Golf Cart - Do I really need one?

[FortForever]

What I hate more is she'll be advising her "clients" that they should be wasting $65 a day on a cart they don't need every day.

Exactly! I did eventually sit through much of this video and was appalled at how she slanted things. She really made it seem as though people without golf carts cannot access parts of the Fort. Crazy!

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

Thanks everyone! I'm down to 51 days until our trip so I'm starting to get that last-minute anxiety about my plans. I think I'll call tomorrow and see about getting a golf cart for our last full day only. After MK magic hours in the morning, we might be too tired to do our evening park plans. An afternoon touring FW on the golf cart sounds nice.

Also @tiggerdad - Roll Tide!

I would for the day. To get around easy and truly enjoy the entire campground you need at least bicycles or a golf cart IMO. We don't do golf carts but always bring our bikes. It's a BIG campground and if you want to go from A to B around the place it's a huge walk so biking or golf carting makes the whole experience so much more enjoyable and relaxing. Waiting for buses just to get around the campground isn't that great for us but I know for others it's not a big deal. But we do enjoy and spend time at the campground also.

 

[PaHunter]

The campground is a mile as the crow flies, end to end. We have walked pretty much the entire thing during a down afternoon, and DW and I are not athletic people (not distance runners at least.) Again a golf cart is ok, but to say people need one is just crazy. Our first two trips we did not have one at all. It did not affect the enjoyment of our trip at all. We used Disney transportation exclusively.

 

[Jimsig]

I think most people here will agree that a GC at the Fort is a luxury that you don't always need, but if you can afford is nice to have. We have stayed at The Fort 3 times and had a GC twice. The first time was for 6 nights and we either took the internal bus to The Meadows and Settlement or, as we were close enough to the Outpost, in the 2800 Loop, we walked. The last 2 times we have had a cart but have also used the internal transportation during our stay as well.

If you want to check it out I compiled a table of distances from each cabin loop to The Outpost, Quiet Pool, The Meadows, and The Settlement that was posted in the following Fort FAQ thread:
*Fort Wilderness Resort Information ( a work in progress)*

There are some off site places that you can rent from and save quite a bit of money if you wanted one for the whole time. IMO it's not worth renting off site if you only want it for a few days. However, as I believe a PP said, you do have to get it on your own, but is easy to do and take about an hour total on each end. When I rented from Kenny's Tee Time this past October I want to say it was about $35 a day including tax. They also let you use their pickup and trailer. It's about a $8-10 Lyfy/Uber including tip each way to the pickup/drop off place so you do have to figure that in if you don't have your own car. But even with that it's quite a bit of savings off the Disney price.

 

[Ds4angels]

Never mind just saw my answer

 

[sarahothomas]

I think most people here will agree that a GC at the Fort is a luxury that you don't always need, but if you can afford is nice to have. We have stayed at The Fort 3 times and had a GC twice. The first time was for 6 nights and we either took the internal bus to The Meadows and Settlement or, as we were close enough to the Outpost, in the 2800 Loop, we walked. The last 2 times we have had a cart but have also used the internal transportation during our stay as well.

If you want to check it out I compiled a table of distances from each cabin loop to The Outpost, Quiet Pool, The Meadows, and The Settlement that was posted in the following Fort FAQ thread:
*Fort Wilderness Resort Information ( a work in progress)*

There are some off site places that you can rent from and save quite a bit of money if you wanted one for the whole time. IMO it's not worth renting off site if you only want it for a few days. However, as I believe a PP said, you do have to get it on your own, but is easy to do and take about an hour total on each end. When I rented from Kenny's Tee Time this past October I want to say it was about $35 a day including tax. They also let you use their pickup and trailer. It's about a $8-10 Lyfy/Uber including tip each way to the pickup/drop off place so you do have to figure that in if you don't have your own car. But even with that it's quite a bit of savings off the Disney price.

THANK YOU! That table of distances is amazing.
Kenny Tee Time's price is a huge savings - that's about half the price of Disney.

 

[sarahothomas]

Just an FYI to anyone that is curious.

I called Tee Time Golf Rental and they quoted me $178 for 5 days (Pick-up on a Sunday afternoon, drop off on the following Friday morning). They take a 20% non-refundable deposit when you make a reservation, which I am doing through email. I am told we meet the about 1 mile outside of Fort Wilderness, where they will either load the trailer to our car or hand the keys over to us to drive the truck and trailer onto Fort Wilderness if we don't have a hitch. We have an SUV with a trailer hitch. We have 1 hour to take the golf cart back to our cabin and then return the trailer back to them. On the day of return, we have to return between 7 am - 11 am. They don't do afternoon returns, I specifically asked.

 

[tiggerdad]

Just an FYI to anyone that is curious.

I called Tee Time Golf Rental and they quoted me $178 for 5 days (Pick-up on a Sunday afternoon, drop off on the following Friday morning). They take a 20% non-refundable deposit when you make a reservation, which I am doing through email. I am told we meet the about 1 mile outside of Fort Wilderness, where they will either load the trailer to our car or hand the keys over to us to drive the truck and trailer onto Fort Wilderness if we don't have a hitch. We have an SUV with a trailer hitch. We have 1 hour to take the golf cart back to our cabin and then return the trailer back to them. On the day of return, we have to return between 7 am - 11 am. They don't do afternoon returns, I specifically asked.

Dealt with Kenny and them in the past and had no issues. It took, on average, about an hour from the time I left my site to the time I returned to my site with the cart and had returned their trailer. Same at the return day. It takes about an hour because you have to drive to them, take their truck and come back to the campground and unload, then return their truck and trailer and come back to the campground in your vehicle. I assume Kelly is still running the rental side of the operation. Kenny usually handles sales but he used to be the one guy who handled it all.

 

[sarahothomas]

Dealt with Kenny and them in the past and had no issues. It took, on average, about an hour from the time I left my site to the time I returned to my site with the cart and had returned their trailer. Same at the return day. It takes about an hour because you have to drive to them, take their truck and come back to the campground and unload, then return their truck and trailer and come back to the campground in your vehicle. I assume Kelly is still running the rental side of the operation. Kenny usually handles sales but he used to be the one guy who handled it all.

Yep, just spoke to Kelly on the phone when I made my reservation.

One more thing to note for anyone interested - they make the schedule for drop offs/pickups a few days in advance, so I won't know my pick up/drop off time right away. Time preferences are given on a first-come first-serve basis, which is fair. That is a little inconvenient though, especially since we have dinner reservations on the night we arrive. We are also heading out quite early on our last day, so I made sure to tell her there is no way we could drop off at 11 am. However, I think it's worth the extra hassle (so far) given that we are saving over $200 by renting from them. We decided to splurge with getting a golf cart, but it's still very nice to save this much in the process.

 

[FtW Mike]

Kelly is a true sweetheart to deal with in MHO. She has dealt with my issues and resolved problems in minutes Enjoythe cart
On an issue that came up regarding commission to TA for Disney Cart Rental our TA told me they get no commission for GC rentals only points applied to plans that determine their status with Disney.

 

[Jimsig]

You are very welcome.

As an FYI that One mile is from Disney Property not The Fort, those are Disney Rules for off property GC rentals. If they are still meeting in the same place it's about 4.4 miles from The Fort to the pick up/drop off spot but very easy to get to and find. It was near the intersection of Wintergarden/Vineland Rd and Rt 535.

This past trip we needed 3 carts for a big family trip. My brother and I rented from Kenny but my sister waited too long and had to get hers from Disney as Kenny was sold out. We paid around $57 less for 9 nights from Kenny then she did for 6 nights from Disney!!!

 

[mickeyfan0805]

As an FYI that One mile is from Disney Property not The Fort, those are Disney Rules for off property GC rentals. If they are still meeting in the same place it's about 4.4 miles from The Fort to the pick up/drop off spot but very easy to get to and find. It was near the intersection of Wintergarden/Vineland Rd and Rt 535.

I was just about to post the same thing. Some people say an hour for the full process. For me, it was slightly more than that. It is pretty close to 15 minutes, 1 way, from the campsite to the pick up location. So, at least for me, there was an hour of travel - to which you add the time that it takes to hook up the trailer and cart, unload the cart at the site, unhook the trailer back at the meeting point, etc... Tee Time is great, and very easy to work with (had a wonderful experience with them last fall), and they save you a fortune. But, like others, I would only use them for longer stays. We are doing a 4 day rental in July, and that we are just getting from Disney, as we don't want to give up 3 hours of such a short trip.

As for the need? I agree with all that has been said. You don't need it, you will enjoy it.

 

[MindyDis]

I was just about to post the same thing. Some people say an hour for the full process. For me, it was slightly more than that. It is pretty close to 15 minutes, 1 way, from the campsite to the pick up location. So, at least for me, there was an hour of travel - to which you add the time that it takes to hook up the trailer and cart, unload the cart at the site, unhook the trailer back at the meeting point, etc... Tee Time is great, and very easy to work with (had a wonderful experience with them last fall), and they save you a fortune. But, like others, I would only use them for longer stays. We are doing a 4 day rental in July, and that we are just getting from Disney, as we don't want to give up 3 hours of such a short trip.

As for the need? I agree with all that has been said. You don't need it, you will enjoy it.

Can anyone tell me the actual pricing with Disney? We won't have a car, so meeting an outside source won't be possible. (Or maybe we could Uber?) Thanks!

 

[tiggerdad]

Can anyone tell me the actual pricing with Disney? We won't have a car, so meeting an outside source won't be possible. (Or maybe we could Uber?) Thanks!

$65 a day

 

[mickeyfan0805]

Can anyone tell me the actual pricing with Disney? We won't have a car, so meeting an outside source won't be possible. (Or maybe we could Uber?) Thanks!

Depending on length of stay, offsite is feasible with Uber/Lyft. You can ride-share to the pick-up location, use their truck and trailer to bring the cart back to your site, return to the meeting point, and then ride-share back. You'll save $25-30 per day by renting offsite, but you'd likely spend $40-50 on the 4 Uber trips, so you certainly wouldn't want to go through all of that hassle with a shorter trip.

 

[Jimsig]

Can anyone tell me the actual pricing with Disney? We won't have a car, so meeting an outside source won't be possible. (Or maybe we could Uber?) Thanks!

Depending on length of stay, offsite is feasible with Uber/Lyft. You can ride-share to the pick-up location, use their truck and trailer to bring the cart back to your site, return to the meeting point, and then ride-share back. You'll save $25-30 per day by renting offsite, but you'd likely spend $40-50 on the 4 Uber trips, so you certainly wouldn't want to go through all of that hassle with a shorter trip.

When I did Lyft back in October it was just about $8.50 each way between The Fort and where you meet them. It was very easy. At The Fort they meet you at The Outpost.

With the difference in Kenny's pricing (figuring in 4 Lyft/Uber trips) and Disney's pricing you do start saving with Kenny after only 2 day's. But as others have mentioned it's how much time you are willing to give up or have free on a short stay.

 

[himandher818]

All these "extras" keep piling up it seems, what's another $120?

You have figured out the Disney Business Model.

Not sure where you are hearing negative things about the buses, or what those negative things may be.

Only negative I can think of is as the park closes those buses are packed full of people who have been at the parks sweating all day, and those standing all have their arms up!

As for the need for a golf cart, It's nice to have and could be a necessity if you have someone with mobility issues and are in the middle of loop away from the bus stops. If not we stayed in the cabins Dec of 2016 and my DW and myself walked most places (even to the settlement), but we also had a cart mostly for my mom. Haven't decided yet if we going to get one when my DW and I go in August.

If we do get one, I think I'll look into Tee Time.

 

[FortForever]

could be a necessity if you have someone with mobility issues and are in the middle of loop away from the bus stops.

Nope, I just ride my ECV alongside my family, who walk. No big deal and makes our desire for a golf cart even less. Nowhere to transport an ECV on it.

 

[himandher818]

If you have an ECV it would mostly eliminate the issue. My mom doesn't have one of her own, and just rents one in the parks. I am thinking of renting one elsewhere and bringing it with us next time if I have have enough payload left in the truck when towing the trailer. How much does an ECV weigh?

 

[Winchester24]

I have stayed at the Fort a couple of times as a child and the wait for the buses never bothered me, but my fiance and I will be staying for our honeymoon and we were considering a golf cart as well. We will have a few days of dining and show reservations and I'm not sure I am comfortable waiting for the internal buses, I don't want to miss our reservation! It happened to my sister and brother in law the last time we went and I never forgot how upset they were. Probably an isolated incident but now I am paranoid. One of our reservations is at AK and I've heard it can be a long drive, anyone have experience with that they can share? We might just rent a car though, it's cheaper than renting the carts. Oh Disney...