Hot Fun in the Summertime-TCD's August 2012 TR

[SCTigerCock 171]

You people are crude, twisted, and frankly, a little juvenile.

I LOVE it!!!!

Bill and I resemble that remark.

Wuvs ya too.

[BassMaster 7]

As in WTF is the BM?

I knew if I opened the door, someone would jump right in.......Bill, you da man !!

[yacht45tx 0]

Great report Andrew, your camp brings back memories of my Coleman pop-up & 200 loop, but that's another story. I have mixed feelings about a "river country" DVC, my DD has different memories of camping and not all fond ones( cold, hot & wet), she enjoys more a pampered lifestyle, air travel, soft beds, a/c & heat, things my popup and her tent did not offer. Several years ago she won a DVC @ Bay Lake, an using her points, she and her DH and their two boys have stayed at different resorts( BL, AK, BW, GF, etc). Her boys love the Fort...and if a DVC was there she and her three boys (DH & 2 grandsons) would be close by for family gatherings, looping and other FW amenities. On the other hand my son hauls his rig from Texas to the Fort every year and my DW and I trail along in ours. So if a DVC does get built on top of River Country and the area surrounding it becomes a parking lot, I'll still have a few pictures and many memories that go back over 30 years, and then I'll make a few more with my grandkids at the Fort.

[LONE-STAR 370]

Great report Andrew, your camp brings back memories of my Coleman pop-up & 200 loop, but that's another story. I have mixed feelings about a "river country" DVC, my DD has different memories of camping and not all fond ones( cold, hot & wet), she enjoys more a pampered lifestyle, air travel, soft beds, a/c & heat, things my popup and her tent did not offer. Several years ago she won a DVC @ Bay Lake, an using her points, she and her DH and their two boys have stayed at different resorts( BL, AK, BW, GF, etc). Her boys love the Fort...and if a DVC was there she and her three boys (DH & 2 grandsons) would be close by for family gatherings, looping and other FW amenities. On the other hand my son hauls his rig from Texas to the Fort every year and my DW and I trail along in ours. So if a DVC does get built on top of River Country and the area surrounding it becomes a parking lot, I'll still have a few pictures and many memories that go back over 30 years, and then I'll make a few more with my grandkids at the Fort.

Very true my sister is not a camper. But her boys love it and it drives her crazy and that makes me smile.

[Lou... 3,118]

I suspect that the hotel and housing development will not utilize any WDW transportation.

Like all of the other non-Disney resorts on property, except for the S&D, they will probably have their own shuttles so that they can have total control of their product.

I can't see someone paying all that money and then having to share a bus with the regular folks.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I can't see someone paying all that money and then having to share a bus with the regular folks.

Worse than that, I can't see them having to share a bus with us IRREGULAR folks.

[stefa70 205]

Now, having said that, I will throw you a bone

:yourekillinme:

I vote this report as TCD's best ever! Where else can you have Uranus talk, BM's, SNM and throwing of bones?

Andrew PLEASE find a way to fit the spankula into this report and all will be well with the world.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Yowsah!

That was some hijack!

In order to get this report moving in the right direction, I must depart from my normal practice of responding to all of the comments.

Let me just say that I had a good laugh.

Y'all are a funny bunch.

And I mean that in a good way.

But, it's time to move on.

I did want to respond to a few comments, though:

Great report Andrew, your camp brings back memories of my Coleman pop-up & 200 loop, but that's another story. I have mixed feelings about a "river country" DVC, my DD has different memories of camping and not all fond ones( cold, hot & wet), she enjoys more a pampered lifestyle, air travel, soft beds, a/c & heat, things my popup and her tent did not offer. Several years ago she won a DVC @ Bay Lake, an using her points, she and her DH and their two boys have stayed at different resorts( BL, AK, BW, GF, etc). Her boys love the Fort...and if a DVC was there she and her three boys (DH & 2 grandsons) would be close by for family gatherings, looping and other FW amenities. On the other hand my son hauls his rig from Texas to the Fort every year and my DW and I trail along in ours. So if a DVC does get built on top of River Country and the area surrounding it becomes a parking lot, I'll still have a few pictures and many memories that go back over 30 years, and then I'll make a few more with my grandkids at the Fort.

Thanks for posting! I remember meeting you last Thanksgiving, and I hope that I'll see you again at the Fort sometime this year.

You are right- if a DVC gets built at the old River Country site, it isn't going to be all bad.

The truth is that the rotting remains of River Country are an embarassment, and it would be an improvement to put something else there.

My main objection to the project is the big parking lot that will have to come with it. They have planned to put that where the current horse barn and old petting zoo were. I will not like that part of it at all.

However, if this new resort does get built, it will surely mean at least a real quick serve restaurant for the Fort, and some more pools and bars for the Fiends to visit.

I suspect that the hotel and housing development will not utilize any WDW transportation.

Like all of the other non-Disney resorts on property, except for the S&D, they will probably have their own shuttles so that they can have total control of their product.

I can't see someone paying all that money and then having to share a bus with the regular folks.

You are in a place to know more about this than any of us, so I respect your opinion.

The one thing that causes me to wonder, though, is how they have been marketing Golden Oak as a part of WDW, and that transportation to the parks will be one of the amenities.

The easiest way for them to do that is to have Disney transportation serve that area.

:yourekillinme:

I vote this report as TCD's best ever! Where else can you have Uranus talk, BM's, SNM and throwing of bones?

Andrew PLEASE find a way to fit the spankula into this report and all will be well with the world.

I will see what I can do, but I will tell you right now that the spankula stayed in its cabinet on this trip.

I did mean to hang it up outside my site, but I never got around to it.

TCD

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

The one thing that causes me to wonder, though, is how they have been marketing Golden Oak as a part of WDW, and that transportation to the parks will be one of the amenities.

From what I've read those folks are gonna get PRIVATE, on demand transportation to the parks.

[SCTigerCock 171]

From what I've read those folks are gonna get PRIVATE, on demand transportation to the parks.

Well durn. There goes my idea of a real life shooting arcade.

You know paintball guns and slow moving, low riding, bone toting golden oakers.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

It is time to continue on with this report.

It is still Sunday morning, and we are at Hollywood Studios.

The girls had ridden TOT, and we had then gone on RNR and Star Tours. Now we were going to use our Toy Story Fastpasses.

The plan for today was to hang out in Hollywood Studios for the morning, try to snag some Fastpasses for the afternoon, and then leave for a while and come back later to use the Fastpasses.

We figured we would beat the heat that way.

After riding Toy Story, we checked on the return times for the Fastpasses which were being distributed then. The return time was 3:30. That was too early for us. So, we needed to kill a little time until the return times got a little later.

We decided to head in to the One Man's Dream exhibit and take a look at the big model they have in there for the New Fantasyland expansion.

On our visits to the MK on this trip, we could really see the progress being made as this project comes together.

When it was first announced, I had a hard time picturing what all the new stuff would look like.

Now, it has become pretty clear.

I think it's going to be nice.

Let's take a look.

This is the view of the model showing the main entrance to the new area. The thing that's cool about this model is that it is built to scale and shows not just what the public will see but also the actual buildings that are adjacent to some of the facades for the rides. So, what we are looking at here is the carousel in the foreground, with the Pinocchio Village Haus restaurant there on the left. The big wall you see opens in the area where Dumbo used to be. If you envision yourself walking in there, that little cottage on the left is going to be where some type of show centered on Belle from Beauty and the Beast will be. The big building under the castle on the hill is the Be Our Guest restaurant, and the little house-like building straight ahead is Gaston's Tavern. The big hill on the right is the new Snow White coaster. The new Little Mermaid ride is on the far right, under the word "Continues" that you see printed on that banner:

This is another shot, taken from a bit further back, the tents there on the right will house a gift shop and a characater meet and greet. And something else. The purpose of one of the tents has not yet been announced:

Now we are looking a bit more to the right. Note the big, non-descript buildings adjacent to the ride entrances. These are where the actual rides take place. Note how there is a good sized building shown behind the red tent, under the "U" in Continues on the banner. That red tent is going to house the attraction called Pete's Silly Side Show. That building may be where the actual meet and greets happen. Or it might be for something else:

Now we are in the center of the model, looking to the left. We are kind of seeing an aerial view of things. For guests walking at ground level, this will be a very different experience with a lot of details to enjoy:

This is a look at the Snow White coaster. It takes up a very big portion of the new area, but it looks like it is going to be really cool:

This is a look at the Little Mermaid ride- note how big the adjacent building is:

Now we have moved over to the right of the model. There is the new double Dumbo- look how big the building behind the tent is. We now know that this houses a big indoor play area that will be used as a part of the queue for the ride. Above that in the photo, you can see the Fantasyland train station, which is open and in use. The Blue tent is going to be a gift shop. The Red tent a character meet and greet area. The yellow tent's purpose has not been disclosed. That is interesting:

It looks like there is a building behind that yellow tent:

Here we can see the Goofy rollercoaster. That building to its right is the garage where they park the coasters at night:

You can see the Casey Jr. splash zone, which we saw earlier in this report, in this photo. You can also see that yellow tent. There is a big building behind it. This is the same one we looked at a moment ago from another angle, where it looked like it was connected to the red tent. But, it might be something that is used by both tents:

This photo gives you good perspective about where everything sits relative to the current attractions. That is the Grand Prix raceway you see in this photo. Its location and layout are not affected by the new construction. That round thing there on the left of the race track is the tea cup ride:

Now that we have seen all of that, let's look at the map they have posted there. A couple of things that I found interesting are that they are identifying this new area as two distinct areas: Fantasyland Forest and Story Book Circus. Also note that the name and purpose of that yellow tent are missing from the map. The map shows the footprint of the yellow tent, and it is at least as large as Gaston's Tavern, for example, but mysteriously, it is not identified on the map. That is very interesting to me:

Another thing that strikes me on that map is the size of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train attraction. That thing takes up about 1/4 of the entire area. I think this is going to be a pretty impressive ride. The thing that stinks is that they are saying it won't open until 2014. I see what they are doing here. I think they are intentionaly holding back on that ride. They will open all the other stuff and enjoy the increased traffic from it for a year. Then, just as interest starts to die down, they break out the new ride and pack everybody back in for that. Brilliant. I don't like it so much, but I have to admit it is brilliant.

I would say that is enough about that model. There is other cool stuff to look at here. For example, this model of AK's Tree of Life:

Another cool thing is a big scale model of the new Little Meramaid ride.

They show all the details. Like the ride vehicles:

The model is big:

It looks like riders will be taken through various scenes from the movie.

This room appears to be based on the Under the Sea song:

You can see King Triton in this scene:

This one looks like it is based on Ariel's cave:

This one seems to depict a storm:

We figured that this one must feature the confrontation with Ursala:

I have mixed feelings about this ride.

I think it will be cool.

But, it is kind of like Under the Sea with Nemo and Friends in Epcot.

I'm sure we will ride it plenty. But, somehow, it isn't that exciting to me.

Well. we had killed enough time in here. It was time to go and check on those Fastpasses and figure out our afternoon.

We will pick it up there in the next update.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Love the models. I think we will have to take DS in there as he loves to build things with legos.

[stefa70 205]

Wow, color me stupid! When I saw the clam cars I wondered why they were showing those? Nemo ride has been there forever.

I didn't realize they were going to use the same ride vehicle. I learn something new in every TCD report. :thumbsup2:

I'm looking forward to the new coaster. It may be just grown-up enough to make me feel brave, yet child-like enough that I won't throw up or wet my pants.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

It is interesting to me that for a full year at least, the Seven Dwarfs mine ride will be under construction yet completely surrounded by open attractions. Based upon updates I've seen it looks like the exterior of this ride is coming along. i wouldn't think they would want major construction to continue after the rest of Fantasyland is open...thereby marring somewhat the experience of this new jewel. Therefore, my guess is that major construction will be complete by November on the mine train ride, with just interior work to be finished. So I agree with your hypothesis that the opening date is being driven not soley by construction needs, but by "hype timing". I would guess they will not announce a definitive opening date until they have gauged crowd levels and interest into 2013. I bet it opens November 2013.

[Lou... 3,118]

I'm

I would guess they will not announce a definitive opening date until they have gauged crowd levels and interest into 2013. I bet it opens November 2013.

You may be underestimating the bow tie, suspender, wearing knuckleheads at Disney.

I believe that they already have crowd level models and have a good idea of what will happen.

Except for the beginning of Dec, they really don't need higher crowd levels during the holiday season. I'm betting that they are planning to open before Nov or after Dec which puts it in 2014. Those are two of the slower times and when they need to boost the crowd levels.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I'm

You may be underestimating the bow tie, suspender, wearing knuckleheads at Disney.

I believe that they already have crowd level models and have a good idea of what will happen.

Except for the beginning of Dec, they really don't need higher crowd levels during the holiday season. I'm betting that they are planning to open before Nov or after Dec which puts it in 2014. Those are two of the slower times and when they need to boost the crowd levels.

That makes sense, but then why is the bulk of the expansion opening right when the crowd levels would be naturally spiking this year?

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Been away for several days but all caught up and I don't even know where to start so let me just say this:

I look forward to hearing about BM in the lazy river at the abomination.....or not.

[Lou... 3,118]

but then why is the bulk of the expansion opening right when the crowd levels would be naturally spiking this year?

There is only so much that they can play with the time line. But you'll notice that it's been a gradual process.

The biggest single draw will be the coaster.

[SCTigerCock 171]

Does one ride make that large of a draw? That large of a bump in attendance?

[Lou... 3,118]

Does one ride make that large of a draw? That large of a bump in attendance?

Absolutely, don't know if this is one of them though.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow, color me stupid! When I saw the clam cars I wondered why they were showing those? Nemo ride has been there forever.

I didn't realize they were going to use the same ride vehicle. I learn something new in every TCD report. :thumbsup2:

I'm looking forward to the new coaster. It may be just grown-up enough to make me feel brave, yet child-like enough that I won't throw up or wet my pants.

Yes, it does look very similar to the Nemo ride.

I think it's going to be longer, but kind of the same thing in the end.

It is interesting to me that for a full year at least, the Seven Dwarfs mine ride will be under construction yet completely surrounded by open attractions. Based upon updates I've seen it looks like the exterior of this ride is coming along. i wouldn't think they would want major construction to continue after the rest of Fantasyland is open...thereby marring somewhat the experience of this new jewel. Therefore, my guess is that major construction will be complete by November on the mine train ride, with just interior work to be finished. So I agree with your hypothesis that the opening date is being driven not soley by construction needs, but by "hype timing". I would guess they will not announce a definitive opening date until they have gauged crowd levels and interest into 2013. I bet it opens November 2013.

You may be underestimating the bow tie, suspender, wearing knuckleheads at Disney.

I believe that they already have crowd level models and have a good idea of what will happen.

Except for the beginning of Dec, they really don't need higher crowd levels during the holiday season. I'm betting that they are planning to open before Nov or after Dec which puts it in 2014. Those are two of the slower times and when they need to boost the crowd levels.

You both make good points. The bottom line is that it looks like they have some flexibility as to when they will open the coaster, and you can bet they will plan that move carefully.

That makes sense, but then why is the bulk of the expansion opening right when the crowd levels would be naturally spiking this year?

That's a good point. But, I think they didn't want to miss the holiday crowds for the new restaurant.

Been away for several days but all caught up and I don't even know where to start so let me just say this:

I look forward to hearing about BM in the lazy river at the abomination.....or not.

Oh, did you hear that there's going to be a lazy river over there?

I meant to mention that.

There is only so much that they can play with the time line. But you'll notice that it's been a gradual process.

The biggest single draw will be the coaster.

Also note that they got the money makers (the restaurant and gift shops) to open first. They will debut the coaster when the crowds thin, whenever that is.

Does one ride make that large of a draw? That large of a bump in attendance?

Absolutely, don't know if this is one of them though.

This one will produce a bump in attendence. They will hype it like crazy.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Moving on . . .

After studying those models good, we headed back to Toy Story and scored Fastpasses that would be good from 4:30-5:30. That was what we were looking for. The girls wanted to come back for the secret character meet and greet again today, and this would allow us to do that, plus now ride a ride, and we would eat our dinner here too. I would have liked one more Fastpass, but that was not going to happen, so we just settled for the Toy Story ones.

I snapped a photo of these sycamore trees on the way out. I remember taking a photo of them in the winter, when they had no leaves, but I can't find that photo. So this is the summer view. I'll have to keep looking for the winter view, and if I can't find it, I'll get one next winter:

One thing that we have started to see a lot more of is folks walking around with ipads and other tablets taking photos and videos. It has really become a common thing to see people do. Check out this dude who had his fastened to his backpack:

Yes, the ipad says Magic? on it. Why? I have no idea.

We headed out of Hollywood Studios here.

Here we are back at the Fort. This is the field where the new barn is going to go if it ever gets built. I didn't get a photo of it this morning. This shows nothing is happening here:

Here is a shot of the flowers, as seen from the bus:

I already mentioned that you could see those Four Seasons cranes from some places in the Fort.

Maybe you don't care about that because you are one of those rich people who stay in the premium loops, and you think it won't affect you.

Well think again!

Check out this photo, which shows us cruising up Big Pine Drive. That's the 300 loop ahead on the left, and the 500 loop on the right. :

Looks nice, right?

Well, you are missing something.

I could see it easily during the day, and even more so at night when it was lit up.

Check this out:

Do you see it? It's just above the tree line just to the left of center of the photo.

It's the crane!

What do you think it might look like once the building is built, with the towers on the roof, and the blinking cell antennas on the top?

Ugly, that's how it will look.

Ugly.

Like you are camping under a skyscraper.

Nice.

But, on the bright side, I heard that they are going to have a lazy river over there.

We hung around the Fort for the afternoon.

A new camper had moved in on the 1800 loop.

And they had an interesting set-up.

I will let these photos set the scene:

Wow.

Just wow.

This car was parked on the site:

I would say that camper definitely got 'er done.

I don't know if they brough their own pine straw, or the Fort provided it, but they had plenty:

I have some good news for you too.

Their parking pass says they will be there until September 3, so you have time to go and see for yourself:

I'm not sure when the garage sale is, but based on all the stuff they had set out, I am guessing that it will be soon.

There is usually a long term camper on this site in the 1800 loop in the winter. I see here that they seem to have planted some of their own landscaping:

We did some swimming this afternoon, and I did some more reading.

Then it was time to head back to Hollywood Studios.

Here we are back at the bus stop.

I didn't notice them this morning, but you can also see those danged cranes right above the trail ride check-in area:

So, if you didn't care about the cranes before, how are you feeling about them now?

What if you can see that stupid hotel from the trail ride?

How would that be?

Here we are back at Hollywood Studios. The flags have been raised to their proper height, and the water in the lake looks a little low:

If you have read other TCD trip reports, you may remember that on prior trips I have reported how we make a point to give away Fastpasses that we can't use.

I told you that the way it works is that if you give them away, you will get pixie dust back.

Well, guess what happened right after we walked in to Hollywood Studios?

A lady walks up to Twin #2 and asks if we are a party of three.

She says yes.

The lady said here.

This is what she handed over:

Three Fastpasses. Good for any ride. At any time. And they were good for a couple of days.

How did she get those?

I guess it doesn't matter.

Because they were ours now.

See?

What did I tell you?

It is good to be TCD.

Twin #1 wanted me to make a McKayla is not impressed photo. Here she is showing me how:

And now here it comes.

Three free Fastpasses?

TCD is not impressed:

Actually, I was impressed.

I love it when we get Fastpasses out of the blue.

Now we could ride two rides with no wait!

Awesome!

And I already know that I need to work on my McKayla face, so you don't need to tell me. Twin #1 got it pretty good. In my defense, I hadn't seen that website that she was telling me about yet. I will do better the next time, I promise.

And the time board showed us that those Fastpasses would be put to good use:

Since the Star Tours line was short, we did it again.

Twin #1 still didn't get to be the rebel spy.

Then we headed to Toy Story.

I don't know why, but the girls wanted to meet Mike and Sulley. The line was short, so we did:

Twin #1 took this photo on Toy Story to show how her nail polish matched:

We headed over to the Animation Academy after that.

The girls got to meet a bunch of "rares," including Bolt:

We did the drawing class.

This time it was Carl from UP.

This is the teacher's drawing:

Twin #1's:

and mine:

I don't have a photo of Twin #2's.

After this, we stopped to eat.

We got the hot dogs on the pretzel roll from the Dockside Diner.

Man those are good!

That is some spicy mustard!

Then it was Rock N Rollercoaster again.

We were out of Fastpasses, and it was busy.

So, it was time for us to go.

I snapped this photo on the way out.

Somebody asked about Roger Rabbit in a recent thread. Here is a reference to him in Hollywood Studios:

We headed out to our bus, and back to the Fort.

We were going to watch a little of the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, and then head over to the MK. There were EMH's again there tonight. This time just till 1 am. Child's play.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Your carl was good.

Pixie Dust just flocks to the TCD Crew

[stefa70 205]

Your "not impressed" face sort of looks like "darn, I forgot my teeth" face. But I'll give you an A for effort.

I want to meet Sully and squeeze him! :bighug:

KITTY!

Does he have a handler? Will I get tackled?

[ftwildernessguy 778]

Bobby says look for soft openings in 2013 for the mine train. But you didn't hear that from me.