After our surprise pirate encounter and two semi-private viewings of the EWP, we finally arrive safely at the Ft. Wilderness dock as the final strains of Yankee Doodle Dandy signal the end of the EWP. It is 10 pm. We had arrived at the Contemporary dock at 9. It took us an hour to get back to the Fort. Was I mad? Heck no! We had just experienced Disney magic.
WDW is a magical place. That is what I am a big advocate of the go with the flow approach. It never fails that despite what our original plans may have been, we encounter something unexpected, and it turns into something fun and memorable. We had already had some magic at AK that day, when a guest leaving the park handed us Fastpasses for Dinosaur. A really small gesture, but those Fastpasses allowed us to bypass a possible hour wait, and get on our way to the next attraction. Our hour delay from the Contemporary dock allowed us to see the EWP up close and personal twice. We have seen the EWP many, many, times, but it was cool to see it from the boat.
As we walked down the FW dock, there is a crowd assembled. You cant really see the crowd in these photos, but there is a crowd assembled here:
What are they doing here?
Well, first they watched the EWP, and now they were about to watch the MK fireworks which began, on cue, as we hit the beach.
As we walked off the dock, I thought I spotted another hippie. Whats with all the hippies? And, this hippie had a laptop computer plugged into an electric outlet on a light pole at the beach. What the heck? So, you know I had to take his photo. Because: A. He was a hippie; and B. He had a lap top computer on the beach-plugged into a lamppost. You do something like that in front of me, and your picture is going to end up here on the Disboards. Here he is:
What in the world was this hippie doing? Well, as we boarded our golf cart to head away, one of the DDs says that the guy had a camera hooked up to his computer. Later, I found out that the guy with the webcam had done a live broadcast from the FW beach on Saturday night, showing the EWP and fireworks. That was no hippie! It is the guy who has been broadcasting from his webcam on the 100 loop. Now we know what he looks like! Another mystery solved by TCD!
After we boarded our golf cart, we headed down to where the Clementines Beach sign is to watch the fireworks. Guess who we ran into there? Our nemesis, itchy Brian! He had his big white pickup truck parked on the roadway and wouldnt let any golf carts onto the sidewalk. True, there is a no golf cart sign there, but everyone always parks their carts here to watch the EWP and fireworks. Not tonight. And by the way, his name isnt really itchy Brian, but I dont think I can post his real name here because of the Disboard rules. His real first name, the one that comes before Brian, does contain the word itchy, but it really begins with a B. He is the successor to Mean Gene. JK, by the way, Brian, in case you are reading this. Brian is a nice guy. But every superhero needs a nemesis, and a guy named Nice Brian cant be TCDs nemesis.
After watching Wishes from the roadway (courtesy of Brian), we headed out for some looping. First stop, the 1400 loop. The movie tonight was Beverly Hills Chihuahua. We have never seen it, but I think it was just in theaters earlier this year, and that it did pretty well. We arrived to find the credits playing, and the chuck wagon closed. Darn. I have wanted to snap a photo of the chuck wagon menu, because there are always questions on the boards here about what is available there, and how much things cost. But, the back door of the chuck wagon was open, so I was able to get my photo. Here you go:
Saturday night is usually a great night to loop at the Fort. The campground is usually at its busiest, and the partiers are usually doing their partying. So, we looped. The campground was kind of dead. Nobody was out. Nobody was partying. It looked like everyone had made an early evening of it. And, so did we. We were back at our site by 11, and just hung out there.
This would be a logical place to stop this post, but it doesnt contain enough photos.
So, now we will move onto Sunday morning.
There have been a lot of questions asked recently about tent camping at the Fort, and especially about tent camping in the hot summer months. People have asked if it is crazy to consider it. Personally, I would not want to camp in a tent in the summer at Ft. Wilderness. But, a lot of people do. And, when you think about it, why not? It is by far the cheapest option for a place to stay at WDW, and if you have a fan or air conditioner, you could probably make it through the night. Especially if you are only staying a night or two.
There are a couple of great threads here on the camping board where people have posted pictures of their campsites. Some of the tent camping set ups are very nice, but also elaborate. Those photos might be intimidating to a newbie who doesnt have that type of equipment. Well, would you like to see some photos of more ordinary set ups? I think some of you would. So, on Sunday morning, August 23, 2009, I set out to take some candid shots of tent campers at the Fort. As you will see, some folks keep it real simple, some make it pretty complicated, and the rest fall somewhere in between. Everybody has fun, though.
These first ones are from the 1500 loop:
Here are a couple shots of an armadillo. For you newbies, these vicious creatures are all over the Fort. Be sure to take precautions against them. They will attack without provocation, and they carry leprosy.
Oh, I was kidding about the viciousness. These are very shy and docile creatures, and they want nothing to do with you.
Some more shots from 1500:
Now, lets head to the 2000 loop.
I think that this sign is new:
This guy was set up in 1600. Notice the AC:
Here we are at the canal separating the 2000 loop from the 2100 loop. You can see that there are a lot of tent campers on 2000. Even though its August:
We have a new bird/bat house here. But, to me it looks like there is an outline of a butterfly on it:
What is it? A bird house? A bat house? A butterfly house? Anyone?
Heres one more (blurry) shot of the canal. Not so attractive, is it? Believe it or not, I have seen it look worse:
Next up- photos of the tent campers on 2000.
TCD