weekender

2 hours ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

When did you buy them? I know there was a run of tires that were experiencing blowouts.

As others have said there are many factors that contribute to the tires "blowing", but to be specific if you have TowMax tires on your trailer or 5th wheel I highly suggest getting rid of them ASAP.  It is not a matter of if they will blow, but when.  This is known and discussed on several of the RV forums. 

The Goodyear and the Saliun are much better options.  We have over 7000 miles on our Saliun's and so far so good, but I check them before and during each trip.  After 5 years they will get replaced regardless of how much tread may or may not be left.  

We were there in June this year shortly after the ride opened and we were able to ride Flight of Passage 2 times and the River Journey 1 time all without fast passes.  There will be some waiting, but compared to the potential wait times we felt that we did very well. 

We did go on a morning with early Magic Hours (7 am) and arrived about 45 minutes prior to opening.  Disney staged this very methodically once they opened.  First they opened the security checkpoint about 20 minutes early so the crowd could start flowing through.  Then everyone had to wait at the ticket scanners until about 10 minutes prior to opening to allow on property guest and non property guest to be split.  You will want to stay to the left side of the path upon entering the park.  They will then check your Magic Bands to confirm on property guest.  Once through that you will be queued on the path with cast members at the top of the path.  Once the time comes they will "walk" everyone back to Pandora, but honestly it becomes a fast walk event.  Our group was slower so we got behind a fair amount of the crowd. 

You need to do Flight of Passage first since it will be the longest wait and does not get any shorter for the most part throughout the day.  We waited about 35 minutes to ride it in the morning.  Awesome ride by the way and you need to experience it at least once.  When we finished Flight of Passage we went straight to the River Journey and waited about another 40 minutes or so.  At that point it was about 8:15 or 8:30 so we had the rest of the day to enjoy all of AK.  We watched the wait times throughout the day and they hovered around 3 hours for Flight of Passage and about 90 + minutes for River Journey. 

I did say we rode Flight of Passage 2 times.  We did this upon returning to the park after dinner and went straight to Pandora.  The wait time was at 90 minutes so we decided what the heck.  It was not too bad to wait as once you are inside there are some neat things to see in the queue that we missed the first time we rode.  In the end we ended up waiting only about 75 minutes to ride the second time.  We felt very lucky to have ridden 2 times and not have waited 4+ hours. 

Know that it can be done, but there will be some waiting, but it is worth it.  Trust me!  Good luck.

11 hours ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

That's one we are looking at but the no shade for that time of the year...is one thing that's holding us back.

 

At Memorial Day typically it has not been too hot in the mountains so shade was not a big factor.  Thier pool is usually too cold to go into at Memorial Day.  Try to get a site where your awning/patio get the morning sun or try to get up top with the pine trees. 

We love Anchor Down and have spent the past several Memorial Day, Labor Day and Halloween there. 

Here are a few of the locations we enjoy.   Of course getting a spot may be difficult as many of these fill up well in advance of a year or more.

Anchor Down RV Resort - Dandridge TN on Lake Douglas

River Plantation - Sevierville, TN

Panama City Beach RV Resort

On ‎6‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 4:52 PM, DaveInTN said:

Sadly, since we started visiting Epcot with our kids less than 10 years ago, I think their only real memories of Future World are Damn Judi Dench and conning someone into trying Beverly.  

I had to laugh when you said trying Beverly.  We did this on our trip last week.  That drink is absolutely horrible and It leaves the worst bitter after taste. 

1 hour ago, kadancer said:

I find it interesting that thrill rides are necessary for Disney to compete.  In my mind, they should compete because they have a different product and aren't just another amusement park.  One of the things that I found disappointing about the Harry Potter lands in Universal is that they did not choose to theme all of the attractions and that the ones that were themed were so busy tilting and twirling me ( except the Hogwarts Express which I loved) that I actually had more fun waiting in line.  For me, I wish Disney would be Disney and stand alone instead of trying to be Disney and everyone else, too.

I grew up in Florida and went to Disney World every year (sometimes 2x per year) from shortly after it opened to now.  In addition I still bring my family about every other year so I love Disney and always will.  I love the Disney experience and actually my favorite park is MK even though it is not jammed packed with thrill rides.  It just has all my childhood memories from Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, Space Mountain, Carousel of Progress, People Mover and even It's a Small World.   

I do not disagree about the Magic and also the other responses about Epcot  being one of their favorites, but if you were going to spend $90+ for a ticket just to walk around the Epcot countries and ride Test Track and Soarin I think some people might feel that they did not get their monies worth for the day. 

I wish Disney would be able to compete on its own with its product, however at the end of the day we have to remember it is all about revenue for them.    If they are losing attendance to Universal, Busch Gardens, Sea World etc. that hurts Disney's bottom line and impacts how they operate as a company. Also their pricing strategy (continually raising ticket prices, hotels, campsites, etc.) has forced people to either to not go to Disney as often or to look for alternatives.  My sister and her husband live in Florida and changed their Disney AP to a Busch Gardens AP due to money, rides, etc.

Do I still love Disney - Yes.  Has it changed over the years - Yes.  Some for the better and some for the worse - Yes.  I will still go to Disney as long as I can afford it, but that is getting more difficult as time goes on. 

Having just returned from spending a week at WDW I would agree that Epcot is the park in need of a upgrade in many aspects.  Our friends who were travelling with us and who have not been to Disney in over 10 years commented that Epcot was the one park they would skip next time they visit.   I think Disney is under pressure from Universal Studios and is severely lagging behind them when it comes to attracting the thrill seeking, roller coaster crowd.  With Universal's recent opening of Volcano Bay even the Disney water parks are lacking greatly. 

Personally I used to enjoy the Innoventions area and it is sad that they are closed, but with the thrill seekers it seems they are not interested in these areas.  For me it was cool to see ideas for the future such as the fully automated house, science ideas etc. 

While I still love Disney some of the "Magic" has worn off and is why we only go every other year or so.  We had a great time, but as others have said a little time away is good.   

Well things worked out perfect for us last weekend.  We were on Toll Road 429 when we got the text that our site was ready.  We pulled into the Fort right around 12:00 p.m. and went straight to our site.  We ended up in site 420 which was great. 

Thanks.  I must just be catching it when it is down.

Anyone know what is up with Test Track the past couple of days?  I know the ride goes down sometimes, but according to the app it has been down for the past 2 days when I checked.   We will be there next Thursday so I am trying to see what is going on. 

After reading the article and all the comments the only way to close all the loopholes is to do away with the Fast Pass System on the Magic Bands.  You know that will not happen however as Disney loves to plan, track, detail everything about the guest via the Magic Bands.  Also I think people will always find loopholes whether good or bad. 

I for one miss the old paper system as I could look what time was available and get one or not get one if I liked the return times. 

Thanks for all the feedback.  This is very helpful.  We will just head to The Fort on Saturday morning!

17 minutes ago, DisneyVampire said:

EMH is still being honored ... those are the ones that are showing up at 530....

So if you have early morning.... definitely be prepared.

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Thanks for the clarification.  Man that is early.  UUUGH!

Is there a phone number we can call to see if we can check in early this coming Saturday, June 10?  We plan to stop in Lake Park, GA Friday Night and should be to The Fort by 12:00 p.m. or earlier (depending upon how early we get up), but do not want to waste time driving to have to park in the overflow lot and sit for several hours.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated! 

7 minutes ago, DisneyVampire said:

DS report....

Guests even on non-early opening days are still coming in at 5 am. People are not leaving until 230 am.

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Thanks for the update.  So are they still letting people in early too or is just when people start lining up?  I hope they are not ignoring the Magic Hours!

Thanks so much TCD.  This sounds like a plan and we will plan to arrive around 6 - 6:30.  Given that we will just drive over form the Fort as I am sure busses will not be running that early.  I will let everyone know how it goes after the trip to AK. 

Looking at these lines has me very nervous.  We were not able to get fast passes since when we made our selections Avatar Land rides were not open yet.  Now I am concerned we will not get to ride the new rides. 

We have plans to be at the park on Monday, June 12 for the Extra Magic Hours opening at 7:00 a.m.  Do you think they will let the general public in early as well that morning or keep it on site guest only?  We are staying at The Fort so I will probably plan to drive to AK that morning since the buses will not get us there much before 7:00 a.m. 

If anyone has suggestions on how they are handling the extra magic hours in relation to Avatar Land opening that would be greatly appreciated.  We hope to hit the 2 rides first then leave the madness to enjoy the rest of the park.  

Thanks for all the feedback on my question.  If all goes well we will do our best to make it to Eagles Roost since it is right at the GA/FL border and seems to be flat, easy to get in and out of and close to the interstate.

I have searched the forum and have read the feedback on some of the different campgrounds to stay overnight on the way to the Fort.  We have reservations for the Fort this June, but want to leave on a Friday afternoon to get some of the trip behind us.  We live just south of Chattanooga TN so Valdosta will probably be my limit for driving that night. 

My question is which campground to stay in overnight without paying a fortune.  Several people on this forum recommend Eagles Roost, but does it have pull through sites and are they level enough to just leave our 5th wheel hooked up for a quick departure the next morning?  What about places to eat close by?  We have also seen a Camping World campground around that same area. Any thoughts on it? Others we need to look at?  Really just need a place to pull through, plug in, put slides out and sleep with AC.

Any feedback from those who have stopped overnight  in the Valdosta area is greatly appreciated. 

You are going to get a lot of opinions on this matter, but honestly do the math and figure out the capacities of your current truck to include payload, max tow capability and max combined weight.  What you will probably find is that you will run out of the payload # before anything else.  That payload # will include your hitch, pin weight of the 5th wheel, passengers, stuff, etc.  Some trucks include the weight of the driver so double check that.  In the end you will find that most 250's/2500's do not have enough payload capacity on paper to handle most 5th wheels unless they are the mid range/lighter weight units.  You will probably find that a 350/3500 will be needed.  As for a dually you may not need that unless you are going to the much bigger 5th wheels.  

Look around at campers you like and find the true empty weights then run the numbers to see what truck will pull it and stop it.  Don't rely on the camper sales person to be honest about towing as some of them think 150's/1500's can tow 5th wheels.

Now in practicality the newer Ford F250 and F350 are only slightly different in the spring package, rear block and rear axle.  Most have the same engine, same brakes, same features, etc.  We have a 2013 F250 4x4 Lariat FX4 with camper package.  With the camper package I have the same spring pack as the 2013 F350.  I added Firestone air bags as well so other than a slightly different rear axle our truck is essentially a F350.  With that said I know I exceed the payload # of the truck, but cannot justify buying an F350 to have a # on a paper saying that my payload has increased.  We tow a 2017 Heartland Torque Toy Hauler that is around 13,500 - 14K fully loaded.  We live in NW Georgia and tow to Stone Mountain, Gatlinburg, Disney, Panama City etc. and so far the truck has handled wonderfully.  While I know there are the weight "police" out there that feel that only a dually can handle a 5th wheel you at the end of the day need to decide what your truck can handle and what you are willing to risk for your family. 

Good luck in your search. 

Anchor Down is a wonderful hidden gem out of the hustle an bustle of the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg Parkway.  We have stayed their many times and I can tell you that they do it right from the sights, landscape, views, amenities and treatment from the staff.  We do not go into Gatlinburg, but occasionally do go to Dollywood.  You can take the back way to Dollywood and it is about a 35 minute drive from the campground. The best thing is when you checkout you do night have to fight the parkway traffic to get back to the interstate.  A quick 3.9 mile trip and you are back to the interstate!

While they may not have many tall trees they make up for it with everything else and they are continually investing in the property year after year.  It is an ideal place in Spring and Fall before it gets too hot, but we have been there in the middle of summer as well.  Just try to get on the upper level or a sight where your patio is facing the morning sunrise.  This way you will have evening shade. If you are interested in staying there book well in advance as they are usually full and holidays are booked a year + in advance.

Great job and something like this would be very helpful for m to see where each site is located in a loop as the videos on you tube and the app do not show that in the format you have created.  My loops of interest are 1700 and 1800.  If someone has maps of these 2 loops please let me know and I can use the Fort Fiend app to get sizes.

This is horrible and tragic news.  My heart goes out to the family during this difficult time.  May they find the alligator at least for the family's sake for closure.

Now not to take away from this horrible news, but didn't Disney advertise water skiing, wakeboarding and tubing excursions on the Seven Seas Lagoon and even rent jet skis at some of the properties?  If so with this news and of course with the potential for the brain eating amoeba risk I would hope they would reconsider any water activities on the lake.  

I too grew up in Florida and the risk of gators is very real around any freshwater lake or river.  Even at the campground on some of the creeks the risk is real.  Everyone please be careful.  

It can be busy after the fireworks, but I have never found it to be bad at all.  We usually view the fireworks fairly close to the castle at the begining of the cirle and when they are done we just slowly work our way with the crowds back towards the exit.  If you have smaller children it is best to hold on to them as they can become a little lost in the crowd.

As for the boat back to the fort we have always just caught it at the MK and have not had to wait too long.  The have more boats running from the MK to the Fort than from the Contemporary to the Fort in my opinion. 

You should be fine.  The only time it was crazy for us was at New Years 2000!

The nice thing about making reservations that far in advance is that there is usually space availlable!  Yeah!  We made our June 2017 reservations yesterday.