Boondocking Spot night before FW?

[WorknFires]

Hi,

I've been to FW many times and have always boondocked in Chiefland the night before (the Walmart is a wonderful spot and I can stock up on groceries before arriving) but this year we're leaving earlier and will be in Kissimmee before midnight. The new Walmart at 27 & 192 will not let you boondock (so they won't get my business either!) and I need a quick place to stay for the night. Does anyone know of a location in the general area of 27 & 192 that will allow you to boondock overnight until we can check into the Fort?

Thanks,
Cheryl

 

[pammypooh]

We have stayed over in the parking lots of Cracker Barrels in our MH. Not sure about that area, but thought I would mention it. Good Luck.

Pam

 

[TurnR@TheMouseHouse]

I do not think it's Walmarts decision to not allow parking. It's generally a city or county ordinance. That's why some allow it and some do not.

Not many boondocking opportunities in that area due to local government policy lobbied by local campgrounds.

I would contact the Encore park on West 192 and ask if you could "dry camp" there overnight for a nominal fee. Encore parks used to allow RV'rs to pull in just for overnight for about $10.

 

[WorknFires]

Thank you both for the ideas. I had checked encore's price online ($60 for the night) but didn't realize they'd let me "dry camp". It would be worth the $10 easily but $60 was a bit steep for a few hours nap. Heck, Disney would be cheaper! LOL

Thanks again,
Cheryl

 

[hobogary]

Florida has (or used to have at least) a law about any place other then a campground allowing camping, so its not the Wal-Mart.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

When came down last spring we left a little early because of the weather and the fact we have so many miles to cover. Our hope was to stop in North Florida late evening for a few hours sleep, all of the rest stops were full by 7PM. We ended up stopping at the Wally world at 192/27 around midnight and got the groceries for the first part of the stay, then headed to FW since we didnt have anyplace else to stay. We parked around 2AM and slept until 7 then went and checked in. I hate to abuse the parking like that but even after driving to WDW as many times as we have it still is hard to judge the travel time sometimes. There were several people in the lot that arrived just before and after us.

I didn notice also a lot of abuse at the Walmart. When we stopped on the way down there were several motorhomes parked there that didnt move the entire 10 days we were at WDW. We made a couple of trips for supplies during our stay and stopped when we left and saw the same units there the whole time.

Scott

P.S. has anyone stopped at the state campground on 192 ?
I cant recall the name of it and was wondering how they felt about late arrivers for just one night ?

 

[Paul in TX]

On one of our trips from TX we arrived around 1 am the morning of check-in---we just pulled into the FW front parking lot and slept---had no problems--got up at about 9 and got checked in passes etc--had to wait for site assignment just went to the parks til mid afternoon

Paul in TX

 

[KPSmithSr]

Hi All,
We are heading down to the Food and Wine Festival this Nov. The time table for our travels could get us into the WDW area around 9:00 PM or 10:00 PM the evening before our reservations. FW is booked so I wanted to know if anyone has found a good, close, place to spend the night without spending much (if anything). We often stay at truck stops while in route but did not see anything close to WDW. Have read that the Wally Worlds in FL do not allow overnighting (state law), is this true? Anyone have any good spots? Thanks for your help.

 

[Colson39]

Have read that the Wally Worlds in FL do not allow overnighting (state law), is this true?

That is not true. The Walmart down from my house constantly has RV's in the parking lot, and I've seen plenty of other Walmarts that do the same. As was mentioned above, it depends on the city/town law, it is not a state law at all. Your best bet is to check the Walmart around where you plan on staying overnight to see if they allow it, since it varies from place to place.

 

[stacktester]

I started a thread on this last year and was bashed for staying at FW overnight since I live so close. I did leave Thanksgiving night after dinner and pulled in around midnight. We did this to get a jump on Friday morning. I won't do it again though because security said we couldn't. I hear FW has another co. doing security of the overflow lot. Not sure if that's true or not. If you do stay in the overflow I suggest not going til 2 or 3 a.m. because the rule is all campers without a pass have to go by 12 a.m. and they're out checking passes. I would recommend Turkey Lake over by Universal. It's only $15 and they have a gate you can unlock after hours. You would have to pay before you come of course. They do take cc's over phone. That's my cheapest advice. I've boondocked a couple times and I didn't really care for it. Even at the fort it's noisy because all we heard was delivery trucks and buses all night plus I like being on a site. Something about boondocking just doesn't sit with me. I constantly worry what kind of people are around these areas you know. Tropical Palms may have a good rate for dry camping. I've stayed there and they've got a lot of primative sites.

 

[Colson39]

Well, I think this was more about boondocking outside of the Fort, since the Fort kind of doesn't allow it.

There are some good websites out there as well (I just did a quick Google search) that will list free camping spots/stores in Florida.

 

[kimluvswdw]

We have gotten to Kissimmee around midnight several times and we just go to Tropical Palms for the night. It is fairly nice and in the morning you can us the showers before you head to the Fort to check in. It is easy and pretty cheap.

 

[KPSmithSr]

Thanks for all the input. Yep, I am just look'in for a place to dry camp overnight if we get that far. Then I just want to have a hop (no skip nor jump) to get to FW in the AM. Plan on checking in, parking in the overflow, hitting the parks and returning later when the site is ready. Assuming it is not ready in the early AM. Hate to spend time driving when I could be riding the train @ MK.

 

[4DisneyAddicts]

I just returned from FW and found a website as we were traveling
www.freecampgrounds.com

You click on the state you are in and it tells you where to stay. You can also search by city, etc. It has reviews on spots as well.

There was also a link on this site for a website which offered campgrounds who are pet friendly.

According to the info I read on this site, someone called Wal Mart and they said that RVs are allowed at any location and if someone is denied overnight parking they should report them to Wal Mart. We stopped by one in NC on the way home. There were signs stating no RV overnight parking but there were a few trucks and RVs there. We kept going because we didn't feel we should stay if we were not welcome.

We stayed at a Flying J on the way up and down. They have a dump station and water (at least they did at this particular one).

Hope this helps

 

[des1954]

Florida has (or used to have at least) a law about any place other then a campground allowing camping, so its not the Wal-Mart.

Nope, not a Florida law. The Wal-Marts around Disney do not allow camping because too many people took advantage of it and "camped out" for days on end. (Per the manager of Wal-Mart on 192 East). I live 30 miles west of WDW and all our Wal-Mart's allow over-night camping in their lots.

There is a State Park approximately 10 miles north of 192 West on US 27 named Lake Louisa State Park. I think they charge $20.00 per nite with hook-ups.

Do not try to "sneak" in to the outer parking lot at the Fort, either. Again, too many people took advantage of it & Disney security will ask you to leave - or call the Orange County Sheriff, who will ask you to leave. Once that happens, you will be on the Fort Wilderness "list", and they will refuse you reservations in the future. This happened to a former "Winter Settler" who got to Disney two days before their ressie started so they decided to camp in the parking lot. I guess they thought they were above the rules because they camped at Disney for 3-4 months a year. They found out differently.

 

[Pirate-Jeff]

Last year we were late arriving at FW somewhere after 11:30pm. I was told by Disney I could Stay in the outer lot untill the next morning it was to dark to see how to back the rig in. I was on my site by 8am the next morning. And yes I did pay disney for the site the night we slept in the lot.
They did give us a paper for in the window the same one you get normally at check in. I go in late October early November so it's only around $45.00 a night anyhow.

Jeff

 

[des1954]

Last year we were late arriving at FW somewhere after 11:30pm. I was told by Disney I could Stay in the outer lot untill the next morning it was to dark to see how to back the rig in. I was on my site by 8am the next morning. And yes I did pay disney for the site the night we slept in the lot.
They did give us a paper for in the window the same one you get normally at check in. I go in late October early November so it's only around $45.00 a night anyhow.

Jeff

Thanks for posting this, Jeff. Disney will allow this if you come in late on the day of your ressie. There's nothing worse than trying to sleep when a late-comer is trying desperately to "quietly" back into their site. The stories I could tell!!! One very late night in January 04, a county sheriff deputy was dispatched to the fort to break up a fight between a husband & wife who were screaming obsenities at the top of their lungs while trying to back their 5er into their site! We were told by a loop attendant that they were asked to leave and not come back!

The Front Desk staff at the Fort are the best and they will try to accomodate you any way they can.

 

[The Bad Witch]

I just returned from FW and found a website as we were traveling
www.freecampgrounds.com

You click on the state you are in and it tells you where to stay. You can also search by city, etc. It has reviews on spots as well.

There was also a link on this site for a website which offered campgrounds who are pet friendly.

According to the info I read on this site, someone called Wal Mart and they said that RVs are allowed at any location and if someone is denied overnight parking they should report them to Wal Mart. We stopped by one in NC on the way home. There were signs stating no RV overnight parking but there were a few trucks and RVs there. We kept going because we didn't feel we should stay if we were not welcome.

We stayed at a Flying J on the way up and down. They have a dump station and water (at least they did at this particular one).

Hope this helps

Wow!! Thanks for that link!

 

[kimluvswdw]

We have also found that Flying J truckstops are rv friendly. We always sleep over night in the Walmart parking lot that is a few miles into Georgia. We have never had any problems. Best advice, go with your gut. If you don't like the looks of the area, don't stay there.