Xmas at Fort Wilderness

[nltroxell]

For those of you that at FW at Xmas time are there any special activites at this time?

 

[We4mickey]

Someone here has to have a answer for this.

 

[CLynnJones]

I'll know after this year. Will be there from 12/23 thru 1/4. We were down over the 4th of July and they had a nice parade thru FW. We were down 2 years ago the week after Thanksgiving and I can tell you that people go all out to decorate their sites. It's so nice to just stroll around and look at all the different decorations. That in itself is going to be something to see!! We are renting a golf cart this year and plan to do a lot of cruising around to look at all the differnet decorations. I hope someone has a more specific answer coz I'd like to know too! When will you be going? We requested Loop 1600, maybe we'll see ya there!

 

[campingcorgi]

We went down this last Christmas-time (Dec 16th) but unfortunately the weakest link (Lauren-12 months old) got sick and we packed it up early to head home--after only 3 nights However, we did enjoy seeing the lights of other campsites and we made it to MGM for the Osborne lights. We really wanted to see the WL, but no luck. We tried the campfire (they had a Christmas tree there) but she was sound asleep that night.

Sorry I can't give you more information--one of these days though!

Barbara
278 days to go!

 

[DaddyDon]

Let me say we had a great time at the fort this past Christmas time!!!! Yes it was really cold well at least to centeral fla standards!My DD had full acess to all of mickey and his friends! and even santa !!!!!Without the crowds you find at the parks, we even had a x-mas stocking filled with goddies left at our camper from jolly ole saint nick!If you can it was a great time for our family!

 

[mum4jenn]

To expand a little on what DH Daddy don said.....On Christmas eve we were sitting at Crockets Tavern having a pizza and we were told that Santa,Mickey and friends would be coming soon. They arrived in a decorated wagon and included SANTA,Mickey,Minnie,Goofy,Pluto.All were dressed in their Christmas finery. Since there were only a VERY FEW guests around our DD was able to spend ALOT of quality time with everyone. Since she is so young she tends to get pushed around by the older kids and this visit was wonderful!!!
Seems like I remember some Caroling going on also.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

How cold did it get during the week of Christmas? I would love to take our trailer down for Christmas break. I would worry about driving back to the mid-west in the ice and snow too. Has anyone had any experience with that? We got stuck driving back from Spring Break in Atlanta in an ice storm in 93 and ended sleeping in our car overnight (really not a fun time).

 

[DaddyDon]

Best i can remember, it was in the 20s,we were okay in our pop up but i sure felt sorry for the tent campers! Lot of LUCK!!!1

 

[bianca]

We have spent the last seven Christmas' in WDW, but this year we are going in October, due to our totally unbelievable Christmas trip of 2000. The weather in Florida was pretty cold the week of Christmas ..... FW had issued requests to all campers to keep the water at their site running at a trickle to keep the pipes from freezing. All the flowers were destroyed by the ice and cold. But for us, the worst was yet to come ...... We left FW on 12/29 to head back to MI. By the time we hit Kentucky (12/30), a very nasty snow storm was hitting, and we had to pull off of I-75. We got out our handy camping guide, and found a campground just 1/2 a mile off of 75. We proceeded to head to the campground. As SOON as we entered the driveway for the campground, we knew we were in trouble. The road/driveway immediately went into a steep decline and we knew we would have trouble getting out. The road was a dead-end (at a lake), off the side of the road was a cliff and we were stuck in 2 feet of snow. On 12/30 at 8:00 pm, we finally had a local towing company pull us out (there was no place to back up and turn around with a 36 ft. 5th wheel) to the cost of $600. This was no ordinary tow job ..... took a specialized semi to get us out, and we were LUCKY! We had to spend the night in a local Wal-Mart parking lot (that was no longer in business), froze ourselves to death and had to wait until the road crews had I-75 cleared in the morning. I vowed as I was going through this very harrowing experience (it was much worse than I am writing here) that I would never be caught in this position again. So ....... after many holiday seasons at WDW (and many successful trips), we are NEVER going again during the snow season. Our next trip is scheduled for October, and as much as we will miss WDW at Christmas, we will be safe!

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Enough said bianca! That is exactly the picture I had in my mind that I was hoping someone would say was NOT going to happen. We'll stick to the heat of summer! Thanks

 

[old camper]

We go to WDW every Christmas and December 2000 is the only year in recent memory that it was cold and only for a few days.
We live in Memphis TN. so it is possible for us to use Interstate highways for the entire trip.
Disneycrazymom, you live in the St Louis area 300 mi. north of Memphis via Interstate 55, I wouldn't give the weather a second thought. There are so many special events going on in December that we don't even consider going at any other time of year (Well, mabey sometimes).
Just think, you can only see the Candlelight Processional, Osburn Family Lights, Christmas Around the World and Santa Goofy in December.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Don't worry about us old camper, we are going to see all those wonderful things over Thanksgiving. We are flying (provided all is well with our country at that point). I was just trying to get a second trip in over Christmas break. We are thinking of annual passes for the Thanksgiving trip. St. Louis often has ice storms around that time of year and I don't want to be pulling a 27 foot trailer in one.

 

[teachbrooks]

Do they have a special menu for Christmas day? I was strongly considering this for my family as they are not in to fancy food. We are more of a Southern food family.
I enjoy FW so much, and I thought this might fit our style.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Karen

 

[mum4jenn]

I believe they do have a special menu on that day. We did not eat there that day so I am not 100% sure but I am 99% sure I remember seeing a special menu posted that I think had stuff like ham,turkey and the traditional holiday items.
We ended up eating pizza at Crocketts Tavern on Christmas Eve and decided to leave for home on Christmas Day to avoid the traffic.

 

[North7]

We stayed at FW for Christmas in 1999. We were also looking for a place to have a traditional Christmas dinner. We ended up going to Olivia's at Old Key West resort. At the time, I believe you could order a dinner at Trails End ahead of time. The meals would be delivered at a certain time and available for pickup. I don't believe Trails End was actually open on Christmas Day, but dinners were available if ordered.

This may not be the way it is now, but I believe that is the way it worked back then (My memory isn't as good as it once was).