Fort Wilderness spoiled me

[mich1073]

I really like all the places I have stayed at Bonnet Creek, Wyndham Bonnet Creek (timeshares), Hilton BC and Wyndham Grand BC. I love FW but yes next years prices are crazy. I am renting at Wyndham Bonnet Creek this coming weekend because I wanted the pools and a full kitchen. I originally booked FW but as I found WBC for 100 a night for a 2 bedroom condo.... And I love the lazy river there. So we cancelled FW and booked the WBC from an owner. Less work in August heat is always plus too. WBC does not have the Disney transport but it close and quiet... So much quieter than Pop or other values I have stayed at.

Uber to the Boardwalk for Epcot is only like 5 bucks and comes when called. And I think the MK ride is around 10. Or just drive. The room is cheap enough sometimes.

 

[blemon]

We won't have a car. We are going to fly and go straight to the parks. I've been reading about these places posted and many have free shuttles to Disney. That would be great. It just wouldn't allow for taking a break mid-day to rest.

The next thing I'm going to look into doing is renting DVC points. I just learned about that so I'm going to see how much that would cost.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

We stopped staying at the POP when our youngest was born (put us at 5 people instead of 4) and are we glad we did. It became our go-to resort when we stayed as soon as it opened. It began to get more popular and quickly went downhill. We started using our own car and not even touching the buses and at that point we realized when #3 was born, it would be no problem for us to pick a new favorite resort. We have done Deluxes and Mods now and even played with the All Stars before kids were born and we have a few favorites. This year we are headed to the Fort for the first time and very excited! We are doing a split stay with Fort and AKL as well as heading on the DCL. Very excited!

 

[loislane]

The cabins are always an option as someone said - but it depends on your budget.

It's a BIG investment for us to go to Disney - and usually a two-year planning and saving project as we are a single income family. So, we are looking for an economical place to stay but still want to be ON property. We've stayed at the Fort (towed our camper down from NY twice) and at Pop Century. We LOVE the Fort, but Pop is ok too. It all depends on your perspective and what your accommodations mean to you. We don't always take a mid-day break from the parks, preferring instead to use our hoppers and visit different parks. We try to utilize low-key attractions like CoP, Ellen, etc. for our "down time" - or just find a place to sit and do some people watching. So for us, a room at Pop mostly serves as a place to sleep and get ready. We spend a little more time at our campsite at the Fort, but that is mainly because of the meals we are eating there.

Buses - I don't think I've ever had to stand on a bus to or from the Fort, but I've frequently had to stand on a Pop bus. At the same time, it seems like there are a lot more buses serving Pop than the Fort so the wait between buses seems shorter. We've easily waited 20 or more minutes for the bus we need at the Fort - or the bus back to the Fort at the end of the day. The wait times seem shorter for Pop.

We've learned at Pop to use one of the two smaller pools to avoid the big crowds and tons of kids, and to get breakfast early or get meals at slightly off times to avoid the big rushes at the food court.

In the end, I guess it doesn't matter to me where I stay as long as I'm at Disney. I can make it work!

 

[blemon]

We are doing a split stay with Fort and AKL as well as heading on the DCL. Very excited!

You will love it! We really enjoyed our time there. If I had a larger family, I would definitely rent a cabin.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

You will love it! We really enjoyed our time there. If I had a larger family, I would definitely rent a cabin.

Thanks! We are excited to finally tick the last resort off our list! We are in the cabins for 2 nights and tent camping for 3 nights. We wanted to try all aspects of the resort and then we head to AKL for 2 nights before the cruise!

The cabins are always an option as someone said - but it depends on your budget.

It's a BIG investment for us to go to Disney - and usually a two-year planning and saving project as we are a single income family. So, we are looking for an economical place to stay but still want to be ON property. We've stayed at the Fort (towed our camper down from NY twice) and at Pop Century. We LOVE the Fort, but Pop is ok too. It all depends on your perspective and what your accommodations mean to you. We don't always take a mid-day break from the parks, preferring instead to use our hoppers and visit different parks. We try to utilize low-key attractions like CoP, Ellen, etc. for our "down time" - or just find a place to sit and do some people watching. So for us, a room at Pop mostly serves as a place to sleep and get ready. We spend a little more time at our campsite at the Fort, but that is mainly because of the meals we are eating there.

Buses - I don't think I've ever had to stand on a bus to or from the Fort, but I've frequently had to stand on a Pop bus. At the same time, it seems like there are a lot more buses serving Pop than the Fort so the wait between buses seems shorter. We've easily waited 20 or more minutes for the bus we need at the Fort - or the bus back to the Fort at the end of the day. The wait times seem shorter for Pop.

We've learned at Pop to use one of the two smaller pools to avoid the big crowds and tons of kids, and to get breakfast early or get meals at slightly off times to avoid the big rushes at the food court.

In the end, I guess it doesn't matter to me where I stay as long as I'm at Disney. I can make it work!

Single income family here too The planning part is the most fun, we start before we even leave!!! Next year is our first year not doing WDW! We are doing the DCL Transatlantic and 3 weeks in Europe!!

We are the EXACT same way with park passes, we never go back to the room and we are rope droppers all the way to park close! We work our park schedule around park hours PLUS our dining reservations.

I 100% agree about the buses, we stood A LOT on the POP buses, even if we let multiple people load ahead of us so we would have a seat, inevitably someone would always need a seat more than us. That's why having our car just became necessary, now we drive AND pad our Disney trip with beaches!!!

 

[ScooterPie]

I wonder if Disney has raised the tent site prices to try and deter the "renting and not staying" thing that's been going on.

 

[mich1073]

I do not think Disney cares about throwaway rooms. They make money and do not have to clean up after people.

 

[ajwolfe]

See those prices right there are why we can never justify staying here and end up at a moderate for not much more at all - we always try to book with a discount.

 

[Westcoastwild]

See those prices right there are why we can never justify staying here and end up at a moderate for not much more at all - we always try to book with a discount.

Hm...if you say so. Even with the room discount, I never saw a moderate listed for less than 2x the price of a tent site. My real debate was spending 30 more bucks a night to stay at the all stars. But that's nearly 300 more for 9 nights and I just don't think it would have been worth it, heat and all!

 

[blemon]

I'm looking at the Swan. It looks like you can sometimes get good rates and it has all the perks of a Disney resort that we use (early fast passes, that's really all I care about).

Decided to drive and not fly. My DH will come with us but not go to the parks every day we go. He'll go hang out with his friends as he used to live in Orlando and has lots of good friends nearby. So he'll have the car and we won't have the hassle of flying. It's only 14 hours. ha!

 

[ajwolfe]

Hm...if you say so. Even with the room discount, I never saw a moderate listed for less than 2x the price of a tent site. My real debate was spending 30 more bucks a night to stay at the all stars. But that's nearly 300 more for 9 nights and I just don't think it would have been worth it, heat and all!

No offense but I would never consider a tent site. I would be looking at a rv site. to me tent camping is for a camping trip, not a vacation where I'm going hard all day in the parks.

 

[Teamubr]

I do the math around camping vs one of the discounted rooms in the fall. I formerly needed (wanted) a Preferred site. With the new 5er, I have to get a Premium to fit. Every time I've worked out pricing taking the camper vs driving my car and staying in a Value or Moderate with the 15/20/30% discounts, the Value comes in a little under the Fort and a Moderate a little over. I'm towing 1000 miles 1 way and gas savings is a big contributor to the total price. The deciding factor for us is the savings in food. I generally eat most breakfasts and half of dinners at the camper. We are only a family of 3, but that still saves quite a bit of money that I would otherwise have to spend if I was staying in a Value or Moderate.

j

 

[5kidsmommy]

We have been wavering on what to do for our next trip. Our camper needs some repairs, so we considered renting, we also considered a moderate and a deluxe. The cabins are too much for when we are going. Staying in a moderate would be the cheapest option when you factor in the extra cost of gas towing the trailer. Ultimately though we decided to move the trip up a couple of weeks and will get the repairs done to the trailer before winter comes. My husband really likes to have someplace to sit, especially outside. In the trailer we have all the beds for the kids and also have a sofa and a dinette. Plus we have all the outside space. We looked at renting at Bonnet Creek but since we have teens I prefer to stay onsite, that way they can easily go back to the room without us. I am glad we settled on going back to the Fort. I stayed in a moderate last November and it was nice but it wasn't the Fort. If I could afford a large villa I would do that but that would triple the cost for us.

 

[peg110]

I do not think Disney cares about throwaway rooms. They make money and do not have to clean up after people.

Ah but I think you are looking at it in a not so complete picture.

First, as an example, if someone got a 1 day "Room" (campsite) and paid for it so they could do fast passes, ADRs, etc... earlier, but not actually stay at the campsite, that prevents another camper who might have considered staying a longer stay but also needed that night for their stay. Because it was used as a throw-away site, it's conceivable that while Disney did get paid for ONE day, they could have gotten paid for SEVEN but instead they didn't get any money for those SIX remaining days.

Second Example, many people make their reservations, including the "Throw-away" rooms well enough in advance so they can get their ADRs and Fast Passes, but as they trickle down to the 30 day mark, (or even the 10 day mark) they no longer need to keep the Disney reservation and cancel it but their Fast Passes and ADRs still remained. So in this example Disney not only did NOT get paid the throw-away reservation possibly prevented someone else from booking their room as well

 

[Westcoastwild]

Ah but I think you are looking at it in a not so complete picture.

First, as an example, if someone got a 1 day "Room" (campsite) and paid for it so they could do fast passes, ADRs, etc... earlier, but not actually stay at the campsite, that prevents another camper who might have considered staying a longer stay but also needed that night for their stay. Because it was used as a throw-away site, it's conceivable that while Disney did get paid for ONE day, they could have gotten paid for SEVEN but instead they didn't get any money for those SIX remaining days.

Second Example, many people make their reservations, including the "Throw-away" rooms well enough in advance so they can get their ADRs and Fast Passes, but as they trickle down to the 30 day mark, (or even the 10 day mark) they no longer need to keep the Disney reservation and cancel it but their Fast Passes and ADRs still remained. So in this example Disney not only did NOT get paid the throw-away reservation possibly prevented someone else from booking their room as well

I think that's assuming too many things. The people who didn't get the site probably will still go to the parks- they'll just book a hotel onsite or find an offsite alternative (there must be an RV park somewhere). Has anyone here actually seen their first choice full and said "gee, guess we can't go this year."

The people who ditched their hotel rooms still bought tickets and will spend lots of money in the parks. So a campsite sitting empty in the first example doesn't hurt Disney and a campsite cancelled like in the second example could always be sold again. I didn't see ANY sites sit empty for longer than 24 hours- I don't think it happens much, at least during high season and there is very little "low season"

I don't know...I guess I feel that lodging is really Disney's lesser money maker. The parks are the real cash cow, and as long as people are staying in the parks and spending dough, Disney cares less about where they stay. I think the people who might camp in the fort for a week and don't go into the parks at all probably hurt the bottom line more.

I know that my lodging was a very small part of my expenses- it's the tickets, food, and gift shops that take the bigger chunk. And I'm someone who isn't really their idea of an ideal customer- I'm single, I eat relatively little, and I spend a lot less on souvenirs than most people. I think I spent more on sunscreen, but that too is going in their pockets.