Your thoughts on Wilderness Lodge

[Wunderkind]

Tell me all, the bad, the good, the better, and best. I want to hear from you please!

 

[jstone71]

I LOVE Wilderness lodge. I have stayed there twice in the Villas. The first time I walked into the lobby it was nighttime and I just looked upward with my mouth open. The lobby is grand and beautiful with large totem poles, teepee chandeliers, and a huge fireplace with chimney that extends the span of the lobby all the way up. Check out the pics on allearsnet.com but even they don't do it justice. Beautiful pool that starts as a brook inside the lobby and then continues running outside, down a waterfall and into the main pool. The pool area continues a wonderful outdoor theme with a geysers that erupts like Old Faithful. There are three main dining areas. Artist's Point is their signature restaurant. Expensive but very good. Whispering Canyon Cafe is another table service restaurant that has an all you can eat skillet with chicken, pulled pork, ribs, brisket, corn, baked beans, cornbread, etc. Totally awesome! Roaring Forks is a counter service restaurant. There is also a nice lounge for drinks or snacks called Territory Lounge. Another plus is that you can take a ferry from their dock to MK. You'll have to catch buses to get to the other parks.

 

[brendaziz]

Well i love WL- just the theming and everything- down to the gift shop and the geyser and everything.
one negative i often hear is that the king rooms are handdicap rooms so i would always get 2 queens or a queen and bunks room.
This is my fav resort at Christmas in particular. The tree in the lobby is beautiful!
I don't really have any negatives. I also love that it's cheaper than some of the other deluxes. That being said if the prices were identical, i woudl most likely choose another deluxe over WL. I just like Beach Club and some others a little more.

 

[JillHM7]

It really is beautiful! Especially the lobby. We also stayed in the Villas. Very quiet and peaceful at the end of the day. The pool was very nice, hard to get chairs in the afternoon though. There is a great gift shop in the lobby. My kids loved the arcade and the bike rentals. You can rent boats also but we ran out of time! Whispering Canyon Cafe was pretty good, very loud at dinner. The boat to MK was really nice. A very relaxing way to get to the parks. The buses were fine too. We never had to wait long and the rides seemed reasonable. We really enjoyed our stay and had no complaints!

 

[PoohsFan1]

WL is one of our favorite deluxes, we will be staying there for the second time come tomorrow . We love how serene and beautiful the grounds are. We usually book a courtyard view with bunkbed which is very nice. I love the balcony, especially in the early morning where I can sit out with my coffee and just listen and smell the morning. It is just a beautiful resort that we enjoy very much.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

just wanted to bump...

 

[Wunderkind]

Well based on the information I've been digging up today, your responses to this thread, and looking into many other Disney related sites, I decided to book WL using the new April-May Spring Rate. I'm cancelling my ressie at the Swan/Dolphin and booking WL instead. The room-only rate is actually less at the WL for my dates. No it's not as good as the 4/3 deal, 40% off, or free dining, but I'm sooooo happy anyway! We'll be staying at WL instead and using ME and Disney transportation. After reading the rave reviews here and elsewhere I think I'm making the right decision.

Whoo hooo!

 

[thf913]

Having stayed at both WL (1/08) and the Swan (2 weeks ago), I vote for WL without a doubt. I love the theming and it is so relaxing. The Swan has no theming and hardly any children. It is very adult oriented, though DS5 loved the pool. The buses did seem slow at WL last year but that may have changed. The boat is wonderful! We would take the boat to CR and then take the monorail to the TTC to get to Epcot. We did have to take the bus to AK and DHS.

 

[Wunderkind]

Having stayed at both WL (1/08) and the Swan (2 weeks ago), I vote for WL without a doubt. I love the theming and it is so relaxing. The Swan has no theming and hardly any children. It is very adult oriented, though DS5 loved the pool. The buses did seem slow at WL last year but that may have changed. The boat is wonderful! We would take the boat to CR and then take the monorail to the TTC to get to Epcot. We did have to take the bus to AK and DHS.

^^^ Thank you for posting that. It makes me feel even better about the decision we made regarding our resort choice.

 

[eaglesfan]

WL is our favorite resort. Unfortunately, we're on a tighter budget for our next trip in June and are doing a mod. I don't even want to drive past the WL because I will miss it so much.

I think the WL gets a bad rap sometimes because it's not on the monorail. That never bothered us. I love the boat to the MK and never got sick of it. Like another poster said, you can grab the monorail by taking the boat to the Contemp. or MK.

The lobby is simply gorgeous and the background music totally transforms you. The rooms are bit smaller than other deluxe resorts but again, it never bothered us. Now it's been a while since we were there and the only negative was the Roaring Fork for quick service. The lines were out the door and down the hallway. It was not even a peak time of year.

The staff was great. Request to be a flag family when you check in....if they still do that. We have some of the best pics from atop the WL.

Enjoy!!

 

[NMAmy]

What we loved about WL:

The resort itself is beautiful. The rooms were good and mousekeeping was great. The grounds are just beautiful.

What we didn't like about WL:

We felt very isolated. We like staying at a resort where you can walk to at least one park and the WL involved a boat or a bus to get to any park. Coming back from the MK after Wishes was a nightmare and took 1.5 hours. The food choices at Roaring Forks were extremely limited and since we couldn't just walk somewhere else--we were stuck with it for a quick meal.

So, while we really did enjoy our stay there and thought the resort was lovely, I doubt we will stay there again.

 

[frisco]

My favorite resort on Disney property. Everything about it is perfect.

 

[frisco]

Coming back from the MK after Wishes was a nightmare and took 1.5 hours.

I have to ask - How were you trying to get back? It's never taken us more than 15 minutes by boat or bus to get back after Wishes.

 

[mickeynut1]

Well based on the information I've been digging up today, your responses to this thread, and looking into many other Disney related sites, I decided to book WL using the new April-May Spring Rate. I'm cancelling my ressie at the Swan/Dolphin and booking WL instead. The room-only rate is actually less at the WL for my dates. No it's not as good as the 4/3 deal, 40% off, or free dining, but I'm sooooo happy anyway! We'll be staying at WL instead and using ME and Disney transportation. After reading the rave reviews here and elsewhere I think I'm making the right decision.

Whoo hooo!

I think you made a great choice by choosing the WL . The WL is one of our favorite resorts......everything about it is awesome . The lobby is amazing, the pool is great, the boat ride to/from the MK and CR is relaxing......there is nothing about the WL that we don't like . I think you will really enjoy your stay . Congrats and have a great trip .

 

[NMAmy]

I have to ask - How were you trying to get back? It's never taken us more than 15 minutes by boat or bus to get back after Wishes.

We came back by boat. The line for the bus was even longer. It was in March--Spring Break time but not the week before or after Easter.

We do prefer to have the option of walking back to a resort after fireworks so I think we'll stick with the Epcot resorts or one of the other MK resorts in the future.

 

[jerseymom473]

You made a great choice!! You will love it. We did a split WL/BC and honestly all of us loved the WL more (& it is less expensive!!! )

Everything was perfect! Housekeeping, the room, CMs. It is a beautiful, tranquil place that you will love coming 'home' to after a hectic day. Artist Point was great and we enjoyed Roaring Forks (great sandwiches and salads).

Your kids will love the boat ride to MK, a nice relaxing way to go. We had no issues with buses, either.

Have a wonderful trip!!!!!!!!

 

[jstone71]

Well based on the information I've been digging up today, your responses to this thread, and looking into many other Disney related sites, I decided to book WL using the new April-May Spring Rate. I'm cancelling my ressie at the Swan/Dolphin and booking WL instead. The room-only rate is actually less at the WL for my dates. No it's not as good as the 4/3 deal, 40% off, or free dining, but I'm sooooo happy anyway! We'll be staying at WL instead and using ME and Disney transportation. After reading the rave reviews here and elsewhere I think I'm making the right decision.

Whoo hooo!

Congratulations! I can't wait to hear how you trip went. Have fun!

 

[ceecee]

We are in the minority. We did not care for it. Seemed dark and depressing. While pretty it did not have the magic. DD did not like it at all! We ate at the restaurant (the name escapes me, where they joke with you) and expected more for the price, the food was awful and the meal took 3 hours!!! We were a party of 10 and the back totally messed up the order (the waiter said Goofy was cooking and the kids wanted to go see him!) they did have a pony race with stick ponies for the kids. No jokes at all and very long wait.

 

[ansadler]

what are views and balconies like for the villas? how far of a walk to the main pool and lobby?

Thinking about staying there...

thanks.

 

[Kimberly815]

We stayed at the WL for our Honeymoon and it is now our favorite! We usually rent a car because we like to drive to the park, but we love the boats to/from the MK. The feel of the Lodge just fits us. The pools and hot tubs have always been great. I really can't think of a thing that we didn't love about it!