Day Trippin'

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

This may clear up some to the questions as to the dragon and bird people in the FOF parade....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGUGAwNN4Hs

 

That didn't clear anything up for me.

 

I watched it twice to look at the dragon scene at the very end.  I did not see any fat guy with ear muffs and a red lunch bag driving that dragon.

 

TCD

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

I can't believe the Starbucks satanic logo used the jedi mind trick on you and you weren't able to overcome it.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I can't believe the Starbucks satanic logo used the jedi mind trick on you and you weren't able to overcome it.

 

I need to line my ball cap with tin foil.

 

Maybe I could get a purple one like that Dragon Pilot?

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Let's get caught up on the photos.  Hopefully, we will get to the Fort photos today.

 

We left off at the Flag Retreat.  As far as I know, this is a daily occurrence at the MK at 5 pm.  We've only stopped to watch it a couple of times, but it's worth stopping and watching.

 

As you can see, they have the Dapper Dans and the Main Street Philharmonic marching band on hand:

 

 

They play all the patriotic songs you would expect them to.  And some that you might not.  They pick a couple of kids from the audience, and they lead the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance:

 

 

Today, their were two veterans participating in the ceremony.  We've discussed this before, and I believe the serviceperson is supposed to check at City Hall the morning of to volunteer to participate.  For todays' ceremony, there was an older gentleman and a young man, who they announced was active duty in the Army and had just returned from Afghanistan:

 

 

One of the CM's actually lowers the flag:

 

 

 

Throughout the entire ceremony, the Philharmonic plays.  The played a medley of the songs of each branch of service, and Taps while the flag was lowered.

 

Then two CM's folded the flag:

 

 

I watched them carefully, as this is something that I did every day one summer when I was a camp counselor at a Boy Scout camp.  We had Flag Retreat there each evening.  Go USA!

 

The Dapper Dans sang some more- I believe this is where they led the crowd in God Bless America:

 

 

The folded flag was handed off to the older gentleman:

 

 

And then they all marched out, and up Main Street behind the band:

 

 

I am one of the first around here to pick on Disney, but witnessing something like this reminds me why I spend so much money here and visit as often as I can.

 

Is there any other theme park that does anything like this?

 

Not that I know of.

 

In fact, I don't know of any business that conducts such a ceremony.

 

Good for Disney.

 

Then it was time for us to find a cool place to take a break.

 

It had to be pushing 90 degrees on Sunday afternoon.  I know that some of you reading this were freezing your butts off then (I had just watched the Tampa Bay Rays play in the White Sox in Chicago the night before and I believe it was 35 degrees there), but not us.  We were hot.

 

Since we planned to head to the Fort, it made sense to go to the Wilderness Lodge.  And that's where we headed.

 

From the boat dock, I could see that they have finished installing the new, second, ferry dock for the big MK/TTC ferry boats:

 

 

As you can see, that means that the WL and FW boats can't pass through that area anymore, and instead must now go around that big concrete breakwater.

 

Uh-oh.  Some poor folks are going to get a ride on the Slowwwww Boat sometime:

 

 

One more look at the new dock:

 

 

Our boat pulled right up, and we headed out.  There's the Grand Floridian:

 

 

We had to drive all the way out and around that breakwater:

 

 

There's the Contemporary Resort and you can see a monorail on the track:

 

 

Here's a look at the new ferry dock from out in the Seven Seas Lagoon:

 

 

 

And you can see all the new bus stops over there:

 

 

Did you ever stop to think about this?

 

In the last year, they added this new dock for the MK Ferry boat, and all those new bus stops with direct buses to the other parks so guests no longer need to travel to the Transportation and Ticket Center to park hop.

 

Why?

 

I say stay tuned for an announcement about the monorails that serve the MK.  It appears to me that they are preparing to have plenty of additional capacity to handle guests on buses and boats.  Why do they need that added capacity?

 

Time will tell.

 

For now, there's the Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower:

 

 

After all these years, it's still cool to see the monorails pass through the Contemporary Resort Tower:

 

 

STOP THE PRESSES!

 

I HAVE AN IMPORTANT (AND DISTRESSING) ANNOUNCEMENT!

 

LOOK WHAT LANDED ON THE BOAT!:

 

 

That, my friends is a pair of love bugs.

 

Loving each other.

 

STAY AWAY FROM FLORIDA!!!!

 

THEY'RE BACK!!!!!

 

Well, now you know.

 

Those are the only ones we saw.

 

But, where there's two . . .

 

We made it to the Lodge.

 

Spring sprang a long time ago in Florida.  You gotta love seeing this, when there are still places suffering through 30 degree temperatures:

 

 

 

We hung out and chilled for a while on the main floor of the lobby.  Our special place was available, but neither of us felt much like sitting in front of a fireplace this afternoon:

 

 

Did you know it was Earth Day last week?

 

Well it was.

 

And, Disney being such an environmentally friendly company, sponsored a bird house making contest for its CM's.  The way this works is they make completely stupid and unfunctional birdhouses out of trash that they normally put in the Disney landfill.  And then the idiot managers name winners, and then the trash gets thrown away anyway.  Yay being green!

 

Here are the entries from the WL CM's:

 

This one must be from the bar department:

 

 

This one, I don't know what is going on:

 

 

This one wins the TCD Master Of Irony Award.  It is a completely useless birdhouse made out of the ridiculously wasteful packaging they use for those nifty new MagicBands:

 

 

And this one wins the TCD Lazy A** award- I guess it's supposed to be a birdhouse for birds that get drunk from eating fermented berries:

 

 

In true Disney Management fashion, the list of winners made no sense:

 

 

I am sure that by now all of this crap is now taking up space in the Disney landfill.

 

So what was the point?

 

Well, that was fun.

 

Doesn't everyone feel better now knowing how environmentally conscious the staff at WL is?

 

But,that's enough of that.

 

Time to go to the Fort!

 

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I'm caught up! I like the flag retreat ceremony. We happened upon it one time, and we all really enjoyed it. 

 

Are you saying you think they'll do away with the monorail all together or just because the TTC and MK? 

 

I'm not sure what to think about that birdhouse display. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm caught up! I like the flag retreat ceremony. We happened upon it one time, and we all really enjoyed it. 

 

Are you saying you think they'll do away with the monorail all together or just because the TTC and MK? 

 

I'm not sure what to think about that birdhouse display. 

 

I don't think they're going to do away with the monorails.

 

But, I do think there must be something planned that will result in them being down for an extended period.  I see no other reason for adding that boat dock and the extra bus stops.

 

I think we will see an extended rehab of the monorails, and when they come back, they are going to be used much more sparingly.  That's what I think.

 

TCD

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

Loved the flag retreat pics and the boat ride pics.

The monorails better not go away.

I think more people would be pi*sed than the powers that be may realize.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Loved the flag retreat pics and the boat ride pics.

The monorails better not go away.

I think more people would be pi*sed than the powers that be may realize.

 

Agreed.  Again, I don't think the monorails will be removed.  I think they are going to go through a long rehab, and will come back more as attractions than transportation.  They could even go back to the days of making the resort monorail only for resort guests.  For the prices they charge, they ought to.  At that time, they could do away with the express monorail.  After a long down time, people will be used to the ferries and buses.

 

TCD

[Beckers 1,136]

Flag retreat is on my must see list.

I agree that something is going to go down with the monorails and it's gonna be ugly when it does.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Flag retreat is on my must see list.

Good! I think it's something kids need to see. It's nice to see the appreciation given to our country.

 

I agree that something is going to go down with the monorails and it's gonna be ugly when it does.

The ugliest part will be coming from the monorail resort guests.

But, I think Disney could make it work.

TCD

 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I said I would try to get the Fort photos posted today, and here they are!

 

This is the last batch of photos from the Sunday April 27 day trip.  I am hoping for another day trip this weekend. All three TCD DD's are home this weekend, and this weekend only.  That may be the only time this summer.  And, it's not even summer!   So we all want to go.  The weather looks really bad though, so they may choose to do something else.  Cross your fingers.  And toes.

 

But first, let's get these photos posted.

 

We took the bus to the Fort.  At the Lodge, the Fort and MK share a bus stop.  The Fort bus pulled up with a big old Fort Wilderness lit up on the front sign.  But, just as we pulled away, a family of geniuses asked if this bus was going to the MK.

 

LOL.

 

They had a nice detour ahead of them.

 

Aside from that, our short trip over to the Fort was uneventful.

 

And here we are:

 

 

We had just camped here in the beginning of March.  But it felt good to be back.

 

What luck, even though this was a quick visit, there were two TCD Real Men of Geniuses there for me to enjoy. These ding-dongs used the bus lane to drop off guests for the Hoop Dee Doo.  The bus drivers get all kind of crazy about that kind of thing:

 

 

I would have liked to wait around for the geriatric Fort Rangers to show up with their tazers to remedy this situation, but I had some fried chicken to order and eat.

 

And, that is exactly what I did next.  Twin #1 knows the drill-she grabbed a picnic table, and I ordered the chicken.

 

All the tables were open.

 

This was our view:

 

 

The old River Country wagon is supposed to be in this photo, but it's still missing, contrary to the malicious April Fools lies perpetuated by someone on this board:

 

 

I had a beeper to tell me when to come back for my chicken, and the CM who took my order said it would go off in about 15 minutes.  That was enough time for a quick walk around.

 

So, I headed down to the beach:

 

 

Nothing new there.  Which is a good thing.

 

Looking the other way-behind Pioneer Hall.  Nothing new there either- except some kind of heavy duty construction wall:

 

 

Wait.

 

That heavy duty construction wall wasn't there in March.

 

And, I haven't heard anything about it.

 

What is that?

 

Hold that thought, because I saw something else new that I knew I needed to photograph.  For bragging rights.

 

I hereby claim First Photo of New River Country Ticket Booth Roof Bragging Rights:

 

 

See that guy in the photo?

 

There were four people milling about around the ticket booth.

 

When I walked up, they said I looked like I knew where I was going.

 

"Always," I told them.

 

They asked if I had ever heard of River Country?

 

"What?" I said.

 

"River Country," the old man in the group said, "it was a waterpark."

 

"Really?" I said.  "What are you folks- urban explorers?"

 

Then I told them that I was messing with them, and told them a few things.  I pointed them to the hole in the fence where they could really see something, and they slowly moved off in that direction.  Except for the guy who lingered and got in my shot.

 

Grrrr.

 

The new roof isn't all that's different in this forgotten little corner of the Fort.  The old display cage that stood next to the ticket booth is gone!:

 

 

Any real Urban Explorers reading along may be dismayed by the sight of that brand new and very sturdy fence there in the background of the photo.  Not that I know anything about that area and what's one the other side of the fence.  But I've heard things.

 

I can't believe that they actually put a new roof on the old ticket booth, but there it is:

 

 

Here's a shot of the new lamps which were installed in March in the former River Country entrance area- this is now used as the entry/waiting area for the Backyard BBQ:

 

 

You can see that the wannabe Urban Explorers have been stymied by that rope with the dog leash clip stretched across the path. Darn!  I guess they're not going to get to see the moldy pool after all.

 

Now, what about that green walled-off area.  What is that all about?:

 

 

Look- there is something white sticking up there in the left corner- is that a new building?  What's going on here?

 

Well, let's go and see.

 

It seems that all the construction work on the BBQ pavilion is done:

 

 

The walled-off area sits right across from the pavilion in the field behind Pioneer Hall.  There is a locked door here on the outside- which isn't big enough to allow any kind of heavy equipment to enter:

 

 

The wall was too high for me to reach my arm over and snap photos.  And I didn't have my broom stick and duct tape with me.  So, I couldn't get any photos over the top of the wall.  I could peek through a crack next to the door, and could see that there was a bunch of cinderblock stacked in there, and that white thing we saw peeking out of the top in the previous photo is the roof of a porta-potty.  But, that's all I could see.  What this is all about remains a mystery.  I would say it's a staging area for a project to be completed at Pioneer Hall, but I don't understand why it would be sitting here in the field if that was it.  I don't recall ever seeing this extensive a construction wall around the Fort before.  For the pool and loop work they did a few years ago, they just used the standard chain link fence with green fabric.  But this is a solid wood enclosure.  I'm stumped.  For now.  I just need a way to see over the wall, and then I'll know more.  For now, what we have is a real unsolved mystery.

 

I really didn't have time to stick around- my chicken would be ready soon, so I had to keep walking.

 

There's my favorite weather vane:

 

 

And now we're at the barn.  I was at the Fort. That meant I had to check on the calliope:

 

 

Here's a look back at that wood enclosure so you can get an idea of how much space is enclosed and where it's located:

 

 

Here we are at the barn:

 

 

The calliope is here:

 

 

If you watched the video I posted a link to earlier, you know that the button to play the calliope is working again (although a River Explorer says this is all a big scam) :

 

 

I love this horse silhouette that is posted outside the barn:

 

 

My beeper never went off, but it had definitely been more than 15 minutes, so I needed to head back to pick it up.  I took this path next to Pioneer Hall:

 

 

Here's a last look at the mystery area:

 

 

Here's the future DVC parking lot:

 

 

I checked on the old windmill, and am happy to report that it is still safely hidden under those vines:

 

 

Remember, those vines are Confederate Jasmine.  They weren't blooming yet, but they looked about ready.  If you're going to be at the Fort in the next month, go by there and take a sniff.  You'll thank me later.

 

The beautiful flower bed outside the Pioneer Hall ticket window:

 

 

My chicken was sitting there ready to go when I got back.  The CM said she had paged me a couple of times.  I guess the barn is too far.  Remember that.

 

I brought the chicken back, and we tried to enjoy it, but there was a lot of traffic out on the road next to the porch:

 

 

 

Terrible, I tell you.

 

Here's your basic GAG photo:

 

 

Oh, and here's something new- a hightop table and chairs on the porch:

 

 

I want to sit there and have a drink some time.

 

So we ate as much chicken as we could.

 

And that was it.

 

We decided we had had enough.

 

So I took this last photo:

 

 

And we headed home.

 

That was last Sunday.

 

Now another weekend is upon us.

 

Hopefully, we can repeat this exercise next week.

 

TCD

[wendinator 109]

The wall was too high for me to reach my arm over and snap photos.  And I didn't have my broom stick and duct tape with me.  So, I couldn't get any photos over the top of the wall.  I could peek through a crack next to the door, and could see that there was a bunch of cinderblock stacked in there, and that white thing we saw peeking out of the top in the previous photo is the roof of a porta-potty.  But, that's all I could see.  What this is all about remains a mystery.  I would say it's a staging area for a project to be completed at Pioneer Hall, but I don't understand why it would be sitting here in the field if that was it.  I don't recall ever seeing this extensive a construction wall around the Fort before.  For the pool and loop work they did a few years ago, they just used the standard chain link fence with green fabric.  But this is a solid wood enclosure.  I'm stumped.  For now.  I just need a way to see over the wall, and then I'll know more.  For now, what we have is a real unsolved mystery.

 

I say we take up a collection to get you one of these. It's a mere $1000.  :rofl3:

 

 

My husband has something similar... If only I could convince him to drop everything and go down to the Fort to solve the mystery!

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

*Deep Sigh*

 

You leaving the Fort makes me almost as sad as me leaving the Fort.

 

Okay, not really close, but still feels like the end of an adventure.  

 

Praying the weather down there cooperates for this weekend, or your girls just "cowboy up" and go anyway.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I say we take up a collection to get you one of these. It's a mere $1000.  :rofl3:

 

 

My husband has something similar... If only I could convince him to drop everything and go down to the Fort to solve the mystery!

 

That is really cool.  I could have some real fun with one of those.

 

And your husband has one?  He needs to bring it to the Fort the next time you come!

 

I think I can solve this particular mystery with my broom stick and duct tape.  That is more cost effective too.

 

 

*Deep Sigh*

 

You leaving the Fort makes me almost as sad as me leaving the Fort.

 

Okay, not really close, but still feels like the end of an adventure.  

 

Praying the weather down there cooperates for this weekend, or your girls just "cowboy up" and go anyway.

 

The rain that pounded North Florida earlier in the week seems to be heading this way for a visit.

 

We don't worry about a little rain.

 

But, if it's going to be a lot, that's no fun, and we'll have to pass.

 

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Great update! I wonder if the green wall could be related to the barn or something? Isn't it closer to the pavilion and barn than Pioneer Hall? Hmmmm.....

 

 

I say we take up a collection to get you one of these. It's a mere $1000.  :rofl3:

 

 

My husband has something similar... If only I could convince him to drop everything and go down to the Fort to solve the mystery!

 

My husband lost one of these doing some work, got stuck in a tree and they could never recover it. He was not happy. 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Great updates!

 

The Flag Retreat in MK is a very moving ceremony.  I saw it for the first time on our last trip and highly recommend it.

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

I was late to the party, but as always ...  You delivered !!!   Thank you Andrew !

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

Thanks for another great TR.

Props on the new roof and new fence pics.

[jmaul 65]

 

Here's your basic GAG photo:

 

 

 

Got one better (spoiler alert to my TR)

 

[Beckers 1,136]

Got one better (spoiler alert to my TR)

Got to say your GaG looks better.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

GAG is good.

[LONE-STAR 370]

Nice report hope your there again and the weather is not keeping you away.

[wendinator 109]

That is really cool.  I could have some real fun with one of those.

 

And your husband has one?  He needs to bring it to the Fort the next time you come!

 

He has something similar. He bought components and built his own.

 

 

 

The white one I showed you requires no assembly. It's turnkey.

 

We're heading to the Smokies soon and he's already lamenting that he won't be able to take the quad with him. (There's not a lot of trunk space in a Miata!)

 

 

My husband lost one of these doing some work, got stuck in a tree and they could never recover it. He was not happy. 

 

Yes, my husband has had some excitement with his too. He crashed it into a tree and some of the propellers came off. They were bright yellow and somehow one went missing. We both scoured the area and still can't figure out how we were unable to locate an 8" bright yellow plastic propeller. Oh well. It gave him an excuse to buy new ones.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

 

There's not a lot of trunk space in a Miata!

 

From one Miata owner to another, I so agree!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

 

 

We stopped at the pet cemetery on the way out, and saw that Mr. Toad is still MIA:

 

 

 

 

TCD

Noooooooooo!!!!!