Ok, here goes. We are just finishing up a week at the Fort, our first time here. We have stayed at OKW and All Star as well as off site trips. I have a very good friend who has stayed here many times both with their camper as well as in the cabins and has nothing but good things to say. Here's my take.
The Cabin:
I was disappointed when I arrived to find out that we were in the 2800 loop when I had requested 2100, close to center of campground. My mom checked in before I arrived and she didn't know. Not a huge deal, just a longer trip to the marina and trading post. That being said, I love the cabins!! There is so much space for everybody! We had 7 people, 8 people for a night, and didn't feel cramped. One bathroom can kind of be a pain but we knew that going into it. We just staggered showers. I loved sitting out on the deck in the evening with a glass of wine and listening to the sounds of nature. I couldn't believe how quiet the entire campground was. I took my mom's
scooter one night to go looping. Even in the camping loops it was very quiet. Loved seeing decorations on the camping sites!
Transportation:
I really struggled with transportation. Some days the internal buses were great, others not so much. Buses to Epcot, HS and AK seemed to come pretty frequently. I wish they had a sign at the outpost letting people know that there isn't a bus to MK. My family and I told numerous people when we found out they were waiting. I did suggest it to the manager. The boats were a bit of a pain for us since we had a scooter and not all can accommodate that. Many times my mom had to wait for another boat making our wait more than 45 minutes. Taking the bus to WL is an option but involves 3 busses to get to MK. That's a lot of loading and unloading the scooter. I really think they need a bus to MK. Not sure why WL has one at FW does not. I would not do this again without a golf cart. Waiting for both an internal bus AND park bus was too much for me.
Our one horrible experience on the bus was Monday. We were on an internal bus to the settlement before heading to The Poly for breakfast. We waited a long time for an internal bus. When we got moving, we found out there was a lot of construction going on. Made total sense. Our driver was driving way too fast though. I'm guessing 35-40 mph. Said he had to stay on schedule. When we got to the Settlement, they were routing busses a bit differently. The bus driver started swearing!! My kids and I just looked at each other, appalled. I was upset by the ride and wrote down the bus #, time and route. Didn't get the drivers name because I just got off as quick as possible. Wasn't sure what I was going to do but wanted to have it. When we got back in the afternoon, I was still really bothered. I had to take care of my bill so I figured I'd talk to a manager. More about that below.
Park days:
We did MK 3x (including staying there last night til 1am for EMH) and each other park once. This was what my kids chose. In hindsight, I wish we had scheduled a down day in the middle of our trip but with only 6 days, none of us wanted to give up the park time. We finally made it to the pool today though not for as long as we would have liked due to dinner plans.
Never made it to the campfire or movie since evenings are our favorite time in the parks. Again, if we had a down day we would have done this.
Magic Bands and FP+:
We loved he Magic Bands. So easy to just scan for everything. FP+ worked well for us. I don't love the tiering or limit of 3 but we were able to ride everything we wanted. We did single rider for TT and ride 5 or 6 times that day. We did the same with RnRC. Never had an issue with bands not scanning properly.
Dining Plan:
We had a PIN for
free dining and it was a great chance for us to try many new restaurants. We ate TS meals at BE Our Guest, Crystal Palace, Askerhus, Mama Melrose, Tusker House, Hoop Dee Doo Revue and Kona Cafe. The only 2 we would not do again are Askerhus and Tusker House. TH just didn't wow me. The food was ok but not really our style. I felt Askerhus was grossly overpriced for what you get. Food was nothing special, character interactions were good but I can get those elsewhere, and I hated how rushed we were through our photo with Belle at the beginning. I know some love it bit it just didn't work for us. All of our other meals were excellent!! Fantasmic Dining package was well worth it for us. Showed up 20 minutes before the show started and ended up in the front row, dead center. The view was incredible!!
We ended up with a Lot of unused counter service credits. I think we had to leave 16. I was disappointed that the Trading Post would not trade a CS for a snack credit, even as only 1 snack it would have been nice.
I really dislike the fact that there are so few options for CS at FW. I had no intention of cooking and would have liked a nice quick serve breakfast before heading to the parks.
Service:
Mixed bag here too. Personality and friendliness ranked high. Most of the cast members I interacted with were awesome. I love chatting with cast members. The girls in the lobby loved my magic bands. The head honcho noticed them too and took them back to show the other managers. Also, while waiting for a bus that never showed, FW took us in a van to Epcot for our ressie. I was so thankful as I had been waiting for almost an hour and was told a bus was coming by numerous dispatch people. We were afraid we would miss our meal time.
We had two credit cards on our acct. was supposed to be set up so that anything my mom charged would go to her band. It wasn't and took about 4 visits to the desk including right before leaving to get it worked out. Not a huge deal but you'd think it would be easy to do at check in.
Housekeeping was not good. We had so much chaos going on with illness and injury that I didn't even think about it in the beginning. I just chalked it up to the fact that the cabins are different from other resorts and I was expecting too much.
When I went to the front desk to take care of my bill the other day, I spoke with the manager about the bus issue. He was absolutely outraged. I had tears in my eyes, in part because I was so bothered by it and in part because I was exhausted and a bit over stressed. I apologized and laughed about it. I gave him all the info I had about the bus driver and he promised he would look into it immediately. He then put his hand on mine and asked if there was anything he could do for me. I told him that I just wanted to make sure another family didn't have to witness it. I then made a suggestion that they place a sign at the outpost letting guests know that there is not a bus to MK. I said I was sure he'd heard it before and he said that no, he'd never thought about it. Then I asked about housekeeping. I told him that it was an honest question, not a complaint. I really didn't know if housekeeping was different for cabins than at other resorts. He said absolutely not. We should have full housekeeping each day. I explained that the double bed was not made that day, daughters stuffed animals were exactly where sheet them. Only lower bunk was made. Murphy bed was made a couple times. Trash and towels were always done but not much more. He apologized and said he would talk to housekeeping. I went back to my room. My FW living friend happened to call on my way back. She said housekeeping has always been great for her. I was better off not knowing because once I heard how great it should be, I started getting more upset that we didn't have any of that. Never come back to a clean room. Dishes in sink for 3 days, coffee pot not dumped, beds not made, towels shoved in closet, garbage on floor, etc... I took some pics of the room. During this time, my son was heading back from MK and texted me letting me know that he was waiting for the next bus because the first one that came was the same driver and he didn't feel comfortable riding with him. He did get his name though.
I went back to the front desk to give the drivers name to the manager to help them. He had already been on the phone with the head of transportation for the MK area and assured me they were working in it. I was thankful he acted so quickly. I then showed him the pictures of the room just do he knew what I was talking about. Again, not asking for anything, I just want the problems fixed. He was upset that we had such terrible service and offered me a generous compensation. I told him it was really not necessary, I was really ok with knowing the problems were being looked into. He insisted and said it was the least he could do. He also offered to have housekeeping head over immediately and clean up the room. I said no since it was about 3:00 and we were going to be packing up that night.
I was very impressed with the manager. He was very kind and helpful. I never felt that he was annoyed by me but rather that he was honestly concerned about the issues and would take care of them.
So there it is, the good, the bad and the ugly. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer.
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. They do have coffee mugs.
