michelb

They are pretty flexible on "Florida residency proof".   Having the bill in your name will work but IMO the easiest thing is to open a bank account using a Florida address.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/faq/tickets/proof-florida-address/

I didn't see this posted anywhere so figured I'd add it here.

Mousesavers.com recently posted the 2019 prices for Disney Resorts (including Fort Wilderness).  The full link is available here but I'll try to post the data (not sure how the formatting will come out).

We usually stay in 'full hookup' and this kind of crosses a "mental barrier" where it's going to be $100+ / night pretty much anytime of the year   And Xmas / Spring break are now almost $180 / night.  Seems kind of crazy to see $200+ / night for Premiums at peak period.

Other than Dec27 and Dec28 (and even then, shower forecasts in Florida are often wishful thinking), that's actually pretty ideal Disney weather.  

On 11/21/2017 at 4:28 AM, Starbuc71 said:

Anyone have any luck?  Disney reservations are a joke now. You can hardly get any holiday week or weekend even booking one year out. Walk the loops one of those weeks and see the empty sites. I don't even think Jason has the pixie dust he once had due to disney being just plain idiots. 

I have to agree with you that there does seem to be a lot of empty sites when the campground is "full" so there seems to be room for improvement there.

Having said that, I would strongly encourage anyone that tries to book something and can't to send DisneyWorld a message suggesting they expand Fort Wilderness and mention that you were trying to reserve and weren't able to (I've done it on a few occasions).  

There's tons of space if they wanted to and it just depends how much they want to grow.  In my opinion, to really do it right, they should look at expanding to the West of the campground including adding a new pool there.  I think if they did that, they should consider adding a "Super sized" section section with pull-through spots.  It doesn't quite fit with the design / look of Fort Wilderness but I think it would satisfy a demand and some people would be willing to pay a premium for 70' + long pull through sites (I could see those going for $225/night at XMas).

But they could also easily "in-fill" a few campgrounds to add a bit of extra capacity.  They could easily add one big loop or two small loops East of 1800 / 1900 and they could easily add one or two loops on the East side of Big Pine Drive opposite 1400.  They could also add loop(s) on the West side of 700 although the easiest access to that would probably where the bus stop is at the Settlement and they might not do that.

I think if they get enough requests, they might see that the numbers work.  I actually have no real idea how much it would cost to do this but say it was $500k to add 60 sites near 1800/1900 or 1400.  At an avg of $70/night, figuring 70% occupancy (no idea if this is accurate), they would pay it the investment in 6 months ... And that doesn't include the extra money they get from people spending when they are there.  And I'd be really surprised if it was $500k to expand.

On 3/13/2017 at 6:15 PM, Avatab.... Steve said:

Wow, so all those times I tried to get a site and the only ones available were "Tent or Pop-Up Campsites" I should have gone ahead and booked it??

All this time I assumed that those sites were for Tents or Pop-Ups only..... silly me!

I guess the new rule at the Fort is there are no real rules.  

 

Honestly, I've experienced the same thing several times !!!  It never even occurred to me that we could use them with an RV.  I don't really care about the sewer since when we go to Fort Wilderness, it's often just for 2 or 3 days and I often don't even bother connecting the sewer for short stays like that.

Our moho is relatively large (40') so I'd probably want to drive around the loop to make sure we can fit before booking but it's something I'll keep in mind for future trips (especially if it's just 1 night to complete the trip (e.g. we want 4 nights but can only get 3 nights in a regular site ...). 

We have a Splendide 2000 combo as well in our moho.  It was in there when we bought our moho used and I thought it was a silly thing to have but we love it and think it's awesome (We're 2 adults and 2 kids).  It is tiny (not much bigger than a microwave) so you can't make very big loads and it probably doesn't wash as well as our home machines but we use it pretty much every night when we are camping with hookups and I actually love that it's a combo unit since you can put the clothes in to wash before going to bed or going out for a while and it's dry when you wake up or come back.

There are certainly benefits of having separate units but obviously in an RV, space is always a limitation so we find it's a good compromise.  You can probably fit apartment sized units but I suspect many RVs don't have 240V for the dryer (I suspect 120V apartment sized dryers exist but the ones I've noticed have all been 240V).

If I was buying one, I'd look for a Splendide 2100XC (or something comparable).  I don't know if there's a huge difference but it is bigger than the 2000.  I've considered swapping mine out but I looked and it doesn't look trivial to remove and replace (I don't think it fits through our moho door and I'd have to take out the door to get it in which is more trouble than I'm work to do).  Also, check your installation; some RVs need "ventless" some have vented dryer (I've heard that ventless really doesn't work very well).  I would likely look for a used one as they can be had for pretty cheap if you find one and they typically don't get that much use.

As mentioned in other posts, winterizing is easy.

I've always thought it was just tents and popups but Disney reservations website says :

Quote

 

Tent or Pop-Up Campsite

Room for either a pop-up or camper van-type vehicle plus a tent or 2 tents 
Accommodates equipment up to 10 feet by 60 feet 

 

While Full Hook-up sites say the same except adds " Sewage hook-up  " 

So it would certainly permit ClassBs and I guess, to them, they don't really make a huge distinction and probably allow anyone in that doesn't mind not having the sewer hook-up.

On a related note, how long to most campers leave their XMas Decorations out at FW?  We're only arriving on the Jan 7th but love to walk around and checkout the decorations.  I'm worried we'll be too late this year.

You can use park hoppers with fp+ now. You have to use or expire all three at one park then you can make one selection at a time at a kiosk at a new park. Not very helpful though in busier times

Thanks for the info.  That's great to know.  I know that we hadn't used all three at the first park so that would have been the issue.

We've never stored our mh near Disney but have been storing in Florida over the winter for about 8 years (first near Orlando Intl Airport, then near Sanford Airport and now near Tampa Airport) and we've never had a hard time finding a place.  We've paid $35-$65 / month.  For us, proximity to the airport was more important than proximity to the destination.

We drive the RV down to Florida in the Fall and spend a few weeks before flying back home, then fly back and use for a few weeks at XMas time and finally come back to get it around Spring Break or Easter and drive it back North.

You theoretically "could" get Epcot fastpasses from the kiosk there, but nothing good will be left. 

 

The 4th FP etc. is really only useful at the MK. 

I'm not sure if this has changed or the park member we asked did not know how to do it but we asked to do this last spring (used a couple of FP+ in the morning at MK and then, in evening, went to Hollywood Studios or Epcot (can't remember)) and we were told that you can only use Fastpass+ at one park per day and if you park-hop, you lose the ability to book any at the new park that day.

FYI, we just arrived at FW and found out that the Meadow pool is closed until Dec 20th

Guests do get to use the pool at Wilderness Lodge.

It might be fun to know where everyone is at in the campground.  We're booked in Preferred.

Well, we'll be around the Fort all day on the 20th. Maybe you'll get lucky and be able to meet me. :)

Ha ha !  We'll probably be at the Meadow pool until we leave at around lunch time; maybe we'll run into each other there

Mike and Sue from Ontario, Canada

We're debating the same thing. Make sure to join the official Christmas GG thread.

Thanks for the info on the thread - I hadn't even see it.  I've replied to it now but we'll be leaving before most are arriving

What a great idea.  Hadn't noticed the thread (and get togethers) until now.  We'll only be at FW from Dec 17 to Dec 20 so will miss you guys but I'll look for it in 2015!

Have fun!

That awesome.

What days will you be there?

Not quite sure yet.  We hadn't expected to be able to get a res over XMas so had planned on being there from around Dec16-Dec20 but to get the res, he made it longer and it's extending over XMas so now we might rethink our stay and spend XMas there.  Also depends what / when we can get elsewhere (we're planning on spending a week in the Fort Myers area as well)

Jason was able to get us a res last night and there appear to be more sites available (not sure if there was mass cancellations or if Disney just released a bunch of sites).  Good luck.

My wife just tried booking the Fort for a partial site January 17-20 MLK weekend and that Monday Tuesday, and it showed full.  But a notice popped up saying if you were a DVC or passholder to put your number in and click continue.

 

We aren't definitely going that weekend, but she thought she would see availability.  We had never seen that message pop up before.

Just like I checked for XMas, I decided to check during that weekend and similar to XMas week, the only resorts that are unavailable at that time are Grand Floridian Villas, Wilderness Lodge Villas, AK Villas and of course FW.  Basically, unless you specifically want a villa, every resort at DW is available except for FW.  IMO, this is yet another indication that there is enough support for a FW expansion ... (or that guests are possibly booking phantom reservations at FW to get onsite perks).

-- update --

Oops - put December instead of January in my search.  For that January weekend, the resorts that are unavailable are Pop Century, All-Star Movie, All-Star Sports, Contemporary Bay Lake Tower, AK Villas and FW.  (but still most of resorts are available except for FW).

Not sure if it happens or not but it is interesting that if I search for the period of time that we are looking at (Dec 15-Dec 18 (midweek) - only because that's the only one I think I might be able to get around XMas at this time of year), the only resorts at Disney that do not have any availability are Villas at Grand Floridian (which I suspect probably have limited number and there is availability at Grand Floridian Resort and Spa) and Fort Wilderness.  All other 25 resorts have availability. 

Also puts in perspective the argument that it's not worth expanding Fort Wilderness because of vacancies during the week - it's the only resort that actually says is completely full. 

And to elaborate a bit more, if I change the search to Xmas vacation week (Dec 20 to Dec 26), 21 of 27 resorts have capacity (full ones are Grand Floridian Villas, AK Villas, Wilderness Lodge Villas, Contemporary Resort, Bay Lake Tower at Contemporary Resort and of course FW (So really the only unavailable resorts are Contempory Resort and FW)) - the rest are available even during arguably the busiest week of the year.

I just read something that I thought might help explain why it can be so hard to get reservations on FW.  I think most of us have experienced the trouble of getting a reservation only to arrive at FW and notice there are tons of empty sites!

I was browsing another forum and noticed this advice to DW guests staying OFFSITE (paraphrasing)

Consider booking a reservation at Fort Wilderness to access advanced FP+, EMH.  Having a reservation (even if you don't plan on using it) will give you bracelets for up to 10 guests ...

I can see how this would be attractive to someone staying offsite.  For a group of 4+ staying offsite, spending an extra $75 / day probably isn't that big of a deal (especially since you'll get free parking for a couple of cars out of it).  Sucks for us trying to make a real reservations at the FW though ...

It might not seem like it would be enough to make an impact but based on a quick Google search, Disney World (all the parks together)  get well over 100k people visitors per day.  That's probably easily 25k families.  I'm not sure how many stay onsite but I'd actually be surprised if it was more than 10% but for the sake or arguement, let's say it was 40%.  That still leaves 15k families not staying on site.  Is is that much of a stretch to think that 1% would book a 'fake reservation' in order to get the onsite perks?  That would be 150 reservations (which will stay empty) ...  No idea what Disney could do to prevent that ...  This would also explain why it's so much harder getting a site on the weekend; it's not just that there are that many more people camping at the Fort on weekends (although I'm sure there are), it's that there's a whole lot more offsite guests trying to visit the DW who'd benefit from onsite perks ... (e.g. a family from Orlando might consider spending an extra $80 just to get 2 more hours at the park even if they have no desire to stay at the Fort).

We've gone to Lake Magic, Tropical Palms and Outdoor Resorts in the area.  My favority is Outdoor Resorts but as far as kid friendly (or at least, likelyhood of there being other kids there).  My choice would be Lake Magic (actually we'll probably be there with our kids around the dates you said unless we can find a spot at FW).  Tropical Palms is kid friendly as well but we prefer Lake Magic (not sure why actually so maybe Tropical Palms is okay!)

In case it's not clear from the other responses, I do not believe FW have an policy against leaving a trailer at your site (some campsites do). As long as it fits on the site, I believe you are fine.  We tow a dolly and sometimes leave it on the site (especially if the overflow is full) and we've never been asked to move it to overflow.

The only way to have available sites at any time is to increase the price until most cannot afford to pay that much and non of us want to pay more.

Disney could easily expand FW and add a loop or two (or five).  It's not as if it's only at XMas or around Spring Break or summer that sites are hard to get; it's year round.  I really have no idea how much it would cost them to add another loop but I'm sure they have the space and even if this new loop is only at 50% capacity for the year, I'm sure they would pay for it very quickly (50% capacity of an avg $90 / night is still $16k / year, spread that over 5-10 years and it's not hard for it to be profitable).  They could even easily add a new "Extra Large site loop (maybe with pull-throughs)" at $150 / night avg and I bet you that would be 85% booked for the year (85% capacity of an avg $150 / night would be $46k / year).  (Just so it's clear, that amount would be per site - if they add 30 sites, they'd make that times 30.  I'm not in contruction but I just don't see adding loop for costing over $500k-$1 million.  At that price, they would recoup the investment of my modest 50% occupancy loop in 1 or 2 years)

IMHO, I think Disney doesn't really care about FW.  The profit margin on it is good enough that it's not worth tearing down to build another premium resort but I wouldn't be surprised if that's the long, long term plan (leave FW as is without putting much into it until we really need the land and then we'll tear it down).  As it stands, I don't think they mind that it's often hard to make reservations as it makes people commit to making reservations far ahead of time.  Their cancellation policy is great (because the know it's likely going to be booked up again as fast as it's cancelled) but with sites being difficult to get, people will reserve for XMas one year out and once the reservation is done, it's less likely they'd cancel it than if they hadn't made the reservation to begin with.

I'll ask him if he still has space - how big of a vehicle are you looking at storing?

I checked and he's full up for the winter season.  FWIW, all I did was searched Craigslist for posts offering "parking" or "storage" in the area I wanted to be in and then emailed them.

Whoa, acronym overload.

I know what MCO is, but not SFB, and PIE sounds very intriguing. It wouldn't be apple PIE by any chance?

Oops, sorry, I'm in ticket booking mode these days so I just think airport codes!  DaveInTN is correct and it's for Orlando Intl (MCO), Sanford-Orlando (SFB) and St-Pete (PIE) (We also sometimes fly to / from Tampa Intl (TPA) but since we usually fly to St-Pete, we look for storage closer to that one (although they're not very far from each other).