Review: The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort

OVERVIEW: THE CAMPSITES AT DISNEY’S FORT WILDERNESS RESORT

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort has three types of accommodations:

• Air-conditioned cabins sleeping six with full kitchens (click here for a review of the cabins)
• Group campsites, which I’ll review if I can ever get my scout troop to make the 1100 mile drive to Walt Disney World
• Family campsites, which are the topic of this review

The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort, while wonderful for returning visitors who like to camp and for RV owners, are at the bottom of the list of recommended resorts for typical first time family visitors to Walt Disney World.

REVIEW: THE CAMPSITES AT DISNEY’S FORT WILDERNESS RESORT

You can have a wonderful visit at any Walt Disney World resort.

However, this site recommends that first time visitors to Walt Disney World avoid Disney’s Fort Wilderness resort, because it is much less kid-appealing and convenient than other alternatives.

Resorts are ranked on this site for first time visitors based first on their kid appeal, and then on their convenience.

On this basis, the Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort are the lowest-ranked resort for first time family visitors.

Kid Appeal. The wilderness and backwoodsy theming of this resort, while charming, is so subtle that it will miss most kids entirely.

Convenience. The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort are remarkably inconvenient compared to the other Walt Disney World resorts.

While often thought of as out of the way, the resort is actually located just across Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon from the Magic Kingdom. Its inconvenience comes not from its location but rather from the internal bus system that the sprawling Fort Wilderness Resort uses.

To get to any theme park, two transportation actions are required—an internal bus to the appropriate transfer point, and then an external bus or boat to the park itself. This can easily add half an hour or more to daily transportation times—adding up to a lost afternoon or so over the course of an eight-night visit.

Moreover, simply getting around the seven hundred acre resort–getting to the pool, the shops, the playgrounds–can be a chore.  Even if you have a car, you are discouraged from using it in the campground itself, both officially and by the lack of parking spaces in places you might want to go.

That is, you can use your car to drive to a theme park, but not to drive from your campsite to one of the campground’s two stores, its dining facilities, beach, pools or boat docks.

Golf carts are ok to use in traveling around Fort Wilderness resort itself.  Some families bring their own, or rent them–for on the order of $50 a day–at the campground.  Other families bring or rent bikes.

All these options moderate the convenience issues, but not enough to move Fort Wilderness up in my rankings.

OTHER DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE CAMPSITES AT DISNEY’S FORT WILDERNESS RESORT

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort is likely the best family campground in America, and the only one within Walt Disney World itself.

In addition to being a Walt Disney World resort with all the benefits that such brings, it contains a wide range of activities from trail rides to a petting zoo to campfire programs and movies.

The main pool was recently re-done with a slide and light theming.

It’s the only pet-friendly Disney resort.

Up to ten people can stay in a Fort Wilderness campsite.  However, an extra charge of around $2 per head is payable for each adult in the site after two.

Even with this extra charge, these sites are still a bargain for large families.

MORE STUFF ON THE CAMPSITES AT DISNEY’S FORT WILDERNESS RESORT

This review continues here.

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