Fort Wilderness get a little bit bigger!

rob45

rob45

Well-Known Member
A home away from home indeed! My own bed, kitchen and bathroom. The price of a campsite with everything, and a golf cart to get around, less or better than a value hotel onsite. Plus one one running around late at night waking you up, and no noisy neighbors in the ajoining room. Yes I love my rv and use it quite often, at WDW and other local spots.
 
WaltsApprentice

WaltsApprentice

New Member
Original Poster
FLDISFAN said:
Thank god!

We stay at Ft Wilderness a lot in our camper and enjoy it tremendously.

However the pool situation is TERRIBLE. Compared to every other disney resort pool its the worst. Your very basic simple cement pond. This will make my family VERY happy and we wont have to resort "sneaking" into wilderness lodge anymore.

Not that we would do that...[/quote]

Don't worry i wont tell anyone... on me and my girlfriends Annver. we snuck into one...hehe...But you didn't here that from me :)
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slappy magoo

slappy magoo

Well-Known Member
WaltsApprentice said:
slappy magoo said:
I think they should just raze the place and develop a whole new DVC resort. Maybe one with a camping THEME, where each studio unit resembles a tent, 1 BR resembles a larger tent, 2 BR would look like two large tents stitched together, and they can recycle the cabins for Grand Villas. But if you're not DVC, room rates start at $300. After all, who goes to Disney to CAMP?[/quote]

Actually many do...and if they ever remove it for a stupid DVC I'll be very very mad!!:fork: Not everyone is a DVC member! And they have built so many of those stupid area and is one of the main reason its difficult to get into certain resorts because most of it is DVC. Sorry but it just frustrates me so much when I see so much importance on this "club"
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ok, so far we have one person who thinks I'm seriously trolling, and one person who thinks I'm seriously trolling...but I'm just really bad at it.

I'm currently on a Motorola Q so I can't cut-and-paste, so if someone can go to dictionary.com and paste the definition of "sarcasm" I'd appreciate it. Thanks heaps.
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JimboJones123

JimboJones123

Well-Known Member
WaltsApprentice said:
:ROFLOL:So thats why I can never get a tan!!:ROFLOL:
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We stayed at the "Mustang Motel" outside Austin one time and the manager swore that the pool was perfectly fine to swim in. There is plenty of "Clorox" in it. Needless to say, they could have really used some of that Clorox on the carpets in the rooms instead...
 
JimboJones123

JimboJones123

Well-Known Member
slappy magoo said:
WaltsApprentice said:
ok, so far we have one person who thinks I'm seriously trolling, and one person who thinks I'm seriously trolling...but I'm just really bad at it.

I'm currently on a Motorola Q so I can't cut-and-paste, so if someone can go to dictionary.com and paste the definition of "sarcasm" I'd appreciate it. Thanks heaps.
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But isn't bragging about your trolling a true sign of refined and polished trolling???:lol:
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bugsbunny

bugsbunny

Well-Known Member
Ft. Wilderness is back from the 70's. Back then, you towed your trailer with your station wagon (remember them?). So the biggest trailer you had, was maybe 20' or so. Therefore, the roads and sites at Ft. Wilderness were quite adequate for this and the casual family pitching their tent on a site.

Now, you can get trailers 35 feet long and still tow off the hitch and even bigger heavy weights with a 5th wheel. And just as common place are the $200,000+bus-type RV's parked there. I remember one super shiny chrome bus conversion that stayed there for THREE MONTHS! They had their site decorated for Xmas with enough lights to be seen from space. Obviously, they had some serious MONEY!!

But one thing for sure about Ft. Wilderness, parking a 30 foot plus Class C motorhome at Ft. Wilderness is no easy task. For those that do not know the difference: Class C is your one piece RV that has a common/commercial front end, like a Ford F450 chassis. A Class A is your custom type, like a bus shape. And then you have your travel trailer type that is towed by a vehicle either off a ball hitch or via "5th wheel" in the bed of a pickup truck.

You would think that a Class C might be easire to maneuver since it isn't articulated like a pulled trailer. However, it might actually be worse that trying to back in a trailer of similar size. Being that it doesn't articulate, it doesn't slink into spaces very easily.

Having stayed at Ft. Wilderness a few times, I hate to say it, but me and my friends would actually get a giggle watching these people trying to park their trailers. You can tell that some of these people had a trailer for one reason and one reason only: becuase it's trendy. If you can't BACK UP a trailer into a spot with confidence, then do NOT even bother taking it out. You are WASTING your time and most likely, EVERYBODY else's as you block traffic for 30 minutes after you get your trailer stuck between 2 trees. HA!!

Pulling thier immaculate trailer in their SUV and watching their inability to do anything with it is actually pretty funny. Being in a fire department and driving 30 ton fire trucks on the other side of the road during rush hour, driving and parking a Class C RV is actually still a little tough even for us. But many a time, we helped out other campers get their campers or trailers into their sites out of the goodness of our hearts. There's some Disney Magic for you.

I'm looking forward to ANY improvments in size at the sites. After you drop your trailer on it, you basically can't even put your picnic table in place because it hangs off the slabs they are supposed to sit on. Quite annoying!
 
I

incoo@sympatico

New Member
Wow,I'm sorry buying my 30 ft. trailer now.I guess should leave it at home and not try bringing it to the Fort next September.I guess not being experienced right away means we should stay at home,oh yeah that means I shouldnt have learned to drive as well.I hope I can entertain you cause apparently seeing someone having difficulties is entertaining.Now I'm not trying to be snarky but statements made in that context need a reply,and by the way I drive a 10 ton scoop 6000 feet underground without difficulty,give that a try.I quess gaining experience is not an option.
 
bugsbunny

bugsbunny

Well-Known Member
Wasn't trying to be "snarky", just stating like I see it. When you have a few beers at your campsite and see the same scene repeated every day for 10 days, it certainly does become amusing, sorry. ;)

Ft. Wilderness can get real tight in a hurry and if you don't know how to handle a trailer, you can be in big big trouble. And even smaller trailers can be just as difficult simply because the shorter the trailer, the quicker it wants to jack knife when you are turning it while backing it up.

Having stayed in the "perferrd loops" many a time, I saw time and time again that it couldn't be more obvious that some owners of trailers have no experience other than pulling it in a straight line to get it there. WDW or not, I see it all over the country when I visit camping areas, national parks, etc.

I guess the moral of the story is that if you are going to purchase a trailer, you should practice, practice, practice before hitting the road. The rest of us are on vacation too and we don't want to sit in blocked traffic for 45 minutes while you wedge your trailer between 2 trees trying to back it in. :ROFLOL:
 
WDWRLD

WDWRLD

Active Member
I too see where some of the sites at FW are tight and were disigned for the 70's trailers. I have a 19ft jayco and it was a squeeze last Easter between the other trucks parked, trees and the trash/recycle containers. I have a very small slide..like 18 inches and it was within a inch of a tree on one side and the awning was in the trees on the other side...kinda like being in a tree house. Now I regularly drive a midmount Ladder/Tower truck at work with a overall length of 53 foot from front bumper to rear of the bucket without any trouble and feel I am pretty competent in manuvering a trailer but FW is tight.

Now my big complaint there was with the grounds person or what ever he was called. Now there was not enough room to park my truck infront of the trailer on the concrete pad, it would have stuck out in the road 5 ft or so. I had to move it over a little and actually had the bed under the awning which was more like tailgating than camping. Anyhow I also had to do this to get the golf cart close enough to the power pole to plug it in. But everyday I would come back from the park to find a nasty note from whoever this was telling me I needed to park on the "provided pad". Of course if you talked to someone at the recetipon center they kept saying to not worry about it and I kept asking if he would come by and explain to me how exactly I was to pull off this parking plan that he had in mind but he never showed.
 
Fordlover

Fordlover

Active Member
bugsbunny said:
Wasn't trying to be "snarky", just stating like I see it. When you have a few beers at your campsite and see the same scene repeated every day for 10 days, it certainly does become amusing, sorry. ;)

Ft. Wilderness can get real tight in a hurry and if you don't know how to handle a trailer, you can be in big big trouble. And even smaller trailers can be just as difficult simply because the shorter the trailer, the quicker it wants to jack knife when you are turning it while backing it up.

Having stayed in the "perferrd loops" many a time, I saw time and time again that it couldn't be more obvious that some owners of trailers have no experience other than pulling it in a straight line to get it there. WDW or not, I see it all over the country when I visit camping areas, national parks, etc.

I guess the moral of the story is that if you are going to purchase a trailer, you should practice, practice, practice before hitting the road. The rest of us are on vacation too and we don't want to sit in blocked traffic for 45 minutes while you wedge your trailer between 2 trees trying to back it in. :ROFLOL:
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I guess patience or an offer of help might be appropriate if you feel like your being held up. I just recently purchased our first trailer, a 21 footer, and I don't mind saying it's pretty difficult to back up, and this coming from some one that has lots of experience with pulling boats, utility trailers, bbq pits, etc.
It's a 10' tall box that is impossible to see all sides of at the same time, not to mention all it takes is a low hanging branch to snag something top side and do $$ damage.
So far I've been able to back it in to each site we've used quickly, and into the driveway after pausing a few times for tree trimming. But I'm most certainly not staying home just because I'm cautious with my most recent large purchase.
 
Mr.EPCOT

Mr.EPCOT

Active Member
They should make Ft. Wilderness a little bit bigger by reopening/rebuilding/resomething River Country. (Maybe bring the train back, too, while they're at it.)
 
mpaul32001

mpaul32001

Well-Known Member
Wow, we used to stay at Fort Wilderness for a couple of weeks AT LEAST each summer. We haven't for a while. Time to Pester my mom!!! :sohappy:
 
bugsbunny

bugsbunny

Well-Known Member
Fordlover said:
I guess patience or an offer of help might be appropriate if you feel like your being held up. I just recently purchased our first trailer, a 21 footer, and I don't mind saying it's pretty difficult to back up, and this coming from some one that has lots of experience with pulling boats, utility trailers, bbq pits, etc.
It's a 10' tall box that is impossible to see all sides of at the same time, not to mention all it takes is a low hanging branch to snag something top side and do $$ damage.
So far I've been able to back it in to each site we've used quickly, and into the driveway after pausing a few times for tree trimming. But I'm most certainly not staying home just because I'm cautious with my most recent large purchase.
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I applaud you and your efforts. :sohappy: Why? I love it when people actually have a plan! If I ran into someone like you, I'd certainly have no problem helping you out. It's the ones who want to stick the square peg into the round hole for 45 minutes that make me laugh. :ROFLOL:

Backing in a trailer is hard work no matter who you are. I'm only hoping to help some other people out who don't know what they are in for at Ft. Wilderness. I think its one of the best places to stay becuase its so homey and relaxing.

Sipping a cold one at Crockett's Tavern and rocking in a rocking chair after a loooong hot day pounding the pavement at the parks is one of the better kept secrets at WDW. I could only hope more people could enjoy it. ;)
 
WDWRLD

WDWRLD

Active Member
I wouldnt say they need to make the roads any bigger but mabey move a few of those trash cans and mabey make some of the sites deeper so you could fit the camper further in and not have to park the tow vehicle so close to the road. We were in 400 loop which seemed really tight. Some of the others we went through to go to the boat or campfire seemed a bit more spacious even though 400 was a preferred loop.


But ka whow what....Your in Disney World.......after a few minutes of creative parking your set for a week of Magic...
 

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