Just Press Go Travel

If you’ve been pondering whether you should stay on property, stop reading now – and go read my blog all about the benefits of staying on property – and then come back and read all about Disney’s Wilderness Lodge.

---

Overview

Resort Name: Disney’s Wilderness Lodge

Location: Magic Kingdom Resort Area

Type: Disney Deluxe Resort & Disney Deluxe Villa Resort

The Resort

Wilderness Lodge is the most amazing trip to “America’s Great Northwest” that you will ever experience in Central Florida, and I say that in the most sincere way as someone that loves traveling to the Pacific Northwest. We spent one night at the resort at the end of a long park day, and spent the next day exploring the resort. In true PNW and Florida fashion – it rained. Scroll along to see why this resort quickly made its way to the top of my favorite WDW Resorts.

The lodge is grand and looks just like hotels and log cabin homes of the mountains, and has the cutest “natural” water spring complete with a small bridge in the lobby.

There are trails throughout the resort, leave the lobby and follow Copper Creek past the Copper Creek Falls.

The falls fill the Copper Creek Pool, complete with slide and kids splash zone. Wilderness Lodge has an additional pool elsewhere on property, the Boulder Ridge pool.

Follow the trail past the pool to the boardwalk to view Fire Rock Geyser that goes off once an hour throughout the day. Walking on the boardwalk truly made me feel like I was back in Wyoming at Yellowstone National Park, viewing the natural geothermal features, complete with the lake in the background.

The boardwalk leads to the boat dock where guests can take boat transportation to and from the Magic Kingdom throughout the day. In the evenings guests can boat to other WDW Resorts located on the Seven Seas Lagoon, including Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campgrounds, Disney’s Contemporary, Disney’s Polynesian, and Disney’s Grand Floridian Resorts. This is a fun, unique feature of the resort.

Elsewhere on property, we found a basketball court with picnic area and grill. Grilling utensils can be checked out from the hotel. I love how imagineers think of all the details. Are there bears in Central Florida? Not typically. But the addition of the bear proof trash cans? Chef’s kiss.

We found a fun, interactive game table in the lobby of the Boulder Ridge Villas building. My child was obsessed.

Making our way back to the lobby, we also passed the arcade and the Mercantile gift shop which has WDW and Disney Wilderness Lodge themed souvenirs.

I think the one main amenity I didn’t get a photo of was the fitness room, which is an amenity for Deluxe Resort hotel guests and not found at all WDW resorts. For the fitness enthusiasts, there is also a .5 mile trail to run.

Dining

Roaring Fork: Quick service with a small amount of seating available inside and patio seating outside. Roaring Fork offers mobile order and has grab and go options. This is located in the main building. Open 7 am – 11 pm, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Whispering Canyon Cafe: Table service restaurant serving American cuisine located in the main lobby of the hotel. You can either join the walk up list or make a reservation. Open 7:30 am – 2 pm for breakfast and lunch, and 5 – 10 pm for dinner.

Geyser Point: Listed as quick service in the My Disney Experience App – but offers both a walk up window (accepts mobile order) and table service with an American menu. Geyser Point also has a large bar with TVs so if there is a sports enthusiast in the family – this could be a stop for them to catch the game. Open 11 am – 11 pm serving lunch and dinner.

Territory Lounge: A bar-lounge located off the main lobby offering adult beverages and shareable bites. Open 4 – 10 pm.

Story Book Dining at Artist Point: Enter the Enchanted Forest and enjoy character dining with Snow White, Dopey, Grumpy, and the Evil Queen. This hearty prix fix dinner is served 4 – 9 pm and reservations are highly recommended. Guests also have the option to join the walk-up list via the My Disney Experience app.

Amenities

Rooms

Disney’s Wilderness Lodge has the resort lodge, Copper Creek Villas and Cabins, as well as a Disney Vacation Club addition, Boulder Ridge Villas, giving guests a wide range of room options.

Guests can stay in standard hotel rooms, suites, villas, and cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Resort.

We stayed in a standard room with two queens in the main building and had a view of the roof, backstage parking, and Magic Kingdom. All rooms have a patio of sorts with two chairs and a small table – which is such a nice feature of Deluxe Resorts.

I wish I could say I got great pictures of our room – but after a 9:30 pm arrival and a tired baby – that just didn’t happen. Pictures on the Disney website are accurate. The rooms did carry through the theme of feeling like we were staying at a wilderness lodge, which was fun.

Two features of the standard room that I loved:

1. The soft close pocket door on the shower/toilet room. I didn’t know these existed – and now I wonder why all hotels everywhere don’t install them. Incredible.
2. The height of the beds allowed for suitcases and storage under the bed. The room we were in was a fair size, but could be cramped with many suitcases and additional items needed for traveling families (Strollers – looking at you) – but the additional storage under the bed makes life easy for families. Photo below for a height comparison with my kid. Those with crawlers may actually be a little worried since Nolan could definitely fit under there if he wanted.

Note: All Walt Disney World Hotels have pack and plays and cribs on site. Pack and plays are a bit easier to request and are easy to assemble. We always travel with a Slumberpod (not sponsored – just highly recommend) and there is a Disney provided pack and play inside.

Transportation

Parking is free for hotel guests at Walt Disney World Resorts, additionally, hotel guests can also park at the theme parks for free as well if they choose to drive.

WDW Boat transportation is available for Magic Kingdom and resort hopping (aka going to other resorts to either walk around and/or have a meal).

WDW Bus transportation is available for Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs, and the two water parks. Disney’s Wilderness Lodge does share bus transportation for some parks with Disney’s Contemporary Resort.

Minnie Vans are available for order through the Lyft app. This is a ride share offer driven by Disney Cast Members if you prefer to take a private car on property whether it is to another resort for a dining reservation or to a park if you would rather not take the bus or boat. All Minnie Vans have multiple car seat options available for use, and the cast members are trained on install.

Summary

Overall, I absolutely love this hotel and cannot wait to return and see what all I missed out on! Sound off in the comments and let me know your thoughts!

Questions? Ready to book your Disney Vacation Package? Let’s chat!