(CLOSED) Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE and VILLAS Information Thread ~2012~

[WDWKOOK]

Originally Posted by PamelaKay

Kook - your permanent ink response cracked me up

Glad you were laughing and not crying. Are you getting super excited about your trip? The fall weather must be making you feel closer to your trip date.


pas130 has a tendency to constantly change her trips, resorts, dates, attendees... We (affectionately) refer to her as the reigning Queen of Resort Changes. We suspect she'll hold her title as long as Queen Elizabeth has.

[minniesbiggiestfan]

well we are back from our trip and it had some ups and downs.. our trip started off at the WL and we were only there for about 24 hours.. we had horrible service on the CL lounge. My TA had called before and spoke to several people before we got there to let them be aware of my celiac disease so that I would have food available.. the morning of our first stay I went into the lounge and found out that nothing was out for me to eat and the CM very rudely told me that they dont carry GF food and if i wanted a bagel or muffin I could find one downtairs. I told him I was told by my TA that I could get oatmeal and he told me that they didnt cater.. I was livid!! he told me to eat a banana.. UGHHHHH

I told my dh what happend and then he asked if we could get a bigger room.. i went to the desk and she said they had a deluxe but we couldnt get it until monday (this was Saturday) and we leave on Thursday.. so that was out..

My TA had called to see how things were going and when I told her I wasnt having a very good day she said she would call me right back.. When she did, she had a room credit for me and a hotel change also..

we eneded up getting moved to the CR top floor, MK view.. it was amazing and the CL staff had no problems with my celiac disease and having food that I could eat.. No bagels no muffins.. actual food...

not sure if it was a fluke, or if someone was having a bad day at the WL but our stay was not good and I am not sure if we will ever go back...
on a postive note, we did eat at WCC and it was fantastic, so it wasn't a loss...
just had to share my experience..

[Jungle Cruiser]

KOOK, where did we go tonight?

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by minniesbiggiestfan

well we are back from our trip and it had some ups and downs.. our trip started off at the WL and we were only there for about 24 hours.. we had horrible service on the CL lounge. My TA had called before and spoke to several people before we got there to let them be aware of my celiac disease so that I would have food available.. the morning of our first stay I went into the lounge and found out that nothing was out for me to eat and the CM very rudely told me that they dont carry GF food and if i wanted a bagel or muffin I could find one downtairs. I told him I was told by my TA that I could get oatmeal and he told me that they didnt cater.. I was livid!! he told me to eat a banana.. UGHHHHH

Wow there is absolutely no cause for rudeness!!! The do not cater.... that is awful and I truly hope you reported that CM! We had a less than magical CL level experience at the YC earlier this year - I also have celiac and I am very nervous to try CL level again - and this is just another reason why to avoid it! We booked the BC and WL non CL level for our Oct trip - I was considering upgrading but no way after this!

Glad to hear though that you had a good experience at the CR!!!!

[WDWKOOK]

Originally Posted by minniesbiggiestfan

well we are back from our trip and it had some ups and downs.. our trip started off at the WL and we were only there for about 24 hours.. we had horrible service on the CL lounge. My TA had called before and spoke to several people before we got there to let them be aware of my celiac disease so that I would have food available.. the morning of our first stay I went into the lounge and found out that nothing was out for me to eat and the CM very rudely told me that they dont carry GF food and if i wanted a bagel or muffin I could find one downtairs. I told him I was told by my TA that I could get oatmeal and he told me that they didnt cater.. I was livid!! he told me to eat a banana.. UGHHHHH

I told my dh what happend and then he asked if we could get a bigger room.. i went to the desk and she said they had a deluxe but we couldnt get it until monday (this was Saturday) and we leave on Thursday.. so that was out..

My TA had called to see how things were going and when I told her I wasnt having a very good day she said she would call me right back.. When she did, she had a room credit for me and a hotel change also..

we eneded up getting moved to the CR top floor, MK view.. it was amazing and the CL staff had no problems with my celiac disease and having food that I could eat.. No bagels no muffins.. actual food...

not sure if it was a fluke, or if someone was having a bad day at the WL but our stay was not good and I am not sure if we will ever go back...
on a postive note, we did eat at WCC and it was fantastic, so it wasn't a loss...
just had to share my experience..

Thank you for sharing about your stay. That brief experience didn't leave you with a positive impression. Not trying to make excuses for anyone, but there could have been some miscommunication. Your TA may have actually communicated with the IPO (Itinerary Planning Office). They are the POC before you arrive for a club level stay. The WL IPO is actually located at the Poly and they are the IPO for both WL and Poly. It's possible that they didn't relay your request to the OFC. I'm not certain, but were you the poster I recommended emailing the IPO to introduce yourself and let them know about your special dietary needs?

In the future, if you do stay CL anywhere else, make sure that when you check-in you remind the concierge at check-in that you have special dietary requests in your reservation. Did you do this?

Not trying to blame the victim here nor excuse any rude or unhelpful behavior you may have experienced, but from what I've heard and from my experience, there is a certain amount of planning and vigilance required with any special request and some club level experiences at WDW have been amazing and some have not. CMs change, management change, miscommunication can occur, food selections change, etc...

I'm not sure I understand why the offer of a Deluxe room upgrade was unacceptable. You just didn't want to stay in the Deluxe room only 3 nights, you wanted it for 5 nights? When you asked the concierge desk for a free upgrade, did you mention that you needed special foods and you were treated rudely? Did you ask to speak to the CL manager to straighten everything out? Just curious where the communication breakdown occurred.

That is quite the generous upgrade you received. If you were on the top floor of the CR, meaning the 14th, then you were on the Tower Club level where the suites are located. Amazing!

Originally Posted by Jungle Cruiser

KOOK, where did we go tonight?

Thank you
It's Bill and Bill Jr.!!! That's what I call the wonderful buffalo topiaries. He was looking a little, ummm, under the weather last month, but he looks 'better' now (I think?). Maybe he went to the Sturdy Branches spa?

Did you eat there or just make a pre-NYE stay look-see?

[pas130]

Originally Posted by WDWKOOK

Well, HOWDY and back! This is exciting news and I bet your girls are very excited, but what about poor DS? What's he getting out of this deal?

I shall inscribe your royal trip details into the Lodgers' Log, but I'm not using permanent posting ink

Ds gets to come on the January rc trip....I was talking to the girls about gf and they wanted wl...followed up by hrh.. mommy we need the snack room please

[pas130]

Originally Posted by WDWKOOK

pas130 has a tendency to constantly change her trips, resorts, dates, attendees... We (affectionately) refer to her as the reigning Queen of Resort Changes. We suspect she'll hold her title as long as Queen Elizabeth has.

Mmmmmmmm.....

I've only changed this trip 4 or 6 times. Mind you it was only booked it Sunday

[StEpHandMiKe<3Disney]

Only three more sleeps!!!!! I keep checking the reservations page to see if perhaps some pixie dust was sprinkled upon us and we are upgraded from standard view. No such luck yet. If I wanted to see what the difference would be upgrading to woods or courtyard would I just call reservations or the WL directly? I'd like to hold out till Friday just to see if we get upgraded but we will be happy just being at the WL!!!!!! Can I also just ask at check-in what the cost would be?

[blackdogg]

Does anyone have any recent reviews, pic or experiences with the cub's den? I can't seem to find anything current at all

[Mousemommy1]

Originally Posted by blackdogg

Does anyone have any recent reviews, pic or experiences with the cub's den? I can't seem to find anything current at all

I don't have any pictures, but our DD's (ages 8 and 5) stayed at the Cub's Den one evening while DH and I had date night during our trip in July.

The night we brought them, it was EMPTY...no other kiddos, so they got the full attention of the two very nice ladies working there and they had the run of the place.

They said they enjoyed themselves, and they liked the food they were given. I think they may have liked it even more if there were other kids to play with, but overall, we had a positive experience.

[minniesbiggiestfan]

Originally Posted by WDWKOOK

Thank you for sharing about your stay. That brief experience didn't leave you with a positive impression. Not trying to make excuses for anyone, but there could have been some miscommunication. Your TA may have actually communicated with the IPO (Itinerary Planning Office). They are the POC before you arrive for a club level stay. The WL IPO is actually located at the Poly and they are the IPO for both WL and Poly. It's possible that they didn't relay your request to the OFC. I'm not certain, but were you the poster I recommended emailing the IPO to introduce yourself and let them know about your special dietary needs?

In the future, if you do stay CL anywhere else, make sure that when you check-in you remind the concierge at check-in that you have special dietary requests in your reservation. Did you do this?

Not trying to blame the victim here nor excuse any rude or unhelpful behavior you may have experienced, but from what I've heard and from my experience, there is a certain amount of planning and vigilance required with any special request and some club level experiences at WDW have been amazing and some have not. CMs change, management change, miscommunication can occur, food selections change, etc...

I'm not sure I understand why the offer of a Deluxe room upgrade was unacceptable. You just didn't want to stay in the Deluxe room only 3 nights, you wanted it for 5 nights? When you asked the concierge desk for a free upgrade, did you mention that you needed special foods and you were treated rudely? Did you ask to speak to the CL manager to straighten everything out? Just curious where the communication breakdown occurred.

That is quite the generous upgrade you received. If you were on the top floor of the CR, meaning the 14th, then you were on the Tower Club level where the suites are located. Amazing

yes I think I was the person you told to contact and I did speak to them. I even called dining and spoke with them as did my TA.. we had emailed and 100% documentation to back it all up..

The room change request, we were miserable and we couldnt make a room change until monday, 3 days later and then pack up to leave on Thursday was just too much packing and moving.. I knew we wouldnt be happy and I didnt want to worry about it anymore.. my TA took care of everything and got us moved, and all taken care of while we were in Animal Kindgom..

when we were leaving the CM on CL never said a word to us.. no goodbye, why ya leaving, ect.. it was really weird.. Im sure someone dropped the ball or a miscommunication but I spent a lot of money on our vacation as does everyone, and I didnt like how I was treated and more so on the food.. The room i could have dealt with, im a big girl, but eating bananas for 8 days wasnt gonna work for me..
the resort was beautiful though...

[Wood Nymph]

My daughter and I are going to sit down and plan out our food options next week for our trip to WL in February. Since we've never been to this resort, I need a little information in order to plan out our dining reservations.

Could someone tell me about the Roaring Fork? What is it like? The more detail the better.

We will have four adults and two children ages 5 & 3.

Thanks.

[Kathymford]

Originally Posted by Minnie&Nana

Those photos are amazing! Don't think I stopped smiling all the way through...brought back many happy memories! Thank you so much!

Originally Posted by TheLodgeLady

Just beautiful photos. Some amazing shots!!

Thanks everyone! I can't stop looking at them myself.

Kook, things have calmed down here at work, so I was going to post some of my favs of the lodge directly in the thread. If you want to use any of them let me know.

[GrandCalifornian]

Originally Posted by Wood Nymph

My daughter and I are going to sit down and plan out our food options next week for our trip to WL in February. Since we've never been to this resort, I need a little information in order to plan out our dining reservations.

Could someone tell me about the Roaring Fork? What is it like? The more detail the better.

We will have four adults and two children ages 5 & 3.

Thanks.

Since you asked (and even asked for more detail the better) I will gladly write about Roaring Fork. Are you ready, because here it goes...



Roaring Fork is WL's quick service snack bar / restaurant. It is located near the pool, down a long ramp from the main lobby in the North wing of the resort. It is also the mug fill station for the refillable mugs that you get with room packages or you can purchase for $15.99 that entitles you to free soda, tea, and hot beverage refills for the entire length of your stay.

On the Disney Dining plan, the meals here are Quick Service and for lunch and dinner they include a dessert. There are also a lot of dining plan snack options available here, from drinks to desserts to even hash browns at breakfast.

For made to order food, there are two service counters where you wait in line and order one of the items available at that station. At breakfast, one station has typical bacon, sausage, pancakes, and biscuit breakfast plates, while the other has Mickey waffles topped with strawberry, chocolate, or bananas. For lunch and dinner, one station has burgers, fries, chicken, and another daily special. The other has different items, like sandwiches or even spaghetti and meatballs depending on the day. There is a dessert cabinet with pastrys, cookies, and the biggest and best chocolate brownies that we saw anywhere on property. They could easily be split between multiple people, or even over multiple meals. (I liked having the leftovers with breakfast). Once you collect the food that you want, there are cashier stations where you pay for everything you wound up with.



Then there is an adjacent dining area with tables and chairs where you cna eat your meals if you choose not to take them to the tables outside by the pool or up to your room. This area can get pretty crowded during busy times, but is a nice place to sit and eat.



While the concept is similar to quick service at other Disney Resorts, I found the quality to be better at Roaring Fork. This time I had the bacon cheeseburger at the Poly, Coronado Springs, and RF, and by far preferred the one at RF. It just tasted better, came with fresh hot fries as a side, and had lots of good dessert options. There are also daily specials, ranging from cheesesteaks to various flavors of flatbread sandwiches which often looked interesting.

During our 10 day stay we had a dinner and two lunches at RF, and we had at least four breakfasts from there. At breakfast we would often share either a breakfast platter or waffles, and usually would take them up to the room. I would have been perfectly happy having many more meals there, since it is so convenient and I really enjoyed the food.

RF is definitely not a fancy sit down dining experience, but it is a great compliment to scheduled ADRs since you can always stop by and eat something whenever you are in the resort, and you have lots of options as far as how much you want to eat. During our trip they were open from 6 AM to midnight, with hot food from 7AM to 11 PM.

[EmmaMagsMom]

We love Roaring Forks and usually eat many times there doing our stays. We stay on the CL level so I have not tried their breakfast , but especially enjoy having dinner there by the pool after a long day at the parks with our DD's.