A Trip Report Sure to Win Applesauce. . .TCD's NYE 2011 TR!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Very nice! I like the comparison photos. Even though I'm there to see the changes, sometimes, "things in red solo cups" cause me not to notice the little stuff. I know I can always count on you, though!

Thanks! :heartsmiley:

Hey Stef-

I think you need to proof-read better.

I fixed your post.

Also I retract my statement about you being a tease.

I did get your PM.

Sorry about that.

I hate to besmirch your reputation.

Hi TCD, (It's Gary)

Carol and I have visited that field several times to support a friend, and cancer survivor, who participates in an annual fund-raising walk at the track. We peeked through the fence at the house but didn't take a picture.

It's the site of the "Relay For Life of Lake Buena Vista" which raises money for the American Cancer Society. The annual fund-raiser is very well supported by Disney Cast Members and many Disney departments. You can find details here: http://main.acsevent...try&fr_id=37480

Ah.

That explains it.

That's cool that you saw it for yourself.

Is that Relay For Life the one that goes on all night long?

Just asking for my future reference.

TCD

[kampfirekim 260]

it goes back to a discussion between Genia and I....

Oh Lawd! Then I am better off not knowing what it means. :rofl2:

1. If you are going for complete accuracy, don't forget that little moustache on one of the wisemen.

2. How about you open a bakery on Site 617? The boys could sell lemonade. H could mix up drinks for the rest of us. Think about it.

3. The "Dark Year?" Now I really have to meet KFM!

TCD

1. RV and Hitler moustache for "fill in the blanks" biblical accuracy. Got it.

2. Great plan. PLUS we could live on 617. For $50 per rice crispy Mickey head I think I could learn to like 617.

3. Ummmm.... maybe meeting KFM isn't the best idea. A little rethinking is in order now.

Still loving the report! As always.... a jolly good show!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I'm still here. Reading along in Illinois. :)

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Oh Lawd! Then I am better off not knowing what it means. :rofl2:

It was simply on a debate as to who was the better behaved teenager.....

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

1. RV and Hitler moustache for "fill in the blanks" biblical accuracy. Got it.

2. Great plan. PLUS we could live on 617. For $50 per rice crispy Mickey head I think I could learn to like 617.

3. Ummmm.... maybe meeting KFM isn't the best idea. A little rethinking is in order now.

Still loving the report! As always.... a jolly good show!

I have a couple more ideas for your business enterprise on site 617-

1. You could put a sign over by the bobber eating tree advertising fishing bobbers for sale. When Bob is at the Fort, you could make enough off of selling him bobbers to pay for your trip.

2. Since you will be on the path to the campfire, you could sell sticks and s'mores kits for a couple of bucks less than they do over at the campfire.

3. You probably already thought of this, but you could sell hot dogs and burgers cooked on that grill. Folks wouldn't even have to come on your site to get one- you could just hand them over the fence.

I'm still here. Reading along in Illinois. :)

Illinois?

Are you going to make it home tonight?

It was simply on a debate as to who was the better behaved teenager.....

I'll bet it was KFK.

Except for the Dark Year.

TCD

[stefa70 205]

Hey Stef-

Also I retract my statement about you being a tease.

TCD

Believe me, it would NOT be the first time I've been called that!

Thanks for fixing my post, those are exactly the things that make me miss some of the little stuff (or a lot of stuff )

[Discamper 394]

This whole Reedy Creek thing has captured my attention for a moment.

So I did a little digging in to this.

First, I wanted to see what I could find out about what Lou said here:

OK- that makes sense. But who are the landowners of the RCID?

Wasn't RCID formed by the Disney corporation to govern the operation of the land that it exclusively owned?

According to a possibly unreliable source, this is how things work:

A five-member Board of Supervisors governs the District, elected by the landowners of the District. These members, senior employees of The Walt Disney Company, each own undeveloped five-acre lots of land within the District, the only land in the District not technically controlled by Disney or used for public road purposes. The only residents of the District, also Disney employees or their immediate family members, live in two small communities, one in each city. In the 2000 census, Bay Lake had 23 residents, all in the community on the north shore of Bay Lake, and Lake Buena Vista had 16 residents, all in the community about a mile north of Downtown Disney. These residents elect the officials of the cities, but since they don't actually own any land, they don't have any power in electing the District Board of Supervisors.

I posted this before this are the homes of the Supervisors governs the District. They are North of the Fire staion

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

If everything goes smoothly through Chicago, we will be home before 8 p.m. .

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OK, it is finally time for us to move along.

It's still the morning of December 30th.

And, I'm still out on patrol.

It's early yet, and the girls are still asleep.

We have some fun plans for the day, but they won't begin until the afternoon, so I let them sleep.

They needed it.

That gave me some time to head over to the 2000 loop.

There is always something interesting to see on the 2000 loop.

In fact, I ran right into our second TCD Real Man Of Genius there.

On the way to the 2000 loop, I admired these decorations which were put out by (gasp) cabin people! :

WTG Cabin People!

Not bad.

And then it was on to 2000.

Where I saw this:

So what are we looking at here?

That, my friends, is a TCDRMOG if I ever saw one.

My man has bolted a truck camper onto a utility trailer.

Bam!

Genius!

I love it!

Way to go Mr. Truck Camper on a Utility Trailer. You won the second TCDRMOG award for this trip.

And, don't worry.

We did not run out of geniuses after this guy.

From here, I decided to head over to the group camping area.

I didn't expect to see anyone there.

Not many groups camp when the cold weather arrives.

The problem with my assumption is that the cold weather had not arrived.

The group camping area was hopping!:

There were a lot of folks camped there.

And it looked like they were having a blast!

From there, I decide to check out the full hook-up loops.

I noticed this trailer on the 1600 loop when we arrived, and decided to get a photo of it. It looks like a horse trailer, but I don't think it is. I'm not sure if you can make it out, but it has a huge deck on the roof. This is a party trailer! :

I think those folks left that day, as this is the site that Lorna ended up in.

Over on the 1700 loop, this motorhome was parked in the first space. I know next to nothing about car racing, so someone will have to let me know if the graphics relate to anyone famous. I guess this camper is a fan of the racer referenced in the decorations:

I believe that it was at this time that I met fellow Fiend CaveatLector there on the 1600 loop. It was good to meet you, Fred. I also think this is when I stopped by to say hello to AuburnChris. Good to see you again, Chris.

From here, it was back to the 1500 loop to get some breakfast going and wake the TCD twins.

While I was there, I snapped a photo of this kid who basically was the boss of our loop. I don't usually post photos of other people's kids, but these are far enough away that you can't really see the kid's features or anything. We met this kid when we arrived on Wednesday. Right as I was about to back in to my site, he pulled up right behind me on his scooter and made some hand gestures and complained that I was blocking the loop. Wow, I thought. I enjoyed watching this kid chase after every car and golf cart that came around the loop. It was how he entertained himself. And he had a posse. He was the boss of all the kids on the loop. We nicknamed him the Big Cheese. He's the one on the scooter with the Mickey Ears and hat (which he never removed the entire time he was on our loop):

While I am getting caught up on photos, I took these of the Christmas schedule which was still posted on the 1500/1600 loop Comfort Station bulletin board:

I have never been to the Fort on Christmas Eve or Day, and I don't recall seeing photos or hearing about some of these activities. For example, I wonder what characters show up for the character meet and greet at Crockett's? Another item to note is that this year the site decorating contest was judged by the guests. I heard from one camper that this led to manipulation of the vote, but I still have not heard what sites won the contest. Maybe a Fiend who was there can fill us in.

By about this point, breakfast was ready, so I told the girls it was time to rise and shine. And here they are! :

We had a great breakfast.

And then it was time for a little family looping.

This Class B Mercedes camper was the one that checked in right in front of us. They were set up on the 1800 loop. I intended to get a photo of it when it was set up, because it had a little pop-out on the back. I have never seen a camper like this before. I missed getting a photo of it while it was set up, because they were packing to go home on Friday. Here it is. The black canvas in the back looks like it covered a bunk, which slid out of the back doors:

I am intrigued by people who buy this type of camper. I know that they're not cheap. I always wonder why they choose to purchase something like this rather than a Class C, or even a small Class A for about the same cost. Clearly these folks needed some extra room. It probably was a pain to set up that pop-out area.

Around the back of the 1800 loop, I stopped for some photos of the site of some folks who are at the Fort every winter. They always set up this display:

And they always have dog biscuits for folks to take:

Here's their sign:

And some of the decorations around their site:

After the girls got ready for our afternoon activity, we shot down to the Settlement for a drink.

On the way, we came across a dreaded sight.

There was a Dog Catcher right across from the dog park! :

And there was a poor little dog in that compartment/cell with the open vents.

He seemed like a nice dog.

I never heard what this was all about.

I hope the little fellow was just lost, and the Dog Catcher was there to help him.

I've never seen a Dog Catcher at the Fort before.

Have you?

Well, now you have.

The last photo I have from that morning/early afternoon was taken on the 1300 loop. I took this one from around where the Comfort Station is, looking back toward the loop entrance. You can see that there is a big group playing volleyball on this nice, warm December 30th in Florida day:

And then it was time for us to head off for our afternoon activity.

We were going to leave the Fort.

And WDW.

Which I generally refuse to do.

But we had Sea World passes.

And we were going to use them.

So we loaded up and headed to I-4.

It's just a few miles to Sea World.

The plan was to have a little fun- maybe take in a show or two- ride the new Manta coastero and then head back to the Fort.

That should be fun.

I'll let you know how it turned out in the next post.

TCD

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Awesome update, Andrew. Still in Illinois almost to Chicago. Traffic is starting to get a little heavy. I could really use another update to keep my mind off of it. :)

Actually I would like to hear all about Sea World.

[wak648...Bill 94]

I noticed this trailer on the 1600 loop when we arrived, and decided to get a photo of it. It looks like a horse trailer, but I don't think it is. I'm not sure if you can make it out, but it has a huge deck on the roof. This is a party trailer! :

I think those folks left that day, as this is the site that Lorna ended up in.

On the way, we came across a dreaded sight.

There was a Dog Catcher right across from the dog park! :

And there was a poor little dog in that compartment/cell with the open vents.

He seemed like a nice dog.

I never heard what this was all about.

I hope the little fellow was just lost, and the Dog Catcher was there to help him.

I've never seen a Dog Catcher at the Fort before.

Have you?

I wonder if this had anything to do with these folks leaving.... On Wednesday or Thursday night several Disney PoPo's and several Orange County Sheriffs were at his site and then an Ambulance showed up. The next morning the animal control and Disney PoPo were back at that site.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I am intrigued by people who buy this type of camper. I know that they're not cheap. I always wonder why they choose to purchase something like this rather than a Class C, or even a small Class A for about the same cost. Clearly these folks needed some extra room. It probably was a pain to set up that pop-out area.

I have heard of some folks that have HOA restrictions on parking RVs in their driveway that are allowed to park Class B's, as they are similar in size to full size vans and can be used (theoretically) as a daily driver. Plus they get pretty good gas mileage...at least the diesels like in your picture.

[stefa70 205]

Love the girls rising and shining!! :heart:

You saw Chris? As in Auburn Chris? I have heard he exists.

I always tease Jen that when Chris is there, he's not really there, he just passes by in a shadow or peeks out from behind his techno-equipment every now and again.

Good job to the folks giving out dog biscuits, though Mason would sit there for the whole tin.

Boo to dog catchers at the fort!!

Unless, he was helping a lost dog, then that's ok.

Sea World? Did you follow my advice?

You know, about the whole wet drawers thing?

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

1. Last year they said MIckey and Minnie came to FW. We forgot to take the kids and went looping on our bikes instead...ooops.

2. Do the TCD Twins always look so happy when they wake up?

3. poor puppy in the dog catcher bin.....

4. I don't think I've seen a picture of Auburn Chris....

5. ready for sea world....

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Believe me, it would NOT be the first time I've been called that!

Thanks for fixing my post, those are exactly the things that make me miss some of the little stuff (or a lot of stuff )

I believe you.

I posted this before this are the homes of the Supervisors governs the District. They are North of the Fire staion

OK, Todd, you need to stop posting this stuff.

I just spent more time going over to the Orange County Property Appraiser's site.

I do remember you posting photos of those houses before.

I found them on the OCPA map.

That whole parcel and the nine manufactured homes are all listed as being owned by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, US Inc.

I never realized that this was a trailer park.

But that is what it is.

If everything goes smoothly through Chicago, we will be home before 8 p.m. .

Good.

I hope it all goes smoothly!

Awesome update, Andrew. Still in Illinois almost to Chicago. Traffic is starting to get a little heavy. I could really use another update to keep my mind off of it. :)

Actually I would like to hear all about Sea World.

Sorry, but it looks like I won't get to tell me Sea World story until tomorrow.

But, make sure you come back for it.

It did not turn out according to plan.

I wonder if this had anything to do with these folks leaving.... On Wednesday or Thursday night several Disney PoPo's and several Orange County Sheriffs were at his site and then an Ambulance showed up. The next morning the animal control and Disney PoPo were back at that site.

Hey Bill- Thanks for that info. I was trying to remember if this is the day you left. I am going to mention how I was stalking you. I thought it was Saturday morning, but now I'm thinking it may have been Friday. Since we are already past Friday morning, I'm going to say it was Saturday.

I wonder what was going on with animal control at this site? I really have never seen animal control at the Fort before.

I have heard of some folks that have HOA restrictions on parking RVs in their driveway that are allowed to park Class B's, as they are similar in size to full size vans and can be used (theoretically) as a daily driver. Plus they get pretty good gas mileage...at least the diesels like in your picture.

Oh.

Those are all good points. Plus, how cool is it to have a Mercedes camper?

I could see this being a great thing for a couple. But, I don't think I would want to mess with setting up that bed in the back.

Love the girls rising and shining!! :heart:

You saw Chris? As in Auburn Chris? I have heard he exists.

I always tease Jen that when Chris is there, he's not really there, he just passes by in a shadow or peeks out from behind his techno-equipment every now and again.

Good job to the folks giving out dog biscuits, though Mason would sit there for the whole tin.

Boo to dog catchers at the fort!!

Unless, he was helping a lost dog, then that's ok.

Sea World? Did you follow my advice?

You know, about the whole wet drawers thing?

You've never met Chris?

I've met him plenty of times.

If I am not mistaken, one time he had underwear on his head.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

So, yes he exists.

In fact, I spoke with him that morning, and then again later I think on the 31st when there were a bunch of Fiends over at his site- like Lorna, TiggerInBama and Total Joker.

Now, Jen I did not see on this trip.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Whoops, almost missed you there, Nicki:

1. Last year they said MIckey and Minnie came to FW. We forgot to take the kids and went looping on our bikes instead...ooops.

2. Do the TCD Twins always look so happy when they wake up?

3. poor puppy in the dog catcher bin.....

4. I don't think I've seen a picture of Auburn Chris....

5. ready for sea world....

1. I would vote for bike looping over meeting Mickey and Minnie too.

2. No, the TCD twins do not look that happy when they wake up. Except at the Fort.

3. The puppy looked like a nice dog. I really wish I knew what happened. I should have asked the Dog Catcher.

4. I just saw some photos of Chris on that thread called "What Do We Look Like." He is a perfectly normal looking guy.

5. The Sea World story is a little involved, so I will be getting to that tomorrow.

TCD

[michele j 9]

Excellent trip report

[stefa70 205]

I have met Chris quite a few times, but he's pretty elusive.

[wak648...Bill 94]

I have met Chris quite a few times, but he's pretty elusive.

But did you see him and Jen at the same time? Are they two different people or the same?

[FtWildernessFamily...Holly 25]

As for the characters that were at Crockett's Tavern...it was Donald and Scrooge. Somewhat of a let down; I was hoping for at least Mickey in his Christmas finest. We raced back from our dinner at MK so we wouldn't miss the characters at the Fort!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Excellent trip report

Thanks!

I'm glad that you are reading along.

I have met Chris quite a few times, but he's pretty elusive.

Yeah.

The guy has a lot of technology going all the time, too.

But did you see him and Jen at the same time? Are they two different people or the same?

That is a very good question.

I am going to say that they are two different people, but you are making me think.

As for the characters that were at Crockett's Tavern...it was Donald and Scrooge. Somewhat of a let down; I was hoping for at least Mickey in his Christmas finest. We raced back from our dinner at MK so we wouldn't miss the characters at the Fort!

Donald and Scrooge?

Scrooge?

On Christmas Eve?

Who the heck thought it was a good idea to have Scrooge visit on Christmas Eve?

I'm sorry that you rushed back to the Fort for that.

Thanks for letting me know, though.

Do you have any info on who won the site decorating contest?

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

But did you see him and Jen at the same time? Are they two different people or the same?

I have proof that they are indeed two different people.

Although for some reason in this pic they look kinda animatronic.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I have proof that they are indeed two different people.

Although for some reason in this pic they look kinda animatronic.

Yeah.

And aren't you the guy with the uncle cousin mysterious relative with the mad photoshop skills?

I'm surprised Melvin the Moose isn't in that photo eating a giant Dole Whip.

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Yeah.

And aren't you the guy with the uncle cousin mysterious relative with the mad photoshop skills?

I'm surprised Melvin the Moose isn't in that photo eating a giant Dole Whip.

TCD

Don't be surprised to see ole Melvin pop up again in the future. I hear he plans on doing some traveling this May.

[Discamper 394]

Yeah.

And aren't you the guy with the uncle cousin mysterious relative with the mad photoshop skills?

I'm surprised Melvin the Moose isn't in that photo eating a giant Dole Whip.

TCD

Dame you TCD you took the words right out of my mouth