Travel Trailer Owners

[FLkid]

Hey guys!

A few months ago I began pondering the idea of buying a small travel trailer. I have never owned one before and I'm starting to have some concerns about making the purchase.


The whole idea came up after noticing that the campground prices are pretty reasonable despite the large fluctuations for resorts throughout the year, And after visiting the campgrounds me and the GF completely fell in love with the area. It really feels like you're in a different world. So... in came the idea that we need a travel trailer so that our stays will no longer be value resorts or off property.


Last year buying a travel trailer probably wouldn't have been in the cards for me unless I financed a used one. This year things are a little different and we can afford to purchase (still used though lol) We have not taken the leap due to other things we need to take care of but it's something I intended to do in the next couple months. Once the excitement wore off of the whole idea I began to think about some things that I wanted to get some opinions on.

Such as...

for 5k-8k that we would spend on a trailer, We could do a LOT of Disney trips on property. We live 3 hours away so plane tickets are never an expense for us. However, It most likely won't be on the campgrounds as renting a cabin would seem silly for just the two of us and get very pricey over time. Maybe once or twice. Also, The gf is not interested in camping via tent lol


Here are my questions:


How often do you use your travel trailer for trips other than Disney?


Do you feel it's worth it in the long run to save money on hotels when you include fuel costs etc


I looked at renting a travel trailer to try it out, But by the time I paid the rental fees (well.. At least the ones I looked at) and reservation charges I would be 1000+ into it that I could have used on the trailer itself. Would you still recommend doing this to get a feel?

 

[parrothead64]

Have you looked at RVShare.com. Possibly cheaper then a rental
We use ours about 6-10 times a year, but we live in NJ and we like to camp.
Are you interested in visiting other places, you may get more use out of it than you think.
Before buying, make sure your tow vehicle is capable of towing what you want and don't let the sales person make that decision for you, do some research yourself. Salesman will do and say whatever they can to make a sale.
There are tons of other suggestions, but first you must make the decision of purchasing or not and go from there.

 

[team bradfield]

Parrothead is correct-Do the research yourself on the GVWR, the salesman will say anything, they do not care.
Important things to consider:
Do you have a place to park it while at home?
Do you like camping, or just going to Disney?

Most of us are campers, we use ours every chance we get, 35 to 40 nights per year, but we enjoy hiking and being together with the kids.
We've been to Disney many times, Yellowstone NP 4 times, Glacier NP 1 time, Grand Tetons 1 time, 5 trips to the Black hills/Badlands in South Dakota, its a very economical way to vacation for us.

we started with a small 27' travel and 4 trade ups later we have a large 5th wheel, we love it.

Good luck with your decision and welcome to camping

 

[FortForever]

If you're not into camping, in general, I wouldn't think it would be a worthwhile investment. Fort Wilderness can be quite a bit pricier than the value resorts.

 

[DisneyMom2000000]

Hey guys!

A few months ago I began pondering the idea of buying a small travel trailer. I have never owned one before and I'm starting to have some concerns about making the purchase.


The whole idea came up after noticing that the campground prices are pretty reasonable despite the large fluctuations for resorts throughout the year, And after visiting the campgrounds me and the GF completely fell in love with the area. It really feels like you're in a different world. So... in came the idea that we need a travel trailer so that our stays will no longer be value resorts or off property.


Last year buying a travel trailer probably wouldn't have been in the cards for me unless I financed a used one. This year things are a little different and we can afford to purchase (still used though lol) We have not taken the leap due to other things we need to take care of but it's something I intended to do in the next couple months. Once the excitement wore off of the whole idea I began to think about some things that I wanted to get some opinions on.

Such as...

for 5k-8k that we would spend on a trailer, We could do a LOT of Disney trips on property. We live 3 hours away so plane tickets are never an expense for us. However, It most likely won't be on the campgrounds as renting a cabin would seem silly for just the two of us and get very pricey over time. Maybe once or twice. Also, The gf is not interested in camping via tent lol


Here are my questions:


How often do you use your travel trailer for trips other than Disney?


Do you feel it's worth it in the long run to save money on hotels when you include fuel costs etc


I looked at renting a travel trailer to try it out, But by the time I paid the rental fees (well.. At least the ones I looked at) and reservation charges I would be 1000+ into it that I could have used on the trailer itself. Would you still recommend doing this to get a feel?

Where in FL are you located? There are plenty of other camping places around the state, if that interests you!

 

[North of Mouse]

If you are not really 'into' camping that often, it will probably be much more expensive to buy and maintain a trailer than renting one in the long term.

You will need to think about insurance, taxes, storage (unless you have home space) and general maintenance. It is well worth it to us as we take at least 6-8 weeks a year camping. You would have to figure out just how much you will use it - then go from there.

As pp said, in your situation, I would rent one first and see how it goes, and what your tow vehicle can accommodate.

Good luck!

 

[jknezek]

As others have said, as just a way to "do Disney" it would be pretty expensive. We do the vast majority of our family vacations in our 1976 GMC motorhome. About the only trip we don't take it on is every other year when we fly to NJ to visit my family. I can buy Break Your Spirit Airlines tickets for less than the cost of gas to drive, and stay at my parents' place, so the motorhome makes no sense. But other than that, we try and use the motorhome at least once a month for a trip with our 3 kids and 2 dogs. Frankly, it's the cheapest way to travel for us. Buying 5 plane tickets would be murder on a regular basis, and dog sitting for 2 dogs runs us $30 to $50 a day. At $2 a gallon, that gets me 125 to 225 miles a day down the road! Now add in all we save by making meals in the motorhome as opposed to eating out, and it is some serious savings for us. We also use our motorhome as a field command post when the kids have sports tournaments and other all day events. So we find ways to use it, even if we aren't camping!

All that being said the purchase price of a motorhome, or a travel trailer, is just the beginning. They require a lot of care and maintenance, all of which can get expensive, especially if you don't do it yourself. In the end though, we just love camping. We've been to The Fort once (my twin boys just turned 5 and I won't do Disney before my kids can walk it!), and we will do it again in a few years. But it was far from the driving force in our decision to make camping our primary choice for vacationing. I did it with my family as a kid in a travel trailer, my wife did it with her family in tents. Our kids do it with us. They are some of my wife and my favorite childhood memories, and we want the same for our kids.

Best of luck with your decision.

 

[FLkid]

I love camping and often frequent Ginnie Springs in north FL where we pop up tents and just enjoy the atmosphere.

That's part of the reason I have fallen in love with Disneys campgrounds. I just don't love the idea of spending all day at a park and coming back to a tent with no AC, that's why we came up with the travel trailer idea.

I have a place to park it in my yard

My truck has a tow rating a little under 8,000 and a GVWR of 7700. It has a towing package but only a standard tow hitch and gooseneck. I don't think I would go the 5th wheel route as my truck has a small lift and I would imagine that would cause an issue with leveling

I would be looking in the 3500-4500lb range. We don't need anything real big as it's just the two of us, Our priorities are a bed and a fridge lol

 

[christianweecare]

DH & I have a small 15 foot Jayco travel trailer that we bought a year ago. At the time that we bought it was a year old used travel trailer. My husband has since renovated it to suit our purposes. We pull it with my Honda Pilot. We have our first visit to FW this October. We live in Georgia and camp at least once or twice a month in our area. We also pull it down to the Gulf coast several times during the summer months for beach trips. We started camping a few years back as my husband works for the military and could rent small travel trailers for us. We have fallen in love with camping and love our little camper. We are nowhere near the big, fancy set ups that we see but it suits us just fine.

 

[bama_ed]

kid,

I would suggest you rent a travel trailer and try a weekend at a local nearly campground or state park. Don't put all that pressure on a Disney vacation to see if you like camping in a trailer if it's a 50-50 proposition. It sounds like you have the vehicle to do it (you might need a brake controller).

We camp almost every year in our popup camper at the Fort but we use the camper on NEARLY every vacation because my camper is my cabin in the woods, my condo at the beach, and my DVC at Disney World. We like sleeping in our own beds on vacation (and we are outdoors most times unless it's cold, wet, dark, or some combo of these). Seriously our camper is like the 5th bedroom of our house.

And from a Disney perspective, our fridge/stove in the camper and the grill at the campsite let us eat in like at home or let us eat out at a restaurant. I'm not trapped by a Disney Dining Plan or eating terrible Quick Service or overpriced Table Service meals. In fact, when I budget a trip to WDW, I don't budget food at the campsite (meals we eat there) because I'd be eating groceries from Publix or Winn Dixie at home. I only budget Table Service (and I avoid QS unless it's CHH or Cosmic Rays). So I can eat:

- healthy/unhealthy/cheap/expensive (steaks at the campsite)/snack/indulge and oh did I mention my camper fridge keeps my beer REALLY cold?

I love the outdoors so the Fort fits my shopping basket in vacation terms. Go slow and see what fits for you. But again my recommendation is not to stack a trailer camping test on top of a Fort vacation (unless you were seriously drinking the koolaid).

Bama Ed