TCD Quality Control Inspection 6/5/09

[Tri-circle-D]

The TCD gang made one last trip to WDW before our Florida Residents’ Seasonal Passes were blacked out on 6/6/09. Of course, I had to swing by the Fort for a brief inspection.

The new ponds by the entrance, which were excavated late last summer, are FULL!:

But, I think they look nice.

I try not to judge, but I think these folks have a bit of a safety issue, do they not?:

Sorry to report that the Fort is still VERY swampy!:

Outside the 1700 loop:

The 1500 loop:

The dog park:

The 500 loop:

Between the 300 and 200 loop:

The 400 loop:

The 600 loop extension:

As you can see, it was quite soggy all around the Fort.

Coming up, the bridge behind the Meadow Trading Post is not closed to golf cart traffic.

And, photos of the progress (or lack thereof) of the 1100 loop renovation.

TCD

 

[DaveInTN]

Has it still been raining significantly in FL over the past week or so? I'm surprised at the amount of standing water still hanging around in so many locations. I know Deb and others have mentioned that the Fort has always been swampy but the water was somewhat masked by the old vegetation...so maybe nothing has changed. It just looks remarkably wet and it doesn't seem that there is an adequate drainage system for the campground. BUT...it IS central Florida, so I guess the fact that some swamps exist shouldn't be that surprising to me!

 

[clkelley]

Can't wait to see the rest!!

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Has it still been raining significantly in FL over the past week or so? I'm surprised at the amount of standing water still hanging around in so many locations. I know Deb and others have mentioned that the Fort has always been swampy but the water was somewhat masked by the old vegetation...so maybe nothing has changed. It just looks remarkably wet and it doesn't seem that there is an adequate drainage system for the campground. BUT...it IS central Florida, so I guess the fact that some swamps exist shouldn't be that surprising to me!

Central Florida received way more than the average amount of rain for May.

But, the rain was way below average for the first four months of the year.

There are areas near my home that sometimes get standing water when it rains a lot for prolonged periods of time. Those areas do not currently have standing water.

I really think that all of the filling that has occurred at the Fort since late last summer is creating a problem. Areas of the Fort have always been swampy. But not as bad as they are now. And, just wait until the summer rains get here. And, God forbid that a tropical storm ever stalls over WDW (that will happen, it is just a matter of time).

When they started cutting down all the vegetation, and adding fill, and paving things that had never been paved before, they changed things. They did not improve the storm water drainage system. I am afraid that we are just beginning to see the problem.

You think these photos are bad? Wait until you see my 1100 loop photos.

TCD

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Spose they'll stock those ponds with swimmers ?

 

[FIREKYMMIE]

Do you think it will un swamp before the 20th.....

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Last week, someone reported that the Fort management was reinstalling barriers to block golf carts from driving over the bridge behind the Meadow Trading Post. On this visit, I saw no evidence of this. I am not sure what that rumor was all about, but I confirm that it has not happened, and I see no signs of it happening.

Here is a cart driving over the bridge on 6/5/09:

And some more cart activity:

There was a period of a couple of years during the past ten years when there were poles installed on either end of the bridge to prevent golf carts from driving over. You can see where the posts used to be if you look at the ground in these photos:

You can see in this photo that they have installed a new sign directing folks to park their carts in the new cart parking area:

It looks like more folks are cooperating with this:

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Sorry, I wasn't finished with the last post. Here is the situation on the other side of the bridge, by the Meadow Trading Post. Again, you can see where the posts used to be, but I don't see any signs of re-installation:

Carts were coming and going at will.

TCD

 

[Tigger0624]

Great reporting as always! We can always depend on TCD to keep us up to date on everything related to the Fort

Will the gang be there for the 4th? We'd love to meet up again!

 

[campingdawgs]

We just got back last night from FW. We stayed in loop 2000 for the first time. It was incredibly swampy. Did you check it out? Was there a pond by the comfort station before all this rain? There is one now and we couldn't remember if it was there when we looped thru last trip. The frog chorus was amazing.

 

[des1954]

As usual TCD, awesome report. And yes, the lack of vegetation, added concrete, filling in the trenches between sites, and lack of drainage has all contributed to this mess. It seems like they didn't care to bring in the civil engineers to assess the situation before they started doing the so called "upgrades". I, however, don't consider yards and yards of concrete pads, "upgrades". I also preferred the Fort with the lush vegitation as opposed to the naked, scarred look it now has.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Let's take a look at how things are going in the 1100 loop.

So far, the contractors doing the loop renovations have been lucky. The weather has cooperated with them up to this point. But, as they are finishing the last of the loop conversions, their luck has run out. Clearly, the rain and wet conditions are causing problems for them.

Here is the standard pile of discarded wood frames from the previous sand pads:

Looking around the loop:

Look how close this extended pad is to the cabin on the 2100 loop. Before the "improvements" you could barely see the cabins from the 1100 loop or the campsites from the cabin loop. Now, everything is out in the open. I don't like it:

And, look at the water problems!

Who wants to camp in these sites?:

Premium indeed:

YUCK!!!!


TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Here are a couple more shots from the 1100 loop:

The only other loop I visited on this quick trip was the 300 loop, where I saw this (make sure you don't miss the ducks swimming around in the "pond"):

I am not sure what was going on in this site. Looks like some branches fell down:

Here we are at site #360. The TCD gang camped here Thanksgiving week 2008. I had decorations set up, and parked our bikes where these ducks are now swimming. We also were able to hang our hammock behind the site, and walk on a path immediately behind the site to the comfort station. Now, all of that is under water:

Even the basketball court is flooded:

TCD

 

[Donna]

i'm not liking what i'm seeing at all! i better buy some extra bug spray for this trip! What site was that in the 300 loop, the first couple that you showed? i want to make sure i don't get that one!

thanks for this latest update, very helpful and timely for me!

 

[Tri-circle-D]

i'm not liking what i'm seeing at all! i better buy some extra bug spray for this trip! What site was that in the 300 loop, the first couple that you showed? i want to make sure i don't get that one!

thanks for this latest update, very helpful and timely for me!

Donna- The one with all the water behind it was 312 (or possibly 315). It is one of the sites that backs up to the grassy area (now underwater) and side walk to the comfort station. It looks like possibly this site was left empty because of the water situation. I would hope that they are not putting folks in these types of sites.

I wouldn't let these shots scare you away from camping. If it would stay dry for a few days, I am sure the water will go down, if not entirely disappear.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

I found a couple of shots of site #360 from my Thanksgiving trip (Nov. 2008):

The pond that the ducks were swimming in is where I had my snowman and bikes in this photo. So, if I was set up there now, I would have a lake front site. I wonder if they would charge extra for that?:

TCD

 

[I'mDownWithDisney]

Has the reason for the tree thinning ever been officially stated? I think it looks like crap, honestly. It makes me a little less excited about visiting.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Has the reason for the tree thinning ever been officially stated? I think it looks like crap, honestly. It makes me a little less excited about visiting.

This is the official explanation that I received back in November, 2007, when the clearing had just begun:

In WDW's defense, they have planted a lot of new shrubs and ground cover, and they have installed irrigation systems to water the new plantings (although irrigation systems hardly seem necessary now).

I think this all was well intentioned. Like a lot of things, though, I don't think this was well executed.

Before the work began, the Fort was very overgrown. They had basically let things go for years, and a lot of the trees were being choked to death by Air Potato vines (like Kudzu, but with bonus potatoes). This probably also posed a fire hazard. So this clearing is actually a good thing, at least in the long run.

At some point, things will fill back in.

But for now, I agree that it looks bad!

TCD

 

[RocklandRVers]

TCD: YOU DA MAN! I bet you know more about the Fort than the CMs. I too never got a clear answer on why so much vegetation was cleared and figured that it was for fire reasons.

Thanks for the pics of the flooding. When we arrived on May 16th it was hot and dry. The sand at 1905 was parched like a desert. That afternoon it rained just a few sprinkles. The next day we got about an hour of heavy stuff and it pretty much never cleared up until the morning of May 20th. That lasted until about noon and it kept raining. So we arrived in a drought that ended pretty much 3 days later. Now they are wishing for dry weather again. Better do the sun dance

 

[Tri-circle-D]

TCD: YOU DA MAN! I bet you know more about the Fort than the CMs.

I know that I know more about the Fort than most of the CM's. So do you, along with everyone else here on the camping boards.

Here are the last of my photos from this visit.

These are not from the Fort, but they are Fort related.

Kind of.

Do you know where they keep all of the boats for the EWP when not in use.

They are kept in this canal, which you can see from the resort monorail on the way to the MK:

Well, that's all I have from this trip.

Until next time . . .

TCD