Just returned from our first FW stay and we TENT camped

[westjones]

My husband, two 8 year old daughters and I just returned from our very first stay at FW. We tent camped because we didn't want to try pulling our pop up camper through the mountains with our van (we have a large pop up and we worry about our van pulling it too far.....plus my husband worries about 'gas milage' all the time.

We LOVED Fort Wilderness. However, it was (on average) 95 degrees every day and of course the tent had no air conditioning.

We spent most of our time at the parks, but I now see that we would have enjoyed our trip more if we had just gone to the parks every other day, and spend more time at the camp grounds. It was so nice there, we didn't plan enough time to just relax and enjoy the facilities there.

I can't believe we did this, but we joined the DVC. I heard so much about it on the Disney Lists I am on, and a couple people here locally told me about it. We almost joined last year after our cruise, but wasn't ready to make the leap. We decided to go learn more about it this time, and we went ahead and signed up! One of the big selling points for us was the fact that we fell in love with FW and we can use our points to stay in the cabins at FW!

So no more tent camping for us now. We are going to do 'cabins'. Now I wondered about the lodge. I didn't see where it was located in relation to the campground. Is it a far walk? I saw it when the boat from MK dropped off people there before going to FW. If we can walk over to FW, we might consider staying there sometime too. I think my tent camping days are over (enjoyed them more in my 20's and 30's . BUT the kids LOVED it, and it is definantly the most economical way to stay at a Disney Facility.)

We loved the water parade! What a treat! And we really enjoyed the rocking chairs on the porch where we could watch our kids play on the play ground. The campfire program was super too!

I asked about River Country, and of course no one knew anything. They said it would be closed for at least a year. So we are hoping it is back up and working next year when we go.

Thanks everyone for all of your help!

Debra

 

[welovemickey]

Hi Debra!

We just got back yesterday too. It was hot down there - luckily we had a fan in our popup, otherwise we would have melted

The first few times we went to FW we never spent time at the campground either - but this time we did (we were there for 2 weeks). My kids were thrilled to just spend a day swimming and bike riding.

Glad you had a good time and that you bought DVC! The lodge is not too far of a walk from the campground - it is beautiful inside (definately worth a visit).

Lisa

 

[Memph1s]

I don't think I would want to walk to the lodge from FW but there are busses and the boats that will take you back and forth. It is well worth the time to see it. We only live about 100 miles from WDW and when we go to the parks I would rather stay in an off property hotel. There are a lot of places you can get for under $30 a night. When we go to FW we normialy don't go to the parks. We may take a boat ride over and ride the monorail around a little. But when we go to FW we really have a great time in the campgrounds. It seems a waste to pay 40-50 a night for a campsite and be at the parks all day and just use the campgrounds to sleep. If we ever break down and buy the annual passes we might go to the parks from FW for a few hours but now we just pay by the day or get the 4 day passes and we want to spend the entire time in the parks to get the most out of them. So staying at a hotel is easier. No camp to set up or take down and you have nice A/C, private bathroom and a pool as nice as FW. plus a hot tub.