Mousemommy1
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2010
- Messages
- 14,592
Ok, so alot of you have followed my "saga" over the last year regarding where to stay for our July 2012 trip. It has gone through many incarnations....we were booked at the Poly, the BC, the WL...contemplated a split stay....and bounced between our options several times before finally deciding (about 47 days before our trip) on WL CL for the whole 10 nights. I honestly could not be happier about our choice!!!! If there is one thing I regret, it is making the jump from values & mods to a deluxe for the first time...and the regret is for my wallet...my family agrees that they don't want to stay anywhere else but the WL...
A few general observations...
~ Weather ~We were worried about going in July, due to the heat (we usually travel in cooler months)...well, maybe it was a fluke, but for the 11 days we were there, the weather was AMAZING...and even cool at times...it only rained hard on one day (all day), but we had ponchos, went out and made the best of it!!!
~ Crowds ~ NOT BAD AT ALL...of course this is purely subjective because everyone has their tolerances...but we traveled with our 5 and 8 year old DD's, who are pretty patient (as kids go), and they often said..."oooh, that's not a bad wait!!!" I think the longest we waited was about 60 minutes for Splash Mountain and that was only because we were on our last day and the girls really wanted to ride again...
And yes...there were many Brzilian tour groups, but honestly, if you go in the other direction (or walk fast to get in front of them), it was not bad.
On two separate occasions, we were actually approaching the Fast Pass lines to utilize ours and a group of 70-100 Brazilians would jump in front of us...
Well, in both of those situations, a CM noticed and took us out from behind them and placed us in front of the group....at which time they started chanting...(I'm pretty sure something rude, but we couldn't understand...
) But, it didn't matter, we were in front of them and didn't have to wait it out!
~ Pixie Dust ~ There was plenty of it!!! From the CM's who rescued us from the tour groups...to restaurant CM's letting us order stuff outside of the DDP and not charging us for it...Mousekeeping left awesome towel animals everyday....here's a sampling....
~ Food ~ There is alot of talk on the Disboards about the food at Disney being on the decline...again, this is all totally subjective, but we had some amazing meals at Ohana (dinner), Le Cellier (dinner) and Whispering Canyon Cafe (the skillet was awesome!!!). Artist Point was awesome too...here is the filet DH and I got...
Anyways....the WL was amazing...we had a refurbed room (#7042) on the club level (yes, we paid for it) and had this amazing view...
We had a great view of Wishes from our room (and you don't pay for a Theme Park View at WL)
Here's a few pics of our room
Overall, the WL was relaxing (we could barely hear the construction, and that was on only a few occassions), the CM's were wonderful...the CL was plentiful and delicious. It really ruined us I think, as I said before, my family doesn't want to stay anywhere else.
On another note, the boat option to MK was nice, but not our favorite, it really took much longer than just hopping on the bus. (We are a family that doesn't mind Disney busses)...transportation was great for our whole trip, and honestly...with the boat to CR, we had such easy access to the monorail, it was awesome!!!!
I know there are alot of WL lovers out there...but just as many WL detractors...again, this trip reminded me to trust my instincts and go with what we want to do (resort, food, etc...) instead of going on reviews because we had an amazing trip that another Dis'er might have experienced and thought it was awful...different strokes for different folks, I totally get it...but the WL is definitely "home" for our family now...it's that wonderful.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask away!!!! I've got lots more pics too.
A few general observations...
~ Weather ~We were worried about going in July, due to the heat (we usually travel in cooler months)...well, maybe it was a fluke, but for the 11 days we were there, the weather was AMAZING...and even cool at times...it only rained hard on one day (all day), but we had ponchos, went out and made the best of it!!!
~ Crowds ~ NOT BAD AT ALL...of course this is purely subjective because everyone has their tolerances...but we traveled with our 5 and 8 year old DD's, who are pretty patient (as kids go), and they often said..."oooh, that's not a bad wait!!!" I think the longest we waited was about 60 minutes for Splash Mountain and that was only because we were on our last day and the girls really wanted to ride again...
And yes...there were many Brzilian tour groups, but honestly, if you go in the other direction (or walk fast to get in front of them), it was not bad.
On two separate occasions, we were actually approaching the Fast Pass lines to utilize ours and a group of 70-100 Brazilians would jump in front of us...
Well, in both of those situations, a CM noticed and took us out from behind them and placed us in front of the group....at which time they started chanting...(I'm pretty sure something rude, but we couldn't understand...) But, it didn't matter, we were in front of them and didn't have to wait it out!~ Pixie Dust ~ There was plenty of it!!! From the CM's who rescued us from the tour groups...to restaurant CM's letting us order stuff outside of the DDP and not charging us for it...Mousekeeping left awesome towel animals everyday....here's a sampling....
~ Food ~ There is alot of talk on the Disboards about the food at Disney being on the decline...again, this is all totally subjective, but we had some amazing meals at Ohana (dinner), Le Cellier (dinner) and Whispering Canyon Cafe (the skillet was awesome!!!). Artist Point was awesome too...here is the filet DH and I got...
Anyways....the WL was amazing...we had a refurbed room (#7042) on the club level (yes, we paid for it) and had this amazing view...
We had a great view of Wishes from our room (and you don't pay for a Theme Park View at WL)
Here's a few pics of our room
Overall, the WL was relaxing (we could barely hear the construction, and that was on only a few occassions), the CM's were wonderful...the CL was plentiful and delicious. It really ruined us I think, as I said before, my family doesn't want to stay anywhere else.
On another note, the boat option to MK was nice, but not our favorite, it really took much longer than just hopping on the bus. (We are a family that doesn't mind Disney busses)...transportation was great for our whole trip, and honestly...with the boat to CR, we had such easy access to the monorail, it was awesome!!!!
I know there are alot of WL lovers out there...but just as many WL detractors...again, this trip reminded me to trust my instincts and go with what we want to do (resort, food, etc...) instead of going on reviews because we had an amazing trip that another Dis'er might have experienced and thought it was awful...different strokes for different folks, I totally get it...but the WL is definitely "home" for our family now...it's that wonderful.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask away!!!! I've got lots more pics too.
this is the reason why they get a bad reputation, continually pulling these stunts. Good for the CM to do something. 
why can I see you back at WL????
Do you have an official Trip Report that you can add a link to? Was Artist Point kid friendly? We have reservations for our December trip but my youngest will only be 22 months at the time so to young for the kids club. I would love to keep the reservation but if they frown on bringing little guys I will likely cancel it and look for another.
