Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground

We stayed at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground, within Walt Disney World, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

So nice to spend over a week inside the Disney bubble. Disney World is huge, covering 25,000 acres (39 sq mi; 101 sq km), including four theme parks, dozens of resorts, golf courses, etc. The Fort Wilderness Campground is 750 acres of tree-covered paved campsites, cabins, and various amenities, with boats and buses to the parks.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-02-25
Check out: 2024-03-05
9 nights
We had originally booked 7 nights, but added a couple more

Weather:

Mostly sunny; a little rain later in the stay
High temps 75-82°F, lows around 47-62°F
Negligible wind

Noise:

No freeway noise
Little road noise (including bus on main road)
No train noise
Some neighbor noise (kids, especially basketball)

Site:

#1334, back in, concrete
Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
Level; used hydraulic leveling
Concrete driveway about 60 feet long by 15 feet wide
Trees between sites about 20 feet wide
Picnic table
No fire pit
Mostly clean site (a little minor trash)

Utilities:

50 amp power, somewhat inconveniently located
60 PSI water, somewhat inconveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 40-50 Mbps down, 35-45 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
AT&T: 500 Mbps down, 25 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
Verizon: 25 Mbps down, 25 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Pools
Garbage bin near site
Golf cart rental
Boats and buses to Disney World parks

Our review on Campground Reviews:

A state park, but make it Disney!

If you’re an RVer and want to do the Disney Bubble experience, this is the place to be. Direct access to all the parks from the campground (boat to Magic Kingdom, buses to all the others) and a bit of that trademark Disney flare in the campground itself. We stayed a week and have already booked for next year, we enjoyed everything so much. We spent pretty much all day every day at the theme parks, so didn’t use many of the amenities in the campground, but it looked like you could have a blast of a day just hanging out here.

Our site (1334) was plenty big enough for our 40′ motorhome, tow vehicle, and rented golf cart. Renting a golf cart is a must. There are shuttles that run through the campground, but we enjoyed the freedom of getting around on our own timetable. Unfortunately, our site was right next to a playground with a basketball halfcourt that some sociopaths thought would be fun to play on late at night and early in the morning. Not cool.

One other minor niggle was that we decided to extend our stay while we were there. I called the number for reservations and was told that only the front desk could do that. Went to the front desk and was told that they couldn’t do it because we’d booked a package through the Disney Travel Co. So I booked a new reservation online and then went to the front desk to get them to join the two reservations so we didn’t have to check out and check in again. A bit less magical than I expected from Disney customer service, but we got there in the end. We camped at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

We rented a golf cart during our stay, which is highly recommended to get to the boat and bus stops, and other amenities:

Golf cart

(They do have a shuttle bus to take people to various parts of the campground, too, so a cart isn’t critical, but it is more convenient.)

More of our site; we didn’t really use the site, other than to sleep, since we were at the parks during the days:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

One thing we didn’t enjoy was that our site was right next to a playground, with a basketball hoop; kids bouncing basketballs is super annoying for us DINKs:

Playground

The campground offered horse and cart rides:

Horse and cart

A popular thing is to decorate the golf carts, which not only makes them more festive, but also easier to spot in a parking lot (if you look at the earlier pictures, we added a couple of koi wind socks to ours).

Some examples of decorations:

Decorated golf carts

On our first evening we attended the onsite Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue:

Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue

Afterwards, we watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the nearby beach:

Fireworks

Welcome to Fort Wilderness:

Welcome to Fort Wilderness

Store:

Store

We took the boat to the Magic Kingdom park on several days:

Boat to Magic Kingdom park

Pioneer Hall has mobile-order or grab-and-go food options:

Crokett's Tavern

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Other sites, which people often decorate too:

Other sites

There are sections of the campground with cabins, for people without RVs:

Cabins

The Meadow Swimmin’ Pool:

Meadow Swimmin' Pool

An excellent campground. We’ll be happy to stay here again in the future (though would see if we can request a site away from playgrounds etc).

Yacht Haven Park & Marina

We stayed at Yacht Haven Park & Marina, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A canal-front site, with a boat docked in front, and food onsite.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-02-18
Check out: 2024-02-25
7 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny; rainy on the first day
High temps 72-80°F, lows around 49-57°F
A little wind, gusts to 24 MPH

Noise:

Nearby freeway noise
No train noise
Nearby airport noise
Some neighbor noise

Site:

#425a, front in, astroturf
Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
Unlevel, high in front and right; used hydraulic leveling
Wedge-shaped astroturf site about 45 feet long by about 13-40 feet wide
No picnic table
No fire pit
Clean site
Waterfront (canal)

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located (with no breaker switch)
20 PSI water, very conveniently located
Decent sewer connection, very conveniently located (2 2-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 25 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 28 ms ping
AT&T: 200 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
Verizon: 14-24 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: 0.05 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 22-72 ms ping

Amenities:

Pool
Package delivery to office
Garbage pickup from site
Food boats and trucks

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Mega yachts and pizza!

This was a nice enough place, but a bit expensive for the current amenities. They’re building a new pool and clubhouse, but it’s not there yet. We had a Grand Waterfront site, but our particular site (425A) seemed to also be a bit of a placeholder site. We parked directly on the astroturf and our power pedestal wasn’t a pedestal, just a raw outlet with no breaker switch. Other sites in the row had nice brick driveways with landscaping. If they finish installing this site, it will be lovely. As it was, it was just kind of meh and we were paying for the nice view of the canals. Watching the big yachts come and go was very entertaining. There’s a nice NY-style pizza place onsite which was pretty decent. We camped at Yacht Haven Park & Marina in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Campground map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Canal view:

View

Superyacht:

Superyacht

The boat out front had a couple of cats, one of which visited Paladin through the door:

Cat

Rental Airstream trailers:

Airstream trailers

Other sites:

Other sites

Yachts and RVs:

Yachts and RVs

Yachts

Yachts and RVs

Yachts

Yacht

Yachts

Party boat across the canal:

Party boat across the canal

Food boat:

Food boat

Pizza trailer:

Pizza trailer

Pizza menu:

Pizza menu

Pizza

Pool:

Pool

A new pool and clubhouse is coming soon:

New pool coming

Shelter:

Shelter

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Rental tiny home:

Tiny home

“Royal Point Waterfront” site shelter:

Royal Point Waterfront site shelter

Office:

Office

Encore Sunshine Key RV Resort & Marina

We stayed at Encore Sunshine Key RV Resort & Marina, in Ohio Key, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A large park in the Florida Keys.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-02-04
Check out: 2024-02-18
14 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy; rainy in the first couple of days
High temps 66-76°F, lows around 61-74°F
Windy most days, gusts to 32 MPH

Noise:

Significant highway noise
No train noise
Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

#406, front in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
Very level; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel site about 50 feet long by about 40 feet wide
Picnic table on gravel area
No fire pit
A bunch of small bottlecap-sized garbage on site

Utilities:

50 amp power, inconveniently located on passenger side (when fronted in)
35 PSI water, inconveniently located on passenger side
Loose sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2-3 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 40-50 Mbps down, 40-50 Mbps up, 22 ms ping
AT&T: 830 Mbps down, 70 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
Verizon: 10 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Pool
Swimming beach
Marina with kayak etc rental
Package delivery to office
Garbage dumpsters
Frequent food trucks and other vendors onsite

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Waterfront and road noise

We have a Thousand Trails Adventure membership, but that did not help us get a reservation here at all. Considering how hard it is to get a reservation in the Keys, we bit the bullet and paid retail for a two-week stay in a waterfront site that was the most expensive site we’d ever booked. I should point out that site 406 really shouldn’t be considered a “Premium waterfront” site. There is a peep of the water through the mangroves, but nothing like a panoramic view. However, we enjoyed watching the water and the ibises hunting in the mangroves from our front window, so I’ll let it slide.

While the peek of the water was nice, the constant highway noise was not. No matter where you are in the park, there is a constant hum of the Overseas Highway, although it’s somewhat reduced on the far edge and towards the marina.

The park has definite drainage issues. We arrived after a major thunderstorm swept through the Keys and there was a large lake at the entrance and in several other places around the park, including the road our site was on. They had pumps going to try and divert the worst of it out to sea, but it took days to completely dry up.

They allow motorhomes to front-in at the waterfront sites, which is nice even though the hookups were then on the wrong side of the coach. Luckily, we have pretty long power cables and hoses, so we’re able to reach across the nice wide site.

One downside of the waterfront site is that people think it’s okay to walk through your site on their way to the beach. It is not.

There are lots of activities and a robust social scene if you’re into that. We liked that it was convenient to everything we wanted to do in the Keys, but $300/night would be a dealbreaker if we wanted to visit the Keys again. We camped at Encore Sunshine Key RV Resort & Marina in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Griddle

Our power and water hookups were on the passenger side, since we fronted in. Fortunately we have a long power cord and hoses, so it wasn’t a problem (I didn’t even need to use my power extension cord).

Our site

I flew my drone for some aerial views; this first one is above our site:

Aerial view

Entrance sign:

Entrance sign

Direction sign:

Direction sign

Rental golf carts:

Rental golf carts

Rental Slingshot:

Rental Spyder

Mail room; quite well organized. People go in to claim their own packages:

Mail room

They regularly had food vendors onsite:

Food fair

Food cart

Birds in front of our site:

Birds in front of our site

Our coach next to a rental tiny home:

Our coach next to tiny home

More tiny homes:

More tiny homes

Rental trailers:

Rental trailers

Other sites:

Other sites

Dog park:

Dog park

Swimming pool:

Swimming pool

Marina:

Marina

Fish in the marina:

Fish in the marina

Sunset Pier, with a swimming area and fishing:

Sunset Pier

People checking out a grounded boat:

People checking out a grounded boat

Beach access down from our site:

Beach access

Beach

An old bridge, now a walking path:

Bridge

The old bridge next to the newer Overseas Highway bridge:

Bridges

Birds and rocks

A glimpse of our coach from the water:

A glimpse of our coach from the water

Waterfront sites

Waterfront

Picnic shelter

A large, nice RV park. It would have been nicer if we could have stayed for free via our Thousand Trails membership, but the premium site was nicer.

Key West, Florida

We did a quick visit to Key West, Florida.

Lots of golf carts on the roads:

Lots of golf carts on the roads

And tour trams:

Tour trams

And bikes:

Tour tram

Also lots of free-range chickens (mostly roosters):

Chickens

Rooster

We visited the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center and Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, which will be featured in subsequent blog posts. But we also stopped by the beach in the state park for lunch, which I’ll include here.

This beach is one of the southernmost points in the continental US. Quite a nice and popular beach, too:

Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park

Direction sign on the beach:

Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park

We grabbed some lunch at the cafe on the beach:

Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park

Another rooster:

Rooster

We had considered visiting the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum and other touristy places, but had enough of walking around, so drove by them instead.

Houses with nice Caribbean paint jobs:

House

The aforementioned Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum, with a bit of a line outside:

Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum

Why did the chickens cross the road? No, really, why?

Chickens

The famous Southernmost point buoy, which as mentioned isn’t actually southernmost, but is a popular spot for selfies, with a long line of people waiting their turn:

Southernmost point buoy

Really not our kind of town; way too crowded.

Sugarloaf Key / Key West KOA Resort

We stayed at Sugarloaf Key / Key West KOA Resort, in Sugarloaf Key, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A very nice resort, that actually lives up to the resort label. We wished we could have stayed longer.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-02-02
Check out: 2024-02-04
2 nights

Weather:

Mostly clear
High temps 70°F, lows around 65°F
Little wind, gusts to 24 MPH

Noise:

Some highway noise
No train noise
Live music from pool area on the first night

Site:

#102, back in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
A little unlevel, high on left; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 50 feet long by about 10 feet wide
Shrubs between sites
Picnic table and fire pit on gravel area
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
35 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (1 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 52 Mbps down, 67 Mbps up, 37-437 ms ping
AT&T: 37-50 Mbps down, 0.2 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
Verizon: 25 Mbps down, 16 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage pickup from site
Pool
Pub and cafe

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Most resort-like KOA ever

This was a last-minute change as we had reservations at another place in the Keys, but needed to avoid a major storm and came down a couple of days earlier than planned. We only stayed two nights, but I wish we could’ve stayed for our entire trip in the Keys. We’ve stayed at lots of KOAs and lots of other so-called “resorts”, but this one felt the most like a true resort that we’ve ever stayed at. The pool and bar area were like something at a beachside resort in Cancun, with lush landscaping and attentive bartenders. It does get a bit loud in the evenings when they have live music, so if that’s not your scene, just be aware that you will hear it from your site.

We had a back-in along the perimeter, which we enjoyed. There is very nice landscaping between the sites, so it was relatively private. The site was just long enough for our 40′ motorhome, with our tow vehicle parked perpendicular at the front of the site. Since everyone does this, the road was a bit narrow when backing in and when we left, so make sure you have a reliable spotter.

The cost is a bit higher than we are used to, but it is what it is. It was cheaper than a less-fancy resort that was further away from Key West, so bear that in mind. We would definitely stay here again. We camped at Sugarloaf Key / Key West KOA Holiday in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Office:

Office

This KOA is different in that it has a couple of hotel buildings for non-RVers:

Hotel

Other sites:

Other sites

Dog park:

Dog park

They have nice paths in the middle of rows, so people aren’t tempted to cut through unoccupied (or occupied!) sites:

Path

Sothernmost KOA:

Sothernmost KOA

Marina:

Marina

Rentals:

Rentals

Boat ramp:

Boat ramp

Hammock:

Hammock

Pools:

Pools

Pool

Always nice when there’s food onsite. They have a poolside pub:

Pub

Menus:

We tried some beverages:

Beverage

Bar

Sandwiches and fries:

Sandwiches and fries

Second round:

Beverage

The next day, more beverages:

Beverages

And pizzas:

Pizzas

Pools

Cafe and store:

Cafe and store

Store

A path to a “beach”:

Path

Bridge:

Bridge

Mangroves:

Mangroves

“Beach”:

Beach

A nice resort. We’d be happy to stay here again.

Travel from Homestead to Sugarloaf Key, Florida

We drove our coach 122 miles, about 3 hours of driving, from Everglades National Park in Homestead, Florida to Sugarloaf Key, Florida.

This was a late change; we had planned to stay a couple of days more, but decided to leave early to avoid some bad weather.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading down the Overseas Highway in the Keys:

Route map

An interactive map:

Leaving our site:

Leaving site

We stopped at the dump station, which was rather popular at that time:

Dump station

A bird in Everglades:

Bird in Everglades

Leaving next to the entrance station:

Entrance station

Road works:

Road works

Entering route 1:

Entering route 1

Our coach in traffic cams:

Traffic cam

Overseas Highway, with an adjacent fishing bridge:

Overseas Highway

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Paladin sat on the dash at the fuel stop, but jumped down once underway again:

Paladin on dash

Turtle hospital:

Turtle hospital

Overseas Highway

Passing Encore Sunshine Key, where we stayed a couple of days later:

Encore Sunshine Key

Overseas Highway

Our destination:

KOA

Guided to our site (even though it was literally right around that corner):

Guided to our site

Robert is Here fruit stand

We stopped by Robert is Here, a longstanding fruit stand in Homestead, Florida:

Robert is Here

We tried several interesting fruits we hadn’t encountered before:

Robert is Here

An interesting way to package pineapples:

Robert is Here

Chickens:

Robert is Here

Trying some of the fruit:

Fruit

Some strange tastes, but we liked most of them.

Travel from Clermont to Homestead, Florida

We drove our coach 289 miles, about 5 hours of driving, from Thousand Trails Orlando in Clermont, Florida to Everglades National Park in Homestead, Florida.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading south along Florida’s Turnpike:

Route map

An interactive map, showing potential stops:

Leaving TTO:

Leaving TTO

Toll plaza:

Toll plaza

Sinclair Road:

Sinclair Road

Toll plaza:

Toll plaza

Entering the Florida’s Turnpike toll freeway:

Florida's Turnpike

Service plaza rest stop:

Service plaza

Our coach in traffic cams:

Our coach in traffic cam

Service plaza lunch stop:

Service plaza

Earl of Sandwich; it was a very nice sandwich:

Earl of Sandwich

We bought and activated a Sun Pass toll transponder for our truck:

Sun Pass

Another traffic cam shot:

Traffic cam

Florida’s Turnpike:

Florida's Turnpark

Fuel stop, alongside another Tiffin Allegro Bus (slightly newer):

Fuel stop

Hard Rock guitar building:

Hard Rock guitar building

End of the turnpike:

End of the turnpark

Entering Everglades National Park:

Everglades National Park

The entrance station, with a lot of traffic (other times we went through only had one or two cars):

Everglades National Park entrance

The ranger in the booth loved seeing Paladin on the dash:

Everglades National Park entrance

The turn to the Long Pine Key campground:

Long Pine Key

Campground entrance:

Long Pine Key entrance

Our site:

Our site

Universal Studios Florida Theme Park

On the other two days, we visited the Universal Studios Florida Theme Park.

Universal Orlando

The Simpsons characters:

Simpsons

Characters

Spongebob Storepants:

Spongebob Storepants

Jenn in a pineapple under the sea:

Jenn in a pineapple under the sea

Coming soon:

Coming soon

Shrek

Springfield:

Springfield

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter:

Harry Potter area

Knight Bus:

Knight Bus

Diagon Alley:

Diagon Alley

San Francisco:

San Francisco

New York:

New York

On another day, we started at Starbucks for some coffee:

Starbucks

The Brown Derby Hat Shop:

The Brown Derby Hat Shop

Beverly Hills:

Beverly Hills

Cars

Kings Cross Station:

Kings Cross Station

Diagon Alley:

Diagon Alley

We did the Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts ride:

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

Frozen butterbeer:

Butterbeer

Diagon Alley dragon:

Diagon Alley dragon

Selfie

Back to the Future:

Back to the Future

Finally, we got some Voodoo Doughnuts on the way out:

Voodoo Doughnut

More fun stuff. We’re not so interested in Universal properties, other than Harry Potter, so we basically went to the parks just for that, but enjoyed exploring the other areas too.

Universal Islands of Adventure Theme Park

While staying in the Orlando area, we spent four days at two of the Universal theme parks. Two of the days were at Universal Islands of Adventure Theme Park.

Universal Orlando

Islands of Adventure:

Islands of Adventure

Hogsmeade:

Hogsmeade

We enjoy the Butterbeer there:

Butterbeer

We did the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride:

Hogsmeade

We checked out many of the shops, and bought a few souvenirs, including some sweet stuff from Honeydukes:

Honeydukes

Hogsmeade

Dinosaur selfie:

Dinosaur selfie

Comic area:

Comic area

Leaving Islands of Adventure at night:

Islands of Adventure

Another day, we started out with cheese curds and margaritas at Margaritaville:

Margaritaville

Then went on the Hulk roller coaster, which was the first time we’ve both ever been on a real roller coaster, with inversions and everything. We survived!

Hulk roller coaster