Another TCD Trip Report!! With Sanjaya, Tom Cruise, Valentine's Day, and More!

[Gatordad]

nice work tcd.....You put up with a lot. There's no way I'm sitting 2 hours looking at an american idol parade.....

 

[DznyRulz]

This is an awesome looking rig.. it's across the street and a couple sites down from ours! The nice lady at the site stopped us walking to the bus stop and gave us a big bag of grapefruit grown locally by a friend of hers. She said she had a bunch and wanted to share it. I love this loop.

Next time you see the nice lady be sure to ask her about the graphics and report back. Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[mjmoon]

Next time you see the nice lady be sure to ask her about the graphics and report back. Inquiring minds want to know.

If they are still here in the morning I will defnintely do that. I'll also turn her on to this site!

 

[KristinU]

Great job as usual, TCD! Thanks!!!

 

[FlaFortCampster]

If they are still here in the morning I will defnintely do that. I'll also turn her on to this site!

Are you in the 1700 loop by any chance?

 

[FlaFortCampster]

TCD, you are the Anderson Cooper of Fort reporters. Wonderful job and thank you.

 

[loveDmouse]

Awesome report as always! Thanks for the good work.

 

[mjmoon]

Are you in the 1700 loop by any chance?

No, we're in Tina's 5th wheel in the 800 loop.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Sorry, slightly OT but I couldn't find the original posts on this - TCD (or should I say "Super Sleuth") - do you (or does anyone) have any idea when the 600 loop expansion is due to be completed? Thanks!

According to a knowledgeable gentleman that I met when I was peering over the fence at the 600 loop, the work on the 600 loop is supposed to conclude at the same time as the work on the pool is completed, i.e. late March.

Wish I could be more help TCD but around here the only people that use the blue/green colored pipe is the cities public works dept. and its used for both water and sewer. So if they already have white pvc in for the sewer dumps not really sure what there for. If the where not so many of them I would think water feed for fire hydrants but that would be alot of hydrants. Ok I think I just figured it out (maybe) everybody knows how FW floods in the rain. So I would say storm drains. But I could be wrong.

Thanks for your input. These could be for sewer, as I did not see any other pipes for that purpose. The thing is that these pipes appear to be near the road edge of each campsite, as opposed to being back by the water pipes that are installed.

nice work tcd.....You put up with a lot. There's no way I'm sitting 2 hours looking at an american idol parade.....

It wasn't so bad, really. Thanks for checking in.

If they are still here in the morning I will defnintely do that. I'll also turn her on to this site!

Well? Any news about what that art work is all about? Inquiring minds do want to know!

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

It is due time for another installment.

For those of you still following along, I am still reporting on events that occurred on Friday, February 13th.

As previously reported, the pool workers cleared out at a little before 5 on Friday afternoon, which gave me the opportunity to look all around the perimeter of the pool project. It was previously reported here (by Ynottony) that the pedestrian bridge from the 1500 loop bus stop area over to the Meadow area has been blocked off. There is a construction fence erected across the field here. It fences off the playground. But, there does not appear to be work going on in this area.

It appears to me, and I think that you will agree after looking at these next photos, that the second fence is just up to screen the vehicle traffic that is driving around the perimeter of the pool project. There are big gates on the side of the perimeter over where the new tower has been erected. Trucks drive around back there to make deliveries. I think the second fence and the blocked pedestrian bridge are just to keep folks away from the trucks while work is going on, and also to shield the view of the campers just across the canal on the 1300 loop.

Here is a photo looking over the fence back by the tower:

If you look at the ground off to the right of the big pipes, you can see that there is a trench there. This would suggest that water is being sent off to the corner of the pool area for some purpose.

Here are some photos showing the outside fence of the pool project on the left, and the other fence on the right. This is looking toward the 1500 loop:

This pile of pipes was just over the fence from the area where the two photos above were taken. These suggest that there is some more plumbing going in for something. It is hard to envision the size of these pipes from the photo, but they are large, like maybe 6 to 8 inches in diameter (they looked to be about the same size as those that are sticking up out of the ground in the first photo, above):

From here, I headed over to the 1400 loop. All of the workers were gone, and I thought I would take a look around to see what was going on. Here is a shot of a site that is still being worked on. You can kind of get an idea of how much more concrete is going to be added:

This shot is from a bit into the loop, maybe in front of the comfort station, looking back toward the campfire area (you can see the movie screen there in the background):

It is strange to be on a loop that is completely empty. It is eerily quiet. As I walked around the loop toward the loop exit, I heard trashing in the brush. Something big was walking through the wooded area between the loop and the road. Looking toward the right, this is what I saw:

How many deer do you see in that last photo? There are at least six. I think that there were a total of eight in this little party.

Here is shot of the last outside sites on the 1400 loop:

And this is the site right next to the comfort station, to the left, as you face the comfort station. As you can see, you will practically be at the ladies' room door at the back edge of the concrete on this site:

I then headed back to the cart and drove out next to the pool, and onto Big Pine Drive. As I was passing the 1400 loop entrance, a hawk swooped over head, and landed on a tree just before the dog park:

Next up, evening falls on Friday the 13th at the Fort.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Valentine's Day is not a big decoration holiday at the Fort, but a few folks did do a little decorating.

Like this camper on the 200 loop:

These decorations have nothing to do with Valentine's Day, but I thought that these lighted parrots were pretty cool:

These things also moved! Interesting.

This camper, with the same whimsical signs, was camped on this same site on the 100 loop (last outside site) for a couple of months last year:

We had a beautiful sunset at the Fort on 2/13. I tried to make it to the marina to get a nice sunset shot, but I missed the actual sunset. I got some nice dusk photos instead:

This photo shows that the hammock poles are gone:

On Friday evening, we ate a Giddy-ap-and-go fried chicken dinner from Trail's End, and then headed over to Epcot to take advantage of the evening Extra Magic Hours. The EMH's for Epcot went from 8 to 11 instead of 9 to 12. When we got there at 9, it was still really crowded. The tip board stated that there was a 45 minute wait for Soarin' and a 30 minute wait for Test Track. We headed over to Test Track, and the line was outside the door. We are spoiled. We won't wait on this long of a line. So, we visited Spaceship Earth, played with some of the interactive games there, and called it a night. We stopped by Port Orleans French Quarter for some ice cream on the way back to the Fort. After we got back to the Fort, we did some night time looping. We had a very subdued bunch of campers at the Fort this weekend. It seemed like we were the only people up.

We called it a night at around midnight.

Next up . . .

some behind the fence spy photos from the 600 loop!

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

So, we know that there is an expansion gong on at the 600 loop.

We know that they have erected fences all around this area, and blocked off the pedestrian bridge.

But, it is still easy enough to keep an eye on things. You can kind of see through the fence material, and, you can easily hold a camera over the fence, and between gaps in the fence posts, to get photos.

But, wouldn't it be nice if someone found a way to sneak in to the actual construction site, and get some up close photos?

Who do we know that could do that?

Well, did I mention that my fictitious cousin, Yuri, was visiting us at the 1500 loop from the Dominican Republic? I don't know how that slipped my mind if I didn't.

So, it appears that early on Saturday morning, before any workers were likely to show up, my fictitious cousin who does not exist took my camera, and headed out to the Meadow Trading Post for some coffee. Since he is a silly amateur, who did not know what he was doing, he did not realize that the Meadow Trading Post does not open until 8 am. As he was walking around looking for a way to Trail's End, it looks like my cousin accidentally walked into the 600 loop construction project, and accidentally took the following photos.

I knew nothing about this, as I was back at the camper, sound asleep.

Here are my cousin's photos:

This photo was taken across the lake from the Bike Barn. We can see how early it was, and also we can see that our little lake isn't looking so hot lately:

This is a shot of the fence that goes all the way from the edge of the water, out toward the road:

Do you see a single "Do Not Enter" or "Keep Out" sign along the entire length of this fence? Maybe they need to put a sign up so people will not accidentally wander into the construction site, like my cousin did.

I have a correction to make about the photo saying the fence went all the way to the water's edge. Actually, it doesn't quite make it to the edge:

Looks like someone could walk right around the fence and into the construction site here. Again notice, there is no "Do Not Enter" sign.

And, if someone did wander in from this point, this is what they might see on the other side of the fence:

Here is a piece of that blue pipe that we see sticking out of the ground all over the place back here:

This photo was taken from inside the fence, looking back toward the Meadow Trading Post. Notice that the sidewalk that used to be here has been ripped out. Apparently, there will not be a short cut out of the loop to the Trading Post:

This photo is taken from the same point as the previous one, this time looking in to the construction area:

And this photo is taken looking to the left with my cousin's back to the fence from the same place as the previous two photos. The 15 minute parking spaces by the 900 loop are right across the street from the fence that we see here. I think this might become the new loop entrance, but they have not taken out the trees they would need to for this, so I am not sure.

I don't know if you can read this, but this stake has "Pad" written on it:

Here is one of the white PVC water pipes that stick out at intervals around the loop. I counted about 22 of these, which would suggest that there will be 22 sites, not the 15 that have been repeatedly mentioned (including a castmember who told me 15 when I asked on this visit):

There are two of these electric box things on the new portion of this loop:

This is a shot looking toward the fence that runs along Ft. Wilderness Drive:

This stake says "Pad," too:

I don't know what this stake says:

Here is a closer shot of the water pipes:

And, a couple of shots of some of the heavy equipment which the workers have been using:

This is a shot taken from the back of site #602. This site was not changed when the other sites on 600 were given the premium upgrade. It is inside the construction fence:

The object that you see lying here on the ground at the back corner of site #602 is the faux log that used to hold the utility connections for site #601. The fact that this log has been removed would suggest that site 601 is not going to be where it used to be. This supports my suspicion that the improvements are going to connect to the old 600 loop, and that the old 600 loop entrance is going to be gone:

These shots are taken in the area in front of site 602:

Do you know that there is a limit of 20 photos per post?

Well, there is, so the rest of my cousin's 600 loop photos will be in the next post.

TCD

 

[jodeeluvsdisney]

What a great TR!! I love your pictures and your humor/sarcasm!

It is making me so excited for my first stay at the Fort!!

Keep it coming! I would be excited about the AI pics if I could say I had ever watched that show...but I don't really watch TV, so I'm sure it was exciting for your DD's anyway!

 

[Shan-man]

This photo was taken from inside the fence, looking back toward the Meadow Trading Post. Notice that the sidewalk that used to be here has been ripped out. Apparently, there will not be a short cut out of the loop to the Trading Post:

So sad to see yet another vestige of the old train depart. I made little chuga-chuga, woo-woo sounds every time I pedaled that path! Oh well, maybe I'll get fewer queer looks from folks now that it's gone!

 

[Tri-circle-D]

So sad to see yet another vestige of the old train depart. I made little chuga-chuga, woo-woo sounds every time I pedaled that path! Oh well, maybe I'll get fewer queer looks from folks now that it's gone!

Yes, it is very sad. From the Trading Post on toward the 600 loop, that whole sidewalk is now going to be gone. For now, anyway, you will be able to do your train routine heading out from the other side of the trading post, along the 1300 loop, and then heading into the 1100 loop.

And, I was just re-reading my post, and realized that I forgot to post this photo, which is taken from where the old sidewalk would have run through the current construction site, and looking to the left toward what I think may become the new loop entrance:

TCD

 

[TxTink :)]

Awesome!

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Where we last left off, we were looking at the photos my cousin took around site #602. Here is another photo of site 602:

This is the old log from 601:

I guess that I should have realized that these suckers are made out of solid concrete, since I have cracked so many tail-lights on them, but I didn't realize they were solid. And concrete. Must weigh a ton. It is amazing that Disney spent the $$$ to put this type of item in the campground back in the day. Shows that the Fort was always a notch above a common campground.

A photo of debris in the back of 602:

Here is what is inside of those logs (I know you always wanted to know):

Some more shots of the construction:

This is the sidewalk that leads to the pedestrian bridge in the back of the 600 loop and heading toward the campfire area:

As you can see it is blocked inside the construction fence.

Here is a shot from the pedestrian bridge area looking into the loop. You can see the old mulch path if you look carefully:

These next photos were taken from just outside the double wall silt fence, walking along the lake area, back toward the Meadow Trading Post:

Here we are looking back at the project, right before going back around the fence. It seems like there will still be a lake shore preserved. I don't think this area will be considered part of the individual sites, which would mean that folks should still be able to fish from the bank here.

We are now safely outside of the construction area. This shot is looking back toward the sidewalk that has been removed:

These shots were taken from over the fence in the area around the removed side walk, and closer toward the road. In these photos, it looks like the blue pipes form the border of the new loop road:

Here, you can see where the sidewalk that borders the road has been blocked off:

If you walked straight ahead, and took a photo over the fence, this is what you would see:

This is what makes me think that the entrance is going to be put in here. The sidewalk area that has been removed looks like the width of a loop entrance, doesn't it?

Here is a photo taken from the same spot, but looking to the right, into the new loop area:

And look who drove by at this moment:

The Disney po-po!

Man, they just missed busting my cousin walking all around the restricted area!

Better luck next time!

TCD

 

[DisneyDadinOhio]

Man, we were in 602 a couple of years ago - doesn't quite look the same...

Thanks again TCD for taking the time to post all these pics...!! It is truly appreciated..!!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I really loved your TR! Can't wait to read more and look at more photos!

the only thing concerning is that we requested 600 loop without realizing it was being worked on (just by looking at the map and choosing from premium loops) and by the pictures... well they are kinda confusing to really figure out what it all looks like by just photos- but by the photos it really seems like it's cleared out and not much trees/brush/etc. We really don't want to be in a parking lot campground type situation. Did it appear that way to you? Do you think I should change the loop we requested? We don't want super secluded but we also don't want a site that is right next to someone else without any greenery to make us feel a bit seperated. This looks so barren.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

I really loved your TR! Can't wait to read more and look at more photos!

the only thing concerning is that we requested 600 loop without realizing it was being worked on (just by looking at the map and choosing from premium loops) and by the pictures... well they are kinda confusing to really figure out what it all looks like by just photos- but by the photos it really seems like it's cleared out and not much trees/brush/etc. We really don't want to be in a parking lot campground type situation. Did it appear that way to you? Do you think I should change the loop we requested? We don't want super secluded but we also don't want a site that is right next to someone else without any greenery to make us feel a bit seperated. This looks so barren.

The 600 loop is a unique situation. This is the first and maybe only loop that has been expanded with the new Fort renovations.

I am not sure what criteria led you to pick the 600 loop. Some folks like it for its location. It is close to the marina, and to the Meadow Trading Post, as well as the campfire. But, I personally would choose the 500 or 800 loop over the 600 loop. That being said, I fully intend to at some point request one of the new 600 loop sites. I think it will be cool to stay right there in a brand new site-steps away from the Trading Post.

The loop does look barren now, but you can expect that some landscaping will be added. As for your concern about being next to somebody with no vegetation for privacy, that situation, unfortunately, currently exists at many sites on many loops. But, definitely on some loops more than others.

What is it that you are looking for in a camp site? Location? Space? Privacy? Tell me what is important to you, and I will be happy to give you my $.02.

TCD