Tent Camping @ Disney (Feb 09)- Any Tips?

[mjmoon]

Hi everyone, I'm new here! My husband, 3YO and 5YO sons, and inlaws are going to Disney in February and staying at FW. My inlaws have an RV that they will be staying in and we are planning on sharing the campsite and pitching a cabin tent. We got the dining plan (the one table/counter/snack a day one) so we won't need a whole lot by way of food at camp. We're supposed to go looking at camping equipment this weekend as we're starting from scratch. Any suggestions on what to look for, stear away from, must have, etc?

I LOVE to camp though I must admit it's been over a decade since I've been camping in any capacity... I could use all the advice I can get. TIA

Mary

BTW- We've stayed at FW twice before in an RV, before having our little boys.. we went in '06 and stayed at the All Star Movie resort and as much as I enjoyed the visit I'm REALLY excited to get back to FW.. I love the wilderness aspect of it.

 

[ezmom]

Hi!
I don't really have any tips as my first trip will be this weekend. Have fun planning.

Amy

 

[clkelley]

If you haven't bought a tent yet, then get one that at least says it sleeps 7 or 8. A 4-person tent means 4 sleeping bags will lay flat in there.

Get some type of shelter to put up at the entrance of your tent, so you can enter and leave dry.

 

[mjmoon]

Thanks.. I am looking to get a tent that sleeps 12.. that way well have plenty of room for airbeds and all the other necessities when traveling with two preschoolers. I've seen some really huge tents online.. I'm guess I also need to look at practicality.. some look really hard to set up. We definitely have a lot of planning to do.. Thanks for the idea of putting up a cover so we don't get water in the tent! Great idea!

 

[mjmoon]

Amy- HAVE A GREAT TIME!

 

[Jill in Chicago]

You want to get a dome tent. Those tents with the flat tops hold water when it rains, whereas a dome tent will help the rain slide right down. Remember not to touch the sides of your tent with anything, you or cots... If you do rain will leak in.

Buy a huge piece of plastic at the hardware store. Put it under your tent. This will help the moisture from the ground/concrete not come into your tent. Toss the plastic when vacation is over. Not worth the cost to air it out at home. Put your tent away dry if at all possible. No matter if wet or dry set your tent up at home, in the garage, and let it dry out completely before storage.

No shoes in the tent. They track in everything. No food in tent. It attracts critters. Quiet tent toys to play with right before bed, nice soft things that if stepped on won't hurt anyone.

Ear plugs. When tent camping you hear everything. Someone's tent zipper opening in the middle of the night will wake you right up.

"Jammies" that you can wear to the bathroom without covering up.

A little bag to easily carry shampoo... to the bathroom.

Bug spray. Bottled water. Small first aid kit.

That's all I can think of right now. The more prepared you are the more fun the trip is!

 

[clkelley]

Oh yeah, a toiletry bag for each of you, (at least for you and your spouse), so that you can shower at the same time.

 

[mjmoon]

I've been looking at some of the larger Eureka! model tents.. does anyone have any experience with this brand?

 

[ntsammy5]

Eureka makes very good tents. I have a couple of them.

 

[LONE-STAR]

If you put plastic under your tent do not let it extend out past the edge of the tent. If it does when it rains the water will go on the plastic and run under the tent.

 

[Jill in Chicago]

We really like the dome tents from Target. Easy to set up.

Thanks for the plastic advice! You do want to cut it so it doesn't extend beyond the tent. Great reminder!

 

[iluvtig2]

and had a blast! Weather was perfect. Having the DDP would've made it even more perfect, but we actually cooked some........

Tents: We got gigantic Coleman tents from Walmart. Warm enough at night, with temps in the 50's. Too warm during the day with temps in the 70's. Air mattress a must. We got 8 man tents for 3 and had lots of room left over. These are "dome"-like, but with side extensions. Very easy to set up, once we figured it out. Next time will be a breeze!

Screen Tent: Very nice - Bugs even in Feb. and I do NOT like bug spray.

We are going again on Friday, but staying in a cabin....... Had fun camping, but............

Have fun! We had a great time planning, and more fun executing!

iluvtig

 

[ezmom]

We bought a Northwest Territory 16x14 tent from Kmart. It is large enough for my husband 6yrDS and 2yrDD. I am claustophobic and this doesn't make me feel that bad B/C it is tall. We have 2 twin airbeds for the kids and 1 queen for us. Not by any means an expert or even experienced camper but this worked for us in our Backyard adventure.
The only thingg I am 2nd guessing is the tarp we bought to put over incase it rains. Should we take that back and spend less on plastic?

Amy

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Make sure you put up the tent a few times for practice before you take it camping. That way it'll be a breeze at the campsite.

Did the tent already come with a rainfly? If so, you may just want the extra tarp you got to use to extend the entrance a bit. But you will need to figure out a way to rig it.

Otherwise you could just use it underneath the tent as a ground cover which you'll need. As one poster said, don't let it extend past the edges of the tent or you could potentionally end up with water under the tent which you don't want to happen.