What's up with FW cabins?

[Scarlett81]

I don't hear much buzz about them on the boards....seem like a good mod option for a family. Any drawbacks? What's good about them? Do you have access to the FW resort, or a pool?

 

[ancestry]

I do think they are a good alternative for a family. What I don't care for is the transportation options from the cabins. We prefer to rely on Disney transportation and having to take an internal bus and an external bus to get to the parks is not something that we really want to deal with. However should we ever drive down (and we may be this coming April) they would be a good option.

 

[bancytu]

I stayed in the cabins in July 2005, that was also the last time I was at Disney. I went with my mom, dad, and 17 yr old sister. We loved staying there. My mom and dad took the bedroom and my sis and I took the living room bed. We had so much space! We also cooked dinner every day. Saved us a ton of money. We didn't mind the buses. We would take the loop bus to the main bus stop or get on the boat to go to MK. We also didn't rush around and worry about making it to places at exact times. We saw a small pool but never used it. It was my understanding we could not use the WL pool. In the evening my parents would go back and sleep and my sister and I could go out and enjoy Disney. I would stay there again. Now I'm working on planning my own trip to Disney with my kids! Can't wait until next Dec!

 

[vicki_c]

I don't hear much buzz about them on the boards....seem like a good mod option for a family. Any drawbacks? What's good about them? Do you have access to the FW resort, or a pool?

A common confusion is between Wilderness Lodge & Fort Wilderness. Two separate resorts, not connected in any way except the names and that they are close together.

So you have access to the Fort Wilderness grounds, pools, etc. But you don't get any access to the Wilderness Lodge amenities or pools.

 

[UndercoverMama]

You can find more info over on the camping board, sometimes people post about the cabins there. We are pretty sure that is where we are staying next time so I have been looking there for info.

 

[nkereina]

You can get to WL via boat from FW, but as PP said, you can't use their amenities. I've read before that FW is very spread out and transportation is not the best, so FW is best for families with cars.

 

[sotoalf]

For a family looking to save money on meals, the cabins are a bargain: you're paying for a deluxe resort room with a kitchen. In addition, you're in the woods! I can't stress how much kids love running around under the trees and collecting pine cones.

The problems with the internal transportation are overstated, in my judgment. Buses come every couple of minutes. Moreover, if you bring your bikes, you should be at Pioneer Hall or one of the trading posts in five to ten minutes.

 

[HockeyMomNH]

We stayed in the cabins a few years ago and loved it! It was so nice to have a separate bedroom and a kitchen. We cooked a few meals in the room and did all our breakfasts there.

We always rent a car because my DH likes to take a few days to golf while we are there. It was super easy to drive since you could park right outside your cabin.

The biggest drawback for us is the cost. The cabins are quite a bit more than the mod room at POFQ that we usually stay in. The year we went we did it on the buy 3 get 4 free deal that was offered so it was a great savings. I wish they would do that promo again!

 

[pepe of ohio]

We've looked into the cabins a couple of times....not for the amount of people but just for the extra room....draws backs we came up with is the cabin locations in conjunction with the pool, food and bus stations.....

Seems the best would be to rent a golf cart, but add that to the expense of the cabin and we were at the rate of Wilderness Lodge where there's easy transportation, inside restaurants and a pool right between the wings....ease of transportation and closeness to the MK plus the cost made us look to the Lodge.....

It may be different if we had the additional people using the cabins, but again, ease of getting around FW, golf carts, which aren't cheap by no means, only hold 4, so if you're of a group of 4 or more, 2 carts times the rental....not very economical in the long run....same for renting bikes....so we looked else where and did the math.....Wilderness Lodge wins out....

 

[Scarlett81]

So to the QS or restaurants it's a long walk...or u need a bus? Coul u park the car at the cabin and drive to the onsite restaurants or QS? Biking is outbc there r two little kids in the party.

 

[stamot]

We had stayed at the cabins and we loved it! when we go with more people the cabins are our first choice. there so much space, the full kitchen is a plus and the mousekeeping even do the dishes. We always request a cabin close to the pools and the bus stop and we always get it. The transportation is not an issue for us. There are a lot of activities during the day at the camp and the boat to MK is great.

 

[MissChris]

The Fort is really unique among the resorts at Disneyworld, if you want to know more about it you should go over to the camping board, but watch out, it can get wild over there

I like the cabins, and the campsites but I'm not going to try to convince anyone else to stay there, more room for me. However, I will clear up some transportation questions. For the most part you will need to take two forms of transport to get anywhere, one bus to the bus station or boat dock, and then either a bus or boat to your final destination. The boats only go to WL and the MK. There is a pool complex, a stable, playgrounds, a beach, restaurants, arcade, general store. Whether you need to take a bus or you can walk to any of these depends entirely on where your site/cabin is located. Its a big resort, if you stay near the pool you'll need a bus to the transportation area, if you stay near the boats you'll probably want a bus to the pool.

One thing you can't do is drive your car to the resort and then drive everywhere you want to go. For the safety of the campers, driving around inside the resort is not allowed. You can drive out of the resort or to your accommodation but you can't drive to the pools, boats, etc. This is why so many people use bicycles or carts because they are the most efficient means of travel around the resort. It's a slight inconvenience at first but I personally appreciate the tranquility it brings.

The Fort is probably not the place for "commando" style travelers but for those who want to lay back and take it a little more slowly there's no place better.

 

[Sweettears]

We stayed there several years ago and disliked enough to switch resorts. The attraction to us was the space afforded by the cabins, We have 5 so its a challenge to find accomodations other than deluxe.

Pluses are the space, kitchen (if you want one) and the deck with the grill. We don't cook at Disney (too many yummy options) so these weren't of much value to us.

Negatives were the transportation and the isolation. We didn't feel like we were staying on Disney property. It doesn't have the feel of a Disney resort. While its true that there were a lot of buses and we never really had to wait too long to catch one, it took way too much time to get where you were going.

The amount of time we spent in transit was the deciding factor in requesting a move.