Golf cart for the day

[Amazonparrot]

does anyone have any tips on how to make the most of our day at ft wilderness. We rented a golf cart and will be having dinner at trails end. Is it doable to ride the cart from the entrance where you rent them, all the way to the other side where trails end is? It's supposed to be fun, I don't want it to turn into a nightmare. Appreciate any tips.

 

[Mary2e]

It is absolutely doable. FT. Wilderness is very cart friendly and car unfriendly. You can take the cart just about anywhere, but cars are not allowed except to drive back and forth to your site/cabin and around the trading posts. Are you staying at Ft. Wilderness or just want to spend a day? If you're just spending the day, there's plenty to do and the Meadows Pool is very nice. A warning - you need to bring your own towels.

 

[tobikaye]

We usually get a golf cart when staying at FW, but I just look at it as a mode of transportation not just something to do for fun.

Here is a map of FW: http://www.wdwinfo.com/maps/fwmap.pdf, it is about 1 mile long from the Outpost to the Settlement as the crow flies.

You will be able to take the golf cart through all of the cabin or camping loops using the main roads and driving as if you are in a car. When you get to then of Fort Wilderness Trail, you would then cut across onto the path to park for the Settlement area. This is the path that pedestrians, bikers and golf carts use, so be careful. I cannot remember right at this moment, but I also think there is a path that is shared near Meadows as well.

 

[bama_ed]

It Are you staying at Ft. Wilderness or just want to spend a day? If you're just spending the day, there's plenty to do and the Meadows Pool is very nice. A warning - you need to bring your own towels.

Amazonparrot, one update here is that if you are just a day guest at a resort, you do NOT have pool privileges. So don't bother to bring the towels because you can't swim there. This is a long, standing, clear cut policy. It's so clear, in fact, that the DIS has a pinned thread about it on the Resort Forum and post #1 is all you need to know. Bottom line - don't you do it. I don't do it.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/us...s-faq-and-questions-thread-no-debate.2450438/

I saw your other thread about getting a golf cart at the Fort. Keep in mind that the official rental period "one day" is from 1pm in the afternoon till 11am the next day (the official check-in and check-out times every day at the Fort). You can get it early most days if they aren't sold out (usually happens in the busy season).

Also here are the rules/handout that go with the carts.



Carts do drive on the roads. It's good etiquette if cars/busses are lined up behind you to pull over if you are going a long way to let faster traffic pass. It's just a nice thing to do.

Lots of cart parking down by Trails End. One lot is down by the beach, a sandy one by the HDDR porch, and one up by the bus circle bus stop near Trails End. Don't take a cart down the paved Exercise Trail to Wilderness Lodge. There is some cart parking near the Meadow Trading Post. To get to the campfire area enter the access road near the tennis courts.

Stay to eat, maybe do the Chip & Dale singalong, watch the movie, or check out the fireworks over the MK from the Fort beach (music is piped in). The Electric Light Parade is also off the beach close to the fireworks time. To return a cart, there is a drop box for keys at the pick-up/return place since you won't be staying till morning (if a CM is not working the return). Come early in the day and go "looping" - driving through the various camping loops. If you see a trailer or RV you like and the owners are outside, don't be afraid to strike up a conversation. Campers are friendly folks and like to talk (about their rigs, the weather, past/future trips to the Fort, blah blah . I would bore you to tears). You probably wouldn't do it in a Resort building but you can do it at the Fort.

So come, have fun (don't swim), enjoy, and maybe you'll want to stay at the Fort next time around.

Bama Ed

 

[Amazonparrot]

Amazonparrot, one update here is that if you are just a day guest at a resort, you do NOT have pool privileges. So don't bother to bring the towels because you can't swim there. This is a long, standing, clear cut policy. It's so clear, in fact, that the DIS has a pinned thread about it on the Resort Forum and post #1 is all you need to know. Bottom line - don't you do it. I don't do it.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/us...s-faq-and-questions-thread-no-debate.2450438/

I saw your other thread about getting a golf cart at the Fort. Keep in mind that the official rental period "one day" is from 1pm in the afternoon till 11am the next day (the official check-in and check-out times every day at the Fort). You can get it early most days if they aren't sold out (usually happens in the busy season).

Also here are the rules/handout that go with the carts.



Carts do drive on the roads. It's good etiquette if cars/busses are lined up behind you to pull over if you are going a long way to let faster traffic pass. It's just a nice thing to do.

Lots of cart parking down by Trails End. One lot is down by the beach, a sandy one by the HDDR porch, and one up by the bus circle bus stop near Trails End. Don't take a cart down the paved Exercise Trail to Wilderness Lodge. There is some cart parking near the Meadow Trading Post. To get to the campfire area enter the access road near the tennis courts.

Stay to eat, maybe do the Chip & Dale singalong, watch the movie, or check out the fireworks over the MK from the Fort beach (music is piped in). The Electric Light Parade is also off the beach close to the fireworks time. To return a cart, there is a drop box for keys at the pick-up/return place since you won't be staying till morning (if a CM is not working the return). Come early in the day and go "looping" - driving through the various camping loops. If you see a trailer or RV you like and the owners are outside, don't be afraid to strike up a conversation. Campers are friendly folks and like to talk (about their rigs, the weather, past/future trips to the Fort, blah blah . I would bore you to tears). You probably wouldn't do it in a Resort building but you can do it at the Fort.

So come, have fun (don't swim), enjoy, and maybe you'll want to stay at the Fort next time around.

Bama Ed

Bama Ed - thanks for the information. We do not intend to swim there. We've been to wdw many times but never to ft. wilderness so our idea was to spend the day there for a change of pace. We're eating at trails end for dinner, the cart a way of getting around that we thought would be more fun than riding the bus. Thanks for all your tips and the cart info. We're only a week away now!

 

[happycamper47]

Carts do drive on the roads. It's good etiquette if cars/busses are lined up behind you to pull over if you are going a long way to let faster traffic pass. It's just a nice thing to do.

It's not the nice thing to do "IT"S the rule of the ROAD". Larger vehicles have the right-of way. Carts "MUST' yield to larger vehicles. Please re-read the rules you posted.

 

[Mary2e]

It may be the nice thing to do, and even in the rules, but the last several times I was there, both with a cart, and without, it seemed that we were the only people pulling our cart over to let larger vehicles pass. It is incredibly frustrating to be stuck behind a line of carts trying to get to the return area when we're trying to go out of FW in a car. It seems to happen all the time when we're leaving in the morning.

 

[bama_ed]

It's not the nice thing to do "IT"S the rule of the ROAD". Larger vehicles have the right-of way. Carts "MUST' yield to larger vehicles. Please re-read the rules you posted.

Oh wow. I was being polite dude. Speaking only for myself I try to be nice, easy going, and friendly to folks like Amazonparrot who want to visit the Fort on a day visit. But hey, that's just me. Obviously i don't speak for all.

Bama Ed

 

[happycamper47]

It may be the nice thing to do, and even in the rules, but the last several times I was there, both with a cart, and without, it seemed that we were the only people pulling our cart over to let larger vehicles pass. It is incredibly frustrating to be stuck behind a line of carts trying to get to the return area when we're trying to go out of FW in a car. It seems to happen all the time when we're leaving in the morning.

You read the rules, which obviously, most people don't which is the problem. Thank you for that.

 

[Amazonparrot]

Oh wow. I was being polite dude. Speaking only for myself I try to be nice, easy going, and friendly to folks like Amazonparrot who want to visit the Fort on a day visit. But hey, that's just me. Obviously i don't speak for all.

Bama Ed

I could tell you are a friendly sort of fellow! Thanks for your helpful info