Troll's Trip Report

[donaldduck1967]

Enjoying the trip report, great job so far. Yes bing maps is nice but the map is quite old.

 

[FWRR3]

Hey, Mr. Troll. I'm loving your early Disney stories. I first visited WDW the second week it opened, and worked there in 1973. It was a wonderful time, and it is great fun to hear the stories of that time from others. (I also miss the arcade at the Contemporary!)

 

[YodaGirl]

We were disappointed to find that they had cut the Lawnmower tree. I know it was down in '09, but I can't remember if it was down in '06. I want to say that it was still up then? My memory seems to be a bit fuzzy...

 

[takeme2epcot]

Hey, Mr. Troll. I'm loving your early Disney stories. I first visited WDW the second week it opened, and worked there in 1973. It was a wonderful time, and it is great fun to hear the stories of that time from others. (I also miss the arcade at the Contemporary!)

So you have an even more unique perspective of FW! How's the FWRR coming along? As a kid I wanted to build a model railroad of the Fort...had big plans for it but never got around to it.

Let's get back to the action!

When we last left off, I told the story of how I almost drowned "swimming" at Clementine's Beach as a child. I promised a story of a how a kid got rich swimming there. Well, here it is.

We were all swimming at the beach as we always would. I was a bit older now, maybe 10. I was minding my own business when I heard a bunch of commotion in the water not far from me.

A kid my age had dove down under the water and come back up with five soggy $100 bills.

No joke.

He was excited and loud and had to race over to his mother to report his findings. Meanwhile a bunch of other onlookers heard the commotion, and they, too, started diving under the water. Sure enough a woman came up with another $100 bill.

Now there was mass hysteria, as everyone was convinced Disney was pulling some odd sweepstakes or something. People were running from the beach into the water to look for cash, too.

Needless to say, I was diving down, too, but I found nothing.

Finally, Disney security showed up and actually entered the water and cordoned off the area. We weren't chased out of the water, but the area where the money was found was blocked off by security. A dad went up to one of the security guys in the water and asked what was going on, why there was money floating around in the water.

Turns out, some unlucky chump had somehow dropped his wallet while walking along the docks at the Contemporary, and his cash somehow floated all that way over to Clementine's Beach!

Anyway, so I was taking a walk east along today's Clementine's Beach. It looks like this:

Notice all the sea oats on the left. They grow wild out here:

As I walked, I noticed a boat approaching the dock, so I zoomed in:

If you continue to walk east along the beach, eventually you come to the FW dam and the bridge that crosses it. As I approached, I noticed this post:

Notice the rope hole in the pole. That afforded this shot:

Notice the steel eyelets sticking up out of the concrete of the bridge. Evidently boats dock here.

Here's what the eyelets look like up close:

Notice that the word "Chicago" is embossed on the eyelet.

This area was totally abandoned. It was a quiet, spooky feeling. This whole area is weird.

Especially because of this:

Yep, it's a lonesome, derelict little cabin, sitting all bit itself in what amounts to almost the middle of nowhere.

Fort Fiends well versed in the Fort's history know what this is and its significance.

The rest of us have no clue.

For the benefit of the rest of us, this cabin was an experiment run by Disney in the Fort's early history. It was a single "real" cabin located on a site in the 1200 loop. I say it was "real" because it was. The "cabins" in FW are not really cabins -- they're just single wide trailers with faux wood logs attached to their siding.

This little guy, however, is the real deal.

It's a real log cabin.

And back in the day, guests could rent it. It was totally no frills. It had bunkbeds and about nothing else. No AC, no bathroom, no kitchen. Just a tiny cabin. Here's a picture of it back when it was in operation:

Evidently Disney was dissatisfied with the results of the experiment and scrapped the idea of rentable "real" cabins. The little cabin was disassembled and then moved.

To here, the deserted far eastern corner of Clementine's Beach.

How bizarre.

Here's what the cabin looks like today:

And here's the weird sign posted on the door:

Strange wording. It doesn't say, "Privately Occupied" or "Private Occupance." It says, "Private Occupied."

The cabin is in that weird state of Disney maintenance and decay I mentioned in earlier posts. The logs are all perfectly intact and thoroughly painted. Yet there are cobwebs and neglect everywhere:

I admired the structural engineering of the cabin:

See those notches in the logs? The notches interlock, like how the teeth of machine gears mesh, thereby strengthening the structure of the building.

Very authentic. Very cool.

I decided to take a look at the side of the cabin, which butts against the heavily wooded area to the east of this corner of Clementine's Beach:

Notice there are still curtains in the window! Also notice that there's a little window AC unit in the window!

Clearly the cabin was used for something. The website where I found the picture of the cabin when it was still in operation says it was used as an "interpretive center," whatever that means.

But now it's not being used for anything.

There's a fenced-in maintenance yard behind the cabin. So I decided to check it out.

On the way I discovered lots of rot and decay:

You remember the scene in "The Wizard of Oz" where Toto pulls back the curtain and reveals the true nature of the Wizard?

I often get that feeling when exploring the nooks and crannies of Disney. Disney has this bizarre habit of building something, using it for a while, and then just abandoning it...but leaving it strangely intact instead of getting rid of it. The maintenance people even come around and service the area...sort of.

Like the trashcan outside the lonesome little cabin had a fresh bag in it:

This abandoned little cabin reminded me of Jacob's cabin from "Lost."

"Lost" fans know exactly what I'm talking about. Non "Lost" fans will have no clue.

Anyway, when I got around the back of the cabin, I found the service yard fully fenced in on that side. All the fence's slats were intact. I peeked through the cracks and noticed some piece of rusting heavy equipment there amidst tall weeds. As I looked, though, I noticed that some of the slats of the fence were missing on the other side, so I headed that way for a better look.

Fortunately, though, I had my eyes open.

Folks, if you're not from Florida, anytime you go for a stroll through the wilderness in Florida, keep your eyes open. Otherwise you might step on this guy:

It's Sammy the Snake from Sesame Street who looks and sounds just like the letter S!

If you're between the ages of 35 and 45, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about.

If not, Google "Sammy the Snake."

Or just click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpvnvudDGMw

Needless to say, I didn't bother to go look through those missing sections of that fence. Sammy had me totally creeped out. He was at least 3 feet long. I don't know what kind of snake he was -- surely someone here on this board does -- but I wasn't about to go find out.

If he was poisonous, I came very close to stepping on him.

Anyway, I noticed this path leading east away from the mysterious cabin:

So I decided to walk down a ways:

But I didn't go very far, as Sammy still had me feeling very creeped out and itchy all over.

So I headed back, curiosity unsatisfied. Something's down that path.

Out in front of the creepy cabin is this purple bug thing:

As I was examining the purple bug thing, this guy drove up:

He clearly was checking me out. He even got out of the truck, walked up to the edge of the bridge and looked around, acting as if he was, you know, doing something, when really he was checking out what I was up to.

Which was odd, as this area is very clearly open to guests.

There was no sign that said, "No guests beyond this point."

Anyway, the Disney Pest Service guy made me a bit uneasy, so I started looking down the lens of my camera. As soon as he saw me do that, he evidently became convinced that I was just some tourist nerd poking around, meaning no harm. So he drove away.

Maybe he was worried I'd mess with his purple bug catcher thing.

Either way, I decided to head back to the Settlment Area before Sammy sniffed me out and came looking for me.

Up next: My walk back and I explore the Settlement Trading Post.

 

[kampfirekim]

"I hate that thing," she said. "It gives me the creeps at night. It reminds me of that truck those people drove in that movie Jeepers Creepers."

I just think it's so neat that someone didn't overlook the detail to add the magical banjo music along this path.

A water wagon...creepy??? Not so much.

Banjo music on a dark path late at night.....Now THAT'S another matter...

Notice the rope hole in the pole. That afforded this shot:

Love this shot!!!

Great shot of Sammy the Snake too. He would have only seen a puff of dust if I had found him.....

I'm really enjoying the Troll Report. Brings back soooo many memories....

 

[storyteller]

awesome, great story.mic:
I'm all about the story....

 

[takeme2epcot]

Hello, Dis'ers!

Time for a quick Troll update.

Kampfire Kim says:

I'm really enjoying the Troll Report. Brings back soooo many memories....

I'm so glad! I love to share the memories. It's just great that there are folks out there like you and me appreciate them.

Storyteller said:

awesome, great story.mic:
I'm all about the story....

It's all about the stories! There what makes it all fun.

On with the update!

So I was checking out the spooky, lonesome old cabin at the far eastern corner of Clementine's Beach. From that spot I took this photo:

Let me make myself perfectly crystal clear...

I hate that new DVC building thing, whatever it's called.

Hate it.

For almost 40 years, this was the scene:

The Contemporary Resort stood stolidly and unfettered on its foundation, a symbol of both past and the future of Disney World. It was an iconic eyeful, a tip of the hat to Walt's epic vision of the future that could be.

But now those imbecilic bean counters in the boardroom decided they can make an easy buck or two by cluttering up the view.

There are timeshares to be sold, dammit!

Timeshares!

How much you wanna bet the new timeshares at FW mess up the Fort, too?

But what can we do?

Anyway, so I decided to walk back to the Settlement Area after my unnerving chance encounter with Sammy the Snake. This time I walked along the tree line.

There are trails all over the Fort. Like this one:

Notice the beer bottle. And I noticed an old Budweiser can:

Cans are often good time capsules. The can design dates the can very well. This one doesn't look too old.

I wonder, though, who was pounding back the brewskis way back here?

I could have followed that trail further into the woods to find out where it leads, but Sammy still had me feeling very leery.

So I walked on.

Anyone coming back here better have four wheel drive, as the sand is very soft:

Along the beach back here in no man's land, there are volleyball posts. One post had this sign mounted on it:

I wonder, though, if they also loan out nets, as none of these volleyball courts had nets.

Which takes us back to my rhetorical question of a few posts ago: Does anyone still play volleyball?

Someone knocked over this speaker:

The Kenny Cart thieves strike again! Someone actually went out of his way to deliberately and pointlessly knock this speaker over. Fortunately, though, it was still dutifully pumping out Native American music.

I never realized how beautiful Native American music is.

Here's a shot toward the marina:

And a no fishing sign:

And then I walked up to the Settlement Trading Post to take some pictures:

And these two nice rocking chairs are on the side of the Trading Post:

A very nice touch. There's not much foot traffic on the side of the Trading Post, yet there are two nice rocking chairs there anyway, just in case someone does walk that way and want to sit for a spell.

Coming up next: We're visited by a baby Troll!

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Hi Norm!

I am really enjoying your report.

Like many others, I am enjoying the nostalgic stories.

But I am also enjoying your investigative skills.

You remind me of someone.

I just can't place it.

Oh, and it was great to meet you and your DW last week at the Fort!

Let me help you out with the short story on the River Country water tower.

Back when I first visited the Fort in the mid-90's, River Country was still open, and this water tower stood at its entrance:

After River Country closed in 2001, the Water Tower remained in place, but the River Country logo was painted over. It looked like this:

In January, 2009, the tower was removed. If you visit the area where the tower once stood, you can see where they filled in the holes after the supports were removed:

In January 2009, work began on the renovation of the Meadow swimming pool. During the construction, a new metal tower was built, and a slide constructed. In March, 2009, a water tank was placed on the new tower. The water tank is the old River Country tank. And here it is:

The logo on the tank is new. It is supposed to be the logo from the Fort Wilderness Rail Road. But, it actually is a copy of a logo created by a FWRR fan, and swiped from his website.

If you ever have a few hours to spare, you can read more about all of this on this thread:

Something is Happening Near the Pool!!!

Also, I told you that I would dig up some photos showing what the 1900 loop looks like after a few days of rain (which, as you know, means most of the summer in Florida). Here you go:

And, here's an interesting photo from back in August 2008:

Back in 2008, after they had cleared out the 1900 loop, they filled in a lot of the low areas. As you can see from the photo above, they used a lot of fill. The interesting thing is that two years later, this fill has all settled and eroded, and the loop just looks bad.

Like what you saw when you were there last week.

Just imagine what it is like when all of the low areas are full of stagnant water.

That is why I have never stayed in the 1900 loop, and hope that I never do.

Now, please carry on with your report.

I am looking forward to a lot more!

TCD

 

[DaveInTN]

That water wagon sat in that same spot for many, many years until recently, when it disappeared for "restoration." No one knew what happened to it until the undercover Fort guru TCD found it sitting behind the Settlement Trading Post in the fenced maintenance yard.

Mr. TCD even snapped a chance photo of it sitting in the yard when a cast member obliviously left the gate open.

So it was TCD who discovered the location of the water wagon.

Hey Troll,

I'm getting caught up with your report and am enjoying reading the nostalgic aspects of it. But I gotta correct you here.

My DW actually watched the wagon being removed from it's spot and taken behind the TP back on March 18th. She immediately reported it to me and I posted it here...along with a pic of it sitting in it's "new home" behind the Settlement TP per this post.

TCD has given me a hard time about my Dole Whip dispensing skills, so I ain't gonna let him get the credit for this one. It's Not Cindy deserves the kudos for the water wagon scoop!

Ok, carry on....

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Hey Troll,

I'm getting caught up with your report and am enjoying reading the nostalgic aspects of it. But I gotta correct you here.

My DW actually watched the wagon being removed from it's spot and taken behind the TP back on March 18th. She immediately reported it to me and I posted it here...along with a pic of it sitting in it's "new home" behind the Settlement TP per this post.

TCD has given me a hard time about my Dole Whip dispensing skills, so I ain't gonna let him get the credit for this one. It's Not Cindy deserves the kudos for the water wagon scoop!

Ok, carry on....

I agree with Dave.

I can't take credit for finding the old River Country tanker wagon.

Dave is the one who first reported this.

But, I do look behind the Settlement Trading Post every time I visit the Fort.

I can't believe the wagon is still just sitting back there.

They could have completely renovated that thing several times over by now.

At this point, I now suspect that it is going to be used in some way with the new DVC project.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Norm-

I meant to give the recent history of the lawnmower tree in my previous post.

So, here you go:

The lawnmower tree died in 2007.

The needles on the tree turned brown, and that sucker was dead.

Disboard member Stacktester was actually there when they cut the top part of the tree off. Here is what it looked like then:

(I found the photo posted above here on the Disboards-I believe that it was originally posted by Lisa8200).

As you can see from the photo above, they left a long portion of the tree in place.

I took this photo in November 2008. By now, the tree was just a stump. But it still had bark on it:

Less than a year later, in August, 2009, I took these photos:

And, finally, here's a photo from June, 2010:

Sadly, this stump is rotting away.

I never knew that the whole lawnmower used to be there. For all of my visits, up to now, all you could see were pieces of the lawnmower embedded in the tree. I have never seen a photo with a whole lawnmower sticking out of the tree. I would love to see that!

RIP Lawnmower tree.

TCD

 

[RocklandRVers]

Back in 2008, after they had cleared out the 1900 loop, they filled in a lot of the low areas. As you can see from the photo above, they used a lot of fill. The interesting thing is that two years later, this fill has all settled and eroded, and the loop just looks bad.

Like what you saw when you were there last week.

Just imagine what it is like when all of the low areas are full of stagnant water.

That is why I have never stayed in the 1900 loop, and hope that I never do.

Now, please carry on with your report.

I am looking forward to a lot more!

TCD

When we first visited the Fort in 2003 we were assigned to the 1600 loop at a site that abutted the main road not too far from the bus stop. It was noisy but tolerable since we spent a lot of time in the parks. During one of our golf cart excursions we found the 1900 loop and site 1918. It is the site furthest south in the loop and at the time it was secluded and lots of room between it and neighboring sites. We chose it on every trip since then and got it most of the time. Then they went on a rampage and cleared tons of vegetation to the point that you see clear through the 1900 loop, on through 1700 and to the main road which is a big distance away. We hated it! We visited in May 2009 (around Memorial Day) and got the site next to the 1900 comfort station. With the non stop rains the fill keep washing away we had a deep moat around our site. YUCK! Sadly we too have abandoned 1900 and are going to try 2000 in a couple of weeks since we have a small van camper.

 

[storyteller]

Bring backs some great memories, very good. love stories, go figure.

 

[takeme2epcot]

Hi Norm!

I am really enjoying your report.

Like many others, I am enjoying the nostalgic stories.

But I am also enjoying your investigative skills.

You remind me of someone.

I just can't place it.

Oh, and it was great to meet you and your DW last week at the Fort!

Let me help you out with the short story on the River Country water tower.

Thanks for the great insight on the water tower. I apologize to all for asking questions that may have been thoroughly answered before.

Unwittingly, that does make me a troll, as that's a classic troll tactic! Only I wasn't doing it on purpose...or maliciously.

So here are my conclusions on the water tower based on what you posted and older posts by you and Shan Man:

- The water tower at the Meadows Rec Area is the same water tower as the one that stood at RC; however, it is not the water tower from the FW Railroad. A juxtaposition of both water towers makes this obvious:

- The jury is out on whether the RC water tower was there on day 1. I, in fact, would argue against it, as I started going to RC in 1976 when it opened, and I have no recollection of the water tower -- at all! I could be wrong, of course, but I don't think so.

It was great to actually meet you in person. I only wish I had a bit more time to spend talking with you.

 

[takeme2epcot]

You know what time it is?

Oh, yes, you know what time it is!

It's Troll Time!

In our last episode, I posted some pictures I took of things outside the Settlement Trading Post. There's one sign I meant to comment on but forgot:

Now let's think about this. The censors at Disney in their infinite wisdom came to the conclusion that a cartoon mouse holding a cartoon musket is too violent an image for a family-friendly park, so it had to be expunged. Yet this sign offering a $300 reward for Mr. Red Jenkins wanted for, um, let's see...

MURDER!

is OK?

That just does not compute.

Anyway, whenever you're at a trading post or the Pioneer Hall, take a good look at the boards that make up the outside walls of said structures. Look at these pictures:

Notice something common in both pictures?

My brother Mike owned a sawmill a few years back and pointed this out to me. Notice the rings scratched in the wood that sort of resemble the rings of Saturn?

Wood of this length is typically cut with a bandsaw sawmill like this one:

The blade on one of these bandsaw sawmills isn't a spinning circular saw, but a long steel band with teeth on one side of it.

The rings you see are the product of one of the teeth of the bandsaw being bent in.

Ordinarily having a bandsaw with a bent tooth is a disaster in the sawmilling business, as you have to replace the blade for one, and two, all the wood you cut with the bent tooth blade is ruined because it's all scratched up like this.

But Disney used a bent tooth bandsaw for effect...on purpose! It gives the wood in all the FW structures that rough cut, Old West, rustic look!

Next time you're by one of the FW buildings, look at the boards. You'll start noticing this saw pattern everywhere.

Talk about attention to detail!

If they built FW today, you wouldn't see this level of detail. Heck, the boards probably wouldn't be boards at all -- they'd be plastic or fiberglass.

Anyway, in a thread posted a month or two ago, someone wondered aloud what baby trolls look like.

Well here's one right here:

This is my great nephew Andrew. Yes, great nephew. And I'm only 41 years old -- honest!

Andrew's mom is my niece Julia. She and her wife Pete brought baby troll Andrew to the Fort for his first visit.

Andrew is Pop's great grandson!

We are continuing the FW tradition, passing on the greatness of the Fort to a whole new generation!

Here's more shots of the baby troll:

As you can see, baby trolls love to play ball. So Mrs. Troll got in on the action:

Now you may not know this, but baby trolls refer to horses as "hurrs." Yes, "hurrs." Hurr sounds like the word "her," as in, "That's her purse over there."

The baby troll informed us that he would like to go for a hurr ride.

And he's 1.

Trolls are smart, you see.

Even babies.

But Mama Troll informed Baby Troll that he needed to take a nap first, to which he protested. She tried to put him down for a nap in the Aliner, but that wasn't happening.

So Papa Troll (my nephew Pete, Julia's husband) put Andrew in his carseat and then went looping...in their car.

The car always puts Andrew to sleep.

Then something happened.

After a few minutes of looping, Pete returned with Andrew asleep in the back seat.

We were all sitting under my hillbilly tarp when a certain golf cart showed up.

I instantly recognized the driver of said golf cart.

It was a Dis Board celebrity...

None other than Mr. TCD himself!

Anyway, right as TCD was pulling up, my nephew Pete was checking on Andrew in the back seat. Mr. TCD announced, "Hello! I'm looking for the Troll."

And Pete said...

...drumroll please...

"I beg your pardon?"

I then ran up and said, "Oh, that would be me!"

Yes, folks, Mr. TCD, our field reporter and investigator had arrived at site 1924 to shake hands with the vile Troll, hater of holiday blowups.

Coming up next: TCD and the Troll exchange laughs, we learn that it's a small world, and baby troll Andrew goes for a hurr ride at the TCD Ranch!

 

[stacktester]

I had the same thoughts about the posters. It's ok to have a murderer running around the fort but Mickey won't have his musket to blast him. After the musket was gone Mickey got a hiking stick in the new FW caption. Guess he was gonna beat somebody with the stick so that left too.

 

[storyteller]

It's not like you could hit anything with a musket, I've tried, Where do you think the expression "can hit the broad side of a barn" came from...
Bring back the musket.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

My comments:

1. I agree that there is no credible evidence that the River Country water tower was ever used for the FWRR. But, when the Meadow pool was officially re-opened in April, 2009, guests were told that this was a tower formerly used by the FWRR, and for a while they would have an opening ceremony at the pool each morning involving the blowing of a train whistle.

2. I happen to think that the River Country water tower was at RC from day one. It looks like the entrance was designed around it. But, I do admit that the tank is unusually good condition if it did in fact sit at the RC entrance for 33 years before being moved to the pool.

3. I love the broken toothed band-saw observation. I never noticed that detail before.

4. I purchased a genuine Musket Mickey souvenir at the Meadow Trading Post on my most recent visit. So Musket Mickey is still kickin' at the Fort.

5. That has got to be the cutest baby troll I have ever seen!

6. I can't wait to read more!

TCD

 

[Lil' Lisa]

.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

What!!! You were at the Fort and you don't have a trip report??? Don't make me cry.

Child please!

I am organizing my first batch of photos as we speak.

There will be a TR.

And parts of it will be epic.

Please stand by.

TCD