Just returned from a stay at Fort Wilderness. A few things I hadn't considered before in relation to the new DVC.

[tidefan]

We just returned from a week-long stay at FW. We are looking in to eventually getting an RV and numerous people have told us to "rent one before you buy", so we took that advice and rented a RV and stayed at FW for a week, because, what better place to test it out

In doing so, we got a real good feel for the Fort and how things work there. As longtime DVC members, of course we were interested in the cabin conversion to DVC, so I was thinking about that as I was there. Now having stayed, I think that there are a few things to consider about the DVC conversion that I hadn't really understood prior to this visit.

• First, I had been basing what DVC sales may be in FW compared to other DVC options and how a family may like the fact that they can sleep multiple people in the cabins. What I had not considered is that not only will DVC be competing with a family paying cash at a Cabin or another property, in FW, DVC will be competing with what we did which was renting a RV from an outside company. We had a 37' RV (large) and with the RV, Campsite cost, and Golf Cart rental (from the same company), we were less than $3,000 for the whole trip. That works out to about $425 per night, inclusive of the golf cart. This is less than what you would pay now just renting the cabin on cash, much less paying Disney an extra $500 for a week of golf cart usage... and the RV was really, really nice.
• Some of the RV rentals will sleep up to 10 people.
• The DVC cabins are in the 2200-2800 loops, which are the furthest away from the "Settlement" area (Hoop-de-Doo, boat launch). I would think that you would really want a Golf Cart if you were staying here.
• There is currently only a single comfort station (think laundry, bathrooms, showers) in the Cabins area. I would think that they will need at least one more. Having seen the comfort stations, they are very nice, and I am now of the belief that it would be better to add one more and just let them serve as the laundry areas vs. putting a W/D in each unit. There were 5 washers and 6 dryers in our CS, which seemed to have at least one open at all times. For the DVC area, I am sure they could control access via MagicBand like they do at the SSR pool area laundry areas for DVC members to have free laundry.
• The Wilderness pool, IMHO, will definitely need to be redone. It sort of reminded me of the pool in the Treehouse area as it currently sits. They will need a bigger pool area over here. The main pool at the Meadows area was completely packed the whole time we were there. I also hope that they would put a small quick service (like at the Paddock pool at SSR) in this area so you didn't have to haul all the way to Trail's End.
• I am excited about the ability to bring pets, but for the cabins, it is currently a $50 per night fee. In an RV site, it is only $5 per night.
• In a few of the loops, they have already removed some cabins, not a lot, but definitely one here or there. I don't think it will take them long to flip the area as they can just haul the old ones out and the new ones in as they will be pre-fabbed off-site.

A couple of other things, that I don't want to bullet but wanted to mention. First, there is just a different feel between the RV campsite areas and the Cabin areas. We much preferred the RV campsite areas. We were in the 200 loop and really enjoyed just walking around talking to all of the other RV'ers that were there. We also enjoyed "looping", or taking the Golf Cart around to see all of the different decorations that people had out. Not sure if this is just how it was when we were there, but the RV sites were all decked out with different decorations, inflatables, etc. We had a blast. I told people that it really reminded me of vacationing in the 1980's with being outside more and just interacting with people. However, over at the cabins, there wasn't really much decorations at all. Also, you didn't see all of the people outdoors like you did at the RV sites. It was just a different feeling.

Second, there was a lot of scuttlebutt from the CM's that "something" was going on at the Reflections site and that they had seen concrete being poured over there. The speculation (note: this is SPECULATION) from the CM's was that they were going to build something and that it would be tied in to the DVC at the cabins and thematically to Fort Wilderness. The CM's were colloquially referring to it as "River Country Lodge" (NOTE: Colloquial - not official - this is just what they were referring to it as). One mentioned to me that could be why Trail's End was converted to a quick service because they would open table service at whatever went in at the Reflections site (BTW, the fried chicken is excellent over there). I guess we will find out in the next year or so...

To wrap it up, while I was excited about the Cabins at first, now having done an actual RV stay, I think that I would rather do that. Not to say I wouldn't use points over at the Cabins, but depending on pricing, it would take awhile to break even against an RV rental, and to me, the RV rental experience was superior. Again, just my thoughts and I realize others may have a different take, but I thought it was worth discussing as this comes online over the next year.

 

[mort1331]

All great points.
2 things, overseas people and not being able to rent an RV but still wanting that cabin feel. And you DONT want anyone driving an RV,,,ie..my wife.

 

[tidefan]

All great points.
2 things, overseas people and not being able to rent an RV but still wanting that cabin feel. And you DONT want anyone driving an RV,,,ie..my wife.

One thing I forgot to add. When you rent the RV from the companies that do it, they come set everything up for you. You just show up with your clothes and your toothbrush

You most definitely get to avoid the most frustrating aspect of the RV process, that of backing in to your site. You also don't have to worry about hooking up/unhooking the RV. They take care of all that for you.

 

[Cfabar1]

The RV thing sounds cool.

DVC I think is going to be surprised how difficult these points will be to sell if They don't include significant amenities and enhancements to the area or price them with an attractive and low points chart.

the fact that details have been so scant with amenities for the property is not encouraging. However, maybe that will change at the annual meeting.

 

[aceshigh73]

As someone that has considered doing the RV rental at FW, I just wanted to take the time to acknowledge your well thought out review. It is filled with concrete info and reasoning; things you dont often find.

Would also like to ask, with the RV, did you find it 1) noisy inside 2) any climate control issues? 3) Did you use the 'facilities' inside of the RV or just go to public restrooms?

Thanks!

 

[tidefan]

As someone that has considered doing the RV rental at FW, I just wanted to take the time to acknowledge your well thought out review. It is filled with concrete info and reasoning; things you dont often find.

Would also like to ask, with the RV, did you find it 1) noisy inside 2) any climate control issues? 3) Did you use the 'facilities' inside of the RV or just go to public restrooms?

Thanks!

Thanks!

As to your questions:

1) it wasn’t particularly noisy in the RV. The only thing I will say is that if you get next to a camper that maybe has a lot of people that get up early in the morning, you might hear that. My daughter had a white noise machine, and we found that that worked great.

2) There were absolutely no problems with the climate control. Our RV had two air-conditioning units, and we had them both set at 70°. The first part of the week we were there , it was actually a bit warm, and the air conditioning worked just fine. The last day or two, it got a little cool, especially at night, so we just turned the electric heater that was associated with the fake fireplace, and it worked great. You could also turn the AC units into heat pumps.

3) well, my wife and daughter used the bathroom in the RV while I tended to use the bathrooms and showers over at the comfort station. I found that the comfort stations were of Disney level cleanliness at all times.

One other thing to add, is that this is a bit of a different kind of Disney vacation. I don’t know that I would choose to stay out at the fort if I were doing a Park commando type of trip. However, for us who tend to go multiple times a year And just sort of breeze in and out of the parks, it was perfect.

 

[tom1944]

The fact that I would never have to drive the RV or do the set up makes this a great option

 

[AstroBlasters]

Incredibly insightful trip review. Thank you!

 

[maui22]

Thank you @tidefan. Great insight on the resort.

I now agree with others that Disney is truly going after moderate option. Similar price per point, but fewer points per night required to give incentives to value and moderate resort regulars. Disney marketing will tell them by buying direct, they would be able to book all other resorts. (Glossing over the points per night difference).

Two tier (deluxe and moderate) makes more sense on why CFW and Poly tower will in 2024.

I wonder how this will impact the SAP options in 5-10 years?

 

[intamin]

I was mildly interested at best in the cabins just because of the ability to bring a dog tbh but I hope they treat them as basically like 1/2BRs where they each have individual W/D and kitchen. Sort of like a less fancy CCV cabin? That would make these a nice intermediate option.

 

[Hokies37]

Great insight! I’ve always wanted to do an RV trip at the Fort.

Following up on your Reflections point: we just got home from WL. We took the boat over to the Fort one day so the kids could do pony rides and definitely saw active construction equipment at the Reflections site. There were at least two bulldozers and one other piece of equipment driving around the site moving dirt. I didn’t see any concrete but there was definitely work going on.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Are you able to share the name of the RV company you used? Our family took a RV trip a few years back and my kids have been clamoring to do another one, but neither my husband nor I have any interest in driving a RV around California. This might be a fun compromise combined with a few days of activities around the Fort.

Do you have to separately rent the RV and the parking space at Ft Wilderness? Wondering how much of a headache it is to coordinate if you don’t plan several months in advance.

 

[tom1944]

Are you able to share the name of the RV company you used? Our family took a RV trip a few years back and my kids have been clamoring to do another one, but neither my husband nor I have any interest in driving a RV around California. This might be a fun compromise combined with a few days of activities around the Fort.

Do you have to separately rent the RV and the parking space at Ft Wilderness? Wondering how much of a headache it is to coordinate if you don’t plan several months in advance.

I was thinking it would be a good way to do a split stay. Use my points for 5 days and rent the RV for 4 days to see how we like it.

 

[tidefan]

Are you able to share the name of the RV company you used? Our family took a RV trip a few years back and my kids have been clamoring to do another one, but neither my husband nor I have any interest in driving a RV around California. This might be a fun compromise combined with a few days of activities around the Fort.

Do you have to separately rent the RV and the parking space at Ft Wilderness? Wondering how much of a headache it is to coordinate if you don’t plan several months in advance.

I'll post the link, and if I understand correctly, if it's not allowed, it will filter out:

http://www.korvrental.com

To answer your second question, yes. You need to make the Fort Wilderness reservation first (I would suggest Meadows Premium, Premium, or Preferred - we were in preferred), then reserve the RV. I'd make sure both were available for the dates I wanted before I did either.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

So, the open pemit over in the Reflections area applies specifically to a specific spot that may be used as a staging area for construction at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort. Especially as they move cabins out and prefab in, they appear to be using that Reflections space for that part of the work.

To build something more specific, they'd need to amend the building permits. They couldn't just use the permits they have and totally change the site plan.

 

[Sammie]

I am interested in the cabins not an RV though.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

I'll post the link, and if I understand correctly, if it's not allowed, it will filter out:

http://www.korvrental.com

To answer your second question, yes. You need to make the Fort Wilderness reservation first (I would suggest Meadows Premium, Premium, or Preferred - we were in preferred), then reserve the RV. I'd make sure both were available for the dates I wanted before I did either.

Thank you! Already sent the info to my husband.

 

[AprilsZoo]

neither my husband nor I have any interest in driving a RV around California. This might be a fun compromise combined with a few days of activities around the Fort.

That’s good… cause if you’re tooling around California, you probably aren’t staying at FW.

On the other hand if you’re gonna be in Florida …

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

That’s good… cause if you’re tooling around California, you probably aren’t staying at FW.

On the other hand if you’re gonna be in Florida …

Haha, I meant that we didn’t want to repeat our prior RV trip up the California coast. Our marriage barely survived the last attempt at backing a Minnie Winnie into a narrow campground.

 

[macman123]

I have a fixed week at RIV. Its week 52 - never used it yet. Always had the points