Disney's Fort Wilderness Cabins

We decided to go with a cabin for our Disney vacation, because of the kitchen and living area. When you have 3 children, being able to spread out is of utmost importance!



The cabin was very cute, and we were able to spread out in some ways. I think it was the right choice for us this year, but I know we'll never choose Fort Wilderness cabins again for a couple of reasons:

• Bus transportation to and from the campgrounds (which includes the cabins) takes twice as long as other Disney resorts because you have to take a separate bus to get to your cabin once you arrive at Fort Wilderness. So, it takes 20 minutes to get from the Magic Kingdom to Fort Wilderness... and then another 20 minutes to get to your cabin. The total travel time for every place we went was a minimum of 40 minutes... not good with 3 rambunctious kids!
• There were very few drawers in the cabins... much less drawer space than a regular hotel room... which meant 5 people were living out of 5 suitcases for an entire week. That kind of cut down on the benefit of having enough space to spread out!
  

• The campground, like much of Florida, is a swamp. We had a GREAT time with no mosquitoes... but we ARE talking about a cabin in the middle of an honest-to-goodness swamp. I'm not sure what the experience would be like during the summer!
• I don't know HOW many lizards my boys caught in the swamp right outside the door of our cabin. My fear for my boys was, if the lizards like living in the swamp so much, maybe their friends the snakes are living here, too! I warned my boys of this, but it did not deter them from sneaking into the swamp to catch another lizard. I think a nice room on the 12th floor of a different resort might be a little safer for my adventurers!
  

Disney is expensive... there is no getting around that. Staying in a cabin or a suite is more expensive than a regular room, but we thought we would save money by eating some meals in the cabin. We ended up buying the meal plan that included one table service, one quick meal, and one snack per day. Thank goodness we bought the meal plan with travel time being so long, because we only ate breakfast in the cabin. We wouldn't have gotten to do everything in the parks if we had eaten every meal in the cabin.

We loved the meal plan! That table service meal (translated sit-down dinner) was priceless for parents with 3 kids! This sounds bad, but I just love having people bring me my food! We spent about the same amount on the meal plan as we had spent buying food (mostly quick-service) on previous trips; so it was definitely worth it for us. Charles and I were actually able to eat healthy once a day for about the same price as fast food all day. That worked well for us... but we do have 3 boys and they REALLY eat a lot (chicken fingers and french fries, anyway).

Next time, I think we will stay in a hotel room on the monorail (Grand Floridian maybe?) which will significantly cut travel time; buy the deluxe meal plan, and pay for child care a couple of times if we start to feel claustrophobic!