TCD's Kickin' Off Summer 2011 @ The Fort Trip Report

[PoorGABoy 4]

Well, now.

That's more like it!

Good job on that!

I notice that you're new here.

Are you new to Fort Wilderness discussion boards, or were you a member on another one before joining here?

Either way, welcome. and thanks for joining in!

TCD

Thanks for the welcome. I was a member of "that other place", but under a different name. Decided I would start fresh with this new site. Very happy here and love reading about The Fort.

[Santa ... Shannon 160]

Here's a zoom as close as I can get on the thing:

A WORKLIGHT!? Seriously? How gullible! That is obviously the antimatter container one would use to patch a time-space rift, like those caused by the Mannheim effect!

I'm surrounded by rubes.

JK about the rubes thing, of course.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

:popcorn:

[anolefan 8]

But, there's a deal on the water.

Everywhere in WDW, a 1/2 liter bottle of Dasani water is $2.95.

Well, here you can get a break on a 1.5 liter bottle:

TCD

I am just now getting caught up on your report from the weekend since we were away.

My wife wanted to get one of those bottles of water until I threw a fit and told her there was absolutely no way! I couldn't believe that price, and Dasani is not the best tasting water either (at least to me it's not)

Great report Andrew!

Now I'm back to more reading.

[anolefan 8]

Crud.

I have seen a lot of portable air conditioner units, but nothing like this. This thing reminded me of the robot from Lost in Space. Awesome.

TCD

Outstanding!

That is all.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

TCD, it is obvious that PoorGABoy is trying to throw you off with his pathetic cylinder stories. That is neither a worklight nor a plasma generating thingamajig. It is clear to me that it is related to the mysterious blue tanks in RC. Most likely the cylinder is used by secretive Iranian nuclear scientists in their blue tank experiments. And those gas smokers and cookers appear to be uranium yellowcake processing devices. I saw similar units in Russia that were labeled for shipment to Tehran.

Frankly, I'm beginning to wonder whether PoorGABoy is an Iranian agent, sent here by the Great Cupcake to fool us into complacency.

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

This is a view worth paying for. Great pictures TCD thanks :banana:

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Boy you are slow on the uptake today! I was singing! Please don't tell me that you don't know that song. Here, maybe this will help:

Jesus loves me, This I know,

For the Bible tells me so;

Little ones to Him belong,

They are weak but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

The Bible tells me so.

There's much more, but hopefully that snippet will ring a bell!

I got right from the start Stef. And it has been stuck in my head all day

[Just Whipperwhirl 24]

Before we found the Fort - It was my dream to stay at the Wilderness Lodge - now that we have stayed at the Fort and I toured the WL - I can't imagine staying anywhere else but the Fort - except perhaps the AKL club level for a night - we may try that our first night in Orlando next April. I wonder how they would feel about us pulling in with an RV.

[PoorGABoy 4]

TCD, it is obvious that PoorGABoy is trying to throw you off with his pathetic cylinder stories. That is neither a worklight nor a plasma generating thingamajig. It is clear to me that it is related to the mysterious blue tanks in RC. Most likely the cylinder is used by secretive Iranian nuclear scientists in their blue tank experiments. And those gas smokers and cookers appear to be uranium yellowcake processing devices. I saw similar units in Russia that were labeled for shipment to Tehran.

Frankly, I'm beginning to wonder whether PoorGABoy is an Iranian agent, sent here by the Great Cupcake to fool us into complacency.

Agent? Agent, you say......Never....I'll never tell you. No matter what you try- I'll........OK, I'm an Agent. You broke me.

Actually, not Iranian- McDonoughian. We are an economy version of normal agents. We're called the "Wal-Mart of Agents. We won't be undersold, we're always available and we wear some really strange cloths when we are out.

Any way- The device in question is so secretive I can't divulge anything about it. I won't tell, no matter what you try- I'll......Ok, it's a ......

Otter Spotter. There......feels so good to get that off my chest (again).

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Boy you are slow on the uptake today! I was singing! Please don't tell me that you don't know that song. Here, maybe this will help:

Jesus loves me, This I know,

For the Bible tells me so;

Little ones to Him belong,

They are weak but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

The Bible tells me so.

There's much more, but hopefully that snippet will ring a bell!

I am never slow on the uptake.

I was just yanking your chain.

Mrs. TCD is a teacher at a Christian Pre-School.

The TCD girls all were major stars in our church children's choir.

Trust me, I have heard this song many, many times.

I was just Fortin' with you.

Thanks for the welcome. I was a member of "that other place", but under a different name. Decided I would start fresh with this new site. Very happy here and love reading about The Fort.

Hmmm.

Mysterious.

Now, we will have to figure out your secret identity.

Your name isn't Larry, is it?

A WORKLIGHT!? Seriously? How gullible! That is obviously the antimatter container one would use to patch a time-space rift, like those caused by the Mannheim effect!

I'm surrounded by rubes.

JK about the rubes thing, of course.

Ah ha!

I knew it!

I knew this had something to do with patching the space-time rift.

Thanks for clearing that up, Shanta.

I am just now getting caught up on your report from the weekend since we were away.

My wife wanted to get one of those bottles of water until I threw a fit and told her there was absolutely no way! I couldn't believe that price, and Dasani is not the best tasting water either (at least to me it's not)

Great report Andrew!

Now I'm back to more reading.

My wife and kids don't care for Dasani either. Zephyrhills used to have the WDW contract, but I guess Coca-Cola put a stop to that.

Outstanding!

That is all.

Thanks.

And, I meant to post a photo of Robot from Lost in Space to illustrate my point:

Am I right?

TCD, it is obvious that PoorGABoy is trying to throw you off with his pathetic cylinder stories. That is neither a worklight nor a plasma generating thingamajig. It is clear to me that it is related to the mysterious blue tanks in RC. Most likely the cylinder is used by secretive Iranian nuclear scientists in their blue tank experiments. And those gas smokers and cookers appear to be uranium yellowcake processing devices. I saw similar units in Russia that were labeled for shipment to Tehran.

Frankly, I'm beginning to wonder whether PoorGABoy is an Iranian agent, sent here by the Great Cupcake to fool us into complacency.

Oh boy.

Now I'm confused.

I wish I wasn't such a rube.

I totally bought Shanta's explanation, but this one seems completely plausible too.

I know that you have been on to this Iranian nuclear scientist thing for a while.

I have to admit it all seems to add up nicely.

Before we found the Fort - It was my dream to stay at the Wilderness Lodge - now that we have stayed at the Fort and I toured the WL - I can't imagine staying anywhere else but the Fort - except perhaps the AKL club level for a night - we may try that our first night in Orlando next April. I wonder how they would feel about us pulling in with an RV.

They will not blink an eye if you pull up in an RV.

We have stopped at WL many a time for lunch on our way home from the Fort, and parked the Excursion and pop-up in their lot. That combo is right at 40' and it has never been a problem. Ditto for Port Orleans and AKL.

And, if you do go Club Level- check in early. Like 7 am early. Even if your room isn't ready, which is likely to be the case (although we did actually get our room that early once), you have full use of the Club Level amenities from that moment on. There is always a nice assortment of goodies put out for breakfast, so you can get started with the fun right away.

Agent? Agent, you say......Never....I'll never tell you. No matter what you try- I'll........OK, I'm an Agent. You broke me.

Actually, not Iranian- McDonoughian. We are an economy version of normal agents. We're called the "Wal-Mart of Agents. We won't be undersold, we're always available and we wear some really strange cloths when we are out.

Any way- The device in question is so secretive I can't divulge anything about it. I won't tell, no matter what you try- I'll......Ok, it's a ......

Otter Spotter. There......feels so good to get that off my chest (again).

Hmm.

Seems like the secret agent is cracking.

But, I am not buying this explanation either.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Moving on.

We left off with our brief exploration of the Wilderness Lodge.

Now, it was time to go back to the Fort.

We had successfully dodged a couple of the hottest hours of the afternoon.

The resort boat was just pulling away as we approached the dock, so we had to wait for the next one.

That wasn't a problem since they had two boats going, and we could see a boat heading our way from the Fort.

The WL dock is nice.

It has a covered area and seating.

I guess that's what you call deluxe.

They also have a telescope you can use to look around.

It's one of those ones you have to put a couple of quarters in.

Whoever invented those things is a genius.

I guarantee that if the telescope was free to use, my kids would not have the slightest interest in looking through it. But, since it costs money, they always beg to use one whenever they see one.

Today was no exception.

And, they know I'm a sucker.

So, here's the view from the dock without the telescope:

Then I coughed up a couple of quarters, and we all took a peek through the danged thing. To my surprise, it worked very well. So well that I even coughed up another $.50.

I got the bright idea of putting my camera lens up to the eye piece to see if I could get a photo.

Guess what?

It worked:

Of course, looking through the eye piece worked better than this. But, compare the first photo above with the second two. You can really see a lot through the telescope. Remember that striped pole next to the shoe tree? No? Well, I told you to remember it. That pole shows us that we are looking at the shoe tree. From all the way over here, I could even see the shoes on the shoe tree! You can too if you look.

Here comes our boat!:

This is the view from the dock looking to the left. This is the island that I have heard called Shipwreck Island. The Contemporary Resort is right on the other side, but you wouldn't know it from this point of view:

There were folks parasailing out in Bay Lake. I have never tried it, but I intend to one of these days right here at WDW. They offer this here where I live at Clearwater Beach and other places, but this is an unregulated industry, and there are often accidents and injuries. I have also seen this done in the Bahamas, including on DCL's island, Castaway Cay, and there is no way I would trust those folks with my safety. Here, on Bay Lake, it looks pretty safe:

Our boat was traveling clockwise around the lake, so our first stop was the Contemporary Resort:

These no good so an so's still have hammocks on their beach:

Looking back to WL, there's a Magic Kingdom boat heading to the Fort:

After a brief stop at the Contemporary, we were on our way to the Fort. We went around the far side of Discovery Island:

If you look carefully, you can see that there are still buildings and things on the island. In this set of photos, you can see what looks like a big wooden fence through the trees:

It doesn't bother me that Disney has shuttered Discovery Island. But it does bother me that they stuck this ugly storage building on the old dock. What the heck is that ugly thing there for? Couldn't they have put it back further and left the island looking natural?:

Here is a shot of the entire length of Clementine's Beach. It is way nicer than the WL or CR beach. But bring back our hammocks!:

This is the area just to the right of Clementine's Beach, as you face it from Bay Lake. You can see the shoe tree there, with the remains of River Country in the background. This is where the new DVC resort is rumored to be going. That is some nice wilderness that they are planning to destroy:

Here's that MK boat we saw just a little bit ago:

After we arrived back at the Fort, we decided to loop a bit before heading back to our campsite. As it was getting to be late afternoon, I figured we should check on the Cabin Pool. Maybe it is now open?

It wasn't:

And nobody was around, so I thought I would get a couple more photos of that brilliant tile work:

Someone got a bit carried away there, if you ask me. Do we really need that much precise detail about the depth of an obviously shallow pool? Plus, the measurements probably aren't accurate anyway.

The hot tub has not changed:

I am not sure what the raised circle on the ground in front of the shower is in this shot. I meant to go back and check on this, but I forgot:

In all the times I have visited the Cabin Pool, I never noticed the cool twisted trunk on this tree which stands guard right outside of the pool entrance:

From here, we headed back to the 1500 loop to chill a bit before we began our evening activity.

We were going to experience a Fort classic.

Which, for whatever reason, we haven't experienced in a while.

But, before we get to that, we are going to look at some new rules and some new rule enforcement which we learned about on this visit.

TCD

[stefa70 205]

I should have known you were yanking my chain, I (and doodle)couldn't have been the only ones to have sung that song a million times!

Great idea of taking a picture through the telescope!

(in your own words) Fail on not finding out what the round thing was at the pool!

:heart:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

(in your own words) Fail on not finding out what the round thing was at the pool!

:heart:

True.

I am pretty sure that it is a base for a light pole.

But, it could also be a foundation for that anti-matter/nuclear fission cylinder that we looked at earlier.

TCD

[anolefan 8]

TCD

I always wondered why the Wilderness Pool has nicer furniture than the Meadow Pool?

Is it because the cabins are pricier than campsites? Hmmmm.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Moving on.

After our final check on the Cabin Pool on Saturday afternoon, we headed back to the site to chill for a while.

We had plenty of shade going then, and the AC did fine keeping things cool for us.

As evening approached, it was time for some more looping.

Before heading out, I wanted to check the canal behind the 1500 loop for gators.

There was an access area to the canal right across from our site. This is the site next to the access area. It backs up to the canal. The access area gives it extra space between this site and the closest neighbor:

Here we are out by the canal, with one photo looking in each direction:

Down at the Settlement, I noticed that the Disney rental carts had new rules posted on the steering wheels. There are a couple of new rules here:

Note the last one.

No more talking on the cell phone when driving your golf cart. It is OK to drive a car in Florida and talk on your cell phone, but not on a golf cart in Fort Wilderness.

Wow.

Over on the 1800 loop, I found a candidate for a Real Man of Genius award.

This camper brought along a sink:

Notice how the sink drains right on the ground.

Nice.

Hopefully, this sink was not fully set up.

I didn't see it in use.

So, no award.

But, if this guy drained his grey water right on the ground, then he gets an award.

These folks didn't have a lot of camping equipment set up outside of their rig. But, they did bring a rocking chair:

I guess it must have been important?

Speaking of new rules, here's something interesting.

These vehicles on the 1700 loop had letters posted on them:

Be sure to read the text of that letter.

It says that trailers and golf carts even must be on the pavement or pad.

That's something new.

And, it will be interesting to see if this rule is enforced.

It looks like they are starting with tow vehicles first.

Note that there is no limit on the number of vehicles you can have at your site, just that they must all be on the pavement.

That ain't an easy thing to do in some loops.

Like the 300 loop.

it's been a while since the management has said anything about this.

I'm not sure they have enough room in the parking lot to enforce this rule.

And, while they are at it, I wonder if they are going to crack down on folks who set up tents off of the coquina pads. I have seen some really interesting things in that regard.

Let's see if they enforce all of this.

If they do, things will be changing for some folks.

Next up, our Saturday evening at the Fort.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I always wondered why the Wilderness Pool has nicer furniture than the Meadow Pool?

Is it because the cabins are pricier than campsites? Hmmmm.

That's probably it.

But, the cabin people are still getting gypped big time with that pool.

TCD

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Rules are all fine and good as long as they enforce them :popo: Thanks for the update and the info :banana:

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

Rules are all fine and good as long as they enforce them :popo: Thanks for the update and the info :banana:

Those rules don't bother me one bit!!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Those rules don't bother me one bit!!!

The one about having to have your golf cart on the pad bothers me a bit.

I usually park my cart off to the side of the paved area, so I can pull the truck in and out without having to move the cart.

But, if these rules are uniformly enforced, I will go along with the golf cart rule.

And they had better do something about security in the parking lot for all of the trailers that are going to have to be put out there.

TCD

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

The one about having to have your golf cart on the pad bothers me a bit.

I usually park my cart off to the side of the paved area, so I can pull the truck in and out without having to move the cart.

But, if these rules are uniformly enforced, I will go along with the golf cart rule.

And they had better do something about security in the parking lot for all of the trailers that are going to have to be put out there.

TCD

Well, I routinely put my truck out in overflow anyway, so there is PLENTY of golf cart parking on my site :-)

[lklasing 16]

These no good so an so's still have hammocks on their beach:

...

Here is a shot of the entire length of Clementine's Beach. It is way nicer than the WL or CR beach. But bring back our hammocks!:

Having recently enjoyed the hammocks at CR, but looking even more forward to our next trip to FW, I totally relate to these comments!

That's probably it.

But, the cabin people are still getting gypped big time with that pool.

TCD

Again, you got that right!

Great report, TCD!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Well, I routinely put my truck out in overflow anyway, so there is PLENTY of golf cart parking on my site :-)

True. But, if this new rule is strictly enforced, you may have trouble finding a parking space in the overflow lot. It's going to be full of trailers.

Having recently enjoyed the hammocks at CR, but looking even more forward to our next trip to FW, I totally relate to these comments!

Again, you got that right!

Great report, TCD!

Thanks, Leslie.

If the likely event that the Fort's hammocks are not replaced by the time of your next visit, let me know, and I'll lend you the TCD hammock.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

On Saturday evening, I whipped up a batch of Pirate Jeff's Macaroni and Cheese (actually it was the TCD modified version), and we enjoyed our meal at our site.

Then we headed out to enjoy a Fort classic.

We were going to the sing-a-long and movie.

It has been a long time since we went to the sing-a-long.

A really long time.

We haven't been since Ms. Sundee packed up her guitar and left.

That's been a few years.

But we used to go all the time.

When the girls were younger, we used to spread out a big blanket right on the rocks, and enjoy the sing-a-long and movie, along with S'mores, popcorn, and ice cream from the Chuckwagon. It was the highlight of many trips. But, then the girls got older, and the attraction just wasn't there.

But, tonight the movie was Tangled, which is a pretty recent flick, and the girls were up for it. So we went.

And, here we are:

The castmember leading the sing-a-long introduced himself as Chuckwagon somebody or other. I think they all call themselves that now. Like Chuckwagon Tony or Chuckwagon Bob. That kind of thing. This guy had a bit of talent, but had zero connection with the audience. He was clearly there to play the required songs and get out of there. Nothing at all like good old Sundee, who really knew how to engage the audience.

There have been discussions before about how guests of other WDW may look down on campers. I have really never found it to be the case, but I will say that I saw quite a few interesting things at the campfire that might justify others thinking that campers are a strange breed. I will point out those things as we go along.

We sat on the bleachers on stage left. This put us more in front of the movie screen than the stage. You can see that the campfires were very busy from the get-go:

As the sing-a-long progressed, the crowd grew:

Then I saw the first interesting thing.

These folks arrived with a dog:

Here's a closer shot in case you missed him:

They set up right along the aisle:

Here's a zoom on that photo. Check out the dude on the first row of the bleachers with no shirt. Awesome! There is no dress code at the campfire!:

No shirt, no shoes, no problem!

I don't remember this being done before, but they picked a family to escort Chip and Dale up to the stage:

Props to the girl in the Tim Tebow jersey!

If you look up near the front of the seating area in this next photo, you will see a castmember walking along. That is Ranger Sean. He is one of the new "rangers" working at the Fort. This is a new position which was created this year. As far as I can tell, there job description is to politely harass campers. We saw Sean everywhere on this trip. Even here at the campfire. I think he's a decent guy, but they need to give these guys a bit more direction:

Here are the 'munks up on stage:

I learned something new at this campfire.

Part of the spiel that goes on when Chip and Dale arrive is a little lesson on how to tell them apart. Miss Sundee always said Chip has a nose like a chocolate chip. That was easy enough and it worked for me. Some folks also point out that Chip has his front teeth close together, while Dale has a gap. I've heard that plenty, too. But, then Chuckwagon guy tells the audience that the chipmunks' eyebrows are different too. This was something new for me. I never noticed that before. So, that tidbit made our visit to the campfire worth it. Chip has prominent black eyebrows. Dale has light tan eyebrows. Who knew?

You can kind of see Dale's tan eyebrows in this photo:

Here's another crowd shot. Look near the left center of this photo, and you will see that the dog is not paying attention one bit to the activities on stage. He is staring right at the camera:

The spiel up on the stage continued for a while, despite the lack of interest from the dog:

And then the chipmunks were released to meet the audience:

This was interesting to watch. The instructions for this part of the show are pretty simple: stay where you are and the chipmunks will come and visit you. Of course, as soon as that announcement was made, all kind of maneuvering begins because people apparently believe that they will be dissed by the chipmunks. It's quite humorous to watch.

When the movie is announced after the sing-a-long, the castmember welcomes the audience to enjoy the "theater under the stars." Tonight, we would also be under the moon:

As it got darker, and the sing-a-long progressed, the crowd grew:

This lady made a point to show Chip that she had he and Dale plastered on her t-shirt:

The thought occurred to me here that the people from that show "What Not To Wear" would have a field day at the Fort.

If you go to the campfire, don't plan on meeting both chipmunks, as Chip takes one side, and Dale the other. We had Chip on our side tonight (look for the black nose, close together teeth and black eyebrows):

Which means that Dale is over there:

Here's one more shot of Chip for good measure (note how the crowd followed the instructions to remain seated and let the chipmunks come to them) :

The Chuckwagon was right behind us. They had a steady stream of customers all night:

That's the projection building over there:

They used to play a classic short cartoon before each feature film. But, that apparently has stopped. Too bad. Those old short cartoons are the best.

The opening credits to Tangled featured good old Steamboat Willie:

I thought that was neat. That little mouse was the precursor to all of this. It's amazing if you think about it.

Here's a shot of one of our favorite characters from Tangled:

That's Pascal. He's Rapunzel's pet lizard. He doesn't speak a word in the film, but he's funny as heck.

Here's the star of the show:

And the title of the film:

We watched most of the movie, and enjoyed making s'mores during it.

But, we chose to duck out early so we could catch the Electric Water Pageant and fireworks.

It was great to visit the sing-a-long and movie again. If you have never been, or have not visited in a while, you should make a point to go on your next trip.

Next up, we wrap up our Saturday night.

TCD

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

We campers are a strange breed, but some are stranger than others :rofl2: I knew about the noses and teeth to tell the difference between Chip & Dale but I learned something new from your report again. I never noticed the eyebrow difference. Thanks for the education :banana: