One of the benefits of living in an RV is we can literally park our home at the most magical place on earth…Disney World! Fort Wilderness Disney Campground allows you to bring the two world’s of camping and Disney together to create a unique experience called AWESOME! This resort made Yahoo’s list of 10 RV Vacations You Need To Take Right Now and after visiting this park I can see why.
The Wilderness Campground has beautiful landscaping, lush trees, paved sites with a picnic table, charcoal grill, and is only a short boat ride from Magic Kingdom aka Mickey’s house. That’s what our (at the time) 18 month old called it.
This resort has two pools complete with water slide, toddler friendly kiddy pool, and water play area.
At Fort Wilderness Disney Campground, you can enjoy bike trails, a playground, restaurants, dinner shows, and Mickey’s Backyard BBQ. Volleyball and basketball courts are located throughout the park for your sports lovers like ourselves.
A special feature the Wilderness offers, is a campfire sing-a-long followed by an outdoor showing of your favorite Disney movies on certain nights throughout the week. If that isn’t enough to keep you occupied, this resort offers archery, horseback riding, boating, canoeing, and waterskiing around Bay Lake all for rent (this is Disney we are talking about everything can’t be included).
This campground is a great option for large families or parties without having to pay for multiple hotel rooms. These campsites allow you to sleep up to 10 people on your site. If your camper doesn’t hold 10 people, most sites even have room for an additional tent. Our site was around $100 a night, but if you spread that out between 10 people, that adds up to a measly $10/person to stay in Disney.
A great option for our family, was to take close friends with us who have a son close to our daughter’s age. They make great travel buddies and our kiddos (who are going to be married one day they just don’t know it yet) got to share the experience of Disney for the first time together. It made the trip so much more fun and we got to split the cost of the site which was a win win!
As with anything Disney, there are tips that can make the trip more enjoyable. Let’s look at a few:
Book early – These sites go fast, and for good reason, so book your site months in advance to score this unique atmosphere. We booked Fort Wilderness Disney Campground eight months in advance and tried to change our dates a couple of months after that and it was full. Six months in advance wasn’t enough.
We opted to stay in October to attend Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (which is a must see) and this was a popular month to camp. The weather is perfect and the crowds in the park are not as busy as summer months. If you are interested in attending Mickey’s BBQ or a dinner show these need to be purchased in advance as well. Everything was sold out on arrival or only the expensive seats were left.
Bundle Tickets – If you plan on going to the parks, which sounds like a no brainer but the campground has so much to do people actually choose to play in the campground as an alternative, make sure to purchase tickets with lodging reservations.
Purchasing Park tickets on arrival is possible because park tickets usually don’t sell out, but in order to get a discount with on-site lodging this needs to happen within a 30 day period according to a travel agent I talked to. So if you plan on staying on any Disney resort and want to bundle tickets for a discount, this has to be done together.
Bring Bikes – Fort Wilderness Disney Campground has tons to do and is spread out over 750 acres between Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Bike trails are located throughout the park and bikes make it easy to get from place to place more efficient. Parking is limited so most travel is via bicycle or golf cart for your convince. This gives you even more of the outdoor experience campers love.
Go in the right entrance – Okay so this might not be a common mistake and we might just be telling on ourselves but we somehow found a side entrance and was able to scan in with our magic band and get lost. This might not be a big deal on most occasions but while driving a 39ft RV with a vehicle being towed behind you making it almost impossible to back up this was a big deal!
We followed our GPS which in it’s defense didn’t know our RV situation so I hopped on my bike (see told you it would come in handy) and rode close to a mile to checkout while my husband was stranded at the wrong entrance.
It all worked out fine, I just looked a little silly, and the Disney staff was extremely helpful and friendly to get us checked in. So look for the huge Wilderness entrance for check-in. It almost looks like a toll booth with multiple openings. You can’t miss it, unless you are us!
Fort Wilderness Disney Campground is a terrific place to set up camp while visiting the parks and where else can you mix a little nature and Mickey Mouse? If you are looking more Disney tips, don’t forget to check out Disney for Beginners, from Beginners.