Just back from a great weekend- Now with Pics

[des1954]

Day Two consisted of me driving to Tampa for work. Let me tell you, the traffic on I4 at 0500 is insane.

Tell me about it!! I did that trip from November 02 through February 03. My DH retired from Verizon and we put our home in Bradenton on the market & went to full time RV'ing. That was also the time period I-4 was under construction. I worked at the Verizon office at SR60 & 301. I look back now and wonder what was I thinking??? The traffic on I-4 at 5:00pm was even worse! One night due to accidents at McIntosh Rd and then later near Lake Wilson Rd, I decided to head north on US27 to 192 & into the Fort from that direction. Guess what? There was a HUGE accident at 27 & 192. I left Brandon at 4:30pm and pulled into the Fort at 11:30pm! YIKES!!

Great pics! Especially the shots of the fireworks! Thanks for sharing. (BTW - did you steal anything the week you were there? You are a local after all. Sorry, that was a cheap shot - but sometimes I just can't stop myself! )

I have to concede to you about the pool and its' crowded condition sometimes. As far as locals are concerned (and by that I really mean "free-loaders") there used to be a guy in an old, beat up Winnebago who regularly parked near the kennels and left his generator running for the day. Now admittedly, my DH & I frequently take our bikes over to the Fort on Friday's just for a morning or early evening ride, and encountered this guy every week. One day we caught him coming out of his rig and struck up a conversation with him. It seems he too, had a Friday ritual of visiting the Fort. I didn't pry as to why he kept the genny running, but let's leave it at he had a cooler on wheels he was pulling behind him. Come to your own conclusions.

I did recently call the front desk since the entrances to the Fort have been re-engineered to ask if we would still be permitted to come into the Fort to ride our bikes without actually having a reservation to stay at the Fort. I was told there would be no problem with that. I really think the guards are there just to create an illusion of security.

Devores - I just want to apologize for giving you such a hard time on that other thread. It was uncalled for on my part and inexcusable. I'm sorry.

 

[Magicbus]

Devores - I just want to apologize for giving you such a hard time on that other thread. It was uncalled for on my part and inexcusable. I'm sorry.

Boy, I better never let anyone have it on here because I don't think I can say the words I'm sorry. Besides my wife would have it framed if I did.

 

[devores]

Tell me about it!! I did that trip from November 02 through February 03. My DH retired from Verizon and we put our home in Bradenton on the market & went to full time RV'ing. That was also the time period I-4 was under construction. I worked at the Verizon office at SR60 & 301. I look back now and wonder what was I thinking??? The traffic on I-4 at 5:00pm was even worse! One night due to accidents at McIntosh Rd and then later near Lake Wilson Rd, I decided to head north on US27 to 192 & into the Fort from that direction. Guess what? There was a HUGE accident at 27 & 192. I left Brandon at 4:30pm and pulled into the Fort at 11:30pm! YIKES!!

Great pics! Especially the shots of the fireworks! Thanks for sharing. (BTW - did you steal anything the week you were there? You are a local after all. Sorry, that was a cheap shot - but sometimes I just can't stop myself! )

I have to concede to you about the pool and its' crowded condition sometimes. As far as locals are concerned (and by that I really mean "free-loaders") there used to be a guy in an old, beat up Winnebago who regularly parked near the kennels and left his generator running for the day. Now admittedly, my DH & I frequently take our bikes over to the Fort on Friday's just for a morning or early evening ride, and encountered this guy every week. One day we caught him coming out of his rig and struck up a conversation with him. It seems he too, had a Friday ritual of visiting the Fort. I didn't pry as to why he kept the genny running, but let's leave it at he had a cooler on wheels he was pulling behind him. Come to your own conclusions.

I did recently call the front desk since the entrances to the Fort have been re-engineered to ask if we would still be permitted to come into the Fort to ride our bikes without actually having a reservation to stay at the Fort. I was told there would be no problem with that. I really think the guards are there just to create an illusion of security.

Devores - I just want to apologize for giving you such a hard time on that other thread. It was uncalled for on my part and inexcusable. I'm sorry.

No need to apoligise. You have your convictions, as do I. We are all entitled to our beliefs and defending them when challenged. The only thing that matters is that we can talk (argue) about them and in the end, remain friends and put it behind us.

And no, I did not "aquire" any new items on my trip.

 

[devores]

My DH retired from Verizon and we put our home in Bradenton on the market & went to full time RV'ing.

I retire in 2 more years and we have started our fulltime adventure. Right now, we live in Tampa close to my work, but DW just started working at Disney, so she makes the drive allot. We plan to move closer to Disney sometime around Feb 11. Id love to live at the Fort, at least for a while.

 

[kampfirekim]

Love the Wishes pics! We were there during the SummerNightastic and they were doing the Princess/Pirate fireworks. They were good, but paled in comparison to Wishes. Sorry about the music not being piped in. Bummer.

(I usually view most of the FW through the viewfinder too.)

 

[des1954]

Id love to live at the Fort, at least for a while.

We did just that. The winter of 02/03 when DH retired, we stayed at the Fort for 4 months. The winter of 03/04 when I retired, we stayed at the Fort 3 months. Am I sick of the Fort yet? NEVER!! In all seriousness, if it is your intention to continue to full-time, there are some nice parks here in Polk County, and there's a nice park that Denny stays in over off of Lake Wilson Drive. If I could convince my DH to go back to full-timing he wouldn't even have time to get the suggestion out his mouf before I had the MH warming and airing up. We full-timed for about two years while we were selling one house & building another, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Your retirement day will be here before you know it! Tell your wife to have fun working at Disney. It is the "Happiest Place On Earth"!!

 

[devores]

We did just that. The winter of 02/03 when DH retired, we stayed at the Fort for 4 months. The winter of 03/04 when I retired, we stayed at the Fort 3 months. Am I sick of the Fort yet? NEVER!! In all seriousness, if it is your intention to continue to full-time, there are some nice parks here in Polk County, and there's a nice park that Denny stays in over off of Lake Wilson Drive. If I could convince my DH to go back to full-timing he wouldn't even have time to get the suggestion out his mouf before I had the MH warming and airing up. We full-timed for about two years while we were selling one house & building another, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Your retirement day will be here before you know it! Tell your wife to have fun working at Disney. It is the "Happiest Place On Earth"!!

I have been looking for a place kind of in between or closer to Disney. Id rather I make the long drive to work and not worry so much about my wife. If you know of any nice parks, Im open to suggestions. We may take a trip out that way one weekend so we can see the places in person. All I have to go off of is pictures on the internet, and we all know they only put up the best pictures to advertise with. Things can be quite different in person.

 

[des1954]

I have been looking for a place kind of in between or closer to Disney. Id rather I make the long drive to work and not worry so much about my wife. If you know of any nice parks, Im open to suggestions. We may take a trip out that way one weekend so we can see the places in person. All I have to go off of is pictures on the internet, and we all know they only put up the best pictures to advertise with. Things can be quite different in person.

Two come to mind. One is Lakeland Carefree RV Park

http://lakelandrvresort.com/

The pictures on their main page don't do it justice. It's nestled in a lot of oak trees. The managers are also the former owners, and they are very nice people. It's about a 35 minute drive to the Fort - easy on/ easy off I-4. Directions: Take I-4 east to Exit 33. Turn left off the exit. Go about 3/4 miles to Old Combee Rd & turn left. The park will be about 1/4 mile on the right. It is literally within walking distance to a shopping plaza that has a Publix and CVS.

The other one is Le Lynn resort on the opposite side of I-4 from the Love's truck stop. Exit 44 on I-4. Instead of going right to go to Love's (coming from Tampa) go left. The park will be on your left less than a 1/2 mile. Fantasy of Flight is in your back yard. Le Lynn is out in an open field, but a nice park. If you want to be smack dab in the middle of Tampa and Orlando, this is the place to be. But not if you want shade. Also, shopping is a bit of a trip. You would actually go back to the plaza near Lakeland Carefree to shop.

If $$$ is not a big concern, check out my neighborhood which is about 3 miles from Le Lynn on SR 33 in Polk City. This is why we sold our beautiful mountain property in north Georgia! We are literally at Ft Wilderness in less than 30 minutes.

http://www.mtoliveshoresnorth.com/template1.asp

A lot of owners were hit by the economy and are willing to rent their motor port or pad. I think the HOA recommends a monthly cost of $1K/month - but that might have changed since the economy tanked. That does not include utilities. If you have a MH you can rent a pad. If you have a 5'er or TT, you need to rent an RV port.

I hope this helps.