Disney Vacation Club and Fort Wilderness

[DDC]

I have DVC and liked to use it to stay at Fort Wilderness campground, are there any others out there that do this to?
I do have a reason in asking because I'm finding it impossible to book, they tell me it is not available for the dates starting in 2019, anyone else using points having the same trouble?

[doc73]

I can not help much other than seeing people on the Disney campers Facebook group saying it is booked way out and more and more is maxed out.

[DDC]

The window is supposed to be 11 months but they don't have any contract with Fort wilderness after December 31st. I talked to them yesterday and she said she had no idea of what was happening and to just keep calling back to check when it will open up.

[robbiels7]

We have booked up to a year in advance. The fort books up crazy fast. I have noticed that they also get a lot of cancellations. Just call or go on my Disney experience every day. It seems to be a lot of work but if you are persistent you most likely will get what you want. Sometimes we will get what is available like there days and just keep adding as it opens up. Good luck.

[dblr]

It has always been hard to use your point from DVC to get a site at the Fort, it has been done but just seems extremely hard. Some say it is not a good use of points but if your happy that should be all that matters. Good luck

[Kaadk]

On a side note, how happy are you with DVC? We seem to end up at Disney every 2 years so I’ve considered it, but the math never seems to work out in my favour. As far as I can tell DVC only covers the lodging. After the initial purchase, their monthly fees * 24 months is usually more than what 6 nights in a resort costs. I’d end up paying a huge outlay to be in a contractual obligation to pay more for my vacations.

Unless I’m doing my math wrong. Current offers show the lowest point options available are ~61 per month. 61*24/6= $244 per night. That’s about the price of a Moderate. Heck, if I recall correctly, it’s not that far off what we paid last year for the Yacht Club (we were trying to live it up. )

[dblr]

Originally Posted by Kaadk

On a side note, how happy are you with DVC? We seem to end up at Disney every 2 years so I’ve considered it, but the math never seems to work out in my favour. As far as I can tell DVC only covers the lodging. After the initial purchase, their monthly fees * 24 months is usually more than what 6 nights in a resort costs. I’d end up paying a huge outlay to be in a contractual obligation to pay more for my vacations.

Unless I’m doing my math wrong. Current offers show the lowest point options available are ~61 per month. 61*24/6= $244 per night. That’s about the price of a Moderate. Heck, if I recall correctly, it’s not that far off what we paid last year for the Yacht Club (we were trying to live it up. )

Don't forget to add in the monthly dues also, but also remember after you pay off the mortgage you will only have dues, which do increase every year and depending on what home resort you have depends the rate. We have had DVC since 2004 and go about the same as you unless we get great Annual Pass offer then maybe 2 trips in a year. Think of it as pre-paying for your vacation but we do like having it

[Sanibel]

Originally Posted by DDC

The window is supposed to be 11 months but they don't have any contract with Fort wilderness after December 31st. I talked to them yesterday and she said she had no idea of what was happening and to just keep calling back to check when it will open up.

I MAY just be that they spend a lot of time trying to get DVC members reservations and it just isn't available anymore. I know we don't even try any longer but let our TA make our reservations since she's on their site on a daily basis, she often just pieces a trip together for us. As in she gets two or 3 days at the beginning of our stay, and maybe a couple at the end then works on getting the middle. We stayed last year from about the 20th of Dec till Jan 9 (it was expensive but worth it to us as our kids live down there and it just works best) but she was unable to get us NYE so we had a 2 day gap in the middle so made a reservation at the KOA. We went to the front desk shortly after arrival and asked if anything opened up would they let us know. I'd pretty much given up and was preparing to start packing up the camper when they called and got us the "gap" days and we could stay in our site. That was a win! So the Fort may just not have the inventory anymore for DVC. Wish they did, even more I wish they had days available for Cast Members as years ago our Son could get us a site for 40-50% off....same goes with CM's getting a discounted reservation is almost impossible. When buying our AP through DVC the agent was looking at my account and said something like "HOW did you get reservations at the FORT?" I told her it was thanks to a dedicated Travel agent!

[Sanibel]

[QUOTE=Kaadk;1789872]On a side note, how happy are you with DVC? We seem to end up at Disney every 2 years so I’ve considered it, but the math never seems to work out in my favour.


It's hard to see it, but we also use to stay every 2 to 3 years but now go down more often for just a few days here and there, since we camp more now. That said, if you own 60 points you can stack your points. Example if you have 60 points, you could bank them to the 2019 use year, and borrow from the 2020 use year and have a vacation with 180 points during 2019. It's kind of confusing until you've done it a time or two but works well. Example we banked and borrowed, and rented a 2 bedroom for a family Christmas at Disney. I did a rough estimate of what we paid, plus our yearly dues, and then estimated what it would have cost us to stay on property at a Value resort and it was about 10-12 years for break even,less since we are staying at moderate and deluxe by being members (but if not a member I probably would have stuck with Value as I didn't know what I was missing)LOL. I'd have to dig out exactly what our dues are now, but last time I checked it was about the equivalent of a 3-4 night stay in a DVC resort. But if you don't go often and don't want to join DVC, you can rent points from several sites (I'd have to look them up but probably just search DVC rentals) for about $10-12 per point. Maybe a bit more for Grand Floridian or Aulani for example. We usually just stay wherever is available for our dates, which is usually Saratoga or Old Key West. The bigger problem in my opinion is that some of the DVC properties have a higher dues as you are paying taxes, so the size of the footprint of the hotel is one factor as is age and maintenance. Each property is different. Oh and buying resale rather from Disney is cheaper but you lose some benefits which IMO are not an issue. LOL probably WAY too much information, and I may not be explaining it well. I guess it really depends on how much longer you think you will go to WDW.

[spock123]

I have a ten day trip for September, we have never been to the Fort. My son loves the Fort. I lucked up and got six more days at the end of November and I now have a agent trying to get us six more days. DW doesn’t think it will be worth it

[Royston]

Originally Posted by DDC

I have DVC and liked to use it to stay at Fort Wilderness campground, are there any others out there that do this to?
I do have a reason in asking because I'm finding it impossible to book, they tell me it is not available for the dates starting in 2019, anyone else using points having the same trouble?

We have used points to stay at the Fort and have managed 5 stays ( 1 x 2013, 1 x 2014, 2 x 2015 & 1 x 2017. At first it was fairly simple but as the years went by it has become more and more difficult. We live in Ontario Canada and try to 'escape' for the winter so try for 8 weeks at the fort and 4 at a KOA or similar campsite near Disney so we can make best use of our annual passes.

Winter 2015/2016 was hit and miss and we finished up using a mix of points and $$$. This past winter we were really screwed as we only managed to get 7 days end Dec beginning Jan then we had to go off site and return in Feb for 3 weeks. And even the 3 weeks was a mistake on Disney's part as someone we spoke to at Member services had sent us a confirmation (of sorts) that we think they had to honour.

We rang almost every day starting February 2017 and always the same answer - 'NO INVENTORY' because the campground had not released it yet. It wasn't until MAY that the campground released inventory and by that time everything had been snapped up by regular campers.

The Fort is getting busier and busier and I don't know how transactions between DVC and the campground work but my guess is that the campground makes more money from regular bookings than the do off DVC points.

Add to that the fact the if you pay $$$ for the campground you can book 399 days out so what chance do DVC campers have when the inventory for DVC does not become available until 7 months out.

I also read the Disney Campers FB and many book sites 399 days out and know they can cancel without penalty. If they do cancel a few weeks before the reserved dates then those sites are usually snapped up by last minute campers or campers wanting to fill gaps in their bookings.

While we were there there were lots of vacant sites and regular campground website showed available but when we called member service we got the all to familiar - NO INVENTORY answer - how can they say no inventory when there are empty sites on almost every loop??

We plan to meet up with family from the UK next year and are hoping to stay 6 weeks at the Fort but given recent experience it is looking doubtful.

I have also looked into renting our points and using the money to book the fort like regular campers but the money we would get for the amount of points it would use to stay for 6 weeks would mean we would have to put in extra $$$$ do this.

We have a 3000 mile round trip when we go to the Fort so need extended stays to make it financially viable, especially with the exchange rate and price of fuel on the increase.

Hope something changes for all of us

[robbiels7]

Originally Posted by spock123

I have a ten day trip for September, we have never been to the Fort. My son loves the Fort. I lucked up and got six more days at the end of November and I now have a agent trying to get us six more days. DW doesn’t think it will be worth it

We will also spend 10 days for thanksgiving. Can't wait it will be our third fort trip this year!

[Bushbunch]

Go to Fort Summit, up the road and drive in. Save money.
Also, now known differently.
Orlando Southwest KOA

[robbiels7]

Originally Posted by Bushbunch

Go to Fort Summit, up the road and drive in. Save money.
Also, now known differently.
Orlando Southwest KOA

But it's just not the same.

[Royston]

Originally Posted by Bushbunch

Go to Fort Summit, up the road and drive in. Save money.
Also, now known differently.
Orlando Southwest KOA

I agree its close and less $$ but the convenience of staying at the Fort just makes everything so easy and saves using your car.

We stayed at Sherwood Forrest Resort just off 192, only 20 minutes drive + traffic but it is not the same. We have dogs so love to walk around the fort and see the wildlife, sites are really good and services are excellent - not saying KOA is not good but given the choice I would always choose the Fort.

[richard6335]

I will never camp at DISNEY period. It is all commercialized for DISNEY profits, most of which exits FLORIDA very quickly. The campsites are too small to maximize the revenue. Do you like a camper 5 feet away? There are so many beautiful campgrounds in FLORIDA!! Don't be so disappointed about them being booked, you have better choices.

[Jmkjr72]

The 11 month window is only for your home resort

It’s hard to se your doc points at the non dvc resorts and because of Disney’s wilderness campground loophole for fp plus they book the campground to be able to book fp plus and either don’t cancel to take advantage of free parking or they wait till 30 days out to cancel so they don’t loose their fp

[Royston]

Originally Posted by richard6335

I will never camp at DISNEY period. It is all commercialized for DISNEY profits, most of which exits FLORIDA very quickly. The campsites are too small to maximize the revenue. Do you like a camper 5 feet away? There are so many beautiful campgrounds in FLORIDA!! Don't be so disappointed about them being booked, you have better choices.

I totally agree that there are lots of other beautiful campgrounds in Florida but I don't know of any other campground in Florida or other state where you can use your DVC vacation points to pay for your stay. As the OP titled his post ' Disney Vacation Club and Fort Wilderness'

[Royston]

Originally Posted by Jmkjr72

The 11 month window is only for your home resort

It’s hard to se your doc points at the non dvc resorts and because of Disney’s wilderness campground loophole for fp plus they book the campground to be able to book fp plus and either don’t cancel to take advantage of free parking or they wait till 30 days out to cancel so they don’t loose their fp

I have heard that some book the campground, usually big parties, to get the parking and other perks and never show up. 'Phantom booking' was therm used but these people do pay for the campground - usually the low cost loops.

If what you say re fast passes true then Disney needs to put a stop to it, should be a simple task for the Mouse House technophobes.

[Jmkjr72]

Originally Posted by Royston

I have heard that some book the campground, usually big parties, to get the parking and other perks and never show up. 'Phantom booking' was therm used but these people do pay for the campground - usually the low cost loops.

If what you say re fast passes true then Disney needs to put a stop to it, should be a simple task for the Mouse House technophobes.

Go over to dis boards and some of the other Disney groups and there are threads hundreds of pages long about throw away reservations


I suspect that the comments about other campgrounds wa because so many don’t know what dvc is

My thoughts are to rent the points and use the cash for the reservation if you want a regular hotel or a campground