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

[disneywatcher]

Haven't been here for a while, but had to share that tomorrow evening I will be "Coming Home" with my Step Mom for a week long stay! I so cannot wait to see all the Christmas decorations and hopefully familiar CM faces!

[JCTurner]

Hi all

We check out of WL Dec 9th and don't plan on taking our stroller back to the UK. It's in reasonable condition (apart from our name scribbled in sharpie on a strut) and would last a few more weeks of touring if anyone wants it rather than me throwing it in the trash. Our DS is outgrown it so after Dec 8th it's bye bye stroller.

Let me know if you're interested.

J

[Kathymford]

Originally Posted by goofynut41

Do you have to call Disneyworld everytime you make a payment or can you go to your reservation site, all I saw is (PAY BALANCE).
I need to keep making payments on this rack rate until I find out what kind of military discount I'll get next December. I guess then they will refund me if I have paid too much??? 376 more days until we are there!!!

I thought I had read somewhere that you can't make payments online if it was a room-only reservation booked on the phone. Or some combination of weird stipulations like that....

[WDWKOOK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m00S...e_gdata_player



AllEars posted a slide show on YouTube a few days ago of all the Christmas decorations at WL and VWL. It even shows the new lobby furniture!

[WDWKOOK]

Originally Posted by 2girlsR2good

Just did online check in We arrive Saturday. . .how am I going to get any work done???

Work? - it'll be there when you get back

Originally Posted by pas130

KOOKERMAMA

A little birdie has told me that the Queen of Resort Changing hasn't changed her reservation for many days. Is the whole Pas clan happy with the current summer arrangement?

Originally Posted by goofynut41

Do you have to call Disneyworld everytime you make a payment or can you go to your reservation site, all I saw is (PAY BALANCE).
I need to keep making payments on this rack rate until I find out what kind of military discount I'll get next December. I guess then they will refund me if I have paid too much??? 376 more days until we are there!!!

Hmmm... So when you log into "My Disney Vacation" and pull up your reservation, there isn't a spot to indicate a dollar amount? I always book room-only and since you only have to pay a deposit equal to the first night's rate when booking then the balance is due upon check-in, I never have tried to pay online. If you're booking the military rate like we do (or a RR RO now), then Kathy may be right that with a RO reservation you'd have to call or pay the balance upon check-in - sorry I don't know.

Originally Posted by disneywatcher

Haven't been here for a while, but had to share that tomorrow evening I will be "Coming Home" with my Step Mom for a week long stay! I so cannot wait to see all the Christmas decorations and hopefully familiar CM faces!

I hope you have a wonderful time with your stepmom!

Originally Posted by JCTurner

Hi all

We check out of WL Dec 9th and don't plan on taking our stroller back to the UK. It's in reasonable condition (apart from our name scribbled in sharpie on a strut) and would last a few more weeks of touring if anyone wants it rather than me throwing it in the trash. Our DS is outgrown it so after Dec 8th it's bye bye stroller.

Let me know if you're interested.

J

That is so thoughtful of you. I hope someone takes you up on your offer (and throws in a frosty libation or two).

[CaliKT]

Ten more days until we're there! Yippeeee!

[TheLodgeLady]

Originally Posted by WDWKOOK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m00S...e_gdata_player



AllEars posted a slide show on YouTube a few days ago of all the Christmas decorations at WL and VWL. It even shows the new lobby furniture!

Thanks! Nice video. I love the look of the new furniture. Nice color scheme.

[mommadjones]

Originally Posted by WDWKOOK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m00S...e_gdata_player

AllEars posted a slide show on YouTube a few days ago of all the Christmas decorations at WL and VWL. It even shows the new lobby furniture!

So excited! I won't watch the video though, we have never been to WL during the holidays so I want to see it first when we arrive in 6 days!!After we return I'm sure I will be viewing this over and over to recapture the grandness of the Lodge

[dreamcruiser]

Originally Posted by WDWKOOK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m00S...e_gdata_player



AllEars posted a slide show on YouTube a few days ago of all the Christmas decorations at WL and VWL. It even shows the new lobby furniture!

Very timely! I was going to post a request to see some lobby decorations!
Wish I was there...

[DoctorWhoGirl]

Absolutely loved looking at the pictures and reading the tips on this thread. I'm hoping to book our Oct 2013 vacation at the WL, just need to get my hubby to commit on the number of nights. We spent 3 nights at POFQ earlier this month and had a wonderful time, but I'm really excited about upgrading to the WL for our next trip. We have two young boys (5 & 7 next year's trip) so being close to the MK will be wonderful. Now to decided on room requests...thinking woods view w/ bunkbeds and keeping fingers crossed for an upgrade, but won't be disappointed if we don't get one.

Quick question for all you pros...if I make a reservation at rack rate and later see a special offer that will save me money, will I be able to call and add that deal to my reservation? I know hubby will not pay rack rate and would cancel the reservation if we didn't get some kind of discount.

[Weluvdizney2]

Originally Posted by Kathymford

I thought I had read somewhere that you can't make payments online if it was a room-only reservation booked on the phone. Or some combination of weird stipulations like that....

We've had to call to pay for our RO reservations. We like to pay before we get there.

[goofynut41]

Originally Posted by Kathymford

I thought I had read somewhere that you can't make payments online if it was a room-only reservation booked on the phone. Or some combination of weird stipulations like that....

Ok.... Thanks to you and Kook... I'll just call and ask, still have a long way to go... But it will give me time to pay it down... Love the Decorations video of WL...

[goofynut41]

Originally Posted by DoctorWhoGirl

Absolutely loved looking at the pictures and reading the tips on this thread. I'm hoping to book our Oct 2013 vacation at the WL, just need to get my hubby to commit on the number of nights. We spent 3 nights at POFQ earlier this month and had a wonderful time, but I'm really excited about upgrading to the WL for our next trip. We have two young boys (5 & 7 next year's trip) so being close to the MK will be wonderful. Now to decided on room requests...thinking woods view w/ bunkbeds and keeping fingers crossed for an upgrade, but won't be disappointed if we don't get one.

Quick question for all you pros...if I make a reservation at rack rate and later see a special offer that will save me money, will I be able to call and add that deal to my reservation? I know hubby will not pay rack rate and would cancel the reservation if we didn't get some kind of discount.

That is what I'm hoping for, I did the same thing and hoping to apply the military discount, if one, to our reservation.

[bowbat]

Well, we're home. (We live nearby so we take several short trips each year.)

We really enjoyed our stay at WL. We stayed CL and had room 7044. In this instance, having an enclosed balcony was a plus, because we were almost directly over the service area on the side, but we couldn't see it unless we stood up and looked down. Our view straight ahead was of the Castle (behind some trees), Space Mountain, Contemporary and the monorail. It was PERFECT for watching the fireworks. This is a really bad iPhone photo, but it gives you the general idea of things:



Oh, and here's a bonus shot of the tree, looking down from the CL lounge:



WL CL staff were all wonderful. Very friendly and helpful and always around. We loved the way the lounge seating area wraps around the lobby -- we never felt cramped or rushed and never had a problem finding a seat. The food was good and plentiful, though I will say breakfast was a disappointment. It was strictly Continental fare -- mini-muffins, bagels, croissant, cereal, fruit and yogurt. That's it. Every other CL we've stayed at had oatmeal, BWI also had hard-boiled eggs, and GF had cold-cuts. Not a big deal, obviously, but it meant the CL breakfast wasn't really enough to keep us going until lunchtime.

One day we rented a surrey-bike and rode on the path to Ft. Wilderness. On the way back, we saw so many deer! They let us get really close, too (I'm sure living on Disney property has tamed them somewhat). So much fun, and really made us feel we were in the "wilderness."





We had mixed results with the bus service, same as with every Disney resort. First day, we took the bus to MK -- it was waiting when we got to the bus stop, we were the only people on it, and we were at MK in no more than 5 minutes. Second day, we took the bus to Epcot -- we waited about 10 minutes for the bus, it was SRO and went to Ft. Wilderness before the park. Took about 35 minutes total. In hindsight, we should've just driven or taken a cab. We did take a cab back from the park, which was a luxury worth every penny. (Hey, it's vacation, right?)

We had a light dinner in the Territory Lounge one night, cheeseburgers from Roaring Forks for lunch, and dinner at Artists Point. All very good. And my son went to the Cubs Den kids club when we went to Artists Point, and he had a great time.

Oh, and let me thank the poster who said you could get a footstool from housekeeping! We requested one when we arrived and they brought one right away. Great tip!

Thanks again to WDWKOOK and everyone else here who provide such helpful info and advice. You're the best!

[rotlex]

For anyone here that might know. Were booked at POFQ for next year, August on a free dining bounce back, but I'm dying to stay at the WL again. When I poke around on line to check pricing on the WDW site, it appears it is not giving the option for a "standard view room" any longer? Only woods view is appearing, and on a 10 night trip, adds like $500 or so to the stay. Are standard views no longer an option? I found it odd they would all be booked, especially this far out, and have never seen that before.

Any ideas?