YENSIDCAMPER

1 hour ago, Mrs.TN22 said:

Brady (TN22) and I will be in site 59.

Glad you can make it.  

Have you talked with Humphrey Bear? 

I contacted Guest Services per the information and here is what I got back.  More money to the mouse...by choice of course.  Hope this helps anyone else thinking about getting one.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for being a valued Guest and a sponsor of “Disney’s Walk Around the World” brick program.

Here at the Walt Disney World Resort, we are committed to enhancing the overall Guest experience at all of our Theme Parks. As part of these ongoing updates, the personalized hexagonal bricks from the “Disney’s Walk Around the World” program will be retired as we literally pave the way for the future. Work will begin in front of Magic Kingdom Park and the Transportation and Ticket Center first and the remaining bricks will be retiring in future phases. While the “Disney’s Walk Around the World” program was only initially planned to be on display until 2011, we hope our Guests and sponsors enjoyed the time they have had to display their bricks.

Since these bricks were not designed to be removed individually, they will not be available to take home. Instead, Guests who sponsored a brick may purchase a commemorative version to have. This promotion code allows the original sponsor to purchase the commemorative version at a special price of $10 plus tax and shipping:

Your promotion code*: XXXXXXXXXX (deleted by YC for obvious reasons)

This one-time use promotion code can ONLY be used for orders placed on shopDisney.com, once it is released on shopDisney.com at the end of April. Please note, this code will only be valid for shopDisney.com and may not be redeemed in person at our Theme Parks, Disney Springs, or any other Disney retail location.

Thank you again for your sponsorship and we look forward to sharing more updates regarding the ongoing enhancements in the future.

Best Regards,

Darius Johnston‍
Guest Experience Services
Walt Disney World Resort

*Promotion code expires August 31, 2019. Cannot be used in combination with any other offers or discounts on the commemorative brick. Code has no cash value and may not be sold or transferred. Not valid on previous purchases. We reserve the right to reject any personalization request for any reason in our sole discretion. Once personalized, your commemorative brick order is non-cancellable, non-refundable, and non-returnable. Offer subject to change without notice. While supplies last.

You will have room for days!  It really is a great site.  The only knock for most people will be the lack of sewer.  You would enjoy it with either camper.

22 minutes ago, tim5055 said:

Booked 73

Glad you can make it.

73 has a great view of the lake!  There is no sewer.  The shade is good on the site but at times the sun can beat in on the camper.  There can hardly be a better view to wake up and look out upon.  When we had the pop up just unzipping the flap and looking through the screen was awesome.

I would suggest immediately after Memorial Day.  We have done the first week in June and the crowds weren't as bad because most of the Memorial Day crowd had left.  We have always camped in the summer at the Fort and is just hot and humid the further you go in the summer.   

Come on Bob time for you and Kathy to join in!

For that matter it would be great to see a Grumpy and Grandma too.

4 hours ago, keith_h said:

Just made reservations for site 55. A lot of the sites were already reserved. We will actually be getting there on the 26th and checking out the 29th.

Now on to making reservations for the Pigeon Forge area for the 21st to the 26th. Might open another thread after I narrow things down to a couple of campgrounds.

Glad you are going to join us!  

It would be great if you could make the trip down.  Look at some of the old gatherings and I am sure you will see just how beautiful this place is.

Thanks for posting these Yvonne!

As much as I hate to pay for it, I will be excited to have one here at home in the yard.  I suspect when we go in October we will be able to get one last picture with ours because I doubt it will be torn up by then because of where it is located. 

We have in the past bought annual passes.  We went late one summer for 9 days,  then went at Thanksgiving for 9 days,  Spring Break for 9 days, and the next summer early in the summer for 2 weeks.  This spread my wife's and I vacation time out over two years and the kids time was already off from school.  By taking advantage of the AP as gifts for the kids and eating at the site a lot, we were able to keep our costs down.  We also had a pop up and the site rate in 2011 and 2012 was around or under $50 a night.  Now that we have a MH the costs to stay are much worse.  We could however probably pull it off.  We are considering giving the kids AP for Christmas this year and doing the same thing.  I now get much more vacation time due to my years experience at work.

Given the many times I heard that song I would probably have read it that way too.

3 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

A voracious appetite for cash.  That's forever.  

Capitalism in it's purist form...

Well we are one of the people that own a brick on the walk.  It is in front of the TTC on the way to the Polynesian. It is very close to shade structure where used to have automated ticket machines. We have a commemorative clear plastic "trophy" style replica of the brick that came with our purchase.  I will probably order one and pay the extra shipping cost because I won't get to Disney until October this year.

We got ours in 1998 on my wife and I's first trip together to Disney.  We were told at the time of purchase that Disney reserved the right to remove them at anytime without refund. I had hoped they would be there "forever".  However, as we can see with River Country and the Fort nothing at Disney is forever.

This report needs a jump start!  Come on Yvonne your avid fans are waiting.

That is a lot of dirt.  this is supposed to open in 2020 they will be very busy to get all that construction accomplished.

My colleague is at WDW now and is a DVC member.  I asked him to see what he could find out and so far the DVC people he asked about it said they don't tell them much about the resort and he could find out more on the internet.  It doesn't sound like they have begun a hard sales pitch for it yet.  I have asked him to gather anything he can.   Unfortunately he doesn't have anytime to nose around the Fort.  He probably wouldn't even know what to look for.  As far as I know he has never been there.

I wish the simple life of River Country and swimming in a lake were still options but they have been gone for decades.  I think Dave is right,  the changes will probably end up first class for both resorts.  Walt himself said his parks would never be finished so change is a constant. 

TCD you actually gave me some hope with your observation about the beach change.  I don't think that will be the only change in that area.  Even the artist rendering shows some buildings that don't exist currently and they could bring some nice surprises or upgrades.  I also don't think the Fort will go away because it was part of the original idea.

I actually hope they build an exclusive hoity toity loop.  It can only help ensure the survival of other parts of the Fort. I am looking forward to bringing my grandchildren one day, but they won't experience it like we first did because I will be too old to sleep on the ground or set up a pop up. 😉

I have a few years on you, but I only visited the MK once when I was kid in 1977.  I remember the park and seeing these great big topiary on the monorail ride over.  I have a memory of Goofy water skiing as well.  Unfortunately my parents weren't campers so I had no idea the Fort existed until my next trip in 1998.  As soon as my kids were old enough we have made the Fort a regular trip.

27 minutes ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

The swimming area was pretty small. There was a rectangular area that was roped off with ropes through floating bouy things. 

How long have you been visiting the Fort?  

Thanks TCD.  That is how it appears on Google maps.  Not sure if they would ever develop that shore line but there is a good deal of it.  The more I look at the maps the more I think you are correct about splitting the beach.  

Looking at the artist rendering other than the Settlement and Pioneer Hall what are those three other buildings?  The don't currently exist.  I guess one is the barn?

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I think we're getting a new beach to the east of the marina. Real old timers will remember this was the swimming area back when guests swam in Bay Lake. 

I saw this big area encircled by a silt fence in that area when I was at the Fort last week:

This boat was parked next to the area:

The view from here isn't awful:

So, chop down some more cypress trees, pulverize them into mulch for more golf cart parking spaces and us filthy crybaby campers have our fireworks viewing. And we'll be out of sight and downwind from the rich folks. Which is how it must be. 

TCD

That would make sense.  It probably wouldn't be hard to turn into beach.  I have wondered how much land does Disney own around Bay Lake?  If you crossed the canal by the Bat House and went up the shore till you reached the place where the Ferry's Dock. How far from the shoreline back does Disney own?  Google Maps makes it look like Disney property all the way.  The satellite view really makes your idea look all the more likely.

20 minutes ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

I swam many times down there at the beach. I would swim out to the ropes and back. Good times. 

What ropes are you referring too?  I assume it was like most public lakes and had a defined boundary for swimming. My first Fort trip was in 2006 and swimming wasn't allowed.  I visited WDW in 1998 and River Country was open but I didn't visit.

So the more I thought on this last night and reading the latest posts... I believe we will see only a small access road to the boat dock and we will not have access to the beach for watching the fireworks or water parade...  

Now my glass is half-empty... 

Just curious where this artist rendering came from and how accurate it may be?  It is possible the artist wasn't sure what was happening in that area and just romanticized the beach area for a sales pitch.  

Yes, I know my glass is half full...but I just can't accept the other possibility right now.

So what are those structures then on Clementine's Beach?  Do you think Fort guests are losing access to Clementine's Beach?  Will it be part of the new resort?

We stayed in 2023 in our pop up in 2012, I think it was.  We loved that site.  Far enough back in the loop and with good vegetation.  The walk to the bath house wasn't too bad either.  The outside of the loop is always our favorite.  Looking forward to see how your week turned out there.