Travisma

Like a lot of things at Disney, they themselves are some of the biggest rule breakers by looking the other way. If someone is breaking the rules using a Disney cart, Disney should impound the cart and they should forfeit their entire payment.  Same thing for other rule breakers, impound the devices until check out.

We did the Mothers Day Brunch in 2022 at Trails End (we were not staying at the Fort).  We had a great time and the food was good.  But like others have said family style is not a buffet. I have a feeling they are going to turn it into a place like Wilderness Lodges Roaring Fork.  Definitely not a special place.  Getting tired of getting less for more $ everyplace we go, and tons of places are doing it besides Disney.

So read g Grumpys post or rules it seems like tandem bikes are not allowed either?

We just came back from the Fort on 8/30.  The beach area is restored and lounge chairs are back in the sand and tables and chairs on the deck. One thing we noticed is that we could barely hear the talking/music from the show.  Seemed like the only speakers were back by the main path. 

Interesting chart showing how there are 3 main players in RV manufacturing and only a couple handfuls of independents. Biggest surprise to me was that Thor owns Airstream.

https://www.rvbrands.info/brandTree.html?fbclid=IwAR05lBqq4fm54xrFWtfY5s7Fb5Aq7HChZW_Zr8dqSGkwWfv4-v66rewD-qo

On 5/13/2022 at 12:09 PM, Tri-Circle-D said:

This sign was posted at the Meadow Campfire area when I visited the Fort last weekend:

 

Here we are with campsite prices at an all time high, and the campfire has been reduced to one hour. No sing-a-long, no chipmunks. They can’t even be bothered to set up a food service location to sell s’mores kits. The food truck is mainly parked at the settlement these days. 

I doubt the sing-a-long and chipmunks will ever be back.  No way is Disney going to allow “free” entertainment with characters anymore. 

Boo!

TCD

But look on the bright side, Minnie Van Service is starting back up! 😂

There is a Facebook group called fort wildernesses wandering fire pit you should join, and there is also a Disney Campers Freecycle group to pass along items.

Just announced a sale on select resort rooms this morning.  Can’t even get to the page to see the deal.  Average wait time to get into the page is 30 minutes.  Guess they didn’t use their Covid down time to improve their infrastructure.  And I’m guessing the Fort sites won’t be included.

Chapek has stated that he doesn’t like APs because they don’t spend enough $$$.  They want fewer people willing to spend a boatload of $$$ during their stay.

I fully understand they are a money making business, but they are going to make it too costly for Joe and Jane Average to afford to go to the parks.

On 11/21/2021 at 12:45 AM, rtguy007 said:

It's been 3 years since we were last at the Fort. 3....long....years. A lot has clearly changed.

Going to run a trip report for those who may still be around lurking on the forum. It looks like it has been pretty slow for a while. Hope this place isn't dying off.

Night 1...or I should say the day we arrived unplanned. We ended up getting to the Fort on the 18th which was a day earlier than planned. I had this idea for 3 years that I would be first to check-in on the 50th anniversary of the Forts opening but somehow we wound up getting in a day early. Due to some oddities our 1 night reservations got really messed up and somehow my name wound up on my sisters reservation in addition to mine. The funny part was that I was the primary on both reservations somehow according to the front desk but when we checked the app it all looked normal with me on mine and her on hers. This led to a very odd series of events that allowed me to still be the first to check in and get into our site.

Midnight rolls around on the 19th and I have my app open doing the online check in. At 12:09am I got my verification email that I had checked in and a few seconds later got the text notification that my site was ready. Now this may sound odd because we all know you can't check-in and get your site before the desk opens at 6am and here I was with my site shortly after midnight.

So how this worked out, we have 2 week reservations in a premium site that Jason helped us book in advance. Since we got here early we needed a place to stay and we were able to get into a premium meadows site for the night and we figured that we would have to move in the morning to our premium sites. I was all ready to get up at 4am and go sit in the outpost until they opened so I could be first in line. However I didn't have to do that. When we checked in we were put into our premium sites but they never checked us in and linked our 2 reservations together. So at midnight on the 19th I was able to do our online check in and the sites were automatically assigned to be the ones we were already in. Not only was I the first to check in, but also first to get onto our site on the 50th anniversary of the Fort due to a technicality in how our reservations were setup.

So on the 19th I started setting up our Christmas decorations. This was our first time doing site decorations and so far it's been a blast. I will grab some photos and post them later but I think the decorations turned out great for being the first time I ever did them.

After getting the decorations up I went into the camper to get things settled in. Low and behold I found a problem with the camper that caused me to lose a bit of my day at the Fort. I planned on it being cold at nights based off of the weather forecast I saw before we left home. I did a full check of the propane system. Everything was good at home and when we got here somehow a pin sized hole made it's way into one of my propane lines. It was an easy fix but it did take some time away from our vacation to fix the lines.

More to come as we progress through our trip.....

So being the first to check in, I’m guessing you got a free stay and lifetime APs?

I love the reason he can’t attend, he has a more important meeting.

Reading posts on other FB pages it seems like Genie + and or LL are causing the standby lines to wait a lot longer than posted times once they enter.  Rely queues have been delayed by hours from their arrival times.

Spoke with a barn CM and she said the wagons and carriage rides start Jan 1.

On 10/30/2021 at 11:08 AM, FortD3 said:

Thanks for sharing Travisma.  Hope you guys are having a great trip!

It’s been great.  Hoping the forecasted rain on Thursday and Friday fizzles out.  I hate packing up wet stuff!

On 11/1/2021 at 1:12 PM, Robin said:

I always wanted to do this. Is it worth the money?

It’s fun but pricey.  We enjoyed the big wagon ride better, it went thru the most decorated loops at Christmas.  But even though we’ve seen the wagons out training there is no return timeframe for them.

And like everything else Disney, the bloggers have ruined both rides by hyping them up so it’s hard to get a reservation.  You used to be able to walk up, pay and get on.

We are in 2000 loop and there are still empty sites.  Thursday evening about 50% were empty

Did you call the front desk or reservation number?  I am looking for a number for the front desk. Thank you.

On 10/13/2021 at 5:43 PM, twiceblessed....nacole said:

You can't have park tickets put on old bands?

I meant if you let a friend use the MB to get in the gate, they couldn’t use them to get into a park.

On 10/5/2021 at 4:30 PM, Disneymommaof6 said:

Thank you for answering my question. I was afraid that’s how it would be. There will only be 10 on our site at any time. I was hoping to also be able to take advantage of the hotel guests’ early entry to the parks. Using their Magic Bands for the comfort stations and entering the front gate or pool will also be problematic if they aren’t registered guests.  I am afraid to call and ask them to split up my stay. I’m too afraid I’d lose the reservation altogether. 

Comfort stations are only locked from midnight to 6.  No bands needed to enter pool.  If you have bands from previous visits and you’ve kept them active others can use them to get in thru the gate.  Just don’t try to use them for a park entrance.

Depends on where you’re coming from and when.

All campgrounds  down here are getting hard to get even advanced reservations.

If you’re coming down by Tampa you might want to try Lazy Days.

14 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

The claims they are making about how this app will help guests are ridiculous. It’s bad enough that they are price gouging again, but what makes it worse is that the damn app will be just as glitchy as all of their other app iterations. The DCL app is a piece of crap. The MDE app crashed at the MK for most of the day on the big 50th anniversary day on October 1.  And they expect us to believe that this new app will somehow plan a perfect day for guests? No way. 

TCD

 

TCD, tell us how you really feel!  😄

5 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

But Club Cool recently reopened with help-yourself push button beverage machines that people will be touching all day while drinking from saliva coated cups.  Makes perfect sense.  

Hey don’t question Disneys logic!  After all 30 foot TT qualify as a pop up, tent, or van camper in the partial loops!

Has anyone gotten the call/email from Disney about leaving the Fort on 10/29, 30, and 31 and going to Port Orleans Riverside, then going back to the Fort to finish their stay?

21 hours ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Someone on a fb page posted a "site decoration rules" card, that apparently was handed out to him at the Fort.  The last line said, "Giveaways of any kind (e.g. food, candy, toys) are prohibited."

Seriously?!

I know that they said this last year and that folks still made it happen but really... are they playing that line again this year?!

I think they are doing that to “protect” themselves.  Last year for Covid the rules were you couldn’t HAND out candy, but you could leave it on a table for people to pick up on their own.

On 9/14/2021 at 10:58 AM, Tri-Circle-D said:

I loved it when it was the arcade and quick serve restaurant for the Contemporary. I am glad that I got to enjoy that with the TCD girls when they were kids. 

TCD

Same here, that was a great spot