Who remembers . . . . . . . . ?

[Love That Stitch]

9. When TE had Really good "make your own pizza" every Friday night

That was the best. We always went and had pizza at TE. We still talk about it. They had this cool oven (it was cool back then since we had never seen anything like). The pizzas would slowly go through the oven and come out done!!! (amazing!!! We were easily amused as children)

Does anyone remember the singer they use to have at TE? He would sing songs like "Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea....". Anybody?

Or do you remember in the arcade "Hoofin' Henry"? It was a game and you made Henry dance by hitting buttons. It is actually Henry from over at Country Bears.

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

The singer you are referring to might be a guy named John Charles. He was very entertaining and actually worked at several locations over the years, Cap'n Cooks Hideway(Poly) , Coconino Cove(Contemporay part of CM now) and his last was at the Baton Rouge Lounge on the Empress Lilly.

I loved making Henry dance!!

PS If you do a search for John Charles you will get a link to his management co. and he often performs in Orlando for a fund raiser, I just don't remember the organization its for.
ETA: Here is the link for John Charles http://www.keyartistgroup.com/john_charles.asp
He even wrote a song for the opening of AK.

 

[Love That Stitch]

I loved it!! Nothing better than eating pizza and singing right along. Thanks for the info on him.

I love that you remember Henry!!! I have found few people who remember it. Now that I look back it only cost $.10 to make me so happy. Those were the days!!!

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

I know the sites at FW used to be spread further apart, more woods in between them. I remember and have gone to River Country. I went alot in the 70's.

I hope to remember more......This is a great thread!

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

The sites have always been spaced the way they are now, it just seems closer because the rigs are bigger and they have to clean out some of the shrubs and underbrush to keep the fire hazards low.

Who remembers when the arcade took up all the lower space at TE, and the area at Meadows T. P. that now holds the kids stuff was also an arcade.

 

[OK GRUMPY]

I remeber when Crockets Travern use to serve really good food. Different then Trails End it had some of the best steaks on there menu. Still like going to Crockets Traven but I really miss the good steaks that the use to have.

 

[ynottony99]

I thought I would post this and see what memories it may stir. We never got to see this, so please share anything!!!

 

[twinklebug]

I recall when there was no W. Lodge
When Discovery island was an adventure to itself
We swam in the lake and fought for the best hammok when drying off
The trams were a blast (sit in the FAR back and get whiped around corners!)
and even back to when the Tram drivers wern't enclosed and were funny!

Pool-hopping? (no flames please - it was really allowed!)

Train through FW?

Make your own pizza at Trails End?

We'd pool hop over to the "volcano"
The trail's end pizza wasn't really all that, but it was fun
I recall the train, but we rode it only once. It's whistle would blow as it approached our camper.

 

[CottontailCurl]

This did jog my memory, but it reminded me of something I saw on Ebay in the past week or so. I just went to see if it was still listed but couldn't find it. It was a full page brochure like the many you get when you check in and it was for this same Morning Breakfast Jamboree character breakfast. I believe it said that some of the characters were the guys from Country Bear Jamboree, the price was insanely low, it was under $10. Does yours say it's $10 for adults and big brothers and sisters? It seems like the one I saw was older, it had the Country Bears on top. The other things are the same, the food listing, the Kuntry Kazoo part I recall. When I went to search for the one I saw, I found this one instead:

http://*******.com/yzfsll

This brochure has lots of pictures including some of the things that have been mentioned here. Is it just me or does the area in front of Trail's End seem bare? The trees must have been very small, it seems like there's not any tree cover in that area. I guess that Airstream must have been the big rig of the day!

I thought I would post this and see what memories it may stir. We never got to see this, so please share anything!!!

 

[CottontailCurl]

When I went to search for the one I saw, I found this one instead:

http://*******.com/yzfsll

This brochure has lots of pictures including some of the things that have been mentioned here. Is it just me or does the area in front of Trail's End seem bare? The trees must have been very small, it seems like there's not any tree cover in that area. I guess that Airstream must have been the big rig of the day!

The link to the ebay listing was huge so I *******'d it, I guess I can't do that here? Here's the original link to ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1975-VINTAGE-FO...oryZ1380QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Sorry it's so long.

(Editing to ask if we're not allowed to post url's that originally were too long then shortened at the web page that's well-known for making shorter urls?)

 

[Colson39]

Or do you remember in the arcade "Hoofin' Henry"? It was a game and you made Henry dance by hitting buttons. It is actually Henry from over at Country Bears.

Wow, I had totally forgotten about this until you reminded me. I remember doing that as a kid, and yes, it only cost 10 cents!! You would basically just smash the buttons and he would dance all over the place, that was so much fun.

Man, sometimes it's amazing what you can forget...lol

 

[bobbiwoz]

I just know there was a train over there. We didn't camp, but I like the idea of camping and we took our son on a train ride in Ft. Wilderness. In the late '80s we did rent the trailers. The train was early 80's or maybe late '70's our first trip with our son was '77.

Can't you still see the lawnmower tree, just a wee bit of lawnmower showing. We looked for it and saw a bit.

I think we used to see many many more armadillos around.

Bobbi

 

[pixiedustforever]

Does anyone remember Rosebud the white miniature horse?
She was at the stable across from the Petting Zoo.

I would like to know more information about her and her role at Disney World. We had our picture taken together in 2002. I believe she went to the great pasture in the sky in 2003.

I remember that the Cast Member in the stable treated her like royalty,
but I don't remember why.

Any light you can shed on this mystery would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks & pixiedust to you!

Pixiedustforever

 

[Live4FW]

I don't know what happened to Rosebud but both my daughter and youngest son rode her.

 

[prowlerregal335m]

The pizza at trails end was put on a conveyor belt that went through the oven.The pizza was never done enough for me.They couldn't put it through again because it would be burnt.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

I'm fresh back from a visit to the Fort, and had my memory jogged.

Right next to the River Country entrance ticket booth, there was a large cage which was home to a small owl. It was a Florida Burrowing Owl. Have you seen the movie Hoot? That kind of owl. Anybody else remember the owl?

We would always stop by and visit the little fellow after the Electric Water Pageant. The owl was still there for quite a while, even after Discovery Island and River Country closed.

BTW the cage is still there. If you peek around the wall that they put up in front of the ticket window, you can still see the ticket window, and the cage.

It looks like they are using this area for the fishing excursions now.

TCD

 

[cyberdeb]

Does anyone remember the produce cart that used to go through the campground? This was in the 70's. My father has a picture of my sister and brother buying some fresh fruit from it. I vaughly remeber is but maybe only because i see the picture every once in a while.

 

[bianca]

Anyone remember "site of the day"? FW cast members used to knock on somebody's door every day and put a huge wooden cutout of Chip and Dale on the campsite driveway, take a photo of the family with the cutout and hang it at Crockett's. The cutout sat there all day and was not removed until the following morning. It was always fun to go up to Crocketts and look at the photos.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

OK, I have one for y'all. Who remembers the 1400 loop playground? It was there within the past few years. It was an old metal one, with a tower that was like a rocket ship. I think the kids could climb up inside of it. My kids were smaller when the used to play on it, but I remember that it seemed to be dangerously high. Also, they recently took the "roller" slides away from the Settlement and 300 loop playgrounds. Those slides were fun, but I think every one of my kids was injured in one way or another on them!

TCD

 

[tim5055]

Who remembers when the Bike Barn was over by the 300 loop?

I never saw the travel trailers, but my DW remembers staying in one as a child. I had no idea that they were in the 500 loop. I seem to remember that there was a Terry trail, but did not realize that it was where Buffalo Bend is now. Interesting.

I never knew that the Bike Barn was anywhere other than where it is now. So, where exactly was this by the 300 loop? Somewhere around where the playground is now?

Yup, 500 loop was Terry Trail and the bike barn was by the 300 loop. If you check out the bottom of my FW web page (link below) I have both the current map as well as a 1978 map. You see a lot of changes during these years.

Here is a short history of FW:

Fort Wilderness opened November 1971 on 750 acres between the Contemporary Resort and the Walt Disney World Village. At that time it had 231 camping sites including loops 100 - 600.

June 1973 added 481 sites, loops 700 - 1900

April 1974 Pioneer Hall opened

June 1976 added 113 sites, loops 2000 - 2100

June 1976 River Country opened

April 1979 added Creekside Meadow group camping area

December 1986 added 383 trailer sites*, loops 2200 - 2800

*The Terry Trailer rental program on the 500 loop was so popular "cabin rental were expanded. IIRC the current sites of cabins had rental Terry Trailers on them as well as the 500 loop. After 2200-2800 opened the 500 loop was converted to a camping. loop.