DaveInTN

Every Mom I know who is raising a child with Autism is NOT someone I would purposefully instigate a fight with. They are all Mama Bears, ready to open up a can of whoop ass on idiots like this. I think that moron is very lucky your friend's friend only posted the encounter on FB. The Mom's I know, including you Kim, wouldn't be posting it on FB upon the advice on their lawyers. God Bless you for everything you do....and know that you have the support of every one of us here in the event you do need to raise bail money some day.

I feel bad for BW. I bet her big dream was to fly down from the castle as Tink. But she grew too quickly and now finds herself chasing her dream sadly around the Magic Kingdom, trying to gain access to Peter, the little fuego himself.

My cousin's co-worker's SIL has a friend with 4 kids, and they stayed in the cabins at Camp Wilderness. I am SO not the camping type, but I wonder if the cabins would work for my family. I worry sometimes that my kids never get fresh air and think maybe we should try this sometime. Are the cabins close to where the people in trailers live? I worry that we'll see those people. Do they share buses? Can we use the pool at the WL, because I'm afraid of the water not being clean from the trailer people.
Convince me this might be a good option for us. Or should we stay at the Beach Club Villas instead?

My cousin's co-worker's SIL has a friend with 4 kids, and they stayed in the cabins at Camp Wilderness. I am SO not the camping type, but I wonder if the cabins would work for my family. I worry sometimes that my kids never get fresh air and think maybe we should try this sometime. Are the cabins close to where the people in trailers live? I worry that we'll see those people. Do they share buses? Can we use the pool at the WL, because I'm afraid of the water not being clean from the trailer people.
Convince me this might be a good option for us. Or should we stay at the Beach Club Villas instead?

My cousin's co-worker's SIL has a friend with 4 kids, and they stayed in the cabins at Camp Wilderness. I am SO not the camping type, but I wonder if the cabins would work for my family. I worry sometimes that my kids never get fresh air and think maybe we should try this sometime. Are the cabins close to where the people in trailers live? I worry that we'll see those people. Do they share buses? Can we use the pool at the WL, because I'm afraid of the water not being clean from the trailer people.
Convince me this might be a good option for us. Or should we stay at the Beach Club Villas instead?

Until now, I had figured that the first thing out of Walt's mouth after they thaw his head would be "Hey you idiots, close that gate. I don't want guests back there". Now I'm convinced that will be the second thing out of his formerly frozen lips. The first will be "Fire that idiot bus driver".

And you can't spell "FIEND" without "FIND".....and "FINDING FIENDS" is the most funnest of activities at the Fort!

And you can't spell "FIEND" without "FIND".....and "FINDING FIENDS" is the most funnest of activities at the Fort!

After being funneled through the backstage area to exit the park and being yelled at by a rude CM for taking pictures, we found ourselves in Town Square. It was during that time of the evening between the MSEP and Holiday Wishes, which were taking place at 10pm that night IIRC. Our intention was to hightail it straight to the boat and get outta Dodge.
But on our way past the Town Square Theater, INC asked me what goes on in there now. I told her I think they do Mickey greetings. So, we decided "what the heck" and into the theater we went.
There were two seperate queues you could choose from....a Mickey queue and a Princess queue. The princess one was shorter, so we decided to get in that. But a CM informed us that they had closed off that line, but we could get in line for Mickey if wanted to. So we did.

This is a really odd use of space, if you ask me. When standing in line, it is obvious that this building was intended to be much more than it is being used for. That character meetings are such an afterthought for this beautiful building. But at least it is being used.
It obviously can get much busier than it was at that moment.

No way would I ever wait if those queues were filled up. Yikes!
The wait for Mickey takes you through a room set up like an old bank office. Very odd.




What in tarnation was that area used for before Mickey showed up?? I can't imagine they decorated it this way for him....it's quite strange. When standing in there, you just feel like you are inside someplace that was used for something else, and then they stopped that use and the building was simply locked up and abandoned. Then they needed someplace for Mickey to greet guests after they bulldozed Toontown, so they just unlocked the doors and BAM, there's Mickey.
In any case, after just a few minutes in the office setting, a CM took us into the next room where Mickey himself was greeting folks. When it was our turn, the girls took turns getting hugs.



Anna had a cute look on her face here I think.

And she looks so happy here too...as do they all!

How can you NOT be happy when you are meeting The Big Guy himself?
After that, we were filed through another doorway and back into Town Square.
It was getting close to 10 now. We debated whether we'd hang out on Main St for Holiday Wishes, but it was very crowded, and seeing Mickey didn't change the fact that it was cold and we were tired.
So we headed to the boat, and one was arriving right when we walked up. I told the girls to get seats on the left side of the boat if possible. They argued a bit and said they could see the fireworks better on the right side as we sat at the dock. But I told them to trust me. Sure enough, the fireworks started just as we shoved off, and they had a great view as we made our way across Seven Seas Lagoon.
Why do kids argue with their parents? They don't respect the experience we have! :rofl3:
That's it for 12/26. The next morning we got up and headed to Hollywood Studios. That is coming up in the next update, along with.....STELLA!!!!!!!

The new version may not be demonizing overweight people like the original, but it still sounds like something I have zero interest in when I'm ON VACATION! We spend every day working to provide healthy choices and positive messages to our kids. I really don't want to hear it from anyone else...not the government, not Hollywood, and certainly not Disney.
So let's play Match Game.
"Poor Disney. They just can't win. They came up with another bad idea for an attraction, so DaveInTN told them to take it and shove it up their tight, skinny, _________.

Hey, time for a quick hijack of my own trip report to say.......
Happy Birthday, Anna!!!!!
5 Years Old Today!!!
:bday:
:partythree:

Oh c'mon now ladies...all this talk of blankets and pillows and such is senseless. For the sake of those of us back home, here are my suggestions for a packing list:
Alcohol
Quarters
Camera
That's about it.

Hey, time for a quick hijack of my own trip report to say.......
Happy Birthday, Anna!!!!!
5 Years Old Today!!!
:bday:
:partythree:

Hey, time for a quick hijack of my own trip report to say.......
Happy Birthday, Anna!!!!!
5 Years Old Today!!!
:bday:
:partythree:

Hey Carol, for further clarification, I asked Anna. Her response was "это отстой обезьяны окурки".

Hey Carol, for further clarification, I asked Anna. Her response was "это отстой обезьяны окурки".

Sorry to say no. But I have to tell you, the thread title confused me. My wife always tells me the "other park" is Ikea. When in Orlando we usually try to park hop over there for a bit.

Sorry, not gonna be tonight! :raspberry:
I don't remember riding it again...but it's possible when I get to more pics I will see it. What are you referring to?
You too? Clue me in!
Thanks! Those two are so close! They spend a lot of time together, and get along so well. It's a very sweet relationship.
I'm an old fashioned guy....you're gonna have to wait! :rofl3:
Thanks Kim!! Hope your feathers can handle it.

Whew! I'm glad you cared for them properly.
Yeah....35 years in Buffalo and 10 in TN. I've picked up some Southern talk, but I'm not about to lose proper spelling!

Am I first??

It's so easy it's pathetic.
First off...use a crock pot liner. Makes cleanup so much easier.
You need:
Box of lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
onion
garlic
spaghetti sauce, maybe two jars if not using homemade. one jar leaves the lasagna too dry
ricotta cheese (maybe a couple cups, depending on your preference)
mozzarella cheese
Cook the ground beef and chopped onion with some garlic. I did this back home and froze to make it easier.
In crock pot, put some sauce and meat down, then a layer of uncooked noodles broken to fit the pot. A layer of ricotta. Then just repeat layers. End with a layer of sauce, or the top layer of noodles won't cook well. Cook on low 8 hours. In the last half hour or so, throw some mozzarella on top to let it melt in good.
That's about it. If you prefer you can doctor up your ricotta with egg and stuff from a regular lasagna recipe, but for camping I just spooned it out of the container.

That's so funny....when INC hears me typing away, she asks "working on the trip report?". I guess they've lived with us long enough to know.

Something else to consider for those that might make the argument "well I just want information, not all the banter"
There are LOADS of places on the web to get "just the facts ma'am." Anyone ever heard of Google? Of course these days many of the topics you Google specific to the Fort will point you directly to FF.net! Hmm... I wonder why that is? After all, Google doesn't tend to rank you highly for just "banter."
I know for me, I come to a message board not just because I'm too lazy to find the answer for myself or I don't know where to look, but because I don't just want facts posted on some random website.
For starters, some of that information is just plain WRONG and if you only ever get your information there, chances are you're going to find that out the hard way. On top of that, many of these websites just regurgitate information from elsewhere - in other words, it's general, common knowledge vs truly helpful "inside" information from people that know it first hand.
I find that getting your information from a group of people that actually have first-hand experiences and REAL inside information is the best. Not only is it information you're not going to find elsewhere, but because all of us are different and have different interests, family dynamics, likes/dislikes... you're going to get a lot of different points of view on the same subject instead of ONE point of view from some internet know-it-all who thinks theirs is the only opinion that counts. :wave1:
Yes there are a lot of shenanigans, joking around and thread hijacking going on here. And thank goodness!!
Personally I find that to be something to look forward to, not just because I enjoy the Fiends in general (even you, Lou) but because the daily grind sucks and why would you NOT want to "hang out" somewhere people are actually having a good time?!
For those that say that some places are better off without certain people... hmm... let's break that down a bit...
FF.net has been in existence for almost 2 years. In that time we've grown to over 1000 members
Nearly 100 of our members have over 500 posts during that time.
We have new people joining almost every day, with many diving in head first and quickly becoming fixtures in the "new content" department.
We have a debate board and topics that cover things banned by other boards, and yet we have banned no one from these boards in 2 years. Not one person.
We don't just talk about GGs, we actually have them! Not a season goes by when there isn't a gathering of Fiends somewhere in the country - not just at the Fort!
We just had a Christmas card thread that resulted in a big group of Fiends spreading some holiday cheer with each other through the mail
We've had virtual baby showers, helped out Fiends in need, supported each other's causes and been there for each other - not just virtually but in person.

All that while other places that have eliminated all the fun have faded to mere shells of their former selves. And how do we know this? Because not a month goes by that we don't have someone new sign up saying "thank goodness I finally found you!"
And let's not forget that in between all that is some fantastic information and first-hand experiences, from many points of view, on the things that brought us all together in the first place - our love of Disney, camping and the Fort.
So while Disney may give the Fort a back seat most of the time, FortFiends.net puts the Fort front and center, with members at the Fort nearly EVERY DAY (actually this is the year I'm betting it's EVERY day!), and dozens of active trip reports that don't just show you the same photos of WDW over and over again and give you the thumbnail view of a week at the Fort. Our TR Fiends take amazing photos (and lots of them!) and give us TONS of great, current information on all things Fort Wilderness. They also entertain us with the particular styles of reporting (who would have guessed we'd have so many good writers here??) and really bring you in and make you feel like you were there.
Roll all that up in a ball, wrap a big purple bow around it and serve it up on a Snarky platter and I challenge anyone to find a better place on the interwebz to hang out and get information on the Fort and WDW... or a better group of FrIENDS anywhere!
:heartsmiley:

Ok, time to get back on track. Let's see, it's Christmas Eve, and we've seen Donald and Santa himself at the Trails End porch, had free cookies and cider, and now we're fixing to go find some dinner. We decided to hop the bus to the Lodge and hit up Roaring Forks, one of the DaveInTN gang's favorite counter restaurants.
I really like the Lodge, especially at Christmas time. They even decorate the walkway to the bus stop nicely.

We made our way directly to RF to eat, figuring there would be time to enjoy the lobby after dinner.
INC had her usual...the grilled chicken salad with apples, walnuts, cheddar and other goodniks. She really enjoys this salad.

I had the pulled pork sandwich with cucumber salad. The cucumber salad was the best part of the meal. The pulled pork was just ok. I should have had my usual chili. But I was afraid of Christmas Eve Ohanas scaring Santa away.
:blowup:

The kids chicken nuggets and fries...pretty standard.

After dinner we wandered back to the lobby to check things out. They were giving out free cookies here too...with lemonaid instead of warm cider. I think the cider is more Christmasy.
Gwen and Stella rode the elevators up and looked down on us.

I've always thought the WL Christmas tree is one of the prettiest at WDW.

Notice Santa was visiting here too.
By this point it was nice and dark out, and we wanted to do some looping with my parents to show them the Fort decorations. So we bused back to the Settlement and got back on the carts.

Anna loves her Nana and Grampa.





This vehicle was on display in the 1100 loop (I think). It is an actual street legal vehicle...and just about the coolest thing I've seen ever.


Here's INC in front of it so you can see the scale.

This cart was pretty cool too.



After looping for a while, my parents headed back to their room at POR for the night, with plans to be at our place again early in the morning for gift opening.
We headed back to the trailer to get settled in and await Santa's arrival. We brought a little tree for the trailer, so Santa would have a place to put the gifts. The girls put their presents for us and each other under the tree, and we got ready for bed.


INC read the Christmas story to the girls before bed.

We had some Christmas cookies, and we all turned in for the night. Everyone needed to get to sleep so Santa could come!

That's great, Lorna. I could give several examples to add to this list that would demonstrate the community that has developed here. And in case any lurkers or newbies think this is a "closed group" that is tight knit and wouldn't open their arms to them...I can tell you there are Fiends created every day, some that dive right in and sit around at grand gatherings laughing it up seated next to someone who's been around forever. There are a handful of Fiends that were at those early gatherings at the Fort, but most of us were not and are still members of the community, which is more like a family to me. And still other Fiends have not had the opportunity to meet any other Fiends at all in person, but they are still members of the community too by participating on the boards. Whether or not someone considers themselves a Fiend is up to them. There's no membership fee, no application, no tests or initiation. Just a desire to be part of a great group of people.