camping in tents and pop-up camper ?

[azureskies]

I would love to hear from people that have stayed in tents at FW. Positive, negatives? What are necessary items to bring? Can you bring your own camping toilet? We would only use it if there was a middle of the night need to go the bathroom. How are the comfort stations? Would it be a benefit to bring your own golf cart? Wondering about the security of our belongings while we are in the parks. Is there WiFi at the campsites? Any other help for camping newbies?

We are also researching small pop-up campers. Are there any pop-up campers that can be towed by a car?

 

[TinCanTee]

Hi Azureskies: I get the impression you may have never tent camped before? Tenting at FW is certainly do-able. It depends on time of year as to how comfortable that would be. If for your upcoming Sept trip, should not be too bad, but can be high humidity, very warm and chances of storms...but hey, its Florida. October might be more comfortable weatherwise, but still hurricane/tropical storm season. There is a thread or two about what to bring with you as far as supplies go; sure, you can bring a portable pottie...just don't use it outside of your tent The comfort stations are well kept and well stocked in general.
Can't answer you about pop ups for car towing without knowing what the towing capacity of your car is. Did you know you can rent a pop up locally and they will set it up in FW for you? Threads on that too. For me, a pop up would be preferable over a tent, just more convenient. You should be fine as far a security for your "things" either way. I used to tent at FW and never had a problem. Good luck with your trip(s). If you want to post what car you have, I'm sure you will get some answers about what you can tow. Bama Ed is a pup-er and a wealth of info for FW camping. I'm sure he will be answering your question as well.

 

[TinCanTee]

me again. Forgot about your question on golf carts. FW is pretty spread out. Lots of people rent them because you can't drive and park your car at a lot of the facilities within FW. There is an internal bus system for the campground if you don't have the cart. I never used a golf cart, but the walking to facilities can be pretty long (especially after a day at a park). FIY You can also rent carts off site from a private company instead of from Disney.

 

[Mahwah]

We tent camp every year at Fort Wilderness for Thanksgiving! We are there 6 days. The comfort stations are real nice and we usually ask to be near them just in case in the middle of the night, someone needs to go. When we go in November, it can be chilly. A few times, it has gotten down in the 30's when we were camping, but we LOVE it!! Would NEVER trade it for anything. Making memories is what its all about!!!

 

[azureskies]

Thank you both!

I have not been camping since I was a young child, maybe 30 years or so. I can't use the camp potty outside the tent!

We have a new Nissan Sentra.

I will have to look into the pop-up camper rental. We hope to buy one at some point. We plan to make many, many trips to WDW and would also love to travel to natural parks. Do you happen to know names of places that do this?

 

[SheiKraOp]

I've been camping at the campgrounds twice so far, and both times were in a tent. My girlfriend and I booked a last minute campsite for this weekend and I couldn't be more excited!

We've camped in the summer and fall. Once we were absolutely freezing, and the other time it was quite warm but either way it was a lot of fun! After our first camping trip we realized that we were woefully unprepared and brought essentially bare bones minimum supplies! Not much more than our tent, sleeping bags and a cooler. For our most recent trip we brought an air mattress since sleeping on the coquina wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world. We also brought an extension cord, and a battery powered fan. We enjoyed it but agreed that a coffee pot might not be a bad idea for a future trip!

The comfort stations are great. Extremely clean, and are appropriately climate controlled. Depending on how busy the campgrounds are there could be a lot of people trying to shower in the morning but we've never run into an issue.

As far as security goes all of our valuables we keep locked in the car when we're not at our campsite, and again we've never had an issue! I'm sure theres a few things I'm probably forgetting to mention since I'm still fairly new to the campgrounds, but we haven't wanted to stay anywhere else on property since our first stint at the campgrounds!

 

[indimom]

We tent camped at FW last July and used only our car for the 16hour drive.

We had a large tent and another screen room to put over the picnic table, air mattress for DH and I, two large coolers, cooking supplies, sleeping bags, four camp chairs, and assorted other camping necessities. It was a tight fit in the car, but we managed to squeeze it all in using a hitch for the back (which held the two coolers). You will want the extra screen room if you are tenting, it rains almost daily and it's nice to have some dry space to cook/eat/relax.
The pad is sand which drained very well after the rain, but you have to be careful going in and out of the tent with shoes on or you'll end up with a real mess inside. We kept a shoe bin by the door of the tent and took our shoes off when entering. We also had a small hand broom and dust pan to keep it tidy.

One thing we brought that we didn't need was a window a/c unit. We thought the tent would be too hot to sleep at night. It was actually quite comfortable and we found the a/c made the tent too cold. Go figure. I would probably still bring fans or a/c because you could get a heat wave, but it wasn't a problem for us on that trip.

The loops at FW are pretty compact so the comfort station was just a short walk. It didn't bother us to make that short trip in the middle of the night, but your comfort level may vary.
The comfort stations were always clean and well stocked. There were 4 stalls and 4 showers I believe (maybe 3?) The showers were set up with an inner shower space, and outer dressing space, separated by a curtain so your clothes/towel stayed dry and you had some privacy to change.
They were just big enough (I've been in some that were claustrophobic tight), but not huge. If you need to help a small child shower they would be pretty snug. There was a larger handicap stall/shower, which would be helpful for that purpose. Only once in 5 days was there someone using the showers at the same time as us (and our loop was 90% full) so I think you could use them as a family shower without inconveniencing anyone who had a medical need for the space.

We had no problem with security at our site, other than a few pesky animals that got into some food we didn't have sealed up well. Doh. We left our electronics in the tent while we were in the parks each day, because I felt like the heat of the car might damage them more. There is always a risk, but it worked out okay for us.

The campground is very spread out. We didn't have any bikes or a golf cart and we did okay with getting around. But, it might have been nice to have another option if we were staying longer and using the campsite activities more. (We were in the 1500 loop which was walking distance to the pool area, which was a big help. I wouldn't have wanted to take a bus back and forth just to swim.)

Hope this helps. We really enjoyed our stay at FW and hope to go back again some day! It was so relaxing compared to the values we had stayed in before.
Enjoy your trip!

 

[2goofycampers]

Fort camper rental rents pop ups. Be sure to book way ahead. And have fun!

 

[JanL]

I have both tent-camped and rented a pop up (questions@fortcamperrental.com) at FW. In summer I preferred the rental as it had air conditioning and was better protection from the summer showers (large awning-covered area with rug, chairs, and grill). Also, they had it all set up and plugged in before we arrived, so we just came aboard with our clothes and food. It had a DVD/TV and movies and games. It was fully loaded with kitchen utensils, dishes, and pots and pans, etc. We chose the Tinkerbelle theme and it was on all the sheets, dish towels, awning lights, and even a large wooden one with a solar light by the driveway so we wouldn’t get lost on our way back from the comfort station at night. At check out time, we just grabbed our clothes and food and drove away while they struck camp for us.

In cooler weather, tent camping is fine. Just remember to bring extension cords and outlet strips. I second the screened dining room idea….it helps keep your kitchen stuff corralled and seems tidier. We use a camping potty in its own tent. We have one extension cord and outlet strip in the dining tent and one in the sleeping tent. I use electric cooking appliances: crock pot, electric skillet, kettle, rice maker and a work light for cooking after dark. In the sleeping tent, we have a reading light each, a fan or small electric heater, electric blankets, and enough plugs on the outlet strips to charge laptop, phones, etc. I also bring a rechargeable flashlight and a dust buster vacuum. I prefer a regular size broom to sweep the floor, then vacuum up the dirt pile. Seems like too much stuff, but we use bins with water proof lids, which all stack on the trailer with room to spare.

Check the archives for the photo thread of tent campers for more ideas.

 

[PEC]

Did tent camping in the summer. If there was/is an issue you have to control the sand. The pads for the tents are sand. There is a good reason for that. You often times get t-storms that can dump an inch plus of rain in a short time period. Sand will soak it up quick. Regular ground and you are sleeping in an inch of rain. It rained on us about every day and the inside of the tent stayed dry outside of us trekking some water in. That said sand was an issue. We had a pad but if in a tent get a BIG pad in front of the tent to prevent as much sand as possible from getting in the tent. Also if going in the summer at least bring fans. If you are at the parks all day you should be fine without an A/C. If planning on staying in tent during the day the fans probably will not be enough.
As far as the pop-up. I will be at the Fort in a couple of weeks with one. We have taken the Pop-up several other places. I cannot speak for other pop-upss but so far our only issue is who will get up in the night to turn the AC off. It will freeze you. That has been on camping trips in SC and Georgia in the Summer. Trust me that is a good thing.

 

[PEC]

Let me also add the Comfort Stations at the Fort are by far the best of any Campsite I have used. Always clean.

 

[bama_ed]

azureskies,

The 2014 Nissan Sentra Owners Manual says on page 9-18, "Do not tow a trailer with your vehicle". So for that vehicle a popup is out of the question.

Question really is how much would you tent camp other than coming to Disney World? Is it worth the cost to buy tents, sleeping bags, mattresses, etc if you would only use it at the Fort? Or do you want to take up camping in other places?

The trailer rental companies (and I saw you posted a new thread along those lines) have really opened up opportunities for people to enjoy the Fort who didn't have the trailer or RV, didn't want to sleep on the ground in a tent, and don't want to pay for a cabin. The pop-up rentals start at $65-70 dollars per night in addition to the campsite cost which I think is quite reasonable.http://www.fortcamperrental.com/ is well regarded by people here who have used them.

I camped for many years as a Boy Scout and as a dad of two Eagle Scouts and took the family camping quite a bit when the kids were young. Then we bought a popup and kept that for 10 years and went to Disney with it almost annually. In fact, we used it on every vacation but one in 10 years (Washington DC between Christmas and New Years). This year I traded it for an Aliner Expedition (hard-sided folding popup trailer) since the kids are growing up and soon we will be empty nesters - it's easy for me to maneuver by myself.

Given the current vehicle (the Sentra) it sounds like tenting is the route for you. Feb-June and Oct-early Dec are the best times for tenting at the Fort but folks make it work all year long. You just have to manage expectations and maybe do a little extra planning for the cold or wet times.

Lots of our posters can give tenting advice that's more current than mine. Good luck to you!

Bama Ed

 

[azureskies]

, everyone! So very helpful.

We are planning to go camping more, not only here but at national parks.

During the summer (between the heat and the summer storms) we will most likely prefer renting a camper or staying at a value resort.

We are set for our Sept, Oct, and Dec trips but trying to figure out what we want to do for March. Friends of ours will be coming for a few weeks and we would like to stay a week or two. I'm thinking it might be the best time to try renting a camper.

Again, thank you for all the help!

 

[Running_Bell]

We love tent camping... even though we own a travel trailer, we tent camp at times. We tent camped at FW in November for 11 nights. We LOVED it. It is one of our favorite trips. I would recommend a tent loop... 1500 is our favorite. We used air mattresses, but if you are camping in the cold, keep in mind the air in the mattress takes on the temp of the outside air and your body temp is not enough to warm it. We use a cold temp sleeping bag on top of air mattress in cold weather... and we've tent camped in the Smokey's when it was snowing. You can take full advantage of the electric and cable at FW too. You can use a tarp spread out on ground or outside rug for sand control. I would also use an easy up in front of the tent... we liked the extra shade and protection from rain going in and out of tent. If you like to tent camp, you will love it even more at FW.