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AC's December 2013 Fortin' Around At Christmas TR (Not to be missed Super Interesting Update Added on 5-28-14) :)


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A fort-only report?  Giddyup!  That is my kinda trip!

 

And with adorable kiddos?  Now it's getting even better.  Your kids are so cute.  I love to see photos of kids enjoying WDW……it's what it's all about! 

 

I am also floored by your travel times.  I cannot do that anymore.  I envy your stamina…..I gotta stop by at least the 7/8 hour mark.  But our choice of recharging stations is the same…..we LOVE the Hampton Inn.  Always, always stay there.  Those beds are the bomb!

 

Thank you for taking us along!

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Yes.   TCD

Now we can make fun of you for not finishing your TR quickly enough.  With the snow storm we are expecting here in the South the next few days, I will be very bored and hoping for many updates each da

I like P+F in their Christmas hats! And I love good character interaction.    Was there any Glow with the Show action at Fantasmic? 

I'm in! Gives new meaning to Christmas in February ! Enjoying tour T R

 

Thanks.  It looks like Christmas here still.  Except there are no decorations and the snow is a couple feet deeper.

 

Oh and we have snirt everywhere.

Yayyy, you made it!!

 

Yeeeeee-hawwwww!

Glad you arrived and hurray for the arrival photos! 

 

Thanks Kim.

Hats off to you!  Our longest day ever in the moho was 750 miles.  Home to Port St. Lucie, FL, where our son and his family were living.  We vowed never to do it again.

 

Well, I won some money recently.  Not a huge amount.....but just enough to put away for airline tickets for our next trip about 11 months from now.  That drive is hell on my back.  I think I will actually miss it some though.  I like driving through the mountains.

 

You're there!!! You're there!!!!

Bet you wish you really were there right now.

 

Truer words were never spoken.

 

Well, I'm in !    Sorry about the dog groomer on the way down...   I know you were wishing you were in an unmarked.   Wow have kids grown...It was nice to see them !  Keep it coming my brother ...   Stay safe and stay warm.

 

I would have liked to attempt an off-center bump draft in  turn, but my good side won out this time.  Stay safe sir!

 

I love to stop at the Welcome Center for free OJ.  Missed it last year when we took the train to WWW.  Missed it this year becasue Nicki was waiting for the Carolina Girlz in a hotel in Daytona and was very bored watching "Say Yes to the Dress" on TV.  LOL

 

Great pictures from the truck.  I tried to take pictures with Loretta's phone as we pulled in, but I am obviously not a good photographer.

 

Looking forward to more! 

 

I just noticed that many of the pics through the windshield have a reflection of the pair of pants DW was knitting for DD.  She put them on the dashboard to take the pics. 

Wow! Lots of pics! I love it!

 

Thanks.  Glad you like the report so far.

 

A fort-only report?  Giddyup!  That is my kinda trip!

 

And with adorable kiddos?  Now it's getting even better.  Your kids are so cute.  I love to see photos of kids enjoying WDW……it's what it's all about! 

 

I am also floored by your travel times.  I cannot do that anymore.  I envy your stamina…..I gotta stop by at least the 7/8 hour mark.  But our choice of recharging stations is the same…..we LOVE the Hampton Inn.  Always, always stay there.  Those beds are the bomb!

 

Thank you for taking us along!

 

When I say Fort-only......that doesn't mean we won't be doing parks.  It only means we will not be using DVC points and staying somewhere else after the Fort.  Hope that doesn't disappoint.

 

Thanks for the comments about the kids.  It is fun watching them experience WDW. 

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2-6-13 (continued):

 

We were placed on the 2000 loop because they looked at the four of us and just knew we were party animals and would want to be on the loop with all the large and obnoxious groups.

 

After getting set up at the site, we were going to pick up our cart.

 

First DD wanted to get her pic taken with some of the decorations across the way:

 

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Here we are at the bus stop:

 

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On the bus to pick up our cart:

 

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After we picked up the cart, we went back to the site to change into our suits.  I believe it was 84 degrees and we were in need of catching some rays in the pool.

 

On the way to the pool:

 

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A pic on the way back to our cart.  I think TCD would call those trespassers:

 

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We swam for a couple hours and then went back to change.

 

We hopped in the cart and went for a ride for a couple important reasons.

 

We saw a few turkeys on the way to finding and old friend:

 

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You will have to wait to see who we met up with until the next update.  I know this was another quick one and I apologize, but there is a lot going on yesterday and today.  I should have more time for updates tomorrow if not later tonight.......

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Why are there Christmas decorations out in February? 

 

:rofl2:

 

 

Ok...just giving you a hard time.  I do appreciate the time it takes to write trip reports....and am looking forward to more! 

 

Thanks for hanging in Dave. 

 

I love the contrast of the Christmas decorations with the pretty flowers on the Fort sign.

 

And I'm sooooooooooooooo jealous you got pool time. I really wanted pool time on our trip. Sigh. 

 

Pool time was nice.  There would be many more opportunities for pool time too.

 

Pool time in December does not SMB.

 

Yes, those were trespassers on Bob's dock.  I hope you chased them away.  Or at least gave them a dirty look.

 

TCD

 

Pool time does not suck.  Usually we are there in February and are lucky to swim at all.

 

No pool time for us in November.  Never go on vacation the same time we do.  We mess up everyone's weather.

 

Glad you got some swimming in.

 

Thanks Annie.  That sucks you didnt get to swim.  We were thankful to get to swim this trip.

 

When we stayed at the Fort in November 2010, we got some swimming in.  It was cold as the sun set when we were going back to our campsite, but not painfully so.

 

Any swimming is better than no swimming.

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12-6-13

We are still on arrival day, which means there must be a ton of pics and material left to share. We were staying for 9 nights total.

Who wants to take it easy though?

Swimming. Check

Next we needed to check on an old friend.

On the way we saw those turkeys. We saw a ton of turkeys on this trip. And you saw the turkey vultures.

Were the turkey vultures, vulturing the turkeys? Maybe they were circling some boy scouts that sounded like girl scouts?

If you didn't get that last line, you are not reading enough trip reports.

Anyway, we were on our way to see a friend.....

And here we are:

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We had a nice visit with Stef and her husband. We also met her son and her son's girlfriend.

Them's good people.

Hopefully we will get the chance to meet up with them again in the future.

Next, we had our designs on satisfying another Fort ritual.

We will be heading to the Settlement next.

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The kids love the settlement area. The playground gets used whenever possible and DS loves tossing around the old pigskin there also:

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One more pic in the other direction:

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Now it was time to come together as a family and go on a small exploring mission:

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I am sure you know where we are going. You can't go to the Fort and not see the nuclear wasteland once known as Chernobyl River Country. We will pick it up at the RC entrance in the next update, before getting to the main reason for going to the Settlement.

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Took the family there for the first time in November too.  Did you know that kids sitting on shoulders can take decent photos?  Well, maybe they could if they knew how the camera worked. ROFL ours were all blurry, so no new angles to show from us.

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I'm late to the party but loving this report!  Looking forward to more!

 

Better late than never!  Glad to have you along.

 

Took the family there for the first time in November too.  Did you know that kids sitting on shoulders can take decent photos?  Well, maybe they could if they knew how the camera worked. ROFL ours were all blurry, so no new angles to show from us.

 

I didn't even think about that.  Dang it.  Next time.

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12-6-13

We left off headed for the wasteland and we have arrived at the old entrance:

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And now for the requisite peeks inside the fence:

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Okay, time to leave the alternate ending for WarGames and head back to civilization:

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I believe TCD said something in his December TR about a certain snowman that families could have their picture taken with if they went to the Backyard BBQ.

We decided to get some pics when the place was empty:

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Time to go check out the Settlement Trading Post and see what Christmas goodies they have. We'll head there next, but that is still not the main reason we went to the Settlement.

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Whoa, you are cranking out the updates today!

 

First, you have the date on these updates as 2-6-13.  You mean 12-6-13, right?

 

Second, awesome I mean AMAZING that you got to meet Stef, Trevor and Nate.  What about Mason?  He's my favorite member of their family. 

 

Third, good job taking the kiddos to see River Country.

 

Fourth, good job getting the free snowperson photo op.  Take that, Disney!

 

Fifth, I hope it's a GAG that you're getting next.

 

Sixth, I can't remember anything else at the moment.

 

TCD

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very cool pics :)

 

Thanks Carol!  I am looking forward to your next trip and your next "Wandering around" pics.  I enjoy when you wander through resorts that maybe a lot of fiends haven't been too very often.

 

GAG??  Did you go for a GAG??

 

You apparently know me all to well.

 

Whoa, you are cranking out the updates today!

 

First, you have the date on these updates as 2-6-13.  You mean 12-6-13, right?

 

Fixed!

 

Second, awesome I mean AMAZING that you got to meet Stef, Trevor and Nate.  What about Mason?  He's my favorite member of their family. 

 

It was amazing. We met Mason also.  I enjoyed talking to Stef and Trevor.  I hope that was just the first of many meets.

 

Third, good job taking the kiddos to see River Country.

 

Thanks, It is something that I have to do, even though it is sad to look at.  They thought it was cool that I actually had been there before the E.M.P. hit central Florida.  I was going to let them sneak in and wander around, but I thought they may not be prepared for the snakes and panther.

 

Fourth, good job getting the free snowperson photo op.  Take that, Disney!

 

I thought you'd enjoy that.

 

Fifth, I hope it's a GAG that you're getting next.

 

My reputation precedes me.

 

Sixth, I can't remember anything else at the moment.

 

Me neither.

 

TCD

 

 

Great pictures, and nice to see Stef here if only in a photo, miss her trip reports, if your reading I'm just waving a hand hello!!!!!

 

It was great to see her.  We gave them some of DW's famous cut-out cookies....Mickey and Minnie.

 

Great trip so far!

 

Your kids are super cute! Makes me wish, my 20 and 17 year old were little again! Good times!

 

Nice to see the photo of Stef. I really, really miss her trip reports......

 

Thanks!  They are at great ages for FW and WDW right now.  Of course, so am I.

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12-6-13 (yup....still)

 

We are headed to the the Settlement Trading Post to check out the Christmas goods:

 

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The kids were in no hurry to leave and were enjoying the browsing, so I exited stage left and walked over to Trails End.  Of course I was going there to order our first night GAG.  GAG is good.  GAG is wise.  I mean, those who order a GAG are wise.

 

You know why?  Because it's delicious.

 

I know some people prefer the limp fries and the corn muffins.

 

That's not how we roll though.

 

Anyway....here I am waiting on the porch at Crocketts...

 

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Do you know exactly where I am at?

 

There were no rockers available.

 

There was a family taking up all of the rockers.....on both sides of the porch.

 

5 of the rockers were filled by children.

 

Apparently, that family had not discovered that the kids are supposed to play on the playground, while the adults plant their butts in the rockers.

 

Oh well, I wasn't going to be there long anyway.

 

My little buzzer went off after about 10 minutes.

 

We made our way back to our site.

 

Another trip through The Path of Awesomeness:

 

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At the site:

 

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After dinner, we went looping for a bit and I believe we handed out a few more cookies to fiends.  Then we had to go to the Meadows for a Mickey's Premium Ice Cream Bar.......because the kids and I believe you haven't truly become immersed in the world until you have had an ice cream with Mickey ears.

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