TCD is Thankful for Thanksgiving @ The Fort 2014

[LONE-STAR 370]

How were you here and i never  saw you? I saw WBI they passed our site Saturday. But were gone  before  i could  say hello.

[clakey 9]

In on page two

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

I hear page 2 is where all the cool kids join in.

[BuckeyeFortMama 43]

Happy to hear one of the 'Famous in our House' Fiend Families is getting to spend the most thankful of holidays at the Happiest Place on Earth! The FORT!  \

 

Wish it were me!

 

Here.  I would love to be a skipper on the Jungle Cruise.  I would murder that.

 

PS If I had a $1 for every time I have heard this we would be on another cruise already, and to be honest it would suit him.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

In... page 2?

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

In... page 2?

 

Yep :)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

In! First?

 

Way to go!  First on First page bragging rights!

 

In!

 

And you got second on First page bragging rights.  That's good too.

 

First Page!

 

Sorry you had to deal with the rain. Wondering, though, how you cooked your turkey!

 

Not just First page- you're #3!  If this were the Olympics, that would be a bronze medal for you.  Way to go.

 

You will soon see how I cooked the turkey.  I copied something that another Fiend did a few years back and reported about here on FortFiends.net.  And, I'm glad I did.

 

I'm here and ready--we were there Wednesday through Sunday. Great weather!

 

What?

 

No way!

 

I wish I had known that.  I would have liked to meet y'all!  That's at least twice now that we've been at the Fort at the same time.

 

Were you in your pop-up?  What loop?  I'm sure I looped past your site at least once.

 

Beckers is thankful for TCD at the Fort for thanksgiving TR!

 

Well, thanks for that.

 

I am thankful that you're reading this TCD at the Fort for Thanksgiving TR.

 

This thankfulness stuff could go on all day.

 

I am here!!

 

Good.  I am going to be giving you a shout out and will be posting a link to one of your old TR's here in just a bit.

 

I'm in.

 

Glad to have you, Harold.

 

Did y'all make it over to WDW at all during the Thanksgiving holiday?

 

I'm in.  Great start!

 

Thanks, Gwen. I'll try to keep it going.

 

Here.  I would love to be a skipper on the Jungle Cruise.  I would murder that.

 

Nice.  It's been a while since we've had BFF in at the start of a TCD TR.

 

I wish you could be a Jungle Cruise skipper.  Twin #1 almost was one.  But she got pulled at the last minute and was sent to work elsewhere in Adventureland.  It's too bad. There are College Program kids who ended up there and never wanted to be there in the first place.  It's not hard to tell who they are.

 

I'm in, first page second page, who knows?

 

Best Regards,

Norm

 

You've got solid page one bragging rights there, Norm.

 

It's good to have you along for the ride.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm in!

 

Good. Pull up a seat and make yourself comfortable.  This one will be going on for a while.

 

Man, I should have made a Fort visit to hang with TCD and fam! The weather was great from Wednesday afternoon forward

 

Well, I wish you had paid a visit to the Fort.  You are right about the weather.  I brought the good weather with me.  It was awesome from Wednesday afternoon until I packed up and went back home on Sunday.

 

I'm in.

Turkey at the Fort!

 

Who are you calling a turkey?

 

More room on page 1? Time to comment.

That's a lot of water! Glad the rain stopped for you. I've been able to snag 2 overlapping Mine Train FP+ for our last minute trip. I'm hoping for that 3rd!

 

Yes, that was a lot of water.  It's been a long time since I've seen it like that.  But, believe it or not, I've seen worse.  I remember one time that we camped there years ago where every single ditch anywhere in the campground was full of water.

 

As WBI says below, your chances of snagging that third FP+ are pretty good.

 

I'm in it?

 

Yes, you are in it.

 

And your appearance is coming up soon.  We ran into each other on Thanksgiving morning.  And y'all also caught Twin #1 on the job.

 

DOH, KFK got me.

 

Wow.  Even the ghost is here.  That's a good sign.

 

Wow you're fast with the trip reports!  I guess I need to get on the ball and start mine.

 

I didn't realize you were there on Thanksgiving day with the whole family, looking forward to hearing about it.

 

Did I make page one?

 

WBI

 

Yes, you need to start yours.  You have to report on the prince's first trip to the Fort!

 

Yes, the whole TCD family was there for the afternoon on Thanksgiving.  And for the next morning too.   You were absent until some time after that.

 

I think you should be able to snag one.

 

We actually were able to get two connected FP+ on Friday after Thanksgiving for mid day. 

 

We had really good luck moving them FPs around and getting new ones the day of, I was really surprised by that.  Unfortunately we didn't use a lot of the ones we got.  Plus we wasted quite a few rider swap passes, I meant to give them away and completely forgot.

 

WBI

 

Y'all did good with your FP+ planning.  I couldn't believe it when you told me that you were able to get Mine Train FP+'s on Friday.  That should give a lot of folks visiting for the upcoming busy time some hope.

 

I'm in!

 

Good.

 

Y'all are heading to the Fort soon, right?

 

I'm in! Looking forward to hearing about your Thanksgiving dinner and how you cooked the turkey.

 

Welcome.  The turkey cooking information is coming soon.  We will get to Thanksgiving morning in the next update.  But, the turkey cooking won't start for maybe two more updates.  There was a lot of looping on Thanksgiving morning.  We will get to the turkey cooking in due time.  I promise.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Glad you missed the rain but really sorry for those who didn't.

 

That's true.  I saw a lot of bedding hanging out to dry around the tent loops.  And a few collapsed awnings sitting next to the trashcans in the loops.  Tuesday was not a good day to be at the Fort.

 

Yay, another TCD trip report!! Im enjoying all the new trip reports! Thank you for letting us enjoy the fort with all the wonderful trips and memories!

 

You are most welcome!  And thanks for commenting- it makes the TR's more fun.  There are a lot of other great TR's currently underway here, and you should check those out too!

 

Great start, glad the weather cleared up!

 

I'm glad the weather cleared up too.  If that Tuesday weather came on Thanksgiving, we would have had a much different experience that day.

 

How were you here and i never  saw you? I saw WBI they passed our site Saturday. But were gone  before  i could  say hello.

 

I didn't know y'all were at the Fort until I ran into Gots2Pitt/Jeff and he told me y'all were across from him on the 1200 loop.  After that, I made sure to loop past your site whenever I could.  I know I was by there early on a couple of mornings, and y'all must have been home because I saw your cart and your dad's cart (and your new truck, which is beautiful by the way), but there were no signs of life.  I figured I'd see you sometime over the weekend, but that never happened.

 

In on page two

 

Glad you're along.  There was a big group of Auburn fans camped behind us on the 700 loop.  I never got a good look at them, and wondered if maybe y'all were there.  I guess it wasn't you.

 

 

I hear page 2 is where all the cool kids join in.

 

Definitely.

 

Happy to hear one of the 'Famous in our House' Fiend Families is getting to spend the most thankful of holidays at the Happiest Place on Earth! The FORT!  \

 

Wish it were me!

 

 

PS If I had a $1 for every time I have heard this we would be on another cruise already, and to be honest it would suit him.

 

Famous in your house?  Really?  That's cool.

 

I hope that your crew gets to spend a Thanksgiving at the Fort one day.  You would love it.

 

I wish there was a way that BFF could be a guest Jungle Cruise skipper.  It sounds like he'd be a good one.

 

In... page 2?

 

Yes, page 2.

 

Where the cool kids are.

 

Way to go.

 

TCD

[Starbuc71 162]

Just got home last night and already page 2. Your trip report makes me feel like I was right there...lol. Ended up going to MK on Sunday. Thanks again

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Just got home last night and already page 2. Your trip report makes me feel like I was right there...lol. Ended up going to MK on Sunday. Thanks again

 

Aw man, I just got done writing the next update, and now I have to re-write part of it.  I was encouraging people to shame you into writing a trip report.  Which I still will.

 

I'm glad that y'all got to go to the MK on Sunday.  I had to go home.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

It's update time.

 

We left off with us visiting the Magic Kingdom late Wednesday night, the 26th of November.  We had watched Wishes and experienced the Jingle Cruise.

 

And we still had two more FP+'s to use.

 

I guess this is a good place for me to acknowledge that the new FP+ system is a pretty awesome thing during busy times like holidays. This is the first Thanksgiving holiday where FP+ has been in full implementation.  And it worked well for us.  It's nice to be able to reserve three FP attractions without stepping foot in a park.  And, we got major pixie dust when the Mine Train went down that morning, and the system actually worked and I received this email:

 

 

The Mine Train was now working fine, and we could skip the one hour wait.

 

So we did.  This is one of the photopass photos that was automatically taken on the ride because we were wearing our MagicBands.  I've said this before-it's amazing to me that they can detect guests' MagicBands and get their photos to a Photopass account, but they can't get the MagicBands to open the gates or Comfort Station doors at the Fort:

 

 

Our last FP+ was for Space Mountain, so we headed there.   The girls all rode together in one rocket, and I got stuck with a hyped-up guy and his girlfriend.  This guy was really squirming around in his seat and yelling and screaming before the ride even started.  He also directed his girlfriend to get ready for the ride photo.  I was really blessed to be able to ride with such a wild and crazy guy:

 

 

After that third ride, we headed back toward the hub, and discussed what to do next.  That storm had ushered in some cold weather, and it was cold in the park.  One of the twins joked and said we should go in the Stitch ride since it was inside.  We all agreed to that, as we all hate that attraction, and hadn't seen it in a long time.  So, in we went.  Man that is one awful attraction!  But it warmed us up enough that everyone wanted to eat a Dole Whip.  So that's what we did next.  I don't know why I don't have photos of that, but I don't.

 

By then, it was past midnight.  There were no lines for any of the rides, but we were cold and tired, and had a big day coming tomorrow, so we decided to head out.

 

The hub wasn't crowded, so we stopped to take some photos on the way out:

 

 

My camera says this photo was taken at 12:11 am:

 

 

I took this one right after that one to show the crowd level on Main Street- that's not too bad for the night before Thanksgiving:

 

 

There was a Photopass photographer there with nothing to do, so we stopped:

 

 

Do you like my jacket?  The twins found that on the sale rack at the CM store.  They don't have them for sale at the Fort anymore.  I kind of thought that these were for ladies, but this one was in a man's size, and it doesn't look to girly, so I wore it a lot over the weekend.

 

There was no one around the area in front of the Train Station on the way out:

 

 

 

We could see the Fort boat dock from here, and there were a few folks waiting for the boat.  We hung out in this area for a while, and the girls took turns taking photos sitting up on the wall there where lots of folks pose for photos.  I don't have any of those photos to share at the moment, but maybe they will show up later in the report.  The Christmas music was playing while we hung out here, and it was much nicer than waiting down at the dock.  When we saw our boat coming, we headed there, and had a nice peaceful ride back to the Fort.

 

When we got back to the Fort, we passed a bunch of deer grazing around the 700 loop exit.  A couple of the deer were good size, with antlers.  Pretty cool. 

 

Then we headed back to the site and got ready for bed.

 

Something funny happened when we got back to the site.

 

When we first arrived that day, I saw fellow Fiend Starbuc71 cruising around the 1100 loop in his Herbie cart.  Cool, I thought, I would need to go and hunt him down later.  I never saw him or the cart again that first day.  Well, guess what I saw in the site next to ours when we got back that night?  The Herbie cart.  It turns out that Starbuc71 and his family were in the site right next to us.  What are the odds?  That's what he meant when he said that reading the report makes him feel like he was there.  He was.  Literally.  Right next door.  I saw Dave the next morning, and we chatted several times over the weekend.  He told me that he was thinking about writing a trip report for this trip. So, let's all bug him to do that!  He can share what it's like to be camped next to the wild TCD gang.

 

I was up early the next morning.  It was supposed to be a nice day, and I wanted to do some Thanksgiving morning looping. 

 

I got a shower, made some coffee, and got ready to go.

 

It was right around 8 when I headed out.  I checked my outdoor thermometer for a reading:

 

 

46.8 degrees.

 

That's pretty cold.

 

But, I didn't let that stop me.

 

I had spotted this holiday inflatable at a site on the 800 loop the night before, and I stopped for a shot- it's Mickey, Minnie and Pluto in teacups- I've never seen that one before:

 

 

Thanksgiving is a funny time for decorations around the Fort.  Some guests skip Thanksgiving decorations and go right to Christmas, while others stick to Fall decorations:

 

 

Here's a photo of something else I saw the night before.  This camper on the 800 loop had this firepit set up out by the road and had himself a nice blazing fire.  The only problem with that is that this firepit is not one that is approved for use at the Fort.  I guess nobody told the guy:

 

 

There were some misguided folks on the 800 loop who had a Santa and Tigger doing the Tomahawk Chop:

 

 

I didn't get one of the cable converter kits for my old TV the day before, so I hit up the Meadow Trading Post to get one.  This being a holiday and all, I expected to be put on the waiting list, but they actually had one for me.  I admired the Christmas decorations in there.  When I was last here earlier in November, it was still Fall:

 

 

If you've been wanting to get some of the new Fort Wilderness gear that has shown up in the past few months, I have some bad news for you.  Those long-sleeved Fort t-shirts are all gone, and the only sizes left in the sweatshirts are small and medium:

 

 

They are also sill out of the new ceramic mugs, but they do have some new light up key chains:

 

 

I don't know who it is that's in charge of the merchandise at the Fort, but whoever it is ought to be in another line of work.  I would love to buy a couple new mugs, and several of us wanted one of the new sweatshirts to wear now that the weather was cool.  But, there were none to be had.  And, I'll bet there won't be any to be had between now and the end of the year.  So dumb.

 

If you are a regular reader of TCD TR's, you know that one of my favorite morning activities is to sit in one of the rocking chairs on the front porch of the Meadow Trading Post and listen to the piped in music.  I especially like the Christmas music.  I thought I was in luck this morning, as there were three rocking chairs waiting for riders:

 

 

There was a slight problem that wrecked my plans, though.  There was no music.  Nothing.

 

That stunk.

 

I went around back.  Maybe just the front speakers weren't working?

 

Nope.  No music there.  And no rocking chairs:

 

 

I popped my head in the Trading Post, and noticed that the music wasn't playing in there either.  Strange.  I wanted to ask a CM what was up, but they were all busy helping guests or deep in conversation with each other, so I didn't bother.  I figured I'd just sit on the porch down at Trail's End later, and stop by here another morning.  After all, this was just our first morning here.

 

Since I was here, I figured I might as well check on Bob's dock.  One of these days, he'll stumble across this report, and be happy to see a photo or two of his dock:

 

 

It looks like the path down to Bob's dock became a river during the storms yesterday, and a lot of the mulch got washed out:

 

 

The water level in the old fishin' hole is about as high as I have seen it.  There are times when the level is so low that Bear Rock is on dry land.  Today, the bear was barely keeping his head above water:

 

 

I kind of hope that Bob doesn't see this, because his dock was a mess this morning-look at all the stuff that got washed on to it:

 

 

All of that rain pushed some of the green slime that is normally in the canals into the fishin' hole:

 

 

But the view looking the other way was still pretty good:

 

 

Look over there by the Bike Barn, there was a couple actually out jogging.  Crazy:

 

 

Here's something that makes me mad.  Some careless fisherman left a hook, some line, and his trash lying on the picnic table.  Not cool:

 

 

That's why nobody should be allowed on this dock but Bob and guests he authorizes.  That kind of thing doesn't happen when he's there.

 

Here's another photo of the mess on the dock.  The maintenance guys must have been busy doing other things yesterday.  Somebody needed to get out here and clean that mess up:

 

 

The sycamore trees behind the Trading Post look ready for a major leaf drop:

 

 

I love the decorations on the back porch of the Meadow Trading Post, but they're not quite as good when the Christmas music isn't playing:

 

 

With no music to enjoy, there was no reason for me to stick around the Trading Post.  So, I headed out to see what I could see.  You'll see what I saw in the next update.

 

TCD
 

[Starbuc71 162]

I'm going to try and start it by the end of the week. I'm actually slammed at work being gone for a week

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

As always, another great update.

 

Sounds like you like Stitch about as much as we do.

 

The fort looks a lot different than it did when we were there just three weeks earlier.  Falling leaves, Christmas decorations, etc.

[dvccamper 32]

Stitch is the only attraction in the MK that we have never done. But I think I would only do it in a desperate situation, such as escaping the cold, the heat or a horrific lightning storm.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Stitch is the only attraction in the MK that we have never done. But I think I would only do it in a desperate situation, such as escaping the cold, the heat or a horrific lightning storm.

 

I would take my chances with the lightning. 

[LONE-STAR 370]

We sleep late and stay out late  so that's  why you never  saw us. Oh thanks about  the truck. I  never  like red but for some reason  it caught  my eye  on  this  truck.

[LONE-STAR 370]

We sleep late and stay out late  so that's  why you never  saw us. Oh thanks about  the truck. I  never  like red but for some reason  it caught  my eye  on  this  truck.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

My kids did Stitch our last day at MK.  I sat outside and people watched, as a MNSSHP was about to start.  But the kids enjoyed it.  I would actually try it sometime, if the opportunity arises.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Love the pictures... love, love, LOVE the Christmas decorations :)   Hate the trash on the picnic table.  I'll never understand people doing that...

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Oh and goodness.. it was cold that morning! 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm going to try and start it by the end of the week. I'm actually slammed at work being gone for a week

 

OK. Go ahead and put out the fires.  Maybe then you could get started by the end of the week.

 

As always, another great update.

 

Sounds like you like Stitch about as much as we do.

 

The fort looks a lot different than it did when we were there just three weeks earlier.  Falling leaves, Christmas decorations, etc.

 

It's probably been 2 or 3 years since we've gone in to Stitch.  And it will probably be another 2 or 3 before we go back.  Maybe longer if we're lucky.  That is one messed up attraction.

 

You are right about the Fort looking different.  Winter is coming.  Some of the trees will lose their leaves-especially the cypress trees.  And there should be more and more Christmas decorations around as the month goes on.

 

We do have seasons in Florida, but the changes are much more subtle.

 

Stitch is the only attraction in the MK that we have never done. But I think I would only do it in a desperate situation, such as escaping the cold, the heat or a horrific lightning storm.

 

Never?  You really ought to see it.  My oldest daughter has never seen Captain EO in Epcot.  The rest of us have only seen it once.  I think everyone needs to see some of these attractions so you can understand how bad they really are.

 

I would take my chances with the lightning.

 

LOL.  I'd go and see Stitch.  But, I'd rather take the lightning than see Captain EO again.

 

We sleep late and stay out late  so that's  why you never  saw us. Oh thanks about  the truck. I  never  like red but for some reason  it caught  my eye  on  this  truck.

 

I figured as much.  We had some late nights at the MK, and I thought maybe I'd see you on the boat.  Nope.

 

My kids did Stitch our last day at MK.  I sat outside and people watched, as a MNSSHP was about to start.  But the kids enjoyed it.  I would actually try it sometime, if the opportunity arises.

 

Yes, you should see it.  It will make you appreciate other attractions.

 

Love the pictures... love, love, LOVE the Christmas decorations :) Hate the trash on the picnic table. I'll never understand people doing that...

If you love Christmas decorations, stick around. We're just getting started looking at those.

It surprised me that so many fishermen/women are so careless with hooks and fishing line. I live near the gulf, and there are a lot of piers and bridges where people can fish. They all have litter like that. Do those nitwits know what fishing line and hooks can do to a bird? Or a little kid who picks it up to play with? Makes me mad just thinking about it.

 

Oh and goodness.. it was cold that morning!

It was cold, but the sun was shining, and I knew it wouldn't be that cold for long. I actually prefer mornings like that to hot, muggy, summer mornings.

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I did see Captain EO with the kids.  They love MJ and were excited to see it for that reason.  Unfortunately, the bad 3D gave me a headache.  I just asked the kids what they thought of it.  15yo summed it up pretty well - "It was so darn cheesy, it was great!"

[weekender 5]

Great trip report.  

 

We were at the Fort from Saturday, Nov 22 - Saturday, Nov 29 and had the pleasure of experiencing the rain.  You are very lucky to have missed it as we had over 6" that Tuesday.  As you saw it flooded many areas of the Fort and washed out alot of the mulch.  The picture of the flooded inflateables was in the 1600 loop and we were in the 1700 loop so we got to see the carnage first hand. My sister and her husband's site was right by the bathhouse path and they had water front property starting that Tuesday.  You also missed the tornado warning that was issue Tuesday morning. We were in Epcot and were in the Land building, but my sister was in their camper.  I guess you would go the bath house if one were to hit, but hope that never happens.

 

As for the check in and "rules" that goes to what you said on my post earlier.  It is the consistency of which Disney chooses to enforce or not enforce most of them.    

 

Hope the weather is great for the rest of your trip and have fun.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I did see Captain EO with the kids.  They love MJ and were excited to see it for that reason.  Unfortunately, the bad 3D gave me a headache.  I just asked the kids what they thought of it.  15yo summed it up pretty well - "It was so darn cheesy, it was great!"

 

My kids only know MJ as the creep he ended up becoming, so they're not fans at all.  I agree with the first part of what your 15 year old said, but not the second.  It is not great.

 

Great trip report.  

 

We were at the Fort from Saturday, Nov 22 - Saturday, Nov 29 and had the pleasure of experiencing the rain.  You are very lucky to have missed it as we had over 6" that Tuesday.  As you saw it flooded many areas of the Fort and washed out alot of the mulch.  The picture of the flooded inflateables was in the 1600 loop and we were in the 1700 loop so we got to see the carnage first hand. My sister and her husband's site was right by the bathhouse path and they had water front property starting that Tuesday.  You also missed the tornado warning that was issue Tuesday morning. We were in Epcot and were in the Land building, but my sister was in their camper.  I guess you would go the bath house if one were to hit, but hope that never happens.

 

As for the check in and "rules" that goes to what you said on my post earlier.  It is the consistency of which Disney chooses to enforce or not enforce most of them.    

 

Hope the weather is great for the rest of your trip and have fun.

 

I am sorry you had to be there for the storms on Tuesday.  That could not have been fun.

 

I looped through the 1700 loop several times over the course of this stay.  Too bad I didn't know which site you were on, I would have stopped and said hi.

 

As for rule enforcement, we are about to look at some of that.  You were there, so you know how that went.

 

TCD