WannaBeImagineer

6 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Interesting. 

When they announced they were going to build Galaxy's Edge, I wondered what would happen to Star Tours since it's not located in that land. 

Apparently, it's going to stay open. I think the story CM's have been fed is that Star Tours exists as a Space Port independent of the planet of Batuu. And Space Ports can be located anywhere in the universe, so both of these things can exist in the same park. 

TCD

I was wondering the same thing, I always assumed they would make some kind of transition or something for it, but honestly forgot about it since the new land opened.  That space port story is a cheap out why part of star wars isn't in Galaxy's Edge.

WBI

3 hours ago, BayLake Campers said:

Something I saw on these plans is the floor elevation difference between the first row of cabins and the tree houses on the second row. The second row is 20 feet in the air for an unobstructed view of the lake and fire works. $$$

Great catch!

That's something no one else has mentioned, and with the treehouse rage right now you know those will be popular.

WBI

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Excellent find!

It also looks like they are moving the existing Fort guest dock to the east, right?

TCD

I don't think so, from what I saw just a new dock to the east of the existing one.

WBI

It appears that the floating dock is a replacement to the Cast Member dock that is being removed due to the Reflections DVC construction.

I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed but WDWNT has been posting some artist renderings of the new Reflections resort.  They have been rolling them out a little at a time, like they do everything else to get more clicks, but that got me to thinking, where are they getting this info.  So I did a little digging and the first thing I found was this:

Permit Plans

I'll let you click through and look at the details in that post, but some highlights are a new dock next to the existing one at the Fort, parking right next to Pioneer Hall, I mean that literally, look at the handicap spots, and their appears to be more cabins than we first thought that are not right on Bay Lake.

Oh and if you want to see what the inside of the rooms and new building look like check out WDWNT.

WBI

2 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Good eye. I was still on the island when that photo was taken. Yes, I was the last guest on the island again. 

TCD

Good job!  You kind of have to do that every cruise now.

WBI

20 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I used to always bring a case of bottled water in a duffle bag, but skipped that on our last cruise. We just used Yeti tumblers to fill with ice water. Those hold a lot of water, and not having bottles of water in the fridge left more room for beer. 

TCD

Speaking of the last cruise...

I saw someone familiar got a repost by the official DCL Instagram feed.  That's a pretty big deal!  It was a great picture!

By the way we do the same, no bottled water, just bring yeti type cups, on DCL anyway.  On our recent Royal Caribbean cruise we had the drink package so drinks and bottled water were included.

WBI

On 7/17/2018 at 1:36 PM, DaveInTN said:

Hey Nick, are those your paddle boards or did you rent them?  Was wondering how you like that brand....we've only rented but am considering purchasing a couple.  

Dave,

Not sure if you're still interested but I saw on Amazon today that a couple of the TenToes paddle boards are on sale.  I'm assuming they are a previous year model or something.

Amazon

23 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Dude the dinosaur pipes are the colors of ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise. Wrong pipes. Wrong attraction. Thank u, next. 

TCD

ha I haven't been on Dinosaur since before W was born so over 5 years.

22 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Very good! 

These pipes are in the last part of the queue, before you are sent into your decontamination room. 

TCD

And I've never been on FOP so yeah no clue.  But I'll be riding it for the first time on Monday at 8:35am!

WBI

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Time for another photo:

TCD

Dinosaur ride in Animal Kingdom?

Josh posted some pictures recently of a woman and child on the terrace of Club 33 in MK, so I guess it's open.

WBI

1 hour ago, DaveInTN said:

I wouldn't mind trying one of those huge ships sometime but I'd be a bit nervous about the crowds and sheer size of the thing.  We've been on the Disney Dream which is about 4,000 passengers...I can't imagine 67% more. 

The new Virgin ship sounds pretty cool....around 2000 passengers, which is a lot for the "luxe" ship category.  And no buffet and no main dining room.  There will be around 20 dining spots you can choose from, all made to order, and each restaurant will have a bar so I think you could choose to sit at the bar and have a bite to eat.  In place of the buffet will be a food hall where everything is made to order.  

That ship is adults only right?

I saw it is on it's way to Miami where it will home port at their brand new terminal.  Which will be the largest Royal Caribbean terminal, and it looks pretty fancy.

I agree though the size and amount of people don't sound appealing, BUT I've read some good reviews and the ship does look pretty amazing. Maybe one day if there's a good deal I'll be able to talk Lisa into going on it, for research purposes.

WBI

I didn't know about this promotion ahead of time, but the wife asked me to bring her a coffee so I found out while at Starbucks.  Sadly by noon they were all out of the cups so no reusable cups for us. 

Also the app and website has been down, tons of complaints online.

WBI

13 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

How is the school schedule looking like for a Christmas at the Fort?

Hey Ray, we decided to stick with our Thanksgiving reservation so we won't be there for Christmas.

But only 17 more days till we arrive!

WBI

8 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Heads up- they still don't have permanent signage in place for the new Fort Wilderness access road off to the right, so DO NOT follow the signs for Magic Kingdom resorts. You want to stay in the far right lane as you approach the toll plaza. The new road is marked with a temporary flashing sign. You will turn on it before you get to the toll plaza. I was just by there on Tuesday of this week, and that was what was going on then.

TCD

Thanks TCD!

18 hours ago, mouseketab.....Carol said:

We have always taken Western Way, then turning onto World Drive. Now that you bypass the toll booth on World Drive, that is the way we will come in on Friday.

Thanks Carol, I'm thinking I'll stick with that way on this trip also, GPS says its slightly faster but I also want to see the new MK entrance area.

I still don't get why they don't build a resort like this on Seven Seas Lagoon instead of by Bay Lake, you could have monorail, boat and bus access and charge more money, not to mention better MK views.  If they killed the original wilderness theme why not build the Four Season wannabe over there?  And don't use the poor soils excuse, they'll be driving piles and doing wetland mitigation in this proposed location, they could certainly do it on Seven Seas Lagoon.

WBI

Just to recap for everyone, the old plans showed the following:

• Moving the TCD ranch to the outpost
• Moving the Backyard BBQ pavilion behind the Settlement Trading Post
• A large parking area where the TCD Ranch is now
• The new parking area had a large path along it towards Pioneer Hall
• An access road and utilities coming in along the road that connects to Wilderness Lodge
• The new resort had it's own marina

Now all that being said, that resort made it all the way through permitting, had 3d models made and they still didn't build it so all of the above info might not even apply anymore.

WBI

That's for the cheapest I could get.  Right now I have an Alamo reservation for an intermediate with a free upgrade, I also have a $10 off coupon, and a group discount.

I just did another quick search on Kayak and a they are showing an economy (Chevy Spark) for $198 through Dollar.  I'll have two car seats though so I probably need more room than that, but I am going to keep trying for something cheaper.

WBI

40 minutes ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

Are one and only Disney Cruise. 

We rented a car at MCO drove to the port.  Returned our car and got on the ship. Upon our arrival we picked rented another car and drove to WDW and returned our car.    No parking fees

 

Most of the time, in Florida, car rental companies don’t charge a drop off fee.  And rental cars are cheap.   And sometimes full size and minivans are cheap also  

Last May we rented a full-size car at MCO and returned it in Oklahoma City for 19 days for $173.55. Yes you read that right. $173.55 for 19 days and a return in Oklahoma. 

I have a rental car reserved for  airport in Fort Myers, FL for Veteran's Day weekend.  I tried all the discounts I could find and the lowest I got was $213 for Thursday at 11pm-Monday at 7am.  They charge that as 4 days.  I did miss out one one pay-now deal that was $167 but now the prices have skyrocketed even higher than I paid.  I have no idea what's going on but that's the worst I've ever had for the amount of time I'll actually have it.

WBI

1 hour ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

Yeah, 1 less toll booth, and I think it is quicker too. We don't use Ficquette or Reams. That would only be if you wanted to come by the Contemporary and under the water bridge. Just stay on Winter Garden Vineland and enter Disney property by the construction services buildings. It is a nice 4 lane road...no construction that I know about.

Thanks for the info!

59 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

It's a lot better than it was in 2011.  It's primarily, if not all, 4 lane now.  Like Blake said above, go all the way to Vista and turn right into Disney property.  Other than a couple of speed bumps that are a pain with an RV, it's a quick straight shot to the Fort from there.

Sounds good thanks!  I guess I'll see what time of day I'm getting to that area to choose my route.

WBI

I honestly thought it was already closed.

WBI

18 hours ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

We take 429 to winter garden Vineland rd every time. 

18 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

That's my route of choice too.  

Ya'll like that route vs Western Way?  The last time I tried the Vineland route it was in 2011 and I remember construction and red lights, Western Way was pretty relaxing in 2015 but it felt like I was on 429 a long time.

Do you turn on Reams Rd?  Sorry I know this has been talked about a lot, just curious again.

WBI

On 10/19/2018 at 12:49 PM, DaveInTN said:

Probably not, but did you know the Swan and Dolphin do now?   

But aren't they going up in points per night on Jan 1, 2019?