Flying and tenting it? What time of year for tenting?

[KristinU]

I guess I have two seperate but related questions for you FW gurus, especially tenters...

I've finally convinced my DH to consider having our two get-away worlds collide and try camping at the World, so now my wheels are turning like crazy.

First, does anyone ever fly and tent it at FW? I'm thinking that we'd do all of our eating out, so we'd skip all of our kitchen stuff, which is a good 50% of our gear. It seems do-able to me. Anyone have any tips or tricks?

Secondly, what time of year is best for tenting at WDW? I don't think we'd want to mess with trying to rig an AC into our tent. (I'm also guessing that my RV full-timing parents will meet up with us and we'd have an "out" if it got outrageously hot...) But when is a good time for sleeping in a tent at WDW? I'm kind of thinking late fall, or early spring??? We usually go in the fall and have been in the spring too, but always have had a room so I really never paid attention to the night time lows.

Anything else I should keep in mind while considering tenting it at FW? What are the comfort stations like? Do they have shampoo/conditioner and soap?

TIA!

 

[ObsessedwithWDW]

Great questions I am so curious about this! We LOVE camping and LOVE disney! LOVE to combine them both some day

 

[KristinU]

Christy - it looks like we're neighbors (MA and CT) and that we'll be down at the same time in just a couple of months!

Hopefully we'll get some great tips from seasoned FW-ers.

 

[mnjg87]

When we go camping, we usually go in oct. or nov. or late feb. thru april. not to hot or cold.

 

[rer1972]

KristinU,

I am also planning a first time tent camping trip to FW. My cousin and I are planning to go the first weekend in February. I have heard from several people who do this (fly & camp). There is post farther down this board titled"
Tent camping for the first timer." In it there is a link from a previous poster who has done it, and explained some of what she does. It's good stuff . Good luck, and let us know what plans you come up with.

 

[KristinU]

Thanks rer1972! Here's a link to that thread in case anoyone wants to take a look: Camping for the 1st Time Thread

It seems to be a yea or nay type of opinion as to how easy it is. I'm also wondering how comfortable we'll be in our tent if we are surrounded by RVs and trailers and if the generators will bother us at all. Are there any tent-only loops? I'm also trying to figure out what the comfort stations include. I suppose I should do a search...

 

[old camper]

I have seen many people that fly in and tent. They use Disney's Magical Express.
I have even seen people that have traveled across the country (from Oregan) on "bicycles" and tent camp.

 

[rer1972]

KristinU,

Thanks for posting that link, I don't have that capability yet. The 1500 and 2000 loops are partial hookup sites (Water & Electric) are tent and popup only loops. Not sure if you have checked it out yet, but you can get quite a bit of info at Jeff Spencer's Fort Wilderness-FAQ website. I believe the link has been posted somewhere on here previously.

Here is a question I would like to add to this thread. I've heard that if you ask at check in they will give you a ride to your cabin. I'm guessing this applies (as odd as the request might be) to camp sites?

 

[KristinU]

OK, I did a little searching on my lunch hour and found a great thread and a great web site.

First the thread (it gets a little OT, but it sounds like we're not alone in going from backpacking to car camping when a little one came along ): Thread: "and if you have a tent..."

And here's a great site I snagged from someone's signature: Fort Wilderness Fun Facts and Information (there are some great photos on this site -one of a comfort station and one of a "way tricked out" tent site (down towards the bottom of the page under Tent Camping).

I also have to apologize for not searching before I posted originally - it seems that folks like me come along with the same questions every so often.

 

[pixiewytch]

We live in Fl so I don't have any advice for the flying and camping thing but I can tell you that camping in late Oct was a nice time as far as weather goes. It did get hot during the day but the evenings and mornings were cool.

As for noise, someone else mentioned that RV's don't camp with the tents but I will tell you that we had problems with very noisy tent neighbors. As much as I love FW, there isn't much space or privacy between campsites. We even asked for a quiet section and we ended up leaving a night early. Our neighbors were outside late into the night cooking, talking loudly, and neither of us could sleep so we just drove home. I'm just mentioning it because I would rather hear a generator than loud, obnoxious people next to me whooping it up all night.

Oh, and the comfort stations do not provide any toiletries, just your usual campground type of showers and bathrooms.

 

[clkelley]

I have flown and tent-camped before at Ft. Wilderness and it is most definitely possible.

Most airlines allow 2 50lb checked bags (check your airline website for maximum height/width/depth), then 1 carry-on bag (such as a rollerbag), and one personal item (such as a bookbag/computer bag).

Southwest allows 3 50lb checked bags.

As a solo person I bring the following:

10x10 tent
10x13 shelter
folding arm chair
air mattress
sheets/blanket/pillow (Electric Blanket in the winter)
Small Fan
Battery operated hanging lantern
Electric air mattress pump
ground cloth
disposable painters plastic to put under ground cloth (throw away at end of trip)
Laptop
Digital Camera/Docking Station
Alarm Clock
Cell Phone/Charger
Power Strip
40 ft Outdoor extension cord
3 days of clothing
Laundry Detergent
Dryer Sheets
Toiletries
Towel
Washcloth
RainGear
Shower Shoes

I pack it in a plastic locking footlocker and an extra large duffle bag (need the length for the chair) The lock is to lockup the laptop at the campsite, don't lock it for the flight. I also have the roller bag as a carryon and a bookbag to carry toiletries to the comfort station.

If I'm flying Southwest, instead of an air mattress, I can bring a collapsing air cot. (However flying and camping on Southwest was more trouble than the extra 50 lbs allowance). They had a "really" great airfare, so I had to try though.

I don't cook at Ft. Wilderness, there are too many good restaurants at WDW.

If you use Magical Express, try to fly with a "participating airline" and fly at a time when you can use "Resort Airline Checkin".

Also try to have someone drop you off/pick you up from your home airport.

The reason SW was not worth it for me was as follows:

Southwest is not in my home city, Southwest does not participate in "resort airline checkin"

So, I drove to the city where Southwest was, parked in remote parking.
Tipped the shuttle guy for helping me load 3 50lb bags in his shuttle
Tipped the skycap for helping me check 3 50lb bags at curbside
The bags were then delivered to my site by Magical Express, no problem there.
For the return:
Tipped the Ft. Wilderness guy for getting 3 50 lb bags back to Reception Outpost for storage.
Tipped the Magical Express driver for 3 50lb bags back to the airport
Tipped the skycap at MCO for helping me check 3 50lb bags at curbside
Tipped the skycap at Nashville for helping me move 3 50lb bags from baggage claim to the remote parking shuttle
Tipped the shuttle driver for helping me move 3 50lb bags from the shuttle to my car

If you fly a participating airline from an airport where someone can drop you off and also use resort airline checkin, you can avoid many of those tips to have folks help you lug your stuff. Also, if there is more than one of you, one can sit on the luggage while the other finds a cart, takes the shuttle to go get the car, etc.

If this sounds all too complicated, PM me, and I'll try to explain.

I hope I've been helpful.

 

[KristinU]

Very Helpful, Carol - thank you!

Boy, your trip on SW sounds cumbersome!

We're lucky to have a small yet international airport as our "home" airport that has on-site long term parking (more $$$ than the off-sites, but DH and I agreed that as long as DS is small we'll fork over an extra $ for the convenience). SW is also one of our carriers here, so it is nice to know about the extra allowance. We've flown them before (as well as just about every other carrier since DH and I have both been "road warriors" at some point or another) but we've nevere needed to think about maxing out our luggage count.

We also typically rent a car for WDW trips, so no worries about more tips etc. - boy, this is becoming more and more do-able by the minute!

Your list sounds perfect - minimal yet plenty for comfort. The only thing we don't have is the shelter - I'm assuming you are talking the screen shelter type of thing? We're new to car-camping from backpacking, so our gear collection is certainly growing...I think we'll be watching for a clearance screen shelter pretty soon here (I'd like to at least).

pixiewytch - thanks for the thoughts on noise. Noisy neighbors are no fun anywhere. I guess I was thinking that Disney would patrol for quiet hours. I think we've been spoiled with some nice quiet campgrounds and diligent rangers. I'll keep that in mind as we do some decision making and planning. Oct is a great time at the World anyway, so that's good to hear!

 

[rer1972]

16 more days KristinU. Hope it goes well.

 

[aynt79]

As for noise, someone else mentioned that RV's don't camp with the tents but I will tell you that we had problems with very noisy tent neighbors. As much as I love FW, there isn't much space or privacy between campsites. We even asked for a quiet section and we ended up leaving a night early. Our neighbors were outside late into the night cooking, talking loudly, and neither of us could sleep so we just drove home. I'm just mentioning it because I would rather hear a generator than loud, obnoxious people next to me whooping it up all night.
QUOTE]

I definately agree with this. The first time we tent camped the only sites available were full hookup, so most of the loop was filled RV's. Relatively quiet, the hum of the generator/ac units/etc not a problem.

The second time we got a partial hookup with mostly tents and it was much louder. We could hear pretty much everything going on in everyone else's tents in all of the surrounding sites. The little girl's constant whining/crying the entire time for three days at the site next to us wouldn't have been so bad if they had a soundproof camper to stick her in .

Next time we will just suck it up and pay the extra for full hookup even though we only have a tent.

 

[KristinU]

16 more days KristinU. Hope it goes well.

Thanks! This time will be at OKW...but my parents will be in their RV at the Fort, so we'll be spending some time there and doing some serious scoping for a tent trip. And hopefully DS will want to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa!

I'm almost as excited to do my scoping at FW as I am for the trip itself