This reservation confirmation from the Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground was issued to Mr. and Mrs. Kennith Riddle and Family of Rome, Georgia, less than four months after the resort’s opening (November 19, 1971).
It confirms a six-night booking, beginning March 13, 1972, for a single campsite at the rate of $10.58 per night. Two copies of the confirmation are provided within the custom Walt Disney World envelope that features one of the resort’s earliest logos, complete with the little-seen Florida “banner.”
Fort Wilderness sits adjacent to Bay Lake and is home to the Tri Circle D Ranch, where the horses used throughout the resort for transportation and show purposes are kept. The beach and lake access formerly offered several recreational opportunities, which have been discontinued over the years, though many activities remain across the resort, including boating, biking, archery, and horseback riding. 1974 saw the addition of both the Fort Wilderness Railroad and Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue dinner show. While the former was discontinued after only six years of operation, the latter continues to entertain guests to this day. River Country, the world’s first themed water park, opened next door in 1976 and remained a popular attraction for two-and-a-half decades. Today, its hundreds of campsites and cabins in a natural wooded setting—not to mention, close proximity to the Magic Kingdom—continue to make Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground a favorite vacation spot for many Walt Disney World Resort guests.
