RE: Coleman Roadtrip question
I have a Roadtrip grill that I bought back in 2002. I'm not sure if they've changed much since then, but I don't find the Roadtrip to be easy to clean at all. I still like it, and I've got the grill, griddle and stove top burner attachments and use them all, but I think cleanup (when using the grill, not the griddle or stovetop burner) is a big pain. We have the adaptor kit to hook up to our big tank, but I usually just use the small propane bottles.
RE: First Night Meal Ideas
Our usual first night meal is taco salad. I precook and season ground beef and chop the lettuce and tomatoes at home. When we get to the campsite I warm up the seasoned beef in the microwave, put out the lettuce, tomato, a bag of shredded cheese, sour cream, salsa and crushed tortilla chips, and everyone fills his or her own bowl.
RE: How to Take Frozen Pre-cooked Meals
I take pre-made or partially made meals for 7-8 for weeklong trips a lot. Things I make and freeze include sloppy joes, meatballs, spaghetti sauce, beef stroganoff, lasagna or stuffed shells, casseroles, pre-made meat patties to be used in hobo meals, and pre-cooked and seasoned ground beef for tacos or taco salad. I can get all of this into the trailer freezer. Take the containers you have available out to the freezer and arrange them to see what fits, then you'll know how to freeze it. You can freeze things in zip-lok freezer bags that will fill in the spaces, too. I've frozen things nearly flat in freezer bags and then stacked them; a lot will fit that way. You can put the frozen meals for the first few days in the refrigerator, where you probably have more room. Especially if you keep your refrigerator really cold, they'll thaw very slowly and still be fine by the time you use them. I rarely take frozen food in a cooler.
RE: What's the most you've paid for a campsite?
North of $100 a night for a premium site at Disney's Fort Wilderness during Spring Break. While I'd rather pay less, it was worth it. I'd rather pay $100 a night for Fort Wilderness than the $40-50 nightly rate we often find for private campgrounds in our area, some of which don't even have full hoookups and none of which come anywhere close on amenities.
Grand Canyon Train
I'm looking for information from anyone who has taken the train from Williams to the Grand Canyon. What time do the trains depart? What I'm really trying to figure out is how long you have at the Canyon. I don't know if they don't have it on their website or if I'm just not looking in the right place, but I cannot figure that out. We have reservations at the Xanterra campground, but DH has decided he wants to pull a stacker trailer (to use for a later part of our trip) and I don't think it'll fit at the Trailer Village, so I'm looking for alternatives.
RE: Can you park a Class A at Six Flags?
You can definitely park a Class A at Disney World - they have the price posted and it's just a couple dollars more than parking a car. Disney is pretty RV friendly - I've seen RVs in the theme park lots, the resort lots, and of course all over Fort Wilderness. I know I've seen plenty of Class A's and Class C's parked at the Six Flags near us (Great America), so I'm sure you can park there, but I've never made note of the price.
RE: Oven use while on the road
For those who are cooking with the crock pot in the sink while going down the road, how do you keep the crock pot from bouncing around in there? I've considered doing this with a piece of that non-skid cabinet liner underneath it and a towel wrapped around to keep it relatively still, but haven't tried it yet. Would this work? We microwave all the time while we're moving, but I haven't used the crock pot yet, nor have I even contemplated using the oven.
RE: Big Family rig help
Here's another vote for the entertainer bus. I would imagine those would have higher tow ratings so that you might be able to bring your larger car. I don't think the idea of towing a trailer in lieu of a car is a good idea. We have a 45 foot class C motorhome on a Freightliner Coronado chassis, and I can assure you that you would not want to take this thing to the grocery store. If you want to experience the country during the year, you're going to want to go places that a 45' bus can't go.
RE: I wish I had a dinnette vs. I wish I had table/chairs
We prefer the dinette for three reasons. We can squeeze more people in (at least the small ones), we can sleep people on the dinette, and there's storage under there. This is important to us because we're travelling with 5-7 people. If it was just DH and me, I'd probably opt for table and chairs because IMO they're more comfortable.
RE: Maxxair Turbo Maxx Questions
Our old trailer had two - one in the main area with thermostat and one in the bathroom without. Best things we ever added to the trailer. We haven't gotten around to installing them on the new motorhome, and the fantastic fans that are there now don't compare.
RE: Consensus with Teenagers & Camping/Traveling...(long)
My kids are still relatively young - 15, 13 and 9. The two teenagers are perfectly happy to camp with us, although they like it more if they can bring friends. Once they're a little older and able to drive we'll see how things are. I'm hoping that since they've been traveling with us for years, they'll still want to do it. Hope springs eternal.
RE: Parking camper at a Disney resort parking lot
I see campers in the resort parking lots all the time - there's usually plenty of room and it's perfectly acceptable. Of course, you'd better watch your camper or it may try to sneak over to Fort Wilderness to hang out with the other campers.
RE: Going to Disney World, have questions?
You're going to enjoy Fort Wilderness - it's a great campground. Here are my thoughts:
You don't need a toad. Disney transportation will get you anywhere you want to go on Disney property. If you're just going to the parks, that's easy. If you want to visit another resort, it might take some time to get there, but you can. That said, we either pull a toad or rent a car when we go to Disney, because we prefer to drive to the parks and we like the security of having a vehicle in case we want/need to go someplace.
I would skip the dining plan, especially for such a short trip. I don't like to be tied to dining reservations when I'm at Disney. We prefer counter service to table service, and the dining plan is generally too much food for us. I've done the math and the way my family eats, the dining plan is no bargain for us. If you choose the most expensive table service options (this requires much advance planning), eat dessert with every meal and choose the priciest snacks, you'll come out ahead on the DDP. To me, it's not worth it, especially since there aren't good DDP options at Fort Wilderness.
Fort Wilderness is great for bikes. We always take our bikes and we love riding through the various loops to see the various campers, decorations and setups. If you don't take your bikes, you can rent them there. You can also rent a golf cart. We've never done this, and it's not necessary, but it does look like fun.
If you're only there for 4 days I do't think you have enough time to do everything, but you can certainly hit the highlights. Do you prefer rides or shows or dining or a bit of everything?
I'm not a big fan of the Disney table service restaurants. I've never been to the really expensive ones, but for the most part I haven't been all that impressed with the food at the ones I've visited. Probably my favorite table service restaurant, if only because it's different from anything I can find at home, is Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It's expensive for what you get, but that's Disney. I have a few favorite counter service restaurants - Tangierine Cafe in Morocco at Epcot, Sunshine Seasons in Future World at Epcot, and Columbia Harbour House at Magic Kingdom.
As for campgrounds in Georgia, if we're stopping close to the Tennessee border, we like Holiday Trav L Park. I think it's listed in Chattanooga, although it's actually Rossville, GA. Closer to Atlanta, we like Harvest Moon in Adairsville. If we're trying to get south of Atlanta, there's nothing we really like until we get all the way to Elko, where we stay at Twin Oaks Rv Park. All of those are right off I-75 and can accommodate a large motorhome pulling a toad. We've also stayed at a couple of the Georgia KOAs (I think Calhoun and Cartersville), and while they were acceptable, we like other alternatives better.
Have a great trip!
RE: Recommendations for RV Parks in West Yellowstone?
We stayed at Grizzly last August. It was a nice campground - newer and very clean, with very nice, helpful staff. It's really close to the west entrance to YNP and I viewed the fact that it was right in West Yellowstone to be a plus - it's not like West Yellowstone is a big city, and proximity to shops and restaurants was nice. Plus I'd say it's on the edge of town, not in the middle. We had a large motorhome pulling a trailer, so Fishing Bridge wasn't an option for us, and I didn't see any of the other campgrounds you mentioned, so I can't give you a comparison. However, I don't think you can go wrong with Grizzly.
Seam Sealer
We camp in a motorhome, but on our next trip a couple of the kids are going to sleep in a tent. We have a tent (I forget which kind, but it's a relatively inexpensive 9x7 dome tent with rain fly purchased from Target a couple years ago). It has been used several times in Camp Backyard, including in the rain, and has never leaked. The seams have never been sealed, but I'm thinking I should do that before we head out. I've never tent camped myself and I'm not familiar with sealing seams - is there a particular seam sealer that's better than another? Also, when we put the tarp underneath the tent, should it be the exact size of the tent bottom or a little bigger or smaller? I thought a little smaller might be best since we had some water pooling on edges of the tarp that extended a little past the tent last time the kids used it in the rain. Any advice would be appreciated!
RE: What's planned for the upcoming season?
We've already had one trip this year - to Disney's Fort Wilderness for spring break. Our next trip isn't until the kids get out of school, then we're doing a long weekend at a beachfront state park in the next state. Our big trip, still in the planning stages, is to the Grand Canyon/LasVegas/Moab later in the summer. I'm hoping to fill in with a couple more long weekend trips to state parks/COE campgrounds, but I have waited too long - it's hard to get ressies and I should have done this months ago. We don't get to do spring and fall camping because of the kids' weekend sports commitments, so summer (and school breaks like T'giving and spring break) are when we have to do our trips.
RE: My little girl wants to go to Disney
Christmas is probably the busiest time at Disney World, so given the choice (and assuming you can get a full week off at T'giving), I'd head down for Thanksgiving week. That is also a busy time, but it won't be as crowded as Christmas time and the decorations will be up so you'll get some of that Disney Christmas spirit. We LOVE Fort Wilderness and we go for Thanksgiving week and Spring Break every year. Before we got a camper we stayed in the Deluxe resorts at Disney; since our first stay at Fort Wilderness (well over a dozen trips ago) we have not been willing to stay anywhere else. I think 4 is a wonderful age for Disney World. At 4 my daughters loved the characters and were no longer afraid of them. They were also tall enough for some of the "big kid" rides, and I have little daredevils who absolutely love Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, etc. and did from the time they were quite young. I agree with whomever recommended a stroller - there is way too much ground to cover at WDW to expect a child under 6 to walk and not be incredibly tired and cranky.
My advice would be to get to the parks early (20-30 minutes before opening) in order to accomplish a lot during the morning. Use fast passes whenever possible, take a break mid-day and then come back in the evenings if you're still game. Full days in the park can be a bit much for the younger kids (heck, for anyone).
We have never been during the summer, so I can't help you there. I'd be willing to try a trip in June, but wild horses could not drag my DH to Disney in the heat and humidity of summer.
RE: How are your state parks doing?
Those fees are only for 6 state parks and only for premium sites. There are 53 other state parks in IL where camping fees are less. Most fees for electric is $20.
Unfortunately, the "premium" parks in IL are those within an hour or two of Chicago, where much of the population is. The proximity to Chicago is what makes them "premium." I would say that many of the 53 other state parks are nicer than these 6. It's not realistic for those of us in northern Illinois to drive several hours to southern Illinois for a weekend, so premium rates it will be. I myself choose to go to Indiana or Wisconsin. I find their reservation systems to be more convenient and their parks to be quite nice.
RE: Portable Winegard Auto Dish
OK, stupid question on the way. I know nothing about satellites. I know there is one on the roof of our coach that is blocked by trees more often than not when we're parked (it works great on the highway, though!). If we got a portable dish, what would we plug it into? Where is this coax of which you speak? Does it get hooked somewhere into the DirecTV box?
RE: RV Bedspreads replacement
We hate RV bedspreads. My daughter spilled iodine on our bedspread last time out and I was disappointed when I washed it and the iodine came out - there went my excuse for a new one! Oh well, I'm still planning to pack away the bedspread that came with the coach and get a quilt for the bed; I just don't have my excuse any more. I'm not sure why you'd want to get another RV bedspread - just go get a regular one, it'll be much nicer.
