Poly vs Wilderness Cabin, Have you stayed at both? HELP

[SnowWitch]

Okay heres my situation: I have the Poly booked for 4-19 thru 4-26 @ the Poly which we have stayed at before. We love the Poly, we love the convience we DON'T love the price. Room only is $3142.09. Can not get a discount to save my life! Okay we can book a Wilderness cabin for $1514.26, same dates as the Poly. We have never seen the cabins, I have looked on Deb's site at the pics. It looks okay but not great. We have been over to Trails End years ago and the petting zoo but thats it. The cabins look like they are out in no where land on the resort map. How expensive are the golf carts? Are they easy to rent? How are the pools? How is the bus transportation?

$1600 is a significant savings that in its self is enough for our AP's. But we enjoy the Poly resort experience could we enjoy it here?

 

[McKelly]

We have stayed at both. If you are staying at the Fort, I would urge you to rent a golf cart while you are there. While it is possible to do without, vacation will just be easier with one, and it kind of adds to the fun!! That being said, we thought Fort Wilderness (it is Disney after all) was just okay and we won't return. Too spread out, the bus system takes awhile, you must take an inner loop to another bus stop to a park, no counter service, but you have a kitchen, but I don't like to cook on vacation (it is my vacation too!). We have small kids and the pool for the cabins was way too deep!! My kids couldn't touch and they were cranking on my neck or practically drowning!! We didn't swim at the main pool, I don't know how deep that pool was. We liked the movies but man there were a lot of bugs!! I am glad we tried it, but we much prefer the Polynesian and other resorts. I am just not a camper outdoorsy girl, so that probably added to our discontent. To be honest, I would look at a moderate or a value before I would go back to Fort Wilderness, but some people love it, you might too!! We only stayed four nights, perhaps if we would have stayed longer it might have grew on me more.

 

[SnowWitch]

We have stayed at both. If you are staying at the Fort, I would urge you to rent a golf cart while you are there. While it is possible to do without, vacation will just be easier with one, and it kind of adds to the fun!! That being said, we thought Fort Wilderness (it is Disney after all) was just okay and we won't return. Too spread out, the bus system takes awhile, you must take an inner loop to another bus stop to a park, no counter service, but you have a kitchen, but I don't like to cook on vacation (it is my vacation too!). We have small kids and the pool for the cabins was way too deep!! My kids couldn't touch and they were cranking on my neck or practically drowning!! We didn't swim at the main pool, I don't know how deep that pool was. We liked the movies but man there were a lot of bugs!! I am glad we tried it, but we much prefer the Polynesian and other resorts. I am just not a camper outdoorsy girl, so that probably added to our discontent. To be honest, I would look at a moderate or a value before I would go back to Fort Wilderness, but some people love it, you might too!! We only stayed four nights, perhaps if we would have stayed longer it might have grew on me more.

My biggest concern is the size of the place and the ease of getting around. My husband and teens like to "camp", me- not so much. But the savings is what is so attractive to me.

 

[ConcKahuna]

My biggest concern is the size of the place and the ease of getting around. My husband and teens like to "camp", me- not so much. But the savings is what is so attractive to me.

With the high speed internet, cable tv, and DVD players, it's hardly camping

The rooms have about 100 square feet more than the rooms at the Polynesian, but with the layout it seems a lot bigger. The bedroom is small, but the living area is nice and spacious until you pull down the murphy bed for sleep time

With the savings, I say go try the cabins and use part of that savings to rent a golf cart for the week. If you want a nice central location, the 2100 loop is great. If you want to be very close to a pool, 2500 or 2600 are great loops. There are tons of activites for the kids, and with a golfcart you can park right at the stops for the theme park busses or boat

 

[disnut8]

I've stayed at both as well, I agree that the Cabins are hardly camping. You get daily housekeeping, you will never have to wash a dish while you are there. You have a full size refrigerator instead of the dorm size ones at the Polynesian. You have your own semi-private deck to sit out on whenever you want. You can sit out there in your PJs in the morning (most people do). The bedroom has its own door for privacy. Two TVs. And it's so darn quiet!

I think the carts are $50/day. That's $400 for your total time. Subtract that from your savings of $1600 and you still have a $1200 savings.

If you decide to go with the Cabins, please go in with a positive attitude. If you think you are not going to like it even before you get there, you might as well spend the extra $1200 and go to the Polynesian.

 

[breezy1077]

I have only stayed at the poly and I'm also wanting to find a more affordable way (but looove the poly!). I'm not sure of the beginning dates or which resorts the discount applies but they just came out with room discounts for ap holders good (I think) through may 21st.

I'm not an ap holder, but have thought about buying those tickets and accessing the discount. Let me know what you think or if there are any holes in my plan.

 

[ssjerauld]

I've stayed at both, and with the kids, I'd take the cabins definitely! The extra space and the seperate sleeping area more than make up for any supposed deficiency in transportation (we never had a problem and never rented a golf cart). The pool is a pool--no theme. I personally love the Adirondack/mission style furniture in the cabin (I also love the island feel of the Polynesian), but I agree with disnut8--if you feel you're going to hate it--or compare it negatively to the Polynesian at every point--then you are better off spending the extra money.

 

[kileybeth]

OP you are getting such good advice here. Only you know what "vacation" means to you. It does not mean being anywhere near the campy-ness of anything to me. That just spells eeww for me. For you, maybe not. That said I sooo understand that kind of savings being a big pull. But once I saw the golf cart rental prices? wow. that's nuts. maybe you could try it once and then say okay I gave it a shot and be fine. my solution would be a split stay. I just couldn't think about missing the POLY the whole vacation. I am already worried about staying POR-AB with my family for a few days this spring. We can't do the mansions (to many of us) so it is downriver for us.

this is just a very subjective decision. wish you the "best" and I think you have already figured out what I would mean by that!

 

[SnowWitch]

I was able to book 2 rooms at POR for significantly less than 1 room at the Poly. I decided against the cabins just based on the size the grounds and what I felt would be a big pain. I also didn't like the lack of a themed pool. We stayed at POR over 10 yrs ago and really enjoyed it, so we thought we would give it a try. We're there for 8 days and have no desire to "power" tour so the location isn't that big of a deal and we're back in Oct and Dec at the BWV's so we will give this a try. Probably will be our last cash trip, I can't believe the resort prices and the pain it is to get a discount. Makes me even happier about our DVC purchase we amy need to consider more points. Thanks everyone for the input.