Carriage Rides at FW - who's been?

[arizonacolbys]

Hubby & I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary this May at WDW. I'm thinking of surprising him with a carriage ride. I see that they are available at both POR & Ft. Wilderness - has anyone done both? Do you recommend one over the other? I'm curious about the sights along the way of the 2 different carriage rides - I thought about POR since I've never been there & we could check it out for a possible future stay, but growing up I always stayed at Ft. Wilderness - so it's pretty special to me, too.

Any thoughts/suggestions on this? Also, does anyone know who I can call to reserve this ahead of time? Can I reserve this ahead of time?

Sorry so many questions - thanks for any info!!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

We did the wagon ride at Ft. Wilderness. It's more of a family activity than a romantic thing. I've seen the carriage rides at POFQ, they look nice.

 

[arizonacolbys]

OK, well, I called this afternoon & tried to book a carriage ride at POR on our anniversary in May & they were all booked up (except for the 2 times we'll be eating dinner at Cali Grill .) So, I thought about trying a different day (although I really wanted our anniversary) & the CM on the line offered up Ft. Wilderness Carriage rides. She said they are the same as POR, just different scenery. This is different from the "Hay" rides also done at Ft. Wilderness.

We ended up with a 6:30 Carriage ride before our 8 pm PS at CG. I'm going to wait & surprise my hubby with this - just not sure when to tell him. So, has anyone out there done this carriage ride for 2 at FW?? I'd love to hear any experiences on this! TIA!

 

[Tabetha]

We did the carriage ride at FW in February. They take you along a trail through a wooded area. It's quiet and peaceful. We really enjoyed it!
You're welcome to bring champagne or other food and bevvies, if you want to.

 

[kcork1026]

My husband and children and I will be visiting Disney in June with my parents who will be celebrating their 35th anniversary, a few days before our arrival. Is this a nice way for them to spend an evening? Am looking for a quiet, just the 2 of them type of evening.

 

[travelin' tigger]

My husband and children and I will be visiting Disney in June with my parents who will be celebrating their 35th anniversary, a few days before our arrival. Is this a nice way for them to spend an evening? Am looking for a quiet, just the 2 of them type of evening.

My DBF and I did this 2 years ago and really enjoyed it. I think your parents would love it!!! You might want to plan a dinner ressie at the Cali Grill for 7-7:30, then catch the boat launch over for a later ride - I think the last one is 9:30p. That way it's darker (more romantic), also might catch the EWP!!!

HTH!!!

 

[DVC Jen]

We did it a few years ago. Our experience wasn't really a pleasant one, but in all fairness and I am hoping ours was a very ususual situation.

The horse that was pulling our carriage at FW was a bit on the lazy side and the "driver" was a bit whip happy.

The horse kicked out at our carriage several times, bucked several times and I was sure we were either going to be tipped over or thrown out.

I had a nice large tip ready for her... she didn't get it.

The scenery was nice. Very wooded. Normally it could and would be a very nice and relaxing ride..especially during a special time like your anniversary.

For us though.. it was just scary.

 

[travelin' tigger]

We did it a few years ago. Our experience wasn't really a pleasant one, but in all fairness and I am hoping ours was a very ususual situation.

The horse that was pulling our carriage at FW was a bit on the lazy side and the "driver" was a bit whip happy.

The horse kicked out at our carriage several times, bucked several times and I was sure we were either going to be tipped over or thrown out.

I had a nice large tip ready for her... she didn't get it.

The scenery was nice. Very wooded. Normally it could and would be a very nice and relaxing ride..especially during a special time like your anniversary.

For us though.. it was just scary.

I'm sure these things happen once in a while, but we had the opposite - a great driver (Linda?) and horse (Scotty). kcork, I hope you'll still consider it!!!

 

[caitycaity]

It's more of a family activity than a romantic thing.

i disagree - we did this in 2003 in fw and we had a nice romantic carriage-ride. it was at night and through wooded parts of fw. very quiet, relaxing, and romantic.

but we had the opposite - a great driver (Linda?) and horse (Scotty)

that's who we had too.

 

[kcork1026]

Thank you all so much for advice, I think I will definately make a reservation for my parents. It sounds like a nice time for just the 2 of them!

 

[DVC Jen]

It would have been an awesome experience for us too... if we had a horse that was more cooperative and a driver a lil less whip happy.

I hope they have a wonderful ride.