Disney World's Coveted, Budget-Friendly Accommodation Is Perfect For RV Camping

Disney World's resort hotels can be expensive, which is why it helps to bring your own bed in an RV (Mickey Mouse sheets not required). You can do drive-through check-in and park at Fort Wilderness, Disney World's only campground and one of its oldest resorts. Since November 1971 — the month after the Magic Kingdom opened — Fort Wilderness has been welcoming guests to a unique outdoor sanctuary within the fabled Disney bubble. It's the polar opposite of Galactic Starcruiser, the now-defunct hotel themed to "Star Wars," where guests paid thousands of dollars to sleep in tight, windowless quarters.

At Fort Wilderness, you can gaze up at real stars in a campground with over 20 RV loops, spread across 750 acres. There are about 800 campsites and 400 cabins on the property, and you may want a golf cart to get around unless you're up for even more walking exercise outside Disney World's four theme parks. If you don't have an RV or a camper, you can stay in a cabin or use rental services like Escape RV Rental and Kissimmee Orlando RV Rental. These Disney-affiliated local providers will even deliver an RV to the campground so it's waiting for you when you arrive.

The campsites have concrete pads ranging from 10 by 25 feet (for camper vans or pop-up campers) to 18 by 60 feet (for larger RVs). Each site includes a charcoal grill, picnic table, cold water tap, and TV and electrical hook-ups, plus free Wi-Fi. In 2026, RVers should expect to pay anywhere between $125 and $313 a night for one, per Mousesavers. While not cheap for a campground, even the median of $219 is budget-friendly by Disney World standards, leaving Fort Wilderness priced between Disney's Value and Moderate resorts.

Growing up in Florida, some of my earliest memories are of the campsites at Fort Wilderness, where I'd pitch a tent beside my grandparents' camper. I was the kind of brainwashed kid who had a Fort Wilderness pennant and T-shirt. As an adult planning a December return trip to Florida, I've learned that Fort Wilderness can be booked solid well ahead of time, with reservations opening up 499 days in advance. The campground is pet-friendly, and each campsite accommodates up to 10 guests (in 2026, that limit will be reset to 8), which makes it a popular place to bring the whole family.

Fort Wilderness has enough transportation options that you might be able to leave your RV parked for your entire stay. In addition to golf cart and bike rentals, there are complimentary buses to shuttle you around the campground and connect you with other parts of Disney World. Canoe and kayak rentals allow you to explore the campground's waterways, while free water taxis run to the Magic Kingdom. After check-in time at 3 p.m., another water taxi route opens up to Disney's Wilderness Lodge, inspired by two stunning national parks. At night, you can watch Disney's Electrical Water Pageant from the campground.

While some Disney fans think the parks should stop using horses, the animals are an integral part of the Fort Wilderness landscape as well. At the Tri-Circle-D Ranch, you can visit the stable where the Magic Kingdom's horses dwell. Through the ranch and its corral, you can also reserve carriage rides and horseback trail rides, or walk-in for wagon rides and pony rides. There are even sleigh rides in December, when guests of Fort Wilderness put up holiday decorations in their campsites.

The Fort Wilderness logo once showed Mickey Mouse wielding a musket and sporting a coonskin cap like Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier. To avoid setting off metal detectors at Disney World, Musket Mickey has since traded in his gun for a stick, but recreationally, the campground still feels like an extension of Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom. Where else this side of the permanently closed Frontierland Shootin' Arcade are you going to engage in non-threatening target practice at Disney World? The Fort Wilderness Archery Experience allows guests to do just that, channeling their inner Robin Hood with a bow and arrow.

Fort Wilderness also has playgrounds, arcades, jogging trails, basketball and volleyball courts, and swimming pools with slides to keep you occupied on your off-days outside the Disney parks. If you work up an appetite, you can buy groceries for your RV kitchen at one of the campground's two trading posts, situated in its Meadow and Settlement areas. Keep in mind that, as Fort Wilderness is wooded, your campsite may receive visits from hungry squirrels, as if nature is eager to reenact a Snow White song with forest creatures while you picnic.

At Chip 'n Dale's Campfire Sing-Along, it's the chipmunks that get musical before a free outdoor movie screening, while the Chuck Wagon food truck sells s'mores kits for guests to enjoy. There are no Disney characters in the vaudeville-style Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue, but according to Disney Parks Blog, it's one of America's longest-running dinner shows, having celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024. Another dining option at Fort Wilderness is the Trail's End Restaurant, a former buffet that now offers a quick-service menu with fried chicken, barbecued ribs, and more.