Fort Wilderness: Disney Magic or Expensive Money Trap? | Ep. 51

Join Dan and Melina as they dive into the iconic Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground at Walt Disney World. From premium amenities and serene nature vibes to recent policy changes sparking controversy, we break down everything you need to know. Is it worth the cost? How does it cater to both Disney diehards and "non-Disney" campers? And can big rigs truly navigate this campground with ease? Tune in for a balanced look at the pros, cons, and must-know tips for your next magical camping getaway! 

Transcript

Melina
Hello everyone and welcome to the RV Canucks podcast where we bring part-time RV adventures to life. Whether you're a weekend warrior or just dreaming of your next escape, we're here to inspire, inform, and entertain. This week Dan and I are trading snowy highways for sunny Florida skies as we dive into Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort at Walt Disney World Resort, from world-class amenities to rustic charm, we'll explore whether this iconic RV destination lives up to the hype, the premium price tag, and the long drive from Canada. Plus, do you really need to be a Disney Super fan to enjoy the magic stick around as we break it all down for you? 

45s

Dan 

Hi everybody, my name's Dan. We're gonna talk about Walt Disney World Fort Wilderness Campground today. And we really do think this is one of the places you should hit the road and go see. 

53s

Melina 

So Fort Wilderness is 750 acres of Pine and Cyprus forests. It offers nearly 800 campsites and over 400 cabins, which we'll talk about a little bit later. So there's sort of five classes of campsite in Fort Wilderness. It is very wilderness, I guess like it's less of a, you know, asphalt parking lot style pull through KOA type RV park. So you do get that feeling of, you know, the trees and being kind of very kind of private and in the wilderness, which is great. But there's sort of five classes of campsite that are within the campground. So you've got like tents slash pop-up sites, which are, you know, fairly small, have a good pad to put a tent. 

1m 35s

Melina 

You have full hookup sites, you have preferred, you have premium and you have Meadows premium. So we'll give a brief overview of the different classes and a couple of notes on, I guess maneuverability we would call it. 'cause there are some loops I would say, and Dan would certainly say that are a little bit tighter depending on the size of your rig tent and popup sites. Those are loops 1,502 thousands. They're about 10 by 25 feet total. So they have kind of a dirt, sort of like sandy area to set up your tent. The rest of the sites are either, you know, gravel or asphalt. So they have power, water, cable, internet, no sewer. 

2m 15s

Melina 

Those prices used to be like amazing, but people kind of miss started to misuse those. And I think Disney is really good at picking up on when people are using their price setup to their own advantage. And so prices have actually raised on those sites, you know, because people would book these really, really cheap sites and just so that they could get early access to what we used to call FastPass, which is now Lightning Lane reservations, where If you stay on site, you get to kind of book pre-book some rides in advance and people wouldn't even like show up and stay in the campsite. They would just pay whatever the campsite was and kind of take advantage of that. And Disney kind of picked up on that. So they did the race, the prices for that. So I did a bunch of pricing when we're talking about staying at all of these sites and it's just based on two adults and two kids above the age of 10. 

3m 0s

Melina 

'cause that's when Disney kind of considers you an adult for like the pricing structure. So I just kind of wanted to give the basis If you have kids younger than that and it would be a little bit different pricing for, for tickets and parks and whatnot. But the tent and pop-up sites are $89 depending on when you're staying. But they do have like stay more deals. They have Canadian discount deals throughout the year and you can usually get them for around, you know, $73 a night, which is, which is still pretty reasonable. So full hookup sites next. So those are loops, 1600 to 1900, those are double the length of the tent and popup sites, they're 10 by 50 feet and you get cable, water, sewer and power. So these sites are actually the furthest from the marina and the meadows. 

3m 43s

Melina 

They're quiet, they're about 20% cheaper than the preferred sites. And you can get one RV in like one tent, whether that's a tent for people to sleep in or like a dining tent on on the pad. And they run about 120 US dollars a night. 

3m 56s

Dan 

And I would say those are a really good option If you are hardcore going to the park. Like if you're going when the park opens, till the park closes and you're watching the last firework from Main Street Disney, that's a good choice because you're not in your site too much of the day. Right. 

4m 12s

Melina 

And I mean even If you are, I think there's, you know, it's quiet enough that you kind of get that camping experience. 

4m 17s

Dan 

Oh and you do. And you've got lots of tree cover and it's a nice place to relax and you've got your own kind of belongings and your familiarities with you. Yeah, 

4m 27s

Melina 

So we stayed in full hookups last time we were there and we'll talk about kind of the challenges of, of maneuvering the trailer within that loop a little bit later. But I just kind of wanna finish the, the overview of the site so we kind of have an idea of what we're working with here. So the next step on the list is preferred campsite. So those are the, I guess the third most expensive. Those are loops, 100, 200 and 300. And they are close to both the marina, which is where you can take the boats to other, a couple other Disney resorts and Magic Kingdom. And they are close to Pioneer Hall, which is kind of the main dining building and trails and restaurant, the trading post and the beach, which is also obviously down at the marina. So it's, it's gonna give you really, really easy access to getting to all of the major amenities in the parks. 

5m 8s

Melina 

Those are about 45 feet long and 10 feet wide. So about the same as the full hookup sites. And you are lag one RV and one tent. The pads are a little bit narrower. I think this, this kind of preferred campsite is kind of like that, like squishy middle between like your super premium and the full hookups. Those run about 129 US a nights only $9 more than the full hookup sites. So finally the last two are the premium cam sites and the Meadows premium sites. So those are, they're larger, they're designed for big rigs. They have concrete pads which are like 18 by 60 feet. Again, you have all of the power, water, sewer, cable, internet get upgraded picnic tables and you actually get grills on the sites with the premium campsites. 

5m 51s

Melina 

So premium are loops, 1300 and 1000, those are $140 US a night. And then we have the Meadows premium sites. So those are loops 600, 800, 900, 1400. And so those just got constructed or, or kind of debuted in 2020. We repurposed, I guess is the right phrase. So they offer close proximity to Meadows campfire show trading posts. So they're just kind of like smattered about, and those are like what you would call the location, location, location site. So like maybe If you were in Fort Wilderness and you like were not renting a golf cart, that would be a good splurge to stay in the sites where you can actually walk to get places. 

6m 32s

Melina 

There is an internal bus that runs around the campground, but the campground is huge. But if budgeting for like a golf cart rental isn't in your budget or you just have like pedal bikes, then that's probably a great location based place you can stay. Do we want to talk about check-in? 

6m 47s

Dan 

So check-in, like I think the way I like to describe this to people is to visualize your pulling off the road, you know, the main highway that brings you to the campground. You're gonna drive down a nice paved wide road. You're gonna come to a series of booths that are, you know, kind of gut a Disney theme to them. You're gonna feel like you're driving into the front gates of the fort. You're gonna pull up, you're gonna put your window down and you know, guest services is gonna come out and they're, you're already gonna have a reservation. They're going to, you know, confirm your reservation, what you have. You're gonna turn your engine off, you're going to get, this is the part that I'm trying to impart with everybody. You're gonna get all the information that you need when you speak to this person. You're not getting out to go in to register. 

7m 28s

Dan 

Nobody's waiting in the car with the kids. Well one person goes in and gets half the story, everybody gets the whole story at the front gate. And then you're gonna know when you leave that place, you are going to know where your campsite is and then you're gonna, you know, continue on. You're gonna, If you have a a, a towed behind you like a car on the back of your class A or your class C, there's a little area where you can pull off and disconnect that before you get to your campsite. But, but when you leave this place, you are headed to your campsite to go set up really super like customer centric. Very easy, very friendly to answer every single question. You're not rushed. And for the times that we've been there, we, we haven't had a lineup ever. We just pulled right up and got right out. 

8m 9s

Melina 

Yeah, I would also mention to you, when you're actually booking these sites, there's always like Disney allows you to make like, you know, requests when you, when you make a booking you can request like, you know, after you book a site you can request a specific loop. You may or may not get it. There's no guarantee. I think often booking just like kind of the class site you want, like we're gonna book premium, we're gonna book, you know, full hookup whatever it is that you book and leave it up to fate because I think that can actually help you out because if there's no availability, you can get an upgrade If you, you know, request a specific loop or whatever and like it just kind of ties you in. It gives a little more freedom at the gate. And we've certainly experienced that the first time we went there. 

8m 49s

Dan 

Yeah, the first time we went there was in the summer we pulled in with the girls. We had a reservation. We were expecting to get, you know, kind of the full hookup, preferred level campsite. The guy flipped out a map, said this is your reservation, we have lots of availability, just point on the map where you want to be. And so visualizing the map and you're having this conversation with him, you now know where the pool is, you know where the trading post is, you know where the bus stops are. And then we picked a better campsite with a, you know, higher level of service right near all of those amenities that were important to us. And it didn't cost us extra money. We paid for what our original booking was. 

9m 24s

Melina 

Yeah. So disclaimer that doesn't happen often. It doesn't happen a lot. It's what we call pixie dusting if you're, if you're familiar with Disney. But certainly just because we left our options open, you know, we were able to have this conversation, it was like, you know what, yeah, yeah, we're not so 

9m 37s

Dan 

Busy here. And if you're pulling in on peak season, if it's like a long weekend, it's probably not gonna happen. But they don't, our experiences that they didn't shoehorn us into a site just because, yeah. 

9m 48s

Melina 

Real quick before we get into some of like the experiences in the park, I wanna talk a bit about the amenities because the amenities are, you know, pretty in depth. Some of them are free, some of them are paid and we'll talk about that also. But again, you know, you've got several class of accommodation. You've even got, you know, cabin options if that's something that you're looking into. Both regular cabin rentals and kind of the DVC program. Cabin rentals, you've got swimming pools, you've got fishing, you've got horseback riding, you can go canoeing and kayaking. You have the hoop to do musical review, which is sort of a premium dining experience. All you can eat musical cabaret buffet. I think, you know, in the last 11 years since we've been going to Disney, it was probably one of the highlights for both the kids and ourselves. 

10m 32s

Melina 

I highly recommend everybody do it once, If you can budget it. It's, it's, it's a premium package. I can't remember how much it is now, but it was, it was fantastic for an evening out and there's nightly campfire sing-alongs with Chippendale, got the trails end restaurant and quick service, which is just kind of hearty, fair, you know, like think cornbread and beans and like great like just down home cooking, If you don't feel like cooking at your site, you know, there's, there's a bunch of quick service options throughout the site. You've got pools, you've got basketball courts, like you can ride your bike 'cause like there's a, everything that you would expect in like, you know, a KOA holiday, like full service, you know, playgrounds, all of that kind of stuff is available there. So if, if going to the parks and like isn't either not in your budget or not in your interest level, there's so many things you can do even within the campground without leaving the campground to kind of satisfy that need for a lot of activity. 

11m 22s

Melina 

And we'll talk about some other free things that you can do like outside of the campground but within Disney property that you might wanna look at if you're not too keen on kind of like a bunch of park days. I wanna talk a little bit about some policy changes as it relates to, well just new policies as it relates to having guests in the campground and golf cart rentals and golf cart rentals. You're gonna hear as mention a couple of times 'cause I think they're an important topic that we do want to talk about. But in June of this year actually Fort Wilderness implemented new policies about guests bringing their own golf carts. So they have to present proof of insurance with minimum liability limits. So I think they're either a hundred thousand or 300,000 and they have to assign an agreement and a waiver. 

12m 2s

Melina 

I think this is just a case of like, you know, legal kills everything, right? Like I think this is probably a case where perhaps they had an incident where somebody brought their own golf cart and now we have this policy. And so if you're bringing your own golf cart, a lot of people are super unhappy about that rule. They don't wanna have to provide proof of insurance for their golf cart. The, the other option is to rent their golf carts on site. But I think a lot of people are kind of viewing this as a cash grab. So I don't know, you let us know, comment, send some message and let us know what you think. But the other change that's really important is that Disney doesn't allow third party rentals of golf carts anymore. So you used to be able to rent a golf cart for perhaps a little bit of a cheaper price than Disney would offer. They were allowed to drop it off at the campground and then that service would pick it up when you leave. 

12m 44s

Melina 

And that is no longer allowed. 

12m 45s

Dan 

So I'll just say from our most recent trip this summer, we do not own a golf cart. We don't go in any campground with a golf cart. We've gotten a golf cart both times at Disney and it's been really easy to get the Disney golf cart. It's clean, it works. The check-in is really friendly, easier than getting a car at the airport. When you rent a car, 

13m 4s

Melina 

The speed is governed so you can't go too fast. 

13m 7s

Dan 

You your, your kids can't go too fast. 

13m 9s

Melina 

Well your kids have to show their ID if they're going to drive. So that's also an important point too. They, they will crack down on that. No kiddos driving the golf carts in Disney. I think If you look recently, very recently at say Google reviews for Disney Sport wilderness resorts, you're gonna see a lot more like one and two stars than you ever have before. I don't think that speaks to the amenities of the park or like the quality of the park. It's more speaking to the fact that like If you actually read the comments, people are pretty pod about this change and people don't like change in general. So I think that's kind of reflective of like why we're seeing this in this, this new drop in in ratings. 

13m 42s

Dan 

But I'd also counter that and I would say first of all, when you get there, like you will note that we haven't talked about water hookups or sewer or electrical, anything like that because air's never a problem. It's not even worth talking about because it's tip top when all of those kind of logistical services are are are going on. But me going to the park, it's nice to know that the people that are in the campground are the people that are supposed to be in the campground and we just, it hasn't turned into a huge party park of people piggybacking their friends in. Yeah. So I do appreciate that. Yeah. Will Disney probably pivot and find a way to be better about it? For sure. And that's what Disney does. They pivot all the time to make the experience better. So there's pros and cons to this whole policy change. 

14m 24s

Melina 

Yeah, for sure. So before we actually talk about other free stuff to do on property, I think, do we wanna talk about maneuvering RVs? 'cause I think that's probably a good one. You know, like it is big rig friendly, don't get me wrong. But I think because of propensity of Disney visitors to like have a lot of like, there's a lot a culture for regulars to have a lot of like inflatable Disney characters on the ends of their site. Like right at the curb stop and like it kind of narrows the roadway a little bit bit in some loops. So I'll, we will give the example of the the, so we just stayed in the full hookup site this summer because it was sort of a last minute booking and I mean I'll let you to kind of take away the challenges that we had there. 

15m 2s

Dan 

Yeah, so the, maybe the roadways do feel a little bit narrower now. I will qualify everything to say when we book a site, we book an appropriate size site for our trailer. We don't, you know, we have a 29 foot trailer, a F-150 with a crew cab in a six and a half foot box. And when we punch it in, we don't underestimate what we're bringing so we get an appropriate size site. The roads can feel a little bit narrower when you're going down because people put decorations right out to the edge and you know, if you're just passing past the site, you're gonna go Sloane, it's not gonna be a problem. When we pulled in this time, we did have to ask the person across the road from us to move their truck and it was specifically because if you've ever backed in a trailer, you know that the front of the vehicle swings out. 

15m 44s

Dan 

And so your ground guide is always worried about the back end and nobody ever thinks about the driver and, and the front end and you know, is there a garbage can in the way a post whatever. In this particular case, a person had a vehicle, right, like right at the very front of their campsite. And so I had to get out and go and knock on their trailer door and ask them to kind of move their vehicle just for, for a little bit of extra caution. Could I have probably gotten in if they had not answered the door? Probably it would've been a little bit longer, it would've probably been a little bit more frustrating, but I think we probably would've gotten in. So when you look at a lot of reviews and people say that it's tight. Yeah it's a little bit tight, but we've also been to lots of other parks where it's a little bit tight too and everybody listening to this podcast doesn't stop going to those parks either. 

16m 30s

Dan 

So that's just part of the RV lifestyle. But you'll get into your site and Disney's got great customer service so I have no doubt that If you absolutely could not get in, they would remedy the situation. 

16m 40s

Melina 

Yeah, for sure. I think that's a good point. I think, you know, in this case it was kind of like that double folded, like I think the guy was having a nap when you knocked on his 

16m 47s

Dan 

Street, but he, he was, he was fast asleep. 

16m 50s

Melina 

So there's that and because like the inflatables, like multiple cars on sites, like all of these things, like tho these are artificial barriers, right? So you will book a site and you say, okay, it's fine, it's 10 by 50 feet, you know, there's obviously a lot of turning radius on the road, but when people put up these artificial barriers, it can create a challenge which may be there, it may not be there, right? And I think in this particular case too, when we rolled up like the, the, the campground next to us, they were a bit of a, they were having a great time. They were, they were playing cornhole on our site and then like as we started, you know how everyone just kind of gathers around and stops there and crosses their arms and grabs their beer and watches you back in, right? So you also don't want the people who are like, like moving back and forth. 

17m 28s

Dan 

People, people are always up for a good spectacle of a backend to see if a marriage is gonna make it through the next 10 minutes or so. But like the boring part of RV lifestyle, let's be honest, what time of the day are you checking in? Are you pulling in at seven o'clock, eight o'clock, nine o'clock at night after a long day when you're really tired and it's a little bit dark and it's hard to see or are you pulling in when the campground just emptied out? Check-ins have just opened and there's lots to move around. All of those boring little things that people like me think about and want to, and say, Hey we gotta wrap up this rest stop sooner 'cause dad wants to get there at a particular time. Those are things that all play into it, but that, that doesn't stop you from going to your favorite provincial park, state Park or anywhere else for that matter. 

18m 10s

Dan 

So I wouldn't say that this is a reason to, you know, look at your husband or wife in the car right now and say we're never going there. 

18m 18s

Melina 

Yeah, and I would say If you want a really good visual representation, because we don't have any video and we tend not to video our back ends, but one of our American creator friends, if, if anybody is aware of the shin paws, they have a class, a very large class, a bus and they have a video from Halloween where they went to Fort Wilderness and you can actually see a visual representation of them having to get out and move some things and scraping a tree and and having some really tight corners. So if you wanna see what that looks like, you can have a look. But, but you can also see in that video, like there are, there is a lot of room, there's a lot of maneuverability I just mentioned that as like people love to put up flowables there so it can get in the way 

18m 55s

Dan 

And we have a 29 foot trailer, nobody ever, well I'm sure it's on there. So somebody will get in the comments and say I'm wrong, but I have yet to see anybody post a review about I couldn't get my 23 foot, my 20 foot trailer into my campsite. It's, I had trouble with my 29, my 32, my 42, my 45 foot, yeah. Long thing. Those are even, I don't have some of those problems. 

19m 16s

Melina 

Yes, okay. So I think we've, we've beaten that subject to death, but something to be aware of. So is Fort Wilderness worth the price? Okay, so I think the value of staying at Fort Wilderness and some of you may have been listening to the prices per night earlier and going, oh my gosh, that's, that's insane. I would never play that, pay that. But I think it's individual preference, I think it's what you value for included amenities. I think you do get a really unique blend of camping and Disney experiences, really good amenities, activities. The facilities are always darn clean. Like, I mean you just have that Disney standard of like customer or guest experience that I think is really important. Yes, the prices are higher other than, or compared to other campgrounds in the area, you have some additional fees for some amenities, you have policy changes that may or may not affect your overall experience depending on, you know, how you feel about them. 

20m 6s

Melina 

But I would say especially even if you're doing like one park day, I think it's super worth it. One because you get the benefit of booking some lightning lanes. Two, because, and I'll use kind of, I'll overlay this on like a hotel experience. We talked extensively, we have traveled with people to Disney World and they stay offsite because they're like, oh well it's cheaper, I can, I can stay for, you know, $50 cheaper a night offsite, so we're gonna do that. Usually they have kids, usually their kids are young. So I would say, you know, and it's the same thing with the campground. It's like, let's use Magic Kingdom as an example. Usually the fireworks are eight, nine o'clock at night, you know, the park is still kind of closing down after that. It's still usually opening for another hour after the fireworks. People are flooding out of that park. 

20m 47s

Melina 

Once those, that firework show is o over, If you have tired kids, you have kids that you know just really need to get to bed. If you are staying at a property offsite and let's say you're staying at a, at a campground in the area, so what you're doing then is you're flooding out, you're waiting for a, a ferry which you may or may not get on and If you miss it, you have to wait for the next one. That ferry is gonna truck you over to the Ticket and Transportation Center where you're gonna get on a tram and you're gonna go through and depending on where you are parked in that parking lot, that tram has to drop you off at your car. Then you have to join the loads of people who are driving out of the park at night, kind of get on the road, get back to your campground. So you are easily adding another hour to an hour and a half commute after you have already done a full day and everybody is done. 

21m 31s

Melina 

Whereas If you are staying at the campground and Magic Kingdom fireworks are finished, you walk out the gate, you get in line for a boat, which yes you may have to wait for a boat If you miss that, but you get on one boat in 10 minutes, it drops you off at the dock at the campground, you hop in your golf cart, you go back to your site, you're in bed, 

21m 48s

Dan 

Is one of the quicker commutes to Magic Kingdom. I'll give a real life example to articulate this. You're fully serviced by the Disney transportation system with buses to the other parks and Disney Springs and, and what have you. Pretty common in our family that somebody usually me and Isla need to come back for a bit of a break in the middle of the day and have a nap or cool down or maybe we're, we're just done, we've had enough of the park, we're ready to go back. Molina and Fiona will party till the, you know, till they kick out, till they're the last two people out of the gate. A and so that's really convenient because we can all get the vacation that we want because we're really close and being the guy who nips outta the park and goes for a break, I can tell you that that's one of the shorter commutes to the magic kingdom. 

22m 32s

Dan 

So it's, it's good that way and now especially that the kids are into their teenage years now it's mom and dad going back early and the kids are staying out. Right. But it's, it's really convenient to hit the parks 

22m 42s

Melina 

For sure. Let's say for as much as people are tending to say, you know, Disney's losing its magic, they're nickel and dimming people, we still think there's some great ways to enjoy a stay at the resort that doesn't cost a dime. So we'll talk about a couple of them and one of them actually they've debuted for 2025, which we just took advantage of, you know, two days ago and I think it is really worth it. But first, okay so the Chippendale campfire sing along, I talked about that earlier. You get an evening of songs, you get marshmallow roasting, it's great for small kids and you're around a big bonfire and it also concludes with like a Disney movie under the Stars. So Disney does this thing at all of their resort properties while the weather's good and they'll set up a big screen and give you blankets and you sit on the ground and, or you can even bring your camp chairs from your site at the campground I guess. 

23m 24s

Melina 

And you watch a Disney movie under the Stars, you can view the fireworks for Magic Kingdom at the docks at the marina and they actually pipe in the music that they play in the Magic Kingdom on the dock. So you could stand along the dock at the campground and watch the fireworks, which I think is a really enjoyable way. Dan much prefers that he does not like the crowds, he does not like doing fireworks at the castle. So although you don't see the projections that are on the castle, you see the fireworks and you have all of the music and everything and it's, it's kind of a really a special thing just to have all of these families and they've got their hot chocolates and they're standing on the beach or on the dock and watching the fireworks. 

24m 0s

Dan 

If you're not into crowds and downtown, or pardon me, I'm dating myself with downtown Disney, you know, main Street USA in the park, shoulder to shoulder and then have to fight your way through the crowds to get on the bus or the boat to get back it. You have just as much fun. I have just as much fun. I know that Molina's more hardcore Disney than I am, but we both have an enjoyable experience. Yeah. 

24m 23s

Melina 

Okay, so the electrical water pageant, this is something that's been going on forever. It's super hokey, it's cute, it's got like the best music you've ever seen. They have this electrical water pageant, which is just a bunch of like barges with lights on them that float around Bay Lake including in front of the campground and it's, it's just an illuminated bit of nostalgia. I love it so much. So keep your eye out for that. So Tri Circle D Ranch, there is a ranch right at, or sorry, right at the campground and they house the horses that actually pull the, the buggies up and down Magic Kingdom and use them in the parades. That's where they live. So you can actually go and visit the stables and see and pet some of those horses. Learn about the care of the animals can also book trail rides though those ones come at $65 a person, which actually given what we paid to go trail riding and Banff, you know, in the summer back in 20 21, 65 bucks is, is pretty even with the exchange rate is about what we paid to take everyone trail riding and bam. 

25m 20s

Melina 

So you know, that is a little bit of an add-on, but just going to visit the horses is free of charge. So there is nature trails, you can do a wildlife spotting, you can hike, you can bike, there's deer, there's rabbits, there's you know, all manner of birds there. We've seen, we've seen a lot of deer and they're quite small like they're actually pretty tiny. It's kind of neat to see compared to what we would expect in Canada. So there's a lot of scavenger hunts, outdoor games. Disney will usually have boards at the, at the buildings, at the pools that let you know what's going on, what kind of activities you can participate in them. A lot of them are free, some of them might be paid like I think, you know, there's been like tie dye t-shirt things. You might have to pay a fee If you want a tie dye t-shirt just for the cost of the shirt or whatever. 

26m 0s

Melina 

But it's just a fun way to kind of just engage, explore the grounds and you know, do something as a family which is good older kids you can even let them go off and do, you know, a scavenger hunt by themself and you know, it's a relatively secure safe environment for them to do that. Resort Transportation I consider a free activity. Dan and I were just went there after going to the Florida RV super show. So yesterday we were riding the Skyliner at Disney just because we had some time to kill and we didn't wanna spend any money. So you have boats, you have monorails, you have the skyliner, I'll give you an example of things that can turn into lifelong memories just because you've rode free transportation. And that's when we went there to Fort Wilderness for ALA's birthday a couple of years ago, or I guess a number of years ago now she was 11 and Fiona wasn't feeling well. 

26m 46s

Melina 

So Dan and Fiona stayed back at the campground and Isla and I, we took the boat to Magic Kingdom and then we took the monorail to the Polynesian because Isla wanted a doll whip pineapple doll whip, which they sell at the Polynesian. So we went after dinner, she had her little Mickey ears on, we got our pineapple dole whip and then we decided, well instead of taking the monorail back to Magic Kingdom, let's take the boat. The timing of this was incredible. We got on this little tiny little ferry boat that takes you over to the Magic Kingdom. We had to stop in the middle of the lake and wait because they pause all boat traffic during the fireworks. We were the only two people on the boat and we got to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the middle of the lake, just us and the captain of the boat. And it was like the coolest experience. I still think about it, I know she still remembers it. 

27m 27s

Melina 

So little things like that happen when you just, you know, are out and about riding around. So I think that's, that's something that's, that's pretty incredible. And okay, so something I'm really excited about and this one is actually worth a lot of money. So the final thing we'll talk about is in 2025, If you are considering to go the day you check into your resort and there's a number of resorts that are included, the Fort Wilderness is one and most of the resort hotels also, but on the day you check in you get free entry to either one of the, the Disney water parks. Sometimes one of them is closed for maintenance. They, they tend to alternate them. Sometimes they're both open. You don't even have to check in to the campsite. You can roll up to Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon and the parking lots are huge. 

28m 9s

Melina 

And there, there was an RV in the parking lot of Blizzard Beach this time when we went. So you can just park at the back of the parking lot If you haven't checked in yet. And all you have to do is go straight to the gate and you don't even have to check in. They let you in, they confirm your reservation. For us, we had our magic bands that we have had from previous trips. So if you have those, hang onto them 'cause you can scan it. If you link it with your my Disney Link experience, they already know you're checking in that day. So we just scanned our band and we got in and we hopped in the Lazy River and we had a great time. What's great about that is, you know, if for a family of four that's like a 300 and do $20 us visit, like that's $79 a person to get in that park into any either one of the water parks, right? So that is, to me a really tangible benefit that's kind of akin to what Disney used to offer years and years ago just to kind of entice people to come. 

28m 56s

Melina 

So I think that's a really great use, especially you know, If you are beholden by the school schedule like we are and you're going in July or August when it is like hot, hot, hot. Being able to, to have a free visit to a waterpark for a day is just unbelievable. 

29m 11s

Dan 

And you know what, you could even think about this another way. You're gonna show up, you're gonna do the waterpark, maybe somebody's gonna go back and set up the trailer or the RV and your older kids are gonna stay at the waterpark until it closes and they can hop on the bus and go back to the campground and meet you there because it's serviced by bus transportation. Yeah. 

29m 29s

Melina 

Oh, and you know what, I didn't mention Disney Springs. Disney Springs is like the shopping mall Dan called Downtown Disney, which used it used to be called years ago. And Disney Springs is somewhere that you can go with your family. It's a, it's basically an outdoor shopping mall, right? But there's a lot of, there's a Lego store there, there's a huge Disney store there, can walk around, you can grab lunch. They have their own drone show in the summer. That is really cool to see. They have live events, they have a couple of stages where they have performers. So it's a great place that you can just kind of go in a day or an evening walk around doesn't, and it doesn't cost you a dime. You just hop on a bus from the campground and they, they drop you off right at the gate. 

30m 2s

Dan 

Yeah. And you know what, the other thing maybe is we're bringing this up to a close, like boring rv logistical Disney dad stuff is like, there's a huge overflow parking lot at Fort Wilderness where If you brought your golf cart in on a trailer, you can go drop it and that kind of stuff. Go in, talk to them, let 'em know what you're trying to do. We do own a Disney timeshare and one of the selling features when we bought that was they said, listen, you can bring your trailer down and you can use, you know, the campground and then you could go and use an RV resort. So this summer we actually parked the trailer at Saratoga Springs. We drove the trailer right in the front gate, right up where the bus gets you off and they said, Hey, no problem, go park it between the tennis courts and the river that opens out into Disney Springs. 

30m 42s

Dan 

And that was a really nice free feature. So, and, and it's a way, a great way on a trip if you've been on the road for a few nights or a week, go in, check into a resort for a little bit and do some laundry and rest up and have a shower and then get back in. Like you don't have to stay in the trailer a hundred percent of your RV trip. 

31m 3s

Melina 

Yeah, and we probably should have started the episode with that. The reason we're talking about fault rule Inness on this episode is because we did hit it on our way home from Key West, right? So, you know, Fiona and her boyfriend, they had to fly home for work. It was so it was just us and Isla and you have, you know, a 16-year-old who's bored, they're gonna have a long drive home with mom and dad. So it's like, what can we do? Where can we stop to kind of make it fun? So that's why we chose Fort Wilderness and then we did add that onto the Saratoga Springs so that we could shower, we could have some great air conditioning, we could just kind of, you know, have a bit of a resort experience for her as well. Let us know what you think. Have you been there? Do you plan on going, share your experiences and tips with us on our social media channels? You can find us on TikTok, you can find us on Instagram at RV Connects. 

31m 45s

Melina 

We are on Facebook as the real RV Connects podcast. We did have a, a distinct issue. I fought with Meta for a year. Don't worry about it. If you see an old page, we can't access it and neither can you. So we are the real RV Connects podcast on Facebook and you can always send us an email at hello@rvconnects.com. We always love to hear from you. So thanks so much for tuning in to this episode. Next episode, we have a pretty exciting episode. As we mentioned, Dan and I just came back from Tampa, Florida, we went down to the Tampa RV super show. So we're gonna have some thoughts on RV shows in general, some of the reasons you might want attend as we prepare and get ready for the Toronto Spring RV show at the end of February. 

32m 27s

Melina 

And we will have a very special announcement about that show as well. Yeah, 

32m 31s

Dan 

I think, you know, this past weekend we learned a lot about RVing and we learned a lot about ourselves and we were happy to or excited to share that. 

32m 37s

Melina 

Yes, definitely. So thanks so much for tuning in everyone. 

32m 40s

3 

Bye.