Royal Pacific VS. Wilderness lodge

[mikkiwikki]

OK - I have a deposit down on Wilderness lodge for 11/30/2008 - 12/07

Now I just noticed that UO has a deal where you can get free Universal tickets for that time frame if you stay onsite...I was thinking Royal Pacific. The price is almost identical (when I use a AAA discount on the WL portion - I havent yet investigated how much the price would come down on RPH if I applied AAA)

NEVERTHELESS - which would you prefer if you had to make a choice.
As far as I can tell both Standard rooms are 335 sq ft.
We would have QUEEN beds in both.

Pros for WL would be boat ride to MK...and would be BUS for RPH.
But then we would get a boat ride to UO...We definitely prefer MK to UO tho...

So seven nights...we would definitely spend more time at DISNEY during that time frame...(so maybe we do both...BUT pretending we only do one )

...WHICH would you pick???

 

[damo]

I really, really don't like the rooms at WL. The rooms at RPH have all just been redone and are very nice.

Not sure what you mean by BUS for RPH? You take the boat from RPH to the parks or walk.

You should be able to get very cheap rooms for RPH at the beginning of December. The rate is about $160. It is probably cheaper to use the supersaver rate and buy your tickets separately for $79/week.

 

[mikkiwikki]

Oh my hubby just clued me in...there is no BUS from RPH to DISNEY...

What? WAS I THINKING?!?

I do STILL want to know what people think of these two hotels as comparison tho.

Thanks for the note about the RPH rooms, I didnt know they were recently redone.
Wondering what other pros/cons people can come up with.

 

[rpbert1]

I have only been to WL for dinner, and a walk around the hotel. RPR IMHO is much better with a lot more facilites and things going on compared to WL.
If you do any of Universal parks you have the FOTL, plus you can walk in minutes to Citywalk where there is plenty happening, and enjoy it then a short walk back to the hotel, + if you are going to Disney parks its probably about a 20 minute drive to the parks. The FOTL perk at RPR and the resort are much superior to WL.

 

[goofy!]

We prefer the hotels at Universal. We always stay at Universal and drive to Disney if we are doing Disney during the trip.

That way we can do Disney in the morning at rope drop and then have FOTL in the afternoon at Universal.

 

[tasha99]

We prefer the hotels at Universal. We always stay at Universal and drive to Disney if we are doing Disney during the trip.

That way we can do Disney in the morning at rope drop and then have FOTL in the afternoon at Universal.

Wow. That's just a genius idea and something I'm going to try.

 

[bubba's mom]

To the OP: keishashadow loves WL AND RPR...she could probably clue you in the best

 

[Kimberle]

I have stayed at both resorts. Room wise, the rooms are about the same size, both have queen beds.

If going to WDW, stay at WL, if going to US, stay at RPR. WDW & US are a good 30 minutes apart.

 

[DaisyLynn]

I don't have any input...yet.

We leave in a couple of weeks for a split stay, first at RPR and then at WL.

We have never stayed at either of these before, so we're going into it fresh. I'll let you know what we think when we return!!

 

[DISgeeksfromDC]

Hey mikkiwikki:

I really hate to interrupt, but I just tried to respond to your PM and discovered that your in-box is no longer receiving messages.

Hopefully you're still following this thread... I figured this might be the best way to contact you.

 

[preemiemommy]

Have you thought about splitting up your trip?? I'm not sure how many days you will be there, but our trip this year is for 10 days... Since we love WDW and US we are staying 5 nights at AKL, doing the WDW thing, and then transfering to RPR to hit US and Seaworld.... Maybe that's something you could consider.... We have stayed at WL before, LOVED the atmosphere, but was a little dissapointed in the room.. It seemed dark and small....but we loved everything else about that resort... This will be our first time at RPR, so I'm not able to make any comments about it at this time...

DH ME DD8 DS3

 

[Amyrlin]

I like WL but in terms of hotel quality and space then it has to be RPR Wilderness lodge has more theming, but out of the two RPR is the better hotel. (PS I LOVE disney as well, so am not biased).

 

[jfhinoh]

We did a split trip this past Feb. and stayed 3 nights at WL (in a queen/bunk room) and 3 nights at RPR (in the kids suite). Obviously, the suite at RPR was much nicer than our single room at WL, but in terms of hotel, the WL was our family's favorite.
Our room at WL was on the first floor,right off of the pool. It was SO nice to be able to walk out the door and be a few steps from the pool. The mornings felt like they were straight out of a Disney cartoon. Sitting on our patio one morning, we had a family of very tame ducks stop by to drink out of a puddle left by the overnight rain. My kids loved watching the ducklings play. Right after that, 3 rabbits hopped past. My youngest son really got a kick out of the duck family in the swimming pool.
My oldest son and I (the early risers in the family) went for long walks every morning. There are extensive wooded trails all around WL. I think you can walk all the way to Fort Wilderness, but we never had the time to try that path. One morning a turtle walked across our path. Another day we walked really close to a crane standing by the water. One of our mornings there we wandered over to the WL villas where they had a game room and played Chinese checkers in front of the fireplace.
We all loved the all-you-care-to-eat breakfast at Whispering Canyon in the lobby. (Make sure you ask for ketchup!) The whole stay at WL just had a very family friendly feel that we missed when we switched over to RPR.
RPR has a very romantic feel to it. I think if it had just been my husband and I, the RPR would have been the preferred hotel. We had a fantastic splurge dinner (just the 2 of us) at Tchoup Chop (sp?) followed by a moonlit stroll.
Staying on site at Universal gives you the advantage of FOTL. This is a lifesaver with impatient and sometimes cranky kids. It was nice being able to walk to both parks. It is actually faster to walk batween IOA and RPR than it is to take the boat because you have to backtrack from the dock. It was nice not having to deal with long waits for buses.
I would highly recommend a split trip. I would stay at Disney first though, because you will be so spoiled by no lines at Universal. We didn't rent a car. Our 2 cab rides cost almost $100 ($50 from WL to RPR and $40 from RPR to the airport). I hope you have as much fun as we did, whatever you decide!
-Jeanne

 

[mayerobeyer]

I'm not sure.

For me, it's always been a financial issue. Because I'm a Florida resident I can get the Universal hotels from the mid $100's to low $200's a night. I just can't see myself dropping Wilderness Lodge coin for essentially the same experience.

Plus I'm a big Universal fan.