Just for real honesty – it’s been quite a while since I’ve slept in a tent. As much as I loved the backwoods and the middle-of-the-night snuggles in sub-freezing temperatures, I now lean into sleeping on a real mattress with heat and air conditioning.
But if we were younger and could actually function after a night of sleeping on a squishy inflatable, these would be among our first picks for tent camping at Fort Wilderness. And every family needs to do it at least a few times.
In his new memoir just released this week, Walt’s Apprentice: Keeping the Disney Dream Alive (affiliate link), former Disney chairman and legend Dick Nunis covers a vast array of the magical years of the Disney Parks. And no wonder, he spent more than four decades with the company. He began as a summer employee at Disneyland in 1955, working under Walt Disney himself.
Unlike many other must-read books by Disney leaders, such as The Ride of a Lifetime by former Chairman Bob Iger, Nunis doesn’t skip over Fort Wilderness campground or simply give it a passing nod.
America’s favorite campground is by no means on the road less traveled. But there’s so darned much to do at Disney’s Fort Wilderness – some of it enchantingly obvious, and some of it a little more unknown except to us old-timers. Here’s our list of favorites. Continue reading “51 Fabulous Things to Do at Fort Wilderness” →
When October hits, I fall immediately into soup mode. I try (and discard) a lot of Disney recipes, and find that the soup ones are often winners. So this weekend I decided to try Epcot’s French Onion Soup from the old, award-winning Bistro de Paris. Continue reading “Ooh La La! Epcot Bistro de Paris French Onion Soup” →
(Updated from 2019). With Tropical Storm Nicole currently on the path to the Orlando area (around Thursday), it’s time to review what to kinda-sorta expect at Fort Wilderness. As for me, I’d be looking at Plan B right now, but that’s because I find even a heavy thunderstorm to be a bloody terror.
My stepmother, a solid Southern Baptist, used to tell me that those that were afraid of storms were afraid of going to hell. This didn’t help me much at the time (bless her heart), as every bolt of lightning turned into micro-second images of the devil himself. And when I was even younger, I used to beg the family to drive to Florida when a tornado was approaching. Continue reading “Hurricanes, Tornadoes and Scary Weather at Fort Wilderness – What to Know and Where to Go” →
One of the most magical things about Fort Wilderness is how campers and glampers go totally bonzo when it comes to decorations. You’ll read folks complaining about rising site prices in various groups (such as our Mouse Glamping Society), but then note that many people have thousands invested in their multiple inflatables, homemade haunted mansions, and life-sized Cinderella coaches. Continue reading “8 Things to Know About Decorating Your Campsite at Fort Wilderness” →
Just as soon as those peaches start to ripen in the summer months in the South, you can almost smell the peach cobblers rising in the ovens. Waiting nearby is a bucket of homemade or Mayfield vanilla ice cream. The thing is Georgia’s best dessert is also it’s the easiest. Continue reading “Nothing Says August in the South Like Georgia Peach Cobbler” →
Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground and Resort has recently significantly changed policies regarding reservations during its most popular times. These now appear to include Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. Continue reading “Getting Holiday Reservations at Fort Wilderness Has Changed: The Good, the Bad and The Ugly” →
Earlier this week, our favorite chipmunks finally returned to the nightly Campfire Show at Disney’s Fort Wilderness. Some had almost given up hope that Fort activities would ever rebound post-covid, but lately the enchanted swampland is once again filled with song and dance. Continue reading “Nightly Magic Returns to Fort Wilderness: Tips for Chip ‘N’ Dale’s Campfire Show” →
Even though it can feel as though getting a reservation at Disney’s Fort Wilderness is nearly impossible, this is only true for a few weeks of the year. As Disney has shifted its pricing models, no longer is summer necessarily among the most crowded times. In fact, the Fort can be astonishingly quiet (except for weekends) in the last weekdays of July. And Fort crowds do not necessarily correlate to park crowds. For example, there are snowbirds who spend weeks in Fort Wilderness in the winter. Likewise, the Fort has become (somewhat unfortunately) one of the hottest places to be in all of Florida on Halloween. Continue reading “Fort Wilderness by the Month and 2023 Crowd Calendar” →
