Strange Things

[DramaMama .......... Janet 75]

No, you're a smart Mommy!

 

Am I a mean Mommy? I told my kids that once they put their Magic Bands on, they weren't allowed to take them off. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I finally got my boys trained to ask before they took them off in the truck or at the resort and then they would only be placed in my backpack.  Also, ever since my band got caught on a ride seat and fell off without me noticing, they have to endure me randomly checking that they are snapped well on their wrist throughout the day in the park.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

I finally got my boys trained to ask before they took them off in the truck or at the resort and then they would only be placed in my backpack. Also, ever since my band got caught on a ride seat and fell off without me noticing, they have to endure me randomly checking that they are snapped well on their wrist throughout the day in the park.

DH would be the random checker type. Well probably more like every 5 minute checker type than random.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I finally got my boys trained to ask before they took them off in the truck or at the resort and then they would only be placed in my backpack.  Also, ever since my band got caught on a ride seat and fell off without me noticing, they have to endure me randomly checking that they are snapped well on their wrist throughout the day in the park.

My daughter's fell off when she rode.  She noticed when she went to get it scanned for the MM (trust no one!  LOL) and was able to run back and get it.

 

I have seen BitBelt on-line which is supposed to keep the MB on, but don't think it is worth the money.  i would probably feel different if i had spent valuable touring time trying to replace a lost band!

[diane+ not THAT monte 7]

WOO HOO , got caught up . Always learn new things .Strange at my age . Also big fans of Wed Way and COP .

 

 

      NTM

[The Troll 67]

 

In case you're wondering, yes, the dad burned the stupid turkey again.  That guy never learns.

 

Hey, you ever notice that in popular culture dads are always portrayed as complete dipwads? Even on Peppa Pig.

 

Yes, I'm a major Peppa Pig fan.

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

Hey, you ever notice that in popular culture dads are always portrayed as complete dipwads?

What are you talking about Troll?

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I'm imagining the Troll with his feet kicked back, sipping a cocktail, and watching Peppa Pig.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

I think TCD mentioned it in here but the kayaks are back and the sticker on the pricing board has been removed. Look like the same ones to me.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Ahhh... pictures, pictures and more pictures.  I could look at pictures of the Fort and WDW (especially MK) all day long.  Makes me so happy :)

 

PM, honest to goodness my favorite ride.  Love that my kiddos love it as well.  If/when that every changes, it will be a very sad day.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Dolewhip with alcohol.

Genius.

With the new TSGG, does that mean the Tambu Lounge will be closing? I certainly hope not.

 

I don't think the Tambu Lounge is in any danger of closing.  Trader Sam's is tucked away in a corner downstairs, and wouldn't be able to accommodate all the guests waiting for 'Ohana. 

 

Regarding post #155, your peaceful morning at the fort. I felt like you were following me, or I was following you. If you recall that is the morning I passed you on the porch of the Trails end. This is one my favorite times of the day and I really enjoy visiting all the places at the fort while there is so little activity. This TR reminded me of so many things that morning (I am not the picture taker, that is DW's job). I also stopped to watch the crew refill the sand in the GC parking area, witnessed the one legged bird on the railing, and felt like a non-fiend when I attempted to go into the Trading Post before 8am.

Thanks for the pictures and the reminder that early morning is, IMO, the best time at the Fort.

 

I wish that you would have said hello.  I know that I have walked right past Fiends before, only to find out later that we could have met.  Next time for sure.

 

I finally got my boys trained to ask before they took them off in the truck or at the resort and then they would only be placed in my backpack.  Also, ever since my band got caught on a ride seat and fell off without me noticing, they have to endure me randomly checking that they are snapped well on their wrist throughout the day in the park.

 

Losing a MB could be a major pain.  In case anyone doesn't know, your actual plastic pass or park ticket can also be scanned in place of the MB.  So, I always carry mine and a photo ID with me, and make sure the girls do the same. So much for MB's allowing us to take less stuff into the parks.

 

DH would be the random checker type. Well probably more like every 5 minute checker type than random.

 

It would drive me nuts if I had small kids wearing MB's.  I don't think I'd let them wear them.  I think I'd keep them all in my backpack after we entered the park, and just take them out to scan when needed.

 

My daughter's fell off when she rode.  She noticed when she went to get it scanned for the MM (trust no one!  LOL) and was able to run back and get it.

 

I have seen BitBelt on-line which is supposed to keep the MB on, but don't think it is worth the money.  i would probably feel different if i had spent valuable touring time trying to replace a lost band!

 

Scanned for the MM?

 

I'm stumped.  What's the MM?

 

WOO HOO , got caught up . Always learn new things .Strange at my age . Also big fans of Wed Way and COP .

 

 

      NTM

 

Glad that you learned some new things.  It would be strange if you didn't.

 

Hey, you ever notice that in popular culture dads are always portrayed as complete dipwads? Even on Peppa Pig.

 

Yes, I'm a major Peppa Pig fan.

 

Peppa Pig.

 

I've never heard of it.

 

I've never seen it.

 

I am obviously very out of touch with what kids watch on TV these days.

 

It's strange to me that you're a fan.

 

But, it fits in perfectly with the theme of this strange trip report.

 

What are you talking about Troll?

 

Now, there's a face I know.

 

The TCD Gang are big Modern Family fans.

 

The TCD girls have told me that I'm like an older, lamer Phil.

 

I'm imagining the Troll with his feet kicked back, sipping a cocktail, and watching Peppa Pig.

 

It's not strange to me that you know what Peppa Pig is.

 

But you have a 5 year old.

 

I think TCD mentioned it in here but the kayaks are back and the sticker on the pricing board has been removed. Look like the same ones to me.

 

Now that's strange.

 

Where were the kayaks?

 

If I had to guess, Disney took them all somewhere for some type of special event.

 

Of course,  paying Fort guests who might have wanted to rent a kayak can go jump in a scummy lake if they wanted to rent a kayak when they were being used for some more important reason.

 

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Sorry!  MM = Memory Maker

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Sorry!  MM = Memory Maker

 

Ahh- I should have known that.

 

What did you mean by saying "trust no one?"

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Ahhh... pictures, pictures and more pictures.  I could look at pictures of the Fort and WDW (especially MK) all day long.  Makes me so happy :)

 

PM, honest to goodness my favorite ride.  Love that my kiddos love it as well.  If/when that every changes, it will be a very sad day.

 

I'm glad that you liked the photos, but I'm sorry to tell you that I only have one more update's worth.

 

I hope that the People Mover is never removed- it's sad to see Disneyland's empty track.

 

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Ahh- I should have known that.

 

What did you mean by saying "trust no one?"

 

TCD

I was told by many a cast member that it was not necessary to scan my Magic band after the rides to make sure our ride photos would show up in my Memory Maker account, but I insisted on scanning it anyway.  So when all 7 of us rode Mine Train, my Memory Maker account had 7 copies of the ride photo for each of us with our Magic bands on, plus an extra because I scanned my band at the Photopass Counter on my way out.  LOL

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I was told by many a cast member that it was not necessary to scan my Magic band after the rides to make sure our ride photos would show up in my Memory Maker account, but I insisted on scanning it anyway.  So when all 7 of us rode Mine Train, my Memory Maker account had 7 copies of the ride photo for each of us with our Magic bands on, plus an extra because I scanned my band at the Photopass Counter on my way out.  LOL

 

Huh?

 

Where is there a place to scan MB's at the Mine Train?

 

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Huh?

 

Where is there a place to scan MB's at the Mine Train?

 

TCD

My memory tells me it is on the left as you exit the ride.  But as my family likes to point out, I am often wrong.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

My memory tells me it is on the left as you exit the ride.  But as my family likes to point out, I am often wrong.

 

Your family is right.

 

There's no place to scan MB's for Memory Maker at the Mine Train.

 

TCD

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

I'm glad that you liked the photos, but I'm sorry to tell you that I only have one more update's worth.

 

 

 

Till the next report.... right?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Till the next report.... right?

 

Of course.

 

It may be late May/early June before the next one comes along.

 

But, that one could be a doozie.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

It looks like this is it.

 

I just have one more batch of photos from last Saturday.  And, I didn't make it to WDW this past weekend.

 

We left off with us sitting at the Trader Sam's Tiki Terrace^TM, waiting for our drinks and apps.

 

While we waited, I strolled over to the edge of the terrace for a look at the path that goes around the pool to the marina.  You can see here that the pool and its brand new volcano is about done, but there are still some construction scrims in place:

 

 

It's going to look really nice when it's done.

 

Here's two of our drinks.  That's the Spikey Pineapple in the foreground, and a non-alcoholic kid's drink behind it.  According to our server, out here on the Tiki Terrace is the only place in the world that you can order the Spikey Pineapple:

 

 

Yes, you can get rum poured over your Dole Whip in Epcot during one of the Festivals, and at AK as well, but his was a blended drink, where the stingy 1/4 oz. of rum was blended in with the Dole Whip.

 

The drink was good- you can tell that there's a splash of rum in there, but it really could have used more.  Especially for $10.50.

 

That table over there ordered the Uh-Oa.  This is a drink that is supposed to be shared by a group.  I can't confirm it, but I heard that it's $50 for one of those.  You get to keep the big dish that it's served in.  I'm not sure what you're supposed to do with it, but maybe there's enough alcohol in there that you won't think about it.  This drink was lit on fire by server.  We could kind of see the vapor trail above the drink, but that effect is lost out here on the terrace.  Maybe it's cool to see inside the Grog Grotto^TM.:

 

 

Speaking of price gouging, here's our appetizers.  We tried the pork tacos and the dumplings:

 

 

You can't tell from the photo, but those tacos are miniature sized tacos.  Like about 1/4 the size of a real taco.  The pork inside of them is the same pork they use on the pulled pork sandwiches they serve at Captain Cooks.  Actually, it's probably the same as the pulled pork they serve all over the property.  They probably crank that stuff out in huge barrels in some factory and deliver it to all the locations in WDW that serve pulled pork.  It's not awful.  The dumplings, as far as we could tell, are identical to what are served at 'Ohana upstairs.  That's not a bad thing, as we like those dumplings.  But, there's nothing special about them either.

 

Despite the ridiculous prices, we enjoyed our drinks and miniature sized appetizers.  We killed about an hour out here on the Tiki Deck.   Then, we decided to head in to Captain Cooks for our dinner.  One of the girls had the pulled pork sandwich, the other had the hot dog.  I tried the Udon noodles.  The girls' dishes were the same as usual, but my udon was served in a container like what you get when you get take out from a Chinese restaurant instead of a bowl.  And, it wasn't udon.  The noodles were super thin.  And there was a ton of broth.  A bowl would have been real useful.  Boy, did they ruin the noodle dish they used to serve here.

 

After dinner, the girls needed to update their social media accounts with Trader Sam's photos and such, so I took a walk outside to see what I could see of the new pool area.

 

There's a really nice child's play area going in here on the left side of this photo.  That backs up to the Trader Sam's Tiki Terrace^TM, but I guess if they are putting a waterfall in there, that should take care of any noise issues:

 

 

There's a kiddie slide over here:

 

 

The new pool looks a lot like the old pool, but I know that the moved the volcano over to the side so it's not blocking the view of the castle from the lobby:

 

 

You may not realize it, but this is a whole new volcano and slide:

 

 

There are still some construction walls up here, but there were people behind me when I took this photo saying that the front desk was saying that the pool would finally be open, tomorrow, on Easter Sunday.  I haven't heard whether or not that happened:

 

 

This area here had obviously been recently sodded:

 

 

After my look at the pool, I rejoined the girls, and we stopped by Trader Sam's Grog Grotto^TM to see how things stood for us getting in.  It was about 7:45 then, and the CM at the door said we still had a bit of time to wait. We decided we should bail, as they don't let guests under age 21 in after 8 pm.  I handed our pager off to a couple who had just walked up to get on the wait list, so they got some pixie dust from us.  No Grog Grotto for us this trip.

 

We headed back to the MK via the resort monorail without incident, and arrived in time to use our other Mine Train FP+'s.  The standby time was 90 minutes.

 

For some reason, they were performing Wishes at 9:00 pm all week.  That seemed early on a night that the park would be open until 1, but maybe they were doing it early to encourage guests to leave early.  Even though the girls didn't want me to, I used one of our FP+ slots for Wishes.  We've decided that we'd rather find a spot on our own, as the reserved areas have now gotten crowded and chaotic.  But, it ended up being a good thing that we had the FP+'s, as it was really busy tonight, and the places that we would have wanted to stand were all occupied when we arrived back at the park just past 8 pm.

 

This was the 5th time we've seen Wishes from the new FP+ viewing area, but it was the first time that we tried the east side, which is the side in front of the Plaza restaurant.  When we scanned our MB's to go in, the CM's there told us that it would be standing room only in there tonight, so we found a space toward the back:

 

 

Now that they're having everyone stand, dads are compelled to put their kids on their shoulders-even though they should know that it will block the view of the guests behind them:

 

 

 

Those people are doing that inside the reserved area.

 

But, they're dummies.

 

Check out this dad, who had his kid stand on the railing- isn't he a genius?:

 

 

So if that kid can do that, why can't I?

 

No CM came and told the kid to get down.

 

Even though it was pretty bad inside the reserved area, we were not as squished as these people who were behind us, outside the reserved area:

 

 

I don't have one good fireworks photo from this viewing.  There was too much commotion going on in and around the viewing area.

 

This is a photo taken right after the fireworks ended to show the congestion in the reserved viewing area:

 

 

But that was calm compared to the mess behind us.  Here you can see that they have the auxiliary guest exit open in the back center of the photo, where guests are pouring out of the park:

 

 

We stayed and enjoyed the hub grass while everyone left the reserved area.  It's nice when everyone leaves.

 

This is where we want to stand to watch Wishes sometime:

 

 

We still had FP+'s for Big Thunder Mountain and Haunted Mansion, but our BTMRR ones weren't good until 10.  So, the girls wanted to hunt down Twin #2's old roommate, who was working in Liberty Square.  On the way there, we came across this group.  Sorry for the blurry photo, but it's the only one I have- check out how they brought their own folding chair to put next to the scooter.  How did they get that in?:

 

 

While the girls visited, I tried to get a photo of the Paul Revere tribute on the side of the Hall of Presidents.  This photo is the best I could do:

 

 

Then it was time to get to Big Thunder.

 

We had one more bit of strangeness on the way there:

 

 

That's a girl with a giant Cheshire Cat tail.  At least that's what I think it is.  What I can't tell you is why.

 

On the way there, I stopped to see if I could take a photo of something for the "Where in the World" thread.  I spotted this broom and dustpan stashed behind a little building along the walkway:

 

 

It's strange that CM's have to hide their equipment like that.

 

When we got to Big Thunder, we encountered the first MDE failure of this trip.  I foolishly thought that we were about to have a trip where everything functioned correctly.  But no.  We arrived to find that Big Thunder mountain was down, with the lights on, and CM's walking the tracks.  We were 15 minutes in to our FP+ return time, and had not received the email that we were supposed to.  The CM's there told us that we could use our BRMRR FP+ at another ride, and we thought we would use it at Pirates. But, since we could use it at any time between now and park close, the girls decided to go back and visit with their friend some more.

 

While they visited, I noticed this Real Man of Genius who found an electric outlet he could use to charge his phone while his kid took selifes with his selfie stick:

 

 

The girls visited some more, and we still didn't get the email saying the Big Thunder was down and that we could use our FP+'s elsewhere.  I was concerned that we would show up at Pirates and not be able to use the FP+'s there.  So, I suggested that we go and see if Big Thunder had reopened.  Sure enough, it had, and we got to ride it.

 

Right after we exited the ride, I got an email telling me that it was down and that we could use our FP+'s somewhere else.

 

So, that email came in after the ride had reopened.

 

After Big Thunder, we could have gone and ridden Haunted Mansion.

 

But, we heard the train running, and decided to ride the train to the front of the park.  That was nice.  It seems like the train didn't used to run at night, but it does a lot now.  Here we are leaving the Fantasyland station:

 

 

When we got to the front, we decided to call it a night.

 

We took the bus back to Port Orleans French Quarter.

 

They had big plans here for Easter:

 

 

Some of that sounds like fun.

 

But, we had to go.

 

And we did.

 

And, that's all I have for you.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

TCD

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

Thanks for another report TCD, appreciate the work as always.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

[DaveInTN 3,247]

That ending was abrupt.  

 

Strange.  

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

No promise of Bonus Material?

This is a strange report indeed.

[lklasing 16]

No way that's it.  Gotta be more strangeness.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Thank you for another great report!