CKCK

Don't encourage him Monique because you know what's next, three dozen photos of my beloved EWP.

Sorry it's blurry, Lou. Next time I'll be sure to take LOTS of pictures of it just for you. :jumpforjoy

Well howdy neighbor! I live in Conyers! Do you work for the Newton County school system or Rockdale? I work for Rockdale.

We live in Covington, but work in Jasper County. I'm actually taking my band up to the GAMF band contest at Rockdale this Saturday. Do you teach?

Ok, I forgot a few things about our first night.

First of all, you can't roast marshmallows over charcoal...very well. We thought we would avoid the crowds and just do it at our site after we grilled the steaks.

Booo. They don't produce enough flame. Needed wood. Luckily, we were at the fort and there is wood everywhere.

It was all wet. So, we had warm marshmallows instead.

Lesson Learned: join the crowd and just do it at the campfire!

That sounded wrong. I meant roast marshmallows at the campfire. Let's keep it G rated here.

...

After the sing-a-long we headed to the beach to watch the MK Wishes fireworks. We had never seen them from the Fort so didn't really know what to expect. We actually enjoyed them, and the girls really enjoyed them.

I took my camera in hopes of getting some good pics.

I tried to get the boat in this pic, but the fireworks weren't bright enough. Would have been a good pic if the fireworks had been brighter.

Lesson Learned: Take a tripod to get good pics of fireworks.

Other Lesson Learned: Take a real photographer with you to get really good pics of fireworks.

While sitting on our lounges a family came up with a young boy to sit next to us. As I was fooling with different camera settings trying to get the best pics I could, he asked his mom, "Mommy, why do people take pictures of fireworks?"

There were so many things that came into my head at that point.

To remember them.

To show family.

To try to get a great shot to put in my TR.

Shut it, kid.

I chose to not say anything at all.

Lesson Learned: don't take pictures of fireworks unless I know what I'm doing and there aren't kids around!

They dock the tails on heavy horses (draft horses) for safety reasons. Heavy Horses are used to pull various items - including farm implements (obviously not at WDW, but elsewhere) and carriages, hackneys, etc. Heavy Horses have very long and thick tails if allowed to grow (2 foot in diameter and down to the floor on a 17 1/2 hand Shire, for example). A tail like that could easily entangle in farm equipment; on a carriage, etc., they pight go over the reins. If the tail went over the reins, the horse would clinch the tail down because the underside of the tail is VERY sensitive. If that happened, you would have no control of the horse, because the reins would be trapped ...

Thanks for the info. I was going to say it was because of poop. Mostly because I wanted to say "poop" in a trip report.

Foul, I call chipmunk discrimination.

How about we say that Dale's nose is bright brown?

Have I asked you yet where in Georgia you're from?

No, you have not asked me where in Georgia.

I assume that you will ask soon.

I'll go ahead and answer for you: Covington. About 30-45 minutes (depending on traffic) East/Southeast of the ATL (down I-20). Though, I do have to say that I am not FROM Covington, but have lived here for about 10 years.

Moving on...

Here are a few more pics from our first Settlement expedition:

If I could sleep on one foot with my head turned around backwards, would I? No. This duck thinks it's a good idea, though.

My girls loved this playground. Ok, they love any playground. But this one has a really steep slide on the far side that even I was tempted to try.

I didn't.

See the horse coming? Someone's riding it.

Ok, let's discuss the last three pics. $1000 for info regarding the death of Jim Allen, $1000 for the guy who held up the stagecoach, and only $300 for Curly, who robbed another stagecoach? That means that you can kill a guy or rob a stagecoach, and it's basically worth the same amount. But if your name is Curly, then you don't rate very high.

Lesson Learned: As usual, the Fort management is inconsistent!!!

I didn't notice the lights when I was there, but did once I looked at the pic. See how they are scalloped around the edges? Kind of cool.

Here comes our horse again. Guess she got tired of riding. She said it was a draft horse so you didn't ride it...then why was she on it before?

I also started thinking about horses. They are strong. Especially this one. It was huge. Two people (women or not) could not possibly hold on to it if it decided to run after a squirrel or cat or something. Luckily horses don't chase squirrels or cats, but think about if they did!

I remember a pic like this causing a bit of controversy back on voldemort, so I thought I needed to include this one:

I have never seen a guy this excited about a horse. He told the women that it was the most beautiful horse he had ever seen so he literally ran over to take a picture. I don't like its tail, but I'm sure its cut short for a reason...and I can probably guess the reason...

Lesson Learned: The Fort is the home of the most beautiful horse in the world...according to that guy.

After we made our rounds, we headed back to site 1802 for dinner. I don't know what it is about the Fort, but all meals seem to taste better there. We grilled some steaks...UNDER AN UMBRELLA...and they were great. Maybe the rainwater seasoned them.

Luckily the rain passed and we were good to go for the campfire sing-a-long! Woo hoo!

Ok, I wasn't really saying woo hoo at the time. I thought it would be cheesy.

It was.

And we loved it!

Lesson Learned: We love cheese. And sing-a-longs.

It was packed.

I must say that both my wife and I are music teachers (elementary and HS band), so we are partial to music. I'm not much for kid songs, but we had a good time, and both daughters loved it. DD 3 sang and danced, loved meeting Chip, and didn't want to leave. She even made me go up to the front and dance with her. It was fun.

Speaking of Chip, I like him much better than Dale, so I'm glad that he came to our side. No offense to Dale, but I think Rudolph should be the only animal with a red nose.

The singer guy (cowboy somebody...don't remember his name) kept talking about Chip and Dale's big butts.

?

While I agree (though I try to avoid checking out chipmunks butts), did we really need to say this about 5 times with my DD 3 around? Whatever, we're on vacation. Thanks buddy, because she talked about that the rest of the trip.

Lesson Learned: Not only did Chip and Dale have big butts, but the cowboy seemed to have a thing for them too!

We also went to the sing-a-long on our last night. Different cowboy. Different songs. I liked all of them.

Until he played rocky top.

?

Really?

I looked at it as a teachable moment for my daughters.

So we stopped clapping and yelled "Go Dawgs" after the TN fans yelled their "woo" in the song. I hate that "woo."

Go Dawgs.

Lesson Learned: even at the Fort, I still can't stand that song.

The problem is that it's really a good song. I hate it for that reason. It gets stuck in your head and you can't get it out. In fact, I just got it stuck in my head right now.

Awesome.

Lesson Learned: don't talk about rocky top unless I want to be singing it all day, which I don't.

That ends day 1 at the Fort. It was actually a half day. The next installment will include a day at Epcot, some F&W, how not to use the monorail, my favorite ride at Epcot, and slushies!!!

Yes!

You asked.

Maybe if I saw it every day it would get old, but that's still hard to imagine!

We just returned from our inaugural camping trip in our new TT to the Fort.

We have been to Disney World before. We have camped before (once). This was our second camping trip to the Fort (or EVER for that matter).

Lesson Learned: we still have a lot to learn.

In this TR we'll cover all of the lessons learned. Some of the lessons will be how to not use the monorail, what different alarms in the TT mean, how to identify floating objects in the pool, and the what happens to tetherballs when they go missing.

We spent all of Saturday packing the trailer, figuring out what we needed or didn't need, finishing up some last minute details like hanging a curtain to close off the bunks and installing a bed rail on the top bunk.

Lesson Learned: start packing earlier!

Well, we basically started with nothing in the TT, so I'm sure it will get easier the more we do it. Many of the things I did to get ready to leave won't need to be done next time.

We pulled out at 5:30 Sunday morning. 30 minutes late. Yes, we like to leave early. With two young daughters (3 and 1), it works out better that way. Plus, why do I want to spend all day driving when I could be hanging out at the Fort?!?

After an 8 1/2 hour rain-filled trip (with a 30 minute 5 mph crawl just before the Turnpike because of a flipped car), we finally arrived at DW and FW.

Does this view ever get old?

As reported by others, it was wet. Really wet. Water everywhere. Even in the TT. We found out that the slide let water in underneath during travel and a window needs some silicone...probably because of all the spray on the road coming up from the bottom rather than the top. Awesome. Luckily it was minimal and didn't cause any real problems. Not sure how to fix the slide leak other than not driving in the rain, but I'll figure that out later.

Not real crowded today...probably because there was water everywhere!

We pulled into the Fort right behind two really nice, nearly matching Allegros...both pulling jeeps. Guess they are brothers or something.

We got lucky that it wasn't too busy, and just as we pulled up someone was pulling out in the second lane from the right. Yahoo for us!

As we were waiting on our CM to get our packet (online check in is great) I noticed this in the Reception Outpost.

Really? They used painter's tape to attempt to hold up the vent?

Lesson Learned: They should have at least used duct tape. Duh.

Notice the water across the sidewalk.

Welcome to site 1802 with a lake view. It wasn't too bad. There was water on either side of us, but the water on our "porch" side dried up the next day so it worked out. I liked our site...lots of room around on every side of us. I also like being in the back away from everything.

After fighting with on and off rain, I finally got everything set up and had our cart delivery from Kenny. As expected, Kenny was awesome. Delivered our cart right to our site and it was great. We hope to purchase our own soon, but until then will continue to rent from Kenny!

Lesson Learned: Kenny rocks!

Plus, our cart was faster than all the FW carts...I was constantly having to slow down whenever we got behind one of them. My DD3 actually started pointing that out every time we got behind another cart. She also (with the help of DD 19mos) felt the need to point out every stop sign, and yell at me if I did not come to a complete stop! Can't wait to teach them to drive!

After getting settled in, it was time for some looping! My DD 3 loves looping. She said she wanted to loop all day. She changed her mind after fighting with her sister (19 mos) on where they would sit! We did find out that some late night looping put them both to sleep after about 5 minutes!

Lesson Learned: Buy a golf cart and start looping the neighborhood every night to get them to sleep!

As we were going through the 1600s I noticed this couple unloading something from their small SUV.

?

It was a miniature golf cart. pbbt. Small enough to fit in their little SUV. I thought that was genius...until I saw it out and fully put together.

I'm happy for them that they have something they can take with them, and I'm sure it's very useful and they love it. But I'm afraid that I would have to turn in my man card if I drove around the Fort in that.

Compare that to some of the other "carts" we saw while at the Fort.

Really, when is the line drawn? "Golf cart type vehicle." pbbt. Some of those could nearly pull my TT.

Lesson Learned: FW management doesn't enforce rules.

I saw a cart without lights, 6 adults in a 4 seater, vehicles parked all over the place (as in not on pavement), and Florida fans. Okay, maybe they aren't against the rules, but they should be. Unless UGA beats them this year (yeah right). If that happens, I'll give the fans a break for a year.

We made our way around the Fort, taking in the sights and regaining our bearings of where we were. It was wet everywhere, and nearly every playground or tetherball area was under water.

My first thought was if Rocky was here, he would be upset...or wet. Then I thought to myself, "self, you relate way too many things in life to a TCD trip report."

But wait, where was the actual Tetherball in this last picture? Squirrels? Storm? An out of control tetherball match? I found it later...in a place that I never would have expected.

That's all for now. Later we'll see more of the Settlement, see some HUGE butts (in more than one place), and attend our first campfire sing-a-long. Woo hoo!

We were there Tuesday, and out of all the food you tried and all the food we tried, not a bit of it was the same. I guess we didn't try the right things! Of course were working off of a $125 Disney Rewards Redemption card, so about $30 of it was spent on slushies from France. Maybe that affected our food decision making...

We were there last December around the 20th, and it varied. The mornings and nights were pretty cold, but the days warmed up nicely. We weren't prepared and ended up buying my DD3 an overpriced jacket in the AK when we were there freezing our tails off one morning. It was downright freezing, plus it was windy. By that afternoon, it wasn't needed anymore and we were ditching clothes all over the place...

Happy Birthday.

Is 50 really old? I hear it's the new 40. Of course, if you think 40 is old, then being the new 40 may not sound good at all.

If it makes you feel any better, you and my grandmother share the same birthday. She will be 86 I think. That should make you feel a lot better about being 50!

Can't wait to read more. We arrive at the fort in two weeks so this is great timing to get me even more excited!

Glad you got to see the Braves, but under the circumstances I have to say GO CARDS!!! (I may live just outside of the ATL, but I'm a Redbird fan for life!!!)

That settles it. Now my wife will HAVE to let me get my own cart so we can avoid all of these rental shenanigans! Woo hoo!

FYI, I still have a rental set up with Kenny for the 9th through 12th! Can't wait!

While Jason's post is entirely appropriate, there is some content from this business that I am continuing to edit and frankly I am getting pissed off. This forum does not condone free advertising of businesses because someone has wronged you in some way. This Julie person associated with this business has done it and now Jason as well. I will continue to instruct people to report posts with phone numbers and addresses shamelessly promoting their business at the expense of all others to gain sympathy or whatever their purpose. I have also instructed the fiaires to edit these posts in my absence. Enough is enough. I own a business and you don't see my address and telephone number plastered everywhere and I OWN this site.

Since pms to this effect have not worked, I am posting this publicly. Stop, now. No more email addresses, phone numbers, snail mail addresses, or any other specific information on posts. If someone wants to contact you, they will via pm. If it continues, you will not like me much longer. :popo:

And that's why I like Fortfiends.

Jen throws the crap down.

I've only been to FW once, and we were in 1933. It was dry at the time, but I can see how it could be bad when wet. There also wasn't any room on either side for the kids to play. I'm hoping for 1700 next time.

That's a monster. I wouldn't be surprised if it eats campers.

Sorry, I had three favorites...

Here it is!!! We love it and can't wait to use it!

Thanks to all! I'll put up pics as soon as I can take them on Saturday!

We made our first trip to FW in a rented trailer back in December, and fell in love! Can't wait to get back and explore more.

We bought a new TT in April...It's a Crossroads too! LOVE IT!!!! :heart: Nothing better than taking your new camper on its maiden voyage. :dance: (We actually camped in our driveway the first two nights.)

I'm glad to hear that someone else has a Crossroads...I haven't found many people online who seem to have them, and I rarely see them out and about...at least not in our area. Don't really understand why though with the 2 year warranty. Plus, we got a great deal on a 2011 that they have had since at least January...we walked through this exact trailer at the ATL RV show back in January!

Congrats on the new camper. If it's going to be Oct. before your maiden voyage, I recommend you camp out in it as much as you can at home to make sure all the systems work properly. That way if something needs correcting you can get the dealer to take care of it before you go so you can have a stress free first trip.

Enjoy.

Also since this is your first unit, ask any and all questions about it here. There are enough experienced RV'ers on this site that we can help with most or all of your questions.

Great idea. And I'm sure that we'll start having all kinds of questions pretty soon!

Congratulations! I can't wait to see pictures! We just got our first TT a couple weeks ago. :banana:

I learned a lot from reading your questions and answers! Thanks!

Congratulations, when in October? I'm hoping it's for the Halloween GG :banana:

No, not Halloween...I'm a HS band director and my wife is a also a music teacher, so we can only get away when we have a break. We have a short fall break Oct 10-14, so we're running down on the 9th and heading back up on the 12th. We still have a football game that Friday night that we have to get back and ready for! The life I chose...

After 9 months of deliberating, we are picking up our first TT on Saturday. A little/lot scared, but excited. We already have our site booked for three nights in Oct to try it out. Thanks for all the info posted on here that helped us make our decision, and wish us luck!

Btw, it's a 2011 Crossroads Zinger ZT26BH. Hope we made a good decision (too late now anyway)!!!

I don't post much (I lurk often), but I just had to say that I'm finished with the green place.  It's gotten too weird with "she who must not be named" posting regularly...even under fiends threads.  Smells fishy.

Purple is better than green anyway...