(CLOSED) Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE and VILLAS INFORMATION THREAD ~2014~

[dmetcalfrn]

Please add us - 11/21-11/23/14. Pre cruise on the Disney Magic!!

 

[erinmarie2224]

So excited DH agreed to a Christmas time trip, early/mid December trip for 2015. I told him our next trip, especially for Christmas, had to be at WL to experience the decorations. But would love some veteran advice on villas vs resort?

Our stay would be me, DH and DD(4). At the hotel we would frequently utilize the QS, pool (weather permitting) boat to MK, walkway to Fort Wilderness and gym (which appears to be in the villa building?)

I've done some preliminary math, all based on assumptions, and can save about $250 renting points over staying at the resort.

I could do plenty with $250 but this isn't a budget "bust." Based on above I'm hoping for some advice on whether it is worth it to stay at the villas?

(assumptions are that I would start rental process prior to 11 month in best hope to rent points for high DVC demand time and a 25% discount on room through disney)

TIA!

 

[bluecastle]

So excited DH agreed to a Christmas time trip, early/mid December trip for 2015. I told him our next trip, especially for Christmas, had to be at WL to experience the decorations. But would love some veteran advice on villas vs resort?

Our stay would be me, DH and DD(4). At the hotel we would frequently utilize the QS, pool (weather permitting) boat to MK, walkway to Fort Wilderness and gym (which appears to be in the villa building?)

I've done some preliminary math, all based on assumptions, and can save about $250 renting points over staying at the resort.

I could do plenty with $250 but this isn't a budget "bust." Based on above I'm hoping for some advice on whether it is worth it to stay at the villas?


(assumptions are that I would start rental process prior to 11 month in best hope to rent points for high DVC demand time and a 25% discount on room through disney)

TIA!

My 2 cents FWIW: I have stayed in both the lodge and in a 2BR villa, however, I was a cash reservation in the villa, not renting points. When I am on vacation, I like having the room serviced every day- especially if there is a kitchen. I am not certain, but I think when you rent points you only get service every 4 days.
Even more importantly, even though I loved our summer stay in the villa, I would much prefer staying in the lodge at Christmas! We stayed there in December 2009 and it was one if our most magical trips ever. I would not be able to put a monetary value on being able to step out of the elevator or walk across the lobby at night after being at the parks, and be in the presence of that tree! It was a dream come true.
It is a matter of personal priorities I guess, but if I were planning another Christmas trip, I would want to be in the lodge. Either way, you will have a magical time!!

 

[bluecastle]

Thanks for your kind words!

I am just glad that I am healthy and well-employed that I can assist my parents and MIL during their troubled times. I was going to cancel the trip, but my mom is not starting treatment until after we return and my mother in law is expected to leave the hospital Saturday and return to her assisted living facility.

Everyone is so kind on here! Its a Disney hug!!!

I have my blog site ready to go if the decor does go up during my trip and will post the link here.

It seems so unfair when life throws multiple hardships at you at once. I am hoping that there is some karmic balance in the universe that will ensure the tree goes up during your visit!!

 

[bluecastle]

It was such a nice ride and our driver was a lovely young woman (whose name I am so embarrassed about forgetting). About half way through the ride,a bus comes right up behind us ,only a couple of feet away. There is no place for us to pull over and let the bus go by, but it's tailgating at a dangerous length. Our driver asks us to get the number off the front of the bus for her,which we do. She then calls someone on her hand held radio to report the driver. If JB,(the horse), should stop short,DH & I would have gotten crunched first and our safety comes first,even before the driver or JB,according to our driver. She was taking our safety very seriously. We eventually were able to turn off and the bus passed. It was fun,seeing the RV's decked out with Christmas decorations,all with different levels of creativity. It was quite the exciting,fun and relaxing ride. A nice way to spend 45 minutes at WDW. We, yes, boated back to WL,where we had a 7:30 dinner ressie. During our wait for the carriage,I called Disney Dining and had our ressie changed for the next available ,8:45. We were hoping to not eat that late,but better to be early than late,as far as I see it. We were able to have time to change and be seated by 8:15. We had Carlos as our server,same server that we had back in February. He's been there awhile,so he knows everything about the restaurant,the food and its people. A really nice man. We're able to make it back to the OFC before it closes,so I can make myself some hot chocolate. I add a bit of their chocolate milk instead of regular milk to cool it just a bit and, oh well, twist my arm,okay, a shot of Kahlua.
It's 1am now and I left a wake up call with Mickey for 6am,so I'll continue tomorrow.Nitey Nite

I am really enjoying your reports, thank you! I have to say that between the tailgating incident and the driver who should have given you more info about how to get to the MK, I would probably avoid bus transportation too! I love the joy that is expressed in your reports, in spite of whatever obstacles are put in your way. I think those of us who manage to find that joy in spite of closures, transportation issues, bad weather, etc. are so lucky. It keeps us always wanting to go back!

 

[elaw]

Anyone have any updated photos of the pool area construction?

 

[rfc0001]

My 2 cents FWIW: I have stayed in both the lodge and in a 2BR villa, however, I was a cash reservation in the villa, not renting points. When I am on vacation, I like having the room serviced every day- especially if there is a kitchen. I am not certain, but I think when you rent points you only get service every 4 days.
Even more importantly, even though I loved our summer stay in the villa, I would much prefer staying in the lodge at Christmas! We stayed there in December 2009 and it was one if our most magical trips ever. I would not be able to put a monetary value on being able to step out of the elevator or walk across the lobby at night after being at the parks, and be in the presence of that tree! It was a dream come true.
It is a matter of personal priorities I guess, but if I were planning another Christmas trip, I would want to be in the lodge. Either way, you will have a magical time!!

It would be nice if they put a tree up in the Villas -- plenty of room to do so. BTW, you'd have to factor the cost into the decision, but additional maid service is available for a fee in DVC units:

Additional Full Cleaning Rates:
Studio - $30.00 for each day requested
One-Bedroom - $45.00 for each day requested
Two-Bedroom - $60.00 for each day requested
Three-Bedroom - $75.00 for each day requested

Additional Trash & Towel Rates:
Studio - $15.00 for each day requested
One-Bedroom - $20.00 for each day requested
Two-Bedroom - $25.00 for each day requested
Three-Bedroom - $35.00 for each day requested

 

[Leigha]

Wrong thread!

 

[tigger137]

It would be nice if they put a tree up in the Villas -- plenty of room to do so.

They do - or at least they did in 2012.

 

[chigirl]

It seems so unfair when life throws multiple hardships at you at once. I am hoping that there is some karmic balance in the universe that will ensure the tree goes up during your visit!!

Thanks...you are very kind.
Despite the bad stuff, I am very blessed....I just feel guilt going on the trip.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

It would be nice if they put a tree up in the Villas -- plenty of room to do so.

As someone else posted they do have a great tree in the Villas too.

 

[firstwdw]

Here in WDW now. Is the WL tree up and decor yet?

 

[CuteAsMinnie]

Anyone have any updated photos of the pool area construction?

Look at the previous page or two or five

 

[elaw]

Look at the previous page or two or five

Those pics were taken on Monday

 

[trishadono]

Those pics were taken on Monday

I so know how you feel! (Want it NOW)

Patiently waiting for updates on Christmas decorations at the resorts.

 

[trishadono]

I'll be down 11/18-21 and if holiday is up I'm taking mom over from poly to see. I'll get pics of pool but any any other requests???

 

[fauntleroy53]

Another trip report-
First things first - DH talked to a few workers by the pool-the footprint of the pool was never meant to change -they needed to re-surface the bottom to make it less slippery and put in the interactive fountain/splash area.

The tree at DHS went up overnight -Wed,Mickey & his sorcerer brooms,Thurs., tree. Decorations along Main Street are in full swing, Christmas music playing in the parks - Christmas stores fully loaded -not sure what happened to Thanksgiving..............

So, on Wednesday, we had a 10:50 FP for Soarin, so it was going to be another day of moseying through a park-Epcot -Future World. Breakfast at the OFC, more Brown Sugar with a small side of Oatmeal. Today, there was young man with a straw hat outside with his Ipad, taking note of the arrival & departure times of the buses. Not sure if this is done occasionally or someone complained. When he approached me, he asked where we were going and I said Epcot, been waiting almost 25 minutes. He gave me a quick look that kinda said, Oh Come On, then glanced down at his notes and gave another look that said, Well, yeah I guess so. I told him that it's all okay. We're at WL, I'm not cooking, doing laundry, cleaning, sitting in a doctors office for one thing or another...if I have to wait a few more minutes for a bus to continue having a good time in another area, so be it. I'm choosing my battles and today, waiting for a bus isn't one of them.
Once we arrived at Epcot, we decided to hit the rides that might be on their way out sooner than later, so, there we went, into Journey Into Imagination, to wave at Figment. There's so much going on now in science, medicine and engineering,it wouldn't be so difficult to update this one. They do offer some nice educational books in the gift shop and I bought myself a L/S Shirt with Figment on it,because......well,Figment is cute. Then,it was on to Capt. EO,which both of us have successfully avoided until now. So we entered the time capsule and it was 1986 for ,thankfully, not too long. I'm sure it was quite the thing back in the day,but at our ages, it's like Middle School-we are so thankful for getting through it the first time, we have no desire to re-visit it again. Check it off the list. On to Soarin, which we do at every visit. It's my personal challenge, as I have height issues. I white knuckle it the whole time, but there is something about it I do enjoy. This day, I finally smelled the oranges, which I've managed to miss in the past, possibly due to the silent screaming that was going on in my head.
Having only gone through half of Epcot on a previous day, we headed back to get through the other half. Passed a lumberjack show, Alice and Mary Poppins at England, and stopped at a Photopass spot to have a pic of us with the Eiffel Tower in the background. We added two Magic Shots, one with us holding butterflies and another with DH holding balloons. I'm getting my moneys worth of photos, no photographer is safe-I'm coming for you and you will take LOTS of pictures! Butterflies,Simba,Stitch,Olaf, Tinkerbell,I want them all!!!

So we decided to have lunch at Spice Road (another new experience), because you don't need a ressie, but they will start taking ressies like everyone else next month. We really liked it a lot. The lunch & dinner menu are the same. We were told that if we come by around 7:45pm,we'll be able to get a table and see Illuminations while we eat. We thought we might do that Friday evening, but this evening has come and almost gone & we ended up too exhausted to go back, but it's definitely on our next time list. Our next new thing to do was to walk around the Morocco area. It's really nice, the way it's set up to look like an outdoor bazaar. We liked how it was an immersive experience,meant to make you feel like you're really there. No Disney stuff in the markets. I found lots of little areas to take some pretty & interesting pictures. There's also a tiny museum that displays wardrobe and jewelry of the culture which was interesting. I bought a small bottle of olive oil because I kinda collect food and a bottle of orange blossom water. At lunch,DH asked if they could make him Moroccan coffee, as he was curious as to how it would taste. Well, it was really good. They added a few drops of the orange blossom water and a little cinnamon. It really smoothed out the taste. Very nice.

This is getting too long. I'll continue in a new post.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Today, there was young man with a straw hat outside with his Ipad, taking note of the arrival & departure times of the buses. Not sure if this is done occasionally or someone complained. When he approached me, he asked where we were going and I said Epcot, been waiting almost 25 minutes. He gave me a quick look that kinda said, Oh Come On, then glanced down at his notes and gave another look that said, Well, yeah I guess so.

We talked to the guy with the iPad when we were there last month. He was one of the interns working in Transportation. I asked him if the WL had any plans to add an electronic board with bus arrival times like they have at some of the other resorts. But he hadn't heard of any plans to add them to all the resorts. That's too bad because knowing how long it would be before a bus arrived would be very nice.

 

[fauntleroy53]

Trip Report Continued-

After Morocco, we went into that huge Japan store. Watched a little "Diving For Pearls" ( sounds better than Just Grab A Shell & Hand It To The Woman With The Drumsticks), but found how that young woman was making necklaces with the pearls much more fascinating. Bought a dragon embellished backpack and Japanese culture book for one granddaughter who's into it right now, origami paper for another granddaughter and a small plush Florida Hello Kitty for me ( Kitty is in an alligator costume - too cute to leave behind).
Found DH outside, standing, staring blankly at nothing imparticular, signaling naptime for someone.
After some downtime, we geared up for our first visit to both The Boardwalk and Flying Fish for dinner. Since it's an area we're not familiar with and envisioned ourselves driving in circles in what could be a Reedy Creek nightmarish evening, we decided to take a bus to DHS and the boat to the Boardwalk. We liked the way the restaurant carried on the boardwalk theme. We had Moe as our server. He is fantastic. The food was very good. The only negative was the sound level, which was high, but the quality of the food won out over the noise.
We made our way back to the dock where two boats showed up,one on each side. Yes, there's a story happening here. Another story. The boat on the right,the Epcot side,unloaded. DH & I thought about hopping on that one,but my legs were hurting and the walk from the Epcot dock to the buses was sooooo loooong. I was wearing a knee brace and full leg compression stocking due to knee surgery that didn't totally work. The boat on the left unloaded too. There were still some people on it though. So we waited to board. Waited. Waited. Eventually, the captain wandered over and asked where we wanted to go. We said DHS, to hop a bus. He said. Nope, closed an hour ago. Oh, guess what I forgot to check. We must have had that Holy Canolli look on our faces because he silently pointed towards the Boardwalk Inn, quietly said Lobby, and got back on the boat. We walked back to where we thought the lobby would be, walked past a nice little bar area, down some stairs and there we were, outside. It was a courtyard with a small, very simple, no frills pool.
Along one side, were small cottages. They had a little front yard, with rose bushes, a white picket fence and gate with overhead trellis. Utterly adorable! We had no idea these even existed. I was loving this new discovery, but one glance at DH's face and he looked like he fell down the rabbit hole, it was a one way trip and he was never seeing his bed again. A woman was entering the cottage on the end and I asked her for directions to the bus. Of course, it was back up the stairs, through the building, through the lobby we never reached and back around the front left of the building. So we slogged our way all the way through to the front of the building (nice interiors/decor by the way). As we started walking towards the bus area, I figured DH had about 5 more walking seconds left in him before I'd have to do a Firemans carry for him, so I said "Taxi?", DH said "Either that or I'm just laying down under that bush & get me in the morning". Opted for the taxi. It was $13.20 well spent back to WL. I would need to actually think through our next dinner for the next evening (last night)...at the Yachtsman Steakhouse......across from the Boardwalk...... (we bused it by way of MK. We actually made it back to WL before our legs turned numb).
Electrical Parade is starting up. Gotta go. More tomorrow

 

[Lsdolphin]

We talked to the guy with the iPad when we were there last month. He was one of the interns working in Transportation. I asked him if the WL had any plans to add an electronic board with bus arrival times like they have at some of the other resorts. But he hadn't heard of any plans to add them to all the resorts. That's too bad because knowing how long it would be before a bus arrived would be very nice.

Not sure if it was the same young man but the guy with iPad opened his case and wrote out a yellow slip for us to take to AK and use for any attraction.
I walked over to ask him the eta for the AK bus and when he told me 6 min and that it would also be stopping at GF (or maybe it was FW) I asked if he could help me try to reschedule our FP+ for the Lion King show. I could not get app to work and neither could he. I asked if was trying to expedite busses and he said he was collecting data but was able to give bus arrival times.