I am not being snarky, I’m truly trying to understand as someone who only visits FW for Hoop De Doo and Tri Circle D.
Do you also have problems that people at Polynesian can see Grand Floridian? Or that people at Yacht Club can see the Boardwalk? It is interesting to me that FW seems to have this exception where it needs to be completely immersive.
Even Wilderness Lodge’s construction had FW naysayers back in the day.
I’m not here to argue about it, just trying to understand better.
Nah. I get it. Resorts can be seen from one another. You can see the Contemporary from The Fort. That's not the problem. The problem is Reflections literally sits on top of Fort Wilderness. They had to move parts of Fort Wilderness to make it work. That's how close they are. Plus, Fort Wilderness isn't a hotel. It's a campground in nature. How does that work with a resort looming over the top?
I'm not saying I don't go to urban campgrounds, because we do at places like the beach where location is more important than natural beauty, but the point of Fort WILDERNESS is to feel like you are in a campground in the WILDERNESS. That's the architecture and theme of the place. And it's shot by having a hotel that sits on top with traffic, and noise, and lights and a higher density.
Finally, Fort Wilderness is designed a little different than other Disney resorts. You see kids playing in the streets, riding bikes, throwing balls, going to the pool by themselves. There is low traffic, it's all outside. It's not a "room" you sleep in and pool and restaurants you walk quickly to and from. The whole resort is the activity. How does that change with a parking lot next door?
There's a lot of issues with The Fort. It's been kind of a neglected resort for a lot of years with amenities steadily lost. There are good reasons for that. I suspect $$$ per guest are way down compared to the other resorts and Disney has some policies that, oddly enough, don't help. Given their focus on the bottom line, it's strange to me how The Fort is run.
But that all leads to a very different vibe. A vibe that will suffer from no longer being relatively isolated. I hope Reflections is dead. I have no doubt they will build on that plot eventually. The more it gets put off, the better it is for Fort Wilderness.