Family Trip - 2 week once in lifetime vacation, looking for advice on resort options - narrowed down to Cabins at Fort Wilderness or BWV

[Mle8308]

You might want to try a rental agency, too. It will cost more per point, but with you wanting so many nights, as @CarolynFH mentioned, it might be difficult to find one owner who has enough points for the number of rooms you want for two weeks. And for an individual owner to do the work to get all 14 nights for you. At the 11 month mark (which you would need to book at), an owner can only book 7 days, then each day can add a day to get to the 14 nights. That can be a lot of work. An agency can find multiple owners for you, and some have a type of cancellation policy where you get a credit towards a future stay instead of flat out losing your money. Most private rentals (directly through owners) requires you to pay all up front and no refunds. If you are not set on a deluxe resort, maybe look into 3 rooms at a moderate booked through Disney. There may be discounts at that time and you would have a cancellation policy. Port Orleans French Quarter is beautiful and fairy compact, you'd probably be more likely to get rooms close to each other, too. Rooms are being renovated now, so they will be updated for your trip. And you can book all 14 nights at one time, no need to have to worry about an owner being able to add additional nights on for you. Another possibility are the Family Suites at either All Star Music or Art of Animation. Just some things to consider. Sounds like a great trip for your family, enjoy!

 

[Disney2027]

Thanks for the suggestions! I considered Port Orleans for a while but ultimately loved how close to the parks I could get with some deluxe, as well as the extended hours. It still blows my mind how many options and ways of having a Disney world trip there are.

 

[Counting Stars]

Just something to consider-Three rooms for 14 days that need to be reserved at 11 months out- this will be a very expensive trip even when renting points. Most renters, and rental companies as well, have limited, if any, cancellation benefits available to the renter. I would suggest that you look very carefully at how likely it is that all of your group will actually attend. Health issues, finances, jobs etc... Lots of things can come up in a years time. Disney has fairly generous cancellation policies for rooms compared to renting DVC points which might have no cancellation policy. I would encourage you to give some thought to how you would be affected if some family members need to cancel somewhere in that 11 month window. For a trip this size, I might try for the best Disney discount available at the time, room-only can be cancelled up to 5 days out. Perhaps consider what resort and amenities are most attractive to you? You want to really like the resort if you are spending almost two weeks there. Also, Disney transportation is actually pretty good. Being close to the parks I think matters more if your trip is shorter.
Enjoy your planning

 

[cruising spud]

You mentioned getting the 7- or 8-day park pass. I would suggest going for the 10-day pass. Not much difference in cost and I think you would like/use the additional days.

We love Fort Wilderness. Have been there a lot. That being said-we are taking a family trip this January and decided NOT to do the cabins. With a larger party, we wanted the ease of a hotel. We requested rooms close to one another.

I looked long and hard at getting family style suites but decided that at the end of the day, it might be best if we all went our separate ways to single rooms.

We have stayed at the Beach Club (in the Boardwalk area), and the ease of walking to some of the parks was great. A vibrant area with a lot to do.

And, I will say-listen to what Counting Stars said about renting points. There is no refund if you have an issue. Again, I thought about renting, but with four separate "family groups" there was no way I was going to risk the funds.

I actually started my planning in steps-
#1-reserve the rooms (there is an 8-day cancellation policy, so I have plenty of time to cancel or change rooms). This is room only. No packages.
#2-buy plane tickets with everyone at once
#3-sixty days out make my one dining reservation
#4-buy park tickets about two weeks out
#5-seven days out-book MMLP

Something else I had to consider-how to get us all from the airport to Disney. I considered Mears (too long of a trip), Uber, taxis and town cars. With eight of us, I think I am going to book a town car. If I go the town car route, I am going with a company that stops at a local supermarket to pick up a grocery order.

Best wishes.

 

[jo-jo]

While you are deciding what type of rooms to get, think more than just body count. If you get a 2 bedroom , who get the king size bed. Will grandma end up on the shelf bed under the tv?? Can the three young kids share the sofa bed? With 5 kids, having a full kitchen and wash/dryer is amazing.

We did a trip with our 6 grandkids, and two moms. Dads didn't come. They shared a 2 bedroom and we had a studio down the hall. Cooked 2/3 of the meals in the room. Mostly open package, throw into oven type meals. Older kids and adults made their own sandwiches which we brought into park. We had a stroller and scooter so we had space to carry food and frozen/cold drinks. Doing that saved tons of money. Breakfast was cereal or frozen breakfast sandwiches/frozen waffles. Dinners were frozen chicken strips/ fish/ take out pizza. Note, even though we were in a room with real dishes, we bought paper plates. With that numbers, we'd be running out of dishes with every meal. We did eat a few CS . Of course the kids ate chicken fingers . LOL

 

[Willow Ufgood]

Hoping to go 3rd week of Sept. Ideally Sun Sept 12 to Sat Sept 25, hoping to take advantage of slightly smaller crowds and cheaper prices. Thanks for the tip on 1 bedrooms likely being easier to book!

I agree with @cruising spud about the park tickets but I would look beyond the 10 day ticket. I just bought 14 day passes from attractiontickets.com. They included free magic bands, park hopping, memory maker, water parks and mini golf before 4 pm. The only catch is that they are a UK company and the price is in pounds sterling. The exchange rate for US dollars is very favorable right now and I have a credit card that does not charge foreign transaction fees. It was much cheaper than 10 day park hoppers and included so much more. The email with the information to link to MDE came quickly and they're already in my account and attached to each name. It might be worth it for you to look into since you plan a long stay.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I would personally look at booking 3 rooms at a moderate and having everyone book their own accommodations. This way everyone’s responsible for their own room. There’s also More real sleeping surfaces and bathrooms. We personally really enjoy CSR. CBR is a skyliner resort. POR and POFQ are also really nice resorts.

With three family units going and renting non refundable points I would worry about who is paying and when. If everyone is paying their portion up front do they understand if they back out they won’t be getting any funds back? If you are paying upfront and being reimbursed later are you ok if someone backs out and doesn’t want to pay? If you are treating the room for the trip are you ok if people back out and you got this huge room for just your family?

I’ve heard enough stories of people backing out of vacations when things are refundable. I would worry of the logistics if someone had to cancel on non refundable expensive rooms.

I’m not anti renting points. I’ve done it once for BWV through the boards and have an upcoming trip to AKV that I also rented through the boards. But I only do this with my family unit and I understand the risks.

 

[Disney2027]

I’m just glad I’ve started planning 3+ years out, there’s so much to think about and consider. All good/fair points regarding cancellations and refunding. Thank you all for adding more homework to my plate (haha not being sarcastic here- I honestly enjoy looking into hotels and pricing and the planning aspects and appreciate all the insight!)

 

[CarolynFH]

Don’t hesitate to ask more questions as they come to your mind! We all like to help people have wonderful trips to WDW!