Cabins at Fort Wilderness - golf cart or not?

[Parchester]

Hi
We are hiring a car for our stay which I understand can be parked outside our cabin, however I've read lots of people say that a Golf Cart is a really good idea for getting around the camp. WIll I be able to use the car to go the same places as the golf cart or will I have trouble parking it?

We intend to use the car mainly to explore outside Disney for a few days, and also to drive to different theme parks rather than rely on internal buses. Don't really want to hire a cart as well unless it's the only way of moving around Fort WIlderness. Any advice appreciated!

Many thanks

Rob

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I was caught between the same decision in January and we decided against the golf cart. They're extremely expensive and aren't worth it in my opinion, but I'm sure I'll be the minority. Like you, we had a car and used it to drive to Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. We also drove it to the gift shop to pick up coffee in the morning. The only time I had to rely on the internal buses was to get back to the Settlement area to get on the Magic Kingdom boat. If you plan on swimming or otherwise using the amenities at the Settlement a lot, that might make the cart worth the price.

 

[Schneewittchen]

It depends on how much time you'll actually spend in the resort. It might not be worth it to have a cart if you won't be spending a lot of time at the campground.

We always stay at Ft. Wilderness in our motorhome and just bring our bicycles for traveling inside the resort grounds. We just ride our bikes to the settlement in the AM to get breakfast at Trail's End, catch a boat to MK or boat/monorail to Epcot. Or we ride our bikes to the Outpost to catch a bus.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

It depends on how much time you'll actually spend in the resort. It might not be worth it to have a cart if you won't be spending a lot of time at the campground.

We always stay at Ft. Wilderness in our motorhome and just bring our bicycles for traveling inside the resort grounds. We just ride our bikes to the settlement in the AM to get breakfast at Trail's End, catch a boat to MK or boat/monorail to Epcot. Or we ride our bikes to the Outpost to catch a bus.

You boat/monorail to Epcot from Fort Wilderness? That's far longer than a bus.

 

[Schneewittchen]

You boat/monorail to Epcot from Fort Wilderness? That's far longer than a bus.

Yes, but pleasing boat and monorail-loving 4 and 6 year olds is priceless.

 

[Raineman]

Just an honest question from someone who has never stayed at Ft. Wilderness-do you have to really love camping/RVing to justify the price of Ft. Wilderness, as I'm sure it is probably the most expensive campground you will find-the prices I've seen online put it at just below a value resort room. I've always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with camping, and have wondered how much time people staying at FW spend at their site.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Just an honest question from someone who has never stayed at Ft. Wilderness-do you have to really love camping/RVing to justify the price of Ft. Wilderness, as I'm sure it is probably the most expensive campground you will find-the prices I've seen online put it at just below a value resort room. I've always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with camping, and have wondered how much time people staying at FW spend at their site.

The local Jellystone/YogiBear Campground in our area isn't that much less that FW, which I think is crazy. I would actually really like to stay there if we still had a camper. Some of the campers that I've seen are nicer than my house....

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Just an honest question from someone who has never stayed at Ft. Wilderness-do you have to really love camping/RVing to justify the price of Ft. Wilderness, as I'm sure it is probably the most expensive campground you will find-the prices I've seen online put it at just below a value resort room. I've always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with camping, and have wondered how much time people staying at FW spend at their site.

The tent sites are substantially cheaper than staying at a value resort, usually around half. To your point, the full hookup sites are much closer to the values in price and are often excluded from discounts and promotions. No, I wouldn't say you need to have a great passion for camping. It's "camping" only in the loosest definition of the word. It's certainly not worth the price if your goal is a camping vacation, and it's not worth the hassle just to safe a few dollars, but I think it's a great choice for people who enjoy camping but also want a unique Disney experience.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Hi
We are hiring a car for our stay which I understand can be parked outside our cabin, however I've read lots of people say that a Golf Cart is a really good idea for getting around the camp. WIll I be able to use the car to go the same places as the golf cart or will I have trouble parking it?

We intend to use the car mainly to explore outside Disney for a few days, and also to drive to different theme parks rather than rely on internal buses. Don't really want to hire a cart as well unless it's the only way of moving around Fort WIlderness. Any advice appreciated!

Many thanks

Rob

We stayed at the Cabins in 2010 which I know has been awhile. If we were to stay there again I would definitely get a golf cart. It just seemed like we had to leave so much earlier to get where we wanted to go due to the inner buses. There is no parking at the main pool for cars so we had to walk and it was quite a distance, that was 6 years ago so im not sure how the parking is now. Also I would have loved to just drive around the resort to look at all the sites and decorations on the campers but after walking the parks I was to tired to walk around FW. The inner buses weren't horrible but I tend to be impatient and wouldn't do it again without a cart.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

For the price of a golf cart, you might as well upgrade to a villa at a deluxe resort, especially considering that resorts are often discounted and the golf cart never will be.

 

[Schneewittchen]

Just an honest question from someone who has never stayed at Ft. Wilderness-do you have to really love camping/RVing to justify the price of Ft. Wilderness, as I'm sure it is probably the most expensive campground you will find-the prices I've seen online put it at just below a value resort room. I've always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with camping, and have wondered how much time people staying at FW spend at their site.

I love RVing. I've seen most of the continental US from the passenger seat of a class C. There's a country song about this.

And I've stayed at all kinds of campgrounds. Ft. Wilderness is one of the nicest/well-run campgrounds in the country. A lot of the cheaper campgrounds are filthy, in disrepair or are just an empty field with hookups that's miles from anything.

The things that make Ft. Wilderness great:
1. Pavement in your site where you need it (not dust, gravel, ruts or mudpits)
2. Reliable hookups (no popping breakers, poor water pressure or sewage issues)
3. Clean bathrooms!!!!
4. Shade trees!!!!
5. Lots of recreation opportunities
6. Restaurants
7. Disney transportation
8. Clean sites (no cigarette butts or trash from the previous occupant)
9. Lots of space between the sites (no ducking under your neighbor's slide-out to empty your own tanks)
10. Nice cast members

I've been to other similarly priced campgrounds - $95 - $120/night in the Keys and beach front along the east coast, Ft. Wilderness is still better-maintained, etc.

During my first trip to WDW with the motorhome about 10 years ago, we stayed off property. We had to use the campground's once daily shuttle to get to the parks since we don't have a toad. It stunk. We arrived at the parks later than we liked and had to leave early every day (5pm-ish). It didn't ruin the trip, but it was inconvenient. After that, we swore we'd always pay the extra $40/night for the chance to stay as late as we wanted, arrive early, resort hop, immerse ourselves in Disney, etc.

We don't tend to spend a lot of time at our site, but that's not our style anyway. We are the people at the RV park closest to the beach, site, park, monument, whatever.... Out all day having fun and coming back to camp to sleep on my own comfy, bedbug free mattress. RVing isn't camping, it's a road trip where you get to bring the kitchen sink.

 

[PEPPER2029]

We have been staying at fw for years. For 2 adults and 3 children 11 days and hopper passes is 3500. In my mind that's a good deal. As far as a golf cart one is really needed. There are outside companies in the orlando area. Another option is to rent bikes.

 

[Parchester]

Interesting replies thanks. It seems as if the carts are a 'nice to have' rather than necessity so I will see how finances go when I've booked everything else. I'm getting car hire free using Avios points so I could justify the expense I suppose. We are family of five - three kids age 12,10 and 10 so was thinking we'd all fit on a 4 seater. Would that be allowed?

 

[Parchester]

So here's the plan now: We are staying for two weeks from 24th August (busy & hot I know) and we will hire a 4-seater golf buggy for the five of us including two 10-year old twin girls who are skinny so hopefully will all fit on. We will book it for the first week only with the view to extending for the second week if we think it's worth it. Does that sound a good plan? I have no idea if there will be carts available for the second week depending on how busy it is but hoping there will be if we decide early enough.