Tell me about FW cabins

[MarieFan]

We are heading to WDW in November - my family (dh, DD8 and DD2 and myself) and will be staying two weeks. We are curently booked at POR. My MIL might come with us for the first week. I cannot decide whether to encourage her to get her own room at Pop, to get a condo offsite for all of us (gasp!) or to stay in the cabins at FW.

I think that the cabins would be the most fun, but we want to be on the dining plan. Can you do that with the cabins? Is everything basically the same as being at any other resort? Would MIL be comfortable on the pull down bed for a week? Anything I should know about the cabins? It says daily maid service, so they supply towels, etc., right? (I do realize the dining plan is the same for everyone in the party, so we may have to switch resorts or at least start a new reservation after her stay.)

Thanks for your thoughts!
Jen
Mom to Brynne and SeiJin

 

[plutolovr]

Hi MarieFan,

My family have stayed at the Cabins a few times. In fact my kids, who are all now in their 20s, still ask to stay there.

We really enjoy them. It's quiet, which I like after a long day in the parks. The only downside most people will point out is that the transportation is iffy. But you can rent a golf cart to get you around the fort for around $50/day.
We never got the cart, I enjoy walking around there. The pools are also pretty generic, but we don't do alot of pool time.

My husband and I always slept on the murphy bed and found it quite comfortable. There's only one bathroom, but it's large. If you're on a loop near a comfort station you can use that as an extra bathroom. We enjoy having the full kitchen also.

We are heading back to the Fort in March and I'm looking forward to it. This is after stays at the Yacht Club and 2-bedroom villas at Saratoga Springs and Old Key West.

 

[Sonoma]

We (DH, DD11, DS8, DD6, DS3, and me) stayed in the cabins this past September and loved it. We were on the dining plan. We had breakfast in our cabin most mornings and then lunch and dinner out. We didn't eat in any of the restaurants at Fort Wilderness but I don't think there is a counter service option there. We had plenty of towels for showers and the pool. We thought that the Murphy bed was fine. We had daily maid service, they even ran the dishwasher for us.

We loved being able to park right at the cabin. It was fun to take the boat to the Magic Kingdom. The kids could run, jump and be loud in the cabin and I didn't have to worry about bothering some one in a room next to us. We loved Ft Wilderness and plan to go back.

 

[2tinks2pirates]

Great questions, unfortunately, I don't have answers, just another question.

Does anyone know if you stay in the cabins and have other guests staying at WL how far you would be from one another? Is it walking/cart distance?

 

[Sonoma]

Does anyone know if you stay in the cabins and have other guests staying at WL how far you would be from one another? Is it walking/cart distance?

I don't think that you can drive your cart to the WL but you can walk on a path (I'm not sure how far but I think I read about 10 minutes walking time). We rode the bus to the Studios from FW and the first stop was the WL. There is also a boat that runs from FW to the WL.

 

[disnut8]

My son and now daughter-in-law had the Murphy bed. They had just gotten engaged the day before we arrived at Disney World. They - ahem - didn't have any problems with the bed.

For housekeeping, I challenge you to see him/her. We never did. But our room was always made up with lots of towels, dishes being cleaned for us, etc. Once, I had washed a glass and put it to the side of the sink to air dry. When we got back, the glass was in the dishwasher and the cycle had been run. I ended up hiding things so the dishwasher wasn't run every day!

We never had problems with the transportation system. We had rookies and semi-rookies with us. We were there to answer any questions but they really didn't need us to figure out the bus system. If you know your colors, you can use the buses without any problems.

The whole thing that we loved about Fort Wilderness is that you really do take your time when you stay there. You get none of the hustle and bustle of the parks or the buses or really the outside world. It's so quiet you can hear a fish pass gas.

The only sugestion I have is if you do decide to stay there, take a couple of flashlights. You'll need them at night.

 

[pbkahn]

My DW and DDs (3.5 & 1.5) spent 6 nights at FW in October and for the most part we loved it. We did not rent a car, which we found out is unusual for FW guests, but we did rent a golf cart which was good and bad.

The 1 bedroom has a full size bed and bunk beds. The murphy bed in the living area is also a full size bed and my older daughter LOVED it. I thought that it was comfortable; however, the living area doesn't have any privacy to speak of.

The kitchen facilities in the room were great and utilized them for breakfasts everyday, and on night, we used the grill outside our cabin. It was quiet and peaaceful and a good place to crash at night after a long day in the parks.

We did not use the pools or the internal bus transportation as we had the golf cart.

You have a great view of the magic kingdom fireworks from the beach at the wilderness lodge.

The campfire sing-a-long with Chip and Dale is a bit corny for adults but the kids love it!

A few notes of caution:
1. Buses to the AK, Epcot, and the Studios leave from the front of the resort. The boats to the magic kingdon, the contemporary and wilderness lodge leave from the back of the resort - this is about a mile apart.
2. Buses from the parks back to FW typically run about every 20 minutes
and can get crowded.
4. We used DME to get from the airport and ended up being the last of 4 resorts visited. The operator said rarely do they get FW guests.
5. Golf carts are for use only within FW and cannot be taken out of the resort even to WL.

Please let me know if there are any other specific questions that I can answer.

Have a great trip,
Peter

 

[MarieFan]

Thanks for all of the answers and extra tips! We always rent a car, and I like the idea of it being right outside the cabin, and I love the idea of the boat to MK. Now to find out if MIL was serious and to decide...

Jen

 

[ntsammy5]

Yes, you can get DDP at the cabins.

The walk fro WL to Pioneer Hall is 10-15 minutes. From Pioneer Hall to the loops where most of the cabins are is about a half mile but there are internal buses. You cannot take your golf cart from FW to WL. Hope that answers all the questions. The cabins are very nice but even though I've been to FW a lot, we've never stayed in them.