February 2016 Pre-trip and Trip Reports

[PaHunter]

Well it is about time we all get our own thread going. I know there are going to be a few of us down there during February. Guys, don't forget Valentines Day for your loved one.
We will be down for the last week of the month, so I will run clean up on the TR's. Lots of pictures of course once I return and have time to process them. Travel safe everyone and let's make it a February to remember !!

 

[jbrostek]

It is that time! Caren and I started the "lists" and picking off items from that list as we find sales on items that can be frozen or non perishable. The dairy will be picked up the week of the trip.

Saturday I spent the morning fixing my mothers car so she could pass state inspection, with that done I moved onto my truck. We got the upfitter switches added, Back Rack mounted, tank installed and connected, and the racks lights wired to a breakout box I mounted by the frame. Only item I have left on that work is to build the new wiring harness to go from the upfitter switches to the breakout box and power my mounted phone charger. RV wise I started the to-do list, but we still have some time to knock that out in a night or two.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Yeah I wish we were leaving today! I have a pretty long list of stuff to take care of, from cleaning the camper, repainting the Mickey Street lamp, change oil & fuel filters on my truck, pack up the camper, help my folks pack up.

 

[tiggerdad]

 

[jbrostek]

Looking at a very cold and windy evening in the Mid-Atlantic and probably worse in PA this evening. Caren and I still plan to get some prep work done inside the RV tonight. Most of it is checking to see what non food stores we are low on to pick up for the trip. Some cleaning up after the Christmas trip though I did finally unload all the gifts and items from it.

Once we have a decent list we plan to divide up the shopping to get it knocked out with only the veggies and perishables for late week of departure. I still have to get started on doing some golf cart maintenance, one of the carts is at my house and now that I don't have work late every night I can finally get started on repacking bearings, greasing the chassis, batteries, etc that need to be taken care of before the trip.

 

[jbrostek]

Well not much vacation prep last night. Caren had to work late, thankfully from home. But I surprised her by picking up some Chinese for us. Pretty much stayed in the warm house and took care of a few chores before heading to bed. But I did put the last box of Christmas decorations away last night after the table cloths and tree skirt was clean and dry. Tonight helping Caren get the last of her decorations packed up and put into storage. Maybe tomorrow night I can work on the list and maybe start working on the golf cart.

 

[Badamon]

Received this email the day before yesterday@ Woot, Woot! Now, I find myself running in circles trying to decide what to do first. Oh my, we're getting so close!

Your MagicBand package is on its way!

 

[jbrostek]

Magic bands should be shipping for us this week or early next since we passed the 30 day mark to check in.

But its time to get the Golf cart ready for the trip.

I know this looks bad, but just wait to you see the finished product. The "tins" are heading to the spray booth soon, the chassis shall see a power washer and maintinance. In two weeks she will look completely new and different.

 

[Teamubr]

Not a lot to those things, is there?

What's the black thing under the passenger seat that looks like an old TV?

j

 

[jbrostek]

Next to the battery pack? That is the PDS controller under a cover, the switch is a run/tow switch. The mount acts like a heat sink as well. Really is not much to them, but the electrical on the carts can intimidate most.

 

[Teamubr]

Next to the battery pack? That is the PDS controller under a cover, the switch is a run/tow switch.

Yep, next to the batteries.

A controller? Wow. It is much more sophisticated than I thought. I figured there was a rheostat on the gas pedal between the batteries and the motor and a kill switch at the key and brake. Do you need anything else? Lights and a horn maybe.

And if I can wire a racecar and a 115 year old house, a golf cart doesn't scare me.

j

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Well I've been doing odd and end stuff getting ready, tonight I'm out in the camper doing some "spring" cleaning, this is the longest we've went without using our 5er, can't believe how dusty it can get.

Today we were in town and took Tiggerdad's advice and pick a little something for the squirrels...

Think I might start a riot among the local wildlife.

 

[PaHunter]

Been doing some work in the trailer and working on campsite projects.
Something that is in progress....

 

[bama_ed]

Been doing some work in the trailer and working on campsite projects.
Something that is in progress....
View attachment 145769

I assume whatever it will be will be lime green for the DIS, PaHunter?

Bama Ed

PS - 2 or 3 days till we can do our March trip FP+ reservations...

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Finished doing some much needed spring cleaning in the camper, washed all the dishes, pots, pans, washed all the towels, wiped walls, dusted, vacumed, pulled all the bedding off to be washed. We haven't used the camper since last July so we figured just to hit everything up one good time, we have a few more camping trips planned after Disney so now was as good of time as any to take care of everything. The backyard was dry enough to pull it out, got it parked next to the house on some hard ground. Tomorrow I'll start cleaning up the outside if I don't get rained out, also gotta fill both gas bottles. Now I'm about to kick back and make my do to list. I did have a scare today, I opened the outside kitchen up to see what I need for my list. I checked the little frigid and it wasn't working. Just great! I looked, yep, it's plugged in, checked the breakers, all was good, I told my wife, "well guess I better measure it and price a new one." She wasn't a happy camper. I pulled it out and seen a knob on the backside, then it hit me, yup I remembered turning it off back in July! Guess that's when you know you haven't been camping enough! Or like Bama Ed said "Your Memory is the second thing to go," I can't remember what he said was the first....? Anyways I hope everyone else's plans and pretrips are coming along good!

 

[bama_ed]

Or like Bama Ed said "Your Memory is the second thing to go," I can't remember what he said was the first....? Anyways I hope everyone else's plans and pretrips are coming along good!

That's the joke, brother. You beat me to the punchline. The joke is, "They say memory is the second thing to go, and I don't remember the first". You're a lot younger than me so I get it and I'm not laughing....

Made my FP+ reservations for our March trip tonight. Randy, I HATE having to pre-plan anything this far in advance. I'll be on my soapbox when my March trip thread rolls around.

Glad your fridge story ended up being much ado about nothing. Take good notes and tell us everything so I can learn from you because I'll be right behind you the month after.

Days are already getting longer. Spring gonna be here soon...

Bama Ed

 

[PaHunter]

Well, we are waiting to see what Mother nature brings us at the end of the week. Weather forecasts are from 1 inch to 36 inches. If it goes south the weatherman says we get less, he says if it comes north, we get more. Duh, I don't have a degree in meteorology and I know that. Your job is to tell me what to expect. So I may or may not have to dig out the camper and a path to and from, we will see. Shopping today and loaded up the freezer's. Vacuum sealed 80lbs of chicken, 20 pounds of ground beef and 10 pound of pork loin. That is my normal shopping routine and not for the Disney trip. Closing in on vacation, around 30 days until we hit the road. Still a lot to do, but getting more excited.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Made my FP+ reservations for our March trip tonight. Randy, I HATE having to pre-plan anything this far in advance. I'll be on my soapbox when my March trip thread rolls around.

Your preaching the the choir there! I despite the new FP+ system. I don't know what I wanna do 30 days from now, or what the weather is going to do. I miss the old way,

 

[tiggerdad]

I found that booking the FP+ in the evenings worked better for us so we wouldn't have to be in a hurry to get out of the camper and into the parks. Also, try and lay them out so you are moving through the parks. For instance, a FP on POC, then SM, and then BTMR. This keeps you from going back and forth. Also, we found if we did get in the parks early, we were able to hit some of the rides with little or no wait and could actually change the FPs to something else later in the day using the MDE app on the phone. Or, you could go to some rides on the other side of the park in the morning when the waits were down and then go to your FPs later.

I really don't recommend using a FP for a view of the fireworks at MK. Really didn't get anything better than we would just find a place and stand. Also, the designated places for fireworks viewing in front of the castle only had one entry/exit. So when it was over, you had a really long wait just to get out of the "cattle pen" as I called it. There were several of us making mooing sounds while we were waiting to get out.

 

[jbrostek]

Still not a fan of the FP system at all. Really I cannot plan my days that far in advanced. I know the kid trip will be more structured, but the adult trip never is anything close to structured.

The good news is the truck is now 100% wired, replaced the fuel filters last night (change was due at 22,500 I am at 21,500.) Instead of spending the evening as I wanted vacuuming, cleaning up and putting the bedding on I was running around preparing for this storm. While PA might get some good show, we have a blizzard warning for my county starting tomorrow and they are expecting 18-25" in my area. This area does not do snow well so first I had to make sure I had fuel for the generator, top off propane bottles, check supplies and bring some wood in from the stack, and put more under cover on the deck.

Tonight I am going to work on the RV some, get the house vacuum out there as the built in is great but lacks a beater bar for the dog hair. Make the beds, put some more dry goods away and then close the slides before this storm dumps snow all over the place. I am really hoping it wont be much of a storm, but you never know.

On the golf cart project I have yet to get the power washing done, its been too cold all week and now the storm. But I did take care of chassis a little by repacking the front bearings and checking all the bushings and steering linkage for issues. The body is out for paint, first we where going to go with a maroon color. After not finding a factory color we liked we actually went for the late model Ford Tuxedo Black Metallic. That tied in with the tan of the tops and seats and some stainless trim should look pretty sharp.