Ed- you still have your Suburban?

[DL1WDW2]

Hope it is okay to join in conversation. Love the pic of your new ALiner when you purchased it.
Anyway I need advice, I currently wonder if this is a good auto for towing or to possibly convert into mini camper since I will be selling end of March/early April . I am 70 and dont feel safe driving in Florida anymore. . I live near WDW . 2013 Acadia AWD Denali w/ 83,000 miles , new tires and battery purchased in Dec. Still have my original window sticker and see it has factory installed trailer hitch... 3.6L V6 engine and excellent service record with every scheduled “Flush” recommended by dealership...yes they call me the perfect GMC customer when they look at my maintenance records...Apparently they can see everything online.
I’m not comfortable selling it myself and know I will get ****** by CarMax
Does anybody have advice ? Maybe I should keep car and convert it in case I am homeless someday. I could live at the Fort!!!
Happy Trails to all that are friends of the Fort Wilderness and the Dis boards.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Selling is always a question mark.
2) Fortunately, there are several dealerships that will make offers.
3) Pick some and compare pricing, and take the best.

4) Also, when you go to buy a new vehicle,
. . . ask the dealership how much they offer to buy your car
. . . not a trade-in value, but a cash purchase.
. . . consider this against the other offers
5) According to Edmunds and KBB, never take a "trade offer".
. . . you are allowing the dealer to take from MSRP price
. . . this puts you at a major disadvantage
. . . optional: when you deal, always tell dealer "no trade"
. . . this makes them deal on a cash price
. . . after agreeing on price, then ask how much cash for you car
6) Go to KBB.com or Edmunds.com, as they have great advice.
. . . you can read how to bargain on a new car
. . . you can read strategy for getting best price on trade-in

NOTE:
. . . And yes, I was in the "auto game" in my career.
. . . I ran assembly plants.
. . . But, we all knew how to deal with retail dealerships.

 

[bama_ed]

Waiting for first pic of the new TV hooked to Aliner

A pic of the two on the way to the trailer service place about 4 weeks ago.

Got a lot of camping planned this spring, Jimmy.

Bama Ed

 

[bama_ed]

Hope it is okay to join in conversation. Love the pic of your new ALiner when you purchased it.
Anyway I need advice, I currently wonder if this is a good auto for towing or to possibly convert into mini camper since I will be selling end of March/early April . I am 70 and dont feel safe driving in Florida anymore. . I live near WDW . 2013 Acadia AWD Denali w/ 83,000 miles , new tires and battery purchased in Dec. Still have my original window sticker and see it has factory installed trailer hitch... 3.6L V6 engine and excellent service record with every scheduled “Flush” recommended by dealership...yes they call me the perfect GMC customer when they look at my maintenance records...Apparently they can see everything online.
I’m not comfortable selling it myself and know I will get ****** by CarMax
Does anybody have advice ? Maybe I should keep car and convert it in case I am homeless someday. I could live at the Fort!!!
Happy Trails to all that are friends of the Fort Wilderness and the Dis boards.

I agree with the Rusty Scupper's advice. You are in no hurry to get rid of the Acadia and get a new vehicle (like if you'd been in an accident and needed new wheels soon). So you can take your time to get the cash offer. Cars have a premium used sales price to dealers if the CarFax is clean with service records, no crashes, single owner, average miles or better. A private listing with pictures in an on-line service like www.autotrader.com will be a possibility too because private sales command a higher (retail-like) price than what the auto dealers will give you. But a private listing takes longer. I used autotrader many times including this YukonXL I got. It's mostly dealer listings but when I entered my desired cars/years etc. some private listings came up.

Converting the Acadia might be more trouble than it's worth IMO.

Looking up the Acadia for that year in google for towing capacity, I see a number of 5,200 pounds maximum. Which means in reality you can only handle a very small trailer or popup that weighs maybe 3,000 maximum (not empty unloaded weight but fully loaded gross trailer weight). Which means the empty weight would be 2,000-2,300 pounds which is small indeed.

Good luck with your plan, DL1WDW2.

Bama Ed

 

[DL1WDW2]

Nice breeze this morn at DS... waiting for Ticket Center to open. Trying to renew AP.
Thanks for advice. This is friendly honest place to visit!

 

[DL1WDW2]

Thanks again for helping .
Got speedy service at Guest Ticket Center to renew Platinum AP / DVC / resident was
$813.66 total and new expire was at the extended date they gave me so good til April 27,2022.
I’m expecting price increase as world returns to normal...

 

[4077]

A pic of the two on the way to the trailer service place about 4 weeks ago.

Got a lot of camping planned this spring, Jimmy.



Bama Ed

Looks good all together! Can’t wait for camping up here, too... March 15th to the dealer with the trailer.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Nice breeze this morn at DS... waiting for Ticket Center to open. Trying to renew AP.
Thanks for advice. This is friendly honest place to visit!

1) Smart idea to renew the AP and not let it lapse.
2) For many, they are out-of-luck for an AP, soon.
. . . those who asked for COVID refunds are in trouble.
. . . those who did not renew are in trouble.
3) Disney is not selling new AP's.
. . . to those folks who do not have a current one
. . . to those folks who cancelled their previous AP
. . . to those who chose an AP refund due to COVID closure
4) Unknown if they will sell new AP's until 2022.
...........................................................................................

5) DISNEYLAND has permanently halted selling AP's.
. . . current AP's are expiring due to the year-long park closure
. . . they will no longer sell AP's, at all
. . . they will no longer renew a current AP
. . . they will no longer sell a new AP
6) Per their statement, they wanted to do this a long time ago.
. . . they had no way to make this happen
. . . they could not halt public opinion or complaint
. . . they said it could not occur without COVID closure
. . . they said yer-long COVID closure gave them the excuse
7) California let them do what they could not do themselves.
8) AP's are a good of a deal for guests to enjoy WDW, but . . .
. . . people with AP's are not as good a deal as Day-Guests
. . . people with AP's do not buy as many on-site hotel rooms
. . . people with AP's do not buy as souvenirs as Day-Guests
. . . people with AP's do not buy as much food as Day-Guests
. . . people with AP's pay a lesser daily admittance fee
9) One can only guess if this will happen at WDW.

NOTE:
. . . Above AP Disneyland statements were made by Chapek.
. . . Asked if they will apply to WDW, he ignored question.

IMHO future of AP's at WDW: (and only my opinion)
. . . they will renew current in-force AP's for 2021/2022
. . . they will limit new AP's renewals for 2022/2023
. . . they will limit or halt new AP's for 2021/2022
. . . they will have a post-COVID "AP trial period"
. . . they will limit all AP sales during the trial period
. . . they will wait for public reaction
. . . they will not see a major drop in profit or sales-per-guest
. . . they will stop selling or renewing AP's after trial period
. . . they will still offer multi-day WDW hotel-tix discounts
. . . they will still offer multi-day FL-Resident tix discounts

 

[Syndrome]

Love me a good Suburban thread !
We are still rocking our 01 2500 LT . Have about 117K on her so far, and is mostly used for tow duty .
Presently we are towing our 6500lb Keystone Outback 260FL (plus a few boats from time to time) .
Handles it with ease . 8.1 496 big block w/ 4:10 rear . Has a small love affair with gas stations though
Honestly, it is possibly the best tow vehicle we could ask for , and don't see us getting rid of it any time soon . Safe, capable, comfortable, reliable ............Ok, not the greatest on gas , but we aint going to tow our camper with a Prius !

We will be at the Fort in about 2 weeks , coming down from PA .
A little worried about squeezing into a preferred loop spot (hoping for 300) . Were going to reserve a premium loop , but we have a golden retriever along, and want to be close to the dog park .
Cant wait to be back at the Fort !

 

[Sjm9911]

You should be fine. I got mine in the tent site. Roughly the same size.

 

[Teamubr]

You will fit fine in a Preferred loop. My old 5er was 31 ft and it was a perfect fit for most of the sites in 100-200 loops. We never stayed in 300, but the sites are similar.

j

 

[bama_ed]

Love me a good Suburban thread !
We are still rocking our 01 2500 LT . Have about 117K on her so far, and is mostly used for tow duty .
Presently we are towing our 6500lb Keystone Outback 260FL (plus a few boats from time to time) .
Handles it with ease . 8.1 496 big block w/ 4:10 rear . Has a small love affair with gas stations though
Honestly, it is possibly the best tow vehicle we could ask for , and don't see us getting rid of it any time soon . Safe, Capable, reliable ............Ok, not the greatest on gas , but we aint going to tow our camper with a Prius !

A 20yo 2500 with only 117k, Syndrome? It's barely broken a sweat then. You can get at least double that many miles out of it if you take care of it (which I'm sure you do). It's a good looking truck.

I see from your avatar that you're in central PA. What part? I have a brother in Pittsburgh, a son in Scranton, and a paternal grandmother that hails from near Tyrone on I99.

My Suburban was also my regular driving vehicle (as is the YukonXL although I don't commute as much as I used to). However, I recently retired so I am going to put some miles on the YukonXL (I didn't get it to sit in the garage).

Have a great trip to the Fort.

Bama Ed

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

8.1 496 big block w/ 4:10 rear . Has a small love affair with gas stations though
Honestly, it is possibly the best tow vehicle we could ask for , and don't see us getting rid of it any time soon . Safe, capable, comfortable, reliable ............Ok, not the greatest on gas , but we aint going to tow our camper with a Prius !

Had a 2008 pick up with that engine in it with a 4:10 rear end. I loved it. It was a beast, but man was it thirsty. I think the best I ever got was 12 mpg not towing on the highway.

 

[Syndrome]

You should be fine. I got mine in the tent site. Roughly the same size.

You will fit fine in a Preferred loop. My old 5er was 31 ft and it was a perfect fit for most of the sites in 100-200 loops. We never stayed in 300, but the sites are similar.

j

A 20yo 2500 with only 117k, Syndrome? It's barely broken a sweat then. You can get at least double that many miles out of it if you take care of it (which I'm sure you do). It's a good looking truck.

I see from your avatar that you're in central PA. What part? I have a brother in Pittsburgh, a son in Scranton, and a paternal grandmother that hails from near Tyrone on I99.

My Suburban was also my regular driving vehicle (as is the YukonXL although I don't commute as much as I used to). However, I recently retired so I am going to put some miles on the YukonXL (I didn't get it to sit in the garage).

Have a great trip to the Fort.

Bama Ed

Thanks for all the reassurance . Our last stay was in the 1300 loop , which was great , but we always longed to stay in one of the 3 original loops , just for some old school Disney World sentiment . With the 50th this year, its kind of a cool feeling to stay in one of the original 50 year old campsites at WDW. Plus we will have a dog along , and 100-300 (hoping for 300) , will be close to the dog park . We would like to be on the outer part of the loop vs the inner part , but hate backing in on the blind side . Oh well , we will make do , and see what they give us .

Bama Ed - we are located smack dab in the center of PA . Almost equal distance right in the middle of Scranton / State College / Hershey . Good luck with that new Yuburban XL. I also have an 07 Avalanche Z71 . Its a great truck , but there is a lot more sensors and hi-tech stuff on it (to let you know when any and everything becomes slightly out of whack) . I kind of prefer the old school 00-06 Avalanche/Suburbans a bit better , with no electronic "nanny's" involved .

 

[Sjm9911]

Im doing the same this year, booked for november hopeing for 100 loop as we have 0 dogs. Maybe a cat who knows!

 

[Syndrome]

Had a 2008 pick up with that engine in it with a 4:10 rear end. I loved it. It was a beast, but man was it thirsty. I think the best I ever got was 12 mpg not towing on the highway.

Yes, its an absolute beast of a towing machine . Our 6500lb RV is only about half of what its rated for . I am not a diesel guy , so this was the closest you can get to the torque and HP of a Duramax 6.6 (not offered in a Burb) . It does NOT get the mpg of a Duramax though unfortunately . The durability of the whole package is great however, without any of the "problems" or maintenance issues of a diesel . I have the Mag-Hytec rear diff cover and trans cover for added cooling, and capacity . This truck was made to tow ! It has not yet learned how to pass a gas station though . Lucky to see12-14 unloaded on the highway. Maybe 9-10 towing light. Still love it though . Will prob throw the Aeroplus wind deflector on the roof for the 2500 mile round trip .

I thought they stopped putting the 8.1 in the passenger trucks/suv's in 2006 ? I looked for a 2007+ Burb with an 8.1 and could not find any . Only with the 6.0 .......which is nothing compared to an 8.1 ( had one in a 2500 HD) .

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

I thought they stopped putting the 8.1 in the passenger trucks/suv's in 2006 ? I looked for a 2007+ Burb with an 8.1 and could not find any . Only with the 6.0 .......which is nothing compared to an 8.1 ( had one in a 2500 HD) .

You are right. Crossed wires in my head. I had a 2006 Silverado, wife had a 2008 Sub.

 

[PaHunter]

Bama Ed - we are located smack dab in the center of PA . Almost equal distance right in the middle of Scranton / State College / Hershey .

@Syndrome lives at Knoebels ??

 

[Syndrome]

@Syndrome lives at Knoebels ??

Yep ........pretty dang close !

Btw, Knoebles does also have a very large campground .........Fort Wilderness it is NOT . If you do not like to have ANY privacy AT ALL, and be packed in like sardines ........this is the campground for you ! . Its like a 24hr party .
We tried it ..........ONE TIME !

We do like Knoebles park though . Great old school amusement park with free admission .

 

[PaHunter]

Yep ........pretty dang close !

Btw, Knoebles does also have a very large campground .........Fort Wilderness it is NOT . If you do not like to have ANY privacy AT ALL, and be packed in like sardines ........this is the campground for you ! . Its like a 24hr party .
We tried it ..........ONE TIME !

We do like Knoebles park though . Great old school amusement park with free admission .

I have lived in the Wilkes Barre Area, Pocono's and now South Central PA, outside of Harrisburg since I returned from the service in 1991. And yes Knoebels is a great day trip.