Any feedback on "The Cabins at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort"?

[Mariano O'Kon]

Hi Everyone!

This year I really don't want to stay on "typical" 2-bed, one bathroom, and not much space left, rooms of Disney's Moderate Resorts but the Deluxe resorts are a little bit over budget for me... :(

I've been looking at the Cabin's at Fort Wilderness and they seem to be "in the middle", budgetwise, between a Moderate and a Deluxe, at least for a 7-day stay.

They pictures show them as definitely bigger than the rooms at the Moderate Resorts.

Anything I am missing here? Are there any gotchas?

Any feedback will be appreciated!

Thanks!

Mariano :mickey:

[Dopey's Girl]

I love the cabins! They have more space than a normal resort room, plus the kitchen is a huge plus. Even if you just have a few breakfasts and snacks, it's worth it. I also love that you don't have the typical hotel noise. I'm a fairly light sleeper, so not hearing the neighbors toilet flush at 3 am is great. The resort is huge, and if you get easily turned around, the bus system can be confusing. We have loved all the activities at the fort too...even non park days are activity filled!

We love the Fort, and wouldn't hesitate to stay there again!

[A Big Kid]

We have been a couple of times and really enjoyed it.

The bedroom area is on one side of the cabin and the living room side is on the other. There is a pull down Murphy bed in the living room.

It is was nice to have the deck and the kitchen area to relax in.

Negatives can transportation - you have to take an internal bus to the lodge or the dock - and then take transportation to the parks.

Also, even though you can fit more people in the cabins, there is only one bathroom.

[Kenny1113]

The cabins are fun. The kitchen is nice to have. The larger bathroom is nice as well. The double bed is in same room as bunkbeds. The Murphy fold down bed is in living area. Oh yeah the deck is a plus as well!!! Not sure what any of the "gotchas" would be....
Maybe the transportation, altough the buses are timely, it's a little inconvenient to use internal bus system then resort buses.

[Kenny1113]

Oops, I guess pp posted while I was typing. :blush:
We both pretty much said the same thing. Sorry!

[AgentC]

We stayed at the cabins and enjoyed them. As a few others have mentioned the drawback for me was the transportation around the resort.

The cabins are the furthest away from the store, restaurant and boat to MK. You can use the internal bus but that did work with me so I rented a golf cart. Lots of RV campers bring their own. It's been a awhile since I've stayed but the rental was about $50 a day.

Other than that I would stay there again. The full kitchen was very nice and I liked having a parking spot right next to the cabin.

[Janmac]

The cabins can be a bit dark - we brought nightlights with us. We were at FW in December and also brought a small Christmas tree and some light strings, which helped brighten the cabin.

The Murphy bed is a double bed. The bedroom has another double bed and a bunk bed.

The kitchen and bath are nicely sized. If you have six people, the table gets a bit snug. The bedrom is a bit tight, with the beds. If everyone brings plenty of clothes and gear, there may not be ample storage.

You can park a car outside your cabin. If using Disney transportation, you will need to use the internal bus system to get to either the Outpost (where you check in) for bus transport to parks, or to the Settlement area, where you can walk to the marina for the boat to MK.

Essentially, the width of the cabin is that of a trailer. You won't feel you are in a regular motel room with the standard furniture but you won't have HUGE amounts of space either.

It'll be as fun as you make it, basically. :thumbsup:

Jan

[Mariano O'Kon]

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

I finally booked on the Cabins for next month!!!

I hope it doesn't get too cold this January...

Thanks again!

Mariano :mickey:

[CU Tiger]

We LOVE the cabins :number1:and have stayed there many times. There are to many benifits to list, but what other DW hotel can you sit on the deck, enjoying a cold beverage:marg::beer:, watching your kids rides bikes or play outside. Having a seperate room where you can stay up while the kids go to bed is great. We usually sleep 4 to 6 people each trip and it works well. With one bath room, you have to know how to take turns in getting ready. The only negative for us is the storage, but use the shelves by the front windows helps.:mickey:

[Buttercup]

Stayed in the cabins many, many times and have LOVED it each time. There are no gotchas for us, except *maybe* having to take a bus just to transfer to another bus to get out of the resort and head to the parks. But we drive ourselves so it's a non-issue for my family.

[disneynarula]

I have a few questions too but did not want to start a new thread.

Would a portable crib fit in the bedroom?

If you have a car is there a place to park near where the bus stops are for the parks? What about the boat launch to the MK?

We are thinking about staying there in October with my DH, Myself, our three children (2,6,8) and my MIL.

[CU Tiger]

- It will be tight, but the portable crib will fit either between the end of the bunk bend and the vanity or at the end of the bed in from of the back door. We never use the back door and typically use this area to stack our luggage.(FYI -The cabin usually has a pack-n-play in the closet)
- There are no places to park your car for the boats and only the overflow parking near the buses going to the parks. If you do not rent a golf cart (very fun!), there is a bus stop at the end of every cabin loop. There are a lot of buses running the internal loop and your wait for a bus is not typically that long. The internal bus loop takes you to both the dock for the boats and the buses for the parks.
If you do a google search, you should be able to find a bus route map of FW to see the bus stops and routes. :mickey:

[Janmac]

[QUOTE=disneynarula;2230026] If you have a car is there a place to park near where the bus stops are for the parks? What about the boat launch to the MK? QUOTE]

FW is not car friendly. Other than parking at your cabin, or camp site, there is no other parking. There are a maybe a handful of parking spots at the Trading Posts. There is no parking in the Settlement/Pioneer Hall area or the Marina.

FW Guests are encouraged to ride the internal bus, walk or ride bikes/golf carts. There are lots of bike paths. We have biked to both the Outpost and the Marina. At the Outpost we locked our bikes but not at the Marina. On one December trip my sister rented a golf cart. There are many places to park carts, with nearby electrical outlets to charge the cart while you're at a park. We brought decorations for the cabin and the golf cart.

There is car parking at the Outpost, which is the bus stop for the parks, as well. Folks going to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue from outside FW park at the Outpost and then take the internal bus. You would turn left, through the gate - exit FW - into the Outpost parking lot, which is fairly large; that is we've always found parking easier here than other resorts.

With your kids, probably the golf cart would be the most convenient, because the parking for the golf carts is close to the Marina. Golf carts accommodate 4 adults. When my sister rented one, her granddaughter was 2 and sat on someone's lap in the golf cart. Even tho golf carts aren't cheap, if you decide you want to rent one, it's best to reserve early.

Jan

[Buttercup]

RE: Portable cribs
The portable cribs they give you are actually pack n' plays. It will fit at the end of the bunk beds, but it does block the ladder to the top bunk. I've never tried fitting it between the bed and the bunks, but my guess is no, it won't fit in there. It's only the width of a small night table.
Whenever we had young kids in the pack n' play, we always had it out in the living room; it will fit next to the pull-down Murphy Bed easily.

RE: Parking for cars
If you have a car, you will park it at your cabin, and then walk to the nearest bus stop. They aren't far -- it's not like you're walking forever. Maybe a 2-3 minute walk at MOST. If you're lucky, there will be a bus stop right at the entrance of your cabin loop.
There is an internal bus system that just goes around Fort Wilderness, and never leaves. You'll hop on one of those buses, which will take you to the various depots, like the trading posts, the pools, Pioneer Hall, and Reception Outpost where you'll transfer to a different bus to go to whichever park you're heading to.
I suppose you could technically move your car from your cabin to the main parking lot at Reception Outpost (to catch a bus to the parks) but I'm sure it's frowned upon since that's technically visitor parking. And really, if you have a car, why not just drive to the parks -- as a resort guest you can park for free!
If you want to go to one of the trading posts, marina, etc. sorry, there is only golf-cart parking... so you'll either be taking a bus or walking.
There IS, however, a few parking spots near the pools. Like maybe 3 or 4 spaces at most. I know this because I would park my car there to use the laundromat late in the evenings... but I'm not technically sure they're for real cars, or just golf carts. I didn't see any signs, and nobody bothered me, but maybe that's because it was later at night.

[cuteduck223]

I just wrote an article highlighting a bunch of Fort Wilderness stuff. I didnt plan to publish it until late January, but if you want it, PM me and i'll send it to you!

[cuteduck223]

RE: PORTABLE CRIB

Would your 2 year old sleep with someone? The bedroom queen bed is against the wall, so if you had an adult on the outside (MIL?) it would be better than using the pack-n-play. Thats what we did. We had our 2yr old sleep with the 14yr old and it worked out fine. :mickey:

[disneynarula]

We like to be able to give my MIL her own sleeping area. She is actually my husbands step MIL and never had kids of her own. She is awesome (way more so than my blood MIL) but I can tell that by the end of the day she is a little overwhelmed. I was going to put her in the Murphy Bed. Maybe we could get a small kid size air mattress for DD to sleep on the floor.

[disneynarula]

How well maintained are the cabins? We stayed at the cabins at Disneyland Paris and they were awful. Hands down the dirtiest place I have ever stayed.

Can we expect the typical Disney standard in room quality.

[Crow]

Ive never stayed at the cabins, but Im almost considering adding a day or two on to our trip so she can cook for me which she has wanted to do. IDK though w the cost. RIght now we have free dining planned in Feb and I would have to add on a room only.
How far is the walk to the Outpost? and how far to bus stop to the parks? I dont mind walking, we did a walk from FW to WL before.

[Buttercup]

How well maintained are the cabins? We stayed at the cabins at Disneyland Paris and they were awful. Hands down the dirtiest place I have ever stayed.

Can we expect the typical Disney standard in room quality.
They've always been cleaned wonderfully whenever we're there. Even our kids toys which are inevitably scattered all over the cabins were always set up in some kind of cute display every time we'd come home from the parks! I'd say it's definitely Disney service at its best. They even do all the dishes and run the dishwasher for you!

[Buttercup]

Ive never stayed at the cabins, but Im almost considering adding a day or two on to our trip so she can cook for me which she has wanted to do. IDK though w the cost. RIght now we have free dining planned in Feb and I would have to add on a room only.
How far is the walk to the Outpost? and how far to bus stop to the parks? I dont mind walking, we did a walk from FW to WL before.
I'd say Google a map of Fort Wilderness to get an idea of where the bus stops are.

But just as a general description:

- The loops that have cabins are #2100-2800.

- There are internal bus stops at the entrances of Loop #2200/2300, #2500/2600 and #2700/2800. So regardless of which loop you end up staying on, there is an internal bus stop within 2-3 minutes walk of your cabin. The internal buses only travel within FW.

If you wanted to avoid the internal buses and just walk:
- Walking to the Reception Outpost (main entrance to FW) would take you about 15-20 minutes from the area where the cabins are (I'd recommend using the internal bus system to get there instead of walking since they run so frequently). From Reception Outpost, you can catch a bus to Epcot, Animal Kingdom/Blizzard Beach, Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney/Typhoon Lagoon. This is the ONLY place at Fort Wilderness where you can catch a bus to these parks.

- Walking to the Settlement Depot (the beach, Pioneer Hall, marina, Hoop De Doo, etc.) would be a MUCH longer walk, probably 30-45 minutes, so again I'd recommend the internal buses. From Settlement Depot, you can catch a boat to Magic Kingdom, or a different boat to Wilderness Lodge. This is the ONLY place at Fort Wilderness where you can get to these places.

Fort Wilderness is "a mile long as the crow flies" or so they say! So although the walks aren't terrible (and actually make a nice leisurely stroll through the winding paths and nature), if you're trying to get to a park, you're probably going to wanna use the internal bus system to get to the Outpost or Settlement and transfer from there.

[Crow]

thanks. FW is one of the few places i havent stayed (other than Poly, GF and BW and DVC) although i have been there to eat at Trails End. as I said I am debating if we should stay there or Saratoga so we can cook for each other

[Auroring Good Time]

Love the cabins. It is great to have a full kitchen and a deck with a grill outside. You can also park your car right out side the door. It's quiet and peaceful. The buses can be challenge but, you get used to it.

[eandrsmom]

We stayed in a cabin last spring and loved it. We drove, so we didn't use Disney transportation too often. After a long day, it was really nice being able to park outside the cabin at night and go right inside. (Leave the porch light on, it gets really dark.) We rented a golf cart for the week to get to the Outpost, laundry room, pools, and dock. My kids loved it almost as much as the parks! We were on the dining plan and ate breakfast at Trails end a few mornings. It was very good. My only complain is that there is no counter service restaurant in the campground, so we had to take the boat to the Wilderness Lodge for counter service meals.

[Auroring Good Time]

My suggestion would be to request the 2500 loop. You may get it. I like this because it is a small loop, close to the bus stop and the pool.

[Mariano O'Kon]

I just returned after staying 8 days in the Cabins at Fort Wilderness... they are great!

Even if it was quite cold this January (we had a day with 32'F!) the Cabin's where perfectly comfortable.

I would like to thank, again, everyone that helped me with this!

Cheers!

Mariano :mickey: