Roberta

Yes, Inn & Out does have a lot of permanent residents. I've noticed lately, they have been cleaning that situation up quite a bit. I will never understand why they put them in the front. If they put the long term people in the back, over night guests would never see them. Even so, I drive through every once in awhile, and see the front from Dairy Queen parking lot and have noticed the changes. Even so, it's never been Inn & Out that was the problem. They just happen to be situated right between two homeless camps (one building and one outdoors) and the sketchy Steak & Shake. The

Honestly, the Cracker Barrel would be fine if they would close the Steak & Shake. That is the sketchiest place in that whole area of town. A lot of the employees are the problem. Two shootings there in a year, both involving employees. One domestic, one drug related. I have heard that they deal drugs out of there, and the shooting backs ups that rumor. Drugs are probably the only way it stays in business, honestly. I don't know a single person who would ever go there. With all the dozens of new restaurants that have come in 2016, along 90, and as many more under construction, I think S

Yep, I found out last night. DH is now neutral. Really wish Steelers were in it, then won, and came to Disney World. My DH would be the happiest man alive to see the MVP there. We have a cable hook up in our Pop-up, and plenty of space for a 32" tv, so if it rains, will just watch it inside. We have a new Dairy Queen next to Inn & Out now. It's an okay place to stay overnight, but that little area of town has declined over the past year. Police are working hard to get it nicer again. What happened, is a business closed, and vagrants took over the empty building, just a block from there

In Lake City, never park at Cracker Barrel. Nothing but trouble over in that corner of town. Between the CB, the Steak n Shake and hotel across from it, there have been three major incidents in the last year. It "looks" like a nice shady place to park out of the way. Don't do it. Go down a few blocks and park at the Walmart, that is much less appealing, but a million times safer. We do have an a Inn & Out trailer park right off 75, the exit before Casey Jones, but I wouldn't stay there either.

We will bringing a 32" flat screen. We have decided not to go to any bar due to the expense. If you like, you are welcome to come watch it with us. We were going to try to score an invite from from some other campers, but given we are just arriving Sunday, won't have much time to make friends. You are more than welcome to join us. I'm going to bake some pepperoni rolls for during the game. We are not big drinkers, but DH does like to drink some beer during football games. The only problem is that DH is a Steelers fan (WV native) and if they make it in our DH's will be rooting for opposite

Thanks for the suggestions. Making friends with other campers that have a set up sounds ideal! I hope that happens. I Googled about it and found out that Crockett's Tavern will be playing it. I pulled up their menu and saw lots of fancy drinks and wines on it, but did not list beer. Surely, a tavern must serve beer? Maybe the menu just assumes people will take that as a given. Could get expensive though. Maybe we will just come stocked with a good extra supply of beer to pitch in, in hopes that we find a group to join and watch. And I'll bake up a bunch of pepperoni rolls to share too.

Is there anywhere in the Fort that DH can go to watch the Super Bowl? I just realized it is on the evening of our arrival, and he is probably going to flip out when he realizes it. Our annual passes are only the weekday ones, so we can't go anywhere in the parks to watch. We have a cable hook-up in our camper, but usually only keep a little 5" screen DVD player combo in there. If there is no place he can watch it, do they have real cable at the Fort, or just Disney channels? We could always bring one of our larger flat screens. Thanks in advance.

I always make fun of the signs on the dumpsters at FL state parks because they say not to do this. I never imagined that anyone would ever need a sign to understand what a bad idea that is. I suppose I was giving people too much credit.

The problem is, as the sun shifts, so does the shade. It's hard to tell if the pavement there is just as hot, even though it's currently in the shade. Also, dogs have a fur coat on year round, so it's a lot of time in the sun for them. They need to make ECVs with doggy sidecars with fans on them, to keep service dogs cool and off the pavement. Ours will more than likely go to Disney, even though it's a place she is really needed. I just see too many negatives, both for dog and handler.

I wondered about this as well. I have never seen a kennel at any ride. Even so, I would opt to take turns rather than using it. I also wonder about having a service dog at that parks at all and what it would do to their paws to walk on asphalt all day long. In the summer, it seems like it would be downright animal cruelty. Even in cooler months, I would think the asphalt heats up from the sun and can't be good for them to walk on. And so many children at Disney that would want to pet the service dog. For a person with PTSD or anxiety issues, this could be a nightmare. The last thing those p

Maybe I should specify in my fax that, although I would prefer 1500, my first priority to be far away from any "group." Second priority - in sight of comfort station Third priority - privacy. I know I can't have everything. For our first time, just not being near a group would be good enough and we can work around everything else.

Bear proof? At Fort Wilderness? I must be totally missing something. Fort Wilderness isn't exactly "wild" enough for bears. Maybe they are intended to be rat proof or something? I saw a HUGE rat - I'm not exaggerating, it was the size of a cat - at MK one night. I sat on a brick wall right outside of a store. There was a bunch of foliage behind the wall. A rat like I have never seen the likes of went running out and across the pavement to the next patch of bushes. I had the creeps and chills the rest of the night, especially considering the foliage had been touching my back. Gettin

Thanks for the information, I will definitely take note. I have been feeling like I've been too needy with all the semi-paranoid questions I've been asking. I am very high anxiety over our first Fort trip in many years, with new family dynamics. All of your answers are making me feel much less silly. This is completely outrageous. If we ever got stuck in something like this, Disney WOULD be upgrading me to a different site or resort. It's appalling that this is a church group, showing and teaching their children such a total disrespect for others and their surroundings.

Thank you for the info. I knew about going to get the trailer and cart, but completely forgot about returning it at the end of the trip. I was thinking two trips out on arrival rental day only - clearly didn't think that one through. Three trips out is kind a lot for me. I hate packing up to go home from camping anyway, and with only being there for 6 days this might add too much to my stress level. DH just told me he wants to rent a pontoon boat one day, so we may just use the buses this trip. Information is great to know for possible future trips, though. Or we may rent one from Disney

Not sure why I was under the impression that it wasn't. Must have gotten the idea in my head from somewhere and it just stuck. I've never actually looked because we prefer POP and always book there. I mean a real campfire. If all goes well, I will look into buying one of the metal ones. I've looked at the approved models and thought they would go on clearance out of season, but have yet to find that. They put everything else on clearance in Florida, pretending it's not still summer, but not those. I've never seen one come up on the local buy/sell either, unfortunately. If the Fort beco

I couldn't agree more. I despise CBR. I spent one night there about 7 years ago, and couldn't stand it. I moved to POP (my favorite of all time.) At CBR I didn't even feel like we were in Disney. The room was supposed to be a pirate theme but came off as dark, dingy, depressing. Nothing about the grounds make me feel like I'm at Disney. It was a horrible experience, honestly. The only moderate I have ever liked is POR Riverside, and I'm not even sure that even exists anymore, or they may have renamed it. When I was a kid, we always stayed at the Contemporary. It was the only hotel I was aw

Did you get 'er done?

They never picked up any of my son's titanium either, and he had LOTS of it. From ankle to hip rods, pins everywhere, four plates in his head. I know for a fact that most metal detectors alert on titanium because we've been through them in a number of other places.

I thought I would revive this thread. :-) When we were there last month, two of our grandsons were there at the same time. They are 7 and 4. Their favorite thing to do was ride the monorail around. Second favorite thing was swimming in the hotel pool - go figure, they have a pool at home! They also really enjoyed the Lego Store in Disney Springs and the hotel arcade. The only rides they really liked enough to do again were Peter Pan and Buzz Lightyear. (they didn't go to HS so didn't try Toy Story) Basically, their parents don't even need to buy park tickets! I know they would love

Wow, thanks for the tip. I'm buying this. Always looking for great games that will hold my family's interest. All we currently have in the camper is Yahtzee and Yahtzee Free For All, along with a Monopoly card game. I forget what that one is called, but it's a quick, fun game for those who can't deal with the time it takes to play regular monopoly. It takes about 10 to 20 minutes to play.

I don't mind the metal detectors, although I've never been put through one. I guess us 50 something women don't look too sketchy. Unfortunately, my disabled son was "randomly" selected every single time, without fail. He looks nervous, because he is. He also looks mostly normal at first glance. A closer look will reveal question mark shaped scar around the entire side of his head, and a fairly large dent under his hair on one side, called "wasting." The titanium rods all the way up one leg, pins in both legs and titanium plates in his brain clearly don't show. I completely understand w

Thanks everyone. :-) Can anyone give me any idea on the price of outside vendors. For instance, would renting six days from them be not much more than 3 days from Disney? Or is six days too short a time period as well. I have noticed that when people go to the Fort nowadays, it's for a few weeks or month at a time - something I would love to do some time.

Thank you, Carol! I have read about an MLK gang as well, but thankfully that's in January.

How often do they camp? Is it only on weekends? Certain months? My worst nightmare is camping near any group, especially known obnoxious ones.

Oh, absolutely! I completely agree and so does our trainer. When Andy dropped off Joan, she clearly looked to him for direction. Her body language was obvious that she looked to him as a leader. Joan is a high drive, high energy dog and needs something to do. All things were combined, as you stated above, to make for a disaster. I was only referring to the training we are doing at our home. She is never going to be left alone anyway. During her testing, we were not even really gone, just spying on her. Our family dynamics allow us to have at least some family members with our dogs 100