FW Transportation Question

[The Shamus]

Hi Folks:

In April 2008, I will be staying outside of the Disney Gates, while the other half of our party (Grandma and Grandpa) will be staying in Fort Wilderness.

Everyone in my party has a 7 Day Magic Your Way (no Park Hopper Option) ticket.

What is the easiest way to visit FW? Would we park our car and have Grandpa pick us up? Can we take the Disney transportation system even though we are not staying at a resort? Do you pay for parking at Fort Wilderness?

If transportation is not included ... is there a way to pay for transportation? It would be nice to take the boat over to Magic Kingdom at least one day.

Any help would be appreciated!

/\/\/\/\ the Shamus /\/\/\/\

 

[LONE-STAR]

You can park in the parking lot at no charge. Just have them list your names as visitors when they check into FW. Then you can take a internal bus to the loop they are camped in and from there go to the marina to get on the boat to MK.

 

[John VN]

Unless you are staying overnight, in which case there can be an additional charge, it is not really necessary to have your Grandparents tell the CM at check-in that you will be visiting. The neat thing about staying at FW is that family visits are kind of expected because FW has the atmosphere, at least for us, of being the most family friendly resort at WDW.

Everytime we visit FW, 6+ times a year, our DD and family comes to visit us. We never mention that they will be there. In our case my DD calls me when they are about 5 minutes from the Big Lot and I hop on my bike and meet them in the lot, give her my KTTW along with the parking pass and she goes thru the gate and we race to the site. We then go to the parks and later in the day when our SIL comes over, he parks in the Big Lot and takes a bus to our loop. We visit, I feed them, visit some more, go to the campfire and then they head home with the little ones now 3 and 5 falling asleep before they exit FW.

 

[Colson39]

I remember when we used to make sure we always had our Disney key cards on us (this is like 15 years ago), because we never knew if one of the boat captains would ask us for the card to make sure we were allowed to ride the boat (technically only Disney resort guests were allowed to ride the transportation).

I don't even think it's a policy anymore (maybe technically), but I do know that it's been probably 10-15 years since I've seen them ask for any kind of resort key card.

 

[drafthorsecrazy]

Hmmmm. I was always under the assumption that any park ticket got you on ALL Disney transportation? Staying on site wasn't required at all?

 

[stacktester]

I remember in 01 we did a day trip to MGM and decided to go to DTD to eat at Rainforest. We just boarded a bus and it took us right over. I wish they'd put the guard gate back where the overflow lot is. That way only guests would be allowed in the lot and no rift raft could enter. When we were there in January I saw a girl walking around the lot and she looked like she was snooping. JMHO.

 

[Gatordad]

if they put a guard in to keep out riff raff and that ilk, we'd never see you at the fort again.

 

[stacktester]

if they put a guard in to keep out riff raff and that ilk, we'd never see you at the fort again.

That's probably true.

 

[Gatordad]

always watching.

 

[Colson39]

Hmmmm. I was always under the assumption that any park ticket got you on ALL Disney transportation? Staying on site wasn't required at all?

I know that it used to be that you had to have a valid resort id card, I'm not sure about the park ticket, so I can't speak for that. If I had to guess, I'm thinking a park ticket would work the same.

It's just that at some point it used to be "required" although it was rarely checked, not sure if it's even required anymore.

 

[bradisgoofy]

if they put a guard in to keep out riff raff and that ilk, we'd never see you at the fort again.

Awhile back there was a thread complaining about non-resort visitors parking at DTD and using the bus system to get around WDW, thereby bypassing the parking fee and filling up the DTD parking area. But, like the others, I have never been ask to show a resort key to get on a bus or boat.

 

[LONE-STAR]

Unless you are staying overnight, in which case there can be an additional charge, it is not really necessary to have your Grandparents tell the CM at check-in that you will be visiting. The neat thing about staying at FW is that family visits are kind of expected because FW has the atmosphere, at least for us, of being the most family friendly resort at WDW.

Everytime we visit FW, 6+ times a year, our DD and family comes to visit us. We never mention that they will be there. In our case my DD calls me when they are about 5 minutes from the Big Lot and I hop on my bike and meet them in the lot, give her my KTTW along with the parking pass and she goes thru the gate and we race to the site. We then go to the parks and later in the day when our SIL comes over, he parks in the Big Lot and takes a bus to our loop. We visit, I feed them, visit some more, go to the campfire and then they head home with the little ones now 3 and 5 falling asleep before they exit FW.

In Nov. of 07 the CM at check-in wanted a list of names of all guest that may come to see us. This was the first time we had ever been asked this.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

A while back there was some guy raising a fuss on one of the boats over somebody not giving up a seat for an elderly lady. I think the FW cops hauled him away because he couldn't produce a valid guest ID.

 

[stacktester]

A while back there was some guy raising a fuss on one of the boats over somebody not giving up a seat for an elderly lady. I think the FW cops hauled him away because he couldn't produce a valid guest ID.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I resemble that remark. I would do it again if the opportunity arises.