Fort Wilderness, Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL

There's about a 1000 books and web sites that'll tell you how to "do" Disney World so I won't bother other than a couple of tips. I will say that Fort Wilderness is the only place to stay as far as I'm concerned. They don't offer and discounts on camping (no meal plans either but I'd suggest you eat somewhere else anyhow) but our site ended up around $55 per night, not bad for Disney. The sites have 3 levels (I think, it's kinda hard to figure out), premium, preferred and standard. The premium sites are closer to the back of the campground, nearer the boat dock, but I don't know where they consider the cut-off. The preferred sites have a larger pad (premium have the same size), some standard sites have a paved drive and the camping unit will be set up on gravel/sand. The preferred site pad are plenty large enough for but the largest rigs so I wouldn't let that be the deciding factor. When you reserve a site, you can ask for a certain site or loop but they won't guaranteed that you'll get it. They don't assign you a site until about a week before the date you're suppose to arrive so until then they can't even tell you what site you'll get. I'd suggest calling the week before you get there and make sure of your site, espescially if you requested a site that allows pets.

We stayed in site #552 (in the 1600s last time). It's a nice site but they're kinda close together. My first choice of sites would be in the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s or 1900s. They're spaced out a little, just not as close to the dock, the restaurant and the tavern. These are all pet loops, 100s and 200s are not pet loops but I don't know about the rest. It's a short walk to a bus stop or easy bike ride to the restaurant from anywhere in the park.

There are bus stops everywhere and seems like the buses are always running. It's not a problem to ride the bus to any of Disney's properties but driving can be a little quicker, parking at the parks is free because you're staying at the Fort. If you're going to the Magic Kingdom from Fort Wilderness, use the boat, it'll take you right to the front gate. You can rent a golf cart (or bring your own) for about $65 a day but biking is best/cheapest way to get around. They don't encourage a lot of driving around in the park, mostly just want you to enter or leave then bike or cart around the rest of the time. There are two stores, a restaurant, a bar and a dinner show at the campground, if you wanted a single beer (you couldn't buy it by the six-pack), it would run you $5.25, about a ten minute drive to Wal-Mart will save you a lot of money.

All sites are full hook-up with cable TV, fairly level and mostly shady.

These are sites 552 (left) and 550, right behind them and across the road is a fairly nice fenced dog park.

FYI    If you're using a GPS, it may try to take you to Wilderness Lodge (mine did anyway), just remember to follow the signs. Right after you go through the big gate to the Magic Kingdom, you'll be turning right in a couple of hundred yards.

Everybody should see the fireworks at the castle but you can get a pretty good view of them from the beach at the campground. If you want a seat, go early.

Site #552, the awning side was not to close to the neighbors but the folks on the site to the right were right up against our RV.

The best place I know of to get information about Disney is mousesavers.com. The only place to get any discounted tickets is undercovertourist.com  and don't expect too much of a discount.

Where to eat...

Here's some videos of some of the campground:

100s Loop

200s Loop

400s Loop

500s Loop

1500s Loop

1600s Loop

I didn't have time for a lot of pictures but the videos give you the idea, they're just kinda jerky. This is also not nearly all of the campground, it's to big to cover without a lot of time. One more tip, skip Universal. It's not worth the time and money plus the folks at Disney go out of their way to be nice to you, not so much at the other park.