WL-Villas vs. Lodge, Pros/Cons

[dtuleya]

Let me preface this by saying we just got back from a two-day trip from Niagara Falls, ON, and am starting to think about looking into WL Villas for our November trip. We currently have a woodsview in the main lodge booked.

DH slept with 13 yo and I slept with 8 yo. Kids slept fine, but DH and I didn't since our boys tend to be "bed hogs". That's why we can't have them sleep together, or we would end up with two grouchy kids. For two days, it wasn't bad with four of us in the room, but I'm not sure about 8 days/7 nights. We will request bunk beds, but I'm concerned that we might not get them. It would also be nice to have a little more "breathing room". Also, DS (8) is a very picky eater and he will only eat Chicken fingers and FF when we go out to restaurants, so a kitchen might be nice. Also, how close is the parking to the actual villas?

The thing that most concerns me about the Villas is I want to experience all the main lodge has to offer and am afraid we'll miss out on this if we stay in the villas. Also, I'm not sure we can afford a might higher rate. Anybody have any ideas or pros/cons they can share with me? I'm not even sure when you can check availability for the villas. It might not even work since we are going over Thanksgiving (Friday before to Friday after) and I'm sure they get booked up.

How can I figure out how much it would cost me to rent points? Is there anywhere I can find a layout of these with square footage measurements? I'll also post on resorts boards. TIA!

PS - I'm so excite since this is my 500th post! These boards are filled with wonderful people and a wealth of information!

 

[Cinderella]

Would that be checking in the 22nd November and check out on the 29th. If so it would cost 110 points for a studio and 262 points for a one bedroom - hope I have worked this out right. So if you rented points from a member at $10 per point it would cost $1100 for the studio and $2620 for a one bedroom. I would not like to guess at what this would cost through Disney.

U are right though - it is very likely to be booked up over thanksgiving. Also, you may be very cramped in a studio - I am sure the beds look smaller than in Wilderness Lodge rooms. A one bedroom would be great for you but, remember that there would still only be a king bed and a sofa bed, so you would still end up sharing, unless you took a blow up bed for one of the boys.

U should be lucky with bunk beds - we have always got them when we requested them.

I know a two bedroom would be perfect but, I always tell anyone wanting to rent out a unit that size that they would probably be better off actually joining DVC.

 

[SueM in MN]

I don't think there would be room for a blow up bed in the one bedroom unit unless you don't open up the sofa bed (and then you are back to 2 kids sharing a blow up bed). We stayed there in March and had 2 kids sleeping on the sofa bed in the living room.
The master bedroom has a small bedside table on each side of the bed. Not enough room to put a blow up bed there. The open sofa bed in the living room takes up all of the floor space. One end of it was right up to the snack bar counter in the kitchen, the end came almost up to the TV armoire and there was not enough space for a blow up on the side by the patio door.

 

[snarfieca]

You find find out room layouts & resort info at

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wa...resortindex?id=HRSVillasAtWildernessLodgeRsrt

We love it at the Villas & it's right beside the main Lodge

Brenda
from Manitoba

 

[Tesabat]

Here is some information I rec'd when I asked the same question.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=218949

 

[SueM in MN]

I was thinking in terms of your bed hog needing more than a twin size bed. You would be able to fit a twin someplace, but I think it would be hard to find space for anything bigger.

 

[dtuleya]

Sue M - My youngest DS has a twin sized bed in his room so I don't think it would be much different. He just likes to lay tight against the person he sleeps with and ends up in the middle of the bed for most of the night.

Tesabat - Thanks, I'll check out your thread.

 

[SueM in MN]

That's how my youngest DD is. I don't think of her as a bedhog, just that she will cuddle you until you are at the edge of the bed.
My niece and nephew are both used to full size beds and they sprall over the whole bed. That's what I was thinking of as bedhogs.
It sounds like you will be able to work something out.

 

[dtuleya]

Thanks for the advice. I think we're going to stick with our room at the WL and save a little money. I'm not even going to try and get a villa this time (don't tell DH, but I'm planning a trip next year) since it is a holiday week (which means they are probably full) and we don't plan on being in our room much.

I'm going to purchase an inflatable bed and take it along just in case we don't get the bunk bed room. If we don't need it, maybe I can just return it since we do have a full sized one already.

 

[PiperMickey]

You find find out room layouts & resort info at

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wa...resortindex?id=HRSVillasAtWildernessLodgeRsrt

We love it at the Villas & it's right beside the main Lodge

Brenda
from Manitoba

Are the Villas connected to the main lodge?

 

[Deb & Bill]

Aaaarrrrrggggghhhh. What's going on here? Another ancient post resurrected. This one from 2002.

 

[dgaston]

Yeah I was all set to talk about the new guaranteed pricing for bunk beds until I read the date of the post.

 

[PiperMickey]

Aaaarrrrrggggghhhh. What's going on here? Another ancient post resurrected. This one from 2002.

Sorry. I did a search to get some information on WL Villas and this came up.

I didn't know I was going to irritate people

 

[LisaS]

Sorry. I did a search to get some information on WL Villas and this came up.

I didn't know I was going to irritate people

No need to apologize. The Boardtracker search facility is the cause of all these old posts coming back to life -- it doesn't sort things by date unless you force it to so the list of search results is as likely as not to list very old posts right at the top of the results list. (And that's only one of its shortcomings.) It's just not the right search facility for these boards.

 

[Muushka]

Are the Villas connected to the main lodge?

They are connected by a covered walkway. Some have said that it is a long walk, but I think it is just right. Plus, you get to ring the bells!

 

[Jimbo]

They are connected by a covered walkway. Some have said that it is a long walk, but I think it is just right. Plus, you get to ring the bells!

People really think that's a long walk? I'd have to assume that these are people that never go to a park, then. It's really pretty short, IMHO.

We like the VWL because they are quiet and peaceful. And the main lodge, which can be pretty busy, is just that short walk away. So you've got two completely different environments at your fingertips.

And we always ring the bell, too!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Sorry. I did a search to get some information on WL Villas and this came up.

I didn't know I was going to irritate people

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you think you did anything wrong. It's just that a lot of very old threads have been resurrected. You can always start a new thread if you want to ask something. Lots of times the old threads have outdated info in them, too. Again, please forgive my bad manners.