Okieatheart

I love staying in the 700 loop.  We have been assigned 721, 726, and 701.  There is a water retention pond behind 726 and 721, which could be a little unfortunate if it rains too much.  But both of those sites are quite private; we liked both of them.  However, our favorite spot is 701.  It is neither private, quiet, nor close to the Settlement, but we really like watching the people hustle down to the Settlement or slowly walk back to their site after a day of fun.  It probably wouldn't be a good site for you with 9 children, as the main road is on one side of the site.  But it works for us.

Lou, if you go, please give me your critique.  

Ray, I am so loving your live trip comments!  Keep those reports coming.  I'm so glad you are having so much fun!

Well, that is just lousy!  I was looking forward to a full report.  Are you going to try to go sometime later in the week?

So. . . how was the concert?  Good songs?  Good sound?  Was it crowded?  Anything unconventional about the concert?

My bad.  Those 100+ degrees were not at the Fort, but at an IRV2 rally in Perrin TX about 5 years ago.The only cool place was the room where we had potluck suppers and some kids activities..

I've stayed at that RV park in Perrin!  That little place has to be one of the hottest, driest places on earth!

 

 

Like she says, she knows she will be telling stories about things that happened on this trip for the rest of her life.  

 

She will!  I'm still telling stories of my first trip when I was a senior in college.

This is our Abby, sitting on the dash of our MH at Avalon Rv Park in Milton, FL.  She is 14 1/2 years old and still loving life!

We also travel to WDW from Houston, and we have stayed just north of Lake City at White Springs at Kelly's RV Park - about 7 miles north of I-10.  It's not wonderful, but it's not really bad either.  It's $25 a night - no cable TV but free Wifi.  It's two hours from the Fort.

 We also like to stay at Avalon Landing RV park in Milton, FL - "just 5 miles to Pensacola."  It's a little pricey, though, at $40 a night.  

I think there are some state parks around White Springs and Lake City, but I haven't stayed at those.  

Have you thought about spending the night at one of the many rest areas in Florida?  I don't know if people do this, but there are signs that there are overnight security guards on duty at many of them.

Be safe on that long, long drive to Florida!  

All righty - I know that lake.  Well, I don't KNOW it; I've heard of it.  Good lake!  That's a pretty long way to Tahlequah from Crescent.  Do you get up there often?

The others are going to have to drive pretty fast to beat me to that houseboat on a lake in Oklahoma!!!  I don't have any "cuties," but I can bring lots of booze!  May I be included???  BTW, which lake?  If you say Murray or Texoma, I'm going to lie down and die right here!

Has anyone linked a reseller ticked to MDE?  Just wondering how easy/hard/possible it is.

Yes, I did.  My two friends, who were staying with us in our motorhome during our November 2013 trip, bought vouchers from a vendor - I forgot which one (not UT).  I got their voucher numbers and entered them on MDE.  The numbers were accepted and I was able to make Fast Pass+ reservations for them right along with mine and my husband's.  

I don't care where it's from.  It's a fabulous picture and even better painting!  Good job, Lou!

I've never heard of this camp - probably because I don't have kids.  But I'll watch the news to see if they report on any of the activities there.  There are lots of camps going on here right now - all with Rockets and NBA players as coaches.  What a neat experience for Gabe!

I think that new Paris photo might be of the Paris Opera House - a side view.

Cool trip report!  I swam with the sting rays once in Cayman.  Trust me, your excursion was better!  Glad you had a good time.

So, then, RCID is only for WDW.  I got it.  

Is it that much different than a County government?  Well, that depends.  Our county really doesn't provide utility services as most of the subdivisions are under their own management, i.e., municipal utility districts.  It is those districts that maintain all water related services and garbage collection.  Our MUDs don't provide electricity or maintain roads, curbs, or sidewalks.  All roads are maintained by the county and the electricity is provided by the company of one's individual choice.  

So our responsibility only lies with providing and maintaining water, sewage services, and garbage.  We purchase our water and sewage services from the city of Houston - which makes us vulnerable to their rate increases -  but the garbage collection is a contracted private firm.

We also have a water management company, but adding electricity, composting, recycling to the mix would entail quite a bit of learning.  

At the end of the day, those five board members are accountable for every utility in that district.  They approve contracts, set budgets, and make far-reaching decisions.  Even though the contracted companies actually run the day-to-day details, the members must be informed and understand what is going on.  

My job is big enough just being one of the five directors on our little MUD.  I can't imagine breadth of knowledge it must take to be a RCID board member!

We looked at those, but we went to Home Depot and bought the indoor/outdoor green grass looking stuff.  I think maybe it might be Astroturf.  Anyway, it works great, doesn't mildew or mold, and we got the size we wanted.  It's probably a little more bulky, but it works for us.

Wait a minute.  Are you saying that RCID is basically responsible - through Reedy Creek Energy Services - for its own electricity generating plant, the sewage treatment plant, garbage collection, and water treatment not only for WDW, but for the consumers who live in the district?  What about the new Four Seasons hotel?  Is that RCID, too?  Plus, RICD sets tax rates, maintains pipelines,  and - assumption here - maintains roads, sidewalks, etc.  And five people are ultimately responsible for all of this?  OMG!  The learning curve for those board members must be unreal!

Paragraph 3, fifth word - "to" should read "the."  I apologize for pointing this out, but it was my first clue that something was amiss.  Thank you for typing up that letter, placing it under your windshield, parking it under trees, taking a picture of it and posting it here.  Awesome effort just to make us laugh!  

TCD,

I call foul!  I was at the Fort when you were and didn't receive a bat letter; I got the time change letter and the electricity letter though.  Plus, there's a typo in the letter.  Would Disney send out a letter with a typo?  I think not!

But I must commend you on your excellent, elaborate ruse!  Well done!  I do admit that you had me going for a while.

Ray,

What a fabulous trip!  How in the world could you go back to Oklahoma (even though we love it) after being in Bora Bora?  That had to be major culture shock!

You got me.  

I was so excited when I read this thread this morning that I immediately called three Disney-fan friends and announced the news to them.  Two of them were ecstatic, but one was a bit dubious.  I insisted that the information came from the most reliable sources - Lou and Devores - who always give up-to-the-minute, cutting edge news and information.  He checked his other Disney sources, called me back, and told me that this must be some elaborate joke - that no one else had this news.  Then I got indignant that he didn't believe me, said a few choice words and hung up - never bothering to look at this thread again.

But I was still a believer - that is, until this afternoon came and went - and there was no announcement.  THEN, I read the rest of this thread.  

Needless to say, I have spent the majority of the evening apologizing to friends, explaining that I didn't realize that this was April Fool's Day and my usually impeccable sources of information had fallen off the wagon!

You may not have fooled anyone else on this board, but you certainly got me.   

We've had a bit of trouble finding a place to overnight in northern Florida.  We finally found a really nice place in Milton, FL - Avalon Landing.  Newly graveled sites, new bath house, very large pull-throughs.  They have cable TV and wifi - and it worked!

We have also stayed in a KOA in east Tallahassee/Monticello, but this one had no cable TV, wifi only if you were close to the office, and the sites were all sand.  I would probably stay there again because it is convenient - right on the interstate.

White Springs, just north of Lake City, has Kelly's RV park with packed gravel/sand sites, nice bath house, but no cable TV and the wifi only works sometimes.  

We have also stayed at the Tallahassee West KOA.  The owners are really nice, and if you buy a pizza from them, they will deliver it to your RV.  BUT, I wouldn't recommend this place.  It is not kept up, the sites are VERY sandy (got sand all over the inside of the RV), and the bath house didn't look very nice, either.  We won't stay here again.

I have no idea if the reservations were linked.  All he said was that they all made their reservations at the same time.  He was a little miffed about the situation, but, as I said, I think it worked out okay.

What fun!  Loved your pictures!  Nice pop-up.

I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but sometimes - even if you request and do all the right things - and even if they tell you that you have sites together - it just doesn't happen.  In November, we were assigned site 715 for one night.  As we were backing into 715, a man ran out saying we were on the wrong site.  I checked our information and we had been assigned 715.  So I called the office and they had no record of the man having requested three sites together for his friends.  According to him, he asked for sites together when he booked, he phoned ahead of time, and when he checked in he reminded the CM of his request.  

We did ask for another site, but they gave us one of the other sites he had "reserved."  DUH!  Everything worked out in the end, but sometimes things get a little bumfuzzeled.

I hope you all have a wonderful time!