Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE Information & Questions

[Wood Nymph]

The SV rooms in the South Wing are right next to the bus stop. The boats, however, are in the complete opposite direction of the bus stop.

I thought the same thing when I read their post.

Maybe they got a free upgrade to courtyard view and don't realize it.

 

[Cultural Rep 1996]

I just spoke to a castmember who was doing the construction, he looked like he was fairly senior (not a contractor, had a Disney name badge on) about the work being done on the first floor of the south wing. He said that the whole of that wing from the elevators midway down to the end near the lake are being turned into DVC. A mixture of studios, 1 and 2 bed. He also said that they are taking a few rooms from the other half of the south wing (from the midway elevators towards the lobby) for the same purpose. The rooms that have been worked on are 'show rooms' so that people can see what the new DVC accommodation will look like.

 

[WDWKOOK]

I just spoke to a castmember who was doing the construction, he looked like he was fairly senior (not a contractor, had a Disney name badge on) about the work being done on the first floor of the south wing. He said that the whole of that wing from the elevators midway down to the end near the lake are being turned into DVC. A mixture of studios, 1 and 2 bed. He also said that they are taking a few rooms from the other half of the south wing (from the midway elevators towards the lobby) for the same purpose. The rooms that have been worked on are 'show rooms' so that people can see what the new DVC accommodation will look like.

Thank you so much @Cultural Rep 1996 for being the first to verify what we've all speculated - that those South Wing rooms are in fact model DVC rooms! You're also the first to confirm the sizes ranging from Studios to 2-bedroom. Excellent detective work! I'm going to cross-post your information to the WL DVC Conversion thread. I'll be doing some photo recon work after our arrival next week so if you can't post your photos, I'll get some after the 21st. Thanks again!

 

[Cultural Rep 1996]

Finally gave enough posts to allow me to upload photos.

 

[mickeycharles]

Since they added the fence and now close the pool when a lifeguard isn't present, the times have been slightly modified. I think in Sep. they are around 10-9 or 10-10?

Thanks for this very useful thread and for answering my question!

 

[Aurora0427]

I'm sorry if this has been asked recently.... Can anyone recommend what I should tell my TA to request for the "best" view possible for a standard view? I wanted to book woods view for my mom but it's sold out.

Is a higher floor with view of woods in the background something I could put?
Thanks!

 

[wifey]

Pool times are currently 9am to 11 pm, the water use in the rooms have poor water pressure which once you have folks flushing the toilets constantly makes a noise like jack hammering... Just saying!

 

[mrsap]

...and we'll be arriving only 2 days before you!

Woo hoo! I am counting down the seconds!!! Can't get here fast enough!!!! Enjoy your trip! Maybe we'll see you there!!!!!


KOOK- its so hard to enjoy the 'in-between' stuff when you're looking forward to a Disney trip!!! lol It's summer??! lol

 

[NewbieMouse]

I'm just wondering if there is a preferred room type we should reserve and/or a specific request we should make to be minimally impacted by construction for a May 10-14 trip? The construction has me hesitating booking, but I thought I could mitigate any unpleasantness with a certain room type, and am not picky about views. Club level is probably not feasible for us.

 

[Dizzy Knee]

Loved looking through this info. We fly to Florida tomorrow from the UK and spending some time in Universal/I Drive before heading to our first stay at Wilderness Lodge on Sunday 23rd August. We have stayed at All Star Movies, POR twice, Corondo Springs and OKW so this is our first 'Magic Kingdom' hotel. Hoping our 4 year old loves the setting! We have a woods view, really excited about visiting.

 

[The_Banking_Scot]

Hi,

I have just booked club level at WL for 5 nights from 11/28 to 3/12 using the Fall discount rates. I am off to Disneyland in 2 weeks to run the half marathon and will buy a Premier annual pass to cover both DL and WDW as I plan to be back in WDW during 2016 ( maybe for the Epcot Flower and Garden festival) .Looking forward to going to the Christmas party ( I will wait until I get my Annual pass to buy the ticket as I will save a few dollars.) and seeing all the christmas activities and decorations up ( I saw some of them in early Jan 2011 as I was running the WDW Half marathon but some of them had started to come down .

 

[Wood Nymph]

I'm sorry if this has been asked recently.... Can anyone recommend what I should tell my TA to request for the "best" view possible for a standard view? I wanted to book woods view for my mom but it's sold out.

Is a higher floor with view of woods in the background something I could put?
Thanks!

I think that a high floor is a good request and woods view would also be good. Most standard rooms face the woods but there are a few that face the bus stop.

I'm just wondering if there is a preferred room type we should reserve and/or a specific request we should make to be minimally impacted by construction for a May 10-14 trip? The construction has me hesitating booking, but I thought I could mitigate any unpleasantness with a certain room type, and am not picky about views. Club level is probably not feasible for us.

This is really a difficult question to answer because we don't know what the construction situation will be in May. If, and only if, the cabin construction near north side of the WL resort hasn't begun yet, then a woods view room would be a good one to choose. If construction in that area has begun, though, you will be facing it. If you could guarantee an inner courtyard room rather than a courtyard view that faced the villas pool, then an inner courtyard view room would be good. But you can't guarantee an inner courtyard room unless they totally close the south wing and block off all the south wing rooms for DVC construction. But we don't know if those are the plans for the south wing. They have been very secretive about the south wing construction. So all in all there isn't an answer to your question.

 

[Aurora0427]

I think that a high floor is a good request and woods view would also be good. Most standard rooms face the woods but there are a few that face the bus stop.

Thank you! I'll ask for a high floor facing the woods.

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

Realistically, how bad would construction noise be in a standard room over Christmas? Deciding between AKL or WL.

 

[Minnie]

Please add us to the list - we check in next Friday - Aug 21st - Aug 24th CY view. I requested inner courtyard upper floor does this seem okay? Thanks!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Realistically, how bad would construction noise be in a standard room over Christmas? Deciding between AKL or WL.

The scheduled work in December would be the villas pool area and there aren't any standard view rooms anywhere near that area. Almost all of them are on the other side of the resort, facing the Contemporary and MK. The rest of them face toward the bus stop.

 

[tarak]

We checked into the WL yesterday and I wanted to post a bit about our room and the resort right now.

We're in a deluxe room, so staying CL. We have room 2000. A few things people might not like about it. The balcony is pretty narrow. There's a stone wall about five feet high, so you can't see through anything. But the view is of the woods. We're low enough that we couldn't see the fireworks if we wanted to. On the plus side, it's very private. And while it poured down rain for a good hour or so last night, the balcony was nice and dry. It's raining right now, actually, and my laptop is just fine. We have one of those odd little standing balconies, and I honestly don't know what the point is, other than having a private conversation on my cell phone.

The lounge is great. We're not big dinner folks, so the appetizers are good for us. Last night when we came back from the parks, there was a fresh batch of apple cobbler. It was soooo good. We stayed CL at the YC last year and they've instituted the procedure where the staff pour wine for you. It didn't bother me tremendously, but I have to say, being able to get a glass on my own, without wondering if I'm being judged, was very nice. I also like the way the lounge is set up. I know they're refurbishing YC, but it seemed so cramped to me. I like having the ability to spread out. We've never run out of food and it hasn't been crowded. It could just be the time of the year, with school starting in many states (we don't go back for another week). But even getting there at 5, the lounge wasn't that crowded. We haven't been down to breakfast yet, but I can update tomorrow because we have no plans. The CL staff has also been great. My sister and niece are arriving today, so I asked if we could set up the DME for them (I have their magic bands). It was taken care of with no trouble at all.

If anyone has any questions, please let me know and I can see if I can find out the answer.

 

[DisFam95]

We just got back yesterday. 10 days was so nice - I thought it would be more relaxing to go longer to spread things out but I think we just crammed in more . We actually cancelled our Universal day (so glad I didn't buy tickets ahead of time). The boys were totally fine and just wanted to rest.

I mentioned previously about the chain saw sounds coming from the south wing construction during midday and also the hour long faint (from 5th floor) drilling sounds coming from the north side roofing work. Scaffolding was still up on the woods view north tower towards the very front of the hotel and some at the very top roof area where the south tower connects to the bear face. I just had to get in the right position for photos!

We arrived at 11am and didn't get our text until 2:50! We spent time eating lunch and walking around the resort. It dumped rain so no swimming so we just hung out in the lobby and wandered. But you could tell there was a group of people hovering near the desk just waiting to pounce because they hadn't gotten room assignments (I was one of them). Hey it says 3pm right.

We had no issues with buses in fact most times walked up to one just arriving. never waited more than 10 min I'd say even for the dreaded EPCOT I've heard so many people have trouble with timing. Forgot how long it takes to get to Downtown Disney and also that they only have 1 bus stop there with all the construction so plan accordingly if you need to get to Cirque or something on the West Side vs Marketplace. We've always taken the boat to MK but man the bus is faster I think. We did the boat to CR and the walk to MK too which was nice and vice versa on the way home when my DH thought the bus would be crowded. We split up (to test it) and I beat him by 5 min or more taking the bus - and we waited a while for the bus.

The pool bartender (heavy set blonde girl) had a lot of trouble hiding her displeasure of another CM working in HER space. The other one was trying hard to help but obviously wasn't doing things the way the blonde girl wanted. Not sure what the seniority was there. We saw her another time walking through RF and she does not know how to put on her show face - she just seemed very gruff.

Later we saw that helpful CM in Roaring Forks on the floor and moving tables trying so hard to find something someone in a group had dropped (maybe a pin or something). She was crawling around on her hands and knees determined to find whatever the young boy lost and being so chipper the whole time. Another guest found the item (it had rolled quite a distance) and brought it over. She still spent time with the boy as he excitedly showed her all about this item. I then saw the CM grab her lunch box and said her goodbyes and happily walk into the back. My husband went to ask someone her name because he was so impressed by her helping and felt bad because the bar CM seemed so rough her the other day. I think her name was Gretchen and they went to the back and then said she had left on her break. SO she had taken some of her break time to help that family. He did go tell a hotel manager about her!

My son pulled a very very very wavy long hair (12inches +) off of his cherry or wrapped around the toothpick from a kids drink at the Territory Lounge. DH gently waved the waitress over and showed her the hair. Her face was disgusted and she didn't say much. She literally looked like she didn;t want to lay a hand on it. IMAGINE HOW WE FEEL SISTER. She reached out her arm and kind of leaned her shoulders back still disgusted and took it. She brought back another drink and set it down. I don't even remember her really saying much and just can picture her puckered up face - btw - she had very very very long curly hair pulled up on top of her head. My husband worked several years as a bartender an was quite surprised esp for Disney that they did not comp the drink. That's not at all what we were after and we never questioned it when presented with the bill its just sort of the right thing to do in the food industry. But we coined a new term - hairichino cherries!

Saw a few extremely dirty hall vents by the elevators. Are there no long handle dusters available? But our Mousekeeping was nice and stuffed animals neatly arranged. No folded towels or anything magical. Extra blankets delivered quickly. None of the direct buttons to Bell Service etc worked on the phone, I think we just dialed the house operator. One day we got a wake up call when we didn't ask for one. We hope that other family made it where they needed to be on time. I always set my own alarm on the phone.

I loved the dimmer button on the clock and loved the ceiling fan on high as I need "fan noise" to sleep. I hate quiet hotel rooms. The thermostat gets nice and cold.

Laundry was good. 1 broken washer and the little automated helper thing said no problems found so we went to call from the laundry phone and the speaker was missing from the phone receiver! So we walked to the front desk to report the issues. We had to stop several people from using the broken machine but maybe within 20 min a maintenance man was placing a sign and fixing the phone so they were very responsive with those issues. Bringing a pop up mesh hamper was a great way to keep the floor clean of laundry and transport to the wash. Great tip from here.

I don't care for all noise and loud music at the pool during the pool party stuff and so glad we didnt have a room at the lower portion of the courtyard or else I'm guessing you hear dance music booming out your window. We heard it faintly from the upper end of the courtyard but it wasnt bad. But the kids have fun with some of the activities.

Artist Point delicious as always. We all 3 had the buffalo. My DS9 wanted to try it and we're all about him trying new things. He liked it but obviously too much after appetizers so I had buffalo for breakfast!! Yum!! DS13 had the Artisan Cheese plate and Mushroom soup. Those cheeses were sooo yummy!

Roaring Forks is way too tiny in my opinion. We usually get out early so it wasn't usually much of an issue but 2 days we went "late" at 8-8:30 and it's packed. Food is good. The flatbreads are really big in my opinion. We ended up DS13 getting the Roast beef sandwich (also huge) and DS9 getting the flatbread and I would just eat nearly half of theirs. We got tired of so much uneaten food the portions are so big.

Overall it was a great trip but OMG it's humid!!! I'm so thrilled to be home in my 105 degree dry heat.

Hope everyone's upcoming trips come as quickly as possible for you!!!!

 

[mamabunny]

Hello! I have gone back a ways (to December of last year) and have been reading everyone's posts with great interest.

We will be at WDW Sept 25 through Sept 30, for our first-ever WL stay! This trip will be a "Girls Only" (no boys allowed - daddy has to stay home and go to work!) and it's a bit of a bonus trip for us; we typically don't get to do a September trip, so it's just extra special! We have planned a full day for F&W, and are doing MNSSHP too. SO EXCITED!

Like so many others, we fell in love with WL the first time we visited (on our trip this past Feb. to celebrate our daughter's 21st birthday). We caught the last table of the night at WCC, and since we were literally the only Guests, our server just sat with us and chatted - there was no one else there, so when we asked for ketchup, he went and got the crew in the kitchen to bring out the bottles!

After we ate, we wandered around the lobby for a while, and before we had gotten very far at all, we knew that we would be staying at WL on our next trip because we were just in love with it.

I do have a couple of questions - I have searched all over, but can't find any info on. First, does anyone know if there are any CL/deluxe HA/roll-in shower rooms? Or if any of the CL/deluxe rooms have a "step in" shower? I would love to surprise our daughter, and secretly upgrade our rooms if it is possible.

Second, how often does the "internal" FW/WL bus run between WL & the stop nearest Pioneer Hall? We have (of course!) Hoop Dee Doo ADRs for our first night (it's a family tradition!) and several ADRs for Trails End because... well, if you have to ask, you haven't eaten there LOL. We are hoping to have Kevin for our waiter (again) at our dinner ADR - he is simply one of the best CMs we have ever met!

Thanks! We can't wait to arrive!

 

[cart-mom]

Nine days till we check in, of course things are going to pick up off the coast of Africa. It hasn't been defined yet but it looks active. Ugh. Why, why why? Please let it not form into anything.