Cabins at Ft. Wilderness or 2 rooms at Pop

[Sharka8]

Taking my son (4), niece (12), step-nephew (13), mom/grandma (60) and myself (34) to Disney next summer. Theres a small chance my husband (44) will be joining us. We'll be there 5 nights. Would you recommend 2 (hopefully refurbished) rooms at Pop or Cabins at Ft. Wilderness? I spent one night at Pop in Sept and was not a fan because of how uncomfortable the bed was. I wasn't in a refurbished room though so surely the new beds are better. Any reviews you want to share? I can share a bed with my son, or son & husband if need be. Grandma can share with niece. Step-nephew will have his own bed. It's his first trip ever so I want him to have an amazing time! TIA!

 

[Kaytie]

Fort Wilderness will give you a full kitchen, a queen bed, bunk beds, Murphy bed, a single bathroom, absolute assurance that your party will be not just near each other but together, and no real privacy.

Pop will give you (assuming renovated rooms), four queen beds including the Murphys, two mini refrigerators, two coffee makers, two bathrooms, and the distinct possibility your two rooms will not connect.

 

[Wild4Walt]

There's pros and cons to both. Cabins at FW - PROs - mainly space and if you like the outdoorsy theme, you are immersed in it. CONs - went once for dinner at HDDR and I had to park and take a bus over to the main area - not sure if it's the same with the cabins. POP Pros - the decor will appeal to the youngest in your party and the pools pretty cool. Food court is also pretty great for a food court. Pop Cons - even in a refurbed room not sure if I would count on the beds being much better. Not a lot of room space and no guarantee that the rooms will be by each other or connecting.

 

[disneyguy07]

Wow, that's a tough call (assuming that the price is roughly equivalent for the two options). Personally, I lean slightly towards the 2 rooms at Pop Century because it gives you two bathrooms and two separate spaces. Even if you have connecting rooms, you can always close the door to create some separation.

Given that this is a relatively short trip, I'm assuming you won't be spending much time at the resort so you probably not have time to enjoy all of the natural beauty at FW.

I'd love to know what you end up deciding!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I also wouldn't assume the beds at the cabins to be w lot better.

 

[Hopefully]

Fort Wilderness will give you a full kitchen, a queen bed, bunk beds, Murphy bed, a single bathroom, absolute assurance that your party will be not just near each other but together, and no real privacy.

Pop will give you (assuming renovated rooms), four queen beds including the Murphys, two mini refrigerators, two coffee makers, two bathrooms, and the distinct possibility your two rooms will not connect.

Since the refurb a while ago the Cabins no longer have the Murphy bed. They now have a Queen sleeper sofa in the Living Room. So it is a Queen bed and bunks in the bedroom and a Queen sleeper sofa in the Living Room

There's pros and cons to both. Cabins at FW - PROs - mainly space and if you like the outdoorsy theme, you are immersed in it. CONs - went once for dinner at HDDR and I had to park and take a bus over to the main area - not sure if it's the same with the cabins. POP Pros - the decor will appeal to the youngest in your party and the pools pretty cool. Food court is also pretty great for a food court. Pop Cons - even in a refurbed room not sure if I would count on the beds being much better. Not a lot of room space and no guarantee that the rooms will be by each other or connecting.

If you have a car you park right at your Cabin.

With the ages of your group I would choose the Cabins

 

[Belleofthehouse]

Beacause I am not a value resort fan I would vote cabins. The only down side is one bathroom. Other than that, the cabins offer more for the diverse ages in your group.

 

[nolanboys]

We stayed in a cabin for the first time for one night after a cruise this past summer. We were only doing Hoop de Doo, which was great, so the cabins made sense for our group of 6. We thought the grounds were pretty but the property is spread out. If you stay there, you really need to rent a golf cart. We didn't, and the internal busses were tedious. The cabins were nice. The sofa bed was ok, but we were only there one night. I would opt for the 2 rooms at Pop. Not only for no sofa beds, but also 2 bathrooms, and the food court.

 

[Dakota731]

Two bathrooms would always be my pick! Can’t imagine six people sharing one!

 

[KenHutch]

Another vote for Pop Century, the cabins look nice but that area is HUGE and in the mornings trying to get the buses you need will be a lot easier at Pop.

 

[Sharka8]

Thanks all! I'm definitely leaning towards 2 bathrooms. Anyone have experience with AoA family suites? Particularly the Lion King area.

 

[bluezy]

Thanks all! I'm definitely leaning towards 2 bathrooms. Anyone have experience with AoA family suites? Particularly the Lion King area.

I would definitely choose an option with 2 bathrooms...but that's just me. We've stayed in a suite at AoA on 3 trips so far (heading back for a 4th next summer). Two of those stays have been in a LK suite and the other was Nemo and we're booked for Nemo again next year. The suites work very well for us though I wish all of the beds were queen size (only the bed in the master bedroom is a queen, the other 2 are doubles). Our kids are all teens and adults and none of them are interested in sharing a bed -- especially a double -- for a week (nor would they sleep well if they did share because they're all restless sleepers). We take an air mattress with us for one of the kids and our youngest daughter makes a bed out of the cushions from the couch (we get extra sheets and wrap them around the cushions). I always have a 2nd air mattress, but she likes the cushions. This provides each kid with their own bed. We wouldn't be able to stay in the suites if we couldn't do that. Before AoA opened, we always got connecting rooms at Pop Century. We prefer the suite over 2 rooms because we like that we're guaranteed to be in one room. Connecting rooms is always a gamble (we were lucky and got them all 3 times we requested them), though we always had kids in their late teens/early 20's when we traveled to Disney so we would have been fine even if we didn't have connecting rooms as the oldest kids would have been fine in a room by themselves. We also like the suites because of the kitchen area (though the renovated rooms at Pop have a nice beverage center as well). We eat breakfast in the room every day so the kitchen area provides a good amount of storage for all of our breakfast and snack items. And the microwave is handy for heating leftovers, making popcorn, and making oatmeal for breakfast. We also like that the suite feels much more open than when we would get 2 rooms and even with the murphy bed and sofa bed open, there is still plenty of floor space.

A suite might work for you if your mom and niece are ok sharing a double bed (or if you have the ability to take an air mattress.). Overall we love AoA. Our stays in the LK suites were great. Both times we were located at the end of the building closest to Animation Hall so it was a quick walk to the food court and bus stops. We also enjoyed our stay in a Nemo suite because on top of being close to the food court and bus stops, we were close to the pool as well (though we only use the pool 3 or 4 times during the week). We're currently booked in a Nemo suite for next summer but when the summer promotional rates come out, if we can't get a discount on a Nemo suite, we'll move to a LK suite again.

 

[Sharka8]

We take an air mattress with us for one of the kids and our youngest daughter makes a bed out of the cushions from the couch (we get extra sheets and wrap them around the cushions). I always have a 2nd air mattress, but she likes the cushions.

Thanks for the info! What size air mattress fits? We have queen size already but that seems like it would be a tight fit.

 

[bluezy]

Thanks for the info! What size air mattress fits? We have queen size already but that seems like it would be a tight fit.

We always use a twin size mattress at AoA. I think you might have space for a double, but that would be tight. And I think it would be a challenge to fit a queen size one in the room -- it would probably require whoever is sleeping on the sofa bed to crawl over the air mattress to get to the bathroom. A twin size fits nicely right in front of the kitchen, next to the sofa bed. It partially blocks the kitchen, but there's still room to walk up to it if needed. We stand the mattress up and lean it against the wall between the kitchen and sofa bed during the day. Our daughter that uses the sofa cushions for her bed likes to put them on the other side of the sofa bed so that she's wedged between that and the wall. She says it's her little private cave.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'd definitely go with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.