TSR6
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2005
Our trip started with driving from Wisconsin to Florida. We loaded up into the truck and hit the road Thursday morning. Of course this meant a stop at Buc-ee's Thursday night! If you've never stopped at a Buc-ee's, it's the Walt Disney World of gas stations. Fresh brisket sandwiches, snacks, and more - along with cheap gas. It's on par with Costco gas pricing.
After a quick overnight in South Georgia, we hit the road again, stopped at Total Wine in Gainesville to stock the cooler, and next stop - Disney's Wilderness Lodge! This was our home for Friday night, check out Saturday morning.
We checked in, and checked out the room. It was our first stay at Wilderness Lodge! The room was pretty standard for "Disney Deluxe" - we love the updated Deluxe rooms here and at Yacht that include the sliding door that shuts off the bathroom/sink area from the rest of the room. One thing that was unique to Wilderness was the wallpaper in the room that included Bambi, Chip & Dale - and the lighted wall light which was neat. Otherwise, the room felt the same as other Deluxe rooms. Here's a quick tour:
After checking in, we did a quick run to Disney Springs with a welcome drink at the Hanger Bar. We explored Disney Springs for a while, and then headed back so we could visit the Tri-Circle-D Ranch. We got to see a lot of the horses, the cast members prepping the horses for transportation to MK and more - plus we did pay for a pony ride for our daughter as well. It was our first time visiting the new location. The Tri Circle D ranch is a great "non park day" visit.
Interesting to note, a bus had broken down right outside Tri-Circle-D, and we got to see the bus maintenance truck / rescue truck for the first time:
Afterwards, we headed back to Wilderness Lodge for a little swimming time and dinner. Swimming time for the kids, a few pool drinks for the adults...
We had Artist Pointe reservations. It was our second visit to Artist Pointe. Our first visit was amazing, but the kids fell asleep during dinner. Now that they were older, we hoped they would be able to enjoy it, right? ... well, this trip, Artist Pointe was actually disappointing. It was the highest cost meal (minus CRT) - but not our favorite by far. Our drinks did not come out until well after our first course delivered to table, and normally at a meal like this we'd have had more than just one round. The character experience was very delayed as well - we saw Grumpy, Dopey & the Evil Queen right away (Grump at 7:40, Dopey at 7:57, dinner delivered to the table at 8:18 - but we didnt see Snow until 9:05pm - yes, we waited to see her. Yes, we notified our waitress we were waiting for her. No, our waitress was not responsive for most of the meal, unfortunately.
After Artist Pointe, we were able to catch the Electrical Water Pageant at 9:30 - and then we called it a night.
Wilderness Lodge Pros:
Wilderness Lodge was a one night stay - I'm going to take a break from the typing tonight, and will include more - but our next stop - we moved over to our room at the Yacht Club Resort for the remainder of our stay!
After a quick overnight in South Georgia, we hit the road again, stopped at Total Wine in Gainesville to stock the cooler, and next stop - Disney's Wilderness Lodge! This was our home for Friday night, check out Saturday morning.
We checked in, and checked out the room. It was our first stay at Wilderness Lodge! The room was pretty standard for "Disney Deluxe" - we love the updated Deluxe rooms here and at Yacht that include the sliding door that shuts off the bathroom/sink area from the rest of the room. One thing that was unique to Wilderness was the wallpaper in the room that included Bambi, Chip & Dale - and the lighted wall light which was neat. Otherwise, the room felt the same as other Deluxe rooms. Here's a quick tour:
After checking in, we did a quick run to Disney Springs with a welcome drink at the Hanger Bar. We explored Disney Springs for a while, and then headed back so we could visit the Tri-Circle-D Ranch. We got to see a lot of the horses, the cast members prepping the horses for transportation to MK and more - plus we did pay for a pony ride for our daughter as well. It was our first time visiting the new location. The Tri Circle D ranch is a great "non park day" visit.
Interesting to note, a bus had broken down right outside Tri-Circle-D, and we got to see the bus maintenance truck / rescue truck for the first time:
We had Artist Pointe reservations. It was our second visit to Artist Pointe. Our first visit was amazing, but the kids fell asleep during dinner. Now that they were older, we hoped they would be able to enjoy it, right? ... well, this trip, Artist Pointe was actually disappointing. It was the highest cost meal (minus CRT) - but not our favorite by far. Our drinks did not come out until well after our first course delivered to table, and normally at a meal like this we'd have had more than just one round. The character experience was very delayed as well - we saw Grumpy, Dopey & the Evil Queen right away (Grump at 7:40, Dopey at 7:57, dinner delivered to the table at 8:18 - but we didnt see Snow until 9:05pm - yes, we waited to see her. Yes, we notified our waitress we were waiting for her. No, our waitress was not responsive for most of the meal, unfortunately.
After Artist Pointe, we were able to catch the Electrical Water Pageant at 9:30 - and then we called it a night.
Wilderness Lodge Pros:
- The room was great - standard Disney Deluxe style rooms with a Wilderness Lodge flair
- The pool is ok - we like that it's a smaller area to watch the kids, and the slide is within view
- The outdoor bar is awesome! I would love to come here and just spend a night drinking outside at the Geyser Point Bar
- Room's theming was limited to wallpaper and the wall light - not saying that I expected much more as Deluxe is fairly standard property-wide.
- Artist Pointe was a disappointment.
- The hotel uses the mounted dispenser pumps for the H2O product. (Sorry, I love the sample sized bottles, as I actually use the shampoo)
- The lack of Transportation - I'm not sure we could do a full stay here considering how much we use the Monorail & walking paths from the Epcot area resorts, which is our preferred area to stay. We avoid the bus as much as possible.
Wilderness Lodge was a one night stay - I'm going to take a break from the typing tonight, and will include more - but our next stop - we moved over to our room at the Yacht Club Resort for the remainder of our stay!
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