Big Family in a Cabin at Disney’s Fort Wilderness
Last Thursday we stayed at Fort Wilderness located less than 3 minutes from Magic Kingdom! We booked a cabin at the Fort Wilderness because I got invited to attend the Disney Social Media Celebration- this is an invite only conference for Content Creators, Bloggers and Influencers. When I got this invite I squealed with excitement because Disney is my dream company. But then I read the small print “Please know this is a working conference for bloggers and social media influencers and invitations are nontransferable”
And I interpreted that as “Aseky you can’t bring your 50 million kids” which I was totally excited about actually because I GET A BREAK! I’m a stay at home mom/work at home mom (blogger) so I am with the kids 24/7. The idea of being at a conference kid free was equivalent to a day at the spa, seriously though.
Only issue with that, Laila is exclusively breastfed, still no bottle, and barely solids. So Renaldo would need to bring her to me every 3 hours for her feeds. We thought that it would be best to stay at the hotel that the conference is at-The Contemporary Resort, that way the kids could do the pool, and if Laila gets hungry, they could just walk over to me, and I’d quickly feed her. Well after calling Disney Resorts to book our room, it came out to a little over $500 per room and we’d need 2 because there are 6 of us. Because of the time frame, we wanted something a little cheaper. So the Disney Cast Member suggested a cabin in Fort Wilderness. She said it sleeps 6 (comfortably), it was under $300 because we are annual passholders and is literally 5 minutes away from the Contemporary Resort, so Renaldo could quickly bring Laila to me as needed. BAM! BOOKED!
I had stayed at Fort Wilderness before back when I was in middle school for a church youth camp, but it was on their campgrounds not the cabin, so I was pretty excited about getting a cabin this time. I’m going to go more in depth about the Resort in this post, but I just wanted to give you the background story on how we ended up at Fort Wilderness!
To read more about what’s new at Walt Disney World, check out my most recent Disney post here where I share all the inside scoop.
About Disney’s Fort Wilderness Cabins:
Nestled on 750 acres of pine and cypress forest, Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground evokes the timeless beauty of the American frontier. Teeming with such wildlife as deer, ducks, armadillos and rabbits, the Resort welcomes you to delight in scenic woodland trails, exciting pool areas, rootin’ tootin’ entertainment and hearty country eats.” from their site.
So many different overnight accommodation options:
- Cabin
- Bring your own RV
- Or bring a tent
What makes Fort Wilderness Different from the rest:
- Old pioneer aesthetic. Makes you feel like you’re really in that time!
- You can have groceries ordered and delivered straight to your cabin, so when you arrive you can enjoy the fun immediately.
- Golf cart rentals, so you can get to point A,B,C and D around the resort.
- So many pools, and one of which has a waterslide.
- Dog Friendly Accommodations: This was huge for us because we just got a puppy!
So Many things to do!!
- Pools
- Archery Experience
- Horse Drawn Carriage Rides
- Pony rides
- Wagon Rides
- Chip n’ Dale Campfire Singalongs
- Movies under the Stars
- Motorized Boat Rentals
- Fishing
- Canoe Rentals
- Bike Rentals
- Kayak Rentals
- Basketball courts
- Vollyball
- So many playgrounds
- Jogging Trail
- Arcade
- Wilderness trail
Top Of the line Amenities:
- Magic Bands for everyone in the family: You can add a credit card to the magic band so you can charge things to it at Disney or the resort!
- Electric Water Pagaent: read more about it here
- In-Room baby sitting: for someone to come into our hotel room and watch our 4 kids, its only $26 an hour!! That’s AMAZING!! Next time we stay at a Disney Resort (we’re staying at Four Seasons Walt Disney in September for our anniversary) we’re going to utilize this!
- In car check in: you don’t even have to get out of the car for checkin, you just drive up!!
- Disney Bus transportation
- Disney Water Transportation
- Disney Magical Express: Bus transportation from airport to hotel!
- “Minnie Van” connected with Lyft
- Free In-room WIFI and throughout the resort
- Online check in
- Resort airline Checkin
- Chase ATM
- Laundry Services
- Mail Services and more
My Review of it:
We got a cabin, and there was so much space!
- Private deck with a grill!
- One bedroom- With queen size bed, a bunk bed and smaller flat screen TV
- One bathroom- with shower/tub combo (no picture taken)
- A FULL kitchen- with plates, cups and silverware and a dishwasher!!
- Living room/Dining Room-with sleeper sofa, arm chair, ottoman and Large flat screen TV
This set up is perfect for our family because we all had a place to sleep, comfortably at night. RJ slept on the top bunk, Elias slept on the bottom bunk. Joel slept in a pack n play, provided by the resort. I slept on the Queen size bed with Laila (we’re still co-sleeping). And my husband got the best bed in the house, he slept on the sleeper sofa, in the living room by himself! Also you drive your car right up to the cabin, so if you need something for the baby, you walk right out side your cabin!!
You NEED a golf cart:
When we got there, we quickly realized that we would need to rent a golf cart ($67 per day) because everything is pretty far apart from each other. With lots of little ones, a long walk from point A to B is not ideal. So with the golf cart we were able to put all of our things on it, and quickly get to everything within the resort. We had a 4 seater, but all 6 of us were able to fit on it comfortably. Renaldo drove, Laila sat on my lap (in the front seat), and Joel sat in between my husband and I. RJ and Elias sat in the back! if you need a larger golf cart, make sure you call ahead and request a larger golf cart, because they sell quickly.
However, if you have your own golf cart, you are able to bring that too!
Make sure you bring food to cook:
I’m all about saving money, especially with having so Many little ones. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner can get pricey. So having a full kitchen that we can cook homemade meals makes the boys feel more at home, and saves us come coins. Also because there is a grill, make sure you bring some meat to grill! Did you even go camping if you didn’t have hamburgers and hot dogs? Also bring a case of water! If you have kids like mine who are about to die of thirst every 30 seconds, make sure you bring your own case of water, because a gallon of water at the trading post costs like $4!!
Ask for late check out:
This is what we did so we could enjoy the fun for longer!! When we checked in, we asked for a late check out. They said they would put a request in but couldn’t guarantee it. So I called like 4 more times, and finally the next morning at like 8am I called again, and it was approved. So we were able to leave at 1pm instead of 11 for no additional charge! this was important to us because the following day, I’d be at the conference all day, and my husband would be with the kids until I’m done, so having a place for him to take the kids at least until 1 was huge for his sanity!
Bottom Line, would we stay at Fort Wilderness again?
Yes we would.My husband and I are already making plans for our next stay. But hands down, we’d have to stay for at least 4 days 3 nights. There was just so much to see and do with the resort, that we couldn’t appreciate it for just that short time we were there.
I told all my Disney friends that The Cabins at Fort Wilderness is Disney Resort’s hidden gem. It’s perfect for large families! You only need to rent one cabin, so that price per night per room is what you’re paying, because you all fir in one room.
I told all my Disney friends that The Cabins at Fort Wilderness is Disney Resort’s hidden gem. It’s perfect for large families!
After sharing on my Instagram Stories about our stay and the cabin I got so many messages from people saying “I remember staying in the cabins there as a child, and those were some of my best memories”. it’s crazy to think that right now, my husband and I, are creating these lifelong memories for our children (insert crying emoji).
But if you’re looking into staying at Fort Wilderness, I HIGHLY recommend it!!
Thank you so much for reading, and I hope this review was helpful! Make sure you follow my family and all of our Disney adventures on Instagram
