Thursday, April 15, 2010

RV PARK REVIEW: Fort Wilderness at Disney, part 1

We left Mouse Mountain this morning at 10:15 to make the short 5 or 6 mile drive to Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground.  I went into the office and was greeted by about 4 cast members (never called employees at Disney resorts) and a woman named Carol helped me with the check-in process.  It went quickly and then she told me our site wasn't quite ready, but was guaranteed by 1:00.  We were directed to park out in the large parking lot and they would call a.s.a.p.  We were welcome to go to one of the theme parks while we waited, but we just parked the RV and I fixed us an early lunch while we played gin rummy.


At 12:45 they called to say we were free to enter the campground and proceed to Loop 400, which was the loop we had requested several months ago when we booked our vacation.  Over the past several years Disney has updated their camping loops.  The Premium Loops (like #400) have all been updated with 50 amp electric and the concrete pads have been made wider and longer to accommodate today's big rigs.  Some of the trees have been cleared away to make room for slides. There is also ample room to park your toad or your large truck if you tow a 5er or a trailer.  The roads in the loops are wide enough to get around easily, but they are all one-way so you do not have to worry about oncoming traffic.  All sites are back-in sites but they are angled so that even backing in our 40 footer was easy.


We got ourselves backed into site #427 and put our Explorer in front of us.  There is a picnic table and BBQ grill at each site, but we don't use them.  We will be eating our meals out for the next 2 weeks.  Bruce connected all of the utilities and we were finished!


We took Annie out for a walk around the loop and I stopped at the Comfort Station to take a couple of photos.  Comfort Station is Disney-talk for Restroom and Laundry.  There is also a USA Today newspaper machine here.

Each loop has access to their own Comfort Station, or if the loops are small there is one station between the 2 small loops.  This is the laundry room at our Comfort Station.  It may seem small, but there are many of these throughout the entire campground.  Here is the ladies restroom, which was sparkly clean.  There is a pay telephone here, but most folks use their cell phone these days.


I have no exact dollar figure on what this campground is charging us per day as we purchased a total package deal and the site fees are included.  However, the rates listed in the Trailer Life Directory show a rate of $57.00 to $116.00 per day.  We are getting an annual pass package rate since we bought the annual passes last June knowing we'd be coming back within a year.   We are also paying $5.00 per day for Annie the Schnauzer.  My guess is our rate is around $100.00 per day, all taxes included.  WOW.....I know that is a lot!   This is the one and only place in our entire country where we will pay that amount of money to "camp".  Normally, we try to use our member parks which are sometimes free or $10.00 a night.  We do that so we can afford to come here for vacations from time to time.  A good trade-off in our opinion.  FYI:  The local KOA's rates list out at $50.00 to $90.00, plus you would then pay $14.00 to park at the theme parks each day you visit.

Fort Wilderness has 799 paved sites with patios and full hook-ups.  They have WiFi for a fee (it should be free).  Our AT&T wireless works fine at our site.  Each site has cable TV service with a good number of channel selections.  There are a lot of amenities here and I'll do a separate post on some of those and call it Part 2.

Until next time.....so long for now!    

6 comments:

Happytrails said...

I am so glad you included pics of the campground. I have often wondered what it was like. Years ago we took Stephen and stayed at one of the hotels on property but now we have the MH soooo.
It looks very very nice. I really think that is a pretty good price considering what you get. The trade offs are certainly worth the perks.
You all have tons and tons of fun. I can't wait to stroll through WDW via your blog. :)

Gerri & Mike (http://freedomo2roll.blogspot.com)

Carol K said...

Thanks for the Fort Wilderness review, Margie. Have a great time!

Sam&Donna Weibel said...

Your site looks really nice, last time we went to WDW we also bought a package deal with meals and all,not quite the all-inclusive like you get in Mexico but close. Next time we will be doing like you guys and do the Campground. Wer too are kids at heart and love to go to WDW. Have fun and do Space Mountain once for us. Be safe out there, Sam & Donna.

KarenInTheWoods said...

Oh what a nice place to camp so close to The Happiest Place on Earth! And it looks nicely arranged so you aren't packed in tight like sardines. I guess it's the one place worth paying that much for camping, because its such a special treat. Looking forward to your fun adventures while you are there!

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Karen and Steve
(Our Blog) RVing:Small House... BIG Backyard
http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

Tom and Marci said...

We went to Camp Wilderness back in 2005, and loved it! It was one of our favorite campgrounds! We were there in November, the week before Thanksgiving week, and paid just $42/night. We didn't really buy a "package" I don't think, but did buy 5-day park hopper passes for the 4 of us. We didn't buy the meal plan because for us, part of the point of camping was not to have to eat in restaurants (the kids were 7 & 9 then). We did take the boys to one character dinner, though, and the Hoop-de-Doo Review. We'd go back there without even going to the theme parks -- we loved the campground itself. We rode bikes, swam in the pool, played games with nighbors, went to movies and campfires at night . . . it was great! Have fun!

Rick said...

Great review of the RV Park there, Margie and thanks for the pictures. It looks like a great place to stay and paying a bit more once in while is o.k. with us too for 'special places'. Have fun, it should be a great couple of weeks - especially with no cooking!