Day Trippin'

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I am in, you should have gotten that CM to let you take a preview ride for us.

We need to get TCD an official badge/press pass to showing naive CMs.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

TCD this is them.

They actually met Devores when they got this photo printed yesterday.

 

I saw them!

 

It was after the 3:00 parade.  Twin #1 and I picked up a Starbucks drink (sorry DIT), and we were heading to Tomorrowland.  We cut through that area where they have the dessert parties.  I told Twin #1 I wanted to stop and take some photos of the area that was torn up around the moat, so we walked out into the seating area.  Your mom and dad were sitting there. This would have been somewhere around 3:30-4:00.  I noticed your dad's shirt.  But he didn't seem to recognize me, and Twin #1 hates it when I stop and talk to strangers from ff.net.  So, we walked on.

 

I'm in. did I make page 1?

 

Sorry.

 

You would have.

 

But for good old DIT.

 

Page 2 is good, though.

 

Yes sir that's right the end of June thru the 4th of July, with any luck maybe you will be there near the 4th also.

 

I just may be.

 

Summer plans are very up in the air at the moment.

 

But I do like WDW on the 4th.

 

I am in, you should have gotten that CM to let you take a preview ride for us.

 

I know.

 

But, there were no trains running on Sunday.  I have some photos coming up that will show why.

 

TCD

[devores 382]

I for one will throw this out there. Andrew should be considered media and get on of those media invites to the reveal.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I for one will throw this out there. Andrew should be considered media and get on of those media invites to the reveal.

Here, here!

 

All in favor say, "Aye!"

[Beckers 1,136]

I saw them!

It was after the 3:00 parade. Twin #1 and I picked up a Starbucks drink (sorry DIT), and we were heading to Tomorrowland. We cut through that area where they have the dessert parties. I told Twin #1 I wanted to stop and take some photos of the area that was torn up around the moat, so we walked out into the seating area. Your mom and dad were sitting there. This would have been somewhere around 3:30-4:00. I noticed your dad's shirt. But he didn't seem to recognize me, and Twin #1 hates it when I stop and talk to strangers from ff.net.

TCD

They watched the parade from the train station and then were killing time where you saw them for their dinner reservations at The Plaza Resturant at 4:25.

You should have said hello! They wouldn't have recognized your face but have heard me talk about your trip reports. They were wearing their shirts from Gettysburg.

Had you said hello, they would have officially met more FF members than I have! They already have me beat for meeting fiends in Disney. I only meet fiends in PA lol.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I for one will throw this out there. Andrew should be considered media and get on of those media invites to the reveal.

I agree! I would do a better job reporting on this than most of the unknown bloggers who got invited.

Oh well, I like a challenge. I know I'll be riding it soon.

In the meantime, I enjoyed being able to see it with the walls down.

 

 

Here, here!

 

All in favor say, "Aye!"

 

Aye.

Now what?

 

They watched the parade from the train station and then were killing time where you saw them for their dinner reservations at The Plaza Resturant at 4:25.

You should have said hello! They wouldn't have recognized your face but have heard me talk about your trip reports. They were wearing their shirts from Gettysburg.

Had you said hello, they would have officially met more FF members than I have! They already have me beat for meeting fiends in Disney. I only meet fiends in PA lol.

I should have.

But Twin #1 was already mad that I stopped to take photos.

So, the timing wasn't good.

Next time, though.

Good for them for wearing Fiend shirts! I noticed your dad's right away. And then I stopped there and wracked my brain (which never takes long) trying to figure out who he could be. I didn't know of any Fiends who were supposed to be there then. That's awesome that they met Dave! I knew he was going to be working that afternoon, but we bugged out of there not long after the parade.

TCD

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Why couldn't TCD or FF.net get a press pass?

That knucklehead that lives in his mothers basement gets one. I think.

There's got to be away we can get one.

Any old news guys or gals out there?

(Sorry josh, I was just kidding. My Lou side came out.)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm going to give you a second update today.

 

And, then I have a bonus video to share.

 

And, that's the best I'll be able to do for now.

 

There won't be an update tomorrow, because I'm going to fetch Twin #2 from Tallahassee.  She'll be home for a couple of weeks before she heads off to start an internship for the summer.  So, there's a good chance that there will be another day trip next weekend.

 

For now, we will continue with this day trip.

 

We left off at the Mine Train.

 

Here's a photo of the entrance sign.  Look up at that clock in the top left of the photo.  The hands are a shovel and a pick axe.  How cute is that?:

 

 

The FP and Standby entrances are right next to each other here.  We looked down the FP queue in the first set of photos.  This is a look down the standby queue:

 

 

The entrance sign:

 

 

The standby time sign-this will have some big numbers on it soon:

 

 

Here's a better look at that FP return time clock:

 

 

They spent some dollars on the landscaping of this ride:

 

 

With all the lights, I'll bet this queue will be nice to look at after dark:

 

 

It's amazing how many trees they've planted in this area.  It looks like a forest already.  We know that this was just a big empty space before.  Looking through the trees in this photo, you can see the dwarf's cottage just to the left of the center of the photo:

 

 

Zooming in a bit, you can see that there are tools leaning on the side of the wall:

 

 

Now we have walked toward the area that sits across from the entrance to the Winnie the Pooh ride.  This is where I thought the ride entrance would be.  There's a large roof here- but it turns out that this is the entrance to the mine, and the inside part of the queue:

 

 

 

There's a big barrel there in the center, and behind that, above the doors, you can see that there's a word that begins with a V and ends with a T.  It must say VAULT:

 

 

This is that same area, backed up a bit:

 

 

There's a walkway over here on the side of the Vault.  I figure that this must be the exit.  So guests will exit in the area across from Pooh:

 

 

Here are some more photos from the walk around.  Look at the trees and flowers planted on the rocks above.  The trees are fake, and they kind of look it:

 

 

 

Here's the lift hill.  From the layout, it looks like the trains leave the vault area, make a quick turn, and then head right up the lift hill:

 

 

There's a gate over here- but I figure this must be an emergency exit:

 

 

This one has a lock on it:

 

 

Here are the buzzards from the old ride:

 

 

 

We made it all the way around.  I really like how you can walk all the way around this attraction and see it from every angle.  And there is so much to see.

 

Then it was time to see the mermaid.  We had FP+'s so we walked right on.  My only complaint was that the AC was not as cold as it usually is. It was a warm day, and we had just walked a bit, so I was looking forward to it.

 

For me, the AC is the best part of the ride.  And we didn't get it.  All I got was this lousy picture:

 

 

Our Little Mermaid voyage didn't cool me off very much.

 

Next on our agenda was the Haunted Mansion.  I could have done a better job scheduling our FP+'s so I we weren't walking back and forth so much.

 

Twin #1 suggested that we duck into the Bon Jour gift shop as we walked by.  They have good AC in there. And Phil Holmes:

 

 

That still didn't do the trick.  We were hot, and not feeling the walk to the Haunted Mansion.

 

I suggested a LaFrou Brew.

 

A total rip off.

 

But they are very icy.

 

So, we went into Gaston's Tavern.  We passed on the souvenir mugs, but it still was a rip-off.

 

But, I saw something there that I had never noticed before:

 

 

Igerbock?

 

As in Bob Iger?

 

How did I never notice this before?

 

And how does Phil Holmes still have a job?  He gets a portrait, but his boss gets a barrel?

 

That brew did the trick.

 

We sat in the tavern and got nice and cooled off.

 

Then we were ready to go.

 

We had talked about going to BOG for lunch.  We weren't resort guests this trip, so we had no chance for the lunch FP+. 

 

Still, we would give it a try.  I wasn't looking forward to standing out in the sun.

 

The plan was to walk to the Haunted Mansion and then come back.

 

I knew I would be all sweaty again by then.

 

It was only around 11 now, but I suggested to Twin #1 that we have an early lunch.

 

The line was across the bridge and around the corner, but the guests in line were spread out.  So we knew it wasn't that long.

 

We went ahead and joined the line.

 

That gave us a view of something weird that was coming out of the Mine Train tunnel.  It was one of the ride vehicles with this big contraption on the front of it:

 

 

 

 

From what I've seen on the internet, they were doing some kind of test to see what guests might be able to touch if they stick their hands out of the vehicles.  It seems like this is something they should have checked by now.  But, what do I know about rollercoasters?

 

There was a couple up ahead of us who were showing their Disney sides as Ariel and Prince Eric.  You can see the girl's scallop shell t-shirt, and how the guy has on a white shirt and red belt like Eric.  What you can't see is the girl's skin-tight fish scale print pants.  Fail on my part:

 

 

 

Speaking of fashion faux pas, check out the girl with bright pink hair in the line behind us:

 

 

TCD

[dblr....Rennie 224]

What you did not get to show us yet is the gift shop we will probably have to exit thru after we finally get to ride the ride.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

What you did not get to show us yet is the gift shop we will probably have to exit thru after we finally get to ride the ride.

Funny!

We actually wondered about this. The new Ariel ride doesn't have a gift shop. I thought for sure that what is now the DVC stand across from the exit would be a Little Mermaid gift shop.  But, it's not.

 

Now, for the Mine Train, I don't see a Snow White gift shop either.

 

Not very Disney like, huh?

 

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Okay, I have to ask.

 

Did you recognize that there was a couple showing their Disney Side (or Disneybounding, as I have also heard it called)?  

 

Or did Twin #1 alert you to this?

 

Cause I will be impressed and yet somewhat concerned if you noticed it on your own.

[Helmsey......Todd 134]

In!
And there is no way that we will be waiting for 5 hours to meet some cold princesses. 

[superloopers 2]

I can't wait to ride the mine train ride!

[lklasing 16]

I'm in!  Page 2 - unbelievable!

 

I'm so excited to hear about you beating the system.  Sadly we haven't kept all the prior MBs from past trips, but what I have done is to add my BIL and SIL to our reservation for September.  They were on our account for last trip and still have 1 day each on their tickets that doesn't expire until November.  I'm hoping that we will be able to make FP+ reservations for them and use them with the MBs that come when ours come.  (Does all that make sense?)  Do you think we would be able to use them day after day since they will never enter the park and therefore use the last day entitlement?

 

Excited about this TR!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Okay, I have to ask.

 

Did you recognize that there was a couple showing their Disney Side (or Disneybounding, as I have also heard it called)?  

 

Or did Twin #1 alert you to this?

 

Cause I will be impressed and yet somewhat concerned if you noticed it on your own.

 

I think that I noticed the girl first, but didn't know what her deal was.  It was the tight fish scale pants.   I failed to get a good photo of the pants/tights, but I think you will be able to make out the print/design in this zoom:

 

 

I do have to give credit to Twin #1 for pointing out that they were Disneybounding.

 

In!

And there is no way that we will be waiting for 5 hours to meet some cold princesses. 

 

I'm with you.

 

But, I have done some crazy things for my daughters.  Luckily, this is not that big of a priority for any of them.

 

For future travelers- get the FP+ 60 days out.

 

I can't wait to ride the mine train ride!

 

Me too.

 

And it won't be long!

 

I hope.

 

I'm in!  Page 2 - unbelievable!

 

I'm so excited to hear about you beating the system.  Sadly we haven't kept all the prior MBs from past trips, but what I have done is to add my BIL and SIL to our reservation for September.  They were on our account for last trip and still have 1 day each on their tickets that doesn't expire until November.  I'm hoping that we will be able to make FP+ reservations for them and use them with the MBs that come when ours come.  (Does all that make sense?)  Do you think we would be able to use them day after day since they will never enter the park and therefore use the last day entitlement?

 

Excited about this TR!

 

Every MB assigned to a certain person is a clone of the others.  So, while I have 5 or 6 MB's in my name, I can only use one of them each visit.  So, those tossed MB's aren't going to hurt you.

 

IF your BIL and SIL are on your account, and have a ticket attached, then yes, you can make FP+ reservations in their name, and use the MB's assigned to them EVEN IF THEY DO NOT ENTER THE PARK that day.  What I don't know is if this will in anyway mess up their one day ticket.  That could be a problem  For this day trip, Twin #1 and I used our own MB's and the MB's which are assigned to my two other daughters, who were not with us.  I was able to book and use FP+ reservations in their names even though they did not enter the park that day.  Their MB's are attached to AP's so they are good until the AP's expire. This is a big loophole that was not available with the paper FP's as tickets had to be scanned when entering the park before they could be used that day,.

 

I will be getting to this part- but here is something you should consider- The MB's I had for my wife and the two cousins who were supposed to visit us on a prior trip, which do not have any tickets connected to them, did work at the kiosks in the park to make day of FP+ reservations.  Even though these people don't even have tickets and did not enter the parks.  This is also big.  So, for your upcoming trip, you could add two names to your reservation and get MB's shipped to you for these people.  You could bring those MB's into the park with you and get three more FP+ reservations each at a kiosk on the day of your visit.  That would double your FP+'s for the day right there.

 

This all needs to be tested further, and is subject to change, but I don't see why I couldn't lend four of my MB's to a friend on a day when I know I won't be visiting a park.  He would still need to have a pass of his own to get in the park, but once in, his family could use my family's four MB's, just like my one daughter and I were able to use the two MB's of the daughters who were not there. 

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow.

 

Page 3 already.

 

As I said in the last update, I will be making a roundtrip to Tallahassee tomorrow, so no time for an update.

 

Please spend your time enjoying this video, which I am posting out of order.

 

We paid a quick visit to the Fort on Sunday evening, and found that there is a new audio loop that comes on automatically when you enter the little display in the horse barn.  I recorded the whole thing for your enjoyment.  It takes about four minutes, but it's well done and worth a listen:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwhzY7IIunM&feature=youtu.be

 

And, the button to play the calliope is working again too- here's a shorter video of it:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu_nsOKVPSc&feature=youtu.be

 

I'll be back with an update on Wednesday.

 

Be sure to check back.  I have some Festival of Fantasy parade photos and some photos of some other recent changes at the Fort.

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Excited to hear the calliope on our upcoming visit!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Excited to hear the calliope on our upcoming visit!

 

Before you get too excited, the calliope doesn't actually play.  When you push the button, it's a tape that plays.  And, I'm not even sure if it's an actual recording of the calliope.

 

TCD

[lklasing 16]

Every MB assigned to a certain person is a clone of the others.  So, while I have 5 or 6 MB's in my name, I can only use one of them each visit.  So, those tossed MB's aren't going to hurt you.

 

IF your BIL and SIL are on your account, and have a ticket attached, then yes, you can make FP+ reservations in their name, and use the MB's assigned to them EVEN IF THEY DO NOT ENTER THE PARK that day.  What I don't know is if this will in anyway mess up their one day ticket.  That could be a problem  For this day trip, Twin #1 and I used our own MB's and the MB's which are assigned to my two other daughters, who were not with us.  I was able to book and use FP+ reservations in their names even though they did not enter the park that day.  Their MB's are attached to AP's so they are good until the AP's expire. This is a big loophole that was not available with the paper FP's as tickets had to be scanned when entering the park before they could be used that day,.

 

I will be getting to this part- but here is something you should consider- The MB's I had for my wife and the two cousins who were supposed to visit us on a prior trip, which do not have any tickets connected to them, did work at the kiosks in the park to make day of FP+ reservations.  Even though these people don't even have tickets and did not enter the parks.  This is also big.  So, for your upcoming trip, you could add two names to your reservation and get MB's shipped to you for these people.  You could bring those MB's into the park with you and get three more FP+ reservations each at a kiosk on the day of your visit.  That would double your FP+'s for the day right there.

 

This all needs to be tested further, and is subject to change, but I don't see why I couldn't lend four of my MB's to a friend on a day when I know I won't be visiting a park.  He would still need to have a pass of his own to get in the park, but once in, his family could use my family's four MB's, just like my one daughter and I were able to use the two MB's of the daughters who were not there. 

 

TCD

 

Wow - this is really big news!  Let me see if I understand one thing right - if we have a room that will hold many more people than we actually have coming (which is the case for a new trip we are now putting together in July), I could fill that room up with friends who are already on my account from prior trips, letting them take the empty spots until the room is full, get their MBs when they are all shipped, and then use them to make FP+ in the parks?  If so, that's huge, as we are going to have a much bigger room than we have people.  I could have up to 5 invisible friends with us and use their MBs.  If that's the case, then we should be in really good shape even in July!

 

Sorry for the hijack!  But this is super news.  :jumpforjoy

Carry on with your report!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow - this is really big news!  Let me see if I understand one thing right - if we have a room that will hold many more people than we actually have coming (which is the case for a new trip we are now putting together in July), I could fill that room up with friends who are already on my account from prior trips, letting them take the empty spots until the room is full, get their MBs when they are all shipped, and then use them to make FP+ in the parks?  If so, that's huge, as we are going to have a much bigger room than we have people.  I could have up to 5 invisible friends with us and use their MBs.  If that's the case, then we should be in really good shape even in July!

 

Sorry for the hijack!  But this is super news.  :jumpforjoy

Carry on with your report!

 

Yes, I will explain this more in the next update on Wednesday, but I was able to take those three MB's I had from prior trips to a kiosk at the MK and schedule three same day FP+ reservations on those MB's independent from our already existing FP+ reservations.  I told the CM that I had these three bands for other members of our party who might be joining us later, and he was more than happy to set up the FP+ reservations even though these guests were not in the park, and did not have tickets attached to those MB's.  And we were able to use them that day.

 

I'm sure this is a loophole that will one day be closed. But it's open for now.  For a campsite at the Fort, that means you could list your nephews Louie, Dewy and Huey on your reservation, and any others, up to the maximum of ten, and use those extra MB's as I described.  Not to make advanced reservations, but yes to make day of. 

 

Is it breaking any rules?  Not according to the CM's who helped to set it up for me.

 

TCD

[BigTom 76]

I for one will throw this out there. Andrew should be considered media and get on of those media invites to the reveal.

All we need to do is start a Fort Fiends Newspaper and make TCD our WDW feature editor.

[lklasing 16]

Hot dang.  That rocks.

[Grumpy and Grandma 739]

 

Twin #1 hates it when I stop and talk to strangers from ff.net.  So, we walked on.

 

TCD

Did she forget who is paying the bill? :rotfl6:

[LONE-STAR 370]

Looking foward to the whole report.

[caveat lector 181]

Digging the pics of the new coaster.

I was a little worried about the thread title. I was concerned thatTCD was going hippie.

The use of the word "yet" in the first installment has me thinking....foreshadowing