Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground Reviews and Ratings About This Page:

[chillepepa]

I Loved it!!! Staying in the campground, allows us to stay on disney property for little $$$. We still enjoy the benfits of staying property but not the expense. As long as I have a comfy place to sleep, and a clean bathroom I'm ready to go. I don't need a tv or the phone. I have a cell phone & I there to see Mickey not watch tv. The comfort stations are always clean, have A/C and great laundry facilities. The tents sites are spacious & clean. They have electricity so we bring a dorm frig & fans and we are set. We decorate our site with christmas lights. Plus Ft Wilderness offers lots of fun things to do - probably more than the hotels offer. A FREE nighttime campfire with Chip & Dale and a FREE movie!!! My teenagers love that pool is open 24 hrs. They love to stop by the pool after a long day in the parks, at midnight & take a quick refreshing dip beforing going to bed. We love seeing wildlife run around - mostly armadillos. We don't have them in Colorado. My kids had never seen one prior to our first visit to FW.

I don't understand why people have problem with the bus system in the campground. You are either in 1 of 3 areas - orange, yellow or purple. If the bus is heading south it is going to the Front gate, where you can catch another bus to the parks. If the bus is heading north it is going to the settlement, where youc can go to Trail's End, Crockets Tavern, Hoop de Doo, or catch the boat to MK.

You can have up to 10 people at your campsite, for less than the cost of 1 room at a value resort! That's 10 people in tents, pop-up, camper/rv, talk about a deal. Depending on what loop you are in you can have your dog with you as well. the first year we stayed, we were really tight on a budget and prepared most of meals at camp. We made a big hearty breakfast and a nice dinner, every day. That really saved alot of money - I spent only $120 on food (for camp meals) for 3 people for 7 days!

[mavisdavis]

I'm very partial to Ft. Wilderness because that's where we stayed every single visit when I was growing up in the 80's. So I have nothing but good things to say about it. Back in those days, there were mobile homes and not cabins...but its the same basic idea.
My husband and I tent camped at WDW last year just for a weekend and it was totally fun. We didn't really have the money for the trip but I was craving it so badly (blame my parents for taking us so much when we were growing up!) Tent camping was the cheapest way to go...I am just a firm believer in staying on site at WDW in order to get the complete Disney experience. And even if you are not willing to tent camp, the value for the money is really great with the cabins for a large or extended family. You get so much more space than you would if you rented two rooms at a value resort...plus the charm of being in the woods and all the fun amenities of the campground. For just two the cabin is a little pricey...you would get more for your money elsewhere.
As for amenities, the tent camp area bathrooms are beautiful. They are clean clean clean and air conditioned. There's outlets for hair dryers, and plenty of sinks and mirrors. You are hardly "roughing it." The sites are well maintained, and there's hardly ANY mosquitoes...Disney magic I guess ; ) Even tent sites have their own water and electrical supply...we were working on our laptops - kind of ridiculous. The only criticism I have is that there wasn't much privacy...the sites are kind of close together and "exposed."
The Meadows Trading Post has pretty much anything you are going to need if you forget...but you will want to pack groceries or hit up a local grocery store in town before checking in, because it would be too expensive to stock up there. There's a lot of "free" extra fun to be had at this resort if you bring your own equipment...you are allowed to pole fish in the canals, and there's tons of bicycle riding to be done. There's equipment available for both but it's not cheap, so bring yours from home. Also, there's TONS of free sports activities - volleyball, basketball, tennis courts, horseshoes, shuffleboard. You can pay to go horseback riding or rent a canoe. There's a petting zoo/pony rides, playgrounds, and a fairly full service marina just like the fancy resorts have! The best is the FREE movie and marshmallow roast...again bring your own smores supplies for economy but if you forget you can buy a kit too. My husband and I swear we will go back just to camp and not even go to the parks - it really is the best campground I've ever been to.
People complain so much about the transportation...but to be honest its really not a big deal about the internal busses. If you are going to MK or Epcot you take the quick bus ride to the lake area and hop a boat. MK is direct...you can get to Epcot by boating over to MK or the Contemporary, hopping the monorail to the Ticket and Transportation Center, and then switching to the Epcot monorail there. That route is a little attraction all to itself. It IS a bummer when going most other places because you do have to take one bus to the registration area in order to catch another bus to wherever else...tough on the way home when you are exhausted. But not the end of the world by any means.
You can save a bundle cooking your own meals...I know for some that's not much of a vacation - but when it was Mickey or bust Mom did make some sacrifices so that we could afford to go. Also if you have a special diet, or just plain prefer to eat your own cooking (hey some people do!) this works out well for you. As far as eating out goes, the Trails End is a great resort buffet value. It's not super fancy...very american style food, but yummy.They also have two great dinner shows here...the Hoop-Dee-Doo is a CLASSIC. The nice thing is, if you want something fancy, you can take a nice walk or boat ride over to the Wilderness Lodge. It's also pretty quick to get to the Comtemporary by boat, and then take the monorail to the Grand Floridian or the Polynesian to eat over there. Honestly, getting to those areas from FW is half the fun. We didn't cook for ourselves at all on the last trip, but we did have a cooler for beverages, snacks, and cereal milk.
We're 32 and 40, so we're not spring chickens, and one downside of the tents is not getting the great night sleep on the ground. If you had some nifty cots or an air mattress this may improve things a bit...but it still won't be a bed.
Disney theming isn't in your face like it is at say the All Star Resorts, but you definitely feel like "This is Disney" as much as you would at any other resort...the service is there.
I am not saying it's for everyone - if you are the spa and room service type this is a definite NO. However - if you are on a tight budget but aren't really into the "la quinta" type motorlodge deal...this is a really fun alternate plan for getting your Disney fix.

[Ceara's mawmaw]

We stayed here Sept 2008 in our 40ft motorhome. We were in a preferred site, loop 100 site 112 and loved it. It is close to the trading post, pioneer hall, marina and the bus stop. Everything was in a very very short walk. We use the boat transportation and never had to take a bus. No matter where we were going we could take the boat to get there and there is something relaxing about taking the boats for us. The walk between Ft W and WL is a joy we love it too. The bathhouse and laundry were as clean as they could be and very well stocked. The only downside was the misquitos they were huge there was a runoff ditch running behind the camp and they must be multiplying there.

[minnie4me]

Originally Posted by PatV

The cabins are the place for anyone who wants a private, very personal experience at WDW.

Take your own food and pick up more at the 2 'grocery' stores within the campground.
No standing in lines at restaurants, no rearranging your day to get to that dining spot you booked months out.
No noisy neighbors, elevator waits, afternoon naps without the noise.
Lots of extra fun places within the campground - water sport rentals, horseback riding, bike rentals, singalongs.
Cook your own meals - but let the maid do the dishes!
Laundry facilities available within the campground.
Bedroom separate from living area.

It might not be the cheapest in WDW. But where else would we have had a frog in the toilet? The friendliest staff, even with frog rescues.
DEFINITELY RECOMMEND!

OMG, did you really have a frog in the toilet???? WOW, that would just freak me out, I hate the lizards and I'm always worried they'll sneak in (they sneak into my house all the time and they still eewwhh me LOL)--but I still absolutely LOVE the cabins for the 1 reason you listed most of all--no noisy neighbors & you can take afternoon naps and don't have to listen to doors slamming shut and toilets flushing in other rooms all night LOL!! I get better sleep in the cabins than I ever had at any of the deluxes or DVCs! It's so calming and peaceful and beautiful there which alone is magical. I could spend a few days sitting on the deck ALL DAY LOL!! ...but I have to admit I would definitely have to hit the Chipn Dale singalong campfire one of those nights...

We now have a tradition when we go that we have to make s'mores on the bbq outside the cabin, even if we don't cook any meals inside or out we have to have our s'mores, so I'm always picking up that bag of coal and all the other s'mores supplies.

This past trip we didn't rent a golf cart and I thought we would really miss it but we really didn't. The only thing we missed about it was the rides through the loops checking out the lights and decorations but we really didn't even have time to do that this trip.

I do have to admit though, a car DEFINITELY comes in handy. We pretty much dined at the other MK resorts each night we stayed there which was about a 5 min. drive...much quicker than WDW transportation. The internal bus transportation at the Fort was pretty good for the most part which is what you have to take if you don't have a golf cart. But, I don't think I'd enjoy taking WDW transportation to other resorts and then having to transfer to a boat or monorail or another bus and then return the same way and then take an internal bus, kinda tires me out just talking about it.

I also think I prefer the cabins during the colder weather months which is also "dry" season. Not fun dodging downpours getting off the bus or riding around in the golf cart. I also imagine it gets rather buggy in the summer, lots of Mosquito Coast needed then and the main pool would be a bus ride for most if you don't have a golf cart.

The cabins themselves are so ready for a refurb. Our stove top looked like people jumped on it with spiked heels. They can use some updating and maybe some way to build in some extra storage space and definitely a little brighter lighting. The one thing about them being, well, "cabins" is that they can still get away with them being in so-so shape because it does add to that "camping feel"....LOL!

That all being said, I think the campground is one of the coziest, most peaceful places to stay not just in WDW, but anywhere.