What is there to do at FW?

[hsmytwins]

Good call.



Hop on mydisneyexperience.com and do some restaurant searching, you can choose specifically the resors you are interested in. That luau dinner your friend mentioned is at the Polynesian. As for other recommendations - we very much enjoyed dinner at The Wave at the Contemporary in November. 4 adults, all with different entrees, and none of us was remotely disappointed.

As for getting reservations:
A. you may be surprised
B. the times available might not be exactly what you want, but snag them anyway if you think they'll work
BUT...C. keep checking back, especially in the week or so before your dates. People snag up all of the reservations they think they might possibly want at 180 days out, then drop a bunch as their plans firm up. You can cancel most restaurants on site 24 hours in advance without being charged, so plenty of people take advantage of that.

THANKS. Will do. So, what you are saying is that there is a *direct* boat ride from FW to Poly and Contemporary?

 

[garneska]

Boat to Wilderness Lodge and Contemporary, they alternate so sometimes it is not direct. You do have lots of travel choices. For poly you can go to contemporary then take monorail, or boat to MK and then boat or monorail to poly or GF. IMO, you can get a very nice dinner at any of those resorts and never have to drive.

 

[PaHunter]

Can you make any recommendations? A close friend of mine enjoys a luau dinner at one of these places (I forget where!).

I know that most people make their dining reservations 180 days out, so I don't know if we would even stand a chance at getting reservations in April.

THe luau dinner would be at the Polynesian. You can get reservations, we got most of what we wanted at 120 days out. And keep checking back, peopke cancel reservations all the time, you never know what you will find.

Congratulations on the RV and welcome to the RV world. It is a big beautiful world out there. Driving something that big takes some practice, but it is doable. Backing in to a campsite, my biggest thing is to remember to look UP, and make sure you are clear of branches before backing. The forum is very helpful, there is a ton of experience available with the group. Have questions, just ask. Again, welcome.

 

[4077]

A little off-topic, but...OP, not sure where you hail from, but if you're ever up in the northeast check out Moose Hillock in the Lake George area. ENORMOUS sites and a not-your-average pool, to be sure. Here are two different sites there:

And the pool - too big for a regular pic, so I used a panorama shot:

They turn lights on at the pool some nights and have a twilight swim, pretty cool!

Here's our blog post from that visit: http://winnieadventures.blogspot.com/2014/08/ny-moose-hillock-camping-resort.html

And welcome to the world of RV-ing. I hope it is everything you hope it will be and more. We sure love the lifestyle. Like Ed hinted at, bringing your own bed, own kitchen, own bathroom along anywhere you go is just a different ballgame than living out of a suitcase and sleeping on a hotel bed. During the season we pack our clothes, linens, full size toiletries and medicine cabinet, and all of our food staples - just like a second home. So when we head out, we just have to throw in whatever perishables we need and re-load the dog food bin and off we go! Need a cough drop in the middle of the night? No problem, they're stocked. No forgetting razors or wishing for an extra blanket or whatever!

Just got brochures about this place at Northeast RV show in Hartford today (and I also really want a 5th wheel now )
Place looks really cool!

 

[peg110]

Thanks for the feedback - good and bad.

We are booked for 10 nights at the end of April.

We make our home in West Michigan and this will be our first go at camping (and driving a big rig & all that goes with that!)

We are hoping it will become a home away from home. Ultimately, our plan is to "go on tour" and see many areas of the US and select parts of Canada. We are hoping to see Niagra this summer and possibly the Rocky Mountains. BUT FIRST - we need to figure out all of the little ins and outs of living in a bus.

Being winter here, this isn't the best chance to get out and try it. We will need to wait until the weather improves. We know it can be driven in the winter....but we'd rather do our learning without snow and ice.

I know it's tough since your trip is coming up soon (April? Is that 2016 or 2017), but if you have an opportunity to take a shorter trip closer to home, You should. It can be quite helpful to figure out things that you DON'T have and need and even things that you bring that you may not. I realize it's not easy to go "Camping" in winter time in West Michigan, but it's definitely useful to work out the "Major" kinks ahead of time.

Just as an example, our first go around, with our new TT, the site we had made it difficult to park the TT close enough to the power connector. Ours is 30 Amps (I am sure yours is 50) and a 25' extension cord (30A) purchased at the campground was about $50.00 (unexpected cost). Also on the same trip, we also learned other things. This particular campground only had Power at the sites, no water or sewer. They did have a dump station but you had to go to it. Plus they had spigots at locations through out the campground. This really makes you aware of your tank capacities (Fresh, grey and black water). On our 3 day (Weekend) trip, even being careful our grey tank filled up on half way through day 2, and we ran out of fresh water. Filling the water tank (and draining the grey tank) then became an issue. (Do I tear down and move it to dump/fill or do I just work around it in other ways?)

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful time at the fort. I know the Luau show at the Polynesian was great. I liked the food there but the DW and kids weren't big fans of it. It's all a matter of taste I guess. I don't know if there is a restaurant at the Polynesian where you can get just the food and not the show (as it can be pricey too), but I am sure someone else will know.

Lastly, sorry if we (and especially me) were harsh on some of the posts. As you can tell there are lots of fans here of the Fort. Believe it or not, many of us will tell you the bad we have encountered too, but by and large, it's mostly been good for us. So please don't be afraid to ask the questions. We love to help.

 

[hsmytwins]

Thanks Paul. Good advice.

Yes, April 2016.

My husband will get driving lessons when the weather clears from the company we bought our bus from. They also have us dry camp in their parking lot so that they can help us learn the systems.

Michigan camp grounds don't open until April. Indian casinos will allow dry camping in their lots, so we might try that too. They even give access to their indoor pools, so we can have something fun for the kids to do besides watch tv.

If I can find something (maybe Indiana?) that opens earlier, we can try that. So far, everything says April.

We never intended to make our purchase in the winter. We planned on waiting until this summer.....but the perfect bus showed up, so we had to go for it! (When you're buying used, the choices are limited. This one is in perfect shape and has been "zeroed out".) We saw it Christmas Eve and wrote our offer on New Year's Eve.

 

[hsmytwins]

We have many Indian casinos in Michigan (some are very nice, by the way). Will I find more as we head south?

 

[mich1073]

Yes just spending a day resort hopping via boat and monorail is always something we do to. We go to the parks here and there but enjoy the late night cart rides looking at deer only a few feet from you and seen many a baby deer up close. Riding bikes up the nature walk to the Wilderness Lodge area looking for deer. Tether ball on the beach, feed fish from the boat ramp. Used to love to feed the ducks but now they are MIA.....

O'Hana's is wonderful to eat at. You can do the expensive place in Wilderness Lodge too if you want to try game and so forth.

Also Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show maybe the one your talking about. Also just grabbing a drink or a dole whip and sitting on the beach of the Poly to watch Wishes is super fun too.

Back at the fort - The campfire singalong is fun and of course the movies. I normally stay in Loop 600 as its close to even walk to the front to hop a boat and your just a bridge away from the movie since I have little ones and it easy to trek over and do the temporary tattoos or whatever the daily craft is. Late night pool swims and so forth. And also if you get a site that back up to the water you can fish in your back yard

I really like the 300 loop right before the little access road. You have all the horse and carts go by which is fun and you can walk the beach. I think they fenced off the old Campfire area as its been a few years since I been over there. But its nice to go where the horse carriages go as they have piped in wishes music and a good view of the fireworks all in a short walk. And some of the best fishing over there.

Another good note - you do not have to have a fishing license to fish at the fort

OH and you must try breakfast at Trails End, love the HASH....

Of course I will admit I love Trails End for all meals.... Of course I think I am still the only person to ever have their wedding reception there and took up the whole bottom floor bar area

 

[tiggerdad]

Yes just spending a day resort hopping via boat and monorail is always something we do to. We go to the parks here and there but enjoy the late night cart rides looking at deer only a few feet from you and seen many a baby deer up close. Riding bikes up the nature walk to the Wilderness Lodge area looking for deer. Tether ball on the beach, feed fish from the boat ramp. Used to love to feed the ducks but now they are MIA.....

O'Hana's is wonderful to eat at. You can do the expensive place in Wilderness Lodge too if you want to try game and so forth.

Also Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show maybe the one your talking about. Also just grabbing a drink or a dole whip and sitting on the beach of the Poly to watch Wishes is super fun too.

Back at the fort - The campfire singalong is fun and of course the movies. I normally stay in Loop 600 as its close to even walk to the front to hop a boat and your just a bridge away from the movie since I have little ones and it easy to trek over and do the temporary tattoos or whatever the daily craft is. Late night pool swims and so forth. And also if you get a site that back up to the water you can fish in your back yard

I really like the 300 loop right before the little access road. You have all the horse and carts go by which is fun and you can walk the beach. I think they fenced off the old Campfire area as its been a few years since I been over there. But its nice to go where the horse carriages go as they have piped in wishes music and a good view of the fireworks all in a short walk. And some of the best fishing over there.

Another good note - you do not have to have a fishing license to fish at the fort

OH and you must try breakfast at Trails End, love the HASH....

Of course I will admit I love Trails End for all meals.... Of course I think I am still the only person to ever have their wedding reception there and took up the whole bottom floor bar area

I dont' recall getting an invitation...

I think the OP alluded to the food at Trail's End and Pioneer Hall as "Ick". Wonder if we can convert them? Seriously, have no idea what you're missing...

 

[KristinU]

We have many Indian casinos in Michigan (some are very nice, by the way). Will I find more as we head south?

You may want to think about downloading an app called AllStays Camp and RV. It is about $10, but we definitely get our money's worth out of it. You can filter on different campground types (public, independent) as well as overnights at casinos and wally worlds, etc. Also rest stops and gas and stuff.

I dont' recall getting an invitation...

I think the OP alluded to the food at Trail's End and Pioneer Hall as "Ick". Wonder if we can convert them? Seriously, have no idea what you're missing...

Shhh...one less family I have to elbow out of the way for sticky buns at breakfast!

 

[tiggerdad]

Shhh...one less family I have to elbow out of the way for sticky buns at breakfast!

Good point. I'm more about that baked beef shank and tenderloin at dinner myself.

 

[mich1073]

Your squirrels might be ones my dad released at FW a few years back. He did take them way out towards the golfing area closer to the new four seasons as he knew it was less likely they would be hit by traffic. We raised them when we found them in a tree that fell down in the pasture as babies.

And yes trails end is not typical buffet food.... Not at all, and if any of you want another good place for country buffet food and your headed to the fort via I-4 and go thru Plant City, you have to try Fred's (they now call it Fred's Market) its in front of the Plant City Fruit/Vegetable wholesale processor. Or Johnson's BBQ next door, both owned by the same family. Amazing food!! I hate buffets too.... But not Trails end or Freds!!!

 

[tiggerdad]

Will remember to look it up.

Thanks to your family for the squirrels. We had one growing up as well. Best pet I ever had.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

You may want to think about downloading an app called AllStays Camp and RV.

That's a good app, we also use the RV Parky app. It works pretty good too.