Wilderness Lodge 11/29-12/5 review

[pokci]

Last week I took my annual trek to the Happy Place! This was my first stay at the Lodge. I was hoping to find it a peaceful experience. While it was gorgeous, the tree is lovely, the surroundings wood-like, be warned that it is far from peaceful. I was in room 5069 which opened to the lobby. Behind closed doors the room was quiet, the balcony view was great. I ahd read that the rooms are dark, well, they are but pull back the drapes, put on the lights and remember you're in a "cabin". Whispering Canyon is anything but. Since the lobby is cavernour which is appealing visually, it is unappealing acoustically. The clammer travels and echoes. The main pool area is very nooisy - lots of activities all day for the kids. From my balcony there was a constant din of jack-hammer-like noise which I strongly suspect is the motor for the waterfalls. Once the glass door is closed, it's fine in the room. The quiet pool by the villas has constant background music, if the wind is right you hear the speedway zoom and the MK Railroad whistle. Having said that, I spent every afternoon in the pool over there. The weather was perfect for walking and swimming - mid to upper 60s. The resort is comapct which is so convenient and the bus service was efficient. You do have to share wiht Grand Floridian which can make the trip long, but the boat to contemporary allow monorail travel quickly.

PROS: compact size, boat and bus, lovely setting, great restaurant and quick service - fine for me on both, great beach for electric water pageant and MK fireworks each night, wonderful staff.

CON: not a quiet, peaceful resort if that's what you're craving.

[Melanie]

You do have to share wiht Grand Floridian which can make the trip long,

WL shares bus service with the Grand Floridian? That sounds way out of the way!

Thanks for your report! :pine:

[pokci]

I asked one of the driver's why - and he said he didn't know. We pass Poly on the way to GF so I'm not sure either how that works but there were many days if I felt like taking the bus to EPCOT or Downtown, it would pick us up first, then go to GF and only then we'd be on our way. The good thing is that one the way back it stops at WL first. But I agree with you - out of the way.

[faline]

We found the courtyard views quite lovely but had much better luck requesting a room as high as possible and as close to the lobby as possible - this put us as far away from the pool as we could manage and still maintained the view. With rooms further out in the courtyard, there was quite a lot of pool noise, often quite late into the night.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Thanks for the review

[WishingStar2006]

Actually, some of the buses share with Grand Floridian and others share with the camp ground...I can't remember which is which but I know Hollywood Studios and Epcot share with the camp ground so it must be Downtown Disney and Animal Kingdom that share with the Grand Floridian. Either way, you're sharing and I don't think GF is any more inconvenient than the Camp ground. At least it's only two stops and, as you say, WL is the first picked up (always get a seat) and the first to be dropped off....so it's all good in my book.

I just love WL....peaceful or not...it is still very relaxing and slow paced....PERFECT!

[Mousemates]

We stayed in a honeymoon room that opened to the lobby during our last stay (September) and had no issues with noise when we were actually in our rooms. (however, if my memory serves me correctly the honeymoon suites have entry ways that are recessed with doors that do not directly face the lobby, which might account for the noise difference). But you are right-- the lobby is an extremely active place from early morning to night time hours, which if what you want is quiet seclusion, makes it a less desirable room location.

[Jillirose]

The food at the quick service is very good and our teenage kids loved WL :mickey: We took a boat ride on our last day which was fun. You can motor to the MK, GF and past the campground. My husband accidently bumped the other boats at the dock but no one seemed to mind :blush:

[MOJoe]

Last week I took my annual trek to the Happy Place! This was my first stay at the Lodge. I was hoping to find it a peaceful experience. While it was gorgeous, the tree is lovely, the surroundings wood-like, be warned that it is far from peaceful. I was in room 5069 which opened to the lobby. Behind closed doors the room was quiet, the balcony view was great. I ahd read that the rooms are dark, well, they are but pull back the drapes, put on the lights and remember you're in a "cabin". Whispering Canyon is anything but. Since the lobby is cavernour which is appealing visually, it is unappealing acoustically. The clammer travels and echoes. The main pool area is very nooisy - lots of activities all day for the kids. From my balcony there was a constant din of jack-hammer-like noise which I strongly suspect is the motor for the waterfalls. Once the glass door is closed, it's fine in the room. The quiet pool by the villas has constant background music, if the wind is right you hear the speedway zoom and the MK Railroad whistle. Having said that, I spent every afternoon in the pool over there. The weather was perfect for walking and swimming - mid to upper 60s. The resort is comapct which is so convenient and the bus service was efficient. You do have to share wiht Grand Floridian which can make the trip long, but the boat to contemporary allow monorail travel quickly.

PROS: compact size, boat and bus, lovely setting, great restaurant and quick service - fine for me on both, great beach for electric water pageant and MK fireworks each night, wonderful staff.

CON: not a quiet, peaceful resort if that's what you're craving.

Hmmmmm. Hope i'm not disappointed in May. Relaxing is what i was hoping for. If it's just the lobby area that's loud, i may overlook that. As long as the other areas offer some solace.

By the way, is room #5069 a standard view, or some other?

[goofygirl67]

I just got back also from WL. I had room 1135, woods view first floor facing the waterfall, but not seeing it. The view was a big bush and the side wall of the overlook of the waterfall. It was easy to get back to the room after the MK and a long walk from the bus stop.
I found out later the rooms in the lobby were standard rooms, which I would have liked.
Since it was cold all week not too many people were swimming so it was most likely quieter than normal.
I did enjoy myself staying here and would like to again.