Thanks everyone re: the buses to DTD. I think they're probably pretty bad no matter where you're staying. Our first day at WL will be right off the Dream, so we'll just see how everyone feels. We might go to MK for a bit, we might go to DTD. We might do absolutely nothing. I'm down with that.
I did a split stay with AKL and the Polynesian in December '10. DH and I had dinner at V&A for our anniversary and, when we arrived, discovered we were eating at the Chef's Table (I thought we were in the main dining room because I only received a time and date confirmation from IPO). It was pretty amazing. But I digress.
AKL was fantastic as usual. The Poly was just okay. The extra room was nice, but the Poly is very loud by comparison (I had to roll up a towel to bridge the gap between the floor and the bottom of the door). We stayed CL and I really prefer the AKL lounge to Poly. The food was very good, but there was an atmosphere that I didn't like. It just didn't seem as friendly or family oriented. More kids who made messes they didn't clean up, parents who didn't care, people piling ridiculous amounts of food on their plates. That sort of thing. At AKL, we've always chatted with other families in the lounge, and our kids strike up friendships with the other kids while watching TV at breakfast. Not so with the Poly. It could be that we were just all tired and cranky because it was the end of our trip. It didn't burn me out on the concept of a split stay, just staying CL at the Poly.
I agree about the buses to DTD being about the same at all of the resorts. Some are better than others, but none of them get you there quickly
.
Thanks for your comparison between AKL CL and Poly CL. We've never stayed CL at AKL, but I have heard so many rave reviews for it, very similar to yours
. The Poly, on the other hand, has had more negative than positive reviews (again, very similar to your experience), which has had me second guessing myself every time I consider booking it. We love the Poly and my youngest DS wants to go back, so we are staying there after our cruise next June. Since I've always wanted to try Poly CL, I thought of just throwing caution to the wind and do it this time, but after reading your review, I'm hesitating again
. I know all CLs have their good and bad days with CMs, people not cleaning up messes, kids running around grabbing food with their hands, etc, but some are better than others and the Poly (from what I've been reading), seems to be one of the worst on a regular basis, which makes me very nervous booking it
.
I guess I just looked at the soda logos!
Don't feel bad......I have overlooked things in a post many times
.
Hi everybody!! I have been reading this thread for the past few weeks. This thread gets me so excited for our return to the Wilderness Lodge at the end of August! Thanks to everybody for your posts. I cannot wait to see pics of the new rooms!
So exciting!!
The Lodge is a great place to return to
. You've come to the right place to wait as we are all waiting for new room pics
.
ok I'm still reading through the thread, but we officially charged our resort today from POR to WL (Woods View) for our Sept. 2012 trip. We weren't 100% we would go in Feb. 2013, so I wanted to make sure I was able to stay at WL before we go back to BC in Dec. 2013. I am so excited and WL just fits so much better with our touring plan this time. We'll be 80% MK so it's just so much closer travel wise.
This will be our first time at WL and it will be me and DH.
(yes, I know I need to update my siggy)
You will love the WL
. WL is in a great location for visiting MK.....we've never had any trouble with the buses, but we love taking the boat to MK
. Have a great trip
.
So that's one vote to keep the reservation as is
Well, it wasn't so much the extra room that was appealing, but having our own bedroom, since DD will be with us.
The CL amenities would definitely make up for having 350 SF instead of 725 SF. Wow - it just hit me that those one bedrooms are twice as large. If they only had CL access like the Jambo one bedrooms at AKL.
It might be nice to have a little separation for a few days. Since you're staying for 2 weeks, if you decide you don't like the villa, it's only for 4 nights followed by 9 glorious nights at the Lodge in CL to look forward to
. Whichever you decide, I'm sure you will be happy with it
.
No, we've never stayed DVC, and no, we definitely don't want to ever purchase DVC or points. We use the military 40% room-only discount (and we can even add the
DDP, if we wanted to) for all WDW Resort rooms, except suites, so that's a better savings for us.
We've looked into buying DVC a few times and every time we come to the same conclusion that it just isn't for us. We almost bought when they were selling AKV as it looked so beautiful, but after giving it some thought, it just wasn't for us. We have gotten great deals the last 10 years, so hopefully Disney won't do away with discounts altogether any time soon
.
But then I feel a little silly doing a split stay at the same resort. And, you know I love CR and the BLT one bedrooms are about 100 SF bigger than VWL (but the SF price is the same) and the BLT one bedroom has an extra bathroom for DD. Which would you choose if you were also doing WL/CL?
What do you think of BLT Vs. VWL (with a WL/CL split)?
I'm not bowbat, but I think BLT might be a good idea
. Like you said, since you love the CR, giving BLT a try might be nice before heading to the Lodge
.
. Not sure I can help with your decision as the villas have never appealed to us as we really don't need the extra room with just 4 of us and I'm not one to cook or do laundry on vacation 
. But with that said, if you really wanted to try a villa, you would only be there for the first 4 nights and then you would have the next 9 nights at the Lodge in CL 
. If it were me, I would stay all 13 nights at WL CL. Good luck deciding as I know how hard it is to pick just one resort 
. It was a very easy thing to do.
