Deciding between BoardWalk Inn and Wilderness Lodge

[ChicagoJ]

Hi everyone! I'm so glad I've found this awesome board! You guys are all so helpful!

We're going to MK for the first time since I was a kid (my H and I went to the other parks about 15 years ago but not MK). We're taking our 5 yo daughter who will love everything about MK. I can't wait to see the park through her eyes

BoardWalk Inn: I LOVE the look and feel, especially the rooms. I don't like that the only way to get to MK is by bus. If you could take a monorail or boat from BWI, it would be absolute perfection. When spending this much money on a hotel, I think taking a bus is a huge downside. I loved taking the monorail when I was little and I feel like that or the boat to arrive is a part of the magic. Is there any work around to be able to get on a monorail if we're only doing MK and staying at BWI? Or boat?

Wilderness Lodge: I greatly dislike the whole woodsy theme....greatly. It seriously makes me cringe (and we'll be there in November and I LOVE Christmas, but the woodsy Christmas decorations don't really change my opinion). And I can tell I'm not going to like the rooms which is a HUGE downside. But I LOOOOVE the idea of hopping a boat to get to MK.

I hate the WL theme just as much as I hate spending $420/night at BWI to have to take a 25 min bus ride to a park that's 4 miles away.

My H and dd will be perfectly happy at either one, I'm the one who's super picky with hotels. I'm honestly torn between these two.

 

[dansdad]

Hi everyone! I'm so glad I've found this awesome board! You guys are all so helpful!

We're going to MK for the first time since I was a kid (my H and I went to the other parks about 15 years ago but not MK). We're taking our 5 yo daughter who will love everything about MK. I can't wait to see the park through her eyes

BoardWalk Inn: I LOVE the look and feel, especially the rooms. I don't like that the only way to get to MK is by bus. If you could take a monorail or boat from BWI, it would be absolute perfection. When spending this much money on a hotel, I think taking a bus is a huge downside. I loved taking the monorail when I was little and I feel like that or the boat to arrive is a part of the magic. Is there any work around to be able to get on a monorail if we're only doing MK and staying at BWI? Or boat?

Wilderness Lodge: I greatly dislike the whole woodsy theme....greatly. It seriously makes me cringe (and we'll be there in November and I LOVE Christmas, but the woodsy Christmas decorations don't really change my opinion). And I can tell I'm not going to like the rooms which is a HUGE downside. But I LOOOOVE the idea of hopping a boat to get to MK.

I hate the WL theme just as much as I hate spending $420/night at BWI to have to take a 25 min bus ride to a park that's 4 miles away.

My H and dd will be perfectly happy at either one, I'm the one who's super picky with hotels. I'm honestly torn between these two.

Both are great resorts so you really can't go "wrong" with either one. We do like Boardwalk slightly better though. It is our favorite resort in all of WDW. Being able to walk/boat to 2 parks and being able to pop into Epcot for a quick snack is just fantastic. It has THE best slide on property and the theme is just so cool in our opinion.

We have found the bus from Boardwalk to MK to be just fine. It's a 10 minute ride though, definitely nowhere near 25 minutes. Ever since he was a toddler our son has loved taking the busses. He viewed it as another attraction.

 

[Gehrig1B]

Not sure what "woodsy" means in this context but the boat to MK is a great perk from Wilderness Lodge. The bus ride from Boardwalk is nowhere near 25 minutes though. Much more like 10-15 minutes. Your wait for boat at WL or bus at BWI will be similar...

I think the dislike of the theming should take precedent if you truly find it so off-putting.

 

[ChicagoJ]

Thanks dansdad! You're right and our daughter will be perfectly happy to ride a bus. Is there another opportunity to take a monorail if we're staying at BWI and only going to MK? Boat? We plan to go to the Poly to do a luau....is there a non bus way to at least get there from the BWI?

 

[dansdad]

Thanks dansdad! You're right and our daughter will be perfectly happy to ride a bus. Is there another opportunity to take a monorail if we're staying at BWI and only going to MK?Boat? We plan to go to the Poly to do a luau....is there a non bus way to at least get there from the BWI?

You could always take a monorail or boat ride from MK to Poly for the Luau. Or you could just take a break and enjoy a monorail or boat ride to one of the other MK resorts to check them out. We do this often and really enjoy it.

 

[ChicagoJ]

Not sure what "woodsy" means in this context but the boat to MK is a great perk from Wilderness Lodge. The bus ride from Boardwalk is nowhere near 25 minutes though. Much more like 10-15 minutes. Your wait for boat at WL or bus at BWI will be similar...

I think the dislike of the theming should take precedent if you truly find it so off-putting.

Thanks. By woodsy I mean the lodge look. That's good to know the bus is shorter than I originally read.

 

[ChicagoJ]

You could always take a monorail or boat ride from MK to Poly for the Luau. Or you could just take a break and enjoy a monorail or boat ride to one of the other MK resorts to check them out.

Ok that's a great idea and probably a nice way to take a mid day break. Thank you! So we can just hop on a monorail or boat at MK and go to any resort we want to look around?

 

[dansdad]

Ok that's a great idea and probably a nice way to take a mid day break. Thank you! So we can just hop on a monorail or boat at MK and go to any resort we want to look around?

Yup! We do it every trip and look forward to it. It's a great way to check out a resort instead of just looking at pictures.

 

[Babsy]

Hi everyone! I'm so glad I've found this awesome board! You guys are all so helpful!

We're going to MK for the first time since I was a kid (my H and I went to the other parks about 15 years ago but not MK). We're taking our 5 yo daughter who will love everything about MK. I can't wait to see the park through her eyes

BoardWalk Inn: I LOVE the look and feel, especially the rooms. I don't like that the only way to get to MK is by bus. If you could take a monorail or boat from BWI, it would be absolute perfection. When spending this much money on a hotel, I think taking a bus is a huge downside. I loved taking the monorail when I was little and I feel like that or the boat to arrive is a part of the magic. Is there any work around to be able to get on a monorail if we're only doing MK and staying at BWI? Or boat?

Wilderness Lodge: I greatly dislike the whole woodsy theme....greatly. It seriously makes me cringe (and we'll be there in November and I LOVE Christmas, but the woodsy Christmas decorations don't really change my opinion). And I can tell I'm not going to like the rooms which is a HUGE downside. But I LOOOOVE the idea of hopping a boat to get to MK.

I hate the WL theme just as much as I hate spending $420/night at BWI to have to take a 25 min bus ride to a park that's 4 miles away.

My H and dd will be perfectly happy at either one, I'm the one who's super picky with hotels. I'm honestly torn between these two.

I like the BWI better than WL as well, but if you are going to the MK as your primary resort for a 5 year old daughter, I would prefer staying in the MK area. Have you considered the GF or the Poly or even the CR? They are all on the monorail. You can walk to the MK from the CR or you can boat from the GF or the Poly. Theming is very important to many people, so I would hesitate to stay at a resort where I didn't like the theme.

BWI is located between the Epcot and DHS theme parks. You can walk or boat to both of the form the BWI. Also, as Dansdad said, the bus ride is only about 10 minutes form the BWI to the MK. If you have park hoppers: You can walk into Epcot's International Gateway (at the back of Epcot) and then walk through Epcot to the front entrance where you can take a monorail to the TTC. then you can change to the monorail to the MK. That is a way to take the monorail from the BWI. However, it would take so much time and effort that it really wouldn't be worth it, IMO, as a means of getting form the BWI to the MK. If you wanted to spend a morning at Epcot and then switch to the MK for the afternoon, you might do it on occasion though.

How long are you planning to visit WDW? If longer than 6 days perhaps a split stay would work for you? You could stay at the WL for 3 days and then move to the Epcot area and finish your trip at the BWI for the last 3 or more nights. That way you would experience the boat ride to the MK but also would get to stay in the resort that you prefer for part of the time.

Good luck choosing! Both resorts are pretty awesome, so you will have a great time whichever way you decide!

 

[rosiebean]

FYI, if it's in your budget, simply Uber to/from parks instead of using the resort bus. It saves you time waiting for buses, and Uber us pretty inexpensive. That's our go to option when we chose a resort for theme over location.

Personally, I have found that if I don't like a theme, then I'm not happy on vacation. I can work around transportation issues (such as using taxis or Uber to get to and from places quicker than using buses). But I have not found a way to work around being in a resort whose theme I do not like.

 

[MsThumper]

We have probably stayed at WL for at least 10 trips. I couldn't get DH to try anywhere else. We live in Florida, so the tropical themes do not appeal to us. We started going to Food and Wine at Epcot in the fall on a yearly basis so I was finally able to talk him into trying an Epcot resort and it is now our favorite area to stay. We stay either at BWI or YC.

I still love the theming at WL and the lobby would still take my breath away, We have just found Epcot area a better location to meet our needs.

For us, the problem with WL was the transportation and eating options. At the times we stayed there, (before Uber existed) we had to share a bus regrdless of what park we were going to. As 2 senior adults, we like to go to Epcot, and every time we wanted to go there, we had to go to Ft. Wilderness first to pick up passengers. I think the only park where we didn't share a bus was MK. As far as dining, we prefer table service for dinner every night. We don't want to have to stay in a park all day to be close to somewhere to eat dinner. We did enjoy Artist's point, but not every night. The final time that we stayed at WL, we had a dinner reservation at Narcossee's and it took us 1.5 hours to get there from WL, we almost missed our reservation. The Epcot area gives us many more dining options.

As far as the monorail, we have AP's and are never really in a hurry to get to MK, so we just walk through EPCOT and get on the monorail to TTC, then transfer to the monorail to MK. There have even been times when we just go and ride the monorail.

 

[margot31]

One of my favorite things is seeing MK from the boat...I just wish the first time I could take my son we would have been able to do it that way but we won't for his first time. on a bit of a budget. Personally that would be the way I would go but than again I like WL.

 

[Wood Nymph]

If you hate the woodsy theme of the WL then you should stay at BWI. As far as buses go you would only need to take buses to MK and AK from BWI while you would have to take buses to at least three parks from WL. And the bus from BWI toMK is a very direct trip that only takes about 12 minutes.

 

[Hopefully]

It is incredible to me that you would even be considering a resort that you already state you HATE the theme and you would hate the rooms.
Check out the other MK resort hotels for your visit. The CR allows you to walk to the MK.

Good Luck

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would consider pricing out the monorail resorts. CR, garden wing typically prices out less than other monorail room categories. The rooms are lovely and you will be on the monorail line with the ability to walk to MK. If you already hate the theming at WL, I wouldn't book it. BWI happens to be one of our favorite resorts, but if your main criteria is to get to MK by boat or monorail, it's not the best location. I'm with the PP who mentioned uber. We now take it virtually everywhere on WDW property as we really can't stand waiting for buses (or even boats!) anymore. One night we actually took uber from DHS back to BWI because the boat line was so long and we didn't feel like walking. If you choose BWI, I HIGHLY recommend using uber to MK. Take it either to CR (and walk) or to GF (and take the monorail). It will cost about $5 - $7 each way.

 

[megs1313]

BWI, hands down.

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

It is incredible to me that you would even be considering a resort that you already state you HATE the theme and you would hate the rooms.
Check out the other MK resort hotels for your visit. The CR allows you to walk to the MK.

Good Luck

Agreed, with the original post it seems odd to not even consider a monorail resort. Why are BWI and WL the only 2 considerations here? (just making sure we're not missing info)

 

[petrola]

We LOVE the Boardwalk and usually stay in a one bedroom villa there. As has already been mentioned, being able to walk to two parks is wonderful! plus we have always been able to view Fantasmic or Illuminations from our balcony (depending on which view we have)- which is great if you have little ones and they fall asleep early!

Another great benefit of staying at Boardwalk is being able to walk to Epcot for dinner - which we do often!

 

[DG25]

I can't imagine anyone not liking WL, but then again I can't imagine why anyone likes BC. I like BWI, but I am with others here, do CR garden wing, we had to move there one time, never thought of booking it outright, and probably never would, but we were very surprised that we liked it. The best staff ever, we had CL and even from the garden wing it was great. The walk to MK was great, the monorail was great, boat ride, its like you have it all. And price wise I think it is within $40 a night of WL cheapest room, or $20 less than there court yard rooms.

 

[prazer]

For us it depends on the time of the year...Winter=wilderness lodge. Summer we like the boardwalk if we cant do beach club. I lean towards boardwalk because of its proximity to Epcot and Hollywood studios...if you rent a car, it comes down to the ambiance of the resort.