Lion Country Safari, Ft DeSoto, or YogI Bear

mom24girlz

Earning My Ears
Joined
Aug 30, 2010
We love camping, but our friends keep laughing at us because we've only camped at the Fort. So we're thinking about giving non disney camping a try. Do any of you have any experience with camping at amy of the campgrounds? What would you recmoment for newbie tent campers like us. It would be myself, hubby, and dds 16 & 13. We live in Pinellas county so Fort Desoto would be local and have family in Palm Beach which is near Lion Country Safari.
 
mom24girlz,

I can chip in some info on Ft. Desoto.

It was on my list of Florida campsites to check out so I went in Jan 2015 (after a Fort visit) to Tampa to see some snowbird family members before going home and visited Ft. Desoto campground for an hour or two. It is a Pinellas County campground, not a state park, and as a Pinellas County resident you get early consideration to book a reservation before non-county residents like myself can. It's hard to get a reservation unless you make it well in advance during the comfortable times of the year like winter in FL. Here is the info sheet on the campground.





Note the instructions on the 2nd page under "Advance Reservations" for Pinellas County residents. Area 1 is for Tent/van/popup campers so it might be a LITTLE easier for you since you're not slugging it out for a RV/TT site (areas 2 & 3).

It's a pretty campground. Not paved so it's easy to track sand everywhere.





Note on the map some sites are "Outer" with a view of the water and some are "Inner" without a water view but lots of good tree/shade coverage.









Weekdays in the winter might be gettable. I was impressed with it and would like to stay there if I could get into a campsite. I have a popup so Area 1 somewhere would be my probably landing zone too.

Plus being a local you know when the temperature conditions/time of year is good for tent camping so try to throw a couple reservations out there in advance while also trying to get something shorter term.

Bama Ed
 
We live in Winter Haven and also camp a lot at the Fort, but we also love the Florida State parks. There are not a lot of "activities" like at the Fort, but plenty of hiking and biking trails, along with canoeing and fishing. My husband and son have stayed at Fort Desoto several times with their boy scout troop and really like it, we have reservations for April and I am looking forward to trying it. You also may want to look at Westgate River Ranch outside of Lake Wales, I heard it is really nice. They are more "Fort"like with a rodeo, horseback riding, pool, airboat rides and more. It is on my list of campground to try.
 
New to the camping forum so I'm just now seeing this. You may have already made up your mind, but we love Fort Desoto. We have camped many times in our tent there and have done a couple of trips in our teardrop. If you have any questions about it, I'd be happy to help.
 


I've been to Jellystone in Madison off of I10, it was horrible, lots of locals with dirt bikes that like to ride on the property next door, 7:30 am wake up call of 2 stroke dirt bikes zing zing zing also locals getting drunk and being loud till 3am because they "own" the place. Bathrooms were dirty all the time and the mini golf had dog poop on the path in 3 or 4 places
 
Would really love to try Fort DeSoto for a few days bf heading over to WDW. They have a couple openings in the Site 2 pet area that are inside sites only. Are bringing our dog. Question for those that know this campground, are any inside sites in Site 2 that they prefer and why, or have a view of the water also? I realize they are not ON the water but can you see the water acrossed from you etc. We camp in a smaller 24 ft Class B. Any area in site 2 that you find preferable? Thanks for the info!
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts


Top