(CLOSED) Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE and VILLAS INFORMATION THREAD ~11/13 - 6/14~

[patty57]

We're an Epcot resorts family...love walking into Epcot for food and drink most nights. For a change, I booked one night in a studio at VWL in Dec. 2010, before moving over to BWV for the rest of my stay with my elderly mom. I thought she would love to see the holiday decorations. Anyway, something must have been up with the studio because we were bumped up to the WL, concierge. It was amazing!! We had a great time for that day and evening. I always said I would go back some day for the holidays. I just booked a VWL studio on rented points for Dec. 1-7 and am so excited.

 

[Aatif911]

Can you add us por favor? May 18 - June 1

 

[Aatif911]

Oops duplicate post.

 

[VAfamily1998]

The first page has lots of information on things to do and see at WL and FW and there are also links to my past TRs that have more photos/reviews. Everything is hyperlinked in Post 1. Information/photos of the Wonders of the Lodge tour is located HERE.

The Woods View rooms are in quieter areas than the Courtyard View rooms which overlook pool areas. The biggest noise problem we find at WDW resorts, is having a connecting door between rooms. Those doors let in a lot of sound, so I would request to not have a connecting room.

Yes, there is one shower in the women's locker room at Sturdy Branches:








These are the DVC Member pool hopping rules, but I think they're from 2013:

When staying on your Membership at any Disney Vacation Club Resort
at the Walt Disney World Resort or Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, you
and any Guests staying with you are permitted to use most of the other
Disney Vacation Club and Walt Disney World Resort hotel pools (in
addition to the pool at the resort hotel at which you are staying) if they
are not at capacity. If the pool you are visiting reaches capacity, you may
be asked to leave in order to accommodate Guests of that resort hotel.
Please check with a host or hostess at the front desk of the resort you
wish to visit before you go to find out about pool-access availability.
You must present your current Key to the World Card with your “DVC
Member” designation on it to use the other resort hotel pools.

Pool hopping is not available at Bay Cove Pool at Bay Lake Tower at
Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Uzima Pool and Samawati Springs Pool
at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, Stormalong Bay at Disney’s Yacht &
Beach Club Resorts, the leisure pool at Disney’s Beach Club Villas, and
the pools at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. There are no exceptions to
this policy.

Resort hotel pools may become unavailable from time to time due to
capacity limitations. Due to the high occupancy that is expected, you and
any Guests staying with you may not pool hop during the dates listed on
the next page.

POOL HOPPING BLOCKOUT DATES*
February 16 – 23 (Saturday – Saturday)
March 24 – April 7 (Sunday – Sunday)
May 25 – 28 (Saturday – Tuesday)
June 29 – July 8 (Saturday – Monday)
August 30 – September 2 (Friday – Monday)
November 25 – December 1 (Monday – Sunday)
December 15 – January 5 (Sunday – Sunday)

As a reminder, please be mindful of the limited number of pool chairs
available, and refrain from leaving towels or personal items on
unoccupied pool chairs.

*Other restricted dates may be added based on projected pool capacity.

Thanks so much! I'll be sure to request a non connecting room (though they can't guarantee it! )
So it looks like normally my DVC friends would be able to join me in the pool, but not during the weekend we'll be there. I'm sure we'll find something else to do instead!
Thanks again for the info!

 

[hstrickland]

On behalf of Heather who started all this… I think what she meant was that she ends up upgrading her trips herself, much to the chagrin of her DH, Bill. She likes to add on days and/or CL stays. Hopefully, she'll correct me if I'm wrong.

Kook was spot-on Sorry for the delay in response...I got sidetracked trying to plan an upgrade My upgrade "stunts" should probably be titled "Operation Upgrade". The kids and I are forever trying to finagle some sort of add-on. Gradually we let Bill in on our plans. It's better to ease DHs into things like that, ya know Little by little...poco a poco He secretly loves Operation Upgrade....promise.

 

[Three cats]

Kook was spot-on Sorry for the delay in response...I got sidetracked trying to plan an upgrade My upgrade "stunts" should probably be titled "Operation Upgrade". The kids and I are forever trying to finagle some sort of add-on. Gradually we let Bill in on our plans. It's better to ease DHs into things like that, ya know Little by little...poco a poco He secretly loves Operation Upgrade....promise.

 

[ocalla]

Am I understanding this correctly: the only gym at WL is actually at VWL?

 

[Deb & Bill]

Am I understanding this correctly: the only gym at WL is actually at VWL?

Yep, it's in the lobby at VWL and called Sturdy Branches.

 

[DDuck4Life]

It's official. We just booked our weekend trip at WL May 2nd - 5th

This will be our first time staying here and we can't wait. WL always looks so amazing and now we finally get to stay there.

Fantastic info in the first couple of pages. Thanks for all the hard work that went into all the details and it's very well organized to find any info you need. It will definitely be very helpful in planning our stay.

 

[ocalla]

Yep, it's in the lobby at VWL and called Sturdy Branches.

Can WL guests use it?

 

[mystery222184]

Can WL guests use it?

Yep. While it's in the VWL, it's still closer than several other resort gyms such as the one between the GF and Poly.

 

[ltl engine]

Can we request a view of the otter pond or is there another wording? I assume this is woods view. Also is the 6th floor a solid railing on the balcony? Tia!

 

[danceteachermom]

We are on our 7th snow day...4th in a row. Yesterday I spent some time looking at our spring break pictures from our VWL trip last year a d at dinner we were all talking about how much we are looking forward to our trip this April. For those checking out the lodge I thought I would share our list of things about WL in particular that we are eager to experience again.

My daughter (13) - pool, Roaring Forks Panini Sandwiches, the Electric Water Pageant, Boat instead of Bus to MK

My son (6) - pool, Cub's Den, marshmallow roast, riding the Magical Express to the resort

Hubby & I - villa room, massages at Sturdy Branches, Artist Point, pool/pool drinks, boat to MK/Cont., chocolate croissants for breakfast

I always get up before everyone make coffee and head for a walk around the grounds or to sit in the beautiful lobby on my IPad, Then I pick up some breakfast items from Roaring Forks and head back to the room to wake the crew for Rope Drop. We have a saying "only is Disney we have chocolate for breakfast."

We really liked the access to the health club. We do not do big workouts on vacation...especially park days. But a quick trip to the gym on our resort and water park days helps us feel less guilty about indulging in all the food on vacation.

Happy Snow day to all the teachers and students out there who are enjoying a day at home! Stay warm. Stay safe.

 

[Aatif911]

We are on our 7th snow day...4th in a row. Yesterday I spent some time looking at our spring break pictures from our VWL trip last year a d at dinner we were all talking about how much we are looking forward to our trip this April. For those checking out the lodge I thought I would share our list of things about WL in particular that we are eager to experience again. My daughter (13) - pool, Roaring Forks Panini Sandwiches, the Electric Water Pageant, Boat instead of Bus to MK My son (6) - pool, Cub's Den, marshmallow roast, riding the Magical Express to the resort Hubby & I - villa room, massages at Sturdy Branches, Artist Point, pool/pool drinks, boat to MK/Cont., chocolate croissants for breakfast I always get up before everyone make coffee and head for a walk around the grounds or to sit in the beautiful lobby on my IPad, Then I pick up some breakfast items from Roaring Forks and head back to the room to wake the crew for Rope Drop. We have a saying "only is Disney we have chocolate for breakfast." We really liked the access to the health club. We do not do big workouts on vacation...especially park days. But a quick trip to the gym on our resort and water park days helps us feel less guilty about indulging in all the food on vacation. Happy Snow day to all the teachers and students out there who are enjoying a day at home! Stay warm. Stay safe.

That's funny we have our 7th snow day today as well! Michigan is too damn cold! Well at least this month.
Thanks for sharing this. Question for you? How early do you wake up, especially when you say that you walk around the lobby or sit down and then get back and wake everyone up for ROPEDROP? (It's gotta be like 5am or something).

 

[TheLodgeLady]

We are on our 7th snow day...4th in a row. Yesterday I spent some time looking at our spring break pictures from our VWL trip last year a d at dinner we were all talking about how much we are looking forward to our trip this April. For those checking out the lodge I thought I would share our list of things about WL in particular that we are eager to experience again.

My daughter (13) - pool, Roaring Forks Panini Sandwiches, the Electric Water Pageant, Boat instead of Bus to MK

My son (6) - pool, Cub's Den, marshmallow roast, riding the Magical Express to the resort

Hubby & I - villa room, massages at Sturdy Branches, Artist Point, pool/pool drinks, boat to MK/Cont., chocolate croissants for breakfast

I always get up before everyone make coffee and head for a walk around the grounds or to sit in the beautiful lobby on my IPad, Then I pick up some breakfast items from Roaring Forks and head back to the room to wake the crew for Rope Drop. We have a saying "only is Disney we have chocolate for breakfast."

We really liked the access to the health club. We do not do big workouts on vacation...especially park days. But a quick trip to the gym on our resort and water park days helps us feel less guilty about indulging in all the food on vacation.

Happy Snow day to all the teachers and students out there who are enjoying a day at home! Stay warm. Stay safe.

Wow! So many snow days this year Are you children going to have to make up the days? I remember when I lived up North, we would have to make them up.

Ahh! Messages at Sturdy Branches. My husband gets them there and he loves it. He has tried Grand Floridian and Saratoga Springs and he likes them much better at Sturdy Branches. And, it is within walking distance of our room

 

[TheLodgeLady]

Hello Kook,

Looks like we are not going to make the August trip this year. So, please take us off of the Log for now. If we go, it will most likely be the end of July now. Thanks!

 

[danceteachermom]

That's funny we have our 7th snow day today as well! Michigan is too damn cold! Well at least this month.
Thanks for sharing this. Question for you? How early do you wake up, especially when you say that you walk around the lobby or sit down and then get back and wake everyone up for ROPEDROP? (It's gotta be like 5am or something).

I usually get up about 5:00 AM...that is my routine during the school year and it is hard to break it on spring break...especially the first several days. The lodge is so pretty then. The lobby and outdoor areas are deserted. So e times I sit with my feet in the hot tub. Then I am the first customer in Roaring Forks. We are there 8 days but only do parks 5.

 

[Aatif911]

I usually get up about 5:00 AM...that is my routine during the school year and it is hard to break it on spring break...especially the first several days. The lodge is so pretty then. The lobby and outdoor areas are deserted. So e times I sit with my feet in the hot tub. Then I am the first customer in Roaring Forks. We are there 8 days but only do parks 5.

That's awesome!!

 

[hstrickland]

We are on our 7th snow day...4th in a row.

Would you believe that we have been out of school for 2 days for ice and freezing rain??!! And we live in South Georgia...Savannah area. CRAZY!!!! My dear friend that lives in Holland, MI has been sending me pics of their crazy snow....over the mail box....and they've missed numerous days of school, too.

I always get up before everyone make coffee and head for a walk around the grounds or to sit in the beautiful lobby on my IPad, Then I pick up some breakfast items from Roaring Forks and head back to the room to wake the crew for Rope Drop. We have a saying "only is Disney we have chocolate for breakfast."

And I thought I was the only crazy fool to get up before sunrise LOVE my early mornings at Disney. It's so peaceful and quiet...almost like another world. My camera always accompanies me as I take quite a few photographs while on vacation ....quite a few.

 

[ocalla]

Lafayette Louisiana here....Way down south....no school last Friday due to ice/snow, no school yesterday and today for the same reason!!! Very Strange !! And the entire time I've been stuck inside, I keep looking at my Big Day ap ( which is showing 29 days!!!!) and thinking if I were there at WL now I could be enjoying that awesome fireplace!!!!