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Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort Campground Tips

March 12, 2014 By MommyOctopus 21 Comments
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The Best Tips for Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort

Last week we spent an entire week at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort.  We learned a lot during our week stay, especially since this was our first time camping after purchasing a popup.  Here are some fun tips and ideas that we learned to make our stay exciting and without spending a ton of extra money.

First, a little about Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort Campground.  There are four different categories at the Campsites of Fort Wilderness:  tent or pop-up campsites, full hookup campsites, preferred campsites, and premium campsites.  The tent or pop-up campsites are only for tents or pop-up vans and include water and electricity.  Price for these varies between $55 and $118 per night.  The full hookup campsites include a level paved pad campsite (for a camper, RV, motor home, etc.) and electricity, water, and sewer.  Price for these varies between $74 and $139 per night.  The preferred campsites include a level paved pad campsite and electricity, water, sewer, cable, and high speed internet.  Price for these varies between $84 and $149 per night.  The premium campsites include a level paved pad campsite in a premium location (closer to recreation, bus stops, etc.) and electricity, water, sewer, cable, and high speed internet.  Price for these varies between $91 and $154 per night.  All campsites sleep a maximum of 10 people and include a charcoal bbq grill and picnic table and nearby comfort station with laundry facilities, private showers, ice machines, restrooms, and pay phones.

Fort Wilderness Popup

Things to bring:

  • Towels: Towels are not provided at the Fort Wilderness pools so you’ll need to bring your own for the bathhouse and pool.
  • Clothesline: The laundry room cost $2 per load to wash and $2 per load to dry.  We cut down on having to use this by hanging our towels on the clothesline after pool or shower.  If you are planning to wash clothes, don’t forget your detergent!  The vending machine has some, but they also come with a price.
  • S’mores Fixings and Roasters: If you buy them at Disney, you’ll end up paying a fortune.  Every night there is a Chip and Dale sing-a-long and marshmallow roast that you’ll want to join.  It’s free, except for whatever food you buy, hence bringing your own.
  • Flashlight or Glowsticks: After dark, it gets REALLY dark at Fort Wilderness.  You’ll need a flashlight or glowsticks to keep your group together after those late night park visits.
  • Charcoal and Lighter: If you plan on using the grill on the site, you’ll need charcoal and a lighter.
  • Trashbags: Most sites have a trashcan very close by, but it was a touch annoying going to it for every piece of trash.
  • Folding Chairs: There is a picnic table on each site, but if you want something else to sit in, bring your folding chairs.  These also come in handy at the sing-a-long.  On busy nights, the seats will fill up quickly.
  • Extension Cord and long sewage hose: We found that our regular size sewage hose wasn’t long enough and ended up having to go to Walmart for another.  The power box sometimes is far away from the sewage area, so make sure you bring long enough ones of both of these.
  • Broom: The sites are mainly concrete, with the exception of the popup/tent sites, but all seem to have an area of sand.  Of course our kids liked to play in the sand and tracked a ton into the popup.  This was something we ended up buying while at Walmart for the item above.

Things to Do:

Fort Wilderness Pool

 

Swimming: Fort Wilderness has a nice size pool, water slide, a kiddie pool, hot tub, and a toddler slide area.  There was something for everyone in our family of 6 to do!  The pools are heated, so if it’s not a super warm day, the pools still will be warm.  Various times during the day, they offer crafts and games by the pool.  You can check the schedules when you arrive.

The water slide was great.  Everyone from my 3 year old to myself rode it and had fun.  It has a red light/green light at the top to show when it is safe for the next rider.  For the pool, you’ll want to remember to bring your sunscreen and towels.  There is a nice bathhouse by the pool where you can shower or change.  There is also a snack bar, picnic tables, and even an “outpost” store.

Fort Wilderness Chip and Dale

 

Chip and Dale Sing-a-Long:  As I mentioned above, you’ll definitely want to bring your own fixings for S’mores.  This was one of our kids favorite things.  They start off with marshmallow roasting and then a cowboy leads everyone in songs.  Funny story, my 4 year old asked us if it was time to “marsh” the “mallows”.  LOL.  So I think forever we will be referring to roasting as “marshing”.  During the sing-a-long, they encourage everyone to dance and sing a long, but not to run up to Chip and Dale.  During the songs, they wander through for photo opportunities and autographs.

After the Sing-a-Long, they offer an outdoor movie.  This varies every night.

Rentals: You can rent bikes, golf carts, canoes, fishing, or tennis equipment.  We opted to not rent a golf cart, although many many people had them.  The carts ran around $59 per day plus tax and I just didn’t feel we’d use it that much plus walking is great exercise.  There were times that we had to wait a bit for a bus, but I don’t feel like we missed out on anything great by not having a cart.  I just couldn’t justify that extra expense when the buses and our feet/strollers worked just fine.

Random Tips:

  • Get to know the bus loops.  In Fort Wilderness, there are 3 loops – orange, yellow, and purple.  In order to get to the Magic Kingdom, you must ride the bus to the back to the Settlement Depot and from there walk to the Marina and get the boat.  To get to the other parks, you’ll ride the bus to the front toward the Outpost Depot and catch the park bus.  Make sure you get on the right way or you’ll find yourself on an extra long bus ride.
  • Take time to visit the Trading Posts.  They are actually fun to look around, have checker games to play, and often do pin trading.
  • Schedule time during your trip to stay in the campground.  There are so many free things to do there.  My kids love playing on their playgrounds and just exploring the grounds and pools.
  • Pony rides are available for $5 during the day.  It’s a fun thing to do, however there are maximum heights and my 7 year old and 10 year old were too tall.  The 3 and 4 year olds loved it.
  • In the evenings, you can take a carriage ride or hay ride around the campground.  It’s fun, but costs.  $45 per carriage ride (holds probably 4-8 people/children), $5 per child on hay ride and $8 per adult.
  • At 9:45pm, be at the marina and find a seat in the sand to watch the electric water parade.  This is short but cute.  It’s probably one of my favorite things and I love the music.  Afterward, you can remain on the beach and watch the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom.

Screen Shot 2014-03-12 at 11.12.42 AM

 

This was definitely my favorite place to stay out of all the ones that we had stayed.  We will be back!

Want to find out the current rates? Click here to contact my friend Jennifer and she’ll help you find the best rates for your magical vacation!

Do you have any tips to add?  Leave a comment and let me know!

Comments

  1. Jeni says

    November 28, 2015 at 7:39 am

    Hi! Thanks for your post, we are going in January and it was very helpful! Did you stay on a regular or pop up site? I booked a pop up because I assumed that meant pop up camper lol- now I’m afraid that I made a mistake. ?

    Reply
    • MommyOctopus says

      November 28, 2015 at 12:29 pm

      We started off at a popup site and moved to a regular because our popup had a bathroom in it and we needed the sewage hookup.

      Reply
  2. April says

    December 7, 2015 at 10:56 pm

    We rented a golf cart from an off-site company when we stayed at the Cabins last December. It was quite a bit less expensive than the Disney rentals. After a full day at the parks, it was worth it not to have to wait for another bus!

    Also, if you go during the Christmas season, consider bringing some fun decor. We had a string of lights we put on the deck, but other people went ALL OUT! We loved driving past the fun displays.

    Reply
    • Janelle says

      June 27, 2017 at 9:28 pm

      Hi! What outside company did you use for the golf cart? Tia!

      Reply
  3. Wanda murphy says

    March 1, 2018 at 12:54 am

    We have a handicap gril in a wheelchair would it be things to do with her can she get on the train

    Reply
    • MommyOctopus says

      March 1, 2018 at 1:13 pm

      Yes, she should be able to get on many many things! All the buses are handicap accessible, too! I think she would have a blast.

      Reply
  4. lleralove says

    May 27, 2018 at 11:43 am

    Thank you so very much for taking the time to create these important tips …

    Our family of six will be spending a week at Fort Wilderness this summer and I cannot count how many times I have referred to your tips when planning … it has been a savior!!!

    Reply
    • MommyOctopus says

      May 27, 2018 at 9:17 pm

      You are so welcome! Enjoy your trip!

      Reply
  5. Cait says

    June 19, 2018 at 10:04 am

    Would you know if there is anywhere to RENT a popup? Most companies seem to just offer the fancy stuff

    Reply
    • MommyOctopus says

      June 19, 2018 at 10:31 am

      A quick google brought me to this website with some smaller ones: http://www.traveltrailerrent.com/disney-s-fort-wilderness-small-camper-packages-1.html

      Reply
      • Andrew meacham says

        September 29, 2019 at 8:06 am

        Thank you for posting about our rentals
        Our website has changed a little
        The new link is
        http://www.traveltrailerrent.com

        We are currently offering discounts of 15% off until the end of Oct 2019 however if you mention this code octopus we will honor that 15% off with no expiration date

        Reply
  6. Jayme Camara says

    July 12, 2018 at 11:30 am

    Hi! I’m wondering about the lines at check in. Do you have to wait in a long car line? If we arrive early is there a place for us to park and wait? Thank you!

    Reply
    • MommyOctopus says

      July 12, 2018 at 9:12 pm

      The car line is for campers. You can easily park and walk in to the outpost to check in.

      Reply
  7. Mary says

    February 6, 2019 at 9:39 pm

    If you rent a golf cart do you drivebitbtonthe boatbthen take the boat to magic kingdom?

    Reply
    • MommyOctopus says

      February 6, 2019 at 9:56 pm

      Correct 🙂

      Reply
  8. Linda L Grimm says

    April 5, 2019 at 12:19 pm

    to go to Disney Springs, is anyway to take golf cart all the way? or do you take cart to depot then have to ride the bus?

    Reply
    • MommyOctopus says

      April 5, 2019 at 3:47 pm

      You will have to take a golf cart to the depot to the bus. It’s not very close.

      Reply
  9. Diane says

    July 28, 2019 at 2:03 pm

    Also, be aware that FW doesn’t have a dump station. We had a water/electic site for our Casita camper and just “assumed” that Disney of all places would have a dump station. Nuh-uh. We ended up scrambling to find something at the end of our trip and finally found one at an rv sales place off I-4 near Tampa, luckily on our route home.

    Reply
    • MommyOctopus says

      July 28, 2019 at 9:41 pm

      We were able to dump our popup. Sorry you couldn’t find one. I bet you could have pulled into an empty spot for a second and dumped it, too.

      Reply
  10. Jenny nicolau says

    December 20, 2020 at 2:51 pm

    Love this post – thank you!

    Question – how much time did you allocate to leave FW and arrive at each of the parks? Trying to get a sense of what time we should arrive to make it to park opening. Does it take 30 minutes from the time you load the bus/boat to make it to the parks? More, less?

    Reply
    • MommyOctopus says

      December 21, 2020 at 11:26 am

      We tried to give us an hour just to make sure we had extra time.

      Reply

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