Transportation, FW to a before park opening breakfast at BOG, boat?

[Ouida]

Ok Last question about BOG. Just trying to "know" what to expect. We will be going from the Fort Wilderness cabins to MK for a PPO at BOG, but I've been told that the boat doesn't run until 30 minutes before official park opening time. Also there is no direct bus to MK. Any ideas what would be the best way to handle this?

 

[Ermise]

We stayed at the cabins and took the boat over to Magic Kingdom for a PPO at BOG. I don't recall exactly what time they started running, but we arrived at MK by 7:30am. Our BOG reservation was at 8am with regular park opening at 9am. We must have boarded around 7:15. This was in November of 2015. It is possible that one of the "blue flag" boats took us there because there was no one else at the dock waiting to go to the Contemporary - but I don't recall exactly. When I had asked at the fort wilderness desk at the time, they said not to worry, there would be a boat to take us over. Maybe just double check when you get there.

 

[Ouida]

We stayed at the cabins and took the boat over to Magic Kingdom for a PPO at BOG. I don't recall exactly what time they started running, but we arrived at MK by 7:30am. Our BOG reservation was at 8am with regular park opening at 9am. We must have boarded around 7:15. This was in November of 2015. It is possible that one of the "blue flag" boats took us there because there was no one else at the dock waiting to go to the Contemporary - but I don't recall exactly. When I had asked at the fort wilderness desk at the time, they said not to worry, there would be a boat to take us over. Maybe just double check when you get there.

Awesome, thank you.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Simplest thing to do is to take one of the early morning boats that travel to CR and walk from there. That's what we did when we stayed at WL and it was super easy.

 

[ArielRae]

The boat from the Fort to the contemporary starts at 6:30am. You can take that then walk over to the MK.

 

[lynzi2004]

We've camped at the Fort our last two trips, and yes you can take the early boat to the Contemporary. I was always concerned that we would miss the Contemporary boat and didn't want to wait around forever at MK with little kids, so we found it easiest to just drive!

 

[Robo]

We've camped at the Fort our last two trips, and yes you can take the early boat to the Contemporary. I was always concerned that we would miss the Contemporary boat and didn't want to wait around forever at MK with little kids, so we found it easiest to just drive!

That sounds easier than it is.
If you drive to MK (for which the parking is at TTC,) you still need to get from TTC to the MK gates.

 

[lynzi2004]

That sounds easier than it is.
If you drive to MK (for which the parking is at TTC,) you still need to get from TTC to the MK gates.

Oh, its definitely not "easy!" Its one of my pet-peeves about staying at the Fort! I like to get to MK early and the regular boat will always be pulling up right at or just after rope drop. Plus, unless you have a golf cart at the Fort, you have to take an internal bus to get down to the docks to begin with to get to either MK or the Contemporary. With a double stroller, that means loading and unloading twice. So for us, its "easier" to load the stroller and kids at our campsite and drive to MK. We don't open the stroller and put the kids in till after we get dropped at the TTC, and even then it still takes time. But I know that I can leave my campsite at 7am and be at the gates to MK by 7:30. Depending on an internal bus and then depending on how full the boats are going to MK, I'm never for sure what time we will get there. It may be super quick if we catch everything correctly, or it may take forever if we just miss one or the other, or if the boat is too full!

We have ridden the MK boat twice in our two stays at the Fort. Once was around 5pm...we waited about 15 min for a boat to arrive (not bad at all), but we were some of the last on that particular boat and there were still a TON of people behind us waiting to load, so many of them were going to have to wait another 30+ min. for the boat to make the roundtrip. The next time was on our way back from MK, it was evening EMH and the park closed at 1am. We exited the park around 1:15 and it was after 3am before we made it back to the campground. We were in a group of probably 50 people that had to call the front desk and have them send an internal bus around bc they had quit running long before. I don't know if they weren't expecting that kind of crowd for evening hours or what, but it definitely turned us off to taking the boat very much!

Our next trip is to All-Star Movies and I am super excited about direct bus transportation to ALL parks!!

 

[tobikaye]

Just an FYI for transportation option from FW to MK. This is just for those that might need options other than the direct MK-FW boat.

• Boat that rotates CR-FW-WL starts at 6:45 am
• Bus between Settlement at FW and WL starts at least by 7 am, or it did the last time I stayed at FW
• Buses go between WL and MK

 

[Ouida]

Just an FYI for transportation option from FW to MK. This is just for those that might need options other than the direct MK-FW boat.

• Boat that rotates CR-FW-WL starts at 6:45 am
• Bus between Settlement at FW and WL starts at least by 7 am, or it did the last time I stayed at FW
• Buses go between WL and MK

Ok so just to clarify, any boat I get on will get me there? I may end up at CR and walk or WL and get on yet another bus, but I will get there. Any one has an idea how long it will take? If my reservation is for 8, will 7am getting on the internal bus system from my cabin, to the boat, to whatever resort, to MK gate????

 

[tobikaye]

Ok so just to clarify, any boat I get on will get me there? I may end up at CR and walk or WL and get on yet another bus, but I will get there. Any one has an idea how long it will take? If my reservation is for 8, will 7am getting on the internal bus system from my cabin, to the boat, to whatever resort, to MK gate????

If you decide you want to go by boat:

1. Internal bus to marina
2. Boat to CR
3. Walk from CR dock towards CR main building and go around towards the right of the building
4. Follow walkway to MK

If you decide you want to go by bus:

1. Internal bus to Settlement
2. Bus or Walk to WL, walk is only about 10-15 minutes along paved path.
3. Catch bus to MK from WL depot

Notes:

• Taking the boat to WL and then catching the bus to MK will cost you time based on the location of the WL marina and bus depot.
• If you decide to bus, when you get to the settlement, verify the that the bus you were on is not going to WL. I think one of the internal bus lines goes on to WL and the back, but I cannot remember for certain.
• Also, if you take a bus from FW to WL, make sure that bus is not going on to MK. I saw a bus once at WL that came from FW and then went on to MK.
• I cannot confirm timeframes as I have never gone from FW to MK that early in the morning. I have been out and about at FW and WL during these times, just not on my way directly to MK.
• If it is raining, go directly with the bus options as the boats sometimes will stop running during the rain.

Personally, I would probably be at the closest internal bus stop by 7 am at the latest. I always worry about just missing a bus or boat or that security to get into the parks will take longer than expected.

 

[Ouida]

If you decide you want to go by boat:

1. Internal bus to marina
2. Boat to CR
3. Walk from CR dock towards CR main building and go around towards the right of the building
4. Follow walkway to MK

If you decide you want to go by bus:

1. Internal bus to Settlement
2. Bus or Walk to WL, walk is only about 10-15 minutes along paved path.
3. Catch bus to MK from WL depot

Notes:

• Taking the boat to WL and then catching the bus to MK will cost you time based on the location of the WL marina and bus depot.
• If you decide to bus, when you get to the settlement, verify the that the bus you were on is not going to WL. I think one of the internal bus lines goes on to WL and the back, but I cannot remember for certain.
• Also, if you take a bus from FW to WL, make sure that bus is not going on to MK. I saw a bus once at WL that came from FW and then went on to MK.
• I cannot confirm timeframes as I have never gone from FW to MK that early in the morning. I have been out and about at FW and WL during these times, just not on my way directly to MK.
• If it is raining, go directly with the bus options as the boats sometimes will stop running during the rain.

Personally, I would probably be at the closest internal bus stop by 7 am at the latest. I always worry about just missing a bus or boat or that security to get into the parks will take longer than expected.

Wow, our last stay was at AoA, and it was simple. I sure hope they have signs. Thanks.

 

[tobikaye]

It really is not that difficult once you are on site and seeing things for yourself. I am a visual person so when going places I am not familiar with, I tend to study maps to get a general idea of places. Below are some helpful maps. Robo's maps are great and have some of the paths that I mentioned in my directions.

FW Map: Cabins are loops 2200-2800
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/fortwilderness.htm

Robo Maps:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/wdw-maps-by-robo.3545729/#post-56460969

 

[Ouida]

It really is not that difficult once you are on site and seeing things for yourself. I am a visual person so when going places I am not familiar with, I tend to study maps to get a general idea of places. Below are some helpful maps. Robo's maps are great and have some of the paths that I mentioned in my directions.

FW Map: Cabins are loops 2200-2800
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/fortwilderness.htm

Robo Maps:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/wdw-maps-by-robo.3545729/#post-56460969

Thanks for that link, very helpful