TCD's Pre-Halloween 2012 Trip Report

[YENSIDCAMPER 66]

Did anyone see the truck they used to get all that stuff to the Fort, I know they did not fit it all in that trailer!!!!!!!!

Turns out they began when we were there in June...

Maybe not their truck but I bet it looked a lot like this.

[Just Beachy 18]

:bugeyes: :panic: Maintenance needs to get these fixed before February!!!

[blm2003 2]

Enjoying the report so far TCD, thanks for sharing as always.

On a side note, I seem to remember during your Cruise TR you mentioned a penchant for Bacon. I would like to share with you a link:

http://www.bbqaddict...acon-explosion/

I found this through a camping blog I follow and have had this in my sights for some time. I haven't not ordered one as I'm sure my DW would beat me over the head with it, but after reading of your daily consumption of bacon on the cruise, I thought this might be right up your alley. The price even seems pretty reasonable as they claim a "Full" will feed up to 12. I might have to send the wife away next spring and order one of these babies for the kids and I to enjoy.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled TR! Looking forward to the next update!

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Enjoying the report so far TCD, thanks for sharing as always.

On a side note, I seem to remember during your Cruise TR you mentioned a penchant for Bacon. I would like to share with you a link:

http://www.bbqaddict...acon-explosion/

I found this through a camping blog I follow and have had this in my sights for some time. I haven't not ordered one as I'm sure my DW would beat me over the head with it, but after reading of your daily consumption of bacon on the cruise, I thought this might be right up your alley. The price even seems pretty reasonable as they claim a "Full" will feed up to 12. I might have to send the wife away next spring and order one of these babies for the kids and I to enjoy.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled TR! Looking forward to the next update!

I think a couple of arteries clanged shut just reading that. I want one!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Time to crank this report back up.

But, first, I need to respond to the comments . . .

I just figured out that when you wrote it was "Fred and Lamont's site" you were making a Sanford and Son reference. For a minute I thought it really was the site of two men, who....maybe like to wear red shirts? I should have known that was not the case however, as red shirt wearing guys usually are not so tacky. It then occured to me that perhaps all Fort guests should junk up their sites and force those lazy-river riding asswipes next door to to look over this mess for their 4-figure-a-night view of the MK. Hell, with enough rope lights and spot lights on inflatables we could probably keep them from seeing Wishes at all! >:D

LOL.

I must give credit where it is due- the Fred and Lamont reference is from The Troll's most recent trip report. Which, by the way is excellent. If there is anyone reading along who hasn't checked it out, I suggest you check out The Troll's report- it is very funny and has great photos. What more could you want?

Male bathroom etiquette...check

Chap Jiggling...check

Nice bass...check

I'm afraid for what will happen to this report over the weekend while you are away.

BTW, the pictures of the guy fishing with the crane and skeleton in the background make me ill. Just not right. And the decorations, wow, just wow. We saw them last year and couldn't believe it.

Thanks, Tom.

Doesn't look like anything too bad happened over the weekend.

I would rather look at Fred and Lamont's site all day than that ugly Four Seasons building.

Hey!

Oh right. I do have a dirty mind sometimes. But at least I don't blurt out things like our little friend talking about being "on top" of Andrew…...

Wait until you see the ones I took at the pool from our trip. Fair warning, there is a speedo involved.

Thanks for the fair warning.

Nobody wants to be surprised by a speedo.

ipads are horrible cameras. That woman would be better off with a cheap digital from Wally World.

I believe it is legal to hunt cats on Disney property without a license. I will find out.

Despite the photo/video quality, this ipad thing has become more and more popular. Lately, I see several folks on every trip to WDW using them as cameras.

Did you find out anything about the cat hunting? I suspect that you are right, which explains why I don't see more stray cats around the Fort.

Oval trough=Pontiac Silverdome where the Lions played formerly

I am pretty sure Joe Louis Arena and Michigan Stadium both have the oval trough or did formerly

The joke was funny though since I am completely secure!

The mingos look like they have purple beeks and mickey hats on so they could very well be Fiends.

Looking forward to the River Country return!

I figured the troughs would be in old stadiums. These new stadiums are all so fancy that I wouldn't expect to see one there.

Fred and Lamont's site Wow that gives new meaning to Did you forget anything... I hope not! LOL!

You are right. They didn't forget anything.

Thanks for pointing out the Sanford and Son reference. I, too, thought the names of the decorators of that site were Fred and Lamont. I thought those were some pretty tacky guys, but I have friends who are like that.

Again, credit goes to The Troll.

I am surprised that anyone would not get the Fred and Lamont reference. That show was a classic.

Enjoying the report! We are never fortunate enough to have time off at Halloween so keep the pictures coming.

I have the SOTMK card you need, PM me if you still need it. You have probably noticed my Avatar is one of the cards.

BTW were there any new portals in Future World or New Fantasyland?

I will send you a PM.

As of now, there are no portals in the new Fantasyland stuff, but I saw some places that look like likely places to put some new ones. Maybe that is coming. Nothing in Tomorrowland either.

Turns out they began when we were there in June...

Maybe not their truck but I bet it looked a lot like this.

Wow! Did you take those photos? If so, great job!

:bugeyes: :panic: Maintenance needs to get these fixed before February!!!

I know. They ought to buy some new ones. In fact, they ought to buy a few more too. They would easily be paid for by the Wild Women alone.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Enjoying the report so far TCD, thanks for sharing as always.

On a side note, I seem to remember during your Cruise TR you mentioned a penchant for Bacon. I would like to share with you a link:

http://www.bbqaddict...acon-explosion/

I found this through a camping blog I follow and have had this in my sights for some time. I haven't not ordered one as I'm sure my DW would beat me over the head with it, but after reading of your daily consumption of bacon on the cruise, I thought this might be right up your alley. The price even seems pretty reasonable as they claim a "Full" will feed up to 12. I might have to send the wife away next spring and order one of these babies for the kids and I to enjoy.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled TR! Looking forward to the next update!

Thanks for that link. I first thought you made a mistake, as I thought it was just a recipe. Then I saw that you could buy one already made and cooked. That might be something good for a taligate party or a potluck at the Fort. Thanks for the idea!

I think a couple of arteries clanged shut just reading that. I want one!

If you get one, let me know how it is. It looks good, but all in all, I think I would rather just eat bacon.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Hope everyone is caught up, because we are moving out.

I left off with our stop at the 1800 loop. No matter what you might think from viewing the photos, it is something that you really need to see to believe.

On the way out of the full hook up loops, I figured I ought to check out the other loops. I guess I didn't see anything of note on the 1900 loop, as I have no photos from 1900 loop from Friday morning.

There was something to see on the 1700 loop, though.

There was a site there with a bunch of picnic tables on it:

That means a big group is on the way.

These folks had a sign posted on the party site:

I have seen this group at the Fort before. They usually come for a weekend in October before Halloween. In fact, the last time I saw them, they were here on the 1700 loop.

That sign is interesting. Do you see where they planned on showing an adult film on Saturday night? Wow.

Also, bad show to whoever posted that sign by screwing it into the tree. Was that necessary?

These Spooktacular people made up signs for each family in their group and posted them on the site markers. You can see them here:

From what I saw over the weekend, they took up almost every site in the 1700 loop.

There was another big group in the 1600 loop. These folks liked to block the loop road:

This is the HQ for the 1600 loop group:

These folks had a sign too:

Since they were a church group, I assume that there was no adult film.

But you never know.

If you read TCD TR's, you know that I always take time to look around the Meadow Recreation Area on my trips.

So, that is where I headed next on Friday morning.

Here we are.

All looks good, as no one is on Bob's dock:

There has been a lot of new landscaping put in here since my last visit:

They have planted bushes all along the old wood fence behind the Bike Barn- and I think those rocks are new too:

There is a lot of new fencing around here- and they have planted vines to grow on it:

That row of bushes over there in front of the fence that hides the pool equipment is new:

And all of the stuff planted in this little island is new too. I think that rock is new, and I predict it will damage many golf carts:

There is new fencing in this area, and they have created a small golf cart parking area here, a little closer to the pool:

They have put up a split-rail fence all the way along the sidewalk behind the Bike Barn, and they have continued the line of bushes along the old privacy fence. It kind of hides the old Campfire sign:

Here we are looking back toward the pool- you can see a lot of the new landscaping in this photo:

They also cleaned up around the old shuffleboard courts:

All of the sprucing up kind of makes the shuffleboard courts look shabby. Or, it could just be that they are shabby:

Note the bike tracks and mildew:

I guess bike riding is OK on the shuffleboard courts- only walking is prohibited:

The old scoreboard has seen better days:

Next to the shuffleboard courts, we have the combined golf cart parking/segway staging/archery area:

I'm not sure they missed the chance to fence off everything in sight:

This all looks great.

But, I would hate to see what it's like trying to get in and out of this area for the Campfire and Movie.

They don't have enough golf cart parking here. So folks used to park in some of the areas that are now fenced off. But, they didn't add enough new spaces to make up for the fenced off areas. Dumb.

Since I was here, I decided to walk across the bridge and take a look at the Meadow Trading Post.

Plus, there was now some juvenile delinquent on Bob's dock, and I needed to chase him away:

The leaves on the big Sycamore tree behind the Trading Post are already beginning to turn. That surprised me, as we haven't had much cool weather yet this fall:

This spot here is another of my favorite spots in the Fort:

The big gum tree over there by Bob's dock is also starting to drop its leaves:

I just love the view from here:

Same place, turned a bit more to the right:

That makes 30 photos.

Which means I will need to start a new post.

Next up, we will take a look inside the trading post.

The very first thing I saw in there brought a huge smile to my face.

And, we will have a brief lesson in consumer economics.

So be sure to check back.

TCD

[anolefan 8]

These folks had a sign posted on the party site:

I have seen this group at the Fort before. They usually come for a weekend in October before Halloween. In fact, the last time I saw them, they were here on the 1700 loop.

That sign is interesting. Do you see where they planned on showing an adult film on Saturday night? Wow.

I just love the view from here:

Same place, turned a bit more to the right:

Adult movie? Yikes. Hope they weren't planning on showing it on an inflatable Mickey big screen!

That view is one of my favorites also. I have many photos from that spot and love how they all look different depending on time of year, time of day etc...

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Adult movie? Yikes. Hope they weren't planning on showing it on an inflatable Mickey big screen!

That view is one of my favorites also. I have many photos from that spot and love how they all look different depending on time of year, time of day etc...

Thanks, Tom.

I should have mentioned that did some looping late Saturday night, and saw the Adult Movie. I will share what we saw when we get to that part of the report. We are still on Friday morning.

You are right about the view from that spot being a little different each time. But, it's always a great view.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

It looks like we have time for another update today, so here it comes.

We left off on the last one heading to the Meadow Trading Post.

I headed on in, and the first thing that caught my eye was the headline on the weekend edition of the US Today:

That made me smile.

Too bad for the Tigers that now, just ten days later, it is all over for them, and they were the sweep-ees.

Just like life-you're on top of the mountain one day, and way down in the valley the next.

Still, I did enjoy that the Yankees got swept.

I hadn't heard the outcome of the game the night before, as we were at the Halloween Party in the MK, and came back to the camper and went right to bed. So, that headline was an unexpected surprise.

Now for that consumer economics lesson.

Everyone knows a bottle of Dasani water costs $2.50 everywhere on WDW property, right? :

How about that Smart Water- is it worth the extra dollar?

Right below the Dasani water in 20 oz. bottles, they offer a 1.5 liter bottle for $3.75:

But, how about this, for just forty five cents more than a 20 oz. bottle, you can buy a whole gallon of Zephyrhills water for $2.95:

That's a lot bigger and a lot cheaper than the 1.75 liter bottle of Dasani.

Does that make sense?

Luckily for me, I bring my own water. In fact, Publix had the same gallon jugs of Zephyrhills water on sale for $1.00 when I did my pre-trip shopping on Wednesday.

If you think those water prices are bad, check out the beer.

Here we see that they try to get $15.00 for a six pack:

After you see the prices of single beers, you may want to go for the six pack. A single domestic beer is $5.75:

Note that is for 16 oz.

The imported beers are $5.75 for 12 oz.:

Whatever you do when preparing to camp at the Fort, make sure you bring enough beer. You will go broke buying it here!

I made the rookie mistake once many years ago of not bringing enough beer, and I once paid the outrageous price for a six pack. That happened just once. And will never happen again.

Since I didn't have enough money to buy the beer or water, I headed out front of the Trading Post to take a look at one of my favorite things they have on the front porch.

The Bulletin Board of Useless Information (or since we love acronyms here the BBUI) :

Wait a minute, you say . . . There is a lot of information posted there- it can't all be useless.

Can it?

Let's look.

First, we have this letter warning that Fort guests are at risk of being mauled by bears:

Note that letter is dated August, 2012.

According to a recent report made right here on ff.net, they actually came around the loops and distributed a similar letter just a week before this.

We checked in just the day before, on October 18.

Do you know what information we were provided about bears in our check in documents?

Did anyone guess we got no information?

If so, you are right.

We got nothing. No letter. No nothing. And the bulletin board on the 400 loop comfort station didn't have a copy of the letter posted.

I don't know. Call me funny. If there was current information about bears roaming the Fort, I think it should have been posted here.

But, that August bear letter wasn't all that was posted on the BBUI. There was also this helpful notice about Construction in the parking lot:

I think this was from a couple of months ago too.

There wasn't any construction going on in the Outpost area this weekend.

Then there was this very elaborate two page letter providing information about a running event that might cause some disruptions for WDW guests:

As you can see, this all related to an event that took place on September 29th. This was October 19th.

In defense of the BBUI, not all of the information posted was that out of date. This time guide, for example, was just a week out of date:

See what I mean?

Was there a single useful thing posted on the BBUI?

No, there wasn't.

That's how it got its name.

Tme to move on.

I walked around the side of the Trading Post. There was one rocking chair down there calling my name:

I couldn't sit, though.

It was time for me to get back to camp to make breakfast and rouse the twins.

They would sleep all day if I let them.

And we had stuff to do.

This would have been my view if I sat and rocked:

I don't know if you can see it, but there's a picnic table there in the center of the photo under that tree. I have been known to sit there and drink my coffee. It's a pretty nice place to do that.

Bob's dock was nice and empty. Just the way I like it. Except when Bob is on it, of course:

You know that since I was here, I had to take a photo of Bear Rock. Lately when I have posted photos of Bear Rock, there have been people posting asking why it's called Bear Rock. The answer is, I have no idea. Maybe one of those bears we just read about likes to sit on that rock and wait for kids to come by so he can maul them. Anyway, Bear Rock is the rock near the center of this photo, the one furthest to the right:

Check out how the bridge and trees reflect off of the lake in this photo- pretty nice:

You know that place I stopped on the way in to the Trading Post and said it's one of my favorite spots in the Fort? This is from that same spot, but looking the other way. I don't think I've ever taken that shot before:

Now we are walking down the bridge- all of that new landscaping that we looked at earlier is straight ahead:

My morning tour of the Fort was done for this day.

Now, I got to work whipping up breakfast on the TCD outdoor kitchen:

It doesn't look like much, but I can make anything with that set-up. Anything.

This was my view from the kitchen:

Not bad.

Since I was back here, I decided to take a photo showing how close we were to the sidewalk. If you through the bush and toward the ground, you can see the sidewalk in this photo:

We had a little path from the back of our site to that sidewalk, which went over a little bridge and then led to the comfort station:

This is another photo of that back corner- you can see the little bridge better in this one and the comfort station in the background:

These bushes went all the way across the back of my site:

That was good for our privacy, but it also didn't allow us access to an open area behind the site that had some nice trees and grass.

In just a few minutes, breakfast was ready, and I woke the girls up to come out and eat. Here's what we had:

That's scrambled eggs, sausage and tater tots. For some reason, it is a tradition for us to have tater tots for breakfast when we camp. I don't even remember how it started, but we do it on every trip. The pumpkin plates were courtesy of Mrs. TCD. We always camp in style thanks to her.

So we dug in.

Then it was time for a morning loop with the girls.

And then we would be heading out to a park to begin our day.

TCD

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Great pics as always TCD.

Can't wait to hear what adult movie you saw.

Did the Rangers ask them to take the screws out of the tree? I wonder.

Oh look, a live deer just went flying threw the air in front of my living room window. Not really, but it is damn windy here.

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

The bulletin board is aptly named.

Breakfast looks good!

That rocker is also calling my name. Strange.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Tater tots are so similar to the hashbrowns served at many fast food places that I don't find it weird at all. I love the dumb things.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Breakfast looks good. Wish I was there to have some.

[stefa70 205]

Great job checking out the adult movie, although I'd be willing to bet, their idea of an adult movie is very different than mine.

Breakfast looks delicious! Kudos to Molly for getting you guys pumpkin plates. "Moms" are awesome like that! :thumbsup2:

I think that's the first time I've paid close attention to your kitchen "counter" I really like that it has a top and bottom shelf. I too have a toaster/convection oven that always seems to be in the way. Who makes that set-up? (and why isn't your spankula hanging off of it?)

Enjoying as always!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Great pics as always TCD.

Can't wait to hear what adult movie you saw.

Did the Rangers ask them to take the screws out of the tree? I wonder.

Oh look, a live deer just went flying threw the air in front of my living room window. Not really, but it is damn windy here.

I didn't see many Rangers on this trip.

In fact, I saw just one. One of the really old guys was driving around on Saturday afternoon. I had my Gator flag flying from the cart. He gave me a Gator chomp. Which meant he had both hands off the wheel while he was driving. Wish I had a photo of that.

Watch out for the flying deer.

The bulletin board is aptly named.

Breakfast looks good!

That rocker is also calling my name. Strange.

That is strange about the rocker.

Maybe you were hearing another one? Because that one was definitely calling my name.

Tater tots are so similar to the hashbrowns served at many fast food places that I don't find it weird at all. I love the dumb things.

As a matter of fact, Sonic serves tater tots for breakfast. They fry theirs. Goodness gracious they are greasy.

And, I just realized that I made a little mistake- those are Crispy Crowns, not Tater Tots.

I prefer the Crispy Crowns for breakfast.

Breakfast looks good. Wish I was there to have some.

I wish I was at the Fort too.

After four Halloweens in a row, the TCD gang is about to miss one. I'm not taking it well.

Great job checking out the adult movie, although I'd be willing to bet, their idea of an adult movie is very different than mine.

Breakfast looks delicious! Kudos to Molly for getting you guys pumpkin plates. "Moms" are awesome like that! :thumbsup2:

I think that's the first time I've paid close attention to your kitchen "counter" I really like that it has a top and bottom shelf. I too have a toaster/convection oven that always seems to be in the way. Who makes that set-up? (and why isn't your spankula hanging off of it?)

Enjoying as always!

I got that little kitchen on-line from Cabella's. It folds up into a little case. I bring it tailgating sometimes too.

Good question about the Spankula. I haven't gotten to the post about my site decorations yet. I usually hang the Spankula from my Tree Hugger gizmo. The problem with this site is that there was not one tree available for me to hang anything from. Not one! We will cover that in an upcoming post.

TCD

[ftwildernessguy 778]

Re. cat hunting at the Fort. Officially, it is the same as fishing - strictly catch and release. However, Bobby says FW security has been instructed to look the other way when it comes to hunting feral cats, much like I have found they do for lizard hunting and armadillo hunting.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Re. cat hunting at the Fort. Officially, it is the same as fishing - strictly catch and release. However, Bobby says FW security has been instructed to look the other way when it comes to hunting feral cats, much like I have found they do for lizard hunting and armadillo hunting.

Remind me never to eat anything out of your crock pot at any pot lucks at the Fort.

Thank you.

TCD

[SCTigerCock 171]

HOLD IT!!!!!!! Brother TCD, is that a LP bottle larger than the standartd 1# bottles found at Wal-Mart and other places? If so WTH did you buy it.

It looks larger than the 1# bottles found at Wally World and other places.

And IF you are Brother TCD, does that make Stef my niece since you adopted her?

[ftwildernessguy 778]

Tater tots are one of nature's most perfect foods. They go with any meal.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

HOLD IT!!!!!!! Brother TCD, is that a LP bottle larger than the standartd 1# bottles found at Wal-Mart and other places? If so WTH did you buy it.

It looks larger than the 1# bottles found at Wally World and other places.

And IF you are Brother TCD, does that make Stef my niece since you adopted her?

Nope, that's a regular 1 lb. propane bottle. Those things last me a long time with that stove.

If you are my sister, then Stef is your niece. Seems more like y'all should be sisters, or at least first cousins, though.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Tater tots are one of nature's most perfect foods. They go with any meal.

Do you serve them with (feral) cat?

TCD

[ftwildernessguy 778]

Do you serve them with (feral) cat?

TCD

I thought that's what those sausages were in your picture. They look like the feral cat sausages I cook for breakfast.

[SCTigerCock 171]

I thought that's what those sausages were in your picture. They look like the feral cat sausages I cook for breakfast.

:rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I thought that's what those sausages were in your picture. They look like the feral cat sausages I cook for breakfast.

Note to self.

Never eat any food item prepared by FWG.

No matter how delicious it looks.

TCD