Memphis

Furries ?   People seriously have too much time on their hands in this country.

5 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Hey Harold!

I see a new location there under your avatar.

So, you really did it?

Yep,  Lost our Florida resident discount and the commute went from 1 1/2 hours to about 13 as of 2/26.  I was really getting worried when you stopped posting.  I was/am really counting on your trip reports to get me through the FW withdraws. So glad you and all your girls are doing well.  In the small world category My DW went on a job interview today and the guy who interviewed her is from Dunedin.  

Welcome back and I am In

Making me miss living in Florida and it's barely been a month.  Fort Desoto was the first place we camped when we got back into land camping after selling the boat that we used for camping out in the gulf.  

Welcome,  Not sure what you have read but but yes it can be a mad house and before they finished the hub area a little scary with so many people packed into a small area.  We normally hang out for an hour or so and watch the castle lights or shop a little to let the crowds thin some. If we had to leave right away I would just go with the masses and take the boat from MK back to the fort.  The boats from the Contemporary are a lot smaller.  By the time you walk over and wait in line there you will save little to no time and it is a long walk at the end of the day.   

We love Fort Desoto.  Used to camp there a lot when we lived in Pinellas County. It has some great beaches and fishing piers. Lots to do and explore.  Just keep your food and coolers locked up or the coons will leave you with nothing to eat or drink.  

I don't think there is any chance of Disney pulling those cabins out to make camping sites.  There are too many other places they could add campsites.  I don't know what about the 2100 loop location that would make it a preferred area.  I think it is just 2100's time for cabin updates.  

I wonder if they are connected with this in the WL Lobby?

I agree Carol....If things go as they have been lately I'm sure you will be able to buy a preferred viewing location. 

Sad but true.    However, I think your thread title should be   Armed and legged.,,,,,nickels and dimes have no value at Disney.  

28 minutes ago, Travisma said:

Seems like an interesting site.  Like the loop maps with the sites laid out on them. But the pictures of the sites aren't of the site itself, but looking out from the site to across the road.  At least the ones in 1500 that I looked at were like that.

I had the same thoughts.  Loved the overview of the campground and loops showing the placement of loops and sites and their relationship to comfort stations and bus stops.  And I agree that some of the actual pictures of the sites don't show you the site very well.  Some do but most are side shots and have campers on them.  It is great to use to pick out the location of the site but you are better off checking out the site itself on the Fort Fiend site app.  Still it's another good tool to help pick out a site.  Thanks for the link Big35lt and Welcome to Fortfiends.

6 hours ago, FEARtheEERS said:

Does the paper you buy give hints?

Are they charging for this now?  I thought it was included in admission price.   

I want one please

Sounds like a strange argument to me.  Cadillac might not be as expensive as you think if you are willing  to buy a Chevy.

Can't imagine why they would be over budget on that park.  Looks like the castle alone is bigger than Disneyland.   

I think it turned out it was just on one of the new carts as a test.   Hopefully they decided drivers are already too distracted without Disney providing more.    

No way they would only have a driver now.  And no way they would not do a safety spiel now.  I'll take the 3 second beeping over a one minute safety spiel in two languages.  Not to mention what it would do to traffic.  I'm sure they were great a long time ago but no way now.  

If the trams are the same as the parking lot trams I'm glad there are gone.   Those things are loud.  Could you imagine camping near a bus stop and hearing the safety spiel they do now over and over and over and one more time because someone got on after they said no more boarding.  If we need more transportation add more buses.  you only need 1 CM to drive a bus.  The trams take 2. 

We enjoyed our trips in the 90's and early 2000's more than the more resent trips.  While I made a lot less money back then I could better afford the trips.  We loved the petting zoo with Minnie Moo and all the other animals.  We went to River Country so the pool being plain did not bother us.  We didn't feel like we had to get a golf cart back then because we felt safe riding bikes for transportation.  Most sites had a lot more privacy than they do now.  I liked that the courts all had balls available at the court and all the nets were always in great shape. I don't ever remember seeing a tetherball pole without a ball or swing sets without swings plus they were in a lot more locations.  There just seemed to be more interesting things to see and do.  The peacocks, the walking trails, the props around the fort like the water wagon, the covered wagon, the ice cream wagon, lawnmower tree, the travel trailer they had on display by Pioneer Hall.  I guess part of it has to do with memories of our DD and her friends and our friends' kids and the fact that going to the Fort was new to us.  I don't remember it being hard at all to get a reservation except for holiday weekends and even then you only had to book a month or two out.  I also don't remember soooo many rude and me me me people.  They have made a lot of improvements over the years that I do like.  I like the pool upgrade with the slide, kid splash area, accessibly lifts, a lot more seating, and the hot tubs.  While they didn't enlarge the footprint of the pool filling in the deep end did increase the number of people that could be in the pool.  Without a diving board or being allowed to run and jump in the pool the deep end was kind of a wasted space which mostly just had a few people holding on to the edge of the pool.  I like that they added cable and internet to all the sites and I like they made some sites premium to more easily fit the big rigs and offer an all paved site. (I just wish they had not done so many) I love that they will now have WiFi everywhere.  I'm sure the pet lovers are thrilled to now be able to bring their pets and they even built a dog park and many dog walking areas.  Things change.  Always have and always will. I just think there was a lot more to do back then.

I would love a hat as well.

Surely we have members that have asked for sports equipment in the last year.  Please tell us they did not charge you to use a ball or play shuffleboard.  Especially shuffleboard, that court is in awful shape.  They should pay you to play on that thing.  

I was looking at the Activities Schedule and noticed that is says Sports Equipment is available to RENT at the bike barn.  Last time I got any of the sports equipment all you had to do tell them your site number.  Are they really charging you to get these items now?  Oldest schedule I saw was Nov 2015 and it was listed the same way.  When did they start this.  Is this another perk quietly gone by the wayside?  

They used to have volleyballs and basketballs in a small box at the courts. I guess too many of them went missing so you had to go to the bike barn to check them out but there was no charge.   

I looked at the first picture a long time trying to figure out what the last 2 pictures even were because I assumed the 3rd icon would be HS and the last AK. I finally looked at the zoom pic and figured it out AK was 3rd.  WTF indeed. And is that the best they could do on TOT. I don't know that I would ever recognize that as TOT.    

Actually I think I am #18 there is a ghost post above.  

It got to the not worth it to me stage on our last trip at Halloween, at least for just camping trips.  We are locals (for one more month) and have enjoyed camping at the fort over the years.  Most trips were just 2-3 day camping only trips.  When we had AP and came over to go to the parks for weekend trips it was just easier to get a room.  I'm sure at some point in the future we will come back down to go to the parks and we will camp at the fort.  But at $70 a night on the weekends (at the cheapest) plus $65/day for a golf cart it is just more than I can justify. I can get 3 or 4 trips at a state park where we feel we are actually camping for the money we spend on 1 fort trip.  The Fort is still the best deal on property but if your not going to the parks it's just too expensive for me. (Disney wins(AGAIN))