TCD is Thankful for Thanksgiving at the Fort Trip Report

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

That is the funniest thing I've read so far! :rofl2: Never underestimate the powers of a minivan Mom!!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Technically, she's Compact SUV Mom. I think that's a Suzuki XL7. INC drives a minivan. And I hate for her to be remotely lumped in with this hot air balloon. But the distinction probably isn't relevant. Either way the woman is an idiot. And very deserving of your award.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OMG!!! The GALL of some people!!! That's why I wish the entire parking lot wasn't open!!! I much preferred the old way. The general public could park in the open lot, and the guards at the gate could let resort guests only in the lot that accessed the campsites!!! They "REALLY" need another gate that restricts acces to the loops area.

(Now if she was a Fort guest, then they should have been booted!)

Yes, I figured that lady was not a camper. Why would someone staying at the Fort bother with trying to pick up somebody by van at the Settlement?

I'll bet she did exactly what you are suggesting- drove in the only entrance, and was told by the guard to park in the lot, and then proceeded on her merry way.

That is the funniest thing I've read so far! :rofl2: Never underestimate the powers of a minivan Mom!!

True.

Technically, she's Compact SUV Mom. I think that's a Suzuki XL7. INC drives a minivan. And I hate for her to be remotely lumped in with this hot air balloon. But the distinction probably isn't relevant. Either way the woman is an idiot. And very deserving of your award.

I know it wasn't really a minivan.

But SUVmom just doesn't have the same ring to it.

No offense to INC or other Minivan Moms was intended.

Mrs. TCD was a Minivan Mom for quite a while before we upgraded to our Suburban and then Excursion.

And, you got it wrong, this lady was no idiot. She got to do what she came to do- she's a genius.

TCD

[rdancemom... Pam 113]

I drive a minivan. I :rofl2: :rofl3: :rofl2: so much reading that I considered changing my user name to minivan mom for just a second.

I'm thinking instead, I should just take some lessons on nerve from the TCDRWOG. I wouldn't mind being told where to go by bus drivers or CMs - after all, that's their job - but some of those perky cheer moms sure do frost my pompoms with their me-first-I'm-the-best-snippiness. Since she sounds as though she might be one of those, I just know minivan mom would know exactly how to handle them... >:D

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

- but some of those perky cheer moms sure do frost my pompoms with their me-first-I'm-the-best-snippiness.

You know, Pam, you just put your finger on something that I have noticed quite a lot of lately.

Mrs. TCD is a pre-school teacher.

The other night she came from her school's Christmas program quite upset. I asked her if the kids were bad. She told me it wasn't the kids- it was the parents. They all set up around the stage taking videos and photos and refused to return to their seats despite repeated requests from the school's director that they not crowd the stage and block the views of those behind them. These parents simply ignored the director, and ruined the show for those who got to watch their backs.

Back in the day, when the TCD girls were in preschool, you wouldn't see this kind of behavior from parents.

This is just a small example of some of the things Mrs. TCD deals with these days.

It is a scary thought what kind of example these parents are setting for their children.

TCD

[rdancemom... Pam 113]

Hmmm.

There are a lot of Fiends with photos on the tombstones.

Maybe we need to move them all to the Fort.

Now that's the best idea I've ever heard! It'd be even better to have all us fiends on a log cut-out like the old signs. Genious, I tell you, sheer genious... :banana:

We've got not one, not two, but FOUR tombstones from various years that we've probably only visited once or twice. I'm ashamed to say we thought it was such a neat idea the first year that we paid full price for the opportunity. Can you say sucker? Within a year or two all the suckers must have been used up b/c tombstone pics started coming free in deluxe resort packages.

We've got a brick in front of MK too. It was incredibly lucky to have been placed front & center so we visit to take a picture with it on each trip and watch people walking all over us... :rofl2:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Now that's the best idea I've ever heard! It'd be even better to have all us fiends on a log cut-out like the old signs. Genious, I tell you, sheer genious... :banana:

We've got not one, not two, but FOUR tombstones from various years that we've probably only visited once or twice. I'm ashamed to say we thought it was such a neat idea the first year that we paid full price for the opportunity. Can you say sucker? Within a year or two all the suckers must have been used up b/c tombstone pics started coming free in deluxe resort packages.

We've got a brick in front of MK too. It was incredibly lucky to have been placed front & center so we visit to take a picture with it on each trip and watch people walking all over us... :rofl2:

That's cool!

Now I'm going to have to find some photos of our faces up on those tombstones, and I hope that others will post theirs.

And, don't feel bad, I know I paid full price for ours.

I wish I knew where your brick was- I would visit it too!

Maybe the next time we are at the Fort at the same time you can show me.

TCD

[rdancemom... Pam 113]

They all set up around the stage taking videos and photos and refused to return to their seats despite repeated requests from the school's director that they not crowd the stage and block the views of those behind them. These parents simply ignored the director, and ruined the show for those who got to watch their backs.

That's it exactly! Being that I've been parenting for the last 34 yrs straight, I've been around to notice how self-centered parents have become these days. Usually, I just shrug it off with an "I outgrew that old stained tshirt years ago" kind of laugh. It's not new, there were always parents who thought their kids' pooh didn't stink but those used to be the one parent or two you avoided on the playground. Now they're the ones seemingly running the show and definitely in the majority. It's obvious too that the mentality is indeed carrying over to their children.

I feel for Mrs TCD, what used to be a fun job can't be nearly as enjoyable if you have too many of these types in the parent-body...

[stacktester 78]

Andrew, you shoulda told MrsTCD the headlight po po would come over and take care of the situation.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OK, time to move on.

I almost hijacked my own thread, there.

After we met the the TCDRWOG, we headed down toward the marina to retrieve our cart.

The setting sun was hitting Pioneer Hall just right, making it look like it was glowing:

I love this area of the Fort.

It is so open and uncrowded.

But, there have also been a lot of survey stakes around here lately.

And the rumor is that this area is going to be used for the new DVC project that is rumored to be coming our way.

It will be a shame if that happens.

I took a photo of the Tri-Circle-D farm just in case:

Here's another look at the glowing Pioneer Hall:

You can see that there aren't a lot of folks hanging around here this early Tuesday evening.

Here we are a bit closer to Pioneer Hall- I love this path. You can see a decorated light pole on the right of the photo, and this shows a pretty good view of the tower up on top of Pioneer Hall. I have tried to figure out a way to get up to that tower, but so far, I haven't. I would really like to see the view from up there:

You know how it's my personal mission in life to document every change that ever occurs at the Fort, no matter how small?

Well, that explains these next two photos.

Look, they are changing the sign at the DVC kiosk:

To which I say: Thank Goodness!

How long could they keep calling DVC the Best Kept Disney Secret when they have billboards all over the property proclaiming that?

Now DVC isn't a secret anymore.

It's a Lifetime of Memories, Year after Year.

That's pretty good.

But I bet I'll get tired of that slogan too, after it has been rammed down my throat over the next ten years.

As we headed to our cart, I stopped to check something on the Settlement Christmas tree:

I wanted to see if there were lights on it, because it had not been lit up on Sunday or Monday night.

There were lights on it.

So, I don't know why it hadn't been lit.

But, I hoped that it would be lit tonight.

As we got to our cart, I looked over toward the dock and saw a young woman dressed in what looked like a full bride's dress. But there was no groom to go with her, and I don't know what she was doing there. I tried to get a photo, but all of these people got in the way. She is in front of all those people you see there on the dock:

I don't know anything more about that girl in the bride's dress, but I thought I would mention it here in case somebody did know and could chime in with some information.

Once we were back aboard our cart, we did some looping before it got completely dark.

We checked out the group camping area, and saw this pretty sunset:

We then did some looping back in the 1600-1800 loops.

We saw this really elaborate display on the 1800 loop:

Roll Tide?

We then made our way back to the campsite so I could get a beer I mean spend some quality time with my daughters.

It was getting quite dark, which explains the blurriness of these next photos of a horse and wagon riding right behind my site:

We chilled at the site for a while, and then we headed out for even more looping before we headed out for our evening plans.

On this loop around the Fort, we went by the 500 loop to look for DaveInTN and family. Nobody was home there, but we saw some astonishing things going on at his next-door-neighbor's site. These folks had a big inflatable screen set up on the site across from them, and then had the projector and a video game console set up on their site. In between, right in the middle of the road, about 20 kids were playing Just Dance. They also had a open fire pit with a roaring fire in it. Wow! I'll bet Dave was happy that these folks had moved in.

Our dinner plans for that night were to visit Captian Cook's over at the Polynesian, and that's what we did.

Of course, that meant that we had to have some Dole Whip.

Here's mine:

You may recall that I have posted photos of much better looking Dole Whips. Well, I actually made this one. And it is still better than the guy who I always make fun of can do.

I think we went over to the MK after dinner. But, I can't say for sure because for some reason, I don't have any other photos from Tuesday night.

My camera tells me that this one, of Crockett's Tavern at night, was taken just after midnight:

I notice now that they didn't set up a Christmas tree out here on the porch like they did last year. I assume that there is one inside the tavern area, because there usually is, but I did not check on that.

So, that's all I have for Tuesday.

Tomorrow is Wednesday.

And don't worry, my memory of Wednesday is quite clear.

Especially Wednesday morning.

That's when I found the old relics. Things that I thought were long gone from the Fort, but they're not.

And I saw something else really cool.

I will cover that in my next post.

TCD

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Hmmm, maybe she was a runaway bride? Great update again, Andrew but now I can't wait for the next one!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Hmmm, maybe she was a runaway bride? Great update again, Andrew but now I can't wait for the next one!!

Thanks, Doodle, that could be it!

BTW- it's bugging me that I can't remember what we did Tuesday night.

If S70 had been there, I could blame the punch.

But she wasn't so I can't.

Did anyone see me Tuesday night?

If so, please remind me what I was doing.

TCD

[Lil Lisa 53]

Oooh... I've been waiting for the relics!

[caveat lector 181]

You know, Pam, you just put your finger on something that I have noticed quite a lot of lately.

....Mrs. TCD is a pre-school teacher.

....This is just a small example of some of the things Mrs. TCD deals with these days.

It is a scary thought what kind of example these parents are setting for their children.

TCD

Same here. The storys can be quite disturbing. The ones that really frost me, are how ambivalent the "parents" act, when they are present during their "childrens" disruptive behavior. I'll be the first to admit that I probably had bad days when I was a preschooler, but I can be sure that it was not in the presents of my parents. Hope those "parents" are comfortable with "little johnny" living in their basement for some time.

Sorry for the mini-hijack. Back to your regularly scheduled TCD programming.

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

Hmmm, a missing night? Sounds intriguing!

[lucy_love 1]

You know, Pam, you just put your finger on something that I have noticed quite a lot of lately.

Mrs. TCD is a pre-school teacher.

The other night she came from her school's Christmas program quite upset. I asked her if the kids were bad. She told me it wasn't the kids- it was the parents. They all set up around the stage taking videos and photos and refused to return to their seats despite repeated requests from the school's director that they not crowd the stage and block the views of those behind them. These parents simply ignored the director, and ruined the show for those who got to watch their backs.

Back in the day, when the TCD girls were in preschool, you wouldn't see this kind of behavior from parents.

This is just a small example of some of the things Mrs. TCD deals with these days.

It is a scary thought what kind of example these parents are setting for their children.

TCD

This comic went around the school when I was teaching

At CHS one of the classes I taught was Child Development and we interacted with the pre-school attached to CHS and I could not believe how some of the parents behaved and the lack of respect! I usually deal with teenagers parents and I thought they were bad (different kind of bad)! Mrs. TCD is a special lady to be a pre-school teacher :superhero:

And I wonder how many Vaction Club package-things they sell at that location. The DVC people always look so bored.

[CKCK 45]

I'm a high school teacher, and I can say that there are many parents that suck bad. It often explains why the kids are the way they are. Fortunately there are still good parents out there, as I'm sure all the parents on here are!

I also saw the bride on the beach...taking pictures. My wife figured they were for portraits or something since Tuesday isn't a normal "wedding day."

[DaveInTN 3,247]

On this loop around the Fort, we went by the 500 loop to look for DaveInTN and family. Nobody was home there, but we saw some astonishing things going on at his next-door-neighbor's site. These folks had a big inflatable screen set up on the site across from them, and then had the projector and a video game console set up on their site. In between, right in the middle of the road, about 20 kids were playing Just Dance. They also had a open fire pit with a roaring fire in it. Wow! I'll bet Dave was happy that these folks had moved in.

They were a pain. And the kids were obnoxious assclowns. They thought they owned the road, and would complain anytime they had to move out of the way to let a car or golf cart go by. They literally thought they owned the roadway, to the point that I had words with this little snot nosed brat at one point. I don't get kids who think they can speak to adults in a disrespectful way. If it were my daughter she wouldn't see daylight for a while.

But other than that they were great neighbors.

You may recall that I have posted photos of much better looking Dole Whips. Well, I actually made this one. And it is still better than the guy who I always make fun of can do.

Stay tuned.

[Brent... Just Brent 83]

I had to chime in about the parents. Working with college kids I see it everyday, but I always think "I'm sure I just hear from the 2%, not the majority." Over the last few years it's become clear that I was wrong. They really are the majority. They don't hold their kids accountable. It's always someone else's fault.

We host a giant ceremony for the senior class in the fall. It's very "military" and pomp and circumstance. The parents are asked REPEATEDLY not to stand, move into the aisles or walk onto the floor. They ignored it the first year. So bad we had spouses of staff and staff running back and forth trying to keep people in their seats. They were talking back like they were in high school. No regard for the fact that they were blocking the view of the 50 people behind them or blocking a procession of senior military officials. The solution: we hired a dozen or so active duty Marines in uniform and they were told, be "politely forceful." Only one parent got out of hand. She was escorted out in a near head lock. After that we had zero problems this year. They sat quietly and were so in shock they didn't even clap until the end. So tell Mrs. TCD that there's a solution to the parents problem.

[CKCK 45]

I had to chime in about the parents. Working with college kids I see it everyday, but I always think "I'm sure I just hear from the 2%, not the majority." Over the last few years it's become clear that I was wrong. They really are the majority. They don't hold their kids accountable. It's always someone else's fault.

We host a giant ceremony for the senior class in the fall. It's very "military" and pomp and circumstance. The parents are asked REPEATEDLY not to stand, move into the aisles or walk onto the floor. They ignored it the first year. So bad we had spouses of staff and staff running back and forth trying to keep people in their seats. They were talking back like they were in high school. No regard for the fact that they were blocking the view of the 50 people behind them or blocking a procession of senior military officials. The solution: we hired a dozen or so active duty Marines in uniform and they were told, be "politely forceful." Only one parent got out of hand. She was escorted out in a near head lock. After that we had zero problems this year. They sat quietly and were so in shock they didn't even clap until the end. So tell Mrs. TCD that there's a solution to the parents problem.

These are the things I dream about...

[Brent... Just Brent 83]

These are the things I dream about...

I'm very "customer service" oriented due to the nature of my position, but that works both ways. Your child/grandchild/nephew/8th cousin twice removed/etc may be important to you, but everyone else feels that way too. This is a huge milestone in the lives of these students and you should respect it as such. There are rules, especially in a military college. If you don't have the sense to respect them, then you're going to be embarrassed.

I was honestly afraid of blowback from the big cheese afterwards, but it was just the opposite. Complete praise. I doubt you could get away with it, but the line has to be drawn somewhere anymore or these parents just do what they want.

[LONE-STAR 370]

They were a pain. And the kids were obnoxious assclowns. They thought they owned the road, and would complain anytime they had to move out of the way to let a car or golf cart go by. They literally thought they owned the roadway, to the point that I had words with this little snot nosed brat at one point. I don't get kids who think they can speak to adults in a disrespectful way. If it were my daughter she wouldn't see daylight for a while.

But other than that they were great neighbors.

Yes those kids were quite rude we went by Dave's site one night to see If they were out(which they weren't) as we were putting by so we didn't run over anybody they go and start mouthing off to me about driving through the loop. Since my little girl was a sleep on the cart I let it go. That was where the rangers needed to be.

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

There has become a much clearer sense of entitlement with this generation, both parents and children. I teach in a juvenile justice facility and believe it or not; we have parents who blame others for their children committing the crimes that got them locked up. They they continue to blame teachers, staff and other boys when the kid has issues at the program. It makes me want to scream! There is hope however, we also have those few parents (usually a grandma or single mom) who say, "I have tried everything and I'm losing him to the streets, Please help!"

[stefa70 205]

Thank goodness I'm an early riser! What do you do when you wake up at the Fort and it's pitch black outside and no one else in your rv is awake? You catch up on a TCD report. :)

Since we can't blame the punch on your loss of memory, how about we blame it on age? It happens to the best of us.

I've thought and thought about the lady in the brides dress and the best that I can come up with is....

a. this picture was from Halloween, and you got confused? (again, happens with age)

b. she was getting married?

I have to add that while I love your reports, and all your pictures, there is nothing like being here over the holidays. For anyone reading that hasn't been to WDW at Christmas time, make plans now, to do just that!! (Yes, that's an order!)

Looking forward to hearing about the relics you found, Dr. Jones!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Oooh... I've been waiting for the relics!

Well, I'm glad somebody is excited to hear about them.

And your wait is about to end.

I am getting ready to post that story.

Y'all might want to pop some popcorn- it's going to be a three-part story!

I saw three very cool things, and it will take a while to tell about them.

So, stay tuned!

Same here. The storys can be quite disturbing. The ones that really frost me, are how ambivalent the "parents" act, when they are present during their "childrens" disruptive behavior. I'll be the first to admit that I probably had bad days when I was a preschooler, but I can be sure that it was not in the presents of my parents. Hope those "parents" are comfortable with "little johnny" living in their basement for some time. Sorry for the mini-hijack. Back to your regularly scheduled TCD programming.

No apologies for the hijack are required.

I started it!

And I actually have a bit more to say on this topic.

I will say my piece below, and then we will move on.

Hmmm, a missing night? Sounds intriguing!

Yes, there is a 3-4 hour gap on Tuesday night that I can not recall.

It is bothering me.

I even checked Twin #1's camera, since she takes photos of everything, and there is nothing.

It's really strange.

This comic went around the school when I was teaching At CHS one of the classes I taught was Child Development and we interacted with the pre-school attached to CHS and I could not believe how some of the parents behaved and the lack of respect! I usually deal with teenagers parents and I thought they were bad (different kind of bad)! Mrs. TCD is a special lady to be a pre-school teacher :superhero: And I wonder how many Vaction Club package-things they sell at that location. The DVC people always look so bored.

Thanks for that cartoon, Ashley.

It is so true.

But there is another side to this, which I will address below.

I think you are right about that DVC kiosk- I can't imagine it gets very much action.

I'm sure it's there because of the HDDR.

They must figure that folks paying for the HDDR have more money than brains.

And that's their target audience.

I'm a high school teacher, and I can say that there are many parents that suck bad. It often explains why the kids are the way they are. Fortunately there are still good parents out there, as I'm sure all the parents on here are! I also saw the bride on the beach...taking pictures. My wife figured they were for portraits or something since Tuesday isn't a normal "wedding day."

Wow- another teacher. I'm really sad to hear how things have changed.

I'm glad you confirmed the bride sighting. But, it is still strange that she was there- even if it was just for photos. Why would anyone (other than a Fiend, of course) want to take bridal photos at the Fort marina?

They were a pain. And the kids were obnoxious assclowns. They thought they owned the road, and would complain anytime they had to move out of the way to let a car or golf cart go by. They literally thought they owned the roadway, to the point that I had words with this little snot nosed brat at one point. I don't get kids who think they can speak to adults in a disrespectful way. If it were my daughter she wouldn't see daylight for a while. But other than that they were great neighbors. Stay tuned.

Wow.

I guess I may be partially to blame for how they acted.

I got the groans and complaints from them as they had to move out of the road for me to drive by. They shouldn't have done that. They started getting really mad after my fourth loop around. I made sure to drive slow so they had time to get back out in the road each time. They didn't know who they were dealing with.

Are you trying to say that you made a decent sized Dole Whip. If so, that will make me happy. But I won't believe it until I see a photo. And even then, I'm going to think someone else made it.

I had to chime in about the parents. Working with college kids I see it everyday, but I always think "I'm sure I just hear from the 2%, not the majority." Over the last few years it's become clear that I was wrong. They really are the majority. They don't hold their kids accountable. It's always someone else's fault. We host a giant ceremony for the senior class in the fall. It's very "military" and pomp and circumstance. The parents are asked REPEATEDLY not to stand, move into the aisles or walk onto the floor. They ignored it the first year. So bad we had spouses of staff and staff running back and forth trying to keep people in their seats. They were talking back like they were in high school. No regard for the fact that they were blocking the view of the 50 people behind them or blocking a procession of senior military officials. The solution: we hired a dozen or so active duty Marines in uniform and they were told, be "politely forceful." Only one parent got out of hand. She was escorted out in a near head lock. After that we had zero problems this year. They sat quietly and were so in shock they didn't even clap until the end. So tell Mrs. TCD that there's a solution to the parents problem.

Wow another educator, and another story about self centered parents.

Sad.

But, my point is sharing the Minivan Mom story, if I had a point, was not to start a discussion about the woes of our school systems. It was to point out how self centered people have become. If I wanted to, I could come up with numerous other stories about really bad behavior I have seen on my visits to WDW.

And the school system stories go both ways. Sadly, the relationship between parents and educators has somehow shifted from being a cooperative relationship to an adversarial one. It is quite sad how badly things have deteriorated.

But you know what?

This isn't the place to discuss the woes of our society.

This is a TCD trip report, darn it.

We are supposed to be having fun.

So, let's do that!

Yes those kids were quite rude we went by Dave's site one night to see If they were out(which they weren't) as we were putting by so we didn't run over anybody they go and start mouthing off to me about driving through the loop. Since my little girl was a sleep on the cart I let it go. That was where the rangers needed to be.

Good point.

Where were the rangers?

Probably blocking traffic and causing back-ups and passing out notes to people telling them how to park on their sites.

Here is an example of a situation where there should have been some action taken by Fort management.

Of course, they were too busy attending to far more trivial matters.

There has become a much clearer sense of entitlement with this generation, both parents and children. I teach in a juvenile justice facility and believe it or not; we have parents who blame others for their children committing the crimes that got them locked up. They they continue to blame teachers, staff and other boys when the kid has issues at the program. It makes me want to scream! There is hope however, we also have those few parents (usually a grandma or single mom) who say, "I have tried everything and I'm losing him to the streets, Please help!"

Rita- I need to pay better attention. I did not know this is what you do for a living. God Bless You!

Thank goodness I'm an early riser! What do you do when you wake up at the Fort and it's pitch black outside and no one else in your rv is awake? You catch up on a TCD report. :) Since we can't blame the punch on your loss of memory, how about we blame it on age? It happens to the best of us. I've thought and thought about the lady in the brides dress and the best that I can come up with is.... a. this picture was from Halloween, and you got confused? (again, happens with age) b. she was getting married? I have to add that while I love your reports, and all your pictures, there is nothing like being here over the holidays. For anyone reading that hasn't been to WDW at Christmas time, make plans now, to do just that!! (Yes, that's an order!) Looking forward to hearing about the relics you found, Dr. Jones!

Cool!

This made my day- I can picture you sitting outside in the cool dark air reading along.

My memory is still pretty good, thank you very much.

Which is why that gap on Tuesday night is bugging me.

Maybe it was an alien abduction?

Maybe it had something to do with a plastic tablecloth and ponchos?

Or that bride?

And where was Dave?

Is this all his fault?

Am I going mad?

Anyway, I am going to move on.

Next up will be the story of my Wednesday morning exploration.

I hope you like it.

And maybe you can go and look at what I found yourself.

That would be cool.

TCD