Your best tips for newbie at FW cabin 3/06?

[Mainebound]

Hi all,

It's my first post on this board. Our friends, a family of 6, with four kids ranging in age from 2 to 8, are staying for a week in March at the FW cabins. It is their first trip to WDW. They are flying and will use WDW transportation. They just bought the package at rack rate, with the loaded MYW and (I think) dining plan. I am trying to help them with some basic suggestions for park touring, but I wonder if there's any important info about the cabins they should have? I gave them the link to the FW FAQ site. Any other suggestions?

thanks!

 

[marisantiago]

For those staying at a cabin, there are few things you should have:

1. Flashlight (night illumination is pretty low, but appropiate for the setting, also it is very handy for night's critters watching)
2. Make advance reservations for a golf cart (if you don't enjoy 15 to 20 minutes walking trips around the campground)
3. Charcoal, flicker, bag of marshmellows, chocolate bars, graham crackers and kabobs sticks (kids like to use the heat in the grill after dinner)
4. A small folding hand truck (to carry your laundry bags from your cabin to the laundry room)
5. Your own groceries (buy just what you are going to really use)

Hope this help!

 

[Mainebound]

For those staying at a cabin, there are few things you should have:

1. Flashlight (night illumination is pretty low, but appropiate for the setting, also it is very handy for night's critters watching)
2. Make advance reservations for a golf cart (if you don't enjoy 15 to 20 minutes walking trips around the campground)
3. Charcoal, flicker, bag of marshmellows, chocolate bars, graham crackers and kabobs sticks (kids like to use the heat in the grill after dinner)
4. A small folding hand truck (to carry your laundry bags from your cabin to the laundry room)
5. Your own groceries (buy just what you are going to really use)

Hope this help!

Thank you, this is a huge help!

I am not sure a golf cart is in their budget, but hopefully the internal busses will be ok.

I do have one question: they will be using DME, not renting a car. How will they shop for groceries? Take a cab? If so, to which grocery store? Thank you!

 

[marisantiago]

Well, I did have a rented car, so I was able to go to one of the many Walmart Supercenters in the Kissimmee area. Also, I saw Goodings Supermarket at a nearby shopping center.

I guess you can take a cab from the outpost area and do your shopping. I do not have an idea how much it will cost, but I am afraid it is not going to be cheap, specially if there are more than 1 or 2 persons!

One of the advantage of staying at a cabin is the full kitchen facilities, so you can save some money that you otherwise will be spending at a restaurant on food not eaten. For me, it was a good deal since my kids are small portion eaters and my husband likes homemade food.

I think you should be ok taking the cab. Make sure you bring a list of all your needs before going to the grocery. The driver should be able to take you to the nearest grocery store upon request, and driving you back to the fort after you are done.

Also, there are some Disney hotel (Downtown Disney area) that have rental car on property. You can do something like this: take a Disney bus to MK, then take another bus to the Disney hotel that have a rental car facility, rent a car for a day, take that day to do all your shoppings, and return the car the next day.

You need to find the cost of these two alternative before taking the right choice.

I know it sounds like a lot of trouble, but that's the best I can think of.

Hope this help you!

 

[gullyf]

We will be staying at the cabins for the first time ourselves in March, so I can't offer any "firsthand" info just yet, but if you browse around and search a bit on these forums you'll also find that there are a number of delivery options for groceries such as http://gardengrocer.com/ (see shipping and delivery page for info on delivery to WDW Resorts). Again, can't vouch from personal experience yet, but search these forums and you'll find plenty who can. Search for "grocery" or "perishables" or similar terms from the main forum page.. that should give you a number of hits..

Ummm... quick edit... suggest searching for "garden" "grocer" (two separate terms in the search box).. anything more general brings up too much unrelated stuff. You can search more on things you find from that...

 

[blestmom]

Thank you, this is a huge help!

I am not sure a golf cart is in their budget, but hopefully the internal busses will be ok.

I do have one question: they will be using DME, not renting a car. How will they shop for groceries? Take a cab? If so, to which grocery store? Thank you!

I've stayed in the cabins twice with 5 kids. We had a wonderful time. We did not use a golf cart, due to budget constraints. The internal busses worked well for us (it wasn't too crowded of a time).

We used a grocery delivery service...wegoshop.com. It was excellent. I would definitely use them again.

 

[ghcoughlin]

If a cab is not an option..or even if it is.What we have always had good luck with is shipping non perishables down.We're in Vermont and know it takes 5 days to ship a box UPS.So a couple weeks out I start picking up the mac and cheese,PB&J,kool aid powder,cereal,snacks etc.When we check in we love hearing" a package has arrived for you"Then you spend less time in the grocery store.Or if all you need is milk and a few staples you can pick it up at The trading post.Picking up the food before hand also doesn't take out of your $$ there.
They will have an awsome time.We leave in 1 week and can't wait
Heidi