After we bought our motorhome last February, camping at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground has been my #1 camping destination goal. Camping there during the Christmas Season was the cherry on top of the sundae!
Camping during Iowa’s hot weather gets 👎🏻👎🏻 from me, so I knew camping in Florida’s heat would be a big NO. We also knew that driving down from Iowa would require significantly more time than flying, like we usually do.
After taking into consideration my husband’s vacation options, we decided that early November would be our best bet. When I realized that would put us at Walt Disney World during the Christmas festivities, I was more than just a little excited.
Departure
We decided we didn’t want to power-drive to Orlando, so we left Iowa on October 27 and took our time getting to Florida, spending some time in the Great Smoky Mountains and Savannah, Georgia, before arriving at Fort Wilderness Campground.
Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground Premium Meadows
I had reserved a Premium Meadow site, and we ended up in campsite 852. It was on the inside end of the loop, so we had a nice, big, open area on one side without anyone next to us.
Behind us were lots of trees and a big open area filled with pine straw, which turned out to be a great place to take Penny Puppy for her potty breaks.
The Fort is situated in the middle of a cypress and pine forest, and this was one of the things I liked most about this resort. It was so nature-y with lots of wildlife. It smelled heavily of pine! The campsites had more privacy, especially in the premium meadow loops, because there was foliage in between each spot.
Golf Cart
Since Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground is so large (750 acres filled with 800 campsites and 400 cabins), a golf cart is a must. Some people bring their own, but you can also rent them directly from the Fort.
They do have internal buses, but let me tell you, a golf cart is the way to go. It gives you the freedom to get around without having to wait for buses, plus the loops are large, so even after getting dropped off by a bus on the main road, it can still be quite a walk to your campsite.
We used our cart to drive to the boat or bus each day for travel to the parks, to shop at the Trading Posts, to visit the campfire sing-a-long, the pools, the restaurants, the beach, the laundry room, and just to drive the loops looking at all the Christmas decorations.
Also, since so many people rent golf carts from the Fort, they all look alike. That’s one reason why decorating your cart is a thing here. Plus, it’s fun!
We went pretty simple with ours, but wow, there were some carts that were all out!
I made the Mickey Christmas wreath for the front of our cart. Easy DIY!
Christmas Campsite Decor
Since we were coming from Iowa, we didn’t have room for much Christmas decor, but let me tell you, one of my favorite things about the Fort was how so many people decorated their sites!
Penny Puppy loved riding around in the cart, too!
Although our site wasn’t as elaborate, we did enjoy our color-changing solar lights and camping string lights. Plus, we had a cute little Disney-themed tree inside.
Trail’s End Restaurant
Another thing that was nice about Fort Wilderness Campsites is the on-site restaurants. We loved having our motorhome so that we could prepare our own food, but sometimes it was nice to have the option of a nearby restaurant, too.
Trail’s End is a quick-service restaurant offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On our first night, after getting our campsite set up, we grabbed a “Settlement Skillet” dinner and brought it back to the RV to share.
On one of our “sleep-in” mornings, we brought breakfast back to the RV. I had the traditional Mickey waffles and bacon, and Mark had biscuits and gravy. Both were good.
Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue Show & Dinner
The Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue is a popular dinner show that requires reservations in advance. Since it is located at the campground (people come from all over the Disney resorts to eat here), I knew it was a must for us. I booked our reservations right at the 60-day mark when my dining reservation window opened.
I laughed when they showed us to our table, because we were literally right in front of the stage!
The show was cute and the food was pretty good. They serve a family-style, all-you-care-to-eat BBQ meal. If I recall correctly, it included salad, coleslaw, ribs, fried chicken, mac & cheese, cowboy beans, and cornbread. Drinks were also included with bottomless refills. Mark had some kind of beer, and I had the red sangria. Both came with a carafe to continue refilling our drinks.
Tri-Circle-D Ranch
The stables where all the working horses of Walt Disney World live is located at The Fort Wilderness Campground.
Cinderella’s Ponies, the horses that pull the wagon on Main Street in Magic Kingdom, live here. There are also horses here for trail rides, carriage rides, sleigh rides, and wagon rides!
How lucky are these horses to have such a beautiful home and be cared for so well? Penny Puppy was enthralled.
Twelve Days
We stayed at The Fort Wilderness Campsites & Resort for a total of 12 days. Honestly, it still wasn’t quite enough! There’s so much to do and enjoy at the campground/resort in addition to all the parks that we still didn’t manage to do everything I wanted to do.
The Fort has a cult-like following, with many people who come back every year, even multiple times per year, and stay for weeks at a time.
Perhaps we will make it back again someday. ❤️ Maybe this will be my “snow-bird” plan. 🤣
PS. We attended both the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party and Jollywood Nights during this trip. I will plan to tell you all about those in a separate post. Stay tuned!
Let’s stay in touch! You can subscribe to The House on Silverado, and follow on social media, so you won’t miss a thing!
Facebook —– Instagram —– Pinterest
This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog.
This is amazing! I had no idea this existed (not being a camper), and it looks like so much fun. Disney always does up everything in such a fun way. Visiting from the Love Your Creativity linkup.
Jennifer, I’ve always been a big Disney fan, but never thought much about their campground since we’ve never own an RV until recently. We loved it so much! Thanks for stopping by–glad you found your way here. :-)
This looks like such a fun spot to spend some time leading up to the holidays! Everything is so festive and cheery! It really is a magical place, isn’t it?
It was so much better than I even expected!