Fort Wilderness Cabins....

[Mermaid02]

Just wondering what everyone's experiences have been with the FW cabins. We were less than enthused with the food in general at WDW.... price was high and quality was so/so. Thinking about staying at FW next time for the kitchen, grill and refrigerator. My son also has a couple of severe food allergies so we tend to be quite cautious. Is it a pain to get from FW to the parks? I thought I remembered hearing that the transportation from there was not terrific. We are a Magic Kingdom family- probably only 1 day each at any of the other parks, maybe 2 at Epcot. Thanks for any feedback.

 

[MELSMICE]

The FW cabins are fantastic. We are also not huge fans of the Disney food (although we love Disney itself!!!) so we enjoy having a kitchen.

There is a lot to do at FW. It is very quiet & relaxing. We have not found transportation to be a problem at FW. Some people give it a thumbs down because you have to take an internal bus to get to Pioneer Hall & then another bus to go to another park. We always have a car, so this is not a problem for us.

It is very easy to get to MK from FW. You take an internal bus to Pioneer Hall & then hop on the boat to MK. You can also take the boat to the Contemporary or TTC & hop on the monorail to EPCOT.

I highly recommend a FW cabin. We love them.

PS - they have a great buffet breakfast at Trail's End Buffet. The best food value in Disney IMO!

 

[Mermaid02]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm thinking it would be a good choice for us..... my husband lives to go camping and I live to go to Disney.... sounds like a good compromise!

 

[gellolicious]

We are also staying at FW cabins for the first time in April (ty AP codes) and would like to know how they are.

How is the decor of the cabins?

Is there a good Disney atmosphere in the cabins?

Is it too far to walk from the cabins to the food areas/pool/other activities?

Thanks for any information!

 

[tar heel]

We thought the cabins themselves were WONDERFUL -- much nicer than I expected. Decor is nice but there's not a big Disney feel except that it's well done.

You can't walk many places in FW unless you have a good bit of time -- it is very large. There also are not many places you can park, so you have to take the internal bus. Then, either the boat to MK or the TTC or bus to the other parks.

FW is nice, but it did not suit our family. We're used to having more convenient transportation and also a more exciting pool. We have a neighborhood pool, so my family expects slides, theming and hot tubs at a resort. You don't get this at FW. A lot of people love FW, though, so I recommend trying it and seeing how it its YOUR family.

 

[Grumpy92]

Here are some pictures.
http://www.vacationwithus.com/disneyworld/resorts/ftwildpics.htm

This is a wonderful resort. We always find it so relaxing and escape from the rest of the busy wdw.

The cabins are in loops toward the front of the campground. They do have their own pool and landry. But the food locations are in the middle, Meadow trading post or the restaurants at PH which is in the back near the lake.

You might want to bring the bikes or rent a golf cart. Be we do just find without either.

 

[MELSMICE]

The decor of the cabins is rustic, however, the cabins are not rustic at all (does that make sense ).

I feel the atmosphere is great. The pools are not themed, however, they are very, very relaxing. If you stay in the 2500, 2600 or 2700 loops you are very close to the "quiet pool". There is a main pool that has a snack bar and game room at it.

It is a long walk to go from one of the cabins to Pioneer Hall, however, we have made it a game with our DD's on occasion just for some excerise and to enjoy the scenery at FW.

They have a free movie every evening that Chip & Dale come to. The kids can roast marshmallows & there is a sing-a-long. We have rented bikes, which you can do for an hour or a whole day. You can also rent boats there.

Obviously, it's not for everyone, but if your husband lives to came & you live for Disney then I would highly recommend FW. My husband is not a camper & I grew up being a camper (he has converted me though to hotels!! ) Anyway, DH loves FW & so do my DD's.

They also have horseback riding in FW (for a fee) & a free petting zoo near Pioneer Hall. FW is definitely worth looking into.

Good luck planning!

 

[Mermaid02]

Thanks so much! I'm kinda putting the cart before the horse, but when I saw the great AP rates people got yesterday... it started the wheels in my mind turning! I would book today if I could- my dh takes a little more convincing!

Is it a real pain to go back to the room and have lunch? Although I think just having breakfast and dinner at the cabin would save lots of money.... lunch could be a "grab and go".

 

[MELSMICE]

Originally posted by Mermaid02
Is it a real pain to go back to the room and have lunch? Although I think just having breakfast and dinner at the cabin would save lots of money.... lunch could be a "grab and go".

We always eat breakfast in the cabin, we have lunch when we do a pool day & dinner is hit or miss, depending on what we're doing or what we feel like.

It is a real money saver on food. We look at it this way - you can stay at a value or even a moderate for about $100 less (depending on the season) but for our family of 5 we spend more than $100 in food if we don't have a kitchen, so we're better off getting the kitchen & having more space for ourselves.

My DH loves having the outdoor deck. He takes a jog in the morning & sits outside with his coffee & newspaper. It is so, so, so peaceful.

 

[Mermaid02]

We found that even when we ate "cheap" it was $30 per meal for the 4 of us.... we easily spent over $100 per day on food, which we found mediocre at best. My son was allergic to peanuts the last time we went, he is now allergic to peanuts and ALL fish... so we have to be really careful.

And the extra space would be heavenly!

 

[oldkicker]

We stayed in the cabins in July, 2000. We loved them!

I would highly recocmmend a car for transportation however. Every bit of transport requires some type of transfer. The best of these is transportation to MK. You take the internal bus to the bus stop near the dock (it's a short walk to the dock) and then a boat directly to MK. The boat ride is WONDERFUL!! I think you can also catch a bus directly to AK from the same spot (that bus may also service Blizzard Beach, I'm not sure). All other transport requires a stop and transfer at the TTC. A car is certainly useful at FW, IMO.

The cabins themselves are marvelous. Having a full kitchen AND housekeeping is great. We were there during the busy season and we would return to the cabin each day for lunch and a break. We ate at least two meals each day in the cabins and had severl cookouts on the grills outside each cabin too. There were five of us in our cabin and we felt we had plenty of room. We made several trips to River Country (now closed) and didn't go to the pools there, so I can't comment on them.

One thing many have suggested that we didn't do was to rent a golf cart. I can see where that would be pretty convenient. There isn't any parking at FW except for a spot in front of your cabin and a few spots at the Trading Post. So you can't really use your car in FW. But we got along pretty well without a golf cart, so it can be done.

My sister and my daughters rode the horses at FW. They enjoyed it, but mentioned that it was a very tame ride.

The grounds are quite nice. We enjoyed seeing armadillos and peacocks along with the regular critters you see at WDW. The kids enjoyed the petting farm too.

I'm sure you'll enjoy the cabins!

 

[castlegazer]

Come on over to the Camping forum - all your questions will be answered there. The cabins are the best! The only thing different in the cabins from the DVC resorts is the lack of washer and dryer, other than that you are getting a terrific room(s) with absolutely beautiful surroundings, peaceful setting, with your own large, private deck with grill. I loved having a full size fridge and full sized stove. It worked perfectly for us who also eat a lot in the room.

If you are a MK family this is the perfect resort for you. The boat ride to the MK is a wonderful way to start your day. Coming back for lunch didn't work for us due to extremely shortened hours when we were there, but its not impossible. You will just need to grab the boat from the MK, which is readily available and right outside the turnstiles, and then take an internal bus at FtW down to the cabins, we found it took about 30-40 minutes to get back and forth from the cabins over to MK.

I loved Loop 2600 which is directly across from the cabin's pool at has a bus stop at the top of the loop. Others like 2500 because it is adjacent to the pool and also 2100 because it backs up on a campsite loop so you can use the comfort station if your bathroom gets a little congested due to having a lot of people in the cabin.

The cabins are really, really nice inside and no picture does it justice because its dark wood inside making it hard to get a real good picture. We found that it was wonderful to have an adult space while the children went to sleep in the back bedroom. There is a very comfortable pullman bed in the living room and a nice full bed and bunks in the back bedroom. We slept two families of three in the cabins very comfortably. My son even had room for a full sized crib in the living room with the pullman bed down. There is room for one car to park at the cabins.

The only thing I would do differently is if we were to stay more than 4 days next time, I will get a golf cart which would then elliminate the need for internal bus transfers in FtW and allow us to explore more of the campground.

Crockets Tavern and the Trails End Buffet are wonderful and it is an added bonus to have the HDDR and the petting zoo right at your resort. The campfire is so nice and really makes you feel relaxed and like your camping.

Come on over to the Camping forum and learn more.