Just back from WL! (review!)

[Cindy B]

We just returned today from a 8 day/7 night stay at Wilderness Lodge.

This was our first time staying at the WL, and we were very excited to be staying there.


High Points: Lobby is beautiful.. and stunning. Checkin was easy and no line.. WE got Freddie, and he was wonderful to us. We requested 5th floor standard with bunk beds, and wound up with room number 6140. Our view was of the Villa pool, trees, and slightly to the left the lake!

After the second day, housekeeping was wonderful..our kids stuffed animals were arranged, and we got our first towel animal as well. (More on the first day of housekeeping later)

We did get to be the flag family on the 30th.. that view was outstanding, and it was a great experience.

We never waited long for a boat or an Epcot bus.

We also had a great interactive experience with WCC on the 30th for breakfast!

Low points: scaffolding and unexpected renovations... also we waited for over 45 minutes for a Downtown Disney bus and 12 other busses showed up! We are used to public transportation (My husband uses it everyday!) but for 45 minutes was inexcusable. WE finally got a Ticket/Tran bus, but it was a challenge.

If you were trying to go anywhere besides Epcot or MK, the transportation was spotty at best. We wound up driving the rest of our trip after the Downtown Disney bus fiasco...

Another problem was leaving Animal Kingdom. We waited for over 25 minutes for the Ft. Wilderness/Wilderness Lodge bus, and got loaded on it.
Then the overfull bus went to Blizzard Beach, and got even more crowded. It took over an hour to go from Animal Kingdom to Wilderness Lodge! This and the Downtown Disney bus fiasco made us drive our own car after that.

Our one breakfast at WCC was an ok interaction, but it wasn't fantastic...

Our first day at housekeeping left a full trashcan bag tied up and in our room! (they never took it away!), and the sink wasn't cleaned.. I called housekeeping at 9 pm, and within 5 minutes someone else came by to pick up the trash bag.. (I asked specifically where I could put it, and they offered to come!)

Many cast members were "earning thier ears". When we presented our Q &C vouchers at Roaring Forks, they had to get supervisors to help them... I was asked to even move to another lane so we could train the cashier on the Q & C voucher.

The slide was broken on the evening of the 29th and the early morning 8 am of the 30th.

All in all, it was a beautiful hotel, but we probably won't be back again. The transportation issues were a huge concern. We have previously stayed at the All Stars and the transportaion was better there...

We truly enjoyed the themeing of the hotel, but there were many amenities that we didn't use...

 

[Blondie]

Welcome home Cindy!

Your room was just down the hall from the one we had in January, we were in room 6120, a room with bunkbeds, like we requested.

We loved everything about the WL, and our stay there was excellent, except for the spotty transportation. I wonder why this is always an issue there? You'd think they'd try to improve on it somehow.

Oh well...in any event...I'd really like to stay there again some day! I know I'll be back again!

 

[JBurke]

When we were there 8/13-8/20 I noticed too that a lot of CM had tags by their name tags that said "in training" at WL.

 

[soccer mom]

Welcome back Cindy!

We will be there for the first time on Thanksgiving Day for 11 days. Where is the scaffolding now? Was there any projection as to where it might be later, or when the renovations might be completed?

Thanks

Soccer Mom

 

[Cindy B]

The scaffolding was in the front two bricks towers as you pull up.
As to moving it, I don't know.. I know it just started when we were there.

I loved our room.. it was beautiful... but the transportation was really iffy. After driving 18 hours to get to WDW we didn't want to get in the car again...

 

[~Sparkly~Zoe]

Isn't it ironic that the deluxe's have awful transportation while the moderates and even the values have good transportation?

 

[MassMom94]

I, too, just got back from the WL (was there 8/23-8/30) and did not have the transportation problems the OP had. We never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus to or from Epcot, MGM, Typhoon Lagoon/DTD, or BB/AK and usually less (with one exception, which I will mention below). We did wait 30 min for a boat after the MK fireworks one night, but I don't think they could have done much better than that given the number of people waiting to board.

The one exception was the morning my impatient DD11 wanted to "do something" before the family went to BB (opened at 10). So the two of us went to Epcot, which had EMH, and arrived at 8:05. We rode Test Track, then headed back to the bus stop for a return at around 8:35 AM. Well, how many people do you know that are trying to leave Epcot before it officially opens?? Probably not many. The day we were doing it, there were exactly zero people waiting at the other bus stops. I was about to hop a monorail (thinking we could get to MK and take a boat back to WL) when around 8:50 a guy in a white van (I did not see any Disney markings, but he obviously worked there) came around and asked if we were waiting for a bus for WL or FW. When we said yes, he said he'd have one there in "a couple of minutes." Well, it was about 10 minutes, but an empty bus pulled up and gave us a non-stop ride back to the WL. I was impressed.

This is the first time I've gone to WDW since 1972 (!!), so I don't have any basis for transportation comparison, but since this issue comes up so frequently here, I figure it's got to have some merit. It did get tiresome stopping at FW, which added at least 10 minutes to the trip to Epcot. I did feel badly for those people at the GF who were waiting to get on the BB/AK bus on Wednesday morning (8/27) at around 9:45. It was SRO when we pulled out of the WL and I heard the driver calling in and asking if he should even bother going to the GF. They must have told him yes, because we went there, and they let about two people onto the bus. At least 30 others were waiting. Bummer.

I think we'll be renting a car next time no matter where we stay.

 

[FloridaCat]

It would be helpfull to everyone staying at WDw if you post your transportation problems on the transpotation thread as CM bus drivers read it. If they get the picture, maybe things would improve.