TCD is Thankful for Thanksgiving @ The Fort 2012

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Yes, it's another TCD TR.

You know what that means.

Bragging rights to everyone who posts on the first page!

This ended up being a five night trip to the Fort.

At one point, the entire TCD gang was there with us.

Even Mrs. TCD.

And Rocky, the TCD dog.

Awesome.

Let's begin at the beginning.

We headed east on Sunday, November 18th. For the first day, it was just me and the TCD twins.

I had once again sprung for a premium site.

We timed it to arrive around 1 pm, so we could hopefully check in and go right to our site.

I had been in touch with fellow Fiend Devores, who was kind enough to survey the 400 loop for empty sites that morning.

I had requested the 400 loop, and with the open sites there, things looked good for us to be on the 400 loop again on this trip.

Since I was driving, Twin #1 was in charge of photos at this point in the trip.

We had a couple of pilgrims along for the ride:

Before too long, we were passing under those magical gates:

And then we arrived at these even more magical gates:

As you may have heard, those even more magical gates have been repainted lately. The project isn't done yet, either- note that today we were greeted by the letters W-E-L-C.

Cool vs. Not-Cool:

My keen psychic powers tell me that there will soon be an O-M-E posted up there in those empty spots:

The decorations here on the main MK gates are kind of cheap looking. But, at least C & D are getting some love:

And, here we are!:

I was wondering how busy it would be when we arrived.

That question was answered when we had to wait on this line just to get to the guard shack:

The guard shack was decorated for Christmas:

We choose lane 6:

While we waited, a castmember came out to great us and asked if we had done on-line check-in. I guess if we had, he would have gone and gotten our check-in packet. But we hadn't, so we had to wait:

As luck would have it, we ended up with a very new castmember. She told us we had been assigned to the 800 loop. I asked her to check on the open sites on the 400 loop. She had to make a phone call. After a long time, she told us that none of those open sites were available, but there was a person still on site 415 who was supposed to be leaving, but hadn't yet, and she got me assigned to that site. Wait a second, I said, what am I supposed to do about the guest who is still there? She said they would text me when he left and they got the site cleaned. I told her no thanks. Put me back on 800. That required another long phone call. Argh. Finally, we were done, and on our way to the 800 loop. Sheez.

We got to have a nice leisurely drive into the Fort courtesy of the idiots on golf carts who wouldn't even pull over for a bus:

If you are one of those idiots, for Pete's sake, read the golf cart rules- you are supposed to pull over for the buses and faster moving vehicles!

Also, golf carts are supposed to stop for people in the crosswalks just like cars are.

Every time I drove in or out of the campground on this trip, I was trapped behind an idiot in a golf cart. Rude.

And only once all week did I see a golfcart stop for a person in the crosswalk. Rude.

Get with it people!

We finally made it to site 807.

And, the first order of business was to go looping.

Which we did.

I took the twins on up to the Outpost so they could head to Downtown Disney for lunch.

On the way, we saw folks paddling along the canal behind the 1300 loop:

Check out this cool little golf cart that we saw in the Outpost parking area:

On the way back to the site, I had to drive slow for the picnic table delivery guy:

Site 807 backs up to the main drag in the campground-Fort Wilderness Trail- so we had all kinds of interesting things to see all week. For example, this wagon passed right by as I was setting up camp:

Here is what we will call the before photo:

We were right next to this sidwalk and tetherball court:

Both of those amenities will come in handy later in this report.

As I set up, the girls kept me updated on their whereabouts.

I also had a few visitors.

Like Mr. and Mrs. Devores, who stopped by to harass me about how close my hammock was to the road.

And Fiesty herself.

And, even everyone's favorite bus driver stopped by- the suddenly mysterious Lou.

Before too long, the set up was done, and the girls were back.

We headed down to Trail's End for our traditional first night meal.

I got to see the big Fort Christmas tree for the first time:

And also the smaller tree they have on Crockett's porch:

We ate our chicken back at the site.

And then it was off to the MK for the Extra Magic Hours.

We got to see the Dream Lights for the first time:

And the new show projected on the castle. I have some more photos of this from another visit we made on this trip, but here's one for now:

We have been to the MK on the Sunday before Thanksgiving before. Tonight it was not as crowded as we had seen in the past few years. It really started to cool off, and people probably headed out because of the cold. That was great for us. There were no lines for any of the rides. We went ahead and rode a few, but we were cold too. So, we didn't make it to 3 am. Fail.

We made it back to the Fort, and did a little late night looping. There weren't many open sites.

That's all I have for Sunday.

Not to worry, things will pick up from here.

TCD

[thegooftroopfla 18]

Yeah. Here we go

[North7... Jeff 2]

A TCD trip report is the perfect way to start a new week!! There must have been a number of Fiends around the Fort last week as it was pretty quiet on the forum.

Looking forward to reading all about it!

[ftwildernessguy 778]

Where's the dog?

[dvccamper 32]

Yay, first page, this is a first for me!! Looking forward to the latest adventure!

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

I'm in. Now to go read.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

First page for me too!

[Brent... Just Brent 83]

Did I make it to page 1? It looks like it.

Great start to another TCD trip report.

I think that's odd that they would tell you a site was available, give you the number, but someone is still occupying it. Maybe blame it on the new CM?

[Family of Bears 98]

Yay, first time on the first page!

We were there too, sorry we didn't run into you guys. We had the same ordeal at checkin, there were 3 open sites in 1500 but they were under contract for a big group. We have been told that sites cannot be held, only empty sites that have been officially checked into in person can be held. But the story has changed. Sad part for us, we looped through the first three days of our trip and one of those open sites sat empty.

We were offered an upgrade to 800, which was nice, but I was so scatterbrained by this point that I just said nevermind. Bell's very allergic to dogs and I wasn't sure if this would be a problem in a non-partial site.

Looking forward to reading more!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year at the Fort.

Actually, any time I am there is my favorite time of year at the Fort. So this year, Christmas will be my favorite time of year.

[devores 382]

What the heck. Im either page one or top of page two.......Ill give it a shot.

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I'm in!

[TurkeyPants...Nicole 92]

You showed up the day we left - was it something I said?! I was seriously disappointed that I didn't get to meet you! Looking forward to your report.

[ajcjmom 8]

I'm in!

[PoorGABoy 4]

First page baby!!!!!

Was looking forward to a Thanksgiving report....

[SCTigerCock 171]

We were right next to this sidwalk and tetherball court:

Both of those amenities will come in handy later in this report.

TCD

Where's the dog?

Hmmmmm, I wonder too?!

[anolefan 8]

Made it!

Bragging rights for me, but even more for you as the Gators ran it right down our throats Saturday.

Looking forward to another great report!

[Heidi-meetsTCD@TSM 5]

I made it to the first page!!!!!! Now to go back to read!!!

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

I'm here but you already know that.

[BigTom 76]

I was there that week tooin site 1410. Sorry I didn't get to meet you. BigTom

[Heidi-meetsTCD@TSM 5]

TCD,

Great start!

We havent been to the Fort for Thanksgiving for the past two years, but had been there for the previous eight. It is my favorite time to be there.

I noticed the lanyard to the right of the Thanksgiving Mickey and Minnie.Of course,having been big into the pin trading for many years,I recogonized the two pins in the photo as being "hidden Mickey cast member pins"

Love the fort Christmas Tree.I have quite a few photos of it too.

Ready for more!

Heidi

[stefa70 205]

:jumpforjoy Happy to see another TCD report!

Rocky AND the Mrs? NO WAY?!?! Can't wait to see Rocky tearing up a game of tetherball.

I went through the same thing at the outpost on my last visit. One phone call after another to see where they could put me. After about 15 minutes, I took the original site (In 400's, ironically enough) they had given me.

Sometimes it seems as though no one knows what the heck is going on between the workers.

[MinnieMom 4]

TCD Thanksgiving trip report?!! Awesome! Maybe not page one, but I'm in.

[charitycase20....Charity 10]

I am thinking the second page is better than nothing at all, right? :clint: Looking forward to reading more.

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

Glad to see you start your report!!! Hopefully, you'll get a few updates in before I start for my trip tomorrow evening, otherwise, I'll have a LOT of catching up to do!!!