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DIS Veteran
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 992
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Room Expectations and Reactions
When we last left off, Candi and I had just walked through the beautiful doors of The Wilderness Lodge
![]() I’m pretty sure we stood there for a good ten minutes just taking everything in. Everything about it was exactly as we had remembered it – the smell, the feeling, the CMs, the décor – it truly was like we were coming home. After we had soaked in the atmosphere for a bit we headed to the check in counter to get our room assignment. ![]() I decided against doing the online check-in because I love the feeling you get while you are waiting your turn in line . There’s something about the excitement and anticipation I feel and I thought it would be lost if we checked in online. There was only one person ahead of us in line and before we knew it, it was our turn. If I remember right we were checked in by Zahnyoun from Australia. He was very nice and I LOVED his accent, but he was also incredibly forgetful and slightly rushed. He must have asked us 3 different times if we had a car with us . No big deal, but I was slightly disappointed that we didn’t receive our “Happy Anniversary” buttons at check-in. Now, I know that this wasn’t our actual Anniversary, but when we planned the trip it was planned to be our belated Anniversary trip – and then my incredible In-Laws got us a trip to Disneyland as our Anniversary gift – so that is how this trip became our Date-a-versary trip !!We received our packet of information and headed out towards the Villas. I stopped to take one last look in the main lobby before we headed outside. ![]() A part of me felt slightly sad that we wouldn’t be staying in the main lobby, but another part of me was incredibly excited to check out the Villas and our very first DVC room!! We slowly made our towards the Villas – again, we were so lost in the atmosphere and the feeling of the resort – we were not in any rush to get anywhere. Now, in Zahnyoun’s check-in packet he gave us the wrong room number. It wasn’t actually somebody else’s room, but a room that didn’t even exist . We decided that instead of going back into the lobby we would try the last room in the hall and we were in luck – it was our room!I was slightly nervous as I opened the doors – I had built this up in my head for a really long time. Here is what we saw when we walked in ![]() The bed was too firm for my liking, but my Husband slept like a baby the entire time. The couch on the other side also stored a pull out bed, allowing the room to sleep four people. ![]() Our first, and only, towel animal of our stay. For those that don’t know, when you stay DVC you do not get normal housekeeping every day. Instead you get what they call “trash and towel service” on your fourth day. This is exactly what it sounds like. They empty your trash and replace your towels and toiletries. If you are staying longer you get a full housekeeping on the eight day and then the cycle repeats itself. This was not something that bothered us, but if I hadn’t known beforehand I probably would have been upset. ![]() This is the cabinet where the TV was held and there were dresser drawers on the bottom half. I have to say, we were both disappointed with the TV. It wasn’t a flat screen, which we didn’t care about, but it was SMALL – our laptop had a bigger screen . We don’t go on vacation to watch TV, but we love to watch a movie each night before going to bed. Plus, Candi is lost without watching ESPN!!I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the lantern style lamp above the table area though!! ![]() The kitchenette area – it was really nice to have the fridge, and we used the sink to rinse out or refillable mugs, but we never did use the microwave or the toaster. There were also plastic utensils and paper plates available – we didn’t end up using those either, but I’m sure they are nice to have if you do a grocery order or anything like that. ![]() I thought this set-up was super cute! ![]() This was my favorite area of the room – I love the décor here. I also loved how the vanity/sink area was outside of the actual bathroom. This is very useful for us when we are both trying to shower and get ready. The wooden doors are to the closet area – it was a HUGE closet that stored the vacuum, ironing board and iron, a playpen/crib style thing and the safe. There was also plenty of room for hanging clothes. The safe actually required a key instead of sliding your room key and was built into the wall – it was pretty small, but not a big deal to us because we just used it to store credit cards. ![]() The bathtub was a little on the small side, but the shower had amazing water pressure. ![]() This was the picture hanging in the bathroom – I just had to post it because it is so adorable! Lastly, we had to go explore our balcony area to see what kind of view we had ended up with. I had read several reports of people who had ended up with a view of the dumpsters or the bus stop, so once again, I was a little bit nervous. I walked outside and saw instantly that we had a woods view. But before Candi made it outside I let out a scream. He thought it was because we had either a REALLY good view or a REALLY bad view – he couldn’t tell. In all actuality it was because I ran into the third member sharing our room ![]() We named him Bob and he hung out with us until the next day. Once we had introduced ourselves to Bob we took a look at our view. ![]() Looking straight out and to the right from our balcony it was nothing but trees! ![]() Looking to the left it was more trees and balconies from the other rooms. We were the last room in the hallway so there weren’t any rooms to our right. Overall, we were happy with our room. We had booked a studio and got pretty much what we had expected. The biggest let down was the TV, but HELLO we were in Disney World so it wasn’t anything to cry over!! After checking out the room we both decided that we were a little bit hungry and since our reservation still wasn’t for over 2 hours we decided to head to Roaring Forks to pick up our refillable mugs and a snack. We were on the deluxe dining plan so the refillable mugs were included in the meal plan and we each got 2 snacks per night of our stay. ![]() I loved the look of the hallway with all the Mickey arches and light fixtures – it was honestly my favorite part of the Villas decor. We really enjoyed the walk from the Villas to the Lodge – it was a really nice night that wasn’t too humid. Plus, we were still on our “we’re really here” high!! Roaring Forks wasn’t at all crowded and we were back in our room with our snacks in no time. ![]() I got carrots and celery with ranch dressing and Candi got a bowl of chili. The mugs in the background were the refillable mugs – they were somewhat small and we learned to just fill them with our beverages and get ice from the ice machine in the Villa. I had been looking forward to the veggies & ranch because I ate them every night on our honeymoon. I was a little disappointed that they now used baby carrots instead of strips of "adult" carrots - they taste different to me . I still enjoyed them though. Candi thought the chili was too greasy but said it had great flavor.Candi decided to take a quick nap and I went on a search for our Ethernet cable so I could get on the internet. I couldn’t find it so I called and had one delivered. They were very nice and brought it to me in less than 10 minutes! *** For those that end up staying here, the Ethernet cable is inside a fabric bag hanging on one of the hangers in the closet *** There was a slight problem with the internet – it wasn’t allowing me to connect and kept giving me an error. Another call to the tech number listed and that was fixed extremely quickly as well. They also let me know that although it stated I would be charged every 24 hours for usage that it would be free for us since we were DVC owners. WAHOO – I love saving money !!! After I did everything I need online I woke Candi up to start getting ready for dinner. ** Next up – Our night Downtown MONEY SPENT SO FAR: 2 Refillable mugs – Included on the Deluxe Dining Plan - $27.67 with tax if paying in cash Veggies & Ranch / Bowl of Chili – 2 snack credits - $7.23 with tax if paying in cash Internet Usage – FREE for being a DVC owner – around $10 for 24 hours if a non-DVC owner Total cash spent $0.00
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Mouseketeer
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 177
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Long Time Lurker
Gosh that sounds so creepy
![]() I absolutely adore your trip reports. I'm so glad you posted photo's of the villas at Wilderness Lodge, we're planning our next trip and were deciding between those villas and the Contemporary! I think I expected Wilderness Lodge to be more like the Grand Californian- so I'm glad I have a better understanding ![]() Loving it so far- subscribing
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WDW: 2005 POFQ, 2006 OKW- Grand Villa, 2009 AKL Jambo House- 1 bedroom Villa, 2011 AKL Jambo House 1 bedroom- CANCELLED Disneyland: To many times to count, DLH, DPP, GC, VGC- 2 bedroom villa Our Adoption Story & Blog A May WDW Trip- Cancelled! ![]() |
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DIS Veteran
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 992
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Quote:
I'm glad that my overzealousness in picture taking was helpful for you. Personally, we love the Wilderness Lodge but we also consider it "home" since that's where we stayed for our honeymoon. I have some other pictures of the lobby and such coming up later in the report - it is absolutely breathtaking. Hope you stick around ![]() Thank you and Welcome My parents are in town so I won't be updating for a couple of days, but once they return home I promise a double update for all those waiting
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DIS Veteran
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 992
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Quick Sidenote....
Hi Everyone!! Sorry I’ve been away for a little while, but I promise it’s been for good reason. My parents came to see me this past week!! Since they live so far away – about 600 miles – we only see each other every 4-6 months. And, this trip was a much needed one, both for them and me. I was getting incredibly homesick and it was starting to affect me at work and home
![]() While they were here we went to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. If you’ve never seen or heard about this you are definitely missing out – it’s awesome! Unfortunately, I had to work on Saturday – I mean, they act like I just spent a week at Disney World or something . Anyway, Candi got up and took my parents to the mass ascension and then they went to the casino for brunch and gambling. Tough life huh? That night we went to the “balloon twilight twinkle glow.” For those who don’t know, this is where all the balloons are aired up but remain on the ground and then they all “twinkle” – blow their flames so that they light up. It’s super pretty, unfortunately, it was cancelled due to rain and wind ![]() They announced that they would still be doing the fireworks show so we decided to stick around and I headed to get some food. One hour and a philly cheesesteak later and I was back sitting with my family! The fireworks got off to a late start and there were a lot of gaps in between them but they were still beautiful. ![]() ![]() ![]() During one of the breaks in between fireworks launches the news channel came and interviewed my Mom about the cancellation ![]() We still have this news airing saved on our DVR – she felt like such a celebrity!! On Sunday I didn’t have to work so we all went to the mass ascension together. We had to get up super early (around 4am ) but it was definitely worth it.Isn’t the moon beautiful? Yep, it was still out and shining when we got to balloon park ![]() ![]() Getting there so early was definitely worth it because we got a great spot on top of the hill overlooking the entire balloon park. It wasn’t too long after we arrived that they started airing the balloons up and preparing them for launch. ![]() There couldn’t be enough pictures to show how beautiful it really is – you just have to experience it. At any given time there are over 200 balloons in the air in front of you – truly spectacular! Eventually, the sun made an appearance and you could really see all the colors of the balloons, it makes it a whole different experience when this happens. ![]() ![]() After the launch they had a Fiesta Car Show and the boys couldn’t resist checking it out. ![]() I think this might be my next car – who cares that it cost more than my house? ![]() Sadly, I had to take off and leave my parents to hang out with Candi again. I had made an appointment to take engagement pictures for a friend of a friend. We made the appointment before I knew my parents were coming and I felt awful cancelling on her – planning a wedding is stressful enough as it is! I’m not a professional photographer, but I love to take pictures and I would really like to do it as a “side job.” Tell me what you guys think …. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Other than the above we spent the weekend just hanging out; watching movies, eating junk food, trading stories … all my favorite things Just like everything else great in life it went by way too fast! I promise a Disney update is next ….
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