bdm

I'm going to touch on a few topic that i've read in this multi page thread.

1. Is FF slowing down?  Answer yes, I think other social media consumes peoples free time online.  I think they get most of their breaking news / updates there and come here just to see if anyone they know has something going on.  I'm not a social media user I only use Discord and involved in several topic servers there.

2. There are no moose in Great Smokey Mountains National Park, they would be Elk very very big elk.

3. The cost, and frustration of going to DW or the Fort.  My wife, our son (now 6) and I have been going to the fort every fall (Mid Sept) for over 10 years.  Our first year going we made reservations about 8 weeks out and hand APs for the parks.  As they years went by and my son was born (Oct 1, 2014) we moved our trip to Late Oct - Early Nov so we could do the Halloween Party and Christmas Party.  By this time we had to book our site over a year in advance.  This is where frustration with Disney, and the booking systems started for me in 2014 or 2015.

We missed 2020 due to me coming down with Covid but had done a fly down trip and stayed in a resort.  Then another fly down trip in March 21 when we renewed our APs and they gave us a large discount on a room.

Our  trips into the parks where a huge letdown.  While the parks were open, and most attractions were open they Magic was gone.  Completely Gone.  We saw No cast members making magical moments by interaction with guests.  The parks were not clean (clean to Disney Standard).  We will be leaving on Sep 10th for a 3 week stay at the Fort, but this trip is a lets see how it goes trip for us.  The park reservation system is by far the worst thing that's been implemented.  We enjoy waking up and deciding where we want to go that day.  We never pre book Fast Passes, usually only pre book a few meals.  Disney has taking our laid back family vacation and put us on their schedule.

16 minutes ago, Travisma said:

Jason (Mousecounselors) got us Oct 29 thru Nov 2 2020 just a couple of days ago.

I'm not thrilled with the prices, but we haven't camped for Halloween in a few years due to my granddaughters school so we will pay them.

Get in touch with him and let him do all the work.

Jason got our current reservation last year.  I have no issue using someone like Jason or others to get our reservations. 

My wife and I have been talking about leaving our camper down in Florida in storage this winter and coming back down after the 1st of the year and doing a week or two in late Feb / Early March.

This will be our 5th year camping at the fort from late Oct to early Nov, and it will be our final year.

My son and I love the Halloween season and going to Not So Scary and my wife loves Christmas season and going to the Christmas party.  But trying to book things, and dealing with the overwhelming number of people my wife and I have chosen to camp next year in late Aug through early Sept.  This will allow the boy and I to make our Not So Scary, then we will fly down in Mid November for a 4 night stay in a resort and do the Christmas party.  

I'll miss Halloween at the fort, but booking has become such a hassle that its just not worth the effort.  I know people gripe about the cost of the Fort going up and up, but as long as they are selling out over a year in advance why wouldn't Disney continue to increase the price. 

So for 2020 we are looking for a new location to Camp for Halloween.

Looks good,  I have this "bolt heater" from snap On and it does amazing work on rusted / painted bolts It looks like a heat gun but has a coil on the end of it that quickly heats up nuts while leaving the bolt somewhat cool

My lovely wife was giving directions while heading back form Mammoth Cave some how we ended up going over the bridge, turned around and came back over the bridge and we recieved not one, but Two bills in the mail about 2 months after our trip.....

17 hours ago, Circusof6 said:

Thank you for your tips.  Unfortunately Ft Wilderness is sold out for the times we are going and since we are already this close to leaving and have all of our dining reservations, we don't want to change dates.  We read about not having sewer and we are ok with that.  

the fort is never "sold out" to the right travel agent.  Jason found me 2 weeks in late October - Nov when the website and Disney staff couldn't get me in...  Not sure what type of pixie dust he has but it works.

So just finished a 2 night stay at the grand Floridian and 2 days in MK,  Last fall when we were down mobile ordering was available but we had dinning plan and you couldn't use dinning credits.  NOW they take dinning plan credits, but we din't have the dinning plan BUT all but 2 or 3 of our meals were ordered through the mobile ordering because the lines for food were insane.  

In my own selfish way I hope this Mobile Ordering doesn't really catch on too much to shift the wait to the mobile people.

The line for a Dole whip was about 20 minutes long.  I ordered mine as we exited the Tiki Room and it was ready within 5 minutes.

There are tow services that would transport your camper, for a price.  We were in Michigan and my lift pump on my truck was acting up.  I was not sure if or when I could get it fixed and contacted a few of these transport services to tow my 5er back home in case I couldn't get my truck fixed in time.  Thankfully I found a great diesel shop that removed the old lift pump and put in an after market one for a few hundred.

2 years ago when we were down at Tropical Palms resort, I had a busted toilet valve and didn't notice it until we were hooked up around 8pm.  I called General RV and hit what ever number for parts service department and to my shock a person answered.  They were able to look up the part confirm they had several in stock and pulled one and put my name on it for pickup the next morning when they were open.

I think during peak months they run extra shifts but the show room / store is not open. 

4 hours ago, rtguy007 said:

I was wanting to do that the next time we are there. Wanted to do it the past few years but never have.

Its a good time, and the story is enjoyable.  You'll enjoy it, as long as you dont mind walking around a bunch..  And being asked "what the heck are you doing?"

5 hours ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

We always go Turnpike to 429 to Western Way, left on Buena Vista at Coronado Springs then left onto World Dr.

Buena Vista just doesn't seem like the best road to tow a trailer down?

On our last trip to WDW I was able to complete both my SotMK and my sons SotMK collections.  1-70 + all party cards.  Its taken about 5 years but we got them finished up.

While talking to a CM at the fire house about a few of the portholes that were not working all that well I was informed that SotMK may be getting a refresh.  I know most of you probably dont partake in this silly park game, but I've always enjoyed it (and the pirates game) as a way to enjoy just walking around the park and just being there. 

Seems like each time i visit WDW and drive in google maps like to bring me a new and interesting way.  I'm coming from the north down 75s.  Historically I take 75 to the turn pike, take that to 4 and exit on 192 or if I miss that to world drive.

But my google map wants me to exit the turnpike onto 429 and take that to 192 and into world drive. 

How do you get to the fort from 75?

Does the Fort offer any discounts for annual pass holders like the other resorts do?

Anchor Down is nice, but about 15 minutes to all the hubbub 

http://www.anchordownrvresort.com

2 hours ago, slices said:

True although some parts more than others,. It's not something I'm looking at booking for the next trip anyway, although maybe in November, and as I said I don't understand the complaints because I view this as my issue not Disney's.

 

 

 

I agree it would be the issue of the people who complain.  I agree with an earlier post that we the quite majority should call and complain about the change in policy so the snowflakes dont win.  But I have better things to do than sit on hold for 30 minutes, unlike the snowflakes.

On 5/13/2018 at 10:58 PM, slices said:

Kind of irritated at myself for not trying this sooner. I am kind of curious about something though, I have heard maybe wrongly that it's not a great environment for children with sensory issues. Now obviously I wouldn't complain about this, however I'm just curious if any one has had any experience of taking children with sensory issues here.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

Disney in general isn't good or easy for children with sensory issues....  You could request a table on the far side of the restaurant that's much more quite.  

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

First!!  Looks like a nice campground...and a fun area!

Okay... just realized that this was under pics of other campgrounds and not trip reports... LOL.  I was so excited about being first   Even so, thanks for the pictures.  Looks like a good time!

It was the very first time my wife has ever been to that national park!! Shes lived in the South West of Ohio / Northern Ky for almost 20 years now!

5 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

We really like Mammoth Cave and were just talking about getting back up there.  We used to go and stay at the Jellystone in Cave City but that was getting long in the tooth last time we visited...which was probably 10 years ago.  

LOL at the Abe Lincoln comment.  

The Jellystone park was overhauled about 5 or so years ago.  Its really nice, but very hard to get into and $$

5 hours ago, Beckers said:

The ice cream bar picture 😍 how adorable!!

 

so is the upside down baby play thing to contain the dog, the child or to keep the bugs away?

The baby thing was from when he was in infant, now we use it to contain the dog and he wanted to get in and play with her so I let him.  Seems it contained both, though not sure the dog was all that happy he was there.

So for memorial day we decided to take 4 nights and go to Horse Cave Ky, only about 3 hours from home.  This park is very close to Mammoth cave, KY Down Under Zoo, and Abraham Lincoln birth place, and boy hood home.  We arrived on Saturday around noon and the park was starting to fill up.  They don't have many full hookup sites, and we had Water Electric (30amp) site.

We got setup, the sites are not level, so it took the auto level a bit to get things sorted out.  There was a fare bit of space between sites so the boy and dog could do some real playing as he calls it.

After setup it was time to bike to the General Store for some ice cream something we do whenever hes been good for the trip in the truck.

Then to the pool for the rest of the day.

Day 2 started early as the boy is an early riser, so we had our breakfast, and headed out to see the park.

We had a great time exploring, and hiking and having a great lunch at the onsite restaurant.  It was VERY busy as expected and was very pleasant down in the caves.  I think the temperature was about 87F with about 90% humidity.

Back at the camper it was time to go swimming again, and spend some time jumping on the big air bag thing.  Not sure how I missed taking a picture of that but somehow i did. 

While Mom and Cody had there fun it was time for Dad to get cooking.

A modified chicken pot pie in the dutch oven. 

This was followed by some bowling...

Day 3 and we are again up early and off the Ky Down Under (less than 5 min away)

Where we got face to face with a big bird.

and a bunch of little birds.

got to pet a kangaroo (they are super soft btw)

and pet a very fast tortes. 

They have a cave there too it was really cool.

After a morning of petting animals from all over the world we jumped back in the truck got a quick lunch and headed just north to see where our 16th president was born.

Seems he was born in a small log cabin, inside a very nice stone building with amazingly cold AC.

On the way back to the camper the wee one nodded off so we did some driving around and happened to end up back at Mammoth Cave Park where my wife happened to decide to purchase a blanket.  Funny how these things happen eh?

Day 4

Pack up day,   Again up early but this time its Daddy and Cody donuts day.  Another tradition that allows mommy to sleep and Cody and I to go get some breakfast.  A quick google search found a local donuts shop only 20 minutes away!!

Part of this tradition is Cody get to remain in his PJs as long as Mommy is in her PJs.

After donuts, and we happened upon a car wash.. something hes fascinated with, we are back at the camper for cleanup time.  

After cleaning up and hitching up Tropical Storm whatever made it way in and we followed it 3 hours as it headed north...

On 5/26/2018 at 11:46 AM, Beckers said:

Yes, we had one take us to our campsite and they installed a car seat for my 4 yr old. Don’t have to request a car seat they keep them in their car. Best $25 we spent

I 100% agree with that,  On our trip in October it was during early roll out and I was able to get an "unlock txt" from a cast member driver to use the service.  The come direct to your site, and drop you at the door of the resort or entrance to the park.  With a small child (3yr) it was worth it after a day at the park to not wait on the bus.

You cant book a site at the Fort, you can request a site, but its only a request.  When you check in, if the cast member is nice enough, and is not too busy you can ask to see a list of available sites, but that doesn't happen often.

So there is no public list of available sites for a certain date.

On 5/11/2018 at 11:17 AM, Grumpy and Grandma said:

I have to somewhat disagree, dealer is important, but some brands offer 2 yr warranties which can make a difference, especially with components. Fridge, a/c , furnace etc. That is where failures occur.

I've never seen a manufacture offer a warranties outside of a appliance warranties.  Our Grand Design has a manufactures 3 year warranty, that covers everything Grand Design did, not the AC, Fridge, hot water heater ect.  Those only have a manufactures warranty and each is its own.  

There are crap brands out there, that don't stand behind their product, but I've found if you are looking at consumer grade stuff, not 5 * stuff its all built very comparable.

The Brand of RV you choose isn't as important as the Dealer you choose to purchase and service through.  I've owned 2 brand new campers and each one had issues that needed to be resolved.  The dealer we purchased from was quick to get our camper in and get the issue resolved (Days not Months).  

Once again this summer work will be done on I75 through the greater Cincinnati Area.

Currently I75 North from just north of the river is due for "Major Construction" Starting this week and lasting most of the summer.  My recommendation is if you are traveling North OR South do yourself and your camper a huge favor and take I275 around Cincinnati.  

If going north take I275 towards Indiana and follow it around until you get back on I75 north.  

If going South take I275 towards Indiana and follow it around until you get back on I75 South in Kentucky.

I75 through Cincinnati is narrow, rough and just not a pleasant drive.  If traffic is moving through that area it may take you about 15 minutes more to do the 275 loop but IMHO while towing anything it is far less stressful and a much better drive.

5 hours ago, WannaBeImagineer said:

Looks like a great floor plan. Congratulations

Is the shower as big as it looks?  It seems bigger than most.

WBI

Its smaller than the shower in our previous Cougar 333mks, but not the snallest i've ever been in.  I'm 6'2" 190lbs and I have plenty of room to move around