Monday, July 22, 2013

Fort Wilderness, Disney World, Fla Jan 2013

Diane's sister and her husband were planning a trip to Disney and we decided to join them.  We had always wanted to stay at the campground at Fort Wilderness so we made our reservations.  I was able to get some great discounted tickets at Victory Travel on Fort Jackson.  This year the 4 day tickets included the park hopper option.  We started our trip Sunday morning Jan 6 with a stop over that night at the campground on the Naval Sub Base, Kings Bay Ga.  About an hour from arriving at the base once again I got the low battery warning on the Even Brake system.  We pulled into a Pilot Travel Center and sure enough the battery on the CRV was dead again.  So I disconnected the system in the car, filled up the camper gas tank and we pulled to a parking spot and called AAA to give the car a jump.  Had to wait almost an hour for him to arrive but a quick jumpstart and the car was running.  I left the car running as we drove the rest of the way to the Eagles Nest campground at Kings Bay.  The next morning the car started OK.  We took off again and arrived at Fort Wilderness late in the afternoon.



Check-in at the campground was amazing.  We never left the camper.  A host came out of the office, took our info and a short while later came back with everything we needed.  We always travel with our two pets and had reserved a pet friendly site (they have separate campsite loops for pets).   Just past the checkin area there are pull thru areas where you can un hook your towed vehicles.  The campground is huge and actually they discourage driving around in your car.  Instead what they have are color coded buses running continuous.  A stop is located convienient to each camping loop and the bus will take you to the settlement where you can catch a boat ride over to the Disney World entrance or to the outpost (campground entrance) where you can get on buses that will take you to all the other parks and also to Disney Downtown.  Once we parked our car at the campsite we did not have to drive it anywhere the rest of the week.

This view of the castle from main street never grows old:


One of the reasons we wanted to visit again was because they opened up a new section of Fantasy Land.  We were kind of disapointed.  One of the rides was still under construction:


In the distance you can see the Beauty and the Beast castle.  This is just a new restaurant as far as we could tell and not an attraction to tour.  Not sure what the ride is going to be.


EPCOT is our favorite park, its more adult orientated.


Took a picture of ourselves with the camera timer:


View accross the lake


Our favorite ride at EPCOT is "Soaring".  If you haven't been to EPCOT and taken this ride you have to put it on your bucket list.

After a great week we departed Fort Wilderness on Sat Jan 12.  I didn't bother hooking up the supplemental brake system to the car.  After sitting all week the car started up just fine.  Got it hooked up to the camper and took off.  We planned to stop at the Savannah South KOA.  When we got there, I went to un hook the car and I'll be damned if it did not start, battery dead again.  This was really getting frustrating. The way the towing system is wired, the brake lights on the car work off the RV electrical system when towing so I couldn't see how that could affect the car battery.  Luckily the campground guy gave us a jump start.  Sunday morning the campground has a free pancake breakfast.  Hooked up the car and returned home Sunday afternoon.  Had no issue with the car starting when we got home.  Go figure.

Update on our RoadMaster Even Brake system

We had an issue with the system on our fall 2012 trip.  After we got back home I did some searching online and got some info and a number and contact to call at Roadmaster.  I called and asked to speak with Bennie.  He was suppose to be the expert on the system and he lived up to his reputation.  With his help I was able to draw a schematic of the system and the voltages to check for.  He stayed on the line with me as I used my volt meter to check voltages and as it turned out I found a broken wire in the 12v line to the transmitter in the car.  Repaired that and the system worked fine. If anyone has one of these systems and needs help here is the number to call:   1-800-669-9690 ext 157, and ask for Bennie.