Halloween 2010 at the Fort with the TCD Gang!

[DaveInTN]

Yes, it's DaveInTN's girlfriend. Two-timing it with a demented clown.

Sorry, Dave.

The clown can have her. In fact, they are made for each other. He can feed her poisonous candy apples.

 

[Fort Mad Man]

Here comes another group:

TCD,

I did not realize you were so close by. I was at site 720 (Hornet TT - White Excursion EB). And now looking at the pictures and all (Great pictures by the way - Go Gators!), I recall we crossed paths several time during the stay.

I even remember seeing you walk Rocky and telling my kids that the next time we get a dog it would be like Rocky. The zombies in the picture are my kids. It sure was a great experience and yes loop 700 was a happening loop. Too bad we didn't get together, perhaps another time.

 

[kampfirekim]

wow! Great quantity man!

Was outta town over the weekend and just now getting caught up.

Great work. Further proving my point to DH that we MUST go to the Fort in Oct. 2011.

I'm starting to get a little curious about Donnie....

Just what does he do to all of these married women to deserve his rep?

 

[ambertides]

Check out the custom cup rack on the back of this guy's bike:

Oh, oh, oh, we saw this guy's bike outside the Meadow Trading Post on 10/26. I meant to put the picture in a trip report, but the trip report has not magically written itself yet.

Here is a close up that might help you build one.

We thought it was the coolest thing ever.

 

[Magicbus]

Drink, anyone?

 

[Tri-circle-D]

The clown can have her. In fact, they are made for each other. He can feed her poisonous candy apples.

I am so happy to hear that you have finally come to your senses.

I mean, how long have you been that biotch's doormat?

And, I wouldn't call sour grapes on you at all if you pointed out that Ms. White looks like she had been hitting the candy stash hard lately.

I hope she and the demented clown are happy together.

Here comes another group:

TCD,

I did not realize you were so close by. I was at site 720 (Hornet TT - White Excursion EB). And now looking at the pictures and all (Great pictures by the way - Go Gators!), I recall we crossed paths several time during the stay.

I even remember seeing you walk Rocky and telling my kids that the next time we get a dog it would be like Rocky. The zombies in the picture are my kids. It sure was a great experience and yes loop 700 was a happening loop. Too bad we didn't get together, perhaps another time.

Wow.

We were neighbors.

Is that your kid with the pizza box?

I meant to ask him what was in it, but I didn't get a chance.

So, what was in the pizza box?

wow! Great quantity man!

Was outta town over the weekend and just now getting caught up.

Great work. Further proving my point to DH that we MUST go to the Fort in Oct. 2011.

I'm starting to get a little curious about Donnie....

Just what does he do to all of these married women to deserve his rep?

The KFK gang definitely needs to get to the Fort for Halloween.

It is an absolute blast!

About Donnie . . .

I like Donnie.

But Mrs. TCD is not a fan.

Just to clear things up, their encounter on this trip was no big deal. Mrs. TCD was out with the girls on the golf cart when it was getting near dark. Some guy on a cart came screeching up to her and yelled: "turn on your lights." That guy was Donnie. He was just trying to be funny. But Mrs. TCD didn't take it that way. She didn't know it was Donnie, and I believe she told him a thing or two.

Or three.

Like I said, don't mess with Mrs. TCD.

Donnie- if you're reading, no big deal. We're cool. But stay away from Mrs. TCD!

Oh, oh, oh, we saw this guy's bike outside the Meadow Trading Post on 10/26. I meant to put the picture in a trip report, but the trip report has not magically written itself yet.

Here is a close up that might help you build one.

We thought it was the coolest thing ever.

FANTASTIC!

I can't believe you took a photo of this.

Good job!

Looking at this thing up close, I think that this guy deserves to be the first inductee to the TCD Real Man Of Genius Hall of Fame (TCD RMOGHOF).

I mean, look at that thing!

And, extra points for being a blatant soda thief. None of those mugs are anywhere close to being legal.

And who needs to fill six mugs at a time?

I love this guy!

I am going to have some plans drawn, and I will need to figure where to build the TCD RMOGHOF.

I am thinking that I need to start full timing it at the Fort.

On site 617.

That's where I think the TCD RMOGHOF should go.

Stay tuned.

TCD

 

[MandMLUVMMandDVC]

I'm starting to get a little curious about Donnie....

Just what does he do to all of these married women to deserve his rep?

About Donnie . . .

I like Donnie.

But Mrs. TCD is not a fan.

It's ok if Mrs.TCD isn't a Donnie fan, that just leaves more of him for those of us who are

 

[MandMLUVMMandDVC]

I have something off color to say..... Look at these pics.....

I'm glad he isn't carrying my cup. He doesn't have a tiny rump, and if he passes gas there is no way possible that those front 2 cups aren't going to become bio-hazard. Just sayin'

 

[Tri-circle-D]

It's ok if Mrs.TCD isn't a Donnie fan, that just leaves more of him for those of us who are

True.

There is no shortage of Donnie fans.

Y'all enjoy!

I have something off color to say..... Look at these pics.....

I'm glad he isn't carrying my cup. He doesn't have a tiny rump, and if he passes gas there is no way possible that those front 2 cups aren't going to become bio-hazard. Just sayin'

I'm ashamed to say that I LOL'd at that.

And, all kidding aside, you have made me re-think whether this fellow should be the initial TCD RMOGHOF member.

Maybe too much soda is a bad thing.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Alright, back to our report.

At the conclusion of the last update, I promised another photo of the young man in the robot costume.

And, here it is:

This was, in fact, made from a wastebasket. Also note that the costume lights up. Good job!

I have no idea what this man was thinking:

This little Tinkerbell really liked Rocky. And he liked her:

I loved this father/son combo. And this guy said that he wasn't wearing a wig:

Here's Snow White's chicken and penguin friends walking back from their campsite with some fresh beers:

So, it was about here that our candy supplies were about exhausted.

The TCD twins were on the fence about whether or not they would go trick-or-treating. They are 15 now, and they thought they were finally too old. But, you may have noticed that there were quite a few older kids trick-or-treating.

So the girls rigged up some costumes, and headed out:

Back at our site, they folks kept coming.

The Flintstones came by in their great cart:

I think the Flintstones were cabin people. I never saw their cart around any of the campsites, and I saw them drive out of a cabin loop when I was out on patrol.

If I hadn't already awarded the best costume award to Joe Dirt, these guys would have been in the running:

I asked the fellow in the overalls what he was dressed up as. He said a Hillbilly. I asked him where he got the overalls. He said, matter of factly, that he was from Kentucky. There you go.

I also liked this little girl's costume.

I told her she was the only Smurfette who had been by all night.

She asked what was a Smurfette?

I said it was a girl Smurf.

She said she wasn't a Smurf.

What do you think?:

Definitely a Smurf, right?

She said no-that she was someone from a movie called Avatar.

There's a movie called Avatar?

Never heard of it!

Actually, this girl's costume and make-up was done by her grandmother, who was walking around with her. She really did a great job, didn't she?

This guy, dressed as Beetlejuice, was in character.

He tried to steal Mrs. TCD's basket:

That's one of her Longebergers. That guy would not have gotten much further had he not immediately put the basket back down. He doesn't know how close he came to getting it good.

The carts and trick-or-treaters kept on coming:

It was somewhere about here that the TCD twins came back and asked if I could run them over to the 1600 loop. They had run into TiggerInBama's daughter who told them that the 1600 loop was where it was at candy-wise. So, Mrs. TCD agreed to hold down the fort (meaning our campsite, not the entire Fort)(and I also mean she watched the campsite, she didn't really have to hold anything), and I headed out with the girls on the cart to the 1600 loop. There, we ran into a bunch of great Disboarders, old and new, and the girls did, in fact, load up with candy. I even got a few treats myself, including a very generous handful of candy from Melissa (MandMLUVMMandDVC), and even a kungaloosh from Rick (Mr. clkelley).

It was about completely dark then, and we headed back to base camp to finish out the trick-or-treating.

Our Gators were a popular photo-op all night:

The "Do Not Enter" sign was missing from the 700 loop exit, so we had a lot of carts coming down the wrong way all night:

At about 7 pm, we ran out of candy.

But not trick-or-treaters.

In fact, the 700 loop became grid locked about then:

One of the reasons for the back-up was that there was a car stopped and an ambulance and security vehicle parked right outside the path leading to the Settlement, and traffic was being turned back:

Hilda had watched the whole scene play out. She didn't know what happened, because as far as she could tell there was not collision between the stopped car and anything or anyone. But, Hilda recognized that a big-shot security person had arrived at the scene. She even had a name for the lady, which I can't remember. But she pointed out that the lady always wore a suit, and, in fact, this lady was wearing a suit, and looking very serious and official. Hilda sent me to find out what this was all about. I really couldn't figure it out. One of my DD's was walking by the scene, and asked one of the occupants of the car what was going on. She was told that there was a boy in the car who had some type of diabetic reaction, and I guess they decided to stop right there and call for help. As far as we know, everyone ended up being fine. No one went anywhere in the ambulance, and the scene was cleared after about a half hour. But, boy what a back-up it caused.

My DD also reported that when the ambulance first arrived, it apparently went the wrong way, and the castmember previously identified as Segway Guy unleashed some choice profanity, including a very loud F-Bomb! Bad show Segway Guy.

I have opened a file on Segway Guy, and will be keeping my eye on him.

Next up, more photos from Halloween night!

And photos of the three campsite decoration contest winners.

TCD

 

[Lil' Lisa]

Drink, anyone?

Not if he was at Ohana the night before...

 

[DaveInTN]

Not if he was at Ohana the night before...

You know it! For an old woman, you're pretty sharp.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Not if he was at Ohana the night before...

You know it! For an old woman, you're pretty sharp.

LOL!

That's some funny stuff, there!

Now, let's get this report finished up.

I have a few more photos from Halloween night, and then we will have just a post or two left and we will be done.

This is a shot looking in to the 700 loop exit:

This is the 100 loop:

And, here we are on 400- the group of people is standing there enjoying the Thriller light show:

The Thriller site won third prize in the campsite decorating contest.

Here we are on the 1400 loop. These campers won the campsite decorating contest the last two years. They used to always camp on the 800 loop. But, in 2008 they were on the 1700 loop, in 2009 they were on the 800 loop, and now in 2010, they were the last site on the 1400 loop. They came in second this year:

Here are a couple of shots of a site on the 1700 loop. They did not win any prizes, but I liked their setup a lot:

Now, here's something interesting. Check out this campsite on the 1900 loop:

What is going on here?

Note that there is a long canopy with tables and chairs set up under it.

This was a wedding party.

On Halloween night.

The couple got married on Clementine's Beach.

And, then had the reception at a campsite.

It was catered.

I spoke to someone affiliated with the wedding. I had always heard that Disney didn't allow this type of thing unless you went through their wedding planners and dropped major jack. Major. The lady told me they didn't go trough Disney. Because it was too expensive.

Somehow, they got away with this.

I'll tell you that there were a lot more than 10 people on that campsite.

BTW- The bride and groom wore regular wedding attire, and not Halloween costumes.

But this whole thing seems a bit odd to me.

Here's my last photo from Halloween night.

This was set up on the 600 loop, not far from TNBob's waterfront site:

Notice the guy in the body bag has a Vikings hat on, and that the skull to the left is sporting a Lions hat. You can't see it in the photo, but there was another skull on the other side of the blow-up with a Bears cap.

Serious cheeseheads here!

So, this post is a bit shorter than normal.

That's so we can start with the November 1 am photos in a new post.

The end is near!

TCD

 

[4mickey2]

we know those cheeseheads. they live down the block from we4mcikey....get it block.. lmao

no, really we don't-well, at least we don't think we do. but, we might know them..

great tr...

 

[Tri-circle-D]

we know those cheeseheads. they live down the block from we4mcikey....get it block.. lmao

no, really we don't-well, at least we don't think we do. but, we might know them..

great tr...

Cheryl-

LOL!

Aren't you and Jeff cheesheads, too?

Now, here we go.

We're on the final stretch.

Before moving on, let me share my thoughts about Halloween evening.

I need to give credit where credit is due.

I have complained in the past about how wild things had become at the Fort on Halloween.

To my great surprise, FW management did something about it. Having castmembers posted around the campground on Halloween night to monitor golf carts and other activities helped a lot. By 9 things were pretty much dead around the Fort.

At first, I didn't like the early stop time for trick-or-treating.

But, it ended up being a good idea.

Except for the traffic jam caused by the emergency vehicles, everything went pretty smoothly on Halloween night.

We sure had a blast.

We're not sure what we will be doing next year, as Halloween falls on a Monday night.

Now, let's get this thing finished.

These are not yet the last of the photos, but it's getting very close.

Here is one of my favorite spots in all of the Fort- the pathway to the Settlement. Not many folks were out and about early on November 1:

Do you ever wonder how deliveries are made to the Settlement Trading Post?

Well, they are made early in the morning.

And, they pull up the poles that block traffic on the road in front of Pioneer Hall.

Here is a newspaper delivery van:

I wanted to make sure to document which campsites won the decorating contest, so here they are:

First place was 301:

Second place was 1446:

Third place was 404 (this was the Thriller display):

I wish I could tell you which cabin won the cabin division, but I never saw a sign anywhere. Does anyone know?

Do you think they have enough signs here by the Meadow pool?:

I don't know, I'd bet that they could think of a few more signs to post.

Here is the Meadow Pool splash zone at sunrise:

And, here we are looking from the splash zone area toward the lake behind the Meadow Trading Post. Note that the Crepe Myrtle trees still have a few blooms leftover from summer, and still have their leaves. Soon, these trees will be bare (one of the few indications of a change in seasons that you will see in Florida):

Here we are on the bridge behind the Meadow Trading Post, looking toward the 1300 loop:

And here we are looking at the water's edge- as you can see the water level is very low- there was just a trace of rain in the entire month of October. The heron does not look very happy, does he?:

There is a big Sycamore tree right behind the Meadow Trading Post. Its leaves are just beginning to turn brown and fall off; much earlier than in years past:

There is a rock behind the Meadow Trading Post that has been dubbed Bear Rock here on the Disboards. It is usually surrounded by water, and looks like a bear is swimming in the lake. But, after such a dry October, the bear is landlocked (and he doesn't look like much of a bear at the moment, does he?):

Here is a look across the lake toward the pedestrian bridge that leads from the 600 loop to the campfire area. This is another of my favorite places at the Fort. There are a lot of birds hanging out here this morning:

Here's our friend the Heron, still hanging out in the mud:

And here's another bird, just across on the other side of the water:

Here's a shot of the back porch of the Meadow Trading Post, taken from the little dock out back:

I am sure that I have been on the back porch of the Meadow Trading Post hundreds of times.

But, I never noticed this date etched in the concrete walk way where the hop-scotch court is painted:

Think about it . . .32 years ago someone poured that concrete, and wrote the date in the wet cement. How many thousands of campers have passed by there since? And, what changes have they witnessed? I'm sure a lot has changed since then, but a lot has remained the same.

Next up . . .

the last photos from this trip!

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Here we are.

We have reached the end of another trip report.

When this post is done, that will mean you have looked at 370+ photos.

Quantity!

If you follow TCD trip reports, you may be thinking that something is missing from this one.

And, if you were thinking that, you would be absolutely right!

Do you know what's missing?

Think!

OK, I'll tell you . . .

There have not been any photos of site 617!

The best site in all of Fort Wilderness!

I realized that I had failed to take the customary 617 photos on Monday morning, November 1, so I headed directly there to remedy that deficiency.

And here we are.

Four photos of the best site in all of the Fort . . .

Here we are looking in from the back:

And now, we are looking at the site from the 600 loop:

And, here we are heading down the sidewalk toward the 800 loop bus stop:

What a magnificent site!

While I was here on the 800 loop, I decided to take a final loop and snap a photo of the front of the site that had the screen room and pet area extending behind it (you know- the TCDRMOG award winner-non beverage division). Here you go:

As I exited the 800 loop, I saw Disboarder Specularius waiting for the bus at the bus stop. He was heading up to the overflow lot to get his tow vehicle, as he was heading out today, too.

Do y'all remember Specularius' tow vehicle?

Specularius' Tow Vehicle

Dude!

Anyhow, Specularius said I ought to take a photo of what was going on across the street. Some campers were packing up, and had just dumped their black water tank, and had their sewer hose hanging out to dry. See?:

Yes, that's a sewer hose.

On a grill.

Where the next camper might be grilling his hamburgers that night.

Wow.

No more premium loops for me.

You can say what you want to about the partial sites, but at least no one hangs sewer hoses on the grills in the partial hook-up loops.

Yuck!

I stopped back at Trail's End to reload with some coffee before heading back to my site to get packed up.

I saw some new rockers being delivered to the porch.

Good show!:

There is always some kind of work going on around the Fort. I have often driven by this big metal box on the way to the Settlement. Now we know that it is full of phone wires (I guess):

Heading back to site 730, I snapped a couple last photos of the Halloween decorations on site 733 (take a moment to admire all of the details that went into this display):

And, it's a good thing I did, too, because Jeannie and her crew were out all morning turning the Halloween decorations into Christmas decorations.

After we were packed up, there was time for one last loop around the Fort.

I snapped a photo of this toy hauler on the 800 loop. If I ever get a toy hauler, I would want to have this screen room option. I think it's really cool. And I would love to sleep right in that screen room!:

The Fort staff was on top of things with updating the bulletin boards at the comfort stations.

The November information was up first thing on November 1:

I'm not sure if you can see it in this photo, but there is a clear typo on the movie schedule where several movies are listed as playing on two consecutive nights:

They had the advertisement up for this year's Thanksgiving At The Fort:

This really sounds good, doesn't it?

And notice that beer and wine is included in the price!

Wait, there is no price listed.

They have listed the price in the past.

Here's the 2008 version:

Yes, that says 48 bucks for an adult.

Now it doesn't sound so good, does it?

I can't imagine that the price has gone down this year.

In fact, they apparently are afraid to show it.

And, that is that.

That's all I have for you.

I'm done.

Until next time . . .

TCD is out!

 

[Specularius]

Bravo, another great Trip report from the master of all trip reports. Thanks for spending all the time to get this together.

 

[stmboat2010]

believe it or not tcd we started the wave. we had our fire dept camping group up there and when you look from the front we were the second stand from the left. we were all joking about how we did not see a single football game that day because we were all busy. so we came up with the idea to start the wave. my daughter had a friend with her from her high school. it was her first fort trip with us and she couldnt stop writing all over facebook about how embarassingly funny the group was for starting a wave at a kids campfire. needless to say we also had been having some adult beverages all day to give us a crazy idea like that. it was fun and the crowd got into it really quick.

AHHH HA HA we were sitting next to you guys. That was so much fun!!! Good times, good times!!

 

[Total Joker]

Great trip report TY TY TY...

 

[heathriel]

I snapped a photo of this toy hauler on the 800 loop. If I ever get a toy hauler, I would want to have this screen room option. I think it's really cool. And I would love to sleep right in that screen room!:

That's us in 804

It's really awesome - especially when you back it out over a canyon, and you have the screen room literally over nothing, or over a river, and the river is going right by (as are fish).