Wilderness Lodge It Is! Now I Have ?'s!

[mickeystoontown]

Well, as some of you readers may know, I am a Caribbean Beach Resort fan. But, after having stayed there the last two years, we wanted to try something new. We were looking into another moderate but just now decided we're going to spend the extra money and book a stay at the Wilderness Lodge!

We're going to spend a couple of days at the resort just sleeping in and then taking in all the resort has to offer.

Now I have some questions.

In order to stay at the Wilderness Lodge, we're going to have a standard room but that's okay. Any suggestions on which section of rooms we should request? We are walkers so distance doesn't matter too much. Just wondering about noise, etc.

Do all rooms have an outside balcony?

How the bus transportation? Lots of bus stops?

I know that they don't have a traditional food court, but how's the counter service? Pretty easy to use dining plan credits?

Anybody have any pictures they can post?

Thanks in advance! Lisa

 

[Fionasmommy]

We just got back from WL and had a fantastic experience. All rooms do have balconies. We booked AAA standard but got an upgrade so I don't know how the noise is in the regular standard rooms. I have heard that some of them overlook the service area outside, so if you'll be in the room during the day that might be an issue. From our room we could see the service area if we leaned out and looked down to the left, but I don't recall it being really noisy - and we were there quite a bit during the day.

For location and view alone, I'd recommend requesting North side, Upper floor. You might end up over the service area, but you'll have a view of Wishes at night!!

I know someone on here once posted a map with all the room types/locations detailed. I'll try to find it for you, and I'll post it if I can.

The bus transportation was excellent. There is one main bus stop, right by the main building. I believe our room was probably about the farthest from the bus stop, and it wasn't a long walk at all. From the lobby it's a very short walk outside, covered the whole way. At the main bus stop there are 4 parking spots for buses going to different locations. If I recall correctly, 2 of the stops (MK/FW and Epcot) are covered and the other two (AK/BB/MGM and DTD/TL) aren't but there are benches and trees that shade it a bit. We never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus, and that was during the really slow part of the day (right after lunch) so we expected. Most of the time we waited 5 minutes or less.

I was even more impressed with the boat transportation. We never had a long wait for the boat - I can't recall waiting more than 5 minutes. That is for the "green flag" boat to FW and MK - we didn't ever use the "blue flag" boat to FW and CR, so I can't speak for the timing on that one. We used the boat transportation for the majority of our trips to the MK.

I love the food court! It isn't as big as CBR (and I think they have a great food court too), but the flatbreads are yummy and I think the smaller size adds to the warm, intimate feel of the resort. Also, remember there are considerably fewer guests at WL compared to CBR, so they don't really need a huge food court. We used DDP there for snacks and CS meals and never had a problem at all. The bakery items make great snacks - try the magic bars!

Your idea of sleeping in and then enjoying the resort is exactly what we just did. Since we were there over July 4th week, the parks were packed and it was really hot during the day. We usually slept in until 10 or so, and then got ready and went to lunch either downstairs at Roaring Forks, at Wolfgang Puck Express in DTD (best counter service ever!) or if we were feeling up to it, in the MK. Then we came back to WL, cooled off in the room and enjoyed the balcony, or went for a swim. It rained for a bit almost every afternoon and that seemed to cool things off, so we'd wait for the rain and then head back out in the late afternoon/early evening and have dinner and hit the parks. We used evening EMH's a lot and it worked out really well. Then we'd come back and swim some more at night - my DD was obsessed with the WL pool so we spent much more time there than I'd planned. It was lovely though, a really relaxing way to end the day!

Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

[JPN4265]

Well, as some of you readers may know, I am a Caribbean Beach Resort fan. But, after having stayed there the last two years, we wanted to try something new. We were looking into another moderate but just now decided we're going to spend the extra money and book a stay at the Wilderness Lodge!

We're going to spend a couple of days at the resort just sleeping in and then taking in all the resort has to offer.

Now I have some questions.

In order to stay at the Wilderness Lodge, we're going to have a standard room but that's okay. Any suggestions on which section of rooms we should request? We are walkers so distance doesn't matter too much. Just wondering about noise, etc.

Do all rooms have an outside balcony?

How the bus transportation? Lots of bus stops?

I know that they don't have a traditional food court, but how's the counter service? Pretty easy to use dining plan credits?

Anybody have any pictures they can post?

Thanks in advance! Lisa

A good place to start is the official WL tread. You will find it here in the resort posting. Welcome to the WL.

 

[grannyminnie]

I hope you love the WL as much as we did! We were there on concierge level a few months back, and maybe you'll be upgraded to that, and have an even better time!
The boat service to MK is great...relaxing and didn't take much time at all. The wait was not bad either. We never used the buses.
We also never visited the food court since we had access to the concierge lounge.
We had a north-facing room on the 7th floor (concierge only) and did have a view of the MK fireworks! The service area was directly below us and it was NEVER a problem. If you don't want to see it, don't look down!! Of course, if your room is much closer to the ground, it might be a different story, but I can't see how the noise would ever bother you since you will be wanting to wander around in that beautiful resort and not stay in the room so much!!

 

[Troop o' Goofs]

Here is the link to the Wilderness Lodge FAQ and includes some pictures. It is very helpful, even if you have been there before.

 

[Goofy_4_WDW]

here is the link to the map
http://users.hartwick.edu/heydukr/wlrooms.htm

 

[frank_mas]

We've stayed at the WL twice (2003 and 2005) and loved it. We are going to the Poly in a few weeks, and we almost had to make ourselves try someplace new because we love the WL so much!


To answer some of you questions:

Roaring Forks: This is something we didn't really like to use as a meal. It's just not very good. But you'll love Whispering Canyon if you give that a try.

The boat transporation was excellent. We always enjoyed it. It's like a little ride by itself!

Buses were fine at park open, but like anything else, it's a bit trickier midday. Not necessarily that they were crowded, but that you could have a wait.

One late afternoon/evening trip to Epcot we actually decided to take the boat to the Contemporary and then the monorail to Epcot. We weren't in any rush, and it was a fun trip.

Last thing I'd recommend is, since you're sleeping in anyway, when you check in see if you can be the Flag Family for any of the mornings you're there. We did this on our second trip and it was by far the highlight of the whole experience for us. Seeing our (then) 6-year old son hoisting the American Flag over the lodge, and hearing of the history of the place from Ranger Stan... not to mention the amazing views from the roof... are still things we talk about!

Good luck and have a great time. You'll love it there!