Tri-Circle-D

I cannot believe that they’re going to serve rotisserie chicken and not fried chicken. And ribs and shrimp are add ons?  Sad. 

TCD

24 minutes ago, Robin said:

I thought we missed a bunch. My son's friend kept asking him about all this stuff he had no clue what he was taking about.

 I thought maybe because it down so late in the day that they had to rush to get everyone in before closing? 

Something to look forward to next time and, now we know you can cut thru Toy story. I would of thought that would be blocked off to help keep up the illusion.

It seems a little weird that one min your supposed to be the size of a toy and take a few steps and now your in sorry don't know is there a name for the city your in?

Maybe a little more transition space just a thought.  

You were visiting the Black Spire Outpost on the planet of Batuu.  I think they were too lazy to figure out how to explain how you arrived on another planet at the edge of another galaxy simply by walking down a path. 

My daughters disagree with me that they are intentionally bypassing the elaborate pre-show scenes on Rise of the Resistance to increase capacity.  But whatever the reason, it’s bad show to rush guests into a giant room full of stormtroopers with no explanation of where you are or how you got there.  It ruins the ride. The fact that this is still frequently happening is just more evidence of how greedy and lazy Disney management has become. 

TCD

I’m in. So far so good. I hate to tell you, but if the first thing you saw on Rise of the Resistance was the stormtrooper room, then you missed three important elements of the preshow that explain what you are experiencing from that room to the end. That is a crying shame. 

TCD 

This is a belated Happy Armed Forces Day to Dave and Ray and all of the other Fiend vets. 

Thank you for your service.

TCD

1 hour ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

Special events CM call backs started in Feb/Mar and they are again booking Parties and other events from what we've heard.

But the CM’s who coordinated these events for the DCP have not been rehired.

I have no doubt that Disney management will be deploying the Special Event CM’s to staff dessert parties and other cash grabs as soon as they possibly can, but that’s all separate from DCP.  

TCD

This is not great news for anyone. 

Note this key sentence: “Those students whose programs ended early or were suspended last year due to COVID-19 are being asked to reapply.”

There are at least 20 former castmembers who worked in management positions for the DCP (about 80% of the management crew) who were canned by Disney who have not been rehired- or even been contacted with the prospect of being rehired.  I know one of them personally.  They also have not rehired 100+ other CM’s who worked screening and training the applicants.

What they do have is a few thousand college kids who made the DCP cut but got sent home early or told not to come last year.  They were already interviewed and screened for employment and hired.  Those are the only kids who might be allowed to come back. Disney wants a few hundred of them to come and bust their humps all summer because they can pay them less than the regular castmembers that they are choosing not to rehire. Those kids won’t get some of the perks that DCP kids used to get like special events and parties because everyone in that department got fired too.

Great news for shareholders.  Not even close to good news for anyone else.

TCD

On Sunday, May 2, 2021, early in the morning, I took a stroll down the pedestrian path behind the 300 loop and found a dad back there with his kids and golf cart. 

What’s the big deal about that?

For one thing, this guy had to drive past several signs telling him that no golf carts are allowed back here. 

For another, zoom in on that photo so you can see that this genius and a kid who can’t be more than 5 years old are on the other side of the alligator fence with their fishing poles. 

WTF?

TCD

18 hours ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

Hard to sing with a mask on...😂

Yet the Frozen sing-along has been open in Hollywood Studios since early October.

3 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

Nice to see my complaints are still being taken seriously and Lemonaide Mouth has not returned 

You have a gift for finding the silver lining in everything.

TCD

On 5/5/2021 at 2:21 PM, Robin said:

Thanks!

On 5/5/2021 at 10:24 PM, Disneymommaof6 said:

Thank you for posting this. I love to know what’s happening. It’s a little Fort fix and this one brings back fond memories.  I went to the Fort for Mother’s Day (and the week following) with my kids and my momma about 6 years ago. Good times. 

You’re both welcome. I am always interested in seeing what movies they have playing, and I have many great memories from the campfire program. 

Something encouraging that I noticed from the May schedule is that they have returned to having a movie every night. That was not the case when we were at the Fort in March and earlier in the pandemic.

Something discouraging is that the sing-along and Chip and Dale have not returned. I am beginning to wonder if those features will be permanently cut. I hope not, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

TCD

3 minutes ago, djsamuel said:

  I will really miss the way P&Js is set up now though.

Agreed. While I always felt that I got my money’s worth eating at Trail’s End, it has been a treat getting to use the seating to eat take out food.  I won’t miss the dinner buffet too much, but I will definitely miss breakfast. 

TCD

18 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

I didn’t know it was possible to get a reservation without a park ticket.  
i wonder how they did it?

17 hours ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

 

I have no clue, but look at the current availability for May for all three tier groups and it does make you wonder what is going on. 
 

Like always, there must be loopholes and glitches that people are exploiting to game the system. This garbage went on with the infamous “throw away” campsite reservations that people used to circumvent Fastpass and Dining Reservation limits in pre-COVID times, and Disney looked the other way. 

Lately, I have noticed that all of the parasite vloggers have been in the MK for the past several days to stalk the opening of the People Mover.  If all of them were playing with the limit of 3 park reservations at a time, it’s very suspicious how all of them were able to score multiple consecutive MK park reservations when the April availability calendar has been saying no MK availability for the last week of April. 

There is definitely something fishy about the park reservation system.

TCD
 

Dave, you have not lost your touch. You have once again hit the nail on the head. Turning the Main Street Bakery into a Starbucks was the beginning of the end.

And here we are.

TCD

8 hours ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

So according to you they are supposed to just close the Resorts so only the Pass Holders can go to the Parks.  I'll also bet you have a percentage of FPH who are making reservations and not using them

Nice straw man argument there, Dave. No, that is not what I think, and it is not what I said. 

8 hours ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

Something that is probably going to add fuel to the anger some of you are feeling. Rachel and I just finished watching this weeks episode of American Idol. They announced that the nine contestants who made it through this round are being flown to WDW. They will be staying at one of the resorts and going to all 4 parks. 
 

Yes, that is bad. But those kind of stunts went on before the pandemic, and have been continuing throughout. I’m sure there was national coverage of some of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers visiting WDW after the Super Bowl, and more recently Aaron Rodgers and his fiancée. All of them were doing things that a regular guest would not be able to. These stunts don’t make me angry as much as they make me marvel at the thought processes of those in charge of Disney marketing.

TCD

1 hour ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

I was just looking at the May reservation calendar. My daughter is going to be there with her friend and her friend’s family. The parents have annual passes. My daughter and her friend do not. I am hoping they already made their park reservations. For the week they are there those with APs have availability at all four theme parks. Resort guests and theme park ticket guests it shows only openings for AK and Epcot. 
 

May is typically a slower month than April and the summer months. But let’s look at what’s available to passholders for the remainder of April:  I just looked. There are 12 days left in the month.  Of those 12 days, there are 4 with no availability. None. For any park. For four days. There are 7 that have limited availability- with no availability in at least one park each day. And there is one day where all parks are available. When I purchased my platinum annual pass in February 2020, I paid a premium price for unblocked admission to all 4 parks for 365 days, with unlimited park hopping. When the parks reopened last summer, I was limited to making one park reservation per day, subject to availability, and no park hopping.  At the same time they were restricting my pass, they were selling new tickets to resort and day guests who were allowed to visit parks that I was not allowed to. Why?  Because Disney  had my money in their pocket.  They wanted new money. 

It did not have to be this way, but Disney chose to screw over passholders so they could sell more tickets. And that is just one of many crappy decisions they have made in the last year. 

TCD

7 hours ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

Thanks for the reply. Not living there or even traveling that way regularly, I don’t generally pay attention to the local government workings. 
 

The corruption and malfeasance has been from the Governor’s office and Legislature more than it has been from local governments. So we now have horrible roads, schools, and our environment is a disaster. But at least we don’t have a State income tax, and you can go wherever you want without a mask. Paradise.

TCD

2 hours ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

As far as  Florida AP and Florida Resident, we have had no problem getting park reservations at all since things opened up.  We have the Weekday Select and I bought a 3 day FL resident for this weekend since DD is in town and we got reservations at MK for Mon (AP), HS and AK(3 day ticket) yesterday and today.  

It's obvious based on the crowds that people are still coming, even Pop Century, where DD is, was busy and DS was hopping pretty good Friday afternoon as both garages were open and Spring Break weekend all the lots were.

Congratulations you got what you paid for. Guests with more expensive passes that are supposed to have no block out dates and weekend admission don’t. 

TCD

5 hours ago, fladogfan aka Gretchen said:

So, tried to check retired cast reservation system.  Can't get past April and this is the first time ALL the parks are blocked to retired cast for the rest of April.  Don't know about active cast.

I know someone who has been successful getting res. so will ask him.  But ....Grrrrrrrr

4 hours ago, djsamuel said:

The calendar is the same for both active and retired.  Blocked out for everyone.  Still waiting for May to show up.

More poor treatment of castmembers and reneging on retirement benefits. Park entry is part of the compensation and retirement packages that castmembers were promised. Except when Disney reneges so they can sell tickets to day guests.  Pure greed.

TCD

1 hour ago, Lou... said:

Thanks for the kind words. We're enjoying our completely new life but I do miss FL and not being a CM at WDW. Sorry to hear about your girls ending to their Disney careers, I know how much they loved WDW. For me Disney was always a love hate relationship and ended on a positive note, at least I got all my Disney perks. Hope everyone in your family have done well through the pandemic mess. 

You’re lucky to be away from Florida and WDW at this time. It’s not good here at the moment, and I don’t think that things will ever go back to where they were. 

I certainly understand the love/hate relationship you had with Disney. Both girls have connections and paths that can get them back to Disney at some point, but I doubt that either will return because the career paths they were on are gone.  I don’t think people fully understand the long-term changes that will follow from the bridges Disney chose to burn.  People will eventually accept Disney’s lower standards, but that doesn’t mean that we will.

My family and I were very blessed to have a much less difficult time during the pandemic than others. 

All the best to you, Lou.

TCD

15 hours ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

So why are there so many fatalities? Is it the roads themselves (construction,  narrow, etc) or just the volume of traffic on it each day? 
I don’t typically travel on it. So curious is all. 

4 hours ago, dblr....Rennie said:

I would say the cause is idiot drivers, I usually avoid I-4 but this year I did use it from 50 back to 95, it was not that bad but I planned my trip well after the morning commute

All of the above plus unmitigated government corruption and malfeasance. It is absolutely shocking to see the amount of unchecked development that has been allowed along the I-4 corridor with no improvement in infrastructure or provision for the astronomical traffic that logically flows from the unchecked development.

But if you have enough cash and know the right crooked politicians, you can build a toll road going to nowhere on or near land that you own and then build all kinds of residential units that will dump out onto the overcrowded interstates. 

TCD

16 hours ago, Lou... said:

I'd love to attend but I'd have to drive a whopping 45 minutes just to see some Fort Fiend knuckleheads. For those who remember me, I retired from Disney and now live north of Atlanta. I will show up at Stone Mt. to annoy as many of you as I can. It'll be just like old times at the Fort. And you thought you had gotten rid of me. I expect some apple pie. 

 

Wow!  A post from a former giant on this board. I’m glad to hear that the retirement plans worked out, and I hope that you and Gail are enjoying it to the fullest.

TCD

17 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

I’m glad to read that your girls have landed on their feet. I would have expected nothing less.  I wish them the best in their post-Mouse lives.   

Anna is 13 years old.  Yes, we’ve combined Anna’s trademark Russian attitude with teenage angst.  Life in the DIT household is pretty active.  While most of our friends are now empty nesters, we’re still firmly in Disney princess territory, which is really annoying for me being the anti-Disney guy I long have been.  Like the country song said...I was anti-Disney before anti-Disney was cool.   Lol.  

So all of these changes at Disney haven’t impacted us...we weren’t returning to WDW anyways. But I’m sorry for those of you affected, in particular those who were or still are employed there.  This COVID stuff has derailed many careers, but none more upsetting than our young adults who are just beginning their lives and then everything went sideways.  My older girls are dealing with their own setbacks.  But at the end of the day they are learning skills of resilience that our generation never really had to.  This will serve them well eventually.   If you’ve ever read the book The Fourth Turning, this was actually all predicted by demographers who study generational change.  The current 20 somethings have a lot in common with the Greatest Generation, who survived the Depression and won the War.  This group of young folks will do great things, IMO.  

Anyways, sorry for the hijack.  Back to our regularly scheduled programming.  Yes Disney sucks.  No I’m not on Facebook or any social media.  Yes I miss the old days on FF.  But I will always cherish the memories of the interactions on here and my family’s 10 years of camping at the Fort.

Onward and upward.    

Good to hear that you’re doing well. Thanks for the book recommendation. I am going to check it out- very interesting topic. 

TCD

59 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

Is there a full day exciment at typhone lagone?

LOL. It’s great to see a post from DIT. I have nothing but great memories of you, brother. I hope that all is well with the DIT gang. I hate to ask, but how old is little Anna now?

TCD

1 hour ago, Starbuc71 said:

Andrew,

great to hear from you. When you of all people are parting ways with Disney, everyone needs to realize there is a problem..lol. Like we spoke years ago, Disney has changed so much. For years it was just an attraction that a family could vacation at. Disney was not battling for world domination back then like they are now. It seems the majority changed when they bought MARVEL. Everything was looked at to make more money. They didn’t just want to make more money, they wanted to become a powerhouse and make a HUGE amount of money. With acquisitions like ABC,ESPN and eventually Lucasfilms, the attraction disappeared and the big business began.  An average family, with an average income slowly could not afford that magical trip. The Disney experience that cast members believed in began to diminish and the hidden gem of fort wilderness where you could stay for under $100 a night and get all the perks of staying on Disney property was soon realized and corrupted. Then Covid hit which disrupted their entire business model and changed the way they treat their guest.  Such a shame. But as I posted, we had 10 good years of awesome memories at the fort. As for this site, there has been many memorable post and especially trip reports from you, the master. Hard to believe the twins are 25. Time flies. Everything moves on and moves twice as fast. I’ll never regret having our kids enjoy the 10 years of Fort camping. 

Good to see you here, Dave. I bought my camper when my oldest daughter was 8, and the twins were 4, and those first 10 years were the best. Like you, we made many last minute weekend trips, and never had a problem getting a site or feeling ripped off.  I didn’t like what came next, but I accepted it, and we just camped less, but still enjoyed it when we did. 

What finally did it for me is seeing how opportunistic and greedy Disney has been during the pandemic.  The park pass system blocks out passholders so they can sell those spaces to day guests at a higher price. Even though park attendance is about back to normal, there are long lines everywhere because they are understaffed and not operating attractions at their capacity.  They are too greedy to even have the trams running in the parking lots. They should have used this time to complete the construction projects that were already in the budget, but even that would hurt the current balance sheet too much, so the MK will have no new attractions, and the Magic Kingdom train isn’t even going to be running for the 50th anniversary.

So congratulations to Disney. They win. Their stockholders are happy. Their executives are very happy. They sure made a bundle by picking the pockets of castmembers, DVC members, and passholders. Not to mention the millions of “loans” they got from us taxpayers that they will never pay back.  They won big.

TCD
 

Mark- thanks for starting this thread. You asked a good question, and this thread gives me a good place to share some thoughts. 

Yes, this message board is in decline. It has been for a long time. Message Boards are not popular any more. They’re all fading away. 

As for this one, I agree with the others about how Disney and the Fort have lost a lot of magic lately.  The dealbreaker for me personally has been how poorly they have treated passholders and castmembers as a result of COVID-19.  I understand that they are a business, but Disney has relentlessly focused on making huge profits at the expense of loyal passholders and castmembers.  They’re also treating DVC members badly.

As most everyone here knows, before the pandemic the TCD twins had been castmembers for 5+ years and both worked very hard and put up with a lot to get on career paths that were very promising.  When COVID hit, that changed. One never got called back and the other took a temporary assignment with Disney doing some very important and sensitive HR work and was treated very badly.

They are 25 years old with college degrees, and could not sit around hoping that Disney would offer them some crappy positions when they finally decide to loosen the purse strings. So, they have both moved on. They both have new jobs with new companies where they are making more money and have brighter futures.

But, it’s heartbreaking for them to have been treated so poorly despite their hard work and loyalty.  

So, it’s break time for the TCD gang and Disney.  Such a shame.  

TCD