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

[TaraPA]

Originally Posted by pld5

They still had oatmeal yesterday morning!

Originally Posted by JulieT3

They had oatmeal today, too. It was perfect for a cooold morning like this morning!

Yes!!!! (ahhh the little things!)

I saw it was chilly down there right now. Hope you're all having a great time!

[puertorican00676]

I am wondering, how do you plan afternoon breaks? What time do you return from parks and what time you go back to parks? I find it hard to break from parks, but want take it easier for a change on our next trip!

[lovingeire]

We took breaks on our last trip so the little one would nap. We didn't do it every day, but we did do it if we'd had a really late night the night before or the little one was super cranky. We would normally head back after lunch between 1-2 and then go back to the parks around 6. It kills me to leave the parks though! Next trip will be our first summer trip so I'm planning for sure on breaks and hitting the pool/nap then back for evening festivities!

[pepe of ohio]

Originally Posted by puertorican00676

I am wondering, how do you plan afternoon breaks? What time do you return from parks and what time you go back to parks? I find it hard to break from parks, but want take it easier for a change on our next trip!

We take breaks every single day... No way could I stand being in any park opening to close.... With children, grandchildren or just ourselves, we say 12-1 we're out of there, no ands ifs or buts....

We enjoy the resort, it's property and amenities plus the pool.... Every day, sometimes as soon as we wake up, for sure afternoon and some times late evenings...

Our resorts means just as much as the parks anymore and when the grandchildren are there, even more!

[danceteachermom]

We hit the park at opening and then head out as soon as it feels too crowded. It is just no longer worth it to us to stay if anyone in our party is getting too hot, tired of walking on little legs, or aggravated by the crowds. We want to get home feeling like we had a vacation not like we need a vacation to recover from our vacation. It took us some time to approach things this way because we always wanted to get our monies worth in the parks....but it is so much fun now. Sometimes we return to the parks in the evening and sometimes we don't. Since we spend so much time at the resort on trips now we upgraded to VWL this year. 26 days to go and we will be there.

The quality of our vacation increased dramatically when we took this approach. I am thinking the lodge will be a great place to just chill and enjoy time together.

[TaraPA]

We have changed our touring style & found it much more relaxing than doing parks in the morning, taking a break, then heading back out. Now that the kids are older (12 & almost 16) we sleep in (sometimes til 10am!), go somewhere for breakfast (or the CL lounge if we're staying CL), then hang at the resort til about 4pm. All of the resorts have afternoon pool games & activities & my kids love these. Then we go to whichever park is open the latest - 1am or 2am. By 11pm everything is usually a walk-on so we get it all done.

[Wood Nymph]

Our typical trip has usually included heading to the parks at rope drop and then returning to the resort soon after lunch. The biggest mistake on our last trip was not having enough down time at the resort. We planned too many ADR's too early in the evening, so didn't have as much time as we wanted at the resort.

I'm fixing that for our next trip by making reservations no earlier than 6:30pm and eating only a few TS dinners.

[lovingeire]

It's hard to change your mindset on the parks. I'm an opening to close kind of girl and adjusting that for my two year old has been hard, but everyone is happier at the end of the night if we do things that way. That's one of the reasons we are making the jump to a Deluxe resort.

And I agree with not spending enough time at the resorts. We didn't get to take advantage of the Big Blue Pool at AoA on our last trip really or any of the fun activities they had. This trip will be shorter for us than our Dec trip unless we add days on, but I still think we'll take it easy. I think overall it will be a more enjoyable trip that way. I do think we'll look into season passes vs. our military tickets for the following year thought so we don't feel as bad about not being there from open to close on park days.

[DetTigsGal]

We have always taken a break around 1....started when the kids were little and continues. Lately, we have started making adrs for lunch and head back after. When the kids were small, I had everything mapped out...we have become more flexible as the years have gone by. We still do one park in the am and another at night

[TaraPA]

Originally Posted by lovingeire

It's hard to change your mindset on the parks.

This is so true. Last year for the 1st few days I was up & ready by 8 & making everyone miserable to get up & get moving. After a day of go go go everyone was tired & cranky. So I had to go with the flow & let them sleep in, hang at the pool & then head out for the night. I found once I accepted that this was the new way, it worked!

[delilah18]

Does anyone have any recent pics of the club level offerings?

[Dr Ken]

Originally Posted by puertorican00676

I am wondering, how do you plan afternoon breaks? What time do you return from parks and what time you go back to parks? I find it hard to break from parks, but want take it easier for a change on our next trip!

We always aim for RD with ADRs for lunch then relax after lunch. The parks are at their peak until after the afternoon parade. So, we avoid them and just return to our resort for a snack and a nap. After that, we decide which park to visit in the evening or breakup the group and go our separate ways for a while.

One time we left the kids with grandma and one mom at the resort.. The rest of the adults headed for an evening at MK. We still talk about that trip 20 years later! It was pretty special!

If you're young with no pre-schoolers, you might survive RD until closing. But, if you have little ones or old ones in your group, don't try it! Plan for nap/pool time and avoid the afternoon crowds.

[StEpHandMiKe<3Disney]

We r 2 adults and find it mandatory to break. About 2:00 each day, we do go to rope drop every day so we come back to WL pool and relax till about 4:30 and then go to dinner and a park at night. We usually do sometime of night show, wishes, Fantasmic, whichever works and then come home to WL. We very rarely stay after.

[RedfromNL]

We are very much morning-people so we are there for rope-drop or earlier if possible

We stroll around the park for a few hours and around lunch-time we are ready for a slightly longer break (between 12 and 2).
We eat a little, go back to the hotel and just lie on the bed, sit on the balcony, swim a bit, whatever we feel like doing. somewhere between 15 and 18 we are refreshed again nad either go to a park or just take it easy and lounge around a bit, go to DTD for some shopping and an ice-cream or whatever.

We rarely make it to fireworks......

We do have a similar rythm for other holidays: busy morning, afternoon slower with a longer break somewhere in a park/garden/whatever. Just sit for a bit, shoes off and maybe take a nap or do some reading.

Life in the slow(er) lane is just fine for our holidays

[cmdg]

I know the WL offers poolside games, but can anyone tell me the age ranges the activities are appropriate for?