Chistmas at Ft Wilderness??

[stobaugh6]

We are planning a trip to Ft. Wilderness Christmas 2015. I have a couple of questions though. We haven't stayed at Ft. Wilderness (our first stay will be September 2014).

I know Disney World will be super busy during Christmas week. We are considering just buying 4 day tickets, which will give us 4 free days. Will there be enough to at Ft. Wilderness and WDW to fill 4 days outside of the parks Christmas week?

When should I make our reservations for Christmas 2015? We will be staying in a TT.

Can you tell me about Christmas Day at Ft. Wilderness?? I'd like to make a traditional Christmas dinner and have a tree with gifts.

Thanks for you help! I've never planned a vacation this far out. lol!

 

[bama_ed]

Heather,

If your vacation will include the time between Christmas and New Years, you would be advised to make a reservation at least a year out. You can make a reservation out 500 days in advance (don't recall if that's from day of arrival or day of departure) which is about a year and 5 months. So any time this fall go ahead and make the ressie.

I think you could fill 4 non-park days. A day at the Fort, visiting the other resorts to see their Christmas decorations (Grand Floridian has a huge gingerbread house and sells pieces of gingerbread to eat). The smell is wonderful. We used Disney transportation to visit the non-monorail resorts. DownTown Disney is all decked out in Christmas gear. One of the putt-putt courses on property is Winter/Christmas themed. And the Gaylord Palms resort back across I4 usually has a fantastic ice sculpture walk through exhibit that we did one year that was worth it.

If you want dinner and a tree I say go for it! We went once over Thanksgiving week and I did a 20# bird and all the trimmings in a popup for 17 people. It was awesome.

Have fun!

Bama Ed

PS I will leave it to others to tell about Christmas Day at the Fort

 

[stobaugh6]

I didn't even think about doing Thanksgiving week at Ft Wilderness! Hmmmm...decisions, decisions. Lol!

 

[CDNCruiser]

I haven't been there for Christmas Day, we're normally home by then, but the Christmas season is magical at Fort Wilderness.

You can read some of my thoughts about it here: http://land.allears.net/blogs/guestblog/2012/11/christmas_at_fort_wilderness_1.html

And here: http://land.allears.net/blogs/guestblog/2012/11/ft_wilderness_christmas_dave_t.html

Enjoy your stay!

Gary

 

[kelsma03]

This year we were at the fort from Dec 21 until Jan 3. It was fantastic! We set up a tree and cardboard fireplace with stockings outside our rig and loved opening gifts Christmas morning outside. It was wonderful having the horse drawn sleighs passing by the campsite each evening and touring all the loops enjoying all the decorations. Really a great experience! The parks were crowded, but we would just go early in the morning or late at night an avoid the mid day rush. Worked perfectly.

We already have our site booked for this Christmas and also thanksgiving. I would imagine sites are already fully booked for this year. BUT keep trying, I know we are going to cancel our Christmas reservation (I should probably call and do that) and as it gets closer to the date a day may open. For our two weeks I made the first reservation in March and had to make about 6 separate reservations to get the full two weeks. That's why I booked 2014 several months ago... Just in case.

 

[jbrostek]

The campground is busy, and the parks are definetly up but I wouldn't put it at spring or fall peaks. New Years is the worse I have seen it and Disney does well with their own version of Christmas decorations, I would highly suggest to reserve as early as you can and make some time to check out all the resort decorations around the Disney campus.

 

[Mmketeer]

Bama Ed is spot on. Normally, hubby and I don't even go to the parks through out the year, because their is so many other things to do around Disney World and the Fort.

Disney is magical during the holiday's and the Fort is decorated as well and I and a lot of other Dis Boarder's have made commitments to decorate our sites. So, "looping" is very popular. We do it on bikes, but if you can make reservations and rent a golf cart even for just a day that will provide entertainment to get around the fort and see the sites. Make a nice cup of cocoa and grab some Christmas cookies and put on some Christmas carols. That should take up a couple of hours one evening.

The fort also has two pools, several playgrounds and nightly evening camp fire program with Disney movies.
You can go horse back riding, rent or bring bicycles, rent a boat, rent a golf cart, take a fishing excursion, rent a canoe, rent or bring fishing poles, see a dinner show (fee). Honestly, you can fill at least one whole day just staying at the resort.

Don't forget Disney has a AMC movie theater at Downtown Disney as well as Cirque and Disney Quest (with tons of video games and entertainment-fee).

You will be just fine with a 4 day park ticket even if you staying a week with kids!

Book holidays a year in advance!

I'll be going the week prior to Thanksgiving from now on, I use to go Thanksgiving week. But, I found it's quieter when I go now and everything is still decorated.

 

[5stljayhawks]

You are planning right, year and half out... Why you ask....

1st off you should still be able to get ressi... I would favor dates before xmas. teh 25th is on friday, so look at coming in the preceding week. that next week will be a PIA in the parks.

2nd you got time to accumulate the fun disney clearance xmas items from 2014.

We spent 2 weeks at FW. Set up $20 light up tree from kmart clearance, which now has become the 2nd tree in our house for Disney orts.... wife just LOVES it.

Got Disney ornaments from disney store - go on clearance in January. . spent time in kmart, target and JC penny.. stockings, stocking caps, tree skirt..... all day after xmas.. Even picked up MM lamp post for around $20 bucks....

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . You can make a reservation out 500 days in advance (don't recall if that's from day of arrival or day of departure) which is about a year and 5 months . . .

1) The 500th day is the day of the stay, whether first, middle or last.
. . . if the last day, you can book all the vacation up to that date
. . . if the first day, you need to call back to book remainder of the vacation
. . . a "hotel day" is from 6:05am until 10:00am checkout the following day, not from midnight
. . . example: 12/1/15 is December 1st at 6:05am thru December 2nd at 10:00am checkout
2) For the OP question about "enough to do at The Fort"
. . . as with MANY others, sometimes we do The Fort and don't even see a park
. . . or, like Ed, we pick a day-or-two at parks
. . . there are lots of things to do at The Fort, plus at the other resorts


NOTE: My opinion is definitely biased, as The Fort is my favorite resort at
WDW for our vacation. It is also my favorite resort at which to work at WDW.

 

[stobaugh6]

Thanks for all the great advice!! Is there an online calculator that can help me figure out what day I need to call and make our reservations? Thanks!

Heather

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Thanks for all the great advice!! Is there an online calculator that can help me figure out what day I need to call and make our reservations? Thanks!

Heather

http://pscalculator.net/pscalc.php

 

[1Grumpy9]

We were at the Fort from Dec. 20 - Dec 26, 2013 and we had booked the stay in July 2012. I since we weren't there but a week, my friend and I went to all the parks. My parents stayed at the camper one day and decided to take the boat over to Wilderness Lodge to look around while we were at DHS.

One thing I would suggest (and I didn't think about it until after the fact), is get a golf cart!! You can take the cart around and look at all the decorations around the Fort. We didn't have one, so we didn't get to see all the decorations, but we did get to see a bunch of them on the buses getting to the boat docks and to the other bus depot.

We also just missed the golf cart parade...after seeing some of the pictures, I am sorry we missed it.

I would go again, but I wouldn't go to the parks...they were just too crowded for me (especially MK on Christmas Day).

 

[stobaugh6]

http://pscalculator.net/pscalc.php

Thank you!!!

Heather

 

[amylevan]

The campground is busy, and the parks are definetly up but I wouldn't put it at spring or fall peaks.

Christmas until New Years is THE busiest time of year. The parks will be slammed and MK will likely reach capacity at least some days. Attendance definitely surpasses fall peaks and is equal or worse than Easter week.

You can still have a great trip, but just be aware that it is a madhouse.

 

[lindsey]

We have been at FW for Christmas twice, and loved it! Like others said, we went to parks early, then left midday,and returned later in the evening. We did not go to any park on Christmas Day - but enjoyed visiting the resorts instead. Everywhere we went all the CM's were saying Merry Christmas! We did the Candlelight Procession reservations for Christmas Eve and enjoyed that. There's putt putt, water parks (if warm enough), Disney Quest, and just relaxing at the Fort! We took a small tree and decorated it.

 

[TwinkleKS]

We loved Christmas 2013 so much that we are booked for Christmas 2014

We stayed in a cabin and had six people (old, older, 18, 5,5, and 3). We had a small Christmas tree in our room next to the Murphy bed. We decorated outside with lights and had six different blow ups

I purposely made Christmas Day a non-park day. So we got up, road the boat to the Contemporary and went to Christmas Mass (we aren't Catholic, but mass was a little later in the morning, lol). Then we had lunch at Chef Mickey's and boated back to FW. It was super warm this December so we went swimming in the afternoon at the Fort, then went to Hoop Dee Do for supper that night.

 

[sharadoc]

There is nothing better than the Fort at Christmas. We were there in 2013, December 15-22, so it was full on holidays.

We stayed in a cabin and we drive, so we brought our own decorations. We had a long light string for the deck railing, wreaths for both doors (3M hooks) and lights. Inside we had a spiral pull-up Christmas tree that had lights built in and also window candles (we brought a few extension cords). We rented a golf cart and put on garland, battery lights and stockings on the corners.

We liked looping almost every night. I brought a Christmas playlist for my phone and a bluetooth speaker so we had music while we drove around. Everyone is in a great mood and we had a great time.

For Christmas dinner, you should just make reservations at Trail's End. They will have traditional holiday foods in addition to the fried chicken and ribs. It's a great buffet too. You can see Holiday Wishes in the sky from the Fort Beach with music piped in, and the Water Electrical Pageant every night too.

As far as your free days, you can take a boat from the Fort over to Wilderness Lodge and spend time exploring there. That same boat also goes to the Contemporary and from there you can also ride the monorail to the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian. There's photopass photographers at every resort to take pics in front of their big Christmas trees, plus each resort has decorations that go with their theme. You can spend another few hours doing the same thing at the Yacht, Beach, Swan, Dolphin and Boardwalk. The walkway between the Swan and Dolphin has a light show on the palm trees and big fountain that's really cool. Yacht Club has a big model train set up that can take over a half hour just to see the details.

Plus there's mini golf, shopping at DTD, Splitsville for bowling, lots of restaurants and shows outside parks (although paying for a night at the Hoop De Doo is more expensive than more park days).

You need to spend time seeing Osborne Lights at DHS if it's still there next year (rumors have it moving to Epcot or another area in DHS).

You will love it!

 

[Stinkerbell1973]

We were there over Christmas in 2011. Checked in on Saturday, 12/17 and out on Monday, 12/26. Had an absolute BALL and are trying to figure out when to go back for Christmas. Likely in 2016 since Christmas Day falls on a Sunday again and we liked how our plans worked when it fell on Sunday in 2011.
Our observations:
*Saturday through Wednesday, the crowds were higher end of low to moderate. Seriously. We were shocked by how much we were able to do when we were not planning to do much.
*MVMCP on Sunday, 12/18 - CROWDED! It was the last party of the year, but we still had fun despite the crowds.
*There is SO much to do and see outside of the parks. Tour the resorts (deluxe) and see their Christmas decor - the gingerbread house at Grand Floridian, the gingerbread carousel at Boardwalk, the gingerbread "store" at Contemporary, the ginormous tree at Wilderness Lodge, etc.
*There are carolers that perform in the grassy area right in front of the backporch at the Boardwalk (at least they used to, we saw them in 2012 as well). They do this in the evenings. Plan an early dinner there then enjoy.
*Fort Wilderness has all kinds of stuff going on. Santa normally visits on the porch at Crockett's Tavern, he was there on Christmas Eve in 2011...but I'm not sure when else he's there. There's the golf cart parade too, as well as a lot of activities for the kiddos in the afternoons by the Meadows pool.
*The campsite decorations are TO DIE FOR!
*Christmas Day was AWESOME at the Fort! We did not do a park that day, we made a BIG lunch and had Christmas Day Dinner at Hoop Dee Doo. Totally fun!
*We put up a small 5 ft Christmas tree inside our 5'er and hung stockings. Santa brought DD (who was 7 at the time) a monorail (which he placed around the Christmas tree), a purse, some new clothes for Duffy and some earrings, etc. - all from stores at WDW (mostly the Emporium).
*Thursday we noticed the crowds pick up. Friday we spent the morning riding our bikes over to the Lodge, then back to the camper...a little pool time (always nice in December) then went to Animal Kingdom for a couple of hours and on to finish the resort tour. Crowds DEFINITELY were heavy on Friday.
*Saturday, Christmas Eve, we had dinner ressie at Liberty Tree Tavern (this was our "traditional" Christmas Eve dinner) at 6pm. We hit MK around 4. The stretch from the train station to the hub was a nightmare. Shoulder to shoulder people. You could not move. It took us ~20 minutes to make that walk...this is no exaggeration. We rode the Peoplemover, Tea Cups and Carousel...that was all. It was crowded but WOW - there was such a buzz in the air and it was electric! Everyone was in a great mood! On the ferry back to the Fort that evening, the captain led us in singing Christmas carols.
*We also just found ourselves going to the parks and just enjoying the atmosphere....not riding rides, etc....but taking it all in. The decorations, the music, the "feeling". It was incredible.

I love Christmas at WDW. Since 2011, we have been back in both 2012 and 2013 in December, but only for a long weekend and not the weekend leading up to Christmas. We go specifically for the Candlelight Processional ~ every plan we make centers around us being able to enjoy this event. It's our new Christmas tradition.

We booked this trip as soon as the reservation window opened in August 2010.

Book it and enjoy. I promise there will be PLENTY for you to do!

 

[Stinkerbell1973]

And it's super cute to see all the new bikes that Santa brings to several of the kids at the Fort on Christmas morning! We saw many riding around with the bow still attached!