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A Night at the Movies with the TCD Gang


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No.  If it weren't for your TRs, I wouldn't know the difference.

If you go through life looking like that, you will NEVER nail Elsa. 

It's time for an update.   We left off right in the middle of last Saturday's FOF parade.   After the Brave float comes the Sleeping Beauty crew.  Minus the princess.  Aurora was robbed by this parade

Well, I have to say that I'm distressed.  It does sound like they are tightening up on loopholes.  And I just love a good loophole.  

 

There are better and more effective ways to maximize the use of FP+'s through regular planning strategies like rope drop and going during slower times of the year.

 

That's true, of course.  And the rope drop option is generally available to anyone.  But it's the time of year thing that gets me.  While I was lucky enough to go late January this year, I'm usually stuck with going to the world only on major holiday/summer/etc. times, at least if I'm taking my girls.  But thankfully rope drop does still exist to help us poor souls get a leg up.

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Closing loop holes SMB.

I just don't get the whole FP+ thing.

I get the MB thing it allows Disney to track our purchases, increase sales, etc. But what does the FP+ do. I doesn't seem to make the waits shorter. It doesn't help me do more at the parks. The only thing I can think of is that eventually Disney will charge for the FP+ system. Kind of like they do at Universal.

Anyways, I'm so glad you didn't buy anything at that satanic mermaid place. Fight the powers that be. Don't let the man keep you down.

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This news in concerning to me. Katman was nice enough to stay up late and make my FPs for me. Once I started planning more the next day, I realized my Anna and Elsa time would conflict with the parade, so I moved our Anna and Elsa. Or at least, I thought I did. Apparently, I only moved me. So now I have an Anna and Elsa time that is 2 hours later than the rest of my party. I didn't think it would be a big deal, but it sounds like it will be. 

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Well, I have to say that I'm distressed.  It does sound like they are tightening up on loopholes.  And I just love a good loophole.

Do not be distressed. There are always loopholes. If they close the ones we know about, we will just have to find some more.

 

 

That's true, of course.  And the rope drop option is generally available to anyone.  But it's the time of year thing that gets me.  While I was lucky enough to go late January this year, I'm usually stuck with going to the world only on major holiday/summer/etc. times, at least if I'm taking my girls.  But thankfully rope drop does still exist to help us poor souls get a leg up.

When both of your girls are in college, there might be some new options open for you. Like early to mid May. College kids typically end the spring semester in early May, and summer school doesn't start for a week or so later. That is a good time to go!  College spring breaks are also typically at a different and slower time that regular school spring breaks.  But then, your college kids may have other destinations in mind for spring break.

 

 

Closing loop holes SMB.

I just don't get the whole FP+ thing.

I get the MB thing it allows Disney to track our purchases, increase sales, etc. But what does the FP+ do. I doesn't seem to make the waits shorter. It doesn't help me do more at the parks. The only thing I can think of is that eventually Disney will charge for the FP+ system. Kind of like they do at Universal.

Anyways, I'm so glad you didn't buy anything at that satanic mermaid place. Fight the powers that be. Don't let the man keep you down.

 

You don't get the whole FP+ thing because you're not some 20 something year old kid with an MBA who thinks he knows how to make money via forced crowd control of guests.  Your problem is that you have common sense instead of a fancy new piece of paper that says you're smarter than everyone else.

 

This news in concerning to me. Katman was nice enough to stay up late and make my FPs for me. Once I started planning more the next day, I realized my Anna and Elsa time would conflict with the parade, so I moved our Anna and Elsa. Or at least, I thought I did. Apparently, I only moved me. So now I have an Anna and Elsa time that is 2 hours later than the rest of my party. I didn't think it would be a big deal, but it sounds like it will be.

Yeah, you may be in trouble with not having a FP+ for every member of your party for A&E.  You have time to change that, though.  And, a lot of times, they loosen things up again after a big crackdown.  At this point, we only had problems on one particular day.  I will continue my testing on future visits and report back.

 

TCD

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I have an update on the way. but first we need to backtrack a minute.

 

There's something I forgot to mention about my first stop in the MK when we arrived there from DHS.

 

I stopped by a FP+ kiosk, and used two of the MB's which belong to fictitious members of the TCD gang to see if I could schedule 3 FP+'s in addition to the ones we already had on our real MB's.

 

Sure enough, I still could. I did this somewhere around 1:45 pm, and this is what I got:

 

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And those weren't the only choices offered- I purposely went for later times, as we already had FP+'s for earlier times. 

 

Although those aren't the best rides in the MK, they all can have substantial wait times on busy days, so having three extra FP+'s for them was a nice thing to have.

 

And that's not all.

 

Once those FP+'s are scheduled, you can change them with the app without having to go back to the kiosks.

 

I'll jump ahead to show you this screen cap which shows that at 5:32 pm, the app was offering to move our 10:05 Pirates FP+ up to a much earlier time:

 

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That probably wouldn't happy on a truly busy day, but Sunday the 8th wasn't dead, either.

 

So, there's a hack that works.

 

But you will need to have extra MB's for people not in your immediate travel party that day to do it.

 

TCD

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Let's get an update posted.

 

We left off in the midst of our Sunday, February 8th day trip. It was just me and Twin #1.  We began the day at AK, hopped to DHS, and now we are at the MK.  We had our Mickey head pretzels, and we were in search of a good spot to watch the Festival of Fantasy parade.

 

As you know, I hate to brag, but I have to say that the TCD gang must have bragging rights for the most FOF views.  We were there to see the very first performance of FOF, just about a year ago, and I've lost count of how many times we've seen it since.  All I am sure of is that we have seen it more than most people have.

 

The twins have a secret spot that they like over in Liberty Square. The problem with that spot is that it is in direct sunlight.  As hard as this might be for you folks in the Great White North to imagine, it was warm on the 8th.  Too warm to want to sit in the direct sunlight.  So, we headed to a shady spot on Main Street.   Normally, we will be somewhere around the big clock on Main Street, but today there was a spot open outside of Casey's Corner, and it was next to a trash can and in front of a fire hydrant.  Immovable objects like that come in handy when the late arriving people not from this land arrive and try to squeeze in to your spot.  So, this was our view:

 

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It was a bit past two when we claimed our spot.  We were going to sit there and enjoy our snack and people watch.

 

Before that, though, I saved my spot with my backpack and headed across the street to take some over-the-fence shots of the new fireworks viewing area being constructed in front of The Plaza Restaurant.  Here's what I saw:

 

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This area seems to be identical to the area on the other side of the street.  This side seems to be a bit further behind than the other.  For example, they don't have any of their landscaping done on this side. I wonder if they're planning to open them at different times?

 

After that, I returned to my seat, and we ate our pretzels and watched.

 

I missed a great photo opportunity when a giant stroller came by loaded with kids who might be in middle school and enough gear for a week on the trail.

 

I regretted missing that shot, but it inspired me to try to snap some photos of other giant strollers.

 

Here's one:

 

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And a couple more- note the fellow furthest from us has a nice cooler along for the ride:

 

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Sadly, I didn't see one as big as the one that got away.

 

My attention was distracted for a bit when the Dapper Dans showed up. They played us a couple of songs on those instruments they're holding:

 

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It wasn't long before things started to get cozy.  Look across the street there, some of those guest are sitting in the street.  You can't do that. They were soon told to move along:

 

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There was still some time for big stroller watching.  There goes one:

 

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Unfortunately, the stroller watching was interrupted by the parade.  Here it comes now.  Look at this lovely view.  Well, it's lovely if you can ignore that big green box and the crane looming over the castle:

 

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Like always, the parade began with the Swan Dancers, followed by the float with the princesses and princes, including Belle and the Beast:

 

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Some of the performers were missing from this parade.  For example, there were only two dancing girls with the Giant Scary Mime:

 

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If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times-the Peter Pan float is too tall. But, this is a cool photo of Peter:

 

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Go Gata:

 

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The Segway fairies and how they work have been the topic of several discussions on this site:

 

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All I can tell you is that they have wheels under them skirts:

 

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When I was taking those photos, holding my camera down at ground level so I could get photos of what is under those skirts, I remembered a story about a guy who got arrested at our local mall for trying to take photos under women's skirts.  I don't think I should try that again.

 

I was so busy trying to take fairy photos that I missed a fire breathing dragon photo.  All I have is a couple of fireless dragon photos:

 

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You may recall seeing photos of the guy in the bird costume controlling the dragon's tail before.  Here's another one:

 

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Do you notice anything different about that bird costume?

 

HInt- look in the wing area.

 

What happened to that dude's wings?

 

He and his bird buddies have had their wings clipped!

 

This is what they used to look like:

 

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Now, they just have some strips of fabric hanging from their arms.

 

I wonder what happened?

 

I didn't count them, but I think all seven dwarfs were here today:

 

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And everyone seemed to be in their proper places on the Pinocchio float:

 

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Something odd happened when Chip and Dale came by.

 

They were walking on our side of the street, and Twin #1 thought she'd be able to give them a high-five.  But, before they got to us, they headed down the sidewalk in front of Casey's and disappeared from the parade route.

 

Twin #1 said she has heard of such things happening when a character performer has an issue.  There are designated places along the parade route where they can bail.  And the chipmunks bailed right next to us.

 

So, we had to settle for Goofy:

 

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And, Mickey and Minnie wrapped things up with their balloon, as usual:

 

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We had FP+'s for Space Mountain for after the parade, so we headed to Tomorrowland via the terrace.  On the way there, I stopped on the terrace to take a few shots of the new fireworks viewing area from the other side. 

 

Here we are:

 

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They also kept a big part of the moat over here.  You can see that they are missing the permanent fence or railing that will go on the bridge:

 

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The topiary serpent is still there on the hill on the other side of the silt fence.  It looks like that sloped area is ready for some sod:

 

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While all of this work is providing some new space for guests to stand and watch the fireworks, I still don't think it's enough:

 

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On the way in to Tomorrowland, this sign caught my eye.  Is it new?  I don't remember it.  It's supposed to be from the Tomorrowland Chamber of Commerce, and it has smaller "clever" signs on it.  The top left sign says it's from the Loyal Order of Little Green Beings.  I sure don't remember ever noticing this sign before:

 

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Well, that's the photo limit.

 

Next up, we will take a ride on the People Mover as an appetizer for our ride on Space Mountain.   And, we will have another FP+ hack failure.

 

TCD

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About the strollers. All but one that you captured are offsite rental company strollers. The very last picture is a jogging stroller and I have no idea why anyone would want to bring one of those. The rental companies will bring the storller to your hotel room and the rates are very good,  So anywho that explains why the big stroller trend. I would imagine the person with the jogger is a day visit guest. Those strollers are not easy and quick to fold so would not be very practical on boats and buses. That being said I have a feeling that you have seen that odd jack-in-the-box trying to accomplish such a task. 

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The new wings SMB. 

 

Has anyone figured out what the crane is doing? 

 

I don't like FP hack failures!

 

Hopefully the wings are just in the shop.  Those new wings are no good.

 

As near as I can tell, the crane is there so two or three guys can ride up and down all day in that little yellow car dangling from the wire.  They seem to do that all day.  I've yet to see any actual work being done.  And, they are saying the crane is going to be there through April?  What the Fort?  The twins' theory is that there are some kind of special decorations in the works to commemorate Disneyland's 60th anniversary.  That's plausible.  Time will tell.

 

I don't like FP+ hack failures either, especially when they fail for me.  But, the only way to find new loopholes is to keep on trying.  And I will.

 

About the strollers. All but one that you captured are offsite rental company strollers. The very last picture is a jogging stroller and I have no idea why anyone would want to bring one of those. The rental companies will bring the storller to your hotel room and the rates are very good,  So anywho that explains why the big stroller trend. I would imagine the person with the jogger is a day visit guest. Those strollers are not easy and quick to fold so would not be very practical on boats and buses. That being said I have a feeling that you have seen that odd jack-in-the-box trying to accomplish such a task. 

 

Back in the day, I had a trailer that I pulled behind my bike that the twins could sit in.  It was the size of some of these strollers people use now.  There was an optional front wheel and handle I could buy for the bike trailer which would allow it to be used as a stroller.  But, I thought then, and I still think now, that it would be ridiculous to attempt to push that monstrosity in a crowded public place.  But, Disney lets people bring these air craft carrier strollers into the parks, so they do.  Boy do they.

 

Nooooooooooooooooooooo!  

 

Yes.

 

Again, no need to panic.  It may have just been a one day anomaly.  But I really think there are changes on the way.

 

TCD

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Still waiting to see a big stroller,so far there just normal ones. Try watching the parade from further back, you will then appreciate how tall the floats are. We don't wait hours to watch a parade, we just walk up when it's time and stand in the back. Glad your still getting to Disney even with the girls back in school.

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Still waiting to see a big stroller,so far there just normal ones. Try watching the parade from further back, you will then appreciate how tall the floats are. We don't wait hours to watch a parade, we just walk up when it's time and stand in the back. Glad your still getting to Disney even with the girls back in school.

 

Yeah, those strollers are the new normal.  But they are all humongous and shouldn't be allowed in a crowded theme park with a lot of narrow walkways.  And, they really shouldn't be allowed to be pushed through the stores or into the quick serve restaurants.  Nobody needs huge strollers like that, and I doubt that people use those gigantic things wherever it is that they come from.

 

We don't wait hours to watch the parade either.  Yes, you can see the floats over other guests' heads, but you will miss seeing the performers who walk with the floats.

 

TCD

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Since we are talking parade.... Where should we sit and how early should we get there when we are there--going May 30th which is a Saturday and Wednesday June 3?  Don't have to watch it both days and most likely it would be the June 3rd date that we'd watch.  My parents are joining us for this trip but won't get in until the early hours of the 30th (like 1am) so they probably won't join us at Magic Kingdom until later in the day.

 

Also, since you are the king of Star Wars weekend where should we sit for that parade?  Going Friday June 5th. :)  Thank you, TCD.  

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Since we are talking parade.... Where should we sit and how early should we get there when we are there--going May 30th which is a Saturday and Wednesday June 3?  Don't have to watch it both days and most likely it would be the June 3rd date that we'd watch.  My parents are joining us for this trip but won't get in until the early hours of the 30th (like 1am) so they probably won't join us at Magic Kingdom until later in the day.

 

Also, since you are the king of Star Wars weekend where should we sit for that parade?  Going Friday June 5th. :)  Thank you, TCD.  

 

Wow, I'm the king!

 

Thanks!

 

For both of those parades- the key is to find a place in the shade.  It's going to be hot in May and June.

 

For FOF, just about anywhere on your left as you walk down Main Street toward the castle will be shaded by the Main Street buildings.  If you want spots on the curb, which is what we like, you will need to claim your spots at 2 pm.  If you've got others with you, you can take turns saving spots until about 2:30.  After that, everyone had better be in his or her seat, as the crowds will start pushing in.

 

For Star Wars, the shady spots are also along your left as you walk in towards the Great Movie Ride (the former location of the big hat).  Anywhere along there is good.  Depending on what celebrities are going to be in the parade, you may need more than an hour before the parade to claim your spot.  The Star Wars parades are tough because the parade route is so short.  In the past, the parade just went to the hat, and that was it.  When they did the Frozen parade for the Frozen Summer Fun this past year, they continued the parade past the hat all the way toward Star Tours.  If they extend the Star Wars parade like that, there are a lot of nice spots across from the Sounds Dangerous theater.  I'm not sure if they will have the Star Wars parade go longer like that, but it would be a good idea.

 

TCD

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Wow, I'm the king!

 

Thanks!

 

For both of those parades- the key is to find a place in the shade.  It's going to be hot in May and June.

 

For FOF, just about anywhere on your left as you walk down Main Street toward the castle will be shaded by the Main Street buildings.  If you want spots on the curb, which is what we like, you will need to claim your spots at 2 pm.  If you've got others with you, you can take turns saving spots until about 2:30.  After that, everyone had better be in his or her seat, as the crowds will start pushing in.

 

For Star Wars, the shady spots are also along your left as you walk in towards the Great Movie Ride (the former location of the big hat).  Anywhere along there is good.  Depending on what celebrities are going to be in the parade, you may need more than an hour before the parade to claim your spot.  The Star Wars parades are tough because the parade route is so short.  In the past, the parade just went to the hat, and that was it.  When they did the Frozen parade for the Frozen Summer Fun this past year, they continued the parade past the hat all the way toward Star Tours.  If they extend the Star Wars parade like that, there are a lot of nice spots across from the Sounds Dangerous theater.  I'm not sure if they will have the Star Wars parade go longer like that, but it would be a good idea.

 

TCD

 

 

Well, you do seem to know all the important stuff for Star Wars weekend.  I know to get there way early and where to stand at rope drop thanks to you. :)  

 

Thanks for the parade tips.  I am going to print it out your info and stick it in my folder so I don't forget. 

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Well, you do seem to know all the important stuff for Star Wars weekend.  I know to get there way early and where to stand at rope drop thanks to you. :)

 

Thanks for the parade tips.  I am going to print it out your info and stick it in my folder so I don't forget. 

 

You are right -I do know the important stuff.  I am the king, after all.

 

And, I'll hopefully visit a couple of this year's weekends before you get there, so I can report back if anything changes.  They have already announced a new location for Darth's Mall and the stage shows they do. 

 

TCD

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It's still Sunday, February 8th.  We left off with us making our way to Tomorrowland for our Space Mountain FP+ reservation.

 

We arrived a few minutes early, so we took a ride on the Peoplemover.  You can say what you want about this ride, but even when it's busy, you can ride it, and at least it's still operational.  Disneyland's has been shut down for years.

 

I love the views from the Peoplemover.  You can get a good look at the hub construction right after you pass Stitch's ride:

 

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From up here, the new area they've been building looks pretty big.

 

The Rose Garden and the winding path through it are still untouched.  But, I think that's going to change when they get the areas they've been working on done.  That probably means another year of walls and a mess in the hub area:

 

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When we passed over the Space Mountain entrance, we could see that there was a line for guests to just get to the FP+ scanners.  That's never a good sign:

 

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A while back, I noticed that you can see the roof of Wilderness Lodge from the Peoplemover.  I've tried to get a photo to show that, and this one does- but barely.  If you look to the right of the two smaller trees, you can see the very top of the green roof there in the opening:

 

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After our ride around Tomorrowland, it was time for us to check-in at Space Mountain.  For this ride, one FP+ was on my Magicband, and the other was on the oldest TCD DD's Magicband.  I wore my band, and Twin #1 wore her sister's.  In the past, this worked fine.  Today, it didn't.  Mine worked- green light.  Twin #1's did not.  Blue light.  And the CM said there were no FP+'s on her MB.  She scanned it again.  Nothing.  I knew the FP+ reservation was on there, but the CM said it wasn't.  Again, in the past, at this point, they wouldn't make an issue out of it, since I had a FP+ on mine. But today, just like at Toy Story earlier, the CM said we had to go and take it up with Guest Services. 

 

So that stunk.  But, it gave me a chance to test something else.  Since my MB turned green they said I could go, but not with Twin #1.  I asked if I could give my MB to her and let her ride, and the CM said sure.  So I did.  And Twin #1 headed in to the FP+ queue.  I took my oldest daughter's MB back and headed into the standby queue.  I don't know if you've noticed it, but there's a gate right before you start heading up the ramp inside the mountain where you can cross from one queue to the next.  I crossed from the standby queue to the FP+ queue, and joined Twin #1.  This would give me the chance to find out something that I've wondered about- what happens if you show up at the second FP+ scanner and it turns blue?  To this point, that has never been an issue for us, but today, we would find out.  I figured that the worst thing that would happen would be that the CM would tell me I couldn't ride.  So, in we went.  The line was non-stop all the way to the second scanner.  When we got to it, the CM told us to scan our MB's, and we did. My turned blue, but the CM didn't notice, he was too busy focusing on waving us all through the scanner. We were in.  I didn't get an answer to my question, though.

 

For our ride photo, Twin #1 said we should make like Elsa casting an ice spell. I would say that I nailed it:

 

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After our ride, we checked out the Photopass photo booth, which had moved locations since our visit the week before:

 

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I also snapped a couple of photos of a charging station area that is set up here on the far wall of the gift shop. I never knew this was here, but Twin #1 said it's been here for a while:

 

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This is the last photo of the arcade that you will ever see.  They boarded up the open space you see here just a day or two after I took this photo, and the arcade is now permanently closed:

 

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It just so happened that there was a break in our FP+ reservations after this.  And that break was the perfect amount of time for us to have a nice unhurried dinner somewhere.  I asked Twin #1 what she felt like.  And she said fried chicken.

 

Winning.

 

We headed to the boat dock, and here we are pulling away on our way to the Fort:

 

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That photo doesn't show it very well, but there is a big bird doo problem on top of that nice new cover they put over the Fort boat dock.

 

Here's a nice photo as long as you don't mind a little crane in your photo:

 

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Now we're looking across the Seven Seas Lagoon to the Polynesian Village Resort:

 

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The new bungalows look like they're close to being finished.  The view from them will be amazing.  The view from the rooms of the poor slobs who can't afford them not so much: 

 

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Now we're on the water bridge:

 

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And now we're in Bay Lake enjoying the view of the wilderness:

 

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There's the Lodge:

 

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Look at that small flock of birds flying just above the water surface.  Cool:

 

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Over there, River Country continues to rot:

 

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You know we're near the Fort when we get to the cypress trees growing out in the water:

 

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And there's my favorite cypress tree of them all:

 

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Looking good, Shoe Tree:

 

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And there's the Fort:

 

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I posted some nice sunrise photos a while back in this TR from a morning the week before.  Today, we were treated to a glorious sunset as we pulled up to the Fort marina.  I took a few photos, trying to capture that scene.  As if often the case, photos don't do it justice.  But here are three of the photos I took:

 

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It was crowded on the porch when we arrived, but we were able to claim one of the picnic tables.  Look at what passed by as we waited for our chicken:

 

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It was kind of crazy on the porch for a Sunday night:

 

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I hate to point this out to any of you who are reading along from a very cold place, but look how everyone is dressed in those last two photos.  It was dusk on Sunday, February 8th, and the temperature was in the high 60's and just perfect.

 

As usual, our chicken was the bomb dot com.  We ate all we could, and the rest got loaded into the TCD backpack.  It's always interesting when I have to unzip it for the MK bag check. 

 

When we got back to the MK, we stopped outside of Tony's restaurant to look for something that Twin #1 needed a photo of.

 

This:

 

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Did you know that was there?

 

I didn't.

 

And how many times have I walked past Tony's?

 

I've said before that there is always something new to see at WDW.  No matter how many times you visit.  And, that's a perfect example of that fact.

 

From here, we used our Haunted Mansion FP+.

 

I had moved our time up.

 

When we got there, though, the stand-by time was only 10 minutes.

 

 No wonder it was so easy to move the time up.

 

Next, it was Mine Train.

 

Then, we had those extra FP+'s I booked, and some Wishes FP+'s too.

 

We really wanted to see Wishes.

 

But it wasn't boing to be until 10 pm tonight.

 

And we still had to drive home.

 

We decided to call it a night.

 

So we did.

 

And that's all I have from February 8th.

 

Don't worry.

 

This is not the end of the bonus content.

 

The oldest TCD DD decided she needed a Disney fix, and flew home last weekend.

 

So, we had to go back to WDW last Saturday.  Like four days ago.

 

Which means this report is going to keep on going.

 

TCD

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I'm sure others think our stroller is huge.  It's a sit and stand.  It works for us.  Anyway.  I will say just from knowing many friends will littles, many people do not take their little kids places alone.  Thus they rarely use a stroller, thus they have no idea what kinds are easier.  I have my kids by myself all the time and we go all over the creation.  So I know how to pick a stroller folks.  :)  On our last trip we saw someone on the boat with a jogging stroller that you had to TAKE THE WHEELS OFF TO FOLD.  I saw no tag from a rental company and they where coming from the GF and seemed clueless so I'm pretty sure they were on site guests.  A. Why would you ever own a stroller you had to take the wheels off to fold in the first place  B.  Why on earth would you take one to Disney World.  Ours folds flat and I have a "stroller bag" so all the junk that is in the bottom I put in there and easily take it out when we fold it.  It works great.  My mind is always blown by people who do not plan for these sort of things.  Having to unload six pounds of mess from your stroller every time you fold it up and having to take the wheels off is the kind of thing that can ruin a trip in my opinion.  Lessening the difficultly when traveling with toddlers always is a win!!  

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