FW cabins-can you tell me about these?

[Disney Fans]

We are thinking about the FW cabins for one of our trips to WDW. Could anyone who knows about them or who has stayed in them, please tell me :
1) Did you like the cabins?
2) How far do you have to walk to the boat to MK, and buses which take you to the other parks? And how long does it take for buses and boat?
3)How far is it walk to were you can eat?
4) How is the camp fire at night(the one for the kids)? Is it fun and is it good for kids that are 5 and under like mine?
Thanks for any other advice!

 

[indigoxtreme]

It has been a few years since we stayed there. But we loved the Cabins. There is an internal bus system which will take you to the Hall and the boat for Magic Kingdom and takes you to the TTC for other parks. The camp fire is great with the movies etc. We rented a golf cart and bikes. The pools are simple pools nothing spectacular. But you are in a building by yourself and unless some one is outside making alot of noise you never hear any of it. The kitchen is nice to have as well as the deck, picknic table and grill. Horseback riding was alot of fun too, as well as the animal petting area and the horse barn.

 

[plutospup]

We love the cabins!!!!!!!! Just returned two weeks ago. There is a bedroom with bunk beds, and a tv. The main room has a sofa, chairs, dining table, and a pull down murphy bed. Surprisingly, the murphy bed was quite nice! The kitchen included a full refrigerator, microwave, stove w/ oven, and a dishwasher. Every day when we returned the maid service had run our dishwasher! We only used the kitchen for breakfast (cereal, coffee, croisants,fresh fruit, etc) No cooking meals on vacation! If you want to, though, pots,pans, plates, glasses, and utensils are provided!

2. Campfire program is great! Even when we didn't stay at FW we would come over to the sing-a-long and movie. Ms Sundee often leads, and is a quite a character! Chip-n-Dale also come by to greet everyone. Fire rings are available for marshmellow toasting, or hot dog roasting. If you don't bring marshmellows, sticks, etc with you, they are available at the "chuck wagon" at a reasonable cost. DD has gone to this many times over the years from age 4 to 7, and has always enjoyed it.

3. Meals are available at Trails End. It is a reasonably priced buffet, with good food. Trails End, and the Hoop de Doo Review are next to each other. They can easily be reached by an internal FW bus. (5 min ride at most). From here you can walk to the marina where you can board a boat for the MK. Near the marina is a beach where you can watch the MK fireworks, and the Electrical Water Pageant.

4. Also near Trails End is an area that has pony rides, hay rides, and carriage rides. At the other end of FW you'll find "trail rides" with the "big horses" as DD7 would say!

Sorry this is so long. Check out the DIS Camping Board!

 

[Deweysgirl]

1: Love the cabins! Stay there every year!

2 and 3: As the pp mentioned, the internal bus will take you to the dining hall, boats to MK, campfire, etc. From your cabin to the bus stop is only a minute or two to walk. We also rent the golf carts which eliminates using the internal bus to get around.

4: The campfire and sing-along is wonderful and fun for all ages. Before the movie starts there is a sing-along with Chip and Dale and a marsmallow roast.

5: The campgrounds are very peaceful and beautifully maintained. Rabbits, raccoons, and even an occasional deer can be seen early morning and at dusk! The grounds are beautiful and there is so much to do that we usually set aside one day just to take it all in. Let's see, they have a petting zoo, pony rides, carraige rides, fishing, canoeing, and the campfire/sing-along/outdoor movie and electrical water pageant on the lake just to name a few. Oh, the HDDR and Mickey's Backyard BBQ are both here at Ft. Wilderness. Trails End has a delicious breakfast buffet and of course you can save a few dollars by having meals and/or snacks in your cabin.

Some people find it to be too removed but that's what we like about it. Close enough to the action but tucked away so you feel removed form the hustle and bustle. Hope I haven't been to wordy and that I have been of some help.

 

[Mich Mouse]

We loved the cabins! If you plan on staying there , and would like to rent a golf cart to get around, reserve one in advance by phoning the bike barn at Ft. Wilderness. When we were last there , many people wanted the rent a cart, but were disappointed, as they were already reserved. One person even offered us $ for the cart! We just offered them a ride...Free of charge of course!

Ft. Wilderness is huge...The biggest resort on property and even my athletic husband and I rented a cart. It was so much fun to drive down to the beach at night and watch the EWP.

We loved the cabins!!

 

[Disney Fans]

Thanks so much to everyone. Other question about the golf carts which I think would be fun. Do you recall how much the golf carts cost to rent? And I assume its ok to leave in a certain place by your cabin or other places you might take it?
And are there any cabins that you think I should request?
Thanks again

 

[alicenwonder99]

The cabins are great. You will love them. We didn't rent a cart (budget reasons), but I think they were around $35-$40 a day. If they were a necessity I would have got one, but they weren't. Before our trip, I read numerous posts saying that you need to request a cabin just 2 or 3 into the loop (look at a FW map and you'll know what I mean). We didn't request that and we had a cabin at the very end of the loop (furthest from the bus stop and pool). OH MY! It was quite a walk to get to the end of the loop to the bus stop. It wasn't really that bad, but add 2 sleeping children that I had to carry/push along after a day in the parks and it was a far walk. I would say it took us about 5 minutes just to walk to bus stop from our cabin. We never waited more than 5-10 minutes for a bus. Then it drops you off at another bus stop/marina. The boat ride over to MK seemed the longest...it was 1 hour from the time we left the cabin until the time we got to MK (and this was during the slow season in January). A couple of times we drove and that was alot faster, but the busses were fine.

If you want to eat/shop/campfire, then you have to walk to the bus stop, and have a bus take you to there. Of course, if you have a golf cart you can get there in a minute.

Mary

 

[DisneyMom5]

We didn't rent a cart, but there was a plug-in for it on the outside of our cabin. People seemed to just park them at the other places on sight.
If you are driving your own or a rental car, you can park it right at your cabin! The cars are not allowed for internal campground use though.
We had the 2500 loop and LOVED it! We had requested 2500 near the bus stop and pool, but checked in at 8 am and the cabin set aside for us was not ready (probably 2502-2505 or something) and they asked if we wanted to wait on it or take a cabin farther in. We said we'd take it. We got 2514, which happened to be a handicap. That actually worked to our advantage, as the ramp was handy for our stroller.
We were maybe 1/4 of a block from the bus stop. The bus stop is right at the end of 2500. The laundry and pool is right next to the 2500 loop also.
If you have an opportunity to see a map of Ft. Wilderness, you will notice that 2500 is a smaller loop than some of the others, so even a cabin further back would not be far from the bus stop.
We were extremely happy with our cabin, and in hindsight, soooo glad they moved us back. The buses are kind of noisy right up near the stop.
The only other noises we ever heard was the fireworks from MK and Epcot(?), and the tram dropping off the mousekeepers carts at around 5 am every morning. Even that was not too bad.
We planned on an hour from leaving the cabin to arriving at a park, and most of the time that gave us extra time. The buses were excellent (and we had 5 kids under 10 and a dbl stroller to transport at the time).
If you have any other questions, I would be happy to answer!

 

[travlnman1]

We've stayed there 3 times now. It was better when the kids were younger. Now that they are all teenagers, I felt a bit squished.
Anyway, if your budget allows, reserve the golf cart. It was well worth it IMHO.
It was fun to drive around at night and see all the beautiful lights that the campers put up around their motor homes.
Its very quiet and peaceful there.
The Trails End Buffet is one of the best kept secrets of DW. The prices are very reasonable and the food is really good.

 

[Deweysgirl]

Do you recall how much the golf carts cost to rent? Thanks again

Just checked my paperwork. The golf carts are $44.00 a day + tax.

 

[DeirdreTours]

We stayed there for 7 nights in 2002. Mixed feelings-- It was great having the kitchen space and the extra room. And, I really loved the campfire and movies everynight. But-- The transportation at that resort is a total PITA. It was 1 mile walk from our cabin to the MK launch. Or wait for a bus (2 minutes - 25 minutes). Then wait for a launch. Much worse if you are going to another park-- one bus to main stop, then wait for another bus to park! Another thing that disappointed us was that we were expecting cabins in a parklike setting.... but what we got (and what everyone gets) is a single wide trailer gussied up a bit with fake "cabin" decor. Also, not a very well made trailer. We had several nagging maintainance issues during our stay.Also, all the vegetation had been cut back severely right before we arrived. So, the place just looked like a line of trailers with the occassional short bush inbetween. All, in all, I would be okay about staying there again, but DH said NO WAY, NEVER AGAIN. So, this trip it is AKL......

 

[Anewman]

We just switched our Aug 8-15 trip(1st), from the FW cabins to WL. The main reason was we expected to have 6 in our room but 2 cancelled, so I decided the extra walking in the Aug humidity was not needed. I am not saying that the walking is too much but it is more than any other deluxe(price is comprable). So even if I get the worst room at WL, I will be walking in an air conditioned hallway and lobby. And then there was the insect issue...

So I would say if you are traveling with a group of 6, YES choose a cabin.

If you plan to cook most of your meals, YES choose a cabin.

Otherwise I would even consider a moderate over a cabin.

 

[ozzyla]

We enjoyed the cabins, the only downside was transportation. Be sure to request a cabin near the bus stop. You ride the bus to a central station, then switch to another bus to go to the parks. We enjoyed being able to take the water taxi to Magic Kindgdom, especially at night. We did find that the water taxi didn't leave an hour before the parks opened for early magic hour, so we ended up driving to some parks to get there early. Pool was o.k. We appreciated the extra space it provided for 4 kids plus being able to cook a good breakfast and late lunch/early dinner. We only bought 3 dinners at the parks the entire week.

 

[Laurajean1014]

There trailers with wood surfaces. They sleep up to 6 and are located in a very wooded area of FW. I personally would never stay there again. However, my idea of roughing it is a hotel w/o room service! So, you have a basis for my dismay.

I'm not a fan of bugs and they were everywhere - not too many inside, but lots of bugs in the area. I had to wear bug spray 24/7. Lots of beautiful bunnies, squirrals, small wild life. Golf carts were not an option for us with 5 in the trailer, plus they were sold out and quite expensive.

(If I had known that between renting the golf cart and the trailer, I would have booked us in the Lodge, Poly or Contemporary).

The boat ride is very nice, but the crowds waiting for the boats are large. It took us 45 minutes to get a boat to get to MK. Again, Poly or CR would be a snap with the monorail.

The pool at the trailers are small and nothing to them. Even my husband who loved the trailers thought the pool was bad. They went to the WL pool and he said that wasn't as good as other DVC/WDW pools.

I'm sorry. It's just my experience and my opinion. That's all. I bet a lot of people like them - (they were decorated nicely).

 

[Skroops]

There are pros and cons about the cabins. Yes, I agree about the transportation issue. It takes awhile to get where you are going. If you know that in advance, you can get in the mind set. I think that the ambience is great. It does feel like you are in the woods at a camping resort. Of course being from up-north, I liked this! Disney does everything elaborately, and I think the log cabin is cute. You also get what you pay for at WDW, and this sleeps more for less money, so keep that in mind. The pool isn't elaborate, infact it was closed when we were there in Feb. but the campfire and the petting zoo area is really fun IMO! The cabins are awesome for kiddies that you want to put to bed before you. It is wonderful to have the seperate bedroom and the deck. Again, the price is very appealing, not to mention the money you can save if you utilize the kitchen and fix a couple of meals! Go with a laid back attitude, and I think it is very enjoyable!

 

[dawgsgirl]

I have stayed at the cabins and off-site too. The cabins are wonderful, but the cost of a cart is crazy! The boat to the MK is great, but going to the other parks it is best to drive your car. That being said, I find it just about comparable to staying off-site. We could actually get places faster from our condo, and of course, it was MUCH cheaper. Don't flame me!

 

[Disney Fans]

Thank you for everyones inputs! It doesn't matter if they are + or - . Everyone has their own input which helps!

 

[music54]

anyone know how much the horseback riding costs ?