CKCK

Day 7: Monday, June 17

Last morning at the Fort.

Booo.

I hate last mornings.  I don’t get to enjoy them because I’m busy packing everything up, loading, and sweating.  Not fun.

However, I made an early phone call and found out that our late checkout was approved.  

Bam.

So we packed up as much as we could, then headed to the boat for MK rope drop.

The boat was as crowded as I’ve seen it in the morning.

Redhead #1 had decided she wanted to try BTMR again.  She rode it last year wasn’t that impressed, but really wanted to again.

So that’s where she and I went while DW and Red #2 did something else.

I honestly have no idea what they did.  

This is after the ride.

She totally dug it this time.  

Bam.

In fact, she wanted to do it again.  

But there wasn’t time for that.  We needed to be out of the park by 11:00 today so we could finish packing and get out of the Fort.

So we went to meet Mommy and sis near the carousel.

It was here that we had probably the coolest experience on this trip.

We went to get in line and saw that the Lady Tremaine, Drizella, and Anastasia had gotten in line ahead of us.  

They were a riot.

Totally in character, and funny as all get out.

Drizella had trouble getting on her horse.

You don’t know how tempted I was to help her out.

I have to admit, I felt a little weird taking a picture of someone’s rear end in the middle of the carousel, but there was no way I was missing that pic.

The three of them did a really good job of spreading themselves out around the carousel. 

Drizella was up in front of Red #2 and me.

Lady Tremaine sat herself down next to Red #1.  There was a horse in between them, but it was empty. 

Redhead #1 wasn’t sure how to handle the situation.  At one point Lady Tremaine complained about the song that was playing and asked Red #1 if she knew any other songs to sing.

She shook her head no.

She was not going to be a part of any shenanigans on this ride.

Meanwhile, Drizella did some trick riding:

And as a typical kid, she yelled back at her mom to watch her first.

Lady Tremaine then made everyone back there applaud for her.

A little girl was trying to get her attention during the ride, yelling “step sister, step sister...”

She turned around and yelled, “My name’s Drizella!”

Not so funny when it’s typed, but it was pretty funny at the time.

When we got off the ride the step-family headed off to their photo place.

And we immediately ran into Lady whatsherface and the squire dude.

They stopped and had a pretty long conversation with us.

They were funny too, especially the squire dude.

From here we went to Dumbo/Barnstormer.

Red #1 wanted Barnstormer, Red #2 wanted Dumbo.

I didn’t get any pics on Barnstormer but got some of mom and sis on Dumbo.

Then the girls wanted to pose, but Redhead #2 refused to get in with her sister.

We had some FP’s for Buzz, and needed to kill some time.  So we decided to go in Monster’s Inc.

I forgot how that attraction can actually be funny.  The girls liked it too.

Then it was Buzz time.

Remember how I said something about being a hero?

It’s time.

I officially became a true Galactic Hero.

No joke.

I have two pictures to share.

The first was before the ride was over.  I was so excited I couldn’t help but take a pic in the black tunnel.

Then the score got higher by the end, so I took another.

That’s 999,999.

All 9’s.  

B. A. M.

BAM BAM BAMMITTY BAM.

As you can imagine, I was pretty excited.  

I thought about signing autographs, but didn’t.  

I actually thought I might get some kind of a celebration or big check or something.

There was nothing.

At least I got a good picture.

If you would like an autograph, please send a stamped envelope to: 

CKCK

Galactic Hero Headquarters

U.S.A.

Don’t worry, it will get to me.

After that it was time to head out.

Booo.

But I still have a few good pics left before we hit the road.

Ever wonder how many people it takes to hang a tetherball?

Two.

One to hang it, the other to just stand there.

Now you know.

And that’s it.

We packed up and headed out.

Except this TR is not finished.

We left the Fort and headed down I-4 to the beach where MaMa and PaPa were.

We would be camping at Holiday Cove in Cortez, which is just across the bridge from Anna Maria Island. 

I’ll squeeze out just a couple of bonus updates with those pictures.

They’ll have food.

And redheads.  

And doughnuts (which are technically food, but I thought I would list them separately just because).

I got way behind on this report, but just finished reading the last 2 weeks of updates. I have a few comments, and some of them are regarding things you posted back in June. Deal with it.

First...I would agree that Damn Judi Dench is no substitute for a poor kid not tall enough to ride a real ride. But Soarin is not a real ride, so I would think DJD would have sufficed if it weren't all the way back at the front of the park. I'm not really sure whether DJD or Soarin sucks more. They both are bordering on SMB. However, the caveat I would offer is that DJD is really awesome at the end of the day after you have been drinking around the world.

Second...you guys are proving my case regarding the Ariel ride more and more all the time. You're telling me that cold air conditioning is one of the great things about that ride? Seriously? I can get cold air conditioning at Walmart. Or in my office. If Under the Sea is now being categorized as a nice place to relax in the A/C, similar to Hall of Presidents, COP or upstairs at Columbia Harbor House, then I think my case has been proven.

Third...I LOVE getting good seats for the MSEP. Only in my case, good seats are on SM, BTMRR, or even the Peoplemover, while the parade is going on. Or on the boat back to the Fort.

Finally...glad you liked the fried chicken at 50's. I do agree with your arguments regarding the GAG being better. Leftover GAG is one of life's great pleasures.

Oh...one more thing. No pic of your encounter with Ms. White? Thank you.

Welcome back!  

Okay, I will try Drunk Judy Dench next time.

I will admit, I would not ride Ariel without the girls.  It isn't that cooling.  But when the girls want to, that's what we do.  Are you saying you would put your foot down and disappoint all of your girls?

I would gladly join you for the "good" seats in lieu of the parade.  Totally agree.

Believe it or not, the only time we saw Ms. White on this trip was when she was all lit up in the parade.  Guess she was busy tending to her boys.

A hero?  Shouldn't you do that update today then?  Please?

 

Love the pouting face.  You're lucky it didn't freeze that way.

 

Ramalamadingdong

Update coming.

That pouty face actually IS my face.

Good word, but not sure it qualifies as an onomatopoeia.

I'll give it to you, just because I like saying it.

Yes, we are also under water.

 

And it looks like more rain this weekend. I miss my boat. But I don't want to have to use it to go to the store. I want to sun and relax on the lake!

 

Your girls get cuter with every update!

Sick of the rain for sure.

Luckily the girls aren't taking after me, right?!?

X

 

I gracefully bow out.  These women are too strong!!!

 

I will continue to follow the TR of course, I'm taking notes.

You put up a gallant fight.  

Sorry I was a little late to the party but count me among the Fiends who bought the wishes soundtrack. I have the Spectro one as well and they are both on a playlist on my IPhone that is very regularly played.

Looks like a great time being had by all.

Better late than never!  

The Caramel apple rocks. So good in fact, my parents will bring me one home every time they go to Disney. Which means they have to arrange their park days or hop to Epcot on the last day to bring me one. And it still tastes awesome after a commute of FL to NJ.

Now that is dedication.  I should have brought all kinds of stuff home from that trip.

I see what you did there!  FOGHEADED? :laugh:

I can dig it.  We are all FOGHEADED.

I have REALLY enjoyed reading your TR! Your redheads are adorable! Thanks for all the food description - now I'm hungry!

Thanks!  

Mason jar?  I guess there is no question now that you are a ut fan.

Enjoyed the TR.  Looks like a fun time.  I'm totally jealous of your camping group.  I need to be nicer and make more friends.

Thanks for sharing, even if I did have to look at that ugly cake!

I knew you would have my back.

 

 

From here we went to Figment.  I know I’m going to catch a lot of heat for this, but I like Figment.  It’s catchy.  Anyways, Figment wasn’t in full working order.  The skunk scene wasn’t skunky.  But I still liked it, and so did V and M.

 

 

You shut your mouth, PIxie. 

I had such high hopes for you...

Goes best with beer.  Good cold the next day...if there's any left.

Way better than HTT.

Here is your Independence Day update that has nothing to do with Independence Day.

But HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

Day 6: Sunday, June 16-Father’s Day

I don’t have too many pics from today, so we’re going to knock Sunday out in one post.

It’s okay though, because we still have tomorrow morning at the MK.

We were headed to DHS for 9:00 rope drop.  The girls hadn’t been here yet, and there were a couple of things we wanted them to get to do.

So off we went to the bus stop.

And we waited.

And waited.

Finally two buses came.  

They were both AK.

And not one person got on them.

Why in the world would they send two AK buses in a row?  That’s crazy.

And it wasn’t like they came from the Lodge and were full.  

NOBODY WAS ON THEM.

In fact, their marquees changed over when they pulled into the Fort bus stop.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but to me that means they had not been at the Lodge first.

So then two more buses came.

Both DTD/TL.

Seriously?

You know how many people got on those two?

Zero.

I don’t understand.

Finally we got to DHS and found our place in line.

I like that pic.

We had decided that we needed to ride TSM.  

That meant fighting the crowd back there.  

I do not run for rides.

So we made it our goal to block the road for as many runners as possible.

That sounds mean when I type it, but at the time it sounded like a great idea.

We got our FP’s and jumped in line.

Notice that it was 8:38 with a 9:00 rope drop.  Bonus.

None of our scores were tremendous, and none of us were highest in the vehicle.  

Fail.

It had been awhile since I had ridden TSM, but I remember that you used to be able to hold the string and rapid fire.  It didn’t do that this time.  What’s up with that?

Redhead #1 wanted to ride Star Tours (winning) so DW and Redhead #2 headed to the shrunk kids playground.

After that we went to meet at shrunk kids.

After this it was time for Disney Junior.

As much as I did not want to sit through it, we knew the girls would love it.

At least we could sit down and be comfortable and cool for awhile, right?

There were no seats.

Only carpet.

Fail.

We used our TSM FP’s (I had the high in vehicle, but it still sucked) and then it was almost time for our 11:00 ADRs that we had snagged for 50’s Prime Time Diner.

Bam.

Turns out we could have just walked in, but whatever.  We thought it might have been crowded for Father’s Day, but not so much.  At least not early.

Hey look!  That lady came with the house!

I had never been here before, and I totally was digging the decor.

We got the fried cheese with raspberry sauce.

Raspberry Sauce, you say?

It was awesome.  

DW got the meatloaf:

And I had to settle something.

Awhile back DaveinTN’s TR he had talked about the fried chicken here.  

He said he liked it better than GAG.

Shut your mouth, Dave.

I told him I would have to try it here sometime, and he agreed to try the Oatmeal Apple Caramel cookie thing in Epcot Germany.  

He probably forgot all of that, but I did not.  I would remind him of all that right now, but he seems to have gone missing since this TR started.

So I got the fried chicken.

First, I don’t like greens, but you’ll notice they are on my plate.  I ordered them because I knew I would have to eat them all because I didn’t want our waitress to yell at me and motorboat them into my mouth.

So I ate them first to get them out of the way.

Then on to the chicken.

It was good.  And fresh.  Super hot, right out of the fryer.  

I could not complain one bit.

My final verdict?

I still have to go with GAG.

Maybe it’s just that everything tastes better at the Fort.  Maybe it’s that with GAG you get cold fried chicken leftovers the next day for lunch.  

Either way, I still prefer GAG.

But Dave was right, it was good.

We left and went back to the Fort for resting.  

It was at this point that we realized that our Monday morning plan was not going to work.

You see, last year we parked the truck and camper in overflow then headed to a park for the morning.  At lunch time we left and headed towards the beach where MaMa and PaPa were.

That was our plan this time also.

But then we remembered something that put a wrench in that plan.

Dogs.

We totally forgot that we couldn’t execute that plan because of the dogs.

We were in a predicament.  

So I headed to the Outpost to see about a late checkout.

Look at their flowers outside.  I’m all about the Fort being kind of wild, but that it just out of control.

I asked about late checkout and was told that yes, it is possible, and free until 1:30.  Except that it had to be approved, and that I needed to call back in the morning to find out if it was approved or not because the people that did that were already gone.

So now we had to wait.  Bummer.

I started breaking down some of our camp to make the morning easier.  Of course it started raining.  

Luckily it was light so I could still grill our early dinner:

That’s marinated chicken skewers and brussels sprouts.

Killing it.

Off to Epcot.

This was a bagless evening, so the pics are all iphone pics.

We ran in to meet some characters because the wait was nothing.

And Redhead #2 proved that she still isn’t ready for costumed characters.

She would have nothing to do with any of them.

Minnie tried, but Redhead #2 is stubborn.

Check this guy out:

He really deserves a close up:

We were headed to Germany for some dessert.

Something about their caramel is amazing.  And this apple was amazing.

And I’m a huge fan of the Apple Oatmeal Caramel cookie thing:

After this we needed some dessert after our dessert.

So we went to the new ice cream place in France.

We got mint chocolate and strawberry sorbet.

They were awesome.  The mint was real mint, not fake mint like you get in the grocery store.  I’ve made ice cream using real mint before and this reminded me of that.  Except better.  The strawberry had real strawberries in it.  It was awesome too.  And it wasn’t too icy like sorbet can be.  It was still creamy.

On the way out the girls wanted to ride the big ball, aka Spaceship Earth, aka Damn Judy Dench.

Whatever.  I did not want to ride it, so I protested in my picture.

And that was day 6.  Went by kind of quickly, didn’t it?

Luckily the next morning would turn out to be really great.  We’ll have a close encounter with royalty wannabes and I become a true hero.

Seriously.

I wanted that CD but someone said no.

I love that bathroom area.

 

oh and

 

rattatatat 

No was not an option for me at that point.

And you just brought it with 4 syllables.  Good work.

I suggest we start a group. 

 

We can call ourselves...

Fiends Of Genius Having Excellent Adventures During Every Day 

 

This will be our official dance

:bf-birddancingsmiley:

I'm down with the group, but maybe not so much on the dance.

You better be using that CD to put on your own fireworks display tomorrow. THAT would be amazing.

I don't think there will be any fireworks around here...too much rain!  Aren't you under water as well?

Their must be a dorks club, because that CD is also in my truck !   BOOM !

Yes!

Me too.... except the CD is sitting on a shelf in the bedroom, but it IS downloaded to the hard drive on my truck sound system!!!

Another yes!

I knew there was a reason I love this place - YOU DORKS ARE MY PEOPLE!   :heartsmiley:

 

 

VAVAVOOM!!

Ooh, that's a good one too.  Except we moved on to 4 syllables.  You missed the memo.

Annie is definitely in the lead.

 

You are allowed to be a dork........you're a dad.

 

In fact I am going to be a dork around my kids on purpose when they are teenagers.

 

Otherwise, what's the point?

Yes, my daughters are not going to be happy with me on many occasions as they get older.

Isn't that our goal in life, to embarrass our teenagers :)

Absolutely.

This TR has just taught me that I am a dork.    Dork status has now been acknowledged and embraced. 

 

Bang Zoom!

That's the first step.

 

 

Then I wandered back to the Fort, found a spot that was relatively people free and watched the Electrical Water Pageant and Wishes, then drove back to my hotel.  Also saw a very cool lightning show flashing all around Bay Lake :)

Just think if the lightning show would have hit the EWP.

Would have been epic.

Hey TCD. Brent just posted these on Facebook. 

 

 

 

It finally made it!

Bam Bam Bammity Bam!

maybe this can help you. Hey beautiful towing capacity is based on driver only with with no cargo quarter tank of fuel on flat pavement

Hey beautiful?  

:heart:

:rofl2:

We shall be dorks together, because that very CD is in my truck right this minute.

 

BABOOM!

That's what I'm talking about.  

And you have border collies too.  

You must be a genius just like me.

Great minds...

A lot of fails there for sure, but I'm always a fan of the People Mover.  

I was hoping since you were already wet you would just play in the Casey Jr. Splash Zone.

oh well.

 

No.  I certainly had the chance, but it didn't fit in with our plans this time.  I will be getting there and trying to get a high score though.

 

TCD

CKCK 6.0 spoiler alert:  later in my TR I have a Buzz score to share.

Still Day 5:

We decided we needed to check out the restrooms. 

On the way there I saw something I had never noticed.

These topiaries were way better than those the topiary lady was cutting earlier at DHS.  

While I was standing there I had a poo encounter.

I mean Pooh.  

He was on his way to the meet and greet outside his ride.

We finally made it to the restrooms.

The fanciest restroom area I have ever seen in a theme park.  

We had been through here earlier, but hadn’t had the chance to stop to take it in.  

So I took pictures.

Hard to see, but I totally dig how the stone work on the ground is in the design of the flower thing from Rapunzel.  Pretty cool attention to detail.

See the bottom of that one?

That dude would love some GF hoity toity tea.

Supposedly there are a bunch of lizard things around here.  We couldn’t find very many.

I don’t know if real lizards officially count, but in my book they do.

That’s enough lizard pics.

At this point we were ready to head out.  

We decided we needed something to drink first.

My first inclination was dole whip.

duh.

But we decided to stop at Sunshine Tree Terrace instead to mix it up.  

DW of course had read about some drinks she was interested in.

First she was hoping to find some non-alcoholic sangria that at one point was around somewhere in the MK.  The problem was she wasn’t sure exactly where.  

So we asked the CM.

She must know, right?

So my wife is all, “do you know where they serve non-alcoholic sangria up in this joint?”

And the CM is all, “huh?”

So my wife is all, “you know, they put fruit and stuff all up in it.”

And the CM is all, “huh?”

All while this is going on DW is on her phone looking it up.  She realizes that they serve it in the Tortuga Tavern (if you can ever catch it when it’s open).

So my wife is all, “oh snap, they do that up in the Tortuga Tavern.”

And then you know what the CM says?

“IS THAT IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM?”

epic.  fail.

How are you going to work as a food CM right around the corner from a place that you don’t know exists?  I don’t care that the Tortuga Tavern is rarely even open, how are you not going to know where it is?

Obviously this CM had to have been in the college program.  But still, fail.

I got the piña colada slushy thing.  DW got lemonade with some berry foam.  

And of course the redheads drank most of both of them.  They were good though.

On the way out we were wandering through the gift shops and I found this:

Bam.  Happy Anniversary to us.  

I have to say, I can’t remember the last time I bought a cd.  However, I couldn’t pass this up.  We have listened to Wishes on the youtube, but the quality is always bad because it’s someone recording the live performance of it.  

Now I can put on my own Wishes.

I’m a big dork, but I don’t even care.

BAM!

And that’s day 5.  

Tomorrow is our last full day here.  But it’s Father’s Day.  And we will get some last minute ADR’s that it turns out we really didn’t need, but it made us excited nonetheless.  And I’ll get to settle something I have been wondering about for awhile now.  And we’ll get our Epcot on with some old and new food.  

well... *I* didn't know that either so...

 

KABLOOEY!

That's a good one.  And three syllables.  You are officially winning.

three syllable onomatopoeia:  "murmuring"

eh...

 

 

Yeah.  Three syllables suck.

How about 4?

Nice truck how do you like it what size camper do you pull I pull 31 feet with the tundra and love it.

We have a 26' trailer and I also haul a golf cart in the truck.  I have air bags on the rear suspension.  If I didn't there would be no way we could put the GC in there with the camper hooked up.  In a couple of months I'll be putting E rated tires on it, so hopefully that will help out too.

I bet the reds love the dance party in Tomorrow Land. It makes for a good distraction while we ride swap Space.

 

Luckily we have shielded the reds from the dance party so far.  I don't ride SM too much because DW tends to get a little queasy after big rides.  Plus, Redhead #1 isn't tall enough yet.

Boi-oi-oing

Does it count if it uses hyphens?  The jury is still out.

Aaron is impressed, though.

You my friend are good.

Hey-  Good work!  I have seen that red wagon.  And, I have seen that photo.  But, I never put two plus two together.

 

Awesome!

 

And, I never made this connection before either, so Mrs. CK² owes you some props.  Not a fail at all:

That's two bams right there.

And finally, will finish this post off with the birthday cake for the birthday fella

 

 

 

I was okay with this TR until we got to this picture.

I will be reading the rest of this under protest.

And I'm bummed about the kayak.

 

Starbies?

 

So is that a thing?

 

I thought Twin #1 made it up.

 

I'm just going with the flow.  Trying to be hip, you know?

I'll guess the guest badge for the CM store

I would like to see the suite you can get me for free.  

That is the crappiest attempt at a TR I've ever read. 

That was my attempt at being gentle.

I'm not very good at it.

If you want me to be honest, I'll say that I'm totally intrigued by the canoe on top of your truck and can't wait to see what you do with it.  I'm hoping it has something to do with floating.  I've tried to get my wife to let me buy a canoe/kayak but she isn't totally on board yet.  

I'm also intrigued with the number of camping friends you have.  That has to be fun to have that large of a group to camp with.

I don't have any friends.

I would so be down with trading in the RV for a plane.

But DW would never go for it.  

Fail.

That was the weakest cavalcade I have ever seen.  

I would say that maybe they pulled the calliope because of the rain, but that wouldn't make any sense since when I caught it in the Citrus Parade it rained a ton.  

TCD bonus installment with Starbies in the rain and Duckie Dynsasty wannabee with headcam = perfection

woo hoo