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

[marshall4539]

Hi, we are going to WL in Sept and have booked a woods view. I am wondering what is the best room area to request. We are hoping for connecting rooms (with my parents), and a good balcony. We would prefer a room on the 2-3 floor, but 4th floor would be ok too!
What does everyone recommend!
Thanks

 

[dansdad]

Hi, we are going to WL in Sept and have booked a woods view. I am wondering what is the best room area to request. We are hoping for connecting rooms (with my parents), and a good balcony. We would prefer a room on the 2-3 floor, but 4th floor would be ok too!
What does everyone recommend!
Thanks

If having connecting rooms is very important, I would make that your only request.

Everyone's definition of best will be different. Check out post #2 of this thread for detailed descriptions of all the different woods views locations and pick which one sounds good to you.

 

[RedfromNL]

9 days, just 9 days

 

[GrandCalifornian]

If having connecting rooms is very important, I would make that your only request.

Everyone's definition of best will be different. Check out post #2 of this thread for detailed descriptions of all the different woods views locations and pick which one sounds good to you.

I agree. We made that our only request last September, and while we had booked Standard View we ended up with awesome woods view connecting rooms above the registration desk on the 5th floor. You really can't go wrong at WL, and September should be a great time to be there. We are looking forward to it this year too.

 

[CuteAsMinnie]

9 days, just 9 days

 

[Princess Leia]

It's great you're trying something new. Epcot resorts are wonderful because you can easily walk to DHS and Epcot. But, being in the MK resorts area is special because you also have the monorails and buses that don't share with as many resorts as do the Epcot buses. You can also walk to FW and boat to CR, FW and MK. There is a more relaxed and secluded feel to WL that I think you will love.

Thanks for the welcome. It will be lovely doing Disney from a different perspective. We always cheer when we go under the Disney arch - now we will have an extra cheer going under the Wilderness Lodge arch.

 

[Princess Leia]

A trip to Wilderness Canyon restaurant with that age group would be fun. Make sure to ask for ketchup!

We are going to eat at Whispering Canyon on our first night. I reckoned that it would be worth checking out what all the noise was about.

 

[OttawaDisGirl]

Woot! Six days till we reach the WLV. Our first trip to this resort, based on this thread, it should be awesome!

 

[Momofonelittlemickey]

Any thoughts on a ground level room at the Lodge? My son loved the patio at the Poly last year.
What do the ground rooms face?

 

[WDWKOOK]

Woot! Six days till we reach the WLV. Our first trip to this resort, based on this thread, it should be awesome!

Welcome! How exciting! I think you'll love it. Will you be posting live?

Any thoughts on a ground level room at the Lodge? My son loved the patio at the Poly last year.
What do the ground rooms face?

Welcome!

They can face the woods toward MK or the Inner Courtyard of WL or VWL's Courtyard/pool area.

 

[OttawaDisGirl]

I might do a few! I don't know... Never done it before. What do people live post? BTW, I'm a long time lurker on this thread... Love it here!

 

[aml3679]

Please delete us from the list - after discussing costs, we added a day to our vacation and switched to Port Orleans Riverside. We will visit the Wilderness Lodge to see the Christmas Decorations and to eat at Artist Point.

 

[Gingerkimball]

to the DIS and the WL/VWL thread!

The week of July 4th will be very crowded so I think you picked a great resort to be able to sort of get away from it all and easily get back and forth to the MK with your boys. There's much to do at WL and FW right next door and you can easily boat to CR, then monorail to Poly and GF. CR has a great arcade your kids might enjoy. WL has one, too but no prizes and it's smaller. Poly has fun stores and Dole Whips at CC and they all have fun character dining. As Tinkerbelljean suggested, Whispering Canyon Café is lots of fun and a must-do for your boys. They even have stick pony races and Lincoln Logs! (And all-you-can drink shakes.)

Make sure that you request an INNER or WL Courtyard View. This way you'll be able to see the nightly EWP from your balcony and the geyser and Bay Lake. The other Courtyard View is of the VWL courtyard and the Room Assignor might put you there if you don't have a preference.

If having a balcony that you can see through when seated is important to you, then you might also want to request 5th floor (or lower). The 6th floor has some solid balcony railings and all of the 7th (CL) floor has them.

I think your boys will love the Lodge and those bunks. Though it might be your first time at WL, I suspect it might not be your last. Let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks for all the info! I will definitely request a inner courtyard view. I know it will be extremely busy in July but I look forward to coming back to the WL in the early afternoon to enjoy the pool and hopefully get my little one to nap. I'm sure I'll have more questions soon. Thanks!

 

[Liberator]

Are all WL-rooms renovated yet?

 

[dansdad]

Are all WL-rooms renovated yet?

Yup. According to post #1 of this thread the rehab completed September 2012.

 

[WDWKOOK]

I might do a few! I don't know... Never done it before. What do people live post? BTW, I'm a long time lurker on this thread... Love it here!

Well, DISers sometimes post a TR (Trip Report) in the TR section of the DIS or post updates to the thread of their resort, like here. The TR or live report is like a diary of your vacation and can be detailed or not. Some include photos of where they went, what they eat, what they did. Or some will just check in with the thread from time to time to give updates, with or w/o photos, and maybe ask if people have any questions. It's totally up to you!

Please delete us from the list - after discussing costs, we added a day to our vacation and switched to Port Orleans Riverside. We will visit the Wilderness Lodge to see the Christmas Decorations and to eat at Artist Point.

Adding a day is great! I also include non-WL stays in the Lodgers' Log (like mine), so I'm happy to just change your dates and resort

ETA: I just checked the Log and you aren't there

Thanks for all the info! I will definitely request a inner courtyard view. I know it will be extremely busy in July but I look forward to coming back to the WL in the early afternoon to enjoy the pool and hopefully get my little one to nap. I'm sure I'll have more questions soon. Thanks!

Are all WL-rooms renovated yet?

There are photo links in the first post, too - they look great!

Yup. According to post #1 of this thread the rehab completed September 2012.

You do such a great job of remembering where everything is

 

[katmg]

This may not be the right place for these questions, but I thought I would try here, since we're planning on staying at WL.

DH would like to go ahead and book our Jan 2014 stay at WL now so that we can start paying for it. I am planning on doing a room only reservation at this time. If I do that and a discount (hopefully!!) comes out later, will I lose my deposit? Will I need to rebook? Is there a benefit to just waiting for the (possible) discount to come out?

We're so excited about this trip, I think being able to book something now would help it feel more real!

Thank you!!

 

[WDWKOOK]

This may not be the right place for these questions, but I thought I would try here, since we're planning on staying at WL.

DH would like to go ahead and book our Jan 2014 stay at WL now so that we can start paying for it. I am planning on doing a room only reservation at this time. If I do that and a discount (hopefully!!) comes out later, will I lose my deposit? Will I need to rebook? Is there a benefit to just waiting for the (possible) discount to come out?

We're so excited about this trip, I think being able to book something now would help it feel more real!

Thank you!!

You've come to the right place - welcome!

If you book now, and want to apply an eligible discount later, you won't need to make a new reservation, unless you change from a RO to a Package. You won't lose your deposit either, it would just be applied toward a new reservation. Best to book now to ensure you secure the room type you want.

Happy booking!

 

[Wood Nymph]

This may not be the right place for these questions, but I thought I would try here, since we're planning on staying at WL.

DH would like to go ahead and book our Jan 2014 stay at WL now so that we can start paying for it. I am planning on doing a room only reservation at this time. If I do that and a discount (hopefully!!) comes out later, will I lose my deposit? Will I need to rebook? Is there a benefit to just waiting for the (possible) discount to come out?

We're so excited about this trip, I think being able to book something now would help it feel more real!

Thank you!!

You can book a room now and when or if a discount comes out later, you can apply the discount to your reservation without losing the deposit or having to rebook as long as there is availability for your room type. The only time you would have to rebook is if you changed room types, I believe. And then they would refund your deposit and you would put down a new deposit. The only time you would have to pay a fee to cancel a room only reservation is if you do it less than five days before your check in date.

I don't see any reason to wait until a discount comes out if you are sure that you are planning a trip. We booked a room at rack rate in July of last year for our Feb trip and when a discount was released in Oct we were able to get the discounted rate. We didn't have to make a new reservation to do it.

 

[DetTigsGal]

I booked our June trip in January and had the discount applied when they announced the summer ones. The same thing happened with the T'giving trip