Yosemite Valley Lodge

We have stayed at the lodge 20 times over the last 40 years. We thought April would be a nice chance to see Yosemite again before the summer rush.

The positive: nice to see refrigerators in the room. That was a wonderful addition. We enjoyed the patio, and the little hot water maker. And the radiant heat for the cold evenings. Bed were nice with good options for plugging in phones. The Wifi was better than in past years. Web pages actually loaded with decent speeds. The mountain room food was good and you could reserve it through Open Table which was new.

The tours were reservable through the website and we enjoyed a nighttime star tour.

The negative: Base camp eatery still needs improvement. Needs More staff and a more varied menu. While mountain lounge food was good, it was noisy like a bar. On the Saturday of our stay, the park was a madhouse. Buses were overcrowded. I know this summer, they wont have car reservations, so be careful on those crowded days.

Overall, we will keep staying at the lodge because we prefer it over the Ahwahnee and curry village. Would love the food to be able to be a better experience.

Location

Can't beat the Yosemite Valley Lodge for location - right in the middle of the park! Fifteen minute walk to the base of the falls and to the meadow. Atmosphere is not really like a lodge; no place to meet friends or admire a wood beamed lobby because it doesn't exist. Think of it as a motel with incredibly high prices for the unbeatable location.
Check in and check out were very quick and friendly. Got some maps.
The two double bed room we got in Dogwood was nicely sized with a vaulted ceiling, small fridge and little round table. Very slow Wifi, but it worked. Cell coverage is spotty in the area. Amenities include pump soap, paper cups and two coffee pods. There is a communal microwave near the lobby. The room was somewhat clean - clean sheets and towels, floors vacuumed, counters clean. There was a sticky table, heavy dust layer, and mold in the shower. Maybe bring your own cleaning supplies if driving. There was a very drafty louvered window and the main light was out in the room. We reported these maintenance items at check out, thus the 3 stars. If you stay in 4116 Dogwood, let us know if they got fixed!
I'll try to review the food options separately, but here's a summary: One full service restaurant $100+ a couple for dinner (must reserve in advance) with good options, one pub with a few options $60, and one quick-serve cafeteria style place $40. If you are Celiac, avoid the quick-serve/cafeteria place - staff is not knowledgeable and we saw a lot of wheat contamination happening. The other two places have knowledgeable staff, go there or bring in your own food. Sorry.

A beautiful park ruined by poorly run hospitality company. Stayed at the Yosemite Valley Lodge for 4 days and 3 nights. We have been to atleast 10 different national
Parks as a family and have stayed inside the park and never had such a bad experience with the food except for this park. If you are traveling with young kids, stay outside the park. The 1 hr drive to get into the park is worth saving the misery of having no food to feed your children or just feeding them
Junk food every day. The location of the lodge is within a short walk to the waterfall and convenient to the shuttle stop. The rooms though old and outdated are OK to stay. The lack of food options is what was our biggest issue. There is one cafeteria that services the whole lodge. There is a restaurant called Mountain room that you need reservations ahead of time and if you are like us that weren’t told, tough luck there isn’t anything in sight for 2-3 weeks. That leaves us eating at the base camp eatery for 4 days and at the end of our trip I couldn’t wait to get out and even skipped breakfast so we cna eat elsewhere. The food is the same. Hamburger, fries and chicken sandwich. The kids used to have chicken tenders and pizza but it was removed after the first day. The last day the sodas were gone. No pancakes for breakfast just eggs and crossoint, the line for the lone Starbucks coffee shop is exceedingly long. I really feel for the staff. Overworked and underpaid. The lodge might hold about a 500-600 people I think and to have no other eating options is just ridiculous. We tried going to Yosemite Village and try their food court and it’s the same. Many restaurants are closed for the season which just has begun. Tried curry village and they had a pizza place. 45 min to get a cheese pizza in a off peak season. The problem is every where. Not just the lodge. I wish NPS would bring in a company that can handle the load and provide some semblance of good food to the people. It totally ruined our experience of the park which is soo pretty and has some amazing hikes and beautiful scenery. The bus routes are once every 30 min but if that bus is full, you are out of luck. I think the budget cuts might have something to do with the bus services but there is no reason not to provide better food options inside the park. If you are planning to visit with children better rent an RV or might bring non perishable foods. There is no refrigerator in the rooms. So you can’t bring much. Traveling outside the park for food is an 1-1.5 hr ordeal. We went to Sequoia National park after this and stayed at the Wuksachi which had a far better food experience than this park. The rooms were much better. I don’t plan on visiting this park unless it’s under a new management or plan to stay outside the park and drive in. Hope this helps families with young kids trying to plan a vacation there.

This hotel is so disgusting!! The shower has mold and mildew everywhere. So disgusting. Just spay some Lysol mold and mildew and it will be gone.
Room is so dingy and old. Carpet so old and dirty.
THE FOOD…..absolutely a waste of money. You order and they make you wait then they serve you food they cooked hours before and put under a heat lamp. Cold burger and fries. DISGUSTING. WHEN YOU say the food is cold they get mad.
Too boot ordered a beer and that was warm. Not even cold.
The worst part of all of this is NO ONE CARES. They have you and they know it. They feel no need to have a clean rooms to stay or hot good food.

The best location in Yosemite, close to everything we wanted to do & multiple eatery options. Room was spacious and cosy & staff were friendly.

Location was amazing, so close to the falls. Great staying in the park as it’s easy to access all walking tracks and sites.
There were different levels of food options for families and couples etc.
Young man at the front desk was really helpful with walking tracks and places of interest

酒店位置很好，正对着大瀑布

Just in the valley. Lots of parking (don’t forget to get your check for it). Comfortable beds.

The location is the only good thing about this hotel

The proximity to visit the sights.

Location

Good breakfast. Location is very good