Spring Break 2011 @ The Fort By TCD

Yes.

This is another TCD trip report.

A month ago, you missed TCD.

Now, you are sick of TCD.

Isn't it funny how that works?

Things sure have picked up around here in the past month, haven't they?

Before TCD came along on May 5, 2011, no trip report on Fort Fiends had even a thousand views.

None.

Now there are many.

And, there is one with over 11,000 views.

Wow!

Let's see how many take a look at this one.

The TCD gang visited the Fort beginning on March 25 for four nights.

TCD did some exploring.

And, we met some Fiends.

But, first, we must start at the beginning.

This was originally going to be a one week trip.

We haven't gotten a full week at the Fort under our belts in a while.

But, as often happens, we had to change our plans.

The TCD twins unexpectedly won a regional competition for a club that they belong to at their school, and they had to travel to the State Championship during the second half of their spring break.

So, we had to cut our stay at the Fort short.

Also, some unexpected conflicts caused us to leave from home late on Friday afternoon. We weren't able to get away until a little after 4.

That is bad for us.

Because Tampa traffic stands between us and the Fort.

And Tampa traffic is not very nice on Friday afternoons.

It was especially not nice on Friday afternoon, March 25th.

The drive that normally takes us an hour and a half to two hours took us three plus hours.

It was after 7:00 before we arrived at the Fort.

This was not good.

The last time we arrived this late on a Friday, we got a crappy camp site.

But, I tried something new on this trip.

On-line check in.

I've never tried it before.

But, since I knew that we would be arriving late, I figured maybe it would help.

I think it did.

Because, we scored a site on the 1500 loop!

We were assigned to 1503.

The sun was just getting ready to set when we got to our site.

But, we had not yet had our dinner.

So, we headed down to Trail's End for our Giddyap and Go.

Since our site was not set up, we ate it right there on the porch.

Then, it was back to the site to get set up in the dark.

Not a problem.

After owning my camper for almost 12 years now, I could set it up blindfolded if I had to.

It was Extra Magic Hours at Epcot that night. So, I sent the girls on to that, and stayed back to have a couple of beers and get things set. The plan was that I would join them later and give them a ride back.

Because we arrived late, and our evening consisted of me setting up in the dark, I have zero photos from Friday.

It was a wonderful evening.

Clear and cool.

I headed over to Epcot at about 11.

We had some ice cream and rode Soarin'

And then it was back to the Fort.

When we got back, it was around 12:30 am.

It was such a nice night that I decided to chill in my hammock.

The next thing I knew, it was 1:30 am, and I got woken up by a bus stopping at the 1500 loop bus stop.

The hammock was so comfy, that I decided to try to do something I have always wanted to- sleep in the hammock all night. I grabbed a couple of blankets and tried to do just that.

The only problem with my plan was that I was about 25' from the 1500 loop bus stop.

And, every time I was about to drift off, a bus came by.

I was surprised by how many buses came by that late at night.

But they did.

I also realized that my body is a bit older than back in my Boy Scout days when I used to sleep in a backpacking hammock all the time.

So, I gave up with my hammock plan and went in to the camper at about 2:30.

Fail.

We were up early for Hollywood Studios rope drop on Saturday am.

My photos start here.

Here we are stampeding to the Toy Story Midway Mania attraction:

The crowds were not bad on this cool Saturday morning.

In fact, as soon as the mob disappeared into the attraction, it was kind of empty around there:

We enjoyed Hollywood Studios for the morning.

And, then we headed back to the Fort for lunch and a nap.

Here's a couple of shots from the back of our site (you can see where my hammock is in proximity to the bus stop):

I have never had this site before. I never thought I wanted it because of how close it is to the bus stop. But, I loved it. The footbridge to the pool was just across the street. It is a great location, and the bus noise really was not a problem.

We did some looping, and saw these folks with their whimsical signs were still on the 100 loop. The have been here since the first of the year:

This appeared to be one family with a bunch of dogs. A bunch. I am not sure what loop they were staying on, but I'm glad it wasn't the 1500 loop:

The fishin' hole behind the Meadow Trading Post was looking good:

Do you see that thing floating out there in the lake?

Have you ever wondered what that is?

More on that later.

I stopped by the Meadow Snack Bar for a root beer. I snapped this photo so I could see if the prices have changed yet again. I am happy to report that there have been no price increases since my last visit in mid-February:

Here we are back at camp:

The TCD gator got broken out because Florida was playing Butler in basketball on Saturday March 26. The Gators made it to the Elite 8 this year.

Unfortunately, Albert got packed right back up a little later that afternoon.

No need to revisit that issue.

Are you wondering if there will be photos of site 617 in this report?

Wonder no more:

Remember, the guy in this space is paying $30 a night more than I am.

Sucker!

When I got back from this little looping adventure, I tried to grab a quick bit of shut-eye in the TCD hammock.

But I had visitors.

It was Steffa70 and Magicbus!

What a nice surprise.

They both lobbied pretty hard for me to join Fort Fiends.

And, now look at me!

While I was visiting, the TCD twins were in the camper doing some kind of hippie craft involving hemp.

Yes, I said hemp.

Hemp.

I've got to watch these two:

It was not Extra Magic Hours at Animal Kingdom, but they had AK open to 8. If you ever see that, go. Everybody heads out of there at around 6, and the park really empties out. It is better than EMH.

We ate dinner at the Flametree BBQ. I first tried this place just recently, based on the recommendation of other Fiends. It is a great quick serve location, and look at the view you get from the seating area:

After we ate, we headed over to Expedition Everest.

The girls needed to take a pit stop, and I got to admire some of the themeing that went into this park:

While I was waiting for the girls, guess who walked by?

It was Steffa70's son and his girlfriend.

It is a small world, after all.

Expedition Everest was basically a walk on.

We rode it many times.

Then we headed back to the Fort.

We were in plenty of time to enjoy the Electric Water Pageant at 9:45:

And, that was our Saturday.

Wow.

We are already up to our second night, and this is only the first post of this Trip Report.

Don't worry.

On Sunday, we spent a leisurely morning around the Fort.

And I took plenty of photos.

Which we will be looking at next.

TCD