Fort Wilderness RV Resort and Campground- Full Hook-up

02.12.26-02.21.26

Our Imagine Camper family has stayed in every type of campsite for travel trailers at Fort Wilderness RV Resort. It’s our fourth trip to the Fort and we chose to book the Full Hook-up Campsite for our magical adventure. 

Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground is located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida—about ten minutes from the Disney World parks. The Disney resort has more to offer than we could fit into our week-long stay, while also visiting the Disney parks. The campground offers two pools, horseback riding, pony rides, archery, fishing, movie nights, arcade, and multiple playgrounds. Rentals are available for biking, kayaking, canoeing, and motorized boats. Waggin’ Trails dog park is also available for the pups to enjoy. 

In 2021 we stayed at Fort Wilderness RV Resort and Campground in a Premium Meadow campsite (1400 loop), in 2023 we stayed in the Preferred Campsite (300 loop), and in 2024 we stayed in a Premium campsite (700 loop). 

The full hook-up campsite at Fort Wilderness is considered the lowest tier of campsites for a travel trailer. This site is cheaper by 20 to 50 dollars in comparison to the other types of campsites. The biggest difference is the living space being behind the campsite instead of straight out the camper door. Our pad was only wide enough for our camper, but that wasn’t an issue as there was plenty of outdoor living space at the back. 

We were assigned campsite 1830 and came with friends who used Kissimmee Rentals for the week. Since our reservations were linked, Disney put us right next to each other. Our friends rented the smallest camper available for the two of them. It included a bunkhouse in the back and second bathroom. This is a great floor plan for a family with small kids. There was some noticeable wear and tear in the camper, but it was clean and hadeverything they needed for the trip. 

Since we arrived on February 14th, so many of the campsites were decorated for the holiday. We brought decorations to outfit our golf cart with a Valentine theme. We highly recommend decorating your golf cart (rented from Disney for about $70 a day) as it will make it easier to find in the golf cart parking when you come back from a long day at the park. A disposable table cloth over the roof of the golf cart was perfect for the decorations. 

A couple other campers throughout Fort Wilderness shared that kids had valentine’s boxes out at their campsite and we brought a small mailbox for each of our kids. It was fun to drive around, see the decorations, and hand out small valentines to the campers who wanted to participate.

Another event we look forward to throughout the year is the Scavenger hunt. It is not organized by Disney, but by the campers on a Facebook group called “Original Fort Wilderness Scavenger Hunt.” The week we were there started slow with the Scavenger hunt. The same family kept finding all the items that were posted, so it lost a little bit of the fun. We continued to participate until the moment we returned our golf cart on checkout day. Saturday morning at 1 a.m., Heather was in the bushes grabbing the set of 4 cups etched with Fort Wilderness activities and pictures. 

Construction of the new pool was midway during our stay. We were not really affected by the construction as our campsite wasn’t near it. However the main pool had less seats and on Friday they opened late due to a power loss. The pools are supposed to be heated, but due to the power loss the main pool at the Meadows was freezing. Thankfully the weather was warm enough that it made the afternoon at the pool enjoyable. 

Wilderness Lodge

Tuesday evening we took the boat over to Wilderness Lodge for dinner. We were not ever able to book a reservation for 6, but walked up about 5 p.m. and asked to be put on the waitlist. The wait was about an hour for the table. Having never seen Wilderness Lodge, the time passed quickly as we got to know the place. We even grabbed a scavenger hunt from the front desk to look for the hidden mickeys throughout the resort. Our kids received a button from Wilderness Lodge for finding all of them. 

Dinner at Whispering Canyon in Wilderness Lodge was fantastic. No one at the table had a big enough appetite for the all you can eat skillets, but the salmon entree and steak were amazing. Heather explains the dynamic of the restaurant well when she said it is a fancier version of Dick’s in Myrtle Beach. The servers are a little rude/funny. He dropped the napkins on our table for the drinks and said he would be back to check on us in an hour. When our six-year-old asked for a little more lemonade, they brought her a tiny mason jar with a huge straw. The main theatrics come when you ask for a bottle of ketchup. The servers start yelling “we need ketchup.” Then a table who previously went through this will bring you about 15 bottles. Those bottles will stay at your table until the next person needs ketchup. Our six-year-old got a big kick out of this. 

Pet Safety

On days that we opened the park and were there to see the evening show we took a midday 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. 

Paws Academy

Two of the park days (Animal Kingdom and Universal Epic) we opened the park and stayed until close. For the first time we had someone come to our camper and walk Summit for about 30 minutes. We found Paws Academy from multiple Facebook recommendations and were sold when we knew they were a Disney approved company. Kyle came to our campsite on our arrival day and introduced himself. He went over all the details, got our information, and showed Summit some love. On both days of his visit I was able to see on the website his summary and photos. The cost of this was about $28 per visit. 

On the way to 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. 

Disney sent us a bounce-back offer, but it didn’t include the campground so we won’t be taking advantage of it. Heather is still suffering from the Disney Blues and trying to get our next trip booked.