I have a DVC membership and this is my home resort. I have been here sometimes twice a year since 2001. This trip was December 16th through the 19th a sort of pre-holiday adventure. We arrived fairly late, around 6pm due to flight arrival times. The Disney express was flawless in their service and I recommend them highly. If you’re staying at a resort close to the monorails or magic kingdom you don’t need a car. The transportation is really adequate. I did not rid a bus once after I arrived on this or either of my two last trips, and relied on the boat transportation either to the MK or to the contemporary and hopped from there. OK back to check in. Check in was very swift since I used the on line service. My room requests through DVC were honored which was great, since I worried about checking in late and getting what was left so to speak. Instead, I got just what i asked for, one on the fourth floor, facing the lake and close to the elevators. The room was clean, the bathroom was clean, and it smelled good. I walked around in white socks and the carpet was clean. Bedding was fresh and the bed was comfortable. we had a great view of the lake through the trees on the fourth floor, and this is probably true for about half the rooms above floor three, another five or ten years and everyone will be able to see the lake no matter what floor you’re on. It’s thinning out every year.... I think they found something to kill the kudzu. Yea! Bugs are non-existent.... how they do that I don’t know...but can guess.. again maybe it was because its winter. We left the door open two nights and no mosquitos. I spilled coffee on the bed sheets and blanket. House keeping informed me they would have to charge me to change the bed linens but could provide them for free if I would change it myself which I said sure. They arrived in less than 5 minutes, I changed them and left the others outside the door where they were picked up.
The resort was nicely decked out in the Christmas decorations.... it’s my fourth or fifth Christmas there so I have seen it. It has charm. The lodge lobby was nice, busy during the day and deserted at night. The DVC wing is always quiet... has its own pool and hot tub spa outside. more on those later. The workout room is first rate and staffed during the day. I has a beautiful lobby of its own and several rooms on the ground floor which see little use and are beautifully furnished. The pool was nice and warm and not busy. I am not a big swimmer person but spent a good hour in the pool. The hot tub... I would not get into the second time around.. not only was it no warmer than the pool.... the amount of dead skin floating around was disturbing to say the least... yuk... the two at the large pool were clean and fresh all the time....but busier.... seems DVC is skimping there. Could be an employee issue... I did encounter one employee hiding out in a restroom at the poly's second pool texting on his phone....
The food, same old stuff, some arranged a little differently. We ate at the poly most of the time or the campground. The campground has the best food and the best value. It is out of the way so you need to make a little boat trip but it will be worth it. I will review that separately they deserve some appreciation there. We rented one of the small boats for an hour and cruised around the bay lake lagoons and the rest of the hotels and magic kingdom. Sunny and warm and recommend this to get away and see the edges. As others have noted, the concierge service is not a real concierge.... it’s a customer service person who can give you nothing but information and may not know anything at all. Like the desk attendant who check me in did not even know what side of the building the room I was assigned was on. I knew more than she did about the hotel like odd and even numbers, etc... basic stuff. She tried to look it up. Lack of training not DVC related. I ran into a tour guide I had meet two years ago, I remembered him and he remembered me by my voice. I get that a lot. Did not eat at the table service restaurants, these are more dining "experiences", been there done that,. I did eat at roaring fork and had a nice meal enough for two to split. The grounds were neat as always, a few less flowers and plants. You will enjoy your time here and I will return next year.

We stayed in a two bedroom quite with one king and two double beds and a pull out. Two full bathroom and a kitchenette made this perfect. We flew there, but still brought many snacks and supplies for the room and for the kids. This made early mornings and late nights much easier.
Rooms were clean and even with 5 adults and 3 kids were big enough.
Pool is great. Kids got in a bunch of times, but since it was November and not as hot adults only went in a few times.
Food:
Quick service is good, a little small and got crowded a couple of times.
Sit Down: Whispering Canyons is always a good and a must to try once, if not more than once. Service was a little slow. We had a big group, but I would still expect not to have to complain about it, but we did and it got better after that.
Disney Guest Services are always good: We had two instances of trying to clarify some charges in the park and at the hotel and they were nice, but I felt they could have assisted much quicker and made decisions on resolving what were errors. Lost time on a vacation is extremely valuable, but they did fix our issues.
Access to the pool, transportation, and lobby were a short walk and not an issue.
This is our second time staying at Wilderness Lodge and first tiem in the Villas (Vacation club side) and we'll definitely be back.

Rented a two bedroom unit through third party DVC broker. Unit was facing the lake, but there are actually too many tall trees to see the nightly show. Wilderness lodge property is nice but short on direct transportation links to locations other than the magic kingdom. Layout and kitchen left a lot to be desired without a kettle or cutting board. Furniture and bedding was uncomfortable. There is essentially no daily houseKeeping for their pricey DVC properties. Not sure it was worth $400/night compared to other condo properties we've rented but was reasonable enough for a Disney trip.

We stayed in the DVC Wilderness Lodge Villas for 2 nights the weekend before Thanksgiving and it was wonderful. The Christmas tree in the main lodge was stunning and the smaller tree in the villas was equally beautiful. The whole place just makes you wish you had time to just sit in a rocking chair by the fire and relax but of course this was a Disney vacation and we were there to maximize our park time! We watched the evening boat parade from the beach one night which was just magical. The boat ferry over to the Magic Kingdom was nice. Really my only complaint was that we didn't have more time to enjoy it...and perhaps that the food court area could be a bit larger but they served us quickly and it was nice enough to eat outside so it worked out.