My 1980 dream of Camping at the Fort, Fall 2012: Pop, BWV and THE FORT! .. update: 10 years later .. Trip report is complete!

[WalkingintheFog]

Thanks for the intel, Ashley Kees! I think I'm good!

Anyone able to give any insight into the potential issues of LIGHTNING!!!!!!! SNAKES!!!!! SPIDERS!!!!! and ack: SECURITY (from EVIL PERSONS!)?

Please and Thanks!

 

[2goofycampers]

I've not heard of problems with the 4 things you mentioned. Relax and enjoy.

 

[PattyBee]

I have tent camped at Fort Wilderness many times and also in October. It's a good time to go weather (heat) wise. I can't remember ever being afraid of lightning. I'm sure I would remember if I had ever gone through a bad storm there. Hurricane season ends November 30th so you still have that possibility. Having a tarp over the entry way of your tent is a good idea so you don't have to step out of your tent directly into the rain. Also I gave up on Walmart (cheap) tents here in Florida where it can be nice one minute and raining the next. I broke down and bought a really good tent that has a fly that goes on top of and all the way down the outside of the tent. It's the only kind you can pretty much count on to not leak. Mine are Kelty brand but if you research it there are other good brands out there.
As far as the insect problem the only problem I have run into is mosquitoes. Definitely bring mosquito repellent. I have seen the FW CM drive around the camping loops and spray for mosquitoes. I have never had any problems with ants or snakes either.

As far as valuables, I have always locked everything in my trunk. There are lockers over by the pool. You could lock your valuables up there. It wouldn't get as hot as my car trunk either. Hmmm...I'll have to keep that in mind myself next time I go...lol.
Before we leave for the parks we always try to place our ice chest where it will be in the shade to keep the ice from melting faster. Also you can buy ice at the comfort stations which are in every loop.
Like I said I have tent camped there many times and most of those times it was just me and my kids. I have never felt unsafe. Security does patrol around through out the day and evening.
You can make a list of any more questions like the lockers or if you can buy an ice chest at the store in FW and then call directly to Fort Wilderness. I'm sure that would be helpful.
Oh and you might consider bringing a small battery powered fan to be more comfortable sleeping at night. Also an air mattress is cooler to sleep on than a camping mat/pad.
I LOVE DW and camping at FW. I have considered going by myself before but never have. Hope you have a wonderful time.

Patty in Florida

 

[WalkingintheFog]

As far as the insect problem the only problem I have run into is mosquitoes. Definitely bring mosquito repellent. I have seen the FW CM drive around the camping loops and spray for mosquitoes. I have never had any problems with ants or snakes either.

Mosquito Repellant: yuck! and Check! On the list now!

........................As far as valuables,.........There are lockers over by the pool. You could lock your valuables up there. It wouldn't get as hot as my car trunk either. Hmmm...I'll have to keep that in mind myself next time I go...lol.

Did not know there were lockers at the pool!
Any idea if there is a safe or such at Reception as well?

...............Before we leave for the parks we always try to place our ice chest where it will be in the shade to keep the ice from melting faster.

That is a good point!

.............Oh and you might consider bringing a small battery powered fan to be more comfortable sleeping at night. Also an air mattress is cooler to sleep on than a camping mat/pad.

lol, the fans were the first thing on the list! I'm a woman of a certain age!
Air mattress = coolness! Good point!

I LOVE DW and camping at FW. I have considered going by myself before but never have. Hope you have a wonderful time.

Patty in Florida

Yay! Thanks, Patty!

 

[PattyBee]

..... about a safe because I have always had my auto to lock up things. The best thing to do is make a list of your questions and call directly to the front desk at Fort Wilderness. Also ask about the things you were thinking you needed to go outside DW to buy ie: ice chest, etc. I'm thinking you might be able to buy an ice chest at the store there.

Patty in Florida

 

[skyp4WDW]

Keep a good eye on your children. Don't have a false sense of security simply because you're at Ft Wilderness/Disney. (A 12-year-old was attacked in one of the laundry rooms about two years ago). These incidents are kept very "quiet" but they happen everywhere including Disney.

 

[WalkingintheFog]

Ack! That's horrible!

This Trip camping is just me solo with no car (so no children to watch out for!) I was thinking more in terms of my belongings while away from site!

 

[chartle]

Ack! That's horrible!

This Trip camping is just me solo with no car (so no children to watch out for!) I was thinking more in terms of my belongings while away from site!

First Disney does not hush these things up and attacks of any type are very rare.

There is more to the above story though that doesn't need to be talked about here.

Again you just need to have normal stranger danger awareness like you would have in any kind of "public" place.

 

[cloudswinger]

If you don't mind sharing your campsite, I'd be willing to bring whatever camping stuff you might need. I'm in S. Florida and have never camped at FW either. If those are weekday dates then it'd be myself and my 8 yo daughter in our tent since my husband works generally m-f.

I have an extra tent, air mattress, cooler, stove and most camp gear that you'd need. I can bring our bikes too.

Lovebugs aren't usually around in Oct. Snakes are pretty rare. Spiders are everywhere, but they eat bugs, so that's a good thing. Lightning is rare in dry season, which Oct should be. Weather should be very nice in Oct for camping.

 

[Marshel]

The way they secure valuables at the outpost is by means of small safety deposit boxes that they give you supposedly the only key to. You have to sign an agreement that you will be responsible for the fee to drill out and replace the lock if you should happen to lose the key. It was a while back when I used one, they were something like 8x10x2or3 inches, not big enough for a laptop. That was 6,7 years ago, they might have changed since.

 

[WalkingintheFog]

If you don't mind sharing your campsite, I'd be willing to bring whatever camping stuff you might need. I'm in S. Florida and have never camped at FW either. If those are weekday dates then it'd be myself and my 8 yo daughter in our tent since my husband works generally m-f.

I have an extra tent, air mattress, cooler, stove and most camp gear that you'd need. I can bring our bikes too.

Lovebugs aren't usually around in Oct. Snakes are pretty rare. Spiders are everywhere, but they eat bugs, so that's a good thing. Lightning is rare in dry season, which Oct should be. Weather should be very nice in Oct for camping.

Cloudswinger, thanks for the generous offer, but I think I'd be more comfortable not sharing the campsite! Lol, I wouldn't want to scare your 8 yo with my morning noises!
Will you be camping in early October at the Fort anyway? My dates include that long holiday weekend. I'm expecting rain, but hoping for little lightning/thunder!

The way they secure valuables at the outpost is by means of small safety deposit boxes that they give you supposedly the only key to. You have to sign an agreement that you will be responsible for the fee to drill out and replace the lock if you should happen to lose the key. It was a while back when I used one, they were something like 8x10x2or3 inches, not big enough for a laptop. That was 6,7 years ago, they might have changed since.

Thanks Marshel! I've got just over 5 months to decide what electronics make it on the travel list-- definitely will be scrapping stuff that I know I won't be able to lock up!

 

[cloudswinger]

Well, we've shared campsites with other people and neither one of us ever hears any noises outside of our tent. But that's fine if you're not comfortable. We probably would not go that early in Oct, Columbus day is not such a big holiday here. Plus we generally have to be in Gainesville or Jax later in the month, so I might combine the trips. It'd be more fun to see the Halloween stuff going on too.

 

[WalkingintheFog]

A couple more days and my TICKER will show 4 months (and 29 days...) but truly, I'm already in the 4 months range: TICKER is for the 29th Sep runDisney "Tower of Terror 10 Miler" event, but I fly down sometime between the 22 and 27th!

AND! 1 more month and Campgrounds here in NL officially open for the season. Woo hoo!
It's not really going to be nice tent weather til mid June or later, but I have blankets and fleecies! (yeah, I know, it's Santa, but I was going for the hat!)
And I won't be going far from home, as I "run with the pack" on Sunday mornings.

But I'm getting excited! I've not had much time for the Disboards this winter, Had a big exam, that's done. Next major deadline is Monday: Helping many of my extended family members do their taxes, and just have a couple left!
Helped a co-worker with some of their Disney plans for May, what a chore--not! lol!

Can't wait to be reading new pre/in/post trip reports! Come on People! Get camping and get Dis-ing!

editted to add: just heard tomorrow's forecast: Flurries. sigh...

 

[WalkingintheFog]

I just paid for my park tickets! Woo hoo!

• WDW park tickets: thru the runDisney/ESPN site. 7days/park hopper/water park for $282 USD. That's $100 cheaper even than MouseSavers, and Mouse Savers are cheaper than thru Disney!
• Universal 2day 2 park tickets: 1100 Air Miles a ticket! Not going to use the air miles for flights, so may as well use them for park tickets!

Still have to get MNSSHP tickets, but I'll do that just a day or 2 before which ever date I choose.... sure don't want to pre-pay for tickets and then find out rain storms will define that day!

 

[Sally]

You are truly a brave soul, I bring most of the house with me when we camp, so flying with camping gear would be scary. Have a great time!!

 

[WalkingintheFog]

This Pre-Trippie is coming live to you from inside my Tent! (I have a fully serviced lot... my backyard! The neighbours are delightful & the only traffic noise is in the distance!)



This is a great tent.... didn't find the instructions, & there's a few odd shapes of material left over (way too small to be a room divider).
If anyone has this same tent, I sure would like to see the instructions! (I've searched online to no avail)

I bought one of those blue high twin size air mattresses, my plan is to maybe spend all/some of the night out here to see how comfy it is


And here's one of the Mickey mugs I bought last trip! What mugs will I buy this trip? (they have be somewhat ....classy..... if one can consider a mug classy!


Oops... that's my supper salad & my wannabe a beer O'Douls...Here's my Mickey Mug!

(These Special K Fruit Crisps are great! They're like mini mini PopTarts! )

We're finally getting reliably warm weather, we've even seen 80 a couple times (so they tell me!)

I'm taking the evening to Dis-Dream & and catch up on several trip reports, something I just haven't had the time for in quite a while! Time to run an extension cord to the tent to recharge this battery!

 

[bama_ed]

Nice setup!

Sometimes tents of that variety have what they call a "gear loft" which is a piece of material that hooks/ties/hangs up in the ceiling/top of the tent to hold pocket contents or some things slightly larger. Does your tent have loops/ties or does the material?

I see your "Runners Handbook" in one photo. Ever thought of doing any of the Disney Runs? Besides the 5k/Half/Whole Marathon weekend in January they have started offering a number of more events throughout the spring/fall. I did a Disney 5k/10k/Half/Whole one each in four consecutive years (couldn't do any now to save my life )

Good luck on your planning!

Bama ED

 

[WalkingintheFog]

Nice setup!

Sometimes tents of that variety have what they call a "gear loft" which is a piece of material that hooks/ties/hangs up in the ceiling/top of the tent to hold pocket contents or some things slightly larger. Does your tent have loops/ties or does the material?

One is a small triangle (equilateral), and attaches to the ceiling..1/2 is mesh, the other same as the wall material...could hold pocket contents.
Another is a long thin right angle triangle, same material as the floor... no idea what it might accomplish... too small to be even a door mat.
The last one is a big trapezoid, same material as the wall.... looks like it could hook to the side of the door to curtain off a wee zippered door at the bottom (shoe porch?), but I could only attach it to 2 points (seems to be where it should go, maybe I just don't have the tent "squared" well... yard is bit of a slope).

I see your "Runners Handbook" in one photo. Ever thought of doing any of the Disney Runs? Besides the 5k/Half/Whole Marathon weekend in January they have started offering a number of more events throughout the spring/fall. I did a Disney 5k/10k/Half/Whole one each in four consecutive years (couldn't do any now to save my life )

Good luck on your planning!

Bama ED

I can't for the life of me fathom running 42.2k!
Having said that, yes, I'll be doing the Tower of Terror 10miler this trip! I had originally booked (& rented points thru Dave's DVC.. ie prepaid/non refundable) the trip to do the Wine & Dine Half: when they rescheduled that for November & intro'd the TOT 10miler, I figured if I played w/ my dates & stretched my vacation, I could manage a Half Marathon in Toronto 2 wks later. (lol, and I just committed to be 1/4 of a Full Marathon Relay Team the weekend before... but it all fits w/ my taper for the Half!)
AND! Trying to figure where to stay after DVC Boardwalk Villas, that would not be toooo much of a let down, led me to my Eureka! moment of "I could camp at the Fort!!!!"

 

[glennbo123]

The tent looks great! It looks very homey with the chair and table.

James and I slept out in our backyard a couple of nights last summer in a tent similar to yours (but not the same).

I see you have a rainfly but there are still some screen-areas at the very top....could the leftover scraps be intended to cover them?

 

[WalkingintheFog]

Nope, can't see them being for the top!
This is a great tent! The tent has 2 doors, a main one & a smaller rear door (not to mention a little wee one for boots (and I guess for the dog...), but it has 4 large screen windows, that the rain fly covers. Where you see the clear plastic on the fly, the tent itself has zipped 'blinds" in case you want to block out the direct light!
It's so cool!

It's almost 10pm, completely dark, and I'm still out in the tent! This mattress & my pillow as a back rest are so comfy!!!!!

I better go put guy lines down to anchor the tent in case it gets gustier overnight!

QUESTION: how breezy is it usually in October (assuming no hurricanes, of course!) I can't for the life of me remember it being breezy at the parks!