To Cabin...or not to Cabin

Traveling in March with 3 kids, ages 6 and under. We are currently booked in the Fort Wilderness Cabins and I’m struggling to decide if that is the right decision.

Pros:

  • More space for us to spread out
  • Kitchen and eating area (we do breakfasts in the room and pack park lunches for the kids)
  • No connecting rooms, so when the kiddos are up at the crack of dawn, I’m not constantly shushing them
  • on-site amenities and activities for us to participate in
  • Space right outside of cabin for kids to be kids

Cons:

  • overall amount of walking on site (we do plan to get a golf cart)
  • transportation time to each park (this is a BIG one for me and what started my second guessing)
  • teeny tiny bathroom + 5 people
  • on-site dining options and getting to/from them

My other options to consider are the Art of Animation Suites and the Boardwalk. Three COMPLETELY different resorts…

It really depends on how you tour. When my kids were those ages, we would tour from RD to an early dinner and then head back to resort for the evening. We never tried to do late nights at the parks–it just didn’t work for us b/c we have 4 and never had a time when all would nap so mid-day breaks were a waste (never been between June and September though). If that is your style, then the cabins would be a great option. A place outside to play after you return, good amenities, the kitchen, a golf cart-fun!, and transport to parks only once a day pretty much same as if you stay at AoA/BW just on busses which are pretty good IMO.
If you plan to return mid-day and then return to parks or another resort for evening ADRs, I’d go for Boardwalk for convenience to some parks but I’ve never stayed there so can’t really judge. AoA is really nice too and has kid theming that yours would like. Its a good bet, especially with the skyliner. My response really didn’t help, did it? LOL

I personally will not do Disney again with kids unless we are staying at FW. I have stayed in all the deluxe and some of the moderate over all my times at Disney but the last 2 times, which happen to be the only time with kids, have been at FW. There is nothing like coming back from the crowds and having your own space to spread out and do whatever and have peace and quiet. There is so much to do at FW that we have 2 non park days scheduled. If you have a golf cart, you will hardly have any walking. You drive/park right at the marina or bus depot. Traveling to the parks is no longer than any of the other resorts IMO. We even took DME last time and after checking in they took us with a van to our cabin. Bathrooms, every loop also has a comfort station if you needed. These are probably cleaner than my bathroom at home.
I have a solo work trip coming up in 2 months and staying at CSR. I’m literally going to be having FW withdrawals I’m thinking while there.

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As long as you’ll have a golf cart, I wouldn’t worry too much about walking or transportation time. With the golf cart, I didn’t think it was much different than any other resort (without a cart would be a whole different story!). Instead of walking to the bus stop at someplace like AOA, you’re just riding the cart - and there’s plentiful parking right by the main bus stop. Of course, I guess that could change depending on how much you’d use the skyliner to EPCOT/HS. We loved the boat to MK from FW though!

The one real drawback of FW for us was the lack of food options - we enjoyed the breakfast and dinner buffets in the TS restaurant. But the ‘quick service’ is a joke. It’s not quick at all and has pretty limited options. Plus no where to sit inside with your food. There are some picnic tables outside, which could be ok if the weather cooperates.

That said, we’d definitely stay in the cabins again - loved the resort grounds and all the activities - the kids in our group really enjoyed being able to run around and just looking at the horses etc. they have on site. We’d just never plan to eat at the QS place there.

It helped a bit. Each trip we do with kids, we try to scale it back even more. This time we plan on trying to take our days slower (easier said than done). If we want to see Fireworks, then we won’t leave for the parks until after the afternoon nap - which means more time at the resort.

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