October trip reports 😊

[tripleb]

We are officially on our way from northern Minnesota! Check in scheduled for Tuesday the 4th. We’ve been following closely and know the Fort is currently closed but we’re hoping they can find a temporary place to put us until it opens. There will be seven of us, and we’re staying until the 23rd so I’m really hoping it will open before that! As a backup we do have reservations at the KOA…

We’ll keep everyone posted!

Hope they are open for you ... a few years ago (I can't remember which hurricane), they didn't reopen for a couple of weeks

 

[serenitygr]

Hope they are open for you ... a few years ago (I can't remember which hurricane), they didn't reopen for a couple of weeks

We’re hoping they open at some point over this next couple weeks!

 

[serenitygr]

Monday update: we were contacted by Disneys “ relocation team” today and are now switched over to a two bedroom villa at old key west until the Fort opens. We’ve never stayed anywhere but the Fort, and never planned to, but we’re hearing from others that’s it’s a beautiful resort.

Personally I’m just very thankful Disney is working things out for us, we have a fridge and freezer so our food won’t spoil, and that we’ll hopefully still be able to move to the Fort eventually!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

10/30 - 12/15 at the moment! We are in FHU for the beginning of our stay and Preferred for the last 2 weeks. We don't care about what loop we are in, we just like hanging out at the Fort and enjoying our time together. Family of 5 with 3 teens and are eager to get back there! We are in South Central Wisconsin camping right now for another week and then we head to Pigeon Forge for a bit and then off to Disney!
We have a Segway tour booked for November 4th, anyone else in that?
Thanksgiving Dinner is at Trails End at 8pm

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

I'm still optimistic Ian won't be as bad as Irma or several others prior. They did upgrade the "tropical storm watch" to a "hurricane watch" to reflect the higher wind speeds anticipated, but given the predicted track, this will likely be Cat 1 force winds. Certainly manageable for WDW and the Fort. As a reminder, Irma was a strong Cat 3 as it rolled directly over WDW.

If anyone was on here 5 years ago, lots of doom and gloom about the Fort never re-opening after that. I was there for the Grand Re-opening and celebration the morning they let us back. It sounds like they are being very proactive to move everyone out and accommodating with safer places to ride this out. Hopefully everything will be back to normal by this weekend.

View attachment 705735View attachment 705736

The RV parade to the 4 loops that were open.

View attachment 705737

j

We were there too!!! We were moved to CSR during the storm and were excited to get back in!!!

 

[ucf_knight]

Monday update: we were contacted by Disneys “ relocation team” today and are now switched over to a two bedroom villa at old key west until the Fort opens. We’ve never stayed anywhere but the Fort, and never planned to, but we’re hearing from others that’s it’s a beautiful resort.

Personally I’m just very thankful Disney is working things out for us, we have a fridge and freezer so our food won’t spoil, and that we’ll hopefully still be able to move to the Fort eventually!

Did they give you a reopening date? They told me today at 10/6 is the reopening date and that’s when I have my cabin booked for

 

[serenitygr]

Did they give you a reopening date? They told me today at 10/6 is the reopening date and that’s when I have my cabin booked for

She said they were hoping by this weekend but they just had to take it day by day, so I think they’d like to have it open by the weekend but they just aren’t sure it will be

 

[ivegotayen]

10/30 - 12/15 at the moment! We are in FHU for the beginning of our stay and Preferred for the last 2 weeks. We don't care about what loop we are in, we just like hanging out at the Fort and enjoying our time together. Family of 5 with 3 teens and are eager to get back there! We are in South Central Wisconsin camping right now for another week and then we head to Pigeon Forge for a bit and then off to Disney!
We have a Segway tour booked for November 4th, anyone else in that?
Thanksgiving Dinner is at Trails End at 8pm

Wow, how cool that you’re staying that long. I thought the limit was less than 30 days. Do you have multiple back to back confirmations to enable you to have an extended stay?

It was a challenge for us to find 14 consecutive days. But we didn’t book far in advance.

 

[tltay2005]

We live about 35 miles SW of the Fort. Ian spared us the worst by dipping more south than predicted. I am assuming the Fort has similar damage to us, lots of branches down, temporary power outage and some light flooding. I would think they should be open by the goal date of 10/6. I would anticipate more mosquitoes than normal with all the standing water, so bring extra bug spray.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Wow, how cool that you’re staying that long. I thought the limit was less than 30 days. Do you have multiple back to back confirmations to enable you to have an extended stay?

It was a challenge for us to find 14 consecutive days. But we didn’t book far in advance.

I have only one 30 day stay that I got on my initial booking along with 5 other reservations because when we called to book initially only that initial block was available and then two of my reservations were split stays and with the couple of months after that I had to fill in those with 2 other reservations and then they linked all of those together and finally I got my last 2 days that were missing in the middle of my stay! LOL.
When we do this every year, it's always a pain and we always see how many reservations we end up with, 6 has been the winner for the past 2 years!

 

[serenitygr]

We are officially checked into OKW! Beautiful room- a two bedroom villa. Now we know how the rich people visit Disney I think this room is about $1200 per night- unbelievable! As beautiful as it is, though, I miss the Fort I’m keeping my fingers crossed they’ll be welcoming us all back soon!

We’re going to check out the pool this evening and just do some exploring. Tomorrow is universal- Thursday is the universal Halloween party for the kids….

I’ll post a few pictures of our room just for those who are curious!

 

[bama_ed]

View attachment 708187View attachment 708188View attachment 708189View attachment 708190We are officially checked into OKW! Beautiful room- a two bedroom villa. Now we know how the rich people visit Disney I think this room is about $1200 per night- unbelievable! As beautiful as it is, though, I miss the Fort I’m keeping my fingers crossed they’ll be welcoming us all back soon!

We’re going to check out the pool this evening and just do some exploring. Tomorrow is universal- Thursday is the universal Halloween party for the kids….

I’ll post a few pictures of our room just for those who are curious!

Daaaaang, @serenitygr , that's one big camper you GOT there! You're really roughin' it. Ed

 

[Teamubr]

Enjoy OKW, 'Peach. That's where they put us after Irma. It was great to get to the Fort, but the 2 BR condo was a little hard to leave.

j

 

[wdw_dine_junkie]

That’s a lovely villa!

 

[Sammie]

View attachment 708187View attachment 708188View attachment 708189View attachment 708190We are officially checked into OKW! Beautiful room- a two bedroom villa. Now we know how the rich people visit Disney I think this room is about $1200 per night- unbelievable! As beautiful as it is, though, I miss the Fort I’m keeping my fingers crossed they’ll be welcoming us all back soon!

We’re going to check out the pool this evening and just do some exploring. Tomorrow is universal- Thursday is the universal Halloween party for the kids….

I’ll post a few pictures of our room just for those who are curious!

We are DVC members and far from rich. In fact my annual membership dues is not more than that and we recently booked a two bedroom at Beach Club and a studio at Boardwalk. We would never be able to afford that if paying cash.

 

[4077]

I have to agree… while there DEFINITELY are “rich” DVC with tons and tons of todays “expensive” points (like anything else), my buy in to DVC in 2008 cost less than my travel trailer and my annual dues are not much more than a rack room week stay at the Fort on a premium site. But I also agree that if we were trying to stay in the 2 BR villa on cash rates… it wouldn’t happen! DVC ended up being a good value for us in the end for our usage. The Fort is awesome, however… and although I e only stayed there twice (once when younger and once as adult in my own trailer), I visit it most every time I am on property and look forward to being able to do so more often in the future!

 

[Teamubr]

Jimmy,

If you bought in to DVC in 2008, you had a great deal compared to today's buy in with less perks. We considered it way back when (SSR maybe?), but timing wasn't right for the way we traveled and I couldn't justify the annual expense over the occasional trip to the Fort. Seeing how the program and my travel habits have changed, I should have bought in when you did.

Oh well. When we move closer and if we ever decide to get rid of the coach, the resale market may be the thing to do.

j

 

[bama_ed]

@serenitygr, if you could post a pic of the October recreation calendar page 2 where they normally put the halloween activities, we would appreciate seeing what's going on then.

Thanks in advance, Bama Ed

 

[serenitygr]

@serenitygr, if you could post a pic of the October recreation calendar page 2 where they normally put the halloween activities, we would appreciate seeing what's going on then.

Thanks in advance, Bama Ed

I’ll do that as soon as we get back! We’re just finishing up at discovery y I’ve today

 

[serenitygr]

October recreation calendar and movie schedule in case no one has posted it yet