Official March Trip Reports

[FtW Mike]

Ed for the ladies in your group it might be a good time to swing by the 1400 loop and see if someone can use their influence with some of the more mischievous locals to pay a visit to the comfort station prior to you ladies arrivals.
Due to your prior relationship with the individual concerned I am sure you should be OK.
My source E.A.M. advises me the his behavior due to his current predicament is becoming more suspect. So much so that he has deemed it his solemn duty to continue his surveillance over the subject. He hopes to forward more photos but for his own safety he will need to do so only discreetly. His last report does however beg the question Considering the language employed while changing the thermostats do you kiss those Angelic Children with that mouth

 

[friendofeeyore]

Tiggerdad & Family, So glad you have arrived safely! Post when you can.

 

[bama_ed]

..... zzzzz.......Hey I closed my eyes for a minute and it's MORNING already!

I am going to do some catching up while I have a moment this morning. First will be some pix of Monday night around the campfire singalong. May have to break off for a while to run an errand but then will come back before long and cover yesterday (Tuesday).

All the sights and sounds of the Fort are here in 1500. So heading over to the C&D campfire, it was a sparse crowd (cold) with only the one fire pit near the Food Truck going. But a lot of that crowd was roasting marshmallows.







Our heroes arrive on stage with Cowboy Mark King.



Since the crowd was small, C&D wrapped up their rounds of autographs and photos quickly, there was still PLENTY of time to spend doing Fort faves like, you guessed it, a C&D led version of the Hokey Pokey (which I believe is still illegal in some counties in Mississippi) with all participants down front.



And now for some nighttime mood photos.









Bama Ed

PS - sorry for the low light fuzzy phone pix. Best I can do.

 

[Teamubr]

We are happy to report that we made it home safe, very weary from making this a two day drive.

Glad you made it home without any more drama. I was a little worried with the hydraulic damage that you wouldn't be able to get road ready. I'm with you on the 2 days for 1400+ miles. Although, it l;ooks like I'll do the 1000 mile drive down in September in 1 1/2. DW probably won't ride down with us due to limited time off work, so it will be DS and me. We generally travel a little better and don't need as many stops. It will be like the old racing days when we only stopped for fuel and emergencies.

Ed- Thanks for the great pics. I hope the evening weather improves a bit. I saw it's cold again.

j

 

[bama_ed]

Clear cold nights yield beautiful mornings, Jim.



ED

 

[JETS70]

..... zzzzz.......Hey I closed my eyes for a minute and it's MORNING already!

I am going to do some catching up while I have a moment this morning. First will be some pix of Monday night around the campfire singalong. May have to break off for a while to run an errand but then will come back before long and cover yesterday (Tuesday).

All the sights and sounds of the Fort are here in 1500. So heading over to the C&D campfire, it was a sparse crowd (cold) with only the one fire pit near the Food Truck going. But a lot of that crowd was roasting marshmallows.

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Our heroes arrive on stage with Cowboy Mark King.

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Since the crowd was small, C&D wrapped up their rounds of autographs and photos quickly, there was still PLENTY of time to spend doing Fort faves like, you guessed it, a C&D led version of the Hokey Pokey (which I believe is still illegal in some counties in Mississippi) with all participants down front.

View attachment 308855

And now for some nighttime mood photos.

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Bama Ed

PS - sorry for the low light fuzzy phone pix. Best I can do.

on the pics Ed......especially the night time pics. Night time at the Fort is just a calming and relaxing time, especially after a busy day at the parks.

 

[ilovedisneymm]

Sure is a great deal of work to get there and get back. Such a great deal of work to set up and break down too.

Glad to know your both home safe and sound.

Hubby has been bringing in the seed by the semi loads the past few days. He plans to start applying spring anhydrous here by the end of the week. I'm not ready for single mom life for the next 6 - 8 weeks, ugh!

Best on the diary farm.

 

[ilovedisneymm]

Thanks for all the photos Ed! Love the pool by night by cart pic!

Hope you get a chance to try out the food truck. Scrumptious cheeseburgers!

 

[bama_ed]

Here was a sign Monday night I grabbed some pix of for the St Patrick's Day activities here at the Fort (Saturday):





Bama Ed

 

[bama_ed]

Yesterday was our only park day during our short visit here. DD earns 1-day park hopper tickets every so many hours she works in the DCP and so DW and I used those yesterday. I've never had park hopper tickets in my life before and it wasn't bad. Needless to say, we hopped yesterday and were in three parks (sorry AK ).

Our first destination was DHS for rope drop (driving). Clear sky (crystal) and cool temps but in the sun it was very comfortable.





Between 9am and 11am we rode:







For anyone interested, R&R lasts 72 seconds (timed it).

Having a CM in our group helped because we moved the car across the street from DHS parking to the employee lot at Boardwalk and walked to Epcot via the International Gateway. It was a quick easy "hop".



We had time before lunch to go to the American Pavilion and hear the Voices of Liberty.



Lunch was at Coral Reef at Living Seas (or whatever it's called now). On the way between The Land and the old Inoventions building were our FW heroes in topiary form.



It is Flower and Garden Festival time here also.

At Coral Reef we got seated early on the front floor of the restaurant facing the fish tank. This photo has a shark and a turtle in the middle if you can see them.



The girls got shrimp and grits (their go-to when it's on a menu) and I got the mahi-mahi. All good.

Ten picture limit. Rolling to next post.

ED

 

[bama_ed]

BTW, DD who is staying with us at the Fort had to run back to her apartment to get her CM clothes for her shift this afternoon. No plans for us at all other than going over to Boardwalk (BW) this afternoon to watch her work. I need pixel proof of same. Anyway, I have time to post now.

After lunch it was time to use our Epcot FastPasses. At Living with the Land I spotted the cheat sheet for CM's to mix Standby guests in with FP and in what ratios. Note there are three different levels. Bet all the FP rides have something like this.



After the ride, the Mark 6 monorail wooshed by.



It is F&G time but the regular flowers were bright and beautiful.





And I've always loved the interior of the Mexican pavilion (don't care for the boat ride nor the restaurant though).



Time to break off this post for lunch. I will come back to finish later.

ED

 

[arespirate]

I will be there from March 16 to the 21st. Staying in the Cabins with my dog. This will be my first time staying here. Anyone recommend a great cabin/loop?

 

[JETS70]

Really nice pics Ed. The colors are

 

[bama_ed]

I will be there from March 16 to the 21st. Staying in the Cabins with my dog. This will be my first time staying here. Anyone recommend a great cabin/loop?

My two cents answer, arepirate, would be in 2200 or 2300 near the main cabin road named Peacock Pass. That end is nearest walking distance to the Meadow TP, pool, campfire movie area, and has its own bus stop on the Orange and Purple internal bus loops. Near the main road means less walking in the loop to get to the access point from the far end of the loop.

Have a good time! We leave out on the 16th.

Bama Ed

 

[bama_ed]

After lunch now. Checked off another "always wanted to try" item on my imaginary list: Pepper Market at Coronado Springs. It was nice - had good variety and is well regarded among the Moderate food courts.

Resuming yesterday at Epcot, the Germany mini-railroad provides an oasis of peace and calm as the trains circle the tracks.





We also road Spaceship Earth and Soarin' as our 2nd and 3rd FP. The Chinese tumblers were great to watch too.

Since DD currently works Boardwalk in Custodial, she knows all kinds of "fun facts". For example, did you know that the average metal single (not a double) WDW trash can costs $700? And the most expensive trash cans are in the American Pavilion area of Epcot? An example of one is below.



It must be the paint job because it looks like every other trash can to me. Also the large dumpster they empty the trash cans into is called "the big banana".

Always on the lookout for live entertainment, we caught the last evening show for Sergio, the mime in Italy. He's hard to miss because he uses his whistle almost every breath it seems. I was relieved when he didn't choose me to use as a comedy prop because he made heroes out of the kids and fools out of the adults he chose. Serge doesn't walk the high wire like some acrobats; no, he does the low wire routine.



Dinner was also in Italy at a "always wanted to try" and that was at Via Napoli. We got a big oven fired pizza which was delicious. It's a pretty restaurant inside the main room.



After dinner we hoofed it around the world towards the monorail station as people were staking out their spots around the lake for Illuminations (how many years has that been running now?).



There was one last park to hop to: the MK via the Mark 6 - it was open till midnight.

ED

 

[bama_ed]

The MK was lit up beautifully and it was about 930p when we got onto Main Street.



We did catch the castle projection show "Once Upon A Time" from the Liberty Square bridge.



Checking wait time, Splash was running (too cold), Haunted 45 min, and Small World 25 min (nope, not for SW). Space Mountain closed. Jungle Cruise was 45 min, Pirates closed for refurb, Peter Pan 105 min. Gah!

There was a very tall scrim around the carousel but at least it was running.

Oh, and off course there was Philharmagic (just, no. Done it too many times).

However, wait times were low for People Mover and Carousel of Progress so we kept circling behind the castle and around by the Teacups.



Astro Orbiter was colorful in the sky.



I love Carousel of Progress (and not for the dark nap time it provides some people.



People Mover is also a classic in our family. A nice cool ride providing a variety of scenery and not a long wait.



In fact we were riding PeopleMover ....



.... when it circled into Space Mountain and the lights were on inside. But the wait times said Space Mountain was closed.

It was - but the lights were on inside the building. Photo spoiler time! Let me grab my terrible low light old camera phone.





That's only the second time in my life the lights have been on inside Space Mountain and we've seen it from the People Mover.

It was 11pm and we decided to head for the Fort. Back down Main Street toward the boat dock to take us "home". Another fun fact here: for CM's working Outside Vending on Main Street, the popcorn carts near the train station at closing just before you walk under the tunnels out of MK are the most dreaded work assignments for them. Why? Because you work till well past close serving the last cranky, tired guest and then cleaning the popcorn machine out before putting it away for the night takes about an hour to do it the Disney way.



Just chillin' in the sunshine now till DD has to go to work this afternoon.

Bama Ed

 

[tripleb]

bama_ed, i can stand there watching the mini-railroad for hours. The wife just doesnt get it

 

[Teamubr]

bama_ed, i can stand there watching the mini-railroad for hours. The wife just doesnt get it

Same here, but I had a big HO layout when I was a kid.

j

 

[bama_ed]

Where was I?

Oh yeah, way BEHIND! Okay, in an effort to get a little caught up, I'm going to resume with yesterday morning.

After making the posts about our days in the parks, we headed off for lunch. Again, I was looking for someplace new we hadn't been to and someplace that would take the CM discount. So we tried Pepper Market as I mentioned at the top of my last post. It has a construction project going on right next to the lobby/check-in building. They are building a tower.



After DD headed off to work, I went for a walk around 1500 loop and a portion of the Fort. There are plenty of tent campers here now and the weather is perfect for them. The set-ups can be very simple and yet effective.



(sorry had to switch over to the cellphone hotspot feature because the WIFI is crawling tonight and the photo uploads are timing out and failing).

Oh yeah, tent campers with simple setups.



This you don't see all the time - a tent custom designed for the bed of a pickup truck. It fit perfectly - short walled near the cab, longer near the back gate.



On my walk the pool was in full action.



I ambled around 900 loop then through 600 and started down 700 when something caught my eye on the left.



There just off to the left of the front of the RV in the shade. Something blue.



Somebody do the right thing and whoever brought it here please put it back.

Further down 700 loop I saw a wooden Musket Mickey sign hanging out on hooks with the name "The Cruises" and a Canadian license plate with a gentleman seated outside enjoying the afternoon. I spoiled it for him by calling out and asking if he was our DIS poster CDNCruiser, and it was. For those of you that don't know his handle, he is the man who has spawned several years of the Mickey globe lights (with his instructions) that have been built over the years here. It was a pleasure to meet him.

Concluding my walk, it was time to head over to Boardwalk to see DD working in action. That meant a boat ride to MK and then transfer to a BW bus.

The sun was going down as we docked at MK. Grand Floridian is out there on the left side.



The Magic Kingdom was in fine form.



Having stayed at the Fort so much, I know little of the bus system (just the basics). There is a large sign at the bus station listing all the resorts and what platform they leave from. Note on the bottom right it currently shows the Fort bus leaving from platform #2.



Rolling to the next post.

Bama Ed

 

[bama_ed]

Boardwalk is a nice resort. Heard it's tough to try to park at unless you have an ADR or are a guest there.



Briefly saw DD working in uniform. Didn't want to embarrass her so we went down to the food places along the lake behind it and grabbed a bite to eat then bussed back to MK to boat back to the Fort. The MK looked good in the early evening light.



There some rather vertically challenged guests waiting with us to board the boat.



Talk about lazy. GEESH!

That prior view back toward GF looked good at sunset now too.


Got a great night's sleep.

This morning we headed for the Cast Member Outlet Store called Cast Connections. We got in as guests of DD who had to show her Disney ID. It's over behind Coronado Springs in a boring looking warehouse. Thursday is payday for hourly cast members like DD so the place was kinda busy. Some good deals. Both DD and we dropped some coin there.

Then lunch today was at the table service restaurant called Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I'd never been to AKL and so I purposely chose a new-to-us resort and restaurant. They serve an African-Indian cuisine and we did its popular bread service as an appetizer with 9 different topping as flavor. It was good.


Of course the view of the animals up close around the lodge is a drawing card.




Coming back to the Fort, I had to document my displeasure from this morning. In the men's side of the Comfort Station, the door was MISSING in stall #1 (stall #2 with door was functioning but very popular since only it afforded any privacy). Note the hinge screw marks on upper left side of inside of the stall with NO HINGE (no door). I don't ask for much but I think for $150 a night they could have fashioned a temporary replacement.



Going back to my site, the view was fabulous (clear blue sky) but I still think we should have a door on the bathroom stall.



Got a new neighbor nearby with another classic simple tent set up.



Rolling to the next post.

Bama Ed