Ft Wilderness Cabins-- Opinions Please

[plutosmyfav]

I am considering the Fort Wilderness Cabins but don't know anything about them. How remote is the setting? I assume there is a themed pool, quiet pool area? How Far are the cabins from Trails End, buses, boats, etc. Who likes them, who hates them?

Thanks!

 

[HopperFan]

We were there for a week, next door to relatives. Perfect setup for us. The cabin was great, decorated great, and perfect if you want a kitchen.

We were there in the winter time, so swimming was not a top priority and it was very cold...........but the pools we saw were just rectangle neighborhood style pools. My kids don't want to return because of that. We drove to every park except MK because of the long bus rides within the campground. I know there are lots of fun activities, but my kids are older and just were not interested. Make sure you grocery shop out, we found the store to be very expensive with limited offerings. My sis has been back but her her kids are young and the cabin is perfect for them.

I still think they are an incredible value and would consider going back if the situation warranted it (we have lots of family who camps there) but for our family/ages right now, they are interested in the hotels.

I think it totally depends on age of kids, needs of a bedroom and if you want a kitchen.

 

[spiceycat]

no theme pool - one pool in the cabins area and another one in the campground area.

I enjoyed my stay there. - It was a real fun place. Everyone is very friendly. Like the kitchen and the sleeping arrangements.

love the peace and quiet.

My mother on the other hand - hated it!!! My mother loves the deluxe resort, likes the moderates.... Although after stating that she would never stay at a value resort - she surprised herself (not to mention me) by loving Pop Century - well she loved the swimming pool....We were also staying at the Marriott Grande Vista and it was cool for May - the MGV did not have their pools heated - WDW did.....the WDW pool was also much cleaner and I think she enjoyed the lifeguards - she was less depend upon me....

So if you are a deluxe person - I don't know if you will like FW cabins....

 

[Piglette]

I liked the cabins themselves quite a bit, but the transportation was difficult. We waited quite a while for the bus from the cabin, and then had to wait again for the 2nd bus (or boat) to the parks. We spent more time travelling to/from the parks than we had on any other trip. I vowed when we left that I would never stay there again without a golf cart. I will grant you that this was a summer trip - I might not have such bad memories of it if we had been enjoying crisp fall mornings

Since that trip, we have stayed at Wilderness Lodge and the Dolphin. For our family, both of those options worked better. We have young children, and quick transportation is more important to us than it may be to others. We're certainly more cramped in a hotel room, and we miss the kitchen, but since we spend so much time at the parks, the transportation for us is more important than the space.

 

[plutosmyfav]

Thanks everyone,

I had a feeling transportation might be an issue. I'm still undecided!

 

[kitkatsnindylou]

When I asked my mom where she wanted to go this year on vacaton she told me "to the little cabin in the woods" she loves the cabins, she enjoys sitting on the deck and just relaxing this time we are not even planning to go to the parks. An option for transportation is they rent golf carts aprox 43.00 per day you can take them to the main area's to catch transportation like the settelment to take the boat to the mk or catch the mgm bus you can take them to the main entrence and catch a bus to the ttc and go anywere from there. Then your cart is waiting when you come back. Also check the camping at wdw forum.

 

[NCDisNut]

The Fort Wilderness Cabins are by far my favorite place to stay. Where else can you stay on Disney property and park your car right at your front door, have a little space between you and your neighbor so you don't hear every sound they make, have a full kitchen plus linen service, grill steaks at night while sitting on the deck with friends and family, have your own golf cart or bicycles right outside your door, and watch Disney movies on the big screen outside at night while roasting marshmellows over a campfire? There's a bed for the parents bunk beds for our two kids, two TV's, a Murphy bed, a nice den and a bathroom with plenty of towels.

I've camped at Fort Wilderness and I've stayed in the cabins and I love it. The people that will not like it are the ones who prefer fancy. The dining is not fancy and the choices are limited, and the cabins, although clean and Disney, attempt to be rustic.

 

[tar heel]

No themed pool and definitely not close to Trail's End, the trading post, boats, etc. You MIGHT be close to an in-resort a bus stop depending on where your cabin is. You take a bus within the resort to get to the main transporation to the parks. You also cannot park your car at places like Trail's end and the trading post.

We thought the cabin itself was great but the transportation way too much trouble. I doubt that we'll stay there again. Our favorite resort is YC, so we really missed the pool, hot tubs and convenience to everything.

Our not liking FW didn't have anything to do with our preferring "fancy" b/c we loved the cabin itself.

 

[ElizabethB]

We too thought the cabin was comfortable but the transportation problematic. We rented a golf cart and that helped. But, it's $40 per day for one (our rental car was less!) and I think you have to factor that in when considering the price of the cabins. Also, dining options were few. Pizza and Trails End Buffeteria. They wouldn't let us sit down to eat the pizza even though there were plenty of tables, so we had to take it back to the cabin. Overall, we found Holiday Inn Family Suites to be much more convenient.

 

[dpic]

We've stayed in the cabins and WL. If you want remote, cabins are it. If you want to feel like you are at Disney, stay somewhere else. The only thing that felt like Disney at the Cabins were the Disney infomercials on the cable TV.

The cabins are nice and roomy. Nice to have a kitchen, but we didn't use it much (who wants to cook on vacation). We did cereal, made sandwiches, that sort of thing (which you can do in any room).

Bus transportation was a pain. We had to take a bus just to get to the boat launch. However, we loved the boat to MK (which we still enjoy at WL). At night there was very little to do around our cabin. Pool was very far away and never used it. They do have activities, but after a day in the parks, we didn't feel like hoping on another bus to get to them. Many people rent golf carts while at Ft. Wilderness because of this problem.

 

[judykay53]

We liked them very much especially for a large group. There were six of us so it was much cheaper than any other option. We never had time to use the pools. The kids did not have to be quiet. Never had to wait more than maybe 5 minutes for the internal bus. The external busses were a bit longer. We had to wait longer coming from a park than going to the parks. The boat ride to MK is so nice. The place is very laid-back and peaceful. If you are one of those that wants to get somewhere "now" then this is not the place for you. We just took our time and "got there when we got there". The bathroom is large with a nice size tub/shower. We did not cook but kept the fridge full of juice boxes, water and had lots of room to freeze our water. Having two TV's was great. Definitely use a golf cart if possible. If you only need one room then I would say stay somewhere else. For a large group this was great.

 

[NCDisNut]

Interesting. I found the bus transportation at PO to be a MUCH bigger pain than FW.

 

[dgaston]

We last stayed at the cabins for Christmas 2001. We are a family of 5 and they are perfect for us. Our children are older, two adults and our DS now 15, so the full bed and bunks in the bedroom work out great, while DH and I share the Murphy bed (with privacy even ). I cooked our traditional Christmas dinner and we fixed a few other things too.

We do drive to MGM and AK, take the boat to MK or boat to CR and then monorails to Epcot. On our last camping trip (April 04)we found the internal buses to be very prompt and had excellent service when we used external buses to DTD and the like.

Pools are not fancy and everytime I get a survey I ask for the old River Country pool to be reopened for FW and to add a hot tub.

 

[SalandJeff]

We were pleasantly surprised at how nice the cabins were and my husband loved the woodsy setting. But it can be a FAR walk to the pool (which was disappointing) or bus stop. And the transportation is just too much...you have to take the internal bus to the external bus or boat. After a long day at the parks, it is just not what you want to do to get back to your room. We won't stay there again.

 

[NCDisNut]

I wonder if it would be meaningful to know what loop everyone stayed on? I've never had any measurable wait for the internal buses, even when returning in the early morning hours from Downtown Disney. We always stay on the 2100 loop. I've stayed there during some very slow times when they were only running two buses to a particular park and you might have to wait up to 30 minutes, but that's been the worst thing. I don't think a lot of people go to waterparks in December.

 

[Deweysgirl]

Judykay53 and NCDisNut??? - We have stayed at the cabins in the past and we only ever had one TV. Have you stayed there recently and do they all have two TV's now or is it the luck of the draw?

 

[NCDisNut]

DeweysGirl,

I can only guess it's a recent addition. I stayed in the cabins on the 2100 loop in December, and they only had one TV. When I returned in June, they had two. We had two cabins in June and both had two TV's.

 

[sters]

If you have a car, the cabins aren't a bad choice for a large family. It's nice to have maid service and a kitchen and some unique experiences, such as campfires and hayrides. Still, we felt like second-class citizens using the transportation system. We spent so much time on the bus. In hindsight, I think it would have been best to just drive to the TTC. River Country was open when we stayed there, but it was too rainy to use. Now there is no interesting pool experiences avialable, if that is important to your family.

 

[Deweysgirl]

Originally posted by NCDisNut
DeweysGirl,

I can only guess it's a recent addition. I stayed in the cabins on the 2100 loop in December, and they only had one TV. When I returned in June, they had two. We had two cabins in June and both had two TV's.

Thanks! I wondered why there wasn't a TV in the back room. It sure would've been nice instead of everyone cramming around the little one in the LR. I hope they have updated all of the cabins with the second TV. That would be a BIG improvement imho.

Thanks again!

 

[judykay53]

We were there in June of this year in cabin 2206, four down from the bus stop. We had a Game Cube hooked up in the bedroom which entertained DS8 and DS6 during the downtime. It was nice to have the separate bedroom.