Fort Wilderness Swimming Pool Update

Fort Wilderness Pool Entrance

Back in April, I wrote a blog about Fort Wilderness activities and the reopening of the swimming pool. At that time, the kiddy pool was not complete and I promised to return and take pictures once it opened. Also, a number of you requested additional swimming pool pictures. So today (May 29, 2009), I returned to Fort Wilderness with camera in hand.

First the bad news. The kiddy pool still isn’t ready.

But the good news is, it appears that the kiddy pool will open any day and I was able to get some pictures that will give you a good idea of what to expect once it’s done. It looks as if the water surrounding this slide is only a couple of inches deep. It also seems that their might be some water sprays emanating from the top of the structure.

Fort Wilderness Kiddy Pool

Fort Wilderness Kiddy Pool

Fort Wilderness Kiddy Pool

Fort Wilderness Kiddy Pool

Next to this new slide is another children’s wading pool. The depth here is about one foot.

Fort Wilderness Wading Pool

Fort Wilderness Wading Pool

Here is a picture of the spa.

Fort Wilderness Spa

The following pictures are of the main swimming pool and the new slide. As I mentioned in my previous blog, the barrel on the slide came from River Country.

Fort Wilderness Swimming Pool

Fort Wilderness Swimming Pool

Fort Wilderness Swimming Pool Slide

Fort Wilderness Swimming Pool Slide

Fort Wilderness Swimming Pool Slide

A number of construction fences still surround various portions of this area. But from what I could see, everything looks close to completion and I have to believe Disney is doing their best to finish everything before summer.

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26 Replies to “Fort Wilderness Swimming Pool Update”

  1. For all of you folks who are looking for a ‘not so kiddie’ area to swim in at Fort Wilderness, there is a 2nd pool area nestled in the cabin section of the campground, on Peacock Pass. Its called the Swimmin’ Hole. You can take the Orange or Purple bus to the Settler’s Bend stop and Voila!

    This pool is smaller in size but depth ranges from 3ft to 6ft and there is also a spa. And due to its fairly remote location, its not overly crowded.

    We were just there for 9 days over Easter and never had an issue with space. My 4 girls, aged 13 to 7, all preferred this pool to the the Meadows pool hands down.

    Enjoy.

  2. This sucks! what did they do to the old pool! this pool is only 4 feet all around so you cant have any fun and they only added 1 hottub this resort and campground is huge and only 1 hottub what were they thinking! its going to be packed the whole day so its pointless…

  3. Thank you so much for posting these great pictures! I am so excited to swim in the new pool! I use to complain about how all of the other resorts had unique pools and how fort wilderness’s pool was so dull. This is such a great renovation!

  4. Hi! Good pictures. I’ll stay at wilderness lodge in july. Will I be able to use this pool?
    Thanks!

    Jack’s Answer:

    No. Guests are required to use their own resort’s swimming pool. But there is good news! In my opinion, the pool at Wilderness Lodge is nicer than the pool at Ft. Wilderness.

  5. Hi Jack.

    Regarding your answer to “What ever happened to River Country” from Jan, looking at aerial map photos it seems it has already gone back to nature. The overgrowth is amazing!

    The reason it closed was due to new Florida regulations regarding filtration of public pool water. This was not a possibility, due to it’s using water from the lake, so River Country had to be closed.

    I was hoping they would turn it into a pool area for Wilderness guests. I still liked it better than the new water parks.

  6. It is so exciting to see photos of this pool…I actually learned how to walk in the shallow end back in ’87. We are taking our daughter (who will be 2 1/2 on our trip) to Disney next Spring, and I can’t wait to show her and my husband the place where I learned to walk….at DISNEY!!

  7. Just a note – we were just there this week (June 14 – 21). My girls (ages 21, 5, and 3)and I were all at the kiddie play pool. Here’s a few of my observations.

    1. The gate to the enclosed area isn’t secure enough in my opinion. When older children go in and out of the area, the little ones slip out through the open gate and can wander into the big pool. This happened with my 5 y.o. who was following her big sister without anyone’s knowledge. She climbed up and slid down the big slide. Fortunately another swimmer noticed her struggling and helped her out of the pool. Big sister saw her and brought her back to me at the kiddie area. I was aware that she was missing and was entering panic mode when my older daughter came to me with her.

    2. My 3 y.o. enjoyed sliding down the slide. However, she rec’d a very nasty, bloody scrape on her right thigh as a result of some exposed something or ‘nother on the slide itself!

    3. There is an elevated section at the bottom of the slide where you stop sliding instead of sliding on into the water. My 3 y.o. was injured on her upper right ear and behind her ear on this slide upon reaching the bottom of the slide when she attempted to stand and get out of the section when another child collided with her and caused her to trip over the elevated part. If you look at the pics posted, you can see the elevated piece I’m speaking of.

    After filing incident reports and speaking with the lifeguards, I was informed that this pool may be closed due to the many incidents occuring. Just in this past week alone, there were 3 other children injured…one seriously, in this kiddie pool

    Though it looks like a lot of fun, it is my professional tourist opinion that this kiddie area needs to be refurbished already and/or re-designed with the safety of our children in mind. After all, isn’t Disney all about the kids?

    Jack’s Comment:

    I am sorry you encountered problems and injuries while at the pool. Obviously we want our vacations to go flawlessly, but that’s not always the case. And seeing our children hurt is so upsetting. I’m glad nothing was too serious.

    I’m so happy you reported these incidents to Disney. If you hadn’t already done so, I was going to strongly suggest that you do.

    For whatever reason, sometimes things are designed poorly. Disney needs to be aware of these flaws so they can correct the problem.

  8. Hi Jack, The pictures are great as always. We go to Fort Wilderness for two weeks every year after Thanksgiving and we love it. Last year we changed our plans and didn’t stay at the campground and did Animal Kingdom Lodge instead. We missed FW so much we couldn’t wait to book it for this year. On a side note, I’m a DVC member and we have always pool hopped to other DVC resorts for the hot tub/spa when we stayed at FW. This brings up a question? Has the spa always been there and we have just missed it or is it something new that FW finally put in? Also, where is it located, if I missed it all of these years I would be surprised!!! Thanks for always helping out us Disney fanatics!!!

    Jack’s Answer:

    I have no idea if the hot tub has always been at the Ft. Wilderness pool, but I’ll post your question. I’m sure someone will write with the answer and I’ll post it.

    Its location is only a few yards north-east of the pool.

  9. We just left Ft. Wilderness. The new pool is a great improvement to, in our opinion, the best place to stay on Disney property. Thanks for all the pictures!

  10. So that was you snapping my picture while I was in the hot tub!! You should have introduced yourself- I am a big fan of your blogs and Allears. Never in my life did I think a picture of me in my bathing suit would end up on Allears!! 🙂

  11. Hi Jack!! They must have closed the kiddie area again to do some work on it during your visit as it was open and full of kids over Memorial Day weekend!!

    There have been many reports of inconsistent rules on the kiddie slide. Many times the lifeguards have allowed children of all ages in there and there have also been times that they have chased away any children over the age of 5.

  12. We visited Fort Wilderness Memorial Day Weekend and the pool was packed! Not enough lounge chairs to handle the crowd. The pool is nice with the slide. Pool depth was changed too – I think it’s now it’s 3′ 8″ throughout where it used to be 6′ in the deep end.

  13. HI JACK,
    WILL BE VISITING THE END OF SEPT AND STAYING AT PT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE ASKED TO BE IN THE MAGNOLIA BEND AREA. I WILL BE TAKING MY 75 YR YOUNG MOTHER. IF POSSIBLE COULD YOU TAKE SOME UP DATED PHOTOS AND YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS SITE. I HAVE BEEN MANY TIMES BEFORE, NEVER HAD STAYED ON SITE BEFORE. WE ARE FROM BUFFALO, NEW YORK THANK YOU

    Jack’s Answer:

    I really can’t take personal requests to update pictures. If I did, I’d spend all of my time doing nothing else. However, I did check out the pictures we provide on Allears. For the most part, these pictures are up to date. The only pictures I can see that might have changed is the chest-of-drawers/TV. I know Disney is converting all rooms to flat-screen TV’s so this might have changed.

    http://allears.net/acc/porss.htm

    As for my thoughts, I have only stayed in the Bayou Rooms, never the Mansions. I was very happy everything. My only suggestion, try to get a room as close to the lobby/restaurants as possible. Some of the rooms are a distance and if you have an older person in your group, this could be a problem.

    I like the food court here but only think Boatwrights is so-so.

  14. What ever happened to River Country? Has it gone away for good. Love the look of the new Ft. Wilderness kiddie pool.

    Jack’s Answer:

    River Country closed a few years after Blizzard Beach opened. It was old and in desperate need of repair. And its slides could not complete with the newer water parks. If you walk to this section of Ft. Wilderness, you’ll find a large, temporary wall around River Country. Since it will never open again, I hope someday Disney rips it out completely and returns this area to nature.

  15. As usual, your photos are wonderful. We are going to campground July 2nd for 5 nights. I can’t wait to see the pool changes. The pool area really needed refurbishment. I’m glad Disney went ahead with it.
    Thanks!!

  16. Fort Wilderness is my family’s favorite resort. We’ll be there in August for the 4th time and can’t wait to try out the new pool. We usually swim at the smaller Wilderness pool cause it close to the cabins, but the updated Meadow pool looks great. Thanks for the pictures.

  17. Thanks for the pics. We are headed for Fort Wilderness in August and were curious about the new pool. Can’t wait to see it!!!

  18. We are Ft. Wilderness bound in 19 days! Can’t wait to check out the new pool area! The Family is going to have a BLAST!!

  19. Awesome pics, thank you so much. I stayed here as a kid and loved it. I’ve tried to get my husband to try the campground and after seeing these pics its a deal maker!!!

  20. Aww! That kiddy pool is SO CUTE!

    They sure have added some new stuff! I wish that slide was there when i was younger. Maybe big kids are allowed on it though 🙂