Wilderness Lodge
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Reviewer's Name:
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Jeff Jewell |
Reviewer's Email Address:
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jeffjewell@netscape.net |
Rate / Night (for your stay):
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~$170 (part of a special package) |
Date(s) of Stay:
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12/3/99-12/11/99 |
Accommodation Used:
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Standard Room / Studio |
Accommodations Review:
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We had room 6022, sixth floor Woods view on the Magic Kingdom side.
The room had a queen and a set of bunk beds (there were only two of
us, so the bunks got used as shelves. Pretty handy, actually). The
room itself, though themed nicely, was on the smallish side. Then
again, it was perfectly adequate, and we really didn't spend much
time there except for sleeping and changing clothes.
Personally, I thought this was the perfect room. We had a great
view of MK fireworks from our balcony, including several nights
of the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party special fireworks shows.
The balconies on the sixth floor are pretty private, too.
The grounds are beautiful, though the landscaped area is small
compared to some of the newer, more sprawling resorts. The main
attraction here is clearly the building itself. Even if you don't
stay at the Lodge, you should stop by and have your breath taken
away by the lobby. Particularly if the Christmas decorations are
up.
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Why Did you Select This Resort for your Stay?
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We selected the Wilderness Lodge for the themeing. The Pacific Northwest
is probably my favorite area of the country, and the Lodge does an
incredible job of capturing much of that feel, in the middle of Florida. |
Room # and Location Description:
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We were in Room 6022, on the sixth floor on the Magic Kingdom side. |
Room Location Pros & Cons:
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All pros, no cons. The best part of the room location was the view
of MK fireworks. The room was out of the way enough to be quiet, but
close enough to the elevator to be convenient. Roaring Forks is right
at the bottom of the elevator, with Artist Point just around the corner
to the left and the pool area just out the door to the right. |
Check-In / Check-Out Comments:
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Having gotten in after midnight, we slept at the All-Stars and checked
in the next morning. Bell Services took care of our luggage. Watching
the CM try to find the room that met the most of our requests was
actually fairly entertaining, because it was clear that she was "competing"
with the CM next to her, checking in another family. We were very
happy with the room, and with how friendly and informative the desk
CM was. |
WDW Transportation Comments:
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The boats to the Contemporary and Magic Kingdom were one of our
favorite parts of the trip. The direct boat to MK has obvious advantages
(and if you time it right, you get a stunning view of the MK fireworks
while on Bay Lake/Seven Seas Lagoon), and we liked the boat and monorail
so much that we'd boat to the Contemporary then pick up a monorail
to get to Epcot.
The bus service was generally very good, although one morning we
waited over fifteen minutes without ever seeing a Disney/MGM Studios
bus. We decided to start that day in Animal Kingdom, instead.
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Restaurant / Lounge Review:
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We stopped at the Roaring Forks snack bar a few times, usually to
grab a quick pastry to share while we waited for buses or boats. The
refillable mugs we really handy (and mine has become my main drinking
vessel now that I'm home. Just a little bit of magic for me every
day). Perfectly good snack bar.
We ate at Whispering Canyon Cafe only once, for breakfast our first
full day in the World (getting in after midnight, we slept at the
All-Star to save $ and transferred to WL the next morning). I had
Craig's Creation, oatmeal with maple and ice cream. Now _that's_
a fine breakfast. Suzy had a scrambled egg casserole-y thing with
brisket mixed in. She loved it, and I tried a couple bites. Very
tasty.
Artist Point was wonderful. We had both an incredible dinner (several
appetizers, including some wonderful sausages, then we split the
signature salmon plank dinner. They split it for us in back and
served it up on separate plates, each with a seemingly full order
of the side items), and a great breakfast (pre-plated but all-you-care-to-eat)
with Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore (Suzy's favorite). Seeing Suzy's sweatshirt
with his picture on it, Eeyore sat down with us and mimed having
some coffee (I was actually very impressed that Eeyore was able
to move around the table and handle small items with such dexterity.
I'd would have been knocking stuff over, right and left).
All together, the restaurants at WL gave us everything we could
have wanted.
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Pool Description / Comments:
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We didn't spend any time at the pool, but we walked by it a lot
to get to the boat dock. The themeing and landscaping were beautiful. |
What Suggestions Would you Give Anyone that is Considering This
Resort?
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If you can, get on the sixth floor MK side. And the best time of
year is Christmas. I imagine the WL is beautiful anytime, but decked
out for Christmas, entering the lobby will take your breath away.
And you get the extra fireworks shows during Mickey's Very Merry Christmas
Party (during the finale, fireworks go off from locations all around
the perimeter of MK. You can't possibly appreciate it from inside
the MK, but the effect when seen from the WL is amazing. |
Other Comments:
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You can probably tell, we absolutely loved the Wilderness Lodge.
Even though we're staying at Dixie Landings our next trip (can't do
a Deluxe Resort "every" time, unfortunately), we're going
back to have breakfast with Pooh and Friends. And I've got a feeling
we'll be on one of boats during MK fireworks at some point... |
