Does Anyone Dislike the WL??

[Sabor]

WL to me has to rank as the lowest of all deluxes (haven't tried AKL yet will be there 4/3).
Too me it is a sub deluxe. Better than than the Mods but cannot compare to Poly, contemp, GF , YBC, BW).
I love the lobby and thats about it. Rooms are small , didnt care for the restaurants WC or AP. Boat ride to MK overated.
Did not like parking situation (we always drive there).
Was not thrilled with the pool.

Sorry to all you WL lovers it just didn't do it for me.
Deluxe Rank excluding AKL

1)Yacht Club
2) Poly
3) GF
4) Contemporay
5) Beach Club
6) BWI
7) WL

 

[LUVDSNY04]

The WL is a loverly resort and I enjoyed my stay there but I wouldn't stay at this resort again. I'm from central PA and I have mountains all around me so when I stayed at the WL I didn't feel like I was in FL. It's silly but I love seeing the Palm trees! I love the GF and the YC and CS wasn't bad either. My next trip I'm going to stay at the Boardwalk.

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by wilderness01
Doesn't the bus also go to MK or is it just the boat?

Not the bus doesn't go tp MK. You have to take a bus to TTC and then catch a bus or the monorail to MK. I am another one that will never stay at the WL again. While the resort itself is beautiful there are plenty of cons to me. Rooms are way too small, pool is so cramped and overcrowdedit's ridiculous, and tranportation is a nightmare.

 

[Bojangles]

The transportation was very slow when we stayed there. They should added more options for transportation/pool after vwl was built.

 

[tinkerbee]

I really didn't care for WL. WLV is my home resort through DVC and my first stay there in January did not impress me.

This past January we stayed a week at OKW and wanted to stay an extra day so we figured we would try WL since we had never stayed there before. When we entered our room there were towels on the floor and the beds were unmade, they gave us a dirty room. We went back down and told them. OH sorry they said it was done. Fine but it then took three hours before the next room was ready. On the third floor all the way at the end of the hall looking at the dumpster. Great view.

The pools were packed and that was on a cold day it was only around 50. I would hate to see it on a hot summer day. I hate that the parking lot seems a mile away from the door. Busing wasn't the greatest although the bus drivers were very nice. Whispering Canyon was a fun place to eat. Other than that I won't stay there again.

The rooms are way to dark for my taste. I really enjoy OKW, Boardwalk, POR, Poly, and truthfully the All Stars had more appeal to me.

 

[zalansky]

WL is sort of a "sub-deluxe" considering the prices run about $100 less per nite at WL and AKL...than CR, Poly, etc. You get what you pay for. You can't expect all that Poly or the other more $$ ones have to offer when you are paying much less per nite.
We still love WL...probably because we live in Fl and see palm trees all the time.....its nice to get away and feel like you are in the "mountains". We will be there again this June!

 

[rtjcbrown]

Above all else, the transportation to MK is horrible. Nothing is more frustrating than watching the monorail fly by 500 feet away from the hotel. Why didn't they include a stop for the WL. Then try standing on the dock for half an hour watching the boats pass by your "deluxe" hotel because they are too full to pick up anyone else after filling up at Fort Wilderness. Then if they did stop, dozens of people would get off from FW in their bathing suits with towels, to fill up an already overcrowded pool.

 

[McCall]

The Smell!
I went to the WL to check it out with an eye to staying there and smell of the place made me physically ill. It is too bad because it is a beautiful resort.
Seems each resort has a distinctive smell, the Poly for instance has the same water ride smell to it, it is the the special water treatment Disney uses, and I actually quite like that one but the WL has one that is almost acrid, it makes me choke as soon as I walk in.

 

[d96j97]

I was an early post to this thread and let everyone know what a great time we had. I do understand some of the negatives you have stated but does anyone consider the difference in price in comparison to the other deluxe resorts?

I'm honestly not a picky person and maybe that is why we enjoyed our visit. I guess you could say I'm always optomistic. You can go to WDW and always look for the bad things OR you can go and realize that even WDW isn't perfect. You and your family can make the trip what you want to.

I still give big thumbs up to the resort. If you have never stayed there and aren't looking for all the negative comments in this tread that people have given...you will have a magical time.

 

[Tinkerbelle'sMOM]

TLinden...our trips must have been the same!~ I loved the resort, but the noise was something....we were next to a screaming family...oh my lord....we couldn't move because the resort was booked and thankfully they left after 2 days! We had a room that overlooked the swamp, and for this I paid extra LOL. And on our last day we had the Roach Brothers sitting on our bed having a little siesta! I freaked, DH caught them in a glass, we called the desk and they were like, oh sorry, gee, what an inconvienence to you. I opened the luggage, went thru every square inch of our stuff, shook the shoes, shook the bedding and slept with the lights on...although they were probably partying on us for a week We also met with some of the rudest CM's I have ever encountered, and not so knowlegeable either. I argued for 20 minutes with the checkin person about leaving cash in my account and not a credit card. He told me that they aren't allowed to do that...and I know better. Had to get the manager involved. Oy.

When we left, guess what we saw coming up the drive...the Roach Coach! LOL. Ick.

 

[zalansky]

d96j97-see my prior post...I tried getting that point across as well. I agree with you 100%, clearly others just don't get it.
If you go looking for things to pick at you will find them.

 

[Cookie55]

Ok, let me start by saying that I loved the WL overall and can't wait to stay there again HOWEVER...
after reading the posts to this thread I wish to respond to one issue in particular, i.e. the RUDENESS of some of the CMs!! We stayed there this past February and I have never had as negative an experience as I had upon check-in. Let me start by saying that I am aware that room requests are exactly that, requests and not guaranteed in any way. However, I decided since I had arrived in Orlando and was staying at the HRH for the first few nights I would go over to the Lodge and see if I could add a request. (I had planned to fax the resort but did not realize until it was too late that they do not accept faxes any longer.) The front desk CM was very nice and went back to her supervisor to ask how best to accomodate me. She told me to pick up a house phone in the lobby and ask for my request to be added to my ressie. I did this and once again spoke to an extremely helpful CM who took down all of my info and promised me that every effort would be made to satisfy my requests. Fast foward to my check-in--this is where the RUDENESS kicked in big-time! During the process I asked the CM if she could see my requests. She told me that there was nothing there! Imagine my shock as I had been so happy with the fine CMs I had interacted with previously. I asked her is she was sure and she said that there was absolutely nothing noted. She asked me what I had requested and I told her...MK side, as high a floor as possible. She then told me that there wasn't anything like that available..all she had was third floor next to the parking lot or fourth floor on the villa side. Needless to say I was very disappointed and quite disillusioned. As a last ditch attempt I mentioned some specific room numbers that I had gleaned from the DIS. I prefaced my statement with the acknowledgment that this was the first time I had stayed here but that I was aware of some specfic rooms that would make my family very happy. She immediately snapped at me "How do you know room numbers if you have never stayed here?" I was taken aback by her rudeness but managed a response that I had done some research on the internet. She gave me a look of utter digust and then proceeded to reiterate the only two rooms available (which by the way, would not be ready until 4:00.) Oh yeah I should probably point out that this was at 8:30 AM. I had stopped there on my way to the MK as I was aware that I was more likely to get my requests met the earlier I checked in. (Also before someone asks I had paid for a woods view so I was not asking for an upgrade.) Given no other alternatives I said I would take the room on the MK side and proceeded to enjoy my magical gathering breakfast at Tony's Town Square. When I returned to the lodge that nite I felt compelled to find out how my requests could have been "lost." When I approached the front desk and started to explain to the CM what had happened she interrupted me and asked "Were your requests?"...and repeated verbatim what I had requested! All of my requests were there afterall!!! I asked to speak to a manager and she assured me that she would look into it. She offered to pay our valet charge but we had self-parked so that was no help. I pointed out that I had been point blank lied to and she agreed that was unacceptable.

Don't get me wrong I had a great time and as I said at the start I can't wait to stay there again, however I think you would agree that we all expect Disney CMs to be honest when dealing with the public!

Sorry this was so long but I feel better to have gotten this off my chest..THANKS!!

 

[r3ngels]

I have never stayed at WL, so I can't give input on the resort. When we go to WDW I want to see summer flowers, palm trees, beachy type of resorts not pine trees. I know that sounds weird because that is their theme but that is why I don't stay there.

 

[PartyOf5]

I would choose AKL over WL in a heartbeat. In my opinion, the rooms at WL are smaller and run down. Another downside is the small pool at WL...and now that the Villas share the pool, it seems even smaller.

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by zalansky
d96j97-see my prior post...I tried getting that point across as well. I agree with you 100%, clearly others just don't get it.
If you go looking for things to pick at you will find them.

I disagree with you 100%. I did not go to the WL to find things to pick at. I went there to relax and enjoy myself on yet another WDW vacation. Just because some, and there are many, have found fault with the WL doesn't mean we were looking for problems. The problems were there. Funny out of all the other resorts I have stayed at besides the WL, that was the only one with problems. Even the CBR has better transportation then the WL. It really bugs me that when some asks a question and gets honest responses about their OWN experiences, there is always someone that jumps in blaming them for their problems. I get it just fine!

 

[las3888]

I wouldn't get too upset about all the negative comments...the original poster was asking for the 'other' side - not a bad idea since when I went originally to WL, I was a little wary, but I asked people on the board for their opinions. I got alot of really positive 'thumbs up', 'you'll love it' opinions. Unfortunately, it wasn't our cup of tea, and the posters who loved it had set such high expectations with us. I think it's a good idea to hear varying opinions on something. I don't think people were looking for negative things...just noting the negative things they experienced. Everything has a good and bad side to it. Again, I think the poster was looking for stories of the 'bad' side.

 

[zalansky]

Originally posted by skiwee1
I disagree with you 100%. I did not go to the WL to find things to pick at. I went there to relax and enjoy myself on yet another WDW vacation. Just because some, and there are many, have found fault with the WL doesn't mean we were looking for problems. The problems were there. Funny out of all the other resorts I have stayed at besides the WL, that was the only one with problems. Even the CBR has better transportation then the WL. It really bugs me that when some asks a question and gets honest responses about their OWN experiences, there is always someone that jumps in blaming them for their problems. I get it just fine!

Funny, I don't see anything in my post with your name on it. Are you slightly sensitive?

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by zalansky
Funny, I don't see anything in my post with your name on it. Are you slightly sensitive?

I know you weren't addressing me in particular but you WERE addressing everyone that had negative comments by saying:

Quote:
"I agree with you 100%, clearly others just don't get it.
If you go looking for things to pick at you will find them. "

No one that I know of goes looking for something that can make their vacation miserable. No one I know anyway. I vacation 8-10 weeks a year at various resorts and never had I had the problems that I had at the WL. I agree that the WL is not a deluxe hotel, not even close really, but the OP was asking who dislikes the WL, not who likes it. I answered the question honestly and would appreciate not being told in a general way that I, or anyone else that dislikes the WL, was looking for something to pick at.

 

[DonaldsGrl103]

Can everyone stop fighting please I made up this post to see the other side of things. You always hear the positive but never the other side and I wanted to see everyones opinions. I meant by no way to put down WL as it looks beautiful!! I hope I didnt cause anyone to get too upset as that wasnt my intention!!

 

[sm4987]

My family didn't like the WL. I thought the transportation was bad. We had long waits for the busses and the boat. The rooms were nice though. My biggest complaint about the room was that our maid never really cleaned up our room. We found things from other guests in our room, stuff under the bed. The hardest part was I talked my DH into staying there because it had been a dream of mine. Sometimes dreams don't live up to reality.