The ABSOLUTE GUIDE To Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground

hey everybody this is Scott along with my wife Jennifer hey everybody we are here today at Fort Wilderness we are doing a little station here and we're going to explore the entirety of the resort I can't wait and it's very calm quiet here so come along with us as we explore Fort Wilderness today we're delving into The Rustic charming and huge Fort Wilderness Resort whether you're a seasoned camper are more into modern conveniences this place has something for everyone Fort Wilderness is 750 Acres of beautiful Cypress and pine trees among which are nestled hundreds of campsites and Wilderness cabins opened November 19th 1971 the fort has over 800 traditional campsites the feature electricity hookups water sanitary disposal Wi-Fi and cable TV there are also partial hookup sites that only Supply electricity water and cable all are paved and contain a picnic table and a charcoal grill you can park one car at your campsite any additional must be parked in the main lot up front the campsites are contained in Loops most of the loops contain at least one Comfort station the Comfort station all contain restrooms showers ice machines and a laundry room each of the loops are designated by name and number if you want to experience Fort Wilderness but don't feel like camping or don't own an RV then the Wilderness cabins are the choice for you these accommodations are changing significantly soon but we'll discuss them as they are today and we'll talk later about the changes coming in summer 2024 the 400 cabins are considered currently as moderate level accommodations even though they cost on average more than your standard Disney moderate Hotel they are approximately 500 squ ft can sleep up to 6 and have a full kitchen living and dining area one bathroom and one bedroom the bedroom contains a queen bed and two bunk beds there's also a deck a picnic table a charcoal grill and room for one car and one golf cart so the first thing you do when you get to the resort is you're going to pull in you're going to go to the guard gate just like you would at any regular Resort at that point things are going to be a little bit different you're going to pull up to the reception Outpost now from here you're going to go through one of these lanes and they're going to check you in from here across from the checkin Outpost where we just were there is the actual Fort Wilderness receptions interior so you can come in here and check in so if you're coming camping or runting a cabin they may direct you over here and uh or if you have an issue um you can come in here and talk to a person so right here is the parking for the uh Outpost uh Reception Area also there is a bus stop over here here now this is a different bus stop from the internal buses or the park buses this is the bus stop you'll use like if you're getting an airport shuttle like mirrors or um a taxi or something that's bringing you to the resort not an internal Walt Disney World bus over here and sort of in the distance is overo parking so if you have guests coming um they can park over here in this overflow parking from this lot you may see some uh roof lines of some nice looking houses over here this is the side of Golden Oak um Golden Oak if you're unfamiliar is the only residential area on Disney property multi-million doll houses behind that Behind These trees you can't really see it right now is the Four Seasons Resort Jen and I are out riding around in a golf cart and that's why uh we're we're dressed up because it's cold um we're not used to this kind of weather but I did want to talk about the whole golf cart thing because it's a major part of how people get around and and sort of the draw of this Resort in my opinion is that you can park your car and then never use it again you can get around in golf carts or internal bus transportation so do you remember what what it was it was like 70 bucks per day I think for golf carts yeah so it's not cheap but honestly I mean don't you feel like this is really the only way to get around in the resort again there are internal buses but you are the mercy of those buses with the golf cart you you pull it right up to your campsite or right up to your cabin and you uh plug it in and then you have the freedom to get around as much as you'd like that and I mean I think that if you're not going to the parks that you're just here for like a little station or you're just coming to kind of enjoy like the Disney environment um for Christmas or or only spending one day in the park whatever it might be I feel like that this is like a good place to come um it's quiet it's quaint okay currently we are down here at The Outpost we went over there and looked at the reception area and the lobby this is where our golf cart is parked right over here we looked it over here at the Overflow parking but we're coming over here to the checkin for the tri Circle D Ranch trail rides so this building is directly across from that overflow parking that we were just talking about um you'll noticed that it's got a big Tri Circle D Ranch sign above the door and so it's not uh difficult to find they do have ride times listed this will change daily I imagine and then here's some information okay so I just talked to the cast member so it's $65 per person it's about a 45-minute ride now there are some height requirements and some weight requirements so um just make sure that you are eligible before you book in advance but you can book online and you can also book here in person they do have lockers over here for your personal items while you're riding and if you're wondering you don't have to climb up on that horse you get up on a platform here and they will uh help you get up on the horse from there okay so while we're standing here at the sign I wanted to point out the bus routs there are three bus routs through the fork there's the orange bus the yellow bus and the purple bus so they all start down here at The Outpost and they all end up here at the settlement but the route that they take through the the uh Resort are different the uh yellow bus goes along the right hand side to the meadows and the uh bike bar campfire singal along the orange come comes up right through the middle and the purple goes around there to the left so back here behind me is The Outpost bus depot now this bus Depot is for all of the internal route shuttle buses so the ones we were just talking about the orange the yellow and the purple bus depending upon where you're staying you'll know which bus you need to take internally but this is also where you'll come to catch the buses to take you to the parks with the exception of the Magic Kingdom the Magic Kingdom you're going to catch from the settlement because we're really close to Magic Kingdom so there's a bus from up there but the preferred method is to take the boat but from here get the bus uh internally if you need to come down to the Outpost or the the do the trail ride or you can catch the bus to Epcot uh animal kingdom and Hollywood Studios obviously this this Resort is huge we can't show you everything there's there's I don't know how many Loops there are but what we're going to try and do is show you a representation of everything that's available so we're going to show you a loop with all cabins like we're staying in we're going to show you a loop that's all RVs and then we're also going to show you a loop that's all just tent [Music] [Applause] [Music] camping [Music] here's an an empty site I wanted to show this like I mentioned there are picnic tables and then your Standard Grill and then I want to to show what's over here so there is looks like maybe cable there's a cable outlet and then you have water right there so you got all the hookups that you need here's another one of the Comfort stations so you got all everything you could need and that is that everything that you could need no no I don't think Jen is going to be doing any tent camping anytime soon I'm definitely a glamper actually I'm making fun of her but I don't think you catch me in a tent I was like I think you're a little is there an above a glamper so we're currently in an area called peacock pass this is once you start heading up into the resort this is the first left this leads up into uh all the loops where the cabins are now this does have a a swimming pool over here so we're going to go take a look at the Wilderness swimming pool like I mentioned it's cold day so there's not many people now there are some I'm not going to film them but over here on the left there is a little hot tub just saw somebody get out of the pool and run over to the hot tub I was talking to Jen about you know the one thing that would really nice is to be able to have a fire and there are approved and unapproved fire pits that you can use here so it basically looks like the unapproved ones are anything that's open to the outside so basically you have to have one that has a screen around it but you can if you want bring one with you and that way you can have a fire outside and right here from the outside of the pool area at the golf cart parking there is a basketball court over here so you do have have that available so we've now come over to The Meadows there's a lot of things here at The Meadows the swimming pool The Bike Barn the campfire sing along and this is The Meadows Trading [Music] Post [Music] so we're on the back side now of The Meadows Trading Post on this little dock area with a couple of tables and as we look across the water over there that is the Bike Barn to my right is the across this bridge is the meadow swimming pool and then over there sort of in the distance you see that that object that is the back of the screen for the the outdoor movie and the chip andales sing [Music] along I kind of feel like we're only getting half the picture because it's so cold today you know I mean it is the middle of the day so most people are at the theme park and these areas probably get much busier in the afternoons but from where we're standing right now behind me is the pool there's some tennis courts and then a sand volleyball court oh and they got disc golf over there in the in the distance so quite a few things to do here at The Meadows so they have canoes that you can rent look like in there they had some bows and arrows and some archery targets I'm not sure where the archery range is and then they had bicycles and looked like it had some tennis rockets and balls in there too [Music] so I showed you the Outpost bus depot this is the settlement Depot this is where you would uh take the internal bus up to the settlement this is also where you would catch the bus to go to the Magic Kingdom or Wilderness Lodge so right there is the depot we were just talking about the settlement bus depot now over here on the left you see a bunch of construction walls this is the area of the plot of land where the now uh cancelled Reflections resort was going to go they have still been working on this land recently so I don't know if they're still planning on doing something with i' eventually they will do something with it um the question is what now there there is construction going on um on the Pioneer Hall on the back so that's part of the construction but they are still working on this property over [Music] here [Music] so here we are at Pioneer Hall this is the home to the hoop-de-doo review so the hoop dooo if you're not uh familiar is a dinner show it's uh all you can eat they bring the food to your table it's fried chicken ribs a bunch of sides and desserts and then um they have wine beer and soda so it does include a show and um it's available every day Wednesday through Sunday at 4: 6:15 and 8:30 it is extremely popular there's three different things here at P HL one being the hoop to do review also the Quick Serve restaurant Trails End and then also over here is the bar and lounge Crockett's Tavern that's where we're heading right now okay so we got the uh Trio of Sliders that a pull pork slider with barbecue sauce and Co saw a brisket slider with Carolina barbecue and pickled onions and a buffalo chicken slider with housemade blue cheese dressing we also got uh the the serers recommendation was the chicken bites uh says your choice of Buffalo garlic parmesan or blueberry barbecue we got at the blueberry barbecue so what you're looking at the All Aboard moonshine cocktail flight pop aboard the Fort Wilderness Express for a sampling of our favorite moonshine cocktails featuring golly wper black berry lightning and spiced appleberry shine here at Fort Wilderness you only have a couple options for food and it's all either quick service or hoop-de-doo it is Tuesday right now currently Mondays and Tuesdays hoop HDO is is dark so hoop dooo wasn't an option so we're going to do Trails End for dinner so that left us this if we didn't want to just do trails in twice right we're also going to maybe go do get get some s'mores later at the campfire there's no maybe there there's there is definitely some s'mores coming in the future but uh we're we're over here by the lake right now it's beautiful it's nice weather it's nice and cool I'm looking forward to a uh a really nice evening yeah me too so Trails End is in the same building as crocketts it's themed the same matter of fact it's open two cocet down below they do serve pizza Burgers um fried chicken barbecue they do have a grab and go case or if you want to order off the menu then you just go to the cashier and order off the [Music] menu [Music] so we've come over to the campfire singal along area we got a S'mores Kit we're waiting for the singal along to start there are some food trucks over here you want to talk about your little S'mores Kit you just got yeah so it's going to be located probably at one of the food trucks um I actually had to ask the cast member where to purchase one I saw them around but didn't know where they were at so they come in a big Ziploc bag and you get two of the Hershey's chocolate bars you get the full package of graham crackers from the box and then you get a good size portion of marshmallows as well for um for your packet um this is the S'mores Kit and then you they ask you if you need sticks as well not sure if there's an additional charge for these or if they're like they ask you if you need them um but all in all two sticks in a S'mores Kit was 11 11:07 with tax I'm ready to roast some s'mores I got some delicious mhm the season to be jolly it's ch and da great sensation coor they are CH and put your elbows in elbows out elbows in shake them all about to the Hoke Pokey turn around put your shoulders in shoulders out shoulders in po but also looking towards something fresh and new and our songwriters feel like if they wanted me to sit out here and watch a movie give me a more comfortable yours to guide me we wanted to take a couple of minutes to talk about our overall experience here at Fort Wilderness from my point of view everyone gets something different from each Resort that they stay in this one really feels like home it comes from the guests that actually stay here the guests that stay here they really are passionate about it like I don't think that it's like any other result from Disney to be honest no I think that's probably true of like Campground culture to begin with yeah probably and and this is no exception to that so you have three distinct areas like we talked about you have the area where people come and bring their tents or they're they're real small RVs you have the huge RVs and the big you know Prevost buses right and then you have the area like we're in in the cabins and I think each one of those is slightly different and they feel a little different the the the rvers that are here during whether it's right now like during Christmas or even during summer they they'll decorate their their campsite and and make it really truly their own and a lot of those folks stay for you know extended periods of time so this is a place where it's not necessarily always coming and going some some people are here for you know 30 days 30 days yeah I think that's the max that you can stay here is 30 days and then you have to exit premises we enjoyed having friends over and Grilling out with four of us in here it did did not feel too crowded we loved renting the golf cart and being able to go out and drive around and and look at everybody else's campsites and see the lights and go up to the tricircle D barn and see the horses this Resort offers something that you can't get at any other Resort they have kaying they have horseback they have golf carts they have archery you don't get that at any other Resort on Disney property I honestly don't feel like I'm at Disney I will say the only other side to this whole entire Resort would be they lack in food like I would say that would be the low scoring of this Resort but I will say this you have a full kitchenette you have a grill and and you know have fun enjoy yourself like instead of going and sitting down in those restaurants there's plenty to do there's plenty of activities the cabin portion of the resort is is converting over to DVC so very soon the cabins as they are now will be gone and that's not a bad thing they they these cabins are older that you know that it it was time for a refb or refresh so I I don't I'm not upset that they're they're being converted over I think that's probably a good thing I think they're going to be more expensive but I'm sure disy is going to do a fantastic job and I'm I'm sure that whatever is the replacement is going to be pretty awesome guys thank you for coming along with us on this trip through Fort Wilderness if you want some more information about this put your comments and questions down below and we' be happy to answer what we know and what we can guys thank you for coming along with us if never lost if then never found so go get lost [Music] [Music] oh

Channel: Lost in a Wonderland

Views: 16,275

Keywords: walt disney world, fort wilderness, disney world, walt disney world 2023, reort, fort wilderness campground, fort wilderness cabins, orlando, florida, disney resort, disney vacation, trip planning, disney planning, wdw

Id: HFwC9vzABTw

Length: 23min 48sec (1428 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 17 2024