2000 Loop issues

[Sinclare]

Hello everyone,

Just back from a mostly great 2+ weeks at the Fort. As much as we enjoy it, there were a few low points that make it seem us tent campers are being considered second/third class customers. Just wondering if anyone else noticed as I know there were a few other DIS'ers there at the same time.

1: Now this was an issue more for my dad than me as he is more of a type A personality. In the 2+ weeks we were there, the grass was only cut in 2000 loop once while all the other loops were cut twice a week. Not that big of a deal for me but the taller the grass, generally the worse the bug problems. Also irked me a bit because coming back from the pool one day I saw the mowers taking care of the cabin loop just across the canal and figured they would be hitting our loop next because it looked like this:


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So I pulled up the stakes on my Mickey pole and moved it for a few minutes. When I came back the wind had blown it over and destoryed my globe . Now I know it was my fault for not staking it down but we were there for another 6 days after that and the grass was still not mowed by the time we left......


2: We had a lot of trouble from the ice machines this time as well. Most of the time only getting 1/2 a bag of ice. It got to the point were we just gave up and started running to meadows to get ice and for those who know how hot it was...the result wasn't much different, even on a bike. They did come work on it after numerous complaints....after the end of our 2nd week there though......

3: Multiple cars parked on sites. I try to abide by the rules and make either me or my parents park one of our trucks in overflow. Even so as we were unloading the trucks Disney security stopped by and told us to move as we were setting up. We did as soon as everything was unloaded but during our stay we noticed a difference in how we were treated vs others. There were 2-6 other sites in the loop which stayed occupied for varied lengths of time that always had multiple cars parked on them. Some of them 3-4 cars plus a golf cart. Now being treated in this way (not caring about what others do while jumping on us) is something that really gets my dads blood boiling so he went to as if we could park both of ours and was told no. Finally he had to argue that if they were going to make us abide by the rules then they should make the others do the same. After which, he was told to go ahead.... Now we never did park both on the site but it led to the last issue and the one that boiled my blood a bit....

4: Not 5 minutes after he got back and told me what he did...Disney security came around specifically looking at our camp site. Now my son and nephew had brought their RIP sticks down and had been riding them all over the campground for the last week and not only was nothing ever said to them but there were several kids riding others riding theirs around, not to mention roller bladers. So security stops in front of our site were the boys are wheeling around, not bothering anyone and calls me over. I didn't know that the rip sticks were not allowed so it caught me off guard when he told me, then handed me a big yellow sheet and underlined it. Then wrote some kind of report and put my site number down. It took me a few minutes to connect the dots and for my blood pressure to rise and I wasn't in a good mood for the rest of the day to say the least. I made the boys put them up (they did still have bikes so it wouldn't have been a big deal normally) for the rest of the trip. I let it drop for the most part but it kept nagging me the rest of the trip as I watched the same kids from other loops ride theirs to the outpost...and right through/past the cm's taking pictures for the Hoopde or campfire. There were even a family of roller bladers that went right through the night crowd at trails end and nothing was ever said as far as I know. Dad kept bringing up the fair treatment thing and wanting me to complain but I am not on vacation to be in that kind of mood and I don't want to ruin the vacation of someone else either so I didn't.

5: The last issue is the bus routes. They have made changes so that the cabins are on the orange route and I guess in their mind 2000 loop is a nuisance (sp?). We waited and waited on buses this trip more than past years and this is the conclusion we finally came to. We finally resorted to using the 2100 cabin loop bus stop because purple was few and far between and the cabins get serviced by both orange and purple now.... It's not much of a walk but it comes back to the fair treatment deal again. If they are going to do away with the purple route and not stop at 2000 loop then they should just do it and not pretend they are treating everyone fair. 30+ minutes between buses just isn't acceptable.


Ok, that's off my chest... Otherwise we had a great time and I really miss the hot weather.

 

[seals]

They worked on that for a couple of days when we were there the week before Easter. Finally they put an "out of order" sign on it.
We rarely saw any security, except the morning when DH was using a piece of bark to try to push the pond of water off our campsite in the pouring rain. A car drove by and the person looked out the window at him and then drove on.
We didn't have too much trouble with the buses, however. Although we did just ride back to 2000 on whichever color came first and thus got off at the intersection near the cabins a few times.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Hello Sinclare-

I was at the Fort June 11-14, and saw your set-up on the 2000 loop. I even stopped by one time when I saw someone there, and spoke to your dad briefly. I am sorry to hear about your Mickey lamp breaking. I really liked your design with the lights in the pole.

Anyway, you have made some very valid observations. Some of them are not unique to the 2000 loop. I noticed long grass on some of the other camping loops, and I have noticed the lack of enforcement of the one car per site rule for some time now. It seems that some corners are being cut at the Fort.

The observation about the purple bus route is a valid one. I have noticed that the route designations on the buses seem to be adjusted on an as-needed basis. As you pointed out, the cabin loops are served by the Orange bus route, too, so as long as folks are being moved along by the Orange buses, they have less need for purple. The 2000 loop campers and group campers get the shaft.

TCD

 

[DisCamper]

We were told they stopped the 1 car per site last year when the new Manager came in

 

[clkelley]

Wow, I'm actually glad DH insisted on upgrading to full for this trip!!

Would the guests that weren't enforced happen to "no habla Englis?"

 

[BradyBz12]

We were told they stopped the 1 car per site last year when the new Manager came in

I can tell you that when we were there Nov 1-20 there were LOADS of sites with multiple cars on them - many in the 300 where we were. One site with a fiver in it had 3 full-size pickup trucks parked side-by-side across the front of the site for the better part of a week - and I can assure you they did *not* all fit on the pavement either. Yet when we parked our non-Disney cart's 2 back wheels on the grass to reach the plug, we got a little note left on it instructing us to keep it on the pavement. Um... the 3 truck site was actually visible from our site!

Better still were the multi-vehicle sites where one car was hanging out in the road because it didn't fit. You had to drive extra carefully around 300 at night to make sure you saw them.

Yeah - inconsistently or randomly enforced "rules" seems to be the norm these days. A shame because many of us really do try and follow the rules, even if it's not so convenient. But the more people see the rules blatantly being broken with no consequences, the more people will think "well if THEY can do it..."

I realize some rules seem pointless and silly, but some really are there for the benefit of everyone - and those don't seem to be consistently enforced either.

 

[Disneylitch]

When we were there at Christmas, in a full hook-up site, we had security knock on our door at 11pm because someone complained that the musical bells/lights were still playing. At the same time, there were sites with multiple cars and strash thrown everywhere. The new manager doesn't appear to be very competent. I think he needs to go back to Disney Training 101. They just need to be consistent, that's all. Here's the information to Walt Disney World Guest Communications Executive Offices:

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

You might want to contact them. My theory is that if there is a problem and we only complain to each other, nothing will be solved. If each one of us contacts Disney, then they will atleast know the scope of the problem. Hopefully, the problems will then be fixed. If not, atleast we know that we did the best we could.

 

[des1954]

This is the Gospel of Ft. Wilderness According to Me.

There is no continuity of rule enforcement at Ft. Wilderness!

You can take this next statement to the bank: If any loop attendant or security person made a point of writing my site number down on anything I would be dragging said person to the front desk and creating such a loud stink that people would hide their children and cover their ears!

Asian Jason (Manager in Practice) has been the brunt of my wrath on more than one occasion. So was Jean (whose last name I can't recall) - a real manager. All times it was due to rules NOT being enforced after repeated complaints to the front desk were ignored.

I know Disney could care less, but my DH & I, after almost 37 years of exclusive camping at FtW, are almost to the point of no longer going. The CM's at the Fort are no longer instructed to sprinkle the "pixie dust" as they once were. It's obvious that to most CM's, it's just a job and they are not concerned with guests having the "Disney Experience". There are just a handful of CM's left from the "good old days" that still have some "pixie dust" in their pockets, but those numbers are dwindling.

To the OP, I'm sorry that what should have been a marvelous vacation was clouded by Disney's apparent lack of attention to guest relations.

I strongly suggest you write a letter stating just what you've shared with us and mail copies to Bob Iger, the CEO over WDW resorts, and the manager of Ft. Wilderness.

 

[DisCamper]

I’m hoping I have something to do with more than 1 vehicle on a site. After many of nights of security beating on my door I had to do something about it. I had the New Manager at my site at 12am after an argument about two vehicles on our site and them showing me the rule. I had to point out if 1% of the sites have two or more vehicles you don’t have enough parking spots. So next day the rule was changed

 

[des1954]

Yay to that, Todd! I never understood the "1 vehicle per site" rule to begin with. If they are off the road and on the pavement, so what?

 

[stacktester]

I saw a site last week that had 3 cars side by side in the grass and on the driveway. Kids were in carts as usual. It's a free for all unfortunately. I remember the 1st time we went to the fort for the 4th of July in 07 a friend stopped by for a minute in their car and a CM verbally warned them within minutes and places a letter on their car.

 

[Tigger in Naples]

We were there in the 500 loop June 13th thru 23rd and noticed that the grass was longer and the sites weren't taken care of the way we were use to seeing. Maybe we have been spoiled from past years but they should be able to keep up or hire people that can.
I was also upset to see children driving carts around the Ft. since the accidents and problems they have had. We had a kid driving around our loop that had to sit on the edge of the seat and reach with his toe to hit the peddle and then pull himself up on the steering wheel to look over it to see and he was alone, that was just one of many we had seen while there. We also seen kids riding bikes in the main streets instead of the bike paths with no parents. When I was reading about the accidents that happened before we went I thought that the CM's would be out in force watching every move but we saw young kids driving carts right in front of them at the trading post with nothing said at all. With all said we are home now and I miss the Fort, my nephew says I have a sickness, Reading the Dis boards I know I'm not alone

 

[AnotherAlice]

I was there this week and saw a kid riding a rip stick all around the Meadows pool at 11pm and it was no big deal.

 

[Rland8228]

I'm sorry that it was stressful, where we live my parents have been getting visits from our township making us enforce all of the rules yet no one else does so I can definitely relate to that.This post is kinda making me second guess myself I guess no vacation is perfect all the time but now im getting concerned that maybe trying to tent camp wouldn't be a good idea and maybe we should stay at one of the resorts.Especially with a three year old.