Questions:
1. If you are a tent camper at Walt Disney World, what brand/style tent do you have? What do you like about it? Would you recommend it?
2. What are the main necessities you ALWAYS bring with you when camping at Walt Disney World as far as equipment? (Air mattress vs. cots, tarps, etc...)
3. What are some nice additional things you pack that make your stay more enjoyable?
4. What are the main things we need to know about Fort Wilderness? We've toured it before to drop off some friends who were staying at the campsite, but we don't really know anything about how it all works.
5. Other tips and tricks for camping?
Thanks SO much in advance for your help!
- Jordan
Disclaimer: I have never camped at WDW.
We always talk about it, but end up staying in a hotel because by the time we're ready to go on vacation to WDW, we've been 'camped out', thanks to DS's former interest in scouting. But....I can share my usual camping list from scouting, if it helps any. This is just what is packed in the camping totes in the garage; what we take varies by campout (depending on space at the site, space in the vehicles, where we're going, what we're doing, etc. This is stuff accumulated over...25 years...of camping (personal, and with both boy and girl scout groups), and we've adjust things as time has gone on, until we found a setup that works for us. YMMV
Tents (sometimes 2, sometimes 3. One 8 man for me & DH and all our gear. One 1 man for DS, as he is 'too big to sleep in the same tent with mom'. (He'll sleep with dad in the 4 or 8 man though, if it's just them.
) If we have space at the site, we'll bring the smaller 4 man tent, and use it for storage for food/kitchen equipment/coolers/chairs/etc)
Tarps for under tent and mallet to pound stakes (duh)
Pop-ups (one for cooking area, one for eating area)
Camping chairs. Two long fold up tables (they are at Walmart for $20-25 each); I use them to prep on, cook on, eat off of if there isn't a picnic bench, hold the dishwashing set up, hold the dishes until they are dry, play cards, etc. A couple of stadium seat pads for picnic benches.
Cots w/padding (my bones need the cushioning, lol); sleeping bags/linens depending on the time of year. My favorite pillow. DS just uses pads if he's in the 1 man tent, or he'll use my cot if I don't go; we've had inflatable mattressses in the past, but we tend to get holes and they are down right cold in winter)
Cloth cubes for luggage (the kind you put on a shelf. It helps to keep things easy to find and tidy. I do a roll of clothes per day, i.e. a shirt/shorts/undergarments/socks; and always have a few extra sets, just in case). When empty, they just fold up.
Tote with bathroom stuff in it (usually just baby wipes, good TP, dry shampoo, deodorant, etc. Very rarely do we camp where we can actually shower, but if we are, we bring the usual stuff)
Flashlights/head lamps; lanterns (we have battery operated, rechargables and propane to choose from); Emergency radio (battery operated) and portable chargers. We use the battery/rechargable lanterns in the tents, so we don't need string lights.
Kitchen gear: Cheap pans/cooking utensils from Walmart (had 'em for 25 years for camping and still going strong); Lodge cast iron (double skillet and dutch oven); hand towels and oven mitts; Plastic picnic plates/bowls/cups/glasses (from Walmart again, usually $1 per pack of 4); Camping forks/spoons/knives (Heavy duty..nylon maybe? from sporting goods store); decent knives (not my good Henckels, but decent ones, and kept sharp); shrimp boil pot for heating water; cutting boards, stainer; large Tupperwear measuring cup (I think 16 cup? works great for mixing pancake batter) and a set of cheap measuring cups/spoons. We use a French press for coffee and I pre-grind the beans into storage jar before we leave home (we use the same press for coffee at home daily
). We have a big 3 burner camp stove (that uses the big propane tanks you find outside the grocery store); 2 small 2 burner propane stoves (tabletop, that use the small propane bottles) and 3 or 4 individual cooking set ups (the guys use when they are backpacking). Three plastic tubs for wash/rinse/sanitize; kitchen basics like foil, cling wrap, dishsoap, salt, pepper, etc. Two collapsible trash cans (one for trash, one for inside the tent for dirty clothes; both get lined with garbage bags). Long forks for roasting marshmallows/hot dogs/etc. (We own a cast iron waffle maker that makes single waffles on a burner stove, a popcorn popper for the stove/fire, one of those hand pie makers, and a few other cooking things that people have given us over the years...and we've never used any of them!) Little hand broom/dustpan
Totes: One-two for kitchen gear. One for dry food (canned/boxed/basics). One to go outside the tent, by the door [Ok, the big tent has a 'porch' that has a small 'awning' over it. We put one chair there, along with the tote (which has a set of babywipes in it), and a plastic tray turned upside down so it doesn't gather water, with a fake grass mat on it. Inside the door, there is another fake grass mat. You sit down in the chair, remove the shoes, empty them, put shoe powder in them if you want them to not stink as bad
, and wipe down those feet with the wipes. Shoes go in the tote, dirty socks go in the tote and nasty wipes go in the little grocery bag in the tote. Feet go on the mat outside, go onto the mat inside and no sand or dirt all over the tent floor! I overdo things sometimes, hah, but my tent does not stink like feet. Shoes stay dry in the tote, stinky socks stay out of the tent until we get home, and before we leave, the stinky wipes go in our last trash run.]
Three coolers. One for drinks; one for meats; one for other ingredients we want to keep cool, like butter, mayo, etc.
Then the food, bug sprays, sunscreen, stuff to do (cards, books, etc).
