The TCD Gang Jump Starts Christmas: An Early November Fort Trip Report

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

It's Florida....it thaws quickly. 

 

[Pirate Jeff 9]

I am in 

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

Home again in time to make page 2.

[BigTom 76]

May be page 2, but I am here

[alexwyattmommy 181]

It's a trip report, I'm here.

[HappyRedhead......Betsy 16]

A TCD trip report! Yay!

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

I'm in and on page two!!

[Duane 150]

Am I lucky enough for page 2 or have page 3 bragging rights?

[CampMImi 22]

Better late than never!  I love that all of your girls were able to get together with you.  THAT is magical. 

[Seals 111]

Intrigued by your picture, I Googled Florida Polytechnic University with my science/engineering/technology interested 10th grade son in mind.  I was telling him about it last night and he was interested when I said about 40 miles from WDW. But then he asked "toward the beach?" and I said "no, smack dab in the middle of Florida." Then I said no sports at this point and he wasn't as interested. I'm going to keep an eye on it though. It sounds interesting. And another example of the non-WDW things I learn on this board.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Y'all know the drill.  First I respond to the comments, then I post an update.

 

First!!

 

Nice upgrade to 100! 

 

Waiting for more. 

 

Way to go.

 

First to post on the first page of a new TCD TR.

 

That's some pretty good bragging rights there.

 

First page bragging rights!  Now I will go back and read!

 

Good job.

 

You almost beat DIT.

 

Hmmm, you know what I haven't done in a while?

 

Showered?

 

Ready to read more. Plus hopefully will get started on my TR tomorrow

 

I am looking forward to your report, as Halloween was all over by the time we got there.

 

It was good to see you and Rick again.

 

You were smart to pack up as much as you did on Saturday.  I had a lot of wet stuff to pack on Sunday.

 

Multiple postings on the first page of a TCD trip report?

 

That's true.

 

Well, I was thinking I haven't had a steak in a while.  But I guess you would be correct too!  :rofl:

 

Do you even eat steak anymore?

 

First Page Bragging Rights!!!

 

Good job, Marty!

 

I'm in! First page and before the 4th DIT post bragging rights!

 

Way to go, Harold.  You jumped in before DIT took all the spaces.

 

Funny thing is, it wasn't DIT who took all the spaces.

 

Yay, first page! I knew it was a good idea to come home for lunch!

 

Your instincts paid off.

 

Good job.

 

Love hearing how you spend time with your kids :)

 

So... it looks like the parks are already decorated for Christmas, which makes me happy as we're planning an early November trip next year and are hoping for Christmas decorations :)

 

Only the MK was decorated as of the time we left on Sunday, November 9.  The Osborne Lights were up and running for guests as of November 7.  The rest of DHS was not yet decorated, nor were Epcot or AK.  But, the decorations will be going up fast from now on.  I'd guess by the end of this week, most park decorations will be in place, and then the resorts will start to get theirs.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Now that i have actually read the report, I will comment.  Great job on being a nice guy.  I am glad you got a great site and a great price.  It is good to be TCD.

 

They did a live feed of the castle lighting that I watched with my kids on Friday night.  I was the only one in my house who clapped when the lights went on.  I need to spend more time training these kids on the important things in life.

 

Can't wait for more!

 

I was there again on Friday night for the castle lighting!  So, I've seen it twice.  And, I think that's plenty.

 

I'm here!

Looking forward to more.

WBI

 

Glad that you're reading along, Nick.

 

It won't be long until you're backing your new 5th wheel in to your site at the Fort!

 

I'm in.

Did I make page one?

 

Good job, Ray.

 

And, you were nice and only took one other first page spot.

 

YAY for a new report!!

 

 

Glad you're reading along.

 

I'm in!  First page!

 

Good job, Gwen.

 

You'll get to see what happened right after you left the Fort.

 

In! Maybe first page?

 

Nice.

 

Last spot on page one!

 

Thanks for letting us know what this building is!  I saw it on the way to Lakeland last month and was going to ask about it.

 

Congratulations on the great site upgrade.  We love the 100 loop.  Just can't fit into it any more.

 

I watched that building go up.

 

It sure is strange looking.

 

When it first started to take shape, there was no signage saying what it was. I thought it was a car dealership or perhaps an extraterrestrial encampment.  Turns out it was the Florida government wasting my tax money on some fancy campus that we don't need.

 

I also have grown to love the 100 loop.  Somehow, we've ended up there on our last three Fort trips.

 

I'm here.

 

Glad to hear you're here.

 

So I may not have made page 1 but I'm claiming I met TCD during this trip reports rights.

 

You've got better things to do than worry about being on page 1 of a TCD TR.

 

And, you do get meeting TCD bragging rights.  It was great to meet you and your family.  Your children are adorable!  Enjoy the rest of your stay at the Fort.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I love the Dream Lights.

How is Elsa able to freeze the castle twice a night?

 

 

It's Florida....it thaws quickly. 

 

I love the Dream Lights too.

 

I do not love the Anna and Elsa lighting ceremony.  Once per night was plenty.  It's dumb that they go through that whole painful exercise twice a night.

 

But, they have a lot of Frozen merchandise to sell, so we should be thankful that they're not re-lighting the castle every hour.

 

I am in 

 

Glad to hear it, Jeff.

 

I guess that I just missed you too.

 

Home again in time to make page 2.

 

Good job, Ed.

 

I know you were around, but we didn't meet up this time.

 

May be page 2, but I am here

 

Nothing wrong with page 2.

 

Or with page 3, for that matter.

 

It's a trip report, I'm here.

 

Way to go.

 

A TCD trip report! Yay!

 

Yay is right.

 

I'm glad that we were able to squeeze another trip in.

 

I'm in and on page two!!

 

Solid page 2 bragging rights for you.

 

Am I lucky enough for page 2 or have page 3 bragging rights?

 

You made page 2 with ease.

 

Which is good, because we are moving on to page 3.

 

Better late than never!  I love that all of your girls were able to get together with you.  THAT is magical. 

 

Shoot, you're not late at all.  This report isn't even 24 hours old yet.

 

It is a blessing that we were able to get the whole family together.  It's a hard thing to do nowadays.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Intrigued by your picture, I Googled Florida Polytechnic University with my science/engineering/technology interested 10th grade son in mind.  I was telling him about it last night and he was interested when I said about 40 miles from WDW. But then he asked "toward the beach?" and I said "no, smack dab in the middle of Florida." Then I said no sports at this point and he wasn't as interested. I'm going to keep an eye on it though. It sounds interesting. And another example of the non-WDW things I learn on this board.

 

There was quite a bit of controversy as to how this new university came about.  It was the pet project of a powerful state senator, and he rammed it through the legislature, and leaned on the governor to sign it.  Of course, it later came out that the senator and his buddies made money off the land which was ultimately purchased for the university.

 

But, it now exists, and it seems that they're pulling out all the stops to attract students and get the university up and running.  The first students got very attractive financial aid packages, and the school has some very nice facilities.  Since your 10th grader will be looking at starting college in 2 years, things should definitely be running smoothly there when he's ready to apply to college.

 

I think it's actually only about 20 miles from Disney World.  Y'all need to move down here now to establish your Florida residency.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Update time.

 

It is still the evening of Wednesday, November 5. Halloween was just 5 days ago, but we are at DHS about to see the Osborne Lights.

 

The Osborne Lights weren't going to open up for DHS guests until Friday, November 7.  And, that's when I thought we'd see them.

 

But there was a special Castmember preview on Wednesday night, and we just happened to be in town for that.

 

We get to see them first!

 

And, here we are- these are the first photos you'll see of this year's Osborne Lights:

 

 

 

The atmosphere was fun.  We were in a group of CM's and their guests, and all of us were seeing the lights for the first time this year.  Everyone was excited and taking photos:

 

 

 

I think that my favorite part is the canopy, and we spent a lot of time under it:

 

 

I also really like the big globe and the flying angels:

 

 

I don't remember that they have had two sets of flying reindeer before, but they do this year (and they may have always had two sets, and I just never realized it) :

 

 

 

We sat on the curb for a bit and just enjoyed the dancing lights and music.  That's when we noticed that a whole section of lights on this corner building were not working.  Whoops:

 

 

It was nice that the crowds were all CM's.  CM's are much more polite than regular park guests, and there were no flustered parents trying to plow through the crowds with their giant strollers.  It was fun to watch the groups of well behaved young people just enjoying the lights and each other's company:

 

 

One neat thing that I did not know about until we got there is that they were passing out free hot cocoa and cookies over by Toy Story, so we wandered over there to get some.  That was awesome.

 

We got in on the photo taking action:

 

 

Those photos are all on the girls' phones and haven't shown up yet anywhere where I can steal them.  But, we took a lot of photos.

 

The preview was going to end at 11, and as that hour approached, the crowds really thinned.

 

That gave us the perfect opportunity to go and hunt for the hidden Halloween cat.

 

Do you know about that?

 

Every year, they hide a light up cat somewhere in the decorations.  The story, as I understand it, is that Mrs. Osborne once accidentally packed a cat Halloween decoration up with the Christmas stuff, and Mr. Osborne would incorporate it in the decorations every year.  They have continued that tradition at DHS, and it's in a different spot each year.

 

We started out looking around the area where they hid the cat last year. We didn't find the cat there, but we did find this Razorback, which I don't recall having seen before:

 

 

There's a Mickey snowman over there.  Usually that area is mobbed with people, but it wasn't tonight:

 

 

The angels and globe are really cool when they blink on and off to the music:

 

 

Here's a better shot of the snowman with Mickey ears.  At least it's not Olaf:

 

 

Normally, you can't walk in through the San Francisco street, but they were letting us in that way tonight.  So we walked in there to hunt for the cat. Here's a look at the canopy:

 

 

I am glad to see that they have kept the reason for the season in place and on display:

 

 

Somewhere in this area around the entrance to Lights, Motor, Action!, they're going to be setting up a premium dessert party area for guests to waste their money on.  I looked around to see where that is likely to go, but I'm not sure.  Maybe it will be around this display of Santa shaking hands with Mickey:

 

 

Funny TCD family photo reenacting that scene:

 

 

We looked and looked, but couldn't find that darn cat.

 

SPOILER ALERT

 

WE FOUND THE CAT. 

 

IF YOU WANT TO FIND IT FOR YOURSELF, STOP READING THIS UPDATE NOW, AND DON'T LOOK AT THE NEXT TWO PHOTOS.

 

I suggested that we take one more walk down the street with the canopy.

 

And, in an alley, we found the cat:

 

 

 

If you want to impress your friends, look for the cat in the alley that is off to the side right beneath the light up canopy.

 

Next to the alley, there's a building with a bunch of Dalmatians our front.  You see the one there on his hind legs on the steps?  He has a Hidden Mickey to the right of his tail:

 

 

They had Photopass photographers out for the CM preview.  I love this guy- he got on the ground, and told a group of girls to circle around him and look down.  The guy has game:

 

 

We stayed right up to 11, and they played a special finale song.  They must play that every night, but this was our first time ever hearing it.

 

Then it was time to go.

 

One more BAH photo.

 

That thing is going to be gone soon:

 

 

Which is too bad.

 

It's a nice hat.

 

But they crammed it in a bad place.

 

From here, we headed back to camp and hit the hay.

 

We will begin the next update with early morning photos from our first morning at the Fort.

 

If you didn't make first or second page bragging rights, you can be one of the first to claim page 3 bragging rights, as we are heading to that page next.

 

TCD

[dieseldave 5]

I'm in, and maybe even on the 2nd page.  Great report as always. 

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

What a great way to experience the lights! Are either of the twins thinking about becoming seasonal CMs?

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Great Osborne Lights photos!  We hope to see them again next year.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Everyone was excited and taking photos:

 

 

 

 

Were you trying to be funny here? 

 

Because it was sort of funny. 

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

The Osborne Lights aren't nearly as exciting after 11 miles of getting drenched in the wind and rain - trust me on that. I only saw one person taking a photo, so others must have felt the same way I did.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm in, and maybe even on the 2nd page.  Great report as always.

 

Sorry, you didn't make page 2.

 

But, you get top of page 3 bragging rights.

 

And, that's pretty good.

 

What a great way to experience the lights! Are either of the twins thinking about becoming seasonal CMs?

 

It was special seeing the lights that way.  But, it was kind of weird that it was only November 5th.

 

Both girls are looking in to going seasonal, but Disney has recently made changes with regard to qualifying for seasonal CM status, and it may not work for them.

 

Neither one of them is ready to no longer be a CM. That's going to be very hard on both of them.  They have really enjoyed all of their coworkers, and going back to college is not going to be as fun.

 

They are both saying that they will apply for professional internships, or possible another college program before they finish college.

 

Great Osborne Lights photos!  We hope to see them again next year.

 

I hope they're still there next year.

 

With all the changes happening at DHS, you never know.

 

Were you trying to be funny here? 

 

Because it was sort of funny.

 

I was not trying to be funny, and didn't even notice the grumpy guy front and center.

 

I should go back and change my description of that photo to say: "Everyone, except the grumpy guy in the grey Mickey shirt, was excited and taking photos."

The Osborne Lights aren't nearly as exciting after 11 miles of getting drenched in the wind and rain - trust me on that. I only saw one person taking a photo, so others must have felt the same way I did.

That stinks, Ed. It was nice every night before your race for days, and it's been nice every night since.

 

TCD

[Memphis 105]

The Osborne Lights aren't nearly as exciting after 11 miles of getting drenched in the wind and rain - trust me on that. I only saw one person taking a photo, so others must have felt the same way I did.

Was it her?

[lklasing 16]

I'm in!  Page 3 isn't too shabby for me, so I'm just happy to be here. 

 

Love the sunset picture - that was absolutely gorgeous.

 

Love all the digital images of the castle on other people's phones/ipads.  Too funny.

 

And love, love the Osborne pics.  Our favorite is the flying angels.  I had heard last year that 2013 was going to be the last year for this display, but thankfully that wound up being wrong.  Then, I heard on a podcast just this morning that this year will be the last.  Anyone have any inside info on that?  TCD twins?  

 

Looking forward to the rest of this report!

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

Was it her?

 

Nope ...

[red...Susan 37]

Thank you for pointing out the cat, I can never find it and I would be disappointed to miss it when we are there in December.