# Fort Wilderness Wdw



## OB09 (Feb 17, 2009)

Heading to Fort Wilderness for the first time. Any tips from the experts would be appreciated.


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## Irishcampers (Jun 27, 2008)

Fort Wilderness is a great campground and Disney is always fun. What kinds of tips were you hoping to get in this thread?

Here are few random ones to get the thread started:
* Transport -- For Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, get to the front entrance of the campground and take the bus. For Magic Kingdom, boat right to Magic Kingdom. For Epcot, we like to take the boat to the Contemporary Hotel, catch the monorail to the main station, then monorail to Epcot. It seems fast and the kids like the ride.
* Hoop Dee Do Review -- A fun dinner show right at the campground. A fun way to end the day.
* Electric Water Pageant -- Along the beach at night -- another fun activity
* Chip N Dales Campfire and Movie -- Sing along with Chip and Dale, then Disney movie. Fun for the young kids.

Have fun! We're going in June.


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## go6car (Jan 19, 2004)

A great amount of information is here:

DIS BOARDS

Have a blast!!!!

go6car


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## battalionchief3 (Jun 27, 2006)

I liked the heated pool. Oh, my son did too. I agree with the routes of travel. We did the same. We went in January and the whole place had low crowds. It takes an hour to get from Ft. W to any Disney park, on average. Its Disney, its hard to go wrong. Use the FASTPASS!!!!! Get one, go ride another ride and come back and use the fast pass. Send a family member to get one for everyone, then have them catch up to you in line it the lines are long and they probally will be on spring break. Have fun.


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## ZHB (Mar 17, 2009)

We went last summer and had the "Trip Of A Lifetime." Here's a link to some of the questions/answers I had before our trip:

http://www.outbackers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=27034&view=&hl=Disney&fromsearch=1

We were there for 10 days. One thing I would recommend is to break the typical pattern of when people go to the parks. We did Disney with some friends and followed their lead. We stayed at FW and we had Park Hopper passes. If you stay on property, you are eligible for "Extra Magic Hours" at the park - usually an hour before the park opens to the general public, and up to three hours later. The stroller crowd and the screaming toddlers are usually OVER IT by about 4 or 5pm. So we would avoid the crowds and the heat by going later, and visiting multiple parks each day.

Our kids are 9 & 10 (and our friends have an 11 year old.) We would typically sleep in til about 10 - 10:30. Then we'd head out, and get to one park (MK by boat, or the others by bus) around noon. We'd enjoy one park during the day, then we'd go back to the OB for an early dinner around 5. Then we'd go to another park and stay until the closing ceremonies @ 9. Then if we were at the park that was open late we'd stay there, or if another was open late - usually MK - we'd hop over there until 2am. The crowd thins way out after dinner, except for the closing show. Then between 10pm and 2am, it's empty. We'd often ride Thunder MT RR and other rides two or three times in a row because no one was in line - and this was in July! We'd then hop the boat back to FW, sometimes stop for a short bout of tetherball on the beach if the kids had any energy left, and then we'd be in bed by about 3am. Then we got up and did it again the next day!

Also - I carried a big backpack all the time, with snacks and water. The kids had a pack for their snacks & junk. We'd pop a bag of popcorn for each girl, and put it in a gallon ziploc bag (once the popcorn cooled - important tip!) Then we'd pack fresh fruit, dried fruit, and one piece of candy for each kid (it's vacation after all.) I mainly carried the water - 2 bottles for each of us - and sandwiches for lunch. We saved a ton of $ on food, Disney was totally cool with us bring food in (as long as there was no glass or alcohol), and we saved our money for a couple nice dinners at the Polynesian.

One more tip: get the Dole Whip at MK. I think I'd kill for that stuff. And if it's your or anyone in your party's first trip to WDW - tell them! They'll help make it a little more special.


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## ZHB (Mar 17, 2009)

More:

* If you're at MK in the heat of the day - Tom Sawyer's Island is a nice cool place to stop for a breather and a snack. 
* MK has a strict No Alcohol policy. Hollywood Studios will let you buy 2 beers at a time (Handy for walking around.)
* It's easy and fun to walk from Epcot to the Boardwalk Resort to Hollywood Studios, but if you have a kid that has to pee, it's a lot farther than it looks.
* Hollywood Studios has the best ride in the World - Tower Of Terror - and hands-down the best production in all of WDW - the'ir closing ceremony, Fantasmic!
* Schedule a day around each of the closing ceremonies at the parks.
* Make a plan for where you want to be AFTER the nightly parade in WDW. Then position yourself before the Parade starts. All foot traffic stops during the event.
* The Mexican restaurant terrace is the best place to see the Epcot closing ceremony.
* Closing time at Epcot - they start shutting down countries in the back and move to the sides. You can do a "bar crawl" at closing from country to country, but pick a side and stick with it. 
* If your kids are into "Character Autographs" - which is a big deal in the pre-teen set - you can get a lot after-hours at MK.
* If you want to get a set of Embroidered Mickey Ears - again, a serious deal for some of these kids - get them early in your trip. Allow at least one full day for pickup.


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## ZHB (Mar 17, 2009)

If for some ungodly reason your kids just must do the Dumbo The Flying Elephant ride - do it after hours. It is the slowest moving off all the MK attractions, and the line - filled with toddlers - can exceed 2 hours. After midnight, it's usually only 10 minutes.


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## Just Add Dirt (May 5, 2009)

Take advantage of the extra majic hours: rethink your sleep schedule: No lines @ MK Extra Majic Hours late some are open til 3 AM and others open at 7 am. X2 on the fass pass; if you go in early send someone with everyones' Disney ID resort card to get fass passes for everyone IMEADIATELY upon entry. The High demand attractions are Sorin' (dont miss) & Test Track, Misson Space in Epcot, , and "rockin rollercoaster" and "Tower of Terror" (dont miss) In Hollywood Studios and Expedition Everest in AK Also dont miss the fireworks at MK and Epcot. The Boats at FW are the best way to get to MK & Epcot and the Bus at the front of FW to AK and Hollywood

And bring extra real comfy shoes and a golf cart.


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## clarkely (Sep 15, 2008)

we take a crock pot........put dinner on on slow cook....... if you decide to eat out, pack it up for micro next day...... makes for great flexibility!!! Bikes and skateboards for kids........go at your own pace leave early come home early leave late stay late.....don't burn yourself out getting it all in!!

Great free transportation....use it... if you want the kids to run in the monorail front train.....get it at epcot, long ride and least crowded to get it at.

we found chef mickeys in the polynesian to be a great value for character meeting venue....as there were a lot there, better than floridian on previous trip..... tried to get castle breakfast but had to do castle lunch with our daughters......it proved to be a nice meal and awesome for the girls and still fun for the boys.

You can take food and water in the park, they allow it!!! We would pack lunch and take drinks in our back pack...... saved money and more importantly time!! we would eat while in line......

If you have kids you can do a trade off........one adult goes on with the kids in regular line and gets a fast pass, while the spouse waits, then spouse can go with the other kids, designed for kids that arent big enough, but can be used to get kids on cool rides twice.......sometimes they hand them off at the entrance and arer liberal with giving them out.....







so one might be able to get them for everyone..... sneak one to the spouse and hop over to the fast pass line, as this is the line these passes get you into







and there is no limit on these tickets like the one fast pass at a time rule







....you can also combine and get one fast pass per paying ticket per ride and then get trade offs on each one














making a family or 6 be able to get multiple fast pass's







if one was to







work the system









read the book for what days are off days...it is accurate........dinner is usually a great time for rides, as is the last hour of the park......

we saw no need for the food plan....... our next trip may be next year (went December a year ago) and we said if we do we will go only every other day to the park..... and spend more time enjoying the campground....

we had gotten 10 day non expiring tickets to maximize the savings and used 4 days 5 years ago, 4 days a year ago and still have 2 days left....... i would look into it, you only want to go back and ticket prices don't go down...... we found it to be a value.

Fantasma is cool...... mickey parade of course , and tinkerbell fireworks..


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## OB09 (Feb 17, 2009)

clarkely said:


> we take a crock pot........put dinner on on slow cook....... if you decide to eat out, pack it up for micro next day...... makes for great flexibility!!! Bikes and skateboards for kids........go at your own pace leave early come home early leave late stay late.....don't burn yourself out getting it all in!!
> 
> Great free transportation....use it... if you want the kids to run in the monorail front train.....get it at epcot, long ride and least crowded to get it at.
> 
> ...


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## OB09 (Feb 17, 2009)

Thanks for all the info. We had a Blast.


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