Below is a detailed review of our stay at WBC from April 12th - April 18th. Please feel free to skip if you are not interested in such detail - but I wanted to give back to this group with my thoughts because this forum's feedback was invaluable to our stay at WBC. We just loved the place!
Booking: Booked through Ken and Denise Price at vacationupgrades.com. My best advice from our trip - do yourself a favor and book with Ken and Denise. Very thorough, very easy and responsive to work with, and the price is excellent. I've heard other folks get a little nervous with other groups, primarily due to a lack of timely communications about their reservations - this is not a problem with Ken and Denise. In fact, Ken originally was unable to get a reservation for us due to lack of availability, but then found an opening and held it for us for 24 hours. On top of that - we only wanted 5 nights, but Ken had a hold for 7 nights and was worried he might lose the whole reservation if we tried to adjust. We were only billed the 5 night rate but could have used the additional nights if it had worked into our schedule.
Check-in: Checked in on sunday 4/12 around 3pm. Roughly 15 people in line if front of us - so roughly a 20 minute wait, but wasn't bothered by this. Once at the counter, very friendly staff, very efficient.
Infamous Parking Pass Desk: Was sent over to the parking pass desk to get our pass for the week. Knew in advance what to expect from all of the useful postings on this forum. Asked my wife and daughter to go check out the closest pool while I got the pass. My parking pass desk experience was not as bad as some have described on here. Yes, the person that talked with me was aggressive. He repeated some of the property information I had already received at the front desk. He asked whether we needed tickets for parks - I said "no, we are all set, thank you" - which was also true..
. He talked about the free breakfast on monday or tuesday and the presentation with it. I told him we were already booked those mornings, but thank you for the invitation. He asked if we would attend if the breakfast were scheduled later in the week. I said thank you but we are already fully booked with other activities. He seemed to realize I wasn't biting on his pitches - so he then abruptly just gave me our pass and moved on. This was about a 3 minute conversation if that. So my advice is to stay friendly but firm and you will get your pass without hassle.
(I will mention I also received a voicemail in our room on Wednesday of our stay claiming I didn't have a parking pass. I called back and told them that I received the parking pass at check in. They tried again to pitch me the presentation by offering a $150 credit or a 7-night stay at some resort. I told them thanks but no thanks and that was that.)
Room: We stayed in Tower 1, Room 116. Decided not to ask for a particular room. The room was a 1 bedroom deluxe and was great! It was at the end of the building on the first floor - facing the lake. No fireworks or high level view, but it didn't matter to us. It was so easy to go in and out of the room without getting on an elevator. Facing the lake was also key - i'm sure it wouldn't have been as enjoyable if we were parking lot side. Also, the towers at the other end of the property (5 & 6) seemed a little rowdier - we only have a 4-year old, so the relative quiet in Tower 1 actually worked out great.
Facility: Property is very clean. Loved the variety of pools at WBC. Spent more time at the Tower 3 pool than others (seemed less rowdy). Also really enjoyed the pool outside the hotel (between Towers 3 & 6) - a little quieter and seemed little more upscale. Also swam at night at the pool outside Tower 4 (??) where there was live music at the adjacent bar.
While the pirate pool outside Tower 6 was fun with the pirate ship, it was also a bit too busy for our tastes. Same with the pool outside the registration desk.
Never tried either lazy river. We didn't do the splash pad (which was actually closed for much of the week for some reason). Skipped mini-golf too, but a lot of folks seem to enjoy it. Also skipped the playground outside Towers 1 & 2.
The 0.6 mile path around the lake was pretty awesome. Great for walking anytime or running (early morning). The lake was pretty great too - my 4-year old loved the ducks, Koi fish, and turtles in the lake. The fountains were very pretty too - particularly at night (colored lights).
Ate at the Bar & Grill outside hotel/Tower 6 (not surprisingly, a bit over priced - but the pub food was good with good portions) and ordered out one night from the pizzeria next to Tower 3 (wouldn't recommend - below average pizza and pretty rough nachos).
Activities: Lots of great activities to pick and choose from - particularly for the little ones. My 4-year old loved making a tie-dye shirt ($10) and a stuffed bear ($20). We went to the ice cream social as well ($3?). Staff was great working with the kids. We also went to the Gatorland experience, where they presented a couple of alligators and a boa constrictor snake. The little ones loved this. Another bonus - when booking through vacationupgrades.com, no daily resort fees - you only pay for materials for those activities requiring them.
Surrounding area: Super easy to get to the Disney parks (we only went one day - to Magic Kingdom) and to Sea World (one day there too). Please note we rented a car ($200 for the week - great price through Dollar), so can't speak to situation with shuttles or other public transportation. Also easy to get to many restaurants and stores.
One suggestion - avoid the Publix supermarket on Rt. 192 listed on the info provided by the hotel. The place is a madhouse (crazy busy) and it seemed as though there was some price inflation going on in this supermarket due to its proximity to Disney. In retrospect, we would have gone to a slightly further away grocery store.
Overall, WBC is a great place to stay. We stayed at a Disney value resort on our previous trip and were so disappointed with that room. I can't see us staying at Disney again when WBC is so nice and has so much to offer.
