(CLOSED) Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE and VILLAS Information Thread ~2012~

[GrandCalifornian]

We ate a Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch yesterday. After that is when symptoms started. Haven't drank any coffee. A medical center near b confirmed it food poisoning!!

Interesting. Yeah we haven't been to Liberty Tree yet. We had Roarin Forks the first night but none of the rest of us had any problems. She is feeling better each day, so hopefully all will be perfect soon. Hope your husband feels better and can enjoy the rest of your Disney meals.

 

[WDWKOOK]

So it is 45 days until we leave and 46 days until our stay at WL OFC. So today I ask myself.... is it too early to start packing

Never too early - do it when the mood strikes you!

Yes, we just picked up the card reader adapter for our iPads so we can upload pics from our camera.

JD

Im loving all the pictures, I cant wait to lay my own eyes on this place for the first time!! Just gotta get packing.. so much to do!!..

4 days and we will be in the greatest place on earth and our first visit to the WL!!

ill have my laptop with me, so I will be posting pictures.. esp of my ds birthday cake..gotta find a cool place to eat it.. maybe in the CL lounge..

The lounge would be perfect! Can't wait to see your DS's big smile when he sees his cake...Now get to packin'!

I'm at the Lodge now and must say..I'm in love!!!! This place is amazing! We had some pixie dust upon arrival and were upgraded from a standard view room to courtyard!!! Woohoo! Now I'm hoping my husband gets healthy quick!!! He's battling a stomach bug! Booo

What a wonderful upgrade, but it'll be hard to book anything else in the future.

Make sure DH gets lots of fluids - being sick on vacation is no fun at all. Hope he gets well soon

We are loving it too, but my wife is fighting a similar stomach bug. Did he drink from the in room coffee maker? We thought that might have been the start of my wife's issues, since that was the only thing she did differently than the rest of us. Could just be a bug. I hope he feels better, and Tylenol and Pepto Bismol with a long morning nap seems to be working for my wife.

You do have to love the pixie dust though. . Enjoy your stay!

Plenty of fluids for your DW, too and some , too. It's too bad that many get food borne illnesses while traveling and it is not fun. As wonderful as WDW is, people do get sick. Let's hope this clears up and she can go back to eating and enjoying her vacation.

I guess I am replying to these in reverse order, but yes, TE was amazing, and I loved the pulled pork as a tater topping! The star for me though was the fall off the bone pork ribs, which were probably the best I have had anywhere, let alone at a buffet!

Today we had our big meal for lunch at Tusker House at AK. It was very nice and our daughter enjoyed the characters. The food was somewhat exotic (especially compared to TE's meat and potatoes) but was still really good. Then for dinner we actually voyaged over to the Pop food court. We had been wanting to see it, and while it was good we still love Roarin Forks and wouldn't be willing to trade. The tie dye cheesecake was worth the trip though, and I followed it up with late night ice cream back at the lodge.

A lot of the kids we see are young, but there are a fair number of older ones, probably early elementary school age. I guess they are missing some school. The big thing we notice is just a general lack of people overall, especially compared to what we remember from coming in June.

What fun! So you didn't have the Elvis Cupcake? Tusker is great, isn't it? DH loves it (and TE). If you like ribs, WCC has them in their skillet and so does Flame Tree BBQ at AK.

Thanks for posting photos and keeping us up-to-date.

Here is a picture from Bay Lake this afternoon on our way over to MK. It got cloudy but didn't rain.

Sounds perfect!

Is it bad that I want to just eat potatoes from the potato fixings bar? I can't wait!!!

NO! It's not bad, it's vacation

Wow, you guys have been busy! I had to catch up from 3 pages, . That's what happens when it gets busy at work.

Love the photos, keep them coming. The lobby looked like it was 4:20am instead of pm.

Congrats on all the upgrades. Hoping all those going get pixie dusted also.

All who are getting ready to leave, have a blast!!!!

Doesn't it seem like a million years ago that we were on vacation?

18 days until we're back home @ VWL

the pics are lovely but aren't making my wait any easier

We ate a Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch yesterday. After that is when symptoms started. Haven't drank any coffee. A medical center near b confirmed it food poisoning!!

We've been hit a few times at WDW over the years and I still equate my 2010 'all-nighter' with Tony's since that was the last place I ate. I know it's silly, but I haven't been back since and I really liked TTS. It's time I forgive and forget...

 

[TheLodgeLady]

Doesn't it seem like a million years ago that we were on vacation?

...

Tell me about it!!!

The only consolation is that we will be going over for the Food & Wine Festival a couple of times, except we are staying at The Swan and The Yacht Club . With all the Festival events, we know we will be going back and forth to Epcot so many times, that we don't want to deal with all the time we will waste on the busses.

We are definitely going to visit the Lodge a bunch of times!!

 

[Kathymford]

So, today is just not going by fast enough, so I was reviewing my dining plans. Ha. Probably never a good idea. Oh well.

We don't have an ADR for WCC; I figured we should be able to drop in if/when we felt like it (still lots of ADRs right now). But then I was looking at the menu and it has "Barbecue Eggs Benedict." So now I'm confused.

Kook, is this similar or the same one you posted the pics of at TE? Is it served at both places?

 

[VbChristy]

The WL bus to the MK is non-stop and doesn't share with any other resorts. It takes about 5 minutes.

Does it go to the TTC or to the park?

How about the busses to the other parks- do they stop at resorts?

 

[DetTigsGal]

Yes, we just picked up the card reader adapter for our iPads so we can upload pics from our camera.

JD

There's a card reader for the iPad? Fill me in please! Thank you

 

[DetTigsGal]

Ok. That's what I get for asking a question before I read further. Thanks for the answer!!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Does it go to the TTC or to the park?

How about the busses to the other parks- do they stop at resorts?

The bus goes straight to the entrance of MK. For other parks there are sometimes a few other resorts shared (we stopped at Gran Floridian on the way to AK yesterday).

 

[marymac123]

There's a card reader for the iPad? Fill me in please! Thank you

I just bought mine tonight from Best Buy, it is an apple accessory and was $30. It has 2 pcs a card reader pc and a USB port pc ( to download straight from camera ).

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We have the iPad connection kit and love it. It expands the usefulness of the iPad and helps eliminate the need for a computer while traveling.
There is also a similar device available from Amazon that accomplishes the same tasks with one piece at a lower than Apple price, and we have one of those two and are fairly happy with it too.

Today was another awesome day. The weather was clear in the morning with some clouds in the middle of the day, but by evening the clouds blew out and it was cool and relatively dry. It felt more like southern California than typical Florida.

Here is tonight's amazing lack of crowd picture. We always liked Roarin Forks before, but with no crowd we really love it.

 

[StEpHandMiKe<3Disney]

I'm at the Lodge now and must say..I'm in love!!!! This place is amazing! We had some pixie dust upon arrival and were upgraded from a standard view room to courtyard!!! Woohoo! Now I'm hoping my husband gets healthy quick!!! He's battling a stomach bug! Booo

I'm so sorry he feels bad. Hope he gets better soon! At what point did you fund out about your courtyard pixie dust? Did they tell you or just when you got to the room?

 

[WDWKOOK]

So, today is just not going by fast enough, so I was reviewing my dining plans. Ha. Probably never a good idea. Oh well.

We don't have an ADR for WCC; I figured we should be able to drop in if/when we felt like it (still lots of ADRs right now). But then I was looking at the menu and it has "Barbecue Eggs Benedict." So now I'm confused.

Kook, is this similar or the same one you posted the pics of at TE? Is it served at both places?

I tried the BBQ Eggs Benedict back in 2010 at WCC and I just didn't like it. I remember saying to DD that I couldn't detect a BBQ flavor to it. In looking at the description of it, it seems similar, but the TE one had lots of pulled pork on it and the WCC one had a very small amount of brisket. It wasn't bad at all, but it wasn't as good, at least a couple of years ago. The Somoan at Kona Cafe is also similar, but DH liked the TE version better.

Does it go to the TTC or to the park?

How about the busses to the other parks- do they stop at resorts?

The bus goes straight to the entrance of MK. For other parks there are sometimes a few other resorts shared (we stopped at Gran Floridian on the way to AK yesterday).

The DTD/Typhoon Lagoon bus and the AK/BB bus both stop at the GF after WL. The Epcot bus goes to FW after WL. I'm fuzzy on the DHS bus, but I think it stops at GF after WL. If the buses are full after arriving at WL, they skip FW/GF.

Today was another awesome day. The weather was clear in the morning with some clouds in the middle of the day, but by evening the clouds blew out and it was cool and relatively dry. It felt more like southern California than typical Florida.

Here is tonight's amazing lack of crowd picture. We always liked Roarin Forks before, but with no crowd we really love it.

My kind of crowd! Hope DW is feeling better.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

What fun! So you didn't have the Elvis Cupcake? Tusker is great, isn't it? DH loves it (and TE). If you like ribs, WCC has them in their skillet and so does Flame Tree BBQ at AK.

No, we missed the Elvis cupcake, but the food sure is a great part of the trip. No matter where we go the food is prepared "Disney Perfect" and it is yummy! We loved yesterday's pineapple cupcake at Seasons at Epcot. So far it is leading the cupcake competition, but there are some contenders yet to come.

Thanks for the tip about the WCC ribs. We have a dinner ADR there tonight. From the looks of things we probably could get in without much of a wait anyway, but we knew we wanted to eat there so we booked it. Yesterday's ADR was Chef Mickey's for breakfast, which our almost 3 year old DD really did enjoy, despite being shy about characters. She gets all quiet at the time and then talks all about it later.

 

[marymac123]

I hope everyone is feeling better soon! Are there any Bounce Backs in the rooms?

 

[PamelaKay]

We have the iPad connection kit and love it. It expands the usefulness of the iPad and helps eliminate the need for a computer while traveling.
There is also a similar device available from Amazon that accomplishes the same tasks with one piece at a lower than Apple price, and we have one of those two and are fairly happy with it too.

Today was another awesome day. The weather was clear in the morning with some clouds in the middle of the day, but by evening the clouds blew out and it was cool and relatively dry. It felt more like southern California than typical Florida.

Here is tonight's amazing lack of crowd picture. We always liked Roarin Forks before, but with no crowd we really love it.

Wow - in all my trips I have never seen Roaring Forks that quiet.

 

[keishashadow]

WDWKOOK thanx for the review on the eggs benedict there, the BBQ element had me hesitant to try it. We may just go with ala carte offerings for our late breakfast ADR. Hopely the servers won't mind if we up the tip.

re bounceback offers: my oldest DS just got back from staying @ PORFQ and they booked a FD offer for same time next year. Only deluxe/DVC offer was in our BC CRO booked room in June and it wasn't for FD.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

A different kind of Lodger's Log:

They are still working on the lower floors of the South wing, and they brought in a big log on a truck this morning.

 

[ready2vacation]

DH, DD and I visited the WL for the first time yesterday evening to dine at WCC. We loved the resort and think we will be booking it for our 2013 trip instead of the Poly as originally planned! So glad we decided to eat there and look around because we had never considered it for our other trips.

 

[WDWKOOK]

Love the spy photo GC! Let us know where they put that thing.

DH, DD and I visited the WL for the first time yesterday evening to dine at WCC. We loved the resort and think we will be booking it for our 2013 trip instead of the Poly as originally planned! So glad we decided to eat there and look around because we had never considered it for our other trips.

Maybe you could book it for your Bounce Back? Where are you staying now? Enjoy the rest of your vacation and the non-existent crowds

 

[LuvGoldens]

Grand Californian - LOVE the picture of the empty Roaring Fork. Hope you're continuing to have a great vacation