"Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog"

[alwaysbusy]

Over a year ago my wife (there's the issue, lol) talked me into taking the 4yr old to Fort Wilderness at Disney. So in several weeks we're on our way down. Wife is really familiar with the parks, but we know little about Fort Wilderness.

Any suggestions, do's, don'ts?
Anyone been there?
Should we take the bikes? I'm told it's not worth it due to needing the shuttles. Yes/no?
Your thoughts?

C'mon, let me have it.

Thanks

 

[Bones]

Over a year ago my wife (there's the issue, lol) talked me into taking the 4yr old to Fort Wilderness at Disney. So in several weeks we're on our way down. Wife is really familiar with the parks, but we know little about Fort Wilderness.

Any suggestions, do's, don'ts?
Anyone been there?
Should we take the bikes? I'm told it's not worth it due to needing the shuttles. Yes/no?
Your thoughts?

C'mon, let me have it.

Thanks

We're heading down in November First time for all of us. Have fun and enjoy. I plan on taking the girls bikes down so on our off days they can ride around the park.

 

[Bohemian]

We love Ft Wilderness.

Free transport to Disney venues, many by boat.
Free pickup snd drop off at airport.
Many facilities
Campfire and movies for kids every night, free. Snack bsr, charge.
Escort to site.

Much more.

 

[hoefler]

We are heading down again on Sept. 9th. Yes take the bicylces, it will save you 45 minutes to an hour getting to the bus stop. Shuttles run about every 30 minutes and are usualy a 10-15 minute walk from you campsite. The shuttle ride can take 30-45 inutes to the bus stop. Longer when everyone is trying to get to the parks or return.

 

[Rhyph]

We average about 40 days per year at Fort Wilderness. We typically stay at the end of the 700 loop, or at the rear-most end of the 600 loop against the road. I've never seen more than a 15 minutes wait for an in park bus, which are mostly not needed from either of those loops. We always stay at the back, and go to the rear outpost to catch a bus at the back of the park to get to the front or to Wilderness Lodge. It usually takes about 10-15 minutes to get up to the front. Then you can take a bus to go everywhere from the front depot (except to MK). It is a little harder to exploit going to Wilderness Lodge depending on the time of year. If you stay near the back, you also have the advantage of being able to take a short walk to the boat dock and go directly to MK from there where you can pick up many ways to get around (monorail to Epcot, busses, etc).

I would not bring bikes that you have any love for, they will get knocked around and banged up by others depending on where you park and chain them up. They will also most likely get wet from the pop-up afternoon storms.

We have been doing this for years and are AP holders. We will be there there 10 days starting Sept 17 and one more time this year for 10 days starting Dec 13.

Also if you haven't already visit Fort Fiends, tons of info, you'll find me there as well: http://www.fortfiends.net/

Feel free to PM me or ask any questions here if you have them.

On edit: Forgot to mention, considering the size of your rig, you will need to put in a site request for a soft-turn, back-in without jack-knife site, that is at least 65ft long. You will need to call them and give them that information and you can also request what loop. The 600 & 700 loops have plenty of sites that we can get our 3-axle beasts in to without issue.

 

[alwaysbusy]

We are also checking in Sept 17. Thanks to all for the info so far. We will surely call ahead and make the site request your speaking of Rhyph. We're not doing the golf cart thing but have been throwing the bike idea around.

 

[Ks.Kev]

Had to laugh at your subject title "Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog"

Our grandson watches the Mickey Mouse Club on TV, and I've seen Mickey singing this song.....
If I'm not either humming it or singing it..... it gets into your mind and it wont stop!!!!

​

 

[alwaysbusy]

If you think that's bad, it can get worse. You could have all the different characters dance moves memorized to it...that's bad...and yes, I'm there!

 

[Bones]

How was your trip?

 

[Rhyph]

It went great for us. It wasn't without it's events. We got caught in the tropical storm the developed over us while in St. Augustine prior to arriving at the Fort. While at the Fort, they had a power outage (not weather related) that lasted maybe a good 6+ hours. We were super thankful it happened in the evening and not in the middle of the day, and maybe about 10 minutes before we had just returned back to the site for the evening from the parks. It re-kindled my desire to pursue some sort of AGS, because had that happened in the middle of the day, with that heat and the dogs, things could have been very different.

We were chatting with some CM's who we know there due to our frequency of visits and they said losing power does not happen. We certainly have never had it happen in all the years we have been going. This is the first time as one of the 20+ year CM's mentioned in as many years as they'd been there. They also mentioned it was a mechanical fault and it took them several hours just to find the issue, because they've never had to deal with it before; I suppose that makes sense due to the length of the outage.

As it's not like Disney to rest on their laurels, in typical first class fashion, they offered to put everyone up in hotels overnight during the issue, and the following day the Fort's manager delivered letters to everyone with an apology and invite to take care of any issues that arose due to the situation.

 

[Bones]

It went great for us. It wasn't without it's events. We got caught in the tropical storm the developed over us while in St. Augustine prior to arriving at the Fort. While at the Fort, they had a power outage (not weather related) that lasted maybe a good 6+ hours. We were super thankful it happened in the evening and not in the middle of the day, and maybe about 10 minutes before we had just returned back to the site for the evening from the parks. It re-kindled my desire to pursue some sort of AGS, because had that happened in the middle of the day, with that heat and the dogs, things could have been very different.

We were chatting with some CM's who we know there due to our frequency of visits and they said losing power does not happen. We certainly have never had it happen in all the years we have been going. This is the first time as one of the 20+ year CM's mentioned in as many years as they'd been there. They also mentioned it was a mechanical fault and it took them several hours just to find the issue, because they've never had to deal with it before; I suppose that makes sense due to the length of the outage.

As it's not like Disney to rest on their laurels, in typical first class fashion, they offered to put everyone up in hotels overnight during the issue, and the following day the Fort's manager delivered letters to everyone with an apology and invite to take care of any issues that arose due to the situation.

wow they really do go the extra step. We worried about the dog so family will be watching him for tour trip. Was the site difficult to get into?

 

[alwaysbusy]

Rhyph will say better, but he certainly had an easier back in than I. Our site was tight on 700 loop; however, some sites on our loop were more spacious. We could not put our awnings out the whole way due to close trees. I was just able to keep our TV off the loop road with it parked sideways in front. I personally think their a little close but all-in-all, wasn't bad. If the folks across from us were not there when we arrived, we would not have been able to get in our site as we had to ask them to move their car. Was a good trip and Rhyph was a great help for our first trip inside the Wilderness.

 

[Bones]

Rhyph will say better, but he certainly had an easier back in than I. Our site was tight on 700 loop; however, some sites on our loop were more spacious. We could not put our awnings out the whole way due to close trees. I was just able to keep our TV off the loop road with it parked sideways in front. I personally think their a little close but all-in-all, wasn't bad. If the folks across from us were not there when we arrived, we would not have been able to get in our site as we had to ask them to move their car. Was a good trip and Rhyph was a great help for our first trip inside the Wilderness.

I'm not even sure what loop I will be on. They never really told me.

 

[VKTalley]

I'm not even sure what loop I will be on. They never really told me.

You usually get your loop assignment when you check in.