Tri-Circle-D

The comments to the link in the first post mentioned the guy’s YouTube channel, and I found it:

He hasn’t gained many subscribers or views. It seems wrong that the guy is allowed to try and profit from his crime. 

TCD

Thanks for posting the link @Travisma  

This does clarify that the original report that said he used a Disney boat to access the island was false. 

I assume he’s out on bail. I kind of doubt that he will get jail time. 

TCD

37 minutes ago, greenbar said:

Forgive me but what is a “partial” hookup?

There are two loops at the Fort where the sites have electric, water, and cable connections for campers, but no sewer connection. Those are the partial hookup sites. According to the Disney reservation website, these sites are to be used for tent campers or campers with vans or pop-up trailers.  The loops are 1500 and 2000. 

TCD

These are smart moves on Disney’s part, but it stinks for the Polynesian DVC guests. Disney always wins. 

TCD

30 minutes ago, kadancer said:

According to my DS and DH, the misspelled sign has been removed....

Well I guess everyone who criticizes the Fort management needs to apologize. Yes, it took them weeks to catch a glaring spelling error, but now everything is better. 

(there’s a new sign, right?)

TCD

15 hours ago, Katman1356...Jason said:

T@Bs are legal in the Partials due to the smaller size of them. 

4 hours ago, Travisma said:

Yeah, we stayed in both partials in the past, but was just wondering if they will be stricter if all the loops aren’t open.

Ha. Ha.  There are few trips when I haven’t seen full size travel trailers, Class Cs and Class As in the partial sites. Nothing is “illegal” in the incompetent Fort management’s eyes. 

TCD

2 hours ago, Travisma said:

I’m guessing that all loops will be open getting closer to Halloween, unless they have a lot of cancellations.  

I think we will see more open by next weekend for Labor Day. 

TCD

1 hour ago, LONE-STAR said:

So what loops are closed? 

As ol last weekend, 1500-1900 were all closed. So the only partial hookup was 2000, and the only full hookup was 2100. I think some premium loops were closed as well-700, and 1100-1300, but I’m not sure about that. 

TCD

36 minutes ago, Travisma said:

It's hit or miss on the majority of the sites.

One may be shady in the morning but sunny by mid day or evening.

Most are shady at least part of the day.

I agree with this, and will add that it also depends on the time of the year. The sun tracks in a much different path in the summer than it does in the winter, so the amount of shade varies by the season. A spot with good shade in the winter may not have as much shade in the summer and vice versa. 

Another twist to consider is that the 1500 loop remains closed since the original COVID-19 shutdown, with no indication as to when it will reopen. 

TCD

2 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

Good idea. 
but the main reason we are going, besides I’m using our APs Before they expire, is for food& wine. 
I know the concert series is gone.  It now are the food & wine booths!  Same amount as last year?

Well your plan makes sense then. There are definitely less booths around than they typically have for Food and Wine, but there is a good selection, and a good mix of favorites with some new items. So far, Epcot seems to have attracted the lightest crowds, so that will be a good thing for you. It’s very strange how empty it feels.

TCD

On 8/14/2020 at 6:50 PM, h2odivers...Ray said:

We pulled the trigger and Disney wins again. 
because of their goofy, and IMHO unfair 3 park reservation limit for AP holders, we went ahead and booked beach club villas for 3 nights and 3 nights at bonnet creek. Now we can book a park reservation for our length of stay. 
As some of you know I hate planning dining reservations and FPs. And now I’m forced to plan even more of our vacation...

Park Reservations!!!

What is making it so hard is the fact we can’t park hop.   We are not big park hoppers but during food & wine festival we normally go to a park in the morning and then hop over to Epcot for afternoon/evening entertainment and food. 
 

so help me out. Give me some suggestions on how to best use our time this trip.

I’m thinking walk into epcot the afternoon we arrive, 13th

13th-epcot
14th-HS-Star wars!
15th-epcot
16th-AK, it closes the earliest, and we could store our luggage with guest services and then uber to bonnet creek. 
17th-MK-no fireworks so early start and finish. 
18th-either Epcot again or HS
19th fly home. 

Not being able to park hop is the worst thing they took away.  I don’t understand why you couldn’t park hop to another park as long as it was under their new capacity limits. 
 

Thanks in advance

It looks like a good plan. The only suggestion I have is to definitely book DHS on the 18th and not Epcot. You need a backup day in case you don’t get to ride Rise of the Resistance on your first DHS day. Also, Epcot is in sad shape these days- there’s a lot more to do in DHS currently. 

TCD

6 hours ago, Theed31u said:

I heard rumors that Reflections was canceled and they were pulling out construction stuff and planting grass over the area.  Anyone heading down there that could check it out?

If you want to see weeds growing, here’s a thread for you: 

3 hours ago, fladogfan aka Gretchen said:

Weren't one or two hotels near ESPN delayed for years after 911? 

Yes- half of Pop Century never got built. When they revived the project, it became the Art of Animation Resort. 

TCD

2 hours ago, kadancer said:

This really is a low blow.  It was one thing to let River Country decay tucked away in a corner, but to letting a perfectly good beach decay in full view everyday and obstructing beautiful views with unnecessary fencing is really insulting..... 

I agree. Check out these shots of the beach taken from the boat dock:

Weeds and grass are already covering the sand. I can’t imagine that any manager will authorize spending money to restore and reopen the beach. Such a shame.

TCD

Well, this thread isn’t going to go in the direction that I thought it would.  As we now know, the Lakeside DVC construction has stopped. 

I took these photos on March 11, 2020 right before the shutdown. This work was going on in the area of the old River Country entrance:

If you take a good look at those photos,  you can see men working in the excavated areas. You can also see Discovery Island and the MK boat cruising by on Bay Lake. 

These next photos were taken last week, on July  18, 2020. These first two show the paved path between Crockett’s Tavern on the left and what we used to know as Clementine’s Beach on the right:

Unfortunately, it looks like that is how Disney intends to leave things for the immediate future.

These next photos show the same area depicted in the first three photos. Everything has been abandoned, and the grass and weeds are already taking over:

The March photos were taken right before the shutdown was announced. There were initially reports that the DVC construction was going on during the shutdown. I thought I’d have some cool before and after photos to share once they reopened. But, now I think all I will have is photos of the weeds growing.

TCD

55 minutes ago, kadancer said:

Does that mean the walls are still up on the actual Clementine beach?  We were really hoping to get the beach back.....

Yes the walls are up, and you can see from the marina that there is grass and weeds growing on the beach. I have photos of that which I will post on another thread. 

We are not getting our beach back. The stuff on the other side of the walls will soon be an overgrown mess like River Country was when they let it sit and rot for all those years. 

TCD

I was at the Fort yesterday. 

The external buses are not on a schedule, and they were not posting estimated arrival times:

They removed all but one row of benches at the Outpost bus stop:

Bus capacity is very limited- a lot of seats are blocked off and there are opaque panels installed between the rows:

All of these means traveling by bus takes a lot longer. 

TCD

I was able to visit the Fort yesterday and noticed that they posted this new sign by the marina:

 I was going to report that they are now calling this area Clementine’s beach. 

But then I noticed something else. 

They misspelled Clementine!

WTF?

TCD

6 minutes ago, Travisma said:

Push?

Right to MDE ?

What type of notification, a text, email,

A push notification. Like these:

They just show up on my phone screen. 

TCD

Whelp, I FINALLY got to ride this attraction on Tuesday. I loved it. Seriously. I don’t even miss the Great Movie Ride anymore. This one is a lot more entertaining and fun. When and if the Ratatouille ride opens, guests will soon find out that Runaway Railway does a much better job with trackless vehicle technology.

TCD

3 hours ago, Travisma said:

TCD showed the screenshot of the MDE screen.

How did you get a notification? 

I didn't get anything and only found it after the TCD post.

I received a push notification with a link to the passholder page on the Disney website.

I was actually in DHS for a CM preview when I received it. Maybe that’s why I got the push notification?

TCD

52 minutes ago, Travisma said:

Again, this is being reported by a second/third party source, nothing official from Disney.

I've checked my emails and the spam folder, nothing.

I did see someones post on FB with a screenshot of a message they got mentioning the 30%, but they were a Platinum AP.

And we're blacked out for Silver until 8/6 so not a lot of time to get to the parks and shop.  Plus I'm sure there are tons of exemptions on what you can purchase.

here’s something official from Disney:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/passholder-program/specials/?int_cmp=AP_App_APMerchPush20200715&entryPoint=pushNotification

TCD

30 minutes ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

Btw. 
how long do you think it will take before a lawsuit is filed against Disney by AP holders for breach of contract?

 

my guess is next week. 
 

there already is a lawsuit about Disney billing AP holders 4 months of the monthly payments.

It won’t be long. And they’re going to lose big time. Unfortunately, like all class actions, only the lawyers will win. 

TCD

4 minutes ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

As I posted in another thread I got through in about 5 minutes, was transferred once. Told them I wanted the date extension and they said it would take about 2 weeks and it did. Our exp date has been extended 4 months.   

Good for you.

You were one of the lucky ones who called in early before Disney made any announcement. Nobody is getting through that easily now. Your isolated good fortune does not negate the fact that there are hundreds of reports similar to Ray’s. 

TCD

1 hour ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

So I tried to call Disney on three separate occasions about canceling my AP because there are no park reservation dates open when we could possibly come.  And we really don’t want to go with the parks being “half” open. 

1.   first time I called they told me I need to speak to the annual passholder helpdesk but they were closed.

2.  The second time I called I was on hold for an hour and a half before my call was answered after a two minute conversation I’m put on hold And then we become disconnected.

3.  Call number three. after a brief hold I’m transferred to the annual passholders helpdesk and when they answer I’m disconnected again. 

4.  Attempt number 4. This morning.
After one hour and 54 minutes of holding the cast member tells me they don’t know how much my refund will be if I cancel my APs. She told me to call back sometime this month when they announce they’ve started giving refunds.

 

WTF!!!

How incompetent can one company be?

They’ve had over three months to figure this out.

That is truly awful.

Yes, these are difficult and unprecedented times, but Disney is doing a terrible job with communication. Both with their guests and castmembers. 

How they are handling things speaks volumes on what the company values. And it clearly isn’t passholders or castmembers.

TCD
 

On 7/8/2020 at 7:49 AM, ImDownWithDisney said:

Didn't Disney spend like 5 billion on FP+? FP+ was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread. I liked the old paper ticket system better.

I’ve heard so many different figures about what FP+ cost that I don’t know what to believe. Whatever it was, it was a lot. Guests were promised so many great things with that program- like Fastpasses being loaded automatically throughout the day to move crowds to less busy attractions. The fact of the matter is that it never worked as promised and was a huge waste of money. But, so much money was wasted that it couldn’t be trashed. 

At last years’ D23 expo in Anaheim, they announced that they would be rolling out something they called a Genie Pass that sure sounded like it would replace FP+. My suspicion was that would be a paid add-on for guests. 

With them now rationing park entry and not offering fastpass of any kind, they have a clean slate to charge for line skipping. They are not going to leave that money in guests’ pockets.

TCD