Golf Cart Rentals for Non-FW Guests

[minniebride]

Hi there,

I just booked reservations for use of a golf cart for our Christmas trip. We are not staying at FW, and just wanted to rent a cart to explore FW, check out the Christmas decorations in the camp sites, etc...

We received some great help from a very kind Disser on this site (thank you bama_ed!), but had great difficulty finding current golf cart rental info online. So, I thought I would just share the current info that I received today, in case any other "golf cart newbie" was interested!

Anyways, here's what was told to me on the phone:
-You do NOT need to be a FW guest to rent a cart (we are staying at the WL)
-Golf cart rentals are only rented by the day; you cannot rent them by the hour.
-The 2011 price per day that was quoted to me was $63.54 (tax included)
-We gave them our credit card to hold the reservation, but it will not be charged until we pick up the cart (we can request them to charge it earlier if we want). They gave us a confirmation #.
-The lady on the phone said that pick up is officially at 1pm. You can pick up the cart as early as 9am, BUT you will need to call first to see if any carts are ready at that time.
-Carts are picked up at the Outpost (check-in). They are due back by 11am the next day.

When you are done with your cart:
-If you are not staying at the Fort, you can either: park it at one of the designated parking spaces overnight and take your keys with you & return the next day OR
-If you are done with the cart the night before, you can just park it out front of the Outpost and drop the keys in a green box.

I know it was rather frivolous of us to spend $60 on just a few hours use of the golf cart, but we figured it is quite pricy to do the 25 minute holiday sleigh rides as well & with the golf cart, we will have longer use & more flexibility of where we would like to go & at what pace.

Hope this helps any newbies like us who were looking to rent a cart for a few hours to explore around the Fort as a non-Fort guest!!!

ETA: If any of this info is incorrect, please let me know and I will fix it. I tried to keep good notes on the phone but you never know!

 

[momabbate]

I read in dis about ague that rents golfcart and will deliver to disney at half cost. Name is kenny Patton, we site enjoythemagic.com. I looked him up but didn't read cost or any real info since im not looking into getting one. Have fun.

 

[minniebride]

I read in dis about ague that rents golfcart and will deliver to disney at half cost. Name is kenny Patton, we site enjoythemagic.com. I looked him up but didn't read cost or any real info since im not looking into getting one. Have fun.

We actually looked into that, but most outside vendors require multiple days rental, whereas we are just looking for a few hours of use. Plus, because we are not FW guests & only wanting it for a short period of time, we didn't want to be locked down by an outside vendor when we can just pick up and drop off as we please

 

[2goofycampers]

Sounds like it's more flexible since moving from the Bike Barn to Outpost. definite improvement. Thanks

 

[minniebride]

Sounds like it's more flexible since moving from the Bike Barn to Outpost. definite improvement. Thanks

I was very excited to hear that we can just park the cart and drop off the key when we are finished with the cart that evening, rather than having to deal with it from the WL the next day (Christmas Day)!

 

[bama_ed]

There is a parking lot for golf carts down close to HDDR. The main road that goes down by loop 900, 600, & 700 comes to a tee in front of loops 100 & 200. Turn left at the tee and there is a parking lot for golf carts on the immediate left. You can park here for HDDR and even for walking among the decorations in this area.

Bama ed

Ps-this is the location of the old Fort Wilderness railroad station for the dropoff for River Country.

PPS-minniebride, you need to sweet talk DH into coming back to the fort as often as possible. Have a happy life together!

 

[minniebride]

There is a parking lot for golf carts down close to HDDR. The main road that goes down by loop 900, 600, & 700 comes to a tee in front of loops 100 & 200. Turn left at the tee and there is a parking lot for golf carts on the immediate left. You can park here for HDDR and even for walking among the decorations in this area.

Bama ed

Ps-this is the location of the old Fort Wilderness railroad station for the dropoff for River Country.

PPS-minniebride, you need to sweet talk DH into coming back to the fort as often as possible. Have a happy life together!

Thanks Ed! I've copied down your directions to our trip planning notes.

Oh, how I miss River Country!! Went there once as a young child. Well, we already talked about a future stay at FW. We live out in the rural part of MA where we camp (tent camp) quite a bit. My fiance wants to scope out the grounds first to decide whether we should tent camp or stay in a cabin for our first time at FW. What he is worried about with tent camping is how to get all of our camping gear onto the plane. I'd love to look into renting an RV, personally.

What is the most comfortable time of year (weather wise) to tent camp at WDW?

 

[DisCamper]

I love to Tent camp from Oct-April. Cool to cold at night and in the 80's in the day

 

[bama_ed]

Minniebride,

For tent camping the spring and fall are the best times. Rain is less than the summer, sleeping temps are comfortable, daytime temps are pleasant. Here is the Weather Channel info for average temps each month/day so you know what to expect ON AVERAGE: http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/USFL0372

Rate-wise spring is more expensive because you're competing with all the spring break crowd as well. I was at the Fort two weekends in March (on our to Key West and back from Key West) and for a week in April (to watch my two boys march with their high school band down Main Street) and the weekends were nearly full. The mid-week in April was a little slack. Lots of Florida folks (locals) come for weekends too during spring and fall so sometimes it can be hard to get a ressie unless you book early, book long then drop unneeded days, or book expensive (tents can go in any loops but the cheapest loops are the Partials, 1500 and 2000). You might want to make sure to loop through these loops in December. I like 1500 because it's closer to the pool area and smaller.

I personally prefer the fall time. You can UPS or FEDEX ground ship your camping supplies to the Fort front desk and they will hold them for your arrival or pickup to ship home.

Good luck!

Bama ED

 

[djblu883]

Last year we stayed at AKL but love the Fort so we just rented a cart for the day to loop. It was bitter cold so we didn't stay as long as planned but we all enjoyed it and my Grandaughter said no more hotels for us MiMi we are HOME!! Lol

 

[minniebride]

I love to Tent camp from Oct-April. Cool to cold at night and in the 80's in the day

Minniebride,

For tent camping the spring and fall are the best times. Rain is less than the summer, sleeping temps are comfortable, daytime temps are pleasant. Here is the Weather Channel info for average temps each month/day so you know what to expect ON AVERAGE: http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/USFL0372

Rate-wise spring is more expensive because you're competing with all the spring break crowd as well. I was at the Fort two weekends in March (on our to Key West and back from Key West) and for a week in April (to watch my two boys march with their high school band down Main Street) and the weekends were nearly full. The mid-week in April was a little slack. Lots of Florida folks (locals) come for weekends too during spring and fall so sometimes it can be hard to get a ressie unless you book early, book long then drop unneeded days, or book expensive (tents can go in any loops but the cheapest loops are the Partials, 1500 and 2000). You might want to make sure to loop through these loops in December. I like 1500 because it's closer to the pool area and smaller.

I personally prefer the fall time. You can UPS or FEDEX ground ship your camping supplies to the Fort front desk and they will hold them for your arrival or pickup to ship home.

Good luck!

Bama ED

Thank you~ I did not think about UPS!! November would be the closest to Fall we could do because I'm a teacher, but Thanksgiving might be a fun time to go!

Last year we stayed at AKL but love the Fort so we just rented a cart for the day to loop. It was bitter cold so we didn't stay as long as planned but we all enjoyed it and my Grandaughter said no more hotels for us MiMi we are HOME!! Lol

We are renting the cart in December, but I'm guessing the temps won't bother us because we live in New England where it will likely be bitter cold at that time!

 

[bama_ed]

Thanksgiving is a popular time. We went Thanksgiving week in 2009 and stayed in 1500 in my pop-up. Make a room-only ressie for Tgiving 2012 as soon as you can (up to 500 days). The deposit is the cost of one night so you're not out of pocket for much money and you have up until 5 days before arrive to change/cancel. Or you can always push it out.

Best to have a ressie and not use it than to want a ressie and can't get it.

Seriously, Thanksgiving fills up fast like by about Jan-Feb.

Bama ED

 

[Buzz's Buddy]

Hi there,

I just booked reservations for use of a golf cart for our Christmas trip. We are not staying at FW, and just wanted to rent a cart to explore FW, check out the Christmas decorations in the camp sites, etc...

Thanks for information, this is great to know. We stayed in a cabin last August and rented a golf cart that our kids really loved. We were at OKW in December and came back to FW to view some Christmas decorations. I like the idea of being able to rent a golf cart to drive around and view them.

 

[sharadoc]

One update: They want a 24 hour cancellation or they will still charge you for the rental. We reserved one for our June trip then it poured rain so we didn't go to the Fort and pick it up. They called me the next day and told me about the cancellation policy. I don't recall being told that when we reserved - and your post doesn't mention it either so you may not have been told.

So, be prepared to pay even if you don't pick it up.

FYI - we love renting the golf cart for seeing the decorations, or just hanging out at the Fort for the day. And they are just so much fun!!

 

[minniebride]

One update: They want a 24 hour cancellation or they will still charge you for the rental. We reserved one for our June trip then it poured rain so we didn't go to the Fort and pick it up. They called me the next day and told me about the cancellation policy. I don't recall being told that when we reserved - and your post doesn't mention it either so you may not have been told.

So, be prepared to pay even if you don't pick it up.

FYI - we love renting the golf cart for seeing the decorations, or just hanging out at the Fort for the day. And they are just so much fun!!

Thanks for mentioning that! I do recall the lady saying something about a $25 penalty-that must be what it was for!

 

[DisCamper]

One update: They want a 24 hour cancellation. I don't recall being told that when we reserved

I have rented carts from Disney many of times and they have always told me about the cancellation policy when they take my Credit Card Info.

 

[elenanina]

Hi there,

I just booked reservations for use of a golf cart for our Christmas trip. We are not staying at...

In case you still need anything about tent rentals visit AllSite Structure Rentals at www(dot)allsitestructures(dot)com

For effective and efficient tents you definitely need.

 

[Disney Bunny]

Thanksgiving is a popular time. We went Thanksgiving week in 2009 and stayed in 1500 in my pop-up. Make a room-only ressie for Tgiving 2012 as soon as you can (up to 500 days). The deposit is the cost of one night so you're not out of pocket for much money and you have up until 5 days before arrive to change/cancel. Or you can always push it out.

Best to have a ressie and not use it than to want a ressie and can't get it.

Seriously, Thanksgiving fills up fast like by about Jan-Feb.

Bama ED

Yep....we were there almost same time as you. We arrived on the Saturday immediately after Thanksgiving Day and stayed thru the next Friday. The first few days were kind of "coolish", but temps were beautiful after that. We booked in late Jan/early Feb and were glad we did. By early April you just weren't finding any site availability for that week no matter what dates you tried to work. We were in the 800 loop (premium site....we have a 32 foot
5th wheel) and loved the location.