BradyBzLyn...Mo

Unfortunately, the budget didn’t include doing anything about the ugly fence around the old TCD Ranch:


TCD

That rumor is true Grumpy!





 




 
There is too much sod, there are a lot less trees, but it’s 1000% better than the eyesore that was here for the past 2 1/2 years. As far as I could see, there are no speakers anymore- so no fireworks music unless they set up portable speakers.
TCD

And the Lemonade Mouth absence reaches another month.   

TCD
 

Thanks, Mo.
Baby girl pup was adopted today and to a wonderful, young couple.  Married 3 years, no kids or other pets.  They both grew up with dogs, she fostered dogs in college, he works FT from HOME, they just bought their first home with a FENCED in back yard.   I'm not sure that I could have asked the Lord for a better fit for this pup.  Miss her cute face, but my heart is full.
Next is baby boy pup and sweet mama dog.  Praying that the Lord would bring them their, furever family ❤️

Some of you may have remembered the discussions surrounding Simon, our little pup and the struggles we've had with his separation anxiety.  Exhausting, no question.   With that, I've always professed, that I am NOT a dog person.  Do I like dogs?  Sure.  But am I dog person... no way.
So.. here's this busy mama, who is not a dog person, and I am now in the situation of "fostering" three pups.  A mama and two, 12 weeks old puppies.  Monday morning, we're trying to get out the door and my son yells, "there's puppies in the yard!"   I think he's seeing things so, as any good mama would do, I yell back... "it's probably a big squirrel."    Less than 15 minutes later and we have both pups and the mama.  I blasted all the "lost pet" social media sites, hung signs and then called the county that night around 5p.  The animal control officer shows up and... I can't do it.  Can't send them to doggy-jail.  So, I turn him away but not until he suggests taking mama to the vet to see if she's chipped.   Now it's 6:30p on Monday night and I'm in the car with mama, on the way to the vet.  They scan her and yay!  She has a chip!  I'm excited, but the vet tech says, "don't get too excited."    Vet tech was right.  The owner was located. The owner does not want them.   I know have two options:  doggy jail or find them homes.
This is where I am at.  Here is what I posted online:  It's hard to not get attached. Baby boy is the light brown pup. We've named him Micheal. He is a spitfire and a crack-up to watch. Baby girl is the black pup, we've named her Georgia. Georgia Grace. She is all puppy, but she is a shy pup. Such a sweet girl though when you pick her up. Mama... oh sweet mama. I love this pup. Those owners either a) ignored her or b) were not nice to her. She will literally crawl on her belly to come get love from you. We've spent the past 48 hours working with her and she has really started to come out her shell She is so, SO sweet. She did fantastic in her crate last night, even waited to go potty until we took her out this morning. She does well with kids and so far just gets excited to see other dogs. They are all, wonderful pups. Mama is 2-3 years old. Pups are 12 weeks.
Having these dogs has been SO much work.  But, on my gosh, they are such good pups.  Baby girl may be going to her forever home tonight and I'm already tearing up because yes... dogs are stupid.  Stupid, exhausting little creatures that take up your time and your money.  It's dumb.  But, my heart hurts, which is ridiculous because I am tired and they both need and deserve good homes.
So, next it's on to baby boy... who I think is the friendlier of the two pups and will be (much) easier to train.  He's the dog that will tear into your flowers but crack you up at the same time.  Hard part is...he's a mama's boy, so it's sad to break them up.  And mama... sweet mama.  If I could handle another dog, this non-dog person would keep her.  She is such a good dog.  She deserves the best home.
Ugh.  I'm not going to cry.
Dogs are stupid. 

The only campsite loops that are somewhat close to the cabins are 1100, 1200 & 1300 premium,  2100 Full hook-up and 2000 partial hook-up.  So it depends on which level of site they reserved as to how close together you may be able to get.  The cabins that are in the same close vicinity are 2300 and 2400.  

In my head it is as fresh as ever.  At least that's what the voices in there tell me. 

You know, that particular cinnamon roll that Dave has been peddling for the last several years has got to be sort of stale by now....

My sources inside the Walt Disney Company tell me that Bob Iger, toward the end of his retirement address to fellow Cast Members, made an announcement that will have massive implication to CM's and Guests of WDW for years to come!
Just before closing his address, he announced the construction of a 5TH GATE at WDW! 
He then let slip the name of this upcoming 5th theme park....Cinnamon Roll Kingdom!! 
 

Happy New Year everyone! 

Final thoughts:

I probably should have put this at the beginning of the report, because it has the most useful information about traveling to WDW right now. Well, call this the reward for traveling there with me, as I reminisced.

Mousekeeping is limited. Something I must have missed in all my reading, but mousekeeping is still not doing sheets or bedding changes. Neither will they make the bed on their days in the room. Mousekeeping comes every other day for light cleanup and to replace towels and sundries. If you want to come back to a freshly made up room, you will need to make your beds before you leave. If you want new sheets, just call down to the concierge, and they will have new bedding delivered. Mousekeeping will pick up dirty sheets on their cleaning days.

Genie+: For us, just 2 people wandering the parks, Genie+ was worth it. We used it daily and probably averaged about 5 rides using it, at each park. The only 2 rides we never managed to grab were Test Track and Slinky Dog. We didn't try real hard with TT, because we just weren't that into it. So that's $75 to save about 1 to 2 hours a day in line. Worth it to my feet.

Mobile Ordering: I LOVE this feature and took advantage of it wherever I could. I can understand how it would be hard to work with if you have any kind of severe allergy or food intolerance. Not a whole lot of options on most items. But when you can use it, nothing like just ordering while in line, and having your food ready when you are ready to eat.

QR codes for full restaurant menu's: This is the hardest thing to get used to. If I am eating in a full service restaurant, I don't want to stare at the tiny screen of my phone for the menu, I want a full, page turning menu. Can't put my finger on exactly why, maybe because the explanations of each dish are easier to compare that way? After our first dinner at Nine Dragons, we decided to study the menu's before we got to our restaurant, so we would know what we wanted, and didn't even have to use the menu in house. It just felt better that way. At Skipper Canteen and at Morimoto's, both our servers there brought us paper menu's when we tried to explain we'd already chosen our options before arriving. I think they are used to the older crowd griping at them about it.

Crowds and attitudes: We did not see a lot of crowding, except on that Saturday. Probably a lot of locals coming to enjoy the Christmas season. The only time I saw upset guests was in front of Columbia Harbor House. The mobile order 'required' seemed to really rub people the wrong way, there. Outside of Sat'uli Canteen, there was a general air of "yes, mobile order is how it's done!". Also, Docking Bay 9 at HS had happy people using mobile order.
I never once saw a cranky CM while at the parks. Everyone we waved at or spoke to seemed to be in a great mood. It was what I expect of WDW, I felt the CM's were happy to be back. Or they were great at faking it.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my trip report. Not sure when I'll be back to WDW. We have Disneyland and a Disney cruise on tap for our next adventures.

I know some did not like him, but apparently he knew who helped him succeed.  This was his post on Twitter.
 
Just spent 3 days
@WaltDisneyWorld & was reminded (yet again) what makes me so proud of
@disney …our cast members! Thanks for taking care of me all these years. Thanks for your talent, your commitment & the gratitude you expressed. I am deeply grateful to all of you!

We are in 923… come say hello!
 

The MK report took 3 posts. We really did have a nice day there, and did a lot!

Time to check in for our Skipper Canteen supper! 4:10 pm was our reservation time, and we were called up at about 4:20. After all my research and perusing about this restaurant, somehow the ‘secret menu’ concept was completely missed. Apparently, there is one. Our server recommended the Pao de Quiejo secret appetizer, so we tried it. It’s a cheese bread bite, and they are served with a chimichurri and cream cheese sauce. So glad we got it, it was delicious. Apparently, the ‘secret menu’ changes almost daily. I guess it’s what they have on hand that’s a bit ‘extra’, lol.

For entrée, I got the Hardy Har Char Sui pork and hubby got the ‘Tastes like Chicken, because it is!’ dish. Every interaction with our server was chock full of bad jokes, we had a blast. As we were waiting for entrees, a different server came by and tried to give us another round of appetizers. We politely told him we had not ordered them, and he left to confer with our regular server. She came over and started to profusely apologize for the mixup. We thought it was a lead up to another joke, but no… they had given our entrée’s to another table, who had actually ordered the same thing we had, but they were given their entrée’s before the appetizer. It was, for us, hilarious. We weren’t in a hurry, and had no issue waiting for another few minutes. We told our server it was the best joke of the day. I felt a little sorry for her, because she looked absolutely terrified to tell us, so you know she’s had to deal with some angry guests before. Anyway, we got food quickly ( I guess it was the order for that other table), and enjoyed it thoroughly. Sorry for not having pictures. I rarely take pictures of food. In fact, I only took one all week, you'll see it a bit later.

We got the Panna-Connie’s Congo Lime Delight for dessert. We passed up the Kungaloosh dessert, and had a spirited discussion with our server about whether it was originally a drink or a dessert at WDW, since I’ve been offered the liquid version before. She’d never seen the recipe for the drink, but admitted it looked better than the dessert’s ingredients.
 


We left at about 6:15, and went to wander the stores in the area, before needing to find a place to watch the fireworks. The show was scheduled for 8pm, and crowds were already gathering in the hub. No way were we going to make Pirates before the show. We got an awesome spot right in front of the ‘Chip and Dale’ 50th anniversary statue, at about 7pm. (see pic above, C&D in lower right) There was no way I was standing for an hour, so I sat down there and started chatting with the other families near us. No social distancing was observed. No one was wearing masks. I’m pretty happy to try to get back to ‘normal’, but this still made me a bit nervous. Another sign of the times.
 
 


The fireworks show was great. I admit, I ended up sobbing hard about halfway through. I grabbed tissues and cried quietly for my son for the rest of the show. It’s just so heartwrenching to have lost him. I miss him so much. We enjoyed so many of the Disney movies and songs together. When it was over, we stayed put to let the crowd disperse, and to let me gather myself.

Hubby and I decided to check if the 15 minute grace period on LL ‘s work like they used to work on FP+. We went back to Pirates, and sure enough, we tapped in at 8:34, 14 minutes after the hour of our LL. Green light, good to go! In line, we were playing Pokemon Go! We were trying hard to get all the WDW presents to send out to fellow gamers. A young child in line behind us saw us playing and got ALL excited. He politely asked me if he could talk to me about the game. So cute! I said of course! And we talked about the game for the rest of our time in line. The kid then told his dad this was the best day EVER! Because he talked to grown ups who play Pokemon Go!. Dad looked at me and said softly “ Thousands of dollars on a Disney vacation, and talking about Pokemon makes it the best day ever.” We both chortled together sympathetically. It certainly raised my spirits. In the pic below, my little Pokemon friend is sitting behind us.
 


After the ride, we slowly walked back to Main street and went shopping for the presents we decided on earlier in the day. We wanted to stay for ‘The kiss goodnight’. At 10:15 pm, I finally asked someone about it, and found out they haven’t done it since re-opening the parks. Oh well. We wandered out to the ferry, and were on the boat with about 7 other people. This day was a win.
 
 
 
 

We're back. Three years of careful planning, delay due to COVID, the death of my 35 year old son who was supposed to be on this trip with us, many attempts to reserve the Candlelight Processional dining package anywhere in EPCOT, and trying get to all the new things to do... this was a trip of many emotions.

I'm glad we went. Overall, we had a good time, with a lot of laughter, a few tears, a few misunderstandings and some interesting Disney magic.

We flew into Orlando on Southwest, landing at 9:00 pm on Dec 5th. At 8:30 pm, I got a text from Port Orleans French Quarter that our room was not ready. That was odd, but since we weren't even there yet, not an issue. The Magical Express took us to the resort, and while we didn't get an automatic check in, we were able to get a room on the top floor, which we had requested.

We slogged over to building one, which was not the furthest building from the lobby at least. And it was really near the riverboat landing. We dropped off our bags, and went back to Sassagoula's. We got a pizza for dinner (actually love the pizza at the resort!) ,and some beignet's. We've been looking forward to trying those, and they were delicious! Picked up our refillable mugs and got to sleep, ready to wake up at 7:00am to get our Genie+ and ILL reservations for EPCOT on Monday.
I hope it's ok to post a trip report here, even though I am not a camper.  We didn't even make it to the Fort, although we wanted to. 
 

The TA in question books groups and is prepping lists for when the group booking is set up so they can fill it in. Nothing can be booked so far in 2023. Not even to the 500 day point we usually have. As of now the latest you can book is a reservation stating on December 31, 2022

It's been 3 years since we were last at the Fort. 3....long....years. A lot has clearly changed.
Going to run a trip report for those who may still be around lurking on the forum. It looks like it has been pretty slow for a while. Hope this place isn't dying off.
Night 1...or I should say the day we arrived unplanned. We ended up getting to the Fort on the 18th which was a day earlier than planned. I had this idea for 3 years that I would be first to check-in on the 50th anniversary of the Forts opening but somehow we wound up getting in a day early. Due to some oddities our 1 night reservations got really messed up and somehow my name wound up on my sisters reservation in addition to mine. The funny part was that I was the primary on both reservations somehow according to the front desk but when we checked the app it all looked normal with me on mine and her on hers. This led to a very odd series of events that allowed me to still be the first to check in and get into our site.
Midnight rolls around on the 19th and I have my app open doing the online check in. At 12:09am I got my verification email that I had checked in and a few seconds later got the text notification that my site was ready. Now this may sound odd because we all know you can't check-in and get your site before the desk opens at 6am and here I was with my site shortly after midnight.
So how this worked out, we have 2 week reservations in a premium site that Jason helped us book in advance. Since we got here early we needed a place to stay and we were able to get into a premium meadows site for the night and we figured that we would have to move in the morning to our premium sites. I was all ready to get up at 4am and go sit in the outpost until they opened so I could be first in line. However I didn't have to do that. When we checked in we were put into our premium sites but they never checked us in and linked our 2 reservations together. So at midnight on the 19th I was able to do our online check in and the sites were automatically assigned to be the ones we were already in. Not only was I the first to check in, but also first to get onto our site on the 50th anniversary of the Fort due to a technicality in how our reservations were setup.
So on the 19th I started setting up our Christmas decorations. This was our first time doing site decorations and so far it's been a blast. I will grab some photos and post them later but I think the decorations turned out great for being the first time I ever did them.
After getting the decorations up I went into the camper to get things settled in. Low and behold I found a problem with the camper that caused me to lose a bit of my day at the Fort. I planned on it being cold at nights based off of the weather forecast I saw before we left home. I did a full check of the propane system. Everything was good at home and when we got here somehow a pin sized hole made it's way into one of my propane lines. It was an easy fix but it did take some time away from our vacation to fix the lines.
More to come as we progress through our trip.....

Spoke with a barn CM and she said the wagons and carriage rides start Jan 1.

Sending PM now.

From the Disney Parks Blog...
 
 
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/recreation/holiday-sleigh-rides/

We were put in the 300 loop for this stay. As of today I am walking around and I would say 3/4 of the sites are empty in our loop. All sites are extremely clean everything is well-kept and in working order here.

Love that! 
We just got back from a 10 day camping trip at the beach (Cape Cod), timed intentionally for when dogs are allowed on the beach in the off season (generally mid-Sep to Apr).  And bonus, some days we had the beach almost entirely to ourselves!  Ok so the water was only 69° but hey, that's almost 10° warmer than average this late in the season, and we had temps in the 70s so it was lovely for this NH girl. 
And yes, I brought a suit and went swimming.   

Well when I attend the 100th birthday celebration at the Magic Kingdom I’ll be sure to keep an eye out.  

From YAHOO
Disney World opened 50 years ago; these workers never left
The employees who make up the 50-year club say the theme park resort has allowed them to grow their careers and try on new hats.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/disney-world-opened-50-years-140301411.html