Bay Lake Tower or WL Club Level?

[limegreenmonorail]

Help! I can't decide where to stay for our upcoming trip in mid-March - both a studio at Bay Lake Tower and a club level room at Wilderness Lodge would be about the same price for us with the AP discount. I've stayed at WL once before, but in a standard room, and I've never stayed at Bay Lake. It'll just be me and my 11-year-old niece on this trip - she's been to Disney once before and stayed at Pop, so I want to find a hotel that she'll love! She snacks constantly, so I think she would enjoy the concierge lounge. ;) But, I think she'll love the look of Bay Lake Tower...we'll be there about 5 days, and we'll probably spend a couple of hours at the resort every day, swimming and napping.

Anybody have a preference, if you've stayed at both? Is one better transportation-wise than the other? We'll be using Disney transportation, so that's important. Which of these two resorts were you more impressed with in general? Thanks for your help!

[faline]

We've stayed at both. The year before last, we stayed club level at Wilderness Lodge and last summer, we stayed in a Lake View (partial Magic Kingdom view) studio. As I think about both, it's a really hard choice.

I loved staying Club Level at Wilderness Lodge and feel we really got our money's worth out of club offerings. I think we ate all of our breakfasts from club offerings and even managed to make a dinner (or two) out of club offerings. We also enjoyed the snacks. We were fortunate enough to have a room facing the Magic Kingdom so were able to see the fireworks from our balcony. The only thing we did not like, ironically, was our balcony which was very closed in. Due to the structure, it was quite hot during the day and nothing could be seen unless one was standing.

Bay Lake Tower - we've found no better location on property (unless you stay at the Contemporary). We loved our stay here! We had a king bed, handicap accessible room which I think gave us even more space. The balcony was a nice size. The view was of the lake to the right and the Magic Kingdom to the left. When we booked a lake view room, I had visions of being able to watch the Electrical Water Pageant from our room (We had no view of this) but being able to watch the fireworks right from our balcony more than made up for this! We loved being able to walk to the Magic Kingdom and that we were so close to the monorail.

I simply can't make a recommendation of one over the other! :confused:

[tdk316]

I'd highly recommend Bay Lake over WL just because of the location and access to the monorail and being able to walk to MK. I'm not a big fan of the buses, I'm just not patient enough of a person, and at WL you'll be on them a lot. Bay Lake seems to give more options for transportation between the monorail and being able to walk to MK and access the boats there if you want to see the other resorts. Plus, the monorail seems like a ride to most kids, not like the bus that is well, a bus.

I never thought I would be a fan of BTL because of the lack of themeing, but man 'o man is the location nice when you have kids. Plus, what kid wouldn't want to see the monorail several times a day while they're walking to breakfast, going to the pool, or just checking out the gift shop? My kids love it, although they are much younger than your niece.

Take some snacks down with you in your luggage and then you'll have room for treasures coming home if you're worried about the eating thing. You can also pack juice boxes, etc. and use the fridge in the studio. The club level is nice, and we have done that a couple of times without the kids, but the location of BLT and the availability of shipping a package down with snacks or having grocery delivery has trumped the club levels so far. If you can swing it, and depending upon how long you're going for, try to get a 1 BR because then you'll have my favorite thing for traveling with kids, IN ROOM LAUNDRY! :mickey: All the chocolate Mickey bar stains come out like nothing if you can wash the shirt that night. :D

Look into the Poly also, then you could have the best of both worlds, club level and the monorail with the ability to walk to the TTC.

[Mousemates]

WL - club level

We enjoyed the food there the most of any of the club level rooms we've tried (even over the GF). To me (unless you are getting a MK view room at the towers) the views from many of the rooms at the WL are at least comparable to the views from the towers....in fact many of the rooms face the contemporary and form them you can see both fireworks (thou a bit obstructed) and the monorail.

It will take a bit longer to get to the MK/Epcot from the WL...but your trips to AK and DS will be on busses just like they are at BLT.

However, staying at the towers will alsol ikely mean that you miss the enjoyment of the water taxis -- which are without a doubt the most relaxing form of transportation "home" after a long day at the parks.

the theming of the WL is also second to none and the concierge staff at their club level are among the most helpful we have encountered.

Hope this helps.