Cue the deer, and other magical moments

[SonomaCountyDad]

There is a scene from an 80's film, Funny Farm, where the characters played by Chevy Chase and Madolyn Smith are trying to sell their house. They have a deer locked in a cage, and right when the prospective buyers come around, Chevy says to, "Cue the deer" and the deer is let loose to run right in front of the buyers to convince them it's a great house and property.

Anyway, my wife and I had exactly such a moment last Monday when we arrived. We had checked in a little later than we had wanted, after a long drive, and were in a hurry to get to a dinner reservation at Grand Floridian. This was our first time at Fort Wilderness, so we were just figuring out how things worked. Needless to say, we were not in the best of moods right then. We had also just dropped our son off with my mother-in-law, so we were a bit down about that, too.

We grabbed the bus from the 2600 loop down to the marina, and just after the bus got going, there were two deer right outside the window - a mother and her child. That simple moment erased our problems, immediately calmed us down, and set the tone for the rest of our week. We've had a few of those moments over the years, and although this was the first one that actually involved deer, we always refer to them as our "cue the deer" moments.

Anyone else have a similar moment they want to share? Maybe it was an attraction, or a meal, or seeing something at the Fort or another resort...

 

[SeilerBird]

We grabbed the bus from the 2600 loop down to the marina, and just after the bus got going, there were two deer right outside the window - a mother and her child. That simple moment erased our problems, immediately calmed us down, and set the tone for the rest of our week. We've had a few of those moments over the years, and although this was the first one that actually involved deer, we always refer to them as our "cue the deer" moments.

No doubt they were animatronics.

 

[JanL]

We live in the woods "at the end of the middle of nowhere." Once, I was relaxing in the recliner, reading the Sunday paper by the sun light coming thru the picture window. My daughter whispered, " Turn your head slowly toward the window!" There was a young deer apparently reading over my shoulder. I asked the deer to tell me when he was finished so I could turn the page!

We are fortunate to live away from civilization so we have quite a few "cue the deer" moments, such as the bald eagle eating lunch (a possum he dropped from great heights to kill) in our front yard. There was a semi-circle of vultures gathered around waiting for left overs. One brazen young vulture stepped out toward the eagle and the eagle made a very gutteral noise and gave him the eye and the vulture snapped back into position and didn't try that again.

I am always surprised at the wildlife that shows up at FW, since it seems so civilized and always crowded. We've had turkeys trot across the site and have seen all types of birds around the tents and picnic table.

 

[RoyalMom]

During one stay (1400 loop I think) there was a little bird who would come down from the trees and let my daughters (then 3 and 5) feed it muffin crumbs from their hands. It was more like a Snow White kind of moment, but so magical!

 

[John VN]

DW and I stay at FW often and we always get out early in the AM for walks. Coming across deer and other wildlife is common but one morning was rather special for myself.

I leave the motorhome around 4:00AM and loop around Big Pine Drive and Fort Wilderness Trail 10 times. One morning as I was approaching the 400 loop, 2 deer were off the road on my right and 1 on my left off the road. The deer on the right took off towards the right but the one on my left ran in front of me to the center of the road then continued to slowly run along the center-line of the road a short distance away from me with hoofs clacking for about 50 feet, then headed right and vanished.

We have come within 10 feet of deer along the FW/WL Trail but having a deer as a walking partner was awesome.

 

[Cals dad]

One night a couple of years ago while camping at the fort with my wife, 1yo son, and my parents, the boy decided that he had enough sleep. It was not quite 3 a.m. yet. We got on the golf cart and went looping. While driving by the backside of the Meadows area, we saw about 4-5 deer grazing. We saw another 3 of them up near the bus loop by Pioneer Hall. We then saw a mother with a baby deer over by the group camping area. I was amazed that there were so many deer out at night in an area that is filled with people smells. I gues they are used to the sounds and smells.

We then spent the next couple of hours letting my son run around on the beach so my parents could sleep. That night was full of memories we'll never forget.