Family Vacations – Disney Style!

The Wonderful World of Disney just got more magical and efficient. My family and I celebrated our New Year’s Holiday at the beautiful Wilderness Lodge Vacation Club Villas. The units range in size from a Deluxe Studio, and 1- and 2-Bedroom Villas.

The Studio units have a microwave and sink but no laundry. The others include a washer, dryer and full kitchen.

We enjoyed the convenience of this resort, which is close to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot parks, with bus and boat transportation right outside your door. The resort recently underwent room renovations and some work is still being done in the common areas. The front desk staff is extremely helpful and provided an “online check-in desk” for visitors that had checked in online prior to arrival. The bell desk helped us with our scooter rentals for our parents.

I had reserved the scooters thru Apple Scooter Company, which delivered them right to the Wilderness Lodge. They also picked them up when we were done with them. This eliminated lines at the park and allowed our parents to enter the park with ease.

Disney introduced the Magic Band system on an optional basis last year, and it seems to be going very well. I asked the front desk if there has been any major problems with the bands, and was informed they had some minor issues initially but that things are going well now.

The Magic Band is a bracelet that is your key to the kingdom: resort room key, meal plan, park ticket, photo and fast passes — all on your wrist! Of course, staying true to Disney, the company has developed many options to upgrade one’s magic band to make it your own. The Magic Bands are free to resort guests and can be preordered prior to you stay, color coordinated by gender and age. We found them very helpful.

We had lovely meals at some of the more popular restaurants throughout the parks, like the Hoop De Doo Revue at Fort Wilderness and the Liberty Tree Tavern in Magic Kingdom.

As we had 19 people in our family group traveling together, we made our dining reservations in advance to insure we got our choices. The younger folks loved the My Disney Experience App so they could follow along and make it to dinner on time!

We have been going to Disney World for the last 20 years and though things have gotten more “techie,” there is still so much value in this type of vacation for families.

Disney has taken out the “what if’s” and really make your stay exceptional. We had a wonderful time!

Karen Murphy