it - it was a very, very small town and there was the downtown area with lots of homes, then farm country surrounding it - so a lot of people would drive into town to bring their kids trick or treating. Most folks would park and walk the neighborhoods since the houses were in nice blocks, very close together and there were sidewalks. But some parents didn't see the need to get out of the car and drove their kids around. The kids would hop out, run to the door, then back to the car. It was pretty ridiculous, because they would literally be driving mere feet between homes. We called them "car people", and didn't like that they didn't walk around like everyone else. We emptied some of the raisin boxes and gave the car people empty raisin boxes. So cruel, I know. But we were in high school and didn't think about that. As if giving the regular walking trick or treaters raisins wasn't bad enough! We were giving out empty boxes of them.

I think Genia is still waiting for you to break out the purple crayon.

Dude, please tell me you didn't take a whiz on a supersonic hand dryer! Yikes!

See what I did there……...

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

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.

Same here Dave. Sadly i will have to have dinner there once as my wife will divorce me otherwise.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

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!

Thanks!

I love that photo. There is a GG photo coming up, BTW.

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

That would have been funny.

But I'm kidding.

I kid sometimes.

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

Well done! You got it! Bragging rights to you!

One word: Pants

How did I miss that?

That is hilarious!

What The Fort?

The dude really doesn't have any pants on.

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?

You are right Tom. And that reminded me that you told me they had some in Countryside Mall. Which I still have never checked on.

No, I didn't recognize any of the VIP's. I think they were just Disney Executives. Until this trip, I didn't know what any of them looked like. Now at least I know Phil. If he wears that hat around, he would be hard to miss.

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."

LOL @ your daughter. That's funny.

You are probably right that the gate is supposed to represent where Maurice has been locked away. I really need to watch the movie before we go back- I'll bet there are a lot of details that I missed.

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

Way to go, Marty.

Glad to play a small part in you feeling good.

: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:

Take me with you!

Wait, where are you going ?

Probably to a mud hole.

Nevermind, I'm good.

I am caught up!!! Officially caught up.

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

Way to go.

But, don't waste your Fort time on a TCD trip report.

Adventure is out there!

What can you say. He's French.

LOL!

Perfect!

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

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!

I think the restaurant is amazing, and the photos do not do it justice. That big animated window in the ballroom would be cool to sit next to. I've seen photos of the other two rooms and they look equally cool. There really is no other restaurant in WDW that you can compare this to. Maybe the restaurant in the castle, but I think this is cooler than that.

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.

Same here. Except I don't have a dinner reservation to cancel. I'm going to try the lunch the first chance I get, though.

I am so far behind! But, I needed to chime back in on your NYY bashing. You think I didn't notice your little "spelling error" back there? You're a sly one, Mr. TCD.

You really saw quite a few unique golf carts. And it wasn't even parade week!

I call everyone dude, male/female, young, old. But only people who I know and won't take offense.

We don't sort the candy, but do a big "dump" and assess the haul. The boys have a big trading thing they do with things they don't like or things they really like.

The raisins made me remember a funny story. When I was in high school, I used to go over to my best friend's house to help her and her sister hand out candy. Their mom was a nurse and worked nights. She was also very into healthy eating and they very rarely had any junk food in their home. So, she always bought raisins to give out on Halloween. They lived "in town" as we called it - it was a very, very small town and there was the downtown area with lots of homes, then farm country surrounding it - so a lot of people would drive into town to bring their kids trick or treating. Most folks would park and walk the neighborhoods since the houses were in nice blocks, very close together and there were sidewalks. But some parents didn't see the need to get out of the car and drove their kids around. The kids would hop out, run to the door, then back to the car. It was pretty ridiculous, because they would literally be driving mere feet between homes. We called them "car people", and didn't like that they didn't walk around like everyone else. We emptied some of the raisin boxes and gave the car people empty raisin boxes. So cruel, I know. But we were in high school and didn't think about that. As if giving the regular walking trick or treaters raisins wasn't bad enough! We were giving out empty boxes of them.

I think Genia is still waiting for you to break out the purple crayon.

Dude, please tell me you didn't take a whiz on a supersonic hand dryer! Yikes!

See what I did there……...

Thanks!

That is a great post.

I LOL'd at the raisin story. Don't feel bad about it. The car kids deserved it.

Sorry about that A-Rod "typo," but I couldn't help myself. I won't pick on your Yankees any more. At least not in this thread.

Same here Dave. Sadly i will have to have dinner there once as my wife will divorce me otherwise.

Good. Let me know how you like the dinner. And try the grey stuff. It's delicious. Don't believe me? Ask the dishes.

(ya see what I did there?).

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Due to poor planning on my part, this update will be much shorter than a typical upate.

Just 11 photos.

But, that's all I have left from Friday.

So, we will finish up with Friday and then crank back up with a bunch of Saturday photos.

Don't worry- it will be fine.

In case you forgot, we left off with what I shall call the Code Yellow incident in Gaston's restroom.

As I mentioned, we had the place to ourselves.

So, the girls tried to recreate the pose of Gaston and LeFou in the fountain:

Needs work.

It was just about 11 now.

The park closed at 11.

I guess we needed to head on out.

So we did.

But, there were still folks coming out of the Little Mermaid area.

I said let's see it at night.

We hadn't been allowed down that far last night.

All of those lights we looked at earlier create a great effect at night:

As we stood there, two other castmembers asked us if we would like to meet Ariel.

We hadn't bothered with that yet, as we knew we would be back for the passholder preview.

But, since they asked, we headed in to the Grotto.

The time stamp says this photo was taken at 10:59 pm:

We were the only ones in there.

And, since we knew it was closing time, we kind of hurried through.

This cave is a lot like the queue for the ride.

But, they didn't have light fixtures like these over there:

The girls had a nice chat with Ariel:

It's kind of funny to me that 17 year olds enjoy meeting the characters as much as these two do, but they really have fun with it. Ariel told them all about a slumber party she had been to last night with the other princesses. They made fun of Belle, because all she wanted to do was read. Ariel and Rapunzel fixed the other princesses' hair. I can't remember what else she said, but she went on like that. Then it was time for the photo:

That ended up being fun.

Now, the park was closed.

So we made our way out.

I didn't know if we would have a repeat of last night with the boat.

But we didn't.

The boat was there waiting for us and we were able to board right away.

Sweet.

Just get back, hop on the cart, and we would be at our site in just a few minutes.

Wait.

Remember we started this evening at DHS.

So, our cart was at the Outpost.

I hate it when that happens.

In fact, I have gone to great lenghts in the past to make sure that didn't happen.

It turned out not to be a big deal.

Since we were on the 400 loop, the girls just walked back to the site, and I headed to the bus stop.

That time of night, there are usually buses waiting at the bus stop and they will take you directly where you want to go.

Sure enough there was a bus waiting for me.

There were a few people on the bus who needed to get to cabin loops.

So, we headed that way and dropped them off, and then went right to the Outpost.

Not a bad deal at all.

After I picked up the cart, I remembered that there was something I have been meaning to check on here.

It is in the Reception Outpost building.

So I headed there.

This is what I was looking for:

That's an old Fort Wilderness poster, featuring the old FWRR.

A couple of those posters have sold on ebay for big bucks.

The most recent sales have included photos that look like the two I just posted, and claim that the posters they were selling had been on display at Fort Wilderness. That made me wonder if this poster had been taken down and sold. It hasn't. It's still there. Which raises the question- where are these posters that are being sold coming from? I recall this poster and another one on display in the barn. The one in the barn is gone. But this one is still here. I think whoever is selling those posters is lying about them being actual posters that were displayed at the Fort.

Since I was here and had my camera out, I snapped a photo of this sign. I don't remember seeing a dated sign like this on display here before:

And check this out- despite their ridiculous prices, they were sold out of golf carts:

This old cross stitch that they have on display behind the check in desk has always intiqued me. Of all the things that could be displayed there, why this? :

That last photo was taken at 12:30.

It was past my bed time.

I headed back to the camper immediately and took care of that.

Next up-

River Country.

For real.

TCD

[SCTigerCock 171]

I think Genia is still waiting for you to break out the purple crayon.

:raspberry: :kickinass: :raspberry:

After I picked up the cart

Did that hurt? :bugeyes:

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

River Country! I hope there are no panthers in there. Or any loose anacondas and/or pythons.

Be on the look out!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Did that hurt? :bugeyes:

Very good. That was funny.

River Country! I hope there are no panthers in there. Or any loose anacondas and/or pythons.

Be on the look out!

Yes River Country.

But, sorry, no on the critters.

Not this time anyway.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

But, don't waste your Fort time on a TCD trip report.

Adventure is out there!

TCD

We are here for a pretty long time. We got AP's and I've thrown out the spreadsheets. I'm pacing myself in the parks but we did MNSSHP two nights ago. So I wanted an early night last night so I decided instead of book reading I'd catch up on your TR and post some additions to my own. Now I'm getting ready to do some laundry and maybe update my own TR.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We are here for a pretty long time. We got AP's and I've thrown out the spreadsheets. I'm pacing myself in the parks but we did MNSSHP two nights ago. So I wanted an early night last night so I decided instead of book reading I'd catch up on your TR and post some additions to my own. Now I'm getting ready to do some laundry and maybe update my own TR.

You threw out the spreadsheets?

Way to go!!!!

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Be Our Guest looks wonderful. It is my 17yog's favorite movie. She loved the pictures and asked me to thank you for posting them.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Just like that it's now Saturday morning.

And, I am up before the sun.

I took the usual route.

Everything looked the same as yesterday, so I skipped the pics.

Don't worrry, though, there was something new there on Sunday and there will be pics from then.

For now, though, we are heading to River Country.

The thoughtless fishing guide blocked my access yesterday.

But, I was up earlier today.

So, I went to the gate that everyone sticks his hand through to take some photos.

Here you go:

That is the fullest I've seen that old pool.

Good to see the cattails are thriving.

Here we are looking the other way, toward the Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower:

The old shack is still winning its fight with gravity:

Another look at the pool with my arm stuck further in:

These are the old Kiddie Cove slides:

And here's the old office building. If you look to the left side of this photo, those two posts you see sticking up are from the barrel bridge:

Kiddie Cove again:

The rocks around the pool are continuing to crumble:

One of the old signs from one of the attractions is laying there on the ground:

You see these tire tracks here? They are from when they installed all those blue barrels back by the old beach. The barrels are still there, but it doesn't look like trucks have been going in and out anymore:

This is the last photo I have of River Country- that pipe you see sticking up is some kind of test well they use to study soil and drainage:

By this time my arm was tired from being stuck through the fence. So, I stopped.

As you can see, nothing is going on at River Country.

No new DVC.

Nothing.

They had some props set up around the BBQ pavilion.

Like this stack of skulls:

I call this photo Scarecrow at Sunrise:

Maybe that should be Too Little Scarecrow; Too Much Sunrise.

Is this better? :

They had a little graveyard scene set up over here to the side:

And that was all there was to see around here.

So, here we are back on the road to the Settlement:

I decided to do some looping.

I headed to the 800 loop.

I had noticed this site the day before, and so had the girls.

These folks had skeletons with princess dresses on them:

I think that's pretty darned funny.

Good job, whoever you are.

You made a TCD TR.

But, wait a cotton pickin' second.

Did you notice something else in that last photo?

That little sign on the hitch?

Those are Fiends!

True story. . .

Later that day I was talking to my next door neighbor, Devores. I told him I had some spikes I wanted to deliver, and asked him if he had seen any ff.net signs around the Fort. There were a few, and I had seen them all. Then he mentioned the little one on the 800 loop. I said I hadn't seen it. He said it's small. I said it must be. I asked him what site it was. He said he didn't know the number, but it was the one with the dead princesses. I told him I knew that site and had taken a photo of it, but it had no sign. He said yes it did. Turns out Devores was right. I even had a picture of the sign. So I went back there and delivered a spike. Nobody was home. But, that is ff.net member DisneyZombie's site.

Nice job, DisneyZombie.

You got spiked.

And you made a TCD TR.

You are a real Fiend now.

Where were we?

Oh, yeah, 800 loop.

You know what site is right across from the 800 loop entrance?

Yep.

Good old 617. Here you go:

What a site.

I can never get over how close the grill is to the fence.

Hey.

Wait a cotton pickin' minute.

Where's the grill?

Do you see it in that last photo?

What The Fort?

I took a closer look.

Oh, there it is:

I remember it being closer to the fence, don't you?

But, I guess it's not that close to the fence after all:

Hey look- some vandals drilled holes there in the corner of the slab.

That wasn't very nice.

Here's a look back at 617 from the sidewalk that runs along its side:

I don't know.

With that new grill location and these lush bushes, I may have to give that site a try.

I headed across the loop and to the sidewalk that leads to the footbridge.

Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal stopped by to say hello:

I have a lot of photos of the bridge. They all look alike. So, I went wild for this one:

Crazy, huh?

I always look down the canal. It doesn't ever look very different:

And here we are looking toward the Meadow Trading Post. We were over there yesterday morning looking this way. Also, you can see Bob's dock is Bobless, all the way across the lake:

I call this photo Sunrise over the Campfire Area:

Since we were here, I decided to check out the movie times guide. That is a cool sign. Here it is :

Do you see that?

The movie times guide used to have a slot for each day of the week, and a castmember would slide in a little sign that said the name of the movie playing each night.

Now, they just have a blow up of the guide provided at check in.

Sure, that works.

But, I liked the old sign better.

Boo!

I sure miss the good old days.

We have one more thing to look at here.

But, I'm out of space for photos in this post.

So, we will pick it up from there in the next post.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

You threw out the spreadsheets?

Way to go!!!!

TCD

I threw out so many spreadsheets that I missed the potluck because I didn't know what day it was on, bought tickets for MNSSHP for that night..... as you would say Fail. That's ok. I blamed it on you and Lou!

[Specularius 102]

Maybe someone on 617 did like I did on 623 last february, and relocated the grill to the ground. You know, It is hard backing a big fifth wheel around a pine tree and into a site when the truck is bigger than the fifth wheel. I'm glad to see they moved the grill over although I would never use one those grills to cook on. I've seen everything from gas cans to stinky slinkies stored on those grills.

[dblr....Rennie 224]

WOW TCD you must have really long arms!!!!!!!! As with most people I miss River Country just glad I got a chance to take my boys there even they were to young to remember.

[Duane 152]

With that new grill location and these lush bushes, I may have to give that site a try.

Okay, I've followed this thing through this far, so I might as well chime in.... Andrew, I've read enough of your trip reports to know that if you would like to give this site a try, you are most likely saying this "tongue in cheek".... However, if I'm wrong, and its been about 5 years since I was wrong, and I'm due, but if you do ever get the luck of the draw and get to stay in that site, it had better be in the winter.

Let me tell you that Sunny Sage Way, gets its name honest... Any site on that side of the road in Loop 600 (at least the newer part) has to be the absolute hottest place in all of Disney World.

We had the unfortunate luck a couple of years ago getting placed in that Loop, on that side of the road, just a few sites down, and even with 2 A/C's blasting as hard as they could, I swear I could feel my skin begin to melt off...

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

I think the restaurant is amazing, and the photos do not do it justice. That big animated window in the ballroom would be cool to sit next to. I've seen photos of the other two rooms and they look equally cool. There really is no other restaurant in WDW that you can compare this to. Maybe the restaurant in the castle, but I think this is cooler than that.

Good. Let me know how you like the dinner. And try the grey stuff. It's delicious. Don't believe me? Ask the dishes.

(ya see what I did there?).

TCD

The window is actually a window to a very large printed image applied to the wall of the countryside and then they project the snow onto it. Very cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_zJMY46qSs

Oh an I definitely saw what you did there.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I agree with you on the change to the Movie Times guide. That was one of the tiny little touches that made the Fort special. Sure, in the greater scheme of things maybe it didn't matter. But take away enough of those little things, and eventually you change the Fort in a big way.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Be Our Guest looks wonderful. It is my 17yog's favorite movie. She loved the pictures and asked me to thank you for posting them.

Tell your DD it is my pleasure. Hopefully, I will have more BOG photos after tomorrow-as we are heading back to WDW for the Fantasyland Passholder Preview, which is supposed to include a tour of the BOG restaurant.

I threw out so many spreadsheets that I missed the potluck because I didn't know what day it was on, bought tickets for MNSSHP for that night..... as you would say Fail. That's ok. I blamed it on you and Lou!

No, I wouldn't call that a fail at all! You are the Happiest Place in the Universe (or something like that). Do what you want.

Lou?

Who's Lou?

Where the heck is Lou?

Maybe someone on 617 did like I did on 623 last february, and relocated the grill to the ground. You know, It is hard backing a big fifth wheel around a pine tree and into a site when the truck is bigger than the fifth wheel. I'm glad to see they moved the grill over although I would never use one those grills to cook on. I've seen everything from gas cans to stinky slinkies stored on those grills.

You relocated the grill?

To the ground?

Awesome!

The way 617 is set up, I really question whether that grill would be safe to use by someone with a long RV. It probably would be within a couple of feet of the unit.

Yep- I know you saw a stinky slinky on a grill- I saw the same one. That was a while back, wasn't it?

WOW TCD you must have really long arms!!!!!!!! As with most people I miss River Country just glad I got a chance to take my boys there even they were to young to remember.

Busted.

I didn't want to reveal my secret. But since you called me on it, yes, I did use my broomstick and duct tape to take some of those photos.

Okay, I've followed this thing through this far, so I might as well chime in.... Andrew, I've read enough of your trip reports to know that if you would like to give this site a try, you are most likely saying this "tongue in cheek".... However, if I'm wrong, and its been about 5 years since I was wrong, and I'm due, but if you do ever get the luck of the draw and get to stay in that site, it had better be in the winter. Let me tell you that Sunny Sage Way, gets its name honest... Any site on that side of the road in Loop 600 (at least the newer part) has to be the absolute hottest place in all of Disney World. We had the unfortunate luck a couple of years ago getting placed in that Loop, on that side of the road, just a few sites down, and even with 2 A/C's blasting as hard as they could, I swear I could feel my skin begin to melt off...

Five years since you were wrong, huh?

I'll bet Mrs. Duane would have a different view of that.

I, of course, am kidding about 617. I have never stayed on the 600 loop, and hope to keep it that way. The lack of shade on the new part is obvious. I acknowledge that it would be neat to have one of the sites along the lake. But, I couldn't handle the surface of the sun temperatures.

The window is actually a window to a very large printed image applied to the wall of the countryside and then they project the snow onto it. Very cool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_zJMY46qSs Oh an I definitely saw what you did there.

Thanks for that video. That is really cool. We were kept a distance away, so we couldn't see exactly how those windows worked. But the effect was cool! I hope to get back for a closer look tomorrow.

I agree with you on the change to the Movie Times guide. That was one of the tiny little touches that made the Fort special. Sure, in the greater scheme of things maybe it didn't matter. But take away enough of those little things, and eventually you change the Fort in a big way.

As you well know, those little things have steadily been taken away.

There ain't much left.

It would not surprise me in the least if the Chipmunks go missing one day.

And then the singing cowboy.

Then, they can just have a couple of CM's there to man the snack bar and play the movie.

The beancounters will like that.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

It is still Saturday morning.

And we are still in the campfire area.

I noticed that the canvas sign that covers the stage has seen better days:

Isn't that kind of un-Disney-like to let something fade that badly?

For reference, here's what that is supposed to look like:

By the way, do you know who Dr. Terminus is?

And would you go to a doctor with that name?

From what I've heard, he is a character in the movie Pete's Dragon.

Which, as far as I can recall, I have never seen.

The dragon and Pete also play a pretty major role in the Main Street Electrical Parade which is still being featured at the MK.

I think I ought to watch that movie some time.

Well, guess what?

I bought a copy.

But so far, the twins have refused come up with good excuses every time I have suggested that we watch it. I even brought the movie with us on this trip. But, it was a no go.

Truth be told, I am not all that excited to see it, but I think I need to.

And I will.

One of these days.

Now, back to that wagon.

The painted sides still look OK:

Looking at this wagon reminded me of something else that I meant to check on while here at the Fort.

So, I headed there.

I parked in the golf cart parking area by Pioneer Hall, and struck out on foot.

I took this photo, because I think these benches are new. If they aren't, I haven't noticed them before. What is new is that the seat part is just a flat plank. Not half a log, like they used to be:

Those log benches are one of those little Fort details that make the Fort the Fort. I hope these benches are not a sign that the old benches are on the way out.

Before we leave that last photo, please make sure that you enjoy those flowers in the flower bed, and don't miss that tall cone-shaped thing in the far background. A lot of people miss that. It's an old vine-covered windmill, and it is one of the cool things that still remains from the Fort's past.

Here we are on our way to what I came here to see. That's the old petting zoo area there down the path:

Do you like this big field here? :

Too bad if you said yes. That is going to be a parking lot one day. At least that's the plan if they go forward with building a new DVC resort here.

Here we are at the old petting zoo:

Man, that petting zoo used to be great. Luckily, all the TCD girls got to enjoy it before the animals were shipped off.

Now, it's all ponies:

Ponies aren't bad.

But, the petting zoo was better.

Here's that old windmill I mentioned above. It's under all those vines:

In case you didn't guess, this is where we are going. To the barn:

My enjoyment of the peace and tranquility back here was shattered by the arrival of a big truck:

If you ever wondered where WDW gets its beef, now you know.

This is what we came to see:

This space was built a few years ago to display an old calliope that had been featured in the Disney movie Toby Tyler, and which would occasionally make appearances in parades. They built this special room, and installed a button that guests could push to allegedly hear the calliope play. When you pushed the button, you got a tape recorded version of calliope music.

Earlier this year, the calliope dissappeared. This wagon showed up in its place. But the button is still there, and if you push it, the calliope still plays. Of course, that makes no sense now that this wagon is sitting there:

No big whoop. I don't think anyone really cares. I don't. But, it's weird how they do things in WDW.

Time to move on.

I walked around the petting zoo.

I wanted a good shot of the pavilion from this side:

There's that beef truck, and another that had just arrived. I was impressed by how the second driver pulled in to that area, then backed right into the space next to the beef truck, all while talking on his cell phone:

I walked around this side of the petting zoo to head back to my cart:

As I walked along the path next to Pioneer Hall, I noticed that there were some kind of footprints in the sand. I backed up and took this photo:

The shoe print is mine. The others, I presume, are deer footprints.

Over at the Wilderness Lodge, they have fake animal footprints stamped into some of their sidewalks.

Here at the Fort, we have the real deal.

For now anyway.

Don't forget that right where this path is, there is going to be a huge parking lot one day.

Maybe.

Don't worry though. If they do build the new DVC here, I'm sure there will be plenty of fake animal footprints on the sidewalks.

I seem to always take a photo of Pioneer Hall at sunrise, and I did on this trip:

You know what's cool, though?

It was 8:30 in the morning, and there was no a single person around other than me.

No one.

No one over there:

No one over there:

Or even walking this way from the bus stop:

That was a cool moment.

I had this all to myself.

I could just sit there and admire the future parking lot site:

That moment of solitude ended in just a couple of minutes when a group came by on bikes:

By the way, remember how the bike racks are on the other side of the posts that we looked at when we were this way yesterday morning?

There's a sign there saying no bikes past this point.

They don't want people riding bikes in front of Pioneer Hall any more.

OK.

The problem is, there is no sign on the other side here where I am telling people that.

So, those bikers we just saw happily peddled through an area that is supposed to be off limits for bikes.

They didn't know that, though.

Have I ever shared my thoughts about the folks who are paid to manage the Fort?

I case I haven't, I will just say that I do not have a very high opinion of the Fort managers.

As I mentioned, it was around 8:30 at this point.

When we turned in last night, we agreed that we wouldn't try for a rope drop anywhere today, but that we would get up by 9, and head out for breakfast.

There was a breakfast item that we have heard raves about, but which we had never tried.

We were going to go have that for breakfast today.

Here I am on the way back to our site.

That's my pop-up there hiding behind the bush straight ahead:

Here's a closer look, and this photo is called Sunrise over 416:

You may have noticed the lack of Halloween decorations.

There are none.

When we arrived on Thursday, we rushed of to the MK.

Then on Friday, we were on the go all day too.

I brought a bunch of decorations.

I had 5 or 6 big inflatable decorations, including my 9' Vampire Mickey. And my fog machine. And strobe light.

But, where was I supposed to put my decorations?

The only place I had was that little strip of grass next to the sidewalk.

I decided to be a Halloween grinch. I left the decorations in the truck.

All except for this one:

Yup, that's the Gator Gnome.

Thanks, again, Stef!

Next up, we head out for breakfast.

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Thank you for not posting any food pictures of kitties before I have had my lunch.

I wish we could form a steering comittee for the Fort and bring back the petting zoo, the calliope, the train, and River Country. My parents never took me camping or to WDW when I was young, so I missed out on all those. (Wow, amazing how quickly I can get back on the oh, poor me train these days.)

[Specularius 102]

Dr. Terminus!

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I assure you Lou is still around. I missed him at the potluck but met him at the GC Parade. Then said a brief hello while on my way to the Laundry room....

I even got Hugs!

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

Love the early morning photos and RC photos as always!

Boo to any future parking lot.

Down with the Fort DVC idea.......that may be the only idea dumber than Avatarland.

Maybe the Fort DVC will be made to look like Endor and the Ewoks will be roaming about?

That way the worst idea of the original trilogy can be matched up with the worst idea WDW has ever come up with.

[MetalDad 33]

Random thoughts:

As far as parking lots go, that looks like a small one, unless they go up and build a huge monolithic garage.

That looks like tracks from a deer that wears a left flip-flop. Same brand as yours!

I wonder if they took the calliope away for some theming at the 4 Seasons or Fort DVC, wouldn't that be a slap in the mouth?

The calliope button just goes to show you how dumb they think we are!

I love the half log benches. That will be sad if they go!

More homogenous campground stuff, they seem to be slowly but surely stripping away a lot of the Fort's character.