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

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

11 hours ago, Travisma said:

We saw both Muppet Shows about a month ago, and at the end of each show they shot streamers off the Kermit building.

When we saw them over Thanksgiving weekend there were no streamers to be seen.

I think we had streamers.

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

We leave in a week!

I can't wait to be on that boat ride!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Moving on . . .

It is still Saturday afternoon, November 26th.  We had made a brief foray into the MK, and planned to finish the night at Epcot.  We spent the afternoon watching football, and trying to finish the last of the leftovers from Thanksgiving.  It was a beautiful day, and great to just hang around the Fort.

We could hear that there was some kind of big activity going on over by the pool, so at one point, we headed out to investigate where all the noise was coming from.

The Picnic Table Relocation Engineer was out on patrol:

There was a large group of people playing volleyball on the court at the entrance to the 1300 loop, but they weren't the source of the noise we were hearing:

This was a site on the 1300 loop.  For a couple of days, all it had was that little sign wishing Debbie a Happy Birthday.  Someone finally added some balloons.  I felt better for poor Debbie after that:

As we drove by the Meadow Recreation Area^TM, we saw the source of all of that noise.  A large group was having a blast:

It was great to see so many people enjoying the Fort.  So much better than being in a packed theme park.  It was a perfect afternoon.

We had FP+'s lined up at Epcot for the evening, and we finally got around to making plans for when we would head over there.  We talked about eating at one of the new Holiday food booths they've set up there, but I had also packed the ingredients for the girls favorite camping beverage, and we hadn't had a chance to enjoy that yet.

So the plan was to have a prolonged Happy Hour at the campsite, get some Trails' End take out, and then head over to Epcot in time to ride Soarin', hit maybe one food booth, and then watch Illuminations.

If you have a good memory, you might remember that we started our trip with a GAG on Wednesday night.  And we ended up getting another one on Saturday night.  It was another two GAG trip.

Here we are heading to Trail's End.  There was quite a bit of traffic around the Fort.  This van in front of us has an empty firewood bag hanging from its bike rack.  The van you see parked at the Four Way stop was causing traffic problems- it was a Mears van.  The driver was breaking every rule by dropping off guests there:

I ordered our chicken and got our beeper.  The porch was full, so we did some Settlement looping while we waited.  We were there as the sleighs came pulling up for the sleigh rides.  I think this might have been the first night they were doing these, as I hadn't seen any around earlier in the trip:

There's the first sleigh:

And then a second one came by.  This is the third sleigh:

That's three sleighs they had out and ready to go:

They wasted no time loading up and heading out, one right after the other:

Our beeper went off, and I headed in for our food.  I love seeing this wreath every year:

It was only 5:15 pm, but Trail's End was packed, and there was a long line to get to the buffet:

Back at our site, we dug in to the chicken. Then I got the bar set-up and got busy mixing up some Kungalooshes:

I made the drinks a bit strong, so we stopped after the first pitcher, and then headed out to catch the Epcot bus.

We got to Epcot right before 8, which gave us an hour and a half to ride Soarin', visit the food booths, and then find a spot for Illuminations.

We had FP+'s for Soarin'.  I've only been on it once since they started playing the new film.  The twins had only been on it a couple of times.  They wanted to skip it.  They don't like the new film much.  I can't say that I do either, but I wanted to give it another chance.  And, we had those FP+s.  We got to go to the new theater.  Which is really no big deal.  It's exactly the same as the others.  Except you have a much longer walk to get there and back.  Even with the FP+'s it still took us a half hour to ride.  I didn't like it any better on my second go around.  I much prefer the original version.

Now it was 8:30.  We decided that we would head to the food booth between France and Morocco and get some cheese fondue, and then take that and find a spot for Illuminations.

As we headed in to the World Showcase, we noticed that the Three Kings food booth had closed up for the evening.  The CM's were in there cleaning up, but the registers were closed, and the outside lighting off.  Odd.  It was just a couple of minutes past 8:30, and the park was open until 9:30.

We continued around the World Showcase, and discussed whether the food booths might all be closed now.  When we got to the bridge to France, there were open spots for Illuminations viewing, and we agreed that the girls would grab those, and I would go and try to get the fondue and bring it back.

The fondue was a big fail. That booth was also closed.  It was 8:41 when I snapped this photo:

No fondue for us.

I went back to the bridge and told the girls the bad news. 

The good news is we had a pretty good spot to watch Illuminations.  We were right on the bridge railing.  As we stood there, we watched the Illuminations cruise boats pull up below us and tie together:

Those folks down there paid big money for their view.  We were right above them, and saved the cost of the fancy boat ride.

I like watching Illuminations from this bridge, but I prefer to be around the World Showcase a bit more so I can see the projections on Spaceship Earth:

We got to see the special holiday ending that they tack on to the end of Illuminations.  It's really good:

It was about 9:45 when Illuminations ended, and Epcot was now closed.  We didn't like the idea of having to walk in the mobs that would be heading to the main exit and then riding a packed bus back to the Fort.  So, we discussed other options.  One of the twins suggested that we walk to the new ice cream shop at the Boardwalk Resort, and have a sundae.  That plan was a winner, so we headed there.

It wasn't busy:

The name of the place is Ample Hills Creamery.  Their "thing" is to make their sundaes on top of a brownie or a piece of butter cake.  We were just going to share one sundae, so we went with the brownie, but I am curious about the butter cake.  The ice cream was very good- a notch above the Edy's that Disney serves in all of its locations.

After the ice cream, we had to figure out how to get back to the Fort.  Hollywood Studios was open until 11, so we decided to take the boat there and catch the Fort Wilderness bus.  And that's what we did.

We made it back to our site, and then went out for our final night of looping.  We would be packing up and heading home tomorrow.  But, the trip home would be delayed, as Twin #2 had scored us tickets for the CM preview of the Rivers of Light show at Animal Kingdom.

So the plan for Sunday was to pack up, park in overflow, or maybe at a resort, and find something to do for the afternoon until it was time to head to Animal Kingdom.

If you're enjoying this report, don't worry, I have a lot of photos from Sunday, so there is a bit more report for you to enjoy before I'll wrap this one up.

TCD

[Helmsey......Todd 134]

Two GaG's AND a turkey dinner at the Fort? It is good to be a TCD.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

So, I was telling Steve about the Oil less turkey fryer.  At first he was not that interested. But I think he is changing his mind. I keep telling him how much everyone is raving about it. There is one for sale at Home Depot.  It's not the Big Easy, but rather a River Grille.  Wondering how it would compare to the Big Easy.  Also have you cooked anything besides the turkey in yours? 

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Happy Hour at the site and a GAG. I like it. 

I think the sleighs are pretty. I love this time of year at the Fort! 

You got a couple really good fireworks shots. I've kind of wondered what the view from the pontoons would be. Seems yours is better up higher. 

 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

20 hours ago, Helmsey......Todd said:

Two GaG's AND a turkey dinner at the Fort? It is good to be a TCD.

That was a lot of poultry.

But I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

11 hours ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

So, I was telling Steve about the Oil less turkey fryer.  At first he was not that interested. But I think he is changing his mind. I keep telling him how much everyone is raving about it. There is one for sale at Home Depot.  It's not the Big Easy, but rather a River Grille.  Wondering how it would compare to the Big Easy.  Also have you cooked anything besides the turkey in yours? 

I just looked up the River Grille.  It's on sale for $49!  It has good reviews, and it can cook a 20 lb turkey vs. the 16 lb max for the Big Easy. 

I say go for it!

I've only cooked whole turkeys and a turkey breast in my Big Easy, but I have no doubt it would cook any kind of beef or pork roast fine.  I've read about people cooking chicken wings in theirs, and they look good.

11 hours ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

Happy Hour at the site and a GAG. I like it. 

I think the sleighs are pretty. I love this time of year at the Fort! 

You got a couple really good fireworks shots. I've kind of wondered what the view from the pontoons would be. Seems yours is better up higher. 

 

I also love the Fort at Christmastime.  And the sleighs.  Hearing the jingle bells and horse hoofs going by is pretty cool.

I could be wrong, but I think the view from the bridge is superior to the view those folks in the pontoon boats would have. 

TCD

[Travisma 1,317]

11 hours ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

So, I was telling Steve about the Oil less turkey fryer.  At first he was not that interested. But I think he is changing his mind. I keep telling him how much everyone is raving about it. There is one for sale at Home Depot.  It's not the Big Easy, but rather a River Grille.  Wondering how it would compare to the Big Easy.  Also have you cooked anything besides the turkey in yours? 

Get the Big Easy.  They make an electric one that is also a smoker but is harder to find.

I have the regular gas one.  I found it at a Home Depot, it was the display model and was missing the lid (which I never use) so I got it for about $60.

Makes great turkey.  

Also whole chickens, boneless chicken breast, legs, wings, sausage, hot dogs, kabobs, and fantastic ribs.

There is an oven type pot you can get for it that I haven't used yet.

Amazon just had a package deal with the cooker and quite a few accessories at a good price.

Check your Lowes and Home Depots, they usually clear them out this time of year (at least here in FL).

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Well, here we are on the last morning of this trip.  It's Sunday, November 27.  I am in no rush to leave today, since we will be staying around WDW to watch the Rivers of Light CM preview tonight.

I called the "front desk" the night before, and after a lot of being placed on hold while the person who answered the phone called the actual front desk, I scored a 1 pm late checkout for today.  Awesome.

I was very grateful to have the extra time, as I had to get my Kenny cart back to Kenny this morning.  I had a 10 am appointment for that.

I was up early for the 4th morning in a row.  Yes, I would have liked the sleep, but I can sleep at home.  It was another glorious morning.  We really were blessed with great weather on this trip.  That has not always been the case for Thanksgiving week.

Here I am cruising down Fort Wilderness Trail toward the Settlement.  You can see that the rising sun is just hitting the tree tops up ahead:

There's the Meadow Trading Post.  I didn't spend as much time hanging around there as I usually do on this trip. I blame the missing rocking chairs:

Hey- here's our Real Man of Genius award winner for this trip- take a look over there- there's something set up in the grass:

I had noticed the row of orange cones set up over there earlier in the trip, and figured that there was some kind of work being done by a Fort CM.  But, looking closer, I see that there's a satellite dish there at the end of the cones.  This set up belongs to someone in the 600 loop:

That dude is serious about his satellite reception.  Note that he came prepared with his own cones. He's a Real Man of Genius. Congrats to you, sir.

As I continued on my ride, I passed the 800 loop bus stop, and decided I needed a photo of the Christmas decorations on it:

And then I remembered that I hadn't taken any photos of my favorite site in all of Fort Wilderness- 617, so here you go:

Since I was here, I figured I may as well head over to the campfire area, as I hadn't made it there yet on this trip.  I still am not a fan of the new part of the 600 loop, but it's always full:

Here's another one of my favorite spots to visit at the Fort- the bridge to the campfire:

Despite the very dry November we had this year, the water in the canal between the 600 loop and 1400 loop isn't green and slimy:

The Fishin' Hole looks good too:

Let's go and check out the decorations at the campfire:

You get a great view of the Fishin' Hole from here:

Here comes the sun:

You can see here that the light posts are wrapped with greenery and lights:

All of the benches here are looking pretty worn out.  I wonder where Brown Paint Guy has been?:

The custodial CM's obviously hadn't been here yet, so there was still some trash around from last night's campfire and movie:

There's the Christmas tree over there past the stage:

Here's a look at the Chuckwagon and Projection Building:

This is just a great space- I love the openness, and it's awesome to have it all to myself with no one else around:

The canvas screens on the stage still look good.  Since Doctor Terminus was not in the Pete's Dragon remake, I wonder how many people even know who he is anymore:

Just think, last night a couple of kids were probably running around with flaming marshmallows at the ends of these sticks, and this morning they lay here forgotten and abandoned:

It's weird to visit here when it's empty.  I'll bet this place was packed last night:

Here's another look at the worn out benches:

This is the only little bench that was around this morning.  There used to be four of these set up around each fire pit.  This one is the only one left, and it's not looking too good:

Now we are heading back across the bridge.  Time to hop on the cart, and continue on our rounds.  I have some more site decoration photos coming up if anyone likes that kind of thing:

TCD

 

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Get the Big Easy.  They make an electric one that is also a smoker but is harder to find.

I have the regular gas one.  I found it at a Home Depot, it was the display model and was missing the lid (which I never use) so I got it for about $60.

Makes great turkey.  

Also whole chickens, boneless chicken breast, legs, wings, sausage, hot dogs, kabobs, and fantastic ribs.

There is an oven type pot you can get for it that I haven't used yet.

Amazon just had a package deal with the cooker and quite a few accessories at a good price.

Check your Lowes and Home Depots, they usually clear them out this time of year (at least here in FL).

We already have the Master Built electric smoker though.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Travisma 1,317]

25 minutes ago, momof3kids-Yvonne said:

We already have the Master Built electric smoker though.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

I have a Masterbuilt Smoker also.

I don't think the electric Big Easy would get as hot as the gas one, that's why I would recommend purchasing the gas cooker only one, and not the electric combo, especially since you already have a smoker.

I looked at the River Grille after TCD had already posted his comments

It has good reviews and is a good price, but it doesn't seem to have as many accessories as the Big Easy.  Which may or may not matter to you.

I bought a combo pack of accessories for my Big Easy, an upper basket, kabob holders, rib hangers, chicken/meat hooks, leg holders, and an oven.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Continuing on . . .

It's still Sunday morning, November 27th.

We just visited the campfire area, and now we are heading out of the 600 loop.

It's strange how many Christmas inflatables there are.  Check out the giant inflatable rubber duck on top of that 5th wheel.  Of all the inflatable decorations that could be made, I don't understand why someone chose to make a giant inflatable rubber duck.  But, more than that, why would anyone buy a giant inflatable rubber duck?:

Now we are on the 700 loop. This is the first site on the "inside" of that loop, which I believe is Gwen's spot in the fall.  These folks waited until yesterday to put up their Christmas decorations:

Check out that customized golf cart:

Also note the customized sign with dog names on the dog bone cutouts:

Here's another site on the 700 loop, and proof that we had no rain over the weekend:

This photo is blurry, but I'm including it anyway because it's the only photo I have of this interesting site.  I'm not sure what's happening here- are there people sleeping in that trailer?  Where's their tow vehicle? If there was a motorhome on this site, wouldn't they have left their hoses and stuff to reconnect?  I have a lot of questions about what's going on here:

The guy on site 733 was trying to sell a Big Green Egg.  I have doubts about the alleged original purchase price, or that $250 is a fair price for a small used one like this one.  The whole thing is suspicious if you ask me:

After 700, I headed over to the 200 loop- there was something I wanted to check on there.

This:

The people on this site were real pieces of work.  Back on Friday morning, Mrs. TCD and the girls were out looping, and told me that they had witnessed a scene at this campsite where two security vehicles had parked and told the nitwit on this site that he couldn't have an open fire on his site.  He had a fire going in the middle of the day, and the security personnel made him put it out and told him that his fire pit was illegal.  Fast forward to Saturday afternoon, and this nitwit was right back at it with an open fire in that uncovered fire pit at his site.  It looks like he put it out with water sometime before this morning, but geez.

That's a big trailer there on the first inside site on the 100 loop:

Check out the joggers out at 7:32 am.  Note the dude is running around shirtless.  It was warm all weekend:

Now we're in the 300 loop.  Those naughty campers with the minivan were not respecting the yellow lines:

Just a few sites down, and another outlaw minivan driver:

Note that the 300 loopers have become a bunch of grinches- no Christmas decorations.

After all of that early looping and photo taking, I finally arrived at where I was heading the whole time- out the back of the 300 loop.  The sun was still in the process of rising:

As far as I can tell, the BABH still has no resident B's.  Fail:

Looking back across the bridge:

And here we are again.  I guess I come here a lot.  Don't knock it until you try it:

Here it was almost December 1st, and this bush here is covered in flowers.  I love Florida:

Another old cabin shot.  I don't think we are too far away from when that old cabin will join Melvin the Moose, the River Country Wagon, the totem poles, and reasonable site prices at that Big Fort in the Sky:

Look- that poor deer over there was probably going to get a drink of that refreshing Bay Lake water, but now there's a fence in the way:

From here, I headed down the path to the Settlement.  How odd it is to see site 114 empty again- especially at this time of the year:

It was quiet around the Settlement.  No commandos heading off to attack the MK:

There were a few carts in the Pioneer Hall parking lot, but these may have been leftover from the night before:

The sun was almost up in the sky now:

I never did see the VIP's who got to stay in the VIP cabins over the weekend, but I think they were both occupied:

This was my last ride on the Settlement path for this trip [frowny face] :

It was time for me to head back to 1300 and get packing.  There's the 1300 loop volleyball court and playground:

Packing up was great- I wasn't in a rush, and since we had no rain, everything was nice and dry.  A lot of the sites around me were packing up to go as well, and it was kind of quiet on the loop.  This guy was staying somewhere on the loop, and took his puppies for a last walk around before loading up:

I took a break from packing at a bit past 9:30, as I had to head out to get the trailer for my Kenny cart.  In the process of returning the cart, I got directed out through the backstage exit.  I have some photos of that to share in the next update.

TCD

[Tony 27]

Great pictures and TR as always!! I left there 2 weeks ago and I'm already planning my next trip.

 

[Specularius 102]

$250 for it is a a great deal if it is a Mini-Max and not cracked or missing parts. Some places are asking $600 for that Egg.

If it is just a Mini, then it is still a good deal. Mini's sell for around $380 here.

[Specularius 102]

I think you need to get that picture of the deer blocked by the Gator Fence to go viral. How dare Disney disrupt the life of that poor deer. And it also deprives the poor alligator from its food source, thereby increasing the risk of another alligator attack. Did Disney get approval from Biologist before installing all that fencing? I bet not. Now they have impacted the migration patterns and who knows what else. These fences need to be dismantled NOW.

[BigTom 76]

Maybe the BABH is going to be like Perky's Bat house in the Keys. Hasn't attracted a bat since it was built in 1929.

[Beckers 1,136]

I don't think I'd be too happy about the boats being tied up for Illuminations. We have done the Wishes cruise twice and it was fantastic because you were kind of in your own bubble. But I can't imagine if the people next to you were obnoxious or their kid was screaming (or mine was screaming and ruining their time). 

[clakey 9]

Another TCD trip report! So glad to see that you found another real man of genius. Interested in hearing why you are so high on site 617.  Headed down at the end of this week. I am sure you will be around at some point.  Hopefully, I will run into you again.  That is a mean looking margarita machine.  As always learning a lot and enjoying the report.  

Chris

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

1 hour ago, Beckers said:

I don't think I'd be too happy about the boats being tied up for Illuminations. We have done the Wishes cruise twice and it was fantastic because you were kind of in your own bubble. But I can't imagine if the people next to you were obnoxious or their kid was screaming (or mine was screaming and ruining their time). 

I've done an Illuminations cruise many, many years ago... It is a lot of fun and the view is good. The big advantage is you are enjoying a nice cruise before Illuminations instead of holding down a piece of concrete. I can't comment on having unpleasant neighbors as our group had every boat in the water that evening. It was a fun party with all of us together

 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

18 hours ago, Tony said:

Great pictures and TR as always!! I left there 2 weeks ago and I'm already planning my next trip.

 

I don't have a next trip planned at the moment, but I can move quickly when necessary.

18 hours ago, Specularius said:

$250 for it is a a great deal if it is a Mini-Max and not cracked or missing parts. Some places are asking $600 for that Egg.

If it is just a Mini, then it is still a good deal. Mini's sell for around $380 here.

Wow.  I didn't know those little Big Green Eggs went for that much.

I think I'd like to own one some day, but the prices on these things are so crazy.

18 hours ago, Specularius said:

I think you need to get that picture of the deer blocked by the Gator Fence to go viral. How dare Disney disrupt the life of that poor deer. And it also deprives the poor alligator from its food source, thereby increasing the risk of another alligator attack. Did Disney get approval from Biologist before installing all that fencing? I bet not. Now they have impacted the migration patterns and who knows what else. These fences need to be dismantled NOW.

I doubt that anyone thought about the deer population when they went crazy with the fences over the summer.  I've seen deer cross the canal behind the 300 loop, and now a lot of that is blocked off. 

I guess they'll have to adapt in order to get water.  Maybe we could all leave our green hoses on trickle?

15 hours ago, BigTom said:

Maybe the BABH is going to be like Perky's Bat house in the Keys. Hasn't attracted a bat since it was built in 1929.

It's starting to look that way, isn't it?

If bats were going to move in, I would have expected them to by now.

12 hours ago, Beckers said:

I don't think I'd be too happy about the boats being tied up for Illuminations. We have done the Wishes cruise twice and it was fantastic because you were kind of in your own bubble. But I can't imagine if the people next to you were obnoxious or their kid was screaming (or mine was screaming and ruining their time). 

That's a good point.  Who you get tied up next to could make or break the cruise.

10 hours ago, clakey said:

Another TCD trip report! So glad to see that you found another real man of genius. Interested in hearing why you are so high on site 617.  Headed down at the end of this week. I am sure you will be around at some point.  Hopefully, I will run into you again.  That is a mean looking margarita machine.  As always learning a lot and enjoying the report.  

Chris

Hey Chris-  Good to see  a post from you.  Glad to hear your crew will be back at the Fort.  Have a great time!  I'm hoping to pop over to WDW for a day or two during the Christmas holidays-I'm not sure if I'll get by the Fort, though.

10 hours ago, mouseketab.....Carol said:

I've done an Illuminations cruise many, many years ago... It is a lot of fun and the view is good. The big advantage is you are enjoying a nice cruise before Illuminations instead of holding down a piece of concrete. I can't comment on having unpleasant neighbors as our group had every boat in the water that evening. It was a fun party with all of us together

 

That sounds like a blast!

But, I still think a Wishes cruise sounds better.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

More from my last morning at the Fort- Sunday, November 27th.

I had an appointment to meet Kenny's man at the off-site pick-up/drop-off location at 10 am.

For the pick-up on Wednesday, Kenny's man was hitching their trailer to guests' trucks.

Today, Kenny had a different man, and he was leaving the trailer hitched to Kenny's truck, and told me to leave my truck there and use Kenny's. 

So I did.

I had no issues getting back to the Fort using my MagicBand on the back gate, and loading up the cart.

I was heading back out with the cart at about 10:30, and there was a CM posted along Fort Wilderness Trail directing guests to exit the Fort via the backstage maintenance road.  They do that sometimes on busy check-out days to help with the traffic flow in the parking lot.

That was fine with me- I am always curious about what might be going on backstage.

I drove slow, and got the camera out.

There really wasn't much to see.  Here's the big Engineering Services building.  Nothing exciting about that:

There used to be a huge picnic table graveyard here, but it's all cleared out now:

They've done some rearranging on the left side of the road too- that old log Fort Wilderness sign appears to have been removed:

There was a big delivery of something lined up over here, but I can't figure out what is in those boxes:

That nondescript metal building over there is where they used to keep the FWRR cars.  Rumor has it that there are still train tracks on the floor.  It's used as the laundry building for the cabins now:

I am not sure what this other metal building is used for- I know they used to keep the maintenance equipment for the golf course in there, but I'm not sure if it is still used for that:

There's the abomination towering over all of this:

This road is cool with the oaks forming a canopy over it:

The overflow for the overflow was already a bit of a mess:

The actual overflow lot wasn't too crazy yet.  But I'm sure it would fill up fast today:

I got the cart back, and headed back to the Fort to finish with the packing up.

The twins were up when I got back, and headed off to Twin #2's apartment for a while.

As I packed up, about half of the loop was also packing up and leaving.  The site cleaner CM was taking her time cleaning the sites.  Today was definitely going to have a lot more check-outs than check-ins.

After everything was packed up and ready to go, I sat at the picnic table and drank a bottle of water.  I checked in with the girls to see what their plans were.  They were going to meet up with some friends, and meet me at AK later, so I was on my own for the afternoon.  I decided that I'd take my truck and camper to a resort for some lunch, and then drive to AK later and hopefully get a spot in the RV parking area.

I took a couple of last photos around the site.  I liked that this site had a palm tree- there aren't a lot around the Fort:

The air potato vines that they worked so hard to eradicate a few years ago are starting the sneak back in here.  I hope the management is watching:

Those are my last photos from the Fort.  It was time for me to go.

In the past, I have headed to Wilderness Lodge on check-out day, but they have a parking situation over there because of the construction.  I decided not to mess with that, and instead headed to Port Orleans French Quarter.  Their quick serve food court was closed from July until November for a refurbishment, and I wanted to check that out.

I've parked the camper here before, and had no problem finding space to park today:

We stayed here back in July, and this is the lot I had to park in then.  I knew it wasn't a long walk to the main area from back here:

When I was last here, we were experiencing a very hot July heat wave, and it was not pleasant to walk around.  Today, it was much milder, and I enjoyed walking the grounds:

This courtyard is right outside of the reception building- they have their Christmas decorations up, and I like them:

This walkway is right across from that courtyard and leads right to the pool:

They changed the décor quite a bit in the restaurant.  Here's how it looks now:

The ordering area is the same size, with they added a service window and moved the cooler area into the center of the space in front of the cash registers.  That is going to cause some congestion problems:

I ordered a chicken sandwich and fries for lunch.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the fries were steak fries and not the ubiquitous Disney fries:

The ceiling of the seating area is now free of giant creepy Mardi Gras float heads:

In case your forgot (which I doubt is possible), here's what the ceiling used to look like:

One other big change in the room is that they have replaced the soft drink machines with Coke Freestyle machines.  As far as I know, this is a first at any of the WDW resorts.  And, I don't like it.  I don't like how the soda tastes coming out of those machines.  It's definitely not the same.  And, people take forever to get their drinks at those machines.  That wasn't an issue today, but it would be if it was a busy time.  I wonder if these machines will be popping up elsewhere.

Here's the POFQ Christmas Tree.  It's nice, but way smaller than the Fort's:

I ended up hanging out at POFQ for a while, then it was time to head to AK.  The girls had snagged some Dinosaur FP+'s, and none of us had ridden it since its recent refurbishment.  Then we would be staying in the park to see the Rivers of Light preview.

Here's another shot of the POFQ outside courtyard:

I love the mature landscaping that they have at this resort:

Then it was off to AK.

We are almost done here.

TCD

[Memphis 105]

BIG thumbs up  on removing the creepy floating heads.   I always thought that was a strange choice of decor.   Only thing I could figure was that was there way of keeping guest from hanging around and taking up tables after eating.  

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I didn't realize I had gotten so behind. Let's see if I can remember my comments. 

The 600 loop seems kind of naked to me... Not enough tall trees. 

If that BGE was a Mini Max, you missed a heck of a deal. I'm not a fan of the regular mini because you can't do much other than basic meats on it. The Mini Max is the diameter of a small but shorter. That's what we bring in our RV most of the time. I smoked a ham over 8 lbs on it for the last Christmas GG. 

Those fries look good. I'm a fan of season salt. 

I can't wait for warmer temps! 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

29 minutes ago, Memphis said:

BIG thumbs up  on removing the creepy floating heads.   I always thought that was a strange choice of decor.   Only thing I could figure was that was there way of keeping guest from hanging around and taking up tables after eating.  

LOL. I kind of liked the creepy giant heads.  It was certainly unique.  It seems like a generic warehouse in there now.

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

I didn't realize I had gotten so behind. Let's see if I can remember my comments. 

The 600 loop seems kind of naked to me... Not enough tall trees. 

If that BGE was a Mini Max, you missed a heck of a deal. I'm not a fan of the regular mini because you can't do much other than basic meats on it. The Mini Max is the diameter of a small but shorter. That's what we bring in our RV most of the time. I smoked a ham over 8 lbs on it for the last Christmas GG. 

Those fries look good. I'm a fan of season salt. 

I can't wait for warmer temps! 

I agree about the 600 loop.  There is no vegetation near the fronts and between the sites on the "new" part.  I don't care for the openness.

Here's a closer look at that egg- is it a Mini Max?:

Those fries were really, really good- they had a Cajun-type seasoning on them. 

The warmer temperatures are here!  It's going to be up in the 80's this weekend!

TCD

[BuckeyeFortFan 35]

Nice trip Report TCD, entertaining as always.  Thank you for writing it and giving me a little vacation from the single digits here in Ohio.

I let the wife know she got mentioned in an authentic TCDTR.  She was quite pleased.

Rocky is looking good.  Our boxer is more gray than fawn these days.

It's a good thing you didn't watch that "Big 10" game you mentioned.  I don't know if you SEC folk can handle that level of competition.