civileng68
<font color=teal>That May scare the poopy out of m
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2003
- Messages
- 3,011
Just back this evening from a Sunday - Tuesday tent camping experience at WDW with a friend. I wanted to give my take on things maybe to help those who will do this in the future, especially since I had some unique perspectives (some critical, but I feel fair).
First off, in late January I camped at the campgrounds and it was COLD!!!! (brrrr). It was down near 40 degrees at night. During planning I was hoping to sit outside at night and chill out and relax and chit chat and enjoy the "nice" weather. It ended up being just too cold and living in SW Fla, I didnt have alot of tools to get myself warm, and I couldnt afford to buy expensive heating items. I was placed in the interior of the 2000 loop. A) I was cold and that was my main issue, which honestly could have played a role in my perspective of the rest of the Jan trip. B) I did NOT like the interior of the loop and C) I didnt like the 2000 loop to begin with (at the time I didnt know about the 1500 loop). Anyways, I ended up leaving two days early and in AMAZING customer service fashion, I was refunded my monies for the future nights. I couldnt have been more impressed with the FW staff.
Now, late Feb/early March and I noticed how nice the weather has been so I figured it was a good time to try this again. Here's how the situation went............
A) I wanted to find days where we would have at least one night with EMH at Magic Kingdom. When I first made my plans, i realized (I had initially thought the park was open until 9 and EMH was until midnight) that the park was open until midnight and EMH was until 3 am. At 31 years old (and even though this was a guy trip with my wife and 3 year old at home) I just couldnt see myself being able to stay up and enjoy myself until 3 am, yet my whole goal was to pretty much just use the EMHs. It was time to change the trip dates. So, I called WDW and had the dates changed to this past weekend thru today. However, two days before my trip I went online to look at my confirmation (I'm always paranoid something is incorrect) and the agent had mistakenly put it for NEXT month on the same dates. Innocent mistake. Lesson: Make sure you go online and confirm. Agent really did nothing wrong. Honest mistakes are honest in my opinion. I got it fixed. No probs.
B) I got to the Campground on Sunday morning just before official check-in and the guard told me to drive through the "drive thru" check-in. I was under the impression that this was for motor coaches only (since last time I was told I had to park and check in. I also had NOT checked in online). He assured me it was ok and told me "just tell her I told you to" (he was the nicest security personnel I've seen
).
I got to the drive-thru check-in and the attendant actually did seem a bit annoyed but no problems to me (I used to manage customer service and typically give anyone the benefit of just having a bad day. If you only understood what customer service people go through, you'd understand). She did everything with accuracy, including letting me pay cash for the second night after prepaying the first on my CC. No confusion, no questions, no problem.
C) 1500 loop. I had requested the 1500 loop after reading reviews. We got to our spot at location 1507. Let me say, I LOVED IT!!!! LOVED LOVE LOVED it! Its so much better (IMO) from 2000 loop. It just seems so much more "woodsy". I dont really know how to explain it but it has a much better feel, and with the park across the street, it's beautiful.
We got our Coleman Sun Dome tents set up (btw, I LOVE these tents, and they're fairly cheap, but I'd recommend at least the 7X9, even for one person as my buddy had the smaller one and it was just big enough to lay down in and THATS IT. I had room for a chair as well) and got all of our items in place for the two nights stay. We then caught a bus to the dock for MK. Sunday was EMH at MK from 9 until midnight. So, we went in the park at 4pm, figuring we'd do the less crowded rides before EMH and the bigger ones during EMH.
We rode the boat from the Campgrounds to MK. We only waited a few mins before a boat arrived. We found out that the boats were running from MK to FW to the Campgrounds (not a straight shot). The captain said they do this more than they dont (just FYI). Either way it was fine, except, prior to going to MK, the boat stops at FW and is already fairly full of passengers. Fortunately we got on with standing room only (at least we got on). On to MK.
-------------------------Im not giving an update of the park (just my experience at the camp -------------------------------------
Around 11:25 we had done all we wanted to do (EMH is great by the way) and we were waiting for the boat to take us back. Again, it was a full load since the boat goes both to FW and the Campgrounds from MK. It was a nice ride and a great end to the night.
Back at camp we lit some propane lanterns, chilled back with some snacks, 70 degrees and 82% humidity (it was a bit on the muggy side but still nice). We got our showers at the CS (which btw, I was very surprised how clean they are. I'm a clean freak when it comes to showering and using the bathroom and cannot typically stand public restrooms. These were nice. Have no fear, if you're like me).
One thing I found was, when camping, people are typically up late (hey, really it's just nice sitting out). We found that the 1500 loop was about 50/50 in tents to popups. I was happy to see alot of tents though. There were alot of late arrivals into the early Monday morning hours but everyone was respectful to stay quiet while setting up. We went to bed around 2am and I slept amazingly well. I actually found it a bit cool once laying down (I did the air mattress with a sleeping bag over it).
We got up to a gorgeous, low humidity, sunny morning on Monday morning and had some (strong) french pressed coffee with oatmeal (both made with water from a hot water boiler). We were both a bit physically worn out from the late night before (keep in mind, I go to WDW often, just dont camp until now, and I get more satisfaction out of relaxing trips than commando trips, especially when with a buddy with no wife or child with me
)
Around 12:30 pm, we figured we'd head over to EPCOT and call it an early night that night. We decided to do a detour to get there to avoid buses for the most part. Hey, we had no schedule to adhere to
. We went to the boat dock to get a ride to Contemporary to then monorail jump over to EPCOT. This is where things went awry. First off, the boat took about 15 mins to arrive (coming from Contemporary). My buddy and I were the only two waiting for a ride over (I guess not many people were going to CR at that time of day). Anyways, when the gentleman who was getting off of the boat asked the captain "how long will it be before the next boat arrives (clearly just stopping in at the camp to look around), the captain shrewdly, no, RUDELY responded "there's no time, it comes when it comes". I felt bad for the guest as he was one of those older gentlemen who just looked so innocent and huggable (laugh, but you know what im talking about).
We got on the boat and my buddy whispered to me "he seems to be having a bad day". Well again, coming from my past experience in the Customer Service Industry and managing people, I responded to my buddy "well dude (yeah we call each other "dude"), he may be having a really bad day and we dont know whats going on in his personal life that may be just too much to deal with and put on the Disney smile". No, it doesnt make it right, but I actually felt bad for the captain, assuming he was having a bad day. He looked totally exhausted. He looked miserable. I felt for him.
we took the ride over to CR without him saying a word to us (we were the only two on the boat). No rules, no spiels, no "welcome" and "thank you", so we just rode over. Upon arriving at the CR dock, the captain just stood at the wheel. BTW, he never even chained the exit to the boat (the step area). I looked at my buddy was like "do we get off now or wait"? He said "I dont know". I said "well he's not talking to us, so lets get off". So, I then disembarked. After I was already on the dock, he suddenly came back to earth and looked at me and shook his head in disgust and said "maybe next time you can wait until I tell you to get off the boat". Now, keep in mind now we're at the CR dock and people are standing there waiting to get on and hear this. I typically am the guy who (I dont say it proudly) would put someone in the water for that comment but my wife and 3 year old have "matured" me. So, I respond "sir, you are blaming me and you havent so much as said one word to us before now. i didnt know what to do". He got off of the boat to open the exit on the dock itself and mumbled something to what I heard only "mumble mumble overestimate intelligence mumble mumble". I couldn't let that go, so I said "what did you just say to me"?. This man (all of 5'5") looked up at me and said right to my face "I guess I underestimated your intelligence". At this point my buddy (who knows how I used to be) grabbed my arm and pulled me to the dock and said "just let it go". I said "its ok but I need to ask him something". I went back to get his name to report him. I noticed his name tag was gone suddenly (I thought he had one on previously after the incident with the other gentleman which caused me to glance). At this point he's back on the boat but walking off and I said "sir". He ignored me, so I said "hey bro, I'm talking to you". He then looked at me and I said "what your name". He said "Darryl" (I have no way to know). I said "Darryl, I'll be speaking with your supervisor, you are the rudest person I've employee I've met at WDW in my ten years of coming here regularly". He said "thats fine, tell them everything, I dont care". He then got off of the boat, got on his phone and walked off the dock and disappeared, with another captain taking over. It was one of the oddest encounters I've ever had. It was like he wanted to get fired instead of quit. It was just odd. I've never seen it. His shift was clearly ending (it was the last trip across) and he just couldnt keep his mouth shut until he got off of work. Odd.
I feel bad for him but for the sake of WDW, I wanted it reported and went inside to concierge and had him reported. I thank the CR staff since I didnt know where to go but I felt like the gentleman I told cared significantly and I truly believe he passed the memo up the chain of command (he even took notes). If you see "Darryl" anymore, good luck, but maybe he was just having a bad day. In fact, on a funny note, the guy at concierge said "heck sir, I just thank you for not putting him in the lake. I'm not sure I could have resisted". I laughed and found it to be sort of my closure to the situation. what a great staff at CR and the Campgrounds.
We left EPCOT around 7:30 and got back to Contemporary in time to catch the second half of wishes from the fourth floor balcony. what a great atmosphere. Honestly I'd rather watch it from there than inside the park. Its so nice!!! Kudos to Robo on the recommendation!
Then it was dinner at CR and then down to the dock from CR to the Campgrounds. I will say, at this point we waited 20 mins for a boat to arrive. It was too long in my opinion. There was only 1 boat on the route back and forth. I didnt sour my evening but I do think that could be faster.
Anyways, we got back to camp, showered and then put some charcoal on the grill around 11:30 pm (the camp was lively last night btw, even late) and we learned that you CAN in fact toast marshmellows on a hot grill with charcoal (we werent allowed to do campfires so we did grilling).
We enjoyed the evening and then got a funny visitor around 1am. A curious armadillo wondered into camp, and we laughed at how we noticed he clearly made as much noise as he could (opposite of what most animals typically do). he was rustling and running around and just checking everything out. We laughed hysterically as he wondered right outside of the tent next to us where a young man and woman were sleeping. He was so loud I knew he'd probably wake them. I laughed to the point of exhaustion as I told my buddy "that girl is going to wake up screaming at any moment", and then I counted it "wait for it, wait for it".............and shortly after we saw the flashlight come on and saw them inside the tent doing a survey of the area. It was funny. The whole camp was seemingly up except for them and you could hear everyone laughing at the armadillo as he wondered around.
the joke was on me in the end. At 2:30 am after I was asleep I heard a rustling in the bush behind me and It startled me. I jumped up took my flashlight and looked out to a curious armadillo minding his own business and just like earlier, making all the noise he could possibly try to make. I found it hilarious and went back to sleep.
I woke up this morning at 6:30 am to more rustling and dont you know it......the same armadillo, rustling in the same spot, making as much noise as he could. He then disappeared not to be seen again but it was great fun seeing him.
-------------------------------------------------------
Summary:
A) the staff at FW Campgrounds is top notch. Phenominal!
B) the 1500 loop is where its at!!!!
C) if you are like me, you use the computer and tv for the most of your day/night. I recommend taking the time to leave the computer and tv at home even though you do have cable on site. I found it to be so satisfying to not watch tv for two nights. I cant describe the feeling of just sitting under the stars. I can assure you, if you're with a loved one or a friend, its amazing the quality of conversations when the night is clear and dark and the tv is off. Amazing!
I wont be going back to the camp until it cools down (I dont have a cooled unit, just a tent) but I can promise you this.................it was a great trip and I LOVE camping with ammenities. Its great! What a great trip!
First off, in late January I camped at the campgrounds and it was COLD!!!! (brrrr). It was down near 40 degrees at night. During planning I was hoping to sit outside at night and chill out and relax and chit chat and enjoy the "nice" weather. It ended up being just too cold and living in SW Fla, I didnt have alot of tools to get myself warm, and I couldnt afford to buy expensive heating items. I was placed in the interior of the 2000 loop. A) I was cold and that was my main issue, which honestly could have played a role in my perspective of the rest of the Jan trip. B) I did NOT like the interior of the loop and C) I didnt like the 2000 loop to begin with (at the time I didnt know about the 1500 loop). Anyways, I ended up leaving two days early and in AMAZING customer service fashion, I was refunded my monies for the future nights. I couldnt have been more impressed with the FW staff.
Now, late Feb/early March and I noticed how nice the weather has been so I figured it was a good time to try this again. Here's how the situation went............
A) I wanted to find days where we would have at least one night with EMH at Magic Kingdom. When I first made my plans, i realized (I had initially thought the park was open until 9 and EMH was until midnight) that the park was open until midnight and EMH was until 3 am. At 31 years old (and even though this was a guy trip with my wife and 3 year old at home) I just couldnt see myself being able to stay up and enjoy myself until 3 am, yet my whole goal was to pretty much just use the EMHs. It was time to change the trip dates. So, I called WDW and had the dates changed to this past weekend thru today. However, two days before my trip I went online to look at my confirmation (I'm always paranoid something is incorrect) and the agent had mistakenly put it for NEXT month on the same dates. Innocent mistake. Lesson: Make sure you go online and confirm. Agent really did nothing wrong. Honest mistakes are honest in my opinion. I got it fixed. No probs.
B) I got to the Campground on Sunday morning just before official check-in and the guard told me to drive through the "drive thru" check-in. I was under the impression that this was for motor coaches only (since last time I was told I had to park and check in. I also had NOT checked in online). He assured me it was ok and told me "just tell her I told you to" (he was the nicest security personnel I've seen
). I got to the drive-thru check-in and the attendant actually did seem a bit annoyed but no problems to me (I used to manage customer service and typically give anyone the benefit of just having a bad day. If you only understood what customer service people go through, you'd understand). She did everything with accuracy, including letting me pay cash for the second night after prepaying the first on my CC. No confusion, no questions, no problem.
C) 1500 loop. I had requested the 1500 loop after reading reviews. We got to our spot at location 1507. Let me say, I LOVED IT!!!! LOVED LOVE LOVED it! Its so much better (IMO) from 2000 loop. It just seems so much more "woodsy". I dont really know how to explain it but it has a much better feel, and with the park across the street, it's beautiful.
We got our Coleman Sun Dome tents set up (btw, I LOVE these tents, and they're fairly cheap, but I'd recommend at least the 7X9, even for one person as my buddy had the smaller one and it was just big enough to lay down in and THATS IT. I had room for a chair as well) and got all of our items in place for the two nights stay. We then caught a bus to the dock for MK. Sunday was EMH at MK from 9 until midnight. So, we went in the park at 4pm, figuring we'd do the less crowded rides before EMH and the bigger ones during EMH.
We rode the boat from the Campgrounds to MK. We only waited a few mins before a boat arrived. We found out that the boats were running from MK to FW to the Campgrounds (not a straight shot). The captain said they do this more than they dont (just FYI). Either way it was fine, except, prior to going to MK, the boat stops at FW and is already fairly full of passengers. Fortunately we got on with standing room only (at least we got on). On to MK.
-------------------------Im not giving an update of the park (just my experience at the camp -------------------------------------
Around 11:25 we had done all we wanted to do (EMH is great by the way) and we were waiting for the boat to take us back. Again, it was a full load since the boat goes both to FW and the Campgrounds from MK. It was a nice ride and a great end to the night.
Back at camp we lit some propane lanterns, chilled back with some snacks, 70 degrees and 82% humidity (it was a bit on the muggy side but still nice). We got our showers at the CS (which btw, I was very surprised how clean they are. I'm a clean freak when it comes to showering and using the bathroom and cannot typically stand public restrooms. These were nice. Have no fear, if you're like me).
One thing I found was, when camping, people are typically up late (hey, really it's just nice sitting out). We found that the 1500 loop was about 50/50 in tents to popups. I was happy to see alot of tents though. There were alot of late arrivals into the early Monday morning hours but everyone was respectful to stay quiet while setting up. We went to bed around 2am and I slept amazingly well. I actually found it a bit cool once laying down (I did the air mattress with a sleeping bag over it).
We got up to a gorgeous, low humidity, sunny morning on Monday morning and had some (strong) french pressed coffee with oatmeal (both made with water from a hot water boiler). We were both a bit physically worn out from the late night before (keep in mind, I go to WDW often, just dont camp until now, and I get more satisfaction out of relaxing trips than commando trips, especially when with a buddy with no wife or child with me
)Around 12:30 pm, we figured we'd head over to EPCOT and call it an early night that night. We decided to do a detour to get there to avoid buses for the most part. Hey, we had no schedule to adhere to
. We went to the boat dock to get a ride to Contemporary to then monorail jump over to EPCOT. This is where things went awry. First off, the boat took about 15 mins to arrive (coming from Contemporary). My buddy and I were the only two waiting for a ride over (I guess not many people were going to CR at that time of day). Anyways, when the gentleman who was getting off of the boat asked the captain "how long will it be before the next boat arrives (clearly just stopping in at the camp to look around), the captain shrewdly, no, RUDELY responded "there's no time, it comes when it comes". I felt bad for the guest as he was one of those older gentlemen who just looked so innocent and huggable (laugh, but you know what im talking about).We got on the boat and my buddy whispered to me "he seems to be having a bad day". Well again, coming from my past experience in the Customer Service Industry and managing people, I responded to my buddy "well dude (yeah we call each other "dude"), he may be having a really bad day and we dont know whats going on in his personal life that may be just too much to deal with and put on the Disney smile". No, it doesnt make it right, but I actually felt bad for the captain, assuming he was having a bad day. He looked totally exhausted. He looked miserable. I felt for him.
we took the ride over to CR without him saying a word to us (we were the only two on the boat). No rules, no spiels, no "welcome" and "thank you", so we just rode over. Upon arriving at the CR dock, the captain just stood at the wheel. BTW, he never even chained the exit to the boat (the step area). I looked at my buddy was like "do we get off now or wait"? He said "I dont know". I said "well he's not talking to us, so lets get off". So, I then disembarked. After I was already on the dock, he suddenly came back to earth and looked at me and shook his head in disgust and said "maybe next time you can wait until I tell you to get off the boat". Now, keep in mind now we're at the CR dock and people are standing there waiting to get on and hear this. I typically am the guy who (I dont say it proudly) would put someone in the water for that comment but my wife and 3 year old have "matured" me. So, I respond "sir, you are blaming me and you havent so much as said one word to us before now. i didnt know what to do". He got off of the boat to open the exit on the dock itself and mumbled something to what I heard only "mumble mumble overestimate intelligence mumble mumble". I couldn't let that go, so I said "what did you just say to me"?. This man (all of 5'5") looked up at me and said right to my face "I guess I underestimated your intelligence". At this point my buddy (who knows how I used to be) grabbed my arm and pulled me to the dock and said "just let it go". I said "its ok but I need to ask him something". I went back to get his name to report him. I noticed his name tag was gone suddenly (I thought he had one on previously after the incident with the other gentleman which caused me to glance). At this point he's back on the boat but walking off and I said "sir". He ignored me, so I said "hey bro, I'm talking to you". He then looked at me and I said "what your name". He said "Darryl" (I have no way to know). I said "Darryl, I'll be speaking with your supervisor, you are the rudest person I've employee I've met at WDW in my ten years of coming here regularly". He said "thats fine, tell them everything, I dont care". He then got off of the boat, got on his phone and walked off the dock and disappeared, with another captain taking over. It was one of the oddest encounters I've ever had. It was like he wanted to get fired instead of quit. It was just odd. I've never seen it. His shift was clearly ending (it was the last trip across) and he just couldnt keep his mouth shut until he got off of work. Odd.
I feel bad for him but for the sake of WDW, I wanted it reported and went inside to concierge and had him reported. I thank the CR staff since I didnt know where to go but I felt like the gentleman I told cared significantly and I truly believe he passed the memo up the chain of command (he even took notes). If you see "Darryl" anymore, good luck, but maybe he was just having a bad day. In fact, on a funny note, the guy at concierge said "heck sir, I just thank you for not putting him in the lake. I'm not sure I could have resisted". I laughed and found it to be sort of my closure to the situation. what a great staff at CR and the Campgrounds.
We left EPCOT around 7:30 and got back to Contemporary in time to catch the second half of wishes from the fourth floor balcony. what a great atmosphere. Honestly I'd rather watch it from there than inside the park. Its so nice!!! Kudos to Robo on the recommendation!
Then it was dinner at CR and then down to the dock from CR to the Campgrounds. I will say, at this point we waited 20 mins for a boat to arrive. It was too long in my opinion. There was only 1 boat on the route back and forth. I didnt sour my evening but I do think that could be faster.
Anyways, we got back to camp, showered and then put some charcoal on the grill around 11:30 pm (the camp was lively last night btw, even late) and we learned that you CAN in fact toast marshmellows on a hot grill with charcoal (we werent allowed to do campfires so we did grilling).
We enjoyed the evening and then got a funny visitor around 1am. A curious armadillo wondered into camp, and we laughed at how we noticed he clearly made as much noise as he could (opposite of what most animals typically do). he was rustling and running around and just checking everything out. We laughed hysterically as he wondered right outside of the tent next to us where a young man and woman were sleeping. He was so loud I knew he'd probably wake them. I laughed to the point of exhaustion as I told my buddy "that girl is going to wake up screaming at any moment", and then I counted it "wait for it, wait for it".............and shortly after we saw the flashlight come on and saw them inside the tent doing a survey of the area. It was funny. The whole camp was seemingly up except for them and you could hear everyone laughing at the armadillo as he wondered around.
the joke was on me in the end. At 2:30 am after I was asleep I heard a rustling in the bush behind me and It startled me. I jumped up took my flashlight and looked out to a curious armadillo minding his own business and just like earlier, making all the noise he could possibly try to make. I found it hilarious and went back to sleep.
I woke up this morning at 6:30 am to more rustling and dont you know it......the same armadillo, rustling in the same spot, making as much noise as he could. He then disappeared not to be seen again but it was great fun seeing him.
-------------------------------------------------------
Summary:
A) the staff at FW Campgrounds is top notch. Phenominal!
B) the 1500 loop is where its at!!!!
C) if you are like me, you use the computer and tv for the most of your day/night. I recommend taking the time to leave the computer and tv at home even though you do have cable on site. I found it to be so satisfying to not watch tv for two nights. I cant describe the feeling of just sitting under the stars. I can assure you, if you're with a loved one or a friend, its amazing the quality of conversations when the night is clear and dark and the tv is off. Amazing!
I wont be going back to the camp until it cools down (I dont have a cooled unit, just a tent) but I can promise you this.................it was a great trip and I LOVE camping with ammenities. Its great! What a great trip!
