We have a good one for you today. Art & Linda are at The Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground in December of 1976. The great thing about this footage is the sound! You can actually hear some things that have been lost in time. I couldn’t believe the ferry boats still have a nearly identical sound as they do today! Bay Lake has a different look as well. The trees, vegetation and foliage all look shorter; basically you can see more of everything compared to now.
The big thing for me though, being a Fort Wilderness dweller, is seeing the various transportation options. I remember seeing some of this as a kid, but you don’t realize how many options you could have chosen, until you see this film. We see sailboats, sidewheelers, ferries, sprites, water skiing, pontoon boats and of course the train…. More on that in a minute. Did you see people using the beach? Absolutely love the craziness on Bay Lake at the Fort Wilderness beach. I for one have played volleyball there and spent many hours of Spring Break chilling on that beach.
The railroad though; unbelievable. This is one of the best movies I have seen with sound and color of the Fort Wilderness Railroad…I’m blown away at the size, sounds, speed and just how colorful it is. Take a watch around the 8:10 mark as the bell ringer / employee jumps right off the moving train. Just another thing you would never see happening at WDW today.
Finally, for all you Fort Wilderness regulars, you’ll notice some great golf cart footage complete with a Christmas music soundtrack and gas powered glory. This film truly is a time capsule from the Disney World campgrounds. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
Fantastic. Thanks for sharing that film.
What an awesome look at the history of this wonderful place. I miss the train, river country, and all that great stuff going on. The old film you convert is pure magic!!!
What an awesome video, this is how I remember Ft Wilderness from 1974, good times, beautiful wilderness, River country, the train running thru the campground and the water at Bay Lake was blue, not like how it is now. Thank you for sharing…
Always great to revisit Art & Lynda! 🚂
I never had the chance to experience the train but I absolutely loved seeing it here. Having been to the Fort many times and finding some remnants of the old tracks it piqued my curiosity! Thanks
I was there in summer of 1978 to visit River Country. One of the parking trams took us from the gate to River Country. I don’t remember the train tracks, but I remember the old Settlement!
Fantastic! But sadly shows us how much has been lost from the original campground.
I drove those trains in Summer 1976! My roommate worked at Pioneer Hall. Thank you so much for sharing. I felt like an engineer again. And, I remember jumping off the train as soon as we arrived at the station platform. I also remember people trying to hurry across the track to beat the train at the Trading Post!