DFWfamily 0 Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 Hello, we just joined the site after lurking for a few weeks, and we're glad to be members of such a great forum/site! We are interested in staying 7 days at Fort Wilderness the week prior to Thanksgiving 2015. We are exclusively tent campers with no RV experience. For this special trip, we wish to rent from one of the 'full service' Travel Trailer/Fifth Wheel companies with larger units. We plan on sharing this with the grandparents, for a total of four adults and three kids. We aren't interested in pop-ups. Some of the websites have the floor plan and I'm finding it isn't unusual for some of the beds to be shorter than I was expecting. Most websites I've seen don't show the bed lengths. The grandparents are very concerned about how comfortable the camper beds will be. We are tall and not small, so we looking for a camper with two bedrooms that each have comfortable, residential length Queen or King beds. (We could get by with a Queen and a Double bed if we had to but would really prefer two Queen beds.) Our three kids are ages 5-7 so just about any bed arrangement would work for them (especially if bunks have rails). An outdoor kitchen would be a plus. A sturdy hand rail/grab bar on the entry door and easy to navigate steps would be huge plus for the grandparents. Can anyone recommend a specific model from a vendor (preferably a site sponsor) or any advice they believe is pertinent to our situation? Thanks, DFWfamily Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119 Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 We are also a tall family and sadly camping beds are what you make them. All are standard short lol. Usually there is one king and a pull out sofa that could be a double but would be tight for two adults. There are also bunks. Most people buy or bring mattress pads to go on top of the current mattress. This is a must if you have a bad back or want a good nights sleep. Both the sofa and dinnet will pull out into beds. If the grandparents don't mind sleeping seperate or mom and dad for that matter then it should work fine but bring mattress pads. The children will be fin in the bunks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119 Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 If you look up WWW 2015 on the forum and read through it you will get a good feel of what is being rented at the Fort and how many the campers sleep. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119 Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 Try this link http://www.fortfiends.net/forum/topic/13945-www-2015/ You might have to scroll through to find camper discriptions. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DFWfamily 0 Posted February 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 Thank you for the fast responses and advice Kristie! I just read elsewhere that if there is room at the foot of the bed to do so, some folks gain a little length by sliding the mattress down then stuffing extra pillows or what not at the head of the bed. I suppose we could try that. We also have some sleeping bags and sleeping pads we could bring to add some cushion. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799 Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 We own an RV, and I'm pretty sure our queen is on the short side. I've only rented a PUP. So basically, I'm no help, but WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A lot of folks here have rented from site sponsors and others, so I'm sure they'll have something useful to add. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547 Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 Good luck. Our son-in-law is 6'7", and our 15-year-old grandson is 6' 8.5". They haven't been able to find a unit where their feet didn't hang off the beds. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
h2odivers...Ray 952 Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 First of all welcome from your neighbor to the north. I'm assuming DFW stands Dallas Fort Worth. I personally have never seen a mother-in-law plan so your probably going to sleep on a sleeper sofa. But I'm by no means an expert on rv's. I am sure you'll get some more responses tomorrow. Weekends tend to be slow around here. LolWe do have a sponsor of this site that rents bigger travel trailers 30' plus. And IIRC they have a TT with an outdoor kitchen. The website is http://www.traveltrailerrent.com. Good luck and again welcome aboard. dblr....Rennie 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beckers 1,136 Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 Look at Moore camping rentals, inc on Facebook and look at the one called the Treehouse, it may work for you.And welcome! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DFWfamily 0 Posted February 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 First of all welcome from your neighbor to the north. I'm assuming DFW stands Dallas Fort Worth.I personally have never seen a mother-in-law plan so your probably going to sleep on a sleeper sofa. But I'm by no means an expert on rv's. I am sure you'll get some more responses tomorrow. Weekends tend to be slow around here. LolWe do have a sponsor of this site that rents bigger travel trailers 30' plus. And IIRC they have a TT with an outdoor kitchen. The website is http://www.traveltrailerrent.com.Good luck and again welcome aboard. Yes, DFW = Dallas/Fort Worth. I was looking at their #24 unit and have exchanged emails with them. I saw a YouTube video that said the beds are really comfortable in that one, couch has memory foam, IIRC. I think the King(ish?) futon bed would be great because we could add something to make it feel longer. I found another business discussed on this website (I don't know if they are a sponsor or not) and have contacted them--their Wildcat floor plan says it has a residential length Queen bed and it may have two toilets (optional), which may be as close as we can get to what we have in our mind. Hubby may have to sleep in front of the couch with his normal sleeping bag set up if the fold outs don't pan out. Here is an old random YouTube video showing a 2 bedroom 1.5 bathroom Wildcat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3grcyHmVqUU. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DFWfamily 0 Posted February 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 Well the Wildcat vendor doesn't appear to be viable...the last post I see on their facebook page is someone basically saying the vendor became non-responsive and they gave up on getting their deposit back after trying for two years. I inquired about the Treehouse model, awaiting a response. That appears to be a REALLY nice unit, probably out of my price range but ya never know. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119 Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 Something else we have done. If there are two slide in the back by the bunks then usually there is a large open space between the slides. This space holds an air mattress very nicely. The adults and children could sleep back there and the grandparents could sleep in the master bed area. Just an idea. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beckers 1,136 Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 Let us know how you make out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DFWfamily 0 Posted February 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Let us know how you make out. Well, our experience is reminiscent of that old rock 'n roll song "you can't always get what you want..." ;D We originally wanted a 1.5 bath unit with 2 residential Queen beds but that isn't quite what we ended up with as they don't make too many of those! We decided any RV would be better than the tent we are used to and decided to look at it from a different perspective. This is how we've made out so far. We booked Meacham's #24 at their standard weekly rate after reading numerous internet reviews, watching multiple YouTube videos, and reviewing the info on their website. We felt the outdoor features of the unit and the opportunity of dealing with that family owned business were just too good to pass up. There appears to be just enough 'overflow' room at the head/foot of the beds to accommodate the taller members of our family. At first it appeared some of their competitors had better pricing until we started adding up all of the additional fees for things that are included in Meacham's package pricing. It seemed to us that Meacham's really has thought of everything (and includes everything!) a family needs inside and outside of their trailer for a week's stay at FW. We contacted two Trailer vendors mentioned on this website that never got back to us whereas Meacham's was by far the most prompt in returning our emails. Other vendors we found via Google had policies we didn't care for as much (e.g., not being able to use the oven, cancellation policy, etc.). It appears to us that Meacham's specializes in serving FW, has been doing it a long time, has a growing/successful business, and manages their web content very well (e.g., great new website, multimedia reviews, etc.). While we didn't get the exact RV we think we wanted, we think we got the right vendor with a trailer we'll be VERY happy with. And thanks to the suggestions above, we have several workarounds we can try for additional comfort if the need arises. Our thanks to all that provided insightful comments and/or welcomed us to the site. :cheers: Here's more info on #24 and some of those multimedia reviews I mentioned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khHpZZPGYb0http://travelwithrick.com/glamping-at-disneys-fort-wilderness-campgrounds-episode-286/ For those interested, our Treehouse quote was roughly 10% more expensive, just under $1,300 for a 1 week stay at FW. We seriously considered this one. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119 Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Yay :yay: :yay: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DFWfamily 0 Posted February 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 Sadly we had an abrupt change in plans, I thought we had a great family thing all planned out and agreed upon but new information came to light that was a game changer (news flash: it's really hard to coordinate with two sets of in-laws, lol). I was REALLY looking forward to FW and the #24 rental. I was able to cancel prior to Andrew running my credit card and he was very gracious and understanding. We're going to try to do FW and use Meacham's on our next trip to Disney World. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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