What's your longest stay ?

[LarryJ]

So we were thinking of spending a month in Florida next winter, and had the crazy idea of camping at Fort Wilderness the whole time !

Did anybody out there ever did that ? If so, tell me about your experience.

Should we do it, park there then move around with the car ?
Or hop around from campgrounds to campgrounds

Let me know what you think, some people around here really think i am nuts

Buzz

All the time now and since like 2004/2005 our average stay at FW is 40 to 45 days. What we do is go one year from around Dec 15 to 1 Feb and get an AP and TIW card and then the next year go from around Oct 15 to 1 Dec where we still can use the TIW and AP and then the next year we repeat the sequence. It covers 4 major holidays and gives us almost 3 months every 400 days or so at WDW. Those time frames also cover a large number of value season rates and are typically low crowds for a 20 or so days where a lot of rides/attractions are walk ons. Finally the we see some of the best weather temp wise and storm wise during those periods.

Larry

 

[DisCamper]

O I forgot the extra 5K for Disney po-po giving me crap for parking on 18 blades of grass

 

[BradyBz12]

That's $277.77 per blade ROFL

 

[devores]

Not to hijack the thread, but this has been a plan of ours for sometime, and if my DW gets a job with Disney, will happen sooner than later. I did have a question about how to go about getting ressies for an extended stay. I know they only allow you to make 30 days at a time. So how do you go about making 3 or 4 month ressies and be able to stay on the same site? How far in advance do you have to make them to ensure you get a continuous stay without having to leave or move? And do they apply any discounts (FL resident, military, employee) to the ressies?

 

[BradyBz12]

I believe (and I know people will correct me if I'm wrong ) it works the same way as if you're piecing together a ressie for any other reason.

Last year we needed to book 2 consecutive reservations in order to get the AP discount, and we've done it in the past with packages too. You book your consecutive reservations and have them "linked" in the system. Every time we've done that we've been told there a "chance" we could have to move sites, but we've never had to.

Actually last year was the first "close call". We went up to the Outpost to check out/in on the changeover day, and the CM said they had us down as changing sites. A couple of horrified faces staring back at her and she quickly said, "hang on a minute" - disappeared out back for about 5 minutes and came back and said "you're all set."

 

[SandrA9810]

I've had to link ressies before between CM discount and FL discount, and then back to CM discount. This is usually over Halloween weekend when I couldn't get a CM discount for the 30-1st.

I always tell them during my reservations, at check in the first time, and let them know when I go back up that I'm still staying at the Fort. They're usually good about letting you stay at the same site.

 

[DisCamper]

Why would CM discount not be for the whole stay?

 

[rapriebe]

Why would CM discount not be for the whole stay?

I would assume that just like all the other discounts, there are only a limited amount of them available. Just because you might be a CM does not ensure that there will be a discount available for your stay.

 

[AuburnJen92]

Actually last year was the first "close call". We went up to the Outpost to check out/in on the changeover day, and the CM said they had us down as changing sites. A couple of horrified faces staring back at her and she quickly said, "hang on a minute" - disappeared out back for about 5 minutes and came back and said "you're all set."

We had an extended stay of 15 nights over a summer. We had two reservations and they tried to tell me that I was going to move sites as well. I told them to make sure they brought a bunch of cast members to come and move it for me because I wasn't going to do it, as all my crap was already out and put up. We had a 4 night reservation and then the remainder of the days on a different reservation. I was assured by the manager when I checked in the first time that there would be no problem staying in the same site. I had also already sent DH and DS to the parks for the morning and I was by my lonesome. Needless to say, the same 5 minutes passed as the CM disappeared in the back and they came back and said, oh, don't worry, you are fine. I told them, "I know."

 

[LarryJ]

For our upcoming 45 day stay at FW we originally had a 30 day and a 15 day back to back ressies and when DW got thru working in 3 AAA discount periods we now have 7 ressies covering those 45 days with a couple only covering 2 or 3 days. In the past we have had up to IIRC 4 and we have never had to change sites. The only bad thing is you have to put down a deposit for each ressie and then check in for each. It is a tad bit of a hassle, but if you're staying for an extended period of time you have the luxury of some extra time and checking in only takes 10 or 15 min.

Larry

 

[RocklandRVers]

Not to hijack the thread, but this has been a plan of ours for sometime, and if my DW gets a job with Disney, will happen sooner than later... And do they apply any discounts (FL resident, military, employee) to the ressies?

DW have flirted with the idea of retiring in a couple of years and staying @ the Fort while working somewhere in WDW. We guessed there would be enough discounts that even though the pay scale @ WDW is low that we could virtually earn enough to pay our way and not have to tap our retirement income. Doable?