The Unnamed Trip Report. September 5-8, 2014

[dblr....Rennie 224]

I took a walkabout around Saratoga Springs and the Treehouses once myself. I like the idea of the treehouses, but they are awfully isolated. You really need a car when staying there.

 

Yes I agree but when we stayed there this past New Years and my son said, Dad it feels like we are camping made it all worth it.

[superloopers 2]

 

Pretty cool if you ask me.

 

You know whats not cool? 

 

Cutting down trees.

 

 

See it there? I seem to have hit the perfect angle that makes it hard to see the tree stump.

 

I know this has been discussed heavily here, and I’m sure theres a reason. But this just SMB.

 

Heres some more pics of that tree stump behind site 1446.

 

 

 

And a side view from the entrance to the 1400, behind the tether ball court to the right.

 

 

Why did that need to be done? 

 

Was it struck by lightning?

 

Was it diseased?

 

What happened?

 

It really opens up the back of that site to the main road now. but oh well, whats done is done.

 

I was there for this and staying in the 1400 loop. That tree had broken in half and half of it was on the ground one morning when we were leaving. I would venture to day it was diseased.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow, that walkway at the Treehouses reminds me a lot of the Fort.  

 

 

I've said this before- the grounds around the Treehouses remind me of what the Fort used to look like.  Before the idiots in charge went on the deforestation campaign that began 5+ years ago.

 

 

 

Big ditto.

 

Agreed.

 

Cory is a funny guy.

 

TCD

[FunFinder265....Cody 36]

Agreed.

 

Cory is a funny guy.

 

TCD

Thanks guys.

But who's Cory?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Thanks guys. But who's Cory?

 

That's a very good question.

 

My bad.

 

TCD

[ajcjmom 8]

I'm in and late.

 

We stayed at the cabins over Labor Day weekend and the Fort was packed! Yet they still had a few empty sites.

 

Can't wait to read the rest of of your adventures.

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

I am finally in and all caught up!

You have been an excellent addition to the FF.net TR writing staff Peggy!

Looking forward to more!

[lklasing 16]

I agree with all the sentiments already expressed about SSR and the Treehouses.  We have stayed at both SSR and OKW within the past year (those two being the same type villa-only resorts, as opposed to a DVC add-on to a regular WDW resort).  SSR just didn't impress us.  It was nice enough, and I will admit that the counter service spot was worlds better than OKW's CS, but the SSR themeing (how do you spell that, anyway?) was just meh.  OKW, on the other hand, was awesome.

 

But the Treehouses - I'm dying to stay there.  Great atmosphere in that neighborhood and just so cool seeming.  One of these days...

 

Great report, BTW!  Looking forward to more!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Waiting for an update, Cory.  

[FunFinder265....Cody 36]

Waiting for an update, Cory.  

I'll get to it tonight or tomorrow Daniel.

 

Have a wedding to attend today.

 

Cory

[FunFinder265....Cody 36]

Alrighty Ladies and Gentlemen, time to press on with this TR

 

We left off with us heading back to our truck from The Treehouse Villas. We were hungry and decided to swing by DTD and grab a bite to eat.

 

What have we done up to this point?

 

Looped The Fort - I like that.

 

Tug went to the dog park - I like that.

 

Tug went to day camp at Best Friends Pet Care - he liked that.

 

It rained - I don’t like that.

 

So now, as I stated above, we have left The Treehouse Villas, and SSR and are headed over to DTD.

 

I’ve been avoiding DTD for some time now due to the construction mess that is going on with the Disney Springs project.

 

I made the mistake of going that direction with the camper in tow last time I left The Fort in June.

 

Said “I’m not going back there until all the construction is complete”

 

Well guess what?

 

That lasted 3 whole months.

 

Oh well

 

We drive over that way and pull into the first available entrance.

 

Here is where we parked.

 

 

Look at that, I took a picture of people taking a picture of people.

 

I wonder how often that happens at WDW?

 

Probably not that much.

 

So anyway, there is a lot of construction going on with this Disney Springs project.

 

Look at this building-strip mall-facade thing going up.

 

 

I’m not a fan of all this construction, at least I don’t think so. I haven’t looked into this Disney Springs project too much, so I’m not sure what to expect.

 

I blame it on my generation. We are the type that want it now. 

 

You know what I mean?

 

We install our landscaping, we don’t grow it.

 

Get it?

 

Thats why I don’t like the construction.

 

But hey, I might like this.

 

 

Too bad it won't be real food trucks, but they'll build them to trick my mind........sneaky imagineers.

 

But I see a FAIL here.

 

Opening Summer 2014. 

 

It's September, pumpkin spice everything is out.

 

Halloween decorations are out. 

 

I even saw a Mickey pumpkin at The Fort.

 

It is most definitely NOT summer anymore.

 

And there are no food trucks in sight.

 

FAIL.

 

Especially because they ALWAYS finish on time.

 

You know what DTD wasn’t that day?

 

Crowded.

 

I like that too.

 

Here’s a shot of the crowds.

 

 

And another shot of the crowds.

 

 

 

They have an evil empire Starbucks there.

 

We were starving, that was the point of this trip to DTD.

 

But I got distracted complaining about the construction.

 

So where should we eat?

 

I left that up to my fiancee. 

 

She decided on Wolfgang Puck’s Cafe

 

Good choice.

 

I knew there was a reason I’m marrying her.

 

So into Wolfgang’s we go.

 

 

She had the humus wrap. Big thumbs down from her.

 

No pic of that, sorry.

 

I had the pepperoni pizza.

 

 

It was good.

 

 

She helped me eat it.

 

Big thumbs up for that, from the both of us.

 

Since we were here in DTD, we decided to take a nice walk around the place, maybe check out World of Disney.

 

So we headed that way.

 

Oh look, another evil empire coffee shop, how nice and convenient.

 

 

Here’s the coolest part, in my opinion, of World of Disney. Look at this.

 

 

You guys ever see those? There’s one on each side of the entrance underneath Stitch.

 

Those things are way cool. I want them from my Halloween decorations, I’m the kind of guy that gets sucked into Spirit and Halloween City store. Those Halloween stores to me are like Target to my fiancee.

 

I wouldn’t mind having this for my Halloween decorations as well.

 

 

Damn, forgot where I was....

 

......

 

Ah! DTD in WoD (that the right acronym?)

 

Does anyone ever go in there and not look at the merchandise?

 

I feel like most people don’t see all the great decorations.

 

I mean look at these..

 

 

 

 

Cool aren’t they?

 

Once we left there we walked over towards Rainforest so we could check out Disney Pin Traders.

 

Shot of the water on the way over

 

 

Has anyone taken a ride on the balloon? 

 

If so, did you like it? I’ve tossed it around for sometime now but haven’t pulled the trigger.

 

Nothing good at Pin Traders, so we decided we would head back to the truck.

 

This Lego fight caught my attention

 

 

I bet I could’ve built that when I was younger. Maybe.

 

We got back to the truck and decided to head back over to The Fort. We were planning on hanging out for a little bit, then hopping on a boat to The Contemporary to check it out and see if we could sneak into Fort Knox Bay Lake Tower. Then catch the monorail around Seven Seas Lagoon and check out The Poly and Grand Floridian.

 

When we got back to the camper, we sat down for a little just to relax, and there was some rain in the area.  No need to go 100 MPH, we have all weekend.

 

As we were hanging out, I heard someone outside of our camper say hello. I popped outside and there was this pleasant gentleman to meet me. He asked for Cody, so I knew he must be a Fiend since I had posted our site number in that thread the night before. 

 

Guess who the first Fiend was that I got to meet? Remember I said he was a “pleasant gentleman”

 

Any idea?

 

Lou.

 

That’s right, Lou.

 

The snarky bus driver. The cranky bus driver. The Lou.

 

Well after only being on FF.net for a few months and reading everything you guys have to say about him, this is not what I pictured. He is very nice, and we had short but good conversation. I have no clue what all of you other people are talking about with him. 

 

I like Lou.

 

I would like to see Lou again.

 

In fact, he is so nice that he came bearing a gift for my fiancee and I.

 

Check this out.

 

 

Thats right!

 

I got spiked!

 

An authentic FWRR spike.

 

FREAKING AWESOME.

 

Even better to get it while on a trip when I’m looking for evidence of the FWRR.

 

This is great, and I’m on cloud 9.

 

Got to meet my first Fiend, and of all people, it was Lou.

 

After Lou left, I was full of energy and ready to go back out, so fiancee and I took the golf cart down to the marina to catch The Contemporary boat. As we walked up I noticed a back hoe, some workers, and a pile of beach sand. So I snapped pics. TCD also reported this in his Nothing Fancy TR.

 

 

 

You know what I didn’t do. Ask what they were doing.

 

Oops.

 

I fail.

 

But I learn when I fail.

 

Next time.

 

When we got in line for the boat I looked back and saw a young boy in a pontoon boat by himself. His dad was down the dock with his little sister talking to what I assumed to be a CM.

 

Heres the scene

 

 

What that little boy did next was hilarious. He found the stereo and cranked that bad boy up to 11. Beverly Hills by Weezer was cranking. 

 

And that little guy was jamming out. 

 

Pushing the throttle. 

 

Ripping on the steering wheel. 

 

I loved it. 

 

Everyone in line loved it. 

 

Even dad loved it, here he is holding little sister and taking a video of his son.

 

 

Between that and meeting Lou, all within 20 minutes, my day had been made.

 

Awesome.

 

While the camera was out, I noticed a bigger pile of sand down the beach.

 

 

Still had no clue what it was for, and I never asked.

 

A MK boat showed up first, so we decided to hop on that, then catch the monorail over to The Contemporary.

 

Heres a picture that I made famous in my last TR, the crooked Cody pic.

 

 

 

I’m artistic.

 

Theres RC rotting away.

 

 

 

And the shipwreck on Discovery Island with a new name plate on it.

 

 

Wondering about the name plate?

 

TCD noticed it and the mystery was solved over is his TR, check it out.

 

Barney Fife was busy today, saw 3 of these guys speeding between Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon.

 

 

As we pulled into the MK, I snapped a pic of the new ferry dock. 

 

 

Next stop was The Contemporary.

 

Cody

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

A spike and a Lou!! 

[alexwyattmommy 181]

I think everyone really loves Lou.  I'm not sure why he wants 'street cred', but then I'm not a guy either.

 

I've never been to Puck.  Might have to try it next time.  We usually cheap out over at the Earl.

[Beckers 1,136]

Empty DTD, that's nice!!! We made the mistake of going on a Saturday. Never, ever again. It sucked.

The balloon ride is on my list to do in November. I think sometimes there are deals for it, like living social type.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

We used to have a Wolfgang Puck Express by our house and it was one of our "go to" places.  Closed a few years ago and I still miss it.  Decent pizzas and I liked their tortilla soup.  But even though I like it, we've never been to the one at DTD.

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

Nice job meeting Lou and receiving your spike.

Love resort hopping and getting drinks around the monorail line.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Not crowded DTD rocks.

Starbucks SMB!

Meeting the Lou rocks!

Getting spiked rocks.

Rotting RC SMB.

Sounds like an awesome day.

The Lou perpetuates his snarky personality to keep up his street cred. But I think he really likes yelling at kids to stay off his lawn. Lol.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Great update!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Cody-

 

Great update.

 

About the Downtown Disney balloon, GDF from here on ff.net went up in it earlier this year, and posted about it in her trip report:  http://www.fortfiends.net/forum/topic/9655-reasons-to-celebrate…-gadawgfan’s-spring-break-trip-report/?p=265558

 

Our Queen of Content, Mo, alerted us to a Groupon deal for the balloon in this thread: http://www.fortfiends.net/forum/topic/12045-groupon-deal-on-characters-in-flight-downtown-disney/

 

That Groupon deal has expired, but maybe there's another one out there.

 

Congratulations on being spiked. You're a real Fiend now.

 

TCD

[Lou... 3,118]

 

 

 

 

It's always a pleasure to meet new Fiends and I would have stopped by even if I didn't have spikes, but the person below is the only reason I get to spike Fiends.

Cody is a nice addition to the Fiend family.

 

Congratulations on being spiked. You're a real Fiend now.

 

[FunFinder265....Cody 36]

A spike and a Lou!! 

 

It was pretty cool to experience both. I'm going to have to come up with some way of displaying the spike.

 

 

I've never been to Puck.  Might have to try it next time.  We usually cheap out over at the Earl.

 

Puck was good, I really liked the pizza, good size for 2 people to split. Avoid the humus wrap though. That was a big thumbs down.

 

Empty DTD, that's nice!!! 

 

It was really nice for a change. I construction SMB, but the crowds made up for it.

 

 But even though I like it, we've never been to the one at DTD.

 

You must go, whenever your boycott is over.

 

Love resort hopping and getting drinks around the monorail line.

 

I'm starting to think that this resort hoping is going to become a more permanent thing for us. It was nice to not focus on the parks.

 

Not crowded DTD rocks.

Starbucks SMB!

Meeting the Lou rocks!

Getting spiked rocks.

Rotting RC SMB.

 

 

Everything you said there are my thoughts exactly.

 

Great update!

 

Thanks! We aren't quite halfway through yet. This upcoming update will mark the halfway point...and hopefully when I get home in October, I will have drug this out long enough to add some bonus content.

 

Cody-

 

Great update.

 

About the Downtown Disney balloon, GDF from here on ff.net went up in it earlier this year, and posted about it in her trip report:  http://www.fortfiends.net/forum/topic/9655-reasons-to-celebrate…-gadawgfan’s-spring-break-trip-report/?p=265558

 

Our Queen of Content, Mo, alerted us to a Groupon deal for the balloon in this thread: http://www.fortfiends.net/forum/topic/12045-groupon-deal-on-characters-in-flight-downtown-disney/

 

That Groupon deal has expired, but maybe there's another one out there.

 

Congratulations on being spiked. You're a real Fiend now.

 

TCD

 

Thanks for this info, you rock. I'll keep my eyes out for a deal like that.

 

 

It's always a pleasure to meet new Fiends and I would have stopped by even if I didn't have spikes, but the person below is the only reason I get to spike Fiends.

Cody is a nice addition to the Fiend family.

 

Thanks Lou! Glad you happened by when I was there.

 

Cody

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

The Lou and a spike. Winning! 

 

As TCD mentioned, we did the balloon. I looked back at the link he posted (wow, my Z has grown up!). What I failed to mention there was that I was SCARED. It did move around a bit in the air. I'd do it again, but I'd have a drink beforehand. 

 

I enjoy resort time too. It's hard to balance Fort time/other resort time/park time. I need to start staying a month! 

[FunFinder265....Cody 36]

Update time.

 

We were on the MK boat from The Fort. 

 

Our plan was to land at the MK, board the monorail and head over to The Contemporary.

 

We were to break into Bay Lake Tower, check it out then make the round back to MK.

 

I’ve stayed at The Contemporary in another lifetime. On the 7th floor, with a park view.

 

That WAS my favorite WDW resort, until I found out I could BYOHM to WDW.

 

You know what that is? BYOHM?

 

No?

 

Bring Your Own Hotel Room

 

Ha! I’m creative.

 

You like that don’t you?

 

Artistic and creative.

 

Quite the addition to FF.net crew, if I do say so myself.

 

So now my new favorite resort is The Fort. With The Contemporary in 2nd........for now......Sunday might change that for us.

 

But I need to slow down here, I’m still on Saturday afternoon. 

 

I’m getting good at dragging out TRs.

 

So we hopped on the monorail after arriving at the MK and rode over to The Contemporary.

 

I wish I snapped a pic of the new MK bus stops, but I forgot. They’re nice.

 

So correct me if I’m wrong, but now resorts that are not in the MK area offer bus service directly to MK right? Rather than the TTC like before? You’ll have to forgive my ignorance on this subject as I hadn’t stayed in a WDW resort in 2010-2012.

 

Anyway, The Contemporary. I still like that resort, a lot. I’m not sure what it is that draws me to it, but its definitely something. Maybe the monorail through the middle? Maybe the grounds? Maybe the atmosphere? Who knows, but I like it.

 

When we got off the monorail, I immediately set a course for the bridge to BLT. When we got there, we found an unsuspecting DVC member and followed his lead.

 

 

We walked in like we owned the place. YES!

 

You know what’s not “YES”? Theres not much over there at BLT.

 

Nothing to look at, the lobby is bland, the building itself didn’t do anything for me.

 

This is the one and only pic I took when inside BLT, and it was of another building.

 

 

Thats it. I was disappointed. 

 

We headed down to the 1st floor so we could go outback and check it out.

 

Of course this place is like Fort Knox, so every door to the exterior will lock you out.

 

Whatever, I wanted to be out of that place anyway.

 

So outback we went.

 

Still not impressed.

 

Only took two pics.

 

 

 

The pool was locked and I was over it, so back over to The Contemporary we went.

 

Remember, it all started with a mouse

 

 

We went inside and headed back up to the monorail so we could go over to the Poly.

 

But first, The Wave.

 

 

Has anyone eaten there? I want to try it....I think.

 

Heres a shot from the 4th floor of The Contemporary overlooking Bay Lake and the monstrosity. That thing SMB.

 

 

I snapped some pics of Seven Seas Lagoon while on the monorail over to the Poly.

 

Water Bridge.

 

 

 

Those bungalows are coming along nicely. 

 

You know the story of the old wave machine that used to be just offshore of the Poly’s beach? The one that they stopped using and just left at the bottom of the lake?

 

You think they removed that when it came time to build the DVC additions?

 

Hmmmmm..

 

Once we got to the Poly, we went straight out back to see what we would see.

 

And this is what we saw.

 

 

Not much to see besides construction.

 

I do like the new wraps on the construction fences, better than the bland green ones used elsewhere.

 

We walked over to the marina.

 

Look, another famous crooked Cody pic, thats artistic.

 

 

These 2 guys look happy.

 

 

 

Talk about someone whose happy..we came across a small wedding on the Poly’s beach.

 

 

Good for them. It looked like a nice, small, very private ceremony. And the weather cooperated, big plus for Florida in September.

 

We made our way over to the Spirit of Aloha pavilion. 

 

 

There were several people there eating, all wearing matching Hawaiian shirts. Not sure what that was about.

 

After all of our walking, we were hungry.

 

Off to Captain Cook’s we go.

 

We split the pulled pork nachos.

 

 

Very good, will go back for those in the future.

 

While we were eating, we decided we would check up on our pup.  He had 4 hours of outside play time and they told us to check on the website for the webcams during those 4 hours.

 

So we did. 

 

And look, Tug is a star.

 

 

He’s on the left side facing away from us, with his tail up.

 

I count 14 dogs in that shot, all big ones. Pretty cool if you ask me. I bet Tug will be tired by the time we go pic him up.

 

With full stomachs and a happy dog, we decided it was time to head over to the GF.

 

Here’s the lobby, which all of us have seen, but seeing again is never too much.

 

 

Whats the story with the birdcage?

 

Think there was ever a bird that big?

 

Or is it decoration?

 

We went outside next to take a look at the new DVC building and the pool area.

 

 

Whats that out in the water?

 

Lets look closer.

 

 

Someone lost their beach ball in Seven Seas Lagoon.

 

Thats two lost balls I’ve noticed today. 

 

I wonder how many are lost every year?

 

Lets look at the Poly’s DVC addition from this angle.

 

 

Said lost ball is in this pic as well. Bottom middle between the palm tree and light post.

 

Do you think theres a lost ball collector for WDW?

 

Back inside we went and I saw something, and another stupid question came to mind.

 

Heres what I saw.

 

 

Heres my stupid question.

 

How many penny crusher machines are on WDW property, and how much money would it cost to get one from every single machine? Sounds like an interesting research project.

 

Look, Mickey in the tile

 

 

We then walked through the lobby and outside towards the marina. 

 

The grounds here are absolutely beautiful.

 

 

 

Over at the marina we found the Grand 1.

 

 

I would venture a guess that Seven Seas Lagoon is the smallest body of water that particular model Sea Ray resides on.

 

What do you think they use the radar for? Surely its not for collision avoidance. Maybe tracking weather?

 

They have boats for rent.

 

 

Look, just like at The Fort's Bike Barn, these boats are sponsored by TakeMeFishing.org

 

 

Interesting, since those boats would be hard to fish out of.

 

While we were at the marina, I took a photo of one of Lou’s favorite parts of WDW.

 

The EWP in storage.

 

 

At this point we were happy with what we have seen and decided to head back over to the MK so we could catch our boat to The Fort.

 

Quick resort reviews:

 

The Contemporary: Still thumbs up

 

BLT: SMB

 

Poly: Thumbs up

 

GF: Thumbs up

 

 We had FP+ for Maelstrom and Test Track for the evening and we were going to use our TV to go over there, so we could pick up Tug on the way back.

 

A monorail was pulling in as we walked up to the station, score.

 

When we got to MK, a Fort boat was rounding the breakwater, score.

 

Walked right onto both modes of transportation with no wait, score.

 

BUT, the weather started to look bad.

 

Heres the view from the boat on Bay Lake looking towards The Fort.

 

 

Not good.

 

Would we make it?

 

Thats in the next update.

 

Cody

[Lou... 3,118]

Heres my stupid question.

How many penny crusher machines are on WDW property, and how much money would it cost to get one from every single machine? Sounds like an interesting research project.

 

If it's a stupid question, we have a stupid answer.

There is an official 27 page document which I'm sure Mo will send you upon request, that shows where all the coin presses are located along with descriptions.

And it's not just for pennies, it's also dimes and quarters.

[Beckers 1,136]

It's too hard to quote the pic on my phone but that dark cloud pic is crazy looking!!!

And the pressed coins? There a crap ton of them and they are everywhere. My son is obsessed with them. And they add up quickly. I need to start saving up my nice pennies for November.

This site gives you a break down of how many there are.

http://www.themouseforless.com/downloads/DisneyPressedCoinsChecklists.shtml