After two major catastrophes on our first two camping trips, I was afraid to take the Airstream on a 900+ mile trip, but one of the plans we have for the Airstream is to use it for some of our many annual trips to Walt Disney World. Having bought the Airstream late in the year, we didn’t make reservations at Ft. Wilderness until we knew for sure we would have the Airstream. Being so late in the year, it was next to impossible to get reservations at Ft. Wilderness for the full week of July 4th, so we decided to take what we could get just to be able to check out the campground. Unfortunately, that meant getting only one night. Well, we take what we can get when we wait until nearly the last minute. But, if you keep calling back, you can often pick up a night here and there.
After many attempts, I was able to get a second night. After many more calls I was able to get another night. So, we arrived on Saturday, July 1st and were scheduled to leave on Tuesday, July 4th. We stopped and picked up my mom so she could go with us. Our plan was to check out the campground and really not to go into the parks that weekend. We couldn’t get a premium site (full hook-up plus cable) so we settled for a full hook-up site. One thing we didn’t count on was the narrow width of the streets and close proximity of the landscaping and tow vehicles on the other side of the street. Up to this point, we had always (both times 
) had pull through sites. This time I actually had to back the Airstream into the campsite! Becki got out and I dialed her on her cell phone and she began giving me directions. It took a good twenty minutes or so to get positioned in the campsite. I literally had to pull up a matter of inches and back up a matter of inches at a time to work the Airstream into the site. I had quite an audience of people waiting to get past on their golf carts and in their cars. I would definitely have done a better job without the onlookers.
Of course, we had a few items to purchase to make camping a little more enjoyable. One item Becki observed from across the street from us was an oscillating fan on a pole that was used under the awning to circulate the stagnate, humid summer air. Trip to Wal-Mart. It turns out the lady across the street in a 5th wheel trailer was staying for the summer with her six children while her kitchen was being renovated at home. Her husband had towed the 5th wheel to Ft. Wilderness and returned to North Carolina for the summer to work and came down on weekends to visit. I can think of no better place to spend the summer! Turns out she is a regular on the Disboards.com and spends every summer at Ft. Wilderness with her six children. I can’t imagine a whole summer in a 5th wheel with six children, though.
Ft. Wilderness is a huge campground. So large in fact that Disney provides an internal bus system to get around the campground and to the bus stop at the entrance to go to the theme parks. It was OK using the bus system, but despite the regular schedule of the buses, it was a little inconvenient to use them. It seemed we always just missed the bus when we got to the internal bus stop or when we got to the bus stop at the entrance we would have also just missed the bus to the park we were heading to that day. By the end of the weekend, Becki told me that we needed to get our own golf cart considering how much we would be coming to Ft. Wilderness. I told her we would have to start shopping for one and maybe we could find one before we came back next spring. Three weeks later we were the proud owners of a three year old E-Z Go golf cart.
Ft. Wilderness is a beautiful campground and has so much to offer. There are nightly campfires at the amphitheater where you can roast your own marshmallows and hotdogs. There is live entertainment provided followed by an outdoor presentation of a different Disney movie each night. There is a pool, although not themed like those at the newer resorts, tennis, volley ball courts, playgrounds, a marina, canals for canoeing and kayaking, and large sand beach. There are two convenience stores and a buffet restaurant and a dinner show (Hoop-dee-doo Review, the longest running musical in American history). There are pony rides and horse back riding available, and carriage rides available each night. So much to do and so little time!
One of many private golf carts decorated for the parade
On July 4th, there is a Golf Cart Parade where people decorate their golf carts and participate in the parade. This was the highlight of our trip…or at least it was for me. I counted well over 160 golf carts in the parade that morning. Sadly, as soon as the parade was over we had to head back to the campsite and finish packing up and head home. But, like every other trip to Disney World, we can honestly say, “We’ll be back.”
Tags: Airstream, Disney, Ft. Wilderness
