Back from five nights in cabins

[Bichon Barb]

We are back from our Magical Gathering. We were down there celebrating my in laws' 50th wedding anniversary. My MIL and FIL stayed in their 5th wheel, and all four kids and their families stayed in four cabins. There were 18 of us in total. Needless to say, we had a ball.

GOLF CARTS

My in laws rented one for a few days, but we splurged and rented one for the entire stay. LOVED IT! We picked it up Thursday morning (they let us have it a few hours early) and returned it Tuesday morning. The total cost was about $240--give or take about $10. I'd say given the choice between renting a car or cart, I'd go with the cart.

Although my SILs were pretty commando about doing the parks, we only did one park a day and spent a lot of time running back and forth from the pool. I'm guessing we probably wouldn't have done so so many trips to the pool, the store, etc. if we didn't have the cart. I also put all three of my SILs on the contract, so they could borrow it.

Some people decorated their golf carts for Halloween. I'm jealous we didn't think of it.

THE CABINS AND MOUSEKEEPING

The area is really quiet which is nice. I could easily do a vacation at FW without even doing a park. The cabins are small, but it's nice to have the separate bedroom with separate TV, so if someone wants to go to bed earlier than everyone else, it's no problem. We are RVers, so the idea of the four of us (DH, myself, DS 12 and DS 10) spending vacation in a hotel room with a bathroom and two beds isn't my first choice. I think RVers tend to get spoiled.

Mousekeeping supplies a whole cabinet full of towels, and they always made sure we had coffee, shampoo, etc.

We ate breakfast in the cabins every morning except for one when we went to Trail's End.

TRAILS END

We had the b'fast buffet one morning. It's great. Eggs, sausage, bacon, b'fast pizza, muffins, bagels, oatmeal, cereal, etc. for about $12 pp, I think.

We didn't eat lunch or dinner there, but we did take the kids down to the arcade one evening while we enjoyed a couple Corona's. One can't help but get that "Life is Good" feeling when watching the butterflies and hummingbirds while sitting in a rocking chair at WDW.

Oh, we did order a pizza one night which was fairly decent. No delivery though. You have to pick it up. When we took the RV down there a year and a half ago, we ordered the chicken dinner. I think it was 10 pcs with fries and slaw? for about $20. What a deal!

POOLS

The pool in the cabin loops is smaller but sufficient. The Meadows pool is larger, and they have games and arts and crafts about 3 times a day. The boys enjoyed dodgeball and capture the flag. (In the 90 degree heat. I think they are insane. )

LOCATION

Like I said, the golf cart is great, but hopping on a bus to the front of the resort (Epcot, AK) or the back of the resort (MGM, MK) is not a big deal. We never had to wait long for a bus or boat to the parks.

We also sent the kids off with their aunts one evening and headed for dinner. We were going to dine somewhere in DD, but then realized "Why not hop on the boat and head to the WL?" Dinner at AP was great. If one wanted to dine at one of the MK resorts, it would be no problem to catch the boat to MK and then take the monorail to the Contemporary, GF or Poly.

That's about all I can think of right now, but if anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them.

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

Thanks for the great trip report, I wish I was there now! You're right we RVers do get spoiled and I don't think my kids would have as much fun in a hotel either.

 

[We4mickey]

I have a question, but more about your gathering. We are also going down with a group of 14 to 24 people next year for my parents 50th. Did you do any meals with your whole group? We want to do one, but can't decide where or which one would accomodate such a large group. TIA

 

[Liz]

Your trip sounds great! We're going for the first time in December and have a cart reserved for part of our stay.

What loop were you in? I haven't decided what to request. Sort of thinking about 2100 because its closer to the Meadows but I'd also like to be close to a laundry room.

 

[Bichon Barb]

We stayed in cabin 2201. They put all four families in the first four cabins--two on each side of the road.

We did have one dinner together on the last night at Boma. I think it was a great choice, and it made life much easier. My MIL made the dinner for waaaay earlier than we usually eat on vacation, 5:00 pm, but the good thing about that was that if anyone wanted to go to EMH after, they could. And although I'm not a big buffet fan, Boma is, IMO, the best buffet choice at WDW.

Like I said, not having everyone ordering different things made life much easier. And there was no pressure on us to rush through dinner.

I think I have some pictures in my deleted items here at work. I'll see if I can post them.

 

[Bichon Barb]

Yeah, I don't have any pics of the cabins here at work, but I can download them tonight at home.

Here is a pic of one end of our table at Boma. As you can see, they put us all at one table. It was tight, but worked out fine --

 

[Liz]

Great picture! Which one are you? Or are you taking the picture?

 

[Bichon Barb]

I'm leaning back in the pic. Here--I like this one better. I don't have such a double chin in it.

 

[mommyoeo]

Fabulous report!

I'm so glad I read about decorating the golf cart-- WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!! I hope it's worth the $500 costs us!

 

[westjones]

So how do you go about reserving a cart? Do you do that when you reserve a cabin or is there a seperate number. We are thinking of getting a cabin there in March for the first time and the cart sounds like fun. We want to spend a lot of time at FW and just a couple days at the parks.
Thanks,
DJ

 

[pooh4me]

You can call the Bike Barn directly to reserve the cart .The number is 407-824-2742. You will need a credit card to reserve and rent the cart. It should be reserved as soon as you can because they do run out of carts.

 

[Gillian]

Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us! It sounds like everyone had a great time.

We've taken visitors to Boma and everyone always likes it. I'd even take my dad there, the fussiest eater on the planet. He likes chicken fingers, at least.

One of my favorite things about FW is relaxing and taking the boats for fun, or to WL or CR for a meal.