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New Fort Fiend Leaves NC arrives FW tomorrow (6/16)

gayle28607
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gayle28607

gayle28607 0

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Hi Fort Fiends,

 

You have been such a great source of information! Fiesty booked us at FW. We are tenting and have a 4 day park hopper with meal plan and water park, 1 sit down meal a day. We = me, the momma, and my 11 year old daughter. We did Yellowstone in a tent two years ago and loved it, so both of us wanted to do DW in a tent, too. I think it's going to be hotter than Yellowstone though! And probably no bison in our camp.

 

Will you give advice about anything I'm missing, what I should do upon arrival, where we should ask to put up our tent? I think Judy was suggesting the 1500 loop might be good for us.

 

We will get to FW probably around 7 PM Sunday. We aren't booked until the next day. Should I see if they will let us in? Where should we stay if not? We checkout on the 21st.

 

Does the shower area have towels or do we bring our own from home?

 

What am I missing?

 

1. I bought a net pop-up thing at the grocery store today after reading here about bugs.

2. Our tent is a small Marmot, good ventilation

3. Coleman cookstove and my camp kitchen

4. Marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate!

5. inflatable pads for sleeping.

6. two kinds of bug spray, killer and organic :)

7. Her bike, my bike, bike locks

8. A "Noah's Tarp" with two poles. (If you've never seen one they give you great shade and protections also from rain. I usually cook under it, at least part way. You always hope to guy one end to a tree.)

9. two light weight sleeping bags. Should we just bring a sheet though?'

10. the usual flashlights, bike lights, helmets, toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap

 

I'm sure I have other questions. And of course we leave tomorrow. I've been working my tail off to close up some work things so we can leave. I've barely had a chance to think about this, but we sure are excited.

 

So... Fort Fiends: What next? Do we drive down and sleep in the back of the truck Sunday night....  :jumpforjoy

 

Help the newbie. :)

 

 

 

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BradyBzLyn...Mo

BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023

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You will need to bring your own towels for the showers.

 

You might luck out and get in a night early if there's space available. If not, folks might be able to suggest some other campgrounds nearby.  I've heard people mention Tropical Palms and Turkey Lake but I don't have any personal experience there.  Unfortunately Disney won't likely let you stay in your car in the parking lot overnight if they don't have a site for you.

 

If you've booked a partial loop site, requesting 1500 seems to be the more popular of the 2 (the other partial loop is 2000), but keep in mind that it's only a request and Disney won't guarantee it.

 

Hopefully some of our tenters will be by to help out with some of your other questions.

 

Safe travels and have a wonderful time!

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BradyBzLyn...Mo

BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023

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Just to be clear, *if* they have space to let you in a night early, they will make you pay for the extra night.

 

We lucked out a couple of times and called on our way down when we knew we'd be a day early, and were able to add the extra night on.

 

Plenty of electricity at your site.  Some folks even rig up A/C units in their tents!

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mouseketab.....Carol

mouseketab.....Carol 1,261

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Yes, even the tent sites have 50 Amp, 30 Amp, and 4 regular 110 plugs.  bring several outdoor rated extension cords, and a power strip for inside the tent, you'll need it for charging cell phones, cameras, etc.

 

Bring a string of christmas lights to string up at the campsite, helps you find the tent at night. Also provides walking around light without a lantern lit that can attract bugs

 

Zip ties, they are great for lots of things!!  (Also bring some wire cutters to cut them down when you are done)

 

Each bring your own set of toiletries, so that you don't have to wait on each other to shower.

 

For the night before if you can't get into the Fort, I would suggest you just get a hotel on US 192 (Irlo Bronson Highway), there are LOTS of decent places over there for less than $50 a night. Ramada Inn, Best Western, Sleep Inn, Comfort Inn, you name it, there are hotels on that road.

 

Bring camp chairs, sitting at the picnic table gets old.

 

Garbage bags, and maybe a collapsible garbage can.  There are garbage cans around the loop, but it's nice to have one handy at the site, then dump the bag in the cans on the loop.

 

You didn't mention you were bringing a cooler, but if you do, buy your ice at the trading post instead of the machine at the comfort station, it is frozen a bit harder, and will last a little longer.

 

Table cloth for the picnic table

 

However, since Sunday is a big checkout day, and we haven't reached the 4th of July crowds yet, you have a pretty good chance of getting an extra night.

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gayle28607

gayle28607 0

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Yes, even the tent sites have 50 Amp, 30 Amp, and 4 regular 110 plugs.  bring several outdoor rated extension cords, and a power strip for inside the tent, you'll need it for charging cell phones, cameras, etc.

 

Bring a string of christmas lights to string up at the campsite, helps you find the tent at night. Also provides walking around light without a lantern lit that can attract bugs

 

Zip ties, they are great for lots of things!!  (Also bring some wire cutters to cut them down when you are done)

 

Each bring your own set of toiletries, so that you don't have to wait on each other to shower.

 

For the night before if you can't get into the Fort, I would suggest you just get a hotel on US 192 (Irlo Bronson Highway), there are LOTS of decent places over there for less than $50 a night. Ramada Inn, Best Western, Sleep Inn, Comfort Inn, you name it, there are hotels on that road.

 

Bring camp chairs, sitting at the picnic table gets old.

 

Garbage bags, and maybe a collapsible garbage can.  There are garbage cans around the loop, but it's nice to have one handy at the site, then dump the bag in the cans on the loop.

 

You didn't mention you were bringing a cooler, but if you do, buy your ice at the trading post instead of the machine at the comfort station, it is frozen a bit harder, and will last a little longer.

 

Table cloth for the picnic table

 

However, since Sunday is a big checkout day, and we haven't reached the 4th of July crowds yet, you have a pretty good chance of getting an extra night.

I've put these on my list to do in the morning! Great ideas.

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Tri-Circle-D

Tri-Circle-D 2,059

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So...even at the tent site I could have enough electricity that if I can find my extension cord in the morning I could bring a box fan and that would be a good thing? I'm assuming you found NO breeze or not much. What about bugs. And how hot was hot?

 

Welcome, gayle28607!

 

Please, please. please post an update and let us know how things went for you.  Did you attempt to check in early?  Did you find your extension cord?  Did you find out how hot was hot?

 

TCD

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southernview -- Ray

southernview -- Ray 25

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Oh, bike locks to lock them to the bike racks at the bus stops or boat docks when you go to the parks, or if you drive to the parks, lock them to a tree when you are away.

 

This post has made me curious.  We have been camping at FW for many years and have never had any trouble with anyone fooling with our bikes.  We bought rather expensive ones a couple of years back and decided that we should start locking them.  Has anyone had any trouble with bike theft or otherwise tampering with them? 

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BradyBzLyn...Mo

BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023

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I've heard stories of bikes gone missing from time to time.  Not sure if they're recovered later (i.e., someone just took them for a spin) or they disappeared permanently.

 

I don't think there's a pervasive problem with theft at the Fort, but people are people, for better or worse.

 

Doesn't hurt to not make it easy for the not-so-good ones to walk off with your stuff.

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Tri-Circle-D

Tri-Circle-D 2,059

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I've heard stories of bikes gone missing from time to time.  Not sure if they're recovered later (i.e., someone just took them for a spin) or they disappeared permanently.

 

I don't think there's a pervasive problem with theft at the Fort, but people are people, for better or worse.

 

Doesn't hurt to not make it easy for the not-so-good ones to walk off with your stuff.

 

Yup.  I agree 100%.

 

Especially if you have a nice bike.

 

All it takes is some idiot teenagers to grab your unlocked bikes and take them on a joy ride, and you may never see them again.

 

Also, hundreds and people come and go from the Fort every day who are not camping there.  Any one of those people could grab an unlocked bike and throw it in the back of a truck, and it will be gone without a trace.

 

TCD

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gayle28607

gayle28607 0

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Welcome, gayle28607!

Please, please. please post an update and let us know how things went for you. Did you attempt to check in early? Did you find your extension cord? Did you find out how hot was hot?

TCD

We got in early--well, late on Sunday and they put us in one of the big cabins for no extra charge! What a great way to start. Monday morning we checked in to campsite 1516, which we love.

I have the extension cord and the box fan, thank goodness. Bless you, bless you, bless you for thinking of that. It is WET and it is hot and it is humid. I think it's been running in the upper 80's lower 90's, and the humidity has to be equally high. And then it rains inches every afternoon. I have my mallet, sticks, any thing I could rig up to hang off the tarp so it will drain where I want it to and not collapse with the weight of all the rain water.

Our mesh house is collapsing in the rai thoughn, complete with a swimming pool puddled up in its base. That's been pretty useless. I was going to let the kids sleep out there, but they'd be soaked. Ah well.

Anyway, we love it. We went bike riding last night after dark and the air cooled us. It was beautiful. We spent a big chunk of today at Blizzard Beach which made the girls happy and exhausted. My daughter loves Star Wars so we were going to go to Disney Hollywood Studios but we stayed at BB until the rain, lightning and thunder made them close the pool.

There was no campfire or movie Monday night because of the rain!

My iPad still has a little power so I wanted to check in with all of you. The fan is going full blast. Without it I doubt we would sleep well at all. With it we at least aren't feverish! I keep being afraid my power strip will short out in the rain. I'm protecting it as well as I can but with the fierce storms that blow through it's gotten water on it. I'm finding there aren't enough rocks for all the things I need to hold down!

We are having a wonderful adventure in a gorgeous place. It would be better for my daughter if it cooled down and dried up a bit. She's being a trooper though. I still wouldn't trade for a hotel. Maybe a pop-up with AC!

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