Pop-up camping in January?

[peach3es]

We enjoy camping and are looking at Fort Wilderness to save some money. But I can't seem to convince my mom we won't freeze. What is the weather generally like? Are we going to freeze if we camp from January 8-16?

TIA!

~~Carrie

[2goofycampers]

We were there Jan 08 it was chilly the first few days, and perfect weather the rest of the 8 days. If you bring a portable heater you would be fine. I'd say go for it.

[kiteri]

I asked this EXACT question already, because I will be camping in a rented popup from January 16 thru January 25 and was worried about it being too cold.

I got a lot of reassurance from the AWESOME FW Disers.

I am renting a golf cart though for the length of my stay, so that those middle of the night bathroom runs in the cold wont be as bad.

Do you already have a site reserved? I called three times a day for a week to get my first 9 days and have called EVERY day since for weeks trying to get another day or two but they are all booked up.

[saw1810]

I agree, bring a portable heater that will do.

[disneywithfive]

Go to weather underground and you can get the history of the weather in Orlando day by day for the past years. I wanted to tent camp in late December but I still can't convince myself that we won't be COLD.

[QueenGoblin]

We were in WDW this past January and the weather was beautiful (80 degree temps but cooler in the evening). My girls even went swimming several times. We weren't camping but it would have been a great week for camping. That being said my parents were there about 10 years ago and it was much cooler (more like 50s and 60s). So I would come prepared for cooler temps, but it is likely you won't need the winter woollies (but bring them anyway.)

[kmurawski]

I guess nobody here is from the Chicago area and camps in the snow! Really, now, Florida cold nights must be tame for a Chicagoan. They have to be since we will be there in December/January. As long as we are at the World the weather doesn't affect me anyhow.

[AuburnJen92]

If you are from Chicago, you won't even need the heater!:lmao:

From this Floridian, I just don't know how y'all make it up in that snow....yikes!

[Fish Almighty]

We camped in our pop-up this past January at FW and it was in the 30s and 40s several nights and actually got down below freezing one night. I'm not sure if that is normal or not for the area. We had a small space heater that kept the pop-up nice and toasty. We did have a dozen or so people walking by our camper ask us how we survived the night.

If you bring a space heater, be sure to check how many amps it requires and how many your pop-up can support without tripping the circuit breaker. For our pop-up, we have to run a separate extension cord to the power supply box at the campground. If you do this, be sure to get the correct gauge extention cord also.

It was an odd range of temperatures when we were there:

Dec 30 High 83 Low 67
Dec 31 High 78 Low 65
Jan 01 High 79 Low 49
Jan 02 High 49 Low 34
Jan 03 High 54 Low 31
Jan 04 High 66 Low 42
Jan 05 High 73 Low 49
Jan 06 High 76 Low 53

[mamaloya]

Also, electric blankets are nice to have on the bunk ends. We got hit with unexpected cold and even with our heater in the popup, the bunkends were chilly. We bought some nice heavy blankets at the Mexican pavillion one night on the way home for about $18 each and they were perfect.

A tip on the heater.... Get one that oscillates (moves from side to side) that way the entire camper gets heated and not just one area. You also want one with the tip over and overheat protection. You also want it to have a high blower speed to get it to the bunkends. We put ours on the stove with the stove cover closed. That put it in about the center of the camper and not near or on anything fabric or wood. Other than on nights below freezing or with lots of wind, it kept us toasty w/o needing a heavy blanket.

Temps below freezing are not common and if it is expected to get that low, a freeze warning notice will be posted at the Comfort Station.

Happy Camping!!

[Colson39]

There is a good chance you could have some cold weather, but just the same, it could be in the 70's. This is Florida, so you really have no clue. You'll have to be prepared both way, because honestly it can get just quite close to freezing on some nights (although it's not common).

[bama_ed]

Weather Channel website http://www.weather.com has averages for Orlando. Find an Orlando forecast, choose averages, then table, and it lists daily highs and lows.

Having said, you are unlikely to encounter "average" conditions.

Bama ED :laughing:

[DWSeven]

Camped in popup late January/early Feb. 2007. Most nights were quite cold (low 40's some upper 30's) Used our propane furnace in popup quite a bit. Not sure a space heater would have done much. Also would make me very nervous thinking about sleeping with an electric heater running! Just another point of view!