It's Called Leap Day-Not Sleep Day-OMDD with the TCD Gang!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Geez, sooooorrrry! You said you found something ON the island, then you ended with " heading to the River Boat"

I thought you forgot!

:sarc3:

No worries.

I see where you might have thought I forgot.

What with me being an old man and everything.

But, the new item will be revealed in my next post.

Which I am working on and should be up within the hour.

Gee whiz! Marijuana dude is pushing a stroller. Classy. That wouldn't be the conversation I'd like to have with my boys just yet. I didn't think those type T shirts were allowed either. Booo!

On a nicer note. I am very Pro-TSI. Great photos you got there. Next time I overhear a know-it-all dude I'll be wondering if he is just messing with the other guests. :rofl2:

Yes, the dude was pushing his kid in the stroller.

I am pro-TSI also and pro River Boat.

We run into those know it all guys all the time, so you never know.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

This is where I make up for not posting an update yesterday.

And, then we're even.

We left off with us heading toward the River Boat.

Our timing was great on this trip, as we arrived just in time to board- no waiting at all!

Awesome!

I didn't remember this- but you enter the River Boat on the second level.

We headed up top.

Wouldn't you?

Here we are overlooking TSI:

We could look over and see the queue for Haunted Mansion. That is the longest line that we had seen all morning:

The side of the boat by TSI was in the shade, and the girls wanted to stay there. That would give us a view of TSI all the way around. But, I wanted to see Liberty Square and Frontierland, so I moved over to the other side of the deck.

This is what I saw over there- the skyline of Liberty Square:

I loved being up this high, and getting to look at things from this perspective. Make sure that you notice the weather vanes. I never noticed them before, but after seeing these, I realized that a lot of the buildings in the MK have weather vanes, and they are all unique. We will see some more weather vanes later. But, for now, we are taking a ride aboard the River Boat. . .

We headed off toward Frontierland- note how the street is not very crowded at all. Also note that the trees still think that it's winter, even though we haven't had much cold weather to speak of this year, and it was pushing 80 today:

Do you know the name of the River Boat?

I thought that it was named after some one.

But, I was wrong.

It's called the Liberty Belle:

Here's another shot of the walkway in Frontierland- showing not a lot of people:

Here's an interesting perspective:

There's the Country Bears entrance:

I wondered to myself what the girls would say when I told them that everything meant the Country Bears too. They are not fans.

Now we are around the bend, and there's the TSI boat. Notice how full it is. Since when do people like TSI? :

Big Thunder Mountain was closed today, and has been closed for a while. You can see that a construction wall is up here:

My theory on why TSI was busy is folks who came to Big Thunder and found it closed decided to head over to the island for something to do.

Here we are going around another bend and looking at Big Thunder. Look, totem poles! :

So, how come the MK can still have totem poles and the Fort can't?

The next time anyone runs into one of those know it all guys, please ask.

As we cruised past the mountain, we got a good look at all the work going on. You can see that there is scaffolding up in this photo:

And, here's a good look at some of the work being done. You can see in these photos that it looks like they are doing repair work to the rails. I hope this means a smoother ride:

Of course, as with any construction project, there was nobody doing any actual work at the time.

But the workers were there.

Here they are, goofing off on the back porch:

Classic.

I never knew there was a dock behing the mountain, but here it is. And that looks like one of the TSI boats tied up there:

I think that they have upgraded some of the props that are set up along the banks here.

This shack is pretty cool. I'm not sure if you can make it out, but there's a little dog in the canoe on the left, and his head moved back and forth. There is also a gator hiding in the bushes there on the right:

I think they have spruced up the Indian Village. The way I remember it, it looked pretty fake, but I thought it looked pretty nice from up here on the boat:

Now, here's that new thing I found on TSI.

I took this photo from the front of the boat, looking at TSI.

The writing above the cave says Wilson's Cave:

Wilson's Cave isn't on the TSI map.

What is it?

I did some checking on this, and it turns out that this is a reference to a real cave along the Mississippi River. And it also combines the story of a pirate who went by the name of Wilson, and used to rob folks along the river. Apparently, there was some reference to this place in the movie Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. So, here we have a nod to our pal Davy on TSI.

Who knew?

Moving on, we got a good look at the new Haunted Mansion interactive queue area as we passed by there:

You can see tombstones up on the hill in the back of the queue. I think the added more tombstones when they added the new part of the queue:

You see that little porch-like area down along the water line in this photo? I think this used to be the loading platform for the Keel Boats which they no longer have here at the MK. That might be a good place to go and catch a nap later, so I filed that idea away:

There has been a construction wall set up along a small area just outside of the HM exit. What I heard is that they are putting a new walkway in there. You can see the wall and what is behind it in these photos- that is what is left of the old skyway terminal there in the background, and the Small World ride building behind that:

It doesn't look like they're putting in a walkway to me. What it looks like to me is a huge pile of dirt. I wonder what the heck is going on back there?

This is my last shot from the boat, and it has a couple more weather vanes in it. I told you so. And these are not the last weather vanes we will see today:

And with that, we pulled back up to the dock.

We were not clear on where we would head next. So we stopped to discuss our options. It was just about noon, so lunch was a big subject. I wanted to go to Columbia Harbor House, which was right there. The twins weren't sure. There was talk of hitting the Country Bears and then Pecos Bill. I'll let you know how that turned out in the next post.

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

With the time zone changes and a direct flight, I am sure it is possible to do even when there are not extended hours. I guess it would be fun, but it seems like an awful amount of trouble to go to. I wonder how many folks did it on the 29th?

9

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Do you know the name of the River Boat?

I thought that it was named after some one.

But, I was wrong.

It's called the Liberty Belle:

You were right until 1996. The MK originally had two riverboats: The Admiral Joe Fowler and the Richard F Irvine. The AJF was accidentally destroyed during a refurbishment, and the RFI was renamed the Liberty Belle in 1996 after its own refurbishment.

Interestingly, and as pointed out in another FF.net TR recently, two of the three ferries that cross Seven Seas Lagoon are now named the Admiral Joe Fowler and the Richard F. Irvine. So while the riverboat naming has changed, both men still have watercraft named after them.

And even MORE interesting, Richard F Irvine Irvine is the late father-in-law to Walt Disney Imagineer / Disneyland Art Director, Kim Irvine, whose mother is the late Leota Toombs of Haunted Mansion and other fame. The Disney organization sure was a family back in those days, both literally and figuratively.

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

Nice pics!!!

[stefa70 205]

No worries.

I see where you might have thought I forgot.

What with me being an old man and everything.

TCD

You're not old in my book. You've only got me by a few years.

I have never noticed all the weather vanes at MK, then again, I don't look up that high very often.

Great find on TSI. Definitely a new perspective from the River Boat. I will add that to my list for the next trip.

Bravo to Dave for all the boat info. And here we thought he was only good at shimmying.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I am loving this trip report. Lots of cool info, like weather vanes and boat names. Excellent pics and colorful commentary.

Thank you for sharing your joy with us!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

9

Thank you.

Is that a fact, or are you guessing?

You were right until 1996. The MK originally had two riverboats: The Admiral Joe Fowler and the Richard F Irvine. The AJF was accidentally destroyed during a refurbishment, and the RFI was renamed the Liberty Belle in 1996 after its own refurbishment.

Interestingly, and as pointed out in another FF.net TR recently, two of the three ferries that cross Seven Seas Lagoon are now named the Admiral Joe Fowler and the Richard F. Irvine. So while the riverboat naming has changed, both men still have watercraft named after them.

And even MORE interesting, Richard F Irvine Irvine is the late father-in-law to Walt Disney Imagineer / Disneyland Art Director, Kim Irvine, whose mother is the late Leota Toombs of Haunted Mansion and other fame. The Disney organization sure was a family back in those days, both literally and figuratively.

Whoa!

Thanks for the information. I didn't know any of that.

What are you, a boat nerd or something?

Nice pics!!!

Thank you!

You're not old in my book. You've only got me by a few years.

I have never noticed all the weather vanes at MK, then again, I don't look up that high very often.

Great find on TSI. Definitely a new perspective from the River Boat. I will add that to my list for the next trip.

Bravo to Dave for all the boat info. And here we thought he was only good at shimmying.

A few?

Is ten a few?

I'm a whole decade older than you.

That's a lot.

I never knew about that cave.

Now my mission is to find it while I'm on the island.

Maybe I will dress like a pirate and wave at folks on the River Boat.

I am loving this trip report. Lots of cool info, like weather vanes and boat names. Excellent pics and colorful commentary.

Thank you for sharing your joy with us!

Thanks, Marty.

There is some more cool info, and a bonus weather vane photo coming right up.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

1. Neither pro nor anti river boat.

2. Somewhat anti TSI.. the one redeeming feature is the barrel bridge.

3. Old is a mindset and I'm afraid you don't have it yet.

4. looking for both a TS & QS dining location in MK for our next trip.. ideas?

5. Love the photo bomb

6. love weather vanes

7. Stef are you tall enough to see anything above.. a certain.. height?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

1. Neither pro nor anti river boat.

2. Somewhat anti TSI.. the one redeeming feature is the barrel bridge.

3. Old is a mindset and I'm afraid you don't have it yet.

4. looking for both a TS & QS dining location in MK for our next trip.. ideas?

5. Love the photo bomb

6. love weather vanes

7. Stef are you tall enough to see anything above.. a certain.. height?

1. Well, then, you need to ride the River Boat on your next trip. That will help you get off the fence.

2. Same with TSI. I don't think Fiends are allowed to be anti-TSI. There is a Fort there (with guns) and rocking chairs and barrels.

3. Agreed.

4. QS- I am a big Columbia Harbor House fan. I love to take our food upstairs and eat up there. Awesome old-time MK atmosphere up there. I also like Pinnochio's. For TS, I would say the Plaza restaurant, even though I have not personally dined there. But, they have steak fries there, so I intend to. We have done the Castle, Tony's and Liberty Tree Tavern too. All are OK, but to tell you the truth, I would leave the park and go over to the Polynesian for O'hana or Kona Cafe.

5. Thanks.

6. Me too. And, I never even noticed them before.

7. Low blow!

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Thank you.

Is that a fact, or are you guessing?

You'll never know.

Whoa!

Thanks for the information. I didn't know any of that.

What are you, a boat nerd or something?

No, I've just got access to these really cool, top secret software programs. I can tell you what they are but you have to promise not to tell a lot of people. They're called "Google" and "Wikipedia".

You're welcome.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

1. Well, then, you need to ride the River Boat on your next trip. That will help you get off the fence.

2. Same with TSI. I don't think Fiends are allowed to be anti-TSI. There is a Fort there (with guns) and rocking chairs and barrels.

3. Agreed.

4. QS- I am a big Columbia Harbor House fan. I love to take our food upstairs and eat up there. Awesome old-time MK atmosphere up there. I also like Pinnochio's. For TS, I would say the Plaza restaurant, even though I have not personally dined there. But, they have steak fries there, so I intend to. We have done the Castle, Tony's and Liberty Tree Tavern too. All are OK, but to tell you the truth, I would leave the park and go over to the Polynesian for O'hana or Kona Cafe.

5. Thanks.

6. Me too. And, I never even noticed them before.

7. Low blow!

TCD

1. We rode on our summer trip and it was HOT! Kids didn't want to ride it again.

2. Ok.. will have to re-evaluate TSI. It does have a Fort.

3.

4. I keep hearing about Columbia House so I think it's time to try it. If we jumped to the Poly would we need reservations? In early Nov.

7. Just quoting her tag.. sort of. Besides she knows we love her :heartsmiley:

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

No, I've just got access to these really cool, top secret software programs. I can tell you what they are but you have to promise not to tell a lot of people. They're called "Google" and "Wikipedia".

You're welcome.

Was just on google and wiki last night. The kids wanted to know what type of dog pluto was, what Mickey's full name was, what type of dog goofy is. Truly a wealth of info there.

[Total Joker ... TJ 203]

There are many weather vanes in the MK. There many, many more through out the WDW property!!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Let it never be said that TCD is a slouch in the trip report writing category.

Because here comes another update.

That's three today!

I want to get the morning part of our trip finished.

We left off with us standing on the boat dock deep in discussion about what to do next. I wanted to go to Columbia Harbor House and then hit HM after that.

The girls wanted to go to Pecos Bills and then hop the train to the front and go back to the Contemporary to chill for a bit.

We took a vote.

I lost.

I forgot to mention that I already had received a text that our room was ready. But it didn't tell us which room. When I checked in, I got my KTTW cards, and the castmember said they would work on my room once I got the text. But this text said to stop by the front desk. What did this mean? Were they going to upgrade me to a concierge room, and re-issue me gold keys? That had to be it, I decided, so I was kind of in favor of the gettting out of there part of the twins' plan. I just am not a huge Pecos Bill fan. It's too crazy in there for me.

On the way to Pecos Bill's we came across this dog:

I don't think he was a service dog, because he didn't have anything on to say that he was. And, the owner was letting him play with that castmember. Service dogs aren't supposed to play. We think he looked like the hound dog that they use in the Halloween party parades. Doesn't he? I'll bet he was there just to get used to being in the MK and around people. Also note that the owner has an orange wristband. That meant he came in the special entrance this morning.

We went on to Pecos Bills. We used the touch screens to order. That was fun. And quick.

It was just noon, but the whole dining room was full.

We walked all the way back to the far room that is closer to the Tortuga Tavern than it is to Pecos Bills. But it was nice and cool in there. And quiet.

I had a burger, and took full advantage of the topping bar. It wasn't bad.

After lunch, we headed over to the train station.

Here we are up on the train platform:

You can see that it's a little crowded around there.

I never noticed that the Splash logs come really close to the train station here, but they do. We could hear people going by in the logs here:

The train came right along, and we got in the way back.

We were right next to this door, which is part of Splash mountain:

There you go. If you ever want to get to door 15, just go here, and it will take you right there.

As we started to chug along, we passed the Splash Mountain queue building on our left. Hey look, there's a weather vane up there at the top right of the photo! :

Here's a clear shot of the weather vane. I had never noticed this one before either:

You can see that there is a bit of a line down there for Splash Mountain. Good thing we got Fastpasses. We will be back later to use those:

There's Woody and Jessie down there meeting folks:

We passed by Big Thunder Mountain Railroad next. So I had to take some more photos showing the work going on:

I think this ride is supposed to be closed for quite a bit longer. It is easy to see why.

Next we crossed this bridge. I think that the canal you see back there is the canal that leads to where they keep the EWP boats, and then on to the Seven Seas Lagoon:

We just looked at the Indian Village from the River Boat, now we are looking at it from the train. They definitely have spruced this up some time recently:

We passed by the old Toon Town station, and there was a lot of activity going on behind the wall.

Then we came up to Tommorrowland. This is the path that leads from Space Mountain to the Train Station. You can see that all of the azeleas have bloomed and are already on the decline:

As we passed by the COP, we noticed that Stitch was waving to us:

I wish Stitch Dude was there to see that. I'll bet his head would have exploded.

We raced the monorail for a while:

And then we pulled in to the Main Street station.

We stopped at the front to get a photo in front of the One More Disney Day sign:

If you look up at the clock in the last photo, you will see that it was just about 1:30 when we headed out. We had been up since 2 am and in the MK since 6. It was time for a little break.

So, we headed to the resort monorail, and we headed over to the Contemporary Resort.

Check back to find out why I needed to stop by the front desk. Also, I met up with one of my favorite Fiends there at the hotel. And, I will have some photos of our room and some of the sights around the resort.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

No, I've just got access to these really cool, top secret software programs. I can tell you what they are but you have to promise not to tell a lot of people. They're called "Google" and "Wikipedia".

You're welcome.

Thanks.

I forgot you were a computer wizard.

I'll have to check out this Google and Wikipedia stuff.

1. We rode on our summer trip and it was HOT! Kids didn't want to ride it again.

2. Ok.. will have to re-evaluate TSI. It does have a Fort.

3.

4. I keep hearing about Columbia House so I think it's time to try it. If we jumped to the Poly would we need reservations? In early Nov.

7. Just quoting her tag.. sort of. Besides she knows we love her :heartsmiley:

Oh, I can see where you wouldn't want to be on that boat in the summer. And, you're right, it is a bit on the boring side.

I would say yes, you need reservations for all the TS restaurants at dinner time. That's why we rarely go to those. Well, and then there's the ridiculous prices too.

Was just on google and wiki last night. The kids wanted to know what type of dog pluto was, what Mickey's full name was, what type of dog goofy is. Truly a wealth of info there.

So, what kind of dog is Pluto? And Goofy? Did you find out why Goofy wears clothes, walks on his hind legs and talks and Pluto doesn't?

Never mind, I really don't want to know.

There are many weather vanes in the MK. There many, many more through out the WDW property!!!

Yes. And my favorite one is at the Fort!

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Do we have a check list of everything ridden so far?

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Thanks.

I forgot you were a computer wizard.

I'll have to check out this Google and Wikipedia stuff.

Oh, I can see where you wouldn't want to be on that boat in the summer. And, you're right, it is a bit on the boring side.

I would say yes, you need reservations for all the TS restaurants at dinner time. That's why we rarely go to those. Well, and then there's the ridiculous prices too.

So, what kind of dog is Pluto? And Goofy? Did you find out why Goofy wears clothes, walks on his hind legs and talks and Pluto doesn't?

Never mind, I really don't want to know.

Yes. And my favorite one is at the Fort!

TCD

We are getting the dining plan anyway.. so we've already paid for the food.

Pluto is either a "mixed breed" or based on a blood hound.

The difference is that Goofy is an anthropomorphic dog.

Only pluto's face is anthropomorphic....

it hurts doesn't it...

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Do we have a check list of everything ridden so far?

That's a great idea.

Here is where things stood as we headed out for our afternoon break:

Astro Orbiter- No.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad- Not open.

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin -Done

Cinderella's Carousel- No.

Country Bear Jamboree- No.

Dumbo the Flying Elephant- Not open.

The Hall of Presidents - No.

Haunted Mansion- No.

It's a Small World- Done.

Jungle Cruise- Done.

Liberty Square Riverboat - Done.

Mad Tea Party -Done.

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin - Done.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - Done.

Mickey's Philharmagic- No.

Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor- No.

Peter Pan's Flight - Done

Pirates of the Caribbean - Done.

Snow White's Scary Adventures- Done.

Space Mountain - Done.

Splash Mountain - Done.

Stitch's Great Escape! - No.

Swiss Family Treehouse - Done.

Tom Sawyer Island - Done.

Tomorrowland Indy Speedway - No.

Tomorrowland Transit Authority - Done.

Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress - Done.

Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room -Done.

Walt Disney World Railroad - Done.

So that we had a lot done, but a lot left to do.

We needed a rest though.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We are getting the dining plan anyway.. so we've already paid for the food.

Pluto is either a "mixed breed" or based on a blood hound.

The difference is that Goofy is an anthropomorphic dog.

Only pluto's face is anthropomorphic....

it hurts doesn't it...

Thanks.

I'm sorry I asked.

I don't know what anthropomorphic means, but I'm not going to ask about that.

TCD

[kampfirekim 260]

2. Same with TSI. I don't think Fiends are allowed to be anti-TSI. There is a Fort there (with guns) and rocking chairs and barrels.

4. QS- I am a big Columbia Harbor House fan. I love to take our food upstairs and eat up there. Awesome old-time MK atmosphere up there.

TCD

2. There ya go! No fiend should ever be anti-TSI. It's just plain wrong.

4. Columbia House is one of our faves too! We love the view from upstairs !!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

4. Columbia House is one of our faves too! We love the view from upstairs !!!

My favorite thing about the upstairs of Columbia House is the restrooms.

If the Brady Bunch had public restrooms in their house, they would look like these.

TCD

[kampfirekim 260]

My favorite thing about the upstairs of Columbia House is the restrooms.

If the Brady Bunch had public restrooms in their house, they would look like these.

TCD

Hmmmm... I've never used the upstairs restroom before. I'll add that to my ever growing list of must do's. ;D

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Great day so far!

The river boat isn't much of a "ride" but what I enjoy is that it gives you a totally different view of lots of things that you'd never see if you just walk around.

Love Columbia Harbor House too - it's a nice change from most of the QS at MK, and the atmosphere is a lot more relaxing than Pecos Bills or Cosmic Rays. That said, a burger from Pecos has become a tradition... completely with piles of goodies from the topping bar.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad refurb is slated to last through May 27

Waiting to hear if you get to nap at the old Keel Boats dock.

And now I *must* check out the CHH bathrooms...

[stefa70 205]

A few?

Is ten a few?

I'm a whole decade older than you.

That's a lot.

I never knew about that cave.

Now my mission is to find it while I'm on the island.

Maybe I will dress like a pirate and wave at folks on the River Boat.

TCD

Technically you are 9 years, 3 months older, but who's counting? No, that's not a lot.

I would pay good money to see you dressed as a pirate on TSI. ;D

TCD

That's a keeper!! :heart:

My favorite thing about the upstairs of Columbia House is the restrooms.

If the Brady Bunch had public restrooms in their house, they would look like these.

TCD

And people think my brain works in mysterious ways..............

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad refurb is slated to last through May 27

:jumpforjoy I will be there until the 28th and that is my favorite ride in MK!