Hope I made a good choice-WL

[SnowWhite33]

Hi everyone. I just wanted some "supportng" facts to assure me that I've made the right choice. We were planning to stay at the Poly for our Nov trip. When the Winter Dream Maker package came out I called but nothing available for our dates. WL did have our dates so I booked there, with the Silver add on. Since January I've been doing nothing but "studying" the Poly and now we are switching to WL:eek: , so I'm stressing over if this is as good or better choice! DH is mostly concerned with the transportation issues. I told him about the boat launch, but he's more concerned about the bus wait times.

Any and all comments, suggestions, and advice are welcome!

[Kimberle]

One month from now, we'll be there! I'll let you know how the buses are when we get back!

I'm pretty confident everything will be fine!! Don't forget, we can always take the boat over to CR to catch the monorail.

[helenk]

You will love WL. My son and I stayed there in December, and it is a beautiful resort. We had no problems with the bus transportation, housekeeping was great.
I am sure you will enjoy your stay.

[D&R love Disney]

The Lodge is my favorite resort :Pinkbounc
I've never had problems with transportation in the 6 times I've stayed there since 1994. Maybe a short wait for the boat if I just missed it but nothing major. The theming of the resort is great. My only complaint is the closed in balcony on the 7th floor.

[SuBeat]

We LOVE the Wilderness Lodge! We didn't have any real issues with transportation, other than the bus to Downtown Disney. We waited 45 minutes one morning for that one, then 3 of them came back to back (we passed the last 2 on our way out). I think it was just one of those things that happens sometimes. We never had a long wait for any other bus or the boat.

You will hear some people complain about the boats and buses stopping at other resorts before they reach their destinations. This didn't bother us either, we just planned accordingly and enjoyed the ride. :D

[Lisa96]

We were there in June and it was wonderful! You will love it. I thought the boat transportation was excellent, and very convenient for us because we went to MK most of the time. We only had bus problems one day, when we were waiting for MGM and others were waiting for AK. Took at least 30 minutes before ours came, but DD/TL, MK and Epcot buses came through during that time - at least 2 each. I've had that happen at other resorts too, so I don't think you can say it's specific for WL.

Don't forget to ask if you can be the Flag Family!

[SnowWhite33]

Gosh, I'm getting soooo excited about this! Can anyone tell me the order in which the buses/boat stops?

[reldridge]

We spent months researching, lurking, etc. for our Sept. trip. After much agony we settled on POFQ and made res. Then bam, FQ closing, uproar on the boards. I stuck it out and waited for "the call". We were offered upgrade to WL for $ 10 night, so obviously we jumped on that. Then, research, lurking, etc. started all over. I finally jumped in on the DIS boads and found so much great information about WL. Now we are waiting with much anticipation for 9-26 to get here. Can't wait much longer!!! :bounce:

[kakiax]

Hi Just got back and loved the resort.

The boat to MK goes to Ft. Wilderness then MK and on return WL first.

There are boats that go to FW and CR so you could hope a boat to CR (usually stops at FW first) then go to CR to get the moniral.

The buses: our avg. wait was 10-15 min. and all of them stopped at Ft. Wilderness first. The bus stop set up there is strange and it seemed to make the trip seem long. WL was usually the first stop on the way back. I did find myself dreading the bus thing just because the boat was so much nicer. But I don't think that should be a reason not to stay as the resort has so much to offer in other areas.

Let me know if you have other q's.

[ktulu]

We just got back from WL, and it is amazing. We went to the Poly for breakfast, it's nice, but I felt like I was in the 70's, and I was just waiting for the Brady Bunch to come around the corner. My wife and I would like to check out a couple other deluxe hotels on our next trips, but so far out of all the resorts we visited on our last trip, we liked WL best :)

darren

[SnowWhite33]

Originally posted by reldridge
We spent months researching, lurking, etc. for our Sept. trip. After much agony we settled on POFQ and made res. Then bam, FQ closing, uproar on the boards. I stuck it out and waited for "the call". We were offered upgrade to WL for $ 10 night, so obviously we jumped on that. Then, research, lurking, etc. started all over. I finally jumped in on the DIS boads and found so much great information about WL. Now we are waiting with much anticipation for 9-26 to get here. Can't wait much longer!!! :bounce:

I've gone back and forth on where to stay :rolleyes: ! At one point we were even considering renting a vacation home. But the more I thought about the hassles of driving and how it just wouldn't "feel" right to not stay with Disney, I ended up back here doing the research. But I have to admit that I have a renewed excitement about planning now that I have somewhere different to research! And don't worry 9-26 will be here before you know it :smooth: Please let us know how your trip goes!

Kakaix, can you tell me how much time you allowed for travelling to the parks? My main concern is getting to any breakfast PS we may have. Last year we ended up being 45 minutes late due to the buses at POR, (we would have been early if we hadn't had to wait :mad: ). Thanks for the help!

[mport]

We have stayed at both and WL beats Poly hands down. The bus wait may have been at most 10 minutes at WL if you time it right, we could see the boat coming from our room and we could get there right when it pulled up and off we went!. :D Transportation is and never was a problem with us. We never rented a car, so we had to depend on Disney and we were very satisfied with the buses to the other parks or else at some point we would have rented a car.

[FloridaCat]

You are going to love WL. It is the type resort that you could go to for a vacation and never have need to go to a park.
Go to the thread WL FAQ, go to page 22 and look for WL PT 1,2,3,4
I wrote a report on WL, the old Appraiser in me, and many of your concerns and questions will be answered. We only had one transportation problem, coming back from MK at closing. This is to be expected I guess, but we enjoyed our July stay so much we booked for September for a quick weekend getawy.

I live here and do not have to stay onsite. As long as I can get good rates for WL I will stay there.

[kakiax]

SnowWhite33 - We had 9:15 res. at Cindy's and got on the first boat to MK ( that morning it was 8:30 for 9 opening). We got to the dock about 8:20 just incase they started the boats early. We were at Cindy's by 9:05 and that allowed for bag search, and about 10 min. wait until Mickey officially opened the park! (And a walk down Main St. with 3 year old:D )

I would allow a bit more time for using the buses.

Hope that helps.

[MrBelding]

We Stayed at the Poly in Feb of 03, and being a Poly vet loved it (even though it's a little dated)! However we are planning our next trip to include WL, from what I've read and seen we're really excited. The advantage of the Poly of course is the Monorail but we've had 10+ min wait for it. Wouldn't let the transportaion issue bother you, remember you're on vacation! If you do have a car, as we did, you could take advantage of parking at other resorts and take their transportaion. When we wanted to go to Epcot we drove to Beach club and walked and when it was MGM we took the boat from Yacht club. Enjoy!;)

[SnowWhite33]

Thanks so much everyone! I'm now very anxious to get there.

FloridaCat-what a great trip report! I've put it in my notes as a point of reference.

Everyone here is such a great help. Now if you guys could just figure out a way to make my countdown timer go faster ;) !

Oh well, I guess I'll be hangin' around here, reading the WL FAQ thread until it's time to go!

[crystalb]

We will be WL first timers next week for five nights. :)
I had a postcard rate for a deluxe. WL we have not even been to WL and I always wanted to stay there.
I first asked about the Cont. Only Jr Suites were available and we didn't need anything like that. (Didn't even ask the cost. ;) )
The Poly I considered because of the monorial. But WL won out.
I can't imagine being disappointed.
The only resort we experienced consistent poor bus service was at POR. Crossing my fingers on the bus service. Hopefully nothing is as bad as what we experienced at POR. We are patient. But we aren't patient as saints. ;) I am not anticipating that being a problem though.
Looking forward to our trip!! :bounce: :bounce:

[swampkatz]

Everyone here is such a great help. Now if you guys could just figure out a way to make my countdown timer go faster


Hey Snow White,

I hope by now you've found the New and Improved WL thread, lots of super people and bunches of great information. Not sure how to help with the countdown clock, maybe you could compare it to mine.:D

The more I read about the WL the more enchanted I become!

Kathi

[GladysK]

I just made my ressies for WL for November so DH & I can attend the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. Can't wait!

An aside.....for the last week in Oct and the first 2 weeks of Nov there were ONLY Courtyard rooms (the most expensive) available. The CM stated there "might" be discount codes coming,but was very vague.

[FloridaCat]

welcome to the land of dreams. Have a safe trip down. You will love WL and do not be afraid to request anything from them as they bend over backwards to please.

Room not what you want, to got a bad Mousekeeper, let them know as they will get right on it.

Come over to WL FAQ , the WL "family" and let us know about your trip.

[shelley_s]

We are just back from a wonderful week at WL, and had no problems with the transportation. The boat to MK is great, it stops at FW first but that did not take too long.

There was some confusion on the morning of MK Early Magic Hour. The night before, we were told that boats do not run until 8:30, so we would need to take a bus to TTC, then boat or monorail to MK. In the morning we went to the bus stop at around 7:30 and there was a small crowd waiting. One guest was on the phone to transportation, and said he was told the boat was running, so the crowd took off for the boat dock. We were waiting for DH to catch up to us so we waited at the bus stop. I called transportation from there, and they said the boat was NOT running. By that time, DH found us, and a bus to TTC arrived. It did not go to FW first and the bus driver asked if we were all going to MK. Everyone was, so he took us directly to the MK instead of dropping us at TTC. I never did find out if the crowd who went to the boat dock got a ride!

Our wait for busses in general was never more than 10 minutes and usually around 5 min. On several days, DH and DS 6 left the park earlier than the girls and I, and they made a game of using different routes and methods of transportation to get back to the lodge.

One evening we went to DTD and we drove our own car. That was the only time during the week that we used our car.

You will love the lodge!

Shelley

[jdonat]

:earsboy:

We just came back from the WL (8/11) and loved it. The transportation
issues are not a big deal. We used the boat launch to/from the MK without
much issue: it does stop at Fort Wilderness on the way to the MK. It's a
very nice ride, especially in the early AM. Bay Lake is really beautiful in
the AM. As earlier stated, the launches run early on Extra Magic Days, and
do run VERY late on E-ride nights. We took one back from the MK at about
0145 on an E-ride night on 8/5, and the ride back was really neat. The
Seven Seas Lagoon/Bay lake area was much quieter than any time else
we've been on it -we appeared to be the only watercraft running at the time.
The busses to/from EC/MGM/AK are all paired -meaning that these busses
go to both the WL and Fort Wilderness. We found no pattern to which resort
they stopped at first -some days it was us, and some day's it was FW.
It's only about 5-10 mins more to go to FW, so it's not too bad.

One day, on an Epcot trip, we waited for a while for an EC bus, and
decided to take the bus to the TTC and then take the Monorail to EC, as there
were lots of TTC busses but we hadn't yet seen an EC bus. Got us the
benefit of the long Monorail ride, too!
Worked just fine.

The resort itself is great -just be aware that the rooms are a bit smaller
than the Poly/Connie size -they're closer to the CBR than anything. We got
bunk beds for our two DD's (10&15) and that was GREAT! The pool is good,
the lobby sitting area is really cool, and in general it's become one of our
favorite resorts after just one trip. We also managed
to get an unexpected upgrade to the Concierge level, so that was frosting on
the cake.

Have Fun!

[SnowWhite33]

jdonat-Wow! An upgrade to concierge-that's the best kinda frosting? Did you ask for it or did they volunteer it? Also how busy was the resort at the time?

[jdonat]

:earsboy:
Hi. The concierge upgrade was completely unexpected. We had requested
bunk beds for our DD's and had also requested a small fridge -we had some
stuff that we were taking over from OKW and wanted a fridge. When we
checked in -about 1300 on the 8th, we inquired about the beds and the
fridge. The CM at the front desk told us "that we had bunk beds no problem,
and we had a fridge because you've been upgraded to the Concierge level".
We made sure to thank the CM for the upgrade, and we were like "whoo hoo!"
It was GREAT! They had stuff out almost from 0700 all the way to 10pm..
Continental Breakfast, snacks, Wine/Cheese/soup/etc from 5-7, and dessert
frm 7-10pm. I don't do big breakfasts real early, so's the continental breakfast
was just perfect. We're now considering reserving Concierge level rooms
if we stay in a regular resort (rather than a DVC one). It may be worth it for
our family... We got VERY spoiled at the level of service and the ameneties.
JED

[D&R love Disney]

We received a free upgrade to concierge in Nov 2001 and it totally spoiled us :cool: I just don't like the closed balconies on the 7th floor.

My Mom and I are staying there again in October for 5 nights with a courtyard view.

[ktulu]

We had to pay for our upgrade to conceriage, but it was my b-day trip so we didn't care and we were very happy to pay.

jdonat, my wife and I were there on the 11th, we probably passed each other at the snacks :)

darren

[SnowWhite33]

ktulu-Was the price of the upgrade the same as it would have been if you had booked it in advance?