We Need a Little Christmas- TCD's Express Christmas TR

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Ok, here we go.

 

Before we do, I want to give a shout-out to the Super Geek, AuburnChris, for fixing it so I can still use my IE browser to post updates.  I know I should switch to another browser, but I know this one the best.

 

We left off at Trail's End, looking at the Christmas decorations for the first time.

 

This big beautiful wreath was hanging right outside the doors for the take-out entrance.  You know I'll be back to see this again later in the trip:

 

 

I mentioned that I had a photo of something new, and here it is:

 

 

They now have umbrellas there for the picnic tables outside of Trail's End.  Personally, if I need a picnic table, I'm going to use one of the ones on the porch, but these would do in a pinch.

 

Now, here's something I've been waiting for weeks to see:

 

 

I love that Christmas tree!

 

I don't know why, but it's my favorite one in all of WDW.

 

Since I like it so much, I have two photos of it:

 

 

And they little tree is on the porch again this year.  I heard the MK boat coming, so I couldn't stop to rock now.  But, you know I'll be back:

 

 

The Settlement Trading Post:

 

 

Even though the boat was docking, I had to stop just for a minute to pay my respects to the former site of the Lawnmower Tree.  There is no trace of it anymore.  It is only fitting that some idiot parked his stupid scooter here.  This makes me strangely sad:

 

 

 

Goodbye Lawnmower Tree!

 

It was fun while it lasted.

 

I saw many decorated golf carts on this trip, but this is the first:

 

 

Good old Clementine's Beach:

 

 

From time to time, people ask about bringing bikes to Fort Wilderness and whether there are places to park them at the marina.  If you have such questions, this photo is for you:

 

 

This is what you see looking the other way down the beach- you can also see that there are a lot of golf carts in the expanded parking area:

 

 

There are more bikes over here:

 

 

I love this sign:

 

 

In fact, I can't look at that sign and not smile.

 

I'm smiling right now.

 

You should be too.

 

As I took these photos, I kept an eye on the MK boat that had pulled up.  There weren't many folks waiting to board, but the arriving guests were just starting to disembark, and I could see the boat was pretty full, so I knew I had time.

 

But, then I looked down the dock, and saw that the CM was already getting ready to close off the line and re-board the boat, even though there were lots of guests who were still sitting out front on the boat.

 

I sprinted down the dock.

 

Well, it was kind of a sprint.

 

Ok, more of a fast walk.

 

And, I hollered out to the CM "wait for me!"

 

He did.

 

Turns out this boat has the dreaded red/green flag, and was going to WL next before returning to the MK.

 

That's unusual.

 

Usually the let the superior Wilderness Lodge guests off first before the scummy campers.

 

Anyway, the back of the boat was empty, so I went back there.  I like this photo, which show the flag and Discovery island in the background:

 

 

Looking across Bay Lake- what a view! :

 

 

Here comes the Shoe Tree:

 

 

Looks like another good crop:

 

 

 

The rotting remains of River Country:

 

 

There were boats everywhere this afternoon:

 

 

 

 

At one point, I had hoped that I would make it to the MK for the 3:00 parade, but our stop at the Lodge foiled that plan:

 

 

I did make it just as the parade ended, though.  This is my first look at the MK Christmas tree this year.  I thought I had read somewhere that they move the flag pole when the tree goes up, but there it is:

 

 

The toy soldiers look great:

 

 

I love the garland strung across Main Street.  There's a rumor that this is the last year they will be doing this, so enjoy it while you can:

 

 

Can you see the time on the clock in the photo above?  It was 3:22.  The twins were waiting for me right across from the clock.

 

We had plans for dinner and to visit Epcot for Illuminations and EMH's that night.  So we had a couple of hours to spend in the MK.

 

We discussed what to do.

 

There were FP's available for lots of things with return times just an hour out, so we could have grabbed some FP's and waited around.

 

But, I suggested we go check out the Jingle Cruise, and ride standby.

 

And that's what we did.

 

The posted wait time was 20 minutes, but the line didn't look bad.

 

Here's one of the Jingle Cruise touches- a safari Santa hat:

 

 

Some of the props in the queue:

 

 

I guess it's been a while since we've ridden on the Jungle Cruise, because I didn't realize that there was another room for the queue that you can't see from the entrance.  This was definitely at least a 20 minute line.  Oh well, that meant we got to see a lot of the clever new names they gave to the boats, such as Icicle Irma:

 

 

And here's a little secret- I never knew the boats had names in the first place.

 

If you like the funny new names, I have some good news for you- we got to wait in line until Icicle Irma came back- and I took photos of all the boats.  Do you know how many there are?  Well, you will find out in the next post, because we have reached the photo limit for this one.

 

Next up, we will wrap it up at the MK and head back to the Fort for that traditional first night at the Fort meal.  And I have photos of the meal, too, Dave.

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

What did you think about the Christmas jokes?  Were they better or worse than the usual ones?

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I love the Disney Christmas decorations, but I've only gotten to see them in person once. Sadly, if Mr. GDF gets his way, we'll never see them again. We visited one year while on a trip to the Capitol One Bowl, and the crowds scared him. 

 

Jungle Cruise boats... I'm going to guess 20. Total guess as I have no clue. It's not something I ride every trip. 

[caveat lector 181]

Thanks for pic of the big Christmas Tree at the Fort. If I had any photoshop skills, I would superimpose my family in front of it. I miss that.

[devores 382]

Jungle Cruise boats... I'm going to guess 20. Total guess as I have no clue. It's not something I ride every trip. 

 

There are 15 vehicles, with a maximum of 10 in operation at any given time.

 

The Sankuru Sadie is the only boat in the Magic Kingdom's fleet to have ever sunk.

 

Current boats

• Amazon Annie
• Bomokandi Bertha (Wheelchair lift equipped)
• Congo Connie
• Ganges Gertie
• Irrawaddy Irma
• Mongala Millie
• Nile Nellie
• Orinoco Ida
• Rutshuru Ruby
• Sankuru Sadie
• Senegal Sal
• Ucyali Lolly
• Volta Val
• Wamba Wanda (Wheelchair lift equipped)
• Zambesi Zelda

Retired boats

• Kwango Kate (Retired in 2000)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

What did you think about the Christmas jokes?  Were they better or worse than the usual ones?

 

I am going to get in to that in the next post, but since you asked- I will say that there were really only a couple of holiday-themed jokes.  Much less than I expected.

 

I love the Disney Christmas decorations, but I've only gotten to see them in person once. Sadly, if Mr. GDF gets his way, we'll never see them again. We visited one year while on a trip to the Capitol One Bowl, and the crowds scared him. 

 

Jungle Cruise boats... I'm going to guess 20. Total guess as I have no clue. It's not something I ride every trip. 

 

As we now know, thanks to Dave D., there are 15 boats.

 

Luckily for us, not all of them were on the river that day.

 

Thanks for pic of the big Christmas Tree at the Fort. If I had any photoshop skills, I would superimpose my family in front of it. I miss that.

 

I know the feeling.

 

I usually get to see that tree right after it goes up, and several times thereafter.  I really needed to see it.  As you know, it's even more impressive at night, when it's all lit up.

 

 

 

There are 15 vehicles, with a maximum of 10 in operation at any given time.

 

The Sankuru Sadie is the only boat in the Magic Kingdom's fleet to have ever sunk.

 

Current boats

• Amazon Annie
• Bomokandi Bertha (Wheelchair lift equipped)
• Congo Connie
• Ganges Gertie
• Irrawaddy Irma
• Mongala Millie
• Nile Nellie
• Orinoco Ida
• Rutshuru Ruby
• Sankuru Sadie
• Senegal Sal
• Ucyali Lolly
• Volta Val
• Wamba Wanda (Wheelchair lift equipped)
• Zambesi Zelda

Retired boats

• Kwango Kate (Retired in 2000)

 

 

Amazing.

 

More than anyone could ever want to know!

 

So ten is the max?  Let's see how many were out last Friday.

 

Also, do all the boats have holiday names? 

 

TCD

[devores 382]

Also, do all the boats have holiday names? 

 

TCD

These are the ones I know of:

 

Icicle Irma, Eggnog Annie, Brrrrr Bertha, Candy Cane Connie, Garland Gertie, Mistletoe Millie, Sleigh Ride Sadie, Poinsettia Sal, Yule Log, Vixen Val, Wassail Wanda and Fruitcake Zelda.

 

So we have 12 of the 15. See if you got any new ones.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Devores=All Time King of Disney Trivia

[devores 382]

Devores=All Time King of Disney Trivia

Just not Disney chickens

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

These are the ones I know of:

 

Icicle Irma, Eggnog Annie, Brrrrr Bertha, Candy Cane Connie, Garland Gertie, Mistletoe Millie, Sleigh Ride Sadie, Poinsettia Sal, Yule Log, Vixen Val, Wassail Wanda and Fruitcake Zelda.

 

So we have 12 of the 15. See if you got any new ones.

 

That's amazing.

 

And, oddly (spoiler alert), I did not see any that you did not already list.

 

Devores=All Time King of Disney Trivia

 

No joke.

 

That isn't the kind of stuff that you can easily find on the Google.

 

Very impressive.

 

Just not Disney chickens

 

Hey, nobody's perfect.

 

So, you missed a few chickens once.

 

It happens to the best.

 

Please read the next post, which will be up in the next couple of minutes- there's a trivial item on Jungle Cruise that I'm puzzled about.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OK, we got off to a slow start yesterday, so we have ground to make up today.

 

Here comes today's second update.

 

Also, I made a mistake at the end of the last update.  I said we would be back at the Fort in this one.  It turns out that we don't quite make it there in this update, but we will definitely be on the way.

 

We left off waiting in the Jungle Jingle Cruise queue, counting boats.  And that is where this update will begin.

 

Here comes the second boat that passed by, it's Sleigh Ride Sadie:

 

 

That hut across from the load area has Christmas lights on it in keeping with the Jingle Cruise theme:

 

 

Here comes boat #3, Vixen Val:

 

 

Boat #4 is Fruitcake Zelda:

 

 

As we wound through the queue, I looked for things to photograph for the Where in the World thread.

 

I noticed this box up on the pole for the first time ever:

 

 

It says Dhatura Extract XF795.

 

What the Fort is that?

 

Usually, you can google something like this, and some nerd's blog will pop up and explain things.

 

Not this.

 

According to Wikipedia, Datura is the scientific name for Angel's Trumpet, which is a plant that hippies use to get high.  They drink something called Datura (no "H") extract, and then it's all far-out man.

 

Is this a drug reference?

 

Devores?

 

Do you know?

 

Sorry.

 

Where were we?

 

Oh yeah, counting boats.

 

Are you bored?

 

Well, remember, Dave said there can only be 10 max, and we're already on 4.  So, worst case scenario, we're almost half-way there.

 

Boat #5 is Wassail Wanda:

 

 

Number 6 is Mistletoe Millie:

 

 

Number 7 is Yulelog Lolly:

 

 

Number 8 is Poinsettia Sal:

 

 

Number 9 is Garland Gertie:

 

 

And #10 was Eggnog Annie:

 

 

I can't imagine them squeezing any more boats on to the river, so we were here on a day when they had as many in service as they could.

 

Now I want to know the names of the last three.

 

It had been a beautiful afternoon, but the days are short in the winter.  It was around 4 pm, and the sun was already fixing to set:

 

 

I have a few photos from the ride.  Which I'm only sharing to make the point that there were zero holiday decorations on the ride itself.  I think they blew this.  Why not stick a Christmas tree there in the lion's den and swap out that zebra for a reindeer?:

 

 

Here, they should have parked Santa's sleigh, and maybe had some lights in the trees:

 

 

They should have made this pole into the north pole, and slapped a Santa costume on the guy getting the point:

 

 

A couple of Santa hats would have worked on the Gators:

 

 

Maybe some red and green lighting on the back side of water?:

 

 

Luckily, we had a great skipper.

 

The only problem is she used a fake voice that sounded exactly like the voice they use for Marty Wazowski (Mike's nephew) over at the Laugh Floor.  The voice wasn't bad, but I don't understand why she felt she needed to use a fake voice like that.

 

Overall, the ride was fine, but they could have done so much more.

 

After this ride, we stopped to discuss what to do next.

 

The girls had already been here for a couple of hours as I was setting up camp.

 

They wanted to go back to the Fort and go looping.

 

We had made our FP+ reservations for Epcot that evening, so we knew we would be heading there later.

 

So we bailed.

 

We probably would have stayed at the MK later, but tonight was a Christmas party night, and they were going to close at 7.  We planned on coming back the next night, when it would be open until 1 am.

 

I think the Christmas party was sold out.  The crowds heading in didn't look too bad, though:

 

 

They had both lines open at the dock, but when the boat pulled up to the Fort side, they opened both gates and told everyone that we would be going both places.  I was surprised that for once they opened our gate before the Lodge gate, so we got our preferred seats in the back.

 

I call this shot Moon over the Contemporary:

 

 

And this one is called Moon over Bay Lake Tower:

 

 

You can see all the new roofs on the new bus stops there at the bottom of both of those photos.

 

Look at how pretty the sky was:

 

 

The sun was sinking fast, which gave me the chance for two Sunset over the Grand Floridian shots:

 

 

 

The water bridge- one of my favorite things at WDW:

 

 

 

As we passed under the monorail tracks, I took this shot, which came out pretty cool if I do say so myself:

 

 

Of course, we had to stop at the Lodge first.  Those folks can only take so much exposure to scummy campers, you know.  The boat skipper was a real ding-dong, and loved the PA.  He announced several times that we would be going to Fort Wilderness Lodge first, and then announced that we were here at Fort Wilderness Lodge:

 

 

How could this guy not know the correct name of the resort he drove us to?

 

Oh well, more time on the boat gave me more time to enjoy the view of beautiful Bay Lake:

 

 

I call this one Moon over Bay Lake:

 

 

And this one is my favorite:  Moon over Shoe Tree:

 

 

Our buddy the skipper got back on the PA and made a couple of other brainless announcements on the way back to the Fort, including one that made us all look at each other to ask if he had really just said what we thought he did.  I'll pick up with the rest of our return to the Fort in the next update. We're at the photo limit now.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

You know what?

 

I know how I felt last week when I needed a little Christmas, so I'm going to give you an early Christmas gift and post another update.

 

Please don't forget to comment on the last update- I especially want to know if anyone knows what that Dhatura Extract box is doing in the Jungle Cruise queue.

 

We continued on to the Fort.

 

The skipper of our boat was a piece of work.

 

He pointed out Discovery Island, and said it was used to house animals as Animal Kingdom was being built.  I have no doubt that animals were moved from there to Animal Kingdom, but I don't think that statement was accurate.

 

Then, he points out that across the lake, we can see the remains of Disney's first waterpark:  River Canyon.

 

Yes, he called it River Canyon.

 

What the Fort.

 

He also said that the remains are there as a tribute to the park.

 

Really?

 

I've never heard anyone point out River Country before.  I thought Disney would prefer that it be ignored.  But, here was a CM pointing it out.  And he didn't even know the name.

 

Next, he pointed out the Shoe Tree, and went through a long shtick about how the Imagineers had bred the tree to grow fruit that resembled shoes.  Har De Har Har.  This guy was a riot.

 

But, I don't think I've been on a FW boat in the last 10 years where anyone has ever mentioned Discovery Island, River Country or the Shoe Tree.

 

Here's a couple more shoe tree shots:

 

 

 

And here's a photo I call Moon Over Fort Wilderness Landing:

 

Getting closer:

 

 

It was around 4:47 as we pulled up to the dock- not very busy at all for a MK party night:

 

 

The sun was sinking fast:

 

 

We walked by Pioneer Hall, which means I needed a couple more Christmas tree shots, right?:

 

 

 

Pioneer Hall.  Awesome:

 

 

Even the DVC kiosk is decorated:

 

 

Speaking of DVC, if one gets built at the Fort, this nice open area will be a parking lot for it:

 

 

Hey, remember the jackwagon who parked his scooter on top of where the Lawnmower Tree used to be?

 

Here he is!:

 

 

We looped and looked at decorations.

 

There seem to be a lot more blow-ups with Mickey and friends on them:

 

 

These next few are from the 800 loop.  I like how this guy set up his own golf cart parking area:

 

 

Some more 800 loop decorations:

 

 

 

This snowman blow-up was something that we haven't seen before.  I guess it's just a snowman head.  Inside, there are lights that move around so it looks like the face is changing, with the mouth opening, smiling, etc.  It looked better in the dark:

 

 

We looped around 900 next.  I took a few photos on 900, but they came out blurry.

 

Next, we went on to 1000.  These folks had a Yoda and Darth Vader with lightsabres- it looks like Yoda won:

 

 

Every time I drove by that site, Yoda and Darth Vader were posed differently.  Fine.  But it bothers me that Darth Vader is the same size as Yoda.  What's up with that?

 

After a while, it was time to order our Giddyap and Go (GAG) chicken dinner, so we headed down to Trail's End and placed the order.

 

We had 15 minutes to kill, so we walked over to the barn.

 

We got to see the sleighs heading out for the night:

 

 

 

 

 

We found a bunch of ponies outside waiting to get loaded up for a ride to the MK to perform in the Christmas party parade.  These photos don't do a good job showing how small these ponies are- they are much smaller than the ponies they use for the pony rides:

 

 

 

CM's led the ponies away one at a time.  You can get an idea of their size compared to the CM's:

 

 

The calliope room is empty again:

 

 

In case you're wondering, if you press that button on the wall, nothing happens.

 

There's a sign advertising the sleigh rides here.  It turns out that they keep one of the sleighs on display here during the day to promote the sleigh rides.  The calliope must be stashed in a trailer somewhere:

 

 

The last pony looked like he was hoping that they'd leave him, but they didn't:

 

 

I call this photo Moon over TCD farm:

 

 

Our beeper went off in much less than 15 minutes, so we had to head back.

 

We fetched our chicken and brought it back to the site.  This photo's a little blurry, as it was almost dark as we ate:

 

 

After dinner, we did some looping in the dark to enjoy the lights.

 

Then I managed to track down a Fiend who was at the Fort, and joined him on Crockett's porch for a beer.

 

I'll pick our story up from there in the next update.

 

TCD

[alexwyattmommy 181]

I love the Yoda and Darth Vader photo. ROFL Yoda won.

 

There were lots of the Disney blow ups when we were there.  More of those than traditional lights.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

2 for 1.... you know how to please people. 

 

The Jingle Cruise doesn't look too special. A missed opportunity for sure, much like most of LTM. 

 

I have no idea about the box. I bet Devores knows, or he can make up something believable. 

 

The shoe tree was mentioned on our last trip, but that's because the guy heard Z mention it. He slowed down for him which was nice. 

[Seals 111]

When we were there Thanksgiving week one night the boat stopped at Wilderness Lodge first and the CM announced "Fort Wilderness Lodge."  We knew where we'd stopped so we stayed seated but a whole bunch of people stood up and were making their way to the door. Then he said "No, this is not the campground. The campground will be the next stop" and a whole bunch of people returned to their seats. I don't remember him telling any other stories but it was dark and rainy so we couldn't see anything anyway.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I'm surprised you only had a couple of Christmas-related jokes on the Jingle Cruise.  Almost all of ours were related to Christmas!

 

The shoe tree has lots more shoes on it than when we were there only a few weeks ago.

 

One of these days I want to do a sleigh ride.

 

And hopefully in 2015 we will see the Christmas decorations at the fort again.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I  love the water bridge.  I would love to see an action movie set at WDW with a boat chase through that area.  Esp. if there was water spilling over onto the cars going under the bridge.  I am picturing James Bond driving one of the boats and Sheriff J. W. Culpepper in an open convertible underneath getting splashed.  Hmm....  maybe I am spending too much time thinking about this.

 

I can't imagine spending the time necessary to braid each horses mane like that every time there is a Christmas party at MK.  Wow.

 

I have yet to try a GAG, but I hope to remedy that in about a month! :D

[c_line 1]

 

Usually, you can google something like this, and some nerd's blog will pop up and explain things.

 

What did we ever do before google?

 

Thank you for clearing up the meaning of GAG.  :)

 

So many great pictures.  No snow.  Can't wait.

[c_line 1]

Also, for some reason I thought the Jungle (Jingle) cruise would have real animals. Oops.

[dvccamper 32]

I was waiting for a picture of Moon Over River Canyon, but you must have been too disgusted to take one.

In the last picture, is that a tiki hanging from the bushes? Why?

And just an aside, we finally had a GAG this fall. We all loved it, it definitely lived up to the hype. The price definitely impressed my husband, so a big thank you for all the advertising you do for it!

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

River Canyon?

That should be a fire-able offense.

That extract seems like something that the CMs used when "imagineering" the Winnie the Pooh ride.

I wonder who that fiend was you met on the porch? Hmmm.....

[devores 382]

The full meaning of the crate is a mystery.

 

BUT,

 

Dhatura fruit can be used to treat specific types of malarial fever. Since the fruit is not considered edible, only specific parts of it are used for treatment.

 

This could be the meaning behind it as malaria is a common ailment in the jungle.

[LONE-STAR 370]

I think we had the same boat Captin last month. Except we were on a launch coming from CR going to the Fort. He was going on about Discovery island and AK. He went into alot of detail about Discovery island but I forget what he said.

[Sunset Lady 6]

What is a lawnmower tree? 

[BigTom 76]

Just wanted to express how much I enjoy these trip reports. For those of us who had to cancel our December trips this is a way to get some Disney experience. So a big THANK YOU for all the work all who take the time to write and post these reports. BigTom