BEL13VE in Magic: The TCD Gang Rings in 2013 at The Fort

[dvccamper 32]

Your father/daughter shots are so nice, enjoy them.

My guess is dinner at the fort, but I could be wrong.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Twin #1 looks a lot like Mrs. TCD in this shot.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Just got on the magic express to the Fort. It seems more exciting to be on the way to the Fort while reading.

[BuckeyeFortFan 35]

Dude. The BF Family was literaly walking to the barber shop while you were taking your 3:29 pic on Main Street. We watched the 3:30 Christmas parade from there while the boys got their hair cuts.

Mark my words, TCD, mark my words. Someday I will meet you and your girls. I swear to God I will.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

You guys are getting really good at the drawing class! And you seem to get better characters than I do!

Great photos of the Osborne Lights.

[stefa70 205]

We went to the Thanksgiving Day parade in Philly and a highlight for us was the horse that was like the 3 thing in the parade took a massive, massive dump. It was very entertaining watching people either step in it because they weren't aware of it, walking backwards or didn't want to break formation. Some people where cheering when poop was squished lol

:hah: Good stuff!!

If you can't enjoy poop humor, you're just an old dud!

Mark my words, TCD, mark my words. Someday I will meet you and your girls. I swear to God I will.

I'm picturing Steve in a barren field, Scarlett O'Hara style, saying this.

TCD, great family shots. Guess you owe me a father daughter picture since I missed yet another trip.

BTW, Did you get my message last night? :)

[fortpartyof4 108]

Great pictures. I love that one of the Hollywood Hotel.

Sal sounds like a great guy. Way to go above and beyond for your job. I'll bet it made the too-crowded bus ride a lot better for everyone on board.

Your Jiminy was quite good. Better than one of the twins', in fact. But I won't say which one. That wouldn't be very nice.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

So as you are in the back of that space mountain car I have to ask.... was it a bumpy ride? I also got the back seat on my ride. It was so bumpy that I had to clench my teeth to keep from biting my tongue off.... is this normal?

Funny you should mention that.

I did notice that SM does seem to be more bumpy lately. We were back on it when we stayed at the Fort over NYE, and I noticed that I was really being shaken. It's been a while since the last refurb- I guess the track is getting messed up again.

I really wanted to try BOG, but our favorite is Columbia Harbour House and they wouldn't go for something new. Maybe over Spring Break. We never made it to the Osborne Lights, either. Next year. And as many times as we have been to WDW, we have never done the animation class. For a long time I never knew it existed. We will have to give it a try. My girls would love it!

I love Columbia Harbour House too. But BOG is way, way better. You really need to try it. I'll bet your family will agree.

Yes, you need to try that animation class. In all the years we have visited, the very first time we tried it was just this past April. Now, we hit it every time. It's a fun thing to do. I have quite a collection of drawings now, though.

Your father/daughter shots are so nice, enjoy them.

My guess is dinner at the fort, but I could be wrong.

Thanks.

And that is a pretty good guess.

Twin #1 looks a lot like Mrs. TCD in this shot.

You are right, she does.

Lucky her.

Just got on the magic express to the Fort. It seems more exciting to be on the way to the Fort while reading.

That's awesome, Jason.

How's the weather over there. It's sunny and pusing 80 over here on the west coast.

Dude. The BF Family was literaly walking to the barber shop while you were taking your 3:29 pic on Main Street. We watched the 3:30 Christmas parade from there while the boys got their hair cuts.

Mark my words, TCD, mark my words. Someday I will meet you and your girls. I swear to God I will.

Wow!

So close.

I knew you were going to be around for Christmas, but I didn't know you were already there.

I did meet up with one Fiend, and was hoping to meet up with another on this trip.

You may recall that it got very cold that night. That changed our plans a bit.

You guys are getting really good at the drawing class! And you seem to get better characters than I do!

Great photos of the Osborne Lights.

Yes, we have been lucky with the characters we've gotten to draw.

We got to draw a really rare one during the next part of this trip. I'll have some photos of that later.

:hah: Good stuff!!

If you can't enjoy poop humor, you're just an old dud!

Truth. I took those photos of the poop brigade just for my fellow poop humor fans.

I'm picturing Steve in a barren field, Scarlett O'Hara style, saying this.

Thanks for that image.

Not.

TCD, great family shots. Guess you owe me a father daughter picture since I missed yet another trip.

BTW, Did you get my message last night? :)

OK, I owe you a photo. Sorry that I forgot to invite you on this trip too. I am a bad adoptive father.

Yes, I got your message. Sorry for not responding- I am bad at texting.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Great pictures. I love that one of the Hollywood Hotel.

Sal sounds like a great guy. Way to go above and beyond for your job. I'll bet it made the too-crowded bus ride a lot better for everyone on board.

Your Jiminy was quite good. Better than one of the twins', in fact. But I won't say which one. That wouldn't be very nice.

Thanks.

Sal was a great bus driver. There used to be a lot of fun ones like him. But, they clearly cracked down on that.

Thanks for the compliment on my drawing, but when you lay them all out together, the twins' look way better than mine. Something is off on mine.

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

What an awesome bus driver!

And as soon as I saw the tree pic, I thought... It's leaning.

[fort4evr 0]

Wonderful trip report-more please!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

What an awesome bus driver!

And as soon as I saw the tree pic, I thought... It's leaning.

I think that the leaning is an optical illusion. I don't think the tree was really that crooked.

Wonderful trip report-more please!!

OK, I have some more coming right up.

TCD

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

Another great update.

Perhaps dinner will be a GAG while walking through river country at dusk?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I will be finishing up our 12/22 visit in this update.

Then we will go home for a week. And then we will be back.

From Hollywood Studios, we took the Fort/Lodge bus.

Since we were heading to Trail's End, we mixed it up and got off the bus at the Lodge and then grabbed the Fort bus from there. That is not something that you may have thought about, but if you're going to the Settlement area, it can be a lot quicker. Instead of continuing on the bus to the Fort, and then having to catch a bus there, which would have many stops on the way, we got a direct bus from the Lodge to the Fort.

And so, at 7:07 pm, we were at the barrels. Make that barrel. But, at least there's one. And look, they have added lights for night time enjoyment:

In case you haven't guessed, we are going to have a GAG for dinner.

Best meal on property.

The girls grabbed a table on the porch, and I went in to order.

After I ordered, I fixed us some drinks, and I heard a familiar voice calling to me.

It was DaveInTn and INC!

Right there in the flesh.

They had just arrived at the Fort that day.

And, they were going to stay for two weeks.

We chatted briefly.

And I told them I'd be back in a week.

I heard Dave tell INC not to worry-maybe they would shorten their trip.

And then I joined the girls on the porch.

This was our view:

Magical.

I beli3ve!

We ate like kings.

And saw stuff like this:

Sweet!

The original plan was that we were going to borrow a golf cart from a friendly Fiend and tour the campground for about an hour to see all the decorations. That had all been pre-arranged.

But we were cold.

The temperature had really dropped after the sun went down, and we weren't ready for it.

A golf cart ride sounded kind of miserable.

So we scratched that idea.

We did, however, walk over to the 700 loop in search of Dave The Castle Guy's castle.

We found it.

And we loved it.

I had hoped to meet Dave.

But he wasn't around.

So we walked back to the dock.

We were cold.

We were going to take the MK boat, but the resort boat was there and heading to the Contemporary next.

So we took it.

Normally, we would walk to the MK from there, but the girls (and I) were cold, so we took the lame resort monorail.

That was good, because we hadn't gotten a good look at the big Mickey wreath they hang in the window of the Grand Canyon Concourse.

Here it is:

And here are a couple of shots where we accidentally got Mickey ears:

(we are easily amused)

Then it was on to the MK, where we found space in our new favorite viewing area.

Here are the Dream Lights. We all love them:

We were in time to see that new projection show.

You probably can't tell, but this is Steamboat Willie:

And this is a tribute to the cake-sel:

They were playing the holiday version, so we got to see the gingerbread house:

And there were a few more extra scenes that hadn't been included the last time we saw this show.

The 10:00 Holiday Wishes show immediately followed. I have a bunch of photos, but one will do:

Then it was back to the Dreamlights:

We had a pretty succesful day so far:

-Test Track

-The MK Christmas parade

-Lunch at BOG

-The Osborne Lights

-GAG at the Fort

-Meeting Dave and INC

-The Projection show

-Holiday Wishes

Not too shabby.

But, there was one more thing.

Do you remember back before Christmas that Monique posted a photo of a special Christmas mug for sale in the MK?

Well, I remembered.

In case you don't remember, here's a link to that thread: http://www.fortfiend...-magic-kingdom/

And, I remembered that it was for sale at a place called Storybook Treats.

I don't remember that name, but I figured it must be in the new Storybook Circus part of Fantasyland. Is that the name of the snack stand inside the big gift shop?

So that's where we went.

All the way to that new tent and gift shop.

Where we found no shop by that name.

We had to find a map.

And learned that the ice cream place near the Winnie the Pooh exit is called Storybook Treats. Last I knew, it was called Mrs. Potts' Cupboard or something like that.

We had just walked past there on our way here.

Fail.

We headed back.

There was no sign advertising those mugs.

There were no mugs on display anywhere in the little shop.

Just ice cream cones.

And regular chocolate and vanilla ice cream.

Fail again.

But I asked.

It never hurts to ask, right?

I asked the CM if they had special MIckey or Minnie Christmas mugs.

He acted like he had no idea what I was talking about, but he said he would check.

Next thing you know, he appears from the back with a Mickey and a Minnie.

I said I would take them both.

He asked me what flavor ice cream we wanted.

I thought it had to be the dyed red and green vanilla.

But apparently you can have what you like.

So we got chocolate and vanilla.

And here they are:

I took one for the team and ordered an ice cream for myself in a Minnie mug.

I gave that one to my oldest daughter.

So we ended up with three.

Those mugs, with the ice cream were $6.19 each.

Which is a great deal if you consider that the plastic mugs at Gaston's Tavern go for $9.00.

There were people behind us ordering hot cocoa. They said we were crazy to be ordering ice cream.

And they were right.

But we wanted the mugs.

After the ice cream, we agreed that we had had enough WDW for the day.

So we boated back to WL.

We got some hot cocoa there.

And admired the awesome decorations.

I think WL is our favorite resort at Christmas.

Here's the last photo from 12/22. It was taken at 11:16 pm:

Right after this, we proceeded to our car and headed due west.

We were home by 1:30.

Then we had a week of Christmas madness at home.

When Sunday, December 30th rolled around, it was time to head back East.

And that is what we did.

We will pick it up on December 30th in the next update.

TCD

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

Awesome about the "secret" mugs. I missed that post so I missed the mugs :-[ . I will try another year.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Another excellent update.

LOVE the Studios bus singalong and I'd pay good money to be on a bus where Lou sings the "5 GOLD RINGS" part (or any part)!

Very cool that you were able to track those mugs down! And considering how all that came about, and that the CMs weren't even aware they had them, my guess is that you may have been one of the very few people to get your hands on them. :)

As for when to see Osborne when it's NOT crowded? My best recommendation is late. Like at/after park close. They won't really start pushing you out of there until about an hour after park close. On a regular closing that is. PM EMH may be another story.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Before we came into the restaurant to say hello, we chatted very briefly with the twins on the porch. INC actually spotted them before me. I asked them where their Dad was, and how the college search was going. I then asked them if they have gotten used to creepy strangers approaching them at WDW and talking to them like old friends. They said yes, they were used to it.

:rofl3:

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

The mugs are a great deal.

GaG is calling my name!

Props for getting ice cream in the cold. There's always room for ice cream!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Awesome about the "secret" mugs. I missed that post so I missed the mugs :-[ . I will try another year.

Sorry you missed these.

I would have too, had it not been for Monique posting the info.

Another excellent update.

LOVE the Studios bus singalong and I'd pay good money to be on a bus where Lou sings the "5 GOLD RINGS" part (or any part)!

Very cool that you were able to track those mugs down! And considering how all that came about, and that the CMs weren't even aware they had them, my guess is that you may have been one of the very few people to get your hands on them. :)

As for when to see Osborne when it's NOT crowded? My best recommendation is late. Like at/after park close. They won't really start pushing you out of there until about an hour after park close. On a regular closing that is. PM EMH may be another story.

I can't imagine Lou singing on his bus either.

But old Sal, he liked to sing. He told me that he actually worked for many years as a singer on cruise ships. Now he drives a bus at Disney.

I'll bet there are lots of interesting stories about the WDW bus drivers.

I think you're right about those mugs. We were there on 12/22, so you would think they would have these out and for sale. I found it odd that they didn't.

That bit about me wanting to see the Osborne Lights when it wasn't crowded was a bit of foreshadowing. Stay tuned. You may get to see a PM EMH view of the Osborne Lights

Before we came into the restaurant to say hello, we chatted very briefly with the twins on the porch. INC actually spotted them before me. I asked them where their Dad was, and how the college search was going. I then asked them if they have gotten used to creepy strangers approaching them at WDW and talking to them like old friends. They said yes, they were used to it.

:rofl3:

LOL.

They weren't kidding.

We often get stopped by strangers, and they always say the recognized the twins before they recognized me.

Funny thing is, I ended up spooking your Izzy one morning.

I was on the porch of TE giving a rocker a workout and she came and sat down in one of the other rockers to read her Nook. I said hello to her. She stayed about a minute and then took off like she had seen a ghost.

Sorry about that, Izzy.

The mugs are a great deal.

GaG is calling my name!

Props for getting ice cream in the cold. There's always room for ice cream!

You are right about that, Aaron!

TCD

[stefa70 205]

I love those mugs! You can't beat that price for the mug, let alone having it filled with ice cream.

Good call!

At the Fort, with a pre-dinner cocktail, listening to ZBB and catching up on a TCD report. Life is good!

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

Booze, ZBB, Fort, TCD TR.......ah this is the life. Oh crap. You mean that's Stef's life and not mine?

That shall be remedied in just a few weeks!

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

That bit about me wanting to see the Osborne Lights when it wasn't crowded was a bit of foreshadowing. Stay tuned. You may get to see a PM EMH view of the Osborne Lights

:suspense:

We often get stopped by strangers, and they always say the recognized the twins before they recognized me.

They should get buttons that say "Yes, it's us"

At the Fort, with a pre-dinner cocktail, listening to ZBB and catching up on a TCD report. Life is good!

:thumbsup3:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I love those mugs! You can't beat that price for the mug, let alone having it filled with ice cream.

Good call!

At the Fort, with a pre-dinner cocktail, listening to ZBB and catching up on a TCD report. Life is good!

Life is good!

I wish I was there with you guys.

Have fun.

And, I have another update on the way!

Booze, ZBB, Fort, TCD TR.......ah this is the life. Oh crap. You mean that's Stef's life and not mine?

That shall be remedied in just a few weeks!

Good for you, Aaron!

They should get buttons that say "Yes, it's us"

Good idea.

But, I don't think they would think that's funny.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Now it's December 30th.

A week has passed.

We had a blast at home.

It was Christmas, after all.

And, I was feeling pretty smart, because the 28th was an awful, rainy day.

And we missed that.

We awoke on 12/30 to blue skies.

And 40 degrees.

That's a little cold for us.

But, it was supposed to stay sunny and warm up a bit.

I knew that fellow Fiend Metal Dad was already at the Fort.

He had landed in the 2000 loop.

I figured that was where I was headed too.

We had just reserved a partial site, and the 1500 loop sites go fast.

Plus, here we were checking in on Sunday, December 30th. For sure anyone who wanted a nice site for NYE had already grabbed on on 1500.

But, we've slummed it on 2000 before.

It's still part of the Fort.

On trips like this, you have to roll with the punches.

We knew we were heading to WDW at one of the busiest times of the year.

And we had to be patient.

And happy.

It's the Happiest Place on Earth, you know.

Plus, we Beli3ve in Magic.

So we left with a positive attitude.

At around 9:45 am.

We were going to get there early and have some fun.

A lot of fun, we hoped.

There was no traffic to speak of on this beautiful Sunday morning, and before long we saw blue skies and the magic gates:

And the cool monorail:

At certain busy times of the year, you can expect a wait at the MK gates. But not today. We sailed right through:

Those photos were taken at 11:24 am on 12/30. Remember these. We will be back here in about 24 hours, and you won't beli3ve the difference.

Seriously, you won't.

A quick right and a left, and here we are:

Twin #1 was in charge of the camera, so you get a photo of me:

Much to my surprise, we were greeted with an open check in lane, and we pulled right up to the window.

We had to change a couple of things on our reservation, but we had a competent CM, so the whole process was a breeze.

Then she gave us our site number.

She said it's in the 2000 loop.

I gasped.

The twins pretended like they fainted.

I said to the CM that we had requested 1500.

A long time ago.

Like in June when we made these reservations.

She said sorry, but it's full.

I told her we were going to have to work something out.

She said actually, there were three sites leaving on the 1500 loop today, but they hadn't been cleaned yet.

I said I'm all ears.

She told me the numbers.

She showed them to me in that super-secret book that everybody wants a copy of but nobody has one.

She said pick one.

I saw 1518.

It's a nice site.

And one we have never stayed on.

I said let me have it.

She said it's yours.

But, we couldn't go there because it has to be cleaned first.

I said no problem.

She gave me specific instructions on how to exit to the overflow lot, and she took my cell number so they could text me when my site was ready.

I thanked her profusely.

And we headed to our site.

I will clean the dang thing myself.

It's not like the site attendants do anything anyway.

They just blow all the trash off the site and scoop the crap out of the grill.

I wasn't going to wait in the parking lot for that.

So, here we are:

You see those bikes?

Why did I bring the bikes?

Well, there was a small detail I had neglected when I made my reservation.

I never lined up a golf cart.

That hasn't been a problem for me.

I have some super secret sources for golf carts.

And then there's Kenny if those don't work.

I am TCD, after all.

Well, I struck out.

With everyone.

Some of my secret sources aren't secret anymore. And other people get those carts.

So, we brought the bikes.

The twins did not like that one bit.

And, neither did I.

But, what could I do?

I wasn't going to rent a cart from Disney.

Plus, they were sold out too.

I'll plan ahead next time.

Anyway, from here, the girls took off to have a nice lunch at the Polynesian Resort and then visit the MK.

And I got to work.

The site wasn't very dirty.

I just needed to sweep off the slab, and scoop some ashes out of the grill,.

Done.

I really enjoyed setting up today.

It was in the 50's, and I never broke a sweat.

And, I learned something.

Something I never knew before.

Something that has never been mentioned on this site before.

The Fort delivers firewood to campsites.

Look:

You can tell that's an official Fort operation. Two guys, big truck. To do the work that one guy could do on a golf cart.

Since I have to know everything about the Fort, I asked the guys what they were doing.

They said they were delivering firewood.

I asked who could have firewood delivered.

They said anyone.

As long as you have an approved fire burner.

I asked them how much it cost.

They said the order they just delivered went for $24.

This is the stack of wood that they delivered:

I asked how do guests order firewood.

They said call the front desk.

So there you go.

You would think they would advertise this in some manner.

But if you thought that, you forgot that the Fort is managed by idiots.

Why advertise something that could make money and maybe (gasp) reduce what they charge for campsites?

But you know what?

I think $24 to have a bunch of firewood delivered seems pretty fair.

Maybe I'm going to get me a fire burner.

Now, back to the set-up.

Here's the official TCD hammock with the old school hammock suspension systerm (aka rope) :

Let me tell you something.

That hammock spot was far superior to the spot that came with the premium campsite I rented for Thanksgiving.

And, the premium spots cost $30+ more a night than the partials.

Phooey.

I'd rather be in the 1500 loop!

Since it was a holday and all, I had to drag along a bunch of inflatable decorations. Since my site was on a curve, I had plenty of frontage:

Looking good.

If I just had some old scarecrows and a bunch of crappy birdhouses, I would have been able to give that lady on 1800 a run for the money.

As I set up, I had some visitors.

My first visitor was fellow Fiend, Dogmeat aka Todd.

And he brought me a railroad spike!

I told him he had it all wrong.

He said no, he wanted to spike me.

That's a first.

Thanks for the spike, Todd.

And it was nice to meet you!

A while later, along came MetalDad and BassMaster. MD invited me over for a beer later. I told him I would be there.

After a while, I decided to take the official TCD bicycle out for a spin.

I looped around the 1500 loop to check out my neighbors.

I found a strange looking camper in the first site on the loop.

It was none other than the Honorable Mayor Stacktester's little camo camper.

He wasn't home, though.

Then, some friendly folks waved me down.

it was the Family of Bears. And I mean family. Grandparents even!

It was nice to meet y'all Brandy.

Thanks for stopping by.

When I got back to my site, my next door neighbor walked over to say hello.

He was tent camping, and was impressed with all my stuff.

We had a nice chat.

Nice guy.

He told me that they had just made their reservation on Friday and arrived today.

They asked for the 1500 loop and were told they could have it, no problem.

How could that be?

I made my reservation six months before, and I had to beg for the 1500 loop. And this guy makes his reservation two days before and breezes right in.

Oh well.

He was a nice guy anyway and a good neighbor.

Then I met the guy across the street. He has a camper rental business. Donnie knows him. I think Curt does too. A very nice guy. And I mean nice.

He said he and his wife were going out to dinner at Boma, and he asked if I wanted to use his golf cart while he was gone.

I said heck yes!

The twins got back from the MK just as the neighbor was leaving. So he handed me the keys, and we went looping.

We saw this golf cart on the 1100 loop:

And we did a bunch more looping.

We finished up down at Trail's End, where we got a Giddyup And Go, which we brought back to the camper.

It was getting cold again, so we ate inside.

The neighbor still wasn't back, so I headed over to see MD on 2000.

He hooked me up with a Magic Hat.

I had never had one before.

I keep my beer drinking pretty simple.

But, that was a good beer.

Thanks, MD.

I had to drink and run, because we were going to head over to the MK.

This was a big night for us.

We have never been in a Disney park for New Year's.

We have camped at the Fort for the last four New Year's, but we always either did not have passes, or we had Florida Residents' Season passes, which are blacked out for two weeks around Christmas. So, we have never seen NYE from inside a park.

We knew that on 12/30, the have a trial run of the actual New Year's Eve fireworks in the MK.

So we wanted to see that from inside the park.

The plan was to pick a place tonight and see how we liked it.

We would then either use that space on 12/31 or pick another one.

We headed to the MK a little after 9.

The girls had snagged some Space Mountain Fastpasses when they were in the MK that afternoon, and they were good from between 9 and 10.

Good thing they got them.

Check out the stand-by time at 9:56 pm:

In case you're slow, 180 minutes is three hours.

Would anyone in his right mind wait three hours to ride Space Mountain?

Well, there were people getting in the stand-by line.

That danged hidden camera caught us off guard and in a candid pose again:

We decided to head over to the New Fantasyland area to see how things were over there.

We took the path from Space Mountain over.

I guess when it gets cold, they shut off the water in the play area. That gave us a chance to take some photos that we haven't had a chance to take:

The walkway to the Enhanted Forest part of Fantasyland was open, so we headed in there and took a ride on the Little Mermaid. The wait time was posted as 60 minutes, but there was no one in the line.

We did some looking around, and then decided to stake out a fireworks spot.

We chose a spot in front of Casey's Corner, where we had watched the fireworks on our last visit.

Our GAG had worn off, so Twin #1 headed over the the Main Street bakery for a couple of cinnamon rolls for us to share:

We had to enjoy those while we had the chance. The bakery is about to close for a long refurbishment, and I predict the cinnamon rolls will be gone when the reopen.

Then we watched the fireworks.

They are spectacular.

A whole show just for NYE.

A few photos:

This is one of the times where they shoot off perimeter fireworks, so if you are inside the park, you are surrounded by fireworks. The problem with our spot is that the buildings behind us blocked our view of the perimeter fireworks:

Honestly, we all liked watching these fireworks better from where we had the past few years- the beach at the Polynesian Resort.

But, it was fun to be surrounded by them.

After the fireworks, there was going to be a big dance party with a DJ on the castle stage.

We are going to go and check that out next.

TCD

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

Nice getting to see the fireworks early. I forgot about the cinnamon buns while we were there too. So much I missed.