TCD is Thankful for Thanksgiving @ The Fort 2014

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Better be careful with Ricky eating the 'taters or you will have Rocky Jar

And what is up with fiends and random people dressing like gorillas? Didn't DIT have a gorilla run in?

Yup. The gorilla run in happened during the 2013 Defeated Creek GG.

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

Thanksgiving dinner looked delicious.  Spending it at the Fort with family... priceless....   As far as the Bills fan,  he won't get that trailer back to Buffalo until April...   Unless he has a snow plow attached to the front of the truck...

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Mrs. TCD is a pre-school teacher, so we always have things like this around:

 

 

 

For no reason that we could ascertain, there was a kid in a gorilla costume on the dock trying to scare guests leaving the boat.  Nobody was amused.  Except for maybe the kid in the gorilla costume:

 

 

Now look at that.

 

A Buffalo Bills fan.  I've never seen one of those before:

 

 

 

 

Ok.....I have several comments to make on the parts I quoted above.  

 

First.....Mrs TCD is a preschool teacher?  It all makes perfect sense now.  For years I've wondered why she stays married to you.  It's simply professional research.  

 

Secondly....as others have pointed out, we had a gorilla run in one year at Defeated Creek.  Something ain't right about that person.  I hope Disney security came and took him away.   Menace to society.

 

 

And thirdly......that is a beautiful setup.  But you already knew that.  Hopefully I'll get to meet him at the Fort in another week.  I assume he'll be there all winter.  Like John pointed out, he's not getting back to Buffalo any time soon.  

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Your Thanksgiving spread looked wonderful, maybe we will have to try a trip to the Fort around that time some year when the wife is done working( schools) and I stop the Christmas rush working thing and STAY retired. Looks like you all had a great holday

[BigTom 76]

Since Mrs. TCD teaches preschool, how does she know if she is at work or at home?

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Wow...Thanksgiving dinner at the Fort with the family.  First of all, what better place to be?  Second, looks like you had some really nice weather :)   Third, love that triple crock pot.  I don't cook...but I still may want one of those someday :)

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Mrs. TCD looks like a wonderful K teacher.  Very sweet, and we know she must have infinite patience.

 

I had never really considered spendning Thanksgiving at the fort, but seeing how great your dinner worked out, I am now tempted.  But while I have a parent or parent in-law living, I feel like I have to spend Turkey Day with them, and none of them were well brought up enough to want to go to WDW.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Another great update!  I'm happy to see Rocky and Mrs. TCD at the fort.

 

Thanks.

 

They both love the Fort, but not as much as some of us.

 

The whole crew together at Thanksgiving....and at the Fort!

That is awesome.

You have seen a Bills fan at the Fort before. I promise you.

You may not have recognized him without his Mrs. Bates wig though.

 

You are right.

 

I should have said I've never seen a Bills fan identify himself as a Bills fan at the Fort.

 

The fellow we're talking about keeps his Bills fan status on the DL.

 

Better be careful with Rocky eating the 'taters or you will have Rocky Jar

And what is up with fiends and random people dressing like gorillas? Didn't DIT have a gorilla run in?

 

LOL.   Rocky Jar.  Good one.  You pay attention to what your read in TR's!

 

I don't know what the deal is with a kid in a gorilla costume on Thanksgiving night.

 

For full disclosure, I should mention that I own a gorilla costume.   And a banana costume if you must know.  But, I save that stuff for Halloween.

 

Looks like a wonderful bit of family time. That's a pretty sweet site. Seeing those train track remnants must have made you nostalgic

 

Yes, that was a sweet site, and you can't help but think back to the glory days of the Fort and the FWRR when you see the remains of the train tracks.

 

Yup. The gorilla run in happened during the 2013 Defeated Creek GG.

 

I remember that monkey business well.

 

Thanksgiving dinner looked delicious.  Spending it at the Fort with family... priceless....   As far as the Bills fan,  he won't get that trailer back to Buffalo until April...   Unless he has a snow plow attached to the front of the truck...

 

When you're right, you're right.  Good post.

 

Ok.....I have several comments to make on the parts I quoted above.  

 

First.....Mrs TCD is a preschool teacher?  It all makes perfect sense now.  For years I've wondered why she stays married to you.  It's simply professional research.  

 

Secondly....as others have pointed out, we had a gorilla run in one year at Defeated Creek.  Something ain't right about that person.  I hope Disney security came and took him away.   Menace to society.

 

 

And thirdly......that is a beautiful setup.  But you already knew that.  Hopefully I'll get to meet him at the Fort in another week.  I assume he'll be there all winter.  Like John pointed out, he's not getting back to Buffalo any time soon.  

 

1.  You are right.

 

2. Right again. Except for the part about Disney Security taking care of it.

 

3.  I hope that Bills fan is there when you get to the Fort, and that there's a game on that you can watch together.  And that you have some of that whacky Ukrainian beer you drink to share with your new pal so you won't feel bad about what you're watching.

 

Your Thanksgiving spread looked wonderful, maybe we will have to try a trip to the Fort around that time some year when the wife is done working( schools) and I stop the Christmas rush working thing and STAY retired. Looks like you all had a great holday

 

I hope that you do make it to the Fort for Thanksgiving one year.

 

It is definitely in my top ten times of year to visit.

 

Since Mrs. TCD teaches preschool, how does she know if she is at work or at home?

 

LOL.

 

She knows she's at work when the kids mind her.

 

Wow...Thanksgiving dinner at the Fort with the family.  First of all, what better place to be?  Second, looks like you had some really nice weather :)   Third, love that triple crock pot.  I don't cook...but I still may want one of those someday :)

 

Yes, we really had perfect weather.  Sunny, but not too hot, and low humidity.  It was truly a blessed day.

 

I like the triple crock pot, but one thing we didn't realize when we bought it is that it only has a warm setting.  You can't actually cook anything in there.  It's great for a party where you want to have some hot items, and it was great for our little buffet, but other than that, it's kind of a big thing to store for something that isn't all that useful.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Mrs. TCD looks like a wonderful K teacher.  Very sweet, and we know she must have infinite patience.

 

I had never really considered spendning Thanksgiving at the fort, but seeing how great your dinner worked out, I am now tempted.  But while I have a parent or parent in-law living, I feel like I have to spend Turkey Day with them, and none of them were well brought up enough to want to go to WDW.

 

Mrs. TCD is all that and more. 

 

We've been married 27 years now, and this was the very fist time we cooked our own Thanksgiving dinner. All those other times, we've been with her family or mine.  It really was nice to just have a meal with our immediate family.  I'm not sure if it will work out where we could do it again next year, but I'd sure love it if we could.  You ought to give it a try some time.  Your parents and in-laws will get over it.  Ours did.

 

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Your parents and in-laws will get over it.  

probably. But my mom is 90.  And it took her 2 months to accept my 5th pregnancy.  Honestly.  For two months, she did not talk to me because I was pg.  That woman can really hold a grudge!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

probably. But my mom is 90.  And it took her 2 months to accept my 5th pregnancy.  Honestly.  For two months, she did not talk to me because I was pg.  That woman can really hold a grudge!

 

Man, that's rough.

 

That would be all the more reason for me to go to the Fort for Thanksgiving. 

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Update time.

 

We left off with Rocky and I taking an early morning walk around the 800 loop area and the pet walk.

 

But, I have to back up for a minute.

 

When I was posting about Thanksgiving, I realized that I didn't take as many photos as I thought I did.

 

And, there was one photo that I was looking for in particular.  I could have sworn I took it, but I couldn't find it.

 

Then I remembered- it was on my phone.

 

So here it is:

 

 

That was our Thanksgiving dessert.

 

It was a pumpkin pie Mrs. TCD backed from scratch.  It was the one that was featured on the cover of the November Southern Living magazine.  The secret ingredient in the pie was molasses, and that whipped topping had some special spices in it.  That stuff crumbled on top is Heath bars. 

 

Holy Moly, that was some good pie!

 

I wish I had a piece of it right now.

 

OK, now back to our story.

 

Rocky and I were still walking around enjoying a peaceful Fort morning.  Not many other folks were out and about.  We decided to head toward the path on the 700 loop that leads to and from the pet walk.  This is a look back at our site from there:

 

 

This site was right next to the pet walk path.  War Eagle:

 

 

Despite the new written rule that outdoor decorations had to be shut down at 10 pm, a lot of folks had theirs going all night:

 

 

 

But others complied:

 

 

We headed out the 700 loop entrance and walked toward the Meadow area, that's the 800 loop entrance there on the right:

 

 

And if you know the Fort, you know that my favorite campsite sits right across the street from the 800 loop entrance, and we were walking by good old site 617:

 

 

These folks on the other side of the sidewalk from 617 had an illegal tent set-up half off their pad:

 

 

The awesome path that site 617 abuts:

 

 

I wish we had gotten to eat our Thanksgiving meal at that picnic table:

 

 

Since we were in the neighborhood, I decided to go and take a walk across my second favorite footbridge, which is right down this path:

 

 

Oh darn.  No pets:

 

 

I told Rocky that he would need to sit on this side of the bridge and wait for me.

 

He didn't like it, but we are strict rule followers in the TCD gang, so he gave a dramatic sigh, and sat his butt down.

 

And, I continued on without him:

 

 

I love this view.  Note how the leaves are changing, and will soon be dropping:

 

 

The canal that separates the 600 and 1400 loops was free of slime today:

 

 

Another look toward the Meadow Trading Post from across the Fishin' Hole:

 

 

When I was hear earlier in November, there was some kind of temporary food service booth set up in the grassy area to the left of the sidewalk you see here.  It's not here anymore:

 

 

The lightpoles have their Christmas garland on them:

 

 

I call this photo "Sunrise over the Chuckwagon":

 

 

Isn't it funny how the idiots in charge of the Fort get all worked up if a guest parks one wheel of his vehicle off the paved area of his campsite pad, but it's OK to tear up this nice grass here in order to bring a temporary food booth in and out?:

 

 

A look back at the Theater Under the Stars:

 

 

I knew I couldn't stay here long, as Rocky will only stay for so long, so I headed back to the bridge:

 

 

It looks like there's a few folks up early and fishing there on the opposite bank of the Fishin' Hole:

 

 

It didn't look like there were any unauthorized visitors on Bob's dock, so I didn't need to go there now:

 

 

One more look at Florida's version of Fall leaves:

 

 

Good old Rocky was right where I left him, and we headed across the street and around the loop to our site.  Rocky pulled on his leash as we passed the tetherball court, but I told him that would have to wait for later, because we needed to go looping now.

 

I forgot to take a photo of one of our decorations yesterday, but here it is:

 

 

Surprisingly, our paper tablecloth made it through our Thanksgiving dinner unscathed and was good to go for another day:

 

 

I had broken out our official Fort Wilderness coffee mugs for Mrs. TCD and I to enjoy this morning.  These are no longer available, so I keep them wrapped up and in a safe place and only use them when we're at the Fort:

 

 

This is the official TCD water jug and lucky horseshoe.  Also hanging there is the Thanksgiving menu.  Mrs. TCD had written out what we were each going to cook so we wouldn't forget something that day.  It was a good thing she did, or it's possible that something would have been forgotten.  As it turned out, we had everything we needed, and a wonderful meal:

 

 

Next up, Mrs. TCD and I sling down some coffee, and then we're off for some early morning looping.  Rocky had been waiting for that all morning.

 

TCD

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

 

I like the triple crock pot, but one thing we didn't realize when we bought it is that it only has a warm setting.  You can't actually cook anything in there.  It's great for a party where you want to have some hot items, and it was great for our little buffet, but other than that, it's kind of a big thing to store for something that isn't all that useful.

 

 

Ahhh....good to know.  Thank you!

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

Beautiful morning and great Thanksgiving meal!

[Seals 111]

I'm imagining Rocky's trip report. "And then I sat and stared at a boring bridge for a long time and then finally we continued walking."

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Love that Rocky is getting Fort time.

 

That looks like quite the feast! The hats and decorations are great. 

 

It's possible some of our family isn't going to forgive us for leaving for Christmas. Oh well. I'm looking forward to a calm holiday. 

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

Love that Rocky is getting Fort time.

 

That looks like quite the feast! The hats and decorations are great. 

 

It's possible some of our family isn't going to forgive us for leaving for Christmas. Oh well. I'm looking forward to a calm holiday. 

Thanksgiving and Christmas (as long as my parents and the boys grandmother are living) are times to be home for us.

 

Now New Years on the other hand.....

[blm2003 2]

I'm imagining Rocky's trip report. "And then I sat and stared at a boring bridge for a long time and then finally we continued walking."

 

:laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  Great Comment!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Thanksgiving and Christmas (as long as my parents and the boys grandmother are living) are times to be home for us.

 

Now New Years on the other hand.....

 

Same here!  Except that the kids' grandmother is my mother.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Now, see, I have no problem ditching INC's parents to spend Christmas at the Fort.  

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Beautiful morning and great Thanksgiving meal!

 

True.

 

I'm imagining Rocky's trip report. "And then I sat and stared at a boring bridge for a long time and then finally we continued walking."

 

You are giving Rocky too much credit.

 

I am pretty sure he probably sniffed around and got a drink out of the canal while he was waiting, and then got back in place as he heard me coming back.

 

Love that Rocky is getting Fort time.

 

That looks like quite the feast! The hats and decorations are great. 

 

It's possible some of our family isn't going to forgive us for leaving for Christmas. Oh well. I'm looking forward to a calm holiday. 

 

Rocky loved that he got some Fort time too.

 

Calm holiday.  That's exactly what we had.  No dressing up and going anywhere.  Just chilling at our site.  It was the best Thanksgiving we've ever had!

 

Thanksgiving and Christmas (as long as my parents and the boys grandmother are living) are times to be home for us.

 

Now New Years on the other hand.....

 

I get the family thing.  But, you can get together with them before or after if you really must.

 

 

:laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  Great Comment!

 

Agreed.

 

Same here!  Except that the kids' grandmother is my mother.

 

You are a good daughter.  But, where does that get you?

 

Now, see, I have no problem ditching INC's parents to spend Christmas at the Fort.  

 

I thought we would do the same for Christmas this year, but if the twins can get off, they want to be home for Christmas morning.  They have never spent it anywhere else.

 

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I love that you have a picture of site 617 with Rocky's head in the shot.  No idea why, but that is just awesomesauce to me. :D

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I love that you have a picture of site 617 with Rocky's head in the shot.  No idea why, but that is just awesomesauce to me. :D

 

Rocky loves to photobomb.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We need an update.

 

We left off returning to the site and getting ready to loop.

 

And here we go.  This site was just around the loop from us.  They had three cars parked on their site along with a golf cart.  It felt crowded:

 

 

Here's another site on the 800 loop featuring Mickey in a hammock.  I like it:

 

 

Here's an inflatable I haven't seen before-Santa and his grill:

 

 

We headed out and did some looping.  Rocky loved it.

 

That big group on 1500 was up and getting their big smoky fire going:

 

 

Hey, remember the new rules in the official guest handbook?

 

These:

 

 

 

We just saw the parking one violated.

 

Now, check out where this genius set up his tent:

 

 

That tent is on the playground at the exit to the 1400 loop.  Way behind the last site on the loop.

 

And it was there for three nights.

 

Rules, schmules.

 

Rocky and I headed down to the three way stop.

 

We stopped at the crosswalk because a couple was running up the sidewalk.

 

They flagged me down and asked me if I knew where the Bike Barn was.

 

I told them yes.

 

They said they needed to get there because they had a Segway tour reserved, and they were supposed to be there at 8:15, which, coincidentally, is what time it was then.

 

They were going to be late, so they planned to run there.  But, they were already out of breath.

 

It was just Rocky and I on the cart, so I told them to jump on.

 

And we took them there.

 

That was our good deed for the day.

 

When we got back to our site, we saw that our new across the street neighbors were getting ready to get busy with some serious holiday decorating:

 

 

We will see a photo of their handiwork a bit later in this update. 

 

For now, though, I got busy making breakfast, and we all enjoyed that together.

 

Then it was time for some of us to go.

 

Twin #2 had a sad development.  One of her sorority sisters from FSU died earlier in the week, and the funeral ended up being today.  I had to run her home to her apartment, and she was going to drive herself to St. Pete from there.  Twin #1 had to leave after a bit as she had to work at the MK tonight.  And then, Mrs. TCD and Rocky took off for home.  Since Twin #2 was going to be in St. Pete, the plan was for her to spend the night at our house before she headed back the next day.  She had to rearrange her work schedule at the last minute, and she had to work on Saturday. 

 

That left just me and the oldest TCD DD at our campsite.

 

We watched some football, and did some looping.

 

I had told the girls earlier that during a holiday weekend, you are guaranteed to see something on the 2000 loop that you've never seen before every time you loop around it.  Sure enough, we saw this when we went around that afternoon:

 

 

Those folks have an inflatable Stanley Cup on the roof of their car.  I've never seen one of those before.

 

This is a shot of a the set-up of our new neighbors on the 800 loop on the other side of Starbuc71:

 

 

They had free treats set up on that stool.  Both for humans and dogs:

 

 

Rocky tried one of those peanut treats earlier, and he liked it very much. 

 

Later, while we were looping, a fire truck and ambulance came through.  They had their lights on, but no sirens.  I never found out why:

 

 

Friday ended up being a beautiful day.  Look at all the people enjoying the Meadow as the sun sunk lower in the sky:

 

 

Those two bumps you see down there crossing the road are a couple of turkeys:

 

 

And there was a big Tom turkey showing off at the four way:

 

 

Here's a zoom on that last photo to give you a better look at the turkey:

 

 

I always take a couple of shots of the swamp across from the 1400 loop, and here they are:

 

 

 

There's another tent set up way behind a campsite on the 500 loop:

 

 

I stopped by the 300 loop and had a short visit with Mo and Brian that afternoon.  They were chilling at their site, soaking up some of the late afternoon sun.

 

That sounded like a good idea to me, so I reported back to the official TCD hammock:

 

 

The sun was in my eyes, though:

 

 

But, only if I looked that way.  Looking toward the old train tracks was fine:

 

 

And I had a great view looking up:

 

 

I just couldn't look to the left:

 

 

After a while, it was time for us to go for our evening activity.

 

My oldest daughter and I were going to go on a resort Christmas decoration tour, and then end up at Epcot.  Then we would come back to the Fort, before ultimately meeting up with Twin #1 at the MK after she finished with work.

 

The fellow across from us had worked all day setting up his Christmas decorations, and had just about every square inch of his site covered:

 

 

We were going to start out at the Contemporary and finish at the Wilderness Lodge, so we were going to park our cart in the golf cart parking area by the Settlement Bus Stop.  I was surprised to find that it was closed off, and they have put up no parking signs there.  Not many folks ever park there, but now nobody can.  I wonder why?

 

Instead, we parked in the Pioneer Hall lot.  We had a longer walk to the marina from here, but we would have a shorter walk when we came back from the Lodge.

 

There were several oddly decorated carts parked in the Pioneer Hall golf cart parking area.

 

Like this one:

 

 

And this one-those are mini sand pails:

 

 

This one had grape vines and plastic grapes (with the price tags still on) :

 

 

This one just had some silver garland and balloons:

 

 

I figured that those folks must all be together.  Must be the Weird Golf Cart Decorating Club.

 

Tonight must be the first night they had the sleighs out for the Sleigh Rides:

 

 

It was getting dark as we waited for the boat to the Contemporary:

 

 

It wasn't long until the boat arrived, and we were on our way.

 

Next up, we will look at some of the Christmas decorations and gingerbread houses in the monorail resorts, and we will check out the Grand Floridian quick serve for dinner.

 

TCD

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Great update but I think you forgot something, didn't we run into you Friday afternoon?

 

I guess I can cut you some slack since you're writing two trip reports and I haven't even started one yet. lol 

 

It was great talking to you though, next time we'll have to make time to have a beer and visit a little longer.

 

WBI