POR vs. WL- Advice needed!

[Caduceus6]

Hello! We will be headed to WDW later in the year, and have the option of staying at POR or WL. It will be my wife, 4 yo DS and 3 yo DD. We have stayed at only moderates in the past, so WL would be something new; however, we can stay one more night if we stay at POR.

Any opinions or advice would be welcome- thanks in advance!

 

[Kt75]

Following . Looking for same info too

 

[chiisai]

How many nights is your trip? Length may sway the loss of a night.

Generally, I'd say WL for sure, but if we are talking 4 nights at POR vs 5 at WL, I'd go with POR. If it's longer it might convince me to stay at WL.

Also, you've been before, will you go again? The loss of one night would be less hard to take if I knew I'd be back.

 

[dbavis]

Wilderness is our home resort. It's a beautiful resort and the boat to the magic kingdom is really nice. We have stayed at por and liked it But, imo, there is no comparison.

 

[Shanti]

Agree with the prior poster. We need to know how long you're staying overall (& if you're coming back soon) to advise on the value of an additional night.

 

[knkmom]

We've stayed at both, in fact we are just back from our stay at POR in a Royal Guest room! Both resorts are beautiful and we love them both but secretly WL is my favorite. POR is huge and my only negative about this resort is the buses! We had long waits several of our days there and there were lots and lots of people waiting to get on those buses!! We did love being able to take the boat over to Disney Springs. WL is majestic, truly a deluxe resort. We had a pool/bay view on the 6th floor and loved it. It's quiet and we loved taking the boat to MK or to the Contemporary and getting on the monorail to the transit station at Epcot. The buses from WL were much better than at POR (at least when we were there!) WL just felt like a true resort to us and we will be going back!

 

[Caduceus6]

Thanks for the replies so far! It would be 5 nights at POR in a Royal Room vs. 4 nights at WL. We are frequent visitors, as this will be our 4th trip in 3 years, and have stayed at POR in a regular room, CSR, and CBR previously.

Our biggest issues in the past have been with spotty bus service at the moderate resorts- is the transportation to WL significantly better?

Thanks!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Thanks for the replies so far! It would be 5 nights at POR in a Royal Room vs. 4 nights at WL. We are frequent visitors, as this will be our 4th trip in 3 years, and have stayed at POR in a regular room, CSR, and CBR previously.

Our biggest issues in the past have been with spotty bus service at the moderate resorts- is the transportation to WL significantly better?

Thanks!

Yes, the bus service at WL is significantly better than at a moderate. There is a bus that going directly to MK and only takes five minutes. There is also the boat to MK which is a great way to travel. The buses to other parks share with another resort, either Contemporary or Ft Wilderness, but either way, they are usually not as crowded as the moderate resort buses are. We would have such lines lines for the POR buses at park close that we'd have to wait for the fourth of fifth bus before we could get on. But the deluxe buses never have those kind of long lines.

 

[knkmom]

For us the buses at WL were better, not as crowded and not the long waits we had at POR recently, we did however use the boats more than the buses!

 

[mickeynut1]

Thanks for the replies so far! It would be 5 nights at POR in a Royal Room vs. 4 nights at WL. We are frequent visitors, as this will be our 4th trip in 3 years, and have stayed at POR in a regular room, CSR, and CBR previously.

Thanks!

We've never stayed at POR, but we love everything about the WL. We've only stayed at one mod (CBR) and while we had a great time and loved the resort, we do love the deluxe resorts and would choose less nights at a deluxe over more nights at a mod (but that's just us). Since you've been several times and have stayed at POR, I'd try something new and go with WL. Good luck choosing, although I'm sure you'll have a great time no matter which resort you choose .

 

[Babsy]

The boat to the MK is very nice from the WL, but we didn't find the buses any better from here than from the moderates. After many trips to WDW, it is our opinion that the transportation from any given resort is not significantly different from any other. The exceptions are going to the MK from the CR or going to Epcot from an Epcot resort. Generally, there is little difference in the buses. Yes, sometimes you are lucky and sometimes not so much. BUT overall buses come about every 20 minutes and the difference between the longest and shortest bus ride is only a few minutes.

FWIW, we only use transportation from the MK or Epcot resorts to sway any resort decisions.

WL is nicer than a moderate, IMO, but with a four vs five day trip, I would pick POR RR. It is an awesome resort, the RR are conveniently located, and it is only one destination that is a boat rather than a bus. AND, of course, there is a full extra day to be had.. It is a tough choice, though.

Whichever you choose, have an awesome vacation!

 

[TJA]

We've stayed at POR a few times and we liked it years ago (still LOVE the food court there) but our last stay there was not great mainly due to all of the internal bus stops and what felt like never-ending bus rides. WL would offer you a boat-to-MK option, which is very nice. Also, when my kids were your kids' ages, they just loved the adventures and taking a boat or monorail was a lot of fun to them! CR is very close as well - our old favorite was Chef Mickeys, so very convenient from WL. I believe the MK fireworks show is also shown more clearly from WL now that a lot of trees were taken down. So my pick would be WL!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I am going to agree with Babsy in that the bus service from WL isn't any better than the bus service from POR. Yes, you will have a boat to MK, but bus service everywhere else and sometimes that bus is shared with Ft. W making those trips rather long IMHO. We stayed at WL a few years back and because of the bus service, we haven't stayed there since (opting for EP and MK monorail resorts mostly). We are only staying at WL again this summer because we will take uber instead of the buses most places. When my DS was younger, however, I would not have taken uber (even if it had been available) because of lack of car seats.

Yes, WL is a nicer resort, IMHO, but POR is lovely and if the deciding factor is transportation, I would do more nights at POR as I don't think you will be getting much better transportation from WL.

 

[megs1313]

4 vs 5 is not a contest, to me. stay at POR. POR has a fantastic food court, great pool slide, beautiful grounds, a sister resort you can enjoy, and ye-haa bob!

WL is in my top 3 resorts, but I'd still stay POR and wouldn't mind it one bit.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We have stayed at and loved both resorts. We didn't do a Royal Room at POR, instead we did a Preferred Room to guarantee that we'd be in AB and close to the lobby and food court. At WL, we love Standard View, so if you were considering a higher cost view that might be a way to save a bit and sway things in favor of WL. Also with a 4 yo and a 3 yo I think you will benefit from the WL's transportation options and proximity to MK. We really love being on Bay Lake at WL. One plus of POR is having boats to Disney Springs, so you can decide how much of a factor that is for you. With the 5 vs 4 days scenario you gave we'd probably go with POR, but we would look for deals and options to make the 5 day upgrade to WL. You'll have a great time either way.

 

[goofyintoronto]

4 vs 5 is not a contest, to me. stay at POR. POR has a fantastic food court, great pool slide, beautiful grounds, a sister resort you can enjoy, and ye-haa bob!

WL is in my top 3 resorts, but I'd still stay POR and wouldn't mind it one bit.

I agree with this. For an extra night i'd stay at POR. Its a gorgeous resort! You can visit POFQ as often as you wish, plus you have that lovely boat ride to disney springs. Your kids will love yehaw Bob.

I agree that the bus service is NOT any better at WL than at POR. In fact, i heard many complaints from people staying at deluxes that that buses are pretty bad. You can get bad bus service at any resort, keep that in mind. If your referring to the boat from WL to MK, yes that is a very nice perk if youre going to be visiting MK the most.

 

[nyy]

We stayed at POR in 2016 and WL in 2015. The transportation was dramatically better at WL - not even close to the same!

The busses at WL were the best we've ever had - we've stayed at POR, FQ, ASMov, and ASMus.

The overall feel of WL is very different from POR. POR is spread out and feels too isolated for us. We loved the main building lodge feel. We loved the convenience of a completely covered walkway from the bus stop to the building. We love the atmosphere of the lobby with the sound of the water.

The only thing we liked better at POR were the pools.

 

[wdwthanksgiving]

That's a hard choice because WL is my favorite deluxe and POR my favorite moderate...my thought is your children won't really know the difference between the resorts--as long as the pools are fun and food courts are handy That said, if you have strollers you can roll them right onto the boat at WL to go to MK and Contemporary to get on the monorail... and if the weather isn't good then it is so nice to have interior rooms with an enclosed lobby.

Hmmmm-it's the four nights vs five that is the kicker! Would you consider staying at a value the first night then having your luggage moved to WL for the other 4 nights?

 

[bettybooplove]

I've stayed at Wilderness Lodge three times and the villas once (for Thanksgiving) and I've never had bad bus service. There was always a bus pulling up, either at the resort or in the parks.

I agree with @wdwthanksgiving. I would just stay in a value the first night and spend the rest of the trip at the Lodge.