# Disney World Trip Report



## chprout (May 29, 2004)

We're back!!! Safe and sound. Saw a flipped RV, and a couple of others on the side of the road, but we had angels flying over us. The Outback towed well. Got some squeaks, squawks, and crunching noises going on back there in the hitch that I don't like, but hubby thinks it normal towing noises. I think it needs grease.

First night stopped at the KOA Point South, near Charleston, SC, I think. It was nothing special. The shower head was located for people under 5 feet tall. It was terrible. The sites were tiny, and packed in like a parking lot. I would not go there again unless I was desperate for a site. I'd look at some other options.

Disney Ft. Wilderness: What can I say?? It's the best!! A+++++++. It definitely gets a 10 out of 10 for everything. Well, it's not the cheapest, but it's Disney. Everything ran fine on the Outback, A/C never let us down and we had several red hot blazer days at Ft. Wilderness. You know, that wonderful pool is open 24 hrs a day????? The lifeguard leaves at 10 O'clock so you're on your own after that. We swam one night at 2 a.m. and had the pool to ourselves, and I mean it's one heck of a big pool. The steam was coming off the surface of the water it was so warm. Got a few good tips for Disney World if anyone's interested. Especially, E-tickets. Wow. That saved the trip for me.

Oh yeah, the golf cart at Ft. Wildernhess is a great investment. You can tool all around the campground, park it at restaurants, the pool, the shower, the two trading post shops and just about everywhere else. Loved the boat that took us to Disney. From there, you can take the monorail to Epcot. You can also take buses out of the park to Animal Kingdom or MGM. But my favorite part is that boat ride to the Magic Kingdom. Nice boat and lovely at 1 a.m. with the wind blowing in your face.

Return trip - two nights at Myrtle Beach KOA. A very nice KOA. Would definitely return there, IF I was returning to Myrtle Beach. I didn't like the area, would not go back. It's an over-crowded place, with racey joints that appeals to a young, single crowd, not families. Every other corner is a shop of XXX videos, or whatever. We went down on the beach for a short while, the ocean was lovely. I am not a beach person myself being a fair-skinned Scottish lass but kids loved the choppy waves. Went in one of those stores that sell beach wear, T-shirts, towels, etc, and had to guard my 9 yr old from seeing certain corners of the store. Condoms on the counter, furry handcuffs, etc, is not what I expected. Anyways, like I said, coming from Ft. Wilderness, it was quite a shocker, and my first time in Myrtle Beach, and will most likely be my last since there are too many other far better choices of places to go with your family. The only thing good about this place was the KOA, which was excellent. The atmosphere inside the KOA was very family friendly and the facilities were nice and clean, with large level sites, as far as KOA's go.

Anyways, we eyeballed several Class C motorhomes that we liked and are already talking about making a move up to a motorhome. Both of us grew up with Class C'a and remember riding in that over-the-cab bed going down the road. Oh those were the days. No problems....or payments. Anyways, those are looking more and more appealing. Kids want to stretch out, or play games at the table, and I am sure we're headed that direction. But I got to give the Outback an A++++ !!!


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

Welcome back! Sounds like a great trip. I hear ya about the beach stores, try taking a group of 15 middle schoolers into one of those









What type of hitch do you have? Depending on the brand it may be somewhat normal, seems most annoying when the hitch it new too.


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

I agree with Y-Guy on the hitch noise. If you are using a Dual Cam HP, there will be some noise as the spring bars move over the cams. You do not want to grease this though, as it is the metal to metal friction which controls the sway.

You can grease the ball, and if you're using a trunnion style WD hitch, then the trunnion area of the spring bars. Reese recommends a heavy oil.

Glad you had a great trip to see Mickey. We probably won't get down there again until the winter of 2006, but I definately want to take the Outback and stay at Ft. Wilderness.

Tim


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## chprout (May 29, 2004)

Hitch is a Reese Dual Cam with the sway bars, etc.


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## CamperDC (Oct 30, 2003)

One of the main reasons why I have an Outback is to stay away from the Tourist Traps.

For one week we vacationed just 30 miles south of Myrtle Beach in Pawley's Island, SC and I had not desire to visit Mytrle Beach. I am more into peace and quite.

Thanks for the report on Fort Wilderness. I hear nothing but good things about that place and if we decide to do WDW again with the kids I would like to try it out.

I have one question about the golf carts. How were they regulated or how were the rules enforced? We spent last weekend in a CG that has golf carts for rent and we got rather tired of all the carts buzzing around all over the place. The drivers were not paying any attention to stop signs or speed limits and it was common place to have to wait for four carts to pass before you could cross the street. Just curious if FW had those problems.


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## chprout (May 29, 2004)

The "rules" are that all drivers must have a valid driver's license. Kids are not allowed to drive, and security does pull people over. I let my 14 year old circle it around the loop twice with me, out of site, but I was disobeying the rules by doing so. I did not let my 9 yr old drive it, even though he begged and pleaded. At least my 14 year old daughter looks like 16 or more, but she is very mature and level-headed and she drove very slowly, scared to run into something. I heard some people talking about being pulled over and having their teens "carded". I think this is a good idea and although I did see alot of carts running around, FT Wilderness is so big that I never noticed an amount that was excessive. I was quite thankful for the cart and was able to park it everywhere. You can park it where you pick up the boat, where you pick up the bus, the restaurant, the pool, the trading posts, etc. The cart really added to the whole experience and I'd say the kids (and mom







) loved it probably as much as many of the Disney World rides themselves.

It is $44 per day to rent. I rented for 4 days, cost was about $160 and was a terrific investment in how to spend your time/$$ at Ft. Wilderness. I highly recommend it.

Let me add that on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights, you can purchase what they call an "E-ticket" for the Magic Kingdom. The park normally closes at 10 or 11 ( I think it's different on each night), but the E-ticket lets you stay in the Magic Kingdom 3 more hours. It costs $12 for adults, I think $10.50 for kids. This is purchased in addition to the regular park pass, and is only for that specific night for that specific 3 extra hours. You must trade your E-ticket in at City Hall near the entrance for a green wrist band. That band identifies you as an E-ticket holder and after 10 or 11 O'clock when others are trying to get on rides, they are turned back because they do not have the E-ticket wristband, and it is cool because you are going straight to the front of the line. We covered the entire Magic Kingdom, riding all the popular rides two or three times, in about 2 hours. There is literally NO wait. It's cool out and you can just jump from ride to ride with no waiting. It's totally awesome. This E=ticket is only available for the Magic Kingdom right now, but I am hoping they will get it for MGM and the others. It is totally the way to go. On E-ticket nights, all transportation also follows suit, staying open well after the park closes to get the people back to their resort. So the Magic Kingdom might close at 2 a.m. and you can take the boat back to Ft. Wilderness by 2:45 a.m. It's a lovely, lovely ride at that time of the morning. Then you can go into the 24 hr pool. What a magnifique ending to the evening. Then you sleep in in the morning and go to another park when it's cooler in the evening the next day.

This is "How Mom Survived Disney World in July!!!" Temps were about 100 during the day last week and the middle of the day is a real killer. Literally. E-tickets and golf carts!!!! Yeah!!!!!!


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## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

Glad to hear you had a safe trip and wonderful time
We were at Fort Wilderness in the beginning of July it was Hot!!!!!!.
We had a great time and would do it again in a Heart Beat.
The only thing we saw was a motorhome left his site and forget to dissconnect his 
water hose, And ripped the Top off -water everywhere!!!!
Those golf carts are the greatest
Next trip WDW is a 7 Day Cruise in Jan 05


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