CSR or WL?

[missnic07]

I've booked CSR for next August, but I've been looking at WL and I like how you can take the boat to the MK.
It would cost about £800 to upgrade, worth it or not?

Pros for CSR are:
The pool!
Good bus service

Cons:
Large resort
The food options (I don't think we'd use the pepper market).

I don't know much about WL though so let me have it

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Omg WL! WL! Push the vote button now lol. Imao it just is lovely is WL. It's magical! If you have the chance to upgrade I would! The boat is nice. The atmosphere is great, theme loving it, the chance doing the flag family of the day, the rocking chairs...

 

[missnic07]

Omg WL! WL! Push the vote button now lol. Imao it just is lovely is WL. It's magical! If you have the chance to upgrade I would! The boat is nice. The atmosphere is great, theme loving it, the chance doing the flag family of the day, the rocking chairs...

Ahh it does sound nice!
The only thing I was worried about was the interior corridors. Are they noisy?

 

[pepe of ohio]

Omg WL! WL! Push the vote button now lol. Imao it just is lovely is WL. It's magical! If you have the chance to upgrade I would! The boat is nice. The atmosphere is great, theme loving it, the chance doing the flag family of the day, the rocking chairs...

Wholeheartedly agree, don't go past go, WL for sure worth every penny to upgrade...

We've done CSR , once was enough, multiple bus stops, huge spread resort, Pepper Market awful, just not a good pick for a resort... more cons than pros ...

WL will take your breath away....

 

[Buddy18]

I'd save the money and stick with what you have. CSR has a better pool area and central location.

 

[Soccer_Mom]

WL all the way! I've also done both and would pick WL over CSR any day.
The first time we stayed at WL, our room was located a couple floors above the check in desk and we never had any issue with noise at night.

 

[mickeynut1]

I've booked CSR for next August, but I've been looking at WL and I like how you can take the boat to the MK.
It would cost about £800 to upgrade, worth it or not?

Pros for CSR are:
The pool!
Good bus service

Cons:
Large resort
The food options (I don't think we'd use the pepper market).

I don't know much about WL though so let me have it

We've never stayed at CSR, but we love the WL so for us, the extra cost is worth it. We love the MK area and it's great having the boat for going to MK as well as to the CR. The surroundings are beautiful, the pool is great, and Roaring Forks is great for quick CS meals/snacks. If it were me, I'd make the switch .

 

[SqueakyMouse]

For me, it would depend on a couple of things. First, how late in August are you going. I would not stay at WL before the crowds die down a little. DH and I have stayed at WL at the end of July and will never do so again during the busier times. Pools stayed crowded from early to late, boat lines were long (and hot!!!), and buses often stop at other resorts. Second, what view are you booking? The standard view room views at WL are terrible!! We've even had a waterview room that you had to crane your head to see even a tiny bit of water. Finally, what parks are you planning on visiting? The boat to MK is nice and peaceful...but not terribly quick. We also have found bus service to be slow. That being said, WL is my very favorite resort during the cooler months.

Surprisingly, my kids enjoy CSR more than WL. (They weren't too keen on AKL, so you really can't go by them. BTW, we're all staying at AKL next week despite what the kids say!!) Location is very important here, especially when it's really hot or the weather is bad. This resort is spread out! To me, this is a positive; to dh, not so much. While others on these boards have expressed issues with the bus service at CSR, I've had nothing but very good experiences. My location preference (and everyone has there own for CSR!!!), is Casitas Building 2, ground floor, facing the long fountain. The view from your room is beautiful. The quiet pool is just a hop-skip-and-a-jump away...but far enough to truly appear quiet. Food is nearby. The walk to the pool is a bit long, if you plan on spending much time there. We have Premium APs, so we tend to spend our pool time at the water parks.

 

[missnic07]

For me, it would depend on a couple of things. First, how late in August are you going. I would not stay at WL before the crowds die down a little. DH and I have stayed at WL at the end of July and will never do so again during the busier times. Pools stayed crowded from early to late, boat lines were long (and hot!!!), and buses often stop at other resorts. Second, what view are you booking? The standard view room views at WL are terrible!! We've even had a waterview room that you had to crane your head to see even a tiny bit of water. Finally, what parks are you planning on visiting? The boat to MK is nice and peaceful...but not terribly quick. We also have found bus service to be slow. That being said, WL is my very favorite resort during the cooler months.

Surprisingly, my kids enjoy CSR more than WL. (They weren't too keen on AKL, so you really can't go by them. BTW, we're all staying at AKL next week despite what the kids say!!) Location is very important here, especially when it's really hot or the weather is bad. This resort is spread out! To me, this is a positive; to dh, not so much. While others on these boards have expressed issues with the bus service at CSR, I've had nothing but very good experiences. My location preference (and everyone has there own for CSR!!!), is Casitas Building 2, ground floor, facing the long fountain. The view from your room is beautiful. The quiet pool is just a hop-skip-and-a-jump away...but far enough to truly appear quiet. Food is nearby. The walk to the pool is a bit long, if you plan on spending much time there. We have Premium APs, so we tend to spend our pool time at the water parks.

I'm going the 18th - 30th August. I was just going to book a standard view room.
Enjoy your trip next week

 

[sonofanarchy]

If you can afford it, WL, without a doubt. I think the Lodge is the best resort on property. CSR doesn't do a thing for me. Too many conventions there, too spread out, not enough dining options.

 

[missnic07]

Thanks for the replies. Looks like I have some research to do!

 

[Mousemommy1]

For me, it would depend on a couple of things. First, how late in August are you going. I would not stay at WL before the crowds die down a little. DH and I have stayed at WL at the end of July and will never do so again during the busier times. Pools stayed crowded from early to late, boat lines were long (and hot!!!), and buses often stop at other resorts. Second, what view are you booking? The standard view room views at WL are terrible!! We've even had a waterview room that you had to crane your head to see even a tiny bit of water. Finally, what parks are you planning on visiting? The boat to MK is nice and peaceful...but not terribly quick. We also have found bus service to be slow. That being said, WL is my very favorite resort during the cooler months.

Surprisingly, my kids enjoy CSR more than WL. (They weren't too keen on AKL, so you really can't go by them. BTW, we're all staying at AKL next week despite what the kids say!!) Location is very important here, especially when it's really hot or the weather is bad. This resort is spread out! To me, this is a positive; to dh, not so much. While others on these boards have expressed issues with the bus service at CSR, I've had nothing but very good experiences. My location preference (and everyone has there own for CSR!!!), is Casitas Building 2, ground floor, facing the long fountain. The view from your room is beautiful. The quiet pool is just a hop-skip-and-a-jump away...but far enough to truly appear quiet. Food is nearby. The walk to the pool is a bit long, if you plan on spending much time there. We have Premium APs, so we tend to spend our pool time at the water parks.

I have to offer another perspective on this. Your experience with the crowded pool may have just been in that instance. We stayed 11 days at WL the last two weeks of July and never found the pool to be crowded.

And those awful "standard" views??? This was ours (granted on CL, but still considered standard)

Beautiful! It's all in how you look at it.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We're joining in to offer our take on the two resorts. They are just about opposites as far as size and being spread out is concerned. WL is under one roof entirely, so it is quite compact compared to the multiple buildings of CSR. CSR is spread out with multiple buildings and multiple bus stops to serve them, but the walk to the main pool or drink refill station can be considerable, and involves going outside.

After visiting CSR last trip because we thought it would be a way of saving some money next time we definitely felt that WL was worth the extra to us. We just book standard view at WL to keep the cost down. We just absolutely love WL's location on beautiful Bay Lake. It is sooo much bigger than the lake at CSR, and you of course have the boat transportation options to MK, CR, or Fort Wilderness. As far as travel time to other parks, the Buses from WL didn't seem much or any longer than those from CSR, and the MK time is less than 5 minutes.

Crowds might affect WL a little more, since while the counter service food location (Roaring FOrk) is great it can get pretty full, and is much smaller than Pepper Market, although in our opinion the food was noticeably better than Cafe Rix at CSR. The main pool can be crowded, but the Hidden Springs pool is open to everybody as well and is a lot quieter.

Either way you'll be at Disney and have a great trip, but for us we vastly prefer WL.

 

[missnic07]

I have to offer another perspective on this. Your experience with the crowded pool may have just been in that instance. We stayed 11 days at WL the last two weeks of July and never found the pool to be crowded.

And those awful "standard" views??? This was ours (granted on CL, but still considered standard)

Beautiful! It's all in how you look at it.

Loving that view!

 

[Astylla]

Like anything I think what is "better" is really subjective.

It's a big reason we are planning a split stay between POR and CSR now.
For us it's just 2 adults no kids so that had a factor also.

While I think the WL is nice , the theming does NOTHING for me , and I'm sure the same would be said vice versa by others and the above choices.
I have heard many good things about WL , it's just not our style.

What I do like is the transportation options , it seems smaller in a good way and the rooms seem very nice even if I don't personally care for them.

What I did was search through all the FAQ threads on the resorts to try and figure out what would work best with what we have to work with.

Hopefully you will find what is best for you ! Good luck

 

[writersblock42]

We went to CSR in June. I have never been to the Wilderness Lodge (I am guessing that is what WL stands for?). I actually slightly preferred the CBR to CSR. What I liked about CSR was the pool and the playground. They had an awesome pool with a really cool waterslide but I think WL has a great pool as well never been. The bus service was great except for one day where it was terrible (40 minutes wait for Epcot bus). Other people had some issues though.
It is really close to AK. The food options are horrible, disorganized and poorly laid out. The lake is beautiful.

 

[Hoosier Mom]

We've been to both.

WL -
Loved being so close to the bus and coming home to lantern lit walkway and on in and up to room. So close. I also loved the quiet native American flute music on the way back at night time in the bus. We did take the boat ride over to MK, and it was fun, but it seemed to me that it took a tiny bit longer than the bus ride over.

The counter service had a very tiny seating area. Also no mickey waffles there that I recall. But you can get mickey waffles at the table service there at WL. You should try to do breakfast there at least once. We really enjoyed the breakfast skillet. My husband got a fine looking ommlette.

The pool here at WL seemed to be full...there were less people in the Villas pool which is just around the corner.

CSR
It is a little more walking here compared to WL. However, not as big as CBR. There's only 3 villages here. We were in Casitas. We are going again and paying extra for the preferred location so we can get Casitas again. My husband said the main pool here was warmer than the one at WL.

The bus service was fine, but it was a bit further to walk back to our room compared to WL.

We loved Pepper Market. It had the different areas to get different foods. Lots of seating. You can get the Mickey waffles here.

I did not feel we were quite so close to our room here though. Like at WL, after breakfast, we could take the elevator back up to our room and brush our teeth before getting the bus to a park. At CSR Pepper Market, we hit the restroom and headed straight to the bus and did not take the walk back to our room.

I love the lobby area of the WL. I loved that we got a standard room in the north wing. We could see the fireworks in the distance at MK. No noise in our hallway.

Also if this is important...WL gift shop sells loaves of bread which we purchased to make our son PB sandwiches. CSR gift shop does not have loaves.

Does any of that help?

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We've been to both.

WL -
Loved being so close to the bus and coming home to lantern lit walkway and on in and up to room. So close. I also loved the quiet native American flute music on the way back at night time in the bus. We did take the boat ride over to MK, and it was fun, but it seemed to me that it took a tiny bit longer than the bus ride over.

The counter service had a very tiny seating area. Also no mickey waffles there that I recall. But you can get mickey waffles at the table service there at WL. You should try to do breakfast there at least once. We really enjoyed the breakfast skillet. My husband got a fine looking ommlette.

The pool here at WL seemed to be full...there were less people in the Villas pool which is just around the corner.

CSR
It is a little more walking here compared to WL. However, not as big as CBR. There's only 3 villages here. We were in Casitas. We are going again and paying extra for the preferred location so we can get Casitas again. My husband said the main pool here was warmer than the one at WL.

The bus service was fine, but it was a bit further to walk back to our room compared to WL.

We loved Pepper Market. It had the different areas to get different foods. Lots of seating. You can get the Mickey waffles here.

I did not feel we were quite so close to our room here though. Like at WL, after breakfast, we could take the elevator back up to our room and brush our teeth before getting the bus to a park. At CSR Pepper Market, we hit the restroom and headed straight to the bus and did not take the walk back to our room.

I love the lobby area of the WL. I loved that we got a standard room in the north wing. We could see the fireworks in the distance at MK. No noise in our hallway.

Also if this is important...WL gift shop sells loaves of bread which we purchased to make our son PB sandwiches. CSR gift shop does not have loaves.

Does any of that help?

Seems like a great comparison of the two resorts.

For what it's worth, there are Mickey Waffles at Roaring Fork, you just get them from a different line than the breakfast platters. The seating area is small, which will affect you during crowded times. I often make a run down from the room in the morning to grab mug refills and a plate of Mickey Waffles that we then enjoy in the room. Mmmm waffles

 

[Hoosier Mom]

Seems like a great comparison of the two resorts.

For what it's worth, there are Mickey Waffles at Roaring Fork, you just get them from a different line than the breakfast platters. The seating area is small, which will affect you during crowded times. I often make a run down from the room in the morning to grab mug refills and a plate of Mickey Waffles that we then enjoy in the room. Mmmm waffles

Oh my word, how did I miss them in 2010? Glad they have them. Thanks for letting me know.

We really did love WL, but we had a much shorter trip that year because of it. For us, a moderate means getting to stay more nights.

 

[flamark]

Another vote for WL! It is a beautiful resort. The only reason it's not one of our top resorts is that the rooms only hold 4 people. The CSR on the other hand is our least favorite Disney resort aside from the AllStars. I think you wouldn't regret it one bit if you upgraded to WL!