Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE Information & Questions

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We've been at the lodge since Sunday. This has been the worst experience ever with transportation. No busses to or from the parks. Super long waits and busses are full when they get here to pick up. We spent last week at POFQ and had great bus service. The lodge is beautiful and room is great, but we can't seem to get to the parks or back in a reasonable amount of time. I feel bad for the CM at the bus stop as he doesn't seem to be able to do anything and people are very frustrated.
OMG please don't get me nervous! We are staying at the Wilderness Lodge for the first time and I don't like reading about trouble with transportation. What about the boat to MK? I am going to think positive because in 29 days we will be back home at the happiest place on earth and nothing will put a damper on that. Our Magic Bands shipped today and my trip is fully paid off! Yay doing the happy dance and so sorry you had trouble with transportation.
 
Question-We are planning a trip for June of 2016, we typically always book packages. Since the packages are not out yet would you go ahead and book a room only? I am not sure when the package rates will be released and the cast member I spoke to said I would have to cancel the room only and have the deposit refunded and pay a new deposit, the cannot just transfer the deposit. We are wanting a club level room in the beginning of June.
 
I just spoke to someone directly at WL and I asked about construction and noise going on now. First she said no construction is happening now. Then when I pressured more she put me on a brief hold and came back and said yes construction started on May 29th with work being done from 9-7. She does not have an end date. Asked why we weren't notified and she said there is a flyer in the room. That's just too late IMHO.

So we changed to the BWI because we don't want our first stay to be negatively affected by construction.
 
OMG please don't get me nervous! We are staying at the Wilderness Lodge for the first time and I don't like reading about trouble with transportation. What about the boat to MK? I am going to think positive because in 29 days we will be back home at the happiest place on earth and nothing will put a damper on that. Our Magic Bands shipped today and my trip is fully paid off! Yay doing the happy dance and so sorry you had trouble with transportation.

The boat worked well. Busses continued to be bad. Long waits and then once the bus arrived you still had to go to Contemporary or Fort Wilderness to pick up more guests. It took us over an hour to get to Epcot on Thursday night, for example. We had a 7:15 ADR and I'm glad we allowed plenty of time to get there. One morning we took the boat to the Contemporary and took the monorail to TTC to get to Epcot monorail. That worked well. The lodge was gorgeous and peaceful. The room was great. The staff was friendly and helpful. Hopefully they'll fix the bus issues and you'll have a perfect trip. I think the busses are better early in the morning. We ran into more issues getting to waterparks ( which open at 10) and when we tried to get somewhere in the afternoon after swimming ( we'd spent the morning at MK).
 
Hi :wave2: this is total rookie question but how did you book for next year so early? The DW website doesn't go past December 2015. Can you book farther ahead if you call? We have a trip planned for October of 2016 at the Lodge ( our first time staying there) and I was waiting like a silly goose until the online calendar showed those dates :scared1:. I'm excited for you too! Never too early!!

Hi, I live in the UK and our packages came out a couple of weeks ago. I've booked direct through Disney World UK
The lodge is beautiful, it will be our second time staying there. Hope you get to book your trip soon! You will love the lodge.
 
I had a question about when they take holiday decorations down at the Wilderness Lodge and hoping a knowledgable person here can help. We are staying at WDW for a post New Years trip (Jan2-7) and planning for ADRs. Just wondering if we want to see the WL's beautiful decorations if they remain up through that first week in January or if anyone knows which day they have been taken down in years past? It works best with our plans to go there on Tuesday January 5 but I will shift some things in our plans so we can go earlier if we will miss the decorations that late. Thanks!!
 
You can remove me from the Log:oops:--I switched us over to the GF. It was a hard choice, but with me only being there a short time we decided to give up club level luxury for monorail convience (and I guess the Grand is kinda luxurious ;)). I sort of feel like this is a break up:sad1:---but I promise to keep coming back to this thread and stay at the WL one day :love:
 
We're down to the last week before we arrive! Called and got our room requests in and just finished the online check-in. Can't wait!
 
Looooooong time lurker, but finally decided to take the plunge and post. So very excited for our trip to the lodge on 9/5-9/9. Short trip but just my mom, DD 12 and I. First girls trip and first time staying at the Wilderness Lodge. Love all the info on this thread. Thanks so much!
 
Question-We are planning a trip for June of 2016, we typically always book packages. Since the packages are not out yet would you go ahead and book a room only? I am not sure when the package rates will be released and the cast member I spoke to said I would have to cancel the room only and have the deposit refunded and pay a new deposit, the cannot just transfer the deposit. We are wanting a club level room in the beginning of June.
If you want to switch a room only reservation to a package then the CM will have to go through the process of refunding your deposit and then charging you for a new deposit on the package. They won't be able to apply the money you have already paid to the package. It was never a problem for us, since I was always careful to make sure I did this well within the same billing period on our credit card. That way the credit would appear in the same billing period as the new charge.
I had a question about when they take holiday decorations down at the Wilderness Lodge and hoping a knowledgable person here can help. We are staying at WDW for a post New Years trip (Jan2-7) and planning for ADRs. Just wondering if we want to see the WL's beautiful decorations if they remain up through that first week in January or if anyone knows which day they have been taken down in years past? It works best with our plans to go there on Tuesday January 5 but I will shift some things in our plans so we can go earlier if we will miss the decorations that late. Thanks!!
They start taking down the holiday decorations very soon after New Years Day. Some of them are down by Jan 2nd. I don't know what the schedule would be for WL, but the earlier the better if you want to try and see them. :)
 
Hi, I live in the UK and our packages came out a couple of weeks ago. I've booked direct through Disney World UK
The lodge is beautiful, it will be our second time staying there. Hope you get to book your trip soon! You will love the lodge.
Hi to you! Thank you so much for that information! I have read the packages come out for us probably sometime this summer, I'll be checking regularly :surfweb:
By the way, I love your Dumbo pic in your signature, I sang that song to all three of my kids when they were babies! :lovestruc Cheers!
 
We were at the VWL the first week of April for our spring break. I posted a picture of the first floor gutted rooms over on the DVC board asking if anyone thought they might be studios. The consensus then was ADA rooms. I'm back to thinking they probably have more to do with this dvc expansion. I was then off the board for a couple of months because I was so busy finishing my school year out. School gets out and I get on the boards only to see all these expansion plans! I wish this was another DVCMIKE April fools joke! As a DVC owner of one of the smaller DVCs, I am nervous about all these extra points being sold for these cabins only to increase the demand for the smaller DVC units. I'm trying to remain optimistic but I'm worried. I really hate the loss of all the trees and current landscape at the lodge. Trying not to be a negative nelly. We already have our next reservation scheduled at the lodge for Dec. 20-27th. No way to really change a Christmas reservation now within DVC because most everything is already booked. I guess we'll just hope for the best. KOOK you can add us to the lodgers log if you would like. We'll be in the villas for Christmas, I guess life could be worse! :) :santa:
 
Checking out today and now waiting for our airport pickup. We were comped one nights stay without my suggesting anything. I just explained that we are the room from 10 am until around 2 or so and that is when the noise is very loud. I also told the manager that the stay and staff were nice but it was just the noise we had a problem with during our stay. The shift manager looked at the map and said we were directly above the construction. He said that it would be going on for at least 2 more weeks. He would never say what they are doing though. He said he could comp one night and I said fine. I thought that was fair and nice. We were on the forth floor in the wing nearest the villas. I have stayed here several times before and have never had this problem. The WL is wonderful but if you want a stay without work being done you may want to try another resort until they get done with the construction.

I think it's good that you spoke up and said something so they're aware of the disruption to guests. Asking for a North Wing room would assure you, for now, that you wouldn't be subjected to any loud noises. A Standard room in the South Wing would probably be fine, too. But, once they start the cabins and VWL pool area work, that's another story.


I got back from Disney on Tuesday, but between exhaustion and work I am just getting around to writing a quick review. I booked a courtyard view and asked for 6th floor. I received room number 6151, which had a view of the pool, a good view of the bay (saw the electrical water pageant), I could see the top of the contemporary and was able to see fireworks on May 31st at MK (that was the day IPW rented out the park.) The scaffolding wasn't a big deal, it looks like they were just cleaning the roof area, so the scaffolding, from my view, was minimal. The food at Whispering Canyon was awesome ESPECIALLY the banana bread french toast. I would say the only negative was hearing the boat blow it's horn, but that's just nitpicking. My cousin and I ate at Ohana and took the monorail around to the different resorts and while those resorts are really nice, nothing feels like home more than Wilderness Lodge. I can't wait to go back up there again, hopefully for Thanksgiving/Christmas.

Thanks for letting us know about your stay and I hope you get to book another trip soon.

You can call to book - I think you can do 499 days out. Since the prices haven't come out, they will let you know that the cost will change, but you can reserve your room.

:welcome: to the thread…and the DIS!

Will there be construction still in Feb. 2017?

Nothing "official" has been announced. The attachments that accompany the permit/NoC indicate an April 2017 project completion.

We just returned from the WL. We were there from May 30-June 5. We were in room 4140 facing the Villas. Each day around 7:30am, a group of workers arrived to set up their construction equipment. They were on the ground floor directly below our room. They had a large compressor to run their equipment, which definitely included a jackhammer. It was loud! We could see them loading wheelbarrows with small chunks of concrete. They worked the entire day. The noise could be heard all throughout the wing, as well as when we were swimming in the Villas pool. It wasn't a big deal for us, but if you wanted to take an afternoon rest in your room, it would've been tough.

Other than that, we enjoyed our stay. It was our first time staying at the WL, and it was just great!

Did you mention the disturbance to management? Were you notified about this at check-in or in your room?

Can I please be added to the lodger's log :) ?

I'll be celebrating a high school graduation trip from 8/1 - 8/9!!!! :hyper::hyper::hyper::hyper:

I'm VERY excited for my first stay! TIA!

YIPPEE for graduation! I'll add your dates and I hope you have a magical time.

Hi everyone!

Just booked a last minute trip to the lodge 6-26 through 7-5 and we can't wait!!! we have a CYV and I requested South Wing, 5th floor, facing silver creek springs pool closest to Bay lake.
Hopefully the request gets granted as the kids (& I guess myself included) wanted to have a view of the main pool, electrical light parade and maybe with some luck some fireworks? IDK but I'm wishing for the best.
I would have asked for the 6th floor but the balconies seem smaller than the regular open balconies.

If anyone has any experiences or pictures fro this particular area can you share or direct me in the right direction? Thanks!!!!!

Welcome! That is kind of last minute. Personally, I would avoid the South Wing right now. There is construction work going on on the ground floor near the VWL pool area. The noises seems to travel throughout the wing and even outdoors. I would recommend requesting a "North Wing/Inner CYV" room instead. Both wings have the view you're looking for. There are CYV photos in the first page of the thread in the ROOM chapters.

I just spoke to someone directly at WL and I asked about construction and noise going on now. First she said no construction is happening now. Then when I pressured more she put me on a brief hold and came back and said yes construction started on May 29th with work being done from 9-7. She does not have an end date. Asked why we weren't notified and she said there is a flyer in the room. That's just too late IMHO.

So we changed to the BWI because we don't want our first stay to be negatively affected by construction.

The CM who said no construction is going on was probably located at the offsite Call Center. When you questioned her answer, she then called WL and spoke to someone there who confirmed what we already know. Did you actually have a flyer in your room? If so, could you post it? I don't understand why guests aren't being informed upon check-in or even sooner and it sounds like they're putting guests right above the noise:sad2:

You can remove me from the Log:oops:--I switched us over to the GF. It was a hard choice, but with me only being there a short time we decided to give up club level luxury for monorail convience (and I guess the Grand is kinda luxurious ;)). I sort of feel like this is a break up:sad1:---but I promise to keep coming back to this thread and stay at the WL one day :love:

WL will be there for a future stay and there's nothing shabby about staying at the Grand.

We're down to the last week before we arrive! Called and got our room requests in and just finished the online check-in. Can't wait!
:yay:

Looooooong time lurker, but finally decided to take the plunge and post. So very excited for our trip to the lodge on 9/5-9/9. Short trip but just my mom, DD 12 and I. First girls trip and first time staying at the Wilderness Lodge. Love all the info on this thread. Thanks so much!

WOW! 2008 and this is your first post? Drum roll, please…:welcome: to the DIS and the WL/VWL thread! Glad you came out of lurkdom and I'll add your dates to the Lodgers' Log:)

We were at the VWL the first week of April for our spring break. I posted a picture of the first floor gutted rooms over on the DVC board asking if anyone thought they might be studios. The consensus then was ADA rooms. I'm back to thinking they probably have more to do with this dvc expansion. I was then off the board for a couple of months because I was so busy finishing my school year out. School gets out and I get on the boards only to see all these expansion plans! I wish this was another DVCMIKE April fools joke! As a DVC owner of one of the smaller DVCs, I am nervous about all these extra points being sold for these cabins only to increase the demand for the smaller DVC units. I'm trying to remain optimistic but I'm worried. I really hate the loss of all the trees and current landscape at the lodge. Trying not to be a negative nelly. We already have our next reservation scheduled at the lodge for Dec. 20-27th. No way to really change a Christmas reservation now within DVC because most everything is already booked. I guess we'll just hope for the best. KOOK you can add us to the lodgers log if you would like. We'll be in the villas for Christmas, I guess life could be worse! :) :santa:

I'd be happy to add your dates. I think you're going to have a magical vacation and you should look forward to being at WDW. They may still be doing clearing when you're there or work that really won't impact you over at VWL. It's too soon to know now.
 
The CM who said no construction is going on was probably located at the offsite Call Center. When you questioned her answer, she then called WL and spoke to someone there who confirmed what we already know. Did you actually have a flyer in your room? If so, could you post it? I don't understand why guests aren't being informed upon check-in or even sooner and it sounds like they're putting guests right above the noise:sad2:
Yes that's probably what she did. Our vacation isn't until the end of July so I don't have a flyer. We switched to BWI for those nights now so no VWL for us this year. Sorry I didn't clarify that in my post.
 
Yes that's probably what she did. Our vacation isn't until the end of July so I don't have a flyer. We switched to BWI for those nights now so no VWL for us this year. Sorry I didn't clarify that in my post.
You did mention changing and my eyes ignored it:blush:. Post to the BWI thread if you'd like me to add your dates there:)
 
Did my online check in just now. To request inner courtyard or wing I need to call Reservations or hotel direct?

Thanks!
 
Hello all! My first post to Disboards :)

This thread is so informative and has really sealed how I'm feeling about WL. So I'll just leap in with a question:

My family and I are booked to come to WDW for our first visit ever as a family (DH has visited 3 times in childhood, but has never stayed onsite). We're going to be there 26th March - 9th April. We booked into ASMu as we didn't think we'd spend much time at the resort and thought it'd be a good, fun place to stay with our kids (11 and 3). Now the big HOWEVER!

I have fallen so, so in love with WL and loads of new possibilities and experiences have opened up with the thought of us staying there. More resort time, more relaxing, awesome dining options, more convenient travel, beautiful surroundings. The resort speaks to my SOUL (if that doesn't sound to dramatic) and I can't believe it passed me by when I made my initial research before booking.

I'd love to switch our reservation. I'm very nervous about the scheduled construction though. We're a UK family, so won't be coming back to WDW for a few years after this trip - we'd need to save, save, save.

Any advice? If we took a watch and wait approach, when is the latest we could make the switch?
 
We are departing WL on July 5th. Our plane doesn't depart until 7 pm. We plan to spend the day at the pool. Does anyone know if/how they accommodate late checkout, and how late that might be? If not, how are the facilities? Are there family changing areas and showers (for example, we need to shower a small child)?
 
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