Ultimate Bragging Rights! TCD's New Fantasyland Passholder Preview TR

[BuckeyeFortFan 35]

What's with the cabin? Don't you have an RV?

TCD

Nice catch. We do have a fifth wheel, but us Northern Fiends have a little hinderance that you may have heard about known as Winter to deal with.

1. I have no desire to pull a 40 ft fifth wheel down the West Virginia Turnpike in a blizzard,

2. Even if it weren't snowing I don't want to get salt on the trailer, especially since I wouldn't be able to wash it off for 3 months.

3. I would have to dewinterize on the trip down and then rewinterize on the trip back.

Were going to see how the other half lives instead.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Well, I wouldn't say it's wrong. Just regional dialect that is distinct to that area. Had a roommate in college who I used to tease about saying it! And that was before the Internet came along…..boy we would have fun with that now.

I am all for being a twin stand-in and visiting princesses with Stef!

I think it might be wrong. Since you pointed it out to me, I have noticed that I'm the only one who ever gets on line instead of in line.

I will keep you in mind if I ever schedule a princess visit without the twins.

Nice catch. We do have fifth wheel, but us Northern Fiends have a little hinderance that you may have heard about known as Winter to deal with.

1. I have no desire to pull a 40 ft fifth wheel down the West Virginia Turnpike in a blizzard,

2. Even if it weren't snowing I don't want to get salt on the trailer, especially since I wouldn't be able to wash it off for 3 months.

3. I would have to dewinterize on the trip down and then rewinterize on the trip back.

Were going to see how the other half lives instead.

So what I hear you saying is that you are a chicken?

J/K no way I would want to tow a 5th wheel in snow and ice.

The cabin will be awesome for Christmas.

You'll be easy to spot.

Just look for the cabin with Brutus on the porch.

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I would have to dewinterize on the trip down and then rewinterize on the trip back.

We're hoping to go back to the fort in late January and will have to do the same thing. Does anyone know a good place on I-4 or 95 for winterizing?

[Beckers 1,136]

You know, I find it amusing that a wardrobe malfunction is a bad thing in this case. They are normally a positive for most men! Ha!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I am sure that between now and April, the secret of how to score Grey Stuff will be figured out. From what little I understand now, you a birthday and anniversary ought to qualify.

No, you can't have help with the Grande Slam.

You've got plenty of time to train for it, so get busy.

TCD

TCD, I'm a UGA season ticket holder. I've missed 1 home game in 12 years, and tailgate in an RV lot. As a fellow SEC fan, you know there is no additional training needed. I was only looking to split from a cost perspective. Jason will be jealous of the grande slam, so that means I'd have to pay for 8 beers.

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

Wow, just caught up, grey stuff very cool. BOG review is awesome as expected. Unknown on the online thing, I say inline. Must be a say for north of me Im in the south land of NJ, you almost here banjo's I'm so far south(if the Mason Dixon went thru NJ I am just south of it. Ok enough about me. Can I have sum more please, trip report that it.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We're hoping to go back to the fort in late January and will have to do the same thing. Does anyone know a good place on I-4 or 95 for winterizing?

Sorry, I don't. But, I am glad to hear you're planning another trip.

Why don't y'all just stay at the Fort until it is warm enough back home that you don't need to winterize?

Problem solved.

You know, I find it amusing that a wardrobe malfunction is a bad thing in this case. They are normally a positive for most men! Ha!

Very good!

Love the Jersey humor!

TCD, I'm a UGA season ticket holder. I've missed 1 home game in 12 years, and tailgate in an RV lot. As a fellow SEC fan, you know there is no additional training needed. I was only looking to split from a cost perspective. Jason will be jealous of the grande slam, so that means I'd have to pay for 8 beers.

You make a very good point.

But, the Grande Slam is an individual award. So, sorry, but no sharing.

Paying for 8 beers at that place is going to be rough.

But, it is a special occasion.

Wow, just caught up, grey stuff very cool. BOG review is awesome as expected. Unknown on the online thing, I say inline. Must be a say for north of me Im in the south land of NJ, you almost here banjo's I'm so far south(if the Mason Dixon went thru NJ I am just south of it. Ok enough about me. Can I have sum more please, trip report that it.

Banjos in NJ?

I don't think so.

Yes, you may have some more.

There's a little bit left.

And I am getting ready to serve it up.

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Why don't y'all just stay at the Fort until it is warm enough back home that you don't need to winterize?

Two reasons -- can't afford it, and can't leave my parents that long. I'm an only child, and they don't have anyone else they can call on for help.

Now, if you pay for my site and a sitter for back home, I'll be more than happy to stay that long!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Two reasons -- can't afford it, and can't leave my parents that long. I'm an only child, and they don't have anyone else they can call on for help.

Now, if you pay for my site and a sitter for back home, I'll be more than happy to stay that long!

Oh the responsible adult thing.

That sure spoils the fun some times.

When I win the lottery, I'll be happy to pay for your site and the sitter. Until then, I can't help you with that.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Oh the responsible adult thing.

That sure spoils the fun some times.

When I win the lottery, I'll be happy to pay for your site and the sitter. Until then, I can't help you with that.

TCD

more importantly are you playing the lottery... if not those are just empty words :raspberry:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I have some good news and bad new.

The good news is this is another update.

The bad news is that this is the end of the report.

This was, after all, just a one day trip.

So here we go . . .

After the fireworks we left the New Fantasyland area in hope of seeing something else that was new at the MK, but which we had not yet seen.

It was at the Pirates of the Carribbean. They have recently added some mermaid effects in there. We haven't seen those yet.

We walked all the way over to Pirates, and found a line of castmembers standing across the front turning folks away.

The ride was down.

Some guests there told us it had been down all day.

The CM's wouldn't say if it would reopen or not.

I hate that.

If the ride is broken and isn't going to reopen, why not just tell everyone that?

There were guests waiting there because the CM's wouldn't give a straight answer.

What I have heard about this is that the CM's usually don't know.

But somebody has to know.

Anyway, we didn't get to see the mermaids.

Next time.

Since we were back here in Adventureland, I asked the girls if they wanted to stop by Tortuga Tavern and see if anyone was in there trading Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom (SOTMK) cards.

Do you know about SOTMK?

It is something that just started in February of this year.

Disney has added an interactive game to the MK. The way it works is every guest can pick up a packet of five SOTMK cards from the Fire Station on Main Street. For free.

Those cards are used at various portals they have installed around the MK to play the game.

That's it in a nutshell.

There are 60 cards that are being given out for free. You get a random pack of five each day you visit. They scan you park ticket or pass, so you can just get one pack per day. (there is an exception to this, but I'm trying to keep this simple)

Since there are usually three of us in the TCD gang each visit, that means we get 15 cards per visit. If we go for a three or four day trip, that means we can get 45 or 60 cards for that trip.

We have a lot of SOTMK cards.

But, we still didn't have a complete set.

For some reason, out of all the cards we got, we never got a Maximus (the horse from Rapunzel) card.

We have been trying to complete two sets for the TCD twins.

We had one complete set minus the Maximus card, and another set that is still missing a few cards in addition to needing another Maximus.

A weird little culture has grown from this game.

If you visit the MK late at night, you will see that there are quite a few SOTMK enthusiasts. And it is an odd bunch. There are a lot of grown men who travel around alone carrying notebooks with plastic sleeves full of the cards. And a few grown women. And also a lot of nerdy teen boys. Really nerdy.

We found on some previous visits that Tortuga Tavern in the unofficial nerd headquarters for the SOTMK fans.

On any given night, you will find folks camped out at the tables with their card collections offering to trade.

On previous visits, we have walked through there, but hadn't done any trading, because the whole thing has a very odd vibe about it.

Tonight, though, I told the girls we were going in.

If we wantet those Maximus cards, this is where we needed to go.

So we went in.

There were only two tables occupied this evening.

One was manned by two very, very nerdy teen boys.

The other by a scary looking old dude.

With white socks.

When we surveyed the scene, I said let's try the teen boys.

Twin #2 said she was out of there.

She said she would wait for us outside.

And she left.

Twin #1 was about to bail too.

She said no way was she going to go up and start a conversation with the nerd boys.

I told her I would do the talking.

So, we went up to the teen boys.

I started out with some small talk telling them how impressed I was with their card collection.

Then I asked if they traded cards.

Of course, they said.

I asked if they had any Maximus cards.

Oh yes, they said, many.

i asked what they needed in exchange for the cards.

They said one of the twins.

Kidding.

I'm kidding.

Just wanted to see if anyone was reading along.

What they actually said is they would trade for any cards in the same level.

I should have mentioned that the cards have little symbols on them like moons and stars and those stand for something ( I can't tell you much more than that- I honestly don't care).

So, we traded them two of our extra cards and got two Maximus cards.

I made the mistake of asking them a question about this other set of ten cards that they sell at the MK gift shops. And got a long explanation that I really didn't need to hear.

Still, that was easy.

And we lived to tell the tale.

Now, we have one complete set, and one almost complete set.

The next time we go, we are going back to Tortuga Tavern to see the nerds.

I needed a photo of Twin #1's new boy friends, so I took one after the trade. She refused to pose with them, so this shows the next group of customers at their table.

Here you go:

And, here's the SOMWWS (Scary old Man with White Socks) :

You know, I felt sorry for the SOMWWS. Who would be brave enough to approach hIm? I'll bet he doesn't get to trade much.

And that guy sits there all night alone with his stack of cards.

And white socks.

Creepy.

After our score, we made one more check on Pirates.

The CM's were having a great time entertaining themselves.

They apparently had been given rolls of stickers to placate the irate guests who had been checking back all day.

But instead of wasting them on guests, they made crowns and moustaches out of them.

We liked this girl's the best:

Until we saw this guy:

This told us all we needed to know.

No way was PIrates going to be open tonight.

So, it was time to go.

We still had to drive home.

And we had had plenty of fun.

So, we headed on out.

I stopped on Main Street to take one last photo of a Halloween Decoration.

This was taken on the night of November 3:

That very night, they came in and took down all the Halloween decorations and put up the Christmas ones.

Look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HtA6TMACX0k

We went and retrieved our car.

And then I told the girls there was one last thing we needed to do.

It had been my intention to stop by the Fort at some time during our day.

But everything we did ended up taking longer than planned, so we hadn't made it.

I knew that there were still a bunch of Fiends there from the Halloween trip, and I wanted to meet some of the ones I hadn't yet met.

But, time got away from us.

So, I decided better was late than never.

And we headed to the Fort.

And paid a quick visit to the 900 loop.

And I do mean quick.

We were there for only about ten minutes.

The first site I came to had the Mouse-Ka-Tab on it.

There were three guys there watching the LSU v. Alabama game. It was Rick (Carol's DH), Stacy (TiggerInBama' DH) and Josh (of J & J Adventuring). They offered me a beer, but I said I had to drive, so they said see you later. Then I stopped by Joker's site, and there was another group of Fiends there, some of whom I had not met before, like Mike (NVWSSV) and Sheila (Sheraugh). The Joker wasn't there at the moment just Missy. The folks there said I should go see if Bob was at his site, so I did. On the way there, I ran into Nicki (Rebelstand) and Jeff (Mr. 4MIckey). At Bob's site, I hit the Fiend Mother Lode- Bob was there along with Mrs. Bob, and Lorna and Richie and Doodle and Mike, and Carol, and more. Wow, that was lot of Fiends! I only stayed long enough to say hello, and then headed out. On the way out, I did get to see Joker and Tim. I know that I also saw Melissa (alphabet soup), and some others whom I am missing. Good to meet those I hadn't met, and good to see the old faces.

After that detour, we pointed our TCD mobile west, and stopped just before we got to the gulf.

That's it for this one.

TCD

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

Thanks for the info on the kids trading cards TCD. I may be able to get a whole set for my kids in a week (8 days, 6 of us (4A, 2K), 5 cards a day). A little trading and we might have one whole set.

[BuckeyeFortFan 35]

What did the nerds have to gain from trading cards with you? You would think they had complete sets since had multiple of the card that you needed, and they didn't care which card they got in return, as long as they had the same symbol. Then again, who knows why nerds do what they do.

Also....I wear white socks with my tennis shoes at WDW. Is that not cool? I thought it was dark socks with shorts that was not cool. Is there an age that I have to switch to dark socks?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Thanks for the info on the kids trading cards TCD. I may be able to get a whole set for my kids in a week (8 days, 6 of us (4A, 2K), 5 cards a day). A little trading and we might have one whole set.

I don't know why you couldn't complete at least two whole sets with those kind of numbers. You are talking about up to 30 cards a day for 8 days- that's 240 cards!

According to the nerds nice young men I spoke to at Tortuga Tavern, the card distribution of the 60 cards is random and equal. It was just a fluke that we didn't get any Maximus cards. The trading for us was very easy. Since there aren't any truly rare cards in the set of 60, nobody seems to be too hard core about the trading.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

What did the nerds have to gain from trading cards with you? You would think they had complete sets since had multiple of the card that you needed, and they didn't care which card they got in return, as long as they had the same symbol. Then again, who knows why nerds do what they do.

Also....I wear white socks with my tennis shoes at WDW. Is that not cool? I thought it was dark socks with shorts that was not cool. Is there an age that I have to switch to dark socks?

I think the nerds just were a couple of nice kids who didn't have anything better to do. I was actually surprised that it was that easy. It adds some credence to them saying that there really aren't any rare cards.

And brother, you are asking the wrong guy for fashion advice.

I am constantly reminded by my kids that I am not cool, so I would say wear whatever color socks you like.

TCD

[anolefan 8]

Awesome report!

I LOL at the trading card scenario. Is that the first time that the twins refused a photo opportunity? They must have been even more nerdy than you described :)

I can't believe how busy your days are. I don't last more than a couple of hours at any theme park, much less on a day trip. My hat goes off to you, maybe you should come up with a TCDRMOG award for yourself.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Oh the responsible adult thing.

That sure spoils the fun some times.

When I win the lottery, I'll be happy to pay for your site and the sitter. Until then, I can't help you with that.

TCD

more importantly are you playing the lottery... if not those are just empty words :raspberry:

Good point, Nicki! ARE you playing the lottery?

Great ending to your TR. Like everyone else, I am always amazed at what you all accomplish in just a day.

You really didn't miss much by not seeing the mermaids in POTC. It's hard to tell what they are, and they go by quickly.

[Gots2pitt.. Jeff 64]

Tell your daughters there is nothing wrong with us nerds (as long as we they don't still live in our parents basement).

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

It was great seeing you again even for just a few minutes. We were at Bob's site most nights drinking coffee and trying to stay warm..

Glad you got the cards you needed, I'm not sure I would have braved the nerds or the creepy old guy.

[dvccamper 32]

I too am amazed at the amount of stuff you and the twins are able to cram into a day. Thanks for bringing us along, you gave me more than a few laughs.

[Mecha Geek 1]

Awesome report! It's amazing that all happened in one day.

About the Grande Slam - first will BOG actually serve that many drinks to a customer? I know that may not be a lot to us but to Disney it may be. And secondly - is this just bragging rights or will a medal be involved? Either way I'm going for it in Febraury.

That whole SOTMK card thing sure can bring out the nerd herd. The boys look harmless but SOMWWS - I think he may be on a certain list and isn't allowed to live near schools.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Good point, Nicki! ARE you playing the lottery?

Great ending to your TR. Like everyone else, I am always amazed at what you all accomplish in just a day.

You really didn't miss much by not seeing the mermaids in POTC. It's hard to tell what they are, and they go by quickly.

I have one occasionally. The mermaid were ok but I missed Davey Jones...

Tell your daughters there is nothing wrong with us nerds (as long as we they don't still live in our parents basement).

Depends on the nerd... I know a few that even though they don't live in the basement ....

It was great seeing you again even for just a few minutes. We were at Bob's site most nights drinking coffee and trying to stay warm..

Glad you got the cards you needed, I'm not sure I would have braved the nerds or the creepy old guy.

you got minutes? I got a brief encounter... guess I left the coffee too early.

nerds. trust me on this one

I too am amazed at the amount of stuff you and the twins are able to cram into a day. Thanks for bringing us along, you gave me more than a few laughs.

It really is amazing

[kampfirekim 260]

Wow! That was an action packed last update! I'm very glad the TCD gang made it out of the nerd card trading encounter with Maximus cards in hand! Although, the teen nerds were much better than the old dude in white sox. That was creepy and sad.

Truly enjoyed this TR! But I always do. :)

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

As usual.... I am sorry it is over.... Thank You !

[Southern Blessings 4]

Great TR, as always! Glad you were able to finally get a complete set of cards!