Fort Wilderness transportation.

[pauljriley]

My family and I are looking at visiting WDW next year. We are a large family (two adults, two teen's 14 and 16 respectively, and two kids 5 and 6 respectively), and we're visiting from the UK.

We are interested in staying at the Fort Wilderness resort, we have however heard disturbing comments about getting to and from parks and other resorts using the Disney transportation. In general the complaints are about how spread out the resort is and the additional time it takes to get to the parks. Lots have mentioned that "golf trolley's" are essential, and queue's at the bus stops can be massive resulting in having to wait for multiple buses before you can catch one.

So I would like some advice as to whether these comments that we have read are just scare stories, that we should go and have a whale of a time, or that we should stay anywhere but FW.

 

[WEDWDW]

I would get a Golf Cart and have a whale of a time!

With a cart you can drive to the main Bus Stops,leave your cart there and hop on a park bus.

For MK,just drive to the Marina and board a boat.

FW is gorgeous and the transportation is "different",but can be "fun" with a cart.

 

[RustManFan]

And some people who have made those comments have little good to say about much of anything on these forums. They seem to think that everything needs to center on their wants.... just saying

Or are more impatient then we are.... that's for sure.

We never once had complaints about the FW transportation when we camped there twice.

 

[sharadoc]

The transportation at Fort Wilderness is very convenient, vs. many other resorts that have long walks from the room to lobby, restaurant, bus stops, etc.

We absolutely love the cabins for privacy, quiet time and character. If you ask for loop 2500 or 2600, you will be right near the quiet cabin pool, which also has a hot tub and is where the laundry room is. The ride on the internal bus is about 5-10 minutes either to the Settlement (boat dock, restaurants, smaller Trading Post), or the Outpost (buses to other parks). In between is the Meadows recreation area, which should be 5 minutes at most, for the main pool, larger trading post and activities.

A golf cart is well worth it, although they only fit 4, so unless you can get one of the coveted 6 person carts when you check in, the cart won't be the best use for your family. We have done just the buses, and it's fine. Like I said, it's probably easier than walking in many of the other resorts, or having to use park buses for internal transportation at the mods.

The only difficulty we have dealt with is the Hoop Dee Doo crowds. They fill up the MK boat dock and the internal buses from the Outpost so we tried to avoid using the internal transportation for the hour before each show.

 

[POOHsie]

In all honesty, there is no need to rent a golf cart. We simply walked from our cabin to the FtWilderness internal bus stop, very quick walk. There was always a bus within 5-7 minutes. Buses in one direction take you to Pioneer Hall, Stables, beach and boat dock. We loved the convenience of having 2 boats, one to MK (12 min) and one to Contemporary or Wilderness Lodge. If you take the Contemporary boat, you can access the monorail from that resort. You monorail to TTC (next stop), switch to Epcot monorail. The buses I mentioned also run in the opposite direction to the FtW front-side bus station where you pick up park resort buses (MK-Epcot-HS-AK). So depending on which direction you're headed, you pick up a bus on one side of the road or the other. There are 3 bus lines running in FtW, so no matter where you are, one of the bus lines is near by.

For dining, we went to Hoop Dee Doo one evening and Trail's End for buffet breakfast one morning. I swear it was one of the best breakfast buffets in WDW. There's also lunch and dinner buffet, country style food. And there's a take-out window for food to take back to the cabin. We found a FtW grocery and supply list in our kitchen to order food delivered at our cabin. You could also pre-order food from Garden Grocer and supposedly it will be in your cabin for your arrival.

Last year we stayed at FtW for the first time. I was worried about the details, like you are now. As it turned out, I was surprised how much my daughter and I loved the Cabins. The stay was definitely a "hit" and we're returning this October.

 

[disnut8]

We stayed at Fort Wilderness with a group of 11. Four in one cabin, five in another, two in a campsite. Ages ranged from 5 to 80. We never had a golf cart, we just walked to the bus stops and the two cabins were next to each other and the campsite was as close as it could be and my father, who had just acquired a disease that wasn't diagnosed at the time but made walking painful, just walked to the cabins each day. For transportation, we just took the buses. It was my now daughter-in-law's first trip to anywhere outside the state of Ohio and she was amazed at how nicely the transportation was. She even told us one night that she heard someone complain on a bus about how "ridiculous" the system was. We stayed seven nights and on the very last day, she had everything arraigned for she and my son and her five year daughter to visit all four parks in one day to get everything done. At the end of the day (and they did all four parks) she said it was so easy.

 

[staceyrhood]

No need for a cart, they are fun though to drive around but not needed, the transportation there is great. We have stayed a dozen times at FW in the past 2 years. It is a relaxing wonderful resort with so much to do. Visit the camping boards here for more info. Have a great trip! You will LOVE the fort!