wendinator

I was reading the blog and i wanted to point something out, you said you used the 4 way flashers while driving.
If you were in Florida that was illegal. I believe you were in Georgia but wanted to point it out.
 
I'am not here to beat anyone up over this, but educate, Anytime we get heavy rains in the forecast the news stations run the story to educate the public
see below for details.
drive safely 
 
In Florida, it is illegal to drive with your hazard lights. Hazards lights are for stopped vehicles only, officials say.
The one situation where Florida drivers are allowed to use their hazards when in motion is when the vehicle is being used in a funeral procession .  
A Florida Highway Patrol spokesperson told NewsChannel 5 that flashers are for emergency situations.
"First responders look for flashers to see if someone needs help," said an FHP spokesperson. 
Law enforcement officials say hazard lights can actually reduce visibility making other drivers think you are stopped or stalled.
Other drivers writing on social media say flashers make it difficult to see when a motorist is tapping the brakes or using a turn signal.  
The FHP spokesperson says if visibility is so bad that you cannot see, pull over in a parking lot, plaza or somewhere safe until conditions improve. 

It is not accurate to say that things are going to go back to the way they were.
 
According to what WDWMagic posted, there are going to be three ropes and three drops.
 
There used to be only one.
 
Everyone used to be held where I have the purple line marked #1 on this aerial photo:
 

 
The article says that guests will now also be allowed to go as far as the Dockside Diner and the 50's Prime Time Café.  Those two parts are new- I have Dockside Diner marked with a #2 on the photo, and Prime Time is marked with a #3.  I imagine that guests wanting to sign up for the Jedi Training Academy will want to go to the Dockside Diner rope.  Toy Story and RNRC folks will want to be at the original rope.  I can't figure out who would want to go to the rope near Prime Time.
 
TCD

NEVER!!

I will be at the Fort the end of September and monitoring the local repeaters, including those on property. Anyone interested my call sign is KC3FBK.

I don't know if anyone has posted the plan for the old racetrack so since I found it this morning I thought I'd share.
 
Sadly its not that exciting, they are demoing pretty much everything except the ponds.
 
Existing:
 

 
Zoom of the demo plan:
 

 
Zoom of the parking lot expansion plan:

 
Like I said not very exciting, but I still wanted to share.
 
WBI

Thanks, but I think you could have had so much more fun with it:
 
http://bgr.com/2015/04/28/eiffel-tower-photoshop-fail-trolled-hilarious-4chan/

Will do.
 
I was able to do this, though:
 

 
And guess who is there lying on the hub grass?
 
TCD

That's an interesting question.
 
Here's the link to the official list on the Disney website: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/parks/restricted-personal-items/
 
That list doesn't say I can't wheel my full size propane grill with a 20lb tank into the parks.  That would be nice to have to grill up some burgers and hot dogs in the new hub area during Wishes.
 
TCD

I had read somewhere (blame the interweb) that drivers in most other countries back into places when they arrive.  It makes it easier to leave when you have to pull out into traffic especially if a lot of people are trying to leave at the same time like after a show/movie.

Well, it looks like I counted wrong, and we won't quite make it back to the breakfast hut in this update, but we will be really close.
 
We are still on the path leading to the Davy's Village area of the ranch, walking past all of these out-of-place looking light posts.  I mean, really, did they need this many?:
 

 
There's another teepee:
 

 
There are four posts which appear to have been carefully placed in the ground behind this cabin.  Why, I couldn't tell you:
 

 
It looks like guests on this loop found a shortcut so they don't have to walk all the way around the loop and to the entrance to get to the path:
 

 
The cabin on the right in this photo is one of those ones that are different:
 

 
All the other ones on the loop around it were the same:
 

 
Here's a better look at one of the different cabins- you can see it has no back window, and only one window to the right of the side entrance door.  Also, the little supply cabinets that are near the grill and on ground level on the other cabins (like mine) is up there on the deck:
 

 
There's the 1500 loop over there.  It's called Coyote Trail here.  That name has not counterpart at the Fort.  The directional arrow sign you see there to the right points to the Village and the other way says "Sortie/Exit.":
 

 
The path I'm taking is supposed to terminate in the Village area, but you can see here that it's blocked by a construction fence:
 

 
The French construction workers appear to be as careless as their US counterparts, as someone left the gate open.  If this was someplace in WDW, I probably would walk right though that gate, since it was open, and there are no signs telling me not to, but I was here in a foreign country, and just a few nights ago, my DD and I had watched Les Miserables in London.  A lot of that went over my head, but I did pick up on the fact that the main character had been thrown in a French jail for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread to feed a dying child.  My opinion of the French justice system, therefore, was not high, and I decided that I should not take any chances:
 

 
Since the path was fenced off, I had to walk along the road for the last part of my journey.  Here, you can see that half of this area is fenced off and behind construction walls- it looks like they have some nice lightposts there on the other side of the fence:
 

 
Someone left that gate open too.  Another invitation to see what's going on.  But, then I remembered my fear of French jail, so I stayed out:
 

 
Had I known there would be so many opportunities for behind-the-scenes exploring, I would have invited my Cousin Yuri to come along on this trip.
 
Here we are in the village-perfectly surrounded by construction fences:
 

 
Kind of like Pioneer Hall, but without the charm.  And no posts to shimmy up:
 

 
I'm not sure where this road went, but there were a lot of construction vehicles coming and going from there.  I think there was a way to get out to the highway from there, so they didn't have to drive all the way through the resort:
 

 
They have some really nice flowers around here:
 

 
This area would be really nice if half of it wasn't behind construction fences:
 

 

 
Here's the Trading Post.  It is 7:09, and it will be opening at 7:15 (which is an improvement over the Meadow Trading Post's 8 am opening time at the Fort).  There's already a guest waiting there.  Maybe he wants his free cleaning kit.  I'm not sure if you can see them, but you can also see in this photo that there are a couple of jets really high in the sky leaving vapor trails.  For some reason, there were always really high flying planes above us here and when we were at the parks:
 

 
This is the outside seating area of Crockett's Tavern.  I don't know what it's used for, as they restaurant is a buffet and is only open for 3.5 hours each day.  I can't see how they could have guests go all the way in to the buffet and sit outside here.  I do think it looks nice with the light posts and other details that they paid attention to here:
 

 
There's a totem pole, and the playground just past it:
 

 
The playground equipment is pretty basic, and looks like it was constructed back in 1991, when they opened the resort:
 

 
If you let your kids play on that thing, you better know the French word for tweezers, because you're going to need them:
 

 
Hey look at this- they have a mini-golf course back here.  It's not advertised on any of the materials I got at check-in or on the website, and I saw no place to get a club or a ball, so it must no longer be used.  That's how it looks, too:
 

 

 
Hey, there's the Lucky Raccoon arcade, and what looks like it cold be a wagon for horse-drawn rides.  But, there's no horse-drawn carriage rides here that I know of.  There's a bunch of tables again, too, but there's no food service around here that would give guests any reason to need them:
 

 
As far as I know, that totem pole we already saw is the only one anywhere in the ranch, so here's another photo of it:
 

 
I walked over to the arcade to see if it was possibly open. There were no hours posted outside the door or anything.  The door was locked. But, I could peek in the window, and saw beneath the curtain that the arcade was just an empty room:
 

 
That's quite a magnificent scaffolding job someone did on the Trading Post:
 

 
You know, this place would look nice if it wasn't a construction zone:
 

 
You probably don't want to hear this, but that's 30 photos.  So we need to stop this update here.
 
In the next one, I will walk back to our loop.  Quicker this time.  And I am going to pick up our breakfast.  I was a good Fiend and took a photo of everything before we ate it.  You may find that interesting.
 
TCD

This image does a pretty good job of showing you how the Magic Band ships (on the left) and how you can remove the black part (it separates with a bit of pull) and leaves a smaller band behind for those with thinner wrists like kids.
 
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hBr7dZCY_Yg/UxuBbLMZ66I/AAAAAAAAAao/-3MxlOW19fg/s1600/download3.jpg

They nailed it. In fact, me and my horse were just grilling some hot dogs over the fire for lunch.

Some of you may recall that my family did a Hoop Dee Doo dinner night at home last year. (My previous post is quoted below.)
 
We liked it so much that we decided to make it an annual tradition, and because we like to plan ahead, we've set a date this year for Saturday, February 22.
 
Why not plan your own for that same date? I'd love to see the pictures from other families having the same kind of fun. (And giving me ideas to steal for next year.)
 
Anyone else up for it? You've got 29 days to make it happen. You can do it!
 
 

Welcome!
 
The inner loop of the 1400 loop (aka Little Bear Path) is a great choice.
 
But there are only 15 campsites on the inner loop, and you're coming at a busy time.
 
You had better have some alternative choices.  I think the 1200/1300 loops would be a good second choice.  They're close to the pool and Meadow Trading Post, and share a nice playground at the entrance of the 1300 loop.
 
TCD

Thought this crowd would enjoy this lengthy behind-the-scenes look at how MyMagic+ all came to be... It's a long read (I'm not even half way through it yet).
 
http://www.fastcompany.com/3044283/the-messy-business-of-reinventing-happiness

My sister and her husband just had an anniversary dinner there last week and raved about it.
 
Here are the pictures she took of their meal.
 
Gluten free buns.
 

 
Butter with purple salt.
 

 
Calamari. Apparently the best they've ever had.
 

 
Gluten full bread.
 

 
Local beer.
 

 

 

 
Gluten free brownie dessert.
 

 

What's that you say? You need another tea report from me since it's only been 2 months since the last one? Well... ok. If you insist!
 
This time I was back with my Mom and once again had Riley as our server. She's great!
 
After we were seated I was looking around at the other tables and I noticed that the tray they bring with jam, lemon curd and clotted cream was distinctly lacking in strawberry jam. When Riley took our order, I inquired about the jam situation. She said it was apricot, which although I'm sure was lovely, just wasn't what I had in mind for my scone. I asked if by any chance they had any strawberry. She said she'd inquire.
 
Nothing new with the tea, china, or tea cozy.
 

 
Slight change with the cheese since my last time. In January I was served three pieces, including Stilton. The Stilton is gone now, so you just get the Irish cheddar and the sage cheese that I always forget the name of. Sandwiches were mostly the same, though the beet was soaked in balsamic which gave it a nice flavor that I don't remember from the last time. But maybe I just forgot. Onion tart is still there, hiding under the green cheese. I thought the bread was a little fresher this time too.
 

 
From my last time I felt that the cheese was too much food, so I brought a ziploc bag and just stashed it away for later. Mom and I shared the cheese that was on her plate and that was plenty. Riley asked us how we felt about the changes and I mentioned that I thought there was too much with the addition of the fruit and cheese. Based on her reaction it appears I'm in the minority.
 
When it was time for the scone course, guess who appeared with strawberry jam? Riley to the rescue.
 

 
Here's the plate I got and you can see the jam I passed on.
 

 
I learned something new on this visit! Apparently if you're nice to Riley (which isn't hard to do), she'll bring you two scones instead of a scone and a jam tart. Mom opted for the two scones, I stuck with the jam tart.
 

 
My husband gave me the idea to slather the lemon curd on top of the jam tart. Yum!
 

 
Being something of a glutton, I find they never give you enough clotted cream for even one scone, nevermind two. Riley didn't hesitate to bring us more. Here's my scone with strawberry jam and the entire portion of clotted cream on top.
 

 
When it came time for dessert I decided to break with my usual tradition of the pastries and I went with the trifle of the day, which was bananas foster. It was actually pretty good. This was the first time I'd had it.
 

 
Mom opted for the pastries. The swan was Bailey's flavor and Mom really enjoyed it.
 

 
I suspect this will be my last tea report until this coming December.

While my sister and her husband had an anniversary dinner at Narcoossee's, my Mom and I took the kids to Kona Café for dinner.
 
Piña colada for me, and you can see in the background the virgin piña colada and strawberry daiquiri the kids got.
 

 
Pot stickers. We had to order a second plate of these. One of the kids devoured all of the seaweed salad it's served with.
 

 
Dark picture of some tasty chicken wings.
 

 
Caterpillar roll. Interestingly enough my Mom and I had dinner a few days later at Jiko and sat at the cooking place. One of the chefs there, Erin, used to work at Kona and said if she never made another caterpillar roll again it would be too soon! Apparently they're a real pain to make. But they're darn tasty!
 

 
Volcano roll.
 

 
The sampler. 2 tuna pokes, sashimi, and California rolls I believe.
 

 
One of the twins at this whole thing by himself! Cinnamon ice cream and apple tart.
 

 
Mom, other twin and I shared the chocolate fondue.
 

We also went here as part of the Fantasmic package. This was my first time at Mama Melrose's.
 
For my starter I had the mozzarella with tomato and balsamic. It was just OK. I think my sister won with the seared tuna that was posted earlier in this thread.
 

 
For my main I had the saltimbocca. It didn't knock my socks off either, but the portions were big. I couldn't finish it.
 

 
I thought dessert as part of the package was rather strange. The kids each got the spaghetti and meatball cupcake - they were BIG! And presumably tasty since they finished them and I didn't get a single bite. My sister got a gluten free dessert (I forget now what it was), and this tray was sent for the remaining 3 adults to share. It's hard to tell from the photo, but these are pretty small. It wasn't going to be easy to cut each one into three, so I took the amaretto cheesecake (far left) and my Mom and BIL split the remaining two. They said the panna cotta wasn't their favorite.
 

I ordered the lighthouse sandwich again... Has it changed recently? It was much more garlic-y and a lot less hummus-y than I remember.
 

Impostor cinnamon buns. One of them had way more icing than the other. You can guess which one I took...
 

I might have had two of these over the course of last week.
 
TCD - did you ever try one?
 

The croissant donut is more than a little bit of all right. I had my first one at Food & Wine last year and knew I'd be back again. I had to share it with my nephews, but since they're going to be picking out my nursing home I figured it was a small price to pay.
 

I think this is the first Disney-made carrot cake cookie I've had since I started making them at home. The main difference seems to be in the icing - theirs is more icing sugar-y than mine. I suspect it's because I'm not draining the crushed pineapple well enough. This gives me a goal to work towards...
 

 
Mom and I couldn't finish this, so I saved the rest in a ziploc bag and ate it for breakfast the next day. It's got carrots in it, so it must be healthy, right? Right?

On our Hollywood Studios day, Mom had a craving for a Coke float. A quick Google search revealed that these could be procured at the Oasis Canteen. They'll also do a root beer float if that floats your boat better.