Retired and Happy (Ken)

A wonderful service and a lot of hard work by AuburnJen and SuperGeek.  Thanks for providing this forum for us Fort Fiends.

People actually LIE about or ignore the fact of having a pet?  Our previous Savannah would jump up at the driver's window during check-in and bark at the CM.  Hard to hide that!  

Is Shanta's Google Earth still available?  We have had computer problems and can no longer access some of what we used to see.

A GC is certainly a fun way to go, but not a necessity by any means.  We brought ours one year, but forgot the charger, so we used it very sparingly.  The internal busses do very well, even for our three wheelchairs.  And depending on what loop we are in, if near the Settlement, we can walk to the Marina or Settlement Bus Depot to get where we need to go.  As for meals, we eat a Quick Service in the parks when we feel like it and the evening meal at the motorhome.  Sometimes the evening meal is a GAG or pizza from Trails End.  But we have never used all the food we brought from home.  On long trips, a crock pot is used several tiimes.

Interesting stuff about the Inn&Out area.  When we get there we usually are in for the night, then stop at Arby's (our son's favorite place to eat) the next day for a brunch meal on the way north or south.  So we are not exposed to much of the area...except sometimes a stop at Wal Mart.  Inn&Out used to have a lot of "permanent guests", but they have gotten most of them out and somewhat upgraded the place.   At any rate it is a good place to get gas and propane enroute.

Atlanta vs New England...as you probably know by now.  I would recommend the TV from home, connected to the Disney cable hookup. My luck would be to meet someone with an outdoor setup and it would RAIN that day.

BTW, we always stop in Lake City on our way to and from the Fort.  The Inn&Out RV "Resort" on highway 90.  Been doing that for years.

We had one on our previous MH, but let it go when we sold it.  We investigated one for our new-to-us MH, but found them to be NOT RECOMMENDED for us.  One of our furnaces exhausts into the area where the screen room would have been.  Also the fridge if operated on propane.  We could have introduced all kinds of carbon monoxide into the room when the furnace was running.

All that said, we really loved ours but only used it at the Fort because of the setup problems and considering our length of stay.  We usually had a couple of elevated air mattresses and a couple of chairs in there for grandkids or other guests.  At Christmas we set a tree in there and put presents around the base.

I'm not familiar with a hard sided model.  Ours was a 20 footer with rollup panels for privacy.  Plenty of breeze came through with the panels rolled up.  

The pipeline break crisis is a couple weeks behind us and supplies are pretty much back to normal around Atlanta.  Whereas prices spiked as soon as the leak was announced, prices are mostly still up as of this morning.  Surely they are going to drop back soon. HA!  Maybe they are waiting until after the holiday weekend so they can soak us a little longer.  I hate to waste my Kroger discounts today if the price will drop below the discounted rate tomorrow.  

LL, Any results?

I think I used rubbing alcohol to pre-clean where the tape would go.  6-8 years ago, so my aging mind doesn't recall exactly.

Fortunately Disney is so large and varied you can go at whatever pace and types of entertainment are needed for most any level for our special ones.

And I am happy to see this thread expanding.  It has been dormant for long periods.  

They are trucking in some gas, with the governor allowing increased hours on the road  (a scary thought in itself).  Many stations around Atlanta are out.  If they get the pipeline bypass installed by later this week it will still take a few days to fill the system before things return to "normal".  The $4-5 a gallon is likely not justified and will likely drop when more gouging reports get to the governor's office.  "They" say a modest increase will be tolerated due to the increased cost of trucking it in.  So far we're ok with a half tank in one van, 3/4 in the other, and no requirements to get out in the heat this week anyway.

I'll have to go back and review how to post pictures from my phone.  Coming soon.  She's a 13 pounder vs the 26 pounder we had.  Quite a difference for us, but she loves to be a lap dog who also sits on the back of the recliner or sofa like a cat.

Some of you may already know our sweet Savannah was hit and killed by a car in front of the house about a month ago.  I saw it and could do nothing.  She was gone in an instant.  She was a rescue dog and she loved the family as much as we loved her.  A few days later Judy said she wanted to get another dog as soon as possible.  She said it would help her adjust to losing Savannah and give her something to do.  A week or so later we went back to the same rescue group where we had gotten Savannah.  We found a gray/black dog labeled as a shui tsu (or however you spell it).  We brought her home and on the way, Judy asked Shawnee what this dog's name should be.  Without hesitation he said "Savannah".  So Savannah it is (or Savannah2 to some).  He had taken Savannah1's loss as hard as anyone in the family.  Savannah1 had taken to Kimberly and Savannah2 is taking to Shawnee. Yes, they pick us as much as we pick them.

I agree with the split day for pet checking.  Most folks do that if you plan to do parks for a full day.  (I'm also an after lunch to dark parker, so our dog is not alone for too long.)  

I've never locked a bike at the Fort in the 15+ years we have been going.  Come to think of it, I have never HAD a bike at the Fort, so maybe ...

Yes I would lock a bike and a GC charger

This has been one of the more fun threads on Fiends.  Not interested in the deal offered, but were these upgraded like the rest of the loops cabins, or did they retain the old stuff and layout?

I read a lot of complaints that the rolled up foam mattresses don't necessarily expand back to full dimensions.  I guess that depends on the quality of what you buy.  We have a regular Serta Queen on ours, with a Fleetwood label, indicating a special order.  It's comfortable.  Now if we could just improve the sofabed.  :)

Assuming you are talking about a cabin?  What is a slicker?  What are you going to use the water for?  How clean is the Disney hose if it to be used for cooking or drinking?

Do these "accidents" apply to aging adults, too?

I don't know where this belongs, but Tom Glavine's son (LHP) has committed to AUBURN.  Of course that a year or so off, so we'll see if the committment holds, but I think Auburn Baseball is on the rebound. War Eagle!

We had 13 with us a few years back.  We caused no trouble and Disney either didn't know or didn't care.  We had a side room at the time and several slept there on inflatable mattresses.  We ranged from 6 or 8 up to 4 adults.

Just back from River Plantation again.  This trip we got 60 mostly very clear analog stations on both TVs.  But could not connect to their WiFI.  Actually connected to the host, but not from there to the internet.  

When we sold our previous 37' MH to our daughter, she came from Mobile and drove it back with no prior experience.  Likely had no other experience with anything larger than her Honda Pilot....and she's still alive.  Uses it often for beach camping and tailgating as well as a couple trips to the Fort.

And we usually get a GAG at least once per visit.  Lots of sides available.

We've been there for 15 years (most of Dec-early Jan) and done HDDR almost every year at least once a visit.  I don't remember any special costuming or music when we were there.  Not even sure there were Christmas decorations inside Pioneer Hall.