Favorite Off Site Campground

[pezheadval]

Just wondering what good off site campgrounds are near Disney World. We sometimes travel faster then expected and arrive at WDW early. It would be nice to know of some good off site campgrounds, incase we couldn't get into FW a day early.

 

[LMC]

Some people have mentioned Tropical Palms and I know there are a couple of KOA's in the area. We may have this problem too in December so I hope we can find something nice until we head into FW in January.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

We have camped at Fort Summitt KOA, and 1 other campground. Sorry, we can't remember the name, so you can imagine our impression of it. Next to FW, we like Tropical Palms best. It's nothing special! It does have a better pool than FW, IMO, but we don't care about the pool. We can swim at home. The best thing about TP, is that it is an easy walk to Old Town, which is a fun family night out. If you're interested, there's a back gate, which is much faster. It is also closest to the parks. Hope this helps.

 

[pezheadval]

My parents just got back from a quick Florida trip (to repair damage to my Grandmothers house from the hurricane). They decided to have one fun day at WDW, but since FW was closed, they stayed at Encore RV Resort Orlando. They said it seemed like a nice campground, but there wasn't much privacy because there weren't many trees.

 

[Krisu]

We were at Fort Summit last December and hated it! Trash overflowing, staff not very helpful (had a problem getting Enterprise to pick us up, called office for taxi info, they said "We don't have any information on taxis" Huh??? When I pushed the issue they gave me a name,(a wonderful older woman who ran her own taxi business, I wish I could remember the company name, it had a "Star" in it, Shooting Star??!! Anyway, I also never saw so many people not thinking twice about cutting thru other people's campsites!! Thank goodness we out and about all day. This was sort of a last minute trip and FW was filled and I didn't know much about Tropical Palms at the time. I know there is another KOA around.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I finally thought of the other campground. It was Secret Lake. There was a back road from there to WDW, which was fairly quick, if you didn't get lost. Unfortunately, it was more like camping on a hill, in a meadow.

 

[pezheadval]

Originally posted by tarheelmjfan
I finally thought of the other campground. It was Secret Lake. There was a back road from there to WDW, which was fairly quick, if you didn't get lost. Unfortunately, it was more like camping on a hill, in a meadow.

My Uncle used to stay there...but I heard that it closed.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I'm not sure about now, but we were there last year. If I hear, I'll let you know.

 

[DVCDAVE]

Wasn't the one on Secret Lake part of the "JellyStone" franchise??? If so I used to stay there in the late '70s when we used to go down during spring break from college. I believe it closed as I haven't seen any sign of it it years. It was on a lake, and next to some orange orchards right off Rt I4 between Sea World and WDW.

 

[bunny213]

We were down in Orlando in June....and Secret Lake is closed now. it was just down 192 from Orange Lake CC. It was a nice campground....and convenient to Disney. We stay at Encore now.....it's nice, clean but like someone posted - no trees. There was another campground right in back of JT's barbeque place.....that one has closed too. I guess someone figured out that they could make more money if they built something else on the land. Right across from Encore on 192 is a shopping center with a Public, Library, Domino's Pizza and there's a new restaurant - Beef O'Brady's. You can get a great $35.00 meal certificate from Ibidamerica for just a few dollars.
Barbara - Texas

 

[mushck]

I like 21 Palms RV Resort. Nice people there. It gets pretty full in the winter though. They have a nice pool and clubhouse and the cheapest rates anywhere. It's right off of 192 and I-4.

 

[duranfan]

when I was a kid back in the 70s my family was going to FT W. When we arrived they screwed our reservations up and we had to stay at Jellywood for one night. (They were completely booked at FT W and they had our reservations starting the NEXT night).

IF I am correct, the old jellywood is just a field with weeds and old rv electric outlets. Theres developments, new roads all around it. I would assume the land is probably sold and will become something else.

I can't imagine staying anywhere but FT. W. camping.