Setting Up Your Equipment on a Full or Preferred Site

[des1954]

I am creating this thread in order to educate some people about use of space when you have a full hook-up or a preferred hook-up site. The sites in these levels of loops have a long concrete pad and a fairly large coquina shell pad at the rear of the site. I often see people cram their TT's or MH's on the concrete and never utilize the shell pad. As a result, their tow vehicle hangs out into the loop, making it difficult for other campers to navigate their way through the loop. Why do people do this?

It is not necessary to keep your rig on the concrete pad. You can back all the way in and park your unit on the shell pad. You will not get stuck. If you rely on leveling jacks for your TT & feel like they won't be stable enough for your trailer in the sand pad, put a piece of 2x4 to keep the jack from digging in.

We have always backed all the way in no matter what our camping equipment was (have had everything from tents all the way up to a 45' bus) and have never had a problem parking on the coquina shell pad. This way, our car/truck/suv was able to be parked well off the road and never interfered with someone trying to back into a site across the road from us.

On another thread someone posted about only having about 2 ft of concrete outside their entrance door to their 34' class C MH. They were on the 1700 loop. There was no reason for that to happen unless they did not utilize the entire depth of the site. My guess is that they were on a site in the 1730's as the front end of those sites are sort of narrow. If they had backed all the way in, they would have had plenty of concrete for their patio area.

So folks, use the entire site to your advantage!

This has been a public service announcement!

 

[Judy in Texas]

Same for pop-ups in the 1500 and 2000 loops. I didn't want to park the camper on the pad (I thought it was sand) so it was quite a tight fit. Thanks to the fine folks here, next trip I'll put the camper on the pad and have plenty of room for the tow vehicle.

 

[SCCamper]

I'm guessing that where people position their camper all depends on a lot of factors. ie: Slide location, sewer valve and shore power. My TT has two slides on the utility side. The sewer valves are located in the center of the two slides while my shore line for power is at the rear. I have purchased an extension for my power. I do agree that people should position their rig as far back as possible though.

 

[DaveInTN]

Convince me to park on the coquina.

 

[stacktester]

I always try to put my camper back as far as I can but I like to leave the entrance door where it's still near concrete. There is always sites that are going to have a tree or hose post in the way.

 

[des1954]

Convince me to park on the coquina.

Park on the coquina, Dave, or I'll hide the beer!!

 

[clkelley]

The other solution if you insist on being towards the front of your site is to move your tow vehicle up front to the parking lot!!!!!!

I do that anyway, cause it's just a weird quirk that I have, but I have LOTS more room when I do.

 

[dogsleder]

I agree. When we were there a few months ago, we could barely back into our site because the person across the way had parked their vehicle at the very edge of the drive. Not cool for my poor husband who is just learning to park a 34ft. TT behind a long truck. Already getting nervous for Oct. 1 when we return.

 

[Jaylens Papa]

I guess I'm the guy that's too dumb to park his motorhome. You may want to go back and look at some of the sites. I mentioned the width, I had no problem with the depth. The site is the same width in the front as it is in the back. The table was taking up half the back and the site is surrounded with dirt, then mud. We did have a visiters car park all the way in without blocking any of the road. Our awning posts where about 2 ft into the dirt. My slide was right at the electrical post. I don't remember the number but it was on the inside about 1/4 the way around.
I do see some problems with people parking, even in the 700 loop where I am right now. I don't see it being a big enough problem to start a thread about and I don't worry about it.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

I just park my truck on the grassy area next to my site, or in the vacant site across the road from mine. No problems.

 

[des1954]

I guess I'm the guy that's too dumb to park his motorhome. You may want to go back and look at some of the sites. I mentioned the width, I had no problem with the depth. The site is the same width in the front as it is in the back. The table was taking up half the back and the site is surrounded with dirt, then mud. We did have a visiters car park all the way in without blocking any of the road. Our awning posts where about 2 ft into the dirt. My slide was right at the electrical post. I don't remember the number but it was on the inside about 1/4 the way around.
I do see some problems with people parking, even in the 700 loop where I am right now. I don't see it being a big enough problem to start a thread about and I don't worry about it.

Didn't mean you were dumb, sorry if you took it that way. Now, I am going to shake my head at you because it sounds as if you didn't think to move the picnic table out of your way! I'm a 56 year old, out of shape woman, and I can drag the table out of the way by myself.

And the reason I started this thread is because a lot of people think they have to keep all their wheels on the concrete. I want to point out that it is safe to go all the way back on to the coquina.

Just so you know... I've camped at FtW for months at a time and am there several weekends and weeks a year. I've been doing this since '74 and am well acquainted with just about every site there is. Heck - I've camped in every loop except 2000 (that loop was built after we got out of tents & pop-ups). The 1900 loop has some very narrow sites with a lot of unfriendly space around the sites, but not the 1700 loop. I can't think of one site on 1700 where you would have problems with slides or concrete. Our current MH is a 33' diesel pusher with 2 slides on the driver side. We have had as big as a 45' diesel pusher with 4 slides. Never had any problems with any site on 1700 with any of our Class A's (have had 6) or our Class C (had 2) or our 21' TT, and we keep our tow trailer for the golf cart on the site behind the MH. Plenty of depth and width for those plus our vehicle if we back as far in as possible. And yes, we have enough length of power cord, water hose, and stinky slinky to reach as far as we need to go.

One of my pet peeves (and this is especially true on the 300 loop) is to see people park their MH's so far forward on their site that their tow vehicle sticks out into the road. This causes problems for incoming campers trying to navigate an already narrow loop road, not to mention making it darn near impossible for someone trying to back into a site across the road. I think most people stay on the concrete because they think they have to do this. Not true. You can pull all the way back.

 

[Barney Fife]

The thought of parking my TT on a bed of shells concerns me, also. Remember, those tires have to get us all home on a long journey.

But on that note, we all should have at least two 2"X8" boards about 5' long. Not only will this give you a safe place on top of the shell bed but when you're at "not so level" campgrounds, they can even things out.

 

[des1954]

The thought of parking my TT on a bed of shells concerns me, also. Remember, those tires have to get us all home on a long journey.

But on that note, we all should have at least two 2"X8" boards about 5' long. Not only will this give you a safe place on top of the shell bed but when you're at "not so level" campgrounds, they can even things out.

Not to worry. We parked our TT on the shell bed many times with no problems. The shell/sand mixture is very compacted. We've stayed for as long as 4 months with no adverse effect on our tires. The U.V. rays in Florida are more damaging to tires than any type of ground you park on.

I often wonder if people avoid campgrounds that do not offer paved sites? I know the state parks that I've been to here in Florida just have a thin layer of gravel on their sites. Also, Tropical Palms has many sites that are just grass, as does Royal Coachman in Venice, Fl. Most sites at Jetty Park, Port Canaveral are nothing more than gravel thrown over sand - as in beach sand, not construction grade sand.

The sand/coquina pads are not made of quicksand, and your RV will not sink into an abyss!!

 

[stacktester]

There's more clay in those pads than coquina. Trust me, that little shell will not hurt any tires. It does tend to be tracked in if you don't have a mat down.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

we had the problem last time we were in 1600 loop. Because of the slide layout and the utilities on the site we were not able to get the TT as far back as we would have liked thus not utilizing all of the pad in back and creating parking problems for my truck. I will say that if my trailer and truck fit on the pad, thats where I am putting it, as often as it rains in FL that sand does get splashed up on the wheels and tires as well as the side of the trailer.
We decided that we will no longer accept a site that doesnt allow us to setup properly, I have compromised too many times at FW and taken what was given, at these prices I am gonna get a site that fits me.

 

[des1954]

I will say that if my trailer and truck fit on the pad, thats where I am putting it, as often as it rains in FL that sand does get splashed up on the wheels and tires as well as the side of the trailer.

You can resolve that issue by flagging down one of the power washer companies the night before you leave. (Frank will thank you) Seriously??? You drive about 1200 miles and you don't pick up any dirt on your wheels or TT? Seriously??? We can't drive 30 miles without getting something on the RV. How DO you do it??

 

[big kahuna1]

as often as it rains in FL that sand does get splashed up on the wheels and tires as well as the side of the trailer.

You made this one waaaay to easy but I shall remain tight lipped.

 

[ftwildernessrick]

I always have my motorhome backed far enough to put my toad (truck) in front. I have never had any problem with my rear motorhome tires sinking more than a couple of inches into the shell/gravel bed and my leveling jacks have a big enough pad that they don't settle deeper later. I have had to stick the rear of my motorhome into the bushes to squeeze everything in.

The biggest problem I have had (more than once) is because of where I like to stay (site 116), which is right next to the path from the 100 loop to the Settlement / Landing area. I have driven to other parks before, come back to my site and found that someone has had the nerve to park in my campsite in front of my rv, taking my toad's spot, to go shoping, eat at Trail's End or whatever. Normally they show up within 30 minutes or so in time for me to give them a good tongue lashing, but once I had to have one towed by Disney. When the occupants showed up later that night after MK closed. They banged on my door & became irrate with me, I called security and they, along with the Sheriff's Department came up. The guest, and his wife, continued to show their rear end. They were escorted to their cabin, made to pack, and were put off the property. Their big excuse was 'there was no sign saying they could not park there'. Well, in the immortal words of Ron White, "You can't fix stupid".

 

[BradyBz12]

I have driven to other parks before, come back to my site and found that someone has had the nerve to park in my campsite in front of my rv, taking my toad's spot, to go shoping, eat at Trail's End or whatever.

Wow.... seriously??? How do some people actually make it in the world day after day with decision making skills like that?

Their big excuse was 'there was no sign saying they could not park there'. Well, in the immortal words of Ron White, "You can't fix stupid".

Amen to that. And to 'morans' being escorted off WDW property.

Gotta say we're a bit nervous about fitting the new TT into our favorite sites in 300 this year because of the slide/post issue. Plus we usually setup the pups' x-pen behind the camper. Worst case they'll get moved to the side and we'll rent a crane and lug the picnic table out of the way.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

bobby says Scott is a trouble maker and will be dealt with.