Gulf State Park Dismeet 2018: Sand, Sun, and Puzzles...

[JETS70]

Teresa and I would be in for a Fort Dismeet. I'm good with any time and Teresa liked the idea of a second week of October meet.
Steve

 

[Teamubr]

I'm a little late to the congrats and welcomes. Grading papers and projects the last 2 days and I'm still in the land of Epic at work. (Michael will understand) 3 days 'till go live.

Chris and Jen- Glad you had a safe trip home and the new truck didn't melt down.
Judyfun- . Glad you are going to join us next year. It's always fun to meet new DIS friends.

Michael- Sorry to hear Stacy fell victim again.

And the rest- DIS meet at the Fort- 2020. I vote for Fall. I've been down over Memorial week. While not full on July/August heat, it is getting close. I think we may take 2019 off of Disney. GSP is in for May next year and we will likely find a Caribbean island somewhere to discover. 2020 will bring Star Wars craziness. That's definitely worth a trip back.

j

 

[grumpyaggie]

Tiggerdad,
I will try to send the recipe for rice crispie treats again, I had sent this earlier for your DW. We were having internet problems, I guess it is in never-never-land.

Cookie Butter Marshmallow Treats
Ingredients
Makes 24 servings
1/4 cup coconut oil or butter
5 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup cookie butter
7 cups rice crispies
Instructions
1 - in a large nonstick pot hest butter until melted,
then add marshmallows and continue to melt.
once marshmallow mixture is melted,
add cookie butter and stir to incorporate.
2 - add the rice crispy cereal to the melted marshmallow mixture
and toss quickly to coat.
3 - pour onto a greased sheet pan and spread out evenly.
4 - allow to cool 30 minutes before serving

Tell your DW an additional instructions can be found at the San Marcos Outlet Mall's Vera Bradley store.
One or both of our granddaughters would be happy to be a tour guide.

Made our reservation at GSP 5/23 thru 5/30/2019 site #3.
Glo and I would not be against moving the FW Dis meet to rotating locations.

 

[Flametamr]

First Im glad everyone made it home safe. It was a pleasure meeting and spending time with you. Im also sorry our weather cut it short. But I promise we'll do it way better next year. And yes I agree since many already committed to Dismeet 4 we should keep it going.
Since I have been nominated to start planning Dismeet 5 in 2020 I will add my 2 cents. For me I think we could just keep the dates and go to the Fort for that year only. Then if works well we can explore maybe a winter meet in addition to our current date. I personally could probably do mid October but really don't want to because we always spend Halloween at the Fort. That is our favorite thing and we would really hate ro miss it.
Next week I will make an inquiry with a travel agent and then report back. We can start the survey after that. Thats all for now.

 

[tltay2005]

I think a DISMeet at the Fort sounds like a great idea. Main thing for folks is to put a stake in the ground on a potential date that people can plan around. That way if they were going to put a planned trip together at a different time of year, they might consider the DISMeet date in order to make just one trip rather than try two.

DW looked over my shoulder just now and said October is not good for her (meaning it's not too good for me either ). October is nice weather-wise and some school systems have fall breaks that could be used but I know my old school system nailed down their Aug-May calendar in January (as in January 2018 for Aug18-May19 school calendar). Or we could use the May date of the Gulf DISMeet and schedule something in 2020 at the Fort in May. IMO May is as late as I want to push a WDW vacation at the Fort personally. There are folks who already have 2019 Gulf reservations (me included) so I'm leaning toward a 2020 Fort DISMeet. But lots of folks are in school (kids and DISsers who are teachers or spouses of DISsers) and if their fall break didn't line up with the DISMeet date, they are out of luck.

I admit I am emotionally attached to the Gulf DISMeet because they've been lots of fun and a great way to meet people. But it might be better for other folks and their availability to put a 2020 Gulf DISMeet on hiatus and use that date for a Fort DISMeet. Just an option to consider. I remember having that discussion about a Fort DISMeet, tiggerdad, now that you mention it.

Yes, a Fort DISMeet would also probably attempt to hold ONE SPECIFIC NIGHT out so we could have some sort of group dinner/cookout. It would help with planning ADR's, park days, etc. if that is nailed down well in advance.

So boil down my points:

1. Fort DISMeet (who would be in favor of attending)? Any interest out there to try this?
2a. What month a Fort DISMeet? (May-Memorial Day week, October-not around Halloween, other TBD) Determine dates WELL IN ADVANCE (over a year ahead)
2b. What year for a Fort DISMeet-2019 or 2020? remember advance lead times and the 500 day booking calendar
3. Use a Travel Agent or everyone book individually?

Let's kick around ideas over here and then maybe narrow some alternatives down and do a poll on the main Camping Board to get the idea out to a wider audience.

Ed

PS - the more I think about it, a Memorial Day week trip to the Fort in May 2020 might work. Gulf would go on hiatus for that year. That's my lean for now.

Just had time to read everyone's trip reports, glad (despite Alberto) that you all had a good time. We are still feeling the effects from Alberto, some streets in FL:

LOL. Just wanted to say that I would love the idea of a meet up at FW. November is a great time (not Thanksgiving) weather and crowds are decent. Also the weather is great in late February & March and hopefully since Easter falls in April, that may ease crowds. Since we are close, we are game for almost anytime except summer (May - Sept) just too hot. Looking forward to more info.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Ferry ride today,

Beautiful Mobile Bay

The other ferry the Ft Morgan

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

When he was here during the BP oil spill

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Dauphin Island bridge
Fort Gains on the East end of Dauphin Island

Looking for Capt.Jack Sparrow

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Remember this place @tiggerdad ?
They take folks out on tours and research trips, they'll pull a shrimp net and show you some of the local marine life

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

About 3 miles south of the mouth of Mobile Bay stands Sand Island Lighthouse

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

DW looked over my shoulder just now and said October is not good for her (meaning it's not too good for me either ). October is nice weather-wise and some school systems have fall breaks that could be used but I know my old school system nailed down their Aug-May calendar in January (as in January 2018 for Aug18-May19 school calendar).

So October is not good for you Ed?

 

[PaHunter]

View attachment 325951
About 3 miles south of the mouth of Mobile Bay stands Sand Island Lighthouse

Looks like a great trip, wish we could have hung around. Grass is tall here, gonna bog down my push mower. Calling for rain the next 7 days, so need to get it cut after dinner. Looked at making reservations last night and half the campground was already booked for next year with nothing on Live Oak at all. Not looking good for us, unless we are on the other side from everyone.

 

[Flametamr]

Great news I got the call for my second interview with Walmart DC tomorrow. Hopefull it is the actual job offer. Great pictures Randy. That's where I work part time on Dauphin Island. Maybe next year we do a group day trip there. They started running the second ferry Monday on the summer schedule. With the 2 now running the wait is no more then 45 minutes. We are at the pool. The weather is perfect today and it's packed.

 

[bama_ed]

So October is not good for you Ed?

Well, Randy, to be honest, any time is good for me but Lisa just can't pull off easily from her pre-school class. I believe her school calendar gives her a long weekend in October (she gets Monday/Columbus day off and the next day also, Tuesday, as a "Professional Development Day"). So maybe she could get off Wednesday-Friday. Hard to know now. A full week would be just about impossible/frowned upon.

I get a lot of vacation days so for me getting time off is not so much an issue if I plan ahead properly. In the past my dad or mom/dad have gone with me to chaperone when Lisa couldn't attend Disney stuff (high school bands marching, etc.).

Ya'll keep planning and I'll manage however I can.

ED

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

another great day coming to a close,
Sure wish everyone was here to enjoy this weather,

 

[tiggerdad]

Wish we could be there too Randy.

Spent the day getting all my things out up. By things I mean washing sand off all the beach equipment and bikes. Got them all put away until October when we return to GSP 5-9th.

As far as October Disney goes, the girls have fall break typically Columbus Day and the Tuesday after that. I normally take them out of school the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of that week thus getting full week at Disney and girls only missing three days of school as unexcused absence. Usually they are allowed five unexcused absence each year.

However, starting this year they are decreasing the unexcused absence from five to three. This means if I take girls out the usual three days that week they won't have any more absences to use for the year. So that is potentially a monkey wrench in my prior and future plans as we were already planning on booking that week at FW in 2020 anyway. Gotta discuss this with the DW.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Last one for the day, good night from site 20 @ GSP

 

[bama_ed]

Randy,

I'm still in vacation mode here back at home. I could have gone back to work on Tuesday and recovered four days of vacation for use later in the year but I stayed out. Going to take Lisa to our local Shrimp Basket Restaurant (like the one down by Souvenir City) for lunch tomorrow I hope to pretend like we are still down in the 36542 zip code. Maybe the Solo movie on Saturday.

DD keeps trying to horn in on our action ("take me to lunch too", "I want to see the movie"). Two's company, three's a crowd, I told her.....

Yeah, with my luck had I stayed, the Governor of Alabama would probably be declaring LA a Federal Disaster Zone. Oh well, looking forward to next year.

Ed

PS - thanks for all the great pix.

 

[tiggerdad]

I'm back at work today. Unlike, Ed I just couldn't stay away. One thing about being in the clinic compared to when I worked in the emergency department is when you come back from vacation in the clinic the stack of paperwork has grown significantly. Figured I would try and get ahead on it.

@JETS70 , thanks for the PM and the information you gave, it was pretty cool to read and I'll remember it. Now, I have had a chance to talk to the new superintendent of education here in Lauderdale county and get clarification on the excused absences. Previously, you were allowed 5 unexcused or "parent" absences in a year. The new rule stated it would be reduced to 3. However, it seems there was a miscommunication and actually what was supposed to be is that now it is 3 "parent" absences per semester, not the year. So actually, they gave them an additional day to a total of 6 now. So this actually does not mean that I have to change our October plans if that lines up to be the time everyone feels like going to FW. However, my window is narrow in October. It would have to be the week of Columbus Day, so similar to Ed's situation.

Again, I am only one Diser here the date for the Dismeet should be when we think we can get the most of us together. Obviously we cannot all make it, but go for what gets the most.

Now, back to the GSP currently under way. @SouthAlabama5er , they actually put a plaque where President Obama stood? Did he also use the commode? Is there one there too? That's just...well...a bit much in my opinion.

Good find though.

 

[Teamubr]

Is October 2020 inside 499 days yet!?

j