Driving from Fort Wilderness

[alizesmom]

We will be at a cabin in December of 2016. We are planning on driving to the parks most of the time. How difficult will this be? Should we consider using the bus system instead? We will be in an accessible cabin so how far is it to walk to the dock?

 

[Jimsig]

The cabins are too far to walk to the boat for the MK so you will either need to take the internal bus to the Settlement as there is no automobile parking available there, or drive to the park. However if you drive to the park you will then have to take the monorail or boat over. Taking the internal bus then the boat IMO might be the easiest way to go. If you are in the 2800 loop it is walkable, I'd say 5 to 7 min all flat, to the Outpost for busses to go everywhere else. But driving will be easy as your car will be right at your cabin. I think the other loop is 2500 that has accessible cabins and it's bit of a further walk to the Outpost. We were in the 2800 loop a week ago and had a cabin right near the bus stop. At online check in you can request a cabin near transportation as the accessible cabins are spread through out the loop.

 

[alizesmom]

Thanks for the information.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

TAKE THE BUS.

 

[RustManFan]

We always took the buses when camping at the Fort

 

[PaHunter]

Last year we took the buses to everywhere and it was good. We did drive to get off site to go to the grocery and camping world, what a pain in the rear. I wouldn't bother to drive to the parks, too much of a hassle for me.

 

[lindsey]

If you decide to drive to the parks, I suggest to take the map they give you showing all of the roads. It can get a little confusing sometimes. But we found if we followed the map, it seemed much easier.

 

[tobikaye]

When staying at FW, we normally drive to all the parks except MK. The drive to the parks is actually really easy for me, but I am usually really good with maps and road signs. It is really nice to just walk out and get into the car from our cabin and get where we are going without waiting. It made the return just as nice.

I do not really mind the buses, but I just get annoyed with them at some point during a trip, usually due to a longer than normal wait or too crowded of a bus.

Since you mentioned the HA cabins, I thought I would point out some items to know about if you use a mobility device on WDW buses. Only 2-3 devices can be loaded per bus and they are loaded first and unloaded last for safety reasons. This means that if you show up and there are already 2 devices, you might have to wait for an additional bus. If they have already started loading as you arrive, you might have to wait for an additional bus.

If you do not have a mobility device, but have someone that cannot stand on a moving bus, you also need to watch as they load to make sure that there will be somewhere for that person to sit. Not everyone can or will give up a seat if it is standing room only already. If there is not a spot for that person to sit, you might want to wait for the next bus.

 

[tmoo]

Take the boata to MK. Bus to Disney Springs and drive everywhere else. Driving is easy
The buses take forever because you have to make transfer which means waiting on 2 buses, and sometimes the buses are shared with wilderness lodge. They work but take a long time. Never trust them for rope drop or a reservation time.

Unless you are park hopping, it is insanely busy or late in the day just drive, much less stress.

 

[amylevan]

Take the boata to MK. Bus to Disney Springs and drive everywhere else. Driving is easy
The buses take forever because you have to make transfer which means waiting on 2 buses, and sometimes the buses are shared with wilderness lodge. They work but take a long time. Never trust them for rope drop or a reservation time.

FTR, we rely soley on WDW transportation. And over the course of many trips from FW to the parks, we've only missed rope drop one time, and that was clearly an issue with the buses going to that particular park that day. (And when a bus to EP finally showed up, there were 3 behind it, so....) And again, we've never missed a reservation. So saying to never trust them for rope drop or a reservation time is a bit of an exaggeration.

And I am a typical, Type A anal-retentive personality, but find WDW transportation to be adequate and it means not having to get into a hot truck and mess with car seats for the little ones.

 

[tmoo]

I didn't say you never make rope drop with Disney transport from fort wilderness, I said never trust them because I have missed it multiple times with both bus and boat. That is with allowing an hour for a trip I can make in 15 min in my vehicle. Your Experience must be different than mine.

 

[tmoo]

So I wonder why there is such a hugely varying opinion on taking buses from the Fort. I wonder if it has to do with golf carts. We don't usually rent a cart and dragging ours nearly a thousand miles isn't convenient either. That means we have to walk to the bus stop, which is a good distance from some sites. We then have to wait up to 20 minutes for an internal bus and then usually show up at the boat dock or bus depot just after our next transportation hop leaves. When going for rope drop, I can drive the truck and sometimes be pulling into the theme park lot by the time I would be reaching the internal Fort bus station. It takes twice the buses and twice the waits as going from a normal resort. Don't even get me starting on having to share our buses with Wilderness Lodge. When returning to Fort Wilderness bus stop from a park, they can only load/unload 3 buses at a time so you get to sit in line (not allowed off bus) while the internal bus you need to catch is in front of you so you get to sit on your bus and watch it pull out knowing the next one will be 15 minutes.

We rode the buses more than usual our last trip because we were going in the afternoon, or park hopping, or splitting up. I will say that they were always there in a timely manner and we did not have significant issues, but it still took a LONG time to get anywhere. The only part I actually fault Disney for is the horrible design of the main bus stop at the Fort. The rest just is what it is.

Having a gold cart would eliminate most of my issues with bus transportation at the fort. It would get rid of the walking on 1 of the bus waits. I have to admit I am envious when I get off at the outpost and watch others zoom off in their cart while I wait for another bus that winds through the campground. Maybe those that don't hate the bus system are cart users. I know if I was staying at a normal resort, I probably would not drive much at all.

We also don't normally go in the middle of summer when traffic would be bad so perhaps that is part of the difference as well.

Can you make a rope drop on the buses? I suppose so, but I just can't see why you would do that if you have your own transportation. I walk 10 feet to my truck, drive for 10 minutes and am parked in front of the gate. You have to leave earlier when taking a bus.

In any event, we always got where we were going and the biggest issue we had with making a rope drop was a magic band forgotten in the trailer!

 

[peg110]

So saying to never trust them for rope drop or a reservation time is a bit of an exaggeration

While there can be issues with the WDW transportation, there can also be issues with your OWN transportation. I think the key here is planning. While some can "Plan" an "Hour" for travel (be it WDW or Personal), others will find that an Hour is not enough, yet still others can do well with 30 minutes.

I think the overall point is, that WDW Transportation is fairly reliable and regular, but those terms are relative to the time of year, the events currently occurring, etc... Really one must gauge their family and preferences. My DW tends to get motion sickness riding in the back of busses. It's okay for a short trip, but if it ends up extended... Well we have issues. So we generally (but not always) restrict our WDW transportation to going from the Fort to MK (internal bus to boat to MK). Other places we will generally drive. Only you know your family/group and their "Quirks" about traveling.

We have never missed a "Rope Drop" when we were trying to get to them (not that we need to get to them all the time) but at MK (for example) we haven't been at the "Front" of the line for RD. That being said, we still had an awesome view and enjoyed the show. Of course your mileage may vary.

 

[KristinU]

Tmoo, I'm not a bus hater and we don't have a cart...you forgot about bikes - that's the option we use to get around the Fort and to the bus or boat. Quick, easy, cheap, and no worries about where to park them, always plenty of space at the Outpost or Settlement. We haven't missed a planned rope drop or reservation yet.

 

[PaHunter]

Our trip last february we used the internal buses, and did not miss rope drop or our reservations. We do not have a cart and never waited more than ten to fifteen minutes for a bus except for leaving AK midday at shift change for the drivers. I am on vacation and there to relax, if I want to be in a rat race, I would stay home. Headed back this february and plan again on using internal transportation. But alas to each his own.

 

[tmoo]

That is one of the crazy things about these boards, radically different information on the exact same thing. For me driving to the park IS avoiding the rat race! Much more relaxing. To each their own I suppose.

Not a bus story, but tonight we were late for Hoop De Do. We allowed an hour to get from the Magic Kingdom gate via boat to Pioneer hall and it wasn't enough. There was some sort of issue with the ferry boats I suppose. Good news is they started the show late because so many people were held up. For those that are interested on our way out we saw the limited Magic Kingdom bus from the fort. It had roughly 3 million people on board.

 

[alizesmom]

So, is the first week in December a good time to go or bad as far as crowds are concerned?

 

[2goofycampers]

So, is the first week in December a good time to go or bad as far as crowds are concerned?

Much better than the last week of December!

 

[Jimsig]

So, is the first week in December a good time to go or bad as far as crowds are concerned?

It is said that arriving the Sat after Thanksgiving to just before Christmas are amongst the slowest weeks of the year.

 

[peg110]

It is said that arriving the Sat after Thanksgiving to just before Christmas are amongst the slowest weeks of the year.

We like to arrive ON Thanksgiving, and we stay for about 8-10 days. Thanksgiving, Black Friday and the first Saturday after Thanksgiving are fairly busy, but it does drop off on Sunday, and the next week is not bad. It's certainly not "Barren" (by any stretch of the imagination) but is definitely tolerable. (Well except for the MVMCP at least the 2 times we went in 2014)