Fort Wilderness on 4/24 - 4/26

43 years ago was our first visit to Fort Wilderness. I found it magical then...and still find it magical.

You can take the boat from Fort Wilderness to the Contemporary Hotel. From their ride the monorail to the transportation content and transfer to the Epcot monorail. All done without needing to catch the bus.

We are snowbirds so every year we visit Disney. Most of the time we go to ride the boats & monorail and then have lunch at one of the hotels. It's nice that Disney allows you to ride the transportation system without a fee.

This past Feb & March we had a 3 day parkhopper pass. We had a wonderful time. For us it is "bitter sweet" because it brings back fond memories of when we were much younger and we took the kids.

Oh well, sorry to make you read this boring story.

We have used the busses many times and they're great. Have no fears...

lol, when we went, at one point my wife asked about why it seemed we were taking so long to get to one of the parks... I had to admit that I had planned out a zig-zag course with the transportation system in order to get the maximum rides on the monorail....

(My Dad has always been a train fanactic, and it has rubbed off some on me!)

majorgator wrote:
We just completed our 2nd trip to Disney's Fort Wilderness campground, ... I'm a lifelong Floridian

You are a lifelong Floridian and have only been to the Fort twice?!? :)

We love Fort Wilderness. We usually go twice a year. Haven't been to the parks since 2011. We don't really care about the parks; we enjoy the campground too much.

Now that all full hook-up sites have Cable, the difference between the 3 full hookup site designations is not really worth the price in our opinion. It is nice to have less sand on the Premium sites, but not that big of a deal.

We've never had an issue with Horseflies or yellow flies. April and October/November are our favorite times to go. We did get over run by weird looking caterpillars in 2005. Asked about them at the Outpost registration and they sent someone out to look at them. It was only our site that had them. Disney deemed they were harmless, but told use they would remove the nests if we wanted them too. Our 2.5 year old son enjoyed playing with them, so we didn't bother.

As mentioned, the boat to Contemporary or Magic Kingdom gets you on the Monorail quickly. You can also walk or bike to Wilderness Lodge quicker than taking the boat if you want to check out the Lodge. Whispering Canyon Cafe is fun to experience. If you have young children (older kids might enjoy it too), the Lodge has hidden Mickey hunts. There are hidden Mickeys at both the main Lodge and the DVC Villas.

We always enjoy taking the boats throughout Disney to explore the different resorts connected by boat.

-Michael

We are going to our 2nd visit to Fort Wilderness in June (7th trip to Disney overall)...can't wait! Appreciate the info on the Preferred sites. We did book a preferred site (after having a FU the 1st time). I'm not changing it at this point...we'll see how it goes. My understanding is the Preferred were a bit wider and closer to the Fort.

By the way, I thought the monorail went from Magic Kingdom to Epcot...we too rode it to the Hub, then to Epcot. Including the boat ride from the campground to MK, it was about a 50 minute jaunt to Epcot! Still fun......

click here to view a transportation map.

The map may look confusing but is well worth taking a few minutes to study as it can make your stay a lot less stressful.

Hope this info helps.

If you have time ...visit the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Go through the main lobby and out the back door into the massive court yard to view all sort of African animals. Its free and worth your time.

There are 2 monorail loops. The Magic Kingdom which includes stops at the three major hotels and also stops at the Transportation Center. To travel from the Magic Kingdom to Epcot it will be necessary to transfer to the Epcot loop at the transportation center.

I went to Disney once, and that was enough for me. And that was 35 years ago. Too many people, too much standing in line, too expensive, too artificial. I just don't get it.

I can go to London and visit world class museums with a large dose of class for less money!

mgirardo wrote:

majorgator wrote:
We just completed our 2nd trip to Disney's Fort Wilderness campground, ... I'm a lifelong Floridian

You are a lifelong Floridian and have only been to the Fort twice?!? :)

As mentioned, the boat to Contemporary or Magic Kingdom gets you on the Monorail quickly.

Yes, only our 2nd visit. As a lifelong Floridian, I typically try to avoid Disney...and Beaches...and anywhere else that's overrun with tourists LOL. Really, though, I've built up zillions of hotel points over the years with Marriott and Hilton, and that's usually the way we travel when going to Disney and other places (if we're not interested in camping).

Our transportation issue was more related to leaving the parks at the same time as everyone else. One disney "cast member" said the monorail and busses are faster, but the boat ride is more "magical". HAHA!

DownTheAvenue wrote:
I went to Disney once, and that was enough for me. And that was 35 years ago. Too many people, too much standing in line, too expensive, too artificial. I just don't get it.

I can go to London and visit world class museums with a large dose of class for less money!

Sounds like one of the 7 Dwarfs....Gumpy. Or should say "classy" Gumpy.

DownTheAvenue wrote:
I went to Disney once, and that was enough for me. And that was 35 years ago. Too many people, too much standing in line, too expensive, too artificial. I just don't get it.

I can go to London and visit world class museums with a large dose of class for less money!

Wife and I have no problem with artificial fantasy. No need for class since our noses are down to earth. Cost is simply relative. 2.5-3.0 hours from driveway to campsite is a little bit quicker than tripping over the pond.