Dolphin or Ft. Wilderness Cabins

[OhioDisneyLover]

Hi Everyone...DH and I are headed to the World from 9/15 - 9/23 for our anniversary. My mother, sister, nephew and niece will be going as well. They are staying at CBR. We have reservations at the Dolphin and at Ft. Wilderness Cabins. I have to cancel one of them but we cannot decide which one.

Here are a few details.

*DH is disabled and the less walking he has to do the better. We will most likely need to rent a scooter for him when he can't stand the pain any longer.
*We have never stayed in a cabin before and think it would be fun to rent a golf cart, etc.
*We've stayed at the Dolphin before and love the location and the beds.
*We can use valet parking at the Dolphin for the days that we don't take the boat to MGM or Epcot.
*Dolphin is closer to CBR and the rest of the family is staying there.

What does everyone think? We're struggling with this and I want to cancel one of the reservations to give someone else a chance to take it.

This is so confusing. . Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[WildGrits]

I guess that all depends on what you want out of a room.

Are you doing the free dining?

Is DDP offered at the Dolphin?

Renting carts are just shy of $50 a day. And that's just to get around the resort.

Would you use a kitchen?

I have never stayed at either one of them. If I wasn't doing the DDP I would be more interested in buying points and staying at the DVC in the Boardwalk. I camp a lot and don't feel like spending a lot of money to stay in WDW and look like I'm at camp.

What about looking into the CBR?

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

We are AP holders so we are not on the dining plan. We don't really need the kitchen and if we had it, would probably use it for breakfast only. We got a rate of $169 at the cabins and $179 at the Dolphin.

We have stayed at the CBR twice before. It's nice but we wanted to either go Deluxe or try something new.

I've never had this much trouble deciding!

 

[ElizabethB]

We have stayed at both. The Fort Wilderness Cabins are, IMO, extremely inconvenient. You really must have a golf cart which, as the previous poster said, is some $50 per day extra. The resort is very spread out and when we stayed there, it seemed like a real chore to get anywhere. The dining options are very limited -- the buffet and pizza. In short, we would not stay there again. For someone needing mobility assistance, I think it's really not a good choice. The cabins themselves are comfortable, but we thought staying at the resort was really not as convenient as some of the off-site placed we've stayed.

Since you've stayed at the Dolphin, I don't need to detail all of the advantages for you.

My mother needs a scooter when we take her to WDW and I would not stay at the cabins with her along. The Dolphin, on the other hand, would definitely be a place I'd stay with her.

By the way, I always rent her a scooter from Walker Mobility (check out the information elsewhere on these boards). They deliver the scooter right to the hotel, and pick it up at the end of your stay. Mom says their scooters are much better than the ones available for rent at WDW -- they have three wheels instead of four and are therefore much easier to steer. They also go a little faster than the park ones. The other advantage is you know you have it, so don't have to worry about the scooters being sold out when you want one. If you're at the Dolphin, your DH could take it right from the room to the boat transportation to Epcot and MGM. We've not tried taking her scooter on buses, but I understand others have done so. We get a van and take the scooter with us in the van. Even if you didn't take it with you to MK, it would be very helpful for MGM and Epcot if you're at the Dolphin.

Hope this is helpful and that you enjoy your trip!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Thanks. This is very helpful. We were already trying to figure out how to get from the cabin to the Bike Barn to get the golf cart without a hassle. I've been reading as much as I can about FW but still having a hard time so I thought I'd ask the experts on this board.

 

[f7prez]

DOLPHIN !!! I think overall you would have less ground to cover at the Dolphin than at FW.

 

[MissMet]

As many fond memories that I have at FW, I say Dolphin. Location, location, location.

Plus the beds!!!