Just back from WL About This Page:

[HiddenMickey]

Arrived home LATE last night from our trip to WDW. My son and I stayed at the WL (second visit). This time we were lucky to get a room on the 5th floor overlooking the pool area. Lovely view!
I liked the room much better than when we were in a wood's view (but being from NC, we get a lot of wood's on a daily basis [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] ). The first two days the slide for the pool was covered and closed. Luckily it reopened and we were able to use it on Sat and Sun.
Roaring Forks seems to have a smaller menu than I remember, but the chicken strips are as good as ever. Used our refillable mugs frequently due to the heat (the sun was STRONG).

The one thing I want to point out here, is that the transportation has taken a turn for the worse!! I never had problems with the buses two years ago. but this trip....argh. We were lucky to usually have no wait or just a short one at the bus stops (both leaving or returning), BUT, the buses now includes stops at Fort Wilderness. And it has made hugh time difference. Here is an example.

We took a bus to go to AK on Saturday. The bus came in about 2 minutes; around 9am. Then we headed for Fort Wilderness to pick up passengers there. Then we had to make a stop at Blizzard Beach to let off passengers there, by the time we got to AK it was 9:40....a full 40 minutes on the bus (didn't include our wait at the stop)! So on the way back in the afternoon, we did the exact opposite. Got on a waiting bus at AK (waited at the stop for 10 minutes until she was allowed to leave), left at about 1:00. Stops at Blizzard Beach, then Fort Wilderness and then finally WL.....39 minutes later! During that return trip, I had a long conversation with the bus driver. She agreed that the new system of including Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge didn't seem to be working too well. She said the bus drivers have no imput in the process of route changes and that the public needs to let WDW know of their experiences. I will be emailing WDW later this week.
We had better luck with our trips to Epcot and MGM, but the added time of driving to the Settlement Depot at FW really adds about another 10-15 minutes to the times that Jennifer and Dave have in the Passporter under WL Transportation times.

Boat service was great as usual.

Hope this helps others plan the their trips to WL. -HiddenMickey

[ILuvDisney]

Welcome home to NC Suzi [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] I'm so glad you got that courtyard view! Isn't it just gorgeous?? <Sigh> only 54 more days for me, Sadie and Mom and Dad.

[SMG]

Welcome back! I hope the bus thing works itself out by November! I hope the rest of your trip was magical!!

[maggy_1]

Welcome back [img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img] and hope your trip was great [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

Chantal [img]graemlins/puter.gif[/img]

[Versafox]

THANK YOU for posting this!

My DH and I are still trying to decide if we'll stay at WL in November or not. I've read SO many bad things about the bus service at WL that my DH has flat out said he doesn't want to stay there!

When I asked about WL transportation earlier this year, everyone said they'd never had a problem. Yet, every other Disney site I've visited has at least 3-4 trip reports from those staying at WL who were very, very unhappy with the transportation.

I know I definitely don't need the aggravation of spending 40 minutes on the bus and making numerous stops before we can get to any of the parks from WL. Very disappointing, since the theme at WL is one I know we'd both enjoy.

[Versafox]

THANK YOU for posting this!

My DH and I are still trying to decide if we'll stay at WL in November or not. I've read SO many bad things about the bus service at WL that my DH has flat out said he doesn't want to stay there!

When I asked about WL transportation earlier this year, everyone said they'd never had a problem. Yet, every other Disney site I've visited has at least 3-4 trip reports from those staying at WL who were very, very unhappy with the transportation.

I know I definitely don't need the aggravation of spending 40 minutes on the bus and making numerous stops before we can get to any of the parks from WL. Very disappointing, since the theme at WL is one I know we'd both enjoy.

[HiddenMickey]

Versafox---
Let me tell you...the transportation was not great, but I still don't think I'd have stayed anywhere else for this trip. The Lodge was great and a welcome retreat from the Parks. I guess I was spoiled with the great, direct transportation at AKL in December. It's hard to believe that making an extra stop at FW would make that much difference, but the entrances for the two resorts are not really all that close. The trip AK is really the only really bad one, the others are still under 30 minutes. You just have to plan that extra time into your day's plans. And if you have a car, you'd be all set.

I hope you can come up with a resort that will appeal to you both. -HiddenMickey

[Versafox]

Sorry for that earlier double post. Not quite sure what happened there!

We got a little spoiled at the Contemporary last year, I guess. From there, everything is a direct bus. We never had any stops on our way to any of the parks. To me, it seems like this should be one of the perks of paying for a deluxe hotel!

DH and I have discussed the WL transporation at length. For now, we'll let our WL ressie stand. We just decided that we'd give it a try, and if the buses proved too annoying, we'd just pay for taxi service from the hotel to whatever park we're going to. Neither of us wants to rent a car; I drive around too much in my everyday life to want to do it on vacation too.

Still, I'm grateful for your post and the information about the buses. At least now we know that there IS a potential problem, and have a strategy in place to address it.