Fort Wilderness: Camping at Walt Disney World

Campground Overview

Fort Wilderness Campground at Walt Disney World in Orlando is one of the highest rated campgrounds by RVers.   In the past, I have stayed in cabins at Ft. Wilderness, but this time had the pleasure of giving it a try in our new motorhome.

When we retire, we'll probably be staying several weeks each year at Ft. Wilderness because most of our family lives in Orlando.  Knowing this, we have not only stayed there a couple of times in cabins, but we've strapped the bikes on the car and driven out there just to explore.  Our house, soon to be sold, is only 35 minutes from its gate.

Fort Wilderness sits on WDW property between the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT.  There's a hotel nearby called the Wilderness Lodge.  You can take boats from the campground to the Lodge and the Contemporary Hotel, and to some of the parks.  When you hop on the boat at FWC, you'll either go to the Lodge, Contemporary and back to FWC or directly to the Contemporary.  Each leg is about 10 minutes.

Once at the Contemporary Hotel, you can hop on the monorails and pick your way to EPCOT or ride directly to the Polynesian and Grand Floridian hotels, the Transportation Center, or the Magic Kingdom.

Buses run like clockwork through the Campground and will take you just about anywhere on Disney property.  They are clean, have stops close to the campground areas, and best of all - they are free.

When you arrive at FWC, you'll spend about 10 minutes checking in.  You pull up to a building in your RV, take care of the paperwork and then begin your drive into the campground itself.   Soon after leaving the front area, there's a pull-off where you can "un-hitch" your toad before heading to your site.

Fort Wilderness Campground is divided into several camping "loops".  Each loop is numbered by hundreds:  the "200" loop, the "1100" loop, etc.  Many of the loops have a variety of site sizes.  Premium sites are usually larger and cable TV is included.

There are two pools on-site.  The smaller one is situated near the cabins to the left as you enter the campground.  The larger pool, which has several water features and a snack bar, is behind the first of two "Trading Posts" and is located in the middle of the campground.   Both pools are heated.  When we were there, the small pool was 83 degrees when the air temperature was in the 50's.

Also behind the largest Trading Post (in the campground's center near the large pool) is the outdoor movie area, where Disney movies are shown every night after some live entertainment with Chip n' Dale characters and a fire to make s'mores and roast marshmallows.

At the back of the campground is the beach area, which really backs up to a large lake with canals to the various parks and the docks for the boats.  Before you get to the docks is another Trading Post on your right.  To your left is Trail's End, a buffet restaurant that serves three meals every day.  Next to the restaurant is the Hoop Dee Doo Review, a live western-themed show that also offers up some southern food.  It's best to have reservations for all of the restaurants whenever possible.

There are also places to ride horses at the campground, and there's a pavilion behind Trail's End that seasonally operates Mickey's Backyard BBQ.  It offers food, live country music and even line dancing.

To get around, you'll need to walk or have bikes or a golf cart.  You can park one car by your RV if you have a large site and there are about 4 or 5 car spaces at the Meadow's Trading Post.  Other than that, car parking is non-existent in the campground itself.  There's a large parking lot at the entrance, though, and plenty of busses that will take you to stations throughout the campground.  If you are staying for a while, you'll really appreciate having a golf cart.  They rent for about $60/day, though.

RV Sites

The loops containing RV sites are accessed from the main roads in the campground.  Everything is paved, and sites are either asphalt or concrete.  The roads in the loops are tight, but you'll have no problem getting a big rig through as long as no one has poorly parked their toad or someone is otherwise blocking the way.

Although the sites are close, it doesn't feel tight.  The entire campground is extremely well landscaped.  When we looked out our RV's windows, we saw almost nothing but trees.  Very, very nice.

Because of the way they angled the sites, backing in is not too difficult.  You may find that you're coming very close to some trees, but as long as you pull up to the right spot before backing, you'll do fine.  As you face a site from the street, they have placed extra pavement to the site/street corner to your left - providing ample room to manipulate a larger motorhome.  Most of the loops have staggered sites, so that your "driveway" isn't directly across from another one.  While you may not have to dodge a car in front of you, you still have to be careful about the garbage and recycle containers that are generously spread throughout each loop.

We stayed at a premium site that was about $85 per night.  Expensive, yes.  But there was plenty to do without leaving the campground, the site was nice, and we had 50-amp service with full-hookups.  There was also great cable TV with many digital HD stations and a lot of specialty Disney programming, including park guides and a generous helping of cartoons for the kiddies.

When you check in, you're given a waterproof wristband that has your account number encoded so that you can make purchases on WDW property without carrying around your credit card.

A fun thing about the sites and camping at FWC is that a lot of the campers decorate their sites with holiday decorations or just a lot of Disney memorabilia.  We always enjoy hopping in a golf cart at night and just riding around looking at sites.

Camp Fires

Fort Wilderness is pretty strict when it comes to what kind of campfires you can have at your site.  Take a look at this paper that explains your options.

Tips for staying at Fort Wilderness Campground

1. Reservations!  It is Walt Disney World, after all.  You'll want reservations for anything that offers them.  This applies to the site itself, as far in advance as you know your plans, to every restaurant and even the golf carts.
2. If you're taking children, bring your own ingredients and tools to roast marshmallows and make s'mores.  They sell them at the outdoor theater, but you'll pay Disney prices for everything.
3. Plan to get a golf cart if you're staying for any length of time.  It's places like this that are driving me to buying one of my own.
4. Be sure to go to some of the nearby restaurants that are easily accessible by boat and monorail.  The Contemporary Hotel has a great character buffet (Chef Mickey's) and there are nice restaurants at the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian.
5. Checkout is at 11. Someone was there to clean our site as we pulled out about 11:10.  Check in is at 1pm, but you can get there a little early and probably have a good chance to go ahead and get into your site. 
6. It costs more of course, but they have a limited number of 6-seater golf carts if you need them.

What we did

We arrived at Fort Wilderness about 12:30p on a Sunday in mid-January.  We were with another RVer and had told them at reservation time that we'd like to be near each other if possible.  We were assigned spots next to each other in the 1100 loop, which is the first loop to the left as you enter the campground.

We had made reservations for two restaurants:  Trail's End and Chef Mickey's.  The food at both was really good, but Chef Mickey's is expensive ($40 for an adult) and they were running 30 minutes late when we got there for our 1pm reservation on a Monday.

We rented golf carts and, as in the past, were glad we did.  We went out one night looking at decorations and  saw a lot of Christmas decorations still up even though it was three weeks into January.  We have read and talked to people about camper (and Disney-employees) having golf cart parades, with decorated carts, at Halloween and Christmas.

Our grandkids had a lot of fun running around the site, playing in a small tent by the RV, going to make s'mores and visiting the beach one night when the fireworks went up at 8pm.  They loved Chef Mickey's with all of the characters that stopped by our table for pictures and enjoyed the boat ride to and from the Contemporary.

Fort Wilderness Campground is a clean, beautiful place with a lot to see and do.  It's expensive, though.  We'll be back for sure.  I just don't know how practical it would be to stay there for a long time given the cost.

The 2016 Tampa RV Supershow

About the Show

I've been attending the Tampa show almost every year for the past decade.  It's only a one hour and fifteen minute drive from Orlando. There's nothing like walking through every type of RV imaginable, from vintage trailers to lavish motorhomes costing more than two million dollars.

The Tampa show is held every year on the Florida State Fairgrounds in east Tampa, and it's only appropriate that the entire event has a carnival-like atmosphere.  Interspersed among thousands of RV's are kiosks where you can buy everything from deli sandwiches to funnel cakes.  As you walk from one RV vendor to another, you can smell sausage, kettle corn and hamburgers.  Entertainers on stilts, unusual bikes, and other carts souped up with organs and drums drive through the walkways singing, telling jokes and - in some cases - helping visitors find their way around acres of RVs.  Even the entrances have entertainment; the rear entrance had two people playing steel drums.

The show features two large exposition halls with long aisles of vendors selling anything you could ever want for your RV.  Not only are the mom and pop shops represented, but some of the largest RV accessory chains have sizeable displays.  Camping World has a huge section of the "A" building, and will even cart you and your purchases to your coach parked on the fairgrounds.

2016 Tampa Supershow map
If too difficult to read, view the map from their web site.

After coming into the main gate, you walk through a large indoor area that features the really expensive stuff like Prevost's and Newell's.  The rear exit to that building takes you past a vendor that sells ice cream (chocolate coated frozen bananas or vanilla cones dipped in chocolate) and into the huge outdoor area where you'll spend the rest of your day.  There is a lake just beyond the exit that has a floating "sit down" restaurant with a good lunch menu; just make sure you get there early enough to avoid the long lines.

You can make arrangements to stay on the fairgrounds in your RV, and a few clubs (like the Newmar Kountry Klub) hold rallies on the grounds.  Trolleys run people from the various parking areas to the gates, which can be quite a distance to cover on foot if you arrive late.  I have wondered why they call the Hershey RV Show the "Largest RV Show in America" when the Tampa show consistently has thousands more people in attendance.  The show runs from Wednesday through Sunday every year in whatever weekend falls mid-month, usually around the 15th.  Serious buyers show up on Wednesday, so it's not uncommon to show up on Saturday (the most crowded day) and not be able to tour some coaches because they are sold and locked up at the request of the buyer.

RVs are packed pretty tight at these shows.  Many people have said that they would like to see how they park them.  Almost all dealerships have carpeting throughout their displays, since it not only looks good and promotes their brand colors, but it helps to keep the inside of the coaches cleaner.

Many of the dealerships, especially the larger ones, will have factory representatives and executives at their display areas.  In the Newmar area, we found their Interior Coordinator (coordinates interiors with customers), their VP of Engineering, and even their President, Matt Miller.  There's no better place to get your questions answered than at a show like this because all of the "players" are there and are eager to help.  Manufacturers like to have their largest dealerships at the big shows, because they are better equipped to bring more inventory.  In Newmar's case, North Trail RV out of Fort Meyers is a huge  dealership and they usually represent Newmar at the Tampa Show.  For 2016, North Trail had more that 50 Newmar coaches - an incredible variety of rigs available for walk-throughs by potential customers.

Tips for attending the Tampa RV Supershow

1. If you have an RV, come in the RV and stay on the fairgrounds.  If you belong to a club having a rally on the fairgrounds, attend the rally and stay in your coach.  
2. Come early.  The show usually opens around 9am.  Parking is better and the crowds don't usually pick up until around lunch time.
3. Get there on Wednesday if you're seriously looking.  You may have a few more coaches to see because some aren't sold and locked.  If any dealers are offering test drives, you're more likely to get on the drive list.  And the crowds are smaller on Wednesday and Thursday.
4. If there's something you really want from an exposition vendor, go to them first.  Show prices are good, and a lot of them will run out of inventory by Friday evening.
5. Most of the food is "junk food", which I personally don't mind.  However, if you want salads or something different, get to the lake restaurant by 11am or to the kiosk that sells deli sandwiches about any time.  Vendors usually occupy the same spot year-to-year, and the deli is located straight west (straight out the door) from the southwest entrance of the main exposition center (just inside the main gate).
6. The entrance price buys you two 1-day tickets.  If you're planning to come one day and a friend the next, hold your second-day ticket for them.
7. Programs are available as soon as you enter the show.  Find the seminars you want to attend and get to them about 10-15 minutes early.  You can't reserve seating.
8. If coming from the east on I-4 (morning only) and there's a long line to get off of I-4 at Exit 7, continue to Exit 5.  Turn left on Martin Luther King Boulevard and go to the south entrance.  This could save you a good half hour in traffic.
9. If you're thinking about buying a particular brand of RV, find out if they are having an on-site rally.  If so, contact someone at the rally and see if you can go out late one afternoon and wander around to meet some owners.  They'll be friendly and give you a real insight into the brand.  There's no one better to answer your questions that people who own the same type of RV.
10. If you have, or may have, issues walking all day, rent a scooter just after you get into the main entrance.  They aren't cheap (about $50-$60 per day), and you'll need to get there by 10-1030am or they'll all be gone.  Personal scooters aren't allowed into the fairgrounds unless you have proof of a disability.

For more information, check out the Official Site for the Tampa RV Supershow.

The Newmar Kountry Klub Rally at the Tampa RV SuperShow - what a Hoot!

I've been interested in RVing for a long time.  One of the things that has fed my desire for the lifestyle has been the Tampa RV Supershow, which I've been going to for most of the past decade.

You may have heard that the Hershey Show is the largest show in the country, but don't believe it.  I haven't been to the Hershey show (my wife has), but I know that even though they have a lot of RVs, their attendance is less than Tampa's.  And the Tampa show has more exhibitors and covers a lot of ground.  Ask people who have been to both and you'll hear that the Tampa show is the biggest and best show in the nation.

Since we just bought our RV, we wanted to go to the show and camp on the fairgrounds like we have seen so many others do over the years.  Better yet, the Newmar owner's club - the NKK (Newmar Kountry Klub) - holds a rally on the fairgrounds every year during the show.  The rally is one of the NKK's "buddy" rallies, meaning that you can take along someone else even if their coach isn't a Newmar.  We registered early and also registered my brother-in-law who bought his Fleetwood Expedition last November.

Before I get into the details, let me say that I love RVing.  It's the best thing since sliced bread.  We had only made two trips in our new RV before making this one, and now I'm beyond convinced that this is what I want to do in retirement.  The people, the relaxed atmosphere, and the freedom are difficult to overstate.  And we've barely started our adventures on the road.

Right off the bat, rallies are going to be fun because you're glamping with people that share a common interest with you.  Not just RVing in general, but something specific.  In the case of this particular rally, almost everyone had a coach manufactured by the same company that made mine.  Unlike almost every other type of camping situation, "owner" rallies mean that all you see around you are coaches like yours - with owners that share the same problems, solutions, and curiosities.

Our "street" at the NKK Rally in Tampa 2016

We hitched our truck to the rig in Orlando and drove to Tampa on Tuesday because we had a three hour window, from 1 to 4, to arrive.  Directions were easy to follow and they had quite a few volunteers helping to park and navigate from the entrance right to our camping spot.  They asked us to follow a guy in a golf cart right into a large field where we stopped and disconnected the toad.  Then we were directed out and, with a volunteer at every turn, ended up with two people who guided me right into our spot under a tree.  My buddy parked right behind us.

Our site at the NKK Rally

Once parked, we set up some chairs and laid out our mat for the first time.  We were lucky that our curb side was between two trees, which meant that they couldn't really park another rig in that spot.  Because of this, we could park our truck next to us and we had plenty of room to relax beside the coach.  They had set up generators throughout the area to provide us with 30 amp electrical service, but we were on our own with water and managing our tanks.



As soon as we set up, neighbors started coming by to say Hi and visit for a few minutes.  By mid-afternoon, we had met several people and knew that it was going to be a fun and eventful five days and nights.  And it was.  $205 per couple got us a place to park for five nights, lots of great interactions with people that had similar coaches, morning coffee and donuts, three nights of entertainment, and a five day pass to the largest RV show in America.

My first impression of a rally is that they park the coaches very close together.  Normally, in a nice RV park, this wouldn't be so good.  But at a rally, it's actually part of the experience because it encourages everyone to meet and mingle.  And boy do they mingle!  By noon our first full day there, I felt like we knew everyone around us.  All of them were friendly and had a lot of great stories to tell.  If you want to meet people and learn a lot, don't be shy.  Walk up to these "strangers" and introduce yourself.  You'll be glad you did.

In addition to the things I mentioned that you get with the rally fee (30amp, coffee, entertainment, show tickets, etc.), there was much more.  Newmar service technicians were on-site for three days fixing things.  If you were in-warranty, the repairs were free.  They serviced RVs in this order:  people who registered by mail - first come, first served, and then coaches in declining order of age.  When you signed up for the rally, they mailed you a package that included a form where you list things you'd like them to fix.  I filled it out and mailed it right away.  We pulled in on Tuesday at 1pm and a golf cart pulled up in front of our Dutch Star about 8am the next morning.  What a nice benefit!

In the camping area, the NKK had set up a large tent.  For the Tuesday night welcome gathering, everyone brought their chairs and listened as several of the NKK leaders were introduced and the week's events were explained.  During the next several days, the tent would be used for a lecture about insurance, a large meeting with the top Newmar executives, an ice cream social, Newmar and NKK merchandise sales, and various gatherings of the different chapters within the NKK.  

Although not officially part of the NKK, the Hoots are a group of Newmar owner's who have "met" each other online, mainly through the Newmar forums at irv2.com.  Norm and Ellen MacLeod, parked a few sites down from us, hosted a Hoots party behind their rig on Friday afternoon from 3 to 6pm.  About 30 Hoots showed up and a lot of folks brought food.  We met a lot of interesting people and put quite a few irv2 user names to real faces.  We enjoyed every minute of it!  Don't forget to read Norm and Ellen's MissAdventure web site.  There are a lot of great stories about their experiences - and they are some of the nicest people we've ever met.

When we were staying at Stone Mountain, our first night in the new RV, we were talking to some neighbors parked next to us.  At some point, we all decided to exchange contact info and I rattled off our e-mail address and the address of this blog.  The woman we were speaking with asked us to wait a minute and she walked into her coach, returning a minute later with a "business" card that had all of their information on it.  We thought this was a great idea, so we made up some of our own "camping cards" and took them with us to the rally.  To our pleasant surprise, most people handed us a card of their own and complimented us on ours (I used our coach as a background, put our pictures on it and listed our phone, e-mail and the address of this blog).  I'd post a picture here, but the DW doesn't like her photo on the Internet!  :-)

A lot of people come to the Supershow, so a few of our friends who were going wanted to know if they could stop by and see the coach.  Since trolley service runs between the rally and the show, it was easy for them to hop on and ride over to see us.

Staying at a rally for the first time was a great experience.  We thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone and making so many new friends.  I think there are a lot of rallies in our future.

Next up:  The Tampa RV Supershow

Installing the TireMinder TPMS

Having read a lot of reviews and understanding that there are several highly recommended tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS), I decided to buy a TireMinder A1A system from Minder Research.  You can read about this system on their web site and can buy it from one of their dealers (like Camping World) or on Amazon.

The TPMS consists mainly of a display monitor that is about the size of a cell phone, a signal booster, and a valve-mounted transmitter for each tire.  The monitor can operate on batteries, but it has a standard micro USB connector on the monitor side and a standard USB connector on the other so that you can plug it into any USB charging device.  It comes with a 12V car plug that has a USB port on the back, so you can charge the monitor with your regular cell phone charger or using a cigarette plug in the RV or tow vehicle.  You should also be able to charge it with a USB charge port on your PC.

A small battery-operated transmitter replaces the existing valve stem cover for each of the tires.  In my case, I needed 8 transmitters for the RV and another 4 for the truck I'm pulling.  The package I bought includes 6 sensors, so I had to buy another six that came in packs of two.

The signal booster that comes with the package is used to repeat weaker signals.  Minder Research recommends that it be placed somewhere at the rear of the coach, so I asked Lazy Days to install ours, which they did.  They put it in the rear engine area and attached it to the 12V cables coming from the chassis battery compartment.

When you open the transmitters, you have to unscrew their caps and insert the included batteries.  They are the disc-type batteries like the ones in watches, and Minder Research will replace them free if you register and then send them your old batteries when replacement is needed.

After installing all of the batteries, the next step was to install the transmitters and to program the monitor with the baseline tire pressures.  If you follow their simple instructions, doing this is surprisingly easy.  You press a couple of buttons on the monitor, then move (using the right/left keys on the monitor) to the tire you want to program.  Then you screw any transmitter on the tire you've selected.  The monitor beeps.  Done.  Move to the next tire.

After all of the transmitters are installed, you put the monitor into another mode where you cycle through each tire and enter its baseline pressure.  After you've done this, you're finished!

The day after I installed this TPMS, we drove from Orlando to Tampa.  About 45 minutes into our trip, the A1A sounded an alarm and NoS came up on the display.  Cycling through the tires showed pressures, except for one of the tires on our toad that had "NoS".  The manual indicated that it could be a loss of signal and reprogramming that transmitter may be required.  I decided that I'd handle it when we got to our site.  About 15 minutes later, the same alarm sounded for another tire on the truck.  And, like clock work, we got a third alarm about 15 minutes after that for still another (3rd) tire on the truck.  My conclusion was that the signal booster in the RV wasn't doing its job, but I thought I'd take a look later.

Overall, the installation was simple and easy to do.  During our first short trip to the Tampa RV Show (where we are now), it worked well for the coach and reported all pressures and temperatures as we cycled through them on the monitor during the drive.

Look for another short post after I investigate those "NoS" alerts.