TCD's Halloween 2011 Trip Report

[Lou... 3,118]

Ahh, the next generation. Your Fort legacy is in good hands.

After observing them on a few different occasions, it's plain to see that they love being at the Fort.

How about they do a TR from their perspective sometime?

So, the girls got fixed up, and we headed down to the marina. Here are a couple of true Fiends:

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

1. did ed and family add some shoes to that tree during their tour of Bay Lake?

2. I think Lou has a great idea about the twins doing a TR...

3. Love the Snarky TCD Twins photo

4. You are still dodging the Taco place and it's good....yum. Vegetarian Burrito...yummy.

5. can't wait for the construction to be done... I hope it's at least mostly done by next Nov

6. Next Nov I Will BE AT THE FORT....if not there will be one large stinkin fit thrown. You will most assuredly hear it no matter where I am located....

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

He wasn't very talkative. I think he had family visiting him and was out a lot

That's been my experience, too. He and/or that cart are at the Fort often, but so far, my conversations haven't gone past hello.

Hmmm, no update yet?

I suggest getting this one finished up, as I know what you did this weekend. (Nothing gets past me, ya know )

What The Fort?

How do you know?

Did you plant a GPS tracker on my car? Are you having me followed? Are you stalking me?

Ahh, the next generation. Your Fort legacy is in good hands.

After observing them on a few different occasions, it's plain to see that they love being at the Fort.

How about they do a TR from their perspective sometime?

That might be a good idea. I will have to think about it. They could get me in trouble.

1. did ed and family add some shoes to that tree during their tour of Bay Lake?

2. I think Lou has a great idea about the twins doing a TR...

3. Love the Snarky TCD Twins photo

4. You are still dodging the Taco place and it's good....yum. Vegetarian Burrito...yummy.

5. can't wait for the construction to be done... I hope it's at least mostly done by next Nov

6. Next Nov I Will BE AT THE FORT....if not there will be one large stinkin fit thrown. You will most assuredly hear it no matter where I am located....

I will get to that Taco place one of these days. But, I have a feeling I may be eating a waffle sandwich before I get around to the Tacos.

Good to know about next November. It will be here before you know it.

TCD

[stefa70 205]

What The Fort?

How do you know?

Did you plant a GPS tracker on my car? Are you having me followed? Are you stalking me?

TCD

Call it PMS, IBS, ESPN, ESP. Or just a certain tattletale!

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

It was Twin #2, wasn't it! I knew she looked sneaky!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Call it PMS, IBS, ESPN, ESP. Or just a certain tattletale!

I knew it!

It was Twin #2, wasn't it! I knew she looked sneaky!

No, it wasn't twin #2.

The tattletale has to be one of two people, and I am pretty sure I know which one it is.

TCD

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Nice update, Andrew. It is nice to see that more shoes are being added to the shoe tree. (It is the little things that make me smile)

I'm not sure about the waffle sandwich, except for the fruit one, skip the nutella and I'd give it a try. Not big nutella fan here.

I think the twins should do a TR too, it would be fun to hear their perspective.

Ok ready for more :popcorn:

[kampfirekim 260]

I think he has a lot of potential. I am thinking of getting him a raccoon hat and pocketknife for Christmas.

TCD

I agree. Nicholas has tons of potential and an uncle and 2 cousins to egg him on give him guidance.

The coonskin hat and pocketknife are a great idea. Lil' H was Davy Crockett for Halloween. He got irritated when people asked... "Daniel Boone?"

Nicholas grabbed his spike and stick, and showed me his angry face:

Of all the great photos THIS one is my fave. I grab a spike and a stick and show my angry face all the time. Ask H. He'll tell ya. That's why he's chicken.

I'm glad Nicholas got to go on an adventure but mostly that he got to play in the sand. :-)

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Ok ready for more :popcorn:

time for the jeopardy song?

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

We will give a little time, but as soon as the commercial is done he better be back with more :rofl2:

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

We will give a little time, but as soon as the commercial is done he better be back with more :rofl2:

if you insist.. he has been attentive to the thread today....

[stefa70 205]

The tattletale has to be one of two people, and I am pretty sure I know which one it is.

TCD

:rofl2: You should know that some people can't keep secrets as good as I can.

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

:rofl2: You should know that some people can't keep secrets as good as I can.

How much arm twisting punch did it take?

[lucy_love 1]

This year, my mother gave us a gift for Halloween which was this same dog dressed in a boxer costume (with a robe and boxing gloves in his mouth). She found it at Cracker Barrel of all places. Has anyone seen any other versions of this statue, or know where they can be purchased? As we drove down the path to the marina, we had to pull over to make room for this guy:

I have a golden lab dressed as a ghost and I got it from the Gainesville Cracker Barrel in the beginning of October when I was there for the Bama game. They also had a yorkie, (boxer as you stated), chiuaua, and some others I cannot remember. They were all dressed up differently.

p.s.

Nutella is AMAZING :) TCD DD's have good taste... pun intended :rofl3:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I was serious about needing to get this report moving, so here comes another installment with the maximum number of photos.

We left off with our return from the MK to the Fort on the afternoon of Sunday, October 30th.

The weather was perfect. The rain was long gone, and the sun was shining. All of the puddles were dried up, and life was good at the Fort.

I finally got to use the hammock!

Here is my view looking up:

As I shared earlier, I initially did not like our site, but as we enjoyed the weekend and all of the activities it really grew on me. We were right in the middle of everything. From right here in the official TCD hammock, I could look across to the Meadow Trading Post and also see the 900 loop bus stop:

The pool, of course, is just across the bridge behind the Meadow Trading Post, and the campfire area is just across the 600 loop bridge. I really ended up loving this location.

In fact, I walked over to the 600 loop and across the footbridge several times over the weekend. I went to check on the progress of the Fort Wilderness railroad model that fellow Fiend FWRR3 was setting up in the 1400 loop. On one of my visits that afternoon, I noticed that the castmembers were setting out the pumpkins for the pumpkin decorating contest.

For the past few Halloweens, the pumpkin decorating contest has been held on Halloween night. As a result, I have rarely gotten a chance to see the pumpkins. There is usually just too much to do on Halloween night. This year, the contest was going to be on the afternoon of October 30th. That made it easy for me to check out the pumpkins.

Before the pumpkins had all been set out, I ran across this lady decorating her pumpkin right there by the stage. As you can see, her pumpkin was incorporated into a scarecrow, so she had to do her decorating on site. She was painting the pumpkin with a paintbrush and food coloring:

There were also a couple of pumpkins sitting by the stage. I don't think they were part of the contest:

As I was checking things out, the castmembers were bringing the pumpkin contest entrants over from the Bike Barn. These two were among the first to arrive:

I decided to walk over to the Bike Barn for a look. Here is Jenna loading up the pumpkins:

The Nemo pumpkin, which was one of my favorites, got to ride shotgun:

From here, I decided to head over the bridge by the Trading Post to see if the girls would like to come and see the pumpkins.

As I crossed over the bridge, I heard a gas golf cart approaching.

What The Fort?

Golf carts aren't allowed on the bridge.

There are all kind of barricades blocking access now.

But, here he is, on the other side of those barricades:

And, there he goes, right over the bridge!:

And, here's how he did it:

The question remains who removed the pole.

I was hoping that one of the Rangers would jump out of the bushes and taze this outlaw. But, of course, they were too busy causing problems harassing guests working doing nothing elsewhere in the campground.

When I first got back to the campsite, we did a bit of looping. This circle of ghosts was set up behind a site on the 1300 loop:

I finally got all of our decorations straightened up and staked down, so I got a photo before they blew over again:

We left the cart at the site, and decided to walk over to the campfire area. Since the bridge and the 1400 loop access have been blocked off, it is quicker to walk to the campfire area from the 900 loop than it is to drive all the way around to the only entrance by cart.

These folks were set up on the 600 loop. I guess they are what you would call Cheeseheads:

They have been along this same stretch of the 600 loop every Halloween since they 600 loop extension opened.

They also entered the site decorating contest. I heard directly from one of the judges why they had no chance. I will tell you about that later, when we get to Sunday evening.

As we were heading toward the bridge, this fellow came strolling by:

To the best of my knowledge, he had not been hunting, and was not going hunting. He just liked to wear Camo. I would say it's a good look for him.

This cart was parked at a site on the 600 loop. I like how the Frankenstein monster is strapped on the roof:

When we got to the campfire area, all of the pumpkins were out on display, and this is what we saw:

Some folks got a bit carried away.

The carriage was pretty good, but I don't know what is going on with the giant cupcake:

There's our buddy Jenna back there supervising things. For this event, they let folks fill out ballots. We were supposed to pick a 1st, 2nd and 3rd. For future reference, since this vote was being conducted in Florida, there was no one checking to make sure that each person only voted once.

Here are some more entrants. I liked this pirate boat:

And, I have never seen anything like this snake. I thought it was very well done:

I don't know what was going on here with this pumpkin. I think maybe it was a one-eyed monster, with a mickey shaped eye, but I could be wrong:

Here's that pig again, which I also liked a lot:

Apparently, someone is selling pumpkin decorating kits, as there were several entrants that looked something like this:

None of us could agree on what this was:

I thought it was a chicken head. The twins thought maybe it was supposed to be a peacock head- and a tribute to the Fort birds of yesteryear. As luck would have it, we saw the girl who carved this one later that night carrying her pumpkin back to her site. She was walking with her mom and brother, who was also carrying a pumpkin. We told them that we liked their pumpkins. I asked to girl to settle our dispute- was her pumpkin a chicken or a peacock? She said it was neither- it was supposed to be a creepy hand. Oh. The conversation was a bit awkward after that. We also asked this family if they knew who won the contest. They said there were three winners- and they remembered two- the snake and Nemo.

As far as how we voted, I voted for the snake, Nemo and the pirate ship. I know that the girls agreed with these choices, but I think they may also have voted for the pig.

I never did see an official list of winners, but we did see Jenna later that night (there is more to this story which will be told at the appropriate time), and she told us that the winners were, in fact, the snake and Nemo, but even she couldn't tell us the third winner. She wasn't sure if it was the pig or pirate ship. But, it wasn't the scarecrow or the cupcake, because we asked about those.

After inspecting the pumpkins, we decided that we should take a run over to Hollywood Studios. So that is what we did next.

TCD

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Those were some very interesting pumpkins. I'm glad you were able to find out what the peacock/chicken really was. A creepy hand, huh I was leaning towards a palm tree and thought maybe it was a tribute to Typhoon Lagoon. :rofl2:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Nice update, Andrew. It is nice to see that more shoes are being added to the shoe tree. (It is the little things that make me smile)

I'm not sure about the waffle sandwich, except for the fruit one, skip the nutella and I'd give it a try. Not big nutella fan here.

I think the twins should do a TR too, it would be fun to hear their perspective.

Ok ready for more :popcorn:

The little things make me smile, too.

I wasn't sure about the waffle sandwich either, but the idea has grown on me, and now I want to try one.

The Nutella would be my last choice, but it does sound kind of good with all of the bananas and stawberries.

The coonskin hat and pocketknife are a great idea. Lil' H was Davy Crockett for Halloween. He got irritated when people asked... "Daniel Boone?"

OK- I've got to confess, I wouldn't be able to tell Davy Crockett from Daniel Boone either.

:rofl2: You should know that some people can't keep secrets as good as I can.

Yes, I know.

And, it's a good thing, too. The person we are talking about is my best source for Fort gossip.

I have a golden lab dressed as a ghost and I got it from the Gainesville Cracker Barrel in the beginning of October when I was there for the Bama game. They also had a yorkie, (boxer as you stated), chiuaua, and some others I cannot remember. They were all dressed up differently.

p.s.

Nutella is AMAZING :) TCD DD's have good taste... pun intended :rofl3:

Do you have any sisters, Ashley?

If not, we could make you one an honorary TCD daughter, and you can hang out with the TCD girls the next time you are at the Fort.

I'll hang out with you dad and drink some Buds.

Those were some very interesting pumpkins. I'm glad you were able to find out what the peacock/chicken really was. A creepy hand, huh I was leaning towards a palm tree and thought maybe it was a tribute to Typhoon Lagoon. :rofl2:

I know. I'm not seeing the hand. I can't get by the fact that there aren't enough fingers. But, the girl said it was a creepy hand, so it's a creepy hand.

A palm tree, I could go along with.

TCD

[gramme 2]

Lovin the TR. I miss attending Under the Oaks so much.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I would have said palm tree. The snake is freakily good. My DS would love the pirate ship. The cup cake is freakily too chipper for a jack-o-lantern. nemo is just cute.

[stefa70 205]

Love the pumpkin photos. Don't tell anyone this but I missed this activity too.

I love the pig! The cupcake one looks like fake pumpkins? The ones with "pieces" look like Mr. Potato head parts, but what do I know?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Lovin the TR. I miss attending Under the Oaks so much.

Hey Joanne-

Aren't you heading down this way soon?

They just had Art Harvest in Dunedin last week. Did you used to visit that when you lived here? We missed it this year, but they had perfect weather (again). I love the weather here in November!

I would have said palm tree. The snake is freakily good. My DS would love the pirate ship. The cup cake is freakily too chipper for a jack-o-lantern. nemo is just cute.

I agree with all of this. I wish I knew the story behind the snake- it looks like the work of someone who carves things for buffets- like on a cruise ship.

The pirate ship had some neat details- like canons made from carrots, a crew of peanut pirates, and sails made from sycamore leaves.

Love the pumpkin photos. Don't tell anyone this but I missed this activity too.

I love the pig! The cupcake one looks like fake pumpkins? The ones with "pieces" look like Mr. Potato head parts, but what do I know?

Man, did you miss everything?

At least I know you saw the golf cart parade.

Those were fake pumpkins on the giant cupcake. It was kind of good, but at the same time the whole thing was a little weird. Why the cupcake?

I think those maybe are some kind of Mr. Potato Head parts for pumpkins. There were several entries that used these, so it must be some kind of kit you can buy. I don't think they should win a contest, as it doesn't take much work to create one of these, but I think it's a cool way to create a pumpkin decoration. Does anyone know anything about these?

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Hey Joanne-

Aren't you heading down this way soon?

They just had Art Harvest in Dunedin last week. Did you used to visit that when you lived here? We missed it this year, but they had perfect weather (again). I love the weather here in November!

I agree with all of this. I wish I knew the story behind the snake- it looks like the work of someone who carves things for buffets- like on a cruise ship.

The pirate ship had some neat details- like canons made from carrots, a crew of peanut pirates, and sails made from sycamore leaves.

Man, did you miss everything?

At least I know you saw the golf cart parade.

Those were fake pumpkins on the giant cupcake. It was kind of good, but at the same time the whole thing was a little weird. Why the cupcake?

I think those maybe are some kind of Mr. Potato Head parts for pumpkins. There were several entries that used these, so it must be some kind of kit you can buy. I don't think they should win a contest, as it doesn't take much work to create one of these, but I think it's a cool way to create a pumpkin decoration. Does anyone know anything about these?

TCD

we saw the potato head parts in a store.. there we some other character available too but I can't remember which ones....

[Pirate Jeff 9]

Target and wal-mart sold the mr potato head parts for the pumpkins

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

we saw the potato head parts in a store.. there we some other character available too but I can't remember which ones....

Target and wal-mart sold the mr potato head parts for the pumpkins

Thanks, guys!

I figured that these were for sale somewhere.

I try to stay out of Target and Walmart.

TCD

[gramme 2]

Yes TCD We are heading down to Clearwater TG morning to spend it with hubby's sister. Then to Holiday to spend Friday and Sat. with my new Twin Granddaughters and the other Grandbabies. my son is moving his family to Pittsburg on that Sunday. :( So I won't have any time for shopping just lovin on them babies!