Anyone know when the boats start running from fw? Wondering if there is any advantage or if only walkers fare better w mk these days.
I don’t have recent experience, but back when things were normal, the resort boat started running before the MK boat because of people who needed to get to early ADRs. So it might be an advantage to take the little boat to CR and then walk. I know when we were there we asked the people at check in and they were very helpful in getting us there ASAP.
ETA this forum is by far my favorite but isn’t always full of fort wilderness info. There is a forum called fort fiends that is a wonderful source of info and full of delightful people who stay at fort wilderness frequently. They were super helpful when I planned our 2017 trip there.
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My understanding is that resort boats are not running, but the MK boat to each resort is. So you can board the FW ferry to MK, most likely about 70-80 minutes before official park opening (I haven’t heard specific reports of this boat, but that seems to be the general pattern with other modes of transport).
So if you are on the first ferry, you should be pretty close to the front of the pack, but walkers from CR / GF will always have an advantage since they can go as early as they want. (Someone on a recent morning was first in line arriving about 90 minutes before opening - I think it was 6:30am.)
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Usually security on the walking paths won’t let people through until pretty close to the park gates opening.
Wonder if they really were at the gates 90 mins early or just waiting at the security check.
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They were waiting at the security check. Sorry that’s what I meant.
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Just remembered one of the people I remembered who did this super early walk to the security check - it was @Laura_hastings:
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I rope dropped MK twice from the Contemporary walking path. Both times we arrived around 6:45 and waited at temp check until about 7:00 and then were through security and standing at the tapstiles til 7:15 ish.
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