Hi, I stayed at the Fort Wilderness Cabins this Christmas. First and formost I was raised going to Disney every year and staying at Fort Wilderness when I was young. It is my personal favorite resort, but that's just me. It feels much different then the usual resorts.
A few helpful tips.
-Definently get a golf cart as the campgrounds are very large, and getting from one side of the resort to the other can be timely without the cart.
-Understand that because of the size getting to the resorts in a timely manner can be a bit more difficult as without the carts you take a bus to another bus stop which then takes you to the parks, except for Magic Kingdom which you take a boat for.
-There is transportation to Magic Kingdom by way of boat, as well as another boat that takes you to Contemporary and Wilderness Lodge for meals, and shopping and all
-There is a beach that you can tan at and play beach sports at, but you can't go in the lake, as they have pools for that.
-there is shopping at both Meadows Trading Post, which has the Bike Barn behind it and Settlement trading post which is near Pioneer Hall and Trails End Restaurant
-Sadly, the petting zoo is no longer there, and it's just shetland ponies and the horses that work at the Magic Kingdom. I talked to a woman who said Disney felt with the one in Animal Kingdom, the other was not needed.
-When checking in you will get a list of the movies at the outdoor movie theatre which are free
-During the Christmas season people decorate their campsites with tons and tons of Christmas related lawn ornaments and such, it's rather impressive the work they put into it.
- There is a ton of recreation at Fort Wilderness, and also a short boat ride away is Contemporary which also has a ton.
-I have pictures of the log cabins and will try to post them for you for you to see. One reason I like the cabins is you literally get your own building to yourself and all, and it really is quite relaxed and pleasant. I am personally biased as this was a place I spent some of my youth at, but I would think most people could like it.
The biggest piece of advice I can give you though is the golf cart is worth it as getting around the place by foot can be quite overwhelming.
Hope some of this helps, and I'll try to post the images asap
PS I did stay at Wilderness Lodge years ago and you will have much more room in a cabin then in a standard room at the lodge, though I do HIGHLY suggest going to the lobbyof the lodge as it is very impressive, and the gyser is neat too. I have also stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and very much like it, but more because of the animals then anything else. I am not what you would call a curious eater, mostly only eating things on vacations I'm used too, so much of the African cuisine though it might be good I never try, whereas with Fort Wilderness most of the food you would be likely to eat there is normal camping fair or American type food at Trails End. Unless you were in a Villa at AKL, I still think you'd have more room in the cabin, and you can always visit the animals for free by taking a bus from one of the parks or a rental car.
Also both the Lodge's are very large, and you have to do quite a bit of walking in doors. At the Lodges you may walk quite a while indoors to get to your room, whereas with the cart you can take it directly to the driveway of your cabin. Also as some like the outside tranquility of a walk in woodsy type atmosphere, FW is mostly outside whereas the lodges are huge buildings....but they do have air conditioning
. Lastly IF you have a rental car, which can lesson the need for a cart, but I'd still rent the cart as it's fun and can get around better then a car, but if you have a car you can park it literally directly next to your room, at one of the lodges, like AKL you have to take your luggage through the parking lot, through the lobby, then up elevators, then walk it possibly quite a ways to get to your room. I don't want to make AKL or WL sound bad, as I like them both and am a DVC member at AKL, I was ust trying to contrast them for you.
PSS=If you PM me with an e-mail address I can give you a link and the password to a gallery of mine that has the pictures of FW and other Disney stuff on it
Hope I've been helpful, and if something I said wasn't clear, I can repost as I was typing this pretty fast late at night.
