Villas with best trails/landscaping?

lmhall2000

May the road rise to meet you....May God hold you
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Aug 11, 2002
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Which villas have the best walking paths/landscaping? Want to stay in a 2-3 BR villa where we (grandparents) can enjoy staying back with the infant grands but be able to take them on long strolls without direct sun beating down on us.
 

For something like you're looking for, we'd recommend Old Key West. Beautiful layout, flat, peaceful, with lots of walking options - including a path out the back that goes around the golf course (and ends up at Disney Springs near the Cirque theater, if you decide to go that far).
 
Fort Wilderness has the best path options, but doesn't have anything larger than the 1BR cabins.

SSR is probably the next best choice. IMO, OKW has better landscaping, but the walking paths are generally along the roads/parking lots at OKW. At SSR the buildings are generally between the walking paths and the roadways, so it is a little more peaceful and serene. Plus, over the years the landscaping has really grown in nicely.

Note that once Lakeshore opens, that might well be a good bet and/or it would pull in BRV/CCV if the rebuild the walkway between the Wilderness Lodge complex and the Fort.
 
Fort Wilderness has the best path options, but doesn't have anything larger than the 1BR cabins.

SSR is probably the next best choice. IMO, OKW has better landscaping, but the walking paths are generally along the roads/parking lots at OKW. At SSR the buildings are generally between the walking paths and the roadways, so it is a little more peaceful and serene. Plus, over the years the landscaping has really grown in nicely.

Note that once Lakeshore opens, that might well be a good bet and/or it would pull in BRV/CCV if the rebuild the walkway between the Wilderness Lodge complex and the Fort.
Is that the one being built inside Wilderness Lodge area? I really liked Boulder Ridge- but could not tell if it connects to Copper Canyon and we could walk through all three?
 
There used to be a path more or less along Bay Lake that connected Wilderness Lodge with Fort Wilderness. I think that path was closed when the Cascade Cabins were built. I think there is a good chance that a path is added to connect the two areas again, but nothing has been announced, so this is speculation.

There might also have been a bike path that I vaguely remember that connected the two? I am not sure.
 
Is that the one being built inside Wilderness Lodge area? I really liked Boulder Ridge- but could not tell if it connects to Copper Canyon and we could walk through all three?
Boulder Ridge and Copper Creek are about 100 feet from each other. They share amenities. In the photo below, the brown building at the lower right is BRV. Copper Creek is in the teal building.

The Cabins at Fort Wilderness (not shown in the picture below) are a completely separate resort that is mile away but the path is closed.
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Btw ssr and Okw are connected with walking paths. There are so many places to walk at either resort. The plus with ssr is it is in the middle of okw and Disney springs. So you could walk around Saratoga and also towards either okw or DS. Also the main quick service at ssr is inside whereas all QS at okw is outside. Nice, but I find less relaxing.
 
Saratoga is definitely the best for walking - it's a big sprawling resort with lots of shady tree-covered sidewalks, and bridges/paths connecting the different sections, as well as long walking trails over to Disney Springs from two different sides, and long paths along the golf course and woods all the way to Old Key West. A side-perk of Saratoga, aside from the direct connection to Disney Springs, is that with a short walk to the Disney Springs boat docks (right next to the Congress Park section), you can hop a boat to Old Key West OR to Port Orleans French Quarter and Riverside resorts - a nice, relaxing boat ride gives you access to even more lovely, tree-lined and shaded walks around those two resorts. French Quarter in particular has lovely cobblestone streets and sidewalks heavily covered by trees, and a lovely little bar and jazz music spot at night - Riverside is massive with plenty of trails throughout, and a great bar, decent restaurant, and Yehaa Bob at night.

Old Key West is also large and has plenty of sidewalks for wandering, and that same interconnectedness with Saratoga Springs.

Fort Wilderness is another big, sprawling property with nice woodsy walks, trails through the woods, tons of tree cover, waterfront areas, and more.

Beach and Boardwalk have plenty of walking options - not only the bay around Beach, Yacht, and Boardwalk, but also over to Swan and Dolphin, the Fantasia Gardens minigolf course, but also a long walk over to Hollywood Studios...but there are only a few sections of the walk that have tree cover - so while there are plenty of paths to take, there aren't many with shade.

Copper Creek/Boulder Ridge as part of the Wilderness Lodge complex have nice shady grounds to walk around the pools and the cabins, through the cypress trees - though the wonderful long walking/jogging trail that connects all the way to Fort Wilderness has been closed a while as Lakeshore Lodge is being built - there are hopes it will eventually re-open allowing walking connections between all three resorts.

Polynesian would probably be next, as having lots of little trails between all the sections, with lovely tropical plants, tiki torches, and theming - and there is the ability to walk around the entire lake to Grand Floridian, Magic Kingdom, and Contemporary - though those walks are not tree-covered or shaded most of the way, so that may earn them a little demerit.

Riviera is similar - there is a lovely walk around the lake over to the sprawling Caribbean Beach resort area - the walks to and from Riviera are in the open and direct sun much of the way, but once at Caribbean Beach resort, some of the trails and paths are fairly well tree covered.

AK Lodge does have good tree cover, but the only real walks are the nature trails out back, and the sidewalk between Kidani and Jambo - it's a nice walk, but not very long or sprawling.
 










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