5kidsmommy

That was our trip this May/June.  Oldest son left for college on August 1st, he plays soccer.  The DW and I are thinking that was the last family vacation with all of the kids.

I was hoping we could do a summer trip but he has decided to do a summer semester so January will most likely be it. And then after that the other four will follow behind quickly.

I hope they never put wifi throughout the Fort.  That remains my last line of defense against my kids bringing their devices with them.  And then they disappear into their bunks instead of sitting under the awning with their old man.  

 

WiFi = less family time. 

This is my thought. Our January trip will most likely be my last vacation while all five of our kids are living at home and I look forward to spending time with them. I kind of hope that we can all avoid our technology for a couple of days. 

I like chocolate, I mean I really like chocolate, so I just may have to try one of these. 

I am loving this thread.  I've been "doing research" for about a year now, and keep changing my mind over what I want.

The first obstacle was getting the DH on board.  He's a boy scout camper, ie., if it's not in a tent, it's not camping. LOL but I think I may have him convinced that a small trailer would be a good idea.  We even went to the RV show last January.  Unfortunately small trailers were not in abundance.

Anyway, on my daily look thru craigslist today, this showed up:

 

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/rvs/4006017354.html

 

Has anybody ever had or seen one of these?  It has never shown up in any of the looking I've done.  It does look interesting though.  

I haven't seen one like that exactly but it would be considered a hybrid, we have a hybrid and love it. It's light and sleeps a ton of people, perfect when you want sleeping capacity but don't want something super long or heavy. Also we love the tip out ends because you can open them up and you feel like you are sleeping outside. 

We have a KZ 23CFK similar to this. http://rvs.smartcarguide.com/listing/32211167/

Also my husband is a scoutmaster and my four boys are all scouts so this trailer was the perfect compromise. My daughter and I got the comforts of staying dry and sleeping off the ground and the guys still get fresh air. We just love our hybrid. 

If Friday before the marathon is your last day, you should be ok. It's the marathon weekend that you would be concerned about.

It's the 1/2, and full marathon that create the biggest transportation problems.

The other races start and finish in Epcot.

I don't think you need to make special plans.

Thanks! That is what I was thinking, one less thing to worry about. :)

I buy Eternabond from this site.

http://www.rvupgradestore.com/SearchResults.asp?mfg=Eternabond

The 4"x50' is around $55. If anybody knows of a cheaper source please post it up.

Thanks for this info, passing this along to my husband. 

I used to think my husband was nuts for worrying so much about weight and all that. For years we just borrowed my moms little 19' Jayco and pulled it with our old suburban and all was well. When it came time to purchase our own trailer we no longer had that suburban, all we had was a VW Minivan which could only tow a very light pop-up with maybe a days for of clothes and food in it. We looked at getting a class C because with 7 of us we didn't want to travel in a tiny minivan then cram ourselves into a tiny pop-up. In the end my brilliant husband decided that the minivan was too small and that I needed a new suburban. We settled on 2009 suburban and 2009 KZ 23CFK and I love it. I'm glad we went with a hybrid because it was well under our tow capacity so we don't have to stress about what everyone is bringing and it comfortably sleeps all 7 of us. 

So my advice is wait and get what you really want and what will work best for your family. Don't settle. 

We have Good Sam also.  We have needed their services several times and they always come through.  The Discounts are nice too.

We also belong to the KOA club since we do camp at KOA's from time to time.    :mh1:  :camp1:

We also have Good Sam and KOA. We spent two weeks on the road this summer and being able to reserve sites online was a great relief. Our discounts with both paid themselves off with just a few weeks of travels. We also have AAA but I don't know if we will renew that. 

For any of you that were planning to be at WDW during Marathon weekend, I'd rethink that.

You will be inconvenienced, delayed, frustrated, and annoyed, more than once by the crazies. And it won't be just during the running events.

This is my fear, we booked our trip before we realized the marathon was going on. It was the only week in January or February that we could find a reservation for the 6 days we planned on being there. Our last day is Friday so I am assuming it's best to just avoid Epcot that day. We are trying to decide if we should check out as early as possible and drive the trailer over to Magic Kingdom but since we have never driven a trailer there we are unsure what to do. 

Also when I saw it was marathon weekend I so wanted to do the 5K with my family but unfortunately it is sold out, oh well. 

So any hints that I should know about to avoid madness on Thursday and Friday would be appreciated. We have an autistic son and if I know what to expect I can prepare him. Thanks. 

If size is what you are looking for, I would not go preferred. Those sites are actually some of the smallest and tightest in the campground. They are only preferred because they are close to the marina.

 

I like both the 1200 and 1300 loop.

 

The full hookup sites in 1700 are very spacious also. (But have sand pad behind the concrete). Premium sites are all concrete.

My husband looked at the map and liked the 1200 and 1300 loops. Thanks for the info on the preferred sites being tight. I know our trailer isn't that big, it's actually pretty compact when folded up but once we get in a site we need to spread out. Hopefully we will be able to get a site closer to the pool, I think we will just be content to ride our bikes up to the marina. 

Thanks again everyone. 

i am sure you will enjoy yourselves no matter what loop you end up on. 

Oh I know we will. I am totally giddy about this trip. Our oldest is a senior this year so this will be our last family vacation for awhile. This trip was kind of a last minute decision and we were so happy to find dates that worked at a price we could afford. We loved Fort Wilderness the last time we were there. I am so grateful for a place that makes Disney trips within reach for big families. 

Thank you all so much for the quick response. I am glad to hear about pets being on any loop, that at least gives us one less thing to worry about. Now to weigh being close to the pool or being close to the marina. We just may have to take a family vote. 

First off hello!!! 

We are going to Fort Wilderness January 5th through 10th. We will be traveling with our four teens and one preteen. We stayed once at Fort Wilderness about 6 years ago but I didn't do any of the planning since my parents paid for our trip. At that point we stay in 400 loop.

This time we are traveling with our 2009 K-Z 23CFK pulled by a Chevy Suburban. Our trailer is a hybrid with three fold out beds and one slide out. When folded out the trailer is about 30 feet.  We are not traveling with any pets and will be bringing our bikes so getting around the campground won't be an issue. 

We currently have a full hook-up site but am considering changing to preferred or premium because we do not want to be in a pet friendly loop. We are animal lovers and owners but won't have them with us so we would prefer to be away from animals. 

I am planning on calling next week to upgrade our site, ask about AAA discount and request a loop. We are torn by being close to the marina or being close to the pool. Because our trailer is fairly long along with having a large tow vehicle we would like a decent sized spot. 

So long story short what loops would be best for us? So far we are thinking 100, 200, 1000, 1100, 1200, and 1300. 

Also I can't remember if there are laundry rooms in all of the comfort stations. With a large family being close to laundry is a big deal. 

So please help me try to wrap my mind about where to request. 

Thanks!