Back from Fort Wilderness!

[Piglet54]

Hi Everyone! We've been back over a week from our stay at Ft. Wilderness June 13-21. There were four of us Me, DH, DD, and DD's Boyfriend (DDB). We flew on Independence Air with mucho luggage (8 pieces checked, 4 pieces carryon!). We camped in our LLBean 6 person tent at site 1501, which was just a short walk to the comfort station and just behind the bus stop. I upgraded our mid-size rental car to a van and it was a lifesaver! Had several thunderstorms in the afternoons, but our tent stayed dry under the tarp from which we hung our chili pepper lights! Thanks to everyone, but especially Carol, for all the tips and advice. Our site was relatively small, so there was not room to pitch the screen tent, so we slept in the tent and used the back of the van to arrange our suitcases and clothes. Sleeping in the tent was bearable with the fan that DH clipped to the inside peak of the dome of the tent and by morning it was cool enough to use the personal thermal afghans we brought. We used air mattresses and sheets. We would not have wanted the sleeping bags that we left behind. Here's a picture of the campsite:

Our Tent and Campsite 1501

and a picture of the van

Our Rental Van and Campsite 1501

If you have any questions, let me know. Most of the pictures I took are of us in the parks and the food we ate We definitely ate well and used the money we saved by camping in order to eat at some wonderful restaurants. Trails End quickly became our favorite breakfast spot, however, and I cancelled most of the other breakfast ressies I made to opt for breakfast at Trails End which was delicious, quick, and economical.

 

[elastigirlfan]

I'm glad you had a good trip. We're headed to the Fort in 15 days. We have a camper so we will be driving down. It's definetly worth it.

 

[babytrees]

So you would just take sheets and the air mattresses then for the summer camping? That would sure save us packing room in the car for our trip down.
It's taken me awhile to find a picture of a tent at a FW site....thanks for the visual...we have a five person tent.

Did you cook any meals while there?

Is 1500 a preferred or non preferred loop?

and how is the comfort station? easy to use?

Thanks for answering all my questions....such a newbie I am

 

[Piglet54]

Did you cook any meals while there?

NO. I did NOT cook any meals. I consider eating out at the restaurants part of my theme park experience. We had a complete list of B,L,& D ressies but they were by no means written in stone. I changed quite a few while I was there and had no trouble doing so. I put Disney Dining on the speed dial of my cell phone. I also found it very easy to make AR's at guest relations in the various parks. We ate at Trails End for supper the first night and it was so funny. I had originally made the AR for 8:30pm but because it took us a little longer to pickup the car, get to the resort, check-in and pitch the tent, I called twice to let them know we would be later. I was so consciencious about it that looking back on it, we could have just shown up at 9:30, which is the time we ended up eating. By the way, the food was DELICIOUS and considering the late hour, everything was fresh and hot. We came to rely on Trails End for breakfast throughout the week. Having the Van really helped us hop from place to place. Naturally, the bus/boat service took a little longer but was always reliable for us. In addition to Trails End, we ate at Kona Cafe, Liberty Tree Tavern, Teppanyaki, Les Chefs de France, Flame Tree Barbecue, Pinnochio Village Haus, Hollywood & Vine, Mama Melrose's, Hollywood Brown Derby, Biergarten, San Angel Inn, Boma, and Restaurant Marrakesh.

Is 1500 a preferred or non preferred loop?

1500 is a non-preferred loop. We had a garden hose, water and electricity. We brought an extension cord and put up a clothesline in the rear. I purchased a little Thermos refrigerator and it was WONDERFUL. I bought it from Amazon.com and got free shipping. It holds six bottles of water, but that was great for us and it was nice to have a bottle of cold water on hand. We were in between two pools of stagnant water but weren't really bothered by insects after the first night when they plagued us while we were pitching the tent at dusk. We kept the screens closed on the tent and had a little washable mat placed just outside the door.

and how is the comfort station? easy to use?

Our comfort station was really nice. The showers were clean, hot & had great water pressure. I changed clothes in one of the 4 stalls in the bathroom, and used the hooks outside the stall doors to hold my toiletry bag when I was applying makeup. The key to a first-time camper like myself, was being organized for the dark. I had a small makeup bag that I put my travel alarm & flashlight in. In the tent, I placed my eyeglasses in the little bag before I slept. I kept an LLBean tote bag ready in the van, which I had hopefully replenished the night before. I'd take it everytime I went to the comfort station. I put my little toiletries, hair dryer, towel, washcloth, a ziploc bag that held my shorts & top (which served as my pj's), my shower shoes, my sandals or sneakers, another ziploc bag that held my park clothes (usually another shorts & top) and sometimes another ziploc bag with one of those travel knit dresses from Coldwater Creek. (I loved the zip loc bags!) I packed a dozen towels & washcloths for us but they were worn-out old small towels which served the purposes but took up less room than a thick thirsty towel would have. The comfort stations also have a laundry room, but our soap dispenser wasn't working so I went over to the 1400 loop to get a couple of small boxes of TIDE. The 1400 loop comfort station had recently been refurbished and it was even nicer then ours. However, I noticed that they had those motion water savers on the sinks? I'm the kind of lady that likes to shampoo my hair in the mornings and I could see how that could be a problem for me. Our sinks had controls with hot and cold water. The new sinks at 1400 had only cold water with motions water savers. I think that I would have to change my strategy and shower my hair instead of shampoo. A little thing, but nonetheless a concern for me.

We had a marvelous time! Let me know if you have more questions.

 

[babytrees]

Thank you so much for answering my questions....so many of the campers aren't tent campers so I needed to hear the answers from someone who has done WDW in a tent.

 

[clkelley]

I'm glad you had a good time!! I was happy to help with your "flying and camping" experience.

I'm going back in December flying and camping again!! Can't wait!!

So 1501 is too small for tent and shelter??

I'll have to remember that.

Too bad you couldn't have 1503. That is a GREAT site!

I may actually try loop 2000 again in December. The sites are much bigger than 1500. I was there back in 01, but since I didn't have a way around Ft. Wilderness, I wasn't real pleased, but now that I take hubby's ECV with me and use it like a golf cart, location really doesn't bother me.

Carol

 

[Piglet54]

Too bad you couldn't have 1503. That is a GREAT site!

I know! I requested 1503 and 1517 but got neither. Oh well! We had a vestibule; it is hidden in the picture; it put another 3-4ft of storage area on the back of the tent. That's where I put the refrigerator.

The painters' plastic was a great idea for the groundcloth. We put the tarp up the next afternoon before we had any downpours. Even though we had the rainfly on the tent, I'm glad we put up the tarp. There was a thunderstorm nearly every afternoon, and the tarp, besides keeping everything dry, gave us a place to hang our chili pepper lights! We didn't spend anytime during the day at the tent site, and we had to compensate for air conditioned downtime in a hotel room by choosing an alternative. One day, we went over to the Wilderness Lodge and just enjoyed the lobby. This was the best choice. We spent a few hours at the Swan/Dolphin, a relaxing boat ride, a few Epcot movies, relaxing at Typhoon Lagoon....etc.