just back from WL 9/7 to 9/12! Great trip!

[Vicksterp33]

We just got back from a great stay at WL this past week. What a gorgeous resort!! I will have a hard time ever staying at a different resort now! lol!


We arrived and our room wasn't ready, so we had lunch at roaring forks and walked around the lobby a bit. We sat in rocking chairs in front of the fireplace and just really enjoyed taking it in. When 3pm rolled around and we still hadn't heard about the room, I went to the desk to ask. (My Mom just turned 74 and was quickly fading as we had been up since 5:30am and traveling. The man behind the desk said the room was still not ready. Then he asked if we were picky about where our room was. I told him any room would be great. He then told us our room was ready then. He fixed our KTTW cards and we were set.


We were on the 6th floor with the balcony facing Magic Kingdom. The room itself was beautiful and the view sitting on the beds and looking out was trees. But standing up and looking down was the parking lot and the "smokehouse" for the restaurant. LOL!! We didn't care, it was great. That night we saw the fireworks while laying in bed! It was fantastic!

We could walk down the hall and take the elevator and it was right by Roaring forks restaurant. Or we could walk the other direction and take the other elevator and end up right in the lobby by the mercantile. Very nice location. One night we got back around 9:30pm from the park and my sister and I went to this cute living room type area on the 5th floor off the lobby by a fireplace and played travel scrabble we had brought with us. Very cozy.


Another night we got back around 9:30pm and used our arcade voucher to play guitar hero and air hockey for 30 minutes. We looked around the mercantile and then just hung out in the lobby for a bit.

We swam in the pool late one night and it was great. Very relaxing and hardly anyone in the pool. That felt great as it was after walking all over Epcot from 9am to 9:15pm.

On Friday when we were getting ready to go to Animal Kingdom, we stopped in the mercantile shop and they were filming something in the lobby. They had a bunch of cameras, a stylist with clothing changes, and a "family" that was there to work with them. We thought it must have been filming for the 2010 Disney promo dvd but not sure.

One afternoon my sister and I did the "magic cookie hour" in the Roaring Forks area. That was cute. frosting cookies, chatting with folks. There were kids and adults participating in that.

We decided that if we come back to WL we will actually get a shorter amount of park passes and enjoy the Lodge more. Relax more at the hotel and do the tour of the Lodge, swim more, rent a surrey bike, try to be flag family, and do the hidden mickey tour. Watch a movie or two on the beach, and just relax more. There was so much to do that you could literally fill your day doing activities there and hanging out and be perfectly content.


We loved riding the boat to MK. And sometimes we took the boat to Contemporary to switch to the monorail to Epcot. It was very relaxing on the water. The folks running the boats were always nice and friendly. Really enjoyed that aspect of our stay.


The buses were never crowded to/from the parks and DTD. We sat every time, hardly waited for a bus, and had nice drivers each time. Some were definitely friendlier than others but all were nice. We did share buses with Grand Floridian most of the time but it was fine, buses never full.


We found the dining plan to be more than enough. We did bring granola bars, crackers, and some pop tarts with us and use the coffee maker in the room. We bought the reusable mugs and were happy to have those. But the breakfast platter was so huge that we would buy one breakfast and use a snack credit for oatmeal or a bagel and split it all between all 3 of us. We were able to do breakfast lunch and dinner and snacks everyday that way. We did by one meal out of pocket and buy tea at GF out of pocket but everything else was on the dining plan. We ended up saving $800. with it being free. Well worth it. On the last day we even had 2 snack credits we used at World of Disney DTD to buy some chocolates and rice krispie treats for gifts to take home with us.

Loved, loved WL. Will always stay here now!! Well worth the extra money. last time we stayed at Pop Century which was fine, but as my sister said "This is like a whole different world, way better experience!". We were able to get right back from the parks to take naps, relax, etc, and not spend all day waiting for buses or sitting on buses.


Good luck to everyone with their upcoming trips!! Enjoy the Lodge!!

[Berries97]

Thank you so much for posting! We will be there in 3 weeks and cannot wait! This is our first time staying on-site and we are really looking forward to it! Did you eat at Whispering Canyon?

Thanks again!

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Thanks for posting you're review.

[DrmWvr1299]

Sounds like you had a wonderful time. We stayed at the WL over Christmas in '05 and absolutely loved it. Glad you had a wonderful time and great memories.

[jobie61]

I'll be there in 6 weeks ! Very nice review.

[Vicksterp33]

some answers:

We didn't eat at Whispering Canyon. I couldn't get a reservation for lunch or dinner and we didn't want to do breakfast there. But they looked busy when we were there and people seemed to be really enjoying it.

We ate at Trails End buffet over at Fort Wilderness and it was really good. There is a boat that goes right over there and that only takes a few minutes. So, very good alternative in that restaurant. They also do the Chip and Dale bonfire/movie night at Fort Wilderness each night, and it's free.

Next time we go to WL, I want to eat at Artist's Point. We walked by it a few times and from the hallway on the 6th floor they have windows that overlook that restaurant and it looks great.

Have fun everyone on your trips! You will love this place! It's beautiful.

[minnie1012]

Hi Glad you enjoyed your trip. We will be there in 2 weeks. Do they give you an activity schedule of what is going on at the lodge, like the cookie thing you mentioned and the movies?

thanks

[Vicksterp33]

Yes, when you check in they give you the weekly schedule with everything listed each day. Really a ton of stuff to do there from duck races to pool parties, and movies on the beach. Very fun.

[Piglets Mommy]

Thanks for your review! It sounds like you had a great time, and a great room location! I'm hoping for one in that area in Dec. We have Woodsview bunks reserved.