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

[TheLodgeLady]

Leaving for the airport soon. One short sleep tonight at POP by the time we get there very late this evening and then tomorrow morning we finally check in at WL!!!

 

[PrincessesX3]

Have a great trip!!!

 

[WDWKOOK]

Sure Ans maybe I should get a ticker somewhere, any nice place to get one?

I mean, less than 8 months to go...

I really like this site because they have rotating tickers which I use for split stays. They take up less room in my signature:

http://www.**************

The DIS also has tickers, but not rotating ones:

http://www.distickers.com/ticker/main.php

Hi, I am new to this thread, have been lurking for a few weeks as I plan to change my DVC reservation from my home resort (BWV) to VWL for next spring soon when the 7 months window opens.

To be honest, I was very disappointed when I read about the planned changes. I personally love the skillet, but I think having options is great for the restaurant. After all, I think the resort restaurants should cater to the people staying there as well. And with only the skillet available, I don't think anyone would ever want to eat there more than once during a trip. And Artist Point is very expensive, so not possible for everyone. I do consider this a serious downgrade of the restaurant.

Also, I absolutely hate the idea of eliminating the salad but adding a dessert instead. Disney talks so much about healthy eating - but that's just the opposite. I think it is great to have something fresh tasting like the salad to have with all the heavy food in the skillet. And I was so stuffed afterwards anyway that I could not imagine having dessert. It seems like this is another thing done to streamline dining for the dining plan.

It will not affect my travel plans - at least for this trip - but it does leave an ungood feeling about the direction Disney is taking at the moment.

(and willkommen) to our little ol' thread, flossbolna!

I agree that choices shouldn't be more limited, especially when it comes to vegetables. Looks like a starch will be the only veggie in the skillet? I do have to wonder how much salad "waste" they have. Is it possible that more guests leave uneaten salad than any other item

Do we have an idea when the menu change will occur?

The report is that it will change on Wednesday.

The WCC menu changes are very dissapointing. DH & My body needs salad, it does not need more dessert.

We have an adr for WCC in November. We haven't been to WCC in 6 years due to a bad experience with a very rude WCC waiter the last night of our WDW vacation. We were looking forward to trying it out again. Between the possibility of having nothing healthy in our dinner food (to help process) & reading on the restaurant boards that WCC still has a rude waiter on their recent visit, not sure that we will be keeping this adr. Love the Wilderness Lodge experience, but WCC may be a thing of the past for us.

Your 'more dessert' comment reminded me of how they took away the appetizer and the tip from the original DDP, but left the dessert, which often guests don't want. I think Disney has figured out this saves them money when you decline dessert or don't throw it onto your tray at the QS. It also must be cheaper for them than fresh veggies that spoil much faster.

I am a little sad by the proposed changes. At least our reservation there in November is for breakfast.

No salad to worry about at breakfast

Leaving for the airport soon. One short sleep tonight at POP by the time we get there very late this evening and then tomorrow morning we finally check in at WL!!!

Safe travels!

 

[RedfromNL]

testing, testing...

Just seeing if I did this ticker thingie right.

 

[RedfromNL]

testing, testing...

Just seeing if I did this ticker thingie right.

Nope

Lets try again...

 

[RedfromNL]

Nope

Lets try again...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

come on.... please?

 

[WDWKOOK]

Success!

 

[ready2vacation]

Well, I was supposed to go back to work today after returning from vacation, but we're all sick (strep and virus) so I stayed home. What better time than to finally book our next visit!!!

We pushed it out to November 15-23, 2013 instead of September for cooler weather and to celebrate DD's 2nd birthday at the world. Still trying to coordinate a quick visit with just me and DH.

We've booked WL standard club level with regular dining right now. If military discounts come out next summer, then we'll really be set!

And since I know this will get altered at least a couple of times....posting on the RC thread, too

 

[WDWKOOK]

Well, I was supposed to go back to work today after returning from vacation, but we're all sick (strep and virus) so I stayed home. What better time than to finally book our next visit!!!

We pushed it out to November 15-23, 2013 instead of September for cooler weather and to celebrate DD's 2nd birthday at the world. Still trying to coordinate a quick visit with just me and DH.

We've booked WL standard club level with regular dining right now. If military discounts come out next summer, then we'll really be set!

And since I know this will get altered at least a couple of times....posting on the RC thread, too

Sorry you're all sick. You're going to love the Old Faithful Club! It will be cooler in November, but it will also be a bit more crowded, but the decorations will all be up

Since this vacation is subject to change (and change...), I'll wait a while before posting your dates to the Lodgers' Log - just in case

 

[ejrj]

Re: WCC

I'm not a dessert gal but I do enjoy salad. Losing value, perceived or otherwise, isn't fun. Last time we went to wdw an app was included rather than dessert which was perfect for me. I do agree though that they must save much dinero with the current format. I'm undecided on a WCC adr.

Question:

We have an 8:05 breakfast adr in MK. What time would you plan to be down at the boat doc? I do want to have time to enjoy the walk down Main.

Thank you!

(84 days

 

[stpats317]

Just wanted to pop in and say hi. We are 67 days out from our first stay at WL. This has long been on my bucket list and our 27th anniversary seemed the perfect occasion. Now my worry is that we will be forever spoiled and never want to go back to our old favorite POR.

VERY excited - it can't get here soon enough

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We didn't get any confirmation on the changes, but had a wonderful breakfast at WCC. After having meals at both WCC and Trail's End at FW, TE is my favorite. The ribs there are the best I have had, and the variety of a quality buffet is hard to beat. I am sure WCC will still be good too, but it does seem they are emphasizing the "experience" there more than the food. My shy two year old actually cried during the dinner festivities, but loved our breakfast waitress "M.T." more than any other Disney employee we saw all trip. I'd say if you now only want to do WCC once, TE is a great alternative for variety and only a short boat ride away.

We checked out today after a wonderfully perfect stay. Our solution to going home depression was upgrading to Premier Passports. A golden ticket is a happy thing, and it actually saved money on our home annual passes for Disneyland. Besides, we will be back!

I will post more and do a real trip report once we make it home. Right now we are waiting out a thunderstorm in Orlando.

 

[ready2vacation]

Sorry you're all sick. You're going to love the Old Faithful Club! It will be cooler in November, but it will also be a bit more crowded, but the decorations will all be up

Since this vacation is subject to change (and change...), I'll wait a while before posting your dates to the Lodgers' Log - just in case

Thanks, I think we are finally on the upswing from all of this. No problem on waiting to post the dates. I think we're going to keep them, but you never know

I do have another general question - if we are able to do our quick (no-kids) trip, it will just be 3 nights at WL. Is it silly to pay extra for club level for a Friday morning to Monday afternoon trip? We haven't stayed CL before, and I'd like to try it that trip to help decide for our longer trip in Nov, but on the other hand I keep thinking about the $ we'd save skipping it. Just curious what others do.

Thanks!

 

[stpats317]

Nov 23-29 - First stay at WL.

 

[Minnie]

We just added on 3 days to our trip this fall - 3 days at the BC for SAB and so that DH who has never stayed anywhere other than the WL can hopefully enjoy something new and then 7 days at the WL for a week of peace - absolute relaxation hits me when I hear welcome home. There is just no place like it anywhere in the world.

 

[midge3426]

Yes, Kook, we are planning on returning to WL next September. If the girls do not go, we plan on going for ten days. If we are with teenagers again, we will do a week. We will probably just do a standard room if it is just us because we were rarely there when the food offerings were out. If we have the teenagers again, we will definitely do Club Level because those girls can certainly pack away food.

When I get my photos uploaded, I will choose a few nice frames of the lodge. I took approximately 1300 of WDW.

 

[marymac123]

Hi everyone. We arrived yesterday and it is a bit busier now, at the parks and WL. TP says that it goes to an overall 1 today so we will see?.. Randi and Mike are great as usual, a lot of new CMs but they are nice too. We had a tiny blip at check in- we were given bunk bed on south side and I dont know, I hated it over there-inner corner, dark & gloomy. I think 7120?? The room was a bit dirty, hair clumps by vanity and huge dust bunnies on furniture. That was weird cause we have never had that before and only stay WL, never had a bad stay. Randi got us over to the north side and everything is much better. The new tile floor is a bit dirty with bobbipins and hair but Randi said it would be taken care today while we are out. I am starrting fresh today...WL is our home away from home.

KOOK, they are starting a little construction on the Northside next week up here on CL. They are putting "trays" in the ceilings to raise them into the new moldings that they just did in the ceilings. They want depth,if that makes sense? So, we may have to move the last couple days for all of it to begin.Hopefully we won,t have to.
Also,there is some construction going on in the parking lot exit, not sure what yet. DH usually comes back with all the details.

 

[CaliKT]

So excited! Our flights from Newark to Orlando were originally set to depart at 2:30 pm, getting into MCO at 5:00 pm. There were a number of reasons we chose this instead of leaving that number, and since we originally planned to travel the following morning, we basically looked at it as adding an extra night to our vacation. We knew it wouldn't be a huge park day, but we thought it would be fun to go see the Osborne lights or something.

After we purchased the tickets, however, our flight times changed twice, so now we were leaving at 4:44 pm and getting into MCO at 7:15. Adding in time for the ME, we figured it was a completely lost day and were bummed we'd be getting in so late. Well, DH, airline schmoozer extraordinaire after a decade of being a road warrior, got them to change our flights to one departing at 8:45 a.m. FOR NO CHANGE FEE. We get into MCO around 11 a.m., and now we REALLY have an extra park day for our trip! Wheee! We'll be at WL that much sooner!

 

[StEpHandMiKe<3Disney]

August2010 has me a bit worried about the standard view now I hope a little pixie dust comes our way. We have stayed above WCC before and it was awful. I dealt with it last time but I think I would try to move if we got a room over there again, even if it means paying for an upgrade. Crossing fingers.

 

[pas130]

Well, I was supposed to go back to work today after returning from vacation, but we're all sick (strep and virus) so I stayed home. What better time than to finally book our next visit!!!

We pushed it out to November 15-23, 2013 instead of September for cooler weather and to celebrate DD's 2nd birthday at the world. Still trying to coordinate a quick visit with just me and DH.

We've booked WL standard club level with regular dining right now. If military discounts come out next summer, then we'll really be set!

And since I know this will get altered at least a couple of times....posting on the RC thread, too

November at WL!!!

Since this vacation is subject to change (and change...), I'll wait a while before posting your dates to the Lodgers' Log - just in case

I will post more and do a real trip report once we make it home. Right now we are waiting out a thunderstorm in Orlando.

Safe travels home! Congratson the Premier!!!! Thank you for all the wonderful pics..looking forward to more!!!

Thanks, I think we are finally on the upswing from all of this. No problem on waiting to post the dates. I think we're going to keep them, but you never know

I do have another general question - if we are able to do our quick (no-kids) trip, it will just be 3 nights at WL. Is it silly to pay extra for club level for a Friday morning to Monday afternoon trip? We haven't stayed CL before, and I'd like to try it that trip to help decide for our longer trip in Nov, but on the other hand I keep thinking about the $ we'd save skipping it. Just curious what others do.

Thanks!

I'm a BAD person to ask... the extra TLC and the quiet peacefulness of OFC....for a Mommy & Daddy trip.....YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone. We arrived yesterday and it is a bit busier now, at the parks and WL. TP says that it goes to an overall 1 today so we will see?.. Randi and Mike are great as usual, a lot of new CMs but they are nice too. We had a tiny blip at check in- we were given bunk bed on south side and I dont know, I hated it over there-inner corner, dark & gloomy. I think 7120?? The room was a bit dirty, hair clumps by vanity and huge dust bunnies on furniture. That was weird cause we have never had that before and only stay WL, never had a bad stay. Randi got us over to the north side and everything is much better. The new tile floor is a bit dirty with bobbipins and hair but Randi said it would be taken care today while we are out. I am starrting fresh today...WL is our home away from home.

Glad Randy is taking care of you!!!! Shame about the 1st room
Hope you have agreat time at the parks today

So excited! Our flights from Newark to Orlando were originally set to depart at 2:30 pm, getting into MCO at 5:00 pm. There were a number of reasons we chose this instead of leaving that number, and since we originally planned to travel the following morning, we basically looked at it as adding an extra night to our vacation. We knew it wouldn't be a huge park day, but we thought it would be fun to go see the Osborne lights or something.

After we purchased the tickets, however, our flight times changed twice, so now we were leaving at 4:44 pm and getting into MCO at 7:15. Adding in time for the ME, we figured it was a completely lost day and were bummed we'd be getting in so late. Well, DH, airline schmoozer extraordinaire after a decade of being a road warrior, got them to change our flights to one departing at 8:45 a.m. FOR NO CHANGE FEE. We get into MCO around 11 a.m., and now we REALLY have an extra park day for our trip! Wheee! We'll be at WL that much sooner!

That's GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!