Price Increases are Going to HURT!

[terri01p]

Seriously, if you think about it, it really seems like from pjcinderella post that the persons assigning sites to families at the fort just doesn't know what they are doing...hey, I would be trying to cover my butt too, if I were a manager.

...If you know you have a family staying for 27 days why place them in a site where you know that they will have to be moved during the latter half of their stay, why not place them away from where you are planning to place a grand gathering....most gatherings are known about months in advance, even years, they don't just pop up, and if it were me and I had planned a grand gathering with my family or friends for months and months and I get to FW and it's a total suprise to them that we want to be together, I would personally think they were nuts.

Why advertise Grand Gatherings then?

 

[Since1971]

Nikki, also try the passholder discount if you have the passes. We are staying soon and went over for the day today. I know they are making some changes that are supposed to be good, but they have really messed up the campsites, IMHO. We were told the re-vegetation will take five years to complete. We haven't checked the prices for next year, but with all the upgrades, I would expect the price to increase.

We never stay in the Premium or Preferred sites and usually hang out in the pet loops by the dog walk since we have 2 dogs. We have camped in February before and that is one of the most expensive times. We usually keep our trips to weekends or during the value season to keep the cost down. Also, because we like the campground to be less full. We camped this summer at a place in Georgia and the cost per night was still close to what we are getting ready to pay at FW in a couple of weeks and the place was a dump compared to Disney. I think the prices are going up everywhere. If you compare the cost of staying in a hotel, eating out every meal, etc. it still is less expensive to stay at FW.

DH & I have always said, though, that if we find a great deal at Disney, we usually do not tell others about it simply because word gets back to Disney and the reasonably priced thing then becomes an "upgraded" very expensive thing. FW has become very popular over the last couple of years and the days of us calling to head over for the weeknd at the last minute and having no trouble finding a spot are over. I think Disney realized this and they are capitalizing on the RV fad.

Wow! I just made reservations for Feb 2008 and Dec 2009 and my jaw about hit the ground! The price increases at Fort Wilderness are pretty hefty. In Dec. ,I did reserve the new premium site to see what all the fuss is about but that will set us back over $600 for a 5 night stay! We love the fort but our stays are going to have to be few and far between if these prices are here to stay. I know I need to try FL resident and AAA that may help a bit. We reserved basic sewer,electric and water and Feb and had $91 a night! Unfortuantely we will have to limit our stays at the Fort and try other campgrounds. I know we are staying on the beach in a state park for a WEEK for the price of one night in a premimum site. We love the fort but are SAD that they are making it so expensive to stay there! Aren't we being gouged enough with the gas prices??????
Does anybody else feel the same?
We only live 3 hours away....I can't imagine people traveling from out of state!

Nikki

 

[bradisgoofy]

I guess I know how I'll be using my DVC points from now on.

 

[F4disneyfan]

There are going to be many people staying from your neck of the woods at the All Stars if this continues.

We used to stay at the Values and Moderates all the time till 01 when we finally bought our DVC points. The reason for our FW stay this time is because that was where my wife stayed on her very first trip in 86 and she wanted to stay there once with our family so this is it. Even with our DVC points we still move to Coronado or the likes for our weekends.

 

[PrincessMom98]

Service is at a low at the fort right now. If I had a few million bucks I'd do my best to duplicate a campground nearby and shuttle people to the parks. It's if they really don't car to be honest. I heard quite a few bad stories this weekend how some people have been treated recently and they're not happy. I did get a managers name this morning of the gal who is the FW and WL senior manager and I at the very least plan on calling her soon.

ITA We had the worst experience last month at the fort. My reservation was botched up when we arrived and the mgr told us to go ahead and check-in and he would fix everything and bring new paperwork to our site in an hour. After five hours and 3 phone calls we gave up and went to eat. When we returned there was a note to come to the outpost by 10 which I did only to find the mgr had left for the night. It wasn't all fixed until a few DAYS later and lots of lost park time and it still wasn't the package I thought I reserved! I wrote a letter to AAA and FTW but I don't think either one cares.
Thanks for lisening, I had been trying to hold in my gripes!

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

Be that as it may, the sites I mentioned were empty. If you are going to advertise something and you have the space to accommodate and don't, why bother.

Just amazing! I put the grand gathering number on my reservation and ended up in the 800 loop. There were only 5 campers there the entire week! All the loops were empty the entire week. And then on Saturday morning my husband decided he didn't want to leave. He wanted to swim all day and go to the party on Saturday night.
I went to ask if we could get an extra night and they told me they were booked solid. Its amazing that there were open sites and they would rather have me check out.

 

[Gatordad]

sorry I didn't get a chance to say hello..... Your cart looked cool.

 

[Disneefun]

I feel the pain of others here. We're booked for Jan. 09, but only b/c we'd already signed up for the marathon and made our ressie before the price jacking happened. Had that not been the case, I'm not sure we'd be going and staying at FW. When I got my quote for the new rates, all I could say was, "Holy cats!"

But, if we back out now we lose the race registration $$, so we're going. But it might be the last for awhile. We did book a quickie trip for this fall and that only drove home the difference. We're paying about half as much this fall for the same number of days as Jan. (actually, it may be one less day, but still).

I agree w/AuburnJen that I think they went overboard w/the no. of premium sites/loops. I know I'll never use one so it just makes it that much harder for me to get a site I'm willing to pay for. Well, whatever. We've been blessed to be able to go to WDW lots of times in the past, so maybe it's time to see what else is out there.

 

[Boomer1]

Yesterday when DH and I were making our Xmas 2009 ressies for FW an alternate choice came up for a "suite"at the Contempory Resort for our 21 day stay. The quoted price $55,000.00. This must be the Disney guru's way of making the $2000 stay at FW easier to swallow.

 

[juligrl]

Yesterday when DH and I were making our Xmas 2009 ressies for FW an alternate choice came up for a "suite"at the Contempory Resort for our 21 day stay. The quoted price $55,000.00. This must be the Disney guru's way of making the $2000 stay at FW easier to swallow.

 

[maxiesmom]

Just amazing! I put the grand gathering number on my reservation and ended up in the 800 loop. There were only 5 campers there the entire week! All the loops were empty the entire week. And then on Saturday morning my husband decided he didn't want to leave. He wanted to swim all day and go to the party on Saturday night.
I went to ask if we could get an extra night and they told me they were booked solid. Its amazing that there were open sites and they would rather have me check out.

I think part of the blame goes to some of your fellow Disboarders. There have been a few posts lately about how to book a campsite and not stay in it, in order to use ME and take advantage of EEs. It is too bad Disney doesn't have a way to enforce that those who book the campsites actually use them.

 

[musicmama]

Now that I've heard confirmation of the decreased number of preferred loops (let alone preferred pet loops), it's pretty clear that our next camping trip will be to the Thousand Trails/Outdoor World campground and not Ft. W.

I pay a yearly membership fee to TT/OW and it's economically wasteful to pay $100+ a night for my 29' no slide Class C, when we did just fine in a non-paved 800 loop site before. As a matter of fact, I could stay in an RPI resort (offshoot of TT) for less than camping at the Fort. That just seems wrong.

I was really looking forward to a return to the Fort in late 2009 (or 2010) but with the price "adjustment", we'll probably just go back to POP. I'm sad now.

 

[AuburnJen92]

I think part of the blame goes to some of your fellow Disboarders. There have been a few posts lately about how to book a campsite and not stay in it, in order to use ME and take advantage of EEs. It is too bad Disney doesn't have a way to enforce that those who book the campsites actually use them.

Yes, they book campsites. We are talking about full, premium and preferred hook up sites. My motorhome won't fit on a campsite, nor is it allowed. They are different. I sure wish Disney would enforce the rules about this and also the people who get off the bus at the outpost with their coolers and bathing suits on from other resorts to use the pool at FW. (but we won't go into that right now...)

 

[F4disneyfan]

Yes, they book campsites. We are talking about full, premium and preferred hook up sites. My motorhome won't fit on a campsite, nor is it allowed. They are different. I sure wish Disney would enforce the rules about this and also the people who get off the bus at the outpost with their coolers and bathing suits on from other resorts to use the pool at FW. (but we won't go into that right now...)

Hmm sounds much like those at FW that walk on over to WL and use the pool there. The only people that are able to pool hop are DVC members when staying on points no one else is given this privelage (sp).

 

[jimlin]

I wanted to make an addition to a previous post. My only stay at the fort was halloween week october 2007. From check in to leaving we felt like we enjoyed the experience. We didn't make any demands on the staff other than a dog complaint in the 100 loop. A young couple brought a dog and left it tied up outside during the day. Didn't realize the 100 is a dog loop? No help from the front desk at the fort. Didn't let that ruin anything though, the couple did seem to be nice folks. I left the fort feeling like it was the best campground experience I'd ever had considering cleanliness, feeling of safety, kid control by parents and the site prep and physical condition of the site. Now saying this, and my next trip being a veteran of the fort, I don't think I would be going back with the new prices. I can go to several state parks for much less with campsites as nice as this one for the same or less cost. We didn't use the pool, or go to the campfiresigalong{which is open to non camperrs} so we basically just used the campsite. Disny is going to have a lot of small camping units setup on very large premium sites and I really think they are going to have to rethink their rates for certain times of the year.

Jim

 

[THE GRIND]

I think the new prices are not to bad. We come to the fort to go to the parks. Most of you live in the area, so maybe they are trying to make room for the people that come from out of state. I have read where alot of you make ressis just in case you decide to go on a whim..............So people who live say 12-16 hours away cannot even get a space at all.
So I feel they are weeding out the week-enders, to make room for the people that use the fort and go to the parks. Just a thought........

 

[stacktester]

I think the new prices are not to bad. We come to the fort to go to the parks. Most of you live in the area, so maybe they are trying to make room for the people that come from out of state. I have read where alot of you make ressis just in case you decide to go on a whim..............So people who live say 12-16 hours away cannot even get a space at all.
So I feel they are weeding out the week-enders, to make room for the people that use the fort and go to the parks. Just a thought........

When gas was a couple bucks you might be right in some ways, but when we were there this past weekend I saw way more FL tags than anywhere. Us weekenders as you say are putting a big dent in the FW economy because nobody else is coming from up north or far away. I should rephrase that and say not as many are coming. If anything FW should be kissing our butts right now because until the fuel comes down (which probably won't happen) the fort attendance is going to be down. Everybody seems to think Disney "CARES" about camping guests when it seems to me from what I've seen that isn't true. Another poster commented how they wanted to stay this past weekend and was told no room at the inn and they couldn't stay. There were empty sites all around the fort so that shows me they could care less. FL Residents kept WDW going after 9/11 and we'll do it again I'm sure.

 

[Gatordad]

I think the new prices are not to bad. We come to the fort to go to the parks. Most of you live in the area, so maybe they are trying to make room for the people that come from out of state. I have read where alot of you make ressis just in case you decide to go on a whim..............So people who live say 12-16 hours away cannot even get a space at all.
So I feel they are weeding out the week-enders, to make room for the people that use the fort and go to the parks. Just a thought........

they need the floridians. there were 27 spots occupied last tuesday.

 

[SunshineCamper]

We were there Labor Day weekend. We had 3 empty loops in 1800. We arrived and there were only 3 people in our loop. By friday night it was almost full.
We had friends camping in St. Pete and with Gustav's winds and rain pounding them friday and saturday-they headed home. As they approached Disney (I-4) they thought let's try to see if there is anything open for sunday night. FW allowed them in the 1400 loop.
I think the approaching hurricane kept some people away. I too looked to see the license plates on the trailers. Most were FL and one LA (not a surprise).

 

[saw1810]

I dont care what they charge the Fort is great! And this is coming from someone that has to drive 1000miles to get there! Indianapolis, IN!