New with a few questions..

[mrsabbott]

Hello Everyone! I've been lurking for quite awhile. We took our first Disney vacation in Feb 2009 after my husband got back from Iraq. It was, by far, the best vacation we'd ever had! My youngest wasn't quite 1 yet and she loved it! We are planning another vacation for 2012 when he gets back from this coming deployment. I'm a planner and planning something big gives us something to look forward to until he returns.

We have 3 girls (currently ages 6, 4, and 2) who do great with backyard camping. I plan on taking them on some other camping trips during the upcoming year and would love to camp at Fort Wilderness when we have our vacation. We are tent campers and fairly new at it. I especially love looking at the photos of your tent set ups! It's given me lots of ideas that I hadn't even thought about!

We'll be driving and have a small minivan. It's roughly a 12 hour drive for us, I think. We will be there anywhere from January to March, depending on when my husband gets home and when he gets his block leave. We plan to stay a week. Are these busy times of the year? How hard is it to get a semi-last minute reservation. I will likely not know when until a few weeks in advance. I've read that many of you have made your reservations several months in advance.

I noticed that many of you rent golf carts. Is it necessary? How expensive are they to rent? Can you walk to where you want to go or is it too far? I've heard that it is a pretty big place. Are the tent camping sites further away or closer?

It probably seems crazy to be planning a vacation for over a year in advance, but we budget for everything and if we want to be able to do this we need to start now! Our last vacation, we were able to splurge for one of the character dinners and it was AWESOME! We hope to do that again. I know that Chip n' Dale visit the campgrounds, but do any other characters ever stop by??

Thanks for your help!

 

[FloridaTeacher]

Welcome!

The Fort is pretty big, but a golf cart isn't necessary (but it is lots of fun)! You can walk and there are internal buses to move you around. Carts from Disney are pretty pricey, but there are outside cart sources that deliver to the Fort that are cheaper. We're not tent campers, but I've seen tents in every loop we've stayed in.

Even though you don't know exactly when you're going - if you have a general idea, I'd book as soon as the window opens for booking in 2012 (maybe now - I don't know) and include all possible dates. You'll just have to pay a one night deposit if it's just one reservation.

I'm a planner too - that's half the fun. We're a military family too - my husband is retired Army and my son is in the Air Force Reserves. I thank your husband and your family for your service to our country and the sacrifices you all make. God Bless!

 

[DaveInTN]

I agree with the PP about booking far in advance...with one night's rate as the deposit. What I would do is book a week in March. That would be the hardest of those 3 months to get a site last minute. If your husband gets his leave sooner than that, you would likely be able to move your reservation into January or February with a shorter advance window, with the exception of any days falling during the MLK and Presidents Day weekends, which book up.

 

[retired and happy]

Many thanks to your husband and to your family for the sacrifices you make to make his service possible.

If your budget allows for it, the Backyard Barbeque is a must see for the kids. Live music, trick roping, lots of characters and lots of interaction between the characters and kids...and adults. All you can eat BBQ dinner with dessert and if inclined, some adult beverages. Reservations required, but often available on short notice due to cancellations.

There are also a lot of activities around the Fort to allow some downtime from the hectic schedule of the parks.

Come and enjoy and keep posting herein as your plans come together.

 

[3gr8kids]

Just wanted to say "Thank you" to your husband for his service.
Oh, and, you will all love the fort!! Enjoy

 

[becky1960]

You can book 500 days out(actually 499 I think). Jan-Feb should be easy but Mar. starts spring break and begins to get crowded thru April. Dont forget Military discounts especially for Tickets. You will have a great time again..

 

[kaguilbeau]

Just wanted to say "welcome" - and I think some weekend trips with the kids before your Disney trip is a good idea.

I was reminded about a weekend tenting trip I took with my three girls (about the same age as yours). It was our first time - and I was a single mom. They all wanted to sleep beside me - but there are only two sides to a person. The two year old slept on top of me! All the kids were happy!

I agree that planning is a big part of the anticipation and excitement.

 

[5stljayhawks]

Mrs. A -

First off, thanks to you, your husband and family for the service provided to the United States and those abroad. AND it totally rocks, your first every post was to the camping part of disboards

I started planning our upcoming FW Xmas trip in Oct 2008, when visited for halloween, we are now about 45 days away!!!!! It's never to early to start.

1) Pick a target time to go and count back 500 days, this is when you can book a site. We have a camper and try to get into the Preferred sites(loops 100,200,300,400?) up front by the marina, these are normally RV sites, I would double check but I think they all have tent pads.

This way, it's an easy walk to and back for catching the boat to MK. The chip and dale campfire is an easy walk. Everybody has their own likes and dislikes about where to stay. When you CALL and make your reservation, you can request specific loops or areas of the camp grounds. Normally you will receive what you ask for.

2) Budgeting - Campground cost -this can range greatly from when you go, value being the lowest and spring break, special holidays and Thankgiving/christmass being the highest. There are plenty of websites out there about the dates and cost, this may be a way with a little planning to strech your $$ a little farther. You can take 2011 dates and use them for 2012 for guidance.

As for meals, we almost ALWAYS eat breakfast at our camper, then head out. Then we normally pack lunch for the park, PBJ, Cheese, sausage & croakers...
For dinner, if we are at MK, it's easy to come back 15-20 minute boat ride, maybe get the kids to nap for an hour or so eat and head back to the park. total time consumed maybe 3 hours. Out at 3PM in the park 6 or 6:30.

This logistical move can be a little more complicated with the other parks, as there would be busses or boat/monirail to get to epcot. These travel times can range from 20 minutes if transporation gods are out, up to 45 min or an hour.

2B) Craigslist - I have sold a number of times in the past few months - ranging from a car to camper vent lids. Its cash and works well.

3) there are number of planning spreed sheets around disboards. Get several or start on own your own. Warning, this is a highly addictive habbit and may result in logging on to disboards.com at all hours of the night

 

[mrsabbott]

Thank you all for the warm welcome and advice!

I had no idea that people booked their vacations for over a year in advance! WOW! The Army kind of makes it difficult to plan that far ahead with any certainty. So, if I booked a site for, say, 3 weeks, but only plan on using a week of that time... is there a penalty for cancelling some of the dates? I suppose I should just call the campground and ask, huh?

We took advantage of the military discount on the tickets when we went the last time, although I think they've raised the price now and the service member no longer gets a free ticket. Still, it's affordable if we plan for it. I know that I'd like to spend two days at MK and one full day at Epcot. I also want to spend a day at Universal because I'm a Harry Potter fan (yes, I admit it!!) and am anxious to visit "Hogwarts" and "Hogsmeade"! We didn't enjoy Animal Kingdom the last time but that could have been because it was rainy and it was our 3rd day at the parks.. we were exhausted!

I'm super excited to plan this!! I love, love, love Disney and it's even more fun to experience it through the eyes of my girls! Thanks again for the warm welcome!

 

[BradyBz12]

So, if I booked a site for, say, 3 weeks, but only plan on using a week of that time... is there a penalty for cancelling some of the dates? I suppose I should just call the campground and ask, huh?

Nope generally no penalty with XX number of days - which varies depending on if you have a package or just a room reservation but it's a pretty liberal cancellation policy. And it only takes one night's reservation fee to hold it.

If you do decide to get a golf cart, there are some off site places that are MUCH cheaper than WDW.

Check out THIS THREAD for more info.

Hope your family has a WONDERFUL trip!!

 

[suevr]

My husband's in the Army so I totally understand how hard it is to plan around their schedules. We're at the Fort right now and I had no clue when he'd be able to make it so I actually booked 6 weeks about a year ago. Once we knew what our plans were going to be for sure, I just called and cancelled the extra days. Since you only have to pay one night's deposit and there's no penalty then it's easy.

We're here for 10 days so we rented a golf cart from Kenny at Tee Time. He's great to work with. Unfortunately we weren't able to book far enough out and he didn't have availability for Halloween so we have to turn the cart back in to him tomorrow and rent one from Disney for 2 nights. They charge $63/night and Kenny charged $225/week. You really don't have to have one but they are fun. We found that we didn't use it as much as we thought we would. I think next time we'll just rent a cart from Disney on a couple of days. The buses are pretty good and the campground is really big so you won't be walking everywhere.

They just announced the military tickets for the rest of this year and 2011. Hopefully they'll offer them in 2012 as well. Just keep an eye out next year. Also, Seaworld is offering free tickets to military and their families. We just went yesterday. It's not our favorite place, but it was free which was nice. Again, hopefully they'll continue to offer the free tickets.

As far as meals, we eat a huge breakfast in our camper, take our lunch/drinks to the parks, then come back for a nap around 2:00. We eat most dinners in the camper then head back to the parks in the evening. Our boys are 3 and 6 so they can't stay out late without the nap. We also add some down mornings/afternoons in our trip to hang out at the Fort so we don't get totally burnt out. There's so much to do here. Every night they have a campfire/sing a long with Chip and Dale, pony rides, two pools, horseback riding, wagon rides, etc.