Long Live TCD's 2010-2011 NEW YEARS EVE TRIP REPORT (Maybe the last of the best)

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Great trip report(like we would expect less) as always, we were camping also NYE but not @ the Fort we were in the cold northeast. Any way thatnks again for all the pictures, we were @ the World 2 years ago for New Years and never thought about going to the Fort, we were useing our DVC @ SSR and did not feel like doing alot more walking then we were already doing @ the parks.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Awesome as always!

Thank you.

Hey we almost had that site! When I heard we were in the 600 I was worried. You can see our site in the above pictures-> the snow globe with the black lexus SUV... that's my car!

And don't worry about being sports schizophrenic, I have a UCF, UF, and UGA sticker on the back of my car I felt bad having gator plates and frames... had to support my other schools too

Wow! So y'all had a waterfront site. Nice. That is quite a collection of stickers on your car! So, when Georgia played UCF on Friday, who did you root for? My neighbors, CampingDawgs were very quiet on Friday afternoon. I still can't believe that UCF beat Georgia!

I love the sparkler pics. There is something about sparklers and camping, they go together, and are always a must when we camp, even before the kids.

I will be anxiously awaiting the dole whip pics!

Following along, and enjoying every min.!

Ohh, and the hippie vans do sort of creep me out, but, there is this really old motorhome that we pass every Sunday on the way to church. I have begged DH to buy it and have it restored, I love it. I'll have to get a pic and share it with y'all next Sunday.

OK, I'm going to remember this. I want to see a picture of the creepy motorhome!

Great trip report(like we would expect less) as always, we were camping also NYE but not @ the Fort we were in the cold northeast. Any way thatnks again for all the pictures, we were @ the World 2 years ago for New Years and never thought about going to the Fort, we were useing our DVC @ SSR and did not feel like doing alot more walking then we were already doing @ the parks.

Thanks. If you ever have a chance to camp at the Fort for NYE, I highly recommend it! The Christmas decorations are still up, and the atmosphere is great! And, a golfcart solves the walking concern.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

It’s now Friday evening, December 31st.

My oldest DD was home on college break, and had plans on the night of the 30th, so she had driven over to join us earlier in the day. She really enjoyed watching FSU dismantle South Carolina. FSU ended up having quite a nice season this year.

Since the FSU game was going to be on until around 11, my oldest DD volunteered to puppy-sit while I took the TCD twins down to Clementine’s Beach to check out the official Fort activities. As I mentioned earlier, this is the first year that I can recall where there were official activities planned for the night. The flyer said that there would be a chance to make noisemakers and hats. We needed to check that out. The plan was that I would then come back and puppy sit, while she took her sisters to the beach for the fireworks. On a previous visit to the Fort, Rocky kind of freaked out when he heard the fireworks, so we didn’t want to leave him alone at the campsite.

We had come prepared with some decorations of our own. Here are the TCD twins with their 2011 glasses:

Last year, we all thought that we had seen the last of this type of glasses. I remember first seeing 1999 glasses, with the 9’s being used for eye-holes, and then we have had this type of glasses for the entire first decade of the new millennium. Last year, there were still two zero’s in the year number, so the glasses worked. But, we all thought the fad had finally run its course. How could they make 2011 glasses? Well, we now have our answer- just stick the eye holes wherever. Dumb. But, I guess we are dumber, because we bought them.

Here we are down at Clementine’s Beach. This is the craft table. You can see one of the noisemakers there on the table. It’s a tube made out of rolled up construction paper, covered with a piece of tissue paper, held in place with a rubber band:

What did you expect?

Something nice?

You can also see some folks making hats there in the background.

They had the biggest box of markers that I have ever seen, along with various styles of hats to color and cover with glitter:

Cheap?

Yes.

But it was free.

So, how can I complain?

They had a music system set up with a castmember playing DJ.

They played all the favorites that you could possibly imagine.

The girls like this kind of thing, so they danced.

Here they are dancing:

How do you like that lady photo bombing me?

Does she have curlers on?

The funny thing is that I recognize this lady.

In fact, it is really bothering me that I can’t remember where I have seen her before.

But, I’m sure that I have.

Does anybody know her?

Another dancing shot:

And a hat-making shot:

Then, it was time for the DJ to play YMCA.

I don’t think that I have ever been at a Disney event anywhere where music is being played where YMCA does not eventually rear its head.

Here are some YMCA photos for you:

Luckily, they didn’t round up any dads to dress up like the Village People. If that had happened, we all know I would have been up there. And nobody wants to see that. Especially the TCD twins.

When we visited the Fort for Thanksgiving this year, we learned that there would be an official Corn Hole tournament sponsored by the Fort on Thanksgiving Day. We were gone for that event, so I never knew that the Fort now owns official Corn Hole equipment. Here it is, right on Clementine’s Beach:

Here are the girls modeling their (free) custom New Year’s Eve hats:

You may have noticed on the flyer that one of the activities at the beach was an opportunity to make New Year’s resolutions. They had a big box up by the DJ for guests to write and deposit their resolutions:

Well, here’s something that came as a surprise to me . . .

And a few other folks, too . . .

The DJ took the resolutions out of the box, and read them:

Based on some things that the DJ read, I don’t think everyone understood that their resolutions were going to be broadcast to everyone in attendance.

But, once we found that out, we stuffed a few new resolutions in the box.

Too bad there was censorship going on, because a couple of times the DJ read our name, and where we were from, and then quietly folded up our resolution, and put it away without reading it. Doesn’t anybody have a sense of humor anymore? What, I ask, is wrong with resolving to eat more Cowboy Beans in 2011? Or resolving to swim to Discovery Island? What is this, Russia?

You probably will be as surprised as I was to find that the winner of the last TCD Real Man of Genius Award in 2010 was right there on Clementine’s Beach.

Well, he was.

Actually, this award goes out to a group of men.

Here they are:

These geniuses had set up a table at the edge of the beach, off to the side of the golf cart parking area. And, they ran an extension cord to the outlets by the golf cart parking. And, then hung a spotlight on a tree. They brought their own cooler full of beer, and they were playing some type of game involving tiles there on the table. They were not from this land. They did not speak the English. I don’t think they were speaking Spanish. Maybe French? Or Italian? It doesn’t matter, the bring your own table, extension cord, spot light and beer cooler guys all received the special New Year’s Eve edition TCD Real Man of Genius Award:

Gentlemen, I salute you!

After we hung out on the beach a bit.

And danced the Macarena.

And the Cha-Cha Slide.

And the Cupid Shuffle.

We headed back to our site before another line dance broke out.

I was going to switch off with my oldest DD, and then the girls would be back for the fireworks at midnight.

We had some time to kill when we got back to camp.

I took Rocky on a walk around the 1600 loop.

Where I saw these geniuses breaking just about every rule in the book concerning open fires at the Fort:

Not real bright.

As far as I know, nobody was hurt.

And, miraculously, there were no forest fires at the Fort that night.

Next up, midnight approaches!

And, Fireworks!

TCD

 

[DaveInTN]

What, I ask, is wrong with resolving to eat more Cowboy Beans in 2011? Or resolving to swim to Discovery Island? What is this, Russia?

Having eaten a lot of Russian food, I can tell you that cowboy beans would be low on the Ohhhh-HANA factor scale for resolutions. Personally, if I wanted to make an impact on the world, I would resolve to eat more Kulebjaka, or cabbage pie.

Eat some around 9pm, and you won't need fireworks at midnight.

 

[PrincessNP]

This is the BEST trip report ever!

We are down in Upstate SC and cannot even get out of our subdivision to get to work as there is SSSOOOOO much ice and snow. So I have really enjoyed reading your trip report today! Not too much fun being stuck inside.

Love the pics! The more I think about those Real men of Genius out on the beach, the more I think that was a pretty cool idea!

 

[lucy_love]

Thank you.



Wow! So y'all had a waterfront site. Nice. That is quite a collection of stickers on your car! So, when Georgia played UCF on Friday, who did you root for? My neighbors, CampingDawgs were very quiet on Friday afternoon. I still can't believe that UCF beat Georgia!



TCD

Yes, we actually liked our site a lot because you could walk just about everywhere.

I rooted for UCF UCF was my first school so it's number one in my head!

Great report!

 

[AuburnJen92]

I heard a story about that fire. Maybe you heard the rumor as well...

Seems there was a guy who kept walking his dog and scaring the daylights out of people because he kept sneaking up on them and saying "Hey!" while they weren't expecting it. I heard he had done this to these friendly fire building folk and there was more wood dropped on the fire than was originally planned because of this stalking trick the man played on unsuspecting folk. The fire then raged through the grate for a short time until it was put back under control.

I also heard that this did not detour the dog stalking walking man either, who kept on walking and stalking other unsuspecting folk in the darkness.

I do think you need to find this dog walker TCD. He needs to be stopped. People's campers could be burned down. Better yet, all of Fort Wilderness could be in jeopardy because of this darkness yielding man.

I know these are just rumors, but I trust you will get to the bottom of this and save the honor of these folks who just wanted to keep warm and not scared out of their lives.

 

[SC DAD of 2]

Great, great TR! Thanks for sharing TCD.

 

[anolefan]

I know that a lot of people from South Florida visit the Fort, but we only saw one person who was willing to admit being a fan of the “U” all weekend:

Please tell me you saw the tricked out UM golf cart that was staying in the 1400 loop? They had outdoor speakers on their cart and were jamming all weekend. I wanted a picture, but never got a good opportunity.

 

[3girlsfun]

Those men are genuis! Something my friends in college would have done. And we would have all reaped the benefits. We had a "family fun center" pool in college. We would make slides and such that backed up to the pool, slide, and into the pool we went. We would also hang out in the pool with beer and such in the evenings and weekends at school. These were the same guys that during tailgating people would come by jealous bc of the set up. It was great.

Anyway, I always think your twins look like they are having so much fun, and NYE was no different. They are adorable in their self made hats! I do think the noise makers were a bit cheesy, come on Disney, step it up a smidge.

I have one of those markers boxes in my classroom. That is a whole lot of markers!

Thanks for the awesome report! Loving it !

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Having eaten a lot of Russian food, I can tell you that cowboy beans would be low on the Ohhhh-HANA factor scale for resolutions. Personally, if I wanted to make an impact on the world, I would resolve to eat more Kulebjaka, or cabbage pie.

Eat some around 9pm, and you won't need fireworks at midnight.

You say Kulebjaka, I say Kulebyaka.

Kulebjaka? Kulebyaka?

Let's call the whole thing off!

(My spell checker says it's Kulebyaka- but maybe that's the English spelling) (or maybe the spell checker is wrong).

Seriously, you ate cabbage pie?

I guess I would give it a try if presented the opportunity.

But, since I missed making a resolution to eat Kulebyaka in 2011, I guess this will have to wait until 2012.

This is the BEST trip report ever!

We are down in Upstate SC and cannot even get out of our subdivision to get to work as there is SSSOOOOO much ice and snow. So I have really enjoyed reading your trip report today! Not too much fun being stuck inside.

Love the pics! The more I think about those Real men of Genius out on the beach, the more I think that was a pretty cool idea!

Well, thanks, I'm glad that you like it.

But, this is far from the best report ever.

I'm sorry to hear about the ice and snow.

What a winter this has been already!

Or heat in the camper...

Another zinger from the Queen of Quips!

Yes, we actually liked our site a lot because you could walk just about everywhere.

I rooted for UCF UCF was my first school so it's number one in my head!

Great report!

I figured you would root for UCF. Congratulations on a great season, and I hear they ought to begin next season ranked in the top 25. I never thought I would see that.

Great, great TR! Thanks for sharing TCD.

Thanks for reading!

Please tell me you saw the tricked out UM golf cart that was staying in the 1400 loop? They had outdoor speakers on their cart and were jamming all weekend. I wanted a picture, but never got a good opportunity.

Now that you mention it, I did see and hear that cart. It was driving around quite a bit on the day we arrived (Thursday)

But for some reason, I did not see it at all after the UM/ND game was finished on Friday.

Either they left, or they parked the cart after their team was whipped.

Those men are genuis! Something my friends in college would have done. And we would have all reaped the benefits. We had a "family fun center" pool in college. We would make slides and such that backed up to the pool, slide, and into the pool we went. We would also hang out in the pool with beer and such in the evenings and weekends at school. These were the same guys that during tailgating people would come by jealous bc of the set up. It was great.

Anyway, I always think your twins look like they are having so much fun, and NYE was no different. They are adorable in their self made hats! I do think the noise makers were a bit cheesy, come on Disney, step it up a smidge.

I have one of those markers boxes in my classroom. That is a whole lot of markers!

Thanks for the awesome report! Loving it !

Yes, the Real Men Of Genius had a grand time!

But, so did we!

Thanks for reading along!

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Hello to everyone reading along.

I'm about to post another update.

I am trying to upload a couple of videos to Photobucket, and I am currently experiencing technical difficulties. While I work on that, I wanted to encourage everyone to take a look at another trip report here on the boards.

It's from member anolefan.

If you don't read his whole report, at least read this post (click on the link):

anolefan's post #36

That, my friends, is what it is all about!

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

OK, it looks like the videos are loaded, so let’s move on with the report.

As you may recall, the plan was for me to puppy-sit, and for the girls to head down to the beach together for the fireworks.

But my oldest DD was nice and comfy in the camper, and was watching one of the NYE specials, and she didn’t want to head down to the beach. She said she would rather puppy-sit.

So, she got to kiss Rocky at midnight.

And, I got to go down to the beach again.

Sounds good to me.

As we headed to the Settlement, castmembers were preventing folks from driving carts into the 100 loop or down the pathway normally taken to reach the Settlement. Instead, all cart traffic was being directed toward the horse barn, and castmembers were having folks park in the field between Pioneer Hall and the Fort Wilderness pavilion. There were a lot of carts there.

When we reached the beach, Bingo was still going on.

Look how many folks were gathered for this:

We went to our usual fireworks watching spot.

Toward the back of the beach, along the wood line, and near a speaker.

There is a trashcan there that I use as a substitute for a tripod. It works pretty well.

So we were all set.

And , the countdown started!

And, then a lady in a hoodie came and stood right in front of me.

Here she is:

I really couldn’t move.

Because I needed the trashcan.

So, here are my fireworks shots.

The hoodie lady made it in all of them:

Thanks a lot, hoodie lady!

But all is not lost.

One of the TCD twins recorded the fireworks with her phone. This video starts with the countdown from 10. Please look carefully at the very beginning, and you will see that there were fireworks shaped like the numbers in the countdown. I have not seen this before. I was impressed (click on the images below, and the videos will play):



And, here’s a little bonus for you. The girls also made a video of the fireworks from the Poly on the night of the 30th. You can hear the audio and music much better on this one, as sound was being projected over the lake toward the beach from the EWP boats. And, you can see the castle and the castle fireworks in this video. These, of course, are blocked by Discovery Island when viewing fireworks from Clementine’s Beach:



After the fireworks, we headed back to our site, and from there we did some looping.

Things were pretty quiet around the Fort for the rest of the night.

Next up, it’s the first day of the New Year!

And, I witness a very cool animal encounter.

TCD

 

[devores]

And, here’s a little bonus for you. The girls also made a video of the fireworks from the Poly on the night of the 30th. You can hear the audio and music much better on this one, as sound was being projected over the lake toward the beach from the EWP boats. And, you can see the castle and the castle fireworks in this video. These, of course, are blocked by Discovery Island when viewing fireworks from Clementine’s Beach:

TCD

Thats interesting, I was also on the Poly beach on the 30th. This was my first time watching the firworks from this location (DW gets to watch them everynight from here, she works at the Poly). I have to say I very much prefer the Poly beach to the fort beach for watching the firworks. We had to park in CM parking as they were not allowing anyone but guests into the parking area. The use of the ewp was a nice touch. For NYE, DW said they only allowed registered guests onto the beach and were using wristbands to ensure no outsiders got in.

On an off note, I was told by a Hawiian friend that Poly in Hawiian is a derogatory slang word. Since this is a family board, I cannot divulge much as to its meaning......just an FYI.

 

[anolefan]

And, then a lady in a hoodie came and stood right in front of me.

Here she is:

I had fun cutting and pasting and came up with this.

What say you? Same lady or not?

Great Fireworks photos and great report.

Still a full day and a half to go too.

 

[campingdawgs]

Sorry, I have had some catching up to do. The kids have been keeping me busy. They are now out of school for the 4th day in a row because of the snow and ice. DH tried to make it to work today, but had to turn around because of the ice. It's fun to play in the snow, but now we are a little stir crazy.

Since it was December, it was dark early on the 31st. After we enjoyed our pulled pork sandwiches, it was time to break out the sparklers. DD experimented with her new camera:

BTW that’s the Disboarders CampingDawgs campsite you see there in the background of the last three photos. I think I even see Mr. CampingDawg in one of the photos.

TCD

Yep, that is us in the background - and you can see DH standing there watching tv. We were disappointed with the GA-UCF game, to say the least. We were hoping GA would finally get it together. Alas. There is always next year.

We enjoyed the fireworks on the beach, but we wished we could hear the soundtrack better. The kids thought it was awesome to drive by the horse barn.

I was surprised how quickly everyone left after it was over. I took DD7 to the restroom and when I went back to the cart, it was the only one left in the field. The CMs were very organized and on top of things on NYE. I was impressed.

 

[des1954]

Those photos are from a trip we took to the Fort in March, 2007.

As in almost four years ago.

We were staying on the 800 loop for that trip.

And, this guy with the giant poodle rode by our site quite often on his Segway.

I had never seen such a thing.

And, I haven't since.

This was before there were Segway tours offered at the Fort.

So, seeing a Segway in operation was a rare thing.

Well, when I was visiting site 617 on the morning on December 31, guess who I ran into?

Segway guy!

Complete with giant poodle!

Here he is:

I struck up a conversation with my long-lost friend.

He doesn't use the Segway anymore.

He said it was too much of a hassle operating it at some of the places he visits. Including the Fort.

He used to camp at the Fort a lot.

Back when they offered winter settler rates.

Now, he and the giant poodle camp all over the country.

And visit the Fort just briefly each year.

Nice guy.

Nice dog.

Just goes to show . . .

You never know who you're going to run into at the Fort.

TCD

I can't remember this guy's name, but you're right. He used to winter at the Fort on the 100 loop back in the days of Winter Settler rates. Other winter people on the 100 loop were very upset about the poodle. He claimed it was a "service dog", so the Fort had to let him stay on 100. I believe his last full winter stay at the Fort was around 2005/6. At that time, no pets were ever "knowingly" allowed on 100.

Now - on to Site 617. I named it the "Snag-A-Burger" site. If someone is grilling burgers and turns their back for a minute - you can snag yourself a meal!!

And....just what do you have against hippies? I have this tremendous hatred of clowns, but hippies are harmless.

 

[3gr8kids]

And....just what do you have against hippies? I have this tremendous hatred of clowns, but hippies are harmless.

ITA ILO

 

[3girlsfun]

What is with the hoodie lady in all the pics. I mean, she is bad in the pics. That is totally something that would happen to us. Actually we recently went to the aquarium, I had my almost 2 year old standing there watching the lady talk about a snake. This grown lady pretty much pushed her out of the way to get in front of here. Didn't make me happy at all.

The fireworks still looked great though! I loved the videos. I have never seen fireworks that are numbers, too cool!

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Thats interesting, I was also on the Poly beach on the 30th. This was my first time watching the firworks from this location (DW gets to watch them everynight from here, she works at the Poly). I have to say I very much prefer the Poly beach to the fort beach for watching the firworks. We had to park in CM parking as they were not allowing anyone but guests into the parking area. The use of the ewp was a nice touch. For NYE, DW said they only allowed registered guests onto the beach and were using wristbands to ensure no outsiders got in.

On an off note, I was told by a Hawiian friend that Poly in Hawiian is a derogatory slang word. Since this is a family board, I cannot divulge much as to its meaning......just an FYI.

Thanks for the intel. I was able to drive to the Polynesian Resort (have to avoid the slang word) last Dec. 30th. But, they did have the parking lot closed on Dec. 31. Sounds like it was closed both nights this year.

I have never heard of them closing the beach off to Polynesian Guests only. I think guests from the other monorail resorts often travel to the Polynesian Beach for the fireworks.

I had fun cutting and pasting and came up with this.

What say you? Same lady or not?

Great Fireworks photos and great report.

Still a full day and a half to go too.

I don't think it's the same lady.

I was just lucky and ran into two completely separate hoodie ladies.

And yes, there is still a more to come!

Sorry, I have had some catching up to do. The kids have been keeping me busy. They are now out of school for the 4th day in a row because of the snow and ice. DH tried to make it to work today, but had to turn around because of the ice. It's fun to play in the snow, but now we are a little stir crazy.


Yep, that is us in the background - and you can see DH standing there watching tv. We were disappointed with the GA-UCF game, to say the least. We were hoping GA would finally get it together. Alas. There is always next year.

We enjoyed the fireworks on the beach, but we wished we could hear the soundtrack better. The kids thought it was awesome to drive by the horse barn.

I was surprised how quickly everyone left after it was over. I took DD7 to the restroom and when I went back to the cart, it was the only one left in the field. The CMs were very organized and on top of things on NYE. I was impressed.

I agree with you- things went quite smoothly on New Year's Eve. I didn't know y'all were down on the beach. I thought you had headed in to one of the parks.

Sorry to hear about the ice and snow! It was only two weeks ago that you were enjoying 70 degree days at the Fort!

I can't remember this guy's name, but you're right. He used to winter at the Fort on the 100 loop back in the days of Winter Settler rates. Other winter people on the 100 loop were very upset about the poodle. He claimed it was a "service dog", so the Fort had to let him stay on 100. I believe his last full winter stay at the Fort was around 2005/6. At that time, no pets were ever "knowingly" allowed on 100.

Now - on to Site 617. I named it the "Snag-A-Burger" site. If someone is grilling burgers and turns their back for a minute - you can snag yourself a meal!!

And....just what do you have against hippies? I have this tremendous hatred of clowns, but hippies are harmless.

Hippies are harmless?

Since when?

Haven't you heard of the ones that take drugs and then start murdering people?

Some hippies might not partake in this conduct, but how can you be so sure?

I always am on guard around hippies.

I agree! I love hippies... well one hippie at least.

Well, I guess it's OK for you to love one hippie. But please draw the line there.

ITA ILO

Be careful!

Hippies can be tricky!

What is with the hoodie lady in all the pics. I mean, she is bad in the pics. That is totally something that would happen to us. Actually we recently went to the aquarium, I had my almost 2 year old standing there watching the lady talk about a snake. This grown lady pretty much pushed her out of the way to get in front of here. Didn't make me happy at all.

The fireworks still looked great though! I loved the videos. I have never seen fireworks that are numbers, too cool!

Well, what can you do? I'm sure the lady didn't realize she was obstructing my view. I had never seen the number-shaped fireworks before either. They were cool (even though a lot of them ended up upside down or backward).

TCD