Trip thread for our trip to Disney and Fort Wilderness with our QuickSilver 10.0.
We plan to get there on the 6th and I'll be posting updates here as we go.
Stay tuned...
Enjoy! How long will you be there? We get back on July 17th.
Quick updat from the road: We headed out at 11:30pm last night and took it nice and easy through the night. We made it to Jacksonville as of this post and stopped for a quick breakfast. The QS 10.0 is fairly well packed. So much so that we have almost nothing with us in the TV. It's strange and almost unnerving to have so little that needs to be in the TV with us, but it makes the drive so much easier. I love it.
Even fully loaded the 10.0 is so light it's like it's not even there. It tracks true and has no sway. I couldn't have asked for more. To top it off we are pulling down about 19mpg with the Honda Pilot on cruise control at about 65 or 70.
That's it for now as we get ready to hit the road again. We should be to Disney in about 2 hours.
Enjoy!
That mileage figure is impressive! Glad to hear it is so easy to tow. Will be watching for future posts.
So we are now back home and I can officially say I've recuperated.
The overall trip computer reports a MPG of 18.7 with an average speed of about 60 MPH. This includes any time the car was running. I have some doubts about the reported number though since any time I ran the numbers for each tank they seemed to come in much closer to the 17 MPG mark. I'm not sure why the on board computer would be so off the mark, nor am I sure if it is entirely off the mark in the long run. I wish I had thought to be checking the numbers manually for the entire trip, but I had no reason to think the computer would be off. Side note: it sounds like this is a common issue for the Honda Pilot and the reports are all over the place as far as how far off the computer is off compared to the manually calculated numbers.
We averaged about 11 hours for travel time door to door. Headed down was the shorter leg because of the minimal traffic and shorter stops. Coming home we hit some major weather in Georgia and South Carolina (so bad we probably should have pulled over to let it pass). If we had had a larger profile trailer we would have had to stop for a while for sure. However the QS was so low profile that it seemed almost unaffected by the weather. I think the Pilot got pushed around more by the wind than the trailer. Between the weather and our daughter being awake more coming home the trip took closer to the 12 hour mark, but we also stopped for dinner which took much longer.
Overall the QS 10.0 did an amazing job. It stored nearly everything we needed for our trip without any difficulty. It helped that my father has some old milk crates that fit perfectly in the walk way between the bench and dinette. This allowed us to store everything from our clothes down to our non-perishable food with ease. In fact we had so little that needed to be packed into the tow vehicle it almost didnt feel right (in a good way).
We arrived to the campground at about 10am Sunday morning and luckily they had a site already clean and ready to go. We had not planned on this, we figured we would check in and park the rig until later in the day. During that time we figured we would head to the park so we quickly readjusted the plan. We went ahead and parked in our site (in the 100 loop) and did a basic setup. Which brings me to a little tangent. If you are traveling to Fort Wilderness be sure you know what type of site you need. We only read the online descriptions and so we ended up in a premier site which included some perks that we didnt need. In the long run I'm glad we ended up in the premier site because it put us so close to the dock, store, and restaurant at the settlement. So its location was amazing and was well worth it. The site included a water, sewer, electric, and cable. We only needed water and electric but the extras never hurt.
After getting to the site we were setup within 30 min. The pad was level and the QS's dont have much that need to be setup. The biggest part for me was to get the AC unit running to do everything it could to counter the Florida heat. After the basic setup we headed to Epcot for the day. We didnt plan on the first day being very intense which made Epcot the perfect choice. We had a ton of fun despite getting hit by the typical Florida afternoon storm.
Getting back to camp that afternoon we spent a bit more time setting up the inside of the camper. Since there were only three of us we put both mattress pads onto the same bunk and used the other bunk as staging/storage. The milk crates stacked up like shelves and it worked out perfectly for what we needed.
I did notice that the AC unit had a hard time keeping up with the peak temps but considering we didnt have a ton of shade and zero insulation that shouldnt be a surprise. We used a 20" box fan to help keep the air moving around the camper. This has become part of our must have list. The AC just cant move enough air to keep things cool, even running at full blast 24/7.
The camper made it through several heavy storms while we were setup. We had zero leaks or problems. I was thrilled with this performance. I've been in traditional pop up campers that worried me more in less intense storms.
The rest of the trip was a blast. Every day we were woken up by the sun ( I love not needing a alarm clock ). The days were full of time at each park and yet I still feel like there was more we could have done. We didnt want to push it so hard that we were miserable. I've seen that happen far to many times and I know how trying to do to much takes away from the greater enjoyment.
I will say that looking back it was also a good idea for us to avoid major cooking while on this trip. Yes we could have cooked more but there was no need. We budgeted the money to do a major meal out per day so we only needed to have breakfast and lunch covered. That was easy enough to do with cereal, protein bars, and sandwiches. We also had plenty of snacks and water/drinks.
With basically no cooking needed we didnt need to have our outside area setup for much at all. This made things so much easier as well as far as dealing with the weather goes as well.
Unfortunately we still needed to deal with keeping some things cold like the milk and lunch meat. We have one of the Coleman extreme coolers that claims a 5 day ice rating. Clearly that rating is not for Florida since I was having to fill it with another bag of ice every 2 days.
With the space we had I'd consider packing a small electric fridge (something like half the size of a dorm fridge). With an electric hook up that would have made life so much easier and I think it would have fit perfectly on the small shelf right above the AC unit.
The main downside to this would be if we didnt have electric. I know I could run it on a generator, but I'd need to be around to run it every few hours or so.
At the end of the trip, we were able to pack up almost as quickly as we setup. We knew we were going to have to setup again at home for clean up so there wasnt as much to worry about during pack up.
All in all this was a great trip
Sounds like you had a great time. We're heading there this Thursday, until Sunday. We always request the 200 loop, or the 100 loop. We like the proximity to the store/dock and restaurant. Did you eat breakfast at Trails End?
We never did end up over at the Trails End restaurant on this trip. I know we looked at it for dinner one night but for the dine in buffet it just didn't make sense for us. Both my wife and I have had bariatric surgery (sleeve) so neither of us eats more than a few ounces at any one time. This makes eating out somewhat of a mixed blessing (especially at a place like Disney). On the one side our whole family can practically share one regular entree and be satisfied. On the other some places offer a buffet at a set price per person which makes no sense for us. We did take the hit and eat at Chef Mickey one night (in the Contemporary) though.
Out of the whole trip the Chef Mickey experience was the one that I have mixed feelings about. I'm so happy we did it because our daughters reaction to the characters was worth every penny. On the down side, from what I could find, they don't publish the price for this dining prior to checking in. This made it difficult for us to plan a budget for that meal, plus it was a buffet which I knew we didnt want/need. So I reached out to the customer relations people for dining, explained our situation, and asked about accommodations. The relations person advised that it would be up to the manager of the location and it would be best to reach out to him/her at check in. This is what we did and the hostess advised that we would need to inform our waiter who would then send out a manager. Keep in mind I still dont know the actual price per person yet, I just know it can range between 30-60 dollars, I guess they assume you are willing to pay whatever the rate is. I spoke to the waiter as soon as he came out and explained the situation (even had a doctors issued card validating our surgeries), and was immediately shut down. The waiter essentially said you are paying for the characters and not the food so the price is set and there are no exceptions. He didnt flat out refused to get a manager but made it clear he wasnt going to do it without an argument. He did give us the price at that time and it was better than I expected, but still around the $40 price point. We still did it and enjoyed it, like I said our daughters reaction was worth every penny. I just didnt like the bitter taste from the interaction I had with the waiter and the fact that there wasnt even a hint of understanding. On the bright side the food was good and we eat well.
Looking at our camping experience I would definitely go for the 100 or 200 loop again. Looking at the price history it looks like the preferred sites like the 100 and 200 loops generally only cost between 25 and 30 more per night versus the dedicated tent/pop-up sites. Since our trips down that way are mainly going to be bigger family vacations I think that extra cost is well worth the money. Heck the time saved from waiting for the bus makes up for the extra cost. It you are in some of the more central sites you could spend 15 or 20 min waiting on a bus that brings you to the dock then another 15 or 20 min on the way back. Doing that a couple of times a day can add up.
If we were going to be at the campground longer I would have looked into being closer to the pool. Since we didnt spend much time in the campground except to sleep it wasnt much of an issue for us. There are definitely plenty of variables to consider. A little something for everyone.
Just got back from a nice long weekend at Fort Wilderness. The rain held off and we had a nice relaxing time. The trailer was perfect, no problems at all. It was extremely humid this weekend, but the A/C did a great job of removing the humidity and cooling. We also have a dehumdifier, but that didn't have to work too hard since we just kept the A/C on max.
(http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h197/djsamuel121859/InFrontOfCamper_zpsaff2675f.jpg)
[quote source="/post/1976/thread" timestamp="1405352888" author="@admin"]
Out of the whole trip the Chef Mickey experience was the one that I have mixed feelings about. I'm so happy we did it because our daughters reaction to the characters was worth every penny. On the down side, from what I could find, they don't publish the price for this dining prior to checking in. This made it difficult for us to plan a budget for that meal, plus it was a buffet which I knew we didnt want/need. So I reached out to the customer relations people for dining, explained our situation, and asked about accommodations. The relations person advised that it would be up to the manager of the location and it would be best to reach out to him/her at check in. This is what we did and the hostess advised that we would need to inform our waiter who would then send out a manager. Keep in mind I still dont know the actual price per person yet, I just know it can range between 30-60 dollars, I guess they assume you are willing to pay whatever the rate is. I spoke to the waiter as soon as he came out and explained the situation (even had a doctors issued card validating our surgeries), and was immediately shut down. The waiter essentially said you are paying for the characters and not the food so the price is set and there are no exceptions. He didnt flat out refused to get a manager but made it clear he wasnt going to do it without an argument. He did give us the price at that time and it was better than I expected, but still around the $40 price point. We still did it and enjoyed it, like I said our daughters reaction was worth every penny. I just didnt like the bitter taste from the interaction I had with the waiter and the fact that there wasnt even a hint of understanding. On the bright side the food was good and we eat well.
Looking at our camping experience I would definitely go for the 100 or 200 loop again. Looking at the price history it looks like the preferred sites like the 100 and 200 loops generally only cost between 25 and 30 more per night versus the dedicated tent/pop-up sites. Since our trips down that way are mainly going to be bigger family vacations I think that extra cost is well worth the money. Heck the time saved from waiting for the bus makes up for the extra cost. It you are in some of the more central sites you could spend 15 or 20 min waiting on a bus that brings you to the dock then another 15 or 20 min on the way back. Doing that a couple of times a day can add up.
If we were going to be at the campground longer I would have looked into being closer to the pool. Since we didnt spend much time in the campground except to sleep it wasnt much of an issue for us. There are definitely plenty of variables to consider. A little something for everyone.
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Somebody really dropped the ball on customer service at Chef Mickeys. My wife works at Disney, and that type of response is NEVER looked upon favorably. Generally, people that really can't be bothered to help the guests don't last long, and that is one reason there is a high turnover among the workers. My wife has been there 16 years now and has seen a wide range of workers come through, some really good, many not.
We always try to stay in the 200 loop. We just walk to the pool, and it isn't a bad walk at all. If you get the time, be sure to try the pool area; it is very nice. There is also a quiet pool in the campground. Your kids may enjoy walking through the stable and seeing the horses and the ponies that are outside. There is also a nice paved walking trail between Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge.
Thanks for the trip report & fuel economy report. Looks like there was plenty to keep everyone occupied daily, too!
[quote source="/post/2083/thread" timestamp="1405945919" author="@djsamuel"]Just got back from a nice long weekend at Fort Wilderness. The trailer was perfect, no problems at all.
[/quote][font size="3"]Glad it all worked out, Doug. Sounds like you found and fixed all the bugs.
BTW, thumbs up on the Tee shirt!
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[quote source="/post/2090/thread" timestamp="1405952545" author="@charliem"]
[quote source="/post/2083/thread" timestamp="1405945919" author="@djsamuel"]
Just got back from a nice long weekend at Fort Wilderness. The trailer was perfect, no problems at all.
[/quote][font size="3"]Glad it all worked out, Doug. Sounds like you found and fixed all the bugs.
BTW, thumbs up on the Tee shirt!
[/font]
[/quote]
Thanks Charlie! My wife got me that shirt years ago. I make sure to take care of it so it lasts a while. I always get good comments wearing it.
[quote source="/post/2085/thread" timestamp="1405947024" author="@djsamuel"]Somebody really dropped the ball on customer service at Chef Mickeys
[/quote]
Agreed wholeheartedly. I've come to have very high expectations from Disney as a whole and this was a bit of a let down. Yet Disney has always met or exceeded those expectations. I hope for the waiters sake he was just having an off night. I would still recommend going if given the opportunity.
-Sean
For the tent top LL people, a reflective tarp over the top works well. We live in Central FL and avoid camping in summer, but have one time or another, and ended up getting one. Go to Harbor Freight, which has one that is considerably cheaper than the ones that are custom made.
I'm glad to hear someone with personal experience with this. I've thought about using one of those thicker silver tarps to cut down on some of the heat but didnt know if it was actually worth it.