Cabin questions...not sure what to do

[Hasil72]

Hi everyone! I'm really hoping you can help me out. We'll be heading to Disney in a month and contemplating switching to the FW cabins from 2 standard rooms at a moderate but I'm a little apprehensive. What's the scoop with the hot water? I keep reading about how small the hw heaters are and that we'll run out. We'll be able to divide up showers to 3 in the pm and 3 in the am. Will that still be too much for the system to handle?

We'll be a party of 6; DH and I in the back bed, DS (14) and DD (10) in the bunks and my mom and sister in the murphy bed. Think it will be too crowded? The look so much bigger than the AoA suites but it seems the sq footage is actually less.

I wanted to stay there since there are so many things to do if we decide the parks are too crowded. I thought watching ELP from the beach or doing the bonfire would be a nice change for the kids and having the kitchen would save on some meals. Plus DS has been dying to try the archery. We're WDW addicts and try to travel every 6 months so we don't tour commando style. We go in the am, take a good break, then maybe return at night especially when we travel over Easter break. We've done BWV, BLT, Pop, POFQ, POR, CSR and CBR. My mom hasn't stayed onsite since 1977. We'll have a car so I'm not concerned about busses. Do you think it would be a good choice?

 

[sjc011]

Those are good questions! I'm following this thread so I can be in the know as well.

 

[bama_ed]

Hi everyone! I'm really hoping you can help me out. We'll be heading to Disney in a month and contemplating switching to the FW cabins from 2 standard rooms at a moderate but I'm a little apprehensive. What's the scoop with the hot water? I keep reading about how small the hw heaters are and that we'll run out. We'll be able to divide up showers to 3 in the pm and 3 in the am. Will that still be too much for the system to handle?

Can you provide a link with the comments about the hot water heater? Is it a DIS Camping Board thread, another DIS board thread, or "other"?

Six fill up a cabin, certainly. One suggestion would be to request a cabin in loop 2100. It is adjacent to camping loop 1100 which has its own Comfort Station with mens and womens showers, bathrooms, and laundry facilities. There is a very short paved sidewalk between 1100 and 2100 that goes to the CS and using the CS is one way to off-load demand from the cabin's single bathroom. The CS at the Fort are pretty swanky.

Bama Ed

 

[gunner2010]

We stayed a few years back. Me and wife and our two kids (tweens at that time). Along with mother in law and father in law

It was pretty tight and we would never do it again. (we love camping and go to koa's all the time, so was not that)

Just that it vs doing connecting rooms at other mods like Riverside and French Quarter where we stayed since then with same group of 6, it was much nicer there.

The cabin was just too tight for the 6 of us. Bathroom did run out of hot water and we were pretty quick about showers.

We loved the grounds there, the pool and the rest, but just the cabin was rough.

if it was just the 4 of us (wife, me and kids) we would take that right away

 

[Hasil72]

Thank you both! I'll have to go back on my computer when I get home to see where I saw the comments about the water heater. Yeh, cramped is what I was afraid of.

 

[iheartMagicKingdom]

We are a family of 5 DH, me DS10, DD8, DS3. My MIL who lives with us also travels with us every trip. We always stay at the cabins (every year). When it comes to showers we have never had a problem. Some take bath/showers at night and some in the morning. My husband and I sleep in the back bed, my 2 oldest sleep in the bunks and my MIL sleeps in the Murphy bed in the living room. My youngest will sleep sometimes on the top bunk with his brother, with my MIL, or else on the couch. We are always very comfortable. We love being able to eat breakfast in the cabin. We of grocery shopping right after we land. We stock up on milk ( my kids drink tons of it) snacks and cases of water. Housekeeping comes everyday and strips beds, cleansa nod even does our dishes. I think it would definitely be worth a try. There's lots of fun things to do when your not at the parks. We always request 2600 loop, it's by the small quiet pool, bus stop and laundry station. We also rent a golf cart to get around the kids love it. They call the cabins our Disney home. good luck.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

HERE'S THE "CABIN SHOWERS 411" (per maint folks):

1) The cabins have 40-gal hot water heater tanks.
2) As opposed to hotel rooms, each unit has it's own device and not a common system.
3) Some cabins have super-low-flow shower heads, others have low-flow.
4) These requirements are set BY LAW, not by The Fort.

5) As for water usage:
. . . about 2/3 of cabins have 3.5 gal-per-minute heads
. . . about 1/3 of cabins have 2.5 gal-per-minute heads
. . . there are three cabins with a TRIAL head using 1.5 gal-per-minute heads
6) Thus,
. . . the majority of cabins use about 35-gal of water for a 10-minute shower
. . . the remaining cabins use about 25-gal of water for a 10-minute shower
. . . the three trial units use about 15-gal of water (the flow is more of a "misting" than hard driving stream)
7) The two factors leading to cold showers are
. . . how long do you really spend in the shower and use how much water?
. . . how fast does the water heater "recover" (reheat its water) to keep up?
8) Water heater condition
. . . older tanks or corroded tanks cannot keep up with steadily flowing water
. . . newer replacement tanks do pretty well at maintaining the hot water

SO, TO ANSWER YOUR INQUIRY:
. . . if you have a problem with hot water, it's a matter of shower length, heads, and tank condition
. . . you will not know if there is a problem until you try the individual shower

NOTE: The Fort tries hard to maintain the water heaters, so complain if you
have cold water after a brief shower. The maintenance dept can quickly run
a consumption test and determine if the cold showers are you or the water
heater. Bad tanks are an easy thing to fix.

 

[bsjs0708]

OK so super question. We have stayed and loved it!! There were 4 adults and our 12 yo ( at the time) That being said, although it really is my favorite resort,so far, we would not stay there again with more than 5 adults. The hot water was not the issue. But the beds..they are only twins and full size beds and there really is little seating in the living room.
I would definately stay there with another couple or 2 adults and 2-3 kiddos.
Also the if you want to save money and do some relaxing and grilling or cooking your own meals then the cabins are perfect for the reason..

 

[Hasil72]

Thanks again for the great information! I'm so torn about what to do. Ugh.

BTW, it was ************** and trip advisor who had complaints about the water heater.

 

[sharadoc]

We love the cabins but don't think it would work with more than 4. An OP mentioned that there is not much seating and I agree. We have to use the kitchen table seating for all 4 of us to watch TV at the same time. But you'd have a full kitchen vs. a little kitchenette at AofA.

I think a family suite at All-Star Music is better, but the AofA resort looks like a lot of fun. Plus two bathrooms. The living room in that seems really tight too.

 

[EpcotQueen]

Cabins are our favorite but I think with that many people you might find it a bit crowded fir sleeping. The Murphy bed is a double. The bunk beds are shorter than regular twins.

 

[starjazz]

We do cabins with 6 people. 2 kids, 4 adults. Never any issues with hot water. Here's why we like the cabins vs. a family suite or connecting rooms.

1. Love that the kids can play outside - we loved sitting on the deck, letting the kids run around the trees. Can't do that in a motel/hotel. Its greatly underrated and not even thought of by many when doing this analysis.

2. Love the open space - trails, horses, carriage rides, campfires w/movies, sing alongs, canoes, boats, bikes. Just a great woodsy atmosphere you won't find if you're cooped up in some hotel bldg.

3. Boat ride to MK - just a perfect way to start the day and much fewer people waiting and riding with you. Love it!

4. Golf carts - they cost extra, but sure are fun.

5. Silence - no other kids/families above you, beside you, below you, running down your hallways, etc. They say its golden for a reason.

6. Kitchen - made bkfst every day, packed lunches, grilled out for dinners. Saved lots of money this way - justified our golf cart!

Yeah, we're sold on the cabins. Maybe you get more square footage in your actual indoor space if you get connecting rooms or family suites, but you get WAY more room to spread out in a cabin in the great outdoors vs. a hotel bldg. Just my take. It wouldn't even be a comparison to us.

 

[Hasil72]

I've gotta say, after seeing bama_ed's pics on the open trip report, I may be ready to try this. I'll just look at it with an open mind like any other WDW resort experience; some trips are fantabulous and other trips not so much. My 24 year old sister will just have to suck it up since it's my dime. I'm so excited!

 

[veraletta]

We stayed with 4 adults and 2 children and we have never had a problem with hot water. We had enough room once we put away all clothes.
We put our suitcase in the closet in the back bedroom, and don't over look that clothes can go up front there are two cabinets that open up to store clothes.
We alway enjoyed the fact that we had a nice place outside to sit while others were getting ready. and being able to cook was another plus as it will save you alot of money. Once you stay at the fort I don't think you will ever want to go back to a resort room.

The only thing I think that you may not like is that 2 beds are full size and one set of bunkbeds. We are used to having king size bed but believe me when I say we didn't care. As the cabins are so nice, we felt we had more room when you count the outside deck.