Am I making the right decision???

[Lisadaa2]

We are planning our 2nd trip the week after Thanksgiving. We chose the Wilderness Lodge woods view because it is in our price range and the lodge is supposed to be beautiful during the Christmas season. Now I have been reading that the CM's are rude and that the rooms are dirty and need updating. And I have read that the boats and buses are so slow and that the food is awful. Is this true????? Should we go back to AKL or try a moderate?? We have a DS7 and DD3. Will they like WL? Is the pool fun for a 7 year old boy? Please help!!! We will be booking this week. Any advice will be so helpful. Thank you so much!

 

[dacky041208]

On these boards you'll see tons of positives and negatives to just about every resort in WDW, you can use them to talk yourself into or out of any of them. Haven't stayed at WL but we visited a few times for meals and it is on our must do list for the future. We used the boat from/to Mk and didn't think it was slow at all, it was a nice relaxing ride. I would stick with what you booked.

 

[RMulieri]

Keep in mind that people are more inclined to complain than praise. Not every resort appeals to everyone.I would keep the WL

 

[Missytara]

I can tell you I go out of my way every year to go to the Lounge at the WL and take in the whole experience there. I love the lounge at POR, but I love the WL - and I love, love, love to experience the decorations, walk around the pool area. They are among my favorites out of all the resorts, with the exception of the GF.

Go, you will have a wonderful time. As the PP's stated, you will find good and bad at every resort; it depends on the person..... sometimes, not always, but sometimes it depends the person having the experience.

 

[designermv]

We did WL for our 2007 and 2008 trips and absolutely loved it both times. Mousekeeping was wonderful, rooms were clean, and the CMs were extremely friendly! We are headed to the Poly in April and I'm already wistful that I'm not going to WL. Like a PP said, you will find opinions of all kinds on these boards. Personally, I think the WL is a magical place and you can't go wrong staying there at any time of year, esp. during the holidays.

Edited to add: Your kids will LOVE WL. The geyser, the trickling stream inside, the free-form pool, the Electrical Water Pageant from the beach at night....it's a kids paradise!

 

[lov2b@disney]

We have stayed at WL 3 times and had great experiences each time! The boat is fun, the kids love it, nice and relaxing way to get to the MK!

The lodge is beautiful, never been at Christmas but I am sure it is specular!

 

[naomi78155]

We stayed at WL last April/May and LOVED it. It is beautiful. I believe we had woods view and you could sit on the balcony and watch the bunnies hop by and the ducks too. Tons of wildlife.

DS (4 at the time) loved the resort and loved the pool. There is a decent water slide.

The food court is ok, limited choices but decent food. We loved both Whispering Canyon and Artist Pointe.

The boat ride to MK is quick and enjoyable.

This year we are going to try CBR (saving $600 over staying at WL) but would go back to WL in a heartbeat.

You guys will love it.

 

[GrumpyBelle]

We also enjoyed WL. Of the resorts we have stayed in so far, this has been my favorite one. We never had any issues such as rude CMs, etc. We loved the boat ride to MK. This resort has so much to offer as one of the PPs mentioned. Last year, although we stayed elsewhere, we took the boat from MK to WL for our WCC reservation (which we have now done 2 years in a row), and after that we went to the beach to watch the Electric Water Pageant.

 

[wildcatfan]

I have only eaten at WL, never stayed there. However, I have always had a good experience. I will say that I have never experienced a rude cm, well I will take that back, my husband had a rude one at space mountain a few years ago. Keep in mind that you will get mixed reviews and sometimes it can drive you crazy. I think you will love WL.

 

[mousejunkie98]

We've never encountered rude cast members at WL, nor have we ever had problems with a dirty room. It's a fantastic resort, especially at Christmas time!

 

[Baltazar]

This board is full of whiny little knit pickers (me included ), so I wouldn't worry about it.

Every single resort at Disney gets a "they're awful" thread.

I would so love to stay at WL.

 

[npmommie]

We are planning our 2nd trip the week after Thanksgiving. We chose the Wilderness Lodge woods view because it is in our price range and the lodge is supposed to be beautiful during the Christmas season. Now I have been reading that the CM's are rude and that the rooms are dirty and need updating. And I have read that the boats and buses are so slow and that the food is awful. Is this true????? Should we go back to AKL or try a moderate?? We have a DS7 and DD3. Will they like WL? Is the pool fun for a 7 year old boy? Please help!!! We will be booking this week. Any advice will be so helpful. Thank you so much!

We just stayed at WL for a week in January, it was wonderful, we loved it! I found the CM's to be very helpful courteous, never encountered a rude one.
the boat to MK or CR was fast, we never waited, it was nice, the buses too were very efficient not a problem.
we thought the food was good at Roaring Forks, we didn't eat at any of the sit downs there.
my kids loved the pool and slide, there were poolside activities each day for the kids too which they loved, movies on the beach, the electrical boat parade, and you can see wishes from some spots at WL.
we would stay at WL again

oh and our room was very clean, and did not look worn. the lodgekeepers were nice and gave the kids towel animals

 

[dizmom2mwjk]

Our first stay at Disney was in 1997 at WL and we have been back 2 more times. We have also stayed at ASMo, AKL, CBR, POFQ, as well as the DoubleTree on Disney property. We have encountered pros and cons at every location, but not enough to dissuade us from returning to WL...The busses tend to be slow, but the pool is wonderful (we have 4 kids ranging from 3 to 13), the boatride to MK is wonderful, and you can take the boat to the bonfire with Chip and Dale at WL campground as well... love the Waterpageant, the decor in the lodge and the activities for the kids, and just the outdoor feel, and we have been there during the holidays, and loved it! Every trip to Disney has not been perfect for our family, we usually don't get our room requests, a kid usually gets sick, and we have a looooong flight to get there, so are crabby the first night, but I keep reminding myself that we are in Florida, at Disney, and it is warmer than in ND, so I really don't have much to complain about...

We always visit another resort while we are there, admire it, then go back to WL and are happy with our choice...

 

[MissionMouse]

We have stayed at WL and did not encounter a rude CM during our stay. We actually noted how friendly the WL CL staff was...they weren't the most accurate...as they misspelled my daughters name on her room/park ticket card twice, plus a few other things, but being nice goes along way. Room was clean. Never any bus issues. The only time there was a transportation issue was when we stayed until the end of MVMCP at MK. Bus and boat options could not meet the demand. Just remember if your timing is off a little and you miss the boat and bus...you will have to wait 15-25 minutes depending our your destination.

A quick boat ride and you are over to the MK monorail station. There you can visit one of the monorail resorts to dine or just hit the TTC and switch to the Epcot monorail loop to dine at Epcot or Boardwalk/Epcot Resorts.

 

[LeahA]

We have stayed at POP, WL, AKL, POLY, SSR, OKW and there has always been negative reviews and postitive reviews. I loved WL my 3 boys loved it as well. They were 2, 5, 8 when we were there. We had a room with bunk beds and a pool view which we liked. They boys enjoyed the pool and WCC, and the boat to the Magic Kingdom.

Don't take everything to heart on these boards. Some people are never happy.

 

[ciera321]

We loved WL, especially with all the Christmas decorations. And we had a front desk CM who was the best we're ever dealt with. When we were checking, in he had to run to the back to ask a question. When he returned about 10 minutes later, he apologized twice and said, "For your inconvenience of waiting, I put a $50 credit on your account". You'll have a wonderful time!!!

 

[Lisadaa2]

Thank you all for your comments! I feel alot better now reading all of your positive posts! We are so excited and am more confident in our choice now. I have to remember all the positive I read rather then the negative.
Thanks again!!!

 

[pixarmom]

I just wanted to add that we have stayed in all three categories of resorts many times over many years, and our most recent have been at WL. We really love it. Our boys (who now range in age from pre-school to pre-teen) love it there, and the only reason we are moving to another resort next time is that a bunk bed WL room does not accommodate our family of 5.

We found the buses were no different than any other resorts' buses and the cast members were wonderful. (It definitely helped to arrive early in the morning to the bus stop, if you are early risers.) We enjoy the theme, and the setting is so peaceful. Also, the boat to MK is wonderful, both first thing in the morning and at the end of the day. We get to the dock early with our kids and our coffee and enjoy the ride over to MK. We used Roaring Forks a lot for small breakfast items that we ate in our room before heading out to the parks and that worked really well for us. Our kids would swim in the pool after we returned from the parks in the evening, and watch the electric light parade from the beach.

I know everyone has different tastes, so the rooms may not appeal to everyone. Some find them dark, but we thought they were cozy (and we've always had a bunk bed room - fun for the kids!) I know they are not the most updated rooms on Disney property, but we liked them better than the mods or values we've stayed in. We are comfortable with the price because we don't feel we're paying so much for the room but the setting and the ease of transportation.

I hope you have a wonderful trip, and that you enjoy WL as much as we have!

 

[stephgles]

We have stayed at all the values, a couple of the mods but WL has been our home away from home the past 2 years. In fact, we are booked for 2 stays there this year. We get the woods view with bunk beds. My dd (5) loves it. Mousekeeping is great. DD loved going back to our room to see what mousekeeping did with her "Bunny". Bunny had adventures of his own while we were gone.

I cant say enough about WL.

 

[Disney Doll]

We've stayed at the WL twice over the years and found it to be a lovely resort with very nice CMs. The food was good. Lovely ambiance.

I can't imagine who could say a bad thing about it.