Let's Talk Turkey: TCD's 2016 Thanksgiving at the Fort Trip Report

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Can I squeeze in on page one?

As Maxwell Smart would say, "Missed it by that much!"

But the important thing is I get to enjoy a TCD TR! :D

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

36 minutes ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

Meeting Moana is high on our list too. I bet it's going to be crazy by then.

The TCD girls are more famous than ever!

I have a feeling that the Moana meet and greet is going to be really bad.

They created a space at the far back of the One Man's Dream exhibit- near where you enter the theater.  They yanked a bunch of cool displays to make that space.  Not cool.  And the traffic flow at that location is awful.

There's a small waiting room which is themed like the cave where the tribe kept their boats hidden, and then you go around the corner to meet Moana.  There is only one greeting room- so only one friend of Moana is working at a time.

I remember how bad the Anna and Elsa meet and greet wait times got when they were first meeting at Norway in Epcot.  I think this is going to be that bad.  And maybe worse!

We only had about a 20 minute wait.

33 minutes ago, Beckers said:

The phone thing is crazy. Why didn't they at least give a raffle stub ticket?? 

I know.

It was the craziest thing I've seen Disney do in a long time.  They just had tables set up with CM's and ziplock bags, and everyone was required to cough up their electronics.  They had a bag check set up after that and security guards who wanded every guest.  I saw more than one guest get sent back to check their electronics- they were serious about it.

The craziest part was the pick-up afterwards.  They had tables set up with alphabet letters on display, and you were required to go to the table matching the first letter of your last name.  The CM's had sorted and organized the electronics by last name.  The ziplock bags were lined up on the tables, and you could see the names on the bags as you walked up.  My oldest daughter was ahead of me, and when she gave her last name, they handed her my bag without asking if I was there.  A bad guy could have walked up to any table, read a name on a bag, and said that to a CM, and walked away with someone's phone.  Wow.  So incredibly careless.

29 minutes ago, Momof6....aka Marty said:

Can I squeeze in on page one?

As Maxwell Smart would say, "Missed it by that much!"

But the important thing is I get to enjoy a TCD TR! :D

Shoot!

Well, you got to start page two!

TCD

[Travisma 1,317]

1 hour ago, Beckers said:

The phone thing is crazy. Why didn't they at least give a raffle stub ticket?? 

Because that would've

A: Required planning

B: Cost them $5

[Travisma 1,317]

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Correct.  My turkey was 15 point something pounds.   As you know 16 is the magic number.  I used a rub on mine, and it came out very dark.  Good thing I used a meat thermometer, as it looked done on the outside way before it was actually ready.  Mine came out great too- I liked the crispy skin.

 

TCD

I found instructions that said put your rub on, put the turkey in for a 1/2 hour with the reflective lid, then remove the lid and pour the oil on the bird.  That way the rub would be baked on and not get rinsed off by the oil if you did both at the same time.

My cooker was missing the mesh lid (it was a display model) so I used and old oil cooker lid I had kept.  I waited the 1/2 hour and the entire turkey was brown and the wing tips were really brown.. Since my lid was solid it kept in too much heat. Next time I'll do 10 or 15 minutes.

 

But it sure was tasty.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

6 minutes ago, Travisma said:

I found instructions that said put your rub on, put the turkey in for a 1/2 hour with the reflective lid, then remove the lid and pour the oil on the bird.  That way the rub would be baked on and not get rinsed off by the oil if you did both at the same time.

My cooker was missing the mesh lid (it was a display model) so I used and old oil cooker lid I had kept.  I waited the 1/2 hour and the entire turkey was brown and the wing tips were really brown.. Since my lid was solid it kept in too much heat. Next time I'll do 10 or 15 minutes.

 

But it sure was tasty.

Hmm.  That sounds messy.  I have used a rub twice and just kind of sprinkled it and patted it onto the skin without the oil or butter that the package directions called for.  It works fine.

The lid is a tricky thing.  I use mine more than they say you should.  It seems like too much heat escapes without it- but that definitely causes a darker bird.

I agree with you- the turkey always comes out great in this thing even if the skin gets too dark.

One thing I forgot to mention- I don't think my bird was all the way thawed. I bought it on Sunday and left it on the refrigerator until I packed up on Wednesday, and then put it in its own cooler with an ice pack until Thursday morning.  When I opened up the bag on Thursday, it seemed thawed, but there were still ice crystals in the cavity when I removed the neck and giblets. That thing was really frozen when I got it! It took about 20 minutes longer to cook than typical for a turkey that size.  I put the lid on for that last 20 minutes because I wanted the internal temperature to rise.

TCD

[shoreline99 137]

5 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Hmm.  That sounds messy.  I have used a rub twice and just kind of sprinkled it and patted it onto the skin without the oil or butter that the package directions called for.  It works fine.

The lid is a tricky thing.  I use mine more than they say you should.  It seems like too much heat escapes without it- but that definitely causes a darker bird.

I agree with you- the turkey always comes out great in this thing even if the skin gets too dark.

One thing I forgot to mention- I don't think my bird was all the way thawed. I bought it on Sunday and left it on the refrigerator until I packed up on Wednesday, and then put it in its own cooler with an ice pack until Thursday morning.  When I opened up the bag on Thursday, it seemed thawed, but there were still ice crystals in the cavity when I removed the neck and giblets. That thing was really frozen when I got it! It took about 20 minutes longer to cook than typical for a turkey that size.  I put the lid on for that last 20 minutes because I wanted the internal temperature to rise.

TCD

Thanks for the info. We use a traditional deep fryer setup for our turkey, but I've talked to several people recently about using the oil-less fryer.

Was just curious, I figured the deep fryer was certainly taboo at the fort LOL.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

3 minutes ago, shoreline99 said:

Thanks for the info. We use a traditional deep fryer setup for our turkey, but I've talked to several people recently about using the oil-less fryer.

Was just curious, I figured the deep fryer was certainly taboo at the fort LOL.

Turkey Fryers taboo at the Fort?

Come on, you know better than that.

Those things were everywhere.  Everywhere.  I'll have some photos to back that statement up later on.

TCD

[Travisma 1,317]

7 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Turkey Fryers taboo at the Fort?

Come on, you know better than that.

Those things were everywhere.  Everywhere.  I'll have some photos to back that statement up later on.

TCD

Do any of the photos show exploding geysers of flaming oil from dropping frozen birds into hi temp oil?

[shoreline99 137]

32 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Turkey Fryers taboo at the Fort?

Come on, you know better than that.

Those things were everywhere.  Everywhere.  I'll have some photos to back that statement up later on.

TCD

No way - I would have thought they were banned like open fire pits. Too many things can go wrong, and there is way too much brush and pine needles artound that can catch fire. I'm genuinely surprised that they haven't cracked down on that.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Let's get this trip report back on track.

We are now up to Thursday morning, November 21- Thanksgiving morning at the Fort!

The weather this year was perfect.  It dipped into the low 60's overnight. I just had the heat strip in the camper set at the lowest setting, and the temperature in the camper was perfect for sleeping.

Of course, I was up just before dawn so I could make it to rope drop at the Comfort Station.  I was the first one there, and got my shower in peace and quiet before the rest of the campers showed up .  Actually, one of the perks about a premium loop is that the comfort stations are so much less busy than they are on the partial loops.  I think we might have been the only campers on our loop who didn't have a full bath. 

I was out and about by 7 am. 

And here I was at 7:10 am, watching the sun rise over the canal (and fence) behind the 300 loop:

I still don't think any bats have moved in to the BABH.  Maybe all of that chain link fencing is off-putting to them:

If you like rope fences, there is plenty of that here now:

Personally, I hate all the fencing, but my favorite spot is still my favorite spot:

This was probably one of the most beautiful Thanksgiving mornings I've been blessed to experience at the Fort:

This is one of those places where a photo can never do justice, but the view from this spot is what makes Disney World better than any of the other Disney resort around the globe:

From here, I headed down to the Settlement.  It was quiet this morning.  No one was heading to the MK for a marathon session:

I love to be in this area when there are no guests around. Guests wreck the Fort.  I like having it all to myself:

All the rocking chairs were available on the porch:

There's my buddy the beach raker.  That beach gets raked every day whether it needs it or not- even Thanksgiving:

Dang, I don't like the look of all the black chain link fencing around the playground.  Why?:

With the burned out light situation, the Settlement Christmas tree looks better in the daylight than it does at night:

Whoever designed this tree did a great job- I love the bows, stars, and especially the horse shoes.  Good job:

I also love the Pioneer Hall decorations:

I was having a great morning.

But, then the battery light lit up on my golf cart:

It was late and dark when I plugged the cart in the night before.  I didn't bother looking at the gauge on the charger, and didn't think of it when I had unplugged that morning.  But, I checked it then.  And the charger didn't appear to be working.  I checked it on a couple of different outlets, and nothing happened.  No movement on the needle of the gauge, no buzzing noise.  The charger was broken, and hadn't done a thing the night before.  And I am finding this out at 7:33 am on Thanksgiving morning.  Not good.

I thought about searching the Fort to find someone I could borrow a charger from.  I knew I could find someone.  But that would be plan B.  Plan A was sending a text to Kelly, Kenny's assistant. She had texted me several times the day before to move back my pick-up time.  I knew it was Thanksgiving, but I figured that Kenny would have someone on call to help with issues.  I figured I would send one text, and leave it at that.  So I did.  I heard back right away from Kelly letting me know that she was off duty today, but had forwarded my text to Kenny.  Within the hour, I had a new charger.  Kenny is not allowed to enter Disney property for anything golf cart related, so it took some effort on his part, and I had to meet him just off property, but he came through.  On Thanksgiving morning.  I mention this because I remember a while ago, some new member here put the bad mouth on Kenny.  I thought that was bull, and now I know it is.  That man personally left his house on Thanksgiving morning to make sure that an occasional customer was taken care of.  A+ 10/10 to Kenny!

I didn't need to start cooking until about 10 am, so I enjoyed the nice, quiet morning.  I was really glad to be on this quiet loop with quiet neighbors.  I just sat there sipping my coffee and watching birds:

This is the view of our site from the picnic table.  You can see my turkey cooker there on the left:

After a while, I decided to take a loop around the 2000 loop to document something we had noticed the night before.

I took the long way through the 1100 loop.  Note that this guy had his Christmas decorations on all night.  I did not get a printed list of decoration rules when I checked in yesterday, and I wonder if the new manager has rescinded them:

Now we are on the 2000 loop.  It doesn't look too bad here at the entrance:

The Disney website says that only tents, pop-up campers and van campers can be accommodated on the partial hook-up loops, yet this hybrid camper was in one of the first sites on the loop:

But that isn't what I came here to take a picture of.

I was here to count the U-Haul trailers.

There were a bunch here on this loop the last time we were here for Thanksgiving, and they were back.

Here's #1:

#2:

#3:

#4:

and #5 (with three cars parked on the site too!) :

I think I've made my point.  There were a few more U-Haul trailers around the loop, but some of those sites had people on them wondering what I was taking photos of.  So I stopped with the U-Haul documenting.  The point is that the U-Haulers were back.  I still don't get it. Why do you need a U-Haul to camp?

Here's a regular travel trailer that was parked on a 2000 loop site:

The sun was still making its slow ascent as I left the 2000 loop:

There were some dog walkers way out here.  I wonder if they came from the 2000 loop, or where they came from if they didn't?:

I never miss a chance to look at the tee-pees, so I stopped by there:

Time to head back:

There's a fellow pop-up camper on the 2100 loop:

There was a big and rowdy group there on the 2100 loop.  I'll have some photos of them later.

I headed back to camp, as it was time to get started on the Thanksgiving preparations.

TCD

 

[alexwyattmommy 181]

I mostly lurk on the trip reports now.  However, I do want to say that I am glad Kenny took care of you right away.  On a holiday to boot.  That is the service I had before the last time with the charger mishap for me.  Mine had to be a fluke.

We have one of those oil-less fryers but haven't used it yet. 

Looking forward to Rocky photos.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I hate the fences.

What is up with the Uhauls? They don't have a ton of decorations with them.

There's too much lurking on FF these days. I hope people will start posting more. Maybe this report will help.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Travisma 1,317]

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

 

There was a big and rowdy group there on the 2100 loop.  I'll have some photos of them later.

I headed back to camp, as it was time to get started on the Thanksgiving preparations.

TCD

 

Don't you mean the 2000 loop?  That's usually party central.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

1 hour ago, Travisma said:

Do any of the photos show exploding geysers of flaming oil from dropping frozen birds into hi temp oil?

Sadly, no.

1 hour ago, shoreline99 said:

No way - I would have thought they were banned like open fire pits. Too many things can go wrong, and there is way too much brush and pine needles artound that can catch fire. I'm genuinely surprised that they haven't cracked down on that.

And don't forget that the Fort is an idiot magnet.  I have a photo I'll post later of some real geniuses who had three turkey fryers going simultaneously at their site.

34 minutes ago, alexwyattmommy said:

I mostly lurk on the trip reports now.  However, I do want to say that I am glad Kenny took care of you right away.  On a holiday to boot.  That is the service I had before the last time with the charger mishap for me.  Mine had to be a fluke.

We have one of those oil-less fryers but haven't used it yet. 

Looking forward to Rocky photos.

Well, thanks for coming out of lurkdom, then.

I had an issue with one of Kenny's carts on a previous trip, and he was in constant communication with me until it was fixed.  He is a very good guy.

The Rocky photos will be here soon!

13 minutes ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

I hate the fences.

What is up with the Uhauls? They don't have a ton of decorations with them.

There's too much lurking on FF these days. I hope people will start posting more. Maybe this report will help.

I hate all of the fences.  The chain link ones are the worst for me because they are so visible, and clash with the careful wilderness theming of the Fort.

I really don't understand what the heck those U-Haul people are doing.  They all had plenty of vehicles on their sites to haul their gear.  Why do they need trailers too?  I hate it- who wants to camp in a U-Haul lot?

4 minutes ago, Travisma said:

Don't you mean the 2000 loop?  That's usually party central.

That U-Haul group in 2000 was tame compare to the large group in the first part of 2100.  Twin #2 had the misfortune of riding in a bus filled with them back from Disney Springs.  Very loud, obnoxious and inconsiderate.  Sad.

TCD

[Friend of a Fiend ... Pam 8]

Imagine my delight after a few days of being away from FF to log on and find a TCD trip report?! It's like Christmas came early!

Looking forward to hearing the rest.

[LONE-STAR 370]

Will we get a Real Men of Genius award on the trip?

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Phew I made it before Thanksgiving dinner. Glad the whole family was able to be together this year.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Finally in on this trip report, dang Christmas job keeps getting in the way!!!!!

[shoreline99 137]

As I've said before, Kenny and his crew have always been great to us. Good carts, fair prices and great service.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Fort pictures and sarcasm.  This is why we love a good TCD TR!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

13 hours ago, Friend of a Fiend ... Pam said:

Imagine my delight after a few days of being away from FF to log on and find a TCD trip report?! It's like Christmas came early!

Looking forward to hearing the rest.

Aw, shucks.  Thanks for reading and commenting.

11 hours ago, LONE-STAR said:

Will we get a Real Men of Genius award on the trip?

This is a sore subject.

I saw a perfect candidate.  A guy had pulled his truck over to the woodline off of Fort Wilderness Trail, to the side of the big field behind the cabin loops, and he was going to town on a log with a big old axe.  What it looked like to me is that the guy was foraging in the woods there for firewood, and was chopping it on the spot.

The big fail was that I was heading out to the Outpost in a line of traffic, and it was dusk, so no chance for a good photo.

If I had gotten a photo of this guy with the axe, he would have one the Real Man of Genius award easily.  But I didn't get a photo, so I had to give the award to a less deserving candidate.  That's coming up.

10 hours ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

Phew I made it before Thanksgiving dinner. Glad the whole family was able to be together this year.

You made it with time to spare.  I have another batch of photos I'm about to post from Thanksgiving morning before I got started cooking.

5 hours ago, dblr....Rennie said:

Finally in on this trip report, dang Christmas job keeps getting in the way!!!!!

Glad to see that you're hanging in there, Rennie.  It will all be over in just a couple of more weeks!

2 hours ago, shoreline99 said:

As I've said before, Kenny and his crew have always been great to us. Good carts, fair prices and great service.

Agreed.  There aren't many business people left in this world who have a work ethic and who take pride in customer service like him.  He is a great guy, and we are lucky to have him as an alternative to Disney's outrageous cart rental prices.

TCD

[YJeepgirl32 3]

I am thinking of purchasing a turkey fryer. Glad to hear you don't mind taking yours with you. Must be pretty easy to use. Thanks for sharing- love your reports. Cant wait to camp there for the first time in July!!!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Update time.

It's still Thanksgiving morning.

I needed to get some more ice.  Some good ice.  Trading Post ice.  It's far superior to the melty ice dispensed at the comfort stations.  And, with the 20% passholder discount, it's cheaper.

So here we go.

Another one of my favorite places at the Fort: The Meadow Trading Post:

I had noticed a problem here already the day before.  There are no rocking chairs on the porch (and I checked all the way around) :

Also, they were playing the regular Fort Wilderness music over the outdoor speakers.  Not the Christmas play list.  I like the regular music, but the Christmas decorations were up, so it should have been Christmas music.

Before I grabbed the ice, I took a look around.  I hate shopping, but I love looking around the Meadow Trading Post.  I always figured this must be how Mrs. TCD feels when she's studying everything in one of the stores she likes to visit while I'm ready to go after 10 seconds.  For some reason, I just love to look around at everything they have for sale at the trading posts.

I noticed that the beer selection has gotten a lot more eclectic:

After all of these years, the prices still shock me:

I guess there are enough guests willing to shell out forty bucks for a bottle of bad wine that they keep it in stock here, but that surprises me too:

After the beverage section, my next favorite department to visit is the camping supplies:

Always good for a laugh!

Here we go- $9.99 for a 16.4 oz bottle of Coleman propane.:

You can get two bottles of that same propane for $6.24 at Walmart:

Wow.

Wait, there's more.

They want $17.99 for 25' of coaxial cable:

That same exact product can be purchased from a camping supply place for $9.76:

Here's one more- a 32 oz bottle of Thetford Aqua Kem is $15.99:

Or, you can stop by Camping World and get a bottle for $7.59:

I get it.

Everyone needs to make a buck.

But come on.

I guess you can't put a price on convenience. 

I like to look at the kitchen supply section too:

Here's a TCD PSA, do not forget your frying pan!  Or you'll be sorry:

I love how this Mickey statue gets decorated for every holiday. Christmas time is my favorite:

Here's a really nice touch- the checkerboard by the fireplace.  I remember playing many checker games there with the girls.  I miss how easy it was to beat them.  Now, it's too much work, so it's been a while since we played a game:

Hey- here's something I haven't seen before- a big plastic Coleman cooler for sale next to the cheapo Styrofoam coolers:

Yowsa!:

But, it's still way cheaper than a Yeti.

Here's photo confirmation that there were no rocking chairs on the back porch:

Too bad, because look at how beautiful it was out this morning:

Bob, your dock was in good shape and clean:

I don't like how there's a sign blocking the view of Bear Rock:

Unlike some recent years, we have had a very dry November this year.  So, Bear Rock was high and dry:

If you look at that rock behind Bear Rock, you can see marks left by previous water levels. This is about as low as I've seen the water level here.

For the sake of comparison, check out this photo from the TCD archives, which is from Thanksgiving morning 2014:

Those are the same three rocks.  Look how much higher the water was two years ago.

I know stuff grows like crazy in Florida, but it's still surprising to me to see how much the landscaping behind the "new" sites on the 600 loop has filled in.  You can't see any RV's anymore:

There's the good old Bike Barn:

The water might have been low, but it was nice and clear in the Fishin' Hole this morning:

You can see watermarks on these rocks from when the water level was higher:

I have a free tip for those of you reading along.  When the rocking chairs are missing from the trading post porch, that picnic table over there isn't a bad place to sit and sip your coffee. I would have headed over there myself this morning, but I needed to get back to the site and start getting ready to cook:

Or, you could sit at the picnic tables or benches on the back porch of the trading post:

The big sycamore trees behind the trading post are getting serious about dropping their leaves:

In a few weeks, the big tree in the center of this photo will be bare:

There was a bit of fog hanging over the water in the canal behind the 1300 loop, but that's water under the bridge:

You can practically see the sycamore leaves dropping in these photos:

If this hop scotch court could talk . . .:

Here's a rare site- some good old split log benches- these things are getting scarce around the Fort:

Although I was enjoying the peace and quiet behind the Meadow Trading Post, it was really time for me to get back to camp and get things going.

So, that's where we will be headed next.

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

The more time I have spent at FW, the more i enjoy these TR's.  Years ago, looking at these pictures would have been nice.  But now they remind me of the smells, the feeling of the air, the excitement of relaxing at the Fort.

77 days.  I think I can wait, but it is very hard.  Thanks for helping me remember why I love it so much.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Those prices may seem high, but if you are halfway through cooking up hot dogs for lunch and your propane runs out....that's still cheaper than tossing the dogs and heading to Roaring Forks for lunch.  And if your black tank is stinking up the camper, I'd rather overpay for some chemicals at the trading post than have to leave the bubble and head to Wally World.  So yes, convenience is key.  And in cases where Mama ain't happy cause the crapper stinks, you can't put a price on her happiness.