Arriving Early At FW

[fries9130]

We're driving down to FW on 12/1. Our res starts on Sunday. Depending on the weather we might arrive Sat night. If we go to check in and they don't have an available site open, will they let us stay in the parking lot overnight?

 

[pooh4me]

I am not sure about this but I have read that people have been able to stay in their campers over night in the parking lot until their site was ready. I would call the desk and check before you arrive .The number is 407-824-2900.You can also check on the camping section of DIS and ask there.

 

[becky1960]

There have been over posts on this and some say no overnight parking. I do know if you arrive early in the morning and its not ready they will give you a number and let you wait in the parking area. The other post said that people were abusing the overnight parking and thats why they stopped it.

 

[John VN]

Overnight parking is not allowed. If it was, can you imagine how many people would arrive early?

If you arrive say 5:00AM or 6:00AM the morning of your ressie you just check-in and if your site is ready you get it and if it is not you will be sent to the big lot to park until it does become available.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Since the trip down is so long (1100 miles) and the weather isnt always that predictable, we always try to build in some extra time. Last trip, traffic was easier than expected and we had planned to stop and sleep for a few hours once we got into Florida. Unfortunately many other people had the same idea and we were unable to find a spot in any of the rest areas. Since I had nowhere else to stop we drove on to FW, stopped at the Walmart and picked up some groceries and got in at about 2AM. Lacking any other plan we pulled into the overflow lot and figured we would beg forgiveness if anyone questioned us. We thought about trying to check in but figured nobody wanted a neighbor to be setting up camp in the middle of the night. My wife went to the desk at 7AM and checked us in but we didnt get our site till after noon.

Scott

 

[Paul in TX]

we have arrived as early as 2 am on the day we are supposed to check in at 1pm--
we just pull up to security and tell them we made good time--they direct us to the overflow parking lot and we sleep--

we have done this a few times--they just don't want folks "boondocking" in their parking lot instead of staying at the campground--you can check in as soon as they open in the morning --get your passes etc--and they will even let you drive down to one of the loops to shower--they will give you a phone number to call when you have been assigned a site

we have never called ahead and never been turned away---

hope this helps

Paul

 

[trouble]

I arrived a whole day early in feb. There were no empty sites. We went down the road to the KOA. It was a little pricy but it was close. When we go in Nov we will stay somewhere around 100 miles or less from Ft wilderness get and get a good night sleep and a early start then we will go check in and go to the parks if our site is not avaialable. We lost a whole day waiting last time. The site wasn't avaialable until 3pm