Attendance at Fort Wilderness

[my3princes]

The price of gas definitely factors in to camping. We will still be towing our camper down from Vermont in June. We are staying 3 weeks and there are 5 of us. That being said had we not already allocated our DVC points to the campground we probably would have flown down and stayed at a resort. Now that points are out of DVC and into the CR system we would only be able to use them at non DVC resorts and they wouldn't go far. Our 3 week trip wouldn't go much longer than a week. So tow we will. My DB was planning to tow down too, but with an AP discount at Pop and DING fares on SW they will probably save around $800 and not be in the truck for 28 hours each way. They will still hang out at the Fort with us so they won't miss the 4th at the Fort. If we knew then what we know now we wouldn't have towed the camper this year.

 

[ffpm63]

I am still going. I am using the stimulus check just for gas hope it does not go higher. We actually extended our trip to do some other things in florida like camping on the beach since this will probably be our only trip this year other than to the farm. The news said the other day that they expect gas to start going down the nd of july early august. That would be great since that is when we are going. Not going to hold my breath though

 

[des1954]

Regular gas here in Lakeland, Fl is anywhere from $3.74 (RaceTrac) to $3.97 (rip-off stations). The Hess at WDW is usually .04 to .05 lower than our fuel one county to the west. I suspect by the weekend we will see $4.00 and once Mem Day weekend is over, it'll go back down until July 4th holiday. The gas companies have become so predictable - the shyster's!!

I say that with all the great minds amassing for the MDGG, we should be able to figure out a way to run our vehicles on the hot air we will be generating on Saturday!! Heck - we already figured out that it takes a can of baked beans to make our own spa out of the Meadow Pool!

 

[Boomer1]

The Fort may see more "foreign"Canadian visitors this season. With the conversion from litres to US gallons we are paying about $6 / gallon here. Our dollar is at par so for us this trip seems less expensive than those we took to WDW in past years. The rising prices have meant for us that we don't take very many trips far from home anymore and save our vacation dollars for our FW/WDW trip in December. The problem with the rising gas prices is that it causes the price of everything else to go up so that even if you cut back on the gas you are using you will still pay more at the grocery store , etc.

 

[ntsammy5]

We paid $4.10 on Long Island on Friday...and it's only going up. At the rate it's been going it could be $5.00 by fourth of July.

I heard someone say the other day thet that would equate to $180-$200 bbl. Watch that price rise, Setting records every day.

 

[Stepanie]

My dh said last evening that if deisel reaches $6.00 we will not be coming in Dec.We can not justify spending that kind of money on fuel. I hope not because that would be our first trip to the Fort.

 

[djblu883]

well was working on my ticker and started thinking about fuel cost....then realized I still have over 6 months to save for it and have tickets, meals and campsite paid for already...lol what was I thinking? I can EASILY save for my fuel!!!!

 

[DznyRulz]

I wonder if the weekly attendance will increase once school is out?

I condiser that a given. There will be plenty of foreign visitors, thanks to the weak dollar, and those who live closer than the rest of us to take advantage of those who are canceling their trips.

 

[auntie]

The price of gas definitely factors in to camping. We will still be towing our camper down from Vermont in June. We are staying 3 weeks and there are 5 of us. That being said had we not already allocated our DVC points to the campground we probably would have flown down and stayed at a resort. Now that points are out of DVC and into the CR system we would only be able to use them at non DVC resorts and they wouldn't go far. Our 3 week trip wouldn't go much longer than a week. So tow we will. My DB was planning to tow down too, but with an AP discount at Pop and DING fares on SW they will probably save around $800 and not be in the truck for 28 hours each way. They will still hang out at the Fort with us so they won't miss the 4th at the Fort. If we knew then what we know now we wouldn't have towed the camper this year.

This is what I mean when I say that I think we're only starting to see the effects of the gas increases. I figure the attendance at this point is probably people who live closer, and didn't have much choice in changing their plans. With the ever increasing price of fuel people are re-thinking their plans.
Is it such a value, if you are spending a fortune on fuel..can the cost of the fuel be justified vs. a stay in one of the resorts and a cheap SW airfare?
While camping has always been more a lifestyle choice, not necessarily done for value reasons, I think with a long trip with such huge fuel costs, it does factor in more than it would staying closer to home.

Even those that have time to save for the additional fuel cost ....have you been to the grocery store? My last trip to the supermarket I was amazed at what we paid, yet I didn't have enough food to put together one meal! The gas increase is having a trickle down effect on everything...going to make it harder to save for that increase in the fuel for the trip.
I think if things don't let up, it's bound to have a negative effect on FW attendance...and camping in general.

 

[ntsammy5]

Here's some pictures from December 2001 that shows how low the crowds were at MK and Universal. It was creepy.

 

[seabee]

I am still going. I am using the stimulus check just for gas hope it does not go higher. We actually extended our trip to do some other things in florida like camping on the beach since this will probably be our only trip this year other than to the farm. The news said the other day that they expect gas to start going down the nd of july early august. That would be great since that is when we are going. Not going to hold my breath though

If it goes down I will be happy but also peeved, since we just canceled because of what it would cost to tow. We were figuring gas around $4.20 easily because of the way it has been going up weekly here. Next week we will be at $4.00 without a doubt. With what we get for gas milage we figured it would be about $1800 RT if we towed. Even if they go down, they will be going down from much higher prices then what they are at now, and I don't think it will make much a difference for us anyway.

 

[seabee]

Here's some pictures from December 2001 that shows how low the crowds were at MK and Universal. It was creepy.

Creepy but AWESOME. I would love it if it was that dead when I was there.

 

[seabee]

This is what I mean when I say that I think we're only starting to see the effects of the gas increases. I figure the attendance at this point is probably people who live closer, and didn't have much choice in changing their plans. With the ever increasing price of fuel people are re-thinking their plans.
Is it such a value, if you are spending a fortune on fuel..can the cost of the fuel be justified vs. a stay in one of the resorts and a cheap SW airfare?While camping has always been more a lifestyle choice, not necessarily done for value reasons, I think with a long trip with such huge fuel costs, it does factor in more than it would staying closer to home.

Even those that have time to save for the additional fuel cost ....have you been to the grocery store? My last trip to the supermarket I was amazed at what we paid, yet I didn't have enough food to put together one meal! The gas increase is having a trickle down effect on everything...going to make it harder to save for that increase in the fuel for the trip.
I think if things don't let up, it's bound to have a negative effect on FW attendance...and camping in general.

That is exactly why we had to cancel. We already have our tickets as well as our MNSSHP tickets, and our site was paid for. All we needed was money to get there and back and then food and spending, etc. We still had 5 months, no problem right. Wrong. I don't know how many times we have dipped into our trip savings. And not because we didn't exhaust every other option first. I wouldn't even call it a trip savings anymore, its more like Petty Cash. Our little stimulus check doesn't even cover the cost of gas RT. We are still driving down because it is less stressful with DH's needs, but we are saving aprx. $800 by not towing. Yes we are paying a little more on the room at SOG-$93, but with the savings in gas it still doesn't add up to more or even equal to what it would be if we towed. I'm really bummed, but what can you do. Every time I turn around something that is a neccessity costs more than it did last week. I spent $130 dollars at the grocery store last night and I only had 2 bags! We canceled our camping trip this weekend too, we just can't justify spending the money on fuel when we need it for so many other things like food, and home costs. Hopefully something gets done soon.

 

[ntsammy5]

I spent $130 dollars at the grocery store last night and I only had 2 bags!

I really feel for all you people with growing kids still at home -- it's just the 2 of us now and I don't eat as much as I used to so grocery bills are actually going down quite a bit for us, but then again beer is going up quite a bit so I guess it evens out.

I notice the price of eating out going up quite a bit too. There's a local hot dog place that we eat at quite often that's had to raise hot dog prices every week for the past month. When the fed has to address all the inflation we're just starting to see, watch interest rates go up, which is a good thing for savers.

 

[stacktester]

We went in November of 01 and all I remember was saying about a 100 times nobody's here. The parking lot was empty as were the monorails to the MK. Usually there's long lines in front of the gates and we just walked right in. Hopefully if it's ever like that again it will be for a different reason.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

I really feel for all you people with growing kids still at home -- it's just the 2 of us now and I don't eat as much as I used to so grocery bills are actually going down quite a bit for us, but then again beer is going up quite a bit so I guess it evens out.

I notice the price of eating out going up quite a bit too. There's a local hot dog place that we eat at quite often that's had to raise hot dog prices every week for the past month. When the fed has to address all the inflation we're just starting to see, watch interest rates go up, which is a good thing for savers.

What' the hot dog stand?

 

[ntsammy5]

Teds of course!

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Teds of course!

I thought so.

 

[ntsammy5]

There's a Teds about a mile away now. I love their hot sauce!

 

[Flametamr]

We have not cancelled our trip but we definately factored in higher gas prices and decided not to go to the Fort for the first time this year. I bought a new Pop-Up in October with Disney in mind. But with gas so high and Disney giving free dining again I had to chose the resort over the Fort. As it is I'm saving about 900 on food. Had I taken the camper gas would have cost me an extra 300 -500 and then we would have had to buy and cook our food. I don't think I wanna do that a lot after a long day in the parks.

Hopefully gas will not go over 5 dollars a gallon next year like predicted or it may ruin our Christmas trip in Dec 09. Then I'll never get to stay at the Fort.