Starbuc71

So glad I started this thread. It actually pumped some steam back into the boards and pulled out some members that haven’t posted in a long time. Now I need to buy a camper...lol

Loved the old dirty smelly seats in there. It always stunk in there

Wow. Great to see DIT on the site, let alone doing a trip report. Great so far. Looking forward to more fun 

7 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

You people can cry all you want, but Colston isn't coming back.  

I knew I would pull someone out of the woodwork ?

12 minutes ago, LONE-STAR said:

I had noticed the slow down also. I think some of the people who posted a lot in the past there kids have grown so life has changed. Remember Stacktester I don't know the last time he posted.

Yeah. I have no heard or seen Donnie in a long time. Your right about kids growing up and people moving on. I guess I’m still lucky we started camping in 08 when my daughter was 2 and my son was not born yet. They are now 11 and 9. They miss Disney a lot and still love to camp

I agree with everyone. Life changes and so do we. I think it comes down to many like myself who says the cost of the fort these days ruined a lot.  I can’t justify $180 a night at peak times for a concrete pad.  We can talk about this forever but I think we all know many people don’t visit the fort anymore due to the price

Please don’t think I posted this to be negative. I just commented that there’s not as much traffic as there used to be. I encourage new people to join and tell us of their experiences.  As far as people who sell their campers because of fort management antics, I praise those people

11 hours ago, LONE-STAR said:

You know who you are.

That would be me ?

4 minutes ago, keith_h said:

It is common for forum sites to have dry spells as folks become preoccupied with other things in their life. This is really common around the end of year holidays as people travel to see family or get tied up with Y.E. processing for work. Where I would be concerned is if it continues to slow down as we move into spring and summer.

Sad thing is this has been ongoing the entire year

I’m very glad there are idiots in the world that vacation at the fort or anywhere in Disney for that matter. These are the people that show up at the MK at 12:00 because they wanted to sleep in and then don’t have a clue what fast pass is and no clue they could have made them 60 days earlier.  We need these kinds of people to visit the park. As for Facebook, I use it for family only. Strangers don’t need to know my personal business. And as far as the forums on there, you’re absolutely correct. Bunch of idiots for the most part 

Even though we don’t have an RV anymore, we still love the fort and reading about new things happening or not happening there. I still enjoy the pics and the stories. I guess all things in life slow down including us. It seems to me that a lot of the regulars no longer post here and the newer people only chime in with a question. Many topics are not commented on for weeks or even months nowadays.  There was a time you would see responses overflowing on each topic.  It’s sad that it has slowed down since this was the premier place to get your Ft wilderness information. I can’t even access the fort fiends site app anymore since the iPhone X will not support it.  I miss the comments from the mayor, S70 and he’ll even the opinionated retired bus driver that used to be on here.  I guess all torches need to be passed or else they will die out. ?

4 hours ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

The same way I did and the same way we always got the same room at the lodge, you ask.

If you're there on a regular basis the people at the Outpost get to know your name and face. If you ask for the same site or a specific site when you make your reservation, 9 out of 10 times they will give it to you. Also many of those weekenders use the local TA's, many of which are also FORT regulars themselves, and I guarantee you they know who the site assigners/ managers are. H..l, I even had their name, "e" mail and direct # as do others, but you don't publicize it.  If you do, you're stupid.  

As for a CM saying they don't know how it happens.. that's just being PC because they do know.

Again, that’s BS. But I guess no rules are followed at the fort anyways. It always states you can request a site but nothing is guaranteed   Some I guess are guaranteed. As the saying goes, I guess it’s not who you know but who................lol

It’s all BS. There is a secret equation to how the fort reservation system works. TCD and I were discussing on another thread about how some people get the same sites every holiday. CM can’t even figure that one out.  If they hired a true campground manager I’m sure they could accommodate more reservations and make more money for the bottom line. I know non Florida people always complain about us Floridian weekend warriors but you would all want to do it also if you lived here. Disney is a huge powerhouse now. Ft Wilderness is the lowest priority on their skyscraper totem pole.  They are all bright eyed and bushy tailed about the thought of the supposed Star Wars hotel where they can pull $1000-$5000 per night. We can only dream of more sites and dont think they would ever do anything “value” at the campsites.  If they even thought of adding more sites they would be super deluxe at twice the price. I believe the only reason they converted the one cabin loop to an RV loop is because they can at least sell those out to RVs on the weekend when cabins sit empty more than often.  

On 11/27/2017 at 9:19 AM, Tri-Circle-D said:

Dave-  I thought of you as I looped through the 800 loop on Thanksgiving night.  The only open site was 815, which  I believe was your site a couple of Thanksgivings ago.

There were very few open sites on any of the loops Thanksgiving night- the Fort was very full.  Somehow, the same guests get the same sites every year.  That first site on 1100 was occupied by the same folks who had it last Thanksgiving.

The Dishwasher Gang was back in the 2000 loop this year.  Bigger and better than ever.  They were joined by the U Haul gang, and the Jehovah's Witnesses.  Wow, it was interesting looping through there.

I also thought of you when I headed down to the Settlement to see how many lights were burned out on the Christmas tree.  You would have loved it- the tree was dark for both Wednesday and Thursday night- none of the lights were lit.  It was completely dark.

TCD

Thanks for the update. I am so curious how the same people get the same sites each year. Ther has to be a loop hole that none of know about. It just doesn't make any sense. We missed the fort this year. 1st time in eight years. Oh well, we had a great time in Tennessee. Amazing how nice it is walking a super clean and friendly theme park when it's 35 degrees outside. You really need to do a trip to Dollywood and give us a cool trip report.  I swear they would win you over.  When we were up there in the summer, we actually took a ton of pics to do a trip report then the Photobucket thing happened when I returned.  Amazing about the tree at the settlement. I wanted to take a day trip over just to see what they did this year.  I would have laughed. 

Curious how many sites are open tonight and tomorrow night. Disney missed out on $1500 bucks from me because of no availability 

20 hours ago, michelb said:

I have to agree with you that there does seem to be a lot of empty sites when the campground is "full" so there seems to be room for improvement there.

Having said that, I would strongly encourage anyone that tries to book something and can't to send DisneyWorld a message suggesting they expand Fort Wilderness and mention that you were trying to reserve and weren't able to (I've done it on a few occasions).  

There's tons of space if they wanted to and it just depends how much they want to grow.  In my opinion, to really do it right, they should look at expanding to the West of the campground including adding a new pool there.  I think if they did that, they should consider adding a "Super sized" section section with pull-through spots.  It doesn't quite fit with the design / look of Fort Wilderness but I think it would satisfy a demand and some people would be willing to pay a premium for 70' + long pull through sites (I could see those going for $225/night at XMas).

But they could also easily "in-fill" a few campgrounds to add a bit of extra capacity.  They could easily add one big loop or two small loops East of 1800 / 1900 and they could easily add one or two loops on the East side of Big Pine Drive opposite 1400.  They could also add loop(s) on the West side of 700 although the easiest access to that would probably where the bus stop is at the Settlement and they might not do that.

I think if they get enough requests, they might see that the numbers work.  I actually have no real idea how much it would cost to do this but say it was $500k to add 60 sites near 1800/1900 or 1400.  At an avg of $70/night, figuring 70% occupancy (no idea if this is accurate), they would pay it the investment in 6 months ... And that doesn't include the extra money they get from people spending when they are there.  And I'd be really surprised if it was $500k to expand.

I stated in another topic a while ago, Disney will never build more sites unless all the other ones were filled 7 days a week.  If you are a regular to the fort like we were, you will notice the place packed Thursday through Sunday and the holidays. Mom-Thursday is like a ghost town. 

Count us in for all those activities......not

Anyone have any luck?  Disney reservations are a joke now. You can hardly get any holiday week or weekend even booking one year out. Walk the loops one of those weeks and see the empty sites. I don't even think Jason has the pixie dust he once had due to disney being just plain idiots. 

We air lift ours and radio the helicopter pilot on which site to drop it at

Great short trip. I'm jealous if your going to snag thanksgiving reservations. This is the first time in 8 years we are not spending  thanksgiving at the fort. Thanks Disney.  Anyways we scored reservations at the Dollywood dreammore resort for the week. Which means we will be visiting the one park that is better than Disney. Have a great thanksgiving. 

Great to see your done boycotting new trip reports. I'm not on here much anymore and it's probably been discussed, but how are you posting pics without Photobucket or did you cave in and pay their dues?  Great report so far. We did the MMSSHP this year and had a great time. 

Nice to know all AP holders are upstanding crime free people

Do what I did when I couldn't get Thanksgiving and the day after when booking the week back in October 2016.  Cancel the reservation, sell the RV and tell Disney to stick it. This worked out well for me. 

It will be like Avatar. Nobody will know who the guardians are in 4 years

Someone posted this on FB and I replied," thank the maker. Maybe they will hire someone who will follow walts Dream and make the parks for every child and adult (who can afford it)". I got semi blasted by a Disney freak who tried to explain big business to me and she ended her reply with," you can't blame Iger for the condition of the parks, he's an executive and doesn't spend time in the parks. He has more important things to take care of and works from his office. That's why he has managers."  What a dumb a**. I'm with TCD on this