Progress City, U.S.A.

Oh, this is a good one:

For some time now, I’ve looked for a map that would illustrate the path of the now-legendary Fort Wilderness Railroad with any degree of detail. It’s a route that is poorly known today, having been abandoned long before the days of ubiquitous home videos, Flickr and YouTube. Thanks to our previous articles on the railroad, we receive a lot of traffic from people searching for a map of the route; apparently it’s something that a lot of people are curious about!

This is the wonderful Fort Wilderness of 1978. There’s River Country, shown in detail, as well as Discovery Island. Compare this map to Fort Wilderness in 1988; much less had changed in that decade than has changed since. But now the next time you head out to explore the wilds of Fort Wilderness, you can do a little Disney archaeology and trace the trail of the late, lamented Fort Wilderness Railroad.

Fort Wilderness Resort, 1988

I’m sorry that things have been a little mappy lately, but they’re just so darn interesting. I promise I’m working on some meatier stories, though. Time takes time!

In any case, we’re at Fort Wilderness in 1988. You may or may not know of my intense love for Fort Wilderness, but I’m convinced that it’s the single best enclave of pure 1971-era Walt Disney World essence that still exists. Its offerings have been pared down over the years, but it’s still there plugging away. Sometimes I can’t believe something as simple, entertaining, and free as their campfire movies still exists in the modern corporate age.

Many of the lost wonders can be seen in this map; the Fort Wilderness Railroad was already gone, but guests still had River Country and Discovery Island to entertain them.

Interestingly, the leftmost bus loop only extends halfway through the resort in this map; it currently continues all the way to the Settlement Depot. There were two bus loops in 1988: the silver-flagged and the brown-flagged. These were later known as Chip and Dale, with additional service being provided by the Crockett and Boone buses, and today the campsites are served by the Purple, Yellow and Orange routes.

The bike trail that passes off the map to the left would eventually connect the resort with the Wilderness Lodge in 1994.

Are there any Fort Wilderness folks out there who can spot other differences?