Fort Wilderness RV Resort – Premium

09.21.24-09.28.24

We have turned into a Disney family: a family that frequents Disney World, loves all things Disney, and gives all their money to a mouse. 

Fort Wilderness RV Resort and Campground is located on Disney property in Buena Vista, FL. We first camped on a premium meadow site in 2021. See that post for basic details on Fort Wilderness camping. In 2023, we camped in a preferred campsite near the dog park. 

Disney was running a deal on the reservations for the time period we booked, as the premium campsite was running $133 a night. We were able to book the reservation for Fort Wilderness RV Resort campsite separately from the park tickets. Later in the year Disney ran a deal for 4-day tickets for $99 each. Without this deal we would have been going to three parks for the same total price. 

We chose the premium campsite level because it has a larger driveway and outdoor living space in front of the camper vs behind the camper. In 2023 we got lucky with a great campsite (334 preferred). 

Not all campsites are the same at Fort Wilderness RV Resort and some don’t work at all for our set-up. Upon check-in we were assigned spot 535 which is the very last spot in the 500 loop. It seemed as though they worked to fill each loop as the week progressed. We backed into campsite 535 with no problems and initially it looked like a great site. There was a large grassy area behind the site that would be great to walk dogs. There was enough vegetation that you couldn’t see into the site next to you or the campsites behind you. 

Once we had the camper in the spot we wanted we noticed just how far away the hook-ups were. The water, electric, and sewer were all located toward the front of the campsite. Even with both of our sewer hoses connected (15 ft) we could not reach the hook-up. Had we pulled the camper forward to reach them we would not have had enough room for our truck. This placement of sewer, water, and electric must be built for large 5th wheels. We called the front desk and explained the issue. They placed us on a short hold and then reassigned us quickly and easily. If you have read our first post—we asked to be relocated on our first trip as well, and fell in love with the second assignment—site 1434. 

We were reassigned to campsite 710 which was fantastic. We had privacy from other campsites, a large driveway, and a great location in the campground. Loop 700 is half a loop off the main road in the campground. It is a quick golf cart drive to both the meadows and boat dock. The only downfall is that there is not a bathhouse located in the loop. There is a sidewalk hallway that leads you across the main road to the bathhouse in the 500 loop. 

Halloween festivities at Disney World begin in September and it’s evident at the Fort. Many campers decorated their campsite for halloween. It’s a lot of fun going around the campground admiring the decorations. Our favorite is the star wars people that have SO many stormtroopers outside. They are also highly involved in the scavenger hunt. 

Our family loves riding around in the golf cart and participating in the scavenger hunt so the rental is a must for us. If you do not want to rent a golf cart ($67 per day) there is an internal bus system that brings you from your campground loop to the big locations in the campground and then to the front where you’ll board a bus that takes you to the parks. 

We brought about 30 items to hide in the scavenger hunt. All year we collect items for the hunt. We find things on sale or we regift some of the items we found in the previous year. Directions and details for this game (not organized by Disney) can be found in the Facebook group “Original Fort Wilderness Scavenger Hunts.” We included a couple more challenging Disney puzzles that we had completed and wanted to pass on to another family. The family who found the puzzle posted that the grandpa in their family was SO excited about the find. Heather even spent Friday night on the golf cart until 2 a.m. trying to find hidden Disney etched cups and cutting boards people had made for the hunt. The scavenger hunt is much more difficult during the later hours and the prizes are geared toward adults. 

This year we completed two of the crafts at the barn. The mickey tie-dye is a must for our family. It’s a great souvenir for $18. Our daughter also made pixie dust for $5, which she really enjoyed. She attempted the pony ride in 2023, but when it came time to get on the horse she decided against it. Well this year she hopped right on.

We ate at Trail’s End multiple times throughout the week. The food was just okay. It’s Disney food—I have yet to be impressed. It’s great to have an option in the campground though. With a 1-year-old it was hard for us to catch the fireworks and water pageant because he goes to bed at 7:30 p.m. On the last day of the trip I took the four-year-old out to the dock to enjoy the show. 

Unfortunately, the big water slide at the Meadows pool was undergoing renovations during our stay. This was disappointing since back in 2023 the entire big pool was closed. We spent some time over at the kiddie splash pad, but that water was much colder than the big pool and our kids didn’t love it. While we were at the pool, the entertainment team started a game of Goofy Bingo and our family really enjoyed guessing the Disney characters. 

We went to all four parks and enjoyed Animal Kingdom for the first time. There were lots of firsts this year. I rode the following rides for the first time: Guardians of the Galaxy, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Tiana’s, Rockin Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, and Slinky dog. Guardians of the Galaxy is probably my favorite ride at Disney, BUT I would pick Animal Kingdom over EPCOT. We had so much fun at Animal Kingdom. Our daughter is really into coloring and drawing so we participated in the Animation Experience at Conservation Station. We had so much fun we didn’t even get a chance to see the Nemo show. 

Multi Pass

Right before our trip they changed the Genie plus back to the fast pass, but with a price. We were weary at first because there is a learning curve with Genie plus and we had figured it out. But there are many youtube videos that teach you how to use the multi pass and I think we did a great job getting our money’s worth. We decided to only purchase the multi Pass for Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We purchased the individual lighting lanes for Guardians of the Galaxy, Rise of the Resistance, Seven Dwarves, and Tron. At 1 p.m. on our Magic Kingdom day we scored the virtual queue for Tiana’s and rode it after dark. The line still took about 30 minutes to get though.

Stroller Rental

With two kids this year we rented a stroller from Kingdom Strollers, a 3rd party vender. They delivered the stroller to the campground at the front near check-in. Online we were able to choose a day and estimated time of delivery. The stroller came with a rain cover which we did need one of those days. Renting from the third party gives you the option of a nicer stroller that reclines. Whereas the stroller rented directly from Disney World are hard plastic seats, that do not recline. Also highly recommend the Tush Baby carrier for anyone with a child under 2 years old. Every line we stood in I was able to carry our toddler using this carrier and it saved my back! Use code IMAGINECAMPER to save 15%!

Pet Safety

On days that we opened the park and were there to see the evening show we took a mid-day break. At that time we would take Summit out and let the kids nap in the AC. We are comfortable leaving Summit in the camper because we monitor the temperature using our Marcell Temperature Monitoring System. If our camper lost power it would send us a text message to alert us. Add this safety feature in your camper to take care of your pets. Code Imagine25 will save you $25 on the unit. 

September is hurricane season and we experienced our first bad weather at Disney. Toward the end of the week Hurricane Helene came through the northern portion of Florida and we received quite a bit of rain and wind in Orlando. It was never that big of a threat in Orlando so the only thing we got was a notice to take down all of our decorations. It was a lot for some people to pack up (the storm trooper campsite), but we are thankful the weather never got any worse. 

Thursday at Hollywood Studios they canceled the Fantastic show which was a bummer. We still stayed at the park until closing, enjoying every moment of it. At closing time the weather was pretty sketchy with lots of rain and wind. We were soaking wet riding back to our campsite on the golf cart. By the time we woke up on Friday morning the only sign of the storm was downed tree branches and leaves. Disney had it cleaned up within two hours—Disney magic, of course. 

On the way to and from Fort Wilderness RV Resort we stopped overnight at Tifton Overnight RV and would highly recommend this location to break up your drive. We were able to pull right into our level, paved spot and didn’t have to unhook the truck from the camper. It was a well lit, secured, and clean option. 

As a true Disney family —we already have an idea of when our next trip to Fort Wilderness RV Resort will be. Looking at February 2026 to see the mouse again!