Just back from 6 nights at the Wilderness Lodge

[Lynnmarie]

I stayed at the Wilderness Lodge May 6th-12th. It was hot!!! We stayed in room 4167 it was a nice room with a view of the lake so we could see the Electric Parade right from our room every night. The room was a little on the small side.. I felt very cramped...I have stayed at the Carribean Beach and never felt the room was too small...The boats were awesome!!! The buses I thought were good too. Never had to wait that long for one. We ate at Roaring Forks I thought it was poor. The food just wasn't that good and the line for breakfast was very long. One night we ate at the Whispering Canyon and that wasn't that good either. We got the all you can eat platter the ribs were burnt to a crisp. There wasn't that much food for $22 and $8 for my son they came out with only one platter for them to share. I got the chicken pasta alfredo dish it was okay but it had way too much alfredo sauce. We went to the Ft. Wilderness Trails End buffet it was excellent!!!!! I would highly recommend making the trip over there good food, good price, the staff BOB was excellent. Overall the resort is beautiful and I would stay there again I just wish that they would open up another restaurant or expand the one they have.


P.S. The pool bar was only open to 7:30...what is up with that? It was 95 degrees out and the pool was packed. Once again my experience with the CBR the pool bar is opened til 11:00.

 

[lucki4]

Thanks for the info. We are going in July at WL. What kind of room was it, bunk beds?

 

[LoveMickey]

Lynnmarie,

You were at WL ja few weeks after I was there.

My question is, did you have to share busses with FW and the boat too?

They told me it was just a trial, but I was wondering if it has continued.

All other times that I've visited WL, they share busses with Poly and GF. Sharing with FW was "way" out of the way, added 10 mins + to all destinations.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Synonymous]

I agree about Whispering Canyon- the worst food I've had at WDW. There is another restaurant at WL, though- Artist Point. It is excellent. You should try it next time you go, even if not staying at WL.

I've always thought Roaring Forks had pretty good food, for what it is.

T

 

[MelissathePooh]

We just got back - were at VWL May 6-10 and FW May 11-12 - they were still sharing buses with FW when we were there and it was crazy! They buses were frequent, but random as to the routes and which resort went first or second. Some buses went over to FW and then some didn't - it was completely random and did take an extra amount of time. I wouldn't say it was negative, but just didn't make any sense.

Basically all the themepark buses stop at FW - a few times we had our own bus, but most often we shared, the boat to MK stops at FW and the boat to Contemporary stops there too. Not to mention the bus that runs specifically to TTC & FW from WL. Pretty much anyway you went you stopped at FW.

The FW buses were nuts too though - Yellow, Orange and Purple - outpost/settlememt - three different routes going in two directions.

Again none of the transportation would have made me not stay there again by any means, but it was pretty annoying to go so far out of the way.

 

[kimmar067]

...would you then recommend taking the ferry to TTC or MK and catching a bus there to your final destination??

 

[MelissathePooh]

Honestly for Epcot I think you would be better to take the TTC bus from WL directly to TTC and catch the monorail. Its a toss up with MGM and AK - make sure and ask the driver if he is stopping at FW next. They change stops mid-day and some times they don't share.

It didn't really have a negative impact on our trip really - we just allowed ourselves enough time, but make sure and voice your conerns if you have them.

The upside was that the buses were frequent - you didn't have to wait long for a bus, but you may have ended up on it for a while

When I say they switched routes I mean that the Epcot bus would stop at WL first and then on the FW, but a midday would switch and stop at FW first and then to WL. The boats did the same thing. It was pretty crazy!

 

[Dixie Luvr 98]

Just got back from Wilderness Lodge about three hours ago!

I have to agree the boat route sharing with Ft. Wilderness was pretty crazy, especially at closing time. Never sure where you were going first. It wasn't a huge deal though. If we had to wait on a boat, my kids just fed the fish and ducks. My 2-year-old thought the boat rides were the best part of the trip

The few times we used the buses, we hardly had to wait and went straight to our destination without any other stops. Guess we were lucky.

As for Roaring Forks, it's better than nothing for a quick bite at the resort. After staying at the Yacht Club, I'm glad to have some kind of option for something quick

 

[corvair]

Lynnmarie, It sounds like you had a great room location. Was that considered courtyard? Were you in south or north wing? I would like to be located somewhere near the trout pool bar, was that kind of where you were? How long was the pool open? We are also going to eat at WC. I read good reveiws and some really. really bad reveiws. I do not plan to get the all you can eat platter, I have not read very good reveiws about that. thanks for any info, I am going in June and have never been to WL...Corvair

 

[vickyBaby]

Thanks for the review. I didn't know that the food was bad at Whispering Canyon. I'll think twice about eating there.

 

[Lynnmarie]

The room location was great!!!! I was the second to last room in the hallway so if I looked out the hallway window I could see the pool. If I looked out the balcony I could see the boat and bay lake. It was a courtside room.

 

[JonHM]

We ate at Whispering Canyon Cafe in January, and it was one of the BEST meals we've ever had at WDW! Perhaps you came on a particularly bad night, we came on a particularly good night or maybe their menu is uneven, but we had six adults and a child and were delighted with our food, all the way round!!!

AND the waiters were *EXTREMELY* funny and raucous - a great experience in every aspect! I'm not sure what kind of expectations you had for the food, after all it's half the price of the food at Artist's Point, but we LOVED it and it's now one of our very favorite WDW Restaurants, and the one that I can't wait to get back to the most!

Oh, and DS was only 19 mos., too small to do the Pony Express Ride by himself, so I rode around the room with him on our stick pony - he had a GREAT time!!!

 

[mat2672]

I just came back from Wilderness Lodge a couple of weeks ago and the lodge itself is as incredible as everyone says it is. It was my first "deluxe" resort stay and its really nice to have the foodcourt in the same building as your room. It really makes those refillable mugs much more worth it since you will likely use them much more because of the convenience of the foodcourt. I will agree that the restaurants that the resort has are the only thing I wish was different. They just didnt appeal to me. The food courts food was about what you would normally get from a foodcourt. But come on people, you got to give some props to the chicken wraps at Roaring Forks. I love them things!!

 

[mat2672]

By the way, Whoever posted on this thread that the Fort Wilderness Campground buffet had great food was right on the money!! For anyone that is reading the Wilderness Lodge posts because you might be staying there for the first time in the future, do yourself a huge favor and go to Fort Wilderness and eat at the buffet. It is incredible, has awesome food at a good price. I was greatly surprised overall with Fort Wilderness when we visited. I didnt expect to like it too much, but there is definitely a country, pioneerish thing there that is very appealing.