First camping trip with The Moose is done and went great. We kept it short, only a four night stay at the Disney Fort Wilderness campground. That basically gave us two days to play; one day to explore the campground and one day at Animal Kingdom.

Fort Wilderness

I have to say, Fort Wilderness is an awesome campground. It’s a little pricey as campground go, but you get a lot for it. The grounds are beautiful. The facilities are immaculate. The bathrooms, showers, and laundry are clean and modern. The two or three general stores have a decent assortment of supplies, extras, and trinkets. There’s lots to do for kids. Every night is an outdoor movie that beings with a singalong and marshmallow/hotdog roast. There are many playgrounds, pony rides and a petting zoo, horseback riding and hay rides, paddle boats and wave runners to rent on the main, large lake and canoes to rent on the many streams that run through the grounds. Two nice pools, one with a water slide and splash park, too. There are restaurants on the grounds, too.




Bring your bicycles -- it’s a very bicycle friendly park. You can take the buses that circle the grounds or rent a golf cart, but I say save your money and bring the bikes.

The Camper

Having actually lived in the camper for a few days straight with four people, the most obvious thing to say is it’s small. You really see how small it is when you’re in a campground dominated by massive land yachts. Funny thing is, I noticed that none of them had a really comfortable looking “patio” area (or whatever you call it). Consequently, they were pretty much closed up all the time and you rarely saw anybody by them. I guess everyone was inside watching TV or something.

It became clear just how small the camper is when we got stuck inside for about an hour or two when an afternoon thunderstorm came through. It stayed pretty dry in side, but we did have to shut the side door when it started coming down for real. There’s a gap between the body and the awning that permits rain to drop in behind it and drop on the carpet, so we had to shut the doors. The vents in the pop top are mostly protected by the overhang, so we kept them partially open.



Now that we’ve spent some time in it, even though I’ve never had or camped in a Westy, I have a feeling they are a better design than the Country Homes Camper conversion, which is what The Moose is. There are quite a few little things that would make the camper more practical that it seems like the Westfalia Vanagons have figured out. Or maybe the grass just looks greener over there.

On the plus side, it’s actually kind of fun to drive with lots of space for traveling with kids. The fridge works great. On A/C, it’s cold enough to make ice and hold enough food to feed our small tribe for a few days.

The Fix It List

We did discover some things that are either broken or so impractical that they need fixing.

• The radio quit working after I got it back from the shop. I suspect a short or blown fuse, but haven’t found it, yet.
• The P-trap in the sink leaks.
• The external power outlets are in exactly the wrong spot. When the seat folds out, it slides right over the outlet, bending or popping out what ever you had plugged in. Fortunately, at the last minute I had thrown in an old power strip with a 90 degree plug so I could at least leave that plugged in.
• I really need to replace the missing table. I think I see why they took it out (you can’t extend the bed without removing it), but it needs a table.
• Always travel with extra matches, aluminum foil, and various sized plastic, zip-top bags.
• Always travel with a battery booster and charger! I managed to accidentally drain both the main and auxiliary batteries the day we were at Animal Kingdom. Fortunately, the park attendants had one.

The Lessons Learned List

After just one trip, I’ve learned a few valuable lessons and figured out some things that will make future camping trips more comfortable.

• I need to install the swivel seat adapters for at least the passenger seat. Without it, the front cabin is essentially useless while parked.
• The main entry needs a curtain of some kind. There are two coat hanger knobs that would make a decent curtain rod if you stretched a rope or bungie across it.
• The awning is great to have, I’m glad it’s there, and it would make an awesome extra room if I can somehow enclose it. I’m thinking the QuikShade walls would be almost perfect, clipped to the awning and anchored with some kind of weight.
• For warmer weather, a small window A/C looks like it would fit perfectly in the driver’s window.
• For cooler weather, a small electric space heater would be a good investment.
• If I can enclose the awning, it might be a good idea to rig up a curtain and get a portable toilet. Running back & forth to the comfort station with the kids gets old.
• The picnic set we used it too big for the small space. I really need to get a smaller set of plates/cutlery.
• I need a folding pot/pan or something. I took along a 7” skillet (the smallest one I had), but it was too big to stow anywhere.
• My speedometer is way off, logarithmically off. When I’m doing 35, it says 45. When I’m doing 50, it says 80. When I’m doing 65 (which is pretty much the upper limit), it says 90. I could really use a tachometer, too, since I can’t really hear the engine that well any more.

One big project I’d like to undertake is to redo the back seat. Turns out it’s not an original Vanagon rear bench at all. Likewise, even though it’s full width, the far left is unusable because of the sink and even extended to a bed that portion is useless because of the back cabinet. I’d really like to find or fabricate a rear bench from a Westfalia and add in more cabinet space and maybe a Westfalia style swing out table.