Since we stayed at 3 resorts in 3 different categories I thought I'd do a report just on them for comparison. I have to say upfront that I'm not one who goes into things looking for negatives so I probably overlook some things that others might have a problem with. We really went into this trip with the idea that any day at Disney is better than a 25 degree day in IL and there were only a couple of times that that was hard to remember. LOL
Saturday Nov. 26. All Star Sports
We had requested baseball or football but knew that the place would be crowded with people who had been there for Thanksgiving and didn't expect to get either of them. Check in was fast, we were the only people on the DME bus going to Sports so that helped. We went in and the kids headed for the area with the movies while I checked in. It was about 5 o'clock and there were 3 people working at the desk, all busy when I got there. I waited less than 5 minutes and the whole process took maybe another 5 minutes. We got a room on the first floor in the baseball section near the baseball pool. I had a very happy 12 year old when I told him that. After I checked in I went over to the concierge desk and bought my tickets for the Christmas party for Sunday night with no problem. We walked to our room, checking out the main pool and the baseball pool on the way as well as the football section. The room was clean and quiet. We had packed the kids swimsuits in their carry ons so they changed and spent some time in the baseball pool and loved it, then they moved to the main pool so I could go in and order a pizza to take back to our room to eat. Lifeguards were on duty at both pools and my kids are fish so I didn't worry about going in to order the pizza. The food court is large and bright and has a good selection of ready to grab and made to order food. After we ate we went and wandered through the resort to check out the different sections. There were lots of people out and about but it wasn't a problem and while it was noisy when we first got there by the time we headed to bed around 10 it had quieted down. We loved Sports and the only problem we had was my kids sharing a double bed. Dd ended up in bed with me because she had a huge case of the wiggles and was keeping ds awake. The room was fine for the 3 of us and I wouldn't hesitate to spend a week there.
Grade B.
November 27-December 3 Wilderness Lodge.
Got there a little after 8 on the Sunday after Thanksgiving expecting huge lines for check in and not to have a room. We walked into the lobby and I swear I heard my 12 year old gasp. Pictures don't even come close to showing how beautiful it is. I waited for maybe 3 minutes then went to check in. Sterrie was the cast member and he was great! He actually asked me if I had any room requests. I said if they had any bunk beds available on the 5th or 6th floor I'd take it but it wasn't a necessity. Not only did he find me a bunk bed room on the 5th floor but it was ready then! It was in the north wing at the end of the first hallway that you go down. We could sit on our balcony and see the lobby, the top of the falls, the pool and the lake and the geyser. We sat out there one night and watched the electric water parade. The room was clean and well maintained. I didn't see any signs of wear that some have complained about. I didn't think it was dark at all, even with the bunk beds that some people seem to think cuts down on the lighting. Roaring Forks was great. We only ate there once, ds and I split a burger, the toppings bar was wonderful, dd had chicken nuggets and we all thought the food was very good. We got the mugs and got lots of use out of them. Dd, the popcorn addict, used the microwaves a couple of times to make popcorn we'd brought with us. Whispering Canyon was a lot of fun and the food was great. Sterrie had noticed that it was my dd's birthday the day we checked in and he asked who her favorite character was. The next day we came home and there were balloons from the lodge and a card and picture from Cinderella and Prince Charming. A couple of days later dd was with me when I went to get a print out of our room charges and Sterrie was the CM, I mentioned to her that she'd better thank him because he was responsible for Cinderella knowing where she was staying. He asked me what she'd gotten and when I told him he was upset that she hadn't gotten anything else with it! He asked if she could have chocolate and remembered that I had 2 kids even though Ds wasn't with us and went to the back and came out with 2 chocolate totem poles for the kids! We LOVED the boat to MK. It's so handy and such a nice relaxing ride. There is nothing better than coming out of MK and walking straight ahead to get on the boat. You have to walk farther to get on the monorail to go back to one of the monorail resorts than you have to walk to get on the boat. The boats ran regularly and we never had to wait more than 10 minutes and usually managed to time it so that we were at the dock when a boat was already there or we could see it coming at both ends. We even took the monorail from Epcot to the TTC, changed to the resort monorail, got off at MK then took the boat back to WL and I timed it and it took a half hour from the time we got on the monorail until the time we got to the dock at WL. The busses to and from Epcot were another story. They were the only transportation complaint I had. Going both ways we always had to wait for a bus, in the pouring rain Monday night at Epcot, and they were always full with people, sometimes us <g> standing. Busses to AK and MGM were fine. We never took the bus to MK. The kids loved the main pool, we never checked out the quiet pool. My kids never want to stay anywhere else.
Grade A-.
December 3 POR.
We got there around 11 to check in. There was a HUGE line. A group had just gotten there from a cruise and I think we must have gotten there right after a ME bus got there too. It took 40 minutes to get to a CM. Check in was quick after that and once again our room was ready. Another big surprise! We were in a first floor room in Partere Place. POR is a beautiful resort, the food court is huge and has a nice selection of food. It's a nice place to visit and I'm glad I can say we stayed there but honestly I would stay at an All Star or Pop before I'd spend the extra money to stay there again. The room was fine, it was clean and quiet but the place is just too darn big. It took us less time to walk from the boat dock to our room at WL than it took us to hike to our room from the main building of POR. It also took longer to get to the main pool at POR than it did to get to the pool at WL or Sports. If we'd stayed there for our entire trip I think getting the mugs would have been a waste of money. It was just too far to go back and forth at the end of the day or the beginning of the day to fill them for us. The kids didn't like the pool there as much as the pools at WL or sports either. We only went ot MK from POR. The trip to MK wasn't bad. Last night getting back to POR was horrendous. We waited for a bus forever while POFQ had 3 come and all of the All Stars had 3 or 4 come. That surprised me because the night we were stuck in the rain at Epcot we saw 3 POR busses come there before we saw a WL bus.
Grade C-.
Saturday Nov. 26. All Star Sports
We had requested baseball or football but knew that the place would be crowded with people who had been there for Thanksgiving and didn't expect to get either of them. Check in was fast, we were the only people on the DME bus going to Sports so that helped. We went in and the kids headed for the area with the movies while I checked in. It was about 5 o'clock and there were 3 people working at the desk, all busy when I got there. I waited less than 5 minutes and the whole process took maybe another 5 minutes. We got a room on the first floor in the baseball section near the baseball pool. I had a very happy 12 year old when I told him that. After I checked in I went over to the concierge desk and bought my tickets for the Christmas party for Sunday night with no problem. We walked to our room, checking out the main pool and the baseball pool on the way as well as the football section. The room was clean and quiet. We had packed the kids swimsuits in their carry ons so they changed and spent some time in the baseball pool and loved it, then they moved to the main pool so I could go in and order a pizza to take back to our room to eat. Lifeguards were on duty at both pools and my kids are fish so I didn't worry about going in to order the pizza. The food court is large and bright and has a good selection of ready to grab and made to order food. After we ate we went and wandered through the resort to check out the different sections. There were lots of people out and about but it wasn't a problem and while it was noisy when we first got there by the time we headed to bed around 10 it had quieted down. We loved Sports and the only problem we had was my kids sharing a double bed. Dd ended up in bed with me because she had a huge case of the wiggles and was keeping ds awake. The room was fine for the 3 of us and I wouldn't hesitate to spend a week there.
Grade B.
November 27-December 3 Wilderness Lodge.
Got there a little after 8 on the Sunday after Thanksgiving expecting huge lines for check in and not to have a room. We walked into the lobby and I swear I heard my 12 year old gasp. Pictures don't even come close to showing how beautiful it is. I waited for maybe 3 minutes then went to check in. Sterrie was the cast member and he was great! He actually asked me if I had any room requests. I said if they had any bunk beds available on the 5th or 6th floor I'd take it but it wasn't a necessity. Not only did he find me a bunk bed room on the 5th floor but it was ready then! It was in the north wing at the end of the first hallway that you go down. We could sit on our balcony and see the lobby, the top of the falls, the pool and the lake and the geyser. We sat out there one night and watched the electric water parade. The room was clean and well maintained. I didn't see any signs of wear that some have complained about. I didn't think it was dark at all, even with the bunk beds that some people seem to think cuts down on the lighting. Roaring Forks was great. We only ate there once, ds and I split a burger, the toppings bar was wonderful, dd had chicken nuggets and we all thought the food was very good. We got the mugs and got lots of use out of them. Dd, the popcorn addict, used the microwaves a couple of times to make popcorn we'd brought with us. Whispering Canyon was a lot of fun and the food was great. Sterrie had noticed that it was my dd's birthday the day we checked in and he asked who her favorite character was. The next day we came home and there were balloons from the lodge and a card and picture from Cinderella and Prince Charming. A couple of days later dd was with me when I went to get a print out of our room charges and Sterrie was the CM, I mentioned to her that she'd better thank him because he was responsible for Cinderella knowing where she was staying. He asked me what she'd gotten and when I told him he was upset that she hadn't gotten anything else with it! He asked if she could have chocolate and remembered that I had 2 kids even though Ds wasn't with us and went to the back and came out with 2 chocolate totem poles for the kids! We LOVED the boat to MK. It's so handy and such a nice relaxing ride. There is nothing better than coming out of MK and walking straight ahead to get on the boat. You have to walk farther to get on the monorail to go back to one of the monorail resorts than you have to walk to get on the boat. The boats ran regularly and we never had to wait more than 10 minutes and usually managed to time it so that we were at the dock when a boat was already there or we could see it coming at both ends. We even took the monorail from Epcot to the TTC, changed to the resort monorail, got off at MK then took the boat back to WL and I timed it and it took a half hour from the time we got on the monorail until the time we got to the dock at WL. The busses to and from Epcot were another story. They were the only transportation complaint I had. Going both ways we always had to wait for a bus, in the pouring rain Monday night at Epcot, and they were always full with people, sometimes us <g> standing. Busses to AK and MGM were fine. We never took the bus to MK. The kids loved the main pool, we never checked out the quiet pool. My kids never want to stay anywhere else.
Grade A-.
December 3 POR.
We got there around 11 to check in. There was a HUGE line. A group had just gotten there from a cruise and I think we must have gotten there right after a ME bus got there too. It took 40 minutes to get to a CM. Check in was quick after that and once again our room was ready. Another big surprise! We were in a first floor room in Partere Place. POR is a beautiful resort, the food court is huge and has a nice selection of food. It's a nice place to visit and I'm glad I can say we stayed there but honestly I would stay at an All Star or Pop before I'd spend the extra money to stay there again. The room was fine, it was clean and quiet but the place is just too darn big. It took us less time to walk from the boat dock to our room at WL than it took us to hike to our room from the main building of POR. It also took longer to get to the main pool at POR than it did to get to the pool at WL or Sports. If we'd stayed there for our entire trip I think getting the mugs would have been a waste of money. It was just too far to go back and forth at the end of the day or the beginning of the day to fill them for us. The kids didn't like the pool there as much as the pools at WL or sports either. We only went ot MK from POR. The trip to MK wasn't bad. Last night getting back to POR was horrendous. We waited for a bus forever while POFQ had 3 come and all of the All Stars had 3 or 4 come. That surprised me because the night we were stuck in the rain at Epcot we saw 3 POR busses come there before we saw a WL bus.
Grade C-.
What type room did you have reserved at WL?
