Duane

I wasn't sure she knew how bad Waffle House could be, but I didn't want to say anything, so in we went.

Awww come on Marty, you know you can't be hate'n on the Waffle House..... Now that smoking has been outlawed in most of the southern states in restaurants, you can actually smell the food there....

Would love to be having me some "scattered, smothered and covered" right now.....

Why do I feel the need for some sort of decoding sheet in order to get the most out of this TR?

For some reason it isn't working.

I guess I should have said that the Jitterbug phones don't work with that app...

Lou, I wouldn't sweat it as you are most likely about ready to start receiving Meals on Wheels.....

Pics of the dogs would be nice... but it would be better to see them post their experiences during this TR... I mean they do have their own FF member's sign....

I hate carrying all of those loyalty cards... I use the Key Ring app to load all of the cards... Just use your phone's camera to take a picture of the bar code, then the program will save it for you.... Just hand the clerk your phone, they scan the bar code and away you go... Some cards will even link you to coupons and offers for that particular store.

This is better than watching a tennis match.... back and forth and back and forth...

I think its safe to say that the folks behind the operation of Sturdy Branches or any oher operation at Disney for that matter are like any state DMV office.... you call 5 times, talk to 5 different folks and get 8 different answers....

Just keep trying until you get someone that gives you the answer you want to hear, then stop asking..... :rofl2:

Now carry on with the fight.... . :pc:

I too am glad they will be changing coffee vendors... but there is one thing we need to keep an eye on....

Necafe' or Nescrape' is made by Nestle... What other favorite Disney product in particular that we all enjoy? Mickey Bars! as well as all of the other packaged ice creams that are sold throughout the parks and grocery areas around WDW.

I hope the procurement folks didn't piss of Nestle too bad when they negotiated this change.... A Mickley Bar is hard to beat.

You're from NC? I've always wanted to come up for a couple weeks and do all the museums/garages. Unfortunately, that "work thing" gets in my way.

Have you done any?

Yes I'm from NC...been here all my life. Currently live in the Raleigh area, which is about a 3 hr drive from Charlotte where all of the garages and museums are located. Heck, the closet thing to racing we have here is a Rick Hendrick Chevy and Dodge dealership about 5 miles from my house...

Don't follow it like I used to when I was growing up, like you said that dang work seems to get in the way...

You should find time to come up to Charlotte when there is a big race going on... Tour the shops and check out the mueseums. You would even get a chance for some Lexington BBQ and a Cheerwine. They are both about a 30 minute drive east of Charlotte.... Nectar and Food of the Gods!

Even though I'm not looking to buy a new RV, I do like to look...

Here is a site that specializes in Bank Repos... The inventory changes every week.

http://www.crankyape.com/default.asp?pg=DisItems&Cat=6

Ooooooweeee,

Listen to Stef rattle off that racin' talk... All we need to do is to get her one of those fancy headsets with a microphone and she could work for MRN (Motor Racing Network) as a commentator....

I am impressed.....

Although it doesn't take much to impress me... Give me a rubberband and a pencil and I'm happy for hours....

WooHoo.... Rubbin' is racin' I'm along for the race as well!

SSSShhhhhhhhh! Don't let this get out, or we will be with one less campsite.... Don't forget what happened a while back when someone left a lawnmower parked beside one of those pine trees.... It became an overnight success. Folks traveled from all over just to see the lawnmower tree. Heck, they may even close off the entire loop just to handle the traffic...

With all of that talk about whether 'Ohana is spelled O'hana, 'Ohana, 'Ohanas, or 'Ohanaz, you neglected to tell us ANYTHING about the light fixtures in the place.....

That's wild about working that building.... Don't know if you've heard or not, but HSBC is getting ready to move out of that building after being there since I think in 1977...

In fact I am the team lead for HSBC's move management group... we are responsible for all of the moves and relocations for HSBC all over the US and Canada....

I'm convinced that when we start moving them out of that building, we are gonna find Jimmy Hoffa's remains somewhere in some secret room....

Dave, You have an awesome family and have really enjoyed spending time with you guys through this report...Been reading along the entire way.... have finally caught up and just now have found time to comment.

On the sponge candy thing, I was introduced to it in a weird kind of way... Being one of those NC rednecks, I had never even heard of the stuff... But when I was trying to sell my truck back in 2009 so we could get our current MoHome, I listed it on eBay. During the process, I got several questions about it from this guy. Well long story longer, he and I made the deal through eBay, and he turned out to be one of the owner's of Platter's Chocolates from Tonawanda NY.

Supposedly, his shop is famous for sponge candy as well as sea foam candy. This was his story, so you may or may not have even heard of the place.... When he flew in from Buffalo to pick up the truck, he brought me some sponge candy and seafoam. It was pretty good stuff.

I do alot of work at the HSBC Tower in downtown Buffalo, so the next time I'm up there, I'm gonna search out Fowler's and try their product.

On the subject of Port Orleans French Quarter's food court, in mine and my fam's opinion, it does suck monkey butt....

Our most favorite food court is at Riverside, which by the way is where we had the pleasure of meeting Andrew last year. In our humble opinion, the two places don't even hold a candle to each other....

Now, on to the Festival of the Lion King show at AK, you may or may not know, that you can relive that show in audio only from the comfort of your own home.... In fact, you can listed to other shows like Nemo's musical, or other tunes from other parades and shows from this site:

http://www.d-cot.com/jukebox

Now you do have to sign up for free, but it gives you access to all of these tunes at your convenience. Unlike some of the other Disney music sites, you can choose what you want to specifically want to listen to...

I like listening to the Illuminations show and Soarin' soundtracks....

Anyway, looking forward to readling along for the remainder of the journey!

Another fellow DVC member here... We have been members for about 6 years now and have really enjoyed using it.

We purchased direct from Disney and Saratoga Springs is our "home resort" and like others have said, we have never had any issue with getting what we want from other resorts.

While the Fort is still my most favorite place to stay, we never use points to stay there. We always use the points exclusively to stay at DVC properties.

Before we purchased, I was always in the "camp" of time shares are a big waste of money and the whole high pressure sales tactics really turned me off. Well when the wife talked me into going to a DVC sales presentation on a Disney cruise we were on, I reluctantly obliged. Long story short, it was completely opposite than what I was used to. No high pressure sales pitch, none of this "if you don't buy now, the deal will be gone", they said we could go home and talk about it, then we could call and talk to them later on... So it was a pleasant experience.

The main reason we purchased was to have a place to stay at Disney during the winter months when my daughter, who was in year round school, was out on break. I don't like to get the camper out in the winter when the roads could turn nasty... So if we want to go down for a night, or a week, we could (if they had availability).

I know there are many on here who are "anti-DVC" at the Fort, which I am one of them also.... If Disney wants to have another DVC resort on Bay Lake, I think there is plenty of land for them to use between WL and the Fort without them bulldozing the current horse barn and laying down more concrete and asphalt near Pioneer Hall....

Most DVC folks are not snobs, but those who genuinely love coming to Disney for what it is....

Hey Andrew, if you would have kept that later reservation and managed to get that prime table, you could have watched the fireworks over the castle. Unless they have changed things, when the fireworks start, the lights dim and they pipe the soundtrack into the restaurant...

The last time we were there which was many years ago, we managed to see the show and it was pretty impressive...

Oh come on Gwen, have you ever heard of a "cat head bisquit"? Biscuits as big as a cat's head... "Well these things are cat head cinnamon rolls" They're huge!

Don't let me have to pull your Tar Heel card... (the state, not the school)

Now I KNOW you had to have made a trip to Cades Cove while you were there.... NO ONE, absolutely no one goes to Gatlinburg without a trip to Cades Cove....

Also, have you ever been over to Cataloochee? It's on the NC side of the park but you can get to it via a road out from Cosby... Its a mini Cades Cove with a couple of old houses and barn from where the National Parks Service stole, I mean purchased the land for the Park.

Gwen, you will get this... being as you are from my neck of the woods so to speak, and not so sure if our "northern fiends" will get it.... If they are as big as a cat head, then they are probably the same.... :hah:

Great trip report... looking forward to reading "the rest of the story"...

We love Gatlinburg... The best thing about the area is that you can have all of the hustle and bustle of the town, then in a matter of minutes can be out in the middle of no where with the place all to yourself.

I'm happy to hear that you guys know about the Roaring Fork Auto Trail... In the past when I have talked to folks about Gatlinburg and asked them if they took in the trail, they didn't know anything about it. There is SOOOO much to explore around that area.

I read somewhere that the cinnamon rolls either will be, or are available at Gaston's Tavern in the new Fantasy Land...

Looks like Andrew has another assignment to figure this out and report back to the rest of us....

Andrew that food looked awesome, and at 3:34 PM here in rainly dreary NC, I am suddenly very hungry....

Hey as you wondered around the BOG restaurant, did you see any references to Lumiere or Cogsworth? I thought they both played large parts in the movie and thought they would at least play something in the new area...

Great job and excellent trip report Norm. Even though I did not post, I did read it cover to cover so to speak... Congrats on OVER 10,000 views. I know everyone enjoyed the report just as I did.

Now get busy and publish that next one!

Guess what?

I have another light fixture photo.

Maybe Duane was right.

This is one of the posts for the big gate in front of BOG:

I wouldn't worry about that light fixture fetish... I must confess something here... I'm kind of the same way about those kind of things.

Having a commercial property/project manager background, I am constantly studying and looking from a facilities point of view on how the light fixtures get serviced, how Disney got by with getting the blessings of the Fire Mashall, how would one go about repairing this or that when it breaks, etc. You get the picture....

Claudine and Ash refuse to go with me to any type of airplane or ship museum because I spend hours looking at the gauges and switches and tracing out pipes and wires.

My name is Duane and I am a "details stickler" "Not wrong, just different"