DH convinced me to switch-GF to WL!

[susy]

Well, we were all set to make our reservations for next Thanksgiving at the GF... then last night Dh was looking up the menus at WL. He has always wanted to stay there. He says the GF will be too stuffy for him and maybe we can save staying there for our 10th anniversary (in 2 years).

So..... I caved! I was thinking of booking a woods view. My thinking was that since it would be packed over the holiday, at least our room could be a quiet source of refuge.

My DS wants to stay in the Lincoln Logs hotel and have bunk beds (which I will make my first request). He just loved the bunk beds at AKL.
Any suggestions on room location?
Is concierge worth it?
how is transportation?

 

[webray]

Go for the pool/lagoon view, it is excellent, and you can see the geyser errupting from your balcony.

 

[Straughn]

Suzy:

We go to WDW every year and until the Wilderness Lodge opened, we always stayed at the GF. Last year, for a change of scenery after 5 or 6 years at WL, we switched back to the GF. While we enjoyed it for nine days, my DH and I agreed that there is something about the WL which appeals to us. Yes, the GF has the monorail and two of our favorite restaurants, and I could walk to the spa, not to mention the gorgeous grounds. We just love the Wilderness and IMO, it is a the better of the two resorts for children. There is so much to do and see at the WL. The lobby is absolutely breath taking! Be sure to rent bikes or walk to the ranch which is near Fort Wilderness. They have small petting zoo and you can see the Disney horses which are stabled there. There is also the restaurant (at the moment, I am having a mental blank on the name) in the lobby which the children will love. It is noisy, but they have lots of fun stuff for kids. We eat lunch there once every trip just to watch the shenanigans. Ask at the Front Desk for a copy of the Hidden Mickey list and see if you can find all of them on the property. Inquire about being the "Flag Family" one day.

You have the boat to the MK (children love it) and are a short bus ride away from Ticket and Transportation for the monorail. You can also take a boat to the Contemporary. I know there are folks who have had problems with the transportation at the WL, but we have never had a bad experience. We always are there the week before President's Day, so it is not crowded, which makes a difference from Thanksgiving Week which is crowded. Hopefully someone who has been there when it is crowded will comment.

As for the room location, we have always overlooked the pool and the lake (Courtyard view). Since it is just the two of us, we are happy to take a room on an upper floor, away from the elevators-rooms that are less popular with families. We have never had a problem with noise from the pool and it is a very pretty view at night with lights in the courtyard area.

Overall, I think you will be very happy at the WL. We will be back in February and I cannot wait!

 

[vbfamily]

I would suggest the courtyard room-but you will enjoy any room in my opinion. You just get to see more from your room if you have a courtyard view.

The concierge is worth it to me if you get it as a free upgrade or as an "upsell". We reserved a conc. room in October-checked in-informed the CM that we did not want the 7th floor-too high-she said well I guess we will be able to save you some money then and booked us into a regular courtyard view room with access to the conc. floor for around $30/night.

This was definately worth it-ate a ton of food-family of 4-for $30 a day. I don't know if it's worth the extra $90 to do it the normal way. I don't know how we lucked out, but we did. You can buy an awful lot of food in the snack bar for $90.

They also sell Lincoln Log sets in the gift shop that are the actual lodge-our son loves his.

Transportation is great-boat to MK-bus to anywhere-short bus ride to TTC-we took the bus to TTC and toured the other resorts on the monorail.

Have fun

 

[addictd2disney]

BECAUSE I like the GF sooooo much better and last time I stayed in the WL I vowed NEVER to stay there again. Dark , tiny rooms and the pain waiting for those boats (especially during busy times) ,and a not so wonderful Roaring Forks are some of my reasons. Go for GF!!

 

[susy]

The transportation seems to be an issue for WL.

We will have our own car, but I like to use the disney system.
when we were at AKL, we had no trouble at all with the buses. One stop-no fuss.