Halloween 2008 at the Fort

[lindsey]

I am enjoying your report - We originally had reservations at FW for last week, but work forced me to change to November. Then the same work schedule (trip for training), forced me to change my Nov trip. I could not get reservations at FW, so we stayed at ASMu. We went over on Halloween. Had dinner at Trails End, and walked around several loops. Boy there were some great sites decorated. It was fun seeing the kids trick-or-treating.

 

[We4mickey]

TCD you have outdone yourself again. Wish we could have caught up with you DH was really disappointed. Unfortunately, we left on Friday. Keep up the great trip reports.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

I HAVE!!

You mean this skunk??

Her name is Grace, and she is a sweetie. There was also another skunk in our loop who was all white and her name is Marilyn. She's not as social as Grace is, so our friend didn't take her to the pet parade.

She's a sweet lady. She lives locally and was the organizer of our T@B rally. (She does have quite a menagerie though). She brought 4 dogs and two skunks to the Fort with her. She left the more exotic animals such as the chameleon, parrots, and other assorted critters at home.

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit! I can't believe that Carol knows the skunk lady!

So, let me get this right, this lady had two skunks and four dogs in a T@b camper? That must be cozy.

The parade was for pets, not just dogs, so I guess this was OK.

Carol, how about the Clay Aiken look-a-like, was he with your group too?

TCD

 

[clkelley]

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit! I can't believe that Carol knows the skunk lady!

So, let me get this right, this lady had two skunks and four dogs in a T@b camper? That must be cozy.

The parade was for pets, not just dogs, so I guess this was OK.

Carol, how about the Clay Aiken look-a-like, was he with your group too?

TCD

Nope, don't know the Clay Aiken look-a-like, but yes, the animals slept in the T@B with her. There were in an x-pen during the day

 

[Tri-circle-D]

TCD you have outdone yourself again. Wish we could have caught up with you DH was really disappointed. Unfortunately, we left on Friday. Keep up the great trip reports.

I am sorry, too. I saw your set-up and signs on the 1600 loop on Thursday. Didn't look like anyone was home, and then I never got a chance to get by there again. Definitely next time.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

OK, back to the report.

Halloween day flew by!

We spent the day at the Fort.

We visited the dog park with the TCD dog. We looped. A lot.

We checked on the activities at the Meadows. Missed the mummy wrapping, but did catch some of the creepy dodge ball. Just like regular dodge ball, but the balls looked like eye balls.

We signed up to be an official trick or treating site, and got our sign. Just an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper printed on a computer. I would say most folks did not bother with this, and just set up their candy distribution stations in the front of their sites.

The TCD DD's donned their costumes. Oldest DD was Hannah Montana, middle DD was Hannah's sidekick (Lilly?). Youngest DD passed. Here are the TCD DD's ready for the Trick or Treaters:

We cooked our dinner at the site on Halloween. We were officially the very first campers to use the new grill at site 818. As we sat down to eat, we heard something rustling in the woods across the canal. A big deer emerged from the woods and looked at us. The light was bad, but here is a photo:

See that brown blob to the left of center in the photo? That's a deer.

As we were finishing our dinner, our friend (and now officially our next President of the United States!) Obama stopped by and reminded us to vote:

He seems like a real nice guy, but I wish that he would stop with the smoking. It sets a bad example for the kids.

The campfire on Halloween was billed as a special Halloween campfire, and they were also going to have the entrants for the pumpkin carving contest on display. We went quickly to check that out.

Chip and Dale came out in costumes (pirate and vampire), and judged the pumpkins:

As you can see, they apparently were expecting a lot more entrants. In years past, they had pumpkins on sale at the Meadows Trading Post. There were none for sale while we were there. One year, they actually gave away free pumpkins for the contest.

The singer at the campfire announced that Chip and Dale would be passing out treats to the kids. We hauled it back to our site then, as we wanted to be there for the Trick or Treaters.

We had amazing crowds of people coming around the loop for trick or treating. What a blast! We gave away three huge bags of candy. The trick or treating stopped at about 9 pm.

But our night was just beginning!

TCD

 

[BigDaddyRog]

I live for "The MisAdventures Of TCD".....I really need to get an Obama mask.

 

[tiggger1]

Hey TCD. I think we T or t at your site! I remember your girls handing out candy! I don't remember if you were there though? It was my husband and I and my 2 kids.. My 22 month old was a scarecrow and my dd5 was Minnie mouse..

 

[Tri-circle-D]

I live for "The MisAdventures Of TCD".....I really need to get an Obama mask.

What mask?

That was really him. (I think)

Did you notice how he was pandering to the masses by wearing the Tampa Bay Rays shirt?

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Hey TCD. I think we T or t at your site! I remember your girls handing out candy! I don't remember if you were there though? It was my husband and I and my 2 kids.. My 22 month old was a scarecrow and my dd5 was Minnie mouse..

I think that I do remember your kids. Very polite, if they are the ones I am thinking of.

The thing is, I was back and forth to the site, as I had to do a little spying during the Trick or Treating, and there were so many kids! And, they were all so cute! Mrs. TCD and I even commented how we miss having a little one, now that ours are all teenagers.

It was wicked (using a Mass. term for you) busy there for a while, wasn't it?



TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

OK, who wants some more?

So, the Trick or Treating is done.

Time for TCD to have some fun.

I get into my gorilla costume (nobody is surprised by that, are they?). Middle DD will play the banana:

You know, I didn't know the old costume was looking so bad. This was my 40th birthday present from Mrs. TCD (she is the best), and that was (yikes) 7 years ago. This costume has gotten a lot of use. It won us first prize in a fourth of July parade a few years back. I have scared many a camper with this baby. The rubber parts are getting a little brittle. Oh well, back to our story.

So, here is the plan. We will go down to the campfire area, and DD will run across the front, right in front of the movie screen shouting "Help! Help!" and then a gorilla will come chasing after. That is funny, right?

Well, we go and pull off our prank. DD does a great acting job. The gorilla hams it up. The crowd yawns. All I hear is the crickets chirping. Maybe it was too dark, or they were too into the movie.

So, we head over to the official Dis party site at Us3's site on the 1900 loop. Same act. We get a little more reaction there.

Then, on down to the beach. The Hallowishes fireworks show is going on. BTW, the audio is definitely piped in at the beach for this. It was loud! We did the Banana/Gorilla act here. We got lots of big laughs here. Running up and down the dock and beach. Finally!

We also looped around and enjoyed the decorations at the campsites. Here are a few shots taken of the site that won first prize in the decorating contest. This man comes every year. He typically sets up in the 800 loop (always site 802), but they would not reserve this spot for him this year, as the loop was closed all the way up to 10/30. The man is from Inglis, Florida, and he hand made all of his decorations. These photos do not do it justice:

Hey- I discovered something interesting about the last photo, above. See the man with the Hawaiian Shirt? He must be a Disboard member. I stole these two photos off of Gatordad's trip report. See the guy that the arrows are pointing to? Same guy, right? Who is he?

Small world, isn't it?

TCD

p.s.- still to come . . . .some top notch TCD spy photos!

 

[Us3]

That gentleman is part of Momof5's group! Loretta can be more specific!

 

[Pirate-Jeff]

I think that I do remember your kids. Very polite, if they are the ones I am thinking of.

The thing is, I was back and forth to the site, as I had to do a little spying during the Trick or Treating, and there were so many kids! And, they were all so cute! Mrs. TCD and I even commented how we miss having a little one, now that ours are all teenagers.

It was wicked (using a Mass. term for you) busy there for a while, wasn't it?



TCD

We ran out of treats at 8pm (over 250 kids) the folks on the corner of 700 ran out just before 9pm with 400 treats/kids

 

[Us3]

So, we head over to the official Dis party site at Us3's site on the 1900 loop. Same act. We get a little more reaction there.

I went inside for 2 minutes to check on my little ones that were sleeping and I missed it all! I didn't believe anyone when they told me what had just happened!

 

[stacktester]

I talked to that man the week before halloween and loved his homemade pillars and fence. The whole thing gives me some ideas I'd like to use myself.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

How about some random photos and comments?

These folks had a pretty nice set up on the 800 loop. I thought maybe they were encroaching a little on the neighboring site.

But, when their neighbors checked in, they pulled into their site, so the two awnings faced each other.

I recall someone asking a question on the boards a while back about facing campsites. There aren't any at the Fort, but with the expanded concrete, and clearing between the sites, there really is no reason why you can't do what these people did. Check it out:

Looks like a party to me.

Here are some photos of Halloween decorations in the day time. Not as impressive as they are at night, but it is hard to get a good photo at night:

This is the graveyard scene at the campsite that won first place in the decoration contest:

This site is on the 300 loop:

Another 300 loop site:

These next sites are at the back of the 100 loop, where it exits to the Settlement Trading Post. Look at how much stuff these folks put out:

This site is on the 800 loop- make sure to notice the real pumpkins:

I think those pumpkins are supposed to spell Boo! At night, when they were lit, I thought they said 800. I thought these folks were just big 800 loop fans, but that was my bad.

As those who were there can confirm, these photos just scratch the surface of the sites that were decorated for Halloween. What a fun time to be at the Fort!

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

OK, I am going to need some help from my Spanish speaking friends on this one.

I noticed these signs at a couple of different places around the fort:

So, what is with the two Spanish phrases to translate the one English phrase?

And three exclamation points.

Must be something important.

As far as I can determine, they want these plants to grow, but they are still spraying the undesirable plants, and they need to make sure that these are left alone.

If the guys who are doing the spraying need these signs to remind them, maybe there should be a little more training?

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Here is something interesting.

This little building has just sat behind the Outpost bus stop forever:

I always wondered why it was there. Clearly it served some purpose, but there doesn't seem to be any reason for it to be here.

Well, look at this photo:

Look right behind the water tower. There is the little building!

So, the train used to come right by here. If you look in the background, you will see the building that is currently used as the bus stop. This appears to have been the main boarding depot for the train.

I never knew exactly where the train ran, but there you go.

TCD

 

[tiggger1]

according to what I googled it means

no = no
tratar = to treat
estar = to be
afuera = embankment, in public or get out of here!

 

[momoffive]

Hey- I discovered something interesting about the last photo, above. See the man with the Hawaiian Shirt? He must be a Disboard member. I stole these two photos off of Gatordad's trip report. See the guy that the arrows are pointing to? Same guy, right? Who is he?

Small world, isn't it?

TCD

p.s.- still to come . . . .some top notch TCD spy photos! [/QUOTE]

I can fill you in. We didn't stay long because I had my best friend visiting. She and her fiance, Bobby, pictured with the Hawaiian Shirt, were looping with us. They live in Orlando. My DH and my 2 boys were with them looking at the graveyard too at that time. Missie and I took the girls around the 1700 loop. I wanted to meet y'all so we stopped by. That's my DD 9 in the Cinderella dress, she was the one with the hearing aides. Having all 5 of them plus Missie and Bobby's DD with us made us real party crashers. BTW, I forgot to leave the margaritas with you. I took the bottle of Tequilla out of the cooler and went oh s***. Did anyone try the drunken hotdogs? I threw alot away.
Loretta