Camping at Disney's Fort Wilderness

We decided to splurge a bit and make our first Orlando campground the Disney one...Fort Wilderness.  We talked about this campground a bit last winter but weren't able to get a reservation.  This time we booked in the shoulder season and found a site Sunday-Friday - we still couldn't find a site here for the weekend!

Our campsite at Fort Wilderness

Fort Wilderness was everything we hoped.  The campground had more of a feel of a state or county park than a private RV park.  There were lots of activities on site, including pools, outdoor movies, gem hunting, archery, horseback riding, bike and boat rental, and more.  Most of those you had to pay extra for of course...  The whole campground was bike friendly and we enjoyed taking our new-to-us bikes all around.

We're well into Halloween season of course, and our favorite nightly activity was to pick a new couple loops in the campground and walk or cycle around to view the outrageous Halloween decorations from our fellow campers.

These skeleton pirates were Aaron's favorite

Zombie Flamingos!  (Look closely at the eyes of the black
ones)

 Our decorations weren't nearly so impressive, but at least we had some!

Daytime view - Aaron decided all of his Baby Yoda 
decorations needed to join the pumpkin lights

Nighttime view

We visited each of the parks while we were at Fort Wilderness.  Sadly, only Magic Kingdom had special transportation - a boat that left from the back of the campground.  This was definitely the nicest way we've ever gotten to Magic Kingdom (normally you have to park and then take a crowded monorail or ferry).

Our transportation approaches

Going to amusement parks right now is a very different experiences, and I'd say in all ways except the sweaty masks a much better one.  Lines were shorter - rides that normally had 2-4 hour waits we could get on in less than an hour - and people stood farther apart in the ride lines, so I no longer had strangers leaning on my backpack while waiting for a ride...(yes that really happened multiple times last year).  They've also upgraded the security scanners so there's no longer a bag check line!  They've removed the fingerprint scanners and added hand sanitizer and handwash stations throughout the parks, so you can keep your hands cleaner.

Masks at Epcot

Social distancing at the manatee exhibit at Epcot

Social distancing in line for 
Smugglers' Run at Hollywood Studios

Masks at Magic Kingdom

All I have from Animal Kingdom are animal pictures...this
is from Kilimanjaro Safaris, which we basically walked
straight on due to the low park attendance (normally this is a
LOOONG wait)

Back at Fort Wilderness, our last morning we went on a trail ride around the remote areas of the campground.

Outside Tri Circle D Ranch at the front of the campground

Here I am atop Riley

The last pictures I'd like to share are of some random carriage sightings at the park - the carriage and hay rides weren't running due to COVID-19, but it seems that Disney is keeping the horses exercised and practicing.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and I hope we can make this an annual-ish tradition - just a few days a year.  We didn't get to enjoy many of the perks of staying on Disney property (mostly in terms of early access to dining and FastPass+ reservations) - hopefully next time we'll be able to!