Error Message: TCD's Spring Break 2012 Trip Report!

[stefa70 205]

Two posts in one afternoon?! :yay:

First question. You took a picture of the hopscotch board, but did you hopscotch?

Second question. You never told us what you cooked for breakfast, did you use the spankula?

Loving it as usual...."Light at the end of the tunnel" :rotfl6:

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Can't wait to see Fantasyland photos. I am hoping the next installment will be some time tomorrow. May be I should cancel my plans for the day and sit and wait...

[kampfirekim 260]

Looks like we have the same Davy DVD as well as the Campout Singalong DVD. I have to agree. That thing is very annoying, however, the scenery at Fort Wilderness makes up for the cute but very annoying kid's singing factor. ;D

I've always felt that your TR's were very detailed, but, The Light At The End Of The Tunnel? Wow! That's gonna be hard to top!

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

1. I just have to ask "What time doe the boats run?"

2. Love the picture of the train logo

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

... There almost always seem to be guests reading along. If you are one of them, I urge you to take the leap and become a member. That way you can post, and interact, and have fun on the threads.

And, I will make you an offer you can't refuse: anyone who comes out of lurkdom and posts on this thread will receive a genuine Fort Wilderness Railroad spike hand delivered by yours truly to your site the next time you are at the Fort. And that is no April Fools joke.

So, if you are a guest/lurker, I am talking to you.

It's time for you to become a full-fledged Fiend.

It's free!

And it's fun!

TCD

:thumbsup1:

And excellent public service announcement... and lots more terrific pics!

..oh and the April Fool's joke was very good indeed. You almost had me until I noticed an uncanny similarity between the photo and one I took a while back.

[Starbuc71 162]

I love to sit on the porch and watch the Fort go by:

Hey, does that golf cart look familiar to anyone?

How about a closer look?:

Anyone?

Herbie Cart?

If you guessed fellow Fiend Starbuc71, you are correct.

He was at the Fort when I was there.

He had a sweet spot on the 800 loop.

He and his family were having a great time and keeping a low profile.

But, I found him.

And to teach him a lesson for trying to sneak into the Fort without letting anyone know, I brought Lou by his site one day.

I'll get to that part later in the story.

Dave,you were the first to post on this TR.

So, here's that stalker stealth photo I mentioned.

No, I was not stalking S71. I was just minding my own business on the porch, and he came zooming by.

I got bored of sitting in the rocking chair after a while. And, honestly, there is only so much Native American chanting I can take.

So, I headed back out through the Trading Post.

I'm so excited, I actually got my first pic on a TCD trip report. Next time I see you there I will have to pose a little better for you, or at least my kids will. Looks like you had a great time as much as we did for the week.

[campingpixi 11]

It has got to be the booze in me cause I cried at the sight of your pics of the signs at the dock!! I wish I was at the fort right now!!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

That's too funny! I recently watched the Parent Trap again. Of course I could watch it over and over.

Which one did you watch? The original, or the Lindsay Lohan one? We have both. Mrs. TCD loves the original, the girls like the newer one. I like both. It's sad to see Lindsay, though, she was great in that movie, and then she proceeded to become a human train wreck.

Two posts in one afternoon?! :yay:

First question. You took a picture of the hopscotch board, but did you hopscotch?

Second question. You never told us what you cooked for breakfast, did you use the spankula?

Loving it as usual...."Light at the end of the tunnel" :rotfl6:

Nope, I did not hop. But I have in the past. Truth be told, hopscotch really isn't my thing.

I made the classic scrambled eggs, sausage, and crispy crowns. That is the official TCD breakfast, and it gets made on every trip.

I left the spankula in the camper this trip. I don't know why. My bad.

Can't wait to see Fantasyland photos. I am hoping the next installment will be some time tomorrow. May be I should cancel my plans for the day and sit and wait...

I plan on posting that update today.

First, I have to backtrack to post about something I forgot to mention, and then we will be moving right along.

Looks like we have the same Davy DVD as well as the Campout Singalong DVD. I have to agree. That thing is very annoying, however, the scenery at Fort Wilderness makes up for the cute but very annoying kid's singing factor. ;D

I've always felt that your TR's were very detailed, but, The Light At The End Of The Tunnel? Wow! That's gonna be hard to top!

Thanks, KFK.

Do you have the Beach Party Sing-A-Long video? There is a scene in that taped at what looks like Clementine's beach.

1. I just have to ask "What time doe the boats run?"

2. Love the picture of the train logo

Thanks!

I like how that train logo photo came out too. I was standing at the very back of the train in order to take it. I'm not sure many people would get a chance to do that.

:thumbsup1:

And excellent public service announcement... and lots more terrific pics!

..oh and the April Fool's joke was very good indeed. You almost had me until I noticed an uncanny similarity between the photo and one I took a while back.

Thanks, Monique.

That was a good PSA, but not a single lurker has taken me up on my offer.

Come on, all you guests reading along can't be web crawling robots.

Or are you?

I'm so excited, I actually got my first pic on a TCD trip report. Next time I see you there I will have to pose a little better for you, or at least my kids will. Looks like you had a great time as much as we did for the week.

Hey, I'm glad you liked being in the report.

Maybe next time, I will sneak around your campsite to get some more photos!

Yes, we had a great time, but I am still jealous that you had a much longer stay than we did.

It has got to be the booze in me cause I cried at the sight of your pics of the signs at the dock!! I wish I was at the fort right now!!!

Wow,

Really?

That must be some booze.

Crying at a TCD trip report?

Wow.

But, you and I do have something in common- I wish I was at the Fort right now too!

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

This is the post where we will briefly back-track just a bit.

Because there was something that we did when we first arrived at the MK that day that I forgot to mention.

And, this might be helpful information for some of you to know one of these days.

When we go camping, I have a list of the things that we need to bring. I have carefully updated this list over the years, and it works perfectly for us.

One of the things that the kids used to always forget is chargers for their various electronic items. It used to drive me nuts, but it is now on my list, and it is something that I always check before we leave. I recall asking them about their chargers right before we pulled out of the driveway on this trip.

So imagine my embarassment when I discovered that I had forgotten my phone charger when I went to plug my phone in on the first night of our trip.

D'oh!

I knew my phone would not make it through the trip without a charge. And that was a problem, as we all use our phones to stay in touch.

What to do?

The first thing I did was ask around the campground.

But, I have a Blackberry.

And, apparently I'm the only one who still uses one.

I then got the bright idea of heading up to the front desk and asking the concierge.

Did you know that Fort Wilderness has a concierge?

Well, it does.

In fact, there are a couple of stations there at the Reception Outpost marked concierge.

They are there to help guests, right?

So I waited on line a bit and spoke to a nice helpful fellow.

I explained my plight.

He listened carefully.

And then he pulled out a map.

Good, I thought. There was some place on property where I could get my phone charged.

Not.

He drew the route to Walmart on the map and passed it over to me. He said he thought they sold phone chargers there.

I specifically asked him if there was someplace on property where I could charge my phone. Surely I am not the first guest who forgot his phone charger? Maybe at one of the hotels that host conventions, like the Contemporary Resort?

No, he said, there is no place on property where I could get my phone charged.

Rats.

I hate leaving the Fort.

And I especially hate having to leave the Fort to go to Walmart.

But, there are times where it must be done.

And I resigned myself to the thought that I would have to do that again on this trip.

But, one of the twins said she thought she had read something somewhere about the MK offering phone charging service.

I had not heard that before.

Still, I delayed my trip to Walmart so we could check. What did I have to loose?

When we entered the MK that morning, I headed over to guest services. That is the place to your left as you first enter the park from beneath the train station.

The castmembers in there are great.

I asked the helpful lady who waited on me if I could get my phone charged while I was in the park.

She said let's see the phone.

I handed it over.

She reached beneath the counter and plugged it in to something. She held it up to me and asked if it looked like it was charging. I said yes.

She took out a two piece tag, and attached one piece to my phone, and handed me the other piece. She said bring back that half of the tag later to claim my phone.

And that was it.

My phone was being charged.

How come that ding-dong working at the Fort concierge desk didn't know about this?

This is an awesome thing to know.

The only thing I don't like is that they did not ask me may name of for any ID. So, if I lost my half of the tag, and someone found it and realized what it was, my phone could be gone. I don't think anyone would steal a Blackberry. But I do think someone would steal a nicer phone.

Since I probably won't remember to tell you that I picked the phone up later and that it was fully charged, I'll tell you that now.

It worked great.

But, as far as I know, this service is currently only available at the MK.

When I asked at Hollywood Studios guest services on Monday, they looked at me like I was crazy for asking.

The lady at the MK said they only had the chargers at the MK. And, although I didn't check at Epcot or AK, I believe her.

So file this tidbit of information away.

You never know when you may need to charge your phone and be without your charger.

And anytime I can avoid a trip to Walmart is a good thing.

TCD

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

Hmmmm, interesting.

Cause I accidentally left my phone at Guest Services at the Studios, and they called Rick from my phone and when we went back to retrieve it, they asked "were we charging it for you??"

Anwho, I have solved the forgotten charger problem.

Chargers are REALLY cheap on ebay. (Like $2.00 each cheap)

I have a charger for my phone in my office, in the camper, at home, in the truck, and in my travel computer bag. I also have another car charger for the phone in my computer bag for rental cars.

I have a charger for my camera batteries at home and in the camper

I have a charger for Rick's phone at home, in his car, in his travel toiletry kit, and in the camper.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Good to know about the phone charging!

There was a group that went to OMDD and posted to FB throughout their 24 hours. They posted a few pics of them charging phones at a locations around MK. In their case they'd brought their own chargers and power strip and just had to locate a free outlet.

And yes there are some! In fact there's an article about this very topic...

http://www.fortfiends.net/forum/topic/5500-charging-your-electronics-in-the-magic-kingdom/page__hl__%2Bcharge+%2Bphone__fromsearch__1

Carol - love your idea of just having a bunch of cheap chargers about. I'm going to stock up!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OK, backtrack over.

Time to move along.

We are back on the train.

On our way to Fantasyland.

The former Toontown Fair train station has been closed for about a year.

But, the new train station is now open, and we are going to check it out.

As far as I can tell, they are now calling this train station the Fantasyland train station. All of this area is now part of the Fantasyland expansion. Even though the specific area where the train station is located is apparently called Storybook Circus, that is just a part of Fantasyland.

Anyway, we pulled up to the new station, and were told we could exit the train.

Since I have spent a lot of time lately exploring the old Fort Wilderness Railroad train tracks, I took this opportunity to get a look at the MK train tracks.

They look kind of old:

Look, there are some spikes. I would like to have a spike from the MK railroad some day:

The new train station building is beautiful. I found it odd that we had to exit up these stairs. You would think with all the strollers folks drag around these days they wouldn't have stairs right here. But they do:

I never thought about it before now, but it doesn't seem like they have done anything to make the train accessible to folks in wheelchairs. That is kind of odd to me when you think about all the accommodations that have been made everywhere else in WDW.

I also didn't understand why we didn't exit through that nice new building.

I guess they use the building exclusively for guests waiting to board the train.

Only a small area is open in this corner of the Fantasyland expansion. Just the train station, the Goofy rollercoaster, and half of Dumbo. Everything else is still walled off. But, they have made the walls as attractive as they can.

These posters were all over the walls here near the exit for the train:

This is an interesting poster. You can see how it includes Goofy, Dumbo, Casey Jr., Pete and Humphrey. The reason for including Goofy and Dumbo is obvious. They have attractions here. And I understand that there will soon be a Casey Jr. water playground. I know that there used to be a Pete's garage in Toontown, and I suspect there will be something like that here some day. But, I don't know what Humphrey is doing on that poster. Does anyone?

There are some nice, new restrooms here at the train station:

Look how nice that building looks!

And there is some pretty clever theming that has been incorporated here. This sign was posted outside the Men's room:

Carolwood is the name Walt used for the minature train that he had set up in his back yard.

I really liked what they did with the pavement back here in this area. It's supposed to be a circus area, so look at what you see when you look down:

That's an animal footprint.

And check this out, another footprint, and a peanut:

There are lots of different animal footprints depicted. Here are a couple more:

It was kind of crowded back here.

Here's a look at the entrance to the Goofy rollercoaster:

The coaster itself is in the same location as it always has been. The tracks are exactly the same. But, they moved the entrance over to the other side. Which means the exit is now where the entrance used to be. If you remember, the entrance used to be a long, winding path. It's odd that they have not changed this- as the exit now involves a long winding path. Also note that the wait is 40 minutes and that it looks like they built a Fastpass line. For a 1 minute ride. We passed on the wait.

I posted a photo of this on another thread, but I am re-posting it here so we can look at it in context:

Even this sign is nice and new:

Just over the wall, you can see that one of the buildings build to resemble a tent is still under construction:

This is kind of odd to me too. I understood that the previous tent-like buildings were constructed hastily when Mikckey's Birthdayland was first built, with no intent that they would stand for as long as they ultimately did. Now, it looks like they are going to a lot of trouble to re-build these tents. It looks like they are still using some kind of fabric for the walls. It seems like there may be a better way to do this.

Here we are walking past Dumbo. What I saw here was chaos. I didn't see the wait time posted, but the line was long:

I believe that this will ulimately be the entrance building for Dumbo. They are not using it yet. I'm not sure what is going to be in that building. I would guess it will at least include some kind of gift shop, but I don't know:

I think that all of the rocks you see being built on the other side of the wall here are part of the new Little Mermaid ride. I'll tell you one thing- Disney sure can make some fake rocks! :

Clearly, we were not going to ride Dumbo or the Goofy rollercoaster today.

The girls made contact with their friends who were in the MK, and found out that they were over by Peter Pan, so we headed that way.

It was very congested walking over that way.

I'm sure this will all be much better once the construction gets done, but it's kind of bad now.

Over at Peter Pan, I snapped a couple of photos of the Crocodile weather vane, just because I think it's cool:

The girls met up with their friends, and they decided to ride the carousel:

The friends were with their parents, and they were heading off somewhere to eat. We needed to eat, too, so we parted ways there. The girls thought they might meet up again later, but that didn't happen. Which is just as well, as these girls were spending time with their family, and they seemed to be spending most of their time standing on very long lines. We don't do that.

We decided that today was the day to try the waffle sandwiches at Sleepy Hollow.

We have never eaten here before or used the seating area. I loved the seating area, which is tucked back here next to the Hall of Presidents:

I had the spicy/sweet chicken on a waffle:

The twins split a ham and cheese on a waffle:

Nobody tried the Nutella. Which surprised me. But, I'm sure we will try that some day.

We all loved the waffle sandwiches. And, I liked the fact that they were a couple of bucks cheaper than the typical WDW sandwich price.

We were kind of on a slow pace today, as it was near 3 when we finished lunch. The girls checked ride wait times on their phones, and it was bad. All the big rides were 60 minutes or more. We don't do that.

So, we decided that we would watch the 3 o'clock parade, and then decide what to do after that.

We found a nice spot across from the Diamond Horseshoe. We were right by this sign, which I do not remember ever seeing before:

A couple of marching bands had come by while we were eating lunch. We missed those, but we did get to see the Main Street Philharmonic, which is a very talented group:

It was a great, sunny afternoon, and I was really enjoying just taking in all the sights from where we were waiting for the parade to start. I loved this view:

But, as we continued to wait, the blazing sun was making things unpleasant. It was more crowded on the other side of the street, but we decided to move over there.

I'm glad that we did, because I discovered something over there that I did not know. And it's something that I intend to investigate further on a future trip. I will pick it up from there in the next post, as I am near the photo limit again.

TCD

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

Love the Fantasyland Pics!!! I also still need to try the waffle sandwich. I thought about getting one overnight during OMDD, but the opportunity never presented itself.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Gotta ask - what is on that weathervane? I can't quite make it out.

I love that they included detail even in the walkways of the new area. Most people miss stuff like that, but if you really look, you'll find these kinds of things all over WDW. :heartsmiley:

Hey, those sandwiches look pretty darned good. There have been a lot of new QS options popping up in the MK lately - even since we were there in November. It's good to see!.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Hmmmm, interesting.

Cause I accidentally left my phone at Guest Services at the Studios, and they called Rick from my phone and when we went back to retrieve it, they asked "were we charging it for you??"

Anwho, I have solved the forgotten charger problem.

Chargers are REALLY cheap on ebay. (Like $2.00 each cheap)

I have a charger for my phone in my office, in the camper, at home, in the truck, and in my travel computer bag. I also have another car charger for the phone in my computer bag for rental cars.

I have a charger for my camera batteries at home and in the camper

I have a charger for Rick's phone at home, in his car, in his travel toiletry kit, and in the camper.

When I asked at HS about charging my phone, they said that they would charge my phone if I had the charger. So, that is probably where that question to you came from.

I never looked for chargers on ebay. That is a great idea.

Good to know about the phone charging!

There was a group that went to OMDD and posted to FB throughout their 24 hours. They posted a few pics of them charging phones at a locations around MK. In their case they'd brought their own chargers and power strip and just had to locate a free outlet.

And yes there are some! In fact there's an article about this very topic...

http://www.fortfiend...__fromsearch__1

Carol - love your idea of just having a bunch of cheap chargers about. I'm going to stock up!

Yes, I have noticed that there are electric outlets all around WDW. But they didn't do me any good without my charger.

Love the Fantasyland Pics!!! I also still need to try the waffle sandwich. I thought about getting one overnight during OMDD, but the opportunity never presented itself.

I have been wanting to try the waffle sandwiches since October, when I first noticed them for sale. I'm glad that I finally tried one. I will be back for another some day.

Gotta ask - what is on that weathervane? I can't quite make it out.

I love that they included detail even in the walkways of the new area. Most people miss stuff like that, but if you really look, you'll find these kinds of things all over WDW. :heartsmiley:

Hey, those sandwiches look pretty darned good. There have been a lot of new QS options popping up in the MK lately - even since we were there in November. It's good to see!.

I posted a zoom on your weathervane thread, but since you asked, here you go:

It's Casey, Jr.! (That is the train from Dumbo) Cute! And there's another Carolwood reference on the clock.

Speaking of quick serve locations, I am about to mention one that I did not know about.

TCD

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

It looks like a steam engine to me with a puff of smoke coming out the stack and a RR crossing sign in front of the train. Don't forget the railroad track and ties.

TCD beat me.. :) He is the man.

Edited April 4, 2012 by Gots2pitt.. Jeff

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

It looks like a steam engine to me with a puff of smoke coming out the stack and a RR crossing sign in front of the train.

LOL, love how you state the obvious :)

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

LOL, love how you state the obvious :)

Just call me Captain Obvious! :rofl2: _{yeah I probably shouldn't have typed that}

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Thanks TCD! Haven't had a chance to check the photo threads recently.

I figured it was something train-related. :)

[lklasing 16]

Late to the party, again, but just wanted to chime in and say that I'm loving the report. I hate that we missed you by just a few days!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Still reading along. I love all the detail in Fantasyland, can't wait to see it all for myself!!

[stefa70 205]

Interesting tidbit about the phone charging. It's little things like that, that make Disney special. Too bad most of the CM are clueless about what the others are capable of doing.

I can't wait to see the new area. I haven't been in there in years, probably since Nate was 5-6 and wasn't into Toon Town anymore.

I'm glad you tried the waffles, even though you didn't get the nutella one. And look....

It's even cheaper!! :jumpforjoy

[Heidi-meetsTCD@TSM 5]

Wow..........I don't check out FF for a bit and come on today and see your trip report already on page 8!!!!!!

I guess I have some reading to do!!!!

Heidi

[ImDownWithDisney 342]

TCD,

There is a stroller/wheelchair ramp at the new train station. Instead of walking up the steps you hang a hard right and the path is sort of "V" shaped. I pushed our girls up it last Thanksgiving.

[dvccamper 32]

Excellent updates as usual. I just have a few comments. We too owned the vhs sing-a-long's. If I ever hear 'Don't fence me in' again, it will be too soon. Every once in a blue moon one of the girls will come out with "I'm Mika, with a peeka peeka peeka boo..." Another winner. We always enjoyed the Disneyland Fun one though, even if it was in California.

Secondly, I hope whichever twin it was that remembered that little tidbit about getting your phone charged at the MK was richly rewarded. That bit of info was awesome, good for her!

And finally, I think you are being generous saying the Goofy rollercoaster is a one minute ride.

Great shots of the weathervanes, also. I have never noticed them. I'll just have to go back.