A Few Quick Observations

[djsamuel 322]

Since I live in the Disney area and my wife is recently retired after 17 years at Disney, we get a great opportunity to stay at the Fort and take advantage of the discounts my wife gets even as a retiree.  As a result, we generally get 6 or 7 stays a year at the Fort.  So far this year, we've had three stays, one in January to run the 10K during Marathon weekend, a stay for Mother's day and a stay for Father's Day.  Prior to the Father's Day trip, I found myself getting a bit frustrated at how the Fort seemed to be run, the lack of rules enforcement, and the general rudeness of some of the guests.  My favorite places to camp are generally state parks and more so the National Parks because of the general attitude of people camping and not glamping.  So, I was approaching the Father's Day trip with a bit of anxiety.

We checked into the Fort on Wednesday June 14th.  The check in was excellent, it was not crowded, we got our requested site and it was ready.  More importantly we had a great time talking to Frederick about the time he spent in Africa; really interesting and he's a really nice guy.  We got settled into our site and headed to disney Springs for our traditional post hook up Earl of Sandwich lunch.  We beat the rain and got back in time for the deluge, but that was fine.  We relaxed in the camper.

Thursday morning we had a great breakfast at Trails End.  We normally ask for Ken, but this time we got Margerita.  She was excellent; really friendly and the food was delicious, a bit more than normal.  We hung around the campground because rain was moving in.  That was a bit frustrating since I had fast passes for Mine Train, but that was closed due to the storms for most of the night.  So, we relaxed some more! 

Friday we had a terrific lunch at the Biergarten.  Sometimes I wonder who we will be seated with, but the host saw my wife striking up a conversation with another couple and sat us together.  It was just the four of us at the table and we had a great time.  Very nice couple from Tennessee and we all enjoyed the food and the entertainment.  We've eaten there several times before, but I don't remember the food being this good.  I had a fast pass for Soarin, and also the Character Spot for pictures.  We then headed back to the camper to once again beat the rain.  However, we waited over 50 minutes for the bus back to the campground.  After we got to the outpost, I went inside to let them know how long the busses are taking and a LOT of people were complaing.  The guy at concierge was excellent, and he said he is getting a lot of complaints.  I told him that I wasn't looking for anything, I just wanted to let him know there is an issue.  He saw we had fast passes at Studios the next day so he gave us a couple of universal fast passes for the park that day, which was not expected.  I used them to continue my losing streak to my wife on Toy Story Mania.  

Sunday was Father's Day and we spent the day at Magic Kingdom with our daughter and son in law.  Had a nice time there (not too crowded) and then hit Trails End for dinner.  Kevin was our server and he was really good.  I was a bit disappointed in the beef brisket, and the generally smaller selection of food than I remembered.  There were two complete serving lines, so I thought maybe they reduced some of the offerings to allow the two lines for Father's Day.  It wasn't bad though, and the highlight came when Kevin ran over to Hoop de Doo to bring over one of the large strawberry shortcakes for us because they had coffee problems and he felt bad that my wife had to keep waiting with nothing to drink.  We didn't say anything, he just noticed it.  In any case, after the others at the table had a few bites, the shortcake was mine.  I think I rolled out the door.

The next day we checked out after a very nice extended weekend.

 

Here are a few observations:

1) The campers during this trip were the most polite and friendly I've experienced at the Fort in a long time.  Even though there were several dogs in the loop, everybody kept them quiet, respected other campsites, and cleaned up after them.  That is all anybody can ask.  The kids in the loop were very well behaved and were enjoyable to watch.  Some of the meals people were cooking smelled amazing.

2) Enforcement at the Fort was the best I've seen in a while.  Several times I saw bus drivers flag down golf cart drivers who passed them while stopped.  I also saw them strictly enforcing the rules about not boarding busses while others are getting off and not to board via the rear doors.  The Fort Rangers were around, and were very friendly and were enforcing where people could take their pets.  We saw one couple walking their dog towards the Settlement and the ranger stopped them.  He asked them where they were going and when they told him the Setllement area he very nicely showed them the sign and told them they would have to take their dog back.  They were not bothered at all and turned around.  They certainly did NOT enforce their no parking on grass policy, but that was fine given the other improvements.  That never bothers me anyway.  The trash collection seemed to be much more frequent, and they fixed the labeling on the recycling bins.  It now says "Glass" under the left door, and "Recycle" under the other doors.  I guess they only need to separate glass.  The comfort stations were also very clean and the A/C back to operating as it should.  I also noticed that at the horse barn they added the free 12:30 tour of the facilities.  I don't know how long that's been around, perhaps a long time, but I never noticed it before.  We didn't get the chance to do that, but will sometime if still offered. 

3) The only negative we experienced, and I add this as something to watch for, is somebody tried to remove the hitch lock on our camper.  I came back to the camper on Saturday and noticed that the chains from our weight distribution hitch were moved, the lock cover for the hitch lock was on the ground and the rubber end on the other side hitch pin lock was pulled off and laying on the ground.  it takes a lot of force to pull that rubber end off, so somebody was trying hard to separate that lock.  I didn't call security, although perhaps I should have (I didn't want my wife worrying about what was going on).  But, the only thing making me wonder what someone was trying to do is the fact that my truck was backed right up near the hitch, about an inch away.  There was no way they were going to get that camper out of the campsite with my truck parked there blocking it.  I don't know if it was just some teen age kids messing with the lock or what it could have been.  Nothing else around the camper was touched.

So, it was a nice trip that had some encouraging signs regarding the direction the Fort may be heading.  Maybe it was just a good anomaly; but I am hoping it is more of a trend.

Obligatory picture:

 

 

[DaveInTN 3,247]

That's good to hear, and encouraging if they are indeed beginning to enforce rules.  I won't hold my breath that it continues, but you never know.  

Regarding the hitch lock incident, I think you are being a bit too quick to blame an offending human.  Perhaps the culprit is those darn squirrels that have been hanging out at Sturdy Branches.  Probably just trying to show off to the female squirrels.    

[Memphis 105]

Thanks for the report.  It is nice to hear some positive comments.  That is strange about your hitch lock.  Hopefully Dave is right and some critter took interest.  I had a squirrel knock the loose  end of my safety chains off the tongue and then jumped in a cat litter bucket I had some gear in that was also sitting on the tongue.  When he jumped out of the bucket it fell off and spilled.  If I had not been at the site I would have thought something fishy was going on as well.  

[djsamuel 322]

37 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

That's good to hear, and encouraging if they are indeed beginning to enforce rules.  I won't hold my breath that it continues, but you never know.  

Regarding the hitch lock incident, I think you are being a bit too quick to blame an offending human.  Perhaps the culprit is those darn squirrels that have been hanging out at Sturdy Branches.  Probably just trying to show off to the female squirrels.    

Ha! A squirrel would have had to be built like that to pull that rubber end off the pin! Thanks for the explanation! 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

That sunset photo is fantastic.

I'm glad that you had some good experiences at the Fort. 

I still believe that the good far outweighs the bad.

But, if I'm being honest, my opinion is definitely influenced by the fact that because of my daughter's status as a CM, I sometimes am paying 50% less than other guests to stay at the Fort, and 40% less to eat at places like Trail's End.  I can't help but think that it would be harder to overlook some of the flaws if I was paying what other guests have to pay.

For full cost, they definitely owe guests a lot more than they are currently providing.

TCD

[caveat lector 181]

Refreshing perspective.

Fantastic obligatory picture.

Thanks

[djsamuel 322]

26 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

But, if I'm being honest, my opinion is definitely influenced by the fact that because of my daughter's status as a CM, I sometimes am paying 50% less than other guests to stay at the Fort, and 40% less to eat at places like Trail's End.  I can't help but think that it would be harder to overlook some of the flaws if I was paying what other guests have to pay.

For full cost, they definitely owe guests a lot more than they are currently providing.

TCD

Absolutely.  Since we receive the same discounts, we are definitely getting our money's worth.  I do try to look at it through the eyes of someone paying for admission and not getting discounts.  Between the decline in standards and increases in costs, it is getting to the point where I feel they must be getting close to that line for many.  I am friends with several people involved fairly high up at WDW and that is a concern many of those with several years in are voicing.  Hopefully, the message gets through.  I am taking the changes I noted this visit as an encouraging sign.  I certainly hope it continues. 

[keith_h 420]

6 hours ago, djsamuel said:

3) The only negative we experienced, and I add this as something to watch for, is somebody tried to remove the hitch lock on our camper.  I came back to the camper on Saturday and noticed that the chains from our weight distribution hitch were moved, the lock cover for the hitch lock was on the ground and the rubber end on the other side hitch pin lock was pulled off and laying on the ground.  it takes a lot of force to pull that rubber end off, so somebody was trying hard to separate that lock.  I didn't call security, although perhaps I should have (I didn't want my wife worrying about what was going on).  But, the only thing making me wonder what someone was trying to do is the fact that my truck was backed right up near the hitch, about an inch away.  There was no way they were going to get that camper out of the campsite with my truck parked there blocking it.  I don't know if it was just some teen age kids messing with the lock or what it could have been.  Nothing else around the camper was touched.

I suspect it was kids doing the dumb things they do. On a trip of ours a few years ago we came back to the trailer and the smell of gas.  I found that the grill had be turned on without lighting it. Our neighbors said "Oh yeah we smelled gas" and left it at that. My assumption was one of their boys, they had three about the ages of 10 to 15, was playing around with it while we were gone. I didn't think it was anything malicious just kids being stupid. What did bother me somewhat was why the neighbor adults didn't shut the gas off at the tank or let Disney know but I guess expecting common sense is too much these days. 

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

Thank you for an encouraging TR. 

[ImDownWithDisney 342]

Good report. It's nice to hear of improvements. 

Those pesky squirrels turned my golf cart lights on one night back in April.  They apparently flipped the toggle switch while stealing my sunflower seeds. 

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

[kadancer 82]

We had a squirrel find its way into our screen room once and was unable to get out.  When we tried to open the zipper, his buddy became confrontational.  Not the sharpest tools in the shed....

[DaveInTN 3,247]

4 minutes ago, kadancer said:

We had a squirrel find its way into our screen room once and was unable to get out.  When we tried to open the zipper, his buddy became confrontational.  Not the sharpest tools in the shed....

No, they're not.  But the sharpest tool in your shed may have taken care of the problem.  

[kadancer 82]

4 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

No, they're not.  But the sharpest tool in your shed may have taken care of the problem.  

Excellent point!