going tent camping in July

[rohan]

My family has been to WDW many times staying at the resorts. We are planning on bringing fans for the tents. We may be crazy but this is the only time we can go. Most of the days we will be in the parks and not back to the tents until late evening. Has anyone ever stayed in July, in a tent, and what kind of problems did you have?

 

[MickeyRPI]

My girlfriend and I tent-camped at FW last August, and I'm guessing the conditions are very similar to July. We had one 5 person hexagonal tent for the two of us. To keep cool we used a large box fan set up in front of a screen. It worked very well at night and we were quite comfortable for the 8 nights we were there.

If you are not an early riser, however, you will soon be! As soon as the morning sun hits the corner of the tent it turns into an oven! Hanging a tarp from the trees above did provide some shade, and kept it warm (instead of hot) during the day. As you said, most of the time you are at the parks, and only in the tent during the coolest part of the day. As a bonus, try to stay in the 1500 loop as that is right across from the main swimming pool.

One final note. If it gets too hot you can always swing over to Walmart to get a small AC unit, but I don't think you'll need one. Hopefully all goes well, because we will be returning in August this year too!

 

[rohan]

Thanks that is great info. We had not thought about a tarp to hang over to keep it shady. Hope you have fun in August.

 

[DaddyDon]

You being from Florida you allready know it will be hot as haties,we camped there in July 2000 and said never again that time of year! Have fun but be safe drink lots of water!!!!!!!!!!! I live in south Ga and work in a factory that avgs 115 in the summer and was not quite prepared....now i go to the mnts in the summer and Disney in spring and Fall.

 

[GbG]

Get a solar blanket or two and put them over the roof of your tent.

The one's we use on the tent ends of our hybrid camper are these Sportsmen Blankets from Campmor. The silver side goes up in the summer, the blue side up in the winter.

 

[ldubberly]

I would suggest using the ac unit in the tent. If you want to do a "dry run" to see if you need it or not, pick a day in mid June and set up your tent at home to see how hot it will get. We have a pop up, but also a tent.

It may be easy to say you will be spending all day in the parks, but that could be exhausting in itself and the campgrounds have so much to offer. In July the tents may not cool off by themselves until sundown, even with a fan. The smallest ac unit would be more than enough and you can pick them up brand new for around $79 and you can use it for future trips.

 

[rohan]

Hey, thanks for all the great info, we were not sure how many trees are around each camp site to keep it cooler. We are taking kids that are in school and do not have the option to camp except during the summer. My husband and I are die-hard WDW fanatics and usually spend every single day at the park til closing, so felt our hotel rooms were a waste, then we end up at the pool to soak our feet. But this will be the first time camping at park. We have never thought about the solar covers, that is great. Our van may be so loaded down with all of this stuff that we may have to get rid of some of our passengers.

 

[mum4jenn]

Don't forget that there will be lots of thunderstorms....sometimes daily. We experienced some really scary storms in July 2000 and there was lots of damage to the area.

Also my MIL and I both experienced heat exhaustion while at the parks that week. It was so hot and all the black pavement did not help. Don't count on the trees really helping all that much.

It was VERY VERY hot in July and I will never do it again.


However if you will be there on July 4th make sure you catch the little parade at the campground. It is lots of fun.

 

[magicforever]

solar covers are huge!!!!

 

[Louisianafive]

We will be tent camping in a couple of weeks with my DW and 3 DDs. We bought two 10x10 EZ Up canopies to put over both tents we are taking. We put up our tents last weekend for a dry run and it wasn't hot with the fans in the tents. We did get an oscilating fan for the girl's tent so there would be air blowing on all of them.

 

[CANEDOGS06]

My girlfriend and I will be making our 3rd July 4th tent camping trip at the Fort this year. We put up a 10 X 10 canopy and use a 18 inch fan inside the tent and keeps us nice and cool. We have even been known to stop by the tent for a little mid afternoon nap. Have fun