Category — q. Reviews

DELUXE ROOMS AT DISNEY’S WILDERNESS LODGE

I’ve already published reviews of Disney’s Wilderness Lodge here and of its sister resort the Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge here.

This review is of a particular room type at the Wilderness Lodge: Deluxe Rooms.

(These rooms are sometimes called “Junior Suites.”)

Standard rooms at the Wilderness Lodge hold 4 people in 340 square feet, for about $285 a night (pre-tax, during the Fall price season—which is when this site recommends that first time family visitors go).

In contrast, Wilderness Lodge Deluxe Rooms hold 6 people in 500 square feet, for around $600 a night during that same season.

That’s 50% more people, and about 50% more square feet, for a little more than twice the cost.

Part of the cost difference comes from the fact that all the Deluxe Rooms are also “club rooms.”

(“Club room” is what Disney calls what the rest of the world calls concierge rooms.)

Regular club rooms at the Wilderness Lodge—which offer no more space and no more capacity than standard rooms—are about 60% more expensive than standard rooms. 

Deluxe rooms offer 50% more capacity and about 50% more space than standard club rooms, but only cost about a third more than standard club rooms.

The upshot?

Larger families of 6 committed to Disney’s Wilderness Lodge and who would have stayed in club rooms anyway will find the Deluxe Rooms a bargain.

Families of 6 looking for deluxe lodging will find these rooms their most cost effective option.  Almost all other deluxe options that hold 6 (and don’t rely on getting connecting rooms, which Disney will not guarantee) are designed—and priced—to a capacity of 8 or 9.

(For more on large families at Walt Disney World, see this.)

Families of 4 who are simply looking for a more comfortable Wilderness Lodge option than a standard club room will find these rooms OK if concierge level service is what they really want.

Personally, I think such families would have even more comfort in a one-bedroom villa at the Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. 

While concierge service is not available in these villas, the one-bedroom villas are almost 50% larger, better laid out for a two parent, two kid family, have much more luxurious baths and master bedroom spaces, and have a full kitchen. 

The one bedroom villa is also about $100 a night less expensive during the fall season.

For more on the trade-offs between club rooms and villas, see The Most Comfortable Place to Stay at Walt Disney World.

WHAT YOU GET IN A DELUXE ROOM AT DISNEY’S WILDERNESS LODGE [Read more →]

The Disney Food Blog has just posted a review of Evergeens at the Shades of Green Resort written by my friend Steve from MilitaryDisneyTips.com. 

Click here to check the review out!

THE NEXTGEN QUEUE AT WINNIE THE POOH

While the main features of Disney’s NextGen Project will unfold slowly, one aspect—enhancing the experience of the waiting lines for certain rides—has been showing up for a while, dating back at least to the Space Mountain refurbishment.

These enhancements don’t make the lines any less long—in some special cases they may even make the wait longer, see below.

Rather, they just make waiting in line more fun.

NEW QUEUES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD MAKE WAITING IN LINE MORE FUN

The new queue at The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom is a great example of an improvement to the waiting experience. [Read more →]

MORE ON THE VILLAS AT DISNEY’S WILDERNESS LODGE

(For the first page of this review, click here.)

There are currently 8 official Disney Vacation Club resorts at Walt Disney World.

However, I have come to count them as ten.

Ten because two of the resorts–Saratoga Springs and the Animal Kingdom Villas–have two very different areas.

In order of their appropriateness for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World, they are:

1. The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
2. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas–Jambo House
3. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas–Kidani Village
4. Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
5. The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa
6. Disney’s Beach Club Villas
7. Disney’s Boardwalk Villas
8. Disney’s Old Key West Resort
9. Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, main resort
10. Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort, Treehouse Villas area.

These resorts are available to anyone to reserve through the regular Walt Disney World website or the resort reservations phone number at 407-939-7675.

They also are available to the general public at great discounts through renting points from a Disney Vacation Club member.

ROOMS AT THE VILLAS AT DISNEY’S WILDERNESS LODGE [Read more →]

OVERVIEW: THE VILLAS AT DISNEY’S WILDERNESS LODGE FOR FIRST TIME VISITORS

Update June 2014: after a refurb that ended in May, Villas at the Wilderness Lodge studios now sleep 5–the fifth on a “fold down twin.”

The fold-down was not added to One Bedroom Villas, so these still sleep 4.  I’ll have my own measurements and photos after my visit in August 2014.

Most room options at the Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge (a Disney Vacation Club resort) are wonderful places for returning visitors to Walt Disney World to stay.

For typical first-time visitors, I don’t recommend the Disney Vacation Club resorts.

That said, these “DVC” resorts can be a great choice for first time visitors with large families, needing extra sleeping spaces, or looking for a more comfortable place to stay.

Among the Disney Vacation Club resorts, the Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge ranks first overall for first-time visitors, but specifics vary a little for larger families.

THE DISNEY VACATION CLUB RESORTS

[Read more →]

DISNEY WORLD’S NEW SHOW THE MAGIC, THE MEMORIES AND YOU

When Walt Disney World announced it would have a new show at the Magic Kingdom that would include projection of guest photos onto Cinderella’s Castle, I was underwhelmed.

The tie to Disney’s current ad campaign made me think this would be an uninteresting marketing stunt, and was the castle forecourt so un-crowded before Wishes that more people needed to be enticed to it?

I suffered from a failure of the imagination. Disney World did not. The Magic, the Memories, and You is spectacular.

MORE ABOUT THE MAGIC THAN ABOUT YOU [Read more →]