WL fans help me like it!!!

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

Last trip to WL was bad for us. The transportation was the main thing that really turned us off. The lodge itself was very nice but we had to rent a car it was so bad. This year we got a pin offer and WL was the best deal we could get regular room with a courtyard view.

My question is to you experts who love the lodge, is there some system to the transportation I am just not understanding. Do you usually use the bus or take the boat to the CR and catch the monorail to epcot.

I really really really want to have a better trip this time and I dont want to have to rent a car. My husband loves the resort as does the rest of our family who are going.

Also any other tips or neat things you love about WL?

 

[brergnat]

I can't offer any suggestions, but I feel the same way as you. I LOVE the WL. We had such a good experience on all our trips there (especially our Honeymoon), but every time I go back, the bus service gets worse and worse (ditto for the boat).

Last trip was Feb 2007, and our experience with the transportation was SO frustrating that I have written WL off my list for a long time. I am very bummed about it, but we don't rent cars at WDW (there shouldn't be a need) and I feel like for the money we spend there, at the very least, they could have their own buses. Sharing with the Ft. Wilderness, Poly, and GF is ridiculous. It should NOT take an hour to go from the hotel to each park, but that's seriously how long it took. I am not one to be impatient either, but our last trip was short...only 5 days, and we spent an inordinate amount of time getting from point A to point B. It really cut into our time and frustrated the heck out of us.

Until WDW does something to fix the bus/boat transportation issue (and the boats are as bad as the buses...we sometimes waited upwards of 30 minutes in the FREEZING cold on the dock for a boat), we won't return to a hotel that is serviced by only buses. Perhaps this is Disney's way of making us all want to stay at the MK or Epcot resorts...

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

Also does anyone have suggestions what to request for my courtyard view?

 

[Kristybell]

We were in room 3119 last year and it was perfect for us. We overlooked the stream and caught very little noise from the pool. We sat out on the balcony in the evenings and listened to the stream, it was so peaceful.

It was a short walk to the elevators, and again, no noise there. Easy walk to the lobby and pool. A bit longer to Roaring Forks and the boat dock, but still manageable.

I don't know what to say about the transportation. We used it both at the Lodge last year and the Beach Club the year before. The BC was far worse IMO.

I didn't think it was that bad this past year. The worst we experienced was coming back from DD and stopping at the water park, and again dropping off at the water park on the way to AK. But I truly don't remember waiting any more than 15-20 minutes for any boat or bus. Then again we normally go during peak times in the summer when maybe they have more busses and boats running.

I'm sure Disney has had a lot of complaints as I've heard from many who weren't as lucky as we were. Hopefully they'll fix the problem!

 

[Lady SnowElla]

We stayed at VWL last summer. We often took the bus to MK and back. Although we enjoyed the boat trip, we found the bus was faster. The bus to Epcot seemed especially long as we usually stay at BCV and are used to walking. We devised a system that worked for our family. We took the bus to Epcot in the morning finished the day by walking through IG to BC to get a gelatto at the Marketplace at the BC. We then caught a bus to MK and the boat back to WL.
We are torn about where we will stay next as we love staying close to Epcot at the BC but we loved WL.

 

[cmd0819]

We've stayed there the past 4 years and have always had a really great experience. Hopefully the transportation last year was just a glitch. We usually took the boats unless we were going to AK. I have also hear that there is now a direct boat to the MK, so that should make things easier

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

I fell in love with WL when we stayed there, actually that was my first trip to Disney and the stay was so great that I've been a huge Disney fan ever since. That being said even as long ago as it was that we stayed at WL the bus service was aweful. We had better bus service last summer at POP. We even went to WL last year on our trip to eat and had to wait forever for the bus to Magic Kingdom.
I would stay at WL again in a heart beat, but I agree that transportation needs work.