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

[jacquelinemc]

Can anyone tell me how long it's been taking lately to get to the WL via ME? I know there are a lot of variables. My flight gets in at 4 PM on a Wednesday and I just snagged a WCC ADR for 6:25. Does this sound doable?

It really depends on how full your bus is...we were psyched when we realized we were the only people on our bus with no one else in sight for a good 20 minutes and thought we'd have the entire bus to ourselves! Turns out we had to wait until the entire bus was filled-no wasted trips! We sat in that parking spot for at least an hour, and it was already late, after 11:00 pm. By the time we drove to WL, checked in (even with pre-online checking) it was close to 2:00 am before we got to our room to sleep. I'm sure other people had better timing, but that was our experience with no big issues...it just took that long!

 

[NicoleLarson]

http://images.hosting-disney.com/PostBookingStream/Resorts/RecCalendars/2014February/1J-JITDocs.pdf

I see johnsonet already posted a pic of the most current activity guide here is the link to it, sent by WDW today.

 

[Thanlis]

Booked! 11/30 - 12/6, first Wilderness Lodge stay, me and Susiecat.

Plans are pretty general right now, but we want to maybe spend a little less time on rides and more time soaking up the holiday spirit, seeing all the big trees, visiting some of the resorts we've never seen, and so on.

 

[BubblyTrip]

It really depends on how full your bus is...we were psyched when we realized we were the only people on our bus with no one else in sight for a good 20 minutes and thought we'd have the entire bus to ourselves! Turns out we had to wait until the entire bus was filled-no wasted trips! We sat in that parking spot for at least an hour, and it was already late, after 11:00 pm. By the time we drove to WL, checked in (even with pre-online checking) it was close to 2:00 am before we got to our room to sleep. I'm sure other people had better timing, but that was our experience with no big issues...it just took that long!

Yikes! We'll traveling during Spring Break, so I am thinking too many people vs too few, but that is a long time to get there!

 

[jacquelinemc]

Yikes! We'll traveling during Spring Break, so I am thinking too many people vs too few, but that is a long time to get there!

That could also mean an entire crowd could descend on a bus and fill it entirely, no wait! Also, I think you said you are eating at Whispering Canyon? They were very accommodating and it us your home resort. We showed up 45 minutes late for an ADR there because we just had the wrong time in our head and they seated us within five minutes! I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Can anyone tell me how long it's been taking lately to get to the WL via ME?

I know there are a lot of variables. My flight gets in at 4 PM on a Wednesday and I just snagged a WCC ADR for 6:25. Does this sound doable?

My DH thought I was nuts when I was writing down these times, but now I have them for you. This was from our trip in late January.

We walked off the airplane on a Wednesday morning at 9:36am. We got on a bus around 10am. The bus left the airport at 10:11am. Our first stop was the Poly at 10:47am. Then it stopped at the GF before heading to WL. We arrived at WL at 11:00am. We were met at the front by a CM with an iPad. We had done online check in and it took about five minutes before we were headed to our room, which was ready for us.

Booked! 11/30 - 12/6, first Wilderness Lodge stay, me and Susiecat.

Plans are pretty general right now, but we want to maybe spend a little less time on rides and more time soaking up the holiday spirit, seeing all the big trees, visiting some of the resorts we've never seen, and so on.

We were at the WL that same time last year and did exactly what you plan to do. We had a great time and we hardly went on any rides. There were Photopass photographers stationed in the lobbies of WL, GF and AKL so that guests could get their Christmas pictures taken. The WL was especially popular and we saw lots of families all dressed up for their photos.

 

[clemsondisneygirl]

Leaving in 4 days for the beautiful WL! It's been a long time since my family and I stayed there since we were trying out new resorts but we are super excited to head back! Traveling with me are my parents and sister and we are all four (!) staying in a bunk bed room. Sis, dad and I are running the enchanted 10k on Saturday while my mom will be resort lounging and getting a massage our dates are 2/20-2/24 and I am about to burst with excitement at this point! Disney makes me such a little kid! Hoping this week of work flies by!

 

[psac]

Yikes! We'll traveling during Spring Break, so I am thinking too many people vs too few, but that is a long time to get there!

My biggest concern would be the ADR cancelation fee if your flight is delayed. If that did happen, I would take a pic or screenshot of the airline app or something showing the flight got in late in case you needed it to get the cancel charge waived.

Under normal conditions I think you'll have no problem making that time!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Leaving in 4 days for the beautiful WL! It's been a long time since my family and I stayed there since we were trying out new resorts but we are super excited to head back! Traveling with me are my parents and sister and we are all four (!) staying in a bunk bed room. Sis, dad and I are running the enchanted 10k on Saturday while my mom will be resort lounging and getting a massage our dates are 2/20-2/24 and I am about to burst with excitement at this point! Disney makes me such a little kid! Hoping this week of work flies by!

Both your WL stay and your family 10K race sound like lots of fun. I ran the half-marathon with my sister years ago and we had a great time. Good luck to you all.

 

[BubblyTrip]

Thank you for the replies. Y'all rock.

 

[CAHarwell]

After reading so many posts about closed balconies, I am beginning to panic a bit. We will be at WL in October and booked a woods view and requested 6th floor otter pond. Would we have been better off requesting 5th floor? Our DS is 8 and tall for his age, but I hate to think we will have to stand to see anything.

 

[jd65]

After reading so many posts about closed balconies, I am beginning to panic a bit. We will be at WL in October and booked a woods view and requested 6th floor otter pond. Would we have been better off requesting 5th floor? Our DS is 8 and tall for his age, but I hate to think we will have to stand to see anything.

I haven't had 6th floor, but I do believe at that point they are closed. I had 5th floor otter pond and we had great, easily accessible views of the fireworks. You may want to change your request to "floors 3-5," or along those lines.

 

[shammy307]

No, you don't have to do online check in to get customized MagicBands. Your customized MagicBands will automatically ship approximately 30 days before your check in date even if you don't do online check in.

When I did online check in for our last trip, I didn't make any room requests at that time. I called reservations to add my room requests instead. The nice thing about online check in was it took about five minutes for them to check us in, hand us our packet of information, and send us to our room, which happened to be ready for us at 11am, the time that I said we were going to arrive.

How far in advance can you make your room requests? WE have three rooms at WL and would like them as close as possible but was told they dont assign rooms til so many days out. So does anyone know what that number of days is?

 

[dansdad]

How far in advance can you make your room requests? WE have three rooms at WL and would like them as close as possible but was told they dont assign rooms til so many days out. So does anyone know what that number of days is?

You can make your requests as soon as you make your reservations, which is when we make ours, up until 4-5 days prior to your arrival. The usually assign rooms 2-3 days prior to your arrival. Once you call and have the CM add your requests to your reservation, they are there. So don't worry about making them too far out.

 

[Wood Nymph]

After reading so many posts about closed balconies, I am beginning to panic a bit. We will be at WL in October and booked a woods view and requested 6th floor otter pond. Would we have been better off requesting 5th floor? Our DS is 8 and tall for his age, but I hate to think we will have to stand to see anything.

The rooms on the 6th floor, north wing all have enclosed balconies. You have to stand to see out because the outer wall is above four feet high. You have the best chance of seeing the fireworks from this floor. I've posted a picture of our balcony, room 6018, and there was a recent picture of the balcony of room 6022. If you don't plan to spend a lot of time in your room, and if you plan to watch the fireworks from your room, then you might want to keep the request. When we were there in Feb last year the fireworks were at 9pm most nights, so we weren't in the room very often to see them. But if you plan to have a nice relaxing time sitting out on the balcony, then definitely switch to a lower floor.

FWIW: requests are not always honored and you might not even get the north wing. We requested the north wing on our Dec trip and got the south wing.

 

[ocalla]

Good Morning Everyone!!! Trip is getting closer and closer

Still toying around with online check-in vs. regular check-in.

Can someone tell me what the "Options" are for room requests when doing online check-in?

I'm one of those people that have such a HARD time making decisions, I know I would panic when the box prompts me and I don't know ahead of time what to choose!!!!

Thanks so much!!!

 

[MomofDisneyLoversx3]

Hey all. This talk of closed balconies has me thinking. We have two deluxe rooms booked. Do those have closed balconies ?

 

[Wood Nymph]

Good Morning Everyone!!! Trip is getting closer and closer

Still toying around with online check-in vs. regular check-in.

Can someone tell me what the "Options" are for room requests when doing online check-in?

I'm one of those people that have such a HARD time making decisions, I know I would panic when the box prompts me and I don't know ahead of time what to choose!!!!

Thanks so much!!!

I can't remember exactly but I do know that there weren't any options for balconies, wings, or views. It was mostly ground floor, second floor, fourth floor, and 5th floor or higher. I remember that they left out one of the floors, which I think was the third floor.

I ended up doing online check in but I did not make any room requests online. I called the CM and had the request added to our reservation. I really liked doing online check in that way.

We had a room only reservation, a huge balance due at check in, and I expected to pay the balance at check in. But they didn't even mention the unpaid balance. They just billed the credit card on file for the room balance due, without me having to pull out the card or sign anything.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Hey all. This talk of closed balconies has me thinking. We have two deluxe rooms booked. Do those have closed balconies ?

It looks like just a few rooms have dormer (closed) balconies, the rest would be open balconies.

From this post:
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=50126326&postcount=6

~DELUXE INNER COURTYARD VIEW ROOMS:
Five of these rooms are located mid-way down the South Wing and have a view of the inner courtyard. They are located just around the corner from the mid-lodge elevators with easy 7th floor access. The rooms are 2123, 3123, 4123, 5123 and 6123. Rooms 2123 and 3123 have dormer balconies.


~DELUXE NORTH WING ROOMS:
Ten of these rooms are located at the very end of the North Wing. They have a woods view very close to the dock with an obstructed view of Bay Lake. The rooms are 1000, 1003, 2000, 2003, 3000, 3003, 4000, 4003, 5000 and 5003.

~DELUXE SOUTH WING ROOMS:
Ten of these rooms are located at the very end of the South Wing. They have views of Bay Lake and the marina. The rooms are 1166, 1169, 2166, 2169, 3166, 3169, 4166, 4169, 5166 and 5169. Rooms 1166 and 1169 have dormer balconies.

 

[MomofDisneyLoversx3]

Thanks. For those of you that have stayed deluxe rooms, what did you find was the easiest with relation to club level? Also is WL like Akl? By that I mean is the third floor the lobby level? I assume the lowest level has patios not balconies. Are those semi private or are they in open areas? Sorry for all the questions just trying to create a perfect family stay.