Just returned from a stay at Fort Wilderness. A few things I hadn't considered before in relation to the new DVC.

[intamin]

I have a fixed week at RIV. Its week 52 - never used it yet. Always had the points

I think you’re mistaking RV for RIV..

 

[macman123]

I think you’re mistaking RV for RIV..

Oh so I am..... I also mistook FW for Fixed Week.....

 

[tidefan]

Oh so I am..... I also mistook FW for Fixed Week.....

Changed it for you!

 

[AwfulWaffle]

Hopefully more news will come up during the annual meeting. I might be interested in some cabin points if I can still decorate them or else it’s RV for life for us when we visit there

 

[bama_ed]

@tidefan, great trip report.

Your stay in loop 200 was just one loop over from where we often stay which is in loop 100 (when we stay in a Preferred loop). We can also stay in a pop-up loop in which we prefer 1500.

It is true that the vibe in the campground loops is different than that in the cabin loops. The cabin loops do feel isolated and more segmented while the camping loops have more opportunities to meet neighbors, talk camping, and enjoy the all outdoors.

Also it's true that there are only a handful of washers and dryers in the cabin loops versus the machines in the camping loops. The ratio is approximately 3X the machines per campsites versus the count per cabins. So I would think DVC will have to build some more laundry capacity to bring the DVC/Cabin service level on par with the campers. Or work compact stackable W/D units into the cabin floorplan.

I've always held that Disney will build on the former River Country land down by Bay Lake. That waterfront property facing MK is too valuable to pass up. Also with the amount of work already put into that location, Disney is not going to turn their backs on it. Given that they will build SOMETHING, I hope it will at least be themed to pair with the existing Fort facilities nearby which the previous design failed to do. They took away our Trails End buffet restaurant so I hope the new property will have some table service offering (which it likely would).

In conclusion, we have a 1-night stay in January in the FW cabins tacked on the end of our campsite stay. It's a chance to make one more set of cabin memories that started over 20 years ago with our 3 young kids (now grown of course).

I'm glad your stay went well.

Bama Ed

 

[kevtlas]

We just returned from a week-long stay at FW. We are looking in to eventually getting an RV and numerous people have told us to "rent one before you buy", so we took that advice and rented a RV and stayed at FW for a week, because, what better place to test it out

In doing so, we got a real good feel for the Fort and how things work there. As longtime DVC members, of course we were interested in the cabin conversion to DVC, so I was thinking about that as I was there. Now having stayed, I think that there are a few things to consider about the DVC conversion that I hadn't really understood prior to this visit.

• First, I had been basing what DVC sales may be in FW compared to other DVC options and how a family may like the fact that they can sleep multiple people in the cabins. What I had not considered is that not only will DVC be competing with a family paying cash at a Cabin or another property, in FW, DVC will be competing with what we did which was renting a RV from an outside company. We had a 37' RV (large) and with the RV, Campsite cost, and Golf Cart rental (from the same company), we were less than $3,000 for the whole trip. That works out to about $425 per night, inclusive of the golf cart. This is less than what you would pay now just renting the cabin on cash, much less paying Disney an extra $500 for a week of golf cart usage... and the RV was really, really nice.
• Some of the RV rentals will sleep up to 10 people.
• The DVC cabins are in the 2200-2800 loops, which are the furthest away from the "Settlement" area (Hoop-de-Doo, boat launch). I would think that you would really want a Golf Cart if you were staying here.
• There is currently only a single comfort station (think laundry, bathrooms, showers) in the Cabins area. I would think that they will need at least one more. Having seen the comfort stations, they are very nice, and I am now of the belief that it would be better to add one more and just let them serve as the laundry areas vs. putting a W/D in each unit. There were 5 washers and 6 dryers in our CS, which seemed to have at least one open at all times. For the DVC area, I am sure they could control access via MagicBand like they do at the SSR pool area laundry areas for DVC members to have free laundry.
• The Wilderness pool, IMHO, will definitely need to be redone. It sort of reminded me of the pool in the Treehouse area as it currently sits. They will need a bigger pool area over here. The main pool at the Meadows area was completely packed the whole time we were there. I also hope that they would put a small quick service (like at the Paddock pool at SSR) in this area so you didn't have to haul all the way to Trail's End.
• I am excited about the ability to bring pets, but for the cabins, it is currently a $50 per night fee. In an RV site, it is only $5 per night.
• In a few of the loops, they have already removed some cabins, not a lot, but definitely one here or there. I don't think it will take them long to flip the area as they can just haul the old ones out and the new ones in as they will be pre-fabbed off-site.

A couple of other things, that I don't want to bullet but wanted to mention. First, there is just a different feel between the RV campsite areas and the Cabin areas. We much preferred the RV campsite areas. We were in the 200 loop and really enjoyed just walking around talking to all of the other RV'ers that were there. We also enjoyed "looping", or taking the Golf Cart around to see all of the different decorations that people had out. Not sure if this is just how it was when we were there, but the RV sites were all decked out with different decorations, inflatables, etc. We had a blast. I told people that it really reminded me of vacationing in the 1980's with being outside more and just interacting with people. However, over at the cabins, there wasn't really much decorations at all. Also, you didn't see all of the people outdoors like you did at the RV sites. It was just a different feeling.

Second, there was a lot of scuttlebutt from the CM's that "something" was going on at the Reflections site and that they had seen concrete being poured over there. The speculation (note: this is SPECULATION) from the CM's was that they were going to build something and that it would be tied in to the DVC at the cabins and thematically to Fort Wilderness. The CM's were colloquially referring to it as "River Country Lodge" (NOTE: Colloquial - not official - this is just what they were referring to it as). One mentioned to me that could be why Trail's End was converted to a quick service because they would open table service at whatever went in at the Reflections site (BTW, the fried chicken is excellent over there). I guess we will find out in the next year or so...

To wrap it up, while I was excited about the Cabins at first, now having done an actual RV stay, I think that I would rather do that. Not to say I wouldn't use points over at the Cabins, but depending on pricing, it would take awhile to break even against an RV rental, and to me, the RV rental experience was superior. Again, just my thoughts and I realize others may have a different take, but I thought it was worth discussing as this comes online over the next year.

One thing I forgot to add. When you rent the RV from the companies that do it, they come set everything up for you. You just show up with your clothes and your toothbrush

You most definitely get to avoid the most frustrating aspect of the RV process, that of backing in to your site. You also don't have to worry about hooking up/unhooking the RV. They take care of all that for you.

Thanks for your post! We are currently stationed overseas and missing our RV trips, so good to have an idea of how much renting would cost. Also that we wouldn’t need to worry about making sure we rent a drivable, since the rental company will bring it and set everything up.

 

[bookbabe626]

DH and I are DVCers in a FW cabin as I type this. Tuesday morning we were over at the Wilderness pool (him swimming, me doing laundry) and a large senior management team came through inspecting the pool area. Seems they do that once every six months, or so they said. DH got chatting since we were the only ones at the pool. He was told by one of the managers that the cabin swap out was going to start around March, and that the cabins would have different size options, which we understood to mean studio/1 bdrm/2 bdrm or such. DH didn't think to ask if they'd have laundry in them. I think there will likely be an announcement of some kind today at the association meeting if the swapout is starting that soon.

FYI, the comfort station at the wilderness pool does not have showers, just restrooms, but the laundry area has 9 washers and (I think) 16 or 18 dryers.

I miss the laundry being actually in the room. Guess I'm really used to a 1 bdrm villa. There's also no oven, just a combo microwave/convention oven. The bathroom is tiny. And all the wood inside seems to have generated either a mold issue or dust mites, both our allergies are worse inside the cabin itself than they are outside.

I'm glad we stayed in a cabin before the swapout, and we'll probably stay in one again after, just to see the comparison. But the point charts would have to be very attractive and the cabins would need all the amenities of a 1 bdrm villa for us to consider buying points there.

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

DH and I are DVCers in a FW cabin as I type this. Tuesday morning we were over at the Wilderness pool (him swimming, me doing laundry) and a large senior management team came through inspecting the pool area. Seems they do that once every six months, or so they said. DH got chatting since we were the only ones at the pool. He was told by one of the managers that the cabin swap out was going to start around March, and that the cabins would have different size options, which we understood to mean studio/1 bdrm/2 bdrm or such. DH didn't think to ask if they'd have laundry in them.

I spoke to a guide earlier this week and when I mentioned how it’ll be interesting to see how they incorporate a moderate resort into DVC and how the cost/point charts should nicely reflect that he said not to be so sure that they were going to make these to deluxe standards and overhaul the pool and other facilities to the same.

I think you might be right @bookbabe626 or at least something to that effect. Adding laundry units would definitely add to the appeal, too.

 

[tidefan]

I spoke to a guide earlier this week and when I mentioned how it’ll be interesting to see how they incorporate a moderate resort into DVC and how the cost/point charts should nicely reflect that he said not to be so sure that they were going to make these to deluxe standards and overhaul the pool and other facilities to the same.

I think you might be right @bookbabe626 or at least something to that effect. Adding laundry units would definitely add to the appeal, too.

The more I think about this, the more I think that there is a narrow lane for DVD to make this work well.

They can "spruce up" the 2200-2800 loops as much as they want, but

• they are still far from the settlement area and not really that close to the meadows area
• still part of the overall Fort Wilderness resort, which is a moderate, and quite honestly, making it Deluxe would, IMHO, take some of it's current charm away
• if the points are too high or if the buy-in is too high, I'd rather just get my own RV and stay at a regular campsite
• if the points are restricted, will people want to buy there knowing that they would be very difficult to resell?

Just things to think about. I think that the current sales pace of VDH may be a cautionary tale here. Just following the "How much would you pay for a VDH resale" thread, it has a lot of points that would be applicable here as well.

Now, do I think these will be popular for point usage? Of course! However, DVD's goal is to sell these points, that is going to take the right mix of ingredients. I hope their game theory person is good at their job...

 

[kneely58]

DVCNews just posted this interior photo from the condo association meeting on X:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1732842989150503421

 

[Doberge]

Second, there was a lot of scuttlebutt from the CM's that "something" was going on at the Reflections site and that they had seen concrete being poured over there. The speculation (note: this is SPECULATION) from the CM's was that they were going to build something and that it would be tied in to the DVC at the cabins and thematically to Fort Wilderness. The CM's were colloquially referring to it as "River Country Lodge" (NOTE: Colloquial - not official - this is just what they were referring to it as). One mentioned to me that could be why Trail's End was converted to a quick service because they would open table service at whatever went in at the Reflections site (BTW, the fried chicken is excellent over there). I guess we will find out in the next year or so...

I'd like to respond to your other points later because you had some well thought out stuff, but starting here because this part amused me. I read it smiling thinking how familiar it sounded.

Pretty good chance something will eventually be built on that site, although maybe not exactly Reflections. The cabins could be the first step or entirely separate. Proximity wise the Reflections is closer to Wilderness Lodge than the cabin loops, but anything could happen and maybe they are tied under the Fort Wilderness brand. With the distance, it could be similar to how the Saratoga treehouses are part of Saratoga Springs.

I feel like some decisions at FW were made when they were expecting Reflections to open. For example, I could be convinced that the Trail's End conversion to quick service was a decision made years ago when there was an expectation that FW folks could just go to Reflections for table service dining, and when Reflections didn't happen on schedule the Trail's End change still happened for other economical reasons.

Unrelated to above, but it'd be a fun incentive to include a free golf cart for length of stay to folks who sign up within the opening period.

CMs read here so it could be related or just totally randomly the same thoughts, as I think there's some theory that there are no original thoughts because someone has likely already thought the same thing before we did. Either way I'm still amused.

 

[BethB712]

We just returned from a week-long stay at FW. We are looking in to eventually getting an RV and numerous people have told us to "rent one before you buy", so we took that advice and rented a RV and stayed at FW for a week, because, what better place to test it out

In doing so, we got a real good feel for the Fort and how things work there. As longtime DVC members, of course we were interested in the cabin conversion to DVC, so I was thinking about that as I was there. Now having stayed, I think that there are a few things to consider about the DVC conversion that I hadn't really understood prior to this visit.

• First, I had been basing what DVC sales may be in FW compared to other DVC options and how a family may like the fact that they can sleep multiple people in the cabins. What I had not considered is that not only will DVC be competing with a family paying cash at a Cabin or another property, in FW, DVC will be competing with what we did which was renting a RV from an outside company. We had a 37' RV (large) and with the RV, Campsite cost, and Golf Cart rental (from the same company), we were less than $3,000 for the whole trip. That works out to about $425 per night, inclusive of the golf cart. This is less than what you would pay now just renting the cabin on cash, much less paying Disney an extra $500 for a week of golf cart usage... and the RV was really, really nice.
• Some of the RV rentals will sleep up to 10 people.
• The DVC cabins are in the 2200-2800 loops, which are the furthest away from the "Settlement" area (Hoop-de-Doo, boat launch). I would think that you would really want a Golf Cart if you were staying here.
• There is currently only a single comfort station (think laundry, bathrooms, showers) in the Cabins area. I would think that they will need at least one more. Having seen the comfort stations, they are very nice, and I am now of the belief that it would be better to add one more and just let them serve as the laundry areas vs. putting a W/D in each unit. There were 5 washers and 6 dryers in our CS, which seemed to have at least one open at all times. For the DVC area, I am sure they could control access via MagicBand like they do at the SSR pool area laundry areas for DVC members to have free laundry.
• The Wilderness pool, IMHO, will definitely need to be redone. It sort of reminded me of the pool in the Treehouse area as it currently sits. They will need a bigger pool area over here. The main pool at the Meadows area was completely packed the whole time we were there. I also hope that they would put a small quick service (like at the Paddock pool at SSR) in this area so you didn't have to haul all the way to Trail's End.
• I am excited about the ability to bring pets, but for the cabins, it is currently a $50 per night fee. In an RV site, it is only $5 per night.
• In a few of the loops, they have already removed some cabins, not a lot, but definitely one here or there. I don't think it will take them long to flip the area as they can just haul the old ones out and the new ones in as they will be pre-fabbed off-site.

A couple of other things, that I don't want to bullet but wanted to mention. First, there is just a different feel between the RV campsite areas and the Cabin areas. We much preferred the RV campsite areas. We were in the 200 loop and really enjoyed just walking around talking to all of the other RV'ers that were there. We also enjoyed "looping", or taking the Golf Cart around to see all of the different decorations that people had out. Not sure if this is just how it was when we were there, but the RV sites were all decked out with different decorations, inflatables, etc. We had a blast. I told people that it really reminded me of vacationing in the 1980's with being outside more and just interacting with people. However, over at the cabins, there wasn't really much decorations at all. Also, you didn't see all of the people outdoors like you did at the RV sites. It was just a different feeling.

Second, there was a lot of scuttlebutt from the CM's that "something" was going on at the Reflections site and that they had seen concrete being poured over there. The speculation (note: this is SPECULATION) from the CM's was that they were going to build something and that it would be tied in to the DVC at the cabins and thematically to Fort Wilderness. The CM's were colloquially referring to it as "River Country Lodge" (NOTE: Colloquial - not official - this is just what they were referring to it as). One mentioned to me that could be why Trail's End was converted to a quick service because they would open table service at whatever went in at the Reflections site (BTW, the fried chicken is excellent over there). I guess we will find out in the next year or so...

To wrap it up, while I was excited about the Cabins at first, now having done an actual RV stay, I think that I would rather do that. Not to say I wouldn't use points over at the Cabins, but depending on pricing, it would take awhile to break even against an RV rental, and to me, the RV rental experience was superior. Again, just my thoughts and I realize others may have a different take, but I thought it was worth discussing as this comes online over the next year.

I visited FW last week during our stay and was told by a CM that the fenced off area was a staging area for the DVC cabin project.

 

[Cfabar1]

During our trip this weekend we asked two salespeople in the parks what's going on and when we could preview them. We don't really have any desire to buy them, but we are considering building a cabin of our own, so we are kind of curious about design and see if there's anything worth stealing....

Anyhow, it sounds like we are getting close. We return in March, maybe sooner. I will reach out to my guide in anticipation of that visit - which will be our first to the Riviera resort since our tour of the property in 2022. (we ultimately decided to buy VGF instead of Riviera). Maybe we will be able to see a cabin at that point in time.