captain's plan- is it worth it?

[lovethemouse]

Do they limit your time strictly? For instance one 1/2 hour use per day or such. If you use the pontoon boat for fishing you'd need a couple of hours. Also, how much is it-and is it for the length of your stay? Thanks for any info

 

[CLynnJones]

I think it's worth it. You can stay out for a half hour at a time. If you come back by the dock and you see that there is noone waiting-you can keep on going. You can also have other members of your party out in mouse boats while you go out in a pontoon.

 

[CLynnJones]

Sorry I didn't answer your question about length. I believe it's at least 10 days. We had it for 10 days while we were there-it could have even been the whole 12--but I know it was at least 10.

 

[Memph1s]

I am not sure about the Captain’s plan but we were going to rent a pontoon boat one time to do some fishing and they told us fishing from the boat was not allowed. Not even catch and release. I guess it was to promote the fishing excursions they sell. Anyway, we decided not rent the boat. Has anyone else been able to fish from the boats on his or her own?

 

[CLynnJones]

I think the only place you can fish is from the banks along the water. Memph1s is right that you can't do it in boats that you rent--only in the ones that they specifically take you out on--the fishing excursions.

 

[Carrie Ellis]

Would you mind telling me how much this plan is and the details?

I would be so grateful!

TIA

 

[lovethemouse]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, if we can't fish off the boat, it probably wouldn't be worth it for us I can't see us using the water mice that much.

 

[VAN]

It's pretty pricey ...

Here's the pricing info from our March 2005 visit:

Captain Plan: Max 4 hrs of boat rental for your party, $125 plus Tax
Family Plan: Weekly rate for use of equipment listed above*, $239 plus tax. Up to 4 guests per plan.

* Ft Wilderness Marina Sea Raycer and Pontoon Boats

We chose to go with renting the water mice by the hour and were able to use our AAA card to get a 15% (I think) discount. They will not allow you to use it on the package because "It is already a discounted price."

+++++++
Other prices as long as I have my sheet in front of me:

Carriage Rides - 30 min private ride $30
Wagon Ride - $8 Adult and $4 Child
Pony Rides - $3 per child (age 2+ up to 80 lbs)

2 hr Large Mouth Bass Fishing Excursions @ Ft W Marina:
7:00 am $215
10:00 am $215
1:30 pm $195
4 hr excursion is $395

A full, detailed sheet was given at check-in listing: Personal Recreational Cart Safety Precautions and Recreational Activity Guidelines (new since we were there in 2004)

++++++++++

Hope this helps!!

 

[RocklandRVers]

Last December we took out the family plan because we planned on staying away from the parks part of our 2 week stay and wanted to have this as an option. We used it 3 days for about 4 hours each day and loved it. Part of the time my DW and DS went out in a wave racer while I took a pontoon boat. At some point DW would get tired of DS's driving and we would turn in the wave racer and they would join me on the pontoon boat.

I can tell you that if you stop for any length of time, the safety patrol CMs will come over and check on you. I am sure its to make sure you aren't fishing. They say its to see if you're OK or having some kind of trouble. One warm sunny afternoon I stopped and sat off the north side of Discovery Island in Bay Lake and watched the parasailing while soaking up some rays. As soon as the patrol noticed I was stopped, she zipped over to check on me. She said she saw me stop a few times and wanted to make sure I was OK. I told her I was just catching some rays. I also joked with her a while about her having the best job in Disney. She agreed except on very busy days when lots of boaters are out and they have to run like crazy to make sure they don't interfere with the larger shuttle boats and ferries. Anyway once she checked on me, she moved away, but always kept an eye on what I was doing.

Anyway it was worth it to us. If you plan on using the boats it should be worth it to you too.

As far as coming back every 1/2 hour. They said to cruise by maybe once an hour. When we visited the watercraft were used very little at FtW. More were used from the Poly and GF from what I saw.

 

[VAN]

Please remember how busy the marina is depends upon the time of year. In 2003 we were there the week prior to Easter. At any given time, there were 8 people waiting for boats. The Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake were packed full of boaters as all of the 5 marinas that feed into these waterways were full with people waiting. You really, really had to watch what you were doing ... also there was a heavy schedule for the ferries as well.

In March of this year, we were able to get boats right away, but immediately people showed up after us and there was a line of 5 people waiting at least 1/2 hr for boats to come back in.

With the packages, we were told we would have to check back every 1/2 hr and if there were people waiting, we would need to turn our boat in and get in line again.

This was at the Ft. Wilderness marina.