As part of a recent trip to Disney World we opted to try out a new accommodation—the Boulder Ridge Villas at Wilderness Lodge. In this post we’ll take a look at this room option and discuss how it compares to the standard rooms at the resort. Read on to learn all about a Boulder Ridge Deluxe Studio at Wilderness Lodge!
Basics and Booking
Boulder Ridge Villas is one of two DVC properties at Wilderness Lodge, the other being Copper Creek Villas & Cabins. These are both options in addition to the normal Wilderness Lodge rooms. We’ve reviewed Wilderness Lodge previously here, and that’s where you’ll find information about the resort as a whole—pools, dining, transportation, and so on. Wilderness Lodge also has a Club Level option, the Old Faithful Club, which we’ve reviewed.
We paid $705.38 for a single night. It was the least expensive available room at Wilderness Lodge at the time, and since we hadn’t yet stayed in Boulder Ridge, we figured we’d give it a try. Unsurprisingly, the Boulder Ridge studios usually price about the same as a standard resort view room at Wilderness Lodge.
Although not relevant to this specific trip, our favorite way to book DVC rooms is by renting DVC points. You can wind up with discounts in the area of 50% off this way, you’ll just have to either book in advance or luck into a pre-booked reservation that works for you.
We stayed at Boulder Ridge Villas as part of a visit to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Generally, for these party trips I like to do a split stay that includes the party night at a hotel in the Magic Kingdom area. In this case, I rolled the dice a little bit because Wilderness Lodge is not a monorail resort and does not have a walking path to Magic Kingdom. Instead we were left to rely on boat/bus transportation. Suffice to say I’ll be keeping my party trips planned around Polynesian, Contemporary, and Grand Floridian going forward. (Remember, you’re leaving the party usually between 10:30PM and 1AM—quick transit to your hotel is a huge perk in this case.)
In terms of location, the Boulder Ridge Villas are neither the best nor worst at Wilderness Lodge. Other than some of the cabins, they’re farthest from the boat transportation and Copper Creek Springs Pool. Some rooms are pretty far from the resort lobby, too. But they’re close to the bus stop and the Boulder Ridge Cove Pool. Really, unless you’re going back and forth to the boat, the location is a non-issue.
A Look at a Boulder Ridge Studio
Here’s a look at the studio. We’ll start with the bedroom area before moving onto the bathroom.
My overall impression of this room was that it was…okay. I had two distinct issues. First, I didn’t like the color scheme. It’s too muted for my taste.
Our loyal reader will recall I also had issues with the new Wilderness Lodge rooms, which I felt lost a bit of their former spirit when they were remodeled. I feel like the forest backdrop on one wall does a lot of work to keep those rooms from slipping into “bland” territory, though:
A standard room at Wilderness Lodge (not Boulder Ridge Villa)
The other issue isn’t totally the room’s fault. This was a fifth (top) floor room, which led to its having a cavernous design. The famed Wilderness Lodge lobby is also cavernous, but with an amazing, beautiful wooded aesthetic. This room is cavernous with white paint.
If you compare this specific room to others you see on Google, you’ll also notice this room has a standard sofa bed in place of the large Murphy bed. This furthers the aesthetic problems as the dark wood Murphy bed has essentially been replaced by the white wall.
Once your eyes adjust, there is fantastic detail to be found. I loved the character touches throughout the room.
The bathrooms had a single-sink vanity with a separate room for the shower and toilet. I don’t have much commentary on it, but for a room that sleeps five people, this seems a bit small.
Conclusions
The bottom line here is that I don’t stay at Wilderness Lodge for the rooms, and this room is no exception. I think the regular hotel rooms are fine rooms. I think this studio was a fine room. But my reasons for staying at Wilderness Lodge include its price (among the lowest of the deluxe options), its table service restaurants, and its theming.
While I’d usually prefer a standard room at Wilderness Lodge, availability or DVC rental prices could push me back to Boulder Ridge in the future. I wouldn’t be mad, I just won’t seek it out.
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