Trip report : The good, and Bad :

[terri01p]

Ok, I'm going to try to give a run down of our WDW stay without getting really long winded.
We checked in at the fort at 1:00 p.m. and our site was ready, site 511. Ok big rigs Beware the guard shack has a bit of a turn, the 5th Wheel raptor in front of us took out the hanging roof, it took a fork lift to help him get off of it, his whole side of his tt was torned up, my goodness what a shame. We set up, went out to eat came back and they were still working with them.
Our site was plenty big ,we had a tt, truck and golf cart all in one space, so no problems there. The campground is more spread out then I imaged it, boy it's big. Alot of bunnies, birds, deers, armadillos, very clean and the bath house was the cleanest I've ever seen, very, very well maintained.
Ok, folks I payed 2.00 for a bag of ice to throw in my cooler and got two bags worth :thumbsup2 .
I won't go into everything, the weather was beautiful, the parks really weren't that crowded.
Now, the transportation was just terrible, you HAVE to be very patience to travel from here, on the bus going to MK ...1 hour....MGM...1 1/2 hours...epcot...1 hour 20 minutes and this was pretty consistance, the boat was still an hour, no matter when we rode it, now this was for both coming and going. We ended up driving on our last week there.
The staff seemed very nice and helpful, my dd got a kidney infection while we were there and we ended up at celebration hospital all night sunday, we dropped our prescription off at the front desk and went to bed when we got back, that afternoon they brought it to the tt for us, very nice.
The HDDR was a very cute show we all enjoyed it : the food was chicken, ribs, baked beans, corn on the cob, and corn bread, salad and strawberry short cake...all was good except for the ribs they were to tough to eat.
The steal of the century was the breakfast at trails end...12.77 including tax for takeout and it will feed a family of four easy, we showed the checkout lady and she said , if you can get it in the box, it's yours...:rolleyes1 ..good, good breakfast.
While we were there we seen a golf cart of teens turned over, security and police were helping them out of the swamp :eek: , very scary...I don't know how I feel about a group of teens on a golf cart, alot of acting crazy was going on.
We seen alot of pets, all over the place, not just in the pet areas, pool area, store, golf carts etc... I love animals and it did my heart good, especially since our doggie just died, but if your allergic to animals, you might want to rethink your stay.
All in all we had a good time, will we go back to the fort, probably not, unless gas prices change, we spent 550.00 in gas from charlotte N.C. to WDW. :scared1:
We meet some great people, I love campers !

[Us3]

Thanks for the report. Sounds like y'all had a good time. Sorry to hear it took you so long taking the transportation. I don't remember it taking us that long at all (we usually took the boat no matter where we were going). Perhaps the transportation is just all part of the fun for us??

I was wondering how often that guard shack was taken out. My guess is that this couldn't be the first time?? I cringed when we went past it and we only have an extended long bed truck and a 33ft trailer. My dh said we had plenty of room, but I still cringed, haha.

[parrisk]

I agree, I need more details about how he managed to take out the roof. We have a 39' fifth wheel toyhauler and will be bringing it to FW in May for our first time. My husband is already apprehensive about getting into the sites I can't imagine what he would do if that happened to him. Talk about how to have your vacation ruined. Poor guy.

[terri01p]

I agree, I need more details about how he managed to take out the roof. We have a 39' fifth wheel toyhauler and will be bringing it to FW in May for our first time. My husband is already apprehensive about getting into the sites I can't imagine what he would do if that happened to him. Talk about how to have your vacation ruined. Poor guy.

Well the guard shack really isn't that big, it has a roof that is a hang over type, and he misjudged his turn, he turned to close for the middle part of his raptor to make it, you need to swing out wide, its on sort of like a curve, you'll be find as long as you're aware of it. The sites ( to me ) didn't look that tight to get into, unless maybe you had a monster bus. My dh didn't have one seconds trouble backing in, and trust me your neighbors ( if they are there ) will help you out, ours were so very nice in helping us get our golf cart out of the back of our truck, we met just about everyone in our area doing this, people really know how you feel and are happy to help. No worries, you will be fine. We were inbetween two beautiful motor coaches whos owners had no problems.

[terri01p]

Thanks for the report. Sounds like y'all had a good time. Sorry to hear it took you so long taking the transportation. I don't remember it taking us that long at all (we usually took the boat no matter where we were going). Perhaps the transportation is just all part of the fun for us??

I was wondering how often that guard shack was taken out. My guess is that this couldn't be the first time?? I cringed when we went past it and we only have an extended long bed truck and a 33ft trailer. My dh said we had plenty of room, but I still cringed, haha.

Just wanted to add I think riding the transportation is a frame of mind thing, whenever we were younger and the kids were small we couldn't have told you how long it took to riding the bus to anything, we just loved it all, after the kids are grown and my 50 pounds extra weight..:rolleyes1 , I now don't have quite as much fun in riding or waiting for the bus. We stood and waited for the boat for 30 minutes one day, the family in front of us was laughing, taking pictures, talking to others around them, we were leaning on the rail with our big fat feet and legs killing us, thinking where's that d... boat. :rotfl2:

[homemaker]

terri01p
Thanks for the report. Nice to hear you all had a good time.

We are camping with our pop up at the fort in October. We have always stayed in the cabins and this will be our first time pulling the pop up that far. I saw your gas total and almost feel off my computer chair.:rotfl2: Was that amount one way or round trip gas? It just might be cheaper for us to fly from NJ and stay in the cabin.

[DisCamper]

I find that the time spent on the bus,boat is a get time to catch up on some most needed sleep.

[kmccain]

Thanks so much for the great report! :thumbsup2

It really makes me wish I was there! :yay: Lots of great information for us all!

Did you get the ice at the comfort station? :confused: We are going in August and will be needing plenty of ice! :sunny:


Fellow campers are one of the reasons we love to camp too! You can't ask for nicer people. We really enjoy going to RV shows because they are all there and we have a great time visiting with everyone and looking at new campers!:love:

So sorry to hear about the person in front of you! :eek: That would have been a bummer! I thank the Lord that DH is pretty good about that stuff. pirate:

Thanks!

:tink:

[terri01p]

Our total gas price included going down there and coming back , plus going back and forth to the parks the one week ( 550.00 $ ).
The ice machines are located by the comfort stations, you'll have a bath house, ice machine, laundry all together.

[parrisk]

Well the guard shack really isn't that big, it has a roof that is a hang over type, and he misjudged his turn, he turned to close for the middle part of his raptor to make it, you need to swing out wide, its on sort of like a curve, you'll be find as long as you're aware of it. The sites ( to me ) didn't look that tight to get into, unless maybe you had a monster bus. My dh didn't have one seconds trouble backing in, and trust me your neighbors ( if they are there ) will help you out, ours were so very nice in helping us get our golf cart out of the back of our truck, we met just about everyone in our area doing this, people really know how you feel and are happy to help. No worries, you will be fine. We were inbetween two beautiful motor coaches whos owners had no problems.


What loop were you in? Can you remember the site #? Was it preferred with pets? My husband is actually quite good at towing and backing into the sites, but he thinks if he doesn't get it in on the first try everyone is watching him. We were thinking of requesting the 800 loop because it has the most sites and since my parents are also bringing their camper I thought 800 would be our best chance of us at least being in the same loop. What did you think about the 800 loop? Thanks for all your help.:yay:

[terri01p]

What loop were you in? Can you remember the site #? Was it preferred with pets? My husband is actually quite good at towing and backing into the sites, but he thinks if he doesn't get it in on the first try everyone is watching him. We were thinking of requesting the 800 loop because it has the most sites and since my parents are also bringing their camper I thought 800 would be our best chance of us at least being in the same loop. What did you think about the 800 loop? Thanks for all your help.:yay:


We were in preferred site 511, it must have been a pet loop because there were fur babies all around us. I thought the 800 loop was really nice, now " different strokes for different folks", it all depends on what you want , for us if we ever go back will will ask for the 100 loop because it was the closes to the marina and that's important to us. Our site was just right down from a bus stop, and right down from a comfort station so as far as site go it was located good. By the way, our neightbors were traveling with family side by side. You'll be able to judge the sites just by looking at them, whenever we got our site number, we discussed all the way to it ,how if it looked tight we were going to call them, but one look and my dh said no problem ! I don't think you will have trouble getting your families together, but just before my trip I would call them, whenever we got to the fort they had my reservations all screwed up, it ended up to be no big deal but hingesight I should have called an checked on it.

[parrisk]

We were in preferred site 511, it must have been a pet loop because there were fur babies all around us. I thought the 800 loop was really nice, now " different strokes for different folks", it all depends on what you want , for us if we ever go back will will ask for the 100 loop because it was the closes to the marina and that's important to us. Our site was just right down from a bus stop, and right down from a comfort station so as far as site go it was located good. By the way, our neightbors were traveling with family side by side. You'll be able to judge the sites just by looking at them, whenever we got our site number, we discussed all the way to it ,how if it looked tight we were going to call them, but one look and my dh said no problem ! I don't think you will have trouble getting your families together, but just before my trip I would call them, whenever we got to the fort they had my reservations all screwed up, it ended up to be no big deal but hingesight I should have called an checked on it.

Thanks so much! We can't wait! We will have our golf cart so it really doesn't matter where they put us as long as it is large enough and my parents are close by. We plan on driving into the parks, because we really don't like the buses. What were your experiences with the transportation system?
Sorry. I just reread your post and I see that the transportation system was very bad.

[terri01p]

Thanks so much! We can't wait! We will have our golf cart so it really doesn't matter where they put us as long as it is large enough and my parents are close by. We plan on driving into the parks, because we really don't like the buses. What were your experiences with the transportation system?
Sorry. I just reread your post and I see that the transportation system was very bad.

Not a problem, that's what happens when you get real wordy...hehehehe
We took our own golf cart too, and whenever I made my reservations I was told I needed at least 50,000 worth of insurance on it, so I took it out early April...whenever we checked in they didn't even ask for it, when we gave her a copy of our coverage, she thought we were odd, oh well live and learn. Do drive to the parks everything is fairly close, but don't take your car because of my report, we are all so out of shape here..::tiptoe:

[djblu883]

the transportation is being re vamped and Disney is also having a time filling all their employment vacancies to the point they are going nationwide looking for new people....i love the transportaion system in the fort but When traveling with young cranky babies I found I prefer to drive to the parks instead...then when we are ready get to the car and back to rest....

[CottontailCurl]

Thanks for writing up a trip report! It sounds like you had fun, when were you there? My folks were there a couple weeks ago and said the same thing about boat transportation, it was a very long wait.

[stacktester]

I would imagine in the mornings it's very crowded to get a boat. It also seems that the WL guests have to wait a shorter time because they get picked up and dropped off first. That little stop can cause a long wait for the campground guests.

I know at night when the MK closes the dock is a mess. I usually take my time and look in the shops and wait til the traffic dies down.

[terri01p]

Thanks for writing up a trip report! It sounds like you had fun, when were you there? My folks were there a couple weeks ago and said the same thing about boat transportation, it was a very long wait.


We were there from April13-28, and your folks were right we waited as long as 45 minutes on the boat.

[Gatordad]

it would be better if they sold beer at disney.

[terri01p]

it would be better if they sold beer at disney.

HeHeHe...I thought they did, we watched fireworks at the beach one night and the guy and gal beside us in chairs, must have downed a six pack, at the end of the fireworks the man cryed...you can't beat that kind of entertainment...priceless. :rotfl2:

[parrisk]

Not a problem, that's what happens when you get real wordy...hehehehe
We took our own golf cart too, and whenever I made my reservations I was told I needed at least 50,000 worth of insurance on it, so I took it out early April...whenever we checked in they didn't even ask for it, when we gave her a copy of our coverage, she thought we were odd, oh well live and learn. Do drive to the parks everything is fairly close, but don't take your car because of my report, we are all so out of shape here..::tiptoe:

My dad is excited to be staying on property because he hates driving into the parks. He is looking forward to Disney transportation, but to be quite frank. I loathe it!!! I hate waiting in the hot sun to attempt to board a bus that is already packed so you have to stand up in the aisle with your butt in someone's face. I have been trying to persuade my dad that the buses are not so great! I guess he will just have to see for himself. Thanks again for your time in answering my questions.

[terri01p]

Transportation is part of the WDW perks, and with gas prices like they are your better off taking the busses or boat, just be prepared. It wouldn't be so bad if you could just wait 20 minutes on one bus and be on your way, but when you wait 10 minutes on one bus to take you up front and 30 minutes on that bus to take you to the parks, that can get old quick.

[magicforever]

I don't mind the transportation. I know it takes a while sometimes. I did wait one morning just to go get coffee. (didn't want to fix it that day) It was way too long. I stopped a bus and they said they were short staffed that morning. He said someone would be by soon. Sure enough, someone was there. I guess I don't mind waiting. I think it is the feeling of no responsibility. I don't have to worry about how to get there. No matter the wait, it makes my vacation more relaxed. My favorite time to ride the transportation is after extra magic hours. Everyone is tuckered out. It is dark. Children are sleeping in there parents lap. You can tell everyone had a magical day. Maybe I should change my name from magicforever to optimistic. :goodvibes

[bigdisneydaddy]

HeHeHe...I thought they did, we watched fireworks at the beach one night and the guy and gal beside us in chairs, must have downed a six pack, at the end of the fireworks the man cryed...you can't beat that kind of entertainment...priceless. :rotfl2:


Are you laughing at me because I cried ? :confused3

[Colson39]

Ugh, I've never had to wait an hour for a boat, remind me to never go during that time....lol.

I think the longest I've ever waited was maybe 20 minutes at most, and that seemed like a really long time. Hopefully this was just a random thing for that day.

And an hour and a half to get to Epcot? Even during Thanksgiving we've never had to wait thatlong, although we normally drive to Epcot/MGM/Animal Kingdom. I'm truly sorry this happened, that just plain sucks :(

[terri01p]

Are you laughing at me because I cried ? :confused3


Hehehe...when you fall out of a lounge chair bawling, ya we'll laugh at ya. :lmao:

[CottontailCurl]

magicforever to optimistic. :goodvibes

It means the same thing ;) ;)

[bigdisneydaddy]

Hehehe...when you fall out of a lounge chair bawling, ya we'll laugh at ya. :lmao:


I thought it was perfectly acceptable to be a sensitive man ?
Now I am confused.......

[LMC]

the guy and gal beside us in chairs, must have downed a six pack, at the end of the fireworks the man cryed...you can't beat that kind of entertainment...priceless. :rotfl2:

He realized he needed another 6-pack and how much it was going to cost him at the trading post!:rotfl:

[dizneydiva2005]

I'm from Charlotte NC and I'd die if we had to pay $550.00 in gas!!! But of course we're not in a trailer.

[ilovejack02]

I'm from Charlotte NC and I'd die if we had to pay $550.00 in gas!!! But of course we're not in a trailer.

How long does it take you to get to WDW from NC?

[bigdisneydaddy]

He realized he needed another 6-pack and how much it was going to cost him at the trading post!:rotfl:



I know exactly what it costs so I always budget for a couple of "crisis" 6 packs on every trip. They seem to get empty faster when I am on vacation. ;)

[terri01p]

It takes us about 10 hours to drive to WDW, that usually includes a couple of restroom stops and gas and a stop at the welcome center in florida.
It took us 12 hours pulling our tt because we took it very easy, it was the first time we pulled it that far and didn't want to have any problems.

[bigdisneydaddy]

It takes us about 10 hours to drive to WDW, that usually includes a couple of restroom stops and gas and a stop at the welcome center in florida.
It took us 12 hours pulling our tt because we took it very easy, it was the first time we pulled it that far and didn't want to have any problems.


Pulling the TT always takes a few extra hours. No sense in trying to push it while towing.
We love the convenience of being able to stop and eat or rest and knowing that we have the bathroom already with us :thumbsup2

[jima53]

The only problem we had concerning golf carts during our last stay was a loaded cart full of kids that decided to play shadow and follow us everywhere for a little while. We would stop to let them go by, they would stop, we would turn around they would do the same,,, at times driving close up on us. Finally I stopped and got out and walked back asking them what their problem was. Guess they didn't like the confrontation. It was a disney cart, wonder where the parents were.


Jim

[Colson39]

The only problem we had concerning golf carts during our last stay was a loaded cart full of kids that decided to play shadow and follow us everywhere for a little while. We would stop to let them go by, they would stop, we would turn around they would do the same,,, at times driving close up on us. Finally I stopped and got out and walked back asking them what their problem was. Guess they didn't like the confrontation. It was a disney cart, wonder where the parents were.


Jim

Most teens don't. They act all big and bad until you actually say something to them, then they whimper away. If someone was shadowing me like that, well, hmmm, maybe I would decide to throw my drink out the back or something, I don't know....lol ;)

[terri01p]

The only problem we had concerning golf carts during our last stay was a loaded cart full of kids that decided to play shadow and follow us everywhere for a little while. We would stop to let them go by, they would stop, we would turn around they would do the same,,, at times driving close up on us. Finally I stopped and got out and walked back asking them what their problem was. Guess they didn't like the confrontation. It was a disney cart, wonder where the parents were.


Jim


If that would have happened to me we would have rode around so slow, that they would have gotten so bored..hehe...kids are silly, the one thing that really got me were a group of kids on a cart that went into the swamp, it's a wonder someone didn't get killed. I would have never let my teens go off on a golf cart alone ever, I know how kids are.

[VAN]

Thanks for your report. We just got back from FW ... we were there April 22-May 4, staying in the 1700 loop with our dog.

I only saw one dog outside of the pet loop in the time we were there. We would always drive our dog up to the kennel for the day. We loved the kennel and our dog got used to it. It was nice to have him out of the heat (90 degrees most days), plus it was nice not to have to worry if he was barking in the camper or something.

I too found the transportation really slow this time. I understand that they are really WAY UNDERSTAFFED, especially with the buses. The boats were all messed up trying to get the HDDR people out of there. One boat came almost loaded from WL, stopped at FW and then returned to WL before the MK. Boy were the WL people upset!!! I can't say that I blame them!

I thought the CMs were much nicer this year. During the week the attendance was way down which was nice for a change. The two days we went into the parks, the longest lines were for Peter Pan and that was only 30 minutes. With a little planning we were able to walk onto most rides or with just a 10 minute wait.

The weekends at FW get really crazy with all of the locals. The overflow lot is full. I saw many spots that seemed to have lots of people and then they appeared to have lots of friends/family come to spend the day with them. It did appear, though this may not be the case, that many of the locals have found out they can just come and park for free at FW. I was a tad surprised to find that parking is now $10 per day per car. Of course, staying at FW, we just showed our Resort Pass.

That seemed a bit different this year as well ... a couple of places we had to show a photo ID along with our resort pass in order to park at a different resort (e.g. Boardwalk).

Well I just wanted to add a couple of things ... I hope to have some time to do a short report myself.

Oh - we visited Celebration with our dog .... LOVED IT!! They have a wonderful park with walking trails. Afterward we had lunch at the Market Street Cafe and were able to sit at an outside table with our dog. The food was great!! Very fresh and, I think, reasonably priced for what you get (I had a very large Cobb Salad with generous toppings for $10.95).

Just back from our 20 hour drive (stayed overnight in Lexington, KY) ... off to bed!!

[terri01p]

Thanks for your report. We just got back from FW ... we were there April 22-May 4, staying in the 1700 loop with our dog.

I only saw one dog outside of the pet loop in the time we were there. We would always drive our dog up to the kennel for the day. We loved the kennel and our dog got used to it. It was nice to have him out of the heat (90 degrees most days), plus it was nice not to have to worry if he was barking in the camper or something.

I too found the transportation really slow this time. I understand that they are really WAY UNDERSTAFFED, especially with the buses. The boats were all messed up trying to get the HDDR people out of there. One boat came almost loaded from WL, stopped at FW and then returned to WL before the MK. Boy were the WL people upset!!! I can't say that I blame them!

I thought the CMs were much nicer this year. During the week the attendance was way down which was nice for a change. The two days we went into the parks, the longest lines were for Peter Pan and that was only 30 minutes. With a little planning we were able to walk onto most rides or with just a 10 minute wait.

The weekends at FW get really crazy with all of the locals. The overflow lot is full. I saw many spots that seemed to have lots of people and then they appeared to have lots of friends/family come to spend the day with them. It did appear, though this may not be the case, that many of the locals have found out they can just come and park for free at FW. I was a tad surprised to find that parking is now $10 per day per car. Of course, staying at FW, we just showed our Resort Pass.

That seemed a bit different this year as well ... a couple of places we had to show a photo ID along with our resort pass in order to park at a different resort (e.g. Boardwalk).

Well I just wanted to add a couple of things ... I hope to have some time to do a short report myself.

Oh - we visited Celebration with our dog .... LOVED IT!! They have a wonderful park with walking trails. Afterward we had lunch at the Market Street Cafe and were able to sit at an outside table with our dog. The food was great!! Very fresh and, I think, reasonably priced for what you get (I had a very large Cobb Salad with generous toppings for $10.95).

Just back from our 20 hour drive (stayed overnight in Lexington, KY) ... off to bed!!



I will be interested in your report so get some rest, I knew whenever I reported how long the busses took and the boat there would be some people that would think I made it up to make things look bad, but beleive it or not the transportation was bad, we also waited for a boat that came over full and had to go straight over to MK , I didn't want to cause a scene but I could have busted into a full fledge cry. :rolleyes1

[iradi8]

We were there the last week in April. We were going to the Contemporary and a boat came from the WL that had room for 2 people. So... no one got on at FW and it took about 15-20 minutes for another boat to come. That only happened once.

We didn't have a problem with the bus service. I did overhear a cm on the bus say that there are 300 busses and it takes 1200 drivers to run smoothly -- then she said that they were short on drivers right now.

[Colson39]

One boat came almost loaded from WL, stopped at FW and then returned to WL before the MK. Boy were the WL people upset!!! I can't say that I blame them!


They change the routes all the time based on what they think will be busy. Sometimes they will go to WL more, sometimes they won't. They give the boat captains the routes to take beforehand, I went one weekend and they only stopped at WL once, then went back the next weekend and that time they stopped at WL twice. It just depends.

I won't be back till the Fort until November, so I guess I'll have to wait till then to see what the transportation is like, if it's changed at all, cause I have yet to ever really wait a long time for a boat, not saying it doesn't happen though.

15-20 minutes is not a long time to wait for a boat though, if you just miss the boat that can easily be an average wait time, I wouldn't worry about that.

If you pay attention while you're there sometimes you can figure out which boats are taking which routes, and if you want to go to the Contemporary sometimes waiting an extra 10 minutes for the next boat can be faster than having to go to the WL first. I've seen lots of times where one boat goes to WL first, and the other goes to the Contemporary first.

[VAN]

I was always one of those who thought the boat service was good ... it wasn't that great this time ... but then it was in the evening when they had a lot of HDDR people.

[ftwildernessguy]

Last trip we made the mistake of taking the boat over to WL on one of the nights of MNSSHP. The dock was packed when we were ready to return, and we couldn't get to the launch going back to FW due to the crowd waiting for the special MK launches being run for the event. Finally, I gathered up a group trying to get back to the campground and started pushing my way through the crowd. This very tall guy dressed like Capt. Hook thought we were trying to get ahead of him in line, and he positioned himself in my way. I said to him "after 27 years in the Army, Capt Hook is NOT gonna keep me off that boat to the campground." He started laughing and cleared the way.

[Shannone1]

Last trip we made the mistake of taking the boat over to WL on one of the nights of MNSSHP.

Sorry...I am still fairly new to all the abbreviations. What is the MNSSHP ??

[Colson39]

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

:)

[lisa8200]

I know that the transportation can get bad but, not always. The only time we have had a long wait was when we would see the boat or bus pulling off as we got there. I didn't think to time everything during our trip ( I was on vacation and at Disney, time wasn't that important ) but I did check the travel time from Epcot to FWbecause I read a lot of complaints about this one. It took us right at about 30 min from the time we got to the bus stop at Epcot to get to our cart at the FW marina. As some of you know this means one bus to FW and then a second bus to the marina.I know this is not the norm but, we normally have pretty good luck, not always but normally.

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa214/llc8200/Cart.jpg

[JanetR]

We are here now and we haven't had any problem with the transportation, Of course realize that we are seniors and we are never in a hurry. Plus we make it a point to leave before the park closes to avoid the rush. However we were at MGM last night and stayed for Fantasmic which is when the park is closed and still transportation was great and we got back to FW in good time.
Sorry to here about the poor fellow that took out the guard shack. We are 40' with Honda Civic tow and had no problem, just to ease the minds of those coming soon. Just travel slow and take your time. Well gotta go and hit Epcot: :yay: Take care all, travel safe.