Was just curious how you all go about choosing your lodging at WDW. I tend to start with places I haven’t stayed before, and work my way from there based on budget. I recently decided Wilderness Lodge is the place that really speaks to me. Would it be redundant to do a split stay between Boulder Ridge and Copper Creek, or are they basically the same? I am going to slide in an extra day on my next trip, so it would be one night at CCV and the rest at Boulder Ridge. I am also considering a princess themed room at Riverside because I want to see it with my own eyes. I also considered AoA for the cost factor and Skyliner then I could use the $$ on a nice dinner. It sounds like I’m all over the place, but if you tell me CCV is a different experience than BR, I will be sold on it. 
I love Wilderness Lodge. I’ve only stayed in the regular rooms. I’m not sure I’d switch rooms in the same resort. I’m not sure of the differences in the two rooms or if there are differences.
Before Disney cruises, I won’t got to parks and will do a two day resort stay. I’ll chose at least a moderate resort to have nicer amenities since it’s a resort stay. If I’m hitting the parks, I tend to choose Pop for the skyliner.
The rooms at CCV are actually quite different from BR! Plus they are in different buildings – CCV is in the same building as the main hotel rooms (plus the cabins) while BR has a standalone building with a cool train lobby.
CCV has never had a refurb because it was built in 2017 I believe. @LTinNC82 said the couch bed was the worst she’d ever slept in.
BR was recently refurbed so it has those awesome Murphy beds rather than a couch. I really like the wilderness feel of BR, although CCV is pretty spiffy. Check it out for yourself:
If you’re really only doing 1 extra night, it might be a good opportunity to do a split stay in two rooms within Wilderness Lodge so you don’t waste too much time moving around. Normally I don’t recommend a split stay without at least 2 nights at each location, cause you lose a lot of time and effort in the move.
But I think either way could be fun!
We stayed in these rooms awhile back. The headboard was fun. It has a handy button which turns on tiny lights. Very cool effect and fun to play with before sleeping. There’s a Magic Carpet on the floor.
The Boulder Ridge rooms are similar to DVC at Boardwalk. We stayed here a while ago also. One year we did a DVC spiel and got to see a mock up of Copper Creek. Very well thought out. Seemed kinda next Gen. I’d stay there, and Boulder Ridge.
I choose on a few things:
- who is coming and what size accommodation do we need
- is there a particular focus to this trip in terms of parks
- what can I afford
- where haven’t I stayed yet
After that anything goes really. Those questions help me narrow it down to usually between 1-3 resorts, and then it’s down to what’s available, mostly.
For me, I would not want to split stay between BR and CC because I do think that’s a bit redundant and a lot of work for no payoff. I would personally choose one or the other and then somewhere completely different for the other half of the split.
If you’re talking AoA for the cost factor and are referring to the Little Mermaid rooms, don’t do it. They are a hundred miles away from everything, including and especially Skyliner.
These rooms are in I think two of the mansions east of the main buildings. The east bus stop was very close - just across the parking lot. The quick service (beignets) at FQ did not seem like a lot further walk than the quick service at Riverside from our room. Which btw, has one of the roomiest eating areas of any resort I’ve stayed at.
We were in Oak Manor. They are called Royal Guest Rooms. Lots of nods to movies. More than I could discover. 
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I learned some stuff about CCV, so very helpful. BR is definitely my new jam. They have me hooked into a 1 bedroom with the bounce back. I don’t need a one bedroom just for myself, but the discount is good - so why not.
I’ve narrowed my choices to CCV and the Royal Rooms. With it just being for the one night, the price point of Riverside would make more sense.
But . . . the one bedroom comes with a full kitchen, so ice cream is possible. 
And, and you’ll have a washer and dryer. 
One bedrooms rock
I loved the Royal Room - all the little nods to movies and that headboard. I could just keep turning on those pretty lights.
I did not try out the magic carpet tho - too hard to get up off the floor.
It’s so true, about 1BR (and up)
It definitely elevates the accommodation to a home vs a resort
Don’t. I don’t care how tempting it is…don’t. I’ve now stayed at AoA twice and I will genuinely, truly, never stay there again (unless the rooms are free).
I loved when we stayed in the Princess rooms. They were fun, but I was fine with just doing a one night stay.
Elaborate. Is it because of the distance from the Skyliner for Little Mermaid rooms? Or something else?
I’ve never stayed at AofA and it’s becoming less likely that I ever will not that we have DVC, but I kinda want to stay there on a solo trip so I can check it off the list of resorts I’ve stayed at.
I would love to stay in a family suite. I bet that would be a great experience.
But honestly if I’m paying that kind of money I’m just going to pay a little more and go deluxe 
(recognizing I am a party of 4)
That’s what’s up. I appreciate the extra evening hours. (I am arriving on a Saturday, so should be safe with not missing out on EEH if I choose Riverside.)
Yes.
So, my first stay there, I was solo and in a Little Mermaid room. The distance to anything is absolutely ridiculous. They’re sooo far away. The theming is cute, but the room felt grimy (the cutouts along the mirrors and stuff leave a lot of room for dust buildup). Also, my door was so broken that it could not be closed. I had to wait around for maintenance to come fix it. The resort is really showing its age.
This most recent stay, we were in the Cars suites (I did it for the price, the 2 bathrooms, and the skyliner…before it was closed for Jollywood). The theming was, again, super cute…but the room was very small for 3 adults. We got lucky and were very close to the skyliner and the parking lot and animation hall. But, it was so loud. So, so loud. When people were in the hallway, it was like they were in your room. @drvillarejos can back that up - she had it worse than I did. More importantly, there were so many things wrong with our room…that they absolutely never should’ve released it to us (obvious things). I had to make so many calls to the desk that went unresolved that I sent one very unpleasant email to the manager. We had multiple phone calls after that and he required the head of housekeeping to call and check in with me as well.
They did their best to make it right, but that resort has burned me twice now…I’m out.
Eek that sounds awful. I bet my kids would like the rooms and the grounds but it might be better to just take a walk there sometime.
I can agree with all of this. So loud! And the room felt dated, unclean and dingy. I had ordered some lysol wipes for delivery and I’m glad I did. I gave the whole space a wipe down. Even though the theming (moreso on the outside) is very cute, I’m much happier staying elsewhere.
AoA was a once and done for us.
Honestly, the space is set up so weird. Even though its a suite, it feels cramped. We left the murphy bed down and then there was no space but a loveseat sized sofa. I personally couldn’t imagine having 5 or 6 people in the room. We had 5 for just a couple nights and it was so cramped. IF I ever HAD to do a suite again I would do an ASM suite for the better kitchen set up.
It was way adorable watching little kids run up to Lightning McQueen so excited to see him full sized sitting there in front of their building. But, yes, maybe just visit… 
We had that folded out as a bed too - so we had no place to sit. There were just chairs and cushions and beds everywhere.
We only had the sofa bed out 2 nights thankfully. They should have nixed the interior halls and made the kitchen/ living area larger. That maybe would have made our experience better. I’m glad I did the Nemo suite now and not waited till I originally was going to (with DHs mom and my mom and DGS). No WAY would that have worked.
Three of us stayed in a Nemo suite a couple of years ago. I don’t remember it feeling grimy. We are fold-up the bed during the day people so it didn’t’ feel cramped. The bathrooms are nice, especially the primary(master). The biggest drawback is that the murphy bed and the sofa bed are really not comfortable for adults. For a family putting kids there, it’s probably fine. I also don’t remember it being loud, but maybe we were the loud ones! Of course, a lot can change in two years - we stayed in January 2022.