HuskerTony
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2014
Hello All! Just decompressed from coming back home this past Thursday after a 9 night trip at the Wilderness Lodge. What can I say...it was awesome! The lodge itself is beautiful without being pretentious, homey and inviting, Mousekeeping was great! I had never experienced a Deluxe hotel at WDW before, and this also did not dissapoint. The ONLY complaint my wife and I have, and we shared it with Staff at WL, is transportation at the Deluxe resort. For the money we paid, I shared that they at least should have a bus that ran exclusively as an express, to and from the TTC. We loved the boat service to the Contemporary and the MK, but just felt that one bus, exclusively running to the TTC, would have a great response for getting around the WHOLE world from a Deluxe resort. Other than that suggestion, everything was AMAZING! Here are some thoughts on our stay, including restaurant reviews:
If you are staying at WL, you MUST try the Habenero Margarita in the Territory Lounge! It's out of this world!
Restaurants- Ohana...most fun and great food we had eating. Restaurant Marrakesh...atmosphere was great, food was just so-so. Biergarten...a dissapointment. Food not worth the high price to pay, and the German entertainment was not up to other Beer Garden groups I have been privledged to hear. Via Napoli...Superb! We had a make your own pizza and it was great! California Grill...splurged on our last night and must say I am glad we did! It was an amazing experience! So much so I asked our waiter if I could walk up and pay my compliments to Chef Todd Pisecki himself, and he said they love that! Chef was busy, but took the time to chat and was very humble and gracious...plus to be able to see the sweeping views of the World, at night, from on top of the Contemporary Hotel, followed by watching "Wishes", let's just say it was a very special evening! One last item, the best Sushi on property is over at the amazing Splittsville Bowling Center at Downtown Disney! I could only wish that the owners of this great place would bring one to where I live! I am not a huge sushi guy, but I ate my face off at this place!
A couple of other items: I am a subscriber to Touring Plans, and will share with them, as I will share with you, that they need to re-evaluate their evaluation process for "off-season" crowd ratings. I truly feel that with Disney's discounting of rooms' during these traditional "off-season" times, along with offering dining plans at these times, they are filling the hotels and parks at times when before, crowd levels were typically very low. Not anymore! Where Touring Plans had crowd levels ranked in the 1's and 2's. they were easily 6's and 7's. Give Disney credit, they may be losing a little bit of money discounting to to get people in the parks, but they ARE getting people in the parks. It was not unmanageable in any way mind you, but I typically go down in the winter or late fall due to my job situation, times typically that show crowd levels at 1's and 2's...those days are gone thanks to brilliant marketing by Disney.
I did not realize the entire state of Louisiana was given time off during Mardi Gras! That is pretty cool...seems the entire state was at Disney during that time!
The new Fantasyland is beautiful! We were VERY luck to secure a ADR at Be Our Guest during our stay, and it did not dissapoint. We were seated in the dark and scary West Wing, and had a great meal! The ambiance and the food were top notch!
It still amazes me at the level of service from the great CM's at Disney! They are just great people and help out in many ways. We are in our late 40's and tend to "stroll" around the parks and properties, our kids have grown so we don't need to power through to get things done anymore. So we are able to do alot more observing of all things Disney at WDW, and to see how the CM's handle tough parents, over stimulated kids, and altogether rude people, is inspiring!
All in all a great trip. Did not get to Splash Mountain (refurb) and the new Seven Dwarves Mine Train (which is nearing completion and looks great!), but was able to go on everything else with maximum wait times (if we did not FP+) of 30 minutes. We think that Disney needs to update "Soarin" to digital film and include 3D technology to really make that attraction "POP"! Also, updating the Jungle Cruise with newer, innovative audio-animatronic animals would make that voyage even more fun!
Finally, the new FP+ system worked great for us. As I said before, crowd levels were moderate, so we were able to get on just about everything we wanted at times that were convenient. In fact, we had a FP for Expedition Everest one day, arrive at our time, and saw the FP line stretched all the way up the hill for about 30 yards from the entrance to the quere! So we got in the stand by line and were in our car in 20 minutes...so you just have to keep an eye out and think about what you want to do.
To all who wonder, the entire trip cost (with airfare) including meals came to around $5,600.00. The most expensive trip we have taken, but had our newly engaged daughter in tow, and treated he to most meals. This was also a special trip celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary (1 year late), so we wanted to do what we wanted to do, without worrying about what it cost. Hope this helps you out! We are hoping for a return trip after Thanksgiving next year, after our daughters wedding...IF I have ANY money left!
If you are staying at WL, you MUST try the Habenero Margarita in the Territory Lounge! It's out of this world!
Restaurants- Ohana...most fun and great food we had eating. Restaurant Marrakesh...atmosphere was great, food was just so-so. Biergarten...a dissapointment. Food not worth the high price to pay, and the German entertainment was not up to other Beer Garden groups I have been privledged to hear. Via Napoli...Superb! We had a make your own pizza and it was great! California Grill...splurged on our last night and must say I am glad we did! It was an amazing experience! So much so I asked our waiter if I could walk up and pay my compliments to Chef Todd Pisecki himself, and he said they love that! Chef was busy, but took the time to chat and was very humble and gracious...plus to be able to see the sweeping views of the World, at night, from on top of the Contemporary Hotel, followed by watching "Wishes", let's just say it was a very special evening! One last item, the best Sushi on property is over at the amazing Splittsville Bowling Center at Downtown Disney! I could only wish that the owners of this great place would bring one to where I live! I am not a huge sushi guy, but I ate my face off at this place!
A couple of other items: I am a subscriber to Touring Plans, and will share with them, as I will share with you, that they need to re-evaluate their evaluation process for "off-season" crowd ratings. I truly feel that with Disney's discounting of rooms' during these traditional "off-season" times, along with offering dining plans at these times, they are filling the hotels and parks at times when before, crowd levels were typically very low. Not anymore! Where Touring Plans had crowd levels ranked in the 1's and 2's. they were easily 6's and 7's. Give Disney credit, they may be losing a little bit of money discounting to to get people in the parks, but they ARE getting people in the parks. It was not unmanageable in any way mind you, but I typically go down in the winter or late fall due to my job situation, times typically that show crowd levels at 1's and 2's...those days are gone thanks to brilliant marketing by Disney.
I did not realize the entire state of Louisiana was given time off during Mardi Gras! That is pretty cool...seems the entire state was at Disney during that time!
The new Fantasyland is beautiful! We were VERY luck to secure a ADR at Be Our Guest during our stay, and it did not dissapoint. We were seated in the dark and scary West Wing, and had a great meal! The ambiance and the food were top notch!
It still amazes me at the level of service from the great CM's at Disney! They are just great people and help out in many ways. We are in our late 40's and tend to "stroll" around the parks and properties, our kids have grown so we don't need to power through to get things done anymore. So we are able to do alot more observing of all things Disney at WDW, and to see how the CM's handle tough parents, over stimulated kids, and altogether rude people, is inspiring!
All in all a great trip. Did not get to Splash Mountain (refurb) and the new Seven Dwarves Mine Train (which is nearing completion and looks great!), but was able to go on everything else with maximum wait times (if we did not FP+) of 30 minutes. We think that Disney needs to update "Soarin" to digital film and include 3D technology to really make that attraction "POP"! Also, updating the Jungle Cruise with newer, innovative audio-animatronic animals would make that voyage even more fun!
Finally, the new FP+ system worked great for us. As I said before, crowd levels were moderate, so we were able to get on just about everything we wanted at times that were convenient. In fact, we had a FP for Expedition Everest one day, arrive at our time, and saw the FP line stretched all the way up the hill for about 30 yards from the entrance to the quere! So we got in the stand by line and were in our car in 20 minutes...so you just have to keep an eye out and think about what you want to do.
To all who wonder, the entire trip cost (with airfare) including meals came to around $5,600.00. The most expensive trip we have taken, but had our newly engaged daughter in tow, and treated he to most meals. This was also a special trip celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary (1 year late), so we wanted to do what we wanted to do, without worrying about what it cost. Hope this helps you out! We are hoping for a return trip after Thanksgiving next year, after our daughters wedding...IF I have ANY money left!
