Roundup at the Fort - 2024 Fort Dismeet

[4077]

PPS - Fort DISMeet 2028?

UGH... I told myself I don't want to go sans family again (but this comment making me think...lol)

 

[tiggerdad]

We are in the home stretch.

Carts passing my bike near 1400 loop as I near my home site.


A new roofed bus stop at the Full Loop bus station for 1600-1900 has FINALLY been built (a tree during a past storm fell on the old awning) and the concrete pad had been there for a while and they have gotten around to building the bus depot spot. (new wood roof)



Good night from the Fort.

ED

Now THAT is the kinda posting that I really like.

Great job Ed, appreciate the time you put into it.

 

[BenitaN]

Here is some photos of our week thus far.

We had tons of food. And the decorations by Josie were absolutely amazing!

We were at Hollywood Studios yesterday. I thought Damien was going to punch the character when he came up to him. Damien's face was so stern.


More pictures of Christmas merch at the Fort.

 

[4077]

Here is some photos of our week thus far.

We had tons of food. And the decorations by Josie were absolutely amazing!View attachment 911289

We were at Hollywood Studios yesterday. I thought Damien was going to punch the character when he came up to him. Damien's face was so stern.
View attachment 911291

More pictures of Christmas merch at the Fort.
View attachment 911292

These little photo collages are great, Benita... and my fruit salad made it in on the food pics!

 

[MrsPAHunter]

Nearly closed MK after HDDR last night (been so long since last been, made some great new memories - Thank you!)

Today early entry MK and tackled a lot before hunger struck. May head to Disney Springs (searching for a 2024 magnet) or back to Fort for laundry & soak up the peace & quiet.

 

[MrsPAHunter]

I thought Damien was going to punch the character when he came up to him. Damien's face was so stern.
View attachment 911291
I get it Damien...should we really smile when encountering Darth Vader or anyone else from the Empire? Pretty serious stuff!

 

[WalkingintheFog]

Wowsa! Did not expect to win the putt-putt challenge
️…thanks so much for the surprise package!
I played the Fantasia course- love the theming & the clues (# 17 was the hardest…. I’ll do the other three courses during this trip as well.

I’ve left the fort today as well and I’m currently at the KOA campground for three nights before I come back to the fort for the next two weeks…
I flew in with two suitcases of my carry-on, only purchased a few things, but my SUV was loaded to the gills when I pulled out of park today!!!!

Last night was. Great fun.
Hope to see ye again, in the coming weeks and even in coming trips!

 

[jbrostek]

Saturday is MK. Then out the gate at o'dark 30 Sunday morning.

I hope Melissa gets the chance to meet you all before you shove off. Her flight is on schedule for tonight, and we are heading to EPCOT (due to the later start after a 1am flight arrival).

Today started with a phone call from work at 05:15 due to and issue that arrose overnight. As expected it was not the network, even if they started by blaming it. Since I was up I got to hear @bama_ed in his final packing, though when I came out the door to try and catch a goodbye he was already pulling out and heading out the loop. Godspeed on your way home Ed (just know you did not wake me.)

I had a reservation for MK, and tried to get a virtual queue for spash (its name will never change in my book). Sadly it went fast and I did not get one. With no real plans for the day, I got my day started with a home cooked breakfast. After that and a shower, it became clear to me I needed to do some laundry. So I decided rather then rope drop MK I started some laundry and did some Mousekeeping around the RV.

When that was done I was on the boat to MK just by 10:30.



To my excitement MK was full decorations up and down main street and the windows along the emprium.





Once I made it down main street I took a moment to check wait times with the goal of hitting the rides Melissa no longer rides. I was surprised to see that Space Mountain was 20 minutes. So I shuffled over there for a ride. After that Tron was 50 minutes, yet it was 35 for Mine Train. So I went over to ride that and after to my surprise Tron was now a 35 minute wait!!!



Once I rode that I was on my way over to Pinnochio VillageHaus for a flatbread when I saw that peter pay was down to 20 minutes!!! Seriously, that ride had a 45 minute wait even when MK was closed for COVID!!!



And then about 15 minutes into the 20, Murphy ruled my day was going too well and the ride went down. But for only about 15 minutes and I was off the ride 30 minutes after getting in line....I will take it!!

Afterwards I finally got my flatbread for pizza Friday (it's just our thing). Afterwards I squeezed in HM, BTRR.

 

[jbrostek]

I was debating riding the RR back over to the front, check out some shopping and head back to the campground for a bit. Someone near me mentioned. a dolewhip and I had to get one. So I wandered over for one (just the soft serve, not the float) and decided I had to go ride the Jingle Cruise.

It was a rocking Christmas cruise and brought me some happy holiday magic.














After that I chose to head back to the camper. On the boat back I decided to go get some sushi and booked Shiki-Sai. Another thing Melissa isn't a big fan of. So I will get to enjoy and then tomorrow enjoy other culinary delights with Melissa when we head ot EPCOT after her late arrival.

 

[Sjm9911]

We made it to the first stopover on the way home sanetee lakes KOA. A little dated, uneven sites ( someone reminded me of that) but a nice view. I also wish to express condolances to a lizzard that I found dead on the bottem of a shoe. Rest in peace, we didnt mean to squash you. I think it was stepped on anyway as it was found near the show pile.......we did manage to get the hitchhiking frog home ok the other day that was on the outside of the truck.

 

[Bishoparc]

We are home. Unfortunately I took a hard fall getting back in my truck after filling up at Busy Bee. Shoes got slippery and fell flat on my rear end. Hoping it doesn’t hurt too much tomorrow. Kept the seat heater on the rear of the way home. Glad we get to see so many and hope everyone has a great rest of your trip and safe travels home.

 

[bama_ed]

We got home in a relatively brisk 10H 10M drive with no issues. There's a cool breeze blowing in central Alabama tonight. Temps are gonna fall here starting next week.

Yesterday we started with some puzzle time. I posted a picture already of the progress. I'm disappointed in myself that the puzzle didn't get finished before I had to leave.

Also at the Meadow TP (which I didn't get to put in the Mom post) is a two-sided board on a rope hangar for $30 with one side "seasonal" and the other side "Christmas".





But Thursday was Epcot/Wine & Dine Day and it was a pretty day indeed.





I'm a conventional kind of guy so I wanted to start my World Showcase tour in Mexico and go clockwise around World Showcase. And based on the receipts I carried home, I had a good time with DW and the Scuppers. But I made a Rookie-W/D mistake. By the time I got around to Germany, I was FULL. I guess if I ever go back to W/D, I'll have to start in Canada and go counter-clockwise from there to balance out (that's my OCD kicking in again).

In Germany, though, I was set on buying a beer in the souvenir stein at the outside stand. I think it was about $25 with a beer in it (choose 1 of 4 brands on tap) but the stein, even though plastic, is pretty cool looking.





Also did a selfie in front of the Rose and Crown Pub (got a Harps there - or two ).



On the way around World Showcase, we did stop in America to hear the Voices of Liberty who were pitch-perfect.



And also went upstairs to see the "American Adventure" show.

Good crowd back in World Showcase but we were all getting the appetizer-sized portions in the booths and small cheaper drinks so things kept moving.

We did leave Epcot after dark and did some prelim packing. In retrospect, I would like a little more down-time in my Disney vacation than what I had this time although I brought it upon myself with my run calendar (bib pick-up, 5k, 10K on consecutive days) and then ending with 2 park days (even though partial days and NOT rope-drop-till-close, I was feelin' it).

Great to see old friends, meet new ones, and put faces with names.

Till next time,

Bama Ed is Out

PS - next camping trip is a 3-day weekend in February in Gulf Shores to walk a Half Marathon (generous amount of time allowed) and stay at Gulf State Park.

https://runsignup.com/Race/AL/GulfShores/WeRunThisBeachMarathon .

As FYI I have done the Gulf Shores Marathon weekend (finished the Half) in the recent past which is in late January usually.

 

[bama_ed]

UGH... I told myself I don't want to go sans family again (but this comment making me think...lol)

Well, to be fair, the last two Fort DISMeets were voted on as to time-of-season for the visit. They've both been fall dates and maybe a early spring date (for example) before spring break could work. ED

 

[jbrostek]

the DM are tough since we are locked to the school year even if we had grown kids. We will try to manage, though helps if there is a holiday weekend involved because thats pretty much the only time I could coordiate something like this year.

That said, Melissa did make it in last night without issue. Her flight was even 12 minutes early to the gate. We made it back to FW around 01:45, and quickly off to bed with no alarms set. I woke just after 8. Today we are going to tool around FW a little then head to EPCOT. One day a meet will happen when she can join me.

 

[BenitaN]

We are home. Unfortunately I took a hard fall getting back in my truck after filling up at Busy Bee. Shoes got slippery and fell flat on my rear end. Hoping it doesn’t hurt too much tomorrow. Kept the seat heater on the rear of the way home. Glad we get to see so many and hope everyone has a great rest of your trip and safe travels home.

So that explains why I went by your site and someone else was there. I thought they had kidnapped you and Josie.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1. This was THE BEST I have attended or have heard
2. There was a crowd of about 42-people for the Pot Luck and a good time was had by all.
3. WOW, WOW, WOW!
4. As bama_ed said, THANKS TO ARC AND JOSIE !!! (what an effort)

******************** SIDE POINT ********************​

5. During dinner, bama_ed asked me about volunteering at the Election Polls.
6. I feel it's a civic responsibility and duty
7. He asked if there were any interesting election stories.
8. For the Early Voting period, nothing out of the ordinary, and things went smoothly
9. BUT, the General Election was slightly different.
. . . the county set a record with 89.1% of its total registered voters casting ballots
. . . that's a lot of people with mail-in, early-voting, and general election votes
. . . Political Party Poll Watchers are permitted by law to oversee polling places
. . . a nearby polling place had one such Poll Watcher
. . . each polling place has a citizen sworn as a sheriff-deputy (SOLELY) for the open poll hours
. . . they have a background check, training, and are there to enforce the voting law
. . . usually, they just wear their colored vest and walk around a peaceful voting location
. . . it is typically a pleasant day observing their neighbors voting
. . . each citizen-deputy has an emergency backup (yes, I was a sworn backup)
. . . the local Sheriff station is also on-the-ready if things go awry
. . . a cell phone flash said to make preparations to visit a nearby polling place
. . . there was an event that could erupt into a "1968 Chicago Democratic Convention" event
. . . the nearby polling place was in an open community college
. . . under Florida State Law, each school must have a Resource Officer (armed police/sheriff guard)
. . . a "Poll Watcher" said this guard was only there to intimidate his party's voters
. . . the citizen-deputy said it was law to have a guard at the school entrance door
. . . Mr. Poll Watcher said he would call the Party and start a "massive" protest
. . . a phone alert went out and several of us were to prepare to appear, if needed
. . . we show-up only for visual effect and never carry arms
. . . on a speaker phone, the Poll Watcher was told by his Party this was legal and to "let it go"
. . . Mr. Poll Watcher uttered a few expletives, then sat down
. . . a potentially volatile situation was avoided
. . . we relaxed and went back to issuing ballots
. . . whew !

10. Also, as per bama_ed, Fort DISMeet 2028? . . . (or maybe a Mini-Meet sooner)

 

[BenitaN]

On our way to Jollywoo

 

[Sjm9911]

You Guys look so good!!!!!

On a sad note, our final travel lasagna was consumed today. Tomorrow night we should be home! It's cold up just outside of Washington DC, at Fredericksburg KOA, 46ish?

 

[4077]

Had a nice stop and visit at my parents in Venice, FL for 2 days before starting for home today.. made the 604 miles from my parents house to South of the Border and Camp Pedro… cold here too, a few miles behind @Sjm9911 Got my heater out.



Tomorrow will get to Jonestown/Hershey NE KOA in Pennsylvania (3-4 hours from home) because arriving to back in to my particular driveway after dark is just not a possibility, so early Monday a afternoon return to home and I’ll have time to empty out and clean up… looks like weather stays warm enough that I can winterize next day if I don’t get to it that afternoon, then that is it until Memorial Day (although I’ll be taking it for new tires, brakes and it’s bearing repack late winter ). Fun and safe travels to those still at it!

 

[bama_ed]

On our way to Jollywoo
View attachment 911605

Ya'll are a good looking couple! Have fun, ED