The TCD Gang Springs Forward at the Fort- A Spring Break 2014 TR

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

The pics from the monorail are awesome.

DIT's description of Dole Whip as SMB made me think he has added crack to his repertoire.

Troll is here. It doesn't quite have the same meaning as "Dennis Quaid is here", but I guess it will do.

Amazing update. Just Amazing.

[Stitchfan75 3]

I love Agents of Shield. It's really the only show we watch as a family. They are getting ready to start a 7 episode run to the season finale this week! Can't wait!

Off topic but my 10 year old dd is a Marvel fanatic. In May she gets to meet Stan Lee at Dallas Comic Con...I think she may stroke out.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm slowly going through my albums and scanning the best pics, so I will eventually find them.  It may be awhile, though.

 

Take you time.  I hope you share those photos.  I love to see old WDW photos, and I don't think I've ever seen any from the Odyssey restaurant ,so I would really like to see those.

 

Great report as always TCD!

I got it Jason, but I was a day behind on posting. I kind of like the Agent's of Shield, especially Coulson but I've missed it the last two weeks so I have to catch up.

WBI

 

Thanks, Nick.

 

Thank goodness someone got Jason's nerd Agents of Shied reference.

 

Thanks WBI. Sadly I am more than a few weeks behind. I really need to spend a weekend getting caught up. 

 

Sounds like a wild time!

 

Two thumbs up on the string of pics from the monorail as you moved through Epcot. Next to the boat ride from the fort to the MK, it is my favorite leg Disney public transportation.

Extra bonus points for the pics you took later of the same (I think) colorful lake bank under the monorail track. Nice job getting 2 perspectives of the same landscape in one TR installment.

 

Thank you.  I really enjoy all the work that they put in to the Flower and Garden Festival.  I'd spend more time just looking around, but the girls find that boring.

 

Again, another omen,  er, I mean sign that we could be kin.  

 

The kids won't eat it either.  A few bites and lil H was like.. 'uhhh I've had enough.  That's ok."  

 

Wow.  KFK and DIT both hate Dole Whip.

 

Heretics.

 

Love the reference!  It is my family's favorite show, esp. now that Psych is over.

Pictures or it didn't happen!

 

Hey, another nerd Agents of Shield fan to join the club!

 

Y'all need to get together at Jason's.

 

I don't think you have missed much.  Two weeks ago was a sneak peek at the rest of the season, as well as some background stuff (I believe, as I missed it purposely because I hate sneak peeks).  This week was a repeat of the episode on the train.

 

New episode next week.  My kids are psyched!  (Okay, I am too!)

 

Or maybe Jason needs to come over to your place?

 

The pics from the monorail are awesome.

DIT's description of Dole Whip as SMB made me think he has added crack to his repertoire.

Troll is here. It doesn't quite have the same meaning as "Dennis Quaid is here", but I guess it will do.

Amazing update. Just Amazing.

 

A voice of reason.

 

I hope the Troll doesn't immediately go back under his bridge.

 

We even got a mini-rant out of him.

 

I love Agents of Shield. It's really the only show we watch as a family. They are getting ready to start a 7 episode run to the season finale this week! Can't wait! Off topic but my 10 year old dd is a Marvel fanatic. In May she gets to meet Stan Lee at Dallas Comic Con...I think she may stroke out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Wow.  Another one.

 

Maybe I'll need to give the show a try.

 

I mentioned earlier that I hadn't seen anything Avengers related.  But, Captain America played on FX last night.  And I watched.  Not bad.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Update time.

 

We left off by the Cars playground on Sunday night.   We had a little time to kill before riding Test Track.  I have a couple more photos from there:

 

 

 

One of the girls suggested that instead of waiting around by the playground, we go ride Mission Space.  It's been a while.  So we headed over there.  Buzz has a new face this year too:

 

 

The posted wait time wasn't bad, but the line out the door told us the posted wait time wasn't accurate.  Fail.

 

No big deal.  After a few minutes, our Test Track FP's were good.  We had to wait in the expected line of dummies who didn't have FP's but thought they did, and then we were in. 

 

They really messed up the benefit of having a FP in this ride.  Even though FP users get to bypass a good part of the line, there is still always a wait to get in to the design room, and then a wait after you get out.  The old way was so much faster.

 

I don't like the new version of this ride.  I don't think it's an improvement at all.  But, my girls like the design station part.  It's interesting that you use your Magic Bands for this.  I guess that TT vehicle stays on the chip until the next time.  I'm going to see if that's true the next time we ride. I won't scan my MB for the design, and I'll see if the old one pops up when I scan it before boarding.

 

The TCD girls love to design stuff, but I'm pretty sure these vehicles would never make it into production:

 

 

 

Since we were a party of four, they split us into two rows, and added two single riders to our car.  As we lined up, and saw our single riders, I asked the gentlemen if they would like to ride together, and one of us would move to the back row. The gentlemen thought that was great.  And so did the girls, since they all got the back row.  I got to ride up front with the Agents of Shield fans:

 

 

Now it was time to decide about dinner.

 

The girls came up with a great idea:  to go to a resort where they have make your own pasta.  That meant either Port Orleans Riverside or Art of Animation.  I don't know of any others.  We picked Art of Animation.

 

So, we headed out.

 

This is an area where they have hummingbird habitats set up.  I wonder if there's any hummingbirds around.  We've tried to attract them to our house with no luck.  I don't think they like Florida:

 

 

These topiaries are set up behind the big golf ball.  I like them:

 

 

 

 

An added bonus to going to the Art of Animation resort is that I got to admire the blooming azaleas by the AOA bus stop again:

 

 

 

We made it to the resort, and ordered our food.  I like the food court at the AOA resort.  It's just a notch nicer than the other value resort food courts.  I think they upped it a bit since the suites they have in most of the resort are much pricier than value rooms.

 

We all ordered our pasta, and it was made fresh and to order right in front of us:

 

 

 

We had a nice, peaceful meal.  Somehow, the atmosphere in the dining area here is calmer than at the value resorts.   It seems like the seating is more spread out.

 

After our meal, we poked around a bit.  There are a lot of cool details in this resort, like this chandelier made out of sketches:

 

 

Then it was time to head back to the Fort.

 

The best way we could figure to get there was to bus it to MK and then take the boat to the Fort.  That would put us at the marina, and just steps from our site.  So we got in the waiting area for the Magic Kingdom bus.

 

We got a surprise when the bus pulled up:

 

 

Big deal.

 

A Magic Kingdom bus.

 

Ah, but look again.

 

That is just the front half of the bus.

 

Here's the rest:

 

 

This was the third big thing we did on Sunday that we never did before.

 

We got to ride on one of the new articulated buses. 

 

Maybe that's not a big deal to you.

 

But it was to me.

 

I've been wanting to ride on one since the first time I ever saw a photo of one.

 

And now one was here!

 

I wasn't sure how that back part worked.

 

Do guests board in both the front and back?

 

I wasn't even sure if there was an opening inside the passenger compartment between the two bus segments.  I remember our resident bus expert, Lou, saying that there would be two CM's on these buses- the driver, and then another CM who was in charge of the second bus segment.

 

Well, I found out about the boarding.  Everyone enters through the front.  And, if you want to be in the back, you walk all the way back.  Of course I wanted to be in the back.  Here I am near the back, looking forward.  Note there are two of those lighted message boards:

 

 

There was no second CM on this bus.

 

And no special instructions given.

 

I was intrigued by the accordion walls in the center section of the bus.

 

I wanted to see how those worked when the bus was in motion, so I decided I wanted to stand there for our ride.

 

I headed up a bit.

 

I had to pass this happy lady with a fanny pack:

 

 

Jeez.

 

What a grouch.

 

She's in the happiest place on earth, and about to ride an articulated bus.  And she's frowning?

 

And are fanny packs back?

 

I didn't know.

 

Here I am in the accordion part:

 

 

 

It was cool riding here.

 

The walls actually move. 

 

And, there's a giant disc on the floor which I guess covers the area where the bus segments are joined.  The only drawback is there are no windows to see out.  So, if you ride here, your view is of moving accordion wall parts.

 

So, now I've ridden an articulated bus.

 

What a great day Sunday turned out to be.

 

BOG FP+ for lunch.  The new FOF parade on opening day.  And riding an articulated bus.

 

We boated it back to the Fort.

 

And then it was chill time in the camper.

 

But we weren't done.

 

It as EMH at the MK tonight.

 

Until 3 am.

 

Those 3 am EMH's are rare.

 

So we had to go.

 

And we did.

 

We headed out late.

 

The MK boat was loaded with guests dragging themselves down the dock.

 

We were the only ones heading to the MK.

 

The CM in charge of letting guests on and off the boat said we were crazy.

 

Who asked him?

 

The MK was pretty empty.

 

No waits anywhere.  They were scanning the MB's at the ride entrances.  Only one person per party.  Even so, that slowed things down more than the old way.

 

We did HM, Pirates, and Big Thunder.  Then headed toward Tomorrowland, where we rode Space and the Peoplemover.

 

Then it was time for ice cream.  We stopped at what used to be called Mrs. Potts, but I think is now called Storybook treats.

 

Twin #1 got the hook up from the young college boy manning the soft serve machine.  For some reason, my cone was not quite as big:

 

 

You can see the soon to be completed Mine Train ride there behind Twin #1.

 

After the ice cream, we were supposed to ride some more rides, right up to 3.

 

But, after sitting, we all realized that we were tired.  Remember, we had been robbed of an hour of sleep the night before when we sprung forward.

 

So, we decided to head out.

 

We went through the castle.

 

These guys were working.  At 2:05 am:

 

 

Suspicious.

 

Hey, look, a Mickey head painted with water on the street.  That trick was cool the first 25 times I saw it:

 

 

I hated to leave the MK when it was this empty, but we were beat:

 

 

Well, at least we made it past 2:

 

 

My camera battery was about to die, so I only was able to take one more photo that night.  But, it's an important one.

 

Look- the Goofy Bench has gone missing again!:

 

 

We made it to the boat, and stumbled back to 114.

 

And that was it for Sunday.

 

If you're keeping track, we have now reached the end of our fourth and final night of this trip.

 

Which means tomorrow we have to pack up and leave.

 

Which also means the end of this report is near.

 

But, not as near as you might think.

 

We were in no rush to get home on Monday.

 

So, that meant we could visit a park and maybe have lunch before we had to head west.

 

It ended up that we visited two parks.

 

In one morning.

 

And something momentous happened at one park.

 

Plus, I even have a couple of Fort scoops.

 

I'll tell you all about it in the next update.

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Something momentous?  Fort scoops?  Looking forward to your next update!

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I love Agents of Shield. It's really the only show we watch as a family. They are getting ready to start a 7 episode run to the season finale this week! Can't wait! Off topic but my 10 year old dd is a Marvel fanatic. In May she gets to meet Stan Lee at Dallas Comic Con...I think she may stroke out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I do wish Agent's of Shield were more family friendly.  It is my children's favorite show, but they cannot watch it on Tuesday evenings.  I have to pre-watch and make notes about when they are to turn off the TV and when they may turn it back on again. Later in the week, the children watch it On Demand, with my 15yo manning the remote and obeying my instructions. 

 

BTW, if anyone's feelings are hurt by TCD referring to them as nerds for liking Agents of Shield, google the latest Wil Wheaton video where he responds to a young girl at a Comic Con asking him if her were ever called a nerd when he was young.

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

Fort scoops?

Now that is a good cliffhanger.

I still like the mickey made with water on pavement trick.

I have yet to see any Marvel movie other than the original Iron Man.

Maybe i should remedy that.

[Beckers 1,136]

I would have never guessed the bus!

Is it possible to pinch your fingers in the walls?

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I have yet to see any Marvel movie other than the original Iron Man.

 

 

Same here.  I thought I was the only one.  I like Iron Man, but I just don't see many movies.  

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Hey TCD, if you want an adventure, ride an articulated bus in Russia.  You could lose a foot if you're not careful.  

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Something momentous?  Fort scoops?  Looking forward to your next update!

Warning: my definition of momentous may not be the same as yours. Remember, I was excited to ride an articulated bus.

 

And the scoops aren't entirely new. More like follow-up information on stuff we know.  But, still new information.

 

 

I do wish Agent's of Shield were more family friendly.  It is my children's favorite show, but they cannot watch it on Tuesday evenings.  I have to pre-watch and make notes about when they are to turn off the TV and when they may turn it back on again. Later in the week, the children watch it On Demand, with my 15yo manning the remote and obeying my instructions. 

 

BTW, if anyone's feelings are hurt by TCD referring to them as nerds for liking Agents of Shield, google the latest Wil Wheaton video where he responds to a young girl at a Comic Con asking him if her were ever called a nerd when he was young.

 

Not family friendly?  Maybe I need to watch to see what you mean.

 

I hope nobody's feelings were hurt.  Calling a nerd a nerd shouldn't offend anyone.

 

Fort scoops?

Now that is a good cliffhanger.

I still like the mickey made with water on pavement trick.

I have yet to see any Marvel movie other than the original Iron Man.

Maybe i should remedy that.

 

As I said in response to Gwen, don't get too excited.

 

Until last night when I saw Captain America on TV, I hadn't seen any of the Marvel/Avenger movies.  So I have you beat.

 

I would have never guessed the bus!

Is it possible to pinch your fingers in the walls?

 

No articulated bus bragging rights for you then.

 

I would hope you couldn't get your fingers pinched in those accordion walls, but who knows?  They definitely move.  I would hope that if there was any danger of that, Disney would not allow guests to stand in that space.  There were no warnings and no restrictions.  If there weren't a bunch of other guests standing in that area, I would have felt the walls to see if I could feel moving parts behind the accordion fabric.  But, there were a lot of people around, and I didn't want to make people uncomfortable seeing some old guy feeling a bus.  Plus, if my fingers got pinched, that would be awkward.

 

I still don't see the point of these buses.  I guess there is some gas savings.  But the buses themselves must be expensive, and it just seems that they would be more accident prone.

 

Same here.  I thought I was the only one.  I like Iron Man, but I just don't see many movies.

 

I'm in the club too.  When they were home, my girls would go see movies with their friends.  Mrs. TCD and I haven't been to a movie together in quite some time. 

 

Hey TCD, if you want an adventure, ride an articulated bus in Russia.  You could lose a foot if you're not careful.

Thanks for the warning.

 

I have no immediate plans to visit Russia.  Or to ride an articulated bus there if I do.  But, I will watch where I stand should I ever find myself in that situation.

 

TCD

 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

 

I'm in the club too.  When they were home, my girls would go see movies with their friends.  Mrs. TCD and I haven't been to a movie together in quite some time. 

 

 

:rofl2:  The last movie David and I saw in a theater was "Star Wars - the Empire Strikes Back."  That was around 30 years ago.  Yes, we're cheap. 

[lklasing 16]

I'm with you about Test Track.  We think the new FP line, design area, and the whole ride (except the outside part that didn't change) totally SMB.  It used to have a purpose but now, nothing.  It's like they think we're going to just say, "Oooooh - shiny!" and love all the neon crap.  Now that they have tiers for FP and TT is in the same one as Soarin', I doubt Ray and I will ever ride it again.

 

(Well, I never say never, but it's going to have to be something truly special to get us back on there again.)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

 

 

 

 

:rofl2:  The last movie David and I saw in a theater was "Star Wars - the Empire Strikes Back."  That was around 30 years ago.  Yes, we're cheap. 

 

 

We're not quite that bad.  We all did see Frozen as a family.  And Mrs. TCD and I saw Dolphin Tale in the theater-since it was filmed around where we live, and we kind of know Winter.

 

I'm with you about Test Track.  We think the new FP line, design area, and the whole ride (except the outside part that didn't change) totally SMB.  It used to have a purpose but now, nothing.  It's like they think we're going to just say, "Oooooh - shiny!" and love all the neon crap.  Now that they have tiers for FP and TT is in the same one as Soarin', I doubt Ray and I will ever ride it again.

 

(Well, I never say never, but it's going to have to be something truly special to get us back on there again.)

 

I guess younger folks like the new stuff.  My girls do.  I really miss everything about the old ride- I think it was superior in every way.  But, I don't hate the new ride.  The best part of the ride (the outside loop) is still the same.  So, I'm still going to pick TT over Soarin' most of the time.  I like Soarin', but I'm good with riding it just once in a while.

 

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I should qualify my comments about "family friendly".  My standards are very strict.  I don't think my family needs to see unmarried people in bed together.  The older ones are aware it happens, but seeing it takes their minds places I don't think it benefits them to go.

 

And my comment about you calling people nerds was tongue in cheek.  Sorry that didn't come across in my post.  

 

OTOH, Wil Wheaton's response to the girl's question was amazing and should be seen by many people.  I am probably going to have my family watch it as part of the their school tomorrow.

[Beckers 1,136]

This seriously made me lol "seeing some old guy feeling a bus"

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I should qualify my comments about "family friendly".  My standards are very strict.  I don't think my family needs to see unmarried people in bed together.  The older ones are aware it happens, but seeing it takes their minds places I don't think it benefits them to go.

 

And my comment about you calling people nerds was tongue in cheek.  Sorry that didn't come across in my post.  

 

OTOH, Wil Wheaton's response to the girl's question was amazing and should be seen by many people.  I am probably going to have my family watch it as part of the their school tomorrow.

 

I knew you were joking, and so was I.  It's all good.

 

I don't know who Wil Wheaton is, so I'm not about to start looking through YouTube videos to try to find the one you're talking about.  From what I gather, he's proud to be a nerd.  Anyone have a link?

 

This seriously made me lol "seeing some old guy feeling a bus"

Then my work here is done.

(TCD drops mic and walks off stage.)

 

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

 

I knew you were joking, and so was I.  It's all good.

 

I don't know who Wil Wheaton is, so I'm not about to start looking through YouTube videos to try to find the one you're talking about.  From what I gather, he's proud to be a nerd.  Anyone have a link?

 

 

If you ever had a nerd card, please turn it in at the desk on your way out.

 

Wil Wheaton played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek :The Next Generation.  He also plays himself on The Big Bang Theory.

 

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04WJEEb33CY

[caveat lector 181]

I love Agents of Shield. It's really the only show we watch as a family. They are getting ready to start a 7 episode run to the season finale this week! Can't wait!

Off topic but my 10 year old dd is a Marvel fanatic. In May she gets to meet Stan Lee at Dallas Comic Con...I think she may stroke out.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

AoS rocks. Seems like it gets better every week

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

If you ever had a nerd card, please turn it in at the desk on your way out.

 

Wil Wheaton played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek :The Next Generation.  He also plays himself on The Big Bang Theory.

 

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04WJEEb33CY

 

Wow.

 

That guy gave that poor kid some terrible advice.  How about stop being a nerd?  That would surely cut down on the noogies and wedgies.

 

AoS rocks. Seems like it gets better every week

 

You too?

 

It's getting kind of nerd-heavy in here.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

As much as I would have liked it not to, our fourth morning at the Fort dawned.

 

Remember how it was after 2 am as we headed out of the MK the night before?  That meant it was 3-ish before we got to bed.

 

Guess who showed back up early on Monday morning?  Notice I didn't say bright and early.  Because it wasn't bright.  Just early.

 

It was the delivery guys.

 

I guess they don't make deliveries to the Settlement Trading Post on Saturdays and Sundays.  At least I didn't hear any if they do.

 

It must have been 5 am when I heard the first truck.  But, whatever it was delivering, it came and went quickly.  No big deal.

 

Then, around 6, I heard a couple of knuckleheads doing something behind my site.  For a while. Finally, I unzipped to window so I could try to see. It was still pitch dark out. But, I could see it was two guys with a white pick-up truck and a trailer.  Guess what they were doing?  They were pushing the old covered wagon on to the trailer.  The thing is, that I had heard them out there about a half hour before I looked, and they were making noise all that time.  They were moving other stuff around.  But, I couldn't see what.  It was dark.  Thankfully, they got the wagon pushed on to the trailer, and they were gone.  So, there's your first Fort scoop of the day- they finally moved the covered wagon.  Hopefully, that means it's being fixed and will be back soon.  But, just in case, don't hold your breath.

 

I drifted off back to sleep after those loud knuckleheads left.  Remember, the sun is rising later now, so there wasn't a whole lot of reason for me to be getting up before 7 or so. 

 

I did get up around 7, and hit the showers.  Then, I was the first customer to show up for coffee at Trail's End.  I had already done some packing the night before, and official TCD coffee pot was one of the things I had already packed.

 

I walked over for my coffee.  Which gave me a chance to take some photos of the golf cart parking area with no golf carts.  Not many people ever get to see this:

 

 

 

 

I loved the feeling of being the only one there!

 

I filled my mug, and then started walking back. 

 

Do you ever wonder how those trucks get back to the Settlement Trading Post?  They drive down the road in front of Pioneer Hall-that's how.  Look, the poles have been removed, and are still stacked to the side:

 

 

I guess that means there are still some deliveries to be made.

 

I figured one more photo of the bare crepe myrtle trees wouldn't hurt anyone:

 

 

Then I headed back to the site.

 

On the way, I couldn't resist peeking behind the Trading Post. I needed a photo to show that those guys had finally moved the covered wagon.  Here you go:

 

 

Whoa.

 

Wait a minute.

 

Do you see that?

 

is that what I think it is?

 

In fact, it is.

 

That's what those guys were moving around before I looked out the window.

 

They had brought back the old River Country wagon, and picked up the covered wagon.

 

There's your second Fort scoop.

 

Hopefully, this means that both wagons will soon be back in place.

 

That's good news.

 

If you like wagons.

 

I sat at the picnic table to sip my coffee.  As I sat, I looked over some of the printed material I had received from Disney before this trip and at check-in. 

 

There was one promotional piece that I knew I wanted to discuss in this trip report, so I decided to take some photos of it while I had it out to look at.

 

This whole packet of stuff arrived in the mail about three weeks before our trip.  I have never received anything like this from Disney before, nor have I seen photos of it on-line:

 

 

All that stuff was in that Mr. Incredible envelope that you see at the bottom left of that photo.  The item to the right of the envelope is a personalized booklet. My last name was printed on it, but I whited it out for this post to keep stalkers away.  But, this book was personalized just for me.

 

Inside the cover of the book, there was a page where the details of our trip were printed:

 

 

And then there were pages to explain the whole My Magic initiative:

 

 

 

This booklet contained specific information about Fort Wilderness (and I assume if I had been staying at a different resort, it would have had specific information about that resort) :

 

 

It also contained this giant lie:

 

 

Remember, I had received this about three weeks before my trip, so I thought that this paragraph meant that the Fort Magic Band issue had finally been resolved.  But it was just another lie.  As I said earlier, we were issued blank KTTW cards to use for the comfort stations and returning guest gate.  In case you're wondering, this is what a blank KTTW card looks like:

 

 

This little booklet was slick, and it had some great photos of the Fort.  I really liked this one, taken from the Meadow Swimming Pool slide:

 

 

There were a couple of pages in the booklet devoted to the dining options at the Fort. As you know, there aren't many.  And they didn't even mention the availability of take out food from Trail's End:

 

 

 

Then the booklet listed some "must dos" chosen just for me:

 

 

Then a big plug for the new Memory Maker photography option:

 

 

And, then on the back cover came the big surprise:

 

 

My very own, personalized, Dumbo magnet.  Look, I just had to peel it off and put it wherever I wanted:

 

 

So what's the point of the magnet?

 

Do they think people are going to forget that they have planned a trip to Disney World?

 

Am I supposed to put it on my car?

 

And, what's the deal with all the magnets all of a sudden?

 

They've been sending magnets to Annual Passholders.

 

And, just the other day, this came in the mail:

 

 

What am I supposed to do with that?

 

Slap it on my twelve year old truck and impress people?

 

And whatever happened to Disney World being a "green" resort.  How much paper and magnetic stuff is being wasted sending unsolicited things like this to customers?  And all the resources that must be used to deliver this stuff?

 

No wonder the prices keep going up.

 

Stop it, Disney.

 

Speaking of wastefulness.  Remember how every site got a love letter from the Fort reminding us to Spring Forward on Sunday?  There was more mail on everyone's cars this morning:

 

 

Can you read that?

 

How about now?:

 

 

Please take a moment and read that letter.

 

It's a doozy.

 

A Jose special.

 

Do you see what it says?

 

They're apparently about to release thousands of bats?

 

Which they apparently hope will move in to the new BABH.

 

But maybe they won't.

 

So, guests are supposed to retract their awnings and stay inside their "camping units" during "non-daylight" hours?

 

What?

 

And watch out that you don't get bitten?

 

And I'm supposed to collect dead bats?

 

They have got to be kidding.

 

Just when I think it's not possible to be surprised by the ineptitude of Fort management, I see this.

 

Amazing.

 

Simply amazing.

 

Anyway, time was starting to slip by, and we had big plans today.

 

The first part of the plans was a visit to DHS for rope drop.

 

The plan was to go and ride Toy Story and get out.  More than once if possible. I would then come back to camp and pack up, and the girls would head over to the MK.  They wanted to see the new parade again.

 

I needed to gas-up, so I drove.  We stopped at the Hess station on the way, and then headed to DHS.

 

I only have a few photos.  Remember how my camera was dying the night before?  I forgot to charge it.  And had used it this morning already to take the photos you've just looked at.  But, it had a little juice.  I had to conserve it.

 

This time, I killed Twin #1 on Toy Story.  Not only that, but I maxed out the score.  She came close, but not quite.  We had discovered a secret, but I was able to use it just a bit more than her.  Here you go:

 

 

That high score belongs to me!

 

Woo Hoo!

 

So that was fun.

 

But, that's not all.

 

When we finished the ride, two CM's came up to our car and congratulated us. And asked if we would come with them.

 

They took us into a little back room near the exit, and presented me with a pin set!:

 

 

For free!

 

And, that's not all.

 

Then they gave me this card-which they said is a lifetime Fastpass for the ride for me and a guest.  I just need to show this at the FP return, and a guest and I can ride whenever I want:

 

 

I've never heard of this before.

 

Maybe it's new?

 

But, I also think that I might have been the first person to ever max-out the score.

 

I've tried to find the record score for TSMM on the internet, and haven't been able to find anything.

 

It might be me!

 

It is good to be TCD.

 

So, that was fun.

 

To me it was momentous.

 

And, you got your two Fort scoops that I promised in this update.

 

But, I needed to get back to the Fort and get packed and off my site.

 

So, that's where we will be heading next.

 

TCD

[Beckers 1,136]

I feel as we may be getting punk'd.....

[devores 382]

That super secret FP for TSM looks allot like the AP discount card that was sent out not long ago.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Bats and "Magical" in the same letter ... Disney sure knows how to kill the magic.  

 

If I encounter a dead bat, I won't be disposing of it.  I'll call the front desk!

 

And retracting awnings?  Since we have an electric awning, it's no problem for us.  But I remember when we had the TT.  It took nearly an hour to set up the awning, get it properly tied down, put the lights on it, etc.  Clearly whoever wrote that letter has no clue.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

:rofl2: