“Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground is not only one of my favorite places at Walt Disney World Resort; it’s one of my favorite places on Earth,” said Disney Files Magazine Editor Ryan March. “So as Disney Vacation Club prepares to welcome Members ‘home’ to The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort, I reached out to a friend who loves the place as much as I do – the Walt Disney Archives’ Kevin M. Kern (a Member Cruise veteran who, along with fellow Member Cruise favorites Tim O’Day and Steven Vagnini, wrote the illuminating 2021 book A Portrait of Walt Disney World: 50 Years of The Most Magical Place on Earth) – to help us dig through the decades to uncover the resort’s deep roots in Disney history.”
Here’s a tranquil escape from the everyday norm, replete with a local swimmin’ hole (or two). A chance getaway to revisit tamer days, where simple delights and pastoral inspiration aplenty abound, found all beneath the lofty tree-lined canopy that reigns above.
In many respects, the unspoiled Floridian expanse of Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, as described in the archival copy above, represents a look back at the very same landscape that first drew Walt Disney to Central Florida, walking his “Florida Project” property in the fall of 1965 and spring of 1966.
Home to many a down-home experience and set amidst the backdrop of a pristine subtropical forest, the now 750-acre Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground that’s soon to join the Disney Vacation Club neighborhood is a thematic simulacrum (Editor’s note: “simulacrum” is fancy talk for “representation”) of Frontierland that would make any Tom Sawyer proud, just a water taxi away from Magic Kingdom Park.
While the resort debuted as a campground (cabins would come later), it wasn’t just any campground. As Walt Disney World Vacationland magazine described it upon opening, “Winding streams, stately stands of cypress, and a white ribbon of beach on a sparkling lake make camping an unforgettable experience at ... Fort Wilderness.”
Dating back to the very beginnings of the Walt Disney World concept — in the mid-1960s — the goal of catering to every type of potential guest was considered with the careful development of the resort’s property, including for campers and those traveling with recreational vehicles. Even on his famous early master plan sketch of the site, Walt marked areas for camping outlets — one on the southwest end of the property, as well as a site on the northeastern side, not terribly far from where Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground sits today. The concept for nomadic accommodations would become part of each major master plan conceived and updated for the “vacation kingdom of the world,” from its earliest development period through its opening, ensuring Walt’s guiding hand touched down each step of the way.
Disney Legend Joe Fowler — one of two Joes responsible for the mass earth moving and infrastructural refinement of the Florida property (the other being Disney Legend Joe Potter) — reflected in early 1980 on the foundational intent of this frontier-themed retreat.
“Now, right from the very beginning, one of [Walt’s] concepts of the ‘Disney World’ was that there would be a location where people could come in with the campers … It wouldn’t necessarily be the people coming in with the expensive automobiles … but the average man with his family,” Joe recalled. “Because Walt was always very family oriented. There wasn’t anything we did in Disneyland … that would not be accepted by the family. He was always very careful about that.”
Archival ephemera references the Fort Wilderness Railway, a narrow-gauge train that operated at the resort from 1973-1980.
Fellow Disney Legend Dick Nunis — responsible for not only helping to pick the ultimate site of the resort, but also getting the final operation up and running (Editor’s note: Dick also played a leading role in creating Disney Vacation Club) — called the rustic resort and campground “one of the best in the nation.” Reminiscing with the Walt Disney Archives staff in 2020 about the beginnings of the project, he recalled, “[Disney executive] Card [Walker] calls me and says, ‘We’ve got to have a campground,’ and I said, ‘We don’t have any money for a campground, sir’… ‘Don’t worry about the money, I’ll get it,’ he said, ‘Walt wanted people to be able to sleep in everything from a suite to a sleeping bag … we’ve got to have a campground.’”
Taking this initial cue from Card, Nunis ultimately tasked Disneylander Keith Kambak with assembling a rag-tag team to research and pull together the best elements of campgrounds from across the country, and to then install those elements in short order on an initial 650-acre site just southeast of Magic Kingdom Park on the shores of Bay Lake. This foundational research, paired with the expert earth moving and landscaping expertise of Disney Imagineers, would pay off in spades, as the final layout and amenities of the campground immediately played into its reputation and popularity. Shortly after opening, as Nunis remembered, “we had a lot of people from the government coming down to look at our campground so they could learn [some things] to [implement at] their National Parks. And I think that was a compliment to us.”
An early Walt Disney sketch of his "Florida Project" includes notable nods to “camps + motels” and a “tourist trailer camp,” highlighting just how important this concept was to his overall vision.
Opening on Nov. 19, 1971, the resort unlocked its trails to the first of many brave and hearty campers seeking a Disney vacation filled with an adventurous, homespun flair. Able to accommodate camper needs of all kinds — fulfilling Walt’s wish in welcoming everyone from tent caravanners to those with large recreational vehicles (and later, even those seeking a secluded cabin experience) — the resort provides ample opportunity to enjoy the natural beauty of Walt Disney World Resort from the comfort of your own campsite.
Starting with approximately 232 campsites sprawled across six original trails (or “loops,” to campground regulars), a picturesque Nature Trail, three Comfort Stations, a welcoming Reception Outpost, the Settlement Trading Post, the Tri-Circle D Ranch, a temporary Bike Barn, a marina and only 40 Cast Members (there are hundreds at the resort today) to make it all run smoothly, there was a serene beauty to the simple—but meaningful—execution of Fort Wilderness as it was on day one. And still today, more than half a century later, this forest oasis of simple delights continues to provide a naturalist escape that’s anything but prosaic.
This early map dates back to December 1971, shortly after the resort's Nov. 19, 1971 opening.
