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I'll gladly pay $200.00 a night for VACATION, when we take a long weekend in Chicago at Christmas we pay double that per night for a decent Hotel room plus parking. I'm in construction, I have to drive all day (sales/estimating) FW is our only vacation where I can park the truck for 10 days and let someone else drive me everywhere
 
Interesting.

I've read about the canvas replacement. Did you use Bear Creek Canvas?

We had a Jayco Highwall 12' popup and used the heck out of it for 10 years. But my 3 kids are all growing up and not there to crank the roof, slide the bunks in and out, and help push it around. So with only 1 kid left (and leaving soon) I bought an A-liner 14' box on a super deal new a few years ago. It's small enough for me to push around myself and easy to set up by myself (DW likes to supervise :rolleyes: ). Another reason is being in Alabama, it was a lot of extra work to camp in winter and stay warm. With a hard sided folding trailer now, I'm ready to grab-and-go year round.

I don't want to get my knuckles rapped (again) for derailing yet another thread (stay on topic, Ed) but if you could post a pic of your camper in the new canvas, I would love to see it. Then we can talk about those high, high prices in 2020 the OP mentioned.


Bama Ed

New canvas from Bear Creek:

TJhqm8r.jpg

Old canvas at Fort Wilderness:

AH6BFKl.jpg



We don't crank, we use a socket genie and drill. No getting around pulling the beds out, though. I love the A-liners, but even though all our kids are grown, we seem to always have at least one of them and/or grandchildren along.

Not too off topic as we are discussing beating Disney's high camping prices. We only go during "value" seasons, unless it's an emergency. :tongue: Yes, I do have Disney emergencies, where I just need to spend a day or two at my happy place. On those occasions, we book the cheapest resort available. Being on a semi-fixed income, we keep costs as low as possible so we can go to Disney, and camping/traveling in general, more often. We like to go somewhere every month or two.

EDIT: I see my image links didn't show up. I'll have to check if I'm too new to post photos, or if there is another problem.

I'll gladly pay $200.00 a night for VACATION, when we take a long weekend in Chicago at Christmas we pay double that per night for a decent Hotel room plus parking. I'm in construction, I have to drive all day (sales/estimating) FW is our only vacation where I can park the truck for 10 days and let someone else drive me everywhere

This is true when you are talking about versus resort rooms. It is high for a campsite, even though most people would consider their own RVs more comfortable than a resort room. However, even as cheap as I am, I'm willing to pay quite a premium to be on Disney property. Like you, I am driving so much of my daily life, that the thought of parking for a week or two makes it worth it.

If we only went once per year, I would have no problem paying for even the priciest site. But we live close and have APs, so do Disney 5 or 6 times a year. We would not be able to afford it if we didn't stick mainly to tent/pop-up sites and value seasons.
 
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EDIT: I see my image links didn't show up. I'll have to check if I'm too new to post photos, or if there is another problem.

You have to use the "Upload a File" button at the bottom right of the 'new post box' at the bottom or if you use a hosting site use the little rectangle "postcard" symbol next to the emoji button at the top of the 'new post box'. Uploads have a file size limit of slightly over 1MB so if you have an HD pic it may not load. It will try to load it but if it's too big it will tell you so.

Posting links from Photobucket (what I use mostly) are copy/paste FWIW.

Bama Ed

PS - popcorn:: plus you have more than 10 posts so the DIS is not preventing you from posting pix.
 
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I am a tent camper and as much as I adore tent camping, it is way more work than showing up in a hotel room, dumping my bags down, and crawling into a freshly made bed.

Then again, I am a wee bit biased at the moment as I am posting from my air mattress in a tent on a 40F chilly spring night after spending hours today setting up a 4 tents, a dining tent and a tarp all in the rain. My poncho got soaked through which soaked my winter coat so I spent most of the day in just a sweater (thankfully a merino wool sweater).

I think camping will be a whole lot more fun tomorrow haha!
 


You have to use the "Upload a File" button at the bottom right of the 'new post box' at the bottom or if you use a hosting site use the little rectangle "postcard" symbol next to the emoji button at the top of the 'new post box'. Uploads have a file size limit of slightly over 1MB so if you have an HD pic it may not load. It will try to load it but if it's too big it will tell you so.

Both were too large to upload. I use Imgur and put them both there, inserted links and no luck. I have no clue why they aren't working unless it's a problem with Imgur. I'll try their "embed" link and see if it works on this forum.

Fixed it! I was just using the link without the .jpg on it by mistake. User error. As you can see, we removed the awning. It's in perfect condition, but we never used it, so was just dead weight. We also replaced all the interior foam, hence the mattresses on the ground in front of the camper.

The only fabric we kept was the shower curtain, but it got washed. We wanted that "new" smell in there. I made new dinette cushions and covered them with marine vinyl for durability. Got sick of washing and re-scotchguarding upholstery fabric. LIME GREEN because neutral is boring. We decided to no longer have window curtains (only valances I made) since the new canvas came with interior zip up covers over the clear vinyl windows.

Glad we're heading off camping in a couple of weeks because all this camper talk has me wanting to hit the road! We're blocked out of Disney right now (weekday only passes) but maybe will look for a resident or passholder special for a couple nights next month, as well.
 
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I am a tent camper and as much as I adore tent camping, it is way more work than showing up in a hotel room, dumping my bags down, and crawling into a freshly made bed.

Then again, I am a wee bit biased at the moment as I am posting from my air mattress in a tent on a 40F chilly spring night after spending hours today setting up a 4 tents, a dining tent and a tarp all in the rain. My poncho got soaked through which soaked my winter coat so I spent most of the day in just a sweater (thankfully a merino wool sweater).

I think camping will be a whole lot more fun tomorrow haha!
I’m guessing you set up during the Friday monsoon? We left our tents and popups, said a little prayer that they would be there when we got back, and went on a monorail crawl. That rivaled any summer storm.

If you are going to be here a while, are you interested in a fire pit? I have the shared fire pit with firewood but there’s no one to take it tomorrow. It’s an almost new one.
 
I am a tent camper and as much as I adore tent camping, it is way more work than showing up in a hotel room, dumping my bags down, and crawling into a freshly made bed.

Then again, I am a wee bit biased at the moment as I am posting from my air mattress in a tent on a 40F chilly spring night after spending hours today setting up a 4 tents, a dining tent and a tarp all in the rain. My poncho got soaked through which soaked my winter coat so I spent most of the day in just a sweater (thankfully a merino wool sweater).

I think camping will be a whole lot more fun tomorrow haha!

I'm sure things were better in the morning. :flower1: We were tent campers for many years. We got into pop-ups many years ago - this is our 4th, and I believe final, one. All of them cost less than some high end tents. We did buy a travel trailer a few years back with tax refund, but didn't turn out to be suited for us. I still love tents, and tent camping (with our instant tent) unless it's too hot or cold because now I'm too spoiled with a/c and heat.
 


I am a tent camper and as much as I adore tent camping, it is way more work than showing up in a hotel room, dumping my bags down, and crawling into a freshly made bed.

Then again, I am a wee bit biased at the moment as I am posting from my air mattress in a tent on a 40F chilly spring night after spending hours today setting up a 4 tents, a dining tent and a tarp all in the rain. My poncho got soaked through which soaked my winter coat so I spent most of the day in just a sweater (thankfully a merino wool sweater).

I think camping will be a whole lot more fun tomorrow haha!
Hope it went well, it can only get better right!
 
I’m guessing you set up during the Friday monsoon? We left our tents and popups, said a little prayer that they would be there when we got back, and went on a monorail crawl. That rivaled any summer storm.

If you are going to be here a while, are you interested in a fire pit? I have the shared fire pit with firewood but there’s no one to take it tomorrow. It’s an almost new one.

I wish I was at Disney now - won't be there til December! Still, Canada in the spring is pretty (especially after it stopped raining!)

Thanks everyone - it was a lovely day today :)
 
I'm glad to have the heads up! We've been on a Fort hiatus for a while (and a Disney hiatus for 2019), but are starting to make plans to 2020. I'm going to be calling for Christmas 2020 reservations soon, so now I know that I should be sitting down when I call!
 
I love the Fort and we have pulled our RV to the Fort since 2005! But, it is a bit scary at how expensive it is getting. I agree that is not a typical campground. I always do the math still. We have stayed at the cabins when the offer was so good that it out weighed the camping. We did free dining with the cabins twice over the years. Since we have 4 kids (they counted as adults), it really came out good for us since the cabin is up to 6. Then if you count the cost of pulling the RV and because our truck is diesel-the difference in gas vs diesel; it made it difficult to justify. I have no solutions but when it gets to be over $200/night...it is going to be difficult!
 
For 25 yrs we went to WDW every year and since 2003 have camped at FW, we skipped 2018 due to rising costs and arent planning to go to WDW in 2020 even though we will be in Florida for some time. I doubt they will miss us but its just getting to a tipping point. I cant blame Disney though, why discount something that sells out all the time ?
 
I love the Fort and we have pulled our RV to the Fort since 2005! But, it is a bit scary at how expensive it is getting. I agree that is not a typical campground. I always do the math still. We have stayed at the cabins when the offer was so good that it out weighed the camping. We did free dining with the cabins twice over the years. Since we have 4 kids (they counted as adults), it really came out good for us since the cabin is up to 6. Then if you count the cost of pulling the RV and because our truck is diesel-the difference in gas vs diesel; it made it difficult to justify. I have no solutions but when it gets to be over $200/night...it is going to be difficult!

I hear ya. Seen the cabins for around $250/night. Hard to justify a $200/night for a campsite.
 
We've been on a Disney hiatus for 2019, but are starting to make plans to 2020.
We had intended to do the same for 2019 and then our good friends decided they were going to take their first trip to the Fort in their new MH. Their son, d-i-l and grandkids are going to meet them and stay in a cabin. That was too much to handle, so we just booked airfare to join them in the MH this September. We are planning on the DIS Meet at the Fort in October 2020. Can't wait for that 499 day window to open.

I hear ya. Seen the cabins for around $250/night. Hard to justify a $200/night for a campsite.
$250?

I just tried booking a cabin for the 2nd week in September. $389/night.

upload_2019-4-26_13-30-15.png


j
 
We had intended to do the same for 2019 and then our good friends decided they were going to take their first trip to the Fort in their new MH. Their son, d-i-l and grandkids are going to meet them and stay in a cabin. That was too much to handle, so we just booked airfare to join them in the MH this September. We are planning on the DIS Meet at the Fort in October 2020. Can't wait for that 499 day window to open.

You hands were tied! I'd be breaking the hiatus in that case too! I love showing newbies around the "World", have fun planning!
 
Our March trip in the popup was $108- $130 per night. OUCH but still cheaper than any other resort for 6 of us. We are going to give September and all that heat a try this next time because the crowds were just too much.
 
Our March trip in the popup was $108- $130 per night. OUCH but still cheaper than any other resort for 6 of us. We are going to give September and all that heat a try this next time because the crowds were just too much.

We went in September last year for the first time ever. It was the lowest crowds I've seen in at least 15 years. the same might not be true this year because of Star Wars, but normally it's worth the heat if you have air conditioning in your tent or pop up to sleep.

We will definitely be doing more Septembers in the future.

When you have more than two kids, the Fort is always the best deal. It's also great to have outdoor space for all the kids.
 
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