The TCD Gang Runs Disney-2013 Princess Half Marathon Weekend TR

[alexwyattmommy 181]

I am thinking "A Walking Tour of Fort Wilderness" would be a great auction item to add the FHF list, if Mr. TCD had time.

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

Looking forward to your early morning Fort tour like always.

I think I know the thing you are talking about that SMB, and I meant to comment on it but it slipped my mind.

I have "Some-timers".

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I am enjoying the tour. Once you have finished, your posts covering the complete tour would make a nice article for Mo to post to that part of the site. "A Walking Tour of Fort Wilderness".

I agree!

I agree, too.

After I get this TR done, I'll edit this last part of it a bit, and post that someplace with general Fort information.

I wlll need to make some edits, though, as some of the comments might not make sense to someone who has never visited the Fort, and we are going to take an unnecessary detour around the 900 loop in just a bit.

I am thinking "A Walking Tour of Fort Wilderness" would be a great auction item to add the FHF list, if Mr. TCD had time.

You mean like a live, in person tour?

That could be interesting.

Looking forward to your early morning Fort tour like always.

I think I know the thing you are talking about that SMB, and I meant to comment on it but it slipped my mind.

I have "Some-timers".

We will see in just a bit if you're right.

If not, then you will need to mention your find. But hold on to it for now.

TCD

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Yes sir. Live and in person. With the caveat the that the winner person is reasonable for providing the cart for transportation to the different walking portions of the tour.

[magnoliafig 51]

You mean like a live, in person tour?

That could be interesting.

Why wait for an auction!

$5, and I can walk behind TCD yelling FUEGO all afternoon..

:)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Moving on with the walking tour.

We are still looking around the Outpost Bus Stop.

These log benches are an iconic feature of the Fort. Unfortunately, a newer, cheaper version of this bench has been showing up around the Fort. For now, though, the classic half-log bench is still in use here :

Adjacent to the Outpost Bus Stop, you will find the Trail Ride area. This is also known as the Trail Blaze Corral :

The weather vane above the horse stalls is one of several interesting weather vanes that are found around the Fort :

You may have noticed that the sign over the old kennel building and the sign posted here at the corral mention the Tri-Circle-D Ranch. This is the source of some confusion to visitors to the Fort, as there is also an area called Tri-Circle-D Ranch located at the other end of the campground, in the area called the Settlement. Why? Well, when the Fort was first built, all of the horse operations, known as Tri-Circle-D ranch, were located in an area where the waterpark River Country was later built in 1976. To make room for River Country, the ranch operations were divided, with some being located in the Settlement area, and others being located up near what was at that time called the Gateway area. The Ranch operations have remained divided ever since. Recently, there have been plans to move all of the Ranch operations up to the Outpost area. This idea has gone as far as plans for new barns and other buildings being submitted for permitting. But, to this point, no work on that project has occurred.

We could spend some more time looking around the Outpost area, but the point of this visit was to take a walking tour, so it's time for that now.

Before we begin, let me share with you why we are doing this. I have been visiting the Fort for years. When I first visited the Fort, like many people, I was overwhelmed by the size and scope of it. I mean, it has an internal bus route, and people rent golf carts to get around! It's huge, right? Actually, not right. As I have come to appreciate the Fort over the years, I've realized that things like internal bus routes and golf carts and complicated maps create the impression that the Fort is huge and sprawling, when, in fact, it really isn't that big after all. It is easy to walk from one place in the Fort to another, and you can often do so much faster than it would take to travel by bus.

To illustrate that point, we are going to walk from here at the Outpost, to The Meadow Trading Post, and then on to the Settlement area. All in one morning, and, as you will see, it is a nice and easy walk.

So, let's get started.

Here we are ready to go. We are facing the way an old Fort Wilderness Railroad train would face, heading in to the campground. This sidewalk that you see was actually poured over the old railbed. It was 6:59 am when I snapped this photo :

Here we are at the entrance to the golf cart parking area. The smaller path you see past this larger one is the horse trail :

This is the path for the horse trail rides. If you want to, on an early morning like this, before the trail rides start, you could walk down that path. What you would see is about a mile of trail and a lot of trees. There's also an old totem pole back there. But we aren't going there today :

No, this morning, we are walking down this sidewalk. The train tracks used to veer off to the right here, but the sidewalk follows closer to the road that everyone takes to enter the Fort: Fort Wilderness Trail :

You can see in that last photo that the lights along the sidewalk are still lit. And, you can also see how many lights there are. These are a recent addition in the last few years. They must have gotten a good deal on these lights, because they sure installed a lot of them!

That deer crossing sign is no joke. There are lots of deer who call Fort Wilderness home:

In fact, I don't think there's been a trip I've taken to the Fort in the past few years where we haven't seen deer.

In just a few minutes after we headed out, we have already reached this drive which branches off from the main road. This leads to the backstage maintenance area for the Fort :

A truck pulling some strange things is waiting to turn in here :

Those strange things are how they transport the carts used by the castmembers who provide daily cleaning services to the cabins. They distribute the carts around the cabin loops every morning, and then return later in the afternoon to retrieve them.

Just past the road that leads to the backstage area, we come to the intersection of Peacock Pass. The cabin loops are located along Peacock Pass :

Do you see that really tall light pole there? That is new. It was installed in the last year. I can't tell you why. I guess someone thought we needed more light here.

This is the sign that tells you the loop numbers which are found along Peacock Pass :

So where does the name Peacock Pass come from?

There used to be Peacocks at the Fort.

A lot of them.

But, sometime about ten or so years ago, they decided to round them all up and get rid of them.

So, no more peacocks.

And, by the way, that road used to be called Fleetwood Pass. Which was named after a sponsor of the trailers that they used to rent out to guests. After Fleetwood left, the name was changed. Since the Peacocks have left, they ought to change the name again. Maybe if they ever get a new sponsor they will.

I kept on walking.

I was passed by a couple of joggers :

The Fort is a nice place to run.

And walk.

Looking over to the right of the sidewalk, you can see the raised berm where the FWRR tracks used to run. Also, in this photo, you can see the remains of something like an old fence which used to be in the area where those trees stand :

This has to be the most lit sidewalk in all of WDW :

Over there is what they call the Hitch/Un-Hitch area:

If you look to the right from here, you can see that they have piled up a mound of dirt in this area. That mound of dirt is there to conceal something on the other side :

Remember that backstage area I mentioned? There is a dirt road that runs from it and connects with the 1700 loop. If you climb up the little hill a bit, you can see it :

Do you see all those logs piled up there, almost hidden by vines? Those are some of the trees which were removed from the camping loops during the big clearing project that took place about 5 or 6 years ago.

As we move along, you may have noticed that the sidewalk is now quite a distance from the road. If you look along the sidewalk here, you will see what looks like gravel :

That gravel has another name. it's called ballast. It's what used to form the base of the old FWRR rails. The ties and rails were placed on top of the ballast. The presence of ballast here tells us that this sidewalk sits on top of the old railbed.

The sidewalk has a strange configuration here :

Old Fort Wilderness maps show that the Trail Blaze Corral used to be located in this area, rather than all the way up at the Outpost. Also, when the Fort first opened, neither the check in lanes or the Reception Outpost building existed. There was just a little check in booth which was located along the main road in this area. These odd sidewalk additions may have something to do with those previous uses of this area. Or maybe they had some extra concrete to get rid of.

There is another mound of dirt off to the right of the sidewalk here, as well as a split rail fence :

The dirt road from the backstage area curves around on the other side of the mound here :

We continue on. In this photo, you can see signs that this sidewalk was recently pressure cleaned. It sure looked nice and clean this morning :

Just not even a minute past that last dirt mound, we are already walking past the first campsites that we will come to on this walk. These sites are in the 1700 loop. These photos were taken at 7:11 am. If I hadn't stopped to climb up the dirt mounds to take photos of the dirt road, or stopped for a few other photos, this would have been less than a ten minute walk. If you stayed on one of these sites, you would be less than a ten minute walk away from the Outpost Bus Stop :

We are just about to the intersetion of Big Pine Drive. If you look at the ground on the left of this photo, you can see two rectangular pieces of concrete. I believe that these are the foundation of the old railroad crossing arms which would have been used here :

The sidewalk interesects the road here, rather than at the intersection of the two main roads. Why? :

The reason for the sidewalk crossing here is that the train tracks used to cross here. The train would have been coming along Big Pine Drive from this direction, off to our right :

The tracks also went to the left from here. This is the route the train would take when entering the campground :

That stop sign you see on the left is at the intersection of Big Pine and Fort Wilderness Trail. This is what is referred to as the Four Way Stop at the Fort. It used to be the only four way stop in the Fort. Lately, they have added another down at the Settlement.

There are more concrete rectangles, like we saw above, here on the other side of the street. The 1200 loop is just beyond the trees here. It is now 7:13 am :

So, in the 14 minutes since we left the Outpost Bus Stop, we've passed the 1700 loop, and now are passing by the 1200 loop. As I mentioned, taking out photo stops, this isn't even a ten minute walk.

We are at the photo limit again.

Next up, we follow the sidewalk to the Meadow Trading Post, and see more signs of the old FWRR.

TCD

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Great tour so far. I love knowing where the railroad went and how it is being used today.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Well, another piece has been added to the puzzle that the TCD gang has been putting together since the first of the year.

My oldest daughter has been accepted to and offered a Graduate Assistant position (i.e. a paying job!) in the Masters of Higher Education Administration program at Auburn University!

She actually received a similar offer from the University of Alabama before this offer came in. She was hoping for the offer from Auburn, and she is going to take it.

She graduates FSU the first week of May, and is supposed to start her new job in Auburn the second week of May.

If any of you Alabama Fiends have any real estate agent or apartment manager contacts in Auburn please let me know. We are going to be taking a road trip that way right after Easter to find my DD an apartment.

TCD

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Congrats Eldest!!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Congrats Daughter Numero Uno!!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I am thinking "A Walking Tour of Fort Wilderness" would be a great auction item to add the FHF list, if Mr. TCD had time.

LOVE this idea!!! If I bid and win, can I record the tour on my iPad?

Congrats to DD#1!!!!!!!!!

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Well, another piece has been added to the puzzle that the TCD gang has been putting together since the first of the year.

My oldest daughter has been accepted to and offered a Graduate Assistant position (i.e. a paying job!) in the Masters of Higher Education Administration program at Auburn University!

She actually received a similar offer from the University of Alabama before this offer came in. She was hoping for the offer from Auburn, and she is going to take it.

She graduates FSU the first week of May, and is supposed to start her new job in Auburn the second week of May.

If any of you Alabama Fiends have any real estate agent or apartment manager contacts in Auburn please let me know. We are going to be taking a road trip that way right after Easter to find my DD an apartment.

TCD

Congrats!!!

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

Well, another piece has been added to the puzzle that the TCD gang has been putting together since the first of the year.

My oldest daughter has been accepted to and offered a Graduate Assistant position (i.e. a paying job!) in the Masters of Higher Education Administration program at Auburn University!

She actually received a similar offer from the University of Alabama before this offer came in. She was hoping for the offer from Auburn, and she is going to take it.

She graduates FSU the first week of May, and is supposed to start her new job in Auburn the second week of May.

If any of you Alabama Fiends have any real estate agent or apartment manager contacts in Auburn please let me know. We are going to be taking a road trip that way right after Easter to find my DD an apartment.

TCD

That's awesome!! My son lived in a rental in Auburn for a few years, walking distance to Toomers Corner area, I'll ask him. He also rented an apartment a bit further away, sublet an apartment room through roommates.com

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

Also, check out Craigslist for the Auburn area, probably lots of rooms for rent there too.

That's how my younger son found his first room to rent when he moved to CT.

[fortpartyof4 108]

Congratulations to your daughter!

What an exciting time for team TCD! Another prestigious SEC school added to your already impressive family resume. I predict some new content in the NCAA thread this fall!

I hear they have great prices on ramen noodles at Costco…….

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Yeah!!!! Go daughter #1

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Yeah!!!! Go daughter #1

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

That's awesome!! My son lived in a rental in Auburn for a few years, walking distance to Toomers Corner area, I'll ask him. He also rented an apartment a bit further away, sublet an apartment room through roommates.com

Also, check out Craigslist for the Auburn area, probably lots of rooms for rent there too.

That's how my younger son found his first room to rent when he moved to CT.

I have never been to Auburn.

First stop for me when I head that way is going to be Toomer's Corner. I hear the trees will be rolled for the last time after the Spring football game. So sad.

I have rented apartments for DD in Tallahassee for the past three years, so I know Craiglist, subleases, etc.

This past year, we lucked out and found a 1 BR in a condo complex designed for Boosters. It has been a great place for her to live. I am hoping to find something similar for her in Auburn. It's crazy on game days, but great (quiet) the rest of the time. So if anyone knows of anything, please let me know. We are going to try to not have her have a roommate. She endured that for her first three years of college, and she and we have been happier with a 1 BR. Less drama.

Congratulations to your daughter!

What an exciting time for team TCD! Another prestigious SEC school added to your already impressive family resume. I predict some new content in the NCAA thread this fall!

I hear they have great prices on ramen noodles at Costco…….

I have been studying the football schedules already.

Twin #2 has a visit to FSU later this month, and then she is going to make her decision.

I'll be lucky if I can even affford the ramen.

TCD

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

I'll be lucky if I can even affford the ramen.

TCD

You could offer guided tours of the Fort. All fees payable in food.

[caveat lector 181]

Lots of great stuff happening for the TCD clan.......it's good to be TCD.......that's how you roll....congrats bud

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

Congrats to your Daughter!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

You could offer guided tours of the Fort. All fees payable in food. beer

Fixed it.

I think I will need the beer more than the food.

Lots of great stuff happening for the TCD clan.......it's good to be TCD.......that's how you roll....congrats bud

Thanks. The girls worked hard to reach their goals. I had no idea how the GA (Graduate Assistant) program works. Oldest DD gets a small stipend plus her tuition (out of state) is paid! She has to work 20 hours a week in a university department that is directly related to her major, which gives her work exprience for future employment. Beautiful!

Congrats to your Daughter!

Thanks.

It would have been funny if she chose Bama. Considering how I am not a big fan of Saban and all.

TCD

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

I guessed correctly btw.

I noticed all the places that still have the half logs.

Why replace them with the plain boards? How much money could it really save?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I guessed correctly btw.

I noticed all the places that still have the half logs.

Why replace them with the plain boards? How much money could it really save?

Oh, the benches weren't one of the new things I referred to. I've complained about those before.

There were two newer things I found that SMB.

I haven't gotten to the first one yet.

Read on.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Sorry about the Auburn thread-jack.

Now, let's continue on our way.

We left off where the sidewalk met up with Big Pine Drive behind the 1200 loop, and we turned left.

We are now heading back toward Fort Wilderness Trail, the 1200 loop is on our right, and the 1100 loop is straight ahead. We are approaching the iconic "Whoa, Traffic Ahead" sign:

That iconic sign could use some iconic paint:

It turns out the chipmunks were wrong. There is no traffic this morning. Here we are looking down Fort Wilderness Trail, which takes us to the Meadow Trading Post, and then on to the Settlement area:

Here we are crossing the street, as you can see, after we pass the roadway, the sidewalk banks to the right. It is following the path of the old railroad:

The sidewalk passes close by this site on the 1100 loop. Can you imagine what it would have been like when the train was in operation? Note that this is a premium site and this camper has a tent set up at the back of his site. There seem to be frequent questions about whether you can have a tent on a premium site. The answer is sure, why not:

As we look down the sidewalk here, you can see a patch of ballast there on the ground off to the right:

A closer look at the ballast as we walk by confirms that this sidewalk sits on top of the old rail bed:

You may notice that the light posts along this sidewalk are a different style. These lightposts have been here a long time, and reflect the older style. You will also see a lot of this style back in the old River Country area:

As we pass the 1100 loop entrance, you can look across and see the 1200/1300 loop playground. The bus stop for these loops is right here as well:

Even though we just crossed the road, we are crossing it again. That is how the train went. I'm not sure why, as it would have been better to not have it cross the road unless it really needed to. This is something that I don't understand:

This is the crosswalk that takes us back across Fort Wilderness Trail. The 1300 loop is on the right:

Now we are approaching the Meadow Trading Post:

There is a lot of ballast along the sidewalk here:

Here we are at the back of the Meadow Trading Post. The bridge you see there on the right is the bridge that takes guests to the pool, Bike Barn and campfire area. I snapped this photo at 7:18 am. So, from the Outpost to here took 19 minutes, and that is with all the photo taking:

Looking across to the pool:

If if you've ever read a TCD TR, you probably have seen this Sycamore tree before. It stands right at the back corner of the Trading Post. It is huge. Here, it is without leaves, as despite the warm temperature, it's still winter in Florida:

I don't know why, but I love the back porch of the Meadow Trading Post, which is right down this path. Do not let that squirrel distract you:

The Meadow Trading Post does not open until 8 am. So, we can't go in there right now. We will have to come back.

But, we can still take a look at the Fishin' Hole, and Bob's dock there on the left. You can see that there's another bridge all the way on the other side. The 600 loop is there on the left bank. On the other side, you can see the rental canoes on the little sandy beach. The Bike Barn is off to the right of the canoes:

Since you can't see that Bike Barn in that photo, here's one where you can see it:

Now, here's the back porch:

There's a real hop scotch court painted here:

And this is Bob's dock:

That very last rock on the right in this photo is Bear Rock. If you drink enough beer, it looks exactly like a bear swimming in the fishin' hole. You can also see here that there are a lot of trees missing their leaves. Winter, you know:

This is the side porch of the Trading Post, if you look all the way toward the back of the photo, that's the 900 loop bus stop across the way:

You can take a peek into the trading post from through the corner window:

There are always a few rockers around, and this would be a great place to take a break if you needed to. But, I didn't need to. Plus, the music that they pipe in on the porch wasn't turned on yet. So, we will keep on walking:

These azeleas appear to have been blooming for a while. They are saying it's already spring. Someone needs to tell the sycamore tree:

We are going to stop following the old railroad here, which is just as well. Up until a few years ago, there was a sidewalk that passed in front of the Meadow Trading Post and continued on toward the 800 loop. That sidewalk followed the path of the old train. But, they tore it up when they expanded the 600 loop, and now that sidewalk stops in front of the Trading Post.

So, we are going to walk out toward Fort Wilderness Trail from here. There's something over there on the 900 loop that I want to look at.

A look back at the Trading Post:

I last camped at the Fort in the very beginning of January. It has been reported here that the 900 loop closed in mid-January, and that work was being done on it.

It was still closed here on February 24:

I was curious to see what was going on behind that fence.

And maybe you are too.

So, this wasn't on the plan, but we are going to take a quick detour back there to take a look.

Then we will be on our way.

Next, a quick look at how things looked on the 900 loop.

TCD