Fort Wilderness First Timer

[kmbound]

I am a disney vet but this will be our first stay at FW and I have a couple of questions. Our situation is that we are staying in our 5th wheel for 14 nights with 10 wpfm tix. We do come out of the parks every afternoon around 2 for a swim and then back in for our adr's (this works best for our family). We are not planning any days where we hang around the fort all day.

First - how necessary is a golf cart? They are awful expensive at $50 per day. Can't I walk and be happy or is the walking too arduous?

Second - I know the off site cart rental is supposedly banned. I have found a place that will rent to me and deliver to FW. Anyone else done this before and if so what company did you use? I will be more inclined to rent a cart for $20 per day versus the WDW prices.

Second - what is the best way to get around the world? I will have my vehicle available. Is it better to drive and park ourselves and forget the busses? Are the busses efficient like they are to other resorts. We have always used internal transportation before and were satisfied with the bus system. Is there a reason I will be unhappy with the bus system too and from fw?

Third - Do I need to plan to take my own lawn chairs to the outdoor movie or do they have satisfactory seating available?

Thanks for your input!
Any further FW suggestions are helpful.

 

[pacdomer]

Can't answer all of your questions but can give my personal experience on a few. My family stayed in a cabin at FW back in July and we skipped on the golf cart rental. We opted to use the internal bus system and also rented bikes to ride around the property (I think the biking was a lot more fun for my family than the carts would ever have been).

As far as buses to the parks goes, just know that you have to take the internal bus to the main entrance and then transfer to a park bus. I have always relied on Disney transport to get around though there have been times when I have justed missed a bus and felt that I would have rather used my car since I felt like I was losing out on precious time.

Finally as far as the campfire & movies goes, the few times we went, there was always enough seating. There are many ground level benches as well as bleachers for people to sit.

Don't know how old the kids in your family are but my nephew (was 2.5 at the time) had a great time riding a pony at the ranch. The rest of us wanted to go horseback riding but didn't get a chance. You might want to give it a try if that's your thing. Also for a different experience there is the Segway tour at FW - I did the tour at EPCOT and will be trying the FW tour on a future trip.

Hope you have a great time.

 

[Shorty82]

I'd reccomend visiting the Camping Board and asking over there.

 

[Conan the Librarian]

We stay at the Fort once a year. We walk everywhere we can and take the internal buses for where we can't. We figure we can use the extra money for buying nick-nacks.

Getting to the park is very easy. You take the Boat from the Settlement (Pioneer Hall) to the Magic Kingdom. You get a bus to Hollywood Studios from the Settlement also. You go to the Outpost (front gate) to get to Epcot, Animal Kingdom and other places. If you must drive (your car/truck), just remember you can't drive from place to place inside the Fort. No Parking for cars or Trucks at the Settlement.

If we know we are going to be very late getting out of a park (specially MK) we drive.