With the ongoing construction at the former River Country site for Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Resort, guests visiting Fort Wilderness Resort and Campgrounds are seeing plenty of green walls. As part of the preparations for the resort’s arrival, the Fort Wilderness beach area has been relocated. Also happening is the removal of the old buildings and construction for the new Tri-Circle-D Ranch site. We took a boat over to the campgrounds to get a view of the updates.

Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Resort Construction

The first thing we noticed on our boat ride over to Fort Wilderness was the increased presence of construction equipment at the Reflections site. Here you can see a boat dock that has been set up on the lake shore, as well as construction materials in the background.

As you can see, things are definitely beginning to ramp up when you round the bend for the new site. Construction equipment can now been seen along the lake shore extending towards Wilderness Lodge. This is likely in preparation for some of the lakeside bungalows.

When you get to Fort Wilderness, you can see where the old beach and service boat dock areas have been blocked off for construction of more lakeside bungalows, as we revealed earlier this year.

The playground is closed too.

These construction walls blocking off the old beach continue around the walkway that used to lead to the entrance of River Country. Included in the closure is the old playground site. Signs are up instructing guests to use the playgrounds at the 300 and 1300 loops instead during construction.

New Fort Wilderness Beach

Looking back at the dock, you can see where the old beach area has been closed off. There is still the outdoor seating area on the dock that has not been included in the construction walls, surprisingly.

From the dock, you can still catch a close up look at the old beach area. There hasn’t been much that has begun to happen here in terms of demolition or construction yet.

The new beach for Fort Wilderness has been moved to the opposite side of the boat rentals and boat dock.

The beach is complete with new beach chairs and umbrellas, and looks relatively unused so far.

Judging by the deer tracks in the sand, we were not the first to pass this way…

The new beach takes over part of what used to be referred to as the Marshmallow Marsh area.

Under the trees along the tree line, we found these seemingly random metal picnic tables. We aren’t sure if these are meant to be placed along the new beach or old marsh site, or were just being stored here, but it seems like an odd place to just leave tables.

Tri-Circle-D Ranch Construction

As we told you back in August, the Tri-Circle-D ranch is being overhauled as part of the related construction next door for Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Resort.

Guests walking through The Settlement area are greeted by this large display that includes information on the new beach, an artist rendering of the new Tri-Circle-D Ranch building, and a note that confirms that the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue will indeed be unaffected in its operation by the construction. Another identical image board was also spotted inside the front desk check in building near the main entrance of the campgrounds.

As you walk towards the Settlement bus stop area, you can see where construction walls now encompass what was once the petting zoo and the Tri-Circle-D Ranch buildings. There is also construction work going on across the street from the bus stop.

A look into the construction site itself reveals almost everything has been cleared away, with the exception of a large live oak tree, and frame work beginning to show up for what we expect to be the new Tri-Circle-D Ranch site.

Unknown Construction Walls Inside Settlement Area

While walking around the settlement area, we noticed some construction walls that had also been erected behind the golf cart parking lot for Hoop-Dee-Doo and the restaurants. Only a few plants have been removed, but not much has really happened here. We will keep an eye on this site for further developments.

 

Halloween Preparations At Fort Wilderness

One of the highlights of the year are the Halloween decorations campers put up for the holidays at Fort Wilderness. We certainly saw our share while walking around.

As usual, guests go all out with their golf cart decorations, though we found this Slinky Dog Dash recreation to be top notch.

Countless camp sites are adorned with decorations, and signs are up in some loops letting guests know their loops will be closed to vehicle traffic on Wednesday for the much-anticipated Golf Cart Parade.

Looks like we found some of the deer that made those hoof prints on the new beach!

That’s it for today’s visit to Fort Wilderness. What do you think of the new beach area in the Marshmallow Marsh? Let us know in the comments section below!

Chris Green