I just realized I didn't post any updates since last Monday.
We are home.
Left yesterday about 0645. Pulled into the driveway about 9:30PM CST last night. So just short of 16 hours for the 1003 miles. No major issues on the drive. ATL wasn't bad at 1:30 in the afternoon. I was surprised. Wind was terrible until we got to mid-Georgia. I used the TSD card for fuel in Florida. It saved about 30 cents/gallon, but interestingly, the non-truck stop stations at the same exit were 30-40 cents cheaper than the Loves or TA, but big rigs can't fit. I stopped for fuel a second time at the Buc-ee's north of ATL. There was a Loves across the street I was planning on stopping at and using the TSD card again. TSD price at LOVES was $3.50 ($3.84 pump price). Buc-ee's was $3.34. This was a short stop, but when I checked fuel prices on the TSD app, N. GA was a lot cheaper than TN where I would have had to stop. Buc-ee's was right at the half way point home and I wouldn't need to stop for fuel again, so Buc-ee's it was.
So back to what we did from Tuesday until yesterday.
Tuesday was a MK day. Ian and I rope dropped it along with Ed and his family. Ed described the ride outages that morning. Our original plan was to hit 7DMT, but it was on a delayed opening. We were some of the crowd that shifted to Peter Pan. Saw Ed in the queue. Then we waited for the 2nd rope drop to get to Frontierland. That side of the park, Adventureland and Frontierland, doesn't open until the official park opening. We were on our way to BTM, but a CM said it was not running yet. We made an immediate backtrack to Jungle Cruise. We had a great CM who had a bunch of new things in her spiel (along with the oldies). She was great! BTM was running by now with 15 minute wait. It had obviously just opened. By the time we got there, it was up to 30, but still much better than it usually is.
It was 10am by now and most of the rides were up to 45-90 minutes. We grabbed some coffee and a cup of vanilla/orange from Orange Bird. I passed on the souvenir cup. Buzz was only at 45 minutes so we did that. I had checked enough boxes for the day and headed back to the Fort to relax and wander. Ian stayed for a while, then decided to go to DS for the afternoon. He does like to shop.
Wednesday was the meet. Ed covered it well. It was nice to see Don, Joe and Cathi again. We had a nice time on a gorgeous day. It was probably the best day of our entire 2 week stay. Sunny, mid 70s. That night we went over to DS and wandered the shops for a bit, then ended up at Jock Lindley's. Great atmosphere and view. Drinks were good.
Thursday was a HS day. Ian and I wanted to do MFSR. Donna hung out as it makes her motion sick. We didn't do rope drop as the ride doesn't have a huge standby time until later in the day. The ride was only a 30 minute wait, so our plan worked out. Ian and I were both the pilots, so it worked out well. I often act as Ian's navigator on his racecar games and help point out things in Flight Sim, so we communicated pretty well with video games. We pulled in 2 containers and brought the Falcon home in 1 piece. We had some good gunners too. After a successful flight, TSM was showing 30 minutes. We jumped on that (it was actually 30 minutes). By the time we got off the ride, it was over an hour and the line was half way to Joffre's on Commissary Row. Donna and I didn't have any plans for the rest of the park. Ian headed off to ToT. Donna and I hit a few of the shops that way and then decided to watch the Beauty and the Beast show that was getting ready to start in the open theater by ToT. It was a cute show. It was early afternoon by now, Donna and I headed back to the Fort. I had made a TE reservation for dinner earlier in the day. We wanted to give it a try despite the consistently poor reviews. It certainly wasn't the old TE buffet, but the food wasn't terrible. I really liked the sausage, salad and green beans. The brisket was pretty fatty, but had an OK taste. We had asked for fried chicken, know you could do that. They brought the baked/rotisserie chicken out in the pan, but had a separate plate with just fried chicken. It is the usual P&J's friend chicken, so it was good. Overall, a solid meal as long as you don't have any expectations this will be like the buffet. We passed on deserts as we had a late reservation at Beaches and Cream.
B&C was a first for us. We had always read it was great, but we could never get a reservation and we weren't even sure where it was in the Beach Club. That left us with a dilemma. Our B&C reservation was for 9:50pm. Buses from the parks only run for an hour after park closure. The latest park closed at 9. Then we thought we would bus to DS and use that as the transfer spot since Disney wants you to spend money there and runs the buses late. We ended up driving over. They had a sign up saying due to demand, parking was limited to resort guests only. The gate CM simply scanned my magic band and saw the B&C reservation and let us in.
Beaches and Cream was great. We had a fun server. I didn't realize they also served food. Ian and I saw the chili/cheese tots and the bacon/cheese tots and had to try them. Donna and I split a Mini Mickey Sink. We changed it up from the standard 3 flavor and toppings. It was good and all gone by the time we left. Despite eating a few hours earlier at TE, we finished all the tots and the ice cream.
I had never been to Beach Club and only once at Yacht Club when we ate at The Yachtsman (excellent BTW). We arrived almost an hour early for our B&C reservation, incase we had to park at DS and bus over. This gave us a lot of time to wander the resorts. I LOVE THIS PLACE!
Beach Club felt so much like home. We walked out to the beach just as EPCOT fireworks were going off. Nice view. Storm Along Bay is an amazing pool and the whole feel of the Boardwalk area is fun. While at B&C, I pulled up a random week for early November at Beach Club. A water view room was only $780/night. Ian asked how much a 1 bedroom would be. I was afraid to look. Looks like we'll be staying with the Fort.
Friday was our last parks day and as we usually do, we finish the trip at MK. Ian rope dropped. Donna and I slept in. I had to drop the Kenny Cart at the Outpost bus stop by 0930 for the next person. I spent most of the morning packing up. I decided to winterize before we left for home. Highs were forecast in the low 40s, but nights would be around 20. I finished flushing pink stuff everywhere by noon and was just waiting for the ice maker to make some pink ice before I capped everything. 7DMT was the only ride at MK I hadn't been able to do in standby. Since our rope drop plans were foiled on Tuesday, I went ahead and bought ILL for all 3 of us. I picked a time later in the evening, so we could go over later and stay for Enchantment. That worked out pretty well. We went over to the park about 2pm. Walked the shops on Main Street again. We rode the People Mover, Buzz and Pirates. It was approaching our 6:15 LL time for 7DMT so we headed back to the BatB area. I had never been in the shops back there and we never rode the Little Mermaid ride. It was showing 30 minute standby, that was more like 45-50, but it was cute. It was now 6:30 and we jumped on 7DMT. it was still a 75 minute standby time, so I didn't feel too bad paying for this one.
After our LL ride, it was about an hour before Enchantment. The hub was mostly filled in. Donna and Ian wanted to walk the Main St. shops again. We ended up all the way back to the front of the park and Main St. was starting to fill in for the show. I walked it in the middle of the street by the Confectionary entrance and stood for 30 minutes. This was a great decision. Good view of the castle and fireworks and great view of the projections on Main St. The first time we saw Enchantment, we were outside Casey's, much closer to the castle. I had to keep turning around to see Main St and missed what was going on in front. The view back by the park entrance tied it all together. I can't say the theme of Enchantment was any better, but the overall show is much better appreciated farther back.
I didn't get any pics of the Main St. projections during the show. I was too busy taking it all in. I think Ian has some. I'll check his phone and post some here. It really does add to the show.
Donna summed it up at the end. "Disney knows how to do fireworks, but this one doesn't have the same feel".
We took the boat and bus back to our home in the 1600 loop. I fired up the coach, pulled in the slides, dropped the legs and blew up the air bags so all I had to do in the morning was unplug and leave. The coach requires the engine to be running to move the slides and lift the stabilizers. I figured it was be less disruptive for out neighbors, some in tents, to do it at 9pm instead of 6am.
So that's it. Two great weeks at the Fort, 10 park days, lots of meals and shopping. I was really nice to meet with
@Boomer1 (Krista),
@ilovedisneymm (Melissa), Ed, Don and Joe. I'm still letting it all soak in. This was my 2nd "Covid Disney" trip. It was definitely different than the 1st at the October 2020 DIS Meet. Some better, some worse. I'll post up some thoughts and observations in a day or so.
j
to play them for a couple quarters. Just a FRIENDLY wager, of course 
. So who's in? 
