Tent camping with a window air conditioner?

[shocker]

I'm going in early Aug. with 2 young children. I'm seriously considering buying a window AC unit and putting it in one of my 2 tent doors near the ground. Has anyone else tried this? Please inform me of any pros or cons.
I have 2 concerns:
1-the noise, I would like to stay in loop 2000 with other tenters but don't want to keep the neighbors up, if I stay in a loop with mostly RV's they may have some protection from the noise, some pop-ups have ac's too

2- the room it will take in my car, this may be worth the trade off for a little cool air

I will be putting the children on second/third shift park touring so plans are to arrive at the tent between 2 and 4 am most nights, might even eat and shower then go to bed around 5am. I think the only way we may be able to sleep during the daytime will be with the help of the A/C.

Is this plan feasible?

 

[2goofycampers]

here are some pics at the Fort with a/c in tents. we have seen a few.the noise can't be any worse then rv a/c . I say go for it...http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1706043&page=7

 

[tiggger1]

Ok, not trying to be a PITA but where are you planning on going till 4 am? According to the website magic kingdom is only open till 12 on the few extra hour nights and that is the only park that is open that late. Epcot and Disney Studios is only open till 10 and AK is only open till 8?

 

[shocker]

sorry, I'm still not seeing my replies so trying again:

Unless something has changed:

the disney website shows "official" hours the park is open to the public. Extra Magic Hours in the evening will begin at the official closing time and will remain open an extra 3 hours for resort guests. In the case of the midnight closing you see the park will be open 'til 3am for resort guests.

 

[BigDaddyRog]

I just purchased an a/c for my tent yesterday...I will be staying in a tent loop....are you concerned about other tent campers thinking your a/c may make too much noise? Or are you thinking you'll make too much noise coming in at 3am?

 

[lisa8200]

sorry, I'm still not seeing my replies so trying again:

Unless something has changed:

the disney website shows "official" hours the park is open to the public. Extra Magic Hours in the evening will begin at the official closing time and will remain open an extra 3 hours for resort guests. In the case of the midnight closing you see the park will be open 'til 3am for resort guests.

This may not be what you thinking but,Extra magic hours are 1 hour if there morning Magic and 3 hours if evening Magic but, You do not get evening Extra magic every night of the week.


August 2008
Morning Extra Magic Hours
Magic Kingdom® Park – August 5, 7, 12, 14, 21, 28
Epcot® – August 3, 10, 19, 26
Disney's Hollywood Studios™ – August 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 23, 30
Disney's Animal Kingdom® Theme Park – August 2, 6, 9, 13, 16, 18, 25
Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park – August 7, 14

Evening Extra Magic Hours
Magic Kingdom® Park – August 1, 3, 8, 10, 15, 17, 24, 31
Epcot® – August 5, 7, 12, 14, 22, 29
Disney's Hollywood Studios™ – August 6, 13, 18, 25
Disney's Animal Kingdom® Theme Park – August 4, 11, 20, 27
Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park – August 2, 9, 16

 

[ntsammy5]

We've seen it a couple of times. One time though someone actually cut a hole in the side of the tent, put the ac on a plastic egg crate and the duct taped the tent to the ac. seemed to work, but I'm not sure how waterproof the tent was.

 

[clkelley]

Don't worry about the 2 - 3am thing as long as you keep it down. I've wandered into the Fort from closing down Adventurer's Club many a night, and I've also spent all night one time setting up my tent site.

I would go for it on the air conditioner. Use one of the doors, put it on a milk crate, and go for it. There are many popups and smaller travel trailers in the 2000 loop (me included) that have air conditioners, fan, fridges, etc.

 

[shocker]

Thanks for everones help.
I'm not worried about how much noise we'll make. I'm worried about how much noise the A/C will make for our neighbors. I, on the other hand, think I will actually appreciate the white noise the A/C will provide to drown out my neighbors as they get up for a 7am breakfast before hitting the parks. No one has really told me how well this works. Although if I'm going to do this I'll buy it and go camping here during July to make sure set up is easy enough (just me that's going to lift this thing) and that it actually cools the tent. The pictures looked great and some showed kids inside and they did look happy and cool as cucumbers
Does it cut the humidity too and does the compressor work to death or does it get a chance to cycle off and on?

 

[shocker]

This may not be what you thinking but,Extra magic hours are 1 hour if there morning Magic and 3 hours if evening Magic but, You do not get evening Extra magic every night of the week.


August 2008
Morning Extra Magic Hours
Magic Kingdom® Park – August 5, 7, 12, 14, 21, 28
Epcot® – August 3, 10, 19, 26
Disney's Hollywood Studios™ – August 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 23, 30
Disney's Animal Kingdom® Theme Park – August 2, 6, 9, 13, 16, 18, 25
Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park – August 7, 14

Evening Extra Magic Hours
Magic Kingdom® Park – August 1, 3, 8, 10, 15, 17, 24, 31
Epcot® – August 5, 7, 12, 14, 22, 29
Disney's Hollywood Studios™ – August 6, 13, 18, 25
Disney's Animal Kingdom® Theme Park – August 4, 11, 20, 27
Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park – August 2, 9, 16

If you look carefully at the dates the only night of the week that at least one park isn't open for evening EMH is on Sat. So we'll be out late most nights. I love wandering the parks very late with young children. The only other children their age we see are sleeping on benches or in strollers. At 1am we climbed on a bus to go "home" and my then 2 yr old son looked at everyone else inside the lit bus like "what are you doing out this late?"

 

[lisa8200]

This may not be what you thinking but,Extra magic hours are 1 hour if there morning Magic and 3 hours if evening Magic but, You do not get evening Extra magic every night of the week.

If you look carefully at the dates the only night of the week that at least one park isn't open for evening EMH is on Sat. So we'll be out late most nights.

First off I meant to say every night at every park.oops Having seen confusion in the past about extra magic hours I was just providing a little more " what if " information just in case. I have talked to people before that thought the extra magic hours were every night at every park if you were a resort guest.
Yes, an AC will remove humidity. How much humidity it will remove as compared to how much is created in a tent environment I couldn't say.There are just to many variables ( size of unit, size of tent, outside humidity, etc ).Hope you have a great trip .

 

[poohbearwithme]

You might also consider a portable a/c like This. With a portable all you have to do is put the vent tube/hose on the outside of tent door, then zip the door around it.

 

[Vijoge]

You might also consider a portable a/c like This. With a portable all you have to do is put the vent tube/hose on the outside of tent door, then zip the door around it.

This one will work a lot better than a window unit in a tent.

 

[SandrA9810]

I would never go without mine. Now I set mine up on my tailgate, but as you dont have it that easily get something to raise it off the ground, and if you can dig the back in a little to allow for drainage or else it will get really humid. Now you just have to remember to bring something to surround the A.C. to keep the cold blowing in and not AC the rest of the world. Also remember that some tents the window can be 2-3ft off the ground. I have also used the table at the site for the AC.

And I wouldn't consider not using one till late september/october. Always look for scratch and dent sales as it helps the price a lot, especially since you won't be using it all the time. Look for broken boxes at H.D. or Lowes and ask to see a manager about reducing the cost of it.