MetalDad

I was there at Jason's site on Sunday for 2 hours or so, technically I'm counting my attendance at this GG!!!

I missed the potluck two years ago with "rum flu", as all the fiends met my family while I was zonked out in the camper. Maybe too much sun. Wish I could join up for this weekend, gotta DJ poolside at another campground friday and saturday. I met a bunch of this year's attendees, looks like it'll be a great time!

BTW, Wal-Mart's Great Value brand has a cheap substitute, Pineaplle sorbet of some sort. I bought some for the kids and they refer to it as Dole Whip, even though we know better. I'll try it in the blender and see if I can get more "whip" going on.

When we had the PUP that now belongs to Jason, we usually stayed partial. We had the city water hook up for the sink, but just used it to rinse hands, or kids brush their teeth late at night. It just drained out the bottom into the coquina, and we're talking about merely cupfulls of grey water. Size-wise, we always had plenty of room, and that PUP has 2 king size bunks.

As far as any unit with a black or grey water tank, I would definitely go to a full hookup site. I don't remember the Fort having a dump station, and that's not souvenirs I want to take home.

As for the original post, not sure how the Fort management would react. I've seen weird things with them fellers.

However, I can understand not wanting to deal with the toilet. But, I can tell you that since we went to the TT, not a trip has occurred that we haven't stopped for someone to duck into the camper to use the head. And, I sure am grateful for it at 2am and you hear the rain on the skylight! I would imagine that resale would be difficult without one.

Whatever it takes to get your family out there! Enjoy it! I personally could be happy in a refrigerator box, provided I had a fire and a cooler!

By the time you get to that part of Florida, you're only 2-3 hours from WDW, and 75 moves pretty fast. I've camped in that area quite a bit, favorites being Stephen Foster Cultural Center State Park and Spirit of the Suwanee Music Park, however, if you are strictly looking for a quick stop over for the night, I personally would hit a KOA or something similar. The parks I mentioned are designed to be explored, as the both sit on the Suwannee River and have a wealth of other things to do and see. Spent a week at Thanksgiving and again in March up there. Heading up that way again in October.

Oh, and musical instruments. I could look at those all day... and have!

Most excellent! A world class TR. It had all the hallmarks of a classic report... American history, classic Americana architecture, chocolate, beer, my friend Jason, and a dog named after Star Wars. The only thing that tops that is a wealth of Maria pictures. The PUP looks well-loved. Nice work, sir. hope to see you in July. Use the Fourth, Luke!

Jason, I used to pull that PUP with a V-6  Blazer, had plenty of truck left. When I went to the Ram, it didn't even know Maria was back there! If I could offer advice, I recommend a tonneau cover if you get a pickup. My concern when we got the big truck was that the stuff in the bed would get wet. I solved the problem for $250, not to mention the improved mileage with less drag. A Dakota/Durango would definitely do the trick. Good Luck!

Thanks all! Halfway to 90!

Woohoo, double digit page bragging rights!

I have a big collection of music from both the Fort Christmas loops and regular Fort loops. It's all material I own, I'll apologize ahead of time, but I do not upload or download via torrent. I simply put together a CD for TCD that had a good 60-70 minutes of the tracks on the Fort loops.

There are places to find a stream of the Fort music, and there's data out there for some of the playlists. The regular Fort loops are comprised of music from both national (lots of Bela Fleck) and local musicians (Aubrey Haynie is from Tampa/Lakeland, has like 4-6 tracks from his Man Must Carry On record playing at the Fort!). They are predominantly bluegrass, but also pepper in some native american flute music, and western soundtracks. They often run the same loops at both the Fort and Wilderness Lodge. If I recall correctly, I also supplied TCD a sampler of these tracks as well.

The Christmas loops are a little easier to compile since they generally are only from a small handful of artists and a smaller collection of instrumental bluegrass holiday records. I've compiled five 1-hour playlists of the Fort Christmas music and material that is similar, which has become our regular holiday background music, and the companion on our Friday Night Fire during the month of December.

I keep expecting that big Excursion to pull up one of these friday nights, but alas, no....

We bought our first camper (now Jason's) for wanting to travel around Florida and see things we didn't normally see and go places we wouldn't normally go.  Several years later, we now own a much larger travel trailer (formerly FP4's!). The timbre of our travel has changed dramatically since we became a camping family. We have three kids under 13 and a dog. We find we travel more for getaway weekends, and spend less.

The destination used to be all about, "where can we go that has a lot to do", which translates into "where can we dump a lot of money trying to create memories?"

Now, we look for places that are "away", and the things we like to do are usually free or close to it; hiking, fishing, bikes...

Now, instead of eating being a necessary expense, the "meal" and its preparation are part of the experience. I cook about 30-40% of the meals at home, and 100% of the meals camping. I've expanded an interest in BBQ and Smoking meat, iron skillets, and slow cookers! We can eat for 3-4 days what it costs for one meal at Cracker Barrel.

My kids like to explore and play outside, which makes me happy because we're not dealing with anti-social electro-gadget robots. They get dirty and skin their knees...just like we did! They've also learned that they need to work out there, helping keep camper and site neat and clean, help with the dog... they seem to be more open to it out there than at home!

We've become part of a few online camping communities, like this one, and have made several friends. Most of them are friends that we only see camping, as our "regular" friends don't get it! But, it's great to spend some time with folks that you kind of know, that have similar interests. It's funny, a bunch of familiar people at a hotel... that's a meeting, a bunch of familiar people on a campground is a rally or grand gathering!

It's grown from a minor interest or hobby, to part of our lifestyle. I can gauge how grumpy I am based on whether or not there is a trip on the calendar.

It seems like a lot of people have taken the same route we have, starting inexpensively with tents or popups and move up or down the line until you find the type of rig that suits you best. For me? I would prefer to be in my camper at a state park, with a cooler and a fire, than in a Holiday Inn.

I was at a Best Western this weekend in Orlando, and ended up twice at the Fort, and know that Jason recently did a similar trip, staying at a resort hotel and going to the Fort. It seems that for my $248 in hotel stay at DTD, I preferred to spend my time in a folding chair sat outside a camper!

I went in there last February. It was so crowded that day, and there was no line for Stitch, so we decided to check it out. Never again. I remember it as Mars/Aliens. I told my wife I had been on this before, but it's way dumber now. Never again.

Mathmatically, if you have fewer sites active at higher rates, they should turn a bigger profit. Money stays the same, but the water and power bill are lower with fewer campers bathing, decorating, and air conditioning themselves and their campers.

If you hand out sites only to long term stays at premium prices you will get only the high dollar units/campers in there and families that save specifically for years to go on a single trip. While that's fine, the Fort and its past was built on repeated family visits. A couple of years ago I had 6 Fort Trips in one calendar year. Sadly, those days are also in the past.

I'm sure the Fort is the proverbial red-headed stepchild of all their resorts,  prime real estate with low growth potential, (unless you can build a multi-story campground!), and the only resort where most guests bring and prepare their own food.

I agree with CM, we spent July 4th at Tropical Palms, loved it, spent Labor Day at Sun'n'Fun (same owners) was awesome. All at a fraction of the cost.

And the shame of it is, camping is on an upsurge all over the country because people see it as exactly this... a lower cost alternative to expensive vacation resorts.

In as much as I'm preparing for 7 nights on the Suwanee River in two different parks over Thanksgiving week next week, I would have liked to have logged more nights this year. We had maybe 7 nights in the PUP from NYE to June when we bought the TT. We have about 10 nights at the local KOA for shakedown when we picked it up, and 7 or so in local CG/State Parks.

We haven't been back to the Fort since last NYE. It's getting more and more difficult to book, they obviously don't want locals that book Thur-Sun, and frankly, they've priced themselves out of my means. I can't justify (or afford) the absurd site fees. They keep taking stuff away, and raising the rates.

We have continued down our list of Florida State Parks, and at an average of $22 per night, I'm thrilled to get the kids out in the wilderness for hikes, fishing, and relaxing without "campers remorse". We're gonna try geo-caching this time. Both CGs on this trip have pioneer villages and museums, even some live music!

It's apparent the Fort no longer wants the families in my tax bracket...message received.

I'm betting that young ice cream vendor would've given you much higher priority had you texted or instagrammed. It seems that is the only way to achieve interpersonal communication any more.

Met my BIL's new girlfriend the other day. She sat in my house for a few hours, not saying a word, just staring at the anti-social gadget in her hand. then got up and went to work at a local fast food place, I'm sure she's a fireball behind the register.

1. The nuns in my Catholic school made me read that book, and it was a grueling experience...sort of like walking across a basketball court...covered in rice...on your knees.

 

 

2. Look at the nerd with the tuba. You know how you get selected to play the tuba in a band?  It happens when you suck at everything else.

 

 

3. Oh, you know the guys I'm talking about. They're really skinny, wear wife beater tank tops, have many instances of "body art," and for some reason think it's attractive to stretch a gaping hole in your earlobe. They should make a tattoo Mickey for Disney. He could have those big holes in his ears. That way, you know, Disney would better connect with the younger generation.

1. That's about the funniest thing I've read today, what a great, bizarre visual.

2. I know like 4 things, and playing band instruments isn't one of them. I do believe as a matter of semantics though, that nerd is playing a Sousaphone. And now I can't remember the other 3 things I knew.

3. I'm pretty sure a Mickey tattoo could get your ass kicked in the joint. My Mrs. busts my onions about how often I change the decals on my truck, I can't think of anything I'd want on it permanently, which is probably why I haven't taken a seat in one of those shops. I have too short of an attention span for a tattoo. And the earlobe thing? I was never that big a fan of National Geographic.

Enjoying the TR!

Now that is a sad bit of news.

 

How about a stay-cation trip report?

 

TCD

Or, just grab someone else's random old TR and just change the names to match your family, sharpen up some of the commentary, it's good with us!

I'm in David! Nobody rocks Page 4 of a 3year old TR like me. "I don't feel tardy!"

I always thought that the Fort would have been a prime candidate for a Toy Story/Woody's Roundup makeover with Woody, Jessie, Bullseye, and Stinky Pete the Prospector. If it was based on Woody's Roundup, you wouldn't have to bring in the whole Toy Story cast, just the crew from Woody's old show.

Maybe Jessie's not sexy enough to put out there as a princess.

Or, perhaps they're just biding their time before they bulldoze the whole thing and put up another lakeside Deluxe resort. It's not like them to have that type of real estate that nets say $100 or so per night per site, when in the same spot could be a stack of rooms that brings in $300 per room x 5 stories. We could math ourselves right out of a campground!

They keep taking stuff away and putting nothing back, makes you wonder what the Fort will look like a decade from now!

I used Oxy Clean Max on the outside canvas. The black in Fl is often a bit of not only dust and dirt, but pollen. I'm not a big fan of pressure washing for fear it would mess with water-resistance.

Also, if you can see pinholes of sunlight from inside the bunk, you can patch with opaque or white candles. You need two. One person inside the bunk presses the base of the candle against the hole, another person outside rubs the base a little against the inside candle and it patches the pinhole with wax!

I hate to bring this up....because after 28 pages of great content, I don't want to seem like I am nit picking.  But....no pic of the GAG??  :clint:

Speaking of... We've been rocking that Publix deal lately. It's 8 pieces, 2 sides, and 4 King's Hawaiian Rolls for $11. Gotta have the cole slaw. We try and do that meal at least every week or two. You can even eat it in the camper in the driveway, and pretend it's GAG!

That looks like a series of games called Pikmin.

Nope, no Seinfeld. Actually the quote I was thinking of was ," you ain't gettin no coke". My bad

Nice! Caddyshack!

I think the crate is upside down 

 

Translation 

sdraypihS

evirD tauK

 

Kuat Drive 

Shipyards

 

They make hyperdrives and other space ship equipment and ships. 

I quit!

Not sure about the writing or the re-porposed box, but there was wood in Star Wars. It's a different galaxy, more so than just space. There were trees on Endor and Dagobah, others I'm sure, but I favor the original trilogy, and know very little past 1983.

I'm guessing the Star Wars logo on the right?