During the MouseFest years, I often hosted a Tagrel meet for the early arrivals on Wednesday evening called Begin at the End. The "End" in the name refers to the Trail's End Buffeteria at Ft Wilderness, one of those hidden gems at WDW that few know about outside of the Ft Wilderness enthusiasts. Trail's End is a simple, American-style buffet, with good food, good service, and a relaxed, down-home atmosphere. It has the added benefit of never being crowded; you can get into Trail's End without an ADR almost any time, usually with zero wait. And it's easy to find - simply take the Ft Wilderness launch from MK or Contemporary, walk up a short path, and you're there (you can also take the Ft Wilderness bus from any other park or DTD, then take an internal bus at the campground to get to the Settlement). Here is the menu on AllEarsNet: http://allears.net/menu/menu_teb.htm We usually held this meet fairly early, with an ADR around 4:30-4:45, so as to give everyone time to eat, socialize, and get to any other first-night activities like fireworks or shows. I haven't made an ADR for this one yet, because I don't know how many are coming in on Wednesday, but after we get an idea of whether we'll have a group of 200 or if I'll be dining alone that evening, I'll call for an ADR and set the time in stone. I have an ADR for 4:30pm, which should give us plenty of time to have a nice, relaxed dinner. So, how's about it? Who's coming in on Wednesday before Pixelmania starts and would like to get together for some down-home cookin' at the campground to kick off your weekend? I can already taste the fried chicken... Signed up to attend: WillCAD (Will) ddindy (Dennis) PolynesianMedic (Jeff) ScottWDW (Scott) RedOctober25 (Jeffrey) Zeagle Gary ELinder (Erich) Tim Sean&Karen
Re: Begin at the End - Wednesday Oct 26 I attended a similar dinner in December, although it was later in the day and I missed AK EEMH because of it. ; I'm all for doing it again, though, so count me in. Afterwards maybe we can catch the parade and fireworks at MK then come back for a Ft. Wilderness Halloween decorations photowalk.
Re: Begin at the End - Wednesday Oct 26 Forgot to mention - if you're going to attend, be sure to let me know how many in your party so I can make the ADR for the proper number of adults/kids.
Re: Begin at the End - Wednesday Oct 26 I'm in. ; Trail's Inn is one of my favorites. ; I know Gary wanted to photograph the Halloween decorations at Ft. Wilderness. ; This could be our night before Pixelmania meet. ; Only me in my party.
Re: Begin at the End - Wednesday Oct 26 did the dates for PM2K11 change? ; I thought it was Oct. 20-23rd...
Begin at the End - Wednesday Oct 26 No, the dates didn't change, I just put the wrong date in the title of this thread. Im actually talking about Wed Oct 19. I've changed the title, though too late to spare me the embarrassment...
I was starting to get a little worried that the date changed and I booked my vacation a week early... ; ; And you can add one more in for me (come in on the Sunday prior to PM2K11) so wednesday is my "Do Nothing" day I always take in the middle of my vacations.
You'll love it there, Zeagle. Ft Wilderness has a quiet, peaceful charm all its own, and Trail's End is a good old fashioned country-like restaurant that makes everyone feel welcome and happy.
I won't make too big of a fuss, but it's "-rey", not "-ery". But I digress... I didn't fully read the ful post to see where the Trail's End is located. ; It will be nice and easy since I am staying at Bay Lake. ; I would have placed it more centrally if I had made a guess. ; Anyway, looking forward to seeing everyone at PM2K11.
Yeah, from BLT all you have to do is walk over to the Contemporary marina and catch a resort launch to Ft Wilderness. I like the boats from Contemp better than those from MK, because the ones that run from Contemp are smaller and give you more of a feel of being on the water than the larger launches that run from MK.
put me down for it, and definitely doing ft wilderness decorations walk, almost as over the top as christmas
Well, I was going to say I'm in, but I just checked, and sunset on that day isn't until 6:55PM, so it'd quite a long wait for it to be dark enough to photograph the decorations. Erich
Even if you don't want to do the photowalk, you could still come to dinner with us. The two activities are mutually exclusive. That's partly why I tend to schedule these dinner meets so early; it gives folks time to eat without being rushed, and get to whatever evening activities they might have planned afterward. The restaurants also tend to want large groups to schedule early, right after opening, but I don't think we'll have a huge group this year, probably under 20. One year I had a group of 63. We took over Trail's End! If our ADR is for 4:30, we'd be eating and talking for at least 90 minutes, which puts us at 6:00. We'd then have an hour to wait for sunset. Because of the heavy tree coverage at Ft Wilderness, it's pretty dark for at least 30 mins before sunset, so we could start the photowalk as early as 6:30. By then it will be dark enough for the lighted decorations to be on, and to get some nice pics.
Count me in most likely. ; I just realized that I never responded to your pm. ; Will do so later. -Posted from my htc Thunderbolt. ;
