Fort Wilderness Manager Did A Bad Thing (Golf Carts)

[des1954]

Here is another example of an outside vendor on Disney property that some of you will disagree with me on. Don't hate me...lol Last week while at the fort, nothing pisses me off more than being woke up by two seperate RV detailing businesses with pressure washers washing and detailing the big rigs. We were in loop 1300 and 2 sites next 2 us pressure washers were up and running out of the back of trailers and vans for about 3 hours. IMO I think these are vendors that should not do business at the fort. What really ticked me off was that the two rigs that were being cleaned were both only there for 1 night. So much for a peaceful Saturday morning. If you ax one outside vendor you have to look at them all. Sorry to the folks with big rigs who use the detail services.

That didn't tick me off, Starbuc71. I HATE to listen to the drone of pressure washers when I'm at FtW. I've never understood why FtW has allowed this to be done. And for the record - I have a big rig that my DH washes & waxes by hand.

Now...what was the original subject about? Oh,,,,,yeah,,,,,bringing in private GC's or renting from an outside vendor. The debate about private carts being banned from FtW is nothing new. This banter has been going on since about 2002 that I can recall. The limiting of outside vendors is also a topic of discussion that has been going on for, well, since about 2002. I don't profess to know what Disney will or won't do, and won't venture a guess. But, until they notify me in writing that I can not bring my cart, I'm not going to worry about it. What will they do to people who have travelled 100's of miles towing a cart....tell them they can't stay? I don't think so.

Disney needs to clean up their own house, first. They need to enforce their own rules and enforce consequences to those people who abuse the Disney rental carts. Nothing keeps people in line better than being told up front if the rental cart is caught being used in non-cart areas, abandoned in non-cart areas, banged up, scratched up, dented, broken parts from obvious mis-use then there will be a hefty fine charged to the renter. I don't know if you can only rent a cart with a credit card, but that's how I would do it & possibly add a $500 or more deposit up front that is refundable when the cart is returned in the same condition it went out.

The Disney po-po needs to pay careful attention to who is driving private carts and how they are being driven. I'm sorry to those of you who have "souped" up your carts, but in a family campground there is no reason to go more than say 20-25 MPH. If you wish to rough ride - do it outside of FtW. If you let your underaged kid drive your cart, I don't have a problem with that, but Disney does. Tell them they cannot drive it at FtW. Just be responsible adults and follow the rules. Disney has them for a reason, but they need to enforce them a little more because otherwise responsible adults turn into mush-brained adolescents at Disney.

 

[OK GRUMPY]

Disney cart - are all the carts FW have being rented? People getting better deals on cart from out side vendors and these vendor are able to make a buck. hmmmm Maybe Disney needs to look at making customers Happy! I have this thought about the campsites too. Premium, Preferred, Full Hook UP and we know which sight are staying full not the high dollar one.. Look it's the sign of the times. Maybe ftwilderness guy is onto something, which is scary!

 

[RocklandRVers]

Now that we are well into our 50's, the GEM always goes to the Fort when we camp & the bikes more often than not, stay home.

You have a GEM car and can drive it anywhere or are you restricted to main roads?? We bought a 4 seater back in 2004 just for the Fort then we found out that it was restricted to main roads and couldn't even drive it and park at Pioneer Hall or the Marina. We spoke to the Fort's manager who did give us the OK to go anywhere the GCs did, but the next trip that rule was forgotten and all we got was a yellow flyer notifying us about the policy. After a couple of years of fighting we just sold the GEM and are back to renting again. So Disney won the war.

 

[rapriebe]

We leave next week for the Oct.GG and it look's like we will stay until Jan. 8th. We will have a Disney cart the whole time.

You could purchase a golf cart by the time you rent a Disney cart for that period of time. If you didn't want to keep it, you could sell it before you left.

 

[DisCamper]

If you do what we do on the carts, it would better that Disney pays to fix them, not me.

 

[auntie]

We leave next week for the Oct.GG and it look's like we will stay until Jan. 8th. We will have a Disney cart the whole time.

Seriously? Tha's quite a chunk of change. You rent a Disney cart for that entire time period? I don't think I paid that much for the cart I bought.

 

[jugman]

We leave next week for the Oct.GG and it look's like we will stay until Jan. 8th. We will have a Disney cart the whole time.

Please PM me and see if we can work out a deal so I can bring you a nice jacked up cart to use and will return to pick it up when you get done. All I ask is for cash, no check/credit. Let me know asap so I can go and buy one.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Disney like most big golf courses don't buy carts. The cart manufacturers bid for the contract to supply carts and after a certain period of time the manufacturer picks up the old carts and brings new ones. So Disney has even less money invested in each cart.
But another way to look at things is that everything is a revenue stream for Disney, it exists to make profits for it's shareholders. If they dropped the price on cart rentals they may have to raise the prices somewhere else. Also Disney charges what the market will bear as long as people are willing to pay, Disney will be willing to charge.

I dont think Disney handles their carts this way. There are some tan carts that are used by CM's that are at least 10 yrs old and many of the older style green carts have been around for over 5-6 yrs. My guess would be that they wring every mile out of them and when they start costing money to keep up they dump them via property control.

 

[LONE-STAR]

I dont think Disney handles their carts this way. There are some tan carts that are used by CM's that are at least 10 yrs old and many of the older style green carts have been around for over 5-6 yrs. My guess would be that they wring every mile out of them and when they start costing money to keep up they dump them via property control.

I agree with you because not all of there carts are the same model. But they are all club cars

 

[3gr8kids]

Has anyone asked the off-site rental companies if they have been contacted by Disney officials about this problem?

Yes, I have talked to Kenny from Tee Time quite a bit and he has said that NO ONE from Disney has EVER said anything to him about picking up/dropping off/renting his carts.

 

[clkelley]

Here may be the deal on GCE vs. Kenny. (Purely supposition on my part).

The Fort used to allow golf cart companies to deliver to the campground. They came in the guard shack and delivered with their truck directly to folks sites.

The Fort stopped that several years ago. I believe GCE was one of those companies that delivered.

Then in order to get a golf cart, you had to go pick up the golf cart and rent their trailer.

Then the overflow lot totally opened up. So then GCE started delivering to the overflow lot.

Kenny also started his business and delivered to the overflow lot.

The change ONLY occurred when this new manager took over.

GCE uses a truck with it's name on it.

Kenny does not.

There may have been some previous experiences between GCE and the Fort that we don't know about.

The reason I say this is, there are all other kinds of delivery's that are allowed at the Fort (and all other resorts).

Examples:

Owner's Locker
Grocery Delivery Services
ECVs (But that is an ADA issue, so doubt that will EVER be stopped)
I also believe outside pizza deliveries are allowed.
Stroller Rentals, etc.

 

[BradyBz12]

I do think you might be onto something there, Carol.

 

[DisCamper]

We change carts about every week trust me we are hard on carts. So you don’t want to rent us a cart. By the time we leave Disney gives a cart for free.

 

[des1954]

You have a GEM car and can drive it anywhere or are you restricted to main roads?? We bought a 4 seater back in 2004 just for the Fort then we found out that it was restricted to main roads and couldn't even drive it and park at Pioneer Hall or the Marina. We spoke to the Fort's manager who did give us the OK to go anywhere the GCs did, but the next trip that rule was forgotten and all we got was a yellow flyer notifying us about the policy. After a couple of years of fighting we just sold the GEM and are back to renting again. So Disney won the war.

We've never been told anything relating to the GEM. Ours is a 2007 4-seater. We don't park it at the Marina or the Pool parking lots because they're just too darned hard to maneuver a GC in - let alone a GEM. The only places we park are at Pioneer Hall, Settlement Bus Stop, Outpost Bus Stop, Meadow(s) Trading Post, and of course, our site. We stay on the main roads and loops - as should the GC's - and used to drive around the pool area and behind the theatre until they blocked the access to the path cutting between 1400 loop and the pool. That stinks! But we've never been told we could not park at Pioneer Hall - nor have we ever received any sort of flyer or notice - and we're at FtW about one weekend a month and usually 10-15 days in Oct/Nov.

 

[m1tchells]

We change carts about every week trust me we are hard on carts. So you don’t want to rent us a cart. By the time we leave Disney gives a cart for free.

Just curious...how are you so hard on carts?

 

[stacktester]

Just curious...how are you so hard on carts?

He's a poster child for the big ambulance chaser lawyers. If it can be done in a golf cart he has done it. I still can hear the splat of Cheryle when the windshield came out and when I turned around she was laying on the windshield about 5 feet in front of the cart. Didn't see it but my mind has this slow motion image.

 

[DisCamper]

We total Disney carts about every week So Disney keeps given us a cart whole time we are there. We get a new cart every week.

 

[RocklandRVers]

We've never been told anything relating to the GEM. Ours is a 2007 4-seater. We don't park it at the Marina or the Pool parking lots because they're just too darned hard to maneuver a GC in - let alone a GEM. The only places we park are at Pioneer Hall, Settlement Bus Stop, Outpost Bus Stop, Meadow(s) Trading Post, and of course, our site. We stay on the main roads and loops - as should the GC's - and used to drive around the pool area and behind the theatre until they blocked the access to the path cutting between 1400 loop and the pool. That stinks! But we've never been told we could not park at Pioneer Hall - nor have we ever received any sort of flyer or notice - and we're at FtW about one weekend a month and usually 10-15 days in Oct/Nov.

We took the GEM to the Fort 3 times before I sold it. The first time we brought it down (around 4th of July) we got a load of crap about not being able to take my disabled MIL to the campfire show and movie (again this was before the new pool modifications). She liked to sit "drive in" style rather than try and negotiate the gravel. As we were leaving a CM came up to us and handed us a yellow flyer with the RULES about NEVs on it and were told we could not do that. I appealed this directly to Brian who was the GM of the WL and Fort at the time and he came to our site and looked over the GEM and gave his OK to go where ever carts went. So the rest of the stay was OK. Then we came back in December and wanted to do the same thing. Again at the movie we got turned away by a CM who did not want to listen to anything I said about Brian and our previous stay. My MIL was upset and just wanted to go and not be hassled so we left. When we took her to HDDR a couple of days later, we parked at PH. When we came out we had another of those yellow flyers with the RULES on it like a parking ticket or something. The next visit I contacted Jean Gallagher who up until recently was the GM. She said it was OK to go to PH and the Marina but we had to go via loop 100 and not the sidewalk. She also said not to go to the movie with it. So we at least had that tiny accomodation. What made no sense to me is the GEM is a much safer vehicle with better brakes, lights wipers, brake lights, turn signals, etc. PLUS mine was licensed, insured and safety inspected by DMV authorized repair shops. I dare say the GCs are not nearly that safe.

 

[CampingChristy]

Yes, I have talked to Kenny from Tee Time quite a bit and he has said that NO ONE from Disney has EVER said anything to him about picking up/dropping off/renting his carts.

When I checked out on Sunday the 11th, I met Kenny in the overflow lot to return our cart. He has not had any problems, but he does want to be proactive about possible problems.

Here are a couple of possible suggestions from him - put him on your ressie and he will have a card that allows him access to WDW property (this would work well for tent and RV campers, maybe not so well for Cabin people, due to this being a key to cabin).

Or, he will arrange for you to meet him off property and he will let you use his truck and trailer to transport the cart to your site and you arrange to meet him outside the Fort to return his equipment.

He is willing to work with his customers any way he can.

I give Disney A LOT of money while I am there, I just refuse to pay over double to rent a golf cart while staying at the Fort. We can't haul a cart even if we did buy one, so I will continue to rent. We love love to go looping so I will work with Kenny any way I can to rent from him in the future.

Like Carol said, I can buy groceries from the Meadows or have them delivered in.................

 

[LONE-STAR]

We total Disney carts about every week .

I would quit leting you rent and for your safety and others maybe you should.