Reviews of Wilderness Lodge (Deluxe Resort)
Reviewed by horsefun Review Date: 10/13/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
This was our first stay at a deluxe resort. We have stayed at several moderate resorts. We stayed in a room with a queen bed and bunk beds. Woods view. Honestly, I didn't find much that made this resort so much better than some of the moderate resorts. Obviously, it is beautiful. I expected the room to be a little nicer, but really, other than being a bit bigger, the beds were about the same and the amenities were the same. I don't know if we happened to be in a handicapped accessible room or whether all of the rooms have the bathroom we had: no tub, walk in shower which was nice. Here is my assessment compared to moderate resorts:
POSITIVES FOR WL: Our room happened to be on the first floor right near the quick service restaurant, which was great for getting drinks and snacks. However, since the hotel is built upward instead of outward (like Caribbean Beach), you are really not far from anything at the hotel, no matter where your room is. This is fantastic compared to Caribbean Beach, where everything is too far away to want to walk to after a long day at the parks. The boat to MK is FANTASTIC. It is worth the stay here alone. It comes very frequently and is a nice departure from the crowded bus system. The housekeepers were MUCH friendlier than any other place I have stayed.
NEUTRAL FOR WL: the room was a room was a room. It was as cleaned about as well as any we have been in. I think the bed may have been LESS comfortable than some I have had at other resorts.
NEGATIVE FOR WL: and for me...this was a big negative. I don't know if this was normal procedure for "off season" (mid Sept), although I have been off season at other resorts without this issue. The buses. For the Magical Express and for the bus transportation around WDW, you are grouped with Grand Floridian, Polynesian, and Wilderness Campground. Seems that for Magical Express, WL is the lowest man on the totem pole for these resorts. You get dropped off last and picked up first. So, even though our resort had the most passengers, we dropped off at Grand Floridian and Polynesian first. THEN, when leaving for the airport, we got picked up first (earlier call time). By the time we got to the airport, we were all just about car sick, which was a first for my daughter and hubby. But even worse...the buses for traveling to parks. Here it was actually a bonus to be picked up first as we actually got seats. We would leave WL every time with full seats and sometimes people standing and then go to pack more on at Polynesian and GFL. I felt so bad for GFL people. They got packed in like sardines, standing room only. I am talking jam packed in. They never got seats. Even off season at moderate resorts, I have never seen anything like it. I expected to be treated a little better than this. And I certainly expected GFL guests to be treated better than that. Also, a negative, just in case you have large children (long children) or adults for the bunk beds: they are not as long as the queen bed. They are like normal bunk beds. So, even though it says the room sleeps 4 adults...they better be short adults (and kids). Really loud fridge (which could be true anywhere).
There was a cast member with a hand held computer at the resort bus stops...I am assuming organizing buses. Hopefully Disney will improve this system. Great idea. Bad execution.
For us, the bad buses ALMOST negated the great boat. But, due to the closeness of everything to your room at WL, we would stay here again over a moderate resort.
Pros:
the boat to Magic KingdomCons:
the busesReviewed by wattage Review Date: 09/25/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
We stayed three nights at the Wilderness Lodge starting September 20, 2014. Our room had a queen bed with a fold out twin murphy bed. Mouse keeping was immaculate – the room was spotless when we arrived and stayed that way for our entire stay.
My only complaint was the fact that the main pool was closed for renovations which meant that the only pool on site was the one at the Villas – which is rather small and became very crowed!!
Pros:
Location, Theme, StaffCons:
Main pool under constructionReviewed by glufactory57 Review Date: 04/10/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
Stayed 4 nights 3/31 - 4/4 DH and myself. Weather was great so that helps but resort is about my favorite. Fast service can be very crazy in AM but not bad - few choices though. Room clean and comfortable. Resort is BEAUTIFUL. Only complaint is a 45 min. bus ride to Typhoon Lagoon. Probably will take cab next time. The boat ride to Magic Kingdom is a perfect way to get there. One pet peeve I have is no parental supervision in hot tubs - but that's at all the resorts. Absolutely will return to this resort.
Pros:
Beautiful grounds,great theme& wonderful hot tubsCons:
some long bus ridesReviewed by lisakb22 Review Date: 04/01/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
We loved this resort!We had stayed at 3 other moderates and up graded to a Deluxe and weren't sorry.This resort is the smallest on property so it is easy to use all of the services provided without having to walk a mile to get there! The only downside to staying here was the bus service-we shared with Fort Wilderness or the Grand Floridian-this was a new not pleasant experience compared to the moderates we had stayed at that had their own bus. I feel if you are paying a premium for staying at a Deluxe Resort,each one should have its own bus,some of the rides to the parks were long as well as some of the waits to get a bus.
Pros:
theming,location, serviceCons:
bus sharingReviewed by BigB Review Date: 02/18/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
Every aspect of this resort are amazing! The landscaping is beautiful and the rooms are great!
Pros:
EverythingCons:
NoneReviewed by jenniemouse Review Date: 02/02/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
Loved taking boat to MK. Rooms had plenty of room for storage and we could see fireworks from our woods view balcony. Food court was small and crowded around the coffee in the morning but served us when we need it. Bus stopped at GF on way to AK and FW campsites on way to EP. We drove our car to HS. Overall loved it and would go back.
Pros:
location, roomsCons:
noneReviewed by jenniemouse Review Date: 01/28/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
We stayed here from 1/18-1/26. 2 Adults 2 kiddos. Room 4026 woods view. We could see fireworks through the trees! Was a little confusing when we first pulled up in our car with the unloading process etc. The room was great. Plenty of storage and very cozy beds. My only complaint there was no where to hang towels after using them. Mousekeeping was great. Got towel animals twice. They brought us a stepstool for our son when we called. We were right by elevator which was nice and laundry was very close by. Food court was fine. Small and crowded by coffee. Sandwiches were the best and we had breakfast on our last day. Buses were hit or miss. We drove our car to Hollywood Studios. Waited a while in the morning for other park buses. Bus stopped at Grand Floridian on the way to Animal Kingdom and at Campground on the way to Epcot. We enjoyed the boat to and from Magic Kingdom and to Contemporary as we went there twice. Overall a great place. Was too cold to enjoy the pool. But I definitely plan to go back.
Pros:
Location, boats to Magic Kingdom, room sizeCons:
noneReviewed by TGropp Review Date: 01/08/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
We stayed here from Dec 18-26 and it is the only place to stay at Christmastime. It does not get any better than this Decorations are beautiful and it seems like your a million miles away from WDW. My favorite resort of them all.
Pros:
AtmosphereCons:
NoneReviewed by Irishrabbit Review Date: 01/04/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
Hubby & I stayed at the WL 12/13-12/20. We'd stayed here years ago, but this trip was my 50th Birthday trip from hubby.
We used the Magical Express from the airport, and were greeted by a cast member as soon as we got off the bus. Check in was fairly quick. There were magic bands waiting for us even though we didn't opt to take them. We're old fashioned when it comes to those, would much rather have the card. We opted for a "woods view" room, and were assigned a room on the 6th floor overlooking a few trees, but with major views of the parking lot & bus loading area. The room was very old looking, and not what I was expecting for this special trip. We called the front desk, and were told there wasn't much available that night, but they would have the manager call us. The front end manager (Jackson?) called us & asked if we could stay in this room that night, and the next day he could get us into a room "more appropriate for a birthday celebration". The next morning we had bell services bring our luggage downstairs to be stored, and our important stuff was locked in a safe by the front desk. Because we had breakfast reservations at the Kona Café and things were taking longer than expected, the cast member had a taxi take us over to the Poly on them so we could make our reservation. We got back to the resort around 4, and went to the front desk to get our new room keys. We were assigned room #4169, which turned out to be a concierge suite overlooking Bay Lake! Needless to say, this room was incredible, amazing views, totally worthy of a 50th Birthday trip! This room seemed to have been updated, and was very comfortable. Our Mousekeeper Qun kept our room spotless, and made us little animals out of small towels to go along with the stuffed characters we had purchased!
The dining options at WL are very good, having both a quick service, casual and fine dining spot.
The lobby was decorated beautifully for Christmas too. WL has a nice shop, much larger than I remembered, with a nice selection of merchandise, including resort themed items.
The bus service at WL seemed to be a bit better than last year when we stayed at POFQ. We did wait about 30 minutes for buses, and twice waited 40 minutes on nights we needed to make connections to get to dinner reservations. The boat from WL to MK & Contemporary was very pleasant. I do recommend this beautiful resort, it made for an incredible birthday present for me, but it is a bit pricey.
Pros:
Great location, good on-site restaurantsCons:
Rooms are a bit old, need some updatingReviewed by Disneyhenry Review Date: 12/12/2013
Rating: (9) Recommended
Our stay was 12/2/13 - 12/10/13
We had party of 15 with 4 rooms, 10 adults, 1 13 year old, 1 6 year old, 2 4 year olds and an 20 month old. 3 rooms with courtyard views and bunk beds, 1 with a woods view and 2 queen beds.
We did an online check in, we checked in at 7:30 AM, we knew our rooms would not be ready, we just wanted to start going to the parks. The lobby was just amazingly beautiful!!! Of course I asked if any rooms had a view of the Castle in the MK, she told me no, the trees have taken over. Check in was timely manner and staff very happy, friendly.
We all received a text about 2PM telling us our room numbers. We had 6051, 6049, 6045 and the wood views had 6034. All the rooms have a nice view, but room 6034 had an amazing view of the Castle!!!
I did go down to chat with the front desk staff when it was quiet for them, they told me what rooms had a view of the castle for future reference.
All the staff at WL was just so happy, fun and friendly. Our rooms were very clean and the style was up to date.
The boat to MK was perfect, we all loved the pool (it was around 85 for most of our stay), the walk from the parking lot was not to long (we had rented a 15 passenger van), my sisters and adult kids used the buses and said they were fine, I never used the bus system.
We loved Whispering Canyon, Roaring Forks had great food but was way to small. Christmas decor was just perfect
We will stay here again for sure! All of us want to, it was a perfect stay
