First time to Fort Wilderness and Disney World

[ohiomast]

We (along with our four kids and aunt) will be visiting the week of June 15th, we had put our deposit down in Feb for our trip and we just made our final payment on it..so all paid in full of course expect for traveling money and food.

Customized our magic bands and got our Disney maps.

Just waiting for the weather to get better so we can de-winterize our camper and take it camping before Disney trip...we just upgraded from our pop up to hybrid camper at the end of last camping season so we never camped in it before. don't want to look like complete rookies in our camper since we are rookies to FW/DW, lol

can't wait for the magic to begin!

 

[dancermommy1]

Congratulations!!

You will LOVE Disney. Last year we stayed at Wilderness Resort (awesome) and walked over the the campground --- I have to say it was SUPER COOL! The grounds are GORGEOUS and the camp stores are fabulous. Our son loved the playground, and the beach is really lovely. There's also horseback riding, the Hoop-Dee-Do revue (book well in advance) and the food looked really good in the restaurant (we didn't eat, but went in to refill our mugs).

We have some coworkers who stay exclusively at FW when they go to Disney and they really love it. They comment that it's very relaxing because you don't really feel like you're being run over by crowds, etc.

I hope you have a blast! I'd love to stay in one of the cabins one year - maybe next year

As far as your first visit to the parks goes, I've been 5 or 6 times, 3 times with a child under age 4 (so, not nearly as much as many of the others on here ) but my biggest advice is.... Do not overplan, and do not try to fit every thing in. Try to remember that you're on vacation, relax, and just go with the flow. We rarely get the Disney stressed-out crazies that we see others experiencing when we are in the parks. Our strategy has always been to just let our son make the decisions about what to ride, when to rest, when to eat, etc. and we carry a lot of water and snacks. We allow plenty of down time. If you have a child that naps, we find that putting them in a stroller and going to the hall of presidents is a sure-fire way to get them to sleep quickly I mean, I think the show is pretty cool, but my 3 year old last year said "mommy this is boring..." and 10 seconds later he was asleep. We tucked him into his stroller after the show, and spent the next hour quietly perusing the gift shops while he snoozed. Never had to worry about going back to the hotel, had some nice down time from rides, and he felt refreshed and happy. We never let him get hungry--that's a guarantee for a melt down. We do hidden mickey hunts in ride lines. And, we plan for a day or two where we just don't go to a park and we enjoy the resort--believe me, there's enough at the resorts, riding the monorail, going to downtown disney that you'd have a great vacation if you never even went to a single park!!!

Oh- one thing definitely DO try to do--get to MK one day for the opening of the park - so fun to see the train arrive carrying Mickey and other characters. Worth getting up early for!

Have a Blast! And don't forget to stop at town hall in MK or at your resort concierge for your "First Time" pin! Great souvenir!

 

[North of Mouse]

We (along with our four kids and aunt) will be visiting the week of June 15th, we had put our deposit down in Feb for our trip and we just made our final payment on it..so all paid in full of course expect for traveling money and food.

Customized our magic bands and got our Disney maps.

Just waiting for the weather to get better so we can de-winterize our camper and take it camping before Disney trip...we just upgraded from our pop up to hybrid camper at the end of last camping season so we never camped in it before. don't want to look like complete rookies in our camper since we are rookies to FW/DW, lol

can't wait for the magic to begin!

Hope you have lots of for your upcoming trip to the Fort! Why don't you post on the camping board?? We are a bunch of friendly folk that all 'love' the Fort!