Another TCD Trip Report-August 2009 @ The Fort!

[DaveInTN]

Wow! I was in serious need of a TCD TR...for the Fort! The cruise TR this summer was interesting and all, but nothing beats pics of the Fort.

And as someone who does like the 500 loop, I'm thinking maybe I should do my part and bring several cases of black Rustoleum high-heat spray paint when I visit in December. I'm all about beautifying my environment, so touching up those rusty grills would be a good public service project. Disney is a not-for-profit organization, right?

 

[Mickey Mobile]

TCD another awesome report! Looks like you almost had the place to your self. Seeing the place empty makes me want to give up only going during holidays. To answer your question about what other loop has a basketball and tetherball area, that would be the 1400 loop. Thanks for the report, I have missed them. They always make me want to go!

 

[starbuc71]

TCD, what a great report. We were at the fort back twords the end of July and stayed in our favorite 800 loop sites on both sides of us were empty at least 3 deep. It's nice being quiet but it's also fun to see other campers

 

[LONE-STAR]

Great to have TCD gang camping again. Great trip report.

 

[chipscamping buddy]

Hey TCD, where was this rain you spoke of?? We were there 8/21 - 8/24 (at WDW, not the Fort) and yes we saw some dark clouds and a little bit of water spit at us mid afternoon each day, but no real rain to speak of, except for a short shower yesterday afternoon when I was waiting at the Swan for Mears.

I was at MK late night Friday night no rain, AK most of the day Saturday, Studios on Sunday, and Epcot on Monday.

We just got back too. We were late though, didn't get down until 22, but came back up today. 300 loop was about 90% full over the weekend, but down to about 50% Monday and Tuesday. I think we were the highest occupancy loop from what I saw.

We saw the rain. Rain and T-storm Sunday afternoon in Epcot, there go the fast passes to TT as it was offline until thunder stopped. Monday, after 4 hours at AK, 2 hours at HS, we got to Ep in time for, you guessed it, more rain. Back to FW with no TT. The funny thing was, we got back and found the bikes were dry. No rain to speak of at the Fort.

Judging by the crowd levels, or lack thereof, a lot of resorts were very light. Not light enough for their to be any dining to be had. These last minute trips make it very difficult to eat at WDW. We gave up, went off property on two nights we couldn't find an open place at WDW to trade our money for food.

 

[jriae2000]

42 days till were in the Fort. Thanks for the great photos. Makes me wish I were there now.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

I guess it was empty........kind of scary.....I hope its not like that in October.

I don't think the Fort will look like that in October. As I said, I have never seen the Fort so empty. The free dining offer drained folks from the Fort. Disney shot itself in the foot by raising prices so high. Now, they are offering discounts (as I said, I paid $33 a night!) but I think it's too late in the game to attract folks who made other plans, even with the discounts. I am hoping that the low occupancy will mean more discounts are in our future.

Well, I did just go out to the Disney website and book a preferred site for February 20th through March 2nd!! 10 great fun filled days!!

That site that backs up to the Settlement?? Is that the folks with TONS of decorations and lights and all those blow ups? Wow..she has a ton of stuff...How does she get the same site? I thought you couldn't reserve a particular site?

As far as I know, you can't reserve specific sites, but I guess it depends on who you know. There are definite regulars who occupy certain sites for long blocks of time in the winter. I see the same rigs on certain sites for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, so the no reserving a specific site rule obviously can be bent if you ask the right person.

Hey TCD, where was this rain you spoke of?? We were there 8/21 - 8/24 (at WDW, not the Fort) and yes we saw some dark clouds and a little bit of water spit at us mid afternoon each day, but no real rain to speak of, except for a short shower yesterday afternoon when I was waiting at the Swan for Mears.

I was at MK late night Friday night no rain, AK most of the day Saturday, Studios on Sunday, and Epcot on Monday.

As mentioned by a later poster, there was rain! It was just localized. On Friday afternoon, I set up camp in a steady drizzle that turned into a brief but heavy downpour. On Saturday, a brief storm blew through the Fort, causing the pool to be closed briefly. On Sunday, we were at Typhoon Lagoon, and had to sit out a storm for about 45 minutes in the late afternoon. It poured! But, when we got back to the Fort in the early evening, everything there was dry. Even though it rained like crazy at Typhoon Lagoon. And that isn't that far from the Fort. Weird.

Were y'all at EMH on Friday night at the MK? So were we! It was advertised as running until 1, but when we got there, it was going until 2! We were also at AK on Saturday afternoon! Did you come by the Fort?

TCD

Great Report as always TCD.... the other loop with basketball and tetherball I think is 300??? Or am I thinking the basketball is in the middle and the tetherball is at the playground behind it???

Well, you are close, but no cigar. The 300 loop does have a basketball hoop, but the tetherball, while close, is not in the loop. Good try.

Wow! I was in serious need of a TCD TR...for the Fort! The cruise TR this summer was interesting and all, but nothing beats pics of the Fort.

And as someone who does like the 500 loop, I'm thinking maybe I should do my part and bring several cases of black Rustoleum high-heat spray paint when I visit in December. I'm all about beautifying my environment, so touching up those rusty grills would be a good public service project. Disney is a not-for-profit organization, right?

I am glad to be posting a trip report here, too. I think it would be very good of you to paint those unsightly grill lids. And while you are at it, please add some shelves. It bothers me that those are missing.

TCD another awesome report! Looks like you almost had the place to your self. Seeing the place empty makes me want to give up only going during holidays. To answer your question about what other loop has a basketball and tetherball area, that would be the 1400 loop. Thanks for the report, I have missed them. They always make me want to go!

We have a winner! Yes, the 1400 loop is the only other loop with both a basketball goal and a tetherball court. Since you did so well with that question, can anyone tell me the location of all the basketball goals available for use by campers? There are a couple in out of the way places. Can anyone name them all?

TCD, what a great report. We were at the fort back twords the end of July and stayed in our favorite 800 loop sites on both sides of us were empty at least 3 deep. It's nice being quiet but it's also fun to see other campers

I agree with you about it being more fun when the Fort is full. Looping just isn't the same when more than half a loop is empty. And, it is also more fun to visit when folks have their sites decorated for a holiday.

Great to have TCD gang camping again. Great trip report.

Thank you. And, for those reading along, please be sure to check back, I have A LOT more photos!

We just got back too. We were late though, didn't get down until 22, but came back up today. 300 loop was about 90% full over the weekend, but down to about 50% Monday and Tuesday. I think we were the highest occupancy loop from what I saw.

We saw the rain. Rain and T-storm Sunday afternoon in Epcot, there go the fast passes to TT as it was offline until thunder stopped. Monday, after 4 hours at AK, 2 hours at HS, we got to Ep in time for, you guessed it, more rain. Back to FW with no TT. The funny thing was, we got back and found the bikes were dry. No rain to speak of at the Fort.

Judging by the crowd levels, or lack thereof, a lot of resorts were very light. Not light enough for their to be any dining to be had. These last minute trips make it very difficult to eat at WDW. We gave up, went off property on two nights we couldn't find an open place at WDW to trade our money for food.

You are not kidding about the on-property restaurants. We visited the Poly one night for dinner. All of the restaurants were slammed! I guess that's what management wanted with the free dining promotion, but it is a pain for those who didn't make reservations months in advance.

WOW what a fantastic TR & photos. I have dying to see pic of the preferred loops & these are the best I've seen. I never imagined FW could be so empty. I wonder if it will be that way the first two weeks of November.

Thanks Again & WOW

The first couple of weeks in November will be a little slow, but the campground will not be as empty as it was this past weekend.

42 days till were in the Fort. Thanks for the great photos. Makes me wish I were there now.

I hope those 42 days go by fast for you. For now, though, I have a lot more photos to share. So, let's press on, shall we?

TCD

 

[des1954]

Hey TCD, where was this rain you spoke of?? We were there 8/21 - 8/24 (at WDW, not the Fort) and yes we saw some dark clouds and a little bit of water spit at us mid afternoon each day, but no real rain to speak of, except for a short shower yesterday afternoon when I was waiting at the Swan for Mears.

I was at MK late night Friday night no rain, AK most of the day Saturday, Studios on Sunday, and Epcot on Monday.

Carol - You've been to Florida enough to know that it can rain on one side of the street and not the other. I often have a down-pour at my house and yet just one mile away, nada. It rained a lot this past weekend at my house. So...it probably did rain at FtW and not at the parks. Happens all the time.

And TCD,,,to answer the question you posed about the tether ball location....the other loop is 1400. Big Bear/Little Bear.

We're going to the Fort this weekend (8/27-8/30) and selfishly, I hope it's as empty as it was for TCD. I'm going to try & get them to mark down my rate upon check in. I booked for $69.75 (tax incl) for full hook-up back in March. I need to have a discount on that price!

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Without further adieu, let's continue on our journey. (What is adieu, and why do we say that? It's French, right?).

Where I left off, I was in the horse barn, snapping photos of the new signs. I guess I should apologize about the photo quality. I know some of these photos are not the best. But, I leave the quality to fellow Disboarder Ynottony. I go for the quantity.

Here are some more signs and horse for you. Read the signs (don't just look at the pictures), there are some interesting facts on them (and some of these might be on the exam):

Hmmm? Was does Tom get Timothy's hay? Does Timothy get Tom's? Who is Timothy anyway? These folks who work in the barn don't have it so easy, do they?

Wow! That's quite enough horse and barn photos, wouldn't you say?

If you agreed with that, I hate to tell you, but there are more equine photos coming up. I couldn't slight the ponies that have to live outside, could I?

So, here's some more:

Here's the blacksmith shop:

And a couple more pony pics for good measure:

That's all for the horses and ponies.

Here are some shots from the barn area looking toward Bay Lake:

This is the Fort Wilderness Pavilion. This is where they host Mickey's Backyard BBQ. I always thought the thing you see on the pole was a birdhouse. But, after taking a good look at it, maybe it is for bats? Anyone know?

From here, I will be moving on to look at some more of the empty loops and sites, stay tuned.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Carol - You've been to Florida enough to know that it can rain on one side of the street and not the other. I often have a down-pour at my house and yet just one mile away, nada. It rained a lot this past weekend at my house. So...it probably did rain at FtW and not at the parks. Happens all the time.

And TCD,,,to answer the question you posed about the tether ball location....the other loop is 1400. Big Bear/Little Bear.

We're going to the Fort this weekend (8/27-8/30) and selfishly, I hope it's as empty as it was for TCD. I'm going to try & get them to mark down my rate upon check in. I booked for $69.75 (tax incl) for full hook-up back in March. I need to have a discount on that price!

Deb- You are correct (of course) about the tetherball/basketball question. But we already had a winner. So, try the basketball goal question. Can you name all the locations?

You are passholders right? Try the passholders link on the WDW site. That's how I got my $33 rate ($37 and change with tax). I'll bet you can do better than $69 for a full. They were offering premiums for $65. Please let us know if you get a discount. I think it would be helpful for folks to know what discounts are being offered so we can ask for them!

TCD

 

[Shan-man]

The 900 loop has the distinction of being one of the only loops with both a tether-ball court, and a basketball hoop...Can anyone name the other?

Sorry I'm late to the party, forgive me if this has already been answered. I'm pretty sure both 1300 and 1400 have basketball and tetherball. 1300 also has a play structure and sand volleyball court, making it a prime loop for active families.

EDIT: Oh, sorry, I told you I was late to the party. Are you sure there isn't one on 1300?... I coulda sworn...

 

[Tri-circle-D]

From the barn area, I headed out toward the 1400 loop. I haven't posted any photos from there, yet.

Maybe there will be a lot of folks camping on the 1400 loop. After all, it is closest to the campfire area and pool, right? What's not to like about that?

On the way to 1400, I passed by the 500 loop, and snapped a couple photos. I think my intention was to show that some of the sites on the outside of the loop are rather cramped for Disney to be charging a premium for. I am not sure if these photos show that, but I think almost any full hookup site would offer you more space than these couple of premium sites:

Now, here we are on the 1400 loop:

No campers here, either!

Let's move on, then.

Let's check out how things look around the golf cart parking area around the pool, and we also need to look at the new barricades that have been erected to prevent golf carts from going over the bridge to the trading post and from entering the 1400 loop from the Meadow area.

Here is a sign telling us how to get to the Meadows (with an s again!) Recreation Complex:

Look what they painted over on this sign:

Here's the sign that says who can enter and who can't:

They have pretty much repaired all the damage caused by the construction traffic for the pool project:

This fence is new:

They have gone to great lengths to try to block anyplace someone might try to park a golf cart other than the new designated golf cart parking area behind the Bike Barn.

These folks were setting up for a party in the Pavilion between the pool and tennis courts. There are picnic tables and several grills here, and it sure is convenient to the pool. A real nice place for a party! As far as I know, it is first come first served for this pavilion.

Moving along:

Bike racks are now set up in the old golf cart parking spaces:

The shuffleboard courts are still here:

You can see that a Segway group is getting briefed on the concrete area right behind the Bike Barn. I hadn't heard that the meeting location was changed from the old River Country area, but it looks like is has:

Looking toward the campfire area:

There's still plenty more to come!

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Sorry I'm late to the party, forgive me if this has already been answered. I'm pretty sure both 1300 and 1400 have basketball and tetherball. 1300 also has a play structure and sand volleyball court, making it a prime loop for active families.

EDIT: Oh, sorry, I told you I was late to the party. Are you sure there isn't one on 1300?... I coulda sworn...

Now you have me doubting myself. I will have to review my photo archives, but I am fairly certain that there is not a tetherball court in the 1200/1300 loop. Basketball, yes. Playground, yes. Volleyball, yes. But tetherball? I don't think so.

I agree about the playground, that is a nice feature if you have younger children.

Would you like to try your hand at identifying the location of all the basketball goals available for guest use at the Fort?

TCD

 

[Disneylitch]

The pictures are great. We take our bikes and it is nice to see additional bike racks. We have complained about this for years. Do you know if they have added additional bike racks at the marina? We get tired of parking our bikes in the sand.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

This is where the barricades are that prevent access to the 1400 loop. This surprised me. I thought that they would only be over near the 1400 loop comfort station, which would still allow folks to drive their carts to the other side of the movie screen, and perhaps take in a drive-in movie. We used to do that from time to time. Well, no more, you cannot drive behind the screen.

Or can you?

I do not encourage rule breaking of any type, but I think a golf cart might be able to fit between those two poles. Not that I know from personal experience. I'm just saying.

While we are here, let's look across the lake to the nice view of the Wilderness for which the Fort is named. You know, that nice wooded area that the brilliant folks who planned the Fort left for future generations to enjoy?

Oh wait, I forgot.

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot, errr I mean some more campsites.

Lovely, isn't it?

As you can see, this is the only premium loop in the campground that had more than 50% of its sites occupied this weekend.

I ask, rhetorically, whether it was necessary for the greedy FW managers to tear down trees to stick a few more campsites here?

Too late to ask that question now.

Moving right along . . .

Here are the barricades that prevent access to the bridge:

Looking back toward the Segway group again:

Just a moment ago, we looked at the Do Not Enter sign prominently posted at the entrance to the Meadow Recreation Complex. I mean Meadows. Well, that did not stop this real man of genius from driving in:

From here, let's head over to the "cloverleaf" area to see what's going on in the full hook up sites.

Here's the entrance to the 1500 loop:

And, here's the 1700 loop:

As you can see, there were more campers on the full loops.

What does that tell you management?

That folks don't want to pay more money for the premium sites, that's what!

There are still folks who periodically say that 1700 and 1900 are not pet loops, but they are. They both have poop bag dispensers, and they both had dogs on them on this visit.

Here's a dog.

He's standing under the small tree in the right background of this photo:

It's either a dog or a pony.

I'm pretty sure it was just a dog.

I have to upload some more photos.

There have been 243 posted so far on this thread, in case you're counting.

That's pretty good with the quantity, no?

I'll be back later.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

The pictures are great. We take our bikes and it is nice to see additional bike racks. We have complained about this for years. Do you know if they have added additional bike racks at the marina? We get tired of parking our bikes in the sand.

Oh? So this is all your fault!

Just kidding.

I don't like the new restrictions on where golf carts can go, but it is probably for the best safety-wise.

I did not notice any new bike racks at the marina. There are some photos of one of my DD's feeding the ducks a few posts back. You can see the same old bike racks in the sand in those photos.

TCD

 

[29apr00]

thanks for a great report TCD!! I love looking at your vast QUANTITY of pics! Really gets us in the mood for our 1st trip to the Ft in December.

 

[clkelley]

Yes, I was at late night EMH on Friday night!! Rick didn't make it, but that's OK.

Rick is still at Disney, I'm back at home till tomorrow. Had to come home for that nasty work thing. (But I won't complain too much, it's better than the alternative.)

Yeah, I know how the rain can do. It does it at home too. As a matter of fact, I have seen it rain in my back yard and be dry in my front yard before!!!!

So Deb, you're gonna be at the Fort this weekend??!!! We will definitely drop by then!!! We've got dining plans, but don't have any definite park plans, so have plenty of time!!

 

[LORNADUCK]

Deb, I called last week and had my rate for Labor Day reduced to $47 a night for full hookup. I think I got FL residence.
Carol when are you and Rick staying till, I think you had told me and I think we will miss each other, but just checking incase your plans have changed.
Have a great time all of you.

 

[Mickey Mobile]

We have a winner! Yes, the 1400 loop is the only other loop with both a basketball goal and a tetherball court. Since you did so well with that question, can anyone tell me the location of all the basketball goals available for use by campers? There are a couple in out of the way places. Can anyone name them all?

1) Between the 100-200 loops
2) 300 loop
3) 1400 loop
4) Between 1800-1900 loops
5) Between 1200-1300 loops
6) Next to the cabin pool
7) By the group camp area at the end of the road.