Camper rental recommendations?

[Gatordad815]

Hi all! We have stayed twice now at FW cabins for shorter trips and absolutely love it. We would like to book a weeklong trip next year and would consider staying in a camper if we could find a reliable company to rent one from.

As a kid, my parents owned a pop up camper & I remember many many fun trips in the pop up. I'm not really ready to invest in buying any type of camper (kids are 2 & 4 & I'm not sure how often we could use it), but would really like to test out a camper trip at Fort Wilderness to see how it suits our family. My wife and I both agree that we would like to expose our kids to a different way of vacationing.

It may end up with our family being lifelong campers and making the investment in a camper or might just be one neat experience, but any advice on a good company to rent a camper to be delivered to Ft Wilderness would be appreciated! (We would drive our own vehicle there). Thanks in advance!

 

[bama_ed]

Gatordad815,

Disney supports 3 preferred trailer rental vendors at the Fort.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/campsites-at-fort-wilderness-resort/services-amenities/

At the link above, scroll down to the RV Rentals section and then click the "Read More" link.

Basically you reserve the site with Disney and reserve the trailer with these folks.

Bama Ed

 

[pxydst]

We are using Greenbergs and have been happy with the communications we have had with them! We wont be using their RV until March but we are happy with them so far! Give them a shot, they are pet friendly if you need.

NO DO NOT DO IT.. they cancelled us because i was concerned that they were not preferred anymore

 

[mickeymom22]

We used Greenberg and had excellent service!

 

[LadyDi8]

We recently used Wilderness Camper Rentals, great service and great prices, also pet friendly.
You may want to check them out.

 

[ilovedisneymm]

Hey there Gator Dad!

We had our first Disney Trip (with the kids) 5 years ago. We rented a cabin and fell in love with Fort Wilderness! At the time of our first trip, our smaller kids were 2 & 3. We loved Fort Wilderness so much, we have returned each year. Disney vacations are totally more affordable when you camp Have you thought about a large family tent? We have tent camped the past three years and enjoyed it very well. This last trip was more challenging because we had a baby with us and have since upgraded to a camper. I love that you and your wife are wanting to experience more family vacations in camping form! I can tell you from experience, over the past five annual camping trips to Disney plus the few inbetween elsewhere, our kids hands down love our nature camping trips more than staying in a hotel. All our future vacations revolve around camping. It's not only the most affordable, it's the most memorable too!

Best of luck in your camper rental search.

 

[Gatordad815]

Thank you all for the suggestions & help! I really appreciate it! I didn't realize Disney has preferred camper rental companies so that is helpful! For those who have done it, have you found the total cost to be a savings over a cabin or Disney hotel or about the same? Seems to me that for a week with the preferred vendors plus a week campsite rental I'm looking at an average of about $325 a night. Is that about right? Seems a bit expensive though I realize that is on the lower end of what you can get a cabin for these days.

 

[ilovedisneymm]

Once you factor both camper rental & site fee, it ends up being cheaper to just stay at a value resort.

But there is the fact that you are staying at the FORT...so factor that in

If you really want to stay at the Fort and be more economical than a Cabin or rental, do check into a tent. I have a few trip reports on here that involve tenting with littles. Snow Medic is also a tent camper as a few others.

 

[bama_ed]

Thank you all for the suggestions & help! I really appreciate it! I didn't realize Disney has preferred camper rental companies so that is helpful! For those who have done it, have you found the total cost to be a savings over a cabin or Disney hotel or about the same? Seems to me that for a week with the preferred vendors plus a week campsite rental I'm looking at an average of about $325 a night. Is that about right? Seems a bit expensive though I realize that is on the lower end of what you can get a cabin for these days.

Gatordad815,

Doing a campsite plus trailer rental is not always economical. In your case with two little ones, a family of four could easily pay less at a Value resort. But doing a site+rental appeals to:

1. people with a larger party (more than 4 folks)
2. people who trailer/rv but didn't bring it to Florida
3. people who consider the full cost picture.
4. people who are testing the lifestyle or vacation style (trying camper life before considering buying one) - sounds like you
5. people who like to travel with their pets

With regards to #3, meal cost will become an issue. In my family I had 3 kids on the last big Fort trip that they attended with two boys in college and one in high school so we were essentially a party of 5 adults. Having a trailer with a kitchen (and a charcoal grill and an electric skillet) and a fridge let us eat most meals like we were at home. We ate breakfast at the campsite every morning but one; we packed a lunch to carry to the parks which we stashed in a locker; we ate a table service meal each of the two days we were in the parks. If I had to pay for the 5 of us to even eat counter service three times a day, I would not have been able to afford the trip.

The other thing I will say is we love the Fort as a destination by itself. And as your kids get older, you will appreciate how fantastic it is for them. Riding bikes, roaming around and meeting other kids to play with, there is so much to enjoy about being outside and meeting other campers that we don't feel to compelled to do a theme park nearly every day.

Even if you end up not choosing to do a camper+site visit next time, bring the family over for an afternoon, walk around, attend the campfire singalong with Chip & Dale, see the horses at the Tri Circle D ranch, and sit on the Trails End porch in a rocking chair watching the boats arrive and depart the dock. Then maybe you can decide.

Bama Ed

 

[Gatordad815]

Thank you-I will definitely seek out the TRs to look at! I'm not sure I'm ready to tent camp with my little guys (honestly hadn't considered it yet) but perhaps your TR will inspire me! I appreciate the encouragement!

Once you factor both camper rental & site fee, it ends up being cheaper to just stay at a value resort.

But there is the fact that you are staying at the FORT...so factor that in

If you really want to stay at the Fort and be more economical than a Cabin or rental, do check into a tent. I have a few trip reports on here that involve tenting with littles. Snow Medic is also a tent camper as a few others.

nitrly

 

[Gatordad815]

Thanks Bama Ed! Yes the food picture is important to us. The cost is definitely a part of it but in addition my 4 year old daughter has celiac disease so being able to feed her our own food is really helpful! I love the kitchens in the cabins for that reason.

I also agree about the overall feel of Fort Wilderness. We recently spent a long weekend at the Disney Boardwalk Villas and while the convenience to Epcot and Hollywood Studios was nice, we would choose Fort Wilderness any day over any Deluxe Disney Hotel. Just more our vibe...

Appreciate the help-have a great day!

Gatordad815,

Doing a campsite plus trailer rental is not always economical. In your case with two little ones, a family of four could easily pay less at a Value resort. But doing a site+rental appeals to:

1. people with a larger party (more than 4 folks)
2. people who trailer/rv but didn't bring it to Florida
3. people who consider the full cost picture.
4. people who are testing the lifestyle or vacation style (trying camper life before considering buying one) - sounds like you
5. people who like to travel with their pets

With regards to #3, meal cost will become an issue. In my family I had 3 kids on the last big Fort trip that they attended with two boys in college and one in high school so we were essentially a party of 5 adults. Having a trailer with a kitchen (and a charcoal grill and an electric skillet) and a fridge let us eat most meals like we were at home. We ate breakfast at the campsite every morning but one; we packed a lunch to carry to the parks which we stashed in a locker; we ate a table service meal each of the two days we were in the parks. If I had to pay for the 5 of us to even eat counter service three times a day, I would not have been able to afford the trip.

The other thing I will say is we love the Fort as a destination by itself. And as your kids get older, you will appreciate how fantastic it is for them. Riding bikes, roaming around and meeting other kids to play with, there is so much to enjoy about being outside and meeting other campers that we don't feel to compelled to do a theme park nearly every day.

Even if you end up not choosing to do a camper+site visit next time, bring the family over for an afternoon, walk around, attend the campfire singalong with Chip & Dale, see the horses at the Tri Circle D ranch, and sit on the Trails End porch in a rocking chair watching the boats arrive and depart the dock. Then maybe you can decide.

Bama Ed[/QUOT

 

[dalir]

We rented a 40 footer from Greenberg for a week in June. Our group was basically 6 adults and it was much cheaper for the premium site and the rental than the other options available to us (2 rooms or a suite with a murphy bed and a sofa). Our only issue was that we didn't get any notification when the camper was setup which wasn't necessary, but would have been nice. We arrived at The Fort, checked-in, and went to MK. When we returned after fireworks, the camper was all setup and waiting for us.

We were tossing around the idea of buying something bigger than our pop-up and used the rental as a trial to see what it was like. Well, it worked and we now own a new Keystone Passport that is making it's first trip to The Fort in 16 days!

 

[lillasmom]

Wow, great info! We rented a motor home to stay at the campground. It would be great to have a site, with a camper that was delivered and set up. Thanks for the info!

 

[LadyDi8]

We just booked with Wilderness Camper Rentals again (3rd time) and they have discounts running right now anywhere from 10-20% off depending on the length of your stay. The discounts are not up on there website site yet when I called I got a 20% discount. We've had great service with them and the best prices we could find. Really good reviews on Facebook.

 

[Disneymom20]

We rented a trailer last year from Florida Camper Rentals and there amazing to deal with! The unit was very clean and they were so helpful. We have one booked for this Christmas and again for March break in 2019! We wouldn't rent from anywhere else now! I am surprised they are not on Disney's page.

A couple of years ago we started the rental process with Greenberg and they sold the RV after we rented it. They said they would have another one by the time we arrived, but with two weeks or so before arrival and nothing in place we decided to cancel. Driving 23 hours I wanted to know there would be a unit available! But looks like they have redesigned their business now.