Tri-circle-D
<font color=peach>Throwing some love to TCD<br><fo
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2004
Way back in the day, the TCD crew began their camping history at FW by staying in the Wilderness Homes, and then the Wilderness Cabins. The TCD kids were real young back then. Then, we tried real camping, with tents and rented units. In 1999, we bought our pop-up camper. We haven't stayed in a cabin since.
But, as Mothers Day weekend approached, the TCD kids and I discussed what we could do for good old Mrs. TCD. We agreed that it would be nice to take Mrs. TCD to the Flower and Garden show at Epcot, maybe have a nice meal, and spend the night at a WDW resort, and then head home. We talked about AKL, where we have stayed before.
But, we are a family of 5. And the TCD DD's are all teenagers now. There are not a lot of good options for WDW resorts for parties over four people. We could squeeze into one hotel room, but it isn't real comfortable. And, when you start pricing two rooms, it becomes too expensive.
So, I suggested that we try a cabin. Everyone loved the idea. I tried to book one on-line for one night. Nothing. I tried for a couple of days, nothing. That seemed odd. This is not a super-busy time at WDW. I tried some other date ranges, and found that I could book a cabin at a passholder rate, including the Saturday night we wanted, by booking for 5 nights. So, that's what I did. And then I called a couple of days later, and dropped the extra nights we didn't need. Viola- we had a cabin reservation.
Well, we got up early Saturday morning, May 9th, and made it to Epcot for rope drop. The weather was great. Warm and clear. Not too hot early in the morning. We hit all the major attractions in Future World, and headed to Mexico at 11. I asked at the hostess stand in the restaurant if there was any availability for lunch, and they said I could have a table as soon as they opened at 11:30. We rode the ride, and by the time we got back, we were being seated in a table right by the water!
We had a great meal, then headed over to Norway and rode the Maelstrom, and looked around the gift shop. It was starting to get hot now. We headed back to Future World, and visited to exhibits in the Wonders of Life pavilion. It was getting to be near 1:30 pm, so we visited Spaceship Earth, and then headed over to the Fort to check in.
When we arrived, there was a line of traffic beginning right after the guard shack. We could see that cars were parked everywhere, and there was a cast member stopping each vehicle as it pulled in to speak to the driver. This was odd. Something was going on here that we did not know about. There isn't usually this kind of traffic in this area.
When we reached the castmember, he told us that there was going to be a triathlon at the Fort on Sunday (the next day), and that folks were arriving for a pre-triathlon check-in. I think the contestants were supposed to park in the Magic Kingdom parking lot and take a shuttle, but apparently a lot of them decided to just drive to the Fort. That created a bad situation. I told the castmember that I needed to park somewhere so I could go inside to check in. He said that I could park wherever I could find a spot. Gee, thanks. There were no spots, and people were parking in the grass and other places that were not parking spaces. But, as soon as I pulled away from the castmember, someone pulled out, and I pulled right into a parking space. Sweet!
We went in to the Reception Outpost to check in. There was a bit of a line, and there were a ton of people in there, but all of the windows were open, and I didn't have to wait long for a hostess. I will note here that I did see the on-line check in window. But, there was a mother with a couple of kids at that window for the entire time that I was waiting at line. She had one of her kids, who was about two, sitting on the counter while she obviously discussed every minute detail of her stay with the hostess. I kept on thinking that kid was going to fall off the counter, because mom was not watching him! I am glad I didn't check in on-line, because I was called to my window, and checked in before that mom resolved all of her issues.
So, we check in. The hostess tells us that our cabin is ready. She pulls out the map, and writes the cabin number on it : 120. Sweet! That is one of the two VIP cabins on the 100 loop. You cannot reserve it. You cannot request it. You just have to be lucky to get it. Really lucky. Like TCD!
We also had reserved a golf cart for the day, and we went ahead and picked that up.
And, we headed back to our cabin.
When we arrived, there was a housekeeping cart in the driveway. That is odd. We already had our keys, and the hostess said the cabin was ready. But it wasn't. There were two castmembers still cleaning the cabin. They said it would be another 15 minutes. So, the DD's took off on the golf cart, and Mrs. TCD and I walked down to the Settlement Trading Post for a look around.
When we checked in, I got this letter about the triathlon. Didn't sound like too big of a deal:
But, as we walked toward the trading post, I could see that there was a lot of stuff set up for the race:
We looked around the trading post, and then headed back to the cabin. We sat outside at the picnic table for a couple of minutes, and then the castmembers came out and said it was ready to go.
Here is a photo of the cabin's porch. This is different from the porches on the other cabins. It is narrower, and they provide two rocking chairs. The regular cabins have wider porches, and the picnic tables are on the porch:
The weird thing about cabin 120 is that it is a mirror image of all of the other cabins at the Fort. As you face this cabin from the street, the entrance doors are on your right. All of the other cabins at the Fort have their entrance doors on the left.
Except for everything being a mirror image, the inside of the VIP cabins is the same as the other cabins:
The main room:
The kitchen:
The bathroom:
The bedroom (note the bed is on the right, instead of the left):
The bedroom TV:
The main room TV had a DVD player. I thought I heard somewhere that there was supposed to be a DVD/VCR combo. But we only had a DVD player. And, I'm not sure if the other cabins have a cable modem, or if their internet comes from a DSL line or something else. But, we had a cable modem:
I am surprised that the cabin TV's are kind of old and, pardon my language, crappy. The TV reception was pretty poor. I have heard that the cabins were renovated. I am not sure if this it the kind of TV's that they give you in the other cabins, but if they are, I say get with it Disney. These cabins are not cheap. I have had better TV's in Comfort Suites and Courtyards by Marriot. And payed a lot less for the room. And got a free breakfast. So, let's get with it here, Disney.
I have heard of bounceback offers, and have seen this flyer before. But maybe some of you haven't. This was in our cabin:
Here's a shot of the front of the cabin:
This is a photo of one of my DD's holding a towel animal up in the window. I guess these things are a big deal to some people. I say just clean my room, and hold the towel animals, and I'm good:
Since we are in a cabin, and only spending one night, I think it took us 10 minutes, if that, to get our stuff in and get ourselves situated. Then, it was time to explore.
First, we headed down to the old River Country area, because it looked like a lot was going on down there. This trailer and some bikes were set up in the grassy area next to the Settlement playground. Doesn't look like that many people were going to be participating in the triathlon:
Here is a look at the Fort's beach area:
As we passed toward the back of Pioneer Hall, this is what we saw set up in the back the area behind Pioneer Hall:
I'll have some better pictures of this later, but what you are looking at here are rows and rows of bicycles.
I didn't catch the part of the letter that said that there would be approximately 2200 athletes participating in the triathlon. 2200! That's a lot! How is this going to work? How are 2200 athletes going to get to the Settlement. Where will they park? Where will they eat? Where will they go to the bathroom?
This is sounds crazy!
It was!
I have it all documented.
And photographed!
First, about the bathrooms.
Here are a few that they set up in front of the old River Country entrance:
And, there were plenty more in other places.
Here is another shot of the bike area behind Pioneer Hall:
Only 20 photos per post, so time to finish this one.
Don't worry, there's plenty more to come.
TCD
But, as Mothers Day weekend approached, the TCD kids and I discussed what we could do for good old Mrs. TCD. We agreed that it would be nice to take Mrs. TCD to the Flower and Garden show at Epcot, maybe have a nice meal, and spend the night at a WDW resort, and then head home. We talked about AKL, where we have stayed before.
But, we are a family of 5. And the TCD DD's are all teenagers now. There are not a lot of good options for WDW resorts for parties over four people. We could squeeze into one hotel room, but it isn't real comfortable. And, when you start pricing two rooms, it becomes too expensive.
So, I suggested that we try a cabin. Everyone loved the idea. I tried to book one on-line for one night. Nothing. I tried for a couple of days, nothing. That seemed odd. This is not a super-busy time at WDW. I tried some other date ranges, and found that I could book a cabin at a passholder rate, including the Saturday night we wanted, by booking for 5 nights. So, that's what I did. And then I called a couple of days later, and dropped the extra nights we didn't need. Viola- we had a cabin reservation.
Well, we got up early Saturday morning, May 9th, and made it to Epcot for rope drop. The weather was great. Warm and clear. Not too hot early in the morning. We hit all the major attractions in Future World, and headed to Mexico at 11. I asked at the hostess stand in the restaurant if there was any availability for lunch, and they said I could have a table as soon as they opened at 11:30. We rode the ride, and by the time we got back, we were being seated in a table right by the water!
We had a great meal, then headed over to Norway and rode the Maelstrom, and looked around the gift shop. It was starting to get hot now. We headed back to Future World, and visited to exhibits in the Wonders of Life pavilion. It was getting to be near 1:30 pm, so we visited Spaceship Earth, and then headed over to the Fort to check in.
When we arrived, there was a line of traffic beginning right after the guard shack. We could see that cars were parked everywhere, and there was a cast member stopping each vehicle as it pulled in to speak to the driver. This was odd. Something was going on here that we did not know about. There isn't usually this kind of traffic in this area.
When we reached the castmember, he told us that there was going to be a triathlon at the Fort on Sunday (the next day), and that folks were arriving for a pre-triathlon check-in. I think the contestants were supposed to park in the Magic Kingdom parking lot and take a shuttle, but apparently a lot of them decided to just drive to the Fort. That created a bad situation. I told the castmember that I needed to park somewhere so I could go inside to check in. He said that I could park wherever I could find a spot. Gee, thanks. There were no spots, and people were parking in the grass and other places that were not parking spaces. But, as soon as I pulled away from the castmember, someone pulled out, and I pulled right into a parking space. Sweet!
We went in to the Reception Outpost to check in. There was a bit of a line, and there were a ton of people in there, but all of the windows were open, and I didn't have to wait long for a hostess. I will note here that I did see the on-line check in window. But, there was a mother with a couple of kids at that window for the entire time that I was waiting at line. She had one of her kids, who was about two, sitting on the counter while she obviously discussed every minute detail of her stay with the hostess. I kept on thinking that kid was going to fall off the counter, because mom was not watching him! I am glad I didn't check in on-line, because I was called to my window, and checked in before that mom resolved all of her issues.
So, we check in. The hostess tells us that our cabin is ready. She pulls out the map, and writes the cabin number on it : 120. Sweet! That is one of the two VIP cabins on the 100 loop. You cannot reserve it. You cannot request it. You just have to be lucky to get it. Really lucky. Like TCD!
We also had reserved a golf cart for the day, and we went ahead and picked that up.
And, we headed back to our cabin.
When we arrived, there was a housekeeping cart in the driveway. That is odd. We already had our keys, and the hostess said the cabin was ready. But it wasn't. There were two castmembers still cleaning the cabin. They said it would be another 15 minutes. So, the DD's took off on the golf cart, and Mrs. TCD and I walked down to the Settlement Trading Post for a look around.
When we checked in, I got this letter about the triathlon. Didn't sound like too big of a deal:
But, as we walked toward the trading post, I could see that there was a lot of stuff set up for the race:
We looked around the trading post, and then headed back to the cabin. We sat outside at the picnic table for a couple of minutes, and then the castmembers came out and said it was ready to go.
Here is a photo of the cabin's porch. This is different from the porches on the other cabins. It is narrower, and they provide two rocking chairs. The regular cabins have wider porches, and the picnic tables are on the porch:
The weird thing about cabin 120 is that it is a mirror image of all of the other cabins at the Fort. As you face this cabin from the street, the entrance doors are on your right. All of the other cabins at the Fort have their entrance doors on the left.
Except for everything being a mirror image, the inside of the VIP cabins is the same as the other cabins:
The main room:
The kitchen:
The bathroom:
The bedroom (note the bed is on the right, instead of the left):
The bedroom TV:
The main room TV had a DVD player. I thought I heard somewhere that there was supposed to be a DVD/VCR combo. But we only had a DVD player. And, I'm not sure if the other cabins have a cable modem, or if their internet comes from a DSL line or something else. But, we had a cable modem:
I am surprised that the cabin TV's are kind of old and, pardon my language, crappy. The TV reception was pretty poor. I have heard that the cabins were renovated. I am not sure if this it the kind of TV's that they give you in the other cabins, but if they are, I say get with it Disney. These cabins are not cheap. I have had better TV's in Comfort Suites and Courtyards by Marriot. And payed a lot less for the room. And got a free breakfast. So, let's get with it here, Disney.
I have heard of bounceback offers, and have seen this flyer before. But maybe some of you haven't. This was in our cabin:
Here's a shot of the front of the cabin:
This is a photo of one of my DD's holding a towel animal up in the window. I guess these things are a big deal to some people. I say just clean my room, and hold the towel animals, and I'm good:
Since we are in a cabin, and only spending one night, I think it took us 10 minutes, if that, to get our stuff in and get ourselves situated. Then, it was time to explore.
First, we headed down to the old River Country area, because it looked like a lot was going on down there. This trailer and some bikes were set up in the grassy area next to the Settlement playground. Doesn't look like that many people were going to be participating in the triathlon:
Here is a look at the Fort's beach area:
As we passed toward the back of Pioneer Hall, this is what we saw set up in the back the area behind Pioneer Hall:
I'll have some better pictures of this later, but what you are looking at here are rows and rows of bicycles.
I didn't catch the part of the letter that said that there would be approximately 2200 athletes participating in the triathlon. 2200! That's a lot! How is this going to work? How are 2200 athletes going to get to the Settlement. Where will they park? Where will they eat? Where will they go to the bathroom?
This is sounds crazy!
It was!
I have it all documented.
And photographed!
First, about the bathrooms.
Here are a few that they set up in front of the old River Country entrance:
And, there were plenty more in other places.
Here is another shot of the bike area behind Pioneer Hall:
Only 20 photos per post, so time to finish this one.
Don't worry, there's plenty more to come.
TCD
) and thinking how glad I was that this year we missed the Triathlon!! We arrive on Thursday, and I guess it really has never been all that bad. I know one year in fact they extended the 11:00am check out to the afternoon sometime due to the fact that leaving was next to impossible as the bike riders streamed out and then back in. I usually have an account to service on Sunday night, but next weekend I don't. Maybe they will let us stay an extra night for the all the bother???
