Starbuc71

9 hours ago, Travisma said:

Not to be snarky and not being judgmental, but how do Fiend non retirees, have the time and $$ to visit the Fort multiple times during the year for more than a week at a time?

Have you saved vacation time from previous years so you can take more time off in one year?

Do you work from home?

Do you own your own business and have reliable employees that take care of the business while you are away?

I see the same thing on other Disney camping site... "we have 4 three week vacations to the Fort planned this year!"

Just being nosy.

 

This is how this thread started.  Us, being local, used to be able to do 1 week a year (spring break) and usually 5 days at thanksgiving.  We would get maybe 2 or 3 long weekend trips (3 day, 2 nights) back when availability was there. Now with the price and the availability issue.. we’re done.  Back where this thread started. 

33 minutes ago, Breezy2 said:

Agree with Jason. When the announcement was made we booked a partial site at a Florida Resident rate (under $100) for the first week in October. At that time there were plenty of sites available for all of September thru the middle of October. The announcement didn't have the immediate impact we thought it was going to. That said, we are fortunate we can avoid The Fort on the weekend so it could be just weekdays that are available. 

You are probably right. We are one of those pesky locals who used to clog up the fort on the weekends with a weekend trip. We work so during the week is out. At least there will be one less local family taking up a weekend reservation now..lol

3 minutes ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Famous last words... 

No trailer, no camping...enough said

15 hours ago, Katman1356...Jason said:

Just looking right now even on the consumer portal and I am seeing availability for the same dates I booked. Other than a tent site. 

I put in every weekend after 8/29 and no type of site available. Not that we are camping anymore

5 hours ago, Katman1356...Jason said:

Oh absolutely! And I will be in them. Bring it!

I LOVE Star Wars, but I’m not going to join the insanity. Hell, we still can’t get on the stupid slinky thing

6 hours ago, Katman1356...Jason said:

I actually went and booked a site the day it was announced. No issues at all and plenty of availability. The 60 days doesnt matter as there are no fastpasses being offered when the land opens. 

You can get sites we can’t. That’s a big difference

So I saw the below posted on the WDW website:

8 hours ago, LONE-STAR said:

Well said.

I agree with you guys. I have always been a camper and there is no better vacation. I understand there are other places to camp than just the fort, and yes, all are getting pricey.  Our other issue was time. There was a time we could get 6-7 camping trips in a year.  The past few, we were lucky to get one.  Not only was the fort pricing is out, but it was a waste to have the RV at storage 51 weeks a year 

15 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Dave-  I just saw your post, and I'm sad to hear your news. I totally understand. 

Sadly, things have changed, and the good old days are not coming back. 

I'm sad for your kids. I thought for sure that there would be a new Herbie for them to drive around the Fort when they got to be teens. 

I'm still hanging in there, and still plan to camp from time to time. But it will never be like it was. 

TCD

Thanks Andrew. We are still huge Disney fans and my kids still enjoy going. As stated in my last post, we will continue to be day trippers. The downside to that is missing out on the 60 day window for FP.  This probably means we will almost never get on the avatar ride again since there is hardly anything available at 30 days out and God help if we will ever get anything for Galaxy Edge which will be an absolute mess for probably two years. I will definitely miss waking up to train horns and boat horns  (I miss the roar of race cars from the Disney race track more),  the quietness of rocking on the porch in the mornings at trails end and of course just relaxing in the best resort at Disney. You’re right, the good old days are gone and are never coming back.  I’ll be curious when the $200 a night marker is surpassed. I’m sure it’s soon. Have fun. 

Since we live outside of Tampa, I never said we would stop making day trips. my daughter is 13 and still loves Disney.  I rather spend the money going to dinner to a place they love to eat at the parks or a resort than dish out the money for a site. We have that luxury living so close. We are still happy for the 11 great years of camping at the fort. 

Well, I’m bittersweet to say we sold our camper (again)..lol.  We were avid fort campers for 11 great years and made many great memories. I believe we camped there when the fort was still considered a hidden gem.  Unfortunately the prices just pushed us out. I’m not posting to bash Disney or say the prices just got out of hand, but just to say thank you for giving us great memories and experiences.  We met some great campers over the years especially TCD (Andrew). We always looked forward to your great trip reports and your love of Disney.  Not that anyone really cares here, but I’m probably going to become more of a lurker here from time to time instead of a poster since we won’t be camping any longer. I hope many people can afford to experience the fort like we did and be able to cope with the future changes of the new river country resort.  Thanks for the memories Walt 😊

You’re a better man than me. That scenario probably would have landed us in the predicament of being asked to pack up and leave or the sheriff coming to our site.  I , like you all , understand security nowadays, but at that moment, visions of other things they should be concentrating on would be going through my head.  I have a temper and get aggravated easily when I get accused of something wrong I didn’t do. 

The cinnamon bread at Dollywood will always win over the main st cinnamon rolls at Disney

On 1/11/2019 at 6:06 PM, DaveInTN said:

INC and I got to Dollywood in November without kids.   We had a blast.   I love bringing my girls there, but this was the first time we've done a theme park without them and it was fantastic.   We only rode 4 rides.... walked around, listened to music, hit Aunt Granny's for lunch.   All awesome. 

We only have 2 kids so I can relate more to just you and INC going to the park. Dollywood never fails. I could sit and people watch and just listen and o music there all day. I think we spent $600 for 4 season passes to both Dollywood and splash country. We plan on visiting 2 or three times this year and it worked out to be a great deal

On 1/8/2019 at 8:56 AM, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Us too. As that is SO hard for me to say.  

We'll be in Orlando twice this year (May and December).  We won't stay at the Fort (crying) nor will we visit the parks (sniffles); that's hard for me to accept.  Unfortunately, it is the reality.  We do plan to visit Fiends at the Fort however, as well as eat on property (not in the parks of course) a few times so, we're hoping that will help with the heartache some.  We simply don't have the $5k - $7k this year to make two decent trips (10 nights) to the Fort and the parks.  We've budgeted under $3k for trips this year... but that will include several local trips, 4 trips to FL, 1 trip to KY and 5 trips to Pigeon Forge/Dollywood.   All in all, still 45-60 nights in the camper.  Less than years past but... gotta do what you can do.

We live in FL and actually bought season passes for Dollywood.  I will take that park over Disney 10 times over

Wait till they announce the date of galaxy edge opening at Hollywood studios. I’m sure Florida will experience a rate increase also. This is the last year for AP for us. We downgraded from gold to silver and it’s still too much for us.  An AP is still a great deal compared to single day tickets.  We’re just over all the huge increases and crowds. From fort prices to ticket prices they are just pushing us out

Go a little further down the road to Smoky bear campground.   Great little family owned campground 

Glad we were not there.  Camping at the fort is turning into like staying at a crowded value resort.  We are slowly migrating away from Disney.  I think after Galaxy edge opens, we are done with the mouse. 

How did you score 6 premium nights for $700?   That’s cheap.  Glad you enjoyed the fort. Sorry for maybe starting the rip off thing. I guess if your one of those people who save up for years for that magical Disney vacation and live in another part of the country, $75 a day for a golf cart is nothing.  We used to be weekend warriors for years at the fort and used to score a reservation a few weeks prior.  To us, everything is just out of control at Disney. Again, just my opinion 

...and it figures, the one time i broke a rule And brought a screen top fire pit, I got busted by the Disney po po and was asked to put it out. Low and behold, a co-worker got a nice fire pit the following week 

On 11/19/2018 at 8:49 PM, LONE-STAR said:

 

I agree it's has gotten to expensive and we are also going to have to take a time out from Disney. Not that we want to(its really the only place we like to vacation) we did 4 trips on our AP''s with in a year, a lot of house expenses, plus camper repairs, then totalled the camper (owed more then it was worth) then bought another camper. Disney has gotten to expensive, but I won't call it a rip off. Do I wish the campsites were still $35.00 a night maybe the cheap side of me says yes, but can you imagine trying to get a site if they were still that cheap. I know several families that Disney has already priced out, and it's not like they are poor people. I know people that own DVC and can't afford to use them. I am hoping our break from Disney will just be a little over a year, but if it has to  be longer so  be it, and by the time we go back there will be a lot of new stuff. 

Well said. We love camping at the fort but have been out priced by the greed of Disney.  I guess being local in Tampa pisses me off more than the price is that I can’t get a reservation a few months out for a long weekend (that’s all we can afford).  I guess when they raise room rates over $600 a night, the $180 a night at the fort is very appealing to many. I miss the fort being a hidden gem which wasn’t too long ago. Rip off may be too aggressive a phrase, but imho I think it fits

Hence. I still believe they are a rip off.  And so is the fort these days for $185 a night. I don’t care how nice and magical it is. I have a 16ft pull behind not a diesel pusher so most things are a rip off to me when it comes to camping these days

On 11/15/2018 at 7:03 PM, LONE-STAR said:

That I wouldn't know, I have always brought my own. Sorry  to hear that.

Hence, golf cart rental is a rip off

Cart rental is a rip off