Long Term Campers....Should it be allowed?

BayouDiz66

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 20, 2013
I just completed another trip to the Fort last week. Beautiful as always. Many times now, we have come across people who are basically living at the Fort for several months, if not longer. I'm slightly upset by this. I know to Disney the money is the money and they don't care who they get it from, but I feel these long term residents are chewing up sites that regular vacationers could be using. I've found it harder and harder to find the dates and type that I'm looking for and can't help but think that this is partly why. Now, with "throw-away" sites and long-termer's, they're squeezing out the families who really can only make this trip once in a while. It just doesn't seem fair. Fort Wilderness was not designed to be a retirement community or a part-time residence. Is anyone aware of Disney's official stance on this?

I'm sure some folks will argue that if someone can afford it why shouldn't they, but I say that the opportunity for others who can only afford Disney by camping, or who must travel with pets is being severely limited by these others. I think there should be some sort of limit to these types of long term campers. What does everyone else think?
 
This isnt the first time its been brought up. I believe Disney has a 30 day rule for ressies. We left 3 weeks ago after spending 27 days in the same site at the Fort. We have stayed as long as 5 weeks at the Fort. While I understand what youre saying I dont agree with your premise that the people who stay longer are somehow responsible for others not getting a site. The fact is that the Fort is busy and Disney doesnt seem interested in developing new sites so thats not going to change any time soon.
As far as "throwaway sites" I frankly dont see that happening. I know Disney changed rules about sites needing to be occupied. During our last stay of almost 4 weeks I dont recall seeing a single site during my travels around the Fort that I would consider having been a throwaway.
Personally I think the people who stay for 2-3 days over the weekend are the cause of difficulty getting a site. If someone attempts to get 7-10 days another person staying only 2 or 3 weekend days will lock that site out for them.
I think the bottom line is that Disney needs to develop more sites and unfortunately I dont think thats likely.
 
Just to be clear, I'm not talking about folks staying 3 or 4 weeks. I'm talking about the people who are there for many, many months. I even had a travel agent who had basically lived there for almost 3 years.
 


I think the numbers of ultra long term folks are so minimal, they are not impacting anyone's ability to get a site. I agree with others. RV'ing has seen a huge increase since the 2008 downturn, much of it in the younger family segment. The same group that is a prime Disney/Fort demographic. That, combined with the "throw aways" (I'm still not sure how much that is occurring), is the reason the Fort is hard to get at some times of the year. Yes, the "locals" will fill the weekends in the October-March months. And then there is the fascinating logic built into the WDW reservation system. The same logic that says nothing is available for the 10 day stay you want, but breaking the same stay into 5- 2 day stays and everything is there.

j
 
I agree that the number of long term campers at FW is low, not enough to cause the shortage of sites. The shortage of sites is due to several reasons.
1. The camping industry is booming! More and MANY more people are camping these days.
2. Disney has not expanded the campground to compensate for these booming numbers of campers
3. The locals staying on the weekends cause more issue with site availability. You can't get the 7-10 day stays because the Friday-Sunday are what is full. If you change the dates to Sunday - Friday, the number of open sites goes up.
 


It is really wonderful to have people to decide how long anyone should stay at the Fort and according to your other post how they should behave, drive their golf carts and take care of their children.


Well, I believe it's DISNEY's policy that golf carts are to follow the rules of the road by going in the proper direction. I didn't decide that, but I do agree with it. I'm a very considerate and friendly camper and sometimes others are not, and yes it bothers me. I'm not sure how you'd feel if you were intruded on in the shower by others of the opposite gender, maybe you're cool with it. There are signs on the doors, put there by DISNEY, that clearly indicate Women and Men. I guess we should all just make up our own rules, and others be damned!
 
Anybody can make a reservation of up to 30 days in length up to 500 days in advance be it for one night or all thirty.

No rule prevents consecutive reservations.

I don't see a problem. Other than some folks wait too long to make a reservation and can't get all the dates they want.

Until the rules change, the rules is the rules.

Bama Ed

Ps - travel agents have to play by the rules too. A couple years ago, one was caught abusing the TA privleges and was forced to leave. She posted a flaming DIS post on the camping board expressing her feelings. It was probably posted on more than one Internet forum. I knew enough to get a screen grab before it was taken down. Which it was in less than 2 hours.
 
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In early january, we met a lovely lady who was spending several months at the Fort in the Full hookup loops. She was a seasonal worker hired by Disney and worked at Epcot. She gave us the lowdown on all the other seasonal workers - where they worked, names, where they lived - that would be filling out the loop in the coming weeks. All of them, either one or both of them, worked for Disney. One was even a security guard at the Fort, another a boat captain, another a CM at American Adventure. Disney gives them a discount to stay at the Fort up to 50% off. We decided we needed to retire like this some day. :cool1:

All that to say that Disney incentivizes and encourages quite a few of those long- term residents. However, I just booked 3 nights in early June and I had availability in all categories. I hope the throwaway sites however many they are, goes away with the closing of loopholes.
 
You can't get the 7-10 day stays because the Friday-Sunday are what is full. If you change the dates to Sunday - Friday, the number of open sites goes up.
A week or two ago, I looked for a site in Oct/Nov and there were no whole weeks. I went through basically the whole two months, with a one-night reservation on each day. Every week but Columbus Day had Sunday-Friday available, but there were no even single nights available Friday or Saturday the entire time.
 
A week or two ago, I looked for a site in Oct/Nov and there were no whole weeks. I went through basically the whole two months, with a one-night reservation on each day. Every week but Columbus Day had Sunday-Friday available, but there were no even single nights available Friday or Saturday the entire time.

There ya go
 
Disney gives them a discount to stay at the Fort up to 50% off.

Yep, the Cast Member discount. I used it when my daughter was working at WDW last spring. If you book your stay well enough in advance (like everyone else has the ability to), you can probably line up a long-term stay very nicely.

Bama Ed
 
A week or two ago, I looked for a site in Oct/Nov and there were no whole weeks. I went through basically the whole two months, with a one-night reservation on each day. Every week but Columbus Day had Sunday-Friday available, but there were no even single nights available Friday or Saturday the entire time.
Unfortunately, the same was true when i booked in september for this coming October. I think most of the problem is people reserve sites but then cancel them, or days. I couldn't find a week long stay even at 13 months out, and that was for any site. I hooked up with a mouse counselor that booked me day by day then he combined the reservation, it took a bit but i got my week. Then added some days when he was able to get them. Without calling them , i would have gave up, as i spent 3 days looking for any availability for a week stay. So , i think you can book your site, with the days you want, if you know how to.
 
Staying long term at a campground is pretty common for people who are retired. My parents officially retired just over 4 years ago and have spent about 8-10 months per year on the road all over the country since then, with a couple of stops per year being 2 months or more. Even before retirement, they had seasonal sites at campgrounds beginning in 1991.

I know Fort Wilderness is different because it's connected to Disney World, but most campgrounds prefer the long term stays because they know those people are less likely to be a problem.
 

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