Overview:
- Location: 4510 North Fort Wilderness TrailLake Buena Vista, Florida 32830-8415 Phone: (407) 824-2900
- Price: We paid $140 per night in May 2021
- Hookups: Full hookup and tent/popup sites available (see site types here)
- Amenities: Two pools, water slide and splash pad area, bath houses with laundry, two trading posts, water transportation to Magic Kingdom, bus transportation to other parks, and too many activities to list – even more during non pandemic times! Check out the full list here
- Website: disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/campsites-at-fort-wilderness-resort/
- Full video tour in highlights on @thecampermom on Instagram (click Fort Wilderness highlight)
(Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase through one of my links.)
The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort is the perfect way to experience the magic of Disney while enjoying the comforts of your own camper. The Resort is a destination in and of itself, and I so wish that we had planned more days just to explore everything it had to offer. From pools to horseback riding, and of course convenient transportation to the Disney parks, this place has it all! Although many of the experiences were limited or shut down temporarily due to Covid, there was still so much to do and so much fun to be had. There’s truly something for everyone!
AMENITIES
These campsites are a good size, pretty well spaced out, and full hook-up. Although we did not use the bath houses (at least one bath house on each “loop”), I took a look inside and they were really nice! They each also had a very nice laundry room that was clean and had plenty of machines, as well as an ice machine.
You can pay more for a “Preferred” site that is closer to the Settlement area (trading post, restaurants, and boat launch), but I think even at those sites you may want to ride a golf cart or bus to the Settlement since it’s still not super close. So we opted for a regular full hook-up site (we were on the 1700 loop), and with the golf cart rental we had a blast driving around the resort to get where we wanted to go. Speaking of golf cart rental…
GOLF CART RENTAL
There is much debate in the Facebook forums on whether or not golf cart rental is worth it at Fort Wilderness. In our experience, this was a major yes! Not only was it incredibly convenient, it was really fun! I asked my two year old what his favorite ride at Disney was, and he said “golf cart.” But really, there is a bus system in the campground if you are trying to avoid spending the money on the golf cart. At least at the time we went, the busses (and the boats for that matter) were not running on a set schedule, so you were kind of at the whim of whenever a bus came by to get where you wanted to go. To reserve a golf cart in advance (which is definitely recommended) call 407-824-2742. At the time of our trip, the cost of a 4 seater cart was about $70 per day, and 6 seater cart can be reserved first come first served at pickup time (1pm) for an additional $17 per day. We opted for the 6 seater and used the back seat to transport our double stroller. There are also other golf cart companies that you can rent from, but I did not price shop that around this time. Maybe next time though, because there was a Mater golf cart from another company that my children were obsessed with! It was just really nice to be able to come back from a long day at the park and hop on our golf cart and go. Or just ride around and look at everyone’s decorations (which is another fun thing about Fort Wilderness! It was “Hallo-spring” when we were there so many sites were decorated for Halloween!)
RECREATION
There is SO MUCH to do at Fort Wilderness and we did not even get to everything! The Resort has two pools, one of which (Meadows Pool) has a water slide and splash pad. Unfortunately for us, at the time of our trip the slide and splash pad were closed for refurbishment. They looked really fun though! There’s a snack bar at the Meadows pool, as well as tennis, volleyball, paddle boats, etc. There’s also tons of activities such as panning for gems, t-shirt tie dying, and movies at night. During non-Covid times there is a Chip and Dale campfire sing along that we can’t wait to come back and do when it returns. There’s also a Ranch where you can do pony rides. The activity calendar changes monthly and there is always something going on!
TRANSPORTATION
This campground is a Disney Resort property, so within the resort is a bus system that will take you where you need to go, as well as busses that will take you to the various Disney Parks. But for us on this trip, we used the boat service directly from Fort Wilderness to Magic Kingdom. The boat launch is located in the “Settlement” area of the campground, and there is a beach area where my children played while we waited for the boat. At this time they are not running on a schedule, but the longest we waited for a boat was 30 minutes and the boat ride was less than 10 minutes to the park. My kids loved riding the boat, and we were able to fit our Double Bob stroller on the boat although it was a bit of a pain (next time we will opt for renting a stroller at the park rather than dealing with getting our stroller on/off the boat or bus).
MISCELLANEOUS TIPS FOR FORT WILDERNESS
This was our first trip to Fort Wilderness, so we have much to explore and learn about this awesome campground, but here are a few things that made our stay easier (May 2021):
- Grocery delivery – you can order groceries and have them delivered to the front of the campground, and they will keep them cold for you until you are able to pick them up, or for a small fee they will deliver them to your campsite. We had Walmart deliver groceries the afternoon we checked in, and we paid $6 for Walmart to deliver to FW. We used the golf cart to zip up front and pick them up, and it was very easy (ring the doorbell at the back of the building where you check in). Other services that I’ve seen people use are Prime and Instacart.
- Mobile food ordering – You can use the Disney app to order food at the restaurant in the campground (and in the parks) ahead of time. It was never crowded in the Settlement restaurant when we went, so we really didn’t need to use this feature, but when it gets busier this is a great option. Right now the restaurant is counter service, but you are welcome to take your food to the tables inside the restaurant and eat there (the barbecue sandwich is DELICIOUS!). There is also a snack bar at the Meadows pool, but you cannot use online ordering for that. (Also be forewarned that if you order an alcoholic beverage there, it was like $14 and definitely not enough alcohol in there, lol)
- Overflow parking – we got to the resort early and although our campsite was not ready, we were able to park in the huge overflow lot and ride the bus around to explore a bit. You can also leave your vehicle and camper in that lot for the rest of the day of your check out if you check out of your site but still have parks to visit that day.
MISCELLANEOUS MAGIC KINGDOM TIPS
This was our first trip (since we went as kids!) with our family, so a lot of our trip was trial and error. Here are a few things we learned:
- Magic Bands vs Mobile Ticket – if you already have a Magic Band, you can continue to use it. We did not already have them, so I opted to use the Mobile ticket option. Learn from my mistake – when we went to the entrance of MK for the first time, I pulled up my Disney app thinking that was how to scan for entry. The person sent me to guest services to pick up physical tickets, wamp wamp. 20 minutes later, turned out that all I needed to do was open up my APPLE WALLET and that is how the tickets are scanned. So make sure you log into your Disney account and link your tickets to your Apple Wallet before your trip. Double click the side button on your phone (if it’s the same as mine) and your Wallet will pull up. Hold phone up to reader at entrance and voila. Also works with Apple Watch. Maybe everyone already knows this, but this knowledge would have saved our family 20 min of waiting.
- Stroller help – while I was riding Aladdin with two of my children we heard a small explosion, and I assumed it was a balloon popping or something. When we got off the ride, my husband informed me that the explosion was the tire on our double Bob stroller! I began frantically googling same day delivery for stroller tires and asked in a Facebook group for ideas of what to do. Someone suggested going to the stroller rental station at the front of the park, so I pushed my limping stroller to the front. Those angels took the tire off my stroller, went behind a door, and came back less than 5 minutes later with it repaired. No charge. Talk about a bibbidy-bobbidy-boo experience!
- Heat – this will come as a shock to no one, but Orlando is friggin hot. At the time we went, masks were required at all times (they have since relaxed masks outdoors but still require them in queues, inside, etc) and we were given the advice to get disposable masks since the fabric ones get sweaty and gross. We ordered these for us, and these for the kids and they worked great. We also got the kids these personal fans and they loved using them. Also, gave the toddler a the dollar store spray bottle we brought to stay cool, and this entertained him in nearly every line.
- Souvenirs – Also a shock to no one, souvenirs at Disney are pricey. I ordered these Minnie ears for my daughters so we wouldn’t have to spend so much on them at the park. They found plenty of other things to spend their souvenir money on 🙂
Overall, Fort Wilderness is a MUST DO! We can’t wait to go back, and next time we will be using the bus system to visit some of the other parks. It was a magical time we will certainly never forget!
