I'm going to touch on a few topic that i've read in this multi page thread.
1. Is FF slowing down? Answer yes, I think other social media consumes peoples free time online. I think they get most of their breaking news / updates there and come here just to see if anyone they know has something going on. I'm not a social media user I only use Discord and involved in several topic servers there.
2. There are no moose in Great Smokey Mountains National Park, they would be Elk very very big elk.
3. The cost, and frustration of going to DW or the Fort. My wife, our son (now 6) and I have been going to the fort every fall (Mid Sept) for over 10 years. Our first year going we made reservations about 8 weeks out and hand APs for the parks. As they years went by and my son was born (Oct 1, 2014) we moved our trip to Late Oct - Early Nov so we could do the Halloween Party and Christmas Party. By this time we had to book our site over a year in advance. This is where frustration with Disney, and the booking systems started for me in 2014 or 2015.
We missed 2020 due to me coming down with Covid but had done a fly down trip and stayed in a resort. Then another fly down trip in March 21 when we renewed our APs and they gave us a large discount on a room.
Our trips into the parks where a huge letdown. While the parks were open, and most attractions were open they Magic was gone. Completely Gone. We saw No cast members making magical moments by interaction with guests. The parks were not clean (clean to Disney Standard). We will be leaving on Sep 10th for a 3 week stay at the Fort, but this trip is a lets see how it goes trip for us. The park reservation system is by far the worst thing that's been implemented. We enjoy waking up and deciding where we want to go that day. We never pre book Fast Passes, usually only pre book a few meals. Disney has taking our laid back family vacation and put us on their schedule.
I would like to thank Michael Kimble from the Facebook group "I Love Camping at Disney's Fort Wilderness" for the pictures. His information is most appreciated.
It was odd indeed. But all worked out in the end. We arrive early and have always received a text while still on I-4 just before the DW exit. So there is definitely some inconsistency between your reservations and ours concerning text messaging. I truly do feel sorry for the Cast Members during these unusual times. Change is the new norm and adaptability is a virtue. Fortunately I feel we’ve both enjoyed DW and The Fort in its glory days and can only imagine what the new norm is going to be. Would like to see them go to site selection upon reservation but I’m sure they have their reasons for not doing that. Interesting times. Enjoy camping during the upcoming holiday season! Any day at The Fort is a good day 😄
That's odd. We were at the Fort the week before Labor Day as well. It was our 40th stay there over the last 7 years (I was curious and had to count). We've requested a site for all but our first stay. In those 39 times when we requested a site, we only received a text message once. I wish we would get it more often. This trip we did not get a text as usual and went up to the registration lane. When we got there the cast member told us that we got one of our requested sites. Sometimes we get it and sometimes we don't but it has always been noted.
Correct-the "number" is still attached to a fax machine but the "assigning procedure" has changed. Our experience the week before Labor Day, when the campground was deserted, was totally different than in the past. "For the first time in forever" our request, sent 10 days in advance, was ONLY attached to our reservation and our preferred site NOT pre-assigned as done previously. We were texted a site that was NOT on our list. We drove up to registration, they had our list on our reservation, and REASSIGNED us to our preferred site. Obviously they got our fax, and maybe it was a matter of timing. But unfortunately our experience was a waste of the registration Cast Members time to reassign us to our AVAILABLE preferred site when we could have just driven directly to the site. The fax machine still works but for us it appears the assigning procedure has changed. Still happy campers, and it all worked out just fine, but felt bad for the Cast Member having to do extra work for something that worked so seamlessly in the past.
Wow, that looks great Blake! I like the 2 layered look...it really does make the primary layer pop. I might have you make another sign for Christy at some point if you ever have time, and use that method. The first one you made never did get hung outside by the road....she liked it so much it's inside the house!
Thought I would put this here since they need a little tweaking to be Fiends, but Dollar Tree has the plastic Flamingos (smaller scale) on sale now. Most people recommend ordering them and having them shipped to your local store since they sell out rather quickly when they hit the shelves. Anyway, I am going for a Tiki theme for our new tent and what could be better than camping with a flock of purple, coonskin hatted flamingos?
Late in 2016, Disney announced that there would be a new festival celebrated at Epcot.
Initially, all we knew was that they were calling in the Epcot International Festival of the Arts, and that it would run for six weeks, on weekends only, from mid-January through late February.
Details eventually were provided, but, honestly, I didn't pay much attention to them. This sounded like a lame cash-grab to me, and I wasn't all that interested.
Epcot is in a pretty sad state with several large empty buildings, some badly dated rides, and almost nothing left in either of the Innovention venues. Plus, in my most humble opinion, they wrecked both Test Track and Soarin' with the "upgrades" they did on both. It's next to impossible to ride the new Frozen ride unless you want to wait in a really long line, or you're able to book FP+'s 60 days out. So, we haven't been to Epcot all that much lately.
But, some aspects of this Art Festival were intriguing to me, and I wanted to see it with my own eyes. Also, Disney offered reserved seating to the Disney on Broadway performances for passholders, and I was able to get a reservation for the 5:30 performance on Saturday, January 21. The TCD twins were available for an afternoon visit that day, so we went.
We only planned to spend the afternoon and evening at Epcot. No park hopping or resort visits on this trip. So we parked in the Epcot parking lot, which we don't do very often. They have a lot of the parking lot blocked off for the big tents and bleachers that they keep up for the Disney and Princess marathons, so we ended up being directed to park way in the back of the Explore lot- like almost in the last row. It ended up not being a big deal, as they had a tram right there for us, and we were able to board and head to the entrance right away.
When we arrived at the tram drop off, they dropped us off in a new area, and we saw that they had added some new bag check tents and scanners. Here, they had every single guest go through a metal detector, which is the first time I've seen that done at Epcot. Based on how things were set up, it looks like that's how things will be done from now on. The lines were a bit long here, but it wasn't too bad.
We were able to use the Passholder line to enter the park. Since Twin #2 doesn't currently have a pass, she had to go in one of the regular lines. She greeted Twin #1 and I as we made our way in to the park- the regular line was faster. LOL.
We picked up one of the Festival passports, and headed on it.
Our first stop was to check on the animation class that they're holding in the old Vision House area of Innoventions. That was also where they were distributing the stickers for the reserved seating for the Disney on Broadway performances, and I was able to pick up our stickers for that (only one person had to check in, so I got three stickers-one was supposed to be for my older DD, who is a passholder, but since she wasn't with us, Twin #2 was able to use it). As far as I have been able to tell, there is no published schedule for the animation classes. We stopped by there to find a long line, and learned that the next class was full. The class after that would be in about an hour from now. The CM told us that the classes were scheduled for every 45 minutes, and he told us that if we arrived at about 20 minutes before the next class, we would probably be fine.
In case you're interested, here's what the admission stickers look like for the Broadway show:
So, we had about an hour to kill. Twin #1 wanted to try one of the fancy pop tarts they're selling, and both twins wanted to paint on the giant paint by numbers mural, so we headed off to find those.
We stopped for the photo op on the way in to the World Showcase:
The Festival passport wasn't very useful in locating where the various activities and food items were located. We didn't pick up an Epcot map, so maybe that information is on the map, but it's not in the passport.
We found the paint-by-numbers mural over by the walkway that goes toward the Imagination pavilion.
It's a simple set up- they have a giant paint by numbers mural set up, and supposedly it's going to look like the mural depicted in this banner when it's done:
They did a good job making this simple and efficient. You stand in a line, which moves quickly, and a CM gives you a small container of paint and a brush. The paint container has a number on it, and you're turned loose to go paint four squares of that color:
This was the second weekend of the Festival, and quite a bit of progress has been made already:
I got yellow, and painted the squares next to the brown squares here:
The twins got different colors, and painted other squares.
It only took a few minutes to participate, and it was strangely fun.
Here's a look back at the mural-you can see that guests are having fun with it- I'll bet it's going to be done by next weekend:
I hope that they put the finished mural on display somewhere. I am interested in seeing what it looks like in the end. Somehow, I doubt it will look as good as the banner, but I think it will look OK.
The have two bins at the end to drop off your paint container and brush, and you get a free postcard showing a part of the mural artwork:
There was another mural being painted across the lake- Twin #1 said this was being painted by a professional artist. We meant to check on that later, but we ended up running out of time:
I snapped a photo of the grass along the lake, because I know in a few weeks this will all be huge flower beds for the Flower and Garden Festival:
The entry area to World Showcase is noticeably under-decorated. There will no doubt be some giant topiaries in here for the Flower and Garden Festival:
They were selling the pop tarts in the booth next to the World Showcase entrance, so we got a couple. These go for four bucks, which is about three bucks too high. I thought they were real pop tarts, but they're actually a sugar cookie made to look like pop tarts. They were good, but very, very sweet:
We headed back to the animation class, and got there about 15 minutes before the next class was set to start. That ended up being too late, and it meant that we had to wait another hour until the next class. I suggested to the girls that we skip it, but they wanted to do it. So, the new plan was to check out MouseGear for a bit, then come and wait for the next class. And, that's what we did.
We came back about 45 minutes before the next class was set to start. There were already 10-15 people in line, and I would guess that the class was full and the line cut by about 30 minutes before the class was going to start. I am not sure if every day will be that busy, but it was on Saturday.
Here we go:
We were big fans of the animation class when it was offered at Hollywood Studios. Upon entering this room, it was obvious that this event was a less fancy version of that class. In Hollywood Studios, they provided an 11 x 17 piece of paper and a fancy sketching pencil with no eraser. Here, we got and 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper, and a number 2 pencil with the eraser pulled off:
There were probably only 5 or 6 Castmember instructors who worked at the animation class in DHS, and we eventually got to know all of them. We were hoping to see a familiar face here, but the instructor was not anyone we had seen before. She was nice and friendly, though:
Tabula rasa:
The instructor wasn't like the instructors at the DHS animation class. There were no helpful hints- we just dove right into drawing, and she went fast. By the second or third step, I could see the train wreck coming:
The instructor zipped through her drawing- telling us what to do along the way- again without any helpful hints:
You can see the instructor's drawing up there on the screen- she drew a pretty good Daisy Duck:
But I ended up with this:
The twins didn't do as bad as I me. Twin #1's is on the left, and Twin #2's is on the right in this photo:
We all agreed that Twin #2 won this round.
The class was fun, and we probably try to do it again if we get the chance. But, it's not as good as it was when it was offered at DHS.
Next on our agenda was a visit to the old Odyssey restaurant. They are using it as the Festival headquarters, and there are some art exhibits in there that we wanted to see.
The first gallery of art we looked at in the Odyssey was about six or so paintings by Herbert Ryman. You've probably seen his artwork around before- he's famous for creating a lot of the concept art for Epcot. I'm pretty sure the mural that we had painted was based on one of his paintings. The set-up for the gallery creates congestion, and I wasn't able to get any good photos of the Ryman paintings. But, there was more artwork on display inside the Odyssey, and this is art that you can buy.
I don't know why, but I like to look at some of the expensive paintings that they have on display at these Festivals. For example, here's one:
Interesting, right?
But, I always wonder who would buy something like this, and where they would put it. Especially when you look at the price tag:
They have a poster that they're selling for the Festival. I kind of like it. But, it's $50 unframed:
With Twin #2's 40% merchandise discount, it would only cost us $30 for one of those. I thought about it, but I don't know where I'd display that if I had it. So, we passed. But, I still like it.
Let's look at a bit more art. This is nice, right?:
And, it's only $2900:
I'm guessing that the Donald Duck in the British phone booth painting there on the end was painted by the same artist who painted the Goofy painting:
Sorry, my photo of the price tag for the Donald painting is blurry, but I think it's also $6300:
When we entered the Odyssey, there was a line of guests outside who were waiting for something. They were all let in to be seated as we poked around inside:
I am not sure how it works for these classes- whether you need to sign up ahead of time, or what. I know at the Food and Wine and Flower and Garden Festival, there are a lot of classes that require payment and registration, but I'm not sure if this one did. But, here's a free tip- you can see and hear everything from the back of the room if you want.
A little while after those guests were seated, a lady came out and welcomed them, and asked if they were ready to learn how to make chocolate fondue. Cool, we all said to ourselves, we like chocolate fondue. But, the lady was only making a joke, as she quickly corrected herself and said that she was there to teach everyone about aromatherapy. That was nowhere near as interesting to us as chocolate fondue.
On the other side of the room from the Herbert Ryman display, they had a display of some of Mary Blair's artwork. This was interesting to us all, as we've heard of her. We know that she created the look of the Small World attraction, and that she designed the giant mural in the Grand Canyon Concourse of the Contemporary Resort. But, none of us know much about who she was or how it was she came to work for Disney.
This sign at the beginning of the display tells a bit about her:
I found this all very interesting. Especially about how much Walt Disney liked her art.
It was the same deal in her gallery- very crowded.
And there was other art for sale on display near the Mary Blair gallery.
I liked this watercolor:
But, I did not like the price:
Twin #1 practically went nuts over this painting, as she does for any Jungle Cruise related item:
I'd love to buy that painting for her, but the price is too rich for my blood:
I thought that this wooden mosaic was cool:
I failed in getting a photo of its price tag:
Next on the agenda was to try one of the food items they were selling here at the Odyssey. We didn't know this is where they were selling it, but there was one item that we had all agreed ahead of time that we were interesting in trying, and it was for sale here. I have another batch of photos to share, so I'll share those in a new post, and start with the food item we got here.
TCD
They are really pricey, but PahaQue.com makes lots of custom tents and screenrooms for teardrops.
www.teardropshop.com
www.pahaque.com
Hope this helps!
I found, years ago, what worked for me was to have a home workout room. Nothing too elaborate, a treadmill, elliptical, a few weights, and most important, a setup for my laptop and a TV.
I have no excuse not to workout. But I still have to force myself, I hate doing it.
Congratulations on your weight loss. Have you reached your goal? As for the 5k, while I'm close enough and love animals of all types, I break out in hives at the thought of any physical exercise.
Good for you, stick with it. One third of the way is a big deal. And what I said about physical exercise, like much of what I say about myself, is baloney.
At my age, I'm very conscious about my weight and health and really do work at it. I do about an hour of cardio and strength exercises six days a week. If I can do it, anyone can.
My dear friend from high school and her husband spent Christmas with us last year. As a hostess gift, she gave us a personalized dog placemat for our Abby. They flew in from Virginia and it fit perfectly in her luggage, didn't weigh much, and didn't take up any room. She got it on Amazon, and I just love it! It was the perfect gift for us.
Talk about parallels. We are on our 60s, have two Silky Terriers that we adore, and I was an engineer. Let's see, what would I like for a gift? Got it. I would like for my son and my DIL to just visit me. That would be great.
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