We are planning a trip to Walt Disney Fla. and want to find out about Fort Wilderness Campground at Disney.Can anyone tell us what it is like and what the best sites are?Any advise would be helpful. We have a 40ft 5th wheel with 5 slide outs. We will need a big rig site.
There are dozens of reviews under the listing for Fort Wilderness in Lake Buena Vista, FL. Many of them are very current (from 2011), and I'm sure they will contain the information you need. Have a good trip.
Fort Wilderness is busy and expensive. Campground and amenities are clean and well maintained. Lots of activities. We are there 2 or 3 times a year to accommodate friends/family. The transportation system can get crowded when busy but is a good way to travel the parks. All that said it is not my favorite place - too expensive, spaces tight for big rigs, too busy for my tastes. If you are going make reservations as soon as possible. Space is hard to get on short notice. Have a good vacation.
I went over years ago and did a look around to see if we could get in and out of a site. Yes and no! I think in someway they could add a couple more sites into each loop so as to block up the hold park. We only found a couple sites that I could get into. The loops are off the roads in park and sites are set at 90 degree on the loop. Most of the ones we looked at would work with a popup. You could see tree damage in a number of place as people had moving in or out of sites. Park may now have larger sites, you can ask. We told lady in office our size and she told me we could fit in any site. Also Wi-Fi is in the dark age here. Price is very high. We use a park couple miles away on Hwy 192 and you have lots of room to move around and less cost. Nice place to visit to me.
We were there last November for 5 nights. Beautiful park, rode our bicycles to the bus stop and the boat shuttle, nice place to take a walk and all. Sites are very spacious, clean, and all the services worked very well. Bad part though, we almost got a divorce over trying to get our 40' fifth wheel and my 24' truck ( 2010 Dodge crew cab, combined length is 57' )into our sites. Between the trash cans, recycling cans, fire hydrants, trees, lamp post, and posts, it was a chore to get in the sites. When we pulled in to our first site, we drew quite a crowd of spectators watching and taking bets on what we were going to mess up first. After getting in and started setting up, I found out one leg of the 50 amp was dead. Called the office, they said the on call electrician would be out to check it out, but it would be a couple of hours due to it being after 5:00 and everyone was gone for the day. I asked if it was possible to move now instead of later if it couldn't be repaired. I was hoping to get settled into a new site before dark. The new site was not much better to get into, luckily another camper came to help out, the wife was a mess. We had to help several other campers in motor coaches and large trailers to maneuver into some of the sites. All sites are back in, and on one way loops. The roads are narrow, not enough for two way traffic, golf carts maybe. If you can, get a site on the inside of the loop. The sites on the outside have to be backed into on your blind side ( right side ).
We have been going to Fort Wilderness for eight years now. We have been there in a 40' 5th wheel with a long-bed F-250 dually and now in our 40' motorhome towing a Jeep. They have redone the sites in the last couple of years to make them wider and an easier angle to back into (the vast majority of the sites anyway). If you are assigned a site and you do not think you can get into it or you just don't like it, you can request a different site. We have done this many times. We just pick an empty site we like, call the front desk and tell them we would like the empty site. It has never been a problem. Some of the loops (300 and especially 100 and 200) are tight for big rigs, but I see them in there. We have stayed in the 300 loop in the past, but now request not to be put there because just driving around the loop can be tough around the curves depending on how people are parked. We were there a couple of weeks ago and stayed in the 600 loop. Very easy to back into, lots of space. There are plenty of 40'-45' rigs in Fort Wilderness in all of the loops. The streets in the loops are narrow, but we've never had a real problem. You just have to take your time and be careful. There is a nightly sing-a-long, campfire (s'mores) and outdoor movie. There is a pool with a waterslide and a hot tub. You can take the boat to the Magic Kingdom. You can rent bikes, motor boats, canoes, fishing poles, etc. You can play volleyball, tetherball, tennis and more. Can you tell we love the Fort? B)
We went in 2008, and will be returning in 3 weeks! Being from the Northeast, I don't think Fort Wilderness (FW) is expensive. It is about the same cost as top end resort campgrounds in my area, and if you go off season it is a great value for what you get. It is clean, clean, clean. My wife and daughter, who are nuts about bathrooms and showers, loved the FW showers. I don't know about a big 5th wheel, but the sites are well laid out and really easy to back into for a smaller TT (ours is 21'), because the sites are angled. We were in loop 1600, and found it to be great for us. Right near the Meadows Trading Post (which is the campstore), and a nice walk or easy bike ride to the docks and Crocket's Tavern. And, what better way to go to the Magic Kingdom than by a water ferry?? That is what you do when staying at Fort Wilderness! Check out the camping section of the Disboards forums for a ton of information. You will love it!
QUOTE(KETTERMN @ Aug 13 2011, 03:02 AM) [snapback]27176[/snapback] We are planning a trip to Walt Disney Fla. and want to find out about Fort Wilderness Campground at Disney.Can anyone tell us what it is like and what the best sites are?Any advise would be helpful. We have a 40ft 5th wheel with 5 slide outs. We will need a big rig site. Wonderful campground. I have four kids and they had so much to do in the campground for the kids to do. Many things were free of charge. The daily pool party, evening camp fire & movie, fireworks are visible from the lake front beach every evening. On our sixth day there I offered my kids to go back into one of the amusement parks or hang out in the campground and they chose the campground. I realize this was after 5 days of walking through some huge amusement parks and Magic Kingdom was going to be very crowded do to celebrating its 40th on that very day but still a lot of fun in the campground. We stayed 9 days and 8nights and just had a wonderful time. Well worth the money. My only suggestion is to rent a golf cart. Fort wilderness rents them for around $68 a day with not price break on multiple days of renting. However, while in the pool one evening I found a little insight out from experienced Fort wilderness camper. Orlando Golf cart rental will rent you a golf cart and drop it off in the front parking lot for only $208 per week. As far as I know this is the only company allowed to rent carts in the park except of course Disney. Their number is 407 401 9045. I also understand they rent strollers. If your not going to rent a golf cart take your bikes. Waiting for the buses can take up to 20 minutes and they have to stop often. If I didn't live so far away I would camp there every year. https://www.campgroundreviews.com/invboard/styl...icons/icon1.gif
QUOTE(Iluvcamp @ Oct 18 2011, 03:20 PM) [snapback]27936[/snapback] Orlando Golf cart rental will rent you a golf cart and drop it off in the front parking lot for only $208 per week. As far as I know this is the only company allowed to rent carts in the park except of course Disney. Their number is 407 401 9045. Just an FYI, Orlando Golf Cart Rentals is no longer in business and there are other outside rental places you can rent from. I just got back and we rented from Kenny at TeeTime Golf Cart Rentals. If you want good information on The Fort, try fortfiends.net There are tons of trip reports and pictures.
Don't know if you've headed back north, but a couple places I'd recommend if you are going back thru GA on I-75. George Vets State Park off I 75 west of Cordele. Forest Glen Estates RV park. The latter is a mobile home/RV park. It's a good place for an overnighter. Clean with several pull thrus that are big rig friendly. There are several resturants nearby and a Tangier Mall if you wish to do any shopping.
Just an FYI for those heading to Ft. Wilderness at WDW and planning to eat at a resort restaurant. We were told last week by one of the restaurants that credit cards are now required for reservations at many of the restaurants and that there is a $10 pp no show charge if you do not make it. I do not have many details (we winter near there and only go there to eat infrequently so no big deal for us), but you may want to make sure you understand the details before you go.
We just got back from Disney over Thanksgiving. Fort Wilderness was full as it was the last few times I called so we stayed at a RV park nearby. We have stayed at this park twice and always been very happy. We stayed in Site 791 which was kind of a back row and was very quite. It was only about a 10 min drive to Disney. Here is the website as a backup to Fort Wilderness. Verizon 4g worked very well also for our wireless internet needs. They did have free wifi also. We have a 35' Class A. http://tropicalpalmsresortfl.com/
