keith_h

I've always hated hurricanes coming through at night. Hearing all of the crashing and not knowing if it is doing any damage drives me up a wall. As far as sleeping goes I've always been a light sleeper so would be awake most of the night regardless. My youngest daughter on the other hand sleeps more soundly than a log.

Still hoping things turn out for best for everyone down there.

15 hours ago, jugman said:

 I seen these families walking around at the higher ends resorts like it's nothing. 

This is the group Disney is going after. They have with high levels of disposable income and are willing to part with it to get what they want. 

Hoping for the best for everyone living in Florida. Based on the numbers and track I'm seeing it isn't really going to weaken and most of the state will see the N.E. quadrant.

9 hours ago, Katman1356...Jason said:

Just received this update in my email a little while ago. 

 

As an FYI from the Disney Reservation Center.

With Hurricane Irma approaching the state of Florida and keeping safety top of mind, the Disney Reservation Center will be closed Sunday, Sept. 10 and Monday, Sept. 11, with the plan of resuming operations once the storm has passed. Please note the Disney Reservation Center will operate normal business hours on Saturday, Sept. 9.

It seems strange to me that they don't have sites in multiple locations to handle reservations. I don't know of any company the size of Disney that wouldn't. In fact it was events like this that would have many large customers I knew to already be running on backup computer systems and ensuring workload was shifted to available call and computer centers.

3 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Those who are praising the officials don't understand that our idiot Governor declared a state of emergency for the entire state two days ago. 

Ours declared one yesterday starting this morning. It isn't some official being an idiot. By declaring an emergency they can start activating emergency services and the National Guard. It also starts getting federal government agencies like FEMA activated. In our case it is also what gets emergency equipment such as generators and fast water rescue pre-staged to known problem areas saving time for when it is really needed. In NC it also has the effect of invoking anti-price gouging laws which is what keeps gas from shooting to $10/gal. On the other hand if the governor waited and things went to heck in a hand basket everybody would be yelling he should have acted sooner.

I think some of the concern also has to do with the fact that this is the strongest storm on record. Since it is so strong folks aren't really sure what to expect other than it is bigger that Andrew and they know what it did to Florida. I think it is better to overreact than underestimate what might happen.

One other thing to do as the storm approaches is to fill bathtubs with water. Even if you are on city water it will stop working once the pumps lose power and the line pressure is relieved. It works well even for me as I can't hookup my generator until the weather clears so it lets us do simple things like flush toilets until I can get electricity to the well pump. 

I wonder how long the solar panels will hold up to life on the road. They aren't typically designed with a lot of vibration in mind and then there are rocks thrown up by the vehicle in front of you. I also think it would kill the all nighter to get to your destination as soon as possible. Other than that is seems pretty cool.

4 hours ago, Cortezcapt (Derek) said:

That just gave me an idea (can be dangerous when that happens) it should be a Jungle Cruise themed resort! That a I would stay at.

That's what popped into my head too.

Thanks for the post. We have reservations here after our day at the AK in Februrary. We have never eaten here and are looking forward to it. The Wild Boar Tenderloin along with the Taste of Africa seems like enough for a meal on its own.

38 minutes ago, wendinator said:

I didn't try it, but when I saw it in person... it looked nothing like the promotional photo. (Does anything ever look like the promotional photo?)

Would you order this?

 

No.

This is one of those areas where you will find most folks are one side or the other with no one in the middle. Snake oil as far as I'm concerned when used in everyday vehicles. Keep in mind that the atmosphere is already 78% nitrogen and the stuff they put in tires is 95%. Nitrogen is used in aircraft and race vehicles as they are under a lot higher loads and heat levels. Add to that aircraft going from balmy temps to frigid and back to balmy over short period and the lower temperature related deflation has makes sense.  You don't see, or shouldn't see, any of these extreme conditions with your average TV and TT.  

My trailer came with nitrogen filled tires from the factory. If it didn't arrive that way I would not have paid extra to have nitrogen put in. I still have to check and fill them just like air filled tires. If you are going to stay with 95% nitrogen this means you have to find a facility that can fill your tires.  You also have to pay a premium for the nitrogen. If you can't find nitrogen you end up diluting the mixture in the tire with air anyway. I save the cost and frustration and use the compressor in my garage or the small portable one we take camping when I need to add air.

Keep in mind most blowouts even with the China bombs are the result of overloading, under inflation, road hazards or some combination of these. Nitrogen won't fix any of these. So in the end it really a personal decision on whether pay the extra money or not. If it gives you peace of mind and you don't care about the cost then I say go for it, otherwise don't.

Not at all.

One of my daughters was texting a friend to make plans for the night and it took a good 20 minutes for them to get through it all. When she was done I told her we used to use the phone to talk and would have had our plans made in about 5 minutes. Six minutes if we conferenced in a another person.This is the look I got: 

54 minutes ago, Robin said:

It is right next door to dino world. We did not stop at any attractions so can't say for sure the distance to the cave.

They are changing the entrance to the park but I don't think it was far at all.

Thanks. I know where Dino World is so this gives me a good idea of where the campground is.

2 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

Just out of curiosity... how many people do you camp with,  normally?

how many miles to the fort are you?

Just Rene and myself. That will probably change over the next few years with my oldest starting to have children. We are about 600 miles from the Fort. Before the trailer we would drive it in one day but after the first trip we decided to take break it up stopping in Savannah for a nite or two.

We've always done a fair amount of traveling even when the kids were still around. In fact they were so used to traveling the first thing they did was fall asleep even if we were just going downtown for dinner. When we were on the West Coast we would make 5 or 6 trips a year to SoCal to go to Disneyland. During the 90's we lived here and would go down to WDW once or twice a year with the kids. We never stayed on WDW property then as we would get a free suite at one of the convention hotels on International Drive where my brother was the general  manager. We didn't go at all during the 200n's as the kids had too much going on in high school and college along with older parent obligations for me.    

As I said above I agree that rates are getting to the point that no matter how much we like the Fort it is something we won't be doing as often as we would like to. When you add in all of the other areas that have gone up in price and have so many other things in this country to see and do it wasn't a hard decision to make. It also helps looking at it from a public service standpoint and that is there are two less people in the line thereby decreasing the wait times.

9 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

Not to be argumentative but to get an accurate price of what it costs you to camp at the fort you have to take into account the cost of the RV.  Even if you use it at other campgrounds. 

If we weren't at the Fort we would be at another campground in the area not a Disney hotel. We use our trailer 50+ nights a year as most weekends we are off doing something be it regular  camping or weekend jaunts to nearby cities. We also take a couple of week or longer trips each year. So all of the basic costs are the same as far as we are concerned.

Based on the hotels we use to stay at before the trailer I did some calculations and figured it was more or less a break even proposition if we kept the trailer 5-7 years. Other than the original cost everything else is pretty insignificant. I only pay $14/yr for insurance, materials for upkeep come to another $20-$30 per year and registration/taxes were $75 this year. Prorated across each night used they don't amount to much. The key is we didn't buy the trailer to save money when we travel. We just got tired of hotels and tents and wanted something that would allow us to still do what we already did with more flexibility and comfort.

3 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

Also, I don't think you factored in the cost of the RV, insurance, etc into your scenario?

I usually leave trailer cost out of the equations I make as the TT will be getting used for a lot of travel regardless of our destination. For us it has largely supplanted hotels when we travel. It is also used frequently during the nicer months (Sept. - May) for camping.

I do agree the rate for a campsite at the Fort has gotten out of hand. We decided after our last trip that we would stop with the idea of an annual pilgrimage to WDW and it would move out to every couple of years. In its place we are going to be making trips similar to our one in May to Yellowstone and Black Hills. We were out for 17 days and the camping site costs were about the same as 7 nights at the Fort. Since we eat more meals at the trailer when traveling than we do at WDW we cut our food costs by more than half. Sadly I think the cost differences will only increase as I don't see Disney dropping their prices as long as there is demand and demand seems to be going up.

23 minutes ago, Cortezcapt (Derek) said:

That looks like a torture chamber, at least it would be here in Florida.  Maybe it would be nice somewhere where there's a lot of snow or its very cold?

I was thinking something like a gazebo, lanai  or similar building. I doubt it would get much use in the summer but would be nice for gatherings the rest of the year.

I'm thinking the guy might be doing knock offs but I'd have to see his facility and talk with real customers before I would think about buying something from him. While looking at the link for the round hut I saw this. It looks like a good idea for a backyard project if you could get a hold of the grill and hood.

http://www.royaltubs.co.uk/shop/bbq-huts/

How far from the park and I-65 is it? We haven't been to Mammoth Caves since my mom moved to Montana from Bardstown after my dad passed away.  

I'm not sure I'd want to sleep in that near the top of a hill.

11 hours ago, rtguy007 said:

I had a 97 Ranger that dropped a clutch, blew a head gasket, and bent a shifting fork in the first 12000 miles.

I had a 2001 B3000 and other than normal stuff like tires the only thing I replaced was the water pump at 115K miles. When I got my F-150 gave it my oldest daughter and their husband and it's still going strong although it could use new sway bar links (its at 130K now).

As an aside I have a brother-in-law that owns a GM dealership and his brothers are GM engineers. They've all said Ford makes an overall better truck. One of his brothers even drives one.  

7 hours ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Oh mercy... we'll be there in October... I think I'll put up Christmas decorations 

You mean you actually take yours down?

Or maybe this fall? We are heading to the fall RV show next weekend. I think I'll be able to resist but you never know. 

Yes I know it is still summer. Don't ask me why the RV association is calling this a fall show.

As people said it varies. The last time we were at the Fort around Halloween the people across the road from us had your more ghoulish decorations including a noise activated popup skeleton hidden next to the garbage cans. Thankfully they turned it off at night or when they were away. The rest of the loop were your typical blowup stuff you see at Walmart or home improvement store.

Isn't the main issue with the full hookup loops is the roads are narrower than the newer loops are making it harder to back into a site? So while the sites are big enough it might be harder to get into them.