Two Saturdays in September with TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

:holysheep: so that's what the rebel stands for! :laugh:

we know where your mind is today... in the gutter under the curb

[Hotmamac aka Misty 11]

Egads! If I had only stayed 2 more days I would have met TCD and the Twins!?! How sad that I missed you!

But I'm already trying to plan our next trip and in the meantime, I am happy to read along about your adventures.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

TCD,

I really HATE to agree with Stef on anything, but she is spot on regarding the twins. They were the nicest, most respectful, insightful two young ladies I have met in quite a while. They have their heads on strait and are doing so well with planning their futures. You and Mrs. TCD should be VERY proud of what you accomplished. I wish both of them success in college and beyond!

Heck, impressed enough to use spell check on this post.

Wow. Thanks, Genia. I am honored that you used spell check and everything.

OMG! A day late and a dollar short! But at least I'm here! :jumpforjoy Can't wait to read about your "second" saturday. :pc:

Don't worry, you haven't missed anything.

That first Saturday was pretty ho-hum. The interesting stuff is about to start.

I saw both Mickeys, too!

What does whether or not you are wearing any undies have to do with watching parades?

heeheehee!

Oh boy.

You started it!

"Pete's Dragon" is one of my favorites and you should see it if you consider yourself a fan of Disney. It had an Oscar nominated original song and I feel it was a bright spot from Disney during a decade of less than rememberable turds films.

I will make a point to watch Pete's Dragon. I'll make my daughters watch too. It would be good if we understood where that dragon in the parade comes from.

I'm late, but I'm here! Being on the first page is highly overated - or at least that's what I tell myself. :gaah:

WTG Twin #1 :jumpforjoy and congrats to all 3 of the TCD girls on their accomplishments! :yourock:

If you listen to what that boy (is he a boy IRL? just like Tink & Peter Pan, this is one I always have to look at twice) on the dragon is saying you might think he's much odder than the caterpillar. maybe the caterpillar is asking "whooo are youuu" b/c he wondered about that odd dragon boy too. In any case, the hippie caterpillar has a hooka and, as such, an excuse. I've seen the movie and still haven't a clue what Pete's excuse is...

LOL! You are right- that boy on the dragon is talking non-stop and saying all kinds of weird things. The whole parade is very strange. But it has grown on me. I like to watch it.

TCD you might need to get in here with an update. You are getting hijacked and it might get ...ummmmm... bad.

Good idea.

I am working on an update now.

I don't like where this hijack is going.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Egads! If I had only stayed 2 more days I would have met TCD and the Twins!?! How sad that I missed you!

But I'm already trying to plan our next trip and in the meantime, I am happy to read along about your adventures.

I know. As a matter of fact, this trip began with high hopes that we would camp for a long weekend beginning on September 27- so if our plans had worked out, we could have met!

I think you got to meet Lou, though. And, it sounds like you met some other Fiends too.

Next time for sure.

TCD

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

They have their heads on strait straight

Heck, impressed enough to use spell check on this post.

So clearly I have been proofreading my wife's grad school work too much....right spelling...wrong word. I really need to find a hobby.

[SCTigerCock 171]

So clearly I have been proofreading my wife's grad school work too much....right spelling...wrong word. I really need to find a hobby.

Jason if I have only used one word wrong, :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy

I'm a prime example on how kids with hearing issues shouldn't be taught to spell phonetically.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Jason if I have only used one word wrong, :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy

I'm a prime example on how kids with hearing issues shouldn't be taught to spell phonetically.

Believe me it got your point across and Congratulations on you post. Sadly I have been proofreading so much I feel like I should have a red pen in my hand all the time.

[fortpartyof4 108]

have you been hanging with stef?

well if you are going commando while wearing a mini-skirt and sitting on a curb you might be showing a little too much

Agreed. And as someone (you maybe?) pointed out, you don't want to end up on the WTF*? thread!!

OTOH, parents would be less likely to plop their kids in front of you, saying "you don't mind, do you?" before you can even answer…….

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Agreed. And as someone (you maybe?) pointed out, you don't want to end up on the WTF*? thread!!

OTOH, parents would be less likely to plop their kids in front of you, saying "you don't mind, do you?" before you can even answer…….

exactly on both counts

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Now that the first Saturday is out of the way, we can get to the really interesting stuff.

As mentioned, at one time there was a plan for us to camp at the Fort over this past weekend.

Saturday was my birthday, and I wanted to spend it at the Fort.

But, things have been crazy for the TCD gang lately, and it wasn't meant to be.

My oldest daughter was coming into town from Tallahassee to see the FSU/USF game in Tampa on Saturday.

Before the Fort plan, there was a plan to all go to that football game for my birthday. But it was impossible to get tickets to that game. Because greedy USF would not sell single game tickets. They knew that they had a hot ticket, so they only offered Season Passes for sale. To go to the FSU game, you either had to get tickets from FSU, which were very limited in number, or buy a USF season pass. To heck with that. I scrounged up two tickets, and my DD was happy to go to the game with a friend.

That took care of that issue.

The plan was that the twins would skip school on Friday, so we could head over on Thursday and have a three night trip.

But, their evil teachers scheduled exams for Friday.

So, then it was two nights.

I don't like two night trips.

But I was going to do it.

Then something else came up and Friday night was out.

That left just Saturday.

I'm not going to haul the camper over to the Fort for just a night. I should, but it just seems like too much work.

So, I checked on hotel rooms.

There were some discounts being offered.

But, none came up for Saturday.

It was the first weekend of the Food and Wine festival, and there was a Tower of Terror race going on at DHS, and they must have been doing well with room bookings, because there were no deals to be had. The best we could do was $120 a night at the Pop.

I thought about it.

But, ultimately, I pulled the plug on an overnight trip.

I wil save the money and put it toward a future Fort trip.

So, this became a day trip.

In a lot of ways, I like those better anyway.

Just go, have some fun, and come back.

No packing.

Wake up in your own bed.

After several trips to Tallahassee and back in Septmember, the drive to WDW for me is a breeze.

So, my birthday would be spent on a day trip to WDW.

We knew we wanted to go to the Food and Wine Festival.

And maybe see some things in the MK.

Since the main objective was the Food and Wine Festival, we decided to not try to make a rope drop that morning. We would get a bit more sleep, and leave home a little later than normal for us.

We rolled out of town around 9 am.

There was no traffic, and we made it to WDW by 11.

I knew from here on ff.net that there was going to be a Disney railroad display going on at the Wilderness Lodge that afternoon, but I thought maybe I could catch some of the set-up this morning. I asked the girls if they minded if we checked on that. They weren't interested, but they said it was OK with them if I checked it out. So I did. The girls took this opportunity to do some pin trading in the Wilderness Lodge lobby.

The train display was set up in the lobby area of the Wilderness Lodge DVC. It is a cool room that we have visited many times before. It's a great place to take a little break when you're at the Lodge.

This is the Welcome sign:

And this is the little display that they had on the table with the welcome sign:

There was another table that was set up with a display of things related to the Fort Wilderness Railroad:

One thing that really caught my eye on the FWRR table was an old map of the Fort, which you can see lying on the table in the photo above.

This wasn't really a map. It was an old utility plan for the Fort:

This is an overview of that drawing. It shows all the camping loops and no cabin loops. Most importantly, it shows the path of the FWRR:

There are some hand-written calculations on the map where it appears that someone tried to determine the total length of the railroad tracks (or, as is written on the drawing- Total Trackage) :

This area of the drawing shows Discovery Island, as well as the outline of the big pool in River Country, and the area of RC that was lake water. It also shows the building footprints for all the buildings in the Settlement area, including Pioneer Hall and the Settlement Trading Post:

Here is a closer look at the northern portion of the camping loops. This shows where the tracks ran behind the 700 loop. You can see that there was a split in the tracks as they approached the Settlement area:

That split in the tracks confirms something that I saw myself a few years ago when I was exploring in the area behind the 700 loop. I found where the tracks split, and I took these next few photos so I could ask if anyone knew why. It was always my understanding that as the train ran behind the 700 loop, the tracks curved to the right, and the trains would continue on to the Settlement Depot. If you look at these next two photos, you will see that the track splits here, with one set of tracks going off to the left, and the other continuing on straight ahead:

Do you see the two sets of tracks? One is off to the left, and you can see the other set just right of the center of these photos, under the small trees. I never knew about this. I don’t think the train went anywhere in this area other than the Settlement Depot. And, my understanding is that the trains were kept in a building somewhere up near the Outpost area. So, I am not sure what this split track is all about here. But, there I saw two sets of tracks, and here are some photos of each set:

What I didn't know at the time, but know now, is that the tracks that branch off to the left were added to allow the trains to pull up to the path that goes to River Country by where the horse barn is. That made a shorter walk for guests going to or coming from River Country. The drawing shows that. So, now I know why the tracks divide there behind the 700 loop.

Now, back to Saturday. We are still looking at the drawing. This is a close-up of the area around the four-way stop. This shows that the tracks were on both sides of Fort Wilderness Trail (the road that goes from the Outpost to the four way stop). I never realized that the tracks ran on both sides of the road. I thought there was just a set of tracks on the east side of the road:

This area of the map shows both a road and bike path to the west of the Fort. Remember, there was no Wilderness Lodge back then. The drawing shows the road connects to World Drive, and that the bike path dead ends there at World Drive. I have heard old timers say that they used to ride their bikes to the Contemporary from the Fort. This shows that it wouldn't have been hard to do so:

We have been looking at the map, but there were some other interesting items on the table. You can see the books written about the railroad. And, there was a spike along with an actual piece of the rail:

There was a model of an old FWRR car:

Did you notice the sticker? Does this scream 70's or what? :

That was back when it was OK to use Native Americans in advertising. And, there were a lot of Native American references at the Fort. Now, there are none.

There was a FWRR Operating Handbook there on the table. I wasn't sure if whoever owned this stuff wanted people touching it, so I didn't pick up the book for a look, but I'll bet it's interesting :

Over here on this table, fellow Fiend FWRR3 (Russell) had his FWRR model train set-up:

Russell is not in that photo.

He was busy trying to troubleshoot something, so I just had a brief conversation with him, and let him do his work.

I headed out into the DVC lobby, where the twins were waiting.

There is some cool stuff to see in this lobby. It is worth a trip just to look at the carvings.

Like, look at this- you see the beaver and the hawk, but did you notice the mice carved under the post? :

And here's a buffalo:

And a rattlesnake and bird:

In the post with the rattlesnake is one of my favorite Hidden Mickeys in all of WDW:

From here, we headed back through the Lodge to catch a boat to the MK.

I used this photo in the "Where in the World" thread. It's a dial on the big fireplace inside of WL:

There are many other interesting elements to the fireplace and its screen:

That's all I have from our visit to the Wilderness Lodge.

Next stop, Magic Kingdom.

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Thanks for posting the parade pics. That was the parade we saw in 2010. My dc enjoyed seeing the pics very much.

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

Very cool WL visit!

[Laura 17]

Thanks for the info on the split tracks!! And also, the great picture of my daughter looking at the train :heartsmiley: . She loves that train set up. We have the train set now, but no room to set it up at home. Yet!

It was great to meet the famous TCD in person! Cool day.

Laura

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Thanks for posting the parade pics. That was the parade we saw in 2010. My dc enjoyed seeing the pics very much.

Glad you liked the photos, Marty.

I hope that you all get a chance to see that parade again some time.

If you like the day time MK parade, stay tuned. I will have some photos of that coming up.

Very cool WL visit!

Thanks. WL is my second favorite Disney resort.

Thanks for the info on the split tracks!! And also, the great picture of my daughter looking at the train :heartsmiley: . She loves that train set up. We have the train set now, but no room to set it up at home. Yet!

It was great to meet the famous TCD in person! Cool day.

Laura

Laura-

It was good to meet you too.

That display was great. I wish I could have stayed longer to hear some of the presentations, and I especially would have enjoyed the walking tour the next day. Although, I think I have walked the entire path of the train already. Which is no easy thing.

I hope you get to bring your train car back to the Fort some day.

TCD

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Finally found a moment to read and reply. I love that you get to take day trips. TCD day trips to Disney World mean more trip reports for us to read. :heartsmiley: :jumpforjoy

But, I do have one question......

What ever happened to your 13th FFTR?

Last year you went from your 12th FFTR (Halloween) to your 14th FFTR (Thanksgiving).

Yeah hubby doesn't like that I have such a good memory either. :rofl3: :rofl2:

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Finally found a moment to read and reply. I love that you get to take day trips. TCD day trips to Disney World mean more trip reports for us to read. :heartsmiley: :jumpforjoy

But, I do have one question......

What ever happened to your 13th FFTR?

Last year you went from your 12th FFTR (Halloween) to your 14th FFTR (Thanksgiving).

Yeah hubby doesn't like that I have such a good memory either. :rofl3: :rofl2:

mine doesn't either. makes arguing so much harder on them.

however, do you find your memory is selective?

[fortpartyof4 108]

Finally found a moment to read and reply. I love that you get to take day trips. TCD day trips to Disney World mean more trip reports for us to read. :heartsmiley: :jumpforjoy

But, I do have one question......

What ever happened to your 13th FFTR?

Last year you went from your 12th FFTR (Halloween) to your 14th FFTR (Thanksgiving).

Yeah hubby doesn't like that I have such a good memory either. :rofl3: :rofl2:

Maybe it's like the buildings that don't have a 13th floor - superstition? (did I spell that right ?)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Finally found a moment to read and reply. I love that you get to take day trips. TCD day trips to Disney World mean more trip reports for us to read. :heartsmiley: :jumpforjoy

But, I do have one question......

What ever happened to your 13th FFTR?

Last year you went from your 12th FFTR (Halloween) to your 14th FFTR (Thanksgiving).

Yeah hubby doesn't like that I have such a good memory either. :rofl3: :rofl2:

Man, you do have a good memory.

At the time, I was numbering my trip reports. I don't know why, but I was.

There was a one-night 13th trip between Halloween and Thanksgiving. The Halloween report ran long, and then it was time for the Thanksgiving one, so I skipped #13 with the intent that I would write it later.

As time went by, I lost my enthusiasm for that thirteenth report. And I figured that I would let it go.

Now you reminded me.

I still have the photos.

Maybe I will write that report.

Or maybe not.

If there is ever a lull, I will get to it.

mine doesn't either. makes arguing so much harder on them.

however, do you find your memory is selective?

LOL!

So true.

Maybe it's like the buildings that don't have a 13th floor - superstition? (did I spell that right ?)

Nope, that isn't it.

I just ran out of time, and then that liltle trip didn't seem worthy of a trip report.

As I said, I may revisit the issue.

For now, I need to get working on this one.

TCD

[Hotmamac aka Misty 11]

I know. As a matter of fact, this trip began with high hopes that we would camp for a long weekend beginning on September 27- so if our plans had worked out, we could have met!

I think you got to meet Lou, though. And, it sounds like you met some other Fiends too.

Next time for sure.

TCD

Sadly, I did not get to meet Lou. I looked into every bus we passed and he apparently drove by my campsite a couple of times, but we were two ships passing in the night. Meeting your gang and Lou is now officially on my bucket list!

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Meeting your gang and Lou is now officially on my bucket list!

Bake a pie. Lou will smell it and show up. He might even bring TCD with him.....

[KeepSwimmingDory 2]

TCD trip reports rock and were the main reason I sought out this forum. I always read them at the other place where I mostly lurked. Really appreciate the time you take to find all the details, photograph them, and write it up for so many to enjoy. Love your style.

Yum! Napoleon is one of our favorites from the French bakery in Epcot. Didn’t know you could get one in DHS.

Would love to see the Nemo pool. Had intended to get over to check out that resort earlier in September when had a short trip without park tickets or kids, but went over to Port Orleans for the first time instead. Still so many places I want to visit at WDW.

Not impressed with the cranes and the way too close proximity of that non-Disney hotel.

Just getting to the second Saturday but I think I’ll post before I go back to lurking & while the first Saturday is still in my head!

Dory

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Sadly, I did not get to meet Lou. I looked into every bus we passed and he apparently drove by my campsite a couple of times, but we were two ships passing in the night. Meeting your gang and Lou is now officially on my bucket list!

Oh, I'm sorry you didn't get to meet Lou.

I am afraid that means you didn't get spiked either.

I'm really sorry about that.

Please let me know when you're coming back, and I will make sure that you get a spike.

Bake a pie. Lou will smell it and show up. He might even bring TCD with him.....

True. I have been know to hang around with Lou. But not too much. I don't want too much of that snark to rub off.

TCD trip reports rock and were the main reason I sought out this forum. I always read them at the other place where I mostly lurked. Really appreciate the time you take to find all the details, photograph them, and write it up for so many to enjoy. Love your style.

Yum! Napoleon is one of our favorites from the French bakery in Epcot. Didn’t know you could get one in DHS.

Would love to see the Nemo pool. Had intended to get over to check out that resort earlier in September when had a short trip without park tickets or kids, but went over to Port Orleans for the first time instead. Still so many places I want to visit at WDW.

Not impressed with the cranes and the way too close proximity of that non-Disney hotel.

Just getting to the second Saturday but I think I’ll post before I go back to lurking & while the first Saturday is still in my head!

Dory

Thanks so much for joining and posting!

I love it when lurkers de-lurk! Or is it un-lurk?

Either way, welcome!

I remember that photo you have in your avatar from another place.

Since you like details, then you are in luck.

We are about to take a look at a lot of details.

If you get the chance to visit the Art of Animation resort, you ought to. The Nemo pool is really well done, as is the Cars themed pool.

If you dislike the cranes and the new Four Seasons resort, then you may wish to fast forward through some photos that will be coming up a bit later. I have been meaning to head over to the Contemporary Resort to get some photos of the Four Seasons building from that perspective, and I was able to do that on this trip. It ain't purdy.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

TCD trip reports rock and were the main reason I sought out this forum. I always read them at the other place where I mostly lurked. Really appreciate the time you take to find all the details, photograph them, and write it up for so many to enjoy. Love your style.

Yum! Napoleon is one of our favorites from the French bakery in Epcot. Didn’t know you could get one in DHS.

Would love to see the Nemo pool. Had intended to get over to check out that resort earlier in September when had a short trip without park tickets or kids, but went over to Port Orleans for the first time instead. Still so many places I want to visit at WDW.

Not impressed with the cranes and the way too close proximity of that non-Disney hotel.

Just getting to the second Saturday but I think I’ll post before I go back to lurking & while the first Saturday is still in my head!

Dory

I too came here looking for TCD. Sadly it was awhile before he finally started posting his TRs but in the mean time I found a great community. Welcome to the chaos and enjoy

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I too came here looking for TCD. Sadly it was awhile before he finally started posting his TRs but in the mean time I found a great community. Welcome to the chaos and enjoy

I didn't know that.

Luckily, there is way more to look at here than TCD TR's.

There are some very good non-TCD TR's, and I sure hope that everyone gives them a look.

There's one TR writer, in particular, who expressly wished that he had some more readers.

If you haven't checked out the latest TR from The Troll, it's definitely worth a look (and here's a link) :

The Trolls Run from Isaac

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I didn't know that.

Luckily, there is way more to look at here than TCD TR's.

There are some very good non-TCD TR's, and I sure hope that everyone gives them a look.

There's one TR writer, in particular, who expressly wished that he had some more readers.

If you haven't checked out the latest TR from The Troll, it's definitely worth a look (and here's a link) :

The Trolls Run from Isaac

TCD

You are directly responsibly for my fiendishness. It was your "disagreement" with a certain nameless person that brought my attention to the reason that people were disappearing. Then someone (maybe doodle) told me about fortfiends and I came here looking for your TRs. Then you didn't join for some time :banghead: and I got pulled in and haven't tried to get out. Funnily enough, this place has become my community as I am so mobile now. Doodle and Bob usually know where we are parked every week, especially if we are overnighting in a parking lot somewhere. She has been known to hunt me down if I haven't posted that day....

I have read Trolls report. However, my comments have been sparse. He tends to update when I am somewhere on my phone. Though I don't mind reading TRs on my phone, making intelligent replies while one finger typing is tough.