Ft Wilderness

[Leslie & Nick]

From Texas Camper
From what I've read on the internet, better make those Ft. Wilderness reservations now... It seems to be a nice, pretty and very desirable place to go.

Leon,

Actually we did make our reservations for early December. According to the WDW "experts" this is supposed to be one of the least crowded time periods, and a little cheaper than some "peak" times. We had originally wanted to go in early June after our nephew got out of school, but Ft Wilderness was booked pretty solid. Both wife aren't wild about Florida's summer heat anyway, so December sounded good. I've also heard good things about FW, so we are looking forward to the trip. :)

Nick:cool

[BOB_STRONG]

Yes, you will love the place. We were there from April 9th to April 17, 2006. We wanted to go last year, but I was too late in getting reservations. I thought that the end of January would be ok, but I soon found out differently. So this year, I made sure to make them extra early. I called in the beginning of Nov 2005. I got the same spot on the dog loop as we had back in April 2002 when we took our new TM on its maiden voyage.

Fine accomodations and sites. Bus & boat transportation to Magic Kingdom and the other parks. Sure saves on paying to park your car everyday. They sure charge enough to park. Just like every other amusement park.

Hope you enjoy your trip and stay.

[Firedog]

:) We are planning to go to Ft. Wilderness this Dec. We are planning to stay for a week in a preferred site. We try to go every year. A good many of the campsites get decorated for the holidays. We just love it.If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask.

[Flycaster]

Having stayed ten days at the Ft. Wilderness Lodge two years ago and spent a small fortune for a deluxe room overlooking the lake, I was eager to assess the value of the campground. In sum, what a deal! We had booked the first ten days in June back in December and reserved a full hookup site and a golf cart for an additional $44 per day. The preferred sites with cable TV were sold out at the time. Upon arrival we upgraded to a preferred site thinking that if we had a rainy visit, the cable TV would come in handy for our young children. When upgrading to a preferred site, we were advised by the Disney check-in employee that loop 1400 wasn't the prettiest of the preferred loops, but was the closest to the campfire/nightly movie area, an easy walk from the pool, cart barn, canoe rental, and one of the camp stores. Although our campsite wasn't the most private or spacious, our luck of the draw, the access to the pool was critical considering our kids spent most of the hot afternoons there after being at one of the parks in the morning. They could push their scooters along sidewalks and never cross a roadway and were no more than 500 yards from all amenities in the area. Within minutes, our 12 and 9 year olds were independent, armed with little charge cards for drinks and snacks that we purchased with a limited dollar amount of credit. My wife and I used the golf cart to drive the four of us to the marina area for our boat to the Magic Kingdom, to our events at the facilities at that end of the resort, and short hops to the nearby facilities. After walking 4 to 5 miles in the morning, the idea of more walking wasn't appealing. The cart would have been a necessity for ferrying the kids to the pool and back had we stayed at most of the other loops, in part because of distance and in part because we didn't want the kids crossing roads with car traffic and Disney buses.

A few pointers:

Skip the bus system and drive your own car when leaving the campground. We drove our car out of the campground to go to Epcot, Animal Kingdom, MGM, and Downtown Disney with no trouble. Disney's markings on their roadways are not the best, but armed with a map, it was no problem and you get to and from your destinations in less than half the time of fooling with the buses. What's more, we got a parking pass that provided free parking at Epcot, MGM, and Animal Kingdom. At the end of a hot day with tired kids, it was the best way to get around.

In the heat of June, or if you have kids, rent a golf cart. This campground is huge, and unless you want to spend your time waiting for buses for transportation within the campground itself, the cart is a great time saver.

TM performance v. hotel room. Our 2006 3023 was perfect for a family of four. With the bath room door open in the evenings, we essentially had a three room suite. Our 9 year old went to bed first in the bunk with the curtains drawn, our 12 year old stayed up late on the pull-out bed reading, and my wife and I used the queen bed and bath as our own area. The open bathroom door provided privacy and blocked most of the light, and still allowed the flow of cold air from the AC to our bed. Although the TM was much smaller than the deluxe room we had during our last trip, the TM accomodated our family better because of the different bedtimes which was an issue every night duing our last hotel stay. I made the shower holder out of a soap dispenser as discussed elsewhere in the forum, and girls used the TM shower regularly and with ease.

The AC worked great. I brought a recording indoor/outdoor thermometer and the daytime high was a humid 96 degrees and the interior reached a dry 77 degrees. The roar of the AC, even on low, had its advantages... once accustomed to the sound, it provided enough so called white noise that my daugher could sleep while the rest of us talked on the other side of the curtain. We all sleep in Travasacs and the moring temps in the TM were between 65 and 68 degrees with the AC running all night, perfect if you are a cool sleeper. As an aside, I noted six canvas popups at the resort that had placed reflective material between the screening and zipped-up windows of their campers to limit the heat within... glad I had the TM.

I swore after our hotel trip that I would never do Disney again given the cost of better hotel accomodations and the relative convience they offer. But since having acquired the 3023 for our regular five week average of summer camping, using it at Ft. Wilderness was a great expereince and cheap in the long run. The kids want to go back next June and that is probably the best measure of success I can think of.

Regards, Flycaster