couple of questions about ft wilderness transportation and golf carts

[tlwfun89]

WE will be camping at ft wilderness in September and while we have taken the bus there. I never took the buses to the parks from there I notice in many different places they speak of taking a bus to the transportation and ticket center and getting on another bus. So the question is do the buses not go directly from the outpost to the parks? If the buses only go to the ticket and transportation center dont they only run the buses from there when offsite guest can start going to the parks. I know at other resorts the buses run ealier but from the ticket and transportation center I thought this was where offsite guest start their adventures often?
My other question are gold carts really 50+ a night? If so one can rent a whole car for cheaper than a golf cart.

 

[KornBred]

As far as the buses go, I think there are internal route that in some loops you have to get on to get to the buses that go to the parks. I am not sure, we have only went to the Fort once and that was to eat at Trail's End. But on the golf cart front, I just reserved a cart for 6 days at the grand total of $210 at Tee Time Golf. That is $35 a day but can go higher for fewer days. Cheapest I found. Having a cart will be fun and help get us to the other areas faster so I splurged a little but to me it was a decent deal. And unlike rental cars no credit check.

 

[G719]

Yes the disney golf carts are expensive. Nice to have but not essential.

The park busses do not go to the ttc. They go to the parks (except MK). There is a bus stop at the outpost where you catch the bus. The fort has internal bus loops to get people from the camp loops to other places in the fort. You can also walk, ride a bike, or drive a golf cart around the fort. Car traffic is limited to driving to your campsite and back out. You're not supposed to drive your car to the pool or boat dock.

 

[Teamubr]

The external buses go to all the parks and Disney Springs. You also have the option of the boats at the marina to get to MK and the Contemporary where you can get on the monorail to EPCOT. There are 2 different boats. One that goes to and from MK and a smaller, resort launch that makes a loop to WL and Contemporary. If you want to take the monorail from the Contemporary, you do need to switch monorails at the TTC and transfer to the EPCOT monorail. This is what we do. It isn't faster, but more fun.

You can drive your own vehicle to any of the parks and park free since you're staying on site. I generally take the buses except for AK. The AK bus seems to take forever compared to driving myself.

As for a cart, there are much cheaper options, but you have to go off site (barely) to pick it up. A quick search on here should bring up the procedure. It's pretty painless.

Like said above, carts are nice to have, but certainly not necessary. Our trip next month will be the first trip ever (since 2004) that we got a cart.

j

 

[Judyfun]

A few month after I purchased my RV, I lucked into a Golf Cart for $2000.00 (new batteries/rain cover the works) and since we go to the for 3 - 4 times a year for a total of around 25 days, we figure the golf cart has already paid for itself. We love October and December so doing the loops in the evening is so much fun. Have done it without the gold cart and that worked out too.

 

[Manda_Lizabeth]

Bringing back this thread. We are thinking of switching from Caribbean Beach to the Cabins. Having never stayed, if we get a golf cart (we won't have a rental car), where all can we drive them on property? Could we take the cart in the morning from the cabin and go and park at the main bus depot and hope to one of the parks? This way it's just waiting for us at the end of the day to drive back to our cabin? Can we drive them to the pool? Just wondering if there really is a benefit, besides just driving around the property? We will be coming in late July, so not sure if it's better then or not.

 

[mickeyfan0805]

Manda - You can take the cart to pretty much any destination within the boundaries of Fort Wilderness. You can park it at the Outpost and board buses to Epcot, HS and AK...you can park at the Meadow Trading Post to pick up some goods...you can park at the bike barn for rentals, the campfire or the pool...or you can park at the Settlement for the boat to MK or Bay Lake resorts, or any of the meals and activities in that area. The internal buses go most everywhere a cart can go (although cart parking is a lot more convenient than the bus drop at the Settlement), but you can take the cart pretty much anywhere and park it - as long as you stay within the boundaries of the Fort.

 

[Manda_Lizabeth]

Thanks! that is super helpful

 

[G719]

Bringing back this thread. We are thinking of switching from Caribbean Beach to the Cabins. Having never stayed, if we get a golf cart (we won't have a rental car), where all can we drive them on property? Could we take the cart in the morning from the cabin and go and park at the main bus depot and hope to one of the parks? This way it's just waiting for us at the end of the day to drive back to our cabin? Can we drive them to the pool? Just wondering if there really is a benefit, besides just driving around the property? We will be coming in late July, so not sure if it's better then or not.

The benefit is you can drive and park it wherever you need to go within the fort. And after a late night at the MK, it's awesome to get off the boat, hop on your cart and go directly back to your cabin.

 

[Manda_Lizabeth]

That is pretty awesome! I think that may have sealed the deal! thanks for all the golf cart tips! I for one think it will just be fun driving it around!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

That is pretty awesome! I think that may have sealed the deal! thanks for all the golf cart tips! I for one think it will just be fun driving it around!

one thing I would add is to carry a towel in you park bag or in a ziploc bag that you leave with cart. that way you can dry seats in case of rain while you are at parks

 

[Manda_Lizabeth]

Great idea on the towel!

 

[Ariel Moana]

As far as the buses go, I think there are internal route that in some loops you have to get on to get to the buses that go to the parks. I am not sure, we have only went to the Fort once and that was to eat at Trail's End. But on the golf cart front, I just reserved a cart for 6 days at the grand total of $210 at Tee Time Golf. That is $35 a day but can go higher for fewer days. Cheapest I found. Having a cart will be fun and help get us to the other areas faster so I splurged a little but to me it was a decent deal. And unlike rental cars no credit check.

This may be a stupid question, but how do you get the cart back to FW?

 

[mickeyfan0805]

This may be a stupid question, but how do you get the cart back to FW?

If you rent from the offsite company, you have to go off-property to pick it up. The location where Tee Time meets you is roughly 10-12 minutes from the entrance to the Fort. Tee-Time will allow you to use their trailer (on your truck) or their truck and trailer to bring the cart to and from. If you have a vehicle with you, it's not too bad. If you don't, you'd have to use Uber or Lyft to get there and back (adding to the cost and hassle). It is more time consuming than renting from WDW, but it is also much cheaper.

For us, we rented from Tee Time when there for over a week last fall and would use them again in a heartbeat. However, for our 4 day trip in July, we will rent direct from Disney, as saving $100 isn't worth taking 2-3 hours out of a short trip. Each person has to make their own call on that balance.