Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground

I remember the first time we stayed in Fort Wilderness. It was May of 2012. My husband and I planned on going to Disney World with our three adult sons, my daughter-in-law, my younger son’s girlfriend (now his wife), and my 2-year-old granddaughter (8 people total).

First I searched for a three-bedroom rental at Disney, but the price was way over our budget, so then I looked into the “value” priced rooms on property, but with the number of people we had, we would have to reserve three rooms.

I wondered if it would be possible to rent a 10-person camper at Fort Wilderness, but the problem was that we would not be able to tow it there (we didn’t have a vehicle to do that plus we were flying in).

After Googling “camper rental Fort Wilderness,” I found a couple of companies that would actually bring the camper on site then set it up for us. The price per night of paying for the camper rental and the camp site was equivalent to the nightly price for a “moderate” priced room (which only sleeps up to 5 people).

The camper we rented was a 31 ft camper with two slide-outs. They supplied dishes, pots/pans, folding chairs, outdoor floor mat, and outdoor lights.

There were four bunks, a queen-sized bed, a “jack knife” sofa, and convertible dinette that turned into a bed—plenty of room to sleep.

Prior to arriving at our campsite, we had a limo pick us up from the airport (it was either a limo or a van– the limo seemed more special), then we made a stop at a grocery store to pick up supplies before heading to Fort Wilderness.

If you have more than 6 people in your party, then it might be more economical to rent a camper at Fort Wilderness.

Here’s what I thought were the “pros” and “cons” of renting a camper:

Cons:

• At the time, the meal plan was not available for those staying in campsites at Fort Wilderness
• If you fly in and don’t rent a vehicle, then you’ll have to buy food from the Trading Post (we did that midway through our trip because we ran out of milk and bread– prices were like “convenience store” pricing)
• No concierge service (at least not the kind you would get in some of the Disney hotels)
• The pool was very basic– just one slide.

Pros:

• At the end of the day in the Magic Kingdom, we jumped on a boat to bring us back—it was less crowded than the bus or monorail
• We enjoyed being “in nature”—saw deer, squirrels, and several birds in the woods
• We could watch the water parade at night and see the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the the shore.
• We could cook most of our meals
• You can have up to 10 people on the campsite
• In addition to the camper, we could have set up a tent on the campsite too
• There are lots of other things to do in Fort Wilderness– archery, horse back riding, carriage rides, etc.
• There’s a campfire show with Chip and Dale and a movie every night (we roasted marshmallows with our granddaughter)

I’d do it again!

Copyright © 2014 Dr. M. Teresa Trascritti