Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort

We stayed December 16-19. I am a Disney parks superfan so we HAD to visit Fort Wilderness. Now, for those hyping it as the best campground in America...I don't know about that. But if you love Disney it is by far the best deal and best way to stay on property while visiting the parks.

I reserved in May for December and there wasn't tons available, but the customer service worked with me to find some available dates. We paid the highest rates of the year for the Christmas season, but I think it's worth it - and that's coming from folks who usually pay $30/night for camping!

Fort Wilderness is famous for the decorated campsites at Christmas time and let me tell you it is extreme! We could have spent several evenings walking around the campground looking at the lights, inflatables, and even a fully built castle! There is so much Christmas cheer here in December that even people not staying in the campground visit to experience it.

While here, be sure to catch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the beach one night. I also recommend taking the boat to Wilderness Lodge for some of the fabulous dinners.

The biggest plus to Fort Wilderness is you get the same Disney perks as the normal hotel resorts: magic bands, extra magic hours, an incredible pool, activities, great on-site restaurants - all for the fraction of the cost.

There's probably availability to arrive prior to check in time, we arrived at 10am and were able to go right to our site!

Next time I stay I will request a site closer to settlement, ours was a little too far, and I wasn't willing to splurge for a golf cart like everyone has haha. I would also book so that I have 1-2 days with no parks visits, just enjoying the campground.

Have a magical stay!

First off Fort Wilderness is definitely a resort and not a campground! Most but not all sites were occupied by large Class A coaches and 5th wheels, not people camping in tents and smaller trailers. As a campground it's nice but not worth three times the price you would normally pay at a beautiful Florida State Park. The only reason the park can charge these rates is because it makes it so convenient to hop on a bus or a boat for free transportation to all of the Disney properties.

I really appreciated the fact that once I was set up on my site I didn't once have to move my truck during the entire five days we were there. I was able to visit all the parks and Disney Springs several miles away and not have to worry about driving, finding a place to park and paying the additional fees, or even have to remember where it was that I parked in the mile long parking lots.

So in the end I am glad we stayed in the park but I don't expect a return visit!

We visited this campground from 01/13/19 until 01/18/19.

We have stayed here several times and plan to return this Summer. It is everything you would expect from Disney. Clean, lots to do, spectacular staff. The access to the parks from the campground is via bus or boat. We noticed that even though the campground is always full you never seem to feel crowded like you do when you stay on hotels on Disney property. This is truly the most expensive place we have ever camped and well worth it.

My family visited Disney fort wilderness 25 years ago on a cross country vacation and fell in love with it. We dreamed of going back but struggled with the distance and just never made it. Springing forward I was transferred just 10 hours away so we made a return visit...well more like three visits this year. It lived up to everything we remembered. It is hardly camping with cable water sewer shopping transportation and concierge on site. We stayed in a 73 foot site in the 800 loop number 34, which is close to everything in the resort. I highly recommend the stay, but warn that larger rv may be challenged in backing into the sites themselves. They are pretty tight when the other guests cars are in the way.

Let me start this by saying, do your research on the different type of sites that are available. Our next visit we will stay in a premium site in the 400 or 700 loop where the sites are full concrete. We’re glampers for sure!!!

Make sure to get up early and walk the horse stables, they bath the horses that will be pulling carriages at the Magic Kingdom and you can see them up close. My kids were fascinated by it.

We got a prefered site, your RV is on a nice flat concrete slab, but the patio area is behind the RV and it was sand. For some, not a big deal, but we have small children and it caused issues, so we weren’t able to use the table area.

The BBQ was from before I was born and unuseable. The sewer backed up and I was unable to clean out tanks completely, I had to move sites to dump. When they cleaned the sewer out, they opens the manhole and hundreds of Roaches ran all over the camp, it was gross.

Next time we will stay in the premium site and hope for a better experience.

We fell in love with Fort Wilderness Campground 25 years ago. It really is not "camping" but more like a Disney resort. The sites are great! This year we stayed in a loop that we have never been in before, 1700 loop. At first we were concerned but after seeing it and setting up camp we fell in love with it. We also happened to have a (hidden) WiFi tower next to us and the fastest internet ever! The sites are spread apart and we had a lot of room to stretch out! The downside was we were going to skip renting a golf cart this year (would have been our first year doing so) since the price is about $65 per day. After spending 2 hours walking we decided to give in and rent a golf cart. The carts are expensive but give you the option of riding around to see all of the other 800+ campsites and 400+ cabins. Even though the bus stop is close the convince of a golf cart is hard to beat. I think next time we will get bikes and give that a try, who knows.

The campground is truly one of a kind. It really is like a resort, there are two pools, there is a beach but you can't swim at it (think gators). The Chip and Dale campfire sing along with the Disney movie is something to experience. The people, staff and other campers are great! The campground is Disney clean. You can take the boat directly to the Magic Kingdom or other resorts. You can take a bus to Disney Springs (Downtown Disney), or any of the other parks. You can rent a boat for the day, take a fishing excursion on the lake ($270 for 4 hours).

The campground is expensive, sites start around $100 and go to about $150 (the differences are the more expensive ones have more cement). We opt for the least expensive ones we can get, if you can get them. Reservations are often tough to get, this place gets more popular every year. My wife and I have always had a dream of staying at the campground and never going into the parks. We love the campground but do not enjoy the crowds at the park, well this year we did just that and had a great time!

When you go somewhere that's so hyped up on a national level, expectations are high. We had done Disney before and this time we were just going to camp there...no parks. After all the rave reviews, we opted for the insanely expensive 4 nights.

When we first arrived I was a bit let down. We were not in the premium sites, but we still had full hookups and a concrete pad for our camper, though we didn't fit entirely on the concrete. While the area was wooded, the first thing I noticed was how eroded everything was. Many sites around us had 2-3' dropoffs all around the pad. Some didn't even have space for the picnic table.

We lucked out with a site that backed up against the woods, which I was really hoping for. It gave us a modicum of privacy and woodsiness that most of the sites there didn't have.

As the days went on, I started to see the value of this park. While I still wasn't in love with the sites, I could see why this place costs more. The park is fully staffed by "cast members", has 2 pools, has public transportation, has two outposts for shopping, has bike trails and the like.
We spent much of our days at the main pool which was nice. You can bring a cooler with you and hang out all day if you like. Alcohol is allowed which is nice. (better to bring your own than pay $8.50 for a beer!) If you want a spot by the pool, I highly recommend showing up between 9-10 to snag a spot, otherwise you're going to be out of luck.

We compared our non-premium site to the premium sites and we preferred ours. While there's less concrete at the non-premiums, there's more space. The premium sites were stacked even more closely together. As far as location in the campground, if you have a bike, the whole campground felt accessible with a 5 minute bike ride. It's about a mile loop on the main road for instance.

One thing I didn't love is that we had no information given to us at checkin. We got a map but that was it. We weren't told about whether there was trash pickup, how to access transportation, etc. We felt a bit in the dark upon arrival.

Overall, I'd consider staying here again, but not for $150+.

We stayed here so our daughter and us could visit the Disney theme parks. It was a no-brainer to stay here when we looked at all of the options due to WDW transportation system. We have stayed at the Contemporary Resort (before our RVing days) before and knew the importance of onsite transit. The check-in process was a little slow but very thorough. Our site was long, wide, level and concrete. We had a good distance between neighbors and it was quiet. From the campground, you can take a boat to the Magic Kingdom, Contemporary Resort and Fort Wilderness Lodge. Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary was a very fun breakfast. We did the Once Upon a Time dinner at Cinderellas Castle and that was great for our daughter. We hung out at the Fort Wilderness pools and they were amazing with lifeguards everywhere. They also had a small food counter that served drinks. Lastly, the Mickey’s Backyard BBQ is a must if you have the time. Also, pay the little extra to get the better seats. They let you in before everyone else to take pictures with the characters. It was well worth the extra $10 per ticket. Oh, also, they topped off one of my propane tanks with 2 gallons at no charge.

This is a park that looks like a state or national park, with reasonably large spots in a heavily wooded forest. Some of the spots will make you feel like you are all alone. But, like much of Disney, if you look too closely, the facade breaks down.

Despite the feeling of being in the wilderness, the noise levels are what you would expect for Disney. People let their kids run unchecked, making noise all hours of the day and night. It was common for people to just cross through our spot while we were sitting there, as if we were invisible.

Also, people would let their dogs bark all day and night. Many people appeared to have tied their dog to a tree while they went to the parks, and the dogs would bark at anything that moved -- and apparently the owners stayed until the park closed and didn't get back until after 11:00pm.

The pool is large but always overrun with kids, basically leaving no room to swim or even wade around without getting bumped or shoved.

A cool thing about this campground is that they have a campfire and movies every night, with an appearance by Chip and Dale. Also, they have trail rides.

The horn of the train from Magic Kingdom is a constant reminder of where you are. The fireworks and music shows at night also remind you of where you are -- very loud. So while the location is great if you are spending all day at Disney, the camping aspect of it is second-rate.

For this price, I want a much better camping experience.

Nuts and bolts of the Disney thing: If you want are going to Hoop-de-doo Musical Review, this is the most convenient place to stay, you can walk or catch a bus. If you are going to the other parks and want to use Disney transit, you will need to leave an hour of transit time. First, you have to catch the internal bus to get you to one end of the park or the other. Then you catch the boat by the lake (for Magic Kingdom) or the bus up front (for the other three parks). On average, our transit time from door to door was just over an hour, which meant getting up by 6:30 or so for an 8:00 park opening.