TCD is Thankful for Thanksgiving @ The Fort 2012

[Sheraugh ~~~ Sheila 21]

A BIG WELCOME TO OUR NEW FIENDS..... HAPPYCAMPERS from Oklahoma MISSOURI :welcome2:

[mmfancipher 31]

Welcome!!!

WOO!! HOO!! I'm in on Page 14!!!!! :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

OK- I cry uncle!!!

I am from Missouri - but Oklahoma was close. Our family had been in Pizza Planet at DHS when we saw you (my daughter noticing your girls first), everyone had to go to the bathroom to confirm it. We just moved on after and laughed about the fact you were a Disney celeb to us. After we ate, we went to the lights (our first time and they were beautiful), and our daughter saw you guys again and for some reason, it just became funny. We didn't want you and your family to think we were stalking all of you, so I decided just to say something.

It was our first time at WDW during Thanksgiving, It was beautiful but crowded. We ate Thanksgiving dinner in BOG - it was awesome!

There you go - I responded! You can continue with your report now :laugh:

Welcome to the madness.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Who knew Peter Pan was so popular?

The Peter Pan Fan, kind of creepy. Hey whatever creams your Twinkie (RIP) I guess.

The Rescuers did fly with Orville.

Still not sure if that fits in with the flying theme, but it's all I got. :)

Rumor has it that there's a topless women in the scene when there flying on the Orville. I've heard this several times over the years. Apparently it was on the original film. Disney said it was put in intentionally not by their animators but in post production. In 1999 Disney recalled movies made before 1992 over 3 million copies recalled.

I can't say for sure if its true but I checked Wikipedia and they say its true. So you know it is. Lol

Has anyone ever heard this before? Not trying to hijack post. Just curious.

[happycampers 5]

Thanks for the warm welcomes!!!

[ftwildernessguy 778]

Nothing like a couple pictures of elephant butts. Which reminds me, I used to work at a tree farm with a guy who chewed Elephant Butt chewing tobacco.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Tuesday was a good day.

Everyday you can spend with all your children is a good day.

That's the truth.

As they leave the nest, that becomes harder and harder to do.

We still have the twins in the nest at least until June.

Thanks for reminding me to appreciate that.

OK- I cry uncle!!!

I am from Missouri - but Oklahoma was close. Our family had been in Pizza Planet at DHS when we saw you (my daughter noticing your girls first), everyone had to go to the bathroom to confirm it. We just moved on after and laughed about the fact you were a Disney celeb to us. After we ate, we went to the lights (our first time and they were beautiful), and our daughter saw you guys again and for some reason, it just became funny. We didn't want you and your family to think we were stalking all of you, so I decided just to say something.

It was our first time at WDW during Thanksgiving, It was beautiful but crowded. We ate Thanksgiving dinner in BOG - it was awesome!

There you go - I responded! You can continue with your report now :laugh:

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!!

Thank you so much! You just made my day!

Sorry for the state mix-up. You're right- it was definitely Missouri.

That's funny how we were being stalked and didn't even know it.

That is awesome that you got to eat in BOG for Thanksgiving. How in the world did you get reservations for that?

You will find out later that we were in the MK Thanksgiving night- how funny would it have been if we ran into each other again?

Now that you have broken the ice, I hope that you will feel welcome to post.

You did sort of pick on Troll and I for taking notes. I can't speak for Norm but when I say I take notes, I "jot"

A typical days notes look like this:

6:00

breakfast

Carol

MK

beer

party at judys

bed by midnight.

Just keeps things in order. Otherwise I would mess up days or forget something. (might not be a bad idea for you ^-^)

As for the TV, even though ours are digital capable, I still had to reprogram them to find the digital channels. NBD, but glad I had read everyone else's issues. Who reads the check-in package anyhow?

HUBBA HUBBA @ the firefighters.

Happy that there were no bats in that cave. Or boogies in your nose.

Why do you need to take notes? That sounds like everyday you're at the Fort.

As we were going by your blow ups, didn't know it was yours or would have stopped, my 4 yr old DGD exclaimed " I know what that is, that is a GO GATOR. Guess she is planning on Florida for college.

Congratulations on having a Gator in the family!

The next time you see an inflatable Gator (or Nole) stop and say hello. It might be me.

I was reading this, and started LOL... really, so I had to read the Peter Pan bit to DH. I think you have a new fan. And he knows you're a Gator, so that means a lot. He's also convinced that CPPFG (Crazy Peter Pan Fan Girl) works at Disney just to stalk poor Peter. Can you imagine if he runs into her behind the scenes? ?

Good to hear. Even though our teams are enemies, we can still be friends. I'm sure as SEC football fans, we could all have a couple of beers and get along fine. Maybe not the last weekend in October, but the rest of the year.

Oh, and tell your DH that we will be going back to the Freak Zone (that's where the Peter Pan meet and greet is) in just a bit for another freak encounter. And this one is a dude. You won't want to miss it.

A BIG WELCOME TO OUR NEW FIENDS..... HAPPYCAMPERS from Oklahoma MISSOURI :welcome2:

Oklahoma?

Missouri?

Same difference, right?

Welcome!!!

WOO!! HOO!! I'm in on Page 14!!!!! :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

Page 14 bragging rights to you!

Thanks for joining in.

Rumor has it that there's a topless women in the scene when there flying on the Orville. I've heard this several times over the years. Apparently it was on the original film. Disney said it was put in intentionally not by their animators but in post production. In 1999 Disney recalled movies made before 1992 over 3 million copies recalled.

I can't say for sure if its true but I checked Wikipedia and they say its true. So you know it is. Lol

Has anyone ever heard this before? Not trying to hijack post. Just curious.

No problem with the hijack.

They are the best part of TCD trip reports. One minute we're talking about leprosy, the next it's topless women.

I don't remember hearing this rumor, but I have heard many about other Disney films.

It turns out that this one is True! Here's a Snopes article on it (complete with a photo!) :

http://www.snopes.co...ms/rescuers.asp

I've got to dig up our copy of the Rescuers. I know we have one. And it probably predates 1999. I wonder what those sell for?

Nothing like a couple pictures of elephant butts. Which reminds me, I used to work at a tree farm with a guy who chewed Elephant Butt chewing tobacco.

Here I was about to say you were posting on the wrong thread, and it turns out you're talking about Dumbo.

I thought maybe you were sniffing the laughing gas.

But, my bad- there were a couple of pictures of elephant butts.

And I learned a couple new things- 1. You used to be a tree farmer and 2. There is or was a brand of chewing tobacco called Elephant Butt.

And page 15 bragging rights go to you!

Well done.

TCD

[Beckers 1,136]

That's the truth.

As they leave the nest, that becomes harder and harder to do.

We still have the twins in the nest at least until June.

Thanks for reminding me to appreciate that.

Know how to see your kids a lot? Offer to take them on vacation and pay for all or some. Works for my parents :) They see me lots :)

Regardless of bribing them with vacation, I think you'll see a lot of your girls. Based on your TR you guys have a great relationship. The older I get the more I appreciate my parents and try to spend as much time with them as possible. Thank God my husband gets along with them!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Know how to see your kids a lot? Offer to take them on vacation and pay for all or some. Works for my parents :) They see me lots :)

Regardless of bribing them with vacation, I think you'll see a lot of your girls. Based on your TR you guys have a great relationship. The older I get the more I appreciate my parents and try to spend as much time with them as possible. Thank God my husband gets along with them!

That sounds like a great plan. If the girls end up heading off to different schools, WDW could be our meeting place for breaks and such.

I hope that my girls end up feeling the same way about Mrs. TCD and I as you do about your parents.

TCD

[Family of Bears 98]

Hey! Those firefighters were there the Saturday after thanksgiving. What's the deal? Do they do this a lot? Not that I'm complaining. I might pull up a chair next time.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

An update is on the way.

But I wanted to revisit the Rescuers issue.

That Snopes page pointed out that the mice fly in a Sardine can strapped to the back of Orville.

So, I took a closer look at the float:

No sardine can. No Orville.

I wonder if there are any naked ladies hidden on that float somewhere?

Probably not.

I guess the mice are on there because they do fly. It would have helped if they included the sardine can or Orville.

And one more thing.

The lady from Oklahoma Missouri caved in to peer pressure and became a Fiend.

How about the rest of you lurkers?

I noticed yesterday that there were 40 people reading this thread at one point.

And most of them were guests.

Look:

Thirty-three guests?

How about becoming a member?

Like the lady from Oklahoma Missouri, you will be welcomed with open arms, and become a true Fiend!

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Hey! Those firefighters were there the Saturday after thanksgiving. What's the deal? Do they do this a lot? Not that I'm complaining. I might pull up a chair next time.

Yes, they do hang out at the Fort a lot.

It's a great place for them to have some fun on WDW property.

And if the Troll goes crazy and uses his fire pit with the mesh top, they will be right there to deal with the problem.

So, it's all good.

TCD

[Beckers 1,136]

Hey! Those firefighters were there the Saturday after thanksgiving. What's the deal? Do they do this a lot? Not that I'm complaining. I might pull up a chair next time.

scrolling back to see if TCD got us some eye candy shots.....

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

scrolling back to see if TCD got us some eye candy shots.....

Sorry.

I'm not much into beefcake.

TCD

[Beckers 1,136]

Sorry.

I'm not much into beefcake.

TCD

Send your daughters on Operation Beefcake for me!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Well, we have made it to Wednesday.

Last night was the third night of our five night stay. So that makes this the third morning.

And the girls slept in again.

We were definitely out of our normal routine on this trip.

Most of our Fort visits are three night weekend trips.

The deal is that we will do a rope drop on at least one of the mornings.

Here we were on our third morning of our five night trip, and still no rope drop. Spoiler alert- there won't be a rope drop on this trip.

Our normal routine was thrown off by having the oldest DD along. That, plus it was kind of cold at night and in the morning on this trip, and the girls weren't feeling getting up and rushing off in the cold.

OK by me.

That means I had another morning to do some exploring.

I decided to park the cart at Pioneer Hall and have a look around.

I started in front of Pioneer Hall. The plan was to walk over to the horse barn, then behind Pioneer Hall in a big circle.

So here we go.

First, I have some potential bad news for the Wild Women Fiends:

A Barrel of Fun has gone missing.

Hopefully for y'all it has been sent out for repair and will be back soon.

If not, they need to install a Fastpass machine and some of those posts and ropes to manage the line in February.

I thought something looked different about the HDDR photo op props, so I snapped this photo. Is it the milk can? Has that always been there? Are there more boxes? Am I crazy? :

Now we are heading toward the ranch:

I call this photo Sunrise Over the Old Coachmen Trailer Display Platform:

Here we are at the old petting zoo:

Now it's all ponies all the time:

My favorite sign in all of the Fort:

And guess what?

Somebody painted it! :

Here's how it looked in August:

Does this mean the DVC project is not going to happen?

Or at least that it's still a long way off?

I like to think that.

Why paint something that is about to be ripped down?

Here we are at the old windmill. Most people don't remember it, or notice it now:

I wonder what ever happened to Sean and Heather? :

I guess that monument to Sean and Heather has been there for near 40 years (I don't think the ranch was here when the Fort opened). I wonder if either of them thought about that when they wrote their names in the cement.

Looking up:

You can see that they have hung a couple of Christmas wreaths on the little barn in the old petting zoo:

And some more wreaths have been hung on the big barn:

The castmembers were hard at work inside the barn:

A new tree has been planted outside the Blacksmith Shop:

Hmmm.

New paint. New tree. Not the type of thing you do if the place is about to be leveled to make a parking lot.

Inside the Blacksmith Shop- complete with a plastic chair from the 70's just like the Blacksmiths used to use in the good old days:

There are a couple of horses out in the outdoor runs back there:

Here we are at the old River Country Pavilion:

They call it the Fort Wilderness Pavilion now:

My favorite weather vane in all of Disney World (and WDW has a lot of weather vanes) :

There were some workers doing something over by where the scarecrows were that we looked at earlier in the report. Maybe they were putting up the Christmas Tree? But it looked more like general landscaping:

The bat house looks like it is about to fall right over:

I love how you can look across this field and see Bay Lake.

So do the ding dongs who planned the new DVC. This field will be no more if that project ever happens:

A last look at the Pavilion. It's hard to beleive that they are planning to tear this down:

Looking back at the barn:

I just missed the chance to see the beach raker at work. He's already done and heading back to where they keep the tractor:

Good old Clementine's Beach:

I had no idea that in just two days, this quiet corner of the Fort would be the venue for an over-the-top Sweet 16 party. There were no signs of that happening on this quiet Wednesday morning.

That's 30 photos.

So we have to stop.

We will continue our walk in the next update.

TCD

[kampfirekim 260]

WWW 2013 is down to one barrel? What the Fort?

Very interesting how the remaining barrel is right next to a pressed coin machine. As if anyone would press their coins with a barrel nearby. Geez.

Glad to see that Brown Paint Guy has been on the job! Good work!

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Great up date. Looking for more.

[shoreline99 137]

With regards to the DVC project, according to Jim Hill and Len Testa's Unofficial Guide podcast any development on the FW property is 5-10 years off. Latest information points to finishing the Grand Floridian project and then a DVC at the Poly.

I refer to this podcast, which also has some interesting info about the history of the fort:

http://blog.touringp...derness-resort/

The DVC discussion starts about 30 minutes into the podcast. Take it with a grain of salt, I guess.

[SCTigerCock 171]

Rumor has it that there's a topless women in the scene when there flying on the Orville. I've heard this several times over the years. Apparently it was on the original film. Disney said it was put in intentionally not by their animators but in post production. In 1999 Disney recalled movies made before 1992 over 3 million copies recalled.

I can't say for sure if its true but I checked Wikipedia and they say its true. So you know it is. Lol

Has anyone ever heard this before? Not trying to hijack post. Just curious.

No problem with the hijack.

They are the best part of TCD trip reports. One minute we're talking about leprosy, the next it's topless women.

I don't remember hearing this rumor, but I have heard many about other Disney films.

It turns out that this one is True! Here's a Snopes article on it (complete with a photo!) :

http://www.snopes.co...ms/rescuers.asp

I've got to dig up our copy of the Rescuers. I know we have one. And it probably predates 1999. I wonder what those sell for?

If you find out, let me know. I have two still sealed copies of the pre 1999 somewhere in my house.

somewhere, somewhere and somewhere.

[ftwildernessguy 778]

With regards to the DVC project, according to Jim Hill and Len Testa's Unofficial Guide podcast any development on the FW property is 5-10 years off. Latest information points to finishing the Grand Floridian project and then a DVC at the Poly.

I refer to this podcast, which also has some interesting info about the history of the fort:

http://blog.touringp...derness-resort/

The DVC discussion starts about 30 minutes into the podcast. Take it with a grain of salt, I guess.

Well, if Jim Hill says it, then it must be true! His reliability is right up there with WDW cast members and Wikipedia!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

WWW 2013 is down to one barrel? What the Fort?

Very interesting how the remaining barrel is right next to a pressed coin machine. As if anyone would press their coins with a barrel nearby. Geez.

Glad to see that Brown Paint Guy has been on the job! Good work!

I know.

Think about all the money they are going to lose.

If that other barrel doesn't show up, I am going to buy a couple of barrels, rent a site, set the barrels up on my site, and cash in.

Great up date. Looking for more.

Thanks.

You want more?

You're in luck.

I have a lot more.

With regards to the DVC project, according to Jim Hill and Len Testa's Unofficial Guide podcast any development on the FW property is 5-10 years off. Latest information points to finishing the Grand Floridian project and then a DVC at the Poly.

I refer to this podcast, which also has some interesting info about the history of the fort:

http://blog.touringp...derness-resort/

The DVC discussion starts about 30 minutes into the podcast. Take it with a grain of salt, I guess.

30 minutes?

I think someone posted a link to that podcast before, and there was no way I could listen for more than a minute.

No way can I make it to 30.

What does he say?

Does he address the fact that they already did extensive engineering studies, and have actually applied for permits for the relocation of the horse barn and pavilion? Did he mention seeing a scale model of the new resort? I don't think they do that 5 or 10 years before they are ready to break ground. Personally, I hope he's right, I just don't think so.

If you find out, let me know. I have two still sealed copies of the pre 1999 somewhere in my house.

somewhere, somewhere and somewhere.

If you find them, let me know.

I heard they are worth $5 each, but I'll give you $20 for the two.

Well, if Jim Hill says it, then it must be true! His reliability is right up there with WDW cast members and Wikipedia!

Close. There are some, but not many, CM's who have reliable information.

TCD

[shoreline99 137]

Basically the discussion about DVC was that the Grand Floridian renovation should be completed in the next 12-18 months and that the Poly was rumoured to be the next DVC property developed. From what I understand there are areas of the Poly that need some serious overhaul, so it would make sense to incorporate DVC elements into any major renovation or expansion of that resort. The flip side of the discussion was that it would be another monorail resort under construction after GF and BLT at the Contemporary, so who knows. It's just speculation.

And hey, I said take it with a grain of salt. I guess with these guys if you throw enough darts at something you're bound to have one stick once in a while.

[stefa70 205]

I agree with the girls about the cold. Even though I'm an early riser, I didn't leave the site til at least 9:00am this trip. The nights were too cold for my taste too. Ok for hanging around but not looping.

As for the windmill, there were many times this trip that I would think the same thing. Does anyone even notice that anymore or know what it is?

I bet some newbies have no idea what's rotting behind the RC fence. (where my son learned to swim :- )

I bet some have no idea that TCD ranch was once a real petting zoo, with animals you could PET. And Minnie Moo!

I bet some don't know you could once swim in the lake.

etc...... Maybe it's my old age that's making me reminisce more.

Maybe 20 years from now some new campers will never have known the ranch, field or pavilion was there, and they'll be ok with it. :banghead:

[kampfirekim 260]

I know.

Think about all the money they are going to lose.

If that other barrel doesn't show up, I am going to buy a couple of barrels, rent a site, set the barrels up on my site, and cash in.

Good idea!

Rebuilding our economy... one barrel at a time.