EP 41: CHOOSING AN RV SITE AT DISNEY’S FORT WILDERNESS RESORT

we are currently in our RV camping for the holiday season and we may be on what is quite possibly the most expensive RV site in America and we're going to talk all about it in this episode of travels with Delaney the podcast welcome back everyone my name is Patrick I'm Patty and we are currently in R RV which always makes us very happy happy happy happy happy happy happy the holiday is officially over we're actually recording this a couple days after Christmas not sure when this episode is airing I'm sure New Year's will be long gone by then and um so today I want to talk about the campsite and the campg ground we're currently in but before we do that Patty oh no that's right we have to play another episode of this or that okay so Patty yes you have to make a decision and the decision is for dinner ooh are you going to choose shrimp scampy mhm or are you going to choose lasagna ooh oh boy I like them both they're all yummy tasty I think I'd have to go with shrimp scampy shrimp scampy it is all right there's something about sh scramby scampy scramby I just love I like lasagna too but there's something that attracts me to shrimp scampy all the time it's just uh so so good well I know you're a big fan of lasag and I thought if we go out for Italian which there's a good chance we will yeah um I was just curious which way you would go so that'd be a tough you I'd have to decide on the spot I think yeah yeah yeah maybe what you're in the mood for probably MH well let's get right into it cuz we have a lot to share with you guys today and uh I asked the question is this possibly the most expensive Campsite in America and I'm going to answer that right up front with no no it's not even the most expensive Campsite in the park that we're no it's not so to give you some context we are currently paying $245 a night that includes all the taxes and fees that's a lot of pretty pennies um and we are at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort right Campground and whatever we call it yep and uh so we thought we would share with you a little bit about um our stay what's going on here and about the park we know the thing is we've always said Patty that Fort Wilderness is one of our absolute favorite places to camp is just so beautiful here it really is the campground is laid out so well even though you have what 799 sit sites yeah plus plus some cabin 49 cabins back here um it just doesn't if you know it's big but you don't feel like you're in a c in a parking lot or anything like that it's just well laid out in the trees and the cypress trees and um there's different loops and it's just well laid out for everyone to have their space it's it's just nice yeah it's actually set on 700 Acres so there's and lots of lush vegetation there's pine trees cypress trees and when they laid this thing out they were really smart they did it in loops and I don't think there's a loop that has more than maybe 65 69 sites in it so even though it's massive it doesn't feel like it doesn't feel like it's massive all no and so yeah it's just a really good layout now this park has actually been here since 1971 I wasn't even born yet no how about that so it opened in November of 71 but you know what I find fascinating is most parks that were probably built back in the' 70s early '70s may not have been set up for today's big rigs and yet somehow Disney has this thing laid out to where it is very big rig friendly it is I mean you see some Mammoth classes beautiful Provost I mean some of the rigs here are just unbelievably big and beautiful and they have space for them it's just crazy how they can fit you would think you know that some of the sites but I know they've revamped a few areas over the years but they have just done a nice job keeping up with how trailers have gotten bigger and they're not teeny tiny right now now I mentioned that our site at $245 a night is not the most expensive site but it's also not the least expensive so right we'll give you a quick rundown on what they have here so they have 90 what they call partial hookup sites now these are just going to have Water and Electric and honestly those sites really are designed for tents popups maybe like Class B Vans um they tend to be smaller again there's no sewer hookup and honestly I'm not even sure if there's a dump station here I've never seen a St seen I don't want to say there isn't I've just never in all the years of camping here seen did you think you'd see a lineup you know like of folks but I don't think there is no and so those sites you know again really are meant not meant for big rigs or anything like that we've never even camped in a partial hookup site but I think if you had like a pop-up camper uh a teardrop might work okay if you're okay with not having sewer right but the bulk of the sites here over 700 of the sites are full hookups and that's what we're currently in we're in what they call a full hookup site there's uh four Loops I believe it's the 1600 1700 1800 and 1900 Loops they're all together good memory I know and uh so our site just to describe it for you a little bit is we are packed in on asphalt or concrete I'm not sure which it is I think it's concrete I think it's concrete and um so our RV is on concrete we step out on concrete and our tow vehicle is on concrete and then behind our site we have a big patio area of like a gravel um very nicely done they have wood holding it all in that's what makes it awesome that the way they trim it out I guess with the pieces of wood to keep that pea gravel there yep and it just makes it really nice and there's no mud right mud is my Nemesis no there really is I mean there are areas you could step out into but they they just have these laid out well we have water hookup with two spets um we have a 50 and 30 and uh 15 amp hookup for electric um and then we have a sewer hookup which is done so well they do like a little sink yes where you have the place to hook up and there's a drain in there so like if you just need to dump something or or or like that um we have a metal picnic table and we also have a charcoal grill um on our site and so there are 157 of these sites and these for most RVs this is going to be your entry level again unless you have something smaller like a popup and you can get into one of those partial if you even want a partial but we're not the most expensive site no we're not so you can step up they have 125 what they call preferred sites and they're going to basically look like our full hookup site except it's going to get you into either the 100 200 or 300 Loop which means you're close to the marina which means you're close to Trails End you know right Pioneer Hall where the hoop-de-doo review is the food service and the boat service to the Magic Kingdom right and that's the real Advantage for people who want to be close to kind of the central Hub of of that and the marina to be able to go to the Magic Kingdom or you can also get boat transportation to the Wilderness Lodge and the Contemporary Resort um and so they charge a little bit more for location now we have stayed in the preferred Loops before right we have I personally am not a fan I think they're a little tighter they are the original loops and yes they're just kind of if not even we didn't even have a huge rig we had the Lance and it was just a little challenging to get it in yeah and get it set and have room for your tow vehicle it was just it was tight yeah it seemed yeah I'm not honestly I for me personally it's not worth the extra money to be up by the marina um but for some people they like that and you can walk you know to things very easily um we'll talk about how we get around here in a minute so um then the next most expensive site is what we call a premium site and these do have a difference and the difference is they have no PE gravel right the entire site is concrete it is so your picnic table is on concrete your grill is on concrete and you just have a lot of concrete and you're just kind of like I guess near like different they call it the Met Trading Post and there's some different like waterways and canals and I guess your view or your site area is a little different maybe and I I you mentioned the Meadows Trading Post so The Meadows Trading Post is about halfway back in the campground and it's a um a gift shop uh where you can pick up you know your souvenirs and they have a few little groceries but it's also where the main pool area is and the campfire for chipp Andale and the nightly campfire is there you want a premium site in The Meadows area that is the most expensive site here at Fort Wilderness Resort so you have premium sites and then you have premium meow sites now so they're charging a premium for a premium in the meadow section if that makes sense can you get it out yeah I think so um and so yeah it's just a new rate category so they charge it and you know each one goes up a little bit more now I will say for anyone who's you know feeling anxiety that I'm paying $245 a night understand we are here during peak season it is the Christmas holiday season it's most expensive time it is it is um as a comparison we were here in July of 2021 which is not peak season no unless you're it's Peak Heat season but not tour when you're here yeah and we were in a preferred site which is technically one step up from where we're at for 1:35 a night so um you know it just depends on the season it's very seasonal in terms of the rates um few other things check in here is at 1:00 but I will tell you we have arrived before 1:00 yeah if your site is available they will let you typically go on back checkout is 11:00 a.m. which I think is pretty standard for most RV parks some go a little later but now sites available I mean that doesn't just mean the rig that was there previous is gone they clean them yes do like what's called I call it a deep clean like we saw some workers here using some kind of tool that would it's like a power wash or something scrubbing the concrete yeah we thought maybe there they don't do that every time no but I think it must be like a random you know cleaning but every time they will come out they blow off the site with a gas blower they will get the hose out and hose off any areas that are you know dirty where you they'll like rake the PE gravel I mean they clean out the fire pits they're they're they're pretty cleaned out well there's no actual fire pits um they clean out the the charcoal grill yeah yeah but I mean there it truly is housekeeping for the campground it is it is and so yeah once that is done then they will allow people to come back here the great thing is is if let's say you arrive at noon and uh your site is not ready they have a huge parking area where you can just pull over and hang out um until your sight is so you don't have to like oh I got there now what do I do where do I put this right there's places that you can pull to and um hang out so right right um but yeah so that's kind of gives you the rundown on the sites and the pricing now a little tip that I have for you is let's say you decide you want to book but you wait till you know like the last minute and the last minute is anything with Insight of 12 months cuz literally people are booking this a year plus they do y um we did not book our Christmas reservation until July now most people when they go to book a reservation here or anywhere they'll put in all the dates that they want right and I recommend doing that I originally put in like December 24th through December 29th and it said there was no availability but what I always do when I'm booking Disney is I work backwards so then I'll do the 24th to the 28th 24th to the 27th unbelievably I worked all the way back one night to just the 24th and it was available yeah and I booked it I booked I literally booked one night knowing that I could cancel it right if I couldn't get any more nights the next day I went in and tried the 25th through the 29th nothing W worked it back was able to get the 25th and the 26 booked those two nights now we have the 24th 25th and 26th booked and then I think it was two weeks later I was able to get the 27th and the 28th now one thing is you want to make sure you're booking the same site type you don't want to be booking a preferred on the 24th and then a premium on the 25th and 26th CU then you're going to have to move because you have booked two different site types I made sure that I had booked full hookup on all three reservations but that's how we were able to get a reservation in July for the holiday season right yep so just some most people just think big picture I like to chunk it and put those together they what they do is they link them together they link them together um we have not we in fact we had four reservations for this trip because on the drive down we ended up deciding we were making such a good time we wanted to come straight here and so we booked um the 23rd so we had a reservation for the 23rd a reservation for the 24th a reservation for the 25th 26th and a reservation for the 27th 28th when I checked in you know I said look I have he goes four reservations I'm like yes he goes no problem we're going to keep you on the same site and they're just awesome here customers service oh they're great um so why are people paying 200 plus per night to stay here Patty what's it all about it's just magical it's um to me you've got a few things you're so close to the parks it's location let's be honest you're paying for location well yeah you can be right on the lake that you can sit and watch if you don't want to go to the Magic Kingdom and see the fireworks you can watch them from the beach um you got all this Disney transportation to get you around you don't have to drive drive anywhere and deal with the traffic um boats buses Montreal whatever you need you can get to it yeah good example was the other night we had a Disney reservation at Disney Springs and I wasn't going to take the Beast truck up there at night um and so we we literally drove now we are renting a golf cart that's one of the things they do is you can reserve a golf cart and there's a reason for that um yeah you want the golf cart cuz it's big and it helps you get around and um time of year folks bring Christmas to the campground they do and so the campground itself is an attraction so we just take the golf cart and go out in the evenings what we call looping just going through all the different Loops to look at at decorations not lights and everything yeah and it's not just Christmas I um we've been here at the 4th of July we've been here at Easter we've heard Halloween is massive decorating I mean I think it's pretty much year round so but no so we jumped on our golf cart rode it up to um um you know the main area where you check in and we caught the bus to Disney Springs didn't have to deal with the traffic didn't have to deal with parking it was nice when we were done with our dinner caught the bus back here jumped on our golf cart came right back to our site and so yeah I mean I think you are pay you are paying for it's that old marketing um adage of location location location we are in the heart of the magic we are and you have a lot of perks by staying here yes you do um and transportation is definitely one of those perks the other uh Christmas night we had a dinner reservation took our golf cart the opposite direction up to the marina got on a boat got on a boat to the Wilderness Lodge went there for um pre dinner drinks and appetizers caught another boat to the Contemporary where we had dinner MH and then we could we always like to look at the we call it the montal loop yep all the hotels there um we like to go and stop and get off the mon around look at all the Christmas decorations the poly the Polynesian Grand Floridian of course the Contemporary so yeah yeah so I mean that's you know that's kind of what you're paying for not to mention there is honestly you never even have to leave the resort you can get groceries here if you had like some things you're missing short short things is that what short things I'm not sure what short things means I was going to say small things like if you need a loaf of bread I bought a box of donuts the other day I think they have some cold cuts and Mayo a few little things um and that's nice that have that because then you don't have to I'm sure I overpaid for those enam and donuts well there's restaurants here yes so here in uh the campground you have three options first one is the trails and restaurant which sadly has changed it has it used to be like what a buffet style it was a buffet and they did away with the buffet this year and now it's just like a I guess you would call it almost like a counter service where you just order some food and then pay for it and take it to a table and sit down um and but they do serve good food here it's Fried Chicken it's things like barbecued ribs um pizza and I tell you last night when we went up to pick up our chicken dinner um because that's the other thing you can get food to go and bring it back to your campsite the pizzas actually looked really good that they were doing yeah um there's also Crockett's Tavern up there where again you can get like bar food and adult adult beverages yep and then I think the big attraction is the hoop ddoo review and that is so fun it's like a dinner theater where there the the cast members are like um from the the farm and they're singing It's a real hoot Nanny it's like you're at a ranch and yeah they're just you know having lots of fun and silly and it's good yeah and so it's a I'm guessing it's about a 2hour experience I believe um and your prices run they have like three different tiers depending on where you're going to set but it just plan on probably 60 to $70 a person but that does include your meal and that meal is again uh ribs and chicken um a baked potato I think mashed potatoes mac and cheese a Strawberry Shortcake Strawberry Shortcake and they actually include all the beer and sangria as well as soft drinks in that price and then you get the show and the venue is just cool it looks like a Wester type of saloon and it's just fun yeah and you do not have to be staying here to enjoy the hoop oh yeah yeah you you don't even have to be on Disney property as long as you book a reservation and pay for it and the way that would work is you would um park out front um and then take the internal bus back to pineer Hall and then after the show you would do the opposite take the bus back out to the parking lot so yeah um so yeah so I mean you have restaurants here and then activities I mean oh my gosh there's so many things you've got chipping D's campfire they do I think every evening every evening and and what that basically is is it's a community fire pit yeah a couple Community fire pits and you can bring your own s'more kit or you can buy one from them and uh they do a sing along around the campfire with chip Andale Y and then they have then usually a movie they have a big outdoor screen they show a movie on um for anyone who wants to watch it so yep so you have that you have two different pools um the main pool area up by The Meadows has a water slide a kid Splash Pad yep and some food service during the day up there things like sandwiches and Beverages and then there's also what we like to refer to is the quiet pool I think they call it the Wilderness pool now and it's just your basic you know rectangle pool but it also has a hot tub and we find that it's less busy and a little bit more quiet that's why we call it the quiet why we call it um but then you know beyond just the pools you have um you can do horse rides here you can rent canoes you can go fishing right bicycle rental you can ride your bike if you if you want to ride a bike around there's so many places to ride uh PSA though not ebikes no ebikes are allowed here I don't know why I see people on motorbikes and scooters but they say no they even have an archery experience they do and I noticed what they had like um disc golf area now well I one I don't know if there's more than one a basket they have tennis courts um we saw people playing pickle ball over on the tennis courts yesterday yep and then the Big Sandy Beach up on uh Bay Lake and you can't swim obviously but you can go up in in sunbathe and then at night you can watch the electric light parade go by as well as the Magic Kingdom firor right a good spot for that absolutely y um and then one other thing I think we should mention is obviously pets are a allow because Truman and Bess are with us we but there is a fee there is a fee they do charge you $5 per pet per day so we're paying an so that 245 I believe includes the pet fee I think I don't know we'll see when I get the bill maybe it was right but um you know what do you get for that I don't know other than they have dog cleanup stations everywhere so we've been using their bags we're we're trying to get our $5 per pet per day and there's the wagon tails dog park for the pets right which is split up two big areas one for small dogs one for large dogs and they have water stations there for them and places if they get muddy can rinse off their feet or whatnot and it's very secure for them and yeah it's nice yep so we it's one of the pl we have stayed here probably a dozen times over the year years but um because the rates have gotten it's fairly high it's more of a special we we had not stayed here since July of 2021 and we had not spent a Christmas here since um 18 I think we said 18 or 19 something like that and so you know it it's one of these places where I think you and I have always said if you've never stayed here you have to do at least one I would recommend at least three nights just because it's not someplace you're going to want to spend that kind of money for one night to check in and check out and um so but I do think it's a place if you can afford to do it once it's worth it um the shower houses are awesome I say they're nicer than ours at home gge you know you've got laundry at the Comfort station ice machines at the Comfort station and so just about everything you need yep I know it's been a lot of money for this week but it has been it's been fun it's been fun and magical and you wouldn't think with such a large Campground that it's peaceful well it it's pretty peaceful it gets quiet at times you sure you hear the kids every now and then but there it's quiet and it's peaceful and it's very relaxing kind of of place and I will be honest we did not go to the parks this week you don't have to go to the parks to Camp here and in fact if you want to find out what some of the things we did this week were we are going to be appearing on the RV destinations podcast coming up in a few weeks and we uh joined um Callie and Randy beimer and we shared all about the campground with them and also what we did and not going to the park so if you want to find out what you can do here that's absolutely free you say that again free yeah that's right free and Disney two words that typically don't go together um but make sure you check out the RV destinations podcast and be looking for the episode with travels with Delaney and you can then hear more about camping here at Fort Wilderness and the free things to do so all right well Patty we need to get going because we still have another whole day here we do at Fort Wilderness and I want to get my money's wor so right all right everyone thank you so much for coming along on today's episode a huge shout out to our friend and producer Jim kozman hi Jim thank you Jim's the one that keeps the lights on and keeps everything working on the audio side and until next time everyone we'll see you down the road by'll see you down the road

Channel: Travels with Delaney The Podcast

Views: 5,592

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Id: fcfDVS6fAEI

Length: 25min 23sec (1523 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 08 2024