bama_ed
It's kind of fun to do the impossible-Walt Disney
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2004
Disney wants to make as much money as possible on FW DVC Cabins, of course. To do that, they have to "appear" to make it worth the price. How would they do that?
Include a golf cart with every cabin reservation (built into the price of course) but this has a downside. This one chaps me in places I don't want to talk about. As a Fort Traditionalist, I'm already concerned about the proliferation of golf carts (both personal and Disney/rental) and the effect they've had on the Fort.
Any of you new folks remember all those thick woods down between HDDR and the walkway next to loop 100? Of course you don't because they were all ripped out to make more room for golf cart parking from HDDR down to the corner of the TE porch.
Before that, they needed more golf cart parking for the Fort dock so they paved some parking spots up by the Settlement bus loop near where the FWRR track came around for the River Country train stop complete with charging plug outlets and everything. But few people parked there because it was "too far away" from the dock to, like, walk. So there were abandoned. Easier to double park and squeeze into spots near the Mower Tree.
Up by the Meadow TP, there was a small parking lot for autos across from the 1000 entrance which was later carved up to share spots for golf carts. But that was not enough so they did a cheap job of putting down gravel and taking out more trees on the 1300 loop side to make more room for golf carts. It's an eyesore IMO.
At the Outpost Bus Depot (for parks other than MK) they enlarged the prior golf cart lot but it is indeed tight in there and people leave carts out on the side of Fort Wilderness Trail road which when it rains is a muddy mess from tire ruts.
Bottom line: golf carts would add DVC value but take away from the overall Fort value by adding more golf carts. I don't know the size of the FW golf cart fleet but if every cabin reservation got a cart, I believe it would require more carts - which is a bad thing IMO.
The paved trail to WL has been mentioned. It was torn up when R~ was underway to use as a utility corridor to deliver power, water, sewer, gas, communications, and who-knows-what-else to the construction site. Obviously replacing it adds value since there will be no table service offering available at FW once TE closes making WL table service the next best (worst) option.
My suggestion is to double-pave the trail to WL from FW in both directions to allow golf carts to travel to WL) but obviously park there to permit people to get table service dining there. Others can walk it or bike it but since carts travel on roads the option is to either let them drive on Wilderness Road (the road between WL and FW that bikes use) or double pave the path to let them drive on those. In this scenario, golf carts would NOT be included in a DVC cabin reservation as there is bus service through the cabin loops and from FW to WL. But it would "plus" the resort stay.
Obviously, a "plus" would be the quiet pool in the current cabin loop being refurbed into a DVC-only pool with some stronger theming to justify the DVC prices.
I'm ambivalent about the cabin change because although I stayed in them, they are a later add-on to the original Fort and thus were originally "keeping up with the times" at the time which is, in essence, what they are doing with this change.
Bama Ed
PS - After camping in my trailer at the beach this past week, I think I will pass on the initial rollout for DVC FW Cabins. My trailer is my DVC at Disney (so to speak), my getaway cabin in the mountains, and my beach condo on wheels. Why let go of such a versatile good thing for something stuck in one location? But when I do retire the camper, that might be when the FW DVC Cabins have lots of points on a developing resale market ...
Include a golf cart with every cabin reservation (built into the price of course) but this has a downside. This one chaps me in places I don't want to talk about. As a Fort Traditionalist, I'm already concerned about the proliferation of golf carts (both personal and Disney/rental) and the effect they've had on the Fort.
Any of you new folks remember all those thick woods down between HDDR and the walkway next to loop 100? Of course you don't because they were all ripped out to make more room for golf cart parking from HDDR down to the corner of the TE porch.
Before that, they needed more golf cart parking for the Fort dock so they paved some parking spots up by the Settlement bus loop near where the FWRR track came around for the River Country train stop complete with charging plug outlets and everything. But few people parked there because it was "too far away" from the dock to, like, walk. So there were abandoned. Easier to double park and squeeze into spots near the Mower Tree.
Up by the Meadow TP, there was a small parking lot for autos across from the 1000 entrance which was later carved up to share spots for golf carts. But that was not enough so they did a cheap job of putting down gravel and taking out more trees on the 1300 loop side to make more room for golf carts. It's an eyesore IMO.
At the Outpost Bus Depot (for parks other than MK) they enlarged the prior golf cart lot but it is indeed tight in there and people leave carts out on the side of Fort Wilderness Trail road which when it rains is a muddy mess from tire ruts.
Bottom line: golf carts would add DVC value but take away from the overall Fort value by adding more golf carts. I don't know the size of the FW golf cart fleet but if every cabin reservation got a cart, I believe it would require more carts - which is a bad thing IMO.
The paved trail to WL has been mentioned. It was torn up when R~ was underway to use as a utility corridor to deliver power, water, sewer, gas, communications, and who-knows-what-else to the construction site. Obviously replacing it adds value since there will be no table service offering available at FW once TE closes making WL table service the next best (worst) option.
My suggestion is to double-pave the trail to WL from FW in both directions to allow golf carts to travel to WL) but obviously park there to permit people to get table service dining there. Others can walk it or bike it but since carts travel on roads the option is to either let them drive on Wilderness Road (the road between WL and FW that bikes use) or double pave the path to let them drive on those. In this scenario, golf carts would NOT be included in a DVC cabin reservation as there is bus service through the cabin loops and from FW to WL. But it would "plus" the resort stay.
Obviously, a "plus" would be the quiet pool in the current cabin loop being refurbed into a DVC-only pool with some stronger theming to justify the DVC prices.
I'm ambivalent about the cabin change because although I stayed in them, they are a later add-on to the original Fort and thus were originally "keeping up with the times" at the time which is, in essence, what they are doing with this change.
Bama Ed
PS - After camping in my trailer at the beach this past week, I think I will pass on the initial rollout for DVC FW Cabins. My trailer is my DVC at Disney (so to speak), my getaway cabin in the mountains, and my beach condo on wheels. Why let go of such a versatile good thing for something stuck in one location? But when I do retire the camper, that might be when the FW DVC Cabins have lots of points on a developing resale market ...
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