TCD is Thankful for Thanksgiving @ The Fort 2012

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

Wow that Rick guy must have really partied that day. I looked up Chablis. I'm not sure if you should hang with that guy. Be careful TCD....

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Chablis is a town and commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France.

It lies in the valley of the River Serein.

Why would you to want to be in France instead of at the Florida Football Rivalry of the year, while hanging with the TCD family! With food and beverages as an added bonus. He may be a hippie... :rofl3:

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

name='Big Kahuna' timestamp='1355267491' post='228671']

He may be a hippie... :rofl3:

Uh-oh - may be the guard with him was actually listening to accordian music with that earpiece.

(Can't seem to get rid of the underlining. Sorry!0

[SCTigerCock 171]

I would like to go to a NASCAR race some day, but after the long football season, I somehow don't want to be in a crowd with a bunch of rednecks. No offense.

Now Mr. Andrew, not all NASCAR fans are rednecks. Granted you have a high chance of meeting one (or 1,000) at a race, but not all.....

That's like saying all campers are fiends.......

And honestly, the 500 in Daytona and the 600 in Charlotte are some of the most diverse crowds you will find. Besides Las Vegas.

NOW Darlington, that will be another story and demographic for another day.

Glad your Gators won too!!!! Who does that ACC think they are........

[kampfirekim 260]

Loved this TR from beginning to end. Lots of useable info, funny commentary and wonderful photos.... of which my fave is the Happy Gator photo.

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Michie Stadium only holds 38,000 but that sure seemed like a lot when you are the one working the concession stand.

Pretty cool about the Governor though. Purple was a good choice.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

So.... now that we've confirmed that really WAS the governor, you know what that means...

The Governor of FL is a fan of TCD trip reports... therefore... is probably reading this one!

:wave1:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

http://en.wikipedia....ki/Chablis_wine

Oh. White wine. Got it.

What's wrong with that guy?

Maybe he is just a closet LSU fan. :clint: :flush2:

Probably not, considering he's a Yankee and all.

I am not allowed to watch LSU

Why not?

Wow that Rick guy must have really partied that day. I looked up Chablis. I'm not sure if you should hang with that guy. Be careful TCD....

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Chablis is a town and commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France.

It lies in the valley of the River Serein.

Why would you to want to be in France instead of at the Florida Football Rivalry of the year, while hanging with the TCD family! With food and beverages as an added bonus. He may be a hippie... :rofl3:

Hmmm. A bald hippie?

That's very sneaky.

You're probably right.

Uh-oh - may be the guard with him was actually listening to accordian music with that earpiece.

(Can't seem to get rid of the underlining. Sorry!0

LOL!

Good one.

And, I think to get rid of the underlining, you just need to click on the third icon from the left on the row right above the text box.

Now Mr. Andrew, not all NASCAR fans are rednecks. Granted you have a high chance of meeting one (or 1,000) at a race, but not all.....

That's like saying all campers are fiends.......

And honestly, the 500 in Daytona and the 600 in Charlotte are some of the most diverse crowds you will find. Besides Las Vegas.

NOW Darlington, that will be another story and demographic for another day.

Glad your Gators won too!!!! Who does that ACC think they are........

I know.

I happen to like rednecks. There are probably more rednecks at college football games than there are at NASCAR races.

Yeah, the ACC is kind of in a bad place. DD keeps hearing rumors of FSU and Clemson fleeing to the Big 12.

Loved this TR from beginning to end. Lots of useable info, funny commentary and wonderful photos.... of which my fave is the Happy Gator photo.

Thanks.

And since it's been such a blast, maybe it shouldn't end just yet.

I am going to look in my photo bucket for a Festivus miracle.

Michie Stadium only holds 38,000 but that sure seemed like a lot when you are the one working the concession stand.

Pretty cool about the Governor though. Purple was a good choice.

So you work the concession stand? They let schools and non-profits work the stands at Doak Campbell stadium. It doesn't look like a lot of fun.

So.... now that we've confirmed that really WAS the governor, you know what that means...

The Governor of FL is a fan of TCD trip reports... therefore... is probably reading this one!

:wave1:

Maybe not. I may have embellished the part about him reading TCD TR's.

Actually, I made that whole part up.

I don't think a guy who wears a purple sweater over a button down shirt to football games and drinks Chablis has very much in common with the Fiends.

But, wait a second. . .

Purple is the official Fiend color.

TCD

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

I may have embellished the part about him reading TCD TR's.

Actually, I made that whole part up.

I don't think a guy who wears a purple sweater over a button down shirt to football games and drinks Chablis has very much in common with the Fiends.

But, wait a second. . .

Purple is the official Fiend color.

TCD

I had a feeling that was the case. :rofl3:

But hey, he IS wearing purple... and we DO have some wine drinking Fiends (and some Fiends that just aren't picky about their adult beverages)... and there ARE plenty of Fiends that love football...

[alexwyattmommy 181]

I did work the stand when I was in high school. Minimum wage but when it wasn't busy you could sneak a peek at the game. One season was enough for me though. No heat and it got pretty darn cold. Filling soda cups when it was cold is not a highlight memory. LOL

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I am also not allowed to watch Duke basketball or the Atlanta Braves play. My brother claims that every time I watch one of his favorite teams play they lose.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I had a feeling that was the case. :rofl3:

But hey, he IS wearing purple... and we DO have some wine drinking Fiends (and some Fiends that just aren't picky about their adult beverages)... and there ARE plenty of Fiends that love football...

I can only imagine the million dollar RV Ricky would show up in at the Fort.

I think's he's more the Four Seasons type.

I did work the stand when I was in high school. Minimum wage but when it wasn't busy you could sneak a peek at the game. One season was enough for me though. No heat and it got pretty darn cold. Filling soda cups when it was cold is not a highlight memory. LOL

Sounds pretty bad. No wonder those folks never look very happy.

I am also not allowed to watch Duke basketball or the Atlanta Braves play. My brother claims that every time I watch one of his favorite teams play they lose.

Oh, so you're a jinx? Got it. I am with your brother on this, then. Nothing worse than a jinx making your team lose.

TCD

[thegooftroopfla 18]

The good thing about NASCAR races is u tailgate at your camper. For days on end. U can even stay on the infield and watch the race from your hammock

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Since today is the last time for almost a hundred years that we will get to have a day like 12-12-12, I decided to check my photo bucket to see if there were any more photos to share.

And, some of you may be happy to hear that there are!

It's a miracle!

Not as good as a jar that doesn't run out of grain, or a lamp oil, and definitely not as good as my favorite miracle-the bear mauling the kids who made fun of Elisha, but it's a miracle nonetheless.

Certainly it at least qualifies as a Festivus miracle.

OK, OK, it's really not a miracle at all.

I have more photos because we went back to Disney World on December 7.

There have been TCD TR's based on one day trips.

But, we had limited Disney time on this trip, so there isn't really enough for a separate report.

So, we will just add these to this one.

A Festivus bonus for all!

The main purpose of our trip on December 7 was to pay a visit to a special division of the the University of Central Florida. We had visited the main campus back in January. Since then, the twins have applied and been accepted to UCF. They have also applied to FSU and UF, and are waiting to hear. FSU will inform them in about a week, and they won't hear from UF until February. On her UCF application, Twin #2 indicated that she is thinking about majoring in Hospitality. So, UCF sent her a slick brochure from their Rosen School of Hospitality Management, and invited her to come and take a look at their campus.

I am sure that the Rosen campus was mentioned when we toured the main campus, but I don't remember hearing about it. The brochure made it sound nice, and the twins know some people who attended UCF who said nice things about it. So we figured there was no harm in touring it. Since college visits are an excused absence from school, the girls set it up for a Friday, and we tacked on a visit to WDW.

The tour was set for 1:00. According to the information we were provided, the Rosen campus is only 15 minutes from WDW. So that meant we could visit a park in the morning, grab some lunch, go on the tour, and head back to WDW. Sounded like a plan.

So we left home at around 7. I took this photo at 8:41 am, just outside the Epcot turnstyles:

It looks like we have Goofy and Donald ice skating over there:

I noticed that the flag was at half staff, and then remembered that today was December 7- Pearl Harbor Day, Kudos to Disney for not forgetting:

There is no rope drop to speak of at Epcot any more. But, they do open the turnstyles early. I snapped this Duck butt photo at 8:45 as we fast-walked on our way to Test Track:

This Thumper and Flower are leftovers from the Flower and Garden Festival. They sure have gotten their money's worth on these two:

They could have at least sprung for Christmas hats.

At 8:52, we had already snagged Fastpasses, which would be good at 9:45, and were making our way into the Test Track building. There had been some kind of media event going on right before we arrived, and we saw Minnie being whisked away:

It wasn't even 9 o'clock yet when we entered the stand-by queue:

You can see that they have a stage set up over in front of the ride. They were letting TV stations tape appearances from there. I think you can see that one is going on in this photo:

Here's a closer look:

I had intentionally not read anything about the changes to Test Track, as I wanted to see and experience it without any preconcieved notions.

I was surprised that the entire queue had been changed and reconfigured. All of the displays that used to show vehicle construction and testing are gone. All of the crash test dummies and parts thereof are gone. The theme is futuristic. The first thing we see is this Chevy car of the future. It looks cool and all, but I have been seeing cars of the future like this for as long as I can remember, but then none of them are ever released for purchase. So, I find this kind of thing annoying. Yes it's cool, but why bother showing us something that we all know is just a pipe dream? :

The queue then winds around into the area that used to be a mock-up of the cold room on the ride. Here, we see this big screen and this car model. Images are projected on the car model, which looks pretty cool:

The the queue continues down these hallways in which larger interactive screens line the walls. These respond to the touch of guests, but don't really do all that much, but they proabably will keep kids amused on days when the wait is longer:

At the end of the hall, a Castmember asks how many are in your party, and assigns you a number and hands you a plastic card. Since we were a party of three, we got one card, and were assigned one number. The numbers are on the floor in the next room:

The cards are just plain white cards. I guess they use these so guests will return them and not keep them as souvenirs:

We waited here in this room, and these screens explained that we would be designing our own car in the next room:

The doors in front of us opened, and we were ushered in to the next room which had a bunch of terminals. Numbers on the floor corresponded with the numbers we had stood on outside the room:

In case you are interested, it was 9:02 am when I took that last photo. So, you see that it pays to get there early!

What happens here is you tap your screen with your card, and it leads you through the process of designing an imaginary vehicle. As you can see, there is a time that lets you know how much time you have. We felt a little rushed by this, but it's good that they have the timer there to keep folks moving:

The girls enjoyed this part a lot. More than I thought they would. The screens worked very well, and there were a lot of options to chose from:

You could rotate your design all the way around so you could look at it from every angle:

Then you could paint it. I got to ride in a pink car:

Whatever. It's not for real.

Then the girls got to the graphics screen:

The people next to us were not minding their own business and they laughed at this choice.

The last step was wheels. The girls went with a practical choice:

Since our neighbors were looking at our design, I looked at theirs:

I'll take the pink car.

When the time expired, the doors at the other end of the room opened, and we were ushered out to another hallway.

We moved quickly through that, and we were right at the loading area.

The old pre-show video, which had really stood the test of time, is gone.

I would like to share some photos from the loading area and the ride, but we will need to do that in the next update, as we are at our photo limit for this one.

TCD

[kampfirekim 260]

A bear mauling children is your FAVORITE miracle? :rofl2: I prefer the raising the dead miracles. Dead man thrown on Elisha's bones, Lazarus after 4 days, and the most famous of all.....Jesus, after 3 days. :)

However..I'll make sure not to let the boys mock anyone in the TCD gang. Just in case.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

My 5yodd thinks the pink car is cool. My boys think your neighbor's car is cooler. ? Silly kids.

I prefer the raising the dead miracles. ... the most famous of all.....Jesus, after 3 days. :)

:jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

that blue car looks like it would snort anything up in front of it

[SCTigerCock 171]

The good thing about NASCAR races is u tailgate at your camper. For days on end. U can even stay on the infield and watch the race from your hammock

Gooftroop for Pres!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No infield for me though, to crowded and to much $$$$$$$$$$

Hammock, yes.

[thegooftroopfla 18]

The infield is expensive. But like every four years camping on the lake at Daytona is proceles

[thegooftroopfla 18]

Priceless

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Loved the TR. I skipped the TT part also as I want to experience it for myself.

Great picture of the tailgating family. You are blessed with four lovely ladies in your life.

Can't wait for your next report.

But one last parting question... What is a "jorts"?

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Yes, but the stadiums for Michigan, Penn State, Tennessee, Ohio State, Alabama and Texas all hold more that 100,000!

College Football is huge.

TCD

I will say that Tennessee's should only hold about 90,000. That place is CRAMPED. Sanford Stadium holds just under 93,000. My dad is a Tech fan, so he's always blown away when he comes with us.

And as for just tailgating, LOTS of people do that. We have several people in our RV tailgate lot that just watch on TV. There's one thing southern football fans can all agree on... We have amazing tailgates. It could be that way up north, but I get the feeling pro football is bigger there. Someday I want to make it over to the Grove.

Tell Mrs. TCD that I love the gator with the headdress on.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

A bear mauling children is your FAVORITE miracle? :rofl2: I prefer the raising the dead miracles. Dead man thrown on Elisha's bones, Lazarus after 4 days, and the most famous of all.....Jesus, after 3 days. :)

However..I'll make sure not to let the boys mock anyone in the TCD gang. Just in case.

Well, if we just look at the old testament, the raising the dead thing is overdone. Now a bear mauling, that's something special. I never heard about that one in Sunday School for some reason. There's a lot of interesting stuff in the good book that I've had a chance to ponder as an adult. That bear mauling is one that leaves me scratching my head.

But I have to agree with you about Jesus.

Your boys can feel free to mock me all they like. My daughters already do. No bear maulings. Not even an angry armadillo.

My 5yodd thinks the pink car is cool. My boys think your neighbor's car is cooler. ? Silly kids.

Well, you can't expect boys to like a pink car with butterflies on it. Can you?

that blue car looks like it would snort anything up in front of it

It does. You can come up with some wild designs there.

Gooftroop for Pres!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No infield for me though, to crowded and to much $$$$$$$$$$

Hammock, yes.

The infield is expensive. But like every four years camping on the lake at Daytona is priceless.

Hang on here.

I didn't know you could bring a hammock.

To Daytona?

And set it up on the infield?

Now you are talking my language!

Loved the TR. I skipped the TT part also as I want to experience it for myself.

Great picture of the tailgating family. You are blessed with four lovely ladies in your life.

Can't wait for your next report.

But one last parting question... What is a "jorts"?

What do you mean parting question?

There's still more to come.

Jorts are jean shorts. Apparently they're not cool. So the FSU fans insult the UF fans by saying we all wear jorts. And usually they say Crocks too (you know those weird sandles?). The funny thing is, lots of people wear jorts, including a ton of folks all around Tallahasee. So, that insult is kind of dumb. That's why it just makes me laugh.

I will say that Tennessee's should only hold about 90,000. That place is CRAMPED. Sanford Stadium holds just under 93,000. My dad is a Tech fan, so he's always blown away when he comes with us.

And as for just tailgating, LOTS of people do that. We have several people in our RV tailgate lot that just watch on TV. There's one thing southern football fans can all agree on... We have amazing tailgates. It could be that way up north, but I get the feeling pro football is bigger there. Someday I want to make it over to the Grove.

Tell Mrs. TCD that I love the gator with the headdress on.

Mrs. TCD will be very pleased to hear you liked the Gator head with the headdress on- she is quite proud of that creation. And, I have to admit it's funny.

One of the places my DD has applied for Grad School is Ole Miss. So if she goes there, you may find the TCD gang in the Grove next year. She already visted Oxford, and likes it a lot. I have never been, but we will definitely join the tailgating if she goes there. Things could be real interesting for us next year.

TCD

[Specularius 102]

.... Someday I want to make it over to the Grove.

...

I got to experience the "Grove" for a first ever Tailgating experience for the November 24th game. It was an experience for sure. Just about froze too, it was 35 degrees in the stadium for the game.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I got to experience the "Grove" for a first ever Tailgating experience for the November 24th game. It was an experience for sure. Just about froze too, it was 35 degrees in the stadium for the game.

Cool! That was the same day we were in Tallahassee. It was pretty cool there, but way above 35. So, what were you doing in Mississippi?

TCD

[Specularius 102]

Having Thanksgiving with Mrs. Specularius' family. Her Aunt is the personal secretary to the President of Ole Miss. She invited us to tailgate and watch the game. It was very fun.