PO Riverside vs Wilderness Lodge?

[Carrie Singer]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this list and planning our first Disney trip for early November with our four year old daughter. We are booked at the Port Orleans Riverside, but they aren't participating in the free dining offer, so we are thinking about switching to the Wilderness Lodge. With the free dining plan there, it is not a considerable financial difference to upgrade. WL is of course closer to MK, but seemingly further from everything else (compared to Riverside, which seems central). Any advice on choosing between these two properties based on experience would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

 

[duck_adoo]

Wilderness Lodge!! We've stayed at both and honestly there's no comparison. Wilderness loves was 10x better. It was about 9 years ago, our trip to POR was actually the only subpar trip we've ever had. I actually wouldn't stay at POR ever again. It's actually the only time I've ever wrote to a manager about a poor experience.
The pool location at WL is much better, transportation , CMs ...everything was sooooo much better. It was the best trip we ever had!!

 

[Lucius Best]

We've stayed at both, POR is our favorite moderate resort, stayed there many times, but WL is very nice. With a 4yo, the proximity to MK by boat or bus is a big plus. If the upgrade cost isn't an issue, I would definitely do it. Yes, WL is a little further away from other parks, but not bad at all. WL is also close to Fort Wilderness and the things they have over there (Hoop Dee Doo, Trails End, campfire).

Note however that WDW is planning significant construction at WL in the near future, you should be able to find a thread about WL in this forum.

 

[mickeynut1]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this list and planning our first Disney trip for early November with our four year old daughter. We are booked at the Port Orleans Riverside, but they aren't participating in the free dining offer, so we are thinking about switching to the Wilderness Lodge. With the free dining plan there, it is not a considerable financial difference to upgrade. WL is of course closer to MK, but seemingly further from everything else (compared to Riverside, which seems central). Any advice on choosing between these two properties based on experience would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

Welcome to the Dis .

I'd go with the WL. We've never stayed at POR, but we love the WL. We've had 2 great stays there (and visit every trip) and we have always found the transportation to be great. It's nice having the boat to MK (there's also a bus that goes direct with no stops), but the buses to the other parks and DTD have always been great in our experience. Good luck.

 

[Disneymomma0783]

In all fairness I have never stayed at either resort but have looked at both!
If I was choosing between those two, I would absolutely go WL.
I know when I have been looking into it, WL has always seemed to have lots of positive reviews regarding transportation too

 

[Distinkt]

We have been to both and usually stay in the Alligator Bayou section of POR. I have been to WL more than once. I believe that they have been updated? I actually thought the theming of WL and Alligator Bayou rooms were sort of similar. That being said, we like POR better. The food court is larger with more options and I like the landscaping and walking paths. You can ride the boat to Disney Springs and we enjoy that. WL has Whispering Canyon and Artist Point, but I don't think that is a reason to stay there.

You can get a boat to MK from WL. I have heard people state that transportation from POR is not as frequent, but we haven't encountered any issues. I like the whole ambiance of POR. I will say that our last stay at WL was before the reno, and it was a little worn.

Could you keep checking and see if some rooms with FD open up at POR? That would make the decision even sweeter. I keep seeing rooms pop up off and on.

 

[luvdisney73]

I have stayed at both and you really can't go wrong with either!! Both have great qualities. I feel for the money, POR is the better value. However, with a small child, being so close to the MK would be a plus for you to go back to the resort for a break in the hot afternoon. I am returning to POR the first of October. We received free dining on the bounce back program but I thought POR was included this year in the free dining promotion. I agree with the post above to keep checking the rooms at POR. People cancel all the time. Enjoy your trip!

 

[pamkat1820]

We. Have stayed at POR it was our least favorite resort up to this point. We haven't stayed at WL but with the dinning offer and a 4 yr old I would make the switch. We have eaten at WL it's every pretty, if I had to choose between WL and AKL I stay at WL in a minute. I like the size of the resort POR is too large

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We absolutely love WL, but stayed at POR last September to save some money. Our opinion is that both are excellent resorts, and about the same "value" since we feel you did get some nice perks for the extra money at WL. Having Free Dining to help offset the additional cost would tip the scales in favor of WL in our opinion. We love WL's great location on Bay lake and the fact it has boats to MK and to the Contemporary and Fort Wilderness. While POR looks to be closer to Epcot and HS, we didn't find much difference in transportation time on the bus to get to those parks vs WL, and we did notice that MK is quite a bit quicker to get to, and we appreciate having both the boat and bus options to get to MK. POR does have some advantages, including the boat to DTD which makes the trip there a lot nicer and quicker than from WL, and we do find POR to have the best quick service food court on property. We actually have visited the resort to eat there during each of our other stays when we were staying at WL. Both resorts do have a similar quiet rural feel, especially in the AB section of POR. The outside hallways and separate buildings of POR are a disadvantage though, especially in inclement weather. We do particularly enjoy that WL is all under one roof. Finally regarding the construction, the project will just be getting started, so while you may see fencing going up outside the resort, my guess is this November the bulk of the resort will be unaffected. The main pool was just refurbished last year, and most of the construction seems to be expanding the resort into areas that are currently wooded surrounding the resort.
Either way you can't go wrong and should have a wonderful trip. Happy planning!

 

[RustManFan]

I have stayed at both properties and, although I loved WL, POR is my favorite resort! There is some construction planned for WL but I don't know when....

 

[DisBuckMan]

Could you keep checking and see if some rooms with FD open up at POR? That would make the decision even sweeter. I keep seeing rooms pop up off and on.

POR is only included in the first part of the FD promotion. If you look at the details of the promotion, it clearly states that POR is excluded from the FD promotion October 25 - December 21.

 

[Capang]

We stayed at POR with our DD last trip. She was 3 and loved the princess room. It was a beautiful resort but there was a ton of walking as the resort is spread over a large area. After long park days it was too much walking lol. This year we are trying WL since MK is where we spend the most time. Either way, you will stay at a fantastic resort. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Sunshine11]

Stayed at both and love WL. The pool is in a perfect location, and the there is a quiet pool at at the villas if the main pool is crowded. The lobby at WL is also awesome. POR is a lot of walking! Plus, the balcony at WL is a bonus. That being said, definitely check the possible construction coming to WL.

 

[floridadream]

We've stayed at both and WL wins hands down for us. Beautiful lobby, great restaurants, close proximity to MK and excellent bus service to the other parks. The pool was great and the lake was very relaxing. We lucked out and could see Wishes from our room. While POR was nice, it's spread out like the other moderates and doesn't have interior hallways (which I prefer). If it's not that much of a difference, go for it!

 

[eagleoneoh]

Love the WL but if you looking in saving money you cant go wrong with POR

 

[MissDisneyDora]

I stayed at POR in February and have to say that I was one of those rare people that was actually "underhwhelmed" by POR. We took a tour of WL on our last day of holiday and for us its a no brainer- we are going back end of June and staying at WL.

x
Dora

 

[Soccer Fan]

We stayed at WL in April and it was great! The main building has everything: 2 TS restaurants, a QS restaurant, a store, arcade, and kid's club. We stayed in the villas and felt that everything was right there and easy to get to. You will not feel like you are walking miles to get from one end of the resort to the other. Also the transportation was awesome! Talking a boat to MK was so fun and if we were in a rush we would hop on the bus which took about 5 minutes to get to the park. The other buses were fast and efficient and we barely ever waited long. I loved it and would be happy staying there on every vacation!

 

[tinkerbella16]

I was actually booked at WL for my early Nov trip this year and just couldn't justify the cost, even with just the QSDP. POR is my favorite resort and "home" resort when we go to wdw. I ended up switching from WL, and even adding the regular DDP to my package, I saved over $1,300!! I would have been dumb not to switch. WL is nice and all but the construction will be starting and going on so I am glad I switched. POR is perfect to us.. We like the location, the bus rides to the parks are all fairly short (with the exception of AK of course). I am booked in a royal guest room.. Stayed in one two years ago and absolutely loved it! For the price, POR is a great choice.. It is like a mini deluxe without having to spend a ton of money to stay there. We love the boats to DTD. My first night, I have a dinner adr at Raglan Road so I plan on relaxing and taking the boat over. It is so relaxing, quiet and peaceful there even when the resort is very busy. The atmosphere is wonderful. I really feel like I'm in the Disney bubble there. Someday I will stay at WL, it is a gorgeous resort, but I'd rather save that money. The food court at Riverside is also one of my favorites with lots of selections! I heard Roaring Fork is nice, but it is limited compared to POR.

 

[terri33inne]

We've stayed at both, and my vote with a 4 year old girl would be a princess room at POR. I'm not sure if a princess room is in the budget, but they are magical.

I'm in the minority, but I'm not a fan of WL. I think we just had a bad experience, and a particularly bad room, that was quite noisy. While the boat to MK is nice, transportation to anywhere else is sub-par b/c you share a bus with either GF, or FtWilderness. POR you're only sharing buses with other stops within your resort, we never had any issues with buses at POR (except on our first day when I took the bus to POFQ instead of POR... my bad). I also loved the boat to DTD.

Food court at POR is also better than WL. We also loved the quiet pool at POR. I also loved the grounds & 'mansion's' of POR, but I have a soft spot for the old south. Both resorts are pretty spread out. If I stayed in a PR at POR again I would request a pool view room to minimize the distance from food court & transportation, but that's a personal thing.

I don't think you can go wrong with either... just depends on what is most important to you in a resort.

 

[partigus]

This is simple- if free dining makes the cost even SOMEWHAT close....WL. POR is indeed VERY nice and I'm not disparaging it in any way, but WL is another category all together. The grounds are as good as anything on property (including the Poly and GF if youu take "theme preference" out....Rooms are just a bit smaller than those other two- but still larger than POR