Help, rental car for Fort Winlderness??

[Aliisa]

Hi,
We are leaving for WDW a week from Wednesday, and we will be staying at the Fort Wildernes cabins for the first time. We won't be traveling outside of WDW at all, and we just planned on using the bus/boat to go to and from the parks. But I asked you guys about the cabins a couple of days ago, and was told that there is quite a bit of distance from the cabins to anything else. My question is, would it be in our best interest to rent a van? We have 3 kids with us, 5, 3, and 13 months. We aren't even sure if you can drive throughout the campgrounds. What do you guys think? It won't be that much more expensive than if we have to rent 2 golf carts everyday. I'd be grateful for any advise. Thanks id advance

 

[brittsmum1998]

We stayed there a few yrs ago. FW Cabins are great!!
We own DVC now but plan on staying in the cabins again soon. IMHO I don't think a rental car is worth it. We found no problem at all w/ bus once you got used to which ones went where. Why would you need 2 golf carts? wouldn't one be enough? youngest could sit on lap. I really don't think you would use them enough. Save your money for the fun stuff. And No, you can't drive the autos around the Fort Wilderness area anyways. I believe its only when you are checking in and out or leaving for the parks. Not worth it in my opinion. Have a great time!!

 

[Aliisa]

Thanks so much. Thats all I needed to hear. There are 4 adults 2 children all together- thats why I thought we would need 2 golf carts. But I just looked at the map, and it really seems like there are plenty of bus stops. I just really needed someone to tell me a rental wasn't neccessary. Thanks again

 

[brittsmum1998]

You will have a great time allisa!! I didn't realize all the adults. We rented a cart for one day (the day we arrived) so that we could go to the general store for some food Other than that we didn't miss a car at al!! The carts are alot of fun too

 

[drusba]

I would get a rental car at FW. You park right at your unit. You actually cannot drive to the main acitivity area of FW at Pioneer Hall although you can drive to one of the trading posts (stores). The internal busses take you to Pioneer Hall where you catch the boat to MK and other busses to the other parks and Downtown Disney. The reason a car is handy is twofold: (a) you can get to Epcot, MGM, AK or DD in 15 minutes or less, while that double bus ride to any of those often takes 40 minutes or more; (b) If you want to go elsewhere, like other resorts, it is better by car (15 minutes or less) than bus (hour or more to many) because you often need to take three busses to get there (internal FW, then bus to a park or DD, then bus or other transport to other resort).

Also, even without a car, I would probably pass on the golf cart as it is getting too expensive per day; the internal bus sytem is actually pretty good.

 

[ibleedblue]

I assume you are taking a taxi or Mears bus or Tiffany Town Car from MCO to Ft. Wilderness. I would guess that the cost of a rental car would be close to, or more than, offset by the cost of the taxi service to and from Ft. Wilderness plus the daily cost of a golf cart. Not to mention the freedom of having a car while you're there. I didn't think we'd use our rental during our most recent trip in December, but it turned out to be a real convenience. I don't have kids, so I can't speak for the car seat hassles, but from a pure cost/convenience standpoint, I would take the rental.

Greg

 

[Razzjr]

There are ten of us going in Aug and we have two carts reserved there are 5 of us in our cabin. The rest are in another cabin but they have a six-seater cart (yes from the Bike barn) I was told they only bring in extra six seaters on Holliday’s so I get stuck with the extra expense. I can get a six seater from an outside Co. But Disney will not allow it.

Greg

 

[tinkerbee]

I wouldn't get a rental car but I highly recommend the golf carts. I said there was no way that I would pay for the cart but I wish I would have. If you plan on spending anytime at the camp grounds get one. We were there in April and wish we had one. We tried to get one but they were all rented out. That place it so huge. And it makes it so much easier to get to the main bus stops to go to the parks than wait for one bus to get on another one. Plus if you want to get to the main pool and you are on the purple route you have to take two buses also. We did find that the purple bus turns to either orange or yellow once it hits the two main stops but it just takes forever. Next time I will get a cart.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Check out this link for everything you want to know about the Fort Wilderness internal transportation

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?threadid=354198

 

[Gillian]

If you plan to cook a lot, it's nice to have a car for shopping. BUT, we had one & were frustrated by not being able to drive anywhere in FW! Yes, you can park by the meadows trading post, but only for 15 minutes. You can't drive your car to go pick up a pizza for take out.

To get to the main pool, the campfire and one of the stores, you have to take 2 busses (or wait for it to switch). Maybe if your job is driving a bus, it doesn't seem like a long time to wait, but when you just want to swim or grab a snack, it's annoying!!

Although we loved the cabin itself, we are used to campgrounds where you can walk to most things.

If we did it again, I'd seriously think about a golf cart. Or possibly bringing bikes.