WannaBeImagineer

Great exploring TCD!

Isn't DACS the central control for all of Disney parks for rides and parades? Yup I just googled it, Digital Animation Control System.

I'm going to say that the speakers and receiver are to there to pipe in the music from Magic Kingdom for the fireworks. They have the direct line to DACS in case there are any problems they can call it in. I'm guessing that number isn't published anywhere and is probably meant for internal use only.

As far as the other science stuff I would guess that they used to have Fort sponsored activities for kids there, but along with lots of other Disney activities they are now a thing of the past.

Another idea that you would know about it, do the Haunted wagon rides go around there? With the bottle of fog stuff and the speaker setup maybe they use it for part of the haunted rides?

Those are my thoughts for now.

WBI

Wow, Nick!

The big Two-Oh!

You aren't a teenager anymore!!

Way to go!

j/k- I hope all is well with you and the CP.

The big day is coming up, right?

Weren't y'all at POR and FW over Labor Day? If so, you owe us a TR. How about just a little one?

TCD

Haha good one!

The CP and I are doing well and counting down until the big day on Nov. 12th. I was thinking I would do a trip report of those two weeks; they should be pretty exciting and will include a night at DisneyWorld!

Yup we were at PO-Riverside for a couple nights. We had a good time but on the first night it took a turn, my grandmother went into the hospital and it wasn't looking good for a while so we didn’t do much and stayed on the phone a lot of the time (she wouldn’t let me leave a vacation early, I had to wait until it was over to fly home, no kidding she would have killed me if I had). I'm happy to report though that's she's once again doing great and has a new defibrillator. I’ll try and write up a quick trip report next week.

We also have a trip coming up for the Food & Wine Festival so I should have a good report for that trip also.

I’m heading to Louisiana and then Austin, TX in the morning for my bachelor party so I’ll appreciate any news posts you make so I can have something to read in the airports! :)

Happy Birthday Again!

WBI

Happy Birthday TCD!

I had an 0 birthday this year too!

I haven't been checking in that often but I wanted to say Happy Birthday and great report as always!

WBI

Nice shirt TCD! Showing some love to the Redbar! (although it looks kind of hippie-ish)

I thought that place was great! The future in-laws not so much.

Only one menu in the whole place and its on a chalkboard, lol. Our booth was completely re-done with duct tape and was slanted towards the wall so you slid in and had to climb out. haha

I can't wait to take my friends there in a couple months!

Keep the report coming!

WBI

OK, the history of the treehouses. Originally they were part of the Villas at Lake Buena Vista, which then became the Villas of the Disney Institute, you know the ones they tore down to build Saratoga springs. They didn't tear down the original treehouses and they were empty for awhile, then they used them to house CMs from the International Exchange program.

The problem was, they were too dated for guest use and there was some exterior damage to them from the Hurricanes. There were also ADA issues. They didn't want to tear them down cause there was a wetland issue. They wouldn't be able to build in that area if they razed the area. They had to figure out a way to update them without changing the footprint and also to meet ADA regulations.

They finally figured out a way to solve all of those problems. The foundations are the same and the center support is the same (if not smaller). They pulled the tops of the previous treehouses down and placed these new treehouses there as modular units. No impact to the wetland with just the modular units brought in. The footprint is lessened and the new ones now meet ADA regulations. They are DVC units as part of Saratoga Springs and there is a pool back there.

You can walk to Saratoga Springs or Downtown Disney, or take the bus, or take the boat. I think you can also walk to Old Key West.

Great post Carol!

I was going to post that info but you got it exactly as I know it. I saw the old tree houses a long time ago when they still had international cast members in them and I did some research on them then. I also remember when they permitted and installed the new ones, I have to hand it to Disney, the way they handled it was pretty smart. Leaving the old ones to not lose their footprint then installing a slightly smaller one to get around environmental permitting, genius. If I remember right the pictures of them installing the new modular units was pretty cool too.

Great trip report TCD, I've stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and French Quarter and I like them both!

I have to agree too, I always chose the value resorts before, but when you upgrade to a moderate and then a deluxe you can absolutely see the difference! I feel like there is a ton of little differences that make the moderate resorts so much better than a value (as long as they keep the price reasonable)!

We're staying at Riverside pretty soon for a couple nights. We're hoping for the Magnolia side since we've never stayed over there.

WBI

Great job again, WBI!

This place looks pretty nice.

There are some interesting things mentioned on the plans.

Like waterfalls.

And a big teen area.

And a "Ruinous Mansion."

WTF is a Ruinous Mansion?

If I am reading these plans right, it looks like all of this will be right across the canal from the 1800 and 1900 loops.

Interesting.

TCD

Thanks TCD!

I don't think its that close to the 1800 and 1900 loops though.

Do you remember that bridge that stops you from canoeing into the golf course? You can see it on there at the northern boundary of the resort. It looks like the resort will be accross the canal from the exisiting golf clubhouse.

The resort does have some nice looking stuff though! Kind of looks like it has a lazy river and waterslides.

WBI

I found these this morning.

It's the plans for the new Golden Oaks Four Seasons Resort that's going in near the Fort.

Check it out:

Overall Plan

Plans

WBI

Just thought I'd give an update on how there hasn't been any changes to this permit.

They got a few comments on May 27th and nothing has changed since then.

I guess we have to keep waiting.

WBI

WBI-

Good job!

So, is the oval area on the photo the new pond?

That is a pretty big pond.

Why would they do that rather than just dump everything into Bay Lake?

And, why do they need that pond if they aren't creating any new impervious area?

TCD

Yup that's the pond but it’s not that big, only about an acre I think.

I don't know for certain but typically if you modify any existing conditions you are required to bring up the system to current requirements. Not sure if you know but in SFWMD you are required to treat all runoff to meet pre-development water quality, you can use either wet or dry detention. Now technically they are not increasing the impervious footprint but if I had to guess I'd say they are building the lake to show that they are "attempting" to supply the storm water runoff treatment, even though they aren't able to get all the runoff to the pond.

Here's the write up from the stormwater report.

Water quality treatment for the 5-acre roadway construction portion of the Project 2011-2C project will be provided in a proposed onsite wet detention stormwater pond. The proposed pond will provide 1” or greater of water quality treatment to its drainage basin, although the majority of runoff is not able to drain to the proposed pond. The existing roadway is a two lane uncurbed and the construction of drainage pipes to bring it up to an urban section would require impacts to the adjacent wetland systems. An additional 0.15-acre of open space needed for utility construction is within the project limits but not within the pond basin. Water quality treatment calculations are provided in Appendix B. Post-development drainage calculations are provided in Appendix C.

To answer your other question about why they can't just dump everything into Bay Lake. As far as I know SFWMD doesn't allow storm water treatment in a recreation lake. All water must be treated prior to outfalling into a rec lake, a rec lake is any lake where boats or swimming are allowed. If you look at this pond they're building you'll see that it outfalls into the adjacent wetlands, which is much easier than going all the way to Bay Lake.

The more I look at the plans though the more I have to wonder why they bothered with the new pond, they don't have a single storm pipe going into it, maybe they will drain the roadside swale into it? Either way I think these utilities are definitely part of some future construction.

Here's the plans if you want to take a look:

Drainage Plans

Not sure if anyone has posted this yet, but Disney just submitted an application to build some new utilities under Wilderness Way.

I don't have time to post the plans right now but it looks like they are installing a Forcemain, Reclaimied water main and some communication cable. They are also digging small stormwater pond and repaving Wilderness Way.

I don't think the new utilities are attached to anything on the Fort side either. They look like they are stub out for future connections, or the first part of a future phase. Very interesting.

This is the narrative from the application:

Project improvements generally consist of 5.15 acres of utility construction and roadway. No new impervious area is being proposed with this application as the existing pavement section is only being improved. However, water quality for the roadway improvement portion of the project will be provided by a proposed wet detention stormwater pond. Portions of the utilities will be horizontally directional drilled and do not create any additional disturbance so are not accounted for in the limits of construction or proposed pond basin.

I'll post more a little later.

WBI

ok...I will try to make that bigger...

Although I guess you can click it...

That's the one I saw! You can't forget that guy if you try!

WBI

Photos or it didn't happen.

WTF?

Don't tell me you saw this guy and didn't get a photo!

I guess I'll give you a pass since you did a good job on your trip report.

But, you had better shape up there mister.

TCD

Haha sorry, what can I say I missed an oppurtunity, but it was a little disturbing and shocking to see him walking into MK that way.

Thanks for the pass this time, it won't happen again.

I like this thread, I'm going to dig through the files and see what I can find.

WBI

Oh, I am sure someone can top that one.

In fact, I can.

How about this photo.

Check out this hippie talking to one of the carriage drivers:

Make sure not to miss his Converse sneakers and matching socks.

WTF?

x2

TCD

I saw this guy over the 4th of July!!

He was walking into Magic Kingdom!

Very very strange outfit!!!

WTF?

WBI

Ok here it is my last post for this trip report.

We had just left the parade awards and meeting TCD, (and not getting harrassed by magicbus ;D ).

By now it was time to head back to check-out so we hopped a boat back to the Lodge.

Where I took these pictures:

I think this is the Pirates cruise boat:

CP always wants pictures of us so here's another:

Once back in our room we packed up and got cleaned up. I also took some more pictures of the detail in our room:

This was the brass rail in the elevator. Not sure if you can tell but its a beaver head holding a stick.

By now it was around 11:30 and we were hungry, we almost went to Whispering Canyon but instead we decided to just grab some BBQ in Animal Kingdom.

So we drove on over. I'll have some pictures of AK coming up and sadly that will be the last of this two day report.

We made it to AK and our goal is BBQ.

We grabbed some Flametree BBQ and went out back to sit by the water.

That's a great place to eat!

I don't know who told me about it but its perfect, much better than the other tables!

I can't belive I forgot to get a picture. Sorry.

I have to admit, this was a slow AK visit. We were tired and it was hot, and didn't feel like waiting for anything.

So we just relaxed and took it all in. Not one roller coaster.

We ate and just looked around.

Something in Africa:

Everest:

CP wanted to see the Lion King as always so that's all we did.

These are pictures on the way there:

We didn't get any pictures of Lion King but it was good, the monkeys actually were having an off day but it was still good.

Afterwards we headed over to Downtown Disney, we did a little shopping and looking around then we hit the road.

After such a busy July 3rd our July 4th was pretty tame but still great!

Sorry we didn't get to meet up with more Fiends but there's always next time, I'll be sure and let ya'll know when that is.

Thanks for following along everyone!

WBI

OK, Mr. I wanna be an Imagineer, it's time to take off the gloves and be Snarky.

Let me get this straight, you were at WDW over the 4th, staying at the la de la WL and didn't find the time to come over to the Fort for even five minutes and let us harass you?

Explain yourself!

ohhh snarky!!

Well if you read my TR you saw that we had a super packed July 3rd till 3am!

Then on July 4th, we DID make it over to the Fort! We even walked around quite a bit looking for snarky signs and Fiends!

I will admit, I should of texted you or found ya'll for some good ole harassing on the 4th, but I slacked. In my defense I did see some Fiends in the parade we just didn't stay very late in DW on the 4th so we didn't hang out long.

I'll be sure and make up for it next trip.

But this is a good segway into the rest of my TR which is coming up.

WBI

Your pics are beautiful! Everything looks so lush and green!

Thanks! It was beautiful there and all over DisneyWorld!

What a great phrase, now if we only had more looker-outers :rofl2:

haha we do need looker-outers!

and kicker-outers!

Those too!

I've said it before, but I'll go ahead and say it again. Possibly my all time favorite view at the Fort!

Hey, I've been meaning to ask you if you have made one of those wooden benches yet? I remember you were fond of those on your last report. Remember I'm first in line if you do :)

I agree that's a great spot!

No I haven't made one yet. Last year I planned on trying to make one while at my folks for christmas but didn't get to it. It's not as easy to build one at my current location, I'd have to do it in my little garage, dang HOA's! But I'm still planning on tackling it one day so once I get it figured out I'll be sure and make you one too.

WBI

Rofl.... I just read the first page and saw you are from Naples! Hi neighbor! Lol... Loving the report!

Hey I'm not sure how I missed your post!

haha Hey neighbor! Small world isn't it!

Thanks for following along!

WBI

Welcome back!

I remember reading you reports last year with the tent and a/c. I think ya'll made a trip with another young couple too. I remember because we are also a twenties couple with no kids so it stuck out to me.

Ya'll defintely had a late start and stayed up late but that site looks great!

I'm glad you decided to do you're old trip reports. This one looks great so far.

Thanks for posting, I'm ready for more.

WBI

Stalker!

Just kidding.

I like the photos.

That tree fanny pack is a Tree Huggerz. I read about it on a camping website, and checked out the company's website and ended up buying one. As you see, it straps onto a tree, and gives you a place to hang things, and I use it to keep Clorox wipes and Wet Ones handy.

Here's the website in case you're interested: http://www.tree-huggerz.com/

Great job on the 617 photos!

And, as I already said, it was great to meet you and the CP.

TCD

Haha, I actually felt like a stalker at first, but then I figured hey I'm just a guy walking by, no big deal. lol

That's a pretty cool Tree Hugger, I could see that coming in handy for hunting or back country camping.

WBI

Man I'm slacking but I'm going to try and wrap up this report today.

When I left off I was walking towards the 1500 loop when I saw this:

That looks familiar doesn't it.

That's TCD's site! We've now seen lots of pictures of his site in his report but this was before I met him and before i knew he was in 1501.

Which brings me to a question.

TCD, what is that?

It looks like some fancy tree fanny pack?

I couldn't tell?

Anyway we walked around the 1500 loop.

I like the Seaside license plate TCD:

After the 1500 we walked back by the pool, where saw the people still in the pavilion. I snapped the picture on the walk back by the Meadow Outpost:

I saw this sign in the 600 loop but I didin't see anyone home.

Then I got some pictures of TCD's favorite site:

I got these from the bridge headed to the campfire area:

I saw the rope going over the walk here but I forgot to get a picture, we did get a good laugh out of it though, it was pretty funny rig for such a little tarp.

We eventually walked back to Pioneer Hall where we grabbed a soda refill and watched the end of the awards.

This is when I met the Fort Wilderness celebrity.

TCD! And a TCD daughter!

TCD already mentioned it in his report but we had a nice quick visit.

It was great to meet you TCD!

WBI

Great job on those photos!

Unfortunately, I saw similar things happen several times over the weekend.

Of course, it is possible that these are cabin people who somehow ended up on a Yellow Bus on their way to the pool.

But, I doubt it.

Some folks have praised the Fort management for issuing wrist bands at the pool over the weekend. Some have said that a few freeloaders were tossed. I never saw any of these enforcement efforts.

But I saw plenty of freeloaders.

It wouldn't be hard for the Fort management to stop this if they really wanted to.

TCD

I agree it wouldn't be that hard to stop this, if they tried a little harder.

Yep, I saw the same thing during our visit.

Here is a quote from my TR regarding this exact issue:

I was pleased to see at least an effort to check for ID's by the pool staff. I don't think it made a huge impact, as they didn't seem to have a plan or any rhyme or reason as to who they were checking, but it is a start. They never asked me and I was prepared with all of our cards.

While the CM's had a box of wristbands, I never was approached and we spent a lot of time at the pool during our three days.

And I witnessed several of these "guests" as well.

Those pictures are great! It would have been funny if you asked them to get together for a group photo.

That's true its good they are starting to do something, hopefully they keep it up.

That would have been pretty funny! lol

Good for you guys - travel away! DH and I did a lot of that before we had DD - we have loads of fun memories. The year before she was born we did D.C. for July 4th, NYC for Christmas, and then Boston a few months after. Now we enjoy planning the trips to take her back to those places when she's big enough.

Pollyanna here but if they got off a bus, they still could have been coming from somewhere else in the campground? We rode those busses to the pool when we stayed in the cabin. But that's just me - I'm a glass half full kinda girl.

Keep the pics coming!

Thanks! We travel a lot, probably more than we should be money wise but we figure we should while we can.

I guess it is possible those were campers from somewhere else but I don't think so.

Cabin people would be arriving via the Orange Bus, which would drop them off in front of the Meadow Trading Post.

These folks would have been on a Yellow Bus, which does not travel through the cabin loops.

TCD

Very good point TCD.

WBI

Great job so far KFK!

I'm ready for more!!

WBI

Love the trip report, thanks for posting!

That State Park looks great, I'm saving that name for future trips.

It was now about 6pm our fist night in Tennessee. As I stated we were hungry. A few years ago we stumbled upon a restaurant call Smokey Mountain brewery and Restaurant. It's located in Downtown Gatlinburg and is just a tad off the beaten path. They are part of a restaurant group that also includes a few more great places

This place has soft fresh bavarian pretzels seved with warm beer cheese dip. We loved these which made my wife remember the place. Here is the website http://www.coppercel...ainBrewery.html The food is really good and thier selection of thier own micro brewed beers are pretty good. We almost ate here twice over our trip but we knew we needed to check out new things.

When I went to Gatlinburg a few years ago around the 4th of July we discovered the Smoky Mountain Brewery! We liked it so much I think we ate there 3 more times that trip! Everything we had was good and they had live music some nights!

On a side note we pulled into Gatlinburg with no hotel reservation and we ended up staying right accross from the Brewery. It was a reasonable price and our room had a back door that overlooked a little creek, it ended up being great, I can find the name if anyone needs a hotel there.

We also camped a few nights in the Elkmont Campground, all in all I loved Gatlinburg and the Smokies and can't wait to go back.

Thanks again for the TR and I can't wait for more!

WBI

OK- I have been trying to get to this all day, but was sidetracked by the hijack.

I have a little post script to my report on watching the announcement of the golf cart parade winners.

As you can see from the photos, there was a pretty good crowd gathered.

And, since we had been dropped off, and were going to be picked up, we hung back a little after the announcements were made. We were going to grab a drink, and then give my DD a call to come and pick us up in the golf cart.

As my DD and I were standing there, a young man walked up and said hello. He looked familiar, but I couldn't place him. He had a beautiful blond-haired young lady with him. I thought they might have been some of my oldest daughter's college-aged friends. Then the young man said, I'm Nick, you know, WannaBeImagineer. It was fellow fiend WBI and his fiancee! What an attractive young couple! My DD and I chatted with Nick and his fiancee. He told me how they had come up from Naples to spend the night in Wilderness Lodge, and had closed down MK at 3 am that very morning. I was very impressed. We chatted about Fort Wilderness, and Seaside, where Nick and his fiancee will be getting married later this year. It was a nice, but short visit. They are a very nice young couple. Then we parted ways.

It was great to meet you WBI!

And CP too!

TCD

Thanks Andrew it was great to meet you and your daughter too!

Sorry it was such a short visit, we didn't want to keep you too long, not to mention we were a little out of it after only 4 hours of sleep. lol We can always talk about camping, DisneyWorld, Seaside, or I guess anything but we didn't want to take up to much of your time. I can't believe you've been going to Seaside regularly for so long, has it changed much? We're hoping to make a return trip in September to finalize wedding plans, but we're not sure yet. When you were there last did you see the new deck they added to the roof top bar? Did I mention we are having our reception at Bud & Alley’s?

We'll have to catch up again next time we're camping, maybe even do some exploring!

On a side note I thought it was pretty funny that after talking we all headed up to get more soda, we had already filled those mugs a few times that day with coffee and soda, gotta love those mugs!

Thanks for the shout out in the TR and it was great meeting ya'll!

WBI

I agree Whip you were robbed!

I had to post to defend my beer.

I drink all kinds of beer but Coors Light is my beer of choice.

I've always preferred it, as far back as I can remember, you know since I was 15 or 16, haha.

Miller Lite is my least favorite, but I do drink it if there isn't any other options.

I guess I'm in the Coors Light minority here though, but that's fine, just means more for me!

WBI