Home and we had a fabulous time!

[loislane]

Great pictures!!! Thanks for sharing.
So you were the last week of August then? Were crowds pretty good? We're thinking we'd like to hit last week of August next year.

We felt the crowds were pretty manageable and we didn't have to wait long for a lot of things. Test Track and Soarin were long lines no matter when we went. We did FP for Soarin and it still took about 20 minutes to get on it. For Test Track we had FPs one day but the ride went down for about 3 hours. When it was back up, the FP line was out the door so we said forget it. We rode it another day and split up as single riders. We were on in less than 10 minutes.

That is our typical strategy. Our kids are 17, 13 and 9, so no one has a problem splitting up to ride and meeting at the end. We pretty much walked onto Everest 4 times this way.

We had good luck at MK as well, but that could have just been because we were mostly there at night. No line for Dumbo at 10 p.m.! Or Little Mermaid, BTMR, Splash, Pirates, HM, or pretty much anything else we wanted to do. We tried to time a lot of the big rides with the fireworks and parade so we didn't have to wait - and got to see fireworks from the top of Splash, which was pretty cool.

 

[wiigirl]

Awesome pics!

 

[bama_ed]

Congrats on the trip Traci.

I've had a flat before on the popup but never had it jump off the hitch. Wow! I bet you were wondering, "what next"?

That picture of the kitchen sink is awesome.

I think you should take advantage of your husband's willingness right now to go to WDW again and make another ressie (or two) out there in the future.

Bama Ed

 

[loislane]

Congrats on the trip Traci.

I've had a flat before on the popup but never had it jump off the hitch. Wow! I bet you were wondering, "what next"?

That picture of the kitchen sink is awesome.

I think you should take advantage of your husband's willingness right now to go to WDW again and make another ressie (or two) out there in the future.

Bama Ed

Bama Ed, I was a nervous WRECK until we finally pulled into our driveway. Every little bump and vibration had me cringing!

As for Disney, I've enjoyed going every other year and doing something different the year in between and I'm not sure I want to change that at this point. But we'll see once a little more time passes and I start really missing Disney again.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . It must have been magic - because my husband said last night that we should drive down twice a year to camp and play! He must have drank the Kool Aid when I wasn't looking!

1) Dah!
2) Of course it is Magic, it is The Fort!
3) Glad you, AND THE HUBBY, enjoyed the trip.

 

[loislane]

1) Dah!
2) Of course it is Magic, it is The Fort!
3) Glad you, AND THE HUBBY, enjoyed the trip.

Honestly, I think the golf course influenced him more than the Fort did, although he really did enjoy camping there as well. But golf? Well, a beautiful course goes straight to his heart!

 

[RVMH]

Glad you had a great time and that you're home safely!

Bama Ed would know for sure but I think I remember from our pop-up that there was a pin we inserted in the hitch that would keep the hitch from "jumping" off the ball. It was an inexpensive and easy 2nd layer of safety. Scary stuff when things come loose that shouldn't!!

 

[jojosam]

It sounds like you had a trip that can't be beat! We head down in 13 days and I'm so excited to see what's in store for our first camping trip at the Fort (cabins last year)!

 

[MushLRC]

For the most part, the weather was great! The Sunday we arrived, it poured that night so we didn't do anything, and there was one other night it rained pretty heavy and we just stayed in the camper and watched some TV. But otherwise, it was gorgeous. I didn't even think it was too hot - but then again, I love the heat so I wouldn't complain. In fact, I got too cold inside the AC anywhere, so that was what I complained about - that I needed to go outside and get warm!

Not sure how or why we got bumped to a premium loop, but it was a quick 5-minute walk down to the ferry docks so we didn't mind at all. We ended a lot of our days at MK because it was so nice and easy to ferry back and walk to our site.

I SOOOO know the rain you speak of that Sunday night. That was the same night we got in as well. We spent the afternoon setting up camp then headed over to Whispering Canyon for dinner. That was one nasty thunderstorm that night but luckily we remained dry

There were 2 other rainy spells that we contended with. One was a rainy evening in the Magic Kingdom and one rainy afternoon at Animal Kingdom. We had our ponchos and carried on. It wasn't like going back to the tent was going to be any better, lol.

 

[tazdeb]

Great report, I cant believe your son liked the Beverly cola!

 

[bama_ed]

Glad you had a great time and that you're home safely!

Bama Ed would know for sure but I think I remember from our pop-up that there was a pin we inserted in the hitch that would keep the hitch from "jumping" off the ball. It was an inexpensive and easy 2nd layer of safety. Scary stuff when things come loose that shouldn't!!

Most receivers on a trailer that come down over the ball on your hitch have a mechanical lever that must be lifted up as you crank the popup down onto the hitch. Once the ball is fully seated, the lever will fold back down into the flush position as I keep cranking my handle so I can remove the front wheel.

But the lever does have a design with a pass through hole so that you can put a pin in or something because that lever would have to raise up for the trailer to "jump off" the ball. The pin physically prevents the lever from raising which prevents the trailer from jumping off.

I don't use one on the road but I have at home. You can buy something like this: http://www.masterlocks.com/product/152/2847dat-towing-security. I have an old brass Master lock with a really long upside-down "U" part from my bike rack that I use when the popup is parked in the driveway with no vehicle in front ready-to-steal. (Those popup thieves are just circling our neighborhoods ready to snatch and grab).


Seriously, Traci, since it happened once I would look at your trailer's receiver that covers the hitch ball and it should have a pass through hole that you can use to put SOMETHING to prevent it from happening again. It could have happened based on a number of factors (how much tongue weight you had, the size of the pothole/bump you hit, the speed at which it happened, etc.) but it can easily be prevented from happening again if you have a pass through hole on the lever and use something like the tool linked above.

Good luck and happy camping!

Bama Ed

 

[kcp1377]

^^ ditto bamaed. I asked DH if we sent the popup with a pin and we did, but I wouldn't be surprised if camping world didn't pass the pin along (our RV didn't come with a pin either - it was one of our first purchases before we left that day when we picked it up.) you can't be too safe when towing!

 

[loislane]

We do have a pin and it was in. Either my husband somehow didn't get the ball full seated right but still managed to get the pin in, or something went funky when the camper got the flat tire and DH changed it. Don't know and obviously no way to figure it out now.

After that happened, DH double checked each time he hooked up, cranking the camper back UP after it was hitched and also jumping on both the tongue and the back bumper of the car.

Thanks everyone for your concern and advice. It was certainly scary and not an incident I care to ever repeat!

 

[kcp1377]

That's good - you definitely can't check enough! W haven't ever had it happen to us, but have witnessed a trailer coming off the hitch of the guy in front of us. The trailer jumped across the lanes and went into the other side of traffic. Thankfully no one was hurt, but it really spooked us to see it! I'm so glad your story had a happier ending!