Just back from WL - GREAT!

[DisneyAllison]

We returned from 6 AWESOME nights at the WL yesterday. We were there July 8-14. We were in room 3107. We were the first room on the South Wing on the left as you round the corner from the lobby. I requested a room near the waterfall, so this was an ideal room for us. We have a 3 year old, so this location was really nice for 2 reasons: 1) We were within very short walking distance to the lobby; and 2) We were NOT looking over the pool that can be noisy during nap time, and it was nice not having to explain every time we went out to enjoy the balcony that no, we could not swim right then. It was also really nice being close to the waterfall because there were several cute bunnies and ducks that walked close by to our balcony. DD loved that!
This was DD's 1st trip to WDW and the Lodge. She LOVED the Lodge!! This was DH and my 3rd time staying at the Lodge, and it was wonderful as usual. You just can't beat the atmosphere!

TRANSPORTATION
We had an overall very positive experience with trasportation. I learned that there is also a bus that takes you to MK. We never took the bus to MK as we prefer the boat ride; but it was nice to know that there was a bus there also if we needed it. The bus rides to Epcot and MGM were very smooth. We did not visit Downtown Disney this trip, so I cannot report on those busses.
The only headache we had was on the bus ride to Animal Kingdom We shared a bus with the Grand Floridian , and that same bus went to Blizzard Beach also. 1) That was a very LONG trip, and also a very CROWDED trip. We were already packed in like sardines by the time we picked up the group from the Grand Floridian, and then when we arrived at Blizzard Beach, the bus driver told us to squeeze in more, because the bus capacity could hold 30 MORE people . That was a pretty crazy trip. The ride back from AK was not much better. We only went to AK once, thank goodness! In regards to the busses, one other neat thing I noticed was that there was a Disney attendant at the WL bus depot on several occasions with a stop watch taking notes. To me that suggested that they were trying to make sure things kept running smoothly.

DINING PLAN
Overall, we were extremely satisfied with the Dining Plan. It was so convenient, and we were never hungry. It worked out nicely with the choice of restaurants we chose. It definitely saved us alot of money. We had 9 snack credits left over on the last day, so we used those on several tasty treats for the drive home. The only thing that I was slightly dissapointed in was the kid's food offerings - alot of monotony. However, this was not a huge deal for us, b/c DD ate part of our meals as well. We will DEFINITELY use the Dining Plan again when we return.


GENERAL OBSERVATIONS / THOUGHTS
- 3 year olds don't have a great deal of patience waiting in line , and can definitely get "stuck" on certain rides - i.e. wanting to ride the same ride OVER and OVER
-Daily naps are a must with little ones!!
-I found out that if we were flying that we could NOT have brought any of the cute Mickey cups (with fluid inside) OR any snowglobes in our carry-on bag Just wanted to pass that along to those of you who fly.
- It is VERY hot in July!!
-I miss it very much already , and can't wait to go back!

 

[bornwiththeears]

So happy for you that your trip was great - even in the horrible heat of July. We have our next trip planned for February. It will be my new son-in-law's first stay at WL....thanks for the tips. The last time we stayed there the transportation was slow.....glad to hear it has improved. I think we will request rooms by the waterfall. Thanks for reporting.

 

[momtoccc]

Glad you had a great time. We are going to WL for our first trip in Nov with 3 (almost 4yo) dd.

Questions: What type room did you book? We just have a standard room. I'm mostly interested in one that is quiet for naps and nighttime for DH (he can hear anything).

Did you use the pool?

Did you eat at Roaring Forks in the a.m.?

Did you have bunk beds or 2 queens?

What was dd's least favorite thing? Did anything scare her? (still trying to plan which rides/shows to see

Thanks!

 

[ransom]

Always nice to hear a report that Wilderness Lodge continues to impress!

I'm so happy you had a wonderful trip.

 

[mickeymotto]

Glad you had a great time. How were the crowds?

 

[Mr._The_King]

It sounds like you had a great time. The snow globe tip is a really good one

 

[mickeystoontown]

Questions: What type room did you book? We just have a standard room. I'm mostly interested in one that is quiet for naps and nighttime for DH (he can hear anything).

Did you use the pool?

Did you eat at Roaring Forks in the a.m.?

Did you have bunk beds or 2 queens?


Thanks!

I wanna know these answers too! We are going to be staying 10 days at the Wilderness Lodge in June, 2008. This will be our 13th trip to WDW but our first stay at the Wilderness Lodge.

I want to know everything! I'm so excited!

Any pictures?

Thanks, Lisa

 

[SharkyGoddess]

Your trip sounded great! I love reading everyone's reports and can't wait til we can give out own!!!

 

[alldiz]

Glad you had a great trip....
Kerri

 

[Kristybell]

And I miss it sooo much already! We were there this past week as well, just around the corner from Disney Allison from the looks of it - room 3119. It was a perfect location for us. We faced the inner courtyard and could sit out in the evenings and listen to the stream flowing below us. Heavenly!!!

We've stayed off property and last year at the Beach Club but this was by far THE best property ever. I'm going to attempt a trip report as soon as I get through the kajillion piles of laundry that followed us home, but I'll try to take a stab at some of the questions -

1. Roaring Forks - Didn't eat there in the A.M., but every other time was great. They had a good selection of both healthy and typical fast food. We did the refillable mugs and they were such a value. We're soda-holics and it definitely worked out for us!

2. The pool, yep used it daily. It was typical FL summer weather so while the water wasn't what I would call cool, it was refreshing. For us it was a nice change from Stormalong Bay at the BC. We loved SB, but I liked that I could grab a chair and still see my hubby and son. A great pool but not so massive that you get lost. The villas pool was also a short walk around the building and nice as well.

3. Beds - we had two queens and they were so comfortable. The room was immaculate and perfect for the three of us. Again, I really preferred it over the BC.

I didn't think the crowd-level at the parks was that overwhelming, but then again we always go at this time of the year so perhaps we're used to it.

One thing we did do that was fun was to rent a couple of the sea-raycer boats and zip around Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon one afternoon. I booked through AAA and got a coupon to rent them for 90 minutes for the price of a 60 minute rental. My DS who is ten LOVED this!

Again, I adore this resort! Everything was as close to perfect as you could get. I'm not a big outdoors person and was a bit hesitent to stay here, but after this week I can't imagine going anywhere else.

If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer too!

-kristy

 

[ransom]

Last time we stayed at WL, we had breakfast at Roaring Fork 6 of our 8 mornings. They have a scrambled egg plate that is enough for two (if I recall correctly, it's scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuit, hash browns, and pancake), plus plenty of pastries & muffins, yogurt, cold cereal, fruit, and delicious oatmeal (with optional brown sugar). There was enough there to keep us satisfied with the variety for the six times we had it.

 

[DisneyAllison]

What kind of beds did we have?
We had 2 queen beds. We were afraid to let DD on top of a bunk bed yet - she moves quite a bit in her sleep. The queen beds were great!

Roaring Fork in the AM?
Not this time. With a 3 year old, we did all of our sit-down meals as a late breakfast / lunctime meal. She does MUCH better in sit down restaurants earlier in the day. Roaring forks appeared to have some nice breakfast offerings, though. Definitely get the refillable mugs!!

Pool?
We used it at least once a day, sometimes twice. Our DD loved the pool. They also have a nice kiddie pool that is somewhat more in the shade. I believe there is also a "quiet" pool over at the villas, but we were very happy using the regular pool.

Did anything scare DD?
I am happy to report that nothing terrified her. However, some rides were "too dark, Mommy - I want to go back outside." Those rides included Snow White, The People Mover , parts of the Jungle Cruise, and Spaceship Earth. With my DD, the more motion the better! She loved all of the (well-lit) moving rides we took her on. She loved Goofy's Barnstormer, and wanted to ride Splash Mountain, but was less than 1/2 inch too short. I should have brought her Cinderella shoes for that one! She of course loved all of the preschool staples- Small World, Dumbo, The Flying Carpets, Nemo in Epcot. I think we may have set a personal-best record for riding Small World and Nemo the most times consecutively!!

Crowds?
The crowds were manageable. We were there July 8-14, so I think we may have caught a little bit of the July 4th crowd at the beginning of our trip. After 7/9, it seemed to thin out a little. We tried to stay away from the Extra Magic Hour park of the day - they can get more crowded.

Room View?
Our room view was an inner courtyard view. We were close to the waterfall, which was much quieter than being right beside the pool. We brought our fan with us for white noise - we always do. I think that you would be able to haer some type of noise from most rooms - regardless of the view. If you were looking for a really quiet view, maybe try a room facing the villas? We have only stayed in inner courtyard view rooms, so I am probably not much help there.
Iam going to attempt to post room pictures in a few minutes...we'll see how it works. This will be my first time posting a picture.

 

[momtoccc]

Allison,

Thanks for the info - I have a feeling my dd is going to like most of the rides as well - the dark might be the biggest issue...

Did you use the refrigerator in your room? How big was it? I plan on using it for water, cokes and wine (for sipping on the balcony )

A white noise machine might be a good idea - I will have to look into that.

Looking forward to the pics!

 

[DisneyAllison]

This was the view from our balcony.

 

[DisneyAllison]

This picture shows the perspective of where the pool was in relation to our room.

 

[ccigliano]

Wow - great picture. And I am definitely homesick. Can't wait to go back this December with all the decorations So glad you had a wonderful time - it is my favorite.

 

[DisneyAllison]

Ooops - the last picture of the pool doesn't look very accurate. That was a zoomed in picture. We were in the inner courtyard, and the pool is in the outer courtyard.

 

[DisneyAllison]

A visit from some of the WL locals...

 

[DisneyAllison]

A crowd picture- Thursday, July 12 around lunch.

 

[mickeystoontown]

One thing we did do that was fun was to rent a couple of the sea-raycer boats and zip around Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon one afternoon. I booked through AAA and got a coupon to rent them for 90 minutes for the price of a 60 minute rental. My DS who is ten LOVED this!

-kristy

Hi Kristy,

Are the Sea Raycers the fast kind? We rented Sea Raycers at the CBR and they were fairly slow. We want the kind you see zipping all around Seven Seas Lagoon.

Thanks, Lisa