Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista (Disney Springs) Review - Updated Feb 4,2024

ArielRae

DIS Veteran (NJ)
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Updated Review - Feb 4, 2024
I stayed at this hotel again Feb 27th - Mar 2nd and have some updates. I did get one of the newly refurbished rooms that I posted about in my previous review. I like how much brighter the rooms are now cause they have so many more lights around the room. The room was very comfortable and clean. I have no complaints.
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(Sorry remembered to take photo after I checked the bed out)

They do participate in early park entry. I had problems linking the hotel to My Disney Experience prior to arrival but they were able to give me a confirmation number that worked when I checked in after asking them about it.

The complimentary park buses do start at 7:00am if you wish to leave that early. At check in they provide you with a paper that has a QR code on it and a promo code to enter so you can book your times without having to pay. They had 3 buses running. First went to Animal Kingdom, second went to Magic Kingdom and the third went to both Hollywood Studios and Epcot with Studios being dropping off first. I found that the buses were on time both going to and returning from the parks. I do recommend that you book your time slot the day before if you want an early departure time. The bus company they use is called Fabulous Buses & Tours.
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I did take the walk over to Saratoga Springs around 7:00am to catch the bus there like I did last time. I did it for my MK day so I could by pass the TTC. They don’t make it easy for you to take that walk anymore. They now stop you for a few minutes and ask where you are going and they then radio ahead to let others know your walking over to Saratoga Springs. They also have the two separate barriers right against the railings so they have to be moved for you to walk by them also. They didn’t stop me or others from going through but it was more involved and time consuming then previously. If you make the walk I would do it while Disney Springs is officially open.

I used Mears Connect (Powerd By Sunshine) to get to the hotel. It worked out very well both to and from the airport.

With how extremely over priced Disney hotels are I would definitely be staying here again and would recommend it.

Let me know if you have any questions I can try and answer.


Review from Oct 1, 2019
I am just back from my recent 4 night solo trip to WDW Sept 24th-28th. I was in the cheaper Garden Section not in the tower of the Hotel. I usually like to stay onsite at one of the value resorts but with all the price hikes the Disney resorts have priced me out. So went looking at the Disney Springs area hotels knowing they also got to participate in the 60 day Fastpasses and Extra Magic Hours. Found this hotel at a good price and liked it was the closest hotel to Disney Springs. Used the Mears shuttle from the airport to the hotel and that worked out so great and was very inexpensive. Definitely will be using them again.

The hotel was great! I found the location was nice and the room was clean. Felt very similar to the Disney value resorts in regards to size and layout. I will say I noticed the rooms are under going a refurbishment which is great cause I got one of the older rooms. They were not bad but found them very dark even with all the lights on and the furniture in the room looked dark and out dated. The walk over to Disney Springs was very easy just a quick walk over the bridge. Also a few mornings I walked over to the Congress Park bus stop over at Saratoga Springs to get the bus to the parks especially the one to the MK so I could pass the ticket and Transportation Center which the hotel bus drops you off at and you have to take the ferry or monorail over to the MK. The walk to that bus stop was under 15min at a casual walking pace. The bus transportation provided from the hotel to the parks was very good also. Never waited more then 30min for a bus to or from the hotel, that was even at park closing. I have waited longer for Disney transportation staying on property.

Couple photos of the room standing by the front door. See how dark the room looks.
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Photos of the currently being refurbished rooms. Took photos from outside thru the window. You can see the new mirror sitting on one of the beds. These rooms look so much brighter. It appears they are keeping the rugs and bathroom sink/counter for the refurbishment.
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When walking over to Disney Saratoga Springs you may see security standing there at the bottom of the stairs making sure no one enters before 8:00am. Just let them know your walking over to Saratoga Springs and they just wave you to the walkway along the back behind Wolfgang Puck express path to the Resort. The sign you see coming from Saratoga Springs.
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The hotel bus information for busing to and from the Disney Parks.
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Thanks for the review! I am considering doing the same thing for the same reason as you on my next trip. I am hoping to go this summer. So, I really appreciated your detailed review and the tip about telling the guard you are heading to Sarasota Springs to catch the bus there.
 
Thanks for the review, I'm planning on going to Wyndham LBV next week with my mother. This is the first time we'll be using a Disney Springs Area Resort and we'll be using your Saratoga Springs MK bus tip. We have also never have had to use anything else from the airport other than magical express so your other review was also helpful!
 
Has anybody stayed here recently? I'm thinking of staying in the Garden section, and some of the reviews on Google got me worried.
 


I updated the first post with a review from my recent stay Feb 27th - Mar 2nd
 
When walking over to Disney Saratoga Springs you may see security standing there at the bottom of the stairs making sure no one enters before 8:00am. Just let them know your walking over to Saratoga Springs and they just wave you to the walkway along the back behind Wolfgang Puck express path to the Resort. The sign you see coming from Saratoga Springs.
View attachment 440676
So this happened to us too....it was really strange- a rando guy in a security uniform demanding to know why we were walking on the sidewalk at 7:30 am.... it felt vaguely intrusive,I don't want to tell a stranger why I want to walk or where to..... I didn't. Just kept walking, but I'm wondering why they do this, and if they actually try to stop people from doing so.
 
So this happened to us too....it was really strange- a rando guy in a security uniform demanding to know why we were walking on the sidewalk at 7:30 am.... it felt vaguely intrusive,I don't want to tell a stranger why I want to walk or where to..... I didn't. Just kept walking, but I'm wondering why they do this, and if they actually try to stop people from doing so.
This last trip the security guard did stop me as I came down the stairs from hotel plaza boulevard. She me that Disney Springs was closed. I told her I was walking over to Saratoga Springs. She then said that this is private property and that most people don’t know that and they just assume they can just walk through. She then told me she had to radio ahead for approval for me to walk over to the resort. Once she did she reminded me to stay on the sidewalk behind the stores that lead over the resort.
 


This last trip the security guard did stop me as I came down the stairs from hotel plaza boulevard. She me that Disney Springs was closed. I told her I was walking over to Saratoga Springs. She then said that this is private property and that most people don’t know that and they just assume they can just walk through. She then told me she had to radio ahead for approval for me to walk over to the resort. Once she did she reminded me to stay on the sidewalk behind the stores that lead over the resort.
:scared: it's very odd IMHO
 

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