tim5055

1 hour ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

Which is because the Ship has to be built in the US to be Flagged in the US and we no longer have the capabilities so they are built overseas. That was addressed earlier in another thread. 

It is among the many abilities we have lost as a country.  Until a pandemic like this virus comes along and we discover that it's probably not a good thing that we outsource everything to other countries.

But, we can't blame it all on outsourcing....  The last oil refinery we built in the US was many years ago.  Why?  The Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) folks and environmental laws.  Well, shipyards are in the same category.  For a vessel to fly the US flag it must be built in the US under the supervision of the US Coast Guard.  Then, once constructed and put into service it must be staffed by US licensed mariners and adhere to US labor laws. As TCD points out, it's the labor laws that are usually the sticking point.  

The Jones act exists for one reason, to support the US maritime industry, or what is left of it.

Current ships flying a flag of another country can not just decide to become US flagged.  To fly the US flag the ship must be built in the US under the supervision of the US Coast Guard.

The cruise industry could decide tomorrow that they wanted all their ships flagged here, but we do not have the shipbuilding capacity anymore to supply them the ships.

There is currently one (1) US flagged cruise ship.

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

I'm just catching up, I'm reading bungalows and suites. Does that mean overnight stays?

Not that I have seen anywhere.  This is supposed to be a second  Castaway Cay type  option for the new ships hitting the fleet.

Tough to get a reservation , But Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina.  It's in Murrels Inlet, just below Myrtle Beach.  You can drive up for the Myrtle Beach experience, but retreat to the ocean front state park.  The north loop is water/electric, but the south loop is full hook up.  Both loops are on the land side of the sand dunes, but each has a boardwalk over to the beach.  While you can't "see" the ocean from your site, you can sit outside by a campfire and listen to the waves.

https://southcarolinaparks.com/huntington-beach/camping#jump

While a lot of money, it pales in what they are spending to add additional ships to the fleet.  This is just prep work for those ships.

DCL guests have already shown that they will pay a premium bor mor "Disney Island" time by booking back to back cruises as well as double dip Castaway Cay sailings.

Additionally, this gives them the space to add dining "upsell" opportunities on the island.

On 1/22/2020 at 1:08 PM, Travisma said:

Who makes Prevost motorhomes?

Volvo

 

Prevost Car. Prévost (pronounced pray-voh) is a Quebec, Canada-based manufacturer of touring coaches and bus shells for high-end motorhomes and specialty conversions. The company is a subsidiary of Volvo.

Prevost doesn't make motorhmes, they make the chassis.  It's like my Newmar is built on a Freightliner chasis.

Prevost delivers the chassis to small independent coach manufacturers like Millenium,  In this class you are generally looking at a cool million and up.

https://millenniumluxurycoaches.com/

A couple of trips ago the site next to us had a Class A, a pop up and two tents. 

Each night they had an open firepit and had fires that could put the Texas A&M  bonfire to shame.....

The fence is about 4 feet tall.  Our Husky/German Shepherd Dog mix is an escape artist and can jump or just climb most fences.  I have to keep her and our German Shepherd Dog busy and excited or she will be over the fence.  She has "excaped" a couple of times but like at home, all I generally need to do is hop on the golf cart and honk the horn and she comes running as she loved to ride the cart.

There is a public dog park over in Clermont, but it's really not convenient to the Fort.  We generally just use it when we sty at Lake Louisa State Park before the Fort.

With the new text your site number I have avoided the check in on my last few trips.

I've left a car and golf cart trailer in the overflow lot with no issues.

But, as Jason points out, Disney has no consistency in procedures or rules.....

My first trip to the Fort was in 1974.  I've seen a lot of changes. 

Campsites taken over by rental trailers.

Fort Wilderness train gone

Building of the cabin loops

Slow erosion of theming and holiday decorations.

Ever increasing Prices

I could keep going, but every time there is a change folks accept it.  Newer legions of RV enthusiasts find the Fort and declare it the nicest campground of all.   They accept the way things are because then never knew the beginning.

The construction site looks horrible.  The previews of the new resort are not my taste.  But, somehow I think Disney will make it work together.  They always have.

It is neat, but at a cost of a monthly fee any month you use it.

I'll stick with the Central Florida Expressway Authority E-Pass Xtra. The Xtra is EZ-Pass. So, this one pass will cover all tolls in Florida, the few tolls in Georgia, the few tolls in North Carolina and the 18 EZ-Pass states.

I cancelled my SunPass account and my EZ-Pass account and now just use my E-Pass Xtra.

https://www.cfxway.com/

On 11/22/2019 at 10:05 AM, BradyBzLyn...Mo said:

So.... either the guests lied (even by omission) at check-in, which is easy enough for Disney to confirm since everyone checking in with a pet has to sign something, or someone at check-in screwed up. Either way, Disney should deal with it and not let one guest impact all the other guests around them.

With the new system it is easy to "miss" telling them about pets.  If you forget to do the little drop-down menu when booking and check the pet box they never know you have one.  More an more people are just bypassing check in and going direct to campsites.

Even when I have checked the box, I have bypassed check in and have not signed the form.

As I've said several times, I've never had a bad site at the Fort.  We got one we didn't fit in, but never a bad one.  Maybe we are lucky.

Whle many like site specific reservations, it is bad in that sites will go empty between reservations.  Plus, if I'm on a FHU site and want to extend a night with site specific reservations I may not be able to even though there is another site available as mine may be booked.

3 hours ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

We check in Saturday. With a 45' rig plus the truck I always looks at the book to pick my site.

Be sure to let us know if you see any difference in the check in experience.

13 minutes ago, Katman1356...Jason said:

No worries. I had written on the previous post that word was the faxes were going to be going to this group but I hadnt seen proof of any change yet at that time. 

As a few have pointed out here, word on other forums is that many are now seeing that faxed requests are not being noted.

I know that in the past I have recommend faxing about 4 days before.  Many say 10 days to two weeks, but I figured that just gave them time to loose the fax.

1 hour ago, Breezy2 said:

Must be very recent change. During the second week of October, on a whim, we had a quick one night stay at the Fort.  We just pulled up to registration, asked for a specific site, the CM checked his computer screen, our requested site was available, assigned to us and off we went. Guess we were lucky or prior to changes. Having to check and verify thru another layer just for site assignment would sure slow things down at registration. The CM's that have a "visual" on the camper size, and who are familiar with the loops and campsites, are much more capable of making those decisions. Going back in a couple weeks-will see what happens then. Thanks for the update. 

My gut feeling is that this change will make the Fort the same as any hotel.  The front desk staff will always be able to see what is occupied, vacant and pending arrival.  They can sell a vacant site for one night without a problem.

Where I see the possible issues arising are special requests.  A system that has apparently worked well for many years (faxing requests) could be in peril.  I'm being told by another travel agent who works the Fort a lot (sorry Jason) that the faxes are being forwarded to the new assignment group.  How long will this last?? 

To be honest, I have never faxed a request.  I have noted on my reservation some things at times, like "back side of 1900 loop, outside" but even that was rare.  I like the surprise of seeing where they put us this time and we have never been disappointed.  On one occasion we didn't fit on a site but other than that time have always been happy.

I'm hoping that this is an issue just because it's change.  Nobody like change.

One of the most confusing things is tolls in Florida... The majority of the country has figured tolls out, join EZ-Pass - No, Florida has to do their own thing and confused it while doing it. So, understand there are multiple toll agencies in Florida. The two you will deal with the most are the Florida Turnpike System (their toll transponder is called SunPass) and the Central Florida Expressway Authority (their transponder is called E-Pass). But, the Central Florida Expressway Authority accepts both EZ-Pass and the Florida SunPass.

So, those of us who have an EZ-Pass account from out of state can't do everything with EZ-Pass.

So, what do we do? Well, originally I just broke down and purchased a SunPass. When traveling the Florida Turnpike/429 to Disney this will work the entire route. But, if you have an EZ-Pass you must put it in the RF cellophane bag to keep from getting “double billed” when you travel on Central Florida Turnpike Authority roads. Their toll plazas will read both tags and bill both.

So, if you don't have a SunPass as you travel south on the Florida Turnpike stop at the first turnpike service plaza (Okahumpka Service Plaza Mile marker 299 on the turnpike). They have a toll pass vending machine or you can purchase the pass at the plaza store.

The SunPass comes in two styles, a stick on pass that can not be moved from vehicle to vehicle or a plastic transponder with suction cups that can be moved from car to car. Once you have your transponder you need to set up an account. They have you covered here as well. You can either use the free WiFi at the service plaza with your device to set up the account or they have an account kiosk that you can use. You will need to “deposit” funds in your account, but you can use a credit card to do this.

Now, I have changed. The Central Florida Expressway Authority has now come out with an E-Pass Xtra. The Xtra is EZ-Pass. So, this one pass will cover all tolls in Florida, the few tolls in Georgia, the few tolls in North Carolina and the 18 EZ-Pass states.

You can set up “limits” on the account, so lets say when you account gets to a $10 balance they can automatically charge your card for XX dollars to bring it back up.

https://www.cfxway.com/

When we were there last week they had just completed a lot of plantings along he entry road to the 16/1900 loops.  It appears to me that the big Christmas display in the 1800 loop will have lost some space to set stuff up.

Maybe they are cutting back on all the big displays that folks bring

Congrats!!

I think you will be happy driving instead of towing......

2 hours ago, PGHFiend said:

I guess I'll know it when I see it. 

This is the key.  We looked for many years and knew it when we saw it.

Well, we just sold our trailer on Tuesday and pick up the Newmar Mountain Aire (OK, 2012 - I'm not rich) September 10th.

We always travel with 2 German Shepherds as well as at least one cat so a Class A seems to be the right fit.

Look for the floorplan that fits your needs and go from there.

Well, this is about as certain info as if you got it from a bus driver or castmember cleaning the sites.....

It is being reported that Orange County Sheriff's Office is beginning to schedule Deputies Sunday from 2P to 5P to help folks evacuate the Fort....

That is all

On 8/20/2019 at 3:08 PM, Duane said:

I have often wondered how and how long Disney keeps up with any "old" ticket media since they have changed technology so many times... How does the new systems recognize these as begin valid? 

We still have a couple of "plus" days left on some non-expiring tickets.  We have long since used the park days up, but had the pluses (water park, Disney Quest, and golf, if I remember correctly) 

They have to be at least 14 years old because one of them is a child's ticket we purchased for our daughter back in the day. She is now 23 years old.

Well, I can say - just before they eliminated non expiring tickets we purchased 4 10 day tickets.  We have added 2 of them to our MDE accounts (1 each) and still have 4 days.  Before we got them we had tickets with “pluses” on them.  So, when we got our annual passes this year we went to guest services to make sure the AP’s would be used rather than the non expiring days.  Not only did she set that up, she reminded us we had the “pluses” to use from the old tickets.  At the same time I talked to her about m6 old A-B-C-D-E tickets.  She said bring them back, they have a chart that tells,the, the $$ value of each ticket to credit toward current ticket media.