Does anyone tent camp...

[IcePrincess467]

anymore? DH & I are really looking into doing that in August of 2008. I know it'll be hot, but it'll save a ton on money! Plus, it'll be a real vacation, with no tv Plus, we will be spending most of our days at the parks! Anyone have any experience with tent camping they will share??

 

[becky1960]

You will be getting a lot of replies on this. We have a camper, but I will tell you that there are lot of Tent Campers at FW. Some even have AC. The tents are almost at every loop and some have TV. I am pretty sure some will post pictures for you and there have been many posts on traveling by Air with tents.

 

[clkelley]

I've tent camped at Ft. Wilderness every December since 2001!! I now have a camper, but will have friends with me using a tent. It's really very nice. You have electricity and can run all of your gadgets. I don't cook at Ft. Wilderness, just too many nice restaurants, but did bring a mini fridge for keeping water, soft drinks, wine coolers cold. Ice is expensive at Ft. Wilderness and not frozen very hard, so melts quickly!!

There are two loops that are partial hookups. Loop 1500 and Loop 2000. Loop 1500 is small and convenient location wise to the Meadows area. Loop 2000 is more isolated and is a very large loop. However, the advantage to 2000 is it was designed with tent campers in mind. The sand pad is quite large for multiple tents/awnings, and there is a little "L" at each campsite where the grill is located, so it doesn't take away from your tent space. In Loop 1500, there are smaller sites and the grill is sometimes in a weird place taking away from your tent setup space.

Here are some pictures of my previous Ft. Wilderness setups!!

http://s96.photobucket.com/albums/l169/clkelley564/Ft Wilderness/

 

[kimluvswdw]

Tent camping in August . Holy cow it is hot there in August. We have a motorhome and we have to use the AC all the time. I know people tent it in the hot months so maybe you can use a portable air conditioner.

 

[FloridaTeacher]

Do this ONLY if you have an A/C in your tent. We have a motorhome - I cannot imagine tenting in Aug!!!! The heat and the humidity are unbearable, and I live in Florida so I'm kinda used to it!!!

 

[MAG_1961]

If tent camping is the only way I gould get to Disney, I would would buy a tent tomorrow.

 

[ctpooh]

anymore? DH & I are really looking into doing that in August of 2008. I know it'll be hot, but it'll save a ton on money! Plus, it'll be a real vacation, with no tv Plus, we will be spending most of our days at the parks! Anyone have any experience with tent camping they will share??

We recently got back from a three week stay in disney at the fort for the whole month of august.. OH I FORGOT TO MENTION.. we did it in a tent. You have to do it it is amazing and you do save so much money. Couple of tips though, we were fine with a fan. The fan kept us cool at night. Make sure you are out of the tent by like 8:30 or you will fry. Got changed in the bathroom and put on the sunscreen in the washer room, there is more a.c. Don't plan to nap or anything in the tent during the day, it is hot but in the shade on a chair it is not bad.
This is the second year we tent camped in august and I would do it again and again. Just do what you can to stay cool, but it is fine and you don't even need an a.c., just a fan.

 

[CottontailCurl]

We've tent camped in June and August at FW and we were fine. It sounds like you already know the score (it'll be hot and staying at the parks all day) so you'll be OK, too.

In the summer we cooled off with a rinse then dip in the cement pond before showering and going to bed. We didn't use a fan or AC and did OK, I've often thought that if I did need to take a fan I'd want a tower fan because of their leaner shape and it fans a larger area than a circular shaped fan. http://www.airdelights.com/dy012.html?id=zUo3B7eX

 

[Colson39]

Yea, we've tent camped quite a bit in the Fort in the past. It's really not that bad, and with the modern conveniences you can get to go with tent
camping it would be even better.

Of course, you have to like tent camping to begin with. Because if you're on the fence, after walking around the parks all day, you might not like tent camping anymore...lol

 

[RustManFan]

We went tent camping at FW twice in August. It was hot and I wish we had brought a fan. I don't have AC at home in NJ so a fan would have been all I needed. We took a whole lot of gear to cook the first time and used it very little. It would have saved lots of money though.

We took the Amtrak Auto Train so we could take lots of stuff without driving the whole way down. We love the train !!!

Even if you camp and cook you should check out Trails End. We often go for at least one meal even when staying at a different resort.

 

[IcePrincess467]

WOW!! All the responses! this is awesome, thanks guys DH & I are still thinking about it, one thing that kinda got me freaked out is hurricanes (isn't August hurricane season??? ) We do plan on using the DDP for food , so really the only time we'd be in the tent is to sleep!

 

[des1954]

WOW!! All the responses! this is awesome, thanks guys DH & I are still thinking about it, one thing that kinda got me freaked out is hurricanes (isn't August hurricane season??? ) We do plan on using the DDP for food , so really the only time we'd be in the tent is to sleep!

Don't worry about hurricanes! 2004 was a very unusual year. Anyhow, if there is any danger about a tropical storm or hurricane hitting, Disney notifies all campers that they must evacuate everything (RV's, trailers, tents, etc.) and they will assign you to one of the resorts. They even give you food vouchers to cover any meals you might have cooked at your site.

This has happened to us one time, and my In-Law's three times. They were lucky - they were evac'd to the Contemporary. We were evac'd to Riverside. So--- no worries about the weather. The mouse will take good care of you!

P.S. We & in-laws were evac'd for tropical storms - different trips, different years. They did the same thing all four hurricanes that hit in 2004. Again,,,2004 was very unusual and I don't expect or hope to see a repeat anytime soon. (I hope not, because we were hit directly by 3 of the 4 storms in 04!)

 

[Gabkatt]

You could also use a portable A/C unit in your tent. http://www.thelitehome.com/
Have you checked the cost difference? Its only a few bucks difference between the campground and the All Star Resorts.