Tent Camping Newbie

chelle1405

MickeyChelle
Joined
Nov 12, 2014
My DH and I are considering tent camping for the first time at the campgrounds this September. I'm a bit nervous about it though. There isn't much listed on the site for info like showers and restrooms, getting around, and general experience. We camp usually other places a few times a year. any info and tips or things we should know about it? Will I hate it lol.
 
Will you hate it, I don’t think so. The showers and restrooms or comfort stations as they are called here are the nicest, cleanest around. There is at least one for each loop, a few loops have 2 that are shared with each other. Like the 1600 loop where I am tent camping now, has one at the beginning of the loop that is shared with 1800 and another a little over half way around that is shared with 1500.
Each comfort station, CS has a laundry room and ice machine. They don’t cash, you have to use credit/debit card. Ice is 2.00 for about 10#, and laundry is 2.00 per wash and dry, I beleave, haven’t done laundry yet, that comes later today.

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Getting around is pretty easy. Once you check-in and drive to your site, that is pretty much all the driving you can do in the campground. There are very limited parking spaces at the Meadows trading pos, maybe for spots with a 15 min. Limit. The rest of the your getting around will be walking, always good exercise, you could bring bikes, also good exercise, or rent them from the Bike Barn at the Meadows, rent a golf cart from Disney or an off-site vendor ( cheaper but kinda a hassle in my opinion) Disney carts are 59.00 per day plus tax, can be reserved up to a year in advance and you need a CC to secure the rental but won’t be charged until 24 - 48 hrs. before pickup. Then there is the internal bus system. Each loop has a bus stop by the road. There are a total of 6 busses that run just in the campground, 2 buses on each route going opposite directions. These buses only run in the campground.

I will give some others a chance to post. I am here for another week. If there is something you would like to see don’t be afraid to ask. Also check out our January trip thread at the top of the page, lots of great people posting about there trips with plenty of pics.
 
If you go tent camping other places, I don't think you'll find the Fort lacking. The only inconveniences (walking to the bathroom and sharing it with other campers, mainly) I can think of are the same that you'd find anywhere.

Have fun!
 


Thank yall so much! I feel better already. I'm going to read your trip report snowmedic but another question I have right now is where do you get on the buses to the parks? Do you take a bus by your road to a main building?
 
Yes, you wait at the bus stop at the entrance to your loop, one of two busses will come by in opposite directions. On the bus marquee one will say Outpost, this is the main parking lot, checkin area. There you can get the bus to different parks.

The other bus will say Settlement, this will take you to Trails End, Hoop De Doo and the marina for the boat to the Magic Kingdom.
 
Comfort stations are second to none, as far as campgrounds go. They are air conditioned, spotless, and I have never had to wait on a shower or a stall, even though we camp in the tent loops.

As stated, buses stop at every loop, so transportation is never a problem. We have never rented a golf cart and never saw a real need for one.

It's hot here in September so I would consider an air conditioner for your tent. At the very least, you will need a fan to sleep comfortably.
 


Here are some pics of the laundry room in the Comfort Stations. It cost 3.00 wash 3.00 dry. There is a fending machine for detergent and fabric softener, 1.00 each

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I will add a few things, the showers in the CS have stall doors you walk in and lock. There is a "dry" changing area and then you step into the shower stall and pull a curtain. Very private from beginning to end and the dry changing area is a nice touch.

You can see just a bit of a very large table in the center of the laundry room in the pic in a previous post. For our trip in August, I would go into this A/C room to do dishes, make lunch, my dad took a nap in there, there's usually no one in there. We also hung out in this room during a deluge rain storm.

As was explained previously, there are "internal buses" and "external buses/boat." Transportation time is the one thing I don't like about FW. You have to wait for a bus to either end of the campground (with multiple stops along the way). Then transfer, on one end to wait for another external bus to a park or DS. Or, after getting off the internal bus walk to the marina where you can wait for a boat to MK (which has in the past stopped at WL either coming or going). This multi-step process of getting to a park can mean gobs of time. But, my dad hopped on an internal bus one day and napped for some A/C time too. You can drive to the main parking and catch an external bus from there, but you cannot drive to the marina to catch the boat as there is no parking lot for vehicles. There's a few loops you could walk to the marina from, but I don't think walking to the main parking lot is feasible.
 
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Thank you everyone so much. Transportation sounds different from others but that's ok I will just plan to leave earlier on park days to accommodate the extra time :)
 
I was a camping newbie before Fort Wilderness (and it's still the only place I have camped, so I don't know anything else). That said, I was nervous about the bathroom situation as well. However, the bathrooms are extremely nice! The only complaint I have is that they can sometimes get crowded during peak times when people are trying to get ready for the parks. I just try to schedule my showers and stuff around that now.
 
I was a camping newbie before Fort Wilderness (and it's still the only place I have camped, so I don't know anything else). That said, I was nervous about the bathroom situation as well. However, the bathrooms are extremely nice! The only complaint I have is that they can sometimes get crowded during peak times when people are trying to get ready for the parks. I just try to schedule my showers and stuff around that now.
FW was the first place I took my family to camp, too! We loved it and we camped all summer after that!
 
I was a camping newbie before Fort Wilderness (and it's still the only place I have camped, so I don't know anything else). That said, I was nervous about the bathroom situation as well. However, the bathrooms are extremely nice! The only complaint I have is that they can sometimes get crowded during peak times when people are trying to get ready for the parks. I just try to schedule my showers and stuff around that now.

That's a good tip! I haven't thought about that yet. I did look the other day to see that there aren't any park hours yet for September but as soon as they are there I will try to have to schedule this. bc I the transportation answers above I already figured adding extra time for that and now i'll do this to. What would you say peak times before park opening are? 2 hours before? 3. How are they at night after getting back from the park? That was one thing I was thinking being tired from those days and just wanting to shower and lay down hahaha
 
That's a good tip! I haven't thought about that yet. I did look the other day to see that there aren't any park hours yet for September but as soon as they are there I will try to have to schedule this. bc I the transportation answers above I already figured adding extra time for that and now i'll do this to. What would you say peak times before park opening are? 2 hours before? 3. How are they at night after getting back from the park? That was one thing I was thinking being tired from those days and just wanting to shower and lay down hahaha

September is not a peak time at WDW. I honestly don't think you will have much, if any, problem getting showers when you want. We were there at Halloween, and ever spot in our loop was occupied. Even so, no problem getting showers any time I wanted in 2000 loop, which has two comfort stations. The 1500 loop only has one, but have stayed there too with no issues at all.

If you not camping on a tent loop - I know lots of tenters still camp on other loops - you will probably have the whole comfort station to yourself as most people have their own facilities in their rigs on other loops.

Don't over-stress about the transportation issue, either. Internal buses run every 10 minutes, and I've never waited more than five minutes on one. It only takes a couple minutes to get to either end of the Fort, even with stops along the way. The stops are super fast, if they even happen at all. If nobody waiting at that stop, and nobody getting off there, they just breeze right by.

If you're going to MK, the boat holds many more people than it looks. Way more than buses. Never had to wait on a second boat. If going to the other parks, the buses come about the same intervals as any other resort, but much less people getting on them.

You're going to have a seamless, fantastic time and will see that these things are absolutely no problem at the Fort. You will love it so much that you may not want to camp anywhere else afterwards. We are lifetime state park campers, and as much as I love those, the Fort is SWEET. They got you covered there. Disney takes good care of people. There is nowhere I would rather tent camp, or any kind of camp.

Also, you will be surprised by the number of tents there. Some people I've talked to have been under the impression that the Fort is only for high dollar RVs. Not the case at all! We take our '99 pop up all the time and fits right in. You will see people camping in just about anything you can imagine, including U-hauls.
 
That's a good tip! I haven't thought about that yet. I did look the other day to see that there aren't any park hours yet for September but as soon as they are there I will try to have to schedule this. bc I the transportation answers above I already figured adding extra time for that and now i'll do this to. What would you say peak times before park opening are? 2 hours before? 3. How are they at night after getting back from the park? That was one thing I was thinking being tired from those days and just wanting to shower and lay down hahaha
Mornings always seem busier than the evenings. It's hard to say an exact time, but the bigger rush seems to be around 8-9ish (give or take).
 

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