Return to River Country . . . And More! A New TCD Trip Report- April 2010

[Tri-circle-D]

TCD.....I think this may be the most humor-filled report youve ever done.....I like it. Its nice to see your not all cloak & dagger!!!! Not that the super-spy reports arent extremely entertaining...but youve got a good sense of humor. You're getting better and better when we already thought you were the best!!!

Gee, thanks, Rog. I appreciate that.

Hey, if you are familiar with Typhone Lagone....were you lurking during your absence??

Admit it, you love us too much to stay away completely.

You were Colson, weren't you?

Dang, I knew I spelled Typhone Lagone wrong!

Honest Injun (I apologize to any Native Americans who may be reading along), I did not read a lick of anything on the Dis from early December until I got back from my Spring Break trip earlier this month. Since then, I have been catching up. And I see I missed some funny stuff. Including a whole DaveInTN TR that had some most excellent stuff regarding your girlfriend, S.W.!

And, (knock on wood), I still have my hair, so I was not Colson. I think Gatordad was Colson.

TCD

 

[DaveInTN]

Since then, I have been catching up. And I see I missed some funny stuff. Including a whole DaveInTN TR that had some most excellent stuff regarding your girlfriend, S.W.!

Well, thanks. But dear Ms. White has nothing on those accordian playing hippies!

 

[PattnFmly]

I so love reading these threads! You are a great adventurer! And for the record, the Disney Club was a free thing, that corporations got and offered as a perk for employees. Since it didn't cost me anything, I was happy to get any discount I could! I remember it being a better discount for park tickets though, and the whole family could use one card. Disappeared a long time ago.

 

[SandrA9810]

The calliope thingie a ma jig... they still use it like once or twice a year. I remember Kari telling me seeing it on some holiday. Of course I only worked 6 months at MK, so I didn't get to see it. But I think it was in 08 that she told me about it. Maybe Disney is just tired of it sitting in storage and want to stick it some place new to get it out of the way.

I love seeing these pictures, and I wish I had a good camera to take some snap shots.

And do they still ride past the old cabin by the swamp trail during the Haunted Hay Ride?? I haven't been on it in a couple years now since it went to the carriage ride... stupid entertainment union ruining the good stuff at the Fort.
See under their union rules, other areas are not allowed to provide "entertainment" to large groups. That's why the guys that now do the sing a long are the same guys from the Banjo Bob group that plays in Frontierland. And entertainment would've taken over the haunted hay ride if they left it as the wagon, but they're still allowed to perform it for just 1 family at a time.

 

[kampfirekim]

As you well know, I would trust a snake or gator before I trust a hippie. I should say here that I really have nothing against hippies. I like what they stand for. But, they are dangerous! You know, with the drugs, accordions, and murdering and such.

Who says a man can't tie his hammock to a tree? By gosh, this is the U S of A! If I want to tie my hammock to a tree, I am going to tie my hammock to a tree. Just try to stop me! TCD

Thanks for the comic relief! They should change M.I.L.F. to TCD's Laugh Floor. (Even though I know the hippies weren't originally intended to be funny. )

The Fort NEEDS a clothesline, hammock hanging communiity. What's campin' without a little rope tied to trees.....as long as it doesn't fall into the hands of the hippies. I'm just sayin'.

BTW, what DO the hippies stand for? The drugs and murdering are bad enough, but ACCORDIANS.......YIKES!

We were posting at the time so I think you missed this. Think you might've missed one before me too. I just HAVE to know what hippies stand for and the warning about rope in the wrong hands needed to be restated. You can't be too careful! Just saying.

I'm reading every word, looking at every pic and loving every minute! Thanks for giving your time and energy to keep us entertained and informed. Never met you, but I'm glad you're back!

 

[bama_ed]

Andrew,

We went on a scavenger hunt back along the old Swamp Trail on our last trip in November. I agree with you that the Contemp and BLT look pretty nice across the lake. Here is a cell phone picture I took:

The undergrowth gets pretty thick pretty fast and it's also pretty marshy/mushy.

I like the pictures of your campsite in 1500. I remember that particular site when I was there last. The picture of the hammock slung up in some slanting shadows looks very relaxing. And the ol' BSA dining fly is still going strong.

Keep the photo report coming!

Bama ED

 

[BigDaddyRog]

And for the record, the Disney Club was a free thing, that corporations got and offered as a perk for employees. Since it didn't cost me anything, I was happy to get any discount I could! I remember it being a better discount for park tickets though, and the whole family could use one card. Disappeared a long time ago.

Oooohhhhh...I remeber the Disney Club now!!!! I had a Disney Club Card from when I worked at the Hard Rock Cafe!!! I forgot all about that...it got you like a 10% discount at the Disney Store, a VERY small discount on park tickets, and an even smaller discount at the shops inside of Disneys parks. I went to Disneyland with it one year(the ONLY time Ive ever been to Disneyland). I Googled it to see if I could find a picture of the card and didnt come up with anything...thats how insignificant this was.


And the little cabin that is on the other side of the bridge? Its where they play the soundtrack for the fireworks displays. If youre at the forts beach during the MKs fireworks, you can hear it on most nights.

 

[DisCamper]

Found more pictures

This pic does not show how big this tree is

The last pic just shows how big that tree is. The 3 of us could not wrap are arms around it.

 

[Lil' Lisa]

Wow! That is one BIG tree!

 

[Barnabus]

TCD-

Very cool pics. I wondered about the swamp trail.

Did you forget to post the railroad pics or just making us wait??

 

[EpcotBill]

And for the record, the Disney Club was a free thing, that corporations got and offered as a perk for employees. Since it didn't cost me anything, I was happy to get any discount I could! I remember it being a better discount for park tickets though, and the whole family could use one card. Disappeared a long time ago.

The Magic Kingdom Club was free through corporations. It was replaced by The Disney Club. Anyone could join The Disney Club and it had a yearly fee of $39.95. It only lasted 2 or 3 years.

 

[3gr8kids]

 

[dtum]

This was so great that i had to dig out my scrapbooks and walk down memory lane. Found an old picture of Swamp Trail from 97 when the trail really was there! Great work (and a whole lot more nerve than I would ever have in a snake/gator area)!

 

[MyHappiestPlace]

Amazing!! thanks so much for sharing the pics. We were just at the Fort a few weeks ago renting some of the boats for a cool family reunion and we found some of the boarded up areas as well. I was telling my brothers all about the dude on the camping boards that "discovered" some pics of RC - we used to camp here all the time and RC was one of our fave places.

 

[DisCamper]

 

[auntie]

Sept. '08 we attempted to locate the swamp trail, based on information I had read about here.
All I can say is that bugs in Florida are freakin' HUGE!
Our adventure didn't last too long.

I give you credit TCD...you are very dedicated to your reporting.

Seems a shame Disney's allowed it to deteriorate the way it has.

 

[SandrA9810]

I recently went on a hunt myself. Found the railroad tracks and followed them way beyond the fallen trees. It was just after our nice hard freeze of Jan so the vines were all pretty much dead. Made it to the end of the 700 loop before the brush was just too low to the ground. It's surprisingly close to the back side of 700, maybe like 30ft into the brush are the tracks. of course all the ties are still there.

 

[sshudson99]

Loving the trip report!! Sure hope them skeeters are gone by June 11th !!

 

[Tri-circle-D]

And do they still ride past the old cabin by the swamp trail during the Haunted Hay Ride?? I haven't been on it in a couple years now since it went to the carriage ride... stupid entertainment union ruining the good stuff at the Fort.
See under their union rules, other areas are not allowed to provide "entertainment" to large groups. That's why the guys that now do the sing a long are the same guys from the Banjo Bob group that plays in Frontierland. And entertainment would've taken over the haunted hay ride if they left it as the wagon, but they're still allowed to perform it for just 1 family at a time.

Yes, the cabin is still used as a prop for the Haunted Carriage Rides. I didn't know that about the Entertainment Union. I wondered why the hayrides became carriage rides with taped narration.

TCD-

Very cool pics. I wondered about the swamp trail.

Did you forget to post the railroad pics or just making us wait??

No I did not forget. I have a lot of railroad info. I will be getting to that soon.

This was so great that i had to dig out my scrapbooks and walk down memory lane. Found an old picture of Swamp Trail from 97 when the trail really was there! Great work (and a whole lot more nerve than I would ever have in a snake/gator area)!

If there's any chance that you could post some photos of the Swamp Trail in good condition, I would sure like to see those.

I recently went on a hunt myself. Found the railroad tracks and followed them way beyond the fallen trees. It was just after our nice hard freeze of Jan so the vines were all pretty much dead. Made it to the end of the 700 loop before the brush was just too low to the ground. It's surprisingly close to the back side of 700, maybe like 30ft into the brush are the tracks. of course all the ties are still there.

Yes, the old railroad is much easier to access as a result of the hard freezes we had this past winter. I've got some photos to share from that in a little bit.

Loving the trip report!! Sure hope them skeeters are gone by June 11th !!

I hope so too. The whole reason I mentioned the mosquitoes is that they have never been a problem in the past. We camped at the Fort last August after a pretty rainy summer, and did not see a mosquito all weekend. They usually do a great job controlling them. I think the only reason we saw so many this past visit was because they haven't needed to do anything yet because of all the cold weather. But, they need to get going now. Hopefully, this has not been cut-back.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

At the beginning of this trip report, I promised that there would be at least two mysteries solved in this trip report. I am going to count the confirmation of the location of the Calliope display and the confirmation of the removal of the Wilderness Swamp Trail as mysteries solved. But, I can see where you might feel that those are not really mysteries. Which means I probably need to deliver the goods on a real solved mystery.

So, here we go.

This is a mystery that you probably do not even know about. But, there have been vague references about it in the past here on the Disboards.

This story begins back in October, 2009, when the TCD gang visited the Fort for Halloween.

We were assigned a very nice campsite on the 900 loop, and we had a great time. There’s a whole trip report about that visit if you ever have a few spare hours:


TCD's Halloween 2009 Trip Report

On that trip, the site next to ours was occupied by a big fifth wheel. You can see it in the background of this photo:

What was strange about it is that there were two women staying in the fifth wheel. They drove in and out of the loop a few times. They had a regular car- no truck. They did not spend very much time at the campsite. On Sunday, they packed up and left in their car. They brought out suitcases, loaded them up, and drove off. A little while later, a Fort Castmember came by and turned off the water, and blew off the site. I thought the whole thing was odd at the time, but I figured these ladies possibly had rented the trailer, or maybe they were guests of somebody who owned it, and the owner was away for the weekend, or something.

Well, fast forward to November, 2009, the TCD gang is back at the Fort for Thanksgiving. And, it just so happens that we are in the 900 loop again. And, it just so happens that we are assigned the site next to this one where the fifth wheel was at Halloween. This time we are on the other side of the trailer. Guess what’s still there in the same site? The same trailer. But this time it’s not two ladies camping in it, it’s a family with a mini van. They also arrive with suitcases, stay for a few days and leave. The trailer remains behind.

And then we return for New Year’s Eve at the end of December, 2009. We are not in the 900 loop this time, but during one of my daily inspections of the Fort, guess what I see in the same place? Yep, the fifth wheel. And, it has a different group of folks in it. This trailer has not moved from that spot for over three months!

That isn’t a big deal, you say. Well, what if I told you that trailer was still there when we visited the Fort on this trip- in April, 2010? Well it was, and here’s a photo to prove it:

So, know we know that this same trailer has sat on this same site for six months.

What is going on here?

Well, on March 21, 2010, this article appeared in my local fish-wrap:

I am talking about the part of the article that appears there under the number 3. This was a feature on some of the unique perks local employers offer to their employees. This article tells us that the Lazy Days RV company keeps a trailer permanently on site at Fort Wilderness. So, what does this have to do with the fifth wheel on the 900 loop? Read on. . . Read on . . .


On this visit, I took a closer look at this trailer. Check out these photos:

So all of this is to tell you that I am pretty sure I know where the Lazydays trailer is located at the Fort.

That is a solved mystery for sure.

TCD