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Post by MinnieMom on Sept 15, 2024 8:56:09 GMT -5
Hey Brian! Thanks for progress note! You know, I still think you should meet my friend Laurie now that you both live in central Florida! We are 4.5 weeks from soft opening. Another of my besties came up yesterday to visit for the afternoon. We had a blast sitting on the back patio, visiting. And DH enjoyed a massive amount of technical detail about the different utility systems and construction factoids. While I'm more comfortable speaking in front of crowds, DH is amazing 1:1 or with small groups. He is personable, funny, grounded and genuinely kind. He's completely authentic. I enjoy watching people react to his enthusiasm. And I love watching him describe Standing Pines to guests or potential guests. He lights up! Last week, we did a preview event for local leaders on site. The Chamber of Commerce co-hosted. Almost 40 leaders showed up! We received so many leads and so much positive feedback. That's time and money very spent in my opinion. We have been blessed with community support. I do not take that for granted. We will continue to invest on our community. It's good business, yes. It's also just the right thing to do. Here's the graphic for the event:  And here's a little something we created for our guests for this event.  |
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Post by MinnieMom on Sept 15, 2024 9:01:21 GMT -5
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Post by MinnieMom on Sept 15, 2024 9:08:05 GMT -5
We finally have movement on the permit for building the pool! It took reaching out to a sitting US Senator's office for help. Which is simply jaw a dropping statement.
I have a verbal commitment, documented via meeting notes shared with the stakeholder group including a staffing from the Senator's office, this permit will be issued not later than Tuesday, Sep 17. That's 11 months to the day since we applied for the permit. What's held it up? Some substantive feedback, multiple requirements for adding equipment (adding over $20,000 to the cost of the pool build), and far too many nit-picky change demands for things like listing a measurement as 18" instead of 1'6." Mostly, what really held it up was a reviewer who seemed to be looking for reasons to deny a permit instead of giving actual guidance in what we needed to do to meet requirements.
Perhaps the thing that got the most attention when I really raised this as an issue outside the review department: I spent months requesting a meeting so that we work through the feedback and make sure we were following the guidance. Months of being denied. When a political leader made a phone call, that meeting happening in 2 business days.
Assuming the permit comes through, the pool construction will start moving very quickly. I look forward to posting those photos. Now, realistically, there is no way the pool will be ready for our soft open on October 15. But I think it may well be done for the grand opening on December 1.
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Post by MinnieMom on Sept 15, 2024 9:24:35 GMT -5
With 4.5 weeks to soft open, there are two critical paths for construction now. The first is the potable water system. The installation must be complete by Monday September 23 in order to allow time for the various tests and approvals needed for the drinking water system. The second is power. The full electricity internal grid must be installed and connected. Assuming decent weather and no further delays, these can both happen in time to open as planned. But it is going to be a race. Any little hiccup at this point could turn into a big problem. So fingers and toes crossed for sure!
Last week, finish plumbing started in the Welcome Center. We have showers, toilets and sinks! The flooring is in. Basically, to finish the building and get Certificate of Occupancy so we can use the building, we need the final electrical (light switches and outlets), another coat of paint, trim and the final inspection. I'm very comfortable this will be done in less than the 4.5 weeks. In fact, I'm tentatively planned that this work will be completed for the Welcome Center this month so that we can have the first two weeks of October to add furniture, decor and the equipment for the store and snack bar.
The sewer system is complete. The storm water system is complete. The pond is complete enough to pass inspection; we still need to get it lined so it will hold water. I don't think that will happen before October 15 but it will be done by December 1 grand opening. Some of the roads will be done by October 15; some road and campsite work will continue in the soft open period.
Reservations are slow. Much slower than I'd hoped at this point. So that is a concern. My analysis is that slow reservations are driven by (1) visual construction - it doesn't look like it will be done in less than 5 weeks, so people who are aware of the campground are waiting till it looks done to book and (2) lack of awareness - we have spent a grand total of $150 on all of our advertising so far. I'm holding back on spending money for advertising until we have images of our campground looking finished and ready for camping.
We need reservations to be at least 20% of occupancy starting in January. Anything we get before then, anything this calendar year, is a bonus. So I'm not as freaked out and stressed as I thought I would be with slow reservations right now. The construction delays held up marketing. So of course occupancy is going to be behind. Realistically, 2-3 months behind. If we continue to see current low 1-2% occupancy after paid advertising, then I will worry. Right now, I'm reaching out to different groups and friends to see how we can fill some spots in late October and December so we have great visual of an active campground to use for marketing and advertising.
And, honestly, I'm trying hard to make sure that DH and I make time to create some memories together right now as construction progresses enough there are spaces in the campground we can enjoy before we start hosting guests. We had a picnic lunch, just the two of us, on the back patio of the Welcome Center last week. It was lovely, just a great time to connect, talk about all the work it took to get us here and enjoy the moment and the view. We will keep looking for moments like this in the general panic of the race to finish a big construction project.
Please remind me to share some of the draft art for some of our fun branded merch for the next big update!
Thanks so much for following along. It's getting really real, ya'll!
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Post by MinnieMom on Sept 15, 2024 9:34:28 GMT -5
Oh yeah - sometime this month, I must make the time for the final re-read and revisions for the Forest Friends novel. This is going to be such a fun book! I can't wait to chat with guests about these stories and characters! I need to put in 30-40 hours to finish and publish this book. It will happen this month. Not quite sure when, but I will make it happen! Here's a sneak peek at the chapter icon art. These are based on the style of the early Winnie the Pooh chapter icons. I like how this line art turned out so much that I am planning to print, frame and hang these as the primary art in the welcome center. Our bright yellow walls should be a great backdrop for this deceptively simple art.  |
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Post by Brian5581 on Sept 15, 2024 13:59:40 GMT -5
Glad to meet whomever you’d like, Amy. That blonde in the most recent pictures looks quite pleasant…. Likely married, ha. Any efforts much appreciated, of course.
There have actually been a few failed attempts at MagicOwner (MouseOwner) MatchMaker over the years. Oh well, I am what I am…
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Post by dlwdwdvc on Sept 17, 2024 14:30:55 GMT -5
Amy if you have a meetup please post a welcome for others to join .
I’ll try not to give you a standing ovation ! And Brian has always seemed so kind and smart to remain a bachelor…
I love the artwork ideas for Standing Pines and will continue to follow along day by day monthly and yearly .
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Post by MinnieMom on Sept 17, 2024 15:54:06 GMT -5
I'm planning to be in town Saturday, September 28. Does anyone want to try to do a meet up? I could change my current reservation for a hotel next to the airport to something at Disney Springs easily enough.
Today is wild roller coaster for Standing Pines.
Positive: the pool permit was issued today! We can build our feature pool! It only took 11 months and involving a sitting US Senator's office to make that happen. (which is totally ridiculous!)
Negative: construction is not where it needs to be. I'll know for sure tomorrow...but it certainly looks like we will have to push soft opening date to November 1 and cancel a handful of reservations. I am super bummed by this.
Neutral: tons of follow up, tons of actioning long planned to-do list, tones of conversations....just a lot of work today, this week, this month. Not complaining! Needs to happen so we can open!
I did not post a episode of Building Memories last week or this week. The time those shows take is just not something I can do right now. However, I hope to get caught up over the weekend and record a few, so that these are ready to cover over the next several weeks. And, on or around November 1, I will sunset Building Memories and start a new weekly video show that highlights actual people enjoying the camping experience at Standing Pines!
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Post by starry_solo on Sept 17, 2024 16:26:10 GMT -5
Looks great, I cannot wait to see it completed!
How many cabins will there be?
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Post by MinnieMom on Sept 17, 2024 18:49:33 GMT -5
Hey! Thanks. We just got back from evening rounds. Water installation has started!
We will open with three cabins - all "dry" cabins, meaning no bathroom. Instead, these cabins are inside rec area 1, less than a minute's walk to the bathrooms.
DH is looking forward to building our big cabin next year. That will be a full cabin, with bathroom + kitchen + at least 1, likely 2, bedrooms.
I'm very curious about the European Safari Tent. This will be a permanent tent, set up with wood floor and furniture plus electricity.
All of these glamping options are essentially tests. We will do more of the ones that do well.
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Post by MinnieMom on Sept 18, 2024 21:14:45 GMT -5
Have you ever had to communicate something you really, REALLY didn't want to have to message? I've had far too much experience with delivering bad news given prior HR role. While I won't know for sure until GC follow up with me tomorrow, I suspect we are not going to meet our soft opening date in any meaningful way. Below is a preview of what I have drafted to post on social media once I know for sure. Obviously I'll also personally call and let guests booked for Oct 15 -31 know about the changes and give them options for how they want to handle their reservations. Certainly I'll refund their reservations - and at this point, those who were already booked and still want to come with limited utilities will be offered complimentary camping for their reserved days. Granted, it's only a handful of reservations so while it is a hit to ego, this is what I think we need to offer to do right by those who put their trust in us to meet our public timeframe for soft opening. I am super bummed about this. While it may be only a small bump in the road in the big picture, it is not how I wanted our opening to go.  |
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Post by MinnieMom on Sept 20, 2024 16:44:51 GMT -5
While we are still trying hard to make Plan Z work this weekend to support utilities for guests for the October 15 soft open, I want to share some good Friday news. Check out our cabins!!! They are complete, the manufacturer sent me this little video to let me know these are ready to ship now!
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Post by annamaria on Sept 23, 2024 5:24:37 GMT -5
Cabins look great - lot's of progress. Almost there.
You must handle stress well.........!!!!
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Post by beam4dvc on Sept 24, 2024 13:16:42 GMT -5
No idea if this has been brought up or you've thought of this. Please have AEDs in multiple places on your campgrounds. They are quite literally lifesavers!
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Post by MinnieMom on Sept 25, 2024 13:15:14 GMT -5
This week's crisis: internet plan does not match electrical plan, adding significant time and cost to project.
Preliminary root cause discovered: 4am this morning, after I spent hours going through files. Internet plan was not updated to align with electrical back in Nov 2023, when I sent electrical to internet plan designers
Solution: Redesign internet plan today at 10am, review with onsite electrical at 1pm this afternoon.
Today's crisis: first work call of the day from our construction crew lead: "You might want to come down here. There's some guy saying his family used to bury bodies on the property."
Of course we dropped everything to go talk to this random guy who just showed up today. To be clear, there have been no - zero, nada, none - no indications of any human remains anywhere on the property. So we listened to him, asked questions and listened again. This boils down to "my great great grandfather once farmed these lands. There are family stories about people who may have been buried here." No detail, nothing concrete, nothing I can find actionable. To be clear, there is a historic cemetery adjacent to our property. We've created berms to give space and privacy to this cemetery plus offered the use of our property that is directly on the public road for parking as needed for funerals and family visits. All that is over and above, just doing it because we think it is the right thing to do.
Okay, rant over. The 1pm call with electrical + internet went exceptionally well. Now I feel everyone is on the same page and we have a clean plan for moving forward. So biggest crisis of the week now solved and today's unexpected crisis seems to be a non issue. We will of course keep an eye out for any indications, but without any details or specifics than family legend there does not seem to be any reason to change our current approach.
beam4dvc - we have two places for AEDs because yep - agreed.
annamaria - some days better than others!
I have a long laundry list of items to do now to get things where they need to be so that I can step away on Friday to enjoy next week in Florida. That trip may wind up being a sanity saver. So now off to do more work!
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