Adventure at Disney? Try Camping!

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Disney World offers some great places to stay and did you know that includes a campground?  Camping can be a fun adventure, especially for the kids and can even be accomplished if you are flying to Orlando . It may also save you some money! On a trip to Disney in October, we decided to camp for a few days during our visit and here is how:

The campground rates are the lowest of all onsite accomodations at Disney and you also get all the perks of staying onsite that include:

Free Parking and Transportation

Parking costs $20 per day for a vehicle.  If you camped 3 nights you could park for free for 4 days, so that would save you $80.

Disney Dining

By staying onsite you have the ability to purchase Disney dining.  This can save you money and hassle when eating at the park.

Fastpass+

Early Access to FastPass+ Planning- 60 days prior to arrival.  This means you can grab the fast passes early so you can be sure to not have to stand in long lines for the most popluar rides.

Extra Magic Hours-

When staying at a Disney property you can arrive early or stay later then other guests on certain days.

Complimentary MagicBands

You get these free when staying onsite.  Normally they would cost $12.95 a piece.  That saves $64.75 for a family of 5!

These are all reasons we decided to camp at Disney.  On our 8 day trip we camped for the first 3 nights.  This way we “roughed it” but could then look forward to sleeping in a comfy bed.  The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort start at just $53 a night for a tent or pop-up camper site.  We flew to Orlando and brought our tent so this is what we chose.  There are also camper sites with partial to full hook-ups.  If tenting is not your thing, there are also places in Orlando to rent a camper and they will deliver it right to you site and set it up. Fort Wilderness RV Rentals is one of those places.  Of course this will end up costing more but you still will have quite the adventure. We rented a golf cart, which did add to the cost of our stay but was a lot of fun.  We could go exploring all around the campground, took it to dinner and the pool.  The cart was rented onsite but we made the reservation ahead of time because they do sell out at times. The number to rent them is (407)824-2742 and can be done up to a year in advance.

Tenting is possible, even if you are flying in!  We took one lightweight suitcase like this one (weighs just 4.5 pounds) and dedicated it for our camping gear and packed it full. 

This is what we brought:

4 person dome tent- We have 5 in our family but youngest is small so worked ok.

4×8 tarp and string- we used this to make shade and also in case there was rain in the forecast we could use under the tent

Queen size air mattress with battery operated pump

1 queen sheet

Egg crate foam pad (rolled up in suitcase)- this added padding for the kids sleeping on the ground

5 empty pillow cases- we stuffed our clothes in these to make pillows

1 large thin blanket and 3 small thin child size sleeping bags

3 towels

small bottles of shampoo and soap

glow in the dark necklaces

flashlight

small battery operated lantern

portable cookstovetop- this was the kind that attaches to a small propane tank that we then bought at a gas station

oatmeal packets

paper bowels, spoons and cups

coffee and camping coffeemaker- we made coffee using the propane cookstove

2 coffee mugs

We made coffee, hot chocolate and oatmeal for breakfast.

This campground has several pools and a movie at night. We even got a visit from Chip and Dale! We requested a site near the bathrooms so that we didn’t have far to walk in the middle of the night.  The showers were nice and clean so what more could we want?

There is a boat landing onsite with two boats.  One will to take you Magic Kingdom and the other to either the Contemporary or Wilderness Lodge.

The Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at Pioneer Hall is also at this campground.  This is a fun dinner show of dancers and music with all you can eat house salad
homemade corn bread, fried chicken, smoked BBQ pork ribs, mashed potatoes, cowboy beans and strawberry shortcake.

When I planned my family’s trip to Disney World, I found 2 websites that were very helpful.  The first is Couponingtodisney.  There is a lot of info about how to save money before going to Disney and information and tips for when you are at the park.  The other was in Trip Advisor forum section. That is what lead me to the idea of camping.  Initially the reservation was made in order to have early access to dining reservations and fast passes.  I had not fully intended to keep the reservation.  (A tip I learned from reading these sites)  In the end though I decided to keep the reservation because it sounded like a fun and unique thing to try. We do camp as a family but have only stayed in a camper.

Would you ever try camping at Disney?  Comment below.  Need to save this for when you plan your next trip to Disney? Pin it!

Happy Travels!

Jennifer