bdm

Well since Sept 2016 till Feb 2018 we looked, and looked and looked and looked...  I bet we walked through 100+ campers the list was narrowed down to two we really liked that were with in what we wanted to spend, and how much we could tow.  In the end the Grand Design 28BH had everything we wanted.

Picture from our First Offical Camping Trip.  4 Nights at a KOA just over border in West Virginia.  All went well.  Dealer is going to resolve a few issues.

1) One of the basement doors isn't closing properly and is rubbing on the door frame.

2) When moving the RV at the dealership the employee got to close to another camper and put a little tear in the awning.  

The floor plan...

Never thought I'd like an outdoor kitchen, turns out I do.  Just ordered the kit to convert my Q grill to use the quick disconnect and a Y adapter so I can run both the grill and burners at the same time.

One of the things we wanted most was no slides on the entry side of the camper.  We found this gives us tons more outdoor living space and a 21' awning.  The 12 cubic foot fridge / freezer was also a huge upgrade.  

So quick update on the water heater after 4 nights of usage...

Running it on gas and electric produced enough hot water to satisfy the wife's shower.  I jumped in right after here to insure I could and would go longer, I was able to take a good 10 min shower with now problem, The gave my 3 yr son a shower that lasted about 10 min as well.  All toll the shower was running for about 35 - 40 min with no issue.

Wife is 100% happy with the hot water situation.

By the sound of it sounds like I'm calling Disney mid june 2018 for a fall of 2019 trip

How many of you book 499 days in advanced for the holiday season?  We stay 2 weeks from late October through early Nov and I've always booked early to insure I can get a Premium site.  Is that really nessary? 

I normaly book for 3+ weeks then once we finalize on dates adjust my booking.

I usualy get my fuel on one of the service centers on the Turn Pike, as my wife and son usualy need a pit stop by then.

On 4/1/2018 at 9:42 AM, Cortezcapt (Derek) said:

Love it, but am I the only one that cringes a the thought of having to transport, set up, take down, clean, transport home and store those! Yikes 

Thats my thought every year at holloween when we go camping.  People must bring a box trailer behind their class A to move all that stuff in.

A long time ago my father told me not to wast money on "things" but invest them on memories.  I consider our camper a memory maker for our family.  My son talk about one of our camping adventures each and every day and hes only 3.  I figure its worth the investment to build strong family bonds.

9 hours ago, bhall said:

We had that site in March 2015.  Did you notice if any of the section of the pad "leaned" at all? 

It may have had a slight drop to the back of the site

17 hours ago, bhall said:

431?

Thats the one!

Stayed 2 weeks in October 2017 in the 400 loop.  Dont remember the site number but it was on the inside of the loop.  If memory servers me right it was the last site on the inside before coming to the entrance / exit.

It was a great stay for us.  Close enough to the Marina to easily walk.  We would have to put the 3yr in his stroller to go to the pool.

17 hours ago, LONE-STAR said:

Been at Disney over a week. We have ate at the camper 1 time. 

I'm the same way, we usually grab breakfast or evening snack at the camper.  But I think most eat a meal or two each day at camper where hotel visitors eat all meals out.

On 3/13/2018 at 1:40 PM, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

No, not going to happen. Why, when they can charge $600+ a night for rooms and can build multiple levels? It's the same reason that I don't think the Fort will ever be expanded. Hotel rooms take up less space. 

One thing Disney world has a abundance of is land.  The development and cost to build a hotel is much greater per unit than the campground.  Yes you can get more guests per sqr foot but the cost per sqr foot is much higher.

Also with much of the land around bay lake being "undesirable to build on" ie not stable for large buildings it makes scene to use that land for campgrounds.  

The biggest draw back to Disney expanding on camping vs expanding on hotel lodging is how much money the guests spend on items outside the room.  If you are staying in a room you are paying Disney for all your meals, campers usually eat at least one meal a day in their camper. 

On 3/12/2018 at 8:14 AM, Travisma said:

The proper response is "Hey Princess, it's called camping and be happy that you even have running water!"

Hope you packed a "doghouse" tent, I think you might need it.

Not 100% sure exactly how much of that statement would get out of my mouth before she shoved a shoe down my throat. My guess is right around camp............

19 hours ago, TN22.....Brady said:

When we bought our Reflection, I had the same issue and concern as you. All previous campers we had to wait in between showers for the water to heat back up.  In the 3 years we have owned this rig, we have not ran out of hot water. If we are cold weather camping I will turn on the gas and electric if I know we are taking multiple showers in a row. When camping at the fort and most points south I only use the electric.  I have been very impressed with the recovery time on these small water heaters.

Good to hear, We have a camping trip set to a KOA about 2 hours away in 2 weeks.  That's going to be the test run for the new camper.  I've spent some time getting prices on replacement heaters.  If i have to replace its going to be the Truma Aqua Flow the dealer we purchased from is a rep for them and had a decent price on it.

On the topic of a DVC camp ground.

If done right, it could be really nice.  I've stayed at a few of the club level suites in the Polly, and GF.  Both are really really nice, and recently we stayed at a Wilderness Lodge Copper Creak cabin (one bedroom).

Picture this.  Triple the space between you and the next site,  extra deep sites, maybe twice as deep.  Each site backs up to the lake, or around the cove that was River Country.  A DVC club room with private bathrooms, with showers.  Activity center and common room with the normal club level amenities.  Maybe each site comes with its own golf cart.

Its not for everyone, prob not for me.  But if you add enough value to whatever the cost is there will be a line of people waiting to pay for it.

So last week we took delivery of our new Grand Design Reflections 28BH.  During our final inspection the "delivery expert" was showing us the hot water heater and how to maintain it.  Its an atwood 6gal gas electric unit.  

This is where my wife spoke up.  "6 GALLONS... BRIAN IS THAT GOING TO BE ENOUGH!!!??!?!?!"

So our current 5er has a 12 gal suburban gas only water heater, and my wife being who she is likes to take long, hot showers.  I not going to lie, when looking at the camper I was very concerned at the size of the hot water heater.  I did some research on tankless (on demand) hot water heaters.  Looks like Atwood use to make one.. maybe... and Suburban makes one that has very mixed reviews.  When reading over the reviews most of them could be install issues, or just not understanding how to use a on demand water heater, as the usage is quite different.

My questions are these..

1) Is a 6gal gas / electric enough for the demands of a long hot shower?  Now long of a shower?

2) Any experience with on demand hot water heater in your camper? Whats the good, the bad?

So last week we took delivery of our new Grand Design Reflections 28BH.  During our final inspection the "delivery expert" was showing us the hot water heater and how to maintain it.  Its an atwood 6gal gas electric unit.  

This is where my wife spoke up.  "6 GALLONS... BRIAN IS THAT GOING TO BE ENOUGH!!!??!?!?!"

So our current 5er has a 12 gal suburban gas only water heater, and my wife being who she is likes to take long, hot showers.  I not going to lie, when looking at the camper I was very concerned at the size of the hot water heater.  I did some research on tankless (on demand) hot water heaters.  Looks like Atwood use to make one.. maybe... and Suburban makes one that has very mixed reviews.  When reading over the reviews most of them could be install issues, or just not understanding how to use a on demand water heater, as the usage is quite different.

My questions are these..

1) Is a 6gal gas / electric enough for the demands of a long hot shower?  Now long of a shower?

2) Any experance with on demand hot water heater in your camper? Whats the good, the bad?

Our old Keystone came with import tires.  We used those for several years and when it came time to replace them we purchased the Goodyear endurance trailer tires. 

1st they are made is the USA, does that make them better, maybe..

2nd they were 70mph speed rated (i think it was 68mph but say 70) that gave us some extra MPH if we needed to expedite getting to the next exit for a bathroom break. 

We put 3,000 miles on those tires and they were flawless.  Our new camper we ordered from the dealer and had them change from import tires to Goodyear Endurance trailer tires because of the trust we have in them.

Now all that being said, I never had a single problem with the original import tires on my keyston.  I was good about checking temps, and pressures at each fuel stop or bathroom stop.  I always ran them at 80psi cold what was called for on the tire sticker on the trailer and hardly ever exceeded 65mph for any length of time...

32 minutes ago, mouseketab.....Carol said:

(Please remove Hilda's phone number from you post, we don't want to be accused of allowing those that troll the interwebz and due harm to have her personal information).

number removed

I dont plan to use her services, just thought it strange that she is reported to live in the 400 loop.  I tend to book well in advance of trips or if we do a fly down trip we have a family member that has a home in Golden Oaks and we tend to crash there. 

Quote

There is a travel agent that lives in her 5er in the 400 loop of Fort Wilderness. Her name is Hilda . She knows more about Disney than most Disney agents. She can get you a golf cart. She knows all the angles. She specializes in RV visitors to Disney World. I highly recommend her.

This was copped from another RV message board and I've never heard of this person before.  what do you, the experts know of this Hilda...

My wife would commit me to a mental ward if I said i was going to spend hard earned money on a busted trailer and fix it up.  

The work is looking really good and you'll save a ton of money fixing a totaled trailer.  

There are a few campgrounds that are connected to the Pigeon Forge bus service.  If you want to take advantage of that in stead of always having to drive consider that (not something I recommend).

We've stayed a a few RV park around there.  The KOA on Veterans is Great.  Super close to Dollywood, and Just over the little pigeon river from the strip.  

Want to be a way from the hustle and bustle a bit?  Anchor Down RV resort is first class, Only draw back NO TREES NO SHADE.  If you are going July - Aug make sure your AC is in good working order.

Up the Creek, By far the quietest  park I've EVER been to.  Its small but very very very well maintained.  They do have a a bus that will take you into town.  IF you have kids this may not be the best place as they have no pool, or playground   We stayed here in the fall and it was AMAZING

As a Firefighter / EMT we carry AEDs on our engiens.  I choose to purchase one for my family after my father died suddenly of a heart attack and I was admitted to the ER 3 times in 2 years for ventricular tachycardia.  I've since had 2 surgery to fix the ventricular tachycardia.  

The AED is always in my backpack that goes everywhere I go. I carry a Siemens AED because the pads are comparable with the full fledged defibrillator so in an emergency pads dont have to be removed.

My AED was put to use once.  While in park playing with my sun a grandfather collapsed.  I grabbed my bag hooked him up to the AED and started compression.  At the prompted I stopped the AED administered a shock, then upon prompts I started compression.  This went on twice, on the 2nd shock his heart went into normal rhythm and a few moments later the squad showed up and took him away with my AED still attached.  

A day or so went by and I called the local dispatch and asked about getting my AED back and the local firehouse called me and said it was lost during the process but they replaced it with a brand new Siemens unit.

I'm very thankful I had the skills and tools to assist that man and his family.  Who knows what the outcome would have been if i didn't have it but, when the worst happens its better to have the necessary tools than to wish you had the necessary tools.  

Owning the tools isn't always good enough, you need to train with them and be comfortable with them.  

ok part 2 of day 6,  sorry for the very long delay.  Life happened.

So after eating at Tortuga the boy was showing sings of fading, so Mommy made an executive decision to head to the camper and try to do some R&R then back in to MK for some evening festivities.

On the boat ride back the boy went down for the count in his stroller so we pushed him back to the camper and sat around outside enjoying some warm weather and cold drinks.

Cody woke up around 3pm and we all decided to just hang out at the pool.  Shortly after dinner the wife told me that her sister and I would be going back into MK because it was her only day in MK and she wanted to get in some rides we didn't get to.  So Back to the boat dock and off to MK.

First ride was Big Thunder Mt, 10 min wait, seems like the attractions god was still with us.  After BTM it was off to Haunted Mansion, 

Another short que and in less than 10 minutes were in our doom buggy headed to visit the spooks.  At this point, it was time for a snack so we made a dash for LaFue to get some snacks and a a Brew as we were sitting there I noted it was getting very close to fireworks time, so we finished up and made our way to 7 dwarfs mine train, just as the fireworks started.  We had a 20 min wait, not bad for 7dmt.  After getting off we made a bee line for Space Mountain the fireworks we getting ready to end and lines would get crazy.  We made it and walked right on.  

With all of her must ride attractions done we made our way out and to the boat to finished up the day.  

Time to rest up, big day tomorrow Grandma and Grandpa arrived and we had Breakfast with mickey at AK really early in the morning.  And grandma and grandpa are in wheel chairs...

On 10/28/2017 at 2:03 PM, Tony said:

Awesome report i'm having a blast just following along! Finally cooler weather is upon us down here now.

Yeah I think it cooled off on this day.  Went from 87-92 down to 80-84 but cooler is cooler

On 10/28/2017 at 3:04 PM, h2odivers...Ray said:

Great update and pix. 

I miss the afternoon nap days with DD

Would be nice if we could get more of them.

On 10/28/2017 at 10:12 PM, Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie said:

Total score on the walk ups. If I ride SW in the morning that song is stuck in my head ALL day, so we typically ride it late in the day lol. 

We dont do many end of days with Cody as he burns out around 2pm

On 10/29/2017 at 6:27 AM, ImDownWithDisney said:

I am not ashamed to admit that I love riding IASW. Each one of our 3 kids always loved it as infants and toddlers. The sounds and colors would have them captivated. Now when we ride it brings back those memories.

Yeah riding it as a adult only makes you hearken back to day of old

On 10/29/2017 at 7:52 AM, dblr....Rennie said:

Still reading along, great trip report, all look like they are having a great time!!!!!!!!!

It was a blast

On 10/31/2017 at 12:50 PM, Robin said:

No one looks happy in your boat on pirates why so serious everyone?

I was trying to get the wife to hold on to the boy for the drop and get them ready for the pic... its my fault.