Travel from Fort Lauderdale to Disney World, Florida

We drove our coach 213 miles, about four hours of driving, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground in Disney World, Florida.

Here’s a map showing our route:

Route map

An interactive map:

Paladin was happy to have his nest on the stacked dining chairs:

Paladin

Leaving the resort:

Leaving resort

A drawbridge:

Drawbridge

On the Florida’s Turnpike toll road:

Florida's Turnpike

“Sample Road” — someone forgot to give it a real name?

Sample Road

Accident:

Roadworks

It was nice to see a bunch of wildflowers alongside the road:

Wildflowers

A stop at a service plaza for lunch:

Service plaza

Back in the coach, having a snuggle with Paladin:

David and Paladin

Another service plaza stop for a bathroom break (and yes, a truck in the RV-only sites):

Service plaza

Paladin on the passenger chair:

Paladin

Yeehaw Junction:

Yeehaw Junction

Florida's Turnpike

More wildflowers:

Wildflowers

Approaching Disney World:

Disney World

Entering the Walt Disney World bubble:

Walt Disney World

Fort Wilderness campground:

Fort Wilderness

Security gate:

Fort Wilderness

Reception:

Fort Wilderness reception

Unhitch area:

Unhitch area

Following the coach to our site:

Following coach to our site

Our site before parking:

Our site

Photographic artwork

Our coach came with some generic artwork on a wall in the bedroom. But we wanted to personalize it a bit, so we replaced that with 12 photos of favorite places from our travels, printed on aluminum (so we don’t need to worry about breaking glass).

We laid the prints out on our bed to decide on the arrangement:

Artwork

How many of those places do you recognize? I bet there are a few stumpers. Let me know in the comments which ones you recognize, and which ones you’ve visited. See the end of this post for a full list.

The prints came with metal hangers, which wouldn’t really cut it in a rolling earthquake of a motorhome, so I attached Command Strips to stick them to the wall; these Command Strips come in two parts like velcro, so we’ll be able to swap out the pictures in the future if desired:

Artwork

The wall in question, with some markers to guide placement:

Wall

Adding the first picture:

Artwork

Paladin helping:

Artwork

Done:

Artwork

How many of those places did you recognize? Here’s a list, starting from top-left, with links to corresponding blog posts:

A huge improvement, and a nice reminder of some of our favorite places.

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

Video

Video: Ohio Key to Fort Lauderdale, Florida motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 148 miles from Ohio Key, Florida to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, including a picture-in-picture from the 360 camera on the truck being towed behind the coach.

Travel from Ohio Key to Fort Lauderdale, Florida

We drove our coach 148 miles, about three hours of driving, from Ohio Key, Florida to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading back up the Overseas Highway out of the Keys:

Route map

An interactive map:

Leaving the resort:

Departing

Heading up the Overseas Highway:

Overseas highway

Marathon

Overseas highway

Bird nest

Drawbridge

Overseas highway

Florida’s Turnpike toll road:

Florida's Turnpike

Rainy:

Rain

Tolls

Service plaza lunch stop:

Service plaza

Paladin at the service plaza:

Paladin

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Hard Rock hotel:

Hard Rock hotel

Turnaround:

Turnaround

Our destination:

Our destination

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.

Video

Video: Sugarloaf Key to Ohio Key, Florida motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, just 19 miles from Sugarloaf Key, Florida to Ohio Key, Florida, including a picture-in-picture from the 360 camera on the truck being towed behind the coach.

Travel from Sugarloaf Key to Ohio Key, Florida

We drove our coach just 19 miles, less than half an hour of driving, from Sugarloaf Key, Florida to Ohio Key, Florida.

This was a late change, to avoid bad weather; we decided it was better to do most of the drive a couple of days earlier, then just a very short drive on the bad weather day. As a bonus, we got to experience another RV park in the Keys.

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

Route map

An interactive map:

A map showing the storm; the worst of it was past by the time we left:

Weather map

Departing:

Departing

Toading up outside the resort — which we did out of habit, though it occurred to us after we’d done so that we didn’t really need to for such a short journey. But it doesn’t take us long, so doesn’t matter:

Toading

An Overseas Highway bridge:

Bridge

Pelican:

Pelican

Another bridge:

Bridge

An old decaying bridge, slowly falling apart:

Old decaying bridge

Arriving at our destination:

Our destination

Arrival area, where I untoaded while Jenn checked in:

Arrival area

Heading to our site:

Heading to our site

Pulling in to our site:

Pulling in to our site

New tires

A big expense, but an important one: new tires. Motorhome and truck tires don’t wear out like car tires, but instead age out. Tires can last up to ten years, but the advice is to check them starting at five years, and aim for about seven years to replace them, or sooner if there are signs of cracking.

Our 2017 coach had the original tires, made in 2016, so were about due. And when we recently had our brake seize up, raising the temperature of the tire over the danger zone of 200°F, we decided it was time.

These big tires are over a grand each, and we have six of them, so it isn’t a trivial expense, but good tires are very important for the safety of the coach.

We went to Bay Diesel in Red Bay to get this done:

Bay Diesel

While there, we also got them to look at our generator, which had misbehaved earlier, but of course was working perfectly while they looked at it:

Generator

The rear wheel without the tires:

Rear wheel

New tires:

New tires

New tires installed; they were all manufactured in late 2023, so they should be good for another 5-10 years:

New tires

We also did a test drive with a couple of techs to tweak the alignment of our Safe-T-Plus steering control system:

Test drive

Yay for new tires:

New tires

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