New here & need advice

[mommy2themartinboys]

Hubby & I have been talking about taking the kids for their 1st trip to Disney. I was wondering how is the best way to book a campsite at FW. I was looking thru the Disney site online & found full hookups but I didn't know if it was better to call directly. Also do they give you an option on where you want to be, or do they just put you somewhere. Any help or advice would be much appreciated & thanks!!!

 

[retired and happy]

There are 3-4 levels of campsite choices. Full HookUp is down the list, with Premium at the top and Preferred next. Premium has a mostly concrete pad with all the utility connections. Preferred has a section of a sand where you could pitch a tent or screen room, or similar. Others can tell you where these various types of sites are located.

We book far in advance and use a travel agent who specializes in Disney connections. There are several, but we use distrips.net. You tell them what type site you want and they make all the calls to secure reservations for you. You can put in requests for specific preferences, with no guarantee you will get exactly what you ask for. Disney will make every effort to fulfill as much of your request as possible....including pet support.

If you wish to do it yourself, you can call or go online, but be prepared to be rejected at first due to the shear size of the system. From your description I assume you have an RV and are not looking for a cabin or tent site. There are hundreds to choose from, but they often fill, or appear to fill, just when you want to come.

Good luck, and enjoy the forum. There's a lot of information around here. Some of it is even GOOD information.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Welcome to the camping boards
You made a good first choice as to where to stay for your first trip,,The Fort will spoil you.

retired and happy gave you some good info,,and
be sure to check out the "sticky's" at the top of these camping boards,,
after looking around here (camping boards) feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Ya'll are gonna hava great time at the Fort.

 

[liv luvs disney]

You've already been given great advice, but I wanted to say WELCOME. Everyone is different and because I am an OCD control freak, I prefer to make my own reservations either on line or by phone. Honestly, there is not a question that you'll have that can't be answered right here! Planning is half the fun.

 

[Disneylitch]

Hi and welcome,

I prefer to make my reservations by phone. You tell them the length of your unit, awnings, slide-outs, pets, etc. At that time, you can also request what loop you want to stay. They cannot guarantee that, but try their best. Also, you choose between full hook-up, preferred, and premium. If you want a particular hook-up and it's not available, take what they have and keep calling back. Unless you have booked a last minute reservation, you can usually get what you want. Also, if you want to book for 7 days and they say nothing is available, ask them to check for longer lengths of time. Sometimes you have to book for a month and then go back and modify. There is no additional charge for this and you only need to put one nights fee down to make you reservations.

Hope this helps

 

[clkelley]

There are four levels of campsites at Fort Wilderness:

Partial Hookup: Water, Electric, Cable, primarily for tents, popups, small travel trailers. Loop 1500, 2000. No pets allowed. No big rigs allowed.

Full Hookup: Water, Electric, Cable, Sewer. Kind of isolated in the campground. Have varying sizes of driveways and varying sizes of sand pads. Loop 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900. Good for a combination of average to large sized camper and tents if you would like. All are pet loops.

Preferred Hookup: Water, Electric, Cable, Sewer. Close to the trading post, marina, and restaurants at the Campground. Loop 100, 200, 300. The oldest loops, can be very tight for bigger rigs. They do have sand pads, but the sand pads are generally smaller on these sites. Loop 300 is a pet loop.

Premium Hookup: Water, Electric, Cable, Sewer. These are all throughout the campground. Loop 400 through 1400. These are all concrete. Great for big rigs. Loop 400 and 500 is fairly close to the marina, restaurants. Loop 600 through 1400 is close to the main pool, bike barn, recreation, trading post, movie. Some are pet loops, some are not. (Not sure of pet designation on these loops as I rarely use them.)

 

[stacktester]

You've already been given great advice, but I wanted to say WELCOME. Everyone is different and because I am an OCD control freak, I prefer to make my own reservations either on line or by phone. Honestly, there is not a question that you'll have that can't be answered right here! Planning is half the fun.

I thought you were changing that to CDO to keep it in order.

 

[DaveInTN]

I thought you were changing that to CDO to keep it in order.

 

[MadFF]

Have you been to Disney World before? Assuming you haven't...I booked our trip through AAA. We got a very good discount, and the AAA people seem to have a hotline to Disney - whenever I called AAA with a question about our trip, they were immediately able to get a hold of a live person at Disney World.

It may seem a little overwhelming at first planning the trip, but don't worry, it will all work out. When we got to Fort Wilderness, everything went smoothly!

Definitely ask questions here!

 

[mommy2themartinboys]

Thanks so much for all the tips so far. My hubby & I have both been a couple of times before, but this will be the 1st time w/kids. Any additional advice for bringing the kiddos would be great & anything that ya'll (giving away my Texas roots ) would suggest as must do's at the campground let me know. Thanks again!!!

 

[SandrA9810]

There's a ton of things to do at the Fort, so make a couple days for Fort Exploration. I think in one of the stickies has an activities sheet for the month... pool games, movies, any special happenings.

Halloween is an amazing time to visit the Fort. And Halloween weekend books up FAST.

Like the PP said. pick your dates, and then check the reservation system with dates for 2 weeks. If that's available, knock off a couple days, until you get to the days you actually want, and the kind of site you want. There's no penalty for booking 2 weeks, then calling and knocking off days, as long as you do it within policy.

There's two ways of booking... You can do a package room and tickets together, and this will allow you the option of the Dining plan (good idea if you want to do a lot of character meals as that will pay for itself). This has to be paid off 45 days prior to your trip.
Or book room-only. The policy is a bit better on this. You can cancel up to 7 days prior to arrival with no penalty, and you can make changes up to check in. Now if you cancel in the last 6 days, You will pay for one night. But only one night's deposit is due, the rest can be paid upon check in.

there were times when I booked a night too soon, called and said hey, I'm not making it tonight, they'd take the one night off. And I didn't have to pay a thing. I've also checked in and asked to take days off at the end. Never had a problem with it.

The Fort is great. If you've got the time... take the whole two weeks. There's people that camp there for a month or two at a time. I've met families with home school kids staying there for a month. Now that's awesome schooling.

If you are a AAA member, just tell the CM and they will see if any discounts can be applied. Just remember, certain promos aren't eligible at the fort. Like in august when they do free dining, doesn't work for those staying at the fort campground.

I'd suggest calling. Because they can generally answer any questions you might have. And make the selection process easier. And sometimes they can make reservations appear that don't want to online. And there's no price difference for booking online or calling.