Need tips on making more "space"

[always quiet]

We are planning a trip to WDW in Dec. 2007. After staying for 2 glorious weeks last month, we have made some decisions about our next trip

1. We will no longer stay (unless we have no choice! ) for less than 2 weeks. It was nice to be able to take things slower, have some down time at FW...and not feel guilty when we do take time off!

2. As nice as the cabins are, one family member can not come with us if we stay there again...our dog! We missed Tazz so much so no more cabins for us.

3. We missed staying at the Settlement end of FW.

All this leaves us with one decision about future trips....the camper comes next time!

Now, since we have purchased the camper, the kids are getting bigger...lots bigger! They will all be teenagers the next time we go. We only have a 21' camper..............see my problem??!! We were thinking about getting a screened tent to place outside the camper (maybe put around the picnic table) to make a bit more 'living space'. What other things do you do to give you more room at the campgrounds? We will be asking for a preferred pet loop (300) when we call to make our reservation. Will there be room enough for the screened tent?

Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!

 

[LegoMom3]

Can't answer the part about whether or not you'll have room for "more" but I am the queen of making more space at a campground!! Our kids aren't teens yet (I'm not ready!...I'm not ready!) but they are all boys (3 of them) so we can never have too much room. We're still using a large tent, which I find has more space inside than some campers we've looked at, it just doesn't have the amenities like kitchen, table, etc. We have a large screen house, around 10'x13' I think. With some creative finagling (sp?) I can put that up to the tent's awning and practically make it one big continual space if you open it all up. I have also seen folks use plain blue tarps to connect "rooms". You could even use two screen rooms, one as an extra room off the camper and a 2nd to cover your picnic table area. The possibilities are endless, and if someone else can tell you about the allotted space at your campsite loop, you're good to go!

 

[my3princes]

My advice is to be as organized as possible inside the camper. We have a plastic bureau that we keep in the closet with one drawer for each of our 3 boys and they have hanging space above. We also make great use of our awning usually setting up an outdoor kitchen/dining area. We have a folding counter area that houses our grill and electric griddle. An electric cooler helps with keeping extra drinks cold and we leave that outside so we don't have to track in everytime someone is thirsty. This christmas we were given a 12 X 12 canopy (the instant kind) with the screen room sides. That should give us a ton more space. Some people also have tents that their kids sleep in as they get older. Good Luck. FW is awesome and we also never go for less than 2 weeks.

Deb

 

[Whosemom]

What about a little dome tent for some storgar, maybe oldest 2 teens to sleep in?

 

[goofytime2000]

For several years after my brother and I 'out-grew' the back bed in our parents pop up, I slept in a tent outside. All my clothing and other stuff was still in the camper, I just slept out in a tent. I have found that a 3 person Coleman Dome Tent was plenty of room for myself, cot, battery lantern, and any other odds and ends I might have (I'm currently about 6 foot, 200 lbs 22 year old male). I'm not for 100% sure if Disney allows this or not, so that would be something to look into.

Something to remember about tent sizes, when they're sized by "Sleeps 'x' " that is so that that is about 5' 10" and 160 lbs would be comfortable, without any extra gear. Typically a 4 person tent will comfortably sleep no more than 2 normal sized people.

 

[loriandmatt]

i agree with the suggestion that keeping things as organized as possible helps loads when camping with the entire family for a long trip.

some things we do.

we have the screen room that others have mentioned. it goes over the picnic table to keep the bugs out, but we also keep the mini fridge, table top gas grill and large rubbermaid bin in there that has all of our dry good foods and other eating related stuff (paper plates, plastic silver ware, grill utensils - that kind of stuff)

not sure of the layout of your camper, but with our pop-up we can take out dinnette table out still keep the dinnette cushions laying flat. this creates a nice table outside of the camper for flashlights and other stuff that can stay outside under the awning. those flat cushions is the place where we keep the clothes organized. everybody gets one chunk of realestate on that surface. NOTE: the suitcases say in the back of the van. they are packed with OUTFITS only, not bunches of shirts, shorts, socks and shoes. we only bring two or maybe 3 at most outfits inside at a time.) We also try to keep the shoes to a minimum. 3 pair per person if you can do it. they are kept neatly under this flat area.
there is also a pop-up hamper in the back of the car where dirty clothes go. if it isn't dirty it gets folded and put back in the pile or the suitcase to get worn again.
jammies get folded and put on your pillow so they are handy and neat when you come to use them again.

there is a set of those wire nesting hanging baskets that we hang from any of the many nooks and crannies at the top frame of the camper on the inside. these can hold items that we will need thru the trip. contact cases, glasses, deoderant, toothbrushes and paste - my son has his own now that has his sunglasses, extra batteries, ipod, wallet

other various stacking organizing bins on the counter tops to keep things in their place and take up space going up intead of side to side.

go thru the souvies each day and consolidate. one bag per person and throw out the extra bags and accumulated junk thru the day. if they get to take up too much room, move them to the back of the car.

sounds like a lot of work, but we do a 10 min tidy of the camp area (inside and out) either before we leave for the day or after we come back, with everybody pitching in, and it isn't so bad.

We employe a lot of the same tactics when we stay in a hotel also. a hotel room can get mighty cramped and messy with 4 folks living out of it for 10 days.

 

[Mac and Us]

We have a 30' motorhome and I am always buying plastic totes, baskets, etc to organize. We keep 2 totes outside, 1 medium tote for shoes and 1 large tote for dirty clothing. We only keep 1 pair of shoes each inside. Both totes have covers so the contents stay dry.

We cook everything outside so the basket of paperplates, napkins, utensils and the toaster oven goes outside as soon as we arrive. The coffemaker stays inside.