Just back from Wilderness Lodge...............

[paigevz]

and it is certainly very well-themed. It was really cute with the bears in the lobby, the owls on the lanterns..............Santa was in the lobby Christmas Eve. Everyone was very friendly.........CMs Skipper and Tracy really went out of their way. I liked the Mercantile. WCC was good food and pleasant, the hijinks were cute.

My negative experiences: housekeeping left our sliding door open one day and it was frigid in the room upon returning, front desk merely said she must have opened it to air out the room and forgot to close it.........no apologies, no concerns, more of an attitude of "so what exactly is the problem?" I happen to think it is a pretty big problem. There were a few other minor housekeeping issues that just seemed to point to maybe their being on a schedule that is a bit too rushed.

The counter service food area (Roaring Forks) was very, very small and very limited compared to the moderates we stayed at.

The boat service did seem very slow. It is pleasant transport when you have plenty of time, but with a fussy 2 year old, or in the pouring rain in 40-50 degree weather, or trying to make a PS, it would've been nice to have other options besides double bussing or the TTC/Monorail combo. Also, they seemed to go back and forth at picking up at the campgrounds or the lodge first at random, so often we'd board, go to campgrounds, and back past the lodge before heading to MK, and the same random-seeming process on returning. Also, when it was busy, they stopped having the separate lines and had campgrounds and lodge guests in one line to board the two boats, both stopping at both places. That made no sense whatsoever to us. A direct bus is needed. All the other MK resorts have double options for direct MK access.........specifically boats and monorail..........since I think it's extremely unlikely that the monorail will be added to Wilderness Lodge, I think adding a bus would be reasonable and add tremendously to my satisfaction at staying there.

We liked it overall, but there were enough little things for us to move on to try another resort.

 

[*Fantasia*]

I agree about the food at Roaring Forks, very limited. I like the food counter better at the value resorts and moderate resorts. I like my cheeseburger already made, what I mean by that is that instead of me putting lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, mayo and ketchup..I like mine already there, it just seem taste better when they do it! Yep their food court is definitely very small. I guess they made it this way to make you wanna try their sit down restaurant, so you'll pay a little bit more.

I find their mercantile store with not a lot of selections. CBR and CSR has more selections, more varieties...this is what I feel.

I am planning to try WL again this Feb, it is a beautiful resort.

 

[d-r]

well, roaring forks is kind of a different thing. The moderates have a food court plus one "family style" sit down restaurant. Wilderness Lodge is a deluxe and has one "family style" sit down, one more upscale sit down, and a "grill." Roaring forks really isn't a "food court," it is just a grill. The moderates have food courts because they are larger (more people) and they have fewer restaurants. The values have more people and only a food court, so the food courts are bigger. None of the deluxes have food courts. Roaring Forks compares more to Capt. Hook's or Mara, that kind of place. It isn't meant to be a food court.

ETA = also, there is a "double option" to the MK from wlv, also, you can take the bus to the TTC and monorail from there.

 

[Ilovestitch]

The counter service food area (Roaring Forks) was very, very small and very limited compared to the moderates we stayed at.

The counter service area at the deluxes seem small at first but you have to realize that WL only has 728 rooms compared to CBR having over 2,000

All the other MK resorts have double options for direct MK access.........specifically boats and monorail...........

Yeah, but you pay extra for that convenience. The Polynesian, for example, is about $80-$90 more a night than the WL.

Those reasons wouldn't discourage me from staying at the WL, though, I think its a beautiful resort. Just think, the WL is a lot closer to the MK than the AKL, which is also a deluxe. -Stephanie

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

Yes, we stayed at the AKL and their counter service restaurant (The Mara) is waaaaay better than RF. I like the boat ride to MK, but have never done it in freezing weather or rain so i can see where that would NOT be fun! I just HATE riding on the buses, so I love the boat.

 

[goofyforlife]

We just stayed there two weeks ago for one night to go to MVMCP.

We waited about 3 minutes for a bus to TTC. The delay came at the TTC because they were taking off a monorail and it took us over ten minutes until they had one for us.

However, on the way back we waited less than ten minutes for the boat but we got to the resort in approx 13 minutes. The captain had that boat moving full speed ahead. It was chilly that night and we did sit outside at the rear of the boat...but I didn't feel very cold. (maybe I was just too tired.)

I thought the boat was cool.

 

[DisOrBust]

Having now stayed at both WL and AKL they are both great resorts. I do believe that some of the negatives of WL were improved at AKL. The mara is just better all the way around then roaring forks. There ae many crappy standard view rooms at WL, especially over the loading area. AKL has some "bad" standard rooms but IMHO not as many as WL, certainly not so many roof views. THe rooms are the same size but at AKL they are set up better and make them "seem" bigger.

The boat ride can be very romantic. We were lucky enough to see wishes on our way to the MK. However I can imagine that it can be very cold at night in winter.

The bus system for all the MK resorts lacks compared to AKL. Since they all share buses it has alot to be desired IMHO. In our 4 stays to AKL we never waited longer then 15min for a bus.

WL has a great advantage of the campground. For my 2yo DD the pony ride was a highlight!! I personally would choose WL if I was planning on alot of resort time since there is much to do there.

 

[paigevz]

I had hoped to do some things at the Campground, but with the weather and the 2 year old needing his nap every day (boy did we regret it the one day we didn't insist he take it!) we just didn't get the time.

I didn't realize that about Roaring Forks just being a grill. That makes more sense. We did a lot of full service restaurants during our stay, but liked the food court convenience for at the resort we had previously at POR and CSR.....especially with the kids. I didn't realize none of the deluxes had them.........perhaps we should just go back to the moderates, then. We don't eat upscale often because of the kids. They can behave, but it takes a lot of effort to keep them quiet, and makes the meal not as relaxing as in a more family-oriented restaurant.

I know about the TTC to Monorail, and we did that a couple of times, too, but a direct bus instead of waiting twice would have been nice.

I checked out the AKL when we were there, and besides both restaurants seeming to be very good, and the grill there having more choices, the Cub's Den there also looked to be wonderful when we go back and our 2 year old is big enough. Also, those animals being right there is certainly a big plus for kids.

As I said, I like WL.............just don't think it's "home" for me.

 

[laurenk]

We were at the WL from the 16th til the 27th. I have to agree with everything you stated from housekeeping to transportation. The boat thing was never consistent, and neither was the bus, so we had a hard time figuring out how much time to allow for transportation. Sometimes we went to GF, and at others we went to the Campgrounds. The boat was the same way. I actually got on a BUS direct to MK on Christmas Day. That was a pleasant suprise. With all that being said, we never really had to wait too long for any transportation, except for one morning where we waited 45 minutes for a bus to EPCOT. All of the staff that we encountered there were extremely helpful and friendly. Our room was in a great location. I loved the bed, and my DH hated it. My kids loved the bunk beds. Roaring Forks can get pretty old after a couple of days. the selection isn't that large. We have stayed at all of the deluxes(except GF), including Swan and Dolphin, and all of the values(no moderates to date-one, CB, scheduled in March). Our family of four rates them in this order, AKL, WL, Pop. With that being said, we like the EPCOT resort area the best. Does that make any sense?

 

[FINFAN]

We were there 12/18 -22...and also had a few housekeeping issues...one day the cleaning supply bottles were left on our bathroom floor and sink/counter area...no big deal for us as our kids are 10 and 14, but if I had a toddler I would have been shook as we did not notice the bottle in the tub/toilet area for over an hour after we returned...and it is labeled "do not drink" but a toddler would not know that. We also had inconsistent transportation, and COLD boat rides, did not get the Bunk bed room we had hoped for, were put in a smoking room and not told so...(the ashtray and odor were dead givaways)Our room seemed pretty quiet, and elevator service was good, and we had brought a lot of breakfast items so did not need RF for too much. They geyser was out of order during part of our stay but we did see it erupt once while waiting on the dock for the MK boat. Our CM during check-in was less than happy about something, but our DD was so happy to be at the WL (we surprised her) that we just overlooked many things that I guess we should have spoken up about...but there were no serious issues, just annoyances, tho the smoking room did bug me a bit, DS has seasonal asthma and he was bothered a bit by it. Ashtray made a convenient jewelry tray tho.. DH and I were looking foreward to our move to the Dolphin on the 22....that was really nice. We are hoping to try the Poly one trip in the future tho...had the best meal of our trip at O'Hanas Christmas Eve and took in the atmosphere and walked the grounds...we were very pleased with what we saw. We also do not feel the need to stay at the WL again, but never say never! The lobby is very beautiful and we thought the shop was very nice, the best spot to me in the resort was the rocking chair in frony of the small fireplace in the gift shop. Very warm during those freezing days/nights. We were over at Fort Wilderness on the 18th and many people were complaining about the bus service to get back to the lodge, it had been an hour since one had come by, and we were lucky that a driver made a special stop on his way to MGM to drop us. The boats were so cold as they are open from WL to FW...no one wanted to ride them. I think if we had more time to explore this resort more things would have appealed to us, we did enjoy the few things we did do, and we def got our share of hot chocolate with our refillable mugs!