Thanksgiving 2008 @ The Fort- A Photo Report

[Tri-circle-D]

This is a view of the back of the 1600 loop, heading back out to the main road:

And, this is the back of the site that has the most decorations on the 1600 loop. These are the folks who will be here until January:

Advertisements for Thanksgiving meal options were posted in all of the bus stops, and on the comfort station bulletin boards. The options were Thanksgiving at the Fort, which was served in the Fort Wilderness Pavilion, or the Trails End Buffet. As you can see, the menus were pretty similar, but the outdoor option was much more expensive. They had a band, and entertainment at the Pavilion, but the price was a bit steep, if you ask me:

The 1500 loop bus stop:

Heading back to the 300 loop . . .

I know that I already posted some pictures of the campfire area, but here it is from another angle:

This is a site on the 1400 loop. I like the little art gallery that they set up on their site:

Don't worry- there's still more to come.


TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

TCD....thanks for taking the time to do this report!!

I'm glad to see many of the winter folks back at the Fort. The people in this site didn't seem to think they'd come back this year, but obviously they did & I'm happy for them!

Deb- You are welcome! I didn't know that you knew these folks, but then you probably know everyone who camps at the Fort! They added to their decorations over the weekend, and put up something that was very cute. I will post a photo of it later in this report.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

I have a small bit of disappointing news.

On our last two visits to the Fort, the hammocks have been missing from the beach.

The poles that used to hold the hammocks were still there, but the hammocks were not.

On this visit, we noticed that the poles are now gone, too.

So, if you want to lie in a hammock at Fort Wilderness, you will need to bring your own. Like we did:

I have had this hammock forever. I think I got it for Father's Day before my twin DD's were born. They are 13 now. I think I laid in it once. On the day I got it. Then I rolled it back up, and put it in its box. It then sat in the corner of my garage for the last 13 or so years. Until this last trip to the Fort. One of my DD's suggested that we bring it, since they love the hammocks for some reason, and then we could have our own personal hammock at our site. It turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. I even laid in it again. That makes twice in 13 or so years. At this rate, I may lay in that sucker six or so times before I go to the great Fort in the sky. Seriously, though, this hammock is coming with us from now on. Since there has been so much clearing, I think there will be a place for it on almost any loop, and it was quite enjoyable to catch a quick nap in the great outdoors.

Since I still was golf-cart-less, I took a ride up to the Outpost area on the old bike. I got to ride on this sidewalk that borders the main road. This sidewalk was poured over the old railroad right of way. You can still see the gravel base that was there when the ties and rails were in place. The lamps have been added in the last year:

I rode all the way up front for a photo. This was going to be used for the new Then and Now thread started by Ynottony, but he already posted his version:

My comment about this photo is that this was Friday morning. It must have been between 9 and 10. This was a busy weekend. A lot of folks were trying to check in. And, they only had one of the check-in lanes open. These folks were in for a long wait.

Even the check-in lanes are decorated for Christmas:

Inside the reception building, it was bedlam. I wanted a photo of the decorations, so here you go. Sorry for all the people in the way. The stockings on the mantle belong to Chip and Dale:

Back at the campsite, we got to watch the sky writer writing inspirational messages for us.

I tried to get a photo of Albert and the Snowman looking up in the sky, but all I got was this:

On this day, our plan was to head over to Animal Kingdom Lodge to see the Christmas decorations. It is our second favorite resort. Then, we were going to head to the Poly for lunch.

The AKL lobby:

On the boat back to the Fort later that morning:

If you look closely, you can make out the WL "bear face" in this photo. Look for the two spots of light that are the eyes, and the oval feature just below, which is the snout:

The old ship wreck on Discovery Island:

Now back to the Fort-

Check out this turkey golf cart. Good show!!!:

Here we are back at our site, with the TCD dog:

Believe it or not, there is still more to come.

TCD

 

[mrsscooter]

OMG!!! Turkye is hysterical...I love it!!!! All of your pictures are great and makes we more anxious then ever for our trip in October!!!

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Man, we have looked at a lot of pictures on this TR, haven't we.

There can't be much left to look at, can there?

Yes there can!

We haven't even taken a look at the 300 loop yet. Join me, won't you?

Here we go at site 303. The camper on this site has been on this very same site for a long time. He didn't get around to decorating for Christmas by the time we had to go on 11/30, so you just get to see the Thanksgiving decorations:

Continuing around the loop . . .

Here is another of those JC Penney lamps. Is anyone keeping a count? All I know is that there were a lot of these:

I guess someone at this site is a hockey fan?:

I love this inflatable!:

Let's see, what else do I have?

I know, how about the Meadow Trading Post?:

This is the back of a site in the 700 loop:

Here is yet another shot of the exit to the 700 loop. I think they put more decorations up as the weekend went on:

Here are a couple of shots of the TCD dog in the dog park:

This was the only other Albert the Alligator that I saw all weekend. I now know from this thread that this Albert belongs to Disboard member kPatrick74's Father In Law. I always wanted one of these, but the manufacturer stopped making them. Now, a new company is making them. Through top secret information provided by Gatordad, I was able to score one of the new ones:

I like mine better:

Here is another site on the 300 loop. Have we seen enough of these standing turkeys yet?

This site is on the 200 loop:

And here is my nominee for the real man of genius award on this trip. He had his whole site covered with one of those portable carport type structures:

Here is a site on the 100 loop:

Yes, there is still more . . .

TCD

 

[Donna]

Love all of it! you can never take too many! Thanks!

 

[Us3]

Thank you TCD for sharing the pics! I sure would like to drive down and see these decorations in person!!

 

[RvUsa]

Hey I didn't know Shanta had an inflatable made of himself!!!

 

[DznyRulz]

One of these years I want to see all this in person. Until then, thanks TCD!

 

[FlaFortCampster]

Love the photos, BUT........
Where's the 2000 loop, don't tell me they didn't decorate? I'll have to do something about that in 10 days.
YEE HAW!

 

[Mmketeer]

Wow great photos TCD and thanks for posting my site on loop 800. I think those of us along the back and end of the loop really did a good job and the carraige ride came through every night.
I would love to get the Dis size poster that I've seen Wilderness Wookies and Stacktester with as alot of folks miss my little Dis sign hanging off my lamp post.
My goal next year to hubby's disamy is to bring even more decorations and do both sides of my site!! Not bad though for my first time back at Christmas time in 4 years.

 

[fldisneymommyto2]

On my way to the 400 loop, I saw this display behind someones site on the 300 loop. All the clearing gives folks the option of displaying their decorations in front or back of their site. A lot of folks do both.

These inflatable turkeys were quite the rage during the week(we just saw one on the 500 loop, remember?):

HEY!!! This was our site!!! Did you see the sign in front of our loop like the one below??? I didn't have my dis sign with me. We weren't at our site much.. we spent a lot of time in the parks.

 

[pell]

TCD,
I hope that you aren't heading to the "Fort in the Sky" anytime soon because you crack me up! This time my favorite segment was the young whipper snapper with the souped-up golf cart... very sly of you to follow him back to the rented tent area so as to enlighten us about the random cart assignments!!

My DH built our very own Mickey Ears Lamp today, and he's been using your photos to analyze the ones with bright vs. dim ears. (We're having trouble getting our ears to light equally with the head.) Anyhow, he doesn't want to bring shame to our family should you go on another surveillance mission during our upcoming stay.

Thanks again for sharing!

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Love the photos, BUT........
Where's the 2000 loop, don't tell me they didn't decorate? I'll have to do something about that in 10 days.
YEE HAW!

I don't think that I have any 2000 loop pictures, sorry. I didn't get a golf cart until the last day of my stay, so I didn't visit the 2000 loop much. There were not a lot of decorations on this loop when I did visit.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

HEY!!! This was our site!!! Did you see the sign in front of our loop like the one below??? I didn't have my dis sign with me. We weren't at our site much.. we spent a lot of time in the parks.

I must have seen your sign, but I did not actually go around the 300 loop that much. Since we were the last site on the loop, we just went in and out of the exit most of the time.

TCD,
I hope that you aren't heading to the "Fort in the Sky" anytime soon because you crack me up! This time my favorite segment was the young whipper snapper with the souped-up golf cart... very sly of you to follow him back to the rented tent area so as to enlighten us about the random cart assignments!!

My DH built our very own Mickey Ears Lamp today, and he's been using your photos to analyze the ones with bright vs. dim ears. (We're having trouble getting our ears to light equally with the head.) Anyhow, he doesn't want to bring shame to our family should you go on another surveillance mission during our upcoming stay.

Thanks again for sharing!

I hope that I am not going to the Fort in the Sky anytime soon, too. I like the Fort here better (so far).

I will keep my eye out for a Mickey lamp with dim ears. Then I will know it is you.

J/K. My favorite Mickey lamps are the ones that use color changing bulbs. Those always look cool.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

OK, let's see, where was I?

Oh yes, as I mentioned, we were on the "wait list" to get a golf cart during our entire stay.

We booked this trip late, and when I called to reserve a cart about two weeks from our arrival, I was told that they were completely sold out for the week, but that they would put me on the wait list. This happened on a couple of our previous visits, and we did get called from the wait list. On this visit, we never did get the call. I called myself a couple of times, and got conflicting information about where I was on the list. I think that there was some mismanagement going on with the cart rentals. What can you do?

Anyway, I did luck out when I called on Saturday morning. The castmember I spoke to said that they were just getting ready to make calls from the wait list, so I was welcome to come and get a cart. So I did.

We made good use of the cart for the one day that we had it.

I also should give a shout out to Donnie/Stacktester and publicly thank him for offering the TCD gang the use of his cart while he was visiting one of the parks. That was very generous of you Donnie. We declined that offer, as I correctly guessed that we would get our cart on Saturday.

So, here are a few pictures of our visit to the Settlement area during half-time of the Gator/FSU game:

You know, I don't post a lot of pictures of my family, but an occasional photo doesn't hurt anyone. So, here is a photo of my middle DD, Mrs. TCD, and TCD hanging out on the porch of Crockett's Tavern (Mrs. TCD is in the middle):

Should any of you ever have the opportunity to meet Mrs. TCD, I would appreciate it if you do not mention the fact that I posted this photo. She was going on little sleep, and has a hard time doing her hair and make up in the comfort stations, so she is not looking her best in this photo. Trust me, she looks a lot better in person.

Check out the lawnmower tree. I tried to find a photo of when it was first cut, but couldn't. I know somebody must have one. I am certain that it has been cut again:

The little building at the marina is decorated for Christmas:

Did you ever wonder what the Native American enthusiasts do at the Fort when they are not digging big fire pits and cooking 50 turkeys? What do you think that they might be doing on a late Saturday afternoon? Weaving baskets? Sewing beads onto their moccasins? Pounding their laundry with rocks in the canal? There is only one way to know for sure, isn't there?

So, it is off to the group camping area to check on what is happening with the Ti Pis.

Here is what we see:

Where the heck is everybody?

Has there been an attack from a neighboring tribe?

Are they out on the warpath?

No.

Here they are.

Just like everyone else. Watching a little football :

They had to set up over by the Comfort Station. It is a little known fact that Native Americans used very short extension cords.

TCD

 

[stacktester]

Man, if Mrs TCD get's that pic she might get a little angry. I think I saw her after she woke up better.

You're welcome for the cart invitation. Had you not gotten a cart and done this report some people on here might have blamed me for not offering it lol and I'd be on the bad list.

We make it a tradition to go over to the group camping area to see the Tipi set ups. Always interesting to see.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Time for another chapter to be added to this long saga.

So, we have our golf cart, and periodically broke away from the Florida/FSU game to loop around the campground.

On one of our visits to the 1800 loop, we noticed an addition to one of the sites. We looked at a couple of photos from this site earlier in the report, but the folks have added something. See?:

I hope that you can read this sign:

It is little things like this that make every visit to the Fort, no matter the time of year, special.

The sun was fading in the sky after a perfect day. What a great time to be at the Fort. We tried to capture the feeling in these photos, but these photos just don't convey the beauty of the early evening:

But, not all is calm at the Fort on this glorious evening.

Remember the party animals I mentioned on the 1400 loop?

They were still at it on Saturday night.

On this evening, they had set up their bean bag toss game in front of the 1400 loop comfort station. One target in the area outside the men's room door, the other, outside the ladies' room door. About 20 or so spectators sat along the rail fence to watch the competition. In the back of their site, an uncovered campfire roared. Cars clogged the loop in front of their sites. I am conflicted about posting these photos. I like to have fun as much as the next guy, but this was just not a pretty picture. I am glad that I wasn't staying on the 1400 loop. I am sure that these folks had a great time, but I don't think they were very considerate of their fellow campers:

That's all I am going to say about that.

TCD

 

[christinou]

That's all I am going to say about that.

TCD

I hope no one was trying to get in or out....
We did have a group during our trip last August, that also did that, they had sites in the same loop across the road from each other and would party on the road, and would not move when people were trying to drive by.

 

[daddyphat808]

Long time lurker one of my first posts. We where at the Fort Saturday the 28th through Tuesday the second. In the 1900 loop.

Anyways Disney security was cruising around I am surprised they didn't enforce the one vehicle per site rule on them! Or the ban on fires??