RENDEZVOUS AT THE FORT - The Fort Wilderness DISMeet Trip Report October 2020

[bama_ed]

PaHunter, the guest just vacated your planned site this morning. All you need is a CM to prep it.

Ed

 

[himandher818]

Good to everyone rolling safely.

Quick update from yesterday.

Went to store to get the ice and some cookies for Monday. DW wanted to do a roast for tonight so I also got the stuff for a roast. And few other things.

When we got back to site I was putting the new grocery away and DW told me to put the roast in the fridge. I looked around... carrots yep...potatos... yep... roast...um...nope. I had gotten everything for the roast except the roast. Change of plans time.

After that it time to grill some hamburger and hot dogs. Went get the burgers out of the freezer and ... no burgers no hotdogs. Well at least I'll have some when I get back home. A trip to Medows fixed to hamburger and hotdog issue.

Got the grill going and as the coals were just getting ready the rain came in. We debated riding out rain and continuing the grilling, or getting chicken and ribs from P&Js and grilling later.

We rode out the rain and grilled.

Today is AK. On the way there now.

 

[bama_ed]

Starting the first puzzle of this trip.



Ed

 

[Bishoparc]

Chris, because the person on it this morning took their sweet time leaving.

@PaHunter , CM is washing you’re site off. Should be ready for you when you get here

 

[FtW Mike]

My apologies to those in 1100 who had to listen to yelling and screaming during the game.

Headed to Universal in the morning and see what that's all about. At least I'll have it out of my system.
Chris, be safe and we'll see tomorrow evening.

Interested in your thoughts on Universal. We are planning on a few days there come Dec/Jan to check out their holiday decorations. Back in 2011 during my DW Lucille's first ever trip we went over and were not impressed. At the time all she had seen of WDW was our cabin, the settlement area and reception outpost and wanted to return to Disney as she felt like Universal was akin to a ghetto (we are both retired NYC Law Enforcement so we know true ghetto and she is a Brooklyn girl very familiar with Coney Island) We did enjoy The Harry Potter Hogsmeade area the rest not so much

Side note last year in December we saw plenty of Al E Gator's relatives in the canal behind the 1800 loop mostly back by the cattle gate

 

[PaHunter]

So we have arrived, had a commitee to welcome us. Site 1119. Trailer and truck right here.

 

[bama_ed]

Morning update time.

I'm having to adjust to the later sunrise time here in Orlando versus home to wait till it's light enough to start a puzzle. But dawn came and I started the puzzle and soon thereafter the @Bishoparc site was there to help (good puzzlers they are).

All of a sudden about maybe 9am the earth started to shake and coming around the corner was PaHunter and DW in the monolith:

A CM working our loop called in the Fort Ranger (orange vest) to assist in backing in with the appropriate hand signals (the ranger said he does this 4-5 times a day).

It only took two shimmies and a waggle (I believe those are the technical terms) for PaHunter to get into his site. It was not difficult at all (at least didn't appear to be).

He got in with no problem.

Later he unhitched the truck and moved it to the other (longer) side of his campsite.

Back at the puzzle table @garneska site showed up with Mallory to help puzzle and chat and talk and laugh. (Kris had stopped by briefly after her morning run).

When I realized it was 10am I had to call a hard stop at 1015am or else we might still be at it! Here is the progress on day 1.

DW and I are off to lunch at Disney Springs/Chef Art Smith's Homecoming today. Still hot and humid today with a good chance of a shower but we are supposed to get a break from the humidity and rain starting tomorrow.

Ciao!

Ed

PS - wish all ya'll could be here too.

 

[bjschil]

Morning update time.

I'm having to adjust to the later sunrise time here in Orlando versus home to wait till it's light enough to start a puzzle. But dawn came and I started the puzzle and soon thereafter the @Bishoparc site was there to help (good puzzlers they are).

All of a sudden about maybe 9am the earth started to shake and coming around the corner was PaHunter and DW in the monolith:

A CM working our loop called in the Fort Ranger (orange vest) to assist in backing in with the appropriate hand signals (the ranger said he does this 4-5 times a day).

It only took two shimmies and a waggle (I believe those are the technical terms) for PaHunter to get into his site. It was not difficult at all (at least didn't appear to be).

He got in with no problem.

Later he unhitched the truck and moved it to the other (longer) side of his campsite.

Back at the puzzle table @garneska site showed up with Mallory to help puzzle and chat and talk and laugh. (Kris had stopped by briefly after her morning run).

When I realized it was 10am I had to call a hard stop at 1015am or else we might still be at it! Here is the progress on day 1.

DW and I are off to lunch at Disney Springs/Chef Art Smith's Homecoming today. Still hot and humid today with a good chance of a shower but we are supposed to get a break from the humidity and rain starting tomorrow.

Ciao!

Ed

PS - wish all ya'll could be here too.

We love the puzzle, and everything, -all of you are sharing Your experiences. Keep the posts coming. Green with envy, but next meet we hope to be there.

 

[Bishoparc]

Ok, mid-day update.

Started out bright and early with @bama_ed’s puzzle time. Josie was out the door before I even got up. Don’t get between Josie and a puzzle lol. Of course between Josie and Ed, they’re professionals. I just hold up the puzzle box.



As Ed mentioned, went over and helped @PaHunter get backed in. I was the official tell Chris when to stop at the back of the site person.

At the end of puzzle time, headed back to our site then off to the buses for Epcot. Walked right on one with no wait.



Epcot’s entrance has changed a lot so you actually walk through what used to be backstage areas.



Saw a couple of the Epcot cavalcades as we were walking around the world showcase



These tires actually have Mickey heads on them!


More later! Epcot is busy. Not sure how many rides we will do.

 

[tiggerdad]

Interested in your thoughts on Universal. We are planning on a few days there come Dec/Jan to check out their holiday decorations. Back in 2011 during my DW Lucille's first ever trip we went over and were not impressed. At the time all she had seen of WDW was our cabin, the settlement area and reception outpost and wanted to return to Disney as she felt like Universal was akin to a ghetto (we are both retired NYC Law Enforcement so we know true ghetto and she is a Brooklyn girl very familiar with Coney Island) We did enjoy The Harry Potter Hogsmeade area the rest not so much

Side note last year in December we saw plenty of Al E Gator's relatives in the canal behind the 1800 loop mostly back by the cattle gate

Do not come to this place without an express pass (extra $100 per person). I can only assume Florida lifting restrictions has added to this mess. Wait times too long to enjoy, place is pretty busy, half drink kiosks still closed. Several rides are virtual lines and gone as soon as park opened.

Not impressed at this point. Will update later if I can find a place here that serves food and is open.

 

[PaHunter]

Well we got in this morning and interrupted puzzle time. Got backed in to our site and got everything connected. Chatted with Joe, Gloria, Kris, Bert, Lisa and Ed for a bit. We all split for lunch and we now the rain has come. We were sitting out in the heat and humidity. May fire up the truck and head to Disney Springs, or at least take it out to Overflow to get the bus. Maybe get dinner over there or hit up World of Coke.

 

[Disbug]

Do not come to this place without an express pass (extra $100 per person). I can only assume Florida lifting restrictions has added to this mess. Wait times too long to enjoy, place is pretty busy, half drink kiosks still closed. Several rides are virtual lines and gone as soon as park opened.

Not impressed at this point. Will update later if I can find a place here that serves food and is open.

Awww, tiggerdad! Sorry you were caught in the Columbus Day weekend crowds. It is supposed to be an 11 out of 10 Crowds Day. With the heat, humidity, and masks I can only imagine how unpleasant it is right now... Hope you find a cool beverage soon! Universal is much more impressive at other times of year.

 

[tiggerdad]

Yeah, wasn't interested in coming on weekend but only option with last minute addition of kids to travel plans. We taking a break for burger in AC. We'll handle that differently in the future if we head back to Universal.

We'll have tomorrow to rest as only plans for tomorrow are the Dismeet. For supper tonight We'll get takeout or a restaurant on way back to FW. Thinking we'll try Amorettes too, hear great things about it.

 

[FtW Mike]

Michael was going to recommend Margaritaville We had a Cheeseburger In Paradise not too far away and the Gumbo I LOVED. I would say based on weather would be a good Islands of Adventure day with all the get wet rides

 

[bama_ed]

Well we are back from lunch and DW wanted to take a nap so welcome to the BONUS post for today (same amount of info but I usually do a morning and evening post, not a mid-day one).

The covid procedures at Disney Springs are like the parks I guess. Coming into the Lime parking deck (the one nearest to WoD for reference), a good portion of the second floor is given over to temperature screenings. THEN you go down the escalators/stairs and land down by the Polite Pig restaurant.

Wold of Disney has one entrance around the back. Not on the lake side but the opposite side. Skipped it. Went to the Christmas Shop for some AC browsing.

Walked across the bridge between T-Rex and Rainforest Cafe. A boatcar was taking guests for a spin.

We went past a bama_ed favorite, Raglan Road (dinner ADR Tuesday).

Found our way to Chef Art Smith's Homecoming (our first time there).

We were seated in a corner inside so we could see basically the whole dining room in front of us. NIce.

The theme is fresh-to-market. Food from Florida farms to your table with a Southern comfort food angle. Here is the entree menu for lunch (there is a salad section, a sandwich section, and more.

I ordered the famous fried chicken and up-charged to get the mac-n-cheese (it comes recommended by @garneska) instead of the mashed potatoes. DW got the shrimp and grits with a little bacon thrown on top (because bacon makes EVERYthing taste better, no?). She nearly always gets shrimp and grits when she sees it on the menu. The meal did not disappoint:

My mac-n-cheese was piping hot and good. I actually had 3 pieces of chicken which was a pleasant surprise. A drumstick, a boneless thigh, and a boneless breast with the first wing bone segment attached. It was filling. DW pronounced her shrimp-and-grits delicious.

DW felt sleepy after eating so we came back. It had apparently rained at the Fort as reported but had not at Disney Springs.

We're just hanging at the Fort this evening. Might go for a bike ride and take some pics. Or walkabout after dark to see what decorations are out.

Bama Ed

 

[tiggerdad]

Michael was going to recommend Margaritaville We had a Cheeseburger In Paradise not too far away and the Gumbo I LOVED. I would say based on weather would be a good Islands of Adventure day with all the get wet rides

She was pretty backed up at lunch. Crowd starting to thin a little. Wait times trickling down so making 2nd round.

 

[himandher818]

That lunch looks good. I think I'm gonna have to add Art Smith's to my list of places to try. Problem for me would be the chicken or the country fired steak.

Glad to see PaHunter has made in safely.

Today was AK (myself, DS1, DDiL, DS2). We arrived at about 7:20 as I was finishing my post this morning (Did it on my phone, first and hopefully last time).
When we arrived it was about 60 min wait for FoP and 5 min for everything else. So we started with a walk on to Everest and then Dinosaur. Then hiked over to Africa for a Safari. All of that by 10:00. It was empty this morning, but got a lot heavier as the day went on.

After that we did the Gorilla Trail, then headed over to Pandora to see about FoP, but the wait was up 90+ so we did Navi River hoping it would die down a bit. When that was over FoP was 100+ so we decided to an early lunch at Flame Tree and see if FoP line dropped during lunch. After our lunch and during prime lunch time FoP was still 90+. So we hiked back to Asia for the "Tiger" trail (I can't remember the name). After that the FoP was still 90+ and it was starting rain. Since we had all done FoP before we decided to call it day and head back to camp for a nap.

I like to take my "good" camera to AK to get some animal shots. Here are few of the better ones from today.



Black Rhino from the Safari


Some Elephant's on the Safari


Hippo's from the Safari


Lions on the Safari doing what Lions on the Safari do...sleep.


The older female on the Gorilla Trial



A Meerkat on the Gorilla Trail.

Gibbon on the "Tiger" trail


Another Gibbon


Komodo Dragon on the "Tiger" trail


The Tiger from the "Tiger" trail

I hope these aren't to big and cause the page to load slow.

 

[himandher818]

A few more pics.


In the bat enclosure on the "Tiger" trail they have tree that grows sliced watermelon. I want a tree like that.

Also @bama_ed, shortly after the turkeys left the site next me, they wandered over to my site.

 

[cruising spud]

Fantastic to see that all of you have arrived safely at Disney. My husband and I had hoped to make it to at least one Disney-people gathering this year-Pigeon Forge, Lake George, or Fort Wilderness, but coronavirus has us in the cautious mode. I will say-seeing you all makes me feel a bit sad that we aren't at Disney and don't have a chance to meet you all. I was even hoping that our dog, Onesie, could meet Mallory.





But, hoping next year (okay, I am guessing 2022) will allow us to attend an event or two.

 

[FtW Mike]

I believe that the Tiger Trail goes by the name of The Maharaja Jungle Trek