Credit: DisneyFrequent Central Florida Disney Park visitors are warning guests not to waste their time staying in one unique hotel room type at Walt Disney World Resort’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campgrounds…Here’s what you need to know.
The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campgrounds
While technically considered a Moderate Resort hotel, Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort can be one of the most budget-friendly lodging options at Walt Disney World Resort. The property is home to over 800 campsites where guests can bring everything from a tent to a luxury RV, and roughly 400 cabins that offer that rugged outdoor experience without the effort of setting up camp.
Of course, The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort are not as budget-friendly as the campsites. They range from $450 to $700 per night, depending on the room type and seasonal demand. Although this is still a more affordable room option than some Deluxe Disney Resort hotels and Deluxe Disney Villas, one family is warning others not to spend their hard-earned money on a stay in The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort.
Disney World Hotel Warning
This month, Disney Food Blog shared details from their less-than-ideal stay in The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort, and urged others to stay away. See, as relaxing as a secluded cabin in the woods can be, the location creates a lot of problems for hotel guests wanting to spend much of their Walt Disney World Resort vacation at the four theme parks.
Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort offers watercraft transportation to Magic Kingdom Park and bus transportation to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park. However, to access theme park transportation, guests must use an internal bus system to travel around the sprawling Disney Resort complex. At peak times, like rope drop and park closing, Disney Park visitors have to wait for not one but two forms of transportation to and from their hotel rooms.
Unfortunately, Disney Food Blog found that the internal bus only came every 20 minutes or so. If you just miss one bus, it might be better to make the hike to the bus depot or the watercraft transportation dock yourself… depending on how remote your cabin is, that is.
Even on non-theme park days, the vastness of Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campgrounds makes it hard to enjoy the amenities. Guests must use the internal transportation system to visit the pool, restaurants, and merchandise locations, sometimes hauling towels, wet swimsuits, and refillable resort mugs onto a crowded bus.
Forget your MagicBand to get into the pool area? You’ll have to make another round-trip bus ride to get it, and with waits up to 20 minutes, that could take almost an hour.
Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campgrounds allows guests to rent or bring their own golf carts to make internal transportation easier, but, as with everything at Walt Disney World Resort, that comes at a cost. The Moderate Disney Resort charges $75 to $100 per day for golf cart rentals and requires guests who bring their own vehicles to provide proof of insurance.
While you might not want to write off The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort entirely, just know its serene, remote location means you’ll be spending a lot more time traveling to and from the Disney parks and hotel amenities than at other, more dense Walt Disney World Resort hotels.
Would you stay in The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort? Share your thoughts with Inside the Magic in the comments!