We REALLY want to stay WL cl ....

[WildReekies]

We are a family of five. We Have searched and searched and before we became a family of five wilderness lodge was our dream! I think we have to stay POR and I'm not excited about it... If RO discounts come out for oct 2014 I'm going to see how broke staying WL CL will make us. should we scrimp and save or is POR Just as awesome?? In other words what would you do? First time to wdw, 3 kids 3, 5, 7. planning on hoop de doo the first night. Would you splurge or save? ( I know this is subjective and personal, I just want some opinions from other family's) thanks guys!!!

 

[Kimberle]

WL is a beautiful resort. For a family of 5, you'd have to book the deluxe room as the regular rooms only sleep 4.

I'd suggest you stay at POR and do the parks, then stay at WL Club for your last night, just hanging around the beautiful resort. If you truly like it, you can stay here your next trip. (Always got to have an excuse to come back. )

 

[runner_princess]

What about a cabin at Fort Wilderness?

 

[WildReekies]

WL is a beautiful resort. For a family of 5, you'd have to book the deluxe room as the regular rooms only sleep 4.

I'd suggest you stay at POR and do the parks, then stay at WL Club for your last night, just hanging around the beautiful resort. If you truly like it, you can stay here your next trip. (Always got to have an excuse to come back. )

arnt the delux rooms the "club level"?? i thought thats why we had to stay club because we are a family of five???
Thanks for your input!! maybe we should stay the first 2 nights while we are doing MK??

 

[WildReekies]

What about a cabin at Fort Wilderness?

id love too!!! DH says it wouldnt feel like a vacation... maybe when the kids get bigger he will want that extra space and kitchen for hungry teens but right now i cant sway him on it. Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[Marthasor]

There are several room categories available with Club Level access, Deluxe being one of them and the only one that sleeps 5. If you can swing it, I would stay at WL over POR. Another thought, all other deluxes (except AKL), sleep 5 in a standard room and would, most likely, be cheaper than WL, Deluxe-CL. Unless the theming doesn't interest you at all, I would suggest pricing out CR, GF, or Poly (to be near MK) or BC, YC or BWI to be near EP. You can take a boat from CR to FW for your HDDR reservation. Also, standard rooms at any of these resorts are more likely to be included in a discount than WL, Deluxe-CL rooms.

 

[mickeynut1]

arnt the delux rooms the "club level"?? i thought thats why we had to stay club because we are a family of five???
Thanks for your input!! maybe we should stay the first 2 nights while we are doing MK??

Yes, the deluxe rooms are CL and accommodate 6, but the standard rooms only accommodate 4 +1 under the age of 3. You would have to stay in a deluxe CL room if you wanted to get just 1 room; otherwise, you would have to get 2 regular rooms since all of your kids are age 3 and over.

 

[Hoosier Mom]

It was my dream to stay at WL too. We did it once. However, we only stayed 6 nights as opposed to 8 nights on our next trip to a moderate.

Yes, we loved it. I loved coming down for breakfast in the same building without having to go outside. Loved both pools. Loved that the buses were just outside the building. Also loved that the lanterns were on when we came back from the parks to welcome us home. Also the buses played some quiet native American type music on the way back each night.

The only downside to us was price, and the fact that the quick service had hardly any seating. We didn't have much trouble getting a table each morning but we went in January during a low crowd season.

The next trip we went to Coronado and stayed in a preferred location. Loved it too, especially since we got a rollaway bed for our kid. This next trip we are going to try Riverside Alligator Bayou since they have the fold down murphy bed. We reserved preferred location for there too.

Have fun planning your trip!

 

[kimbo0569]

I would love to stay at WL someday, if we can swing it. We had dinner there this past October and dh absolutely fell in love with it. Having said that, we have stayed at POR twice (Alligator Bayou section both times) and we loved it. And both times we had little ones (my oldest was 2 1/2 the first time, the second time, she was 6 and my youngest was 3). They both loved it. This past October, we stayed at Coronado, preferred room - bldg. 5 and loved that just as much.
When we stayed at POR, the Alligator Bayou section had the pullout trundle beds but that was back in 2008. Did they changed them to Murphy beds?

 

[WorldWacky]

I'll jump in here...we too would LOVE to stay at WL. We're a family of five and have stayed at POR Alligator Bayou three times. (And yes, they have a Murphy bed instead of the trundle now-themed to the Princess and the Frog alligator, Louis)
The kids love pool at Riverside. The feel of the resort is also a bit similar to WL with the winding walking paths and many trees.
Most recently we stayed at the YC. It was beautiful and Stormalong Bay was great, BUT, it was a pain in the neck for quick service options. We very much preferred POR. DH said he was looking forward to going back to POR. We tend to be a very "on the go" family. We don't spend much time in the actual room. Using the busses to get back to POR each day for an afternoon break was easy for us. You may enjoy being just a boat ride away from MK though.
I know I'm biased because I've never experienced WL, but with the money you could save by staying at POR, you could take the kids to Whispering Canyon Cafe, on a Pirates and Pals cruise, etc. Good luck with your decision and keep us posted!

 

[alex9179]

I prefer staying deluxe. I've stayed at Poly CL, and we're staying CR TPV. I've also stayed at POR and thought it was great for a small party…not sure I'd want to do that with my 3 kids.

There is no way I'd pay for a deluxe room at WL. I thought Poly rates were astronomical!

In the end it's about your budget and what makes you happy. Are you Ok with 600-800 a night or would you rather use that money for other things? How much is the room and resort going to impact your stay? Would you be ok with dining there instead?


My little opinion about CL. We really liked it, but I felt like we needed to be at the resort to take advantage of it in order to justify the cost. This limited touring and dining a bit. We also didn't always get back for evening offerings - and it bugged me. I would totally do it if it were just me and DH, where park time and later evenings were more at our discretion rather than kids' stamina. It's perfect for leisurely vacationing.

 

[DisGirl819]

Have you thought about the VWL? Those are right next door to WL. We love the WL but have never been to POR. However, it comes down to what you can afford for a particular trip. THough a villa might be cheaper (rent points maybe?) or even a cabin at Fort Wilderness. Its not a long walk between the two for dining and FW has playgrounds, HDDR, the stables and other neat stuff. My kids are begging to stay at FW but they don't have connecting rooms/cabins so we can't stay there.

 

[WildReekies]

I'll jump in here...we too would LOVE to stay at WL. We're a family of five and have stayed at POR Alligator Bayou three times. (And yes, they have a Murphy bed instead of the trundle now-themed to the Princess and the Frog alligator, Louis) The kids love pool at Riverside. The feel of the resort is also a bit similar to WL with the winding walking paths and many trees. Most recently we stayed at the YC. It was beautiful and Stormalong Bay was great, BUT, it was a pain in the neck for quick service options. We very much preferred POR. DH said he was looking forward to going back to POR. We tend to be a very "on the go" family. We don't spend much time in the actual room. Using the busses to get back to POR each day for an afternoon break was easy for us. You may enjoy being just a boat ride away from MK though. I know I'm biased because I've never experienced WL, but with the money you could save by staying at POR, you could take the kids to Whispering Canyon Cafe, on a Pirates and Pals cruise, etc. Good luck with your decision and keep us posted!

Thanx for the thoughts! I'm the cheap person the hubs is if we can do it lets do it! We went to Universal Studios two years ago when we just had two kids we spent from 8 AM to 1 PM in the parks and went back for pool. we did this every day!it was the most relaxing trip we've ever taken . Two years later our kids are older I'm not sure if we will tour like that again but if we do we need a resort that will keep us occupied. I don't want a grumpy hubby. But with the cost difference it's hard to swallow. So here's my decision we will Stay Orleans Riverside and save the cost to go again in a few years when we won't fit in a port Orleans Riverside bedroom anymore. Thanks so much everyone

 

[jperrot1]

First trip to WDW? I'm so excited for you and your family. Club Level at Disney is a magical experience and well worth the upgrade. I would look into it and see if you can swing the cost. The only problem with this is once you stay club level at Disney you'll always know what you're missing when you don't stay club level.

 

[wiigirl]

What about a cabin at Fort Wilderness?

 

[jaceraden]

If it were me, I'd probably stay in POR this time. The problem with Deluxe is that once you've stayed Deluxe, it's so hard not to.

 

[tcherjen]

arnt the delux rooms the "club level"?? i thought thats why we had to stay club because we are a family of five???
Thanks for your input!! maybe we should stay the first 2 nights while we are doing MK??

Mine thought that too... Until we went with family and rented there for two nights. Now he doesnt' want to stay anywhere else. Before that we loved our stay at POR, it was so centrally located. I enjoyed the boat to DTD and the resort is super pretty. I tried to see if club level would save us any money, but the cabins are our best bet. We too are a family of five and this trip oldest dd is bringing her bf along.