BEL13VE in Magic: The TCD Gang Rings in 2013 at The Fort

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Here we are.

2013.

Time for the first TCD TR of the New Year.

This one has a prelude.

We paid a one day visit to WDW on 12/22/12, and then returned the next week, on 12/30 for a three night stay at the Fort.

It's how we roll.

This is the first time ever that we have had passes that weren't blocked out for the two weeks around Christmas, and we wanted to get our money's worth. So we went when we could.

Our final visits of 2012 began on Saturday, December 22.

We arrived at Epcot at about 8:30, and they opened the gates at around 8:45.

We headed right to Test Track, and got Fastpasses with a 9:45 return time, and then entered the stand-by queue.

At 9:01, we were here by the Chevrolet Miray concept car:

This is the En-V- it looks like a golf cart to me:

They have all kinds of concept cars around here:

Even though we were in the first group to enter the building, the line moved very slow.

It took us until 9:29 (so 30 minutes) until we arrived at our design station. On our previous visit, they made parties of two or three share a design station. This time, they gave every guest a card, and a separate station. That may be the reason for the long wait:

Since I had my own station, I set out to design the most ridiculous car that I could. I started with this line:

But the computer optimized it to this:

And, I ended up with this. Pretty cool looking, but not what I wanted at all:

Here is Twin #2's car:

And Twin #1's:

We made it through the first part of the ride fine. But then we got stuck in the tunnel before the outside track:

For a ride that has just reopened after a long refurbishment, they sure seem to have a lot of problems with this.

Here we are on the track:

There was a guy in the car in front of us with a cowboy hat. I think Trace Adkins was doing the Candlelight Processional that night. Maybe that's him:

Here is our candid shot. I guess the guy behind me knew the new camera location too. Twin #2 was not happy that my arm blocked her face. Remember that.

The display at the end of the ride seemed to be working better than it had on our previous visit, but it still didn't seem to be working as intended:

You can see that our designs would display on the bottom of the screen, but none of our cars showed in the upper portion, which is supposed to rank the vehicles by their performance. I guess they still need to work on this.

There is all kind of new interactive stuff here in the pavilion, including a bunch of photo stations where you can have your photo taken and email it to friends. These weren't working on our previous visit, but they were today. This is a shot of the screen that allows you to choose the backdrop and other options for each photo:

We didn't play with these for long, as our return time for our Fastpasses was already here.

To save time, we experimented with hanging on to our RFID cards and using them again. That way, we could bypass the design station and go right to the ride. The cards all worked again the second time around.

Here's our second photo. Twin #2 got her payback:

You can see that my car design displayed again the second time around:

On our way out this time, we stopped and played with the photo booths.

This one had an alien invasion backdrop (you can see a cow being beamed into the flying saucer in this one) :

Nobody was stopping to use the photo booths, so we had a chance to take lots of photos.

Here's a fireworks one:

And us having fun in the forest:

We tried to get a shot of us jumping in the air, but our timing was off:

If I was a giant and peeked around the Epcot golf ball, it would look something like this:

Here I am looking at the aliens:

I think that we are supposed to be in Germany in this one:

This is the same set as the Epcot golf ball, but this time it's a molten planet and we had another failed attempt at jumping:

I could go on.

But, I'll spare you.

Plus, we are already at the photo limit.

So, that's all we will see of the fun photos.

Don't worry, there's still plenty more to see.

Next up, we do a little shopping, and map our our plan for the rest of the day.

TCD

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

I'm glad you got to see TT working better!!! Can't wait to read more about the New Years happenings, since we hardly left the campsite the whole weekend!!!

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

I am in. I will have to follow along from the Fort next week though.

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

First page!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Yeah! :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy

I have some time while my girls are taking their lunch break to read the TCD trip report.

Life is good!!! :heartsmiley: :heartsmiley:

[kampfirekim 260]

First page and I am here! I am here! I am here! (I am part Who).

Thou shalt NEVER block your kid's face.

Love the payback!

[ajcjmom 8]

I am here reading along.

We did not make it to the Fort for New Years.

We are saving to go to Utah this summer, our first grandchild is expected at the end of June.

Can't wait to hear more!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Yay! I'm in!

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Page one! Woo-hoo! Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

[ImDownWithDisney 342]

In on the 1st.

[Beckers 1,136]

Yeah! Excited for your trip report. Someone asked me the other day if I read and I just stared blankly at them and said "um, trips reports" which they then looked at me with a confused look and said "huh?". Apparently people read books?

[MetalDad 33]

I'm waiting for page 2.

[alexwyattmommy 181]

First page bragging rights. =)

I'm all in.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I'm in! First page too.

[Specularius 102]

I'm in. Glad to have been there too.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Yeah! Excited for your trip report. Someone asked me the other day if I read and I just stared blankly at them and said "um, trips reports" which they then looked at me with a confused look and said "huh?". Apparently people read books?

Who knew? :rofl2:

[caveat lector 181]

Page uno

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Yeah! Excited for your trip report. Someone asked me the other day if I read and I just stared blankly at them and said "um, trips reports" which they then looked at me with a confused look and said "huh?". Apparently people read books?

Tell then it's a semi regular periodical on theme park experiences in the Orlando area.

[Disneyzombie-Brenda 10]

I'm in and on the first page too! I am so far behind on the trip reports!

[Lou... 3,118]

I still don't read TRs.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I am in

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I had to hold off on the comments to give everyone a chance a page one bragging rights.

Now here we are on page two.

So it's time to comment and then I'll have another update.

I'm glad you got to see TT working better!!! Can't wait to read more about the New Years happenings, since we hardly left the campsite the whole weekend!!!

Yes, it is much better when the stuff works. Although, I still don't think the display in the ride vehicle will show anyone's car design.

I was the opposite of you this time- we were hardly at the Fort.

I am in. I will have to follow along from the Fort next week though.

Nothing wrong with that.

But, don't spend your time at the Fort reading trip reports- you can do that at home!

First page!

Yes.

Bragging rights!

Yeah! :jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy

I have some time while my girls are taking their lunch break to read the TCD trip report.

Life is good!!! :heartsmiley: :heartsmiley:

Glad to be a bright spot in your day.

First page and I am here! I am here! I am here! (I am part Who).

Thou shalt NEVER block your kid's face.

Love the payback!

Yup. Don't mess with Twin #2. You see how I was being nice and doing the Fonzie pose? And then she goes and puts her hand up in my grill?

I am here reading along.

We did not make it to the Fort for New Years.

We are saving to go to Utah this summer, our first grandchild is expected at the end of June.

Can't wait to hear more!

A grandchild?

Utah?

Awesome!

Congrats!

Y'all look to young to be grandparents, though.

Yay! I'm in!

Yes you are.

Page one, too!

WTG!

Page one! Woo-hoo! Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

You are welcome.

I'm happy to do it.

In on the 1st.

Yes, you are on page one, too.

Well done.

Yeah! Excited for your trip report. Someone asked me the other day if I read and I just stared blankly at them and said "um, trips reports" which they then looked at me with a confused look and said "huh?". Apparently people read books?

Books?

How quaint.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

There is a reason I like Twin #2.....

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm waiting for page 2.

Well, you posted too soon then.

I guess you are back from the Fort?

You had to drive back in the rain, didn't you?

First page bragging rights. =)

I'm all in.

Yes, Bragging Rights to you.

I'm in! First page too.

Bragging rights to Gwen, too.

I'm in. Glad to have been there too.

Are you home also?

What did I miss?

Page uno

Hey Fred!

Glad to have seen you this time around?

Did y'all go with the leaving at night plan?

I'm in and on the first page too! I am so far behind on the trip reports!

What do you mean you're behind on trip reports?

What could you possibly be doing that is more important than reading trip reports?

I still don't read TRs.

Good to know some things never change.

Thanks for posting.

Although, I shouldn't have bothered saying that since you won't read it.

BTW- in case you sneak a peak did you know the Goofy Bench is missing again? I have photographic proof of that coming up later.

I am in

Top of Page Two Bragging Rights!

(First place loser)

There is a reason I like Twin #2.....

Me too. She is a lot more crafty than Twin #1. But I like Twin #1 too.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We have a lot of ground to cover, so here's another update.

I forgot to mention that before we cashed in our 9:45 Fastpasses, we got another set. These had an 11:45 return time- so we would need to do something else before our next ride.

We decided to take a look in the big gift shop.

I stopped to admire these flowers outside of the shop. This is how December 22 looks in Florida. I'll take this over a white Christmas any time:

We have been wondering what the new slogan for WDW would be in 2013.

We found out in the gift shop:

This all looked pretty good.

The merchandise folks did a good job on this.

And, in case you were wondering about the title to this trip report, now you know.

Twin #1 thought about getting this hat:

But she passed.

These mugs were neat. The 3 is the handle:

Shot glasses:

I have never seen Jake and the Neverland Pirates, but I know that this is a Jake hat. I think I look kind of good in it, but the twins said no:

So, all of that killed about 15 minutes. It was only about 10:30, and we would have to wait another hour and fifteen minutes to ride Test Track, which we had already ridden twice.

What to do?

We decided to hop.

We wanted to see the 3:00 parade in the MK, and hopefully have lunch at BOG before that, so we decided to head on over to the MK.

I handed out my Fastpasses to a party of three that was walking by, and off we went.

We made it to the MK by about 11:30, and were surprised to find that there was going to be a 12:30 parade too.

I decided to head to Space Mountain to grab some Fastpasses, and the girls did a little shopping and found us a good place on Main Street for the parade. We ended up just across from the big clock, and this was our view:

It was kind of crowded, but we've seen worse:

It was a perfect day. Sunny, blue skies without a cloud in sight:

This CM was working the crowd. He was here the last time we watched a parade from Main Street- nice guy:

The Main Street Philharmonic came down the street at about 12:25- we thougth they were going the wrong way, but it turns out the whole parade was going this way:

It also seemed like the Philharmonic was missing some members. I have a theory on that.

The people watching was great while we waited.

There was this lady in slippers:

And this adult in a child's Snow White costume:

But, this child in an adult Snow White costume balanced that out:

This group came down the street just as the parade was about to begin. When you see a CM in a plaid vest, pay attention-sometimes they are leading around a celebrity. I don't recognize any of these folks, though:

The parade took its sweet time getting to us. Here it finally comes down Main Street at 12:51:

You may be wondering why we care so much about this parade.

Well, it's not the normal parade.

It's the Christmas parade.

This is the parade that they normally have during the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. Which you can't see unless you fork over $60 for a special ticket.

After the last MVMCP, though, they run the parade during the day as part of the normal park entertainment. No extra charge.

And it's a good parade.

Let's take a look.

It begins with a mob of characters. Rare ones at that:

Here's Pluto- he's not that rare:

By the way, what happened to Pluto's tongue?

It used to hang way out of his mouth.

It doesn't any more.

Here's old Jiminy Cricket- you don't see him around very much:

Ironically, we will have another Jiminy ecounter later in this report.

Here's Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum- you don't see them around too much either:

And then there's Christopher Robin- I don't think we've ever seen him before. He makes Peter Pan look macho:

Alice and the Mad Hatter:

Mary Poppins and Bert:

Mickey and Minnie were on the lead float:

This was a cool float which included a working toy train:

If you like these parade photos, you're in luck, because I have another batch of them.

If you don't then skip the next update.

We will move on to something else after it.

TCD