wl worth $1000 more than csr?

[nwbearcat]

My family and I have stayed at the csr for the last two years. We have a DD7and a DD5. We like the resort, but have grown tired of the buses. We didn't have good luck with them last may, and are planning a return trip this may.

Mk is our favorite park.. Almost stayed at WL last year because it was deluxe, close to mk, and had transportation options beyond the bus. At the end of the day frugal dad wouldn't pull the trigger.

New year, same debate.... I really want to stay at a monorail resort but they are 2k more than csr for may 16-23.

Looked into yc/bc/boardwalk, but they are almost as expensive as the monorail resorts.

It is probably too late to rent dvc, for the resorts I want to stay at, (bwv, blt,bcv).

My primary reason for going to wl would be proximity to mk and ease of transportation back and forth during the day. I like the theme of csr better, but just cant get those lines waiting for the bus out of my head! To me that isnt a vacation. However reading multiple threads reviews are mixed as to whether it will be any better from the wl....

Thoughts?

Thoughts?

 

[kdawg8762]

We really like the WL. I like the theme a lot and the trasportation to MK is great by boat. You can also take the blue line boat to CR and monorail to TTC and catch EPCOT one. The biggest plus for me is internal hallways (i know, its simple, but still). That said, we never stay at the same place twice. We are doing ASMo this year for the kids, then taking a year off and doing boardwalk the next.

 

[lisam427]

we stayed at csr last september. loved the resort, pool, and the food court. the bus service was absolutely horrible. most mornings we waited 50-70 minutes to get to the parks. have you thought about trying another moderate? in doing so you would save alot of $$$$.
riverside and french quarter are really nice. riverside is my dd's favorite resort. the transportation is much, much better compared to coronado. as an added bonus the resorts have a really wonderful relaxing boat ride to downtown disney. riverside has the new royal rooms and french quarter is very compact. please check out this website. it gives you alot of information about both resorts and has photos. hope this helps.

www.portorleans.org

 

[Joey7295]

If the buses are that horrible, perhaps you should consider renting a car. I just stayed at CSR in January, but we rented a car. We only used the bus once to get to the Magic Kingdom and waited almost half an hour.

 

[Joey7295]

To answer the question, I do think WL is much better than CSR, although CSR is my favorite moderate. The pool and food court at CSR are great but the whole atmosphere at WL is just so wonderful.

 

[padawans]

My family and I have stayed at the csr for the last two years. We have a DD7and a DD5. We like the resort, but have grown tired of the buses. We didn't have good luck with them last may, and are planning a return trip this may.

Mk is our favorite park.. Almost stayed at WL last year because it was deluxe, close to mk, and had transportation options beyond the bus. At the end of the day frugal dad wouldn't pull the trigger.

New year, same debate.... I really want to stay at a monorail resort but they are 2k more than csr for may 16-23.

Looked into yc/bc/boardwalk, but they are almost as expensive as the monorail resorts.

It is probably too late to rent dvc, for the resorts I want to stay at, (bwv, blt,bcv).

My primary reason for going to wl would be proximity to mk and ease of transportation back and forth during the day. I like the theme of csr better, but just cant get those lines waiting for the bus out of my head! To me that isnt a vacation. However reading multiple threads reviews are mixed as to whether it will be any better from the wl....

Thoughts?

Thoughts?

The rooms at CSR are nice and about the same size as Wl. Why not rent a car. You can rent a car for probabably around 250.00.

 

[JoJoFromNY]

I'm sorry to hear your busses at CSR were that horrible. Did you go during Memorial Day? We went after the Easter crowd in 2010 and had absolutely excellent bus service. No wait was more than 10 minutes. We were located in the Casitas area though so it is the first bus stop. I agree, I would either rent a car or perhaps stay at another moderate. IMO WL isn't all that great having to take the boat to MK each day. We did that during our last trip just to take a look around WL and it took quite a long time to get there and back from MK. We are headed back to CSR this Easter week 2012 and I'm anxious to see how our bus service will be. I know the parks will be packed with people but am wondering how the busses will be during an actual holiday. We soon shall see.

 

[mickeynut1]

For us, the extra cost would be worth it. We've never stayed at CSR, but we love the WL. We've stayed at the WL twice and never had trouble with the buses. We also love taking the boat back and forth to MK as well as to the CR where we could shop or just walk around and then hop on the monorail to visit the Poly and GF. With that said, if the extra cost is doable, I would go with the WL.

 

[mkoerner]

We've stayed at WL twice and never had an issue with busses and the boat to MK is great. We have no interest in CSR at all, so the cost of WL would definitely be worth it.

 

[jujube]

At WL, the rooms are not that much bigger than CSR. Also, the boats can be as big a hassle as the buses. We never had a problem getting a bus to the MK from CSR. We rent a car and would drive to the other parks. The counter service restaurant, Roaring Forks, at WL, like the CS at all of the deluxes, is very limited, unlike The Pepper Market which has a lot of variety.
We like trying new resorts though, so if you're yearning to try something new, go for WL, it is beautiful.

 

[patty57]

There is a good chance that it's too late to rent DVC, but I would make an attempt at that before deciding. Wilderness Lodge also has the Villas, so a rental there might be a possibility. You might also be able to get a good rate at the Swan or Dolphin.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I would say Wilderness Lodge is worth it due to the fact that all their rooms, restaurants and etc are all located in one main building, where as at Coronado Springs you could get a room in a building that is far away from all of those things.

 

[Brian Noble]

Of the places I've stayed (VWL, OKW, and BWV) VWL was my favorite. However, the buses are buses, no matter where you stay, and nothing is close to everything. Perhaps the extra money would be better spent on a rental car?

 

[Tink415]

We've been going to Disney a few times a year for about 17 years. We like something about all of the resorts and wouldn't rule out any. Is WL worth $1000 more than CSR to us? Sometimes. Not every visit. I really like the boat to MK, the beach and bar area in nice weather, and the Christmas decorations are beautiful. So we stay at WL every so often.

IMHO the buses are usually very good at all of the resorts and any can have problems on occasion. There is no location that guarantees perfect transportation all the time. If your DH doesn't think the WL is worth it, try one of the other moderates.

The people who stayed at GF during parade taping this year were not impressed with monorail and boat transportation that day. ..trapped in the longest lines I've ever seen, for any resort, for a very long time.

 

[shenaniganzz]

we stayed at csr last september. loved the resort, pool, and the food court. the bus service was absolutely horrible. most mornings we waited 50-70 minutes to get to the parks.

We were there is September '11 and didn't wait longer than 20 minutes for a bus at CSR. Of course, we may have been there at different times (we were there early Sept.) but we actually found the bus service to be a pro of CSR rather than a con.

 

[shocker]

OP you sound exactly like me. Transportation time and choices are in my top 3 reasons for resort picks. I've stayed off site and been able to get in and out of parks faster than on site.

I've stayed at WL but not at any moderate (and would not consider it w/o a car--except on MK days where the nightmare of TTC transfers necessitates the use of Disney transportation at any cost). (Sorry to all the TTC lovers out there but it's clear that me that the OP and I have similar transportation issues).

I have stayed at Dolphin and BWI and can recommend anything around that lake for ease of transportation to not one but TWO parks!! that leaves only 2 major parks to "fuss with the buss." There are also tons of dining options within walking distance.

Transportation concerns are way more important than "view" when I book a room. So, at check-in we look at the room layout and request rooms w/quick exit options (I also try to eliminate slow elevator issues too).

WL is not only layed out with an everything-under-one-building design but really all rooms lay between the bus and the boat. So, leave in one direction for the bus and the leave the other direction for the boat (super easy). There are also 2 boat options 1) boat to MK or 2) inter-resort boat to CR or FW. Once you boat over to CR, then all monorail options are available to you. This opened up a ton of dining options to us and we used it one morning when we didn't want to wait on the boat to MK, we boated over to CR and walked to MK (yes, yes, I have patience issues when it comes to WDW trans) but would work great for addt'l breakfast options on the way to MK.

WL now very well may be our favorite resort and all else will be compared to it. I enjoyed the themeing and knowing I didn't pay full-price as other deluxes. Have a great trip with whatever you decide.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We have stayed at CSR 4 times and rarely waited more than 15 minutes for a bus to get to a park. We have been fortunate with our service there and truly have had the best bus service there of any resort where we've stayed.

We did stay at WL once -- it was my dream to stay there and see it decorated for Christmas -- and it was lovely. However, the transportation was not lovely. We did love the boat back and forth to MK and I guess if we were only going to MK, that would be fine. But on the day we wanted to go to Epcot we went down to the bus station and waited an average amount of time for the Epcot bus, but then it also stopped at Fort Wilderness which seemed way out of the way, before going to Epcot. The bus trip from WL to Epcot took 30 minutes - way longer than it would have taken from CSR! After that experience, we drove to the other parks we wanted to visit on that trip. And that was kind of a pain, too, since there is only one parking lot and we had to walk through the lobby and out the front door and across the loading zone to get there. At least at CSR, if we decide to drive, our car is typically less than 5 minutes from our room.

We had another time when we had eaten at WL and wanted to go from there to DTD and waited a very long time for the DTD bus (not uncommon) and then it went clear around to GF to pick up more people, then trekked back again to go to DTD. That one-way trip was about 45 minutes. Crazy. Now, we only drive to DTD and never take the bus from any resort.

On the whole, no, I wouldn't say that WL was worth an extra $1000 over CSR. We love CSR just as much as WL and have had terrific stays there.

 

[erinm]

WL is our favorite resort. I have stayed at CSR for a conference and my family visited the resort and walked the grounds to see if this would be a resort we would like to try and here are some pros and cons to both:

Pros to WL
Small resort, only about 750 rooms and all are in 1 building
Close to MK via buses or boat.
You can see the fireworks for MK
Pool is great
Staff is excellent
Amazing theme

Cons to WL
More $$$
Rooms are okay
Quick service/food court (Roaring Forks) was average, not as many choices as a moderate

Pros to CSR
Less $$$
better food court
Awesome Pool

Cons to CSR
Buildings are spread out
Pool is far away from main building with shops and resturants
Convention Hotel

Hope this helps!

 

[cluvsdisney]

I love the WL but I don't love it $1000 more than CSR. I would rent a car so I can skip the buses and stay at CSR.

 

[jedi jen]

Convenience is an important consideration for me too. I agree that renting a car can be very helpful in this regard. Much better than the busses IMO. Plus, when we rent a car, water parks, DTD and visiting other resorts for dinner are much easier transportation wise. We never have to wait, and the traffic is not bad at all. I love CR because of the convenience of being on the monorail. Disney is a busy vacation, so I think convenience plays a big role in making our time more enjoyable.