Fort Wilderness cabins or Art of animation?

[rk03221]

My family is trying to decide between the Fort wilderness cabins or AoA family suites. It’ll be myself, my wife, toddler and grandparents. We are leaning towards Fort wilderness for the east accessibility to MK. As far as dining and everything else goes what do you think is better? We’ll be staying 7 nights too. Thanks!

 

[Raxel7851]

I think your dining options would be better at AoA. You can go there and also it’s an easy walk to PoP for something different. Then there’s the Skyliner to take you to Epcot for more dining options. Although FW would be more convenient for taking the boat to the MK.

 

[rk03221]

I think your dining options would be better at AoA. You can go there and also it’s an easy walk to PoP for something different. Then there’s the Skyliner to take you to Epcot for more dining options. Although FW would be more convenient for taking the boat to the MK.

Yeah, we’ve heard great things about both tbh but it’s going to come down to the dining and pool options….but man, that boat to MK is so convenient

 

[KrzyKtty]

I've never stayed at the AoA suites so I'm really not sure how large they are. I did stay at the Fort Wilderness cabins. It was myself my husband our baby, and then my mother and my adult brother. The cabins were really nice, and it was nice to not have shared walls with anybody else with a brand new baby in tow. However that privacy does come at a price. The cabins are spread out and not knowing the mobility of your entire group that can be a problem. At least when I was there you were not allowed to use your car to come and go from your cabin area as general transportation. You were supposed to use their internal shuttle system. So for example if we wanted to go up to the main cabin for breakfast you'd have to hop on a shuttle to go there or walk the quarter mile or longer. AoA wasn't really a thing the last time I stayed there. I'm not sure I would choose the cabins over the convenience of a more compact hotel system.

 

[Lilofan]

I've never stayed at the AoA suites so I'm really not sure how large they are. I did stay at the Fort Wilderness cabins. It was myself my husband our baby, and then my mother and my adult brother. The cabins were really nice, and it was nice to not have shared walls with anybody else with a brand new baby in tow. However that privacy does come at a price. The cabins are spread out and not knowing the mobility of your entire group that can be a problem. At least when I was there you were not allowed to use your car to come and go from your cabin area as general transportation. You were supposed to use their internal shuttle system. So for example if we wanted to go up to the main cabin for breakfast you'd have to hop on a shuttle to go there or walk the quarter mile or longer. That's nice as it was, art of animation wasn't really a thing the last time I stayed there. I'm not sure I would choose the cabins over the convenience of a more compact hotel system.

Ditto no paper thin walls to hear the other family at FW! At AoA is a different story.

 

[KrzyKtty]

And while the cabins do come with the boat, and that was nice, AoA comes with a nifty gondolas.

 

[KrzyKtty]

Ditto no paper thin walls to hear the other family at FW! At AoA is a different story.

That really is very true. There really is something to say for having your own little house like environment. They were spaced out more than you would think and there really was a sense of privacy with all of the trees and everything else around.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

that boat to MK is so convenient

It's not.

It SEEMS convenient because it's a boat, not a bus. But the trip from your bed to the front gate of the Magic Kingdom will be MUCH shorter from Art of Animation than Fort Wilderness.

Fort Wilderness is probably my second favorite resort on property, but there is absolutely nothing convenient about it when it comes to transportation.

My decision would probably come down to whether you're going to use the full kitchen. We like making scrambled eggs for breakfast when we have a kitchen, which saves us a ton of time and money. If you'll do that amount (or more) cooking, definitely go with the cabin.

 

[Heppenheimer]

Dining options? Now, my caveat is that I haven't lodged at the cabins at Fort Wilderness since 1989, but the main reason my family lodged there back in the day was because of the fully equipped kitchens. Even back in the 80s, we saved a ton of money by eating most of our breakfasts and dinners at the cabin. Otherwise, you would need to walk or take the resort's internal transportation to the one (?) restaurant it runs.

EDIT: Looks like the cabins still have the full kitchens.