devores

Took a look today. They are working on the electrical boxes on at least the first few sites on the loop. Not sure what they are doing, but no new wires or cables are being laid. Maybe upgrading the breakers or cable.
 
They also tore up and relayed the concrete on the first 5 sites. It was just the first 3 feet or so, not the entire pad and yes, the coquina pad is still there. Not sure if this is going to happen to all of the sites, but they are still working on the first 5. They also replaced some fencing that was damaged by the more experienced backers and some of the railroad ties that line the coquina pad. They did some major pruning of the trees as well. As work progresses, I will update.

We have made it to day 4.
 
This is our final full day.
 
Our intentions for today were to relax and hit the attractions we had missed.
 
Of course, these plans were made before we knew we would get everything plus some done.
 
So we sleep in and decide to walk around DTD.
 
Our resort was on this street
 

 
That's the Grand Californian you see in the background
 
This was a Monday around 10 am
 

 
Notice the crowds?
 

 
Remember that cool monorail Lou loved so much?
 
They had a stop in DTD
 

 
With a valid ticket, you could board the monorail in DTD and it would take you directly into Tomorrowland. That's the only two stops it makes.
 
They had one of our favorites
 

 
and it was lunch time and no one was waiting in line.
 
So we grab some lunch while we were here.
 
Another look back at DTD
 

 

 
One of the resorts is the Disneyland hotel
 

 
It is at the end of DTD
 

 
Their pool was themed pretty nice.
 
The monorails are actually the slides. You load the slide from the monorail door and slide down inside the monorail.
 

 
The lobby had allot of photos from DLs past
 

 
and a nice outdoor fireplace where you can relax
 

 
and here is a map of the DTD area to give you an idea of the layout
 

 
We decided to catch a ride on that cool monorail
 

 
Notice there are people sitting in front. They still allow that here.
 
These are the Mark VIIs
 

 
That's scary knowing that the other VI failed in some way to make it to VII.
 
There are actual seats in the monorail, so no standing. The end of the cars had seats like WDW cars do, then there were seats down the middle.
 
Also, if you notice in the first picture of the monorail Mark VII, the windows are opened.
 
We get off the monorail in Tomorrowland and walk up to the Jedi Training Academy.
 
Now, this is the same show as HS.
 
The cool part is how Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers enter.
 
Remember Elvis form a couple days ago?
 
Remember how I said he left the bldg.?
 
Its the same stage used for the Academy.
 

 
 
They raise up out of the ground.
 
Then Darth lowers back down after the show.
 

 
But you will notice the storm troopers stay above ground and run off instead of following Darth.
 

 
Wonder where they run off to?
 
After the show, we walk past star tours and see the wait is just 10 mins.
 
We had nothing better to do, so we rode it.
 
Plus, we found where those storm troopers ran off to.
 

 
Star Tours is the same ride.
 
After star tours, we ride Buzz again, because we liked it and the wait was zero.
 
We pick up a couple of DL specific items and head to the front.
 
Our plan was to lounge by the pool.
 
On our way, we run into yet another show.
 

 
The band was playing music and Mickey and Minnie sang and danced.
 

 

 

 
Then Mickey conducted the band.
 

 
After the show, we headed back to the resort and sat poolside for a few hours.
 
There is a bar at the pool where you can order drinks and appetizer type food.
 
It was a warm day, but not warm enough to get in the water.

Another update....
 
We left off waiting in line for a show.
 
This show was recommended by everyone who heard we were going to DL.
 
It is the Aladdin Stage Show.
 
Its a stage show that takes you through the story of Aladdin.
 
It is an amazing show that I feel strongly should be here at WDW.
 

 

 

 
Yes, they fly through the theater during the show.
 
But what makes this show so amazing?
 
The Genie.
 
He adlibs his role and is hilarious.
 
He makes the show. And every show is different because he is allowed to do what he wants.
 
If you ever go to DL, you have to see this show.
 
Here is a taste. Of course this one is a little different than the one we saw, but you get the idea......
 
http://youtu.be/Bgurr05DxDs
 

 
After the show, we grab some ice cream and park our keesters on a bench to enjoy and relax.
 
While eating our snack, we have some visitors come by
 

 
The squirrels are bad in California too 
 
We get another surprise while relaxing

We are now going to finally wrap up day one.
 
I would normally not plan a vacation to any Disney park during a weekend. If were up to me, I would have made it during the week to avoid crowds.
 
But, Disneyland only has the fireworks "Remember Dreams Come True" on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
 
Weird, huh?
 
Well, because DL is surrounded (very closely) by businesses and houses, they are only allowed to have fireworks on the weekends or special occasions requested way in advance.
 
So we had to visit during the weekend.
 
But we were tired, and cold. Once the sun drops in California, so does the temps. It went from 82 to 55 in a matter of a couple of hours.
 
So we decided to fully enjoy the fireworks in the park on day 2.
 
But, we could still see them from our hotel. And, they pipe the soundtrack in. They have a viewing deck next to the pool where you can sit and watch the show with the soundtrack, or the have pipe it into your rooms via a television channel if you wanted to stay in your room and watch out the window.
 
This is the parking garage while we wait.
 

 
I do not have many photos of the fireworks from this night.
 
I took allot, but I do not want to spoil the show for later. So I will just post some teasers so you can see what our view was.
 

 
This photo shows how close everything is. That bluish light towards the bottom of the photo is the castle.
 

 

 
After the show (which was at 9pm) we decided to hit the hay. We had extra magic hour in the morning. No I didn't forget the s to make it plural, resort guests get into the park an hour early. That's it, one hour. No night extra magic. Just one measly hour, and we had allot to do. So we wanted to be well rested for our combat park day.
 
So lets review day:
 
Parade
Castle walk through
Mr Toads
Nemo
Iron Man
Buzz
Fireworks
 
That's quite a list, all this took place in 4 hours. Not bad huh?
 
Day 2 proves to be equally as exciting, but you have to wait.
 
I have photos to upload before I can continue any further.
 

One thing to note, and a major difference between DL and WDW, is that all of the ride queues are outside. Once you walk through the doors of the attraction, you are boarding the ride.  
 
So who guessed the ride above?
 
If you said finding nemo, you are correct.
 
This is the same as the ride at EPCOT except you ride through it in a sub and all the story telling takes place underwater. I like this version way better than the shell ride at EPCOT. Even though the subs smelled like dirty wet feet.
 
This used to be the submarine voyage ride.
 
But it was rethemed. Disney likes to recycle old rides.
 

 
Directly across from Nemo was an area I wanted to see. It was Disney innovations. There was a display I wanted to see in there.
 
Disney innovations is basically EPCOT all under one roof. Many may recognize the building its in.
 

 
Look familiar?
 
That's the old COP building. Now it houses science exhibits. Its very similar to that of EPCOTs innovations.
 
It has the Power City game
 

 
and the huge map that displays where people are from. Only you enter your info at the map and not on Spaceship Earth.
 
Theres also some displays for energy conservation and recycling.
 
But I was here for something way cooler.
 

 
This.
 
Stark Industries brought out the Iron Man suits for display.
 
They had every suit.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
They even had a virtual simulation where you can be outfitted with a suit and try it out. I didn't want to wait the 30 mins to try it, so I just snapped a quick pic to show you.
 

 
After this, it was getting late so we had discussed heading back to the hotel. Remember, we had worked all night, traveled all day, and are now wandering the park. We were beat. But wait, our scouting expedition had only gotten us as far as Main street, Fantasyland, and part of Tommorowland. This is not working out.
 
So we head towards Main Street again, only to be side tracked by yet another walk on.
 
Any guesses?
 

 
Yes, Buzz was a walk on. When I say walk on, I mean walk on. I barely was able to snap this pic.
 
Buzz at DL was WAY better than Buzz at WDW.
 
In DL you can hold the blasters in your hands. See Buzzes blaster in the pic above?
 
That's how you play the game in DL. They are not connected to the ride vehicle.
 
The targets are also better and light up for bonus points the more you shoot them. The blaster also responds and vibrates and lights up to tell you you hit a target.
 
At the end of the ride, you have the option to view and email your photo to yourself. Yes, you get to email your photo. You can still buy it, and the email version is not that great, but you still have that option.
 

 
Ok, so lets review.
 
Our scouting mission didn't even get us half of the park.
 
We saw the parade, walked through the castle, rode Mr Toads wild ride, Nemo, saw Innoventions, and rode Buzz. And we were hungry and beat.
 
So we decided to head back to the hotel and get some dinner. On our way out we stopped for a photo op.
 

 
DL has Photopass photographers as well. Its the same system and your cards from WDW can be used here as well. I stopped at quite a few, mainly to compare theirs with ours, but we did end up with some good photos.
 
We decided to eat at the PCH Grill which is the restaurant in the hotel. It was decent food comparable to any other Disney restaurant. After eating we relaxed a bit.
 
But, our day wasn't over yet.

DISCLAIMER: I suck at responding to every response. I can never remember the max number of quote blocks and I loose track of who I responded to and all that. So Im not gonna pretend. Lets just say that I read every response and am glad everyone is on board.

If the site was up last week, you might have noticed I have been absent.
 
The reason for the absence would be our last minute decision to take a trip.
 
I normally do not do trip reports because my life is a trip report. But this trip warrants a report.
 
It all started during spring break. We both worked major hours during that two weeks and were both burnt out. We jokingly talked about taking a vacation, even just a small one, to get away. What a better way to get away than a trip to California?
 
So I jumped online and a few reservations latter, we were booked for an extended weekend at Disneyland. We were going to where it all started to see Walt's dream for ourselves. I have been before as I lived here for a few years, but that was 15 years ago. The wife had never been.
 
We left on the 19th of April early in the morning as we wanted to have time to still do something when we arrived. The flight to California was uneventful with a slightly longer than expected layover in Dallas and we arrived around 1pm Cali time.
 
By 2pm we were checked in to our.
 
We had chosen Disney's Paradise Pier as our home away from home. I would have rather drug the house over, but because this was a short weekend trip, we opted to stay in a hotel.
 
The hotel is themed after a boardwalk pier and overlooks California Adventures theme park. Everything has a beachy theme to it.
 

 

 
This was the view from our room. That is the resort pool below. We were on the 13th floor and the pool is on the roof of the 3rd floor.
 

 
The parking lot you see is the theme park/dtd parking lots.
 
We were exhausted as we both worked until 1am then were at the airport by 5am. So what did we do when we got into the room?
 
We showered and headed to the Magic Kingdom. What else?
 
The Disneyland resort area is not like Disney World. Everything is within walking distance. To get to the Magic Kingdom, we walk across the street (Disney Drive) to the Grand Californian Resort and then through the lobby to DTD. Then we walk through DTD to the entrance of the Magic Kingdom. Directly across from the Magic Kingdom is California Adventures. The whole walk took about 5 mins. But that's only because we stopped to take in all of the sites.
 
To give you an idea:
 

 
The yellow square is our resort, Disney's Paradise Pier.
 
The green box is Disney's Grand Californian.
 
The blue is the Disneyland Resort.
 
The red line is the DTD area.
 
You can make out the Magic Kingdom and California Adventures.
 
The first day was supposed to be a scouting mission. Get our bearings and the lay of the land. You note the words supposed to be. It didn't turn out that way.
 
Those who read along on Facebook know what happened (but lets not spoil it for those who do not know).

Animal Kingdom
Around Tree of Life
Tink sitting

Discovery Island
Babby Simba

Hollywood Studios
Studios is the test park for DPI, so new magic shots are introduced here first to test. If the photographer asks you to do something different, go along with it. You may be getting something new.
Sunset Blvd and Hollywood Blvd and Banner and Arch
(Photographers Choice on what magic shot they do, one of the below)
Do not be afraid to ask for a specific one if youre missing one
Minnie Bench

Mickey Bench

Stitch Bench

Stitch Ground

Balloons

Beuty and the Beast Stage show area
Chip

Tatooine Trader Area
(Mainly During Star Wars Weekends but has been done other times)
Darth Vader

This was launched back in Dec. Its just getting publicity now.
And Mo is correct, Photopass + does include the ride photos and the dining photos plus all of your regular photos.
If you are into the whole ride photos thing, this is a good deal. If you go for the cheapest option, a digital copy of your photo for $14.95, 3 photos will be your break even point. If you go the more expensive route and get the prints, you would break even after just two rides.
But, Photopass + is a better deal if you have allot planned. The cost is $199 ($149 if you preorder) and you get unlimited photos taken by DPI photographers. Every park, water park, and Downtown disney has DPI photographers. Nearly every character has a photographer assigned to them and every icon (castle, tree of life, hat) has at least 10 photographers positioned around them. Plus your dining photos are included. Plus your ride photos.
Compare this to just the standard CD with your photos on it for $169. You break even before you even start. And you can easily get 1000 photos froma one visit to each of the parks. Plus, everyone gets to be in the photo.
As a PSA: The attractions + deal is sold and maintained by the merchandising folks who run the view kiosks at the attractions. DPI (photopass) has nothing to do with this program and cannot help if there is a problem with it. The best we can do is make a phone call which will most likely end up having you walk back to the attraction that had the error. It is two seperate systems and we cannot access the ride photos.
Photopass + is our program and can do anything needed.

This brings up a good point. The elusive photo must be taken while Im working to count. No paparazzi stalking at the fort.

Dave has a memorable smile and besides if one listens to the wisdom of the FF they know to "stay off the damn buses."
No one says avoid the photo pass photographers.

This brings up a good point. The elusive photo must be taken while Im working to count. No paparazzi stalking at the fort.

Camps open....season starts in six days....
http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8838342/players-ratify-new-nhl-labor-deal-camps-set-begin-sunday

This seems like the management is reading these boards and listening. It went from owners of analog TVs are just SOL to they offer them something at least.

"The Nostromo Welcomes All Aliens Today Visiting From The Glendale Galaxy. We hope you have a pleasant stay with us."
The headquarters for Disney Imagineering is headquartered in Glendale, CA.
Reading further you find this humorous information:
"Goo Viscosity: Very Gooey / Remarks: EEEEOOOOO / Engineer: G. Koch
Time To Next Special Effect Failure:..........45.8 Years"
G. Koch is one of the Imagineers that worked on the attraction.

Its not. its an optical illusion. She is just so small, it makes the cup look bigger..... ;-)

"I think I might know something about this secret Hidden Mickey you mention. On one of our recent visits to the new Little Mermaid ride, there was an off duty CM walking through the queue with us. She stopped and was pointing out details in the queue to her friend. At one point, she stopped at a place near one of those virtual crab portals, and knelt down and pointed to a spot on the wall. She then pointed up to the ceiling and showed where there was an opening. She said that when the sun was in the right position, the opening would cause a shadow of a Hidden Mickey to show on the wall. I thought it was a bunch of BS, but now you mention this. I know exactly where the spot is. Let's meet there next year on November 18th at 1300. Let's hope it's not cloudy that day."
You would be onto something. This is the location I heard it was too, so there may be merit to this. We will meet at that location next year and see for sure. Mark your calendars.

the lobster cheesy thing from Ireland = Fisherman's pie.
One of the best things at F & W!
TCD

A few GG pics
(sorry they are a little late, been working allot lately)

Not sure if ya need to add us, but devores will be there. Our dates? 1 Sep through infinity. Site 417.

I wanted to take a moment out and advise people to please make sure who you are doing business with and the terms of doing business with this entity. I had planned a long three weekend camping trip at Fort Wilderness and after reading the rave reviews about Tee Time decided to rent a cart from them. The other day the other family that was going to join us had to back out because their 17 year old son has to have surgery on a torn ligament the week of the planned camping trip. I emailed Tee Time 12 days in advance and asking them to advise me what the cancellation charge would be (I was expecting like 30% or so).
Much to my surprise it was the full amount. They charged my credit card that evening without letting me know. The other family reserved a cart at Disney and ended up paying nothing for cancellation. As a travel agent I expected some cancellation fee based on the wording of the cancellation policy but in fact Tee Time charges the full amount if cancelled wihtin 14 days of the reservation and 30% of cancelled prior to that 14 day period.
Moral of the story - know what you are agreeing to and sometimes what seems to be a good deal isn't. Tee Time isn't a good deal and I will never use them again nor will I recommend them to any of my clients.
Happy Camping!!!
Admin note: please make sure you pay attention to post 61 of this thread. Due to many complaints, I feel I must put this disclaimer in here because the OP has failed to do so. I will not be editing any of the original content of this thread.

There has been a few posts regarding the free WiFi at the Fort. So today, I did a little war driving to see just how much coverage there is.
For those unfamiliar, war driving is where you drive around with a wifi scanner and look for open networks.
A disclaimer: while performing this experiment, I used my android phone and a simple wifi scanner set for constant scan so it picked up the network and strength in real time. I set an alert for Disney-Guest network and guest wireless (the name of the cabins wifi). I drove every loop and all common areas a GC is allowed and walked those areas where GCs are not allowed. My observations are below.
The 100 loop has some coverage from the cabins there. Depending on the equipment used and how tech savvy the user is, you could possibly have wifi in the sites around those cabins. Again, how many sites from the cabins depends on the equipment used. I was able to get a decent signal within 3 sites on either side and the sites directly across from the cabins. Any further and the signal drops quickly. No other open networks were visable.
The settlement signal was decent in the GC parkingbe, the porch, and in front of HDDR. If I ventured any further than that, the signal dropped. There was no signal near the arcade. The antennas used must be directional and pointed in the general direction mentioned.
The back side of 1100 loop, near the cabins on the 2100 loop, has some signal from the cabins. Again, type of equipment will determine how far you can get the signal and how good it will be.
All cabins have wifi in them and it is accesible (I tested 5 different ones). You just need to "sign in" by accepting the terms of use. So if you are near any of the cabins (beggining of 2000 loop) you may be able to get a signal. I was not able to get one in the 2000 loop, but with the right equipment, I can see it as a possibility.
The outpost signal is the strongest one I found and can be picked up at the bus stop. Not sure why this is the strongest one, but it is. They should make the settlment the strongest as more people use that one.
I did not make it to the cabin pool, but I can assume it has wifi there as well.
The main pool, bike barn, and campfire area is covered pretty well. There was only a few places I was not able to get a signal and they were small. I will cover where I lost the signal as opposed to where I had it.
I lost the signal halfway accross the bridge going to the 600 loop. There were a few places in the 600 loop where I was able to get a faint signal, so it is feasible that you could get wifi in the first half of the loop.
I lost the signal near the bathrooms behind the campfire in the 1400 loop. I was not able to get any signal in the 1400 loop, but again, with the right equipment, it is feasible you could get a signal in the sites near the comfort station.
Bob's dock has a good signal as does the porch of Meadow Depot. I was able to make it to bear rock before loosing the signal.
Standing at the end of the pool furthest from the snack bar is where I lost the signal in that direction.
I could not get one, but I can see where parts of the 1300 could possibly get a weak signal. Id need to drag my directional anntenna and laptop out there to see.
Group camp area I was not able to get a signal at all.
No other loops had a signal.
I think I covered all areas.
Now, if Disney is reading this, installing repeaters or transmitters on the comfort stations should cover the entire loop and give ALL of your guests a free wifi connection. If all cabins have been installed, this should not be too big of a project.

There has been a few posts regarding the free WiFi at the Fort. So today, I did a little war driving to see just how much coverage there is.
For those unfamiliar, war driving is where you drive around with a wifi scanner and look for open networks.
A disclaimer: while performing this experiment, I used my android phone and a simple wifi scanner set for constant scan so it picked up the network and strength in real time. I set an alert for Disney-Guest network and guest wireless (the name of the cabins wifi). I drove every loop and all common areas a GC is allowed and walked those areas where GCs are not allowed. My observations are below.
The 100 loop has some coverage from the cabins there. Depending on the equipment used and how tech savvy the user is, you could possibly have wifi in the sites around those cabins. Again, how many sites from the cabins depends on the equipment used. I was able to get a decent signal within 3 sites on either side and the sites directly across from the cabins. Any further and the signal drops quickly. No other open networks were visable.
The settlement signal was decent in the GC parkingbe, the porch, and in front of HDDR. If I ventured any further than that, the signal dropped. There was no signal near the arcade. The antennas used must be directional and pointed in the general direction mentioned.
The back side of 1100 loop, near the cabins on the 2100 loop, has some signal from the cabins. Again, type of equipment will determine how far you can get the signal and how good it will be.
All cabins have wifi in them and it is accesible (I tested 5 different ones). You just need to "sign in" by accepting the terms of use. So if you are near any of the cabins (beggining of 2000 loop) you may be able to get a signal. I was not able to get one in the 2000 loop, but with the right equipment, I can see it as a possibility.
The outpost signal is the strongest one I found and can be picked up at the bus stop. Not sure why this is the strongest one, but it is. They should make the settlment the strongest as more people use that one.
I did not make it to the cabin pool, but I can assume it has wifi there as well.
The main pool, bike barn, and campfire area is covered pretty well. There was only a few places I was not able to get a signal and they were small. I will cover where I lost the signal as opposed to where I had it.
I lost the signal halfway accross the bridge going to the 600 loop. There were a few places in the 600 loop where I was able to get a faint signal, so it is feasible that you could get wifi in the first half of the loop.
I lost the signal near the bathrooms behind the campfire in the 1400 loop. I was not able to get any signal in the 1400 loop, but again, with the right equipment, it is feasible you could get a signal in the sites near the comfort station.
Bob's dock has a good signal as does the porch of Meadow Depot. I was able to make it to bear rock before loosing the signal.
Standing at the end of the pool furthest from the snack bar is where I lost the signal in that direction.
I could not get one, but I can see where parts of the 1300 could possibly get a weak signal. Id need to drag my directional anntenna and laptop out there to see.
Group camp area I was not able to get a signal at all.
No other loops had a signal.
I think I covered all areas.
Now, if Disney is reading this, installing repeaters or transmitters on the comfort stations should cover the entire loop and give ALL of your guests a free wifi connection. If all cabins have been installed, this should not be too big of a project.

The poles have gone up and they are wiring them now. Still no fixtures ontop.