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

[MaggiesMomNJ]

Kook - when you get a chance can you add us for next years trip? We have a hard time resisting the bounce back offers. We will be WL CL 11/15 -11/21/15.

Thank you!

Does the BB cover the 21st? I think the dates were through the 20th (curious because we were looking then).

 

[SFunaro]

is the BB for free dining?

 

[Lacoccinelle]

is the BB for free dining?

35% deluxe and deluxe villas
30% moderate
This wAs 11/5

 

[SFunaro]

do they ever do BB Free dining?

 

[dmaxphil]

My BB in Oct at BC was free dining.

 

[fauntleroy53]

Sorry, I've missed the last 3 days of trip reports. It's almost midnight,but I'll try to get one in now. I'll have more time tomorrow to catch up.
But first
1) About being dropped off in what seemed No Mans Land instead of MK-you're probably right about the parking area two previous posters described, which, if one is familiar with the area, might not be that big of a deal-if the bus driver had been more forthcoming with a decent explanation, we wouldn't have felt so abandoned, and perhaps, if I had not been so pressed for time, to get to our tour on time,creating more anxiety, we could have taken more time to look over our surroundings. Just one more learning experience at WDW.
2) The upper left of the pool area is going to be an interactive fountain area for children, although Ranger Jack is taking bets they'll be more adults rolling around in that area, than children. There are little tree stumps placed mostly in the middle, which, although add to the rustic appearance, I'm not sure if placing them in an area where you expect children to run & jump, is such a good idea. Perhaps they are intended to be fountains for some of the water jets....the pool is still filled with water & looks pretty. Two days ago, there were a few workers spray painting the "rocks" at the slide, tweaking their appearance, but now most of the activity is at the interactive fountain. They are working 7 days a week and they are continually active. Have not seen much downtime with the workers.
3) For those familiar with the CL & OFC, Mike,Sam,Rob & Victoria are still here. Cameren is now at the call center, supposedly as part of a move towards other positions within the company. He's such a sweet young man whose dream job is, hopefully, someday with the WDW in Singapore. Grace, such a lovely girl, is now moving through an administrative track, on to what she hopes are bigger and better things. Have not seen Loyda at all, but Jonnett is always around, always busy-seems like she never stops for a moment, always has a kind word and beautiful smile.
Okay,Day 3 ,Tuesday-
Breakfast at OFC - I'm liking the oatmeal,but I can see out of the little corners of my eyes,I'm being noticed. I'm afraid my secret is out-I'm only using putting the oatmeal in my dish as a cover for........ I need something to go under the brown sugar I need the energy........it doesn't make me the least bit hyper
We have a noon ressie at Trails End,so DH & I decide to kill some time by moseying through the shops on Main Street.We take the boat and end up getting the Captain who tells all those bad jokes that make you groan (what do you call a cow who just gave birth ? De-"calf"inated). While at MK, we see a small parade ,a little show involving singers and a trolley and a great concert by the Barbershop Quartet with their chimes. We watch the glass guy with his torch make a cake and I dynamite DH out of the new refurbished Caseys before he can buy hot dogs right before going to lunch.
We boat over to FW and have lunch at Trails End,with the really fun server,Edsel.
Our next must do isn't until 5:30,which is a private carriage ride here at FW. DH wants to use our in between time by meandering through Epcot. So we take a bus to DHS so we can take the boat ride to Epcot. It takes about 25 minutes,but we like seeing,the Swan,Dolphin,Boardwalk and Y & B Club areas.
Although we don't see Off Kilter,we do manage to see Chinese acrobats,the Japanese Drummers,a mariachi band and a Morrocan band. All are wonderful.
We allow ourselves two hours to get back to FW,but it ends up taking longer because DH wants to get on a boat whenever he can,and that causes us to be 15 minutes late. I call ahead to FW and ask the person who answers if she can get a message over to the carriage area that we'll be late. She says sure no problem. Well, we show up at 5:45 and I'm sure we're either going to be greatly admonished and lectured or we've just forfeited our money and lost our ride. As we're walking over to the fence,we can see no one (and no carriage) is there. I'm bracing for a you're out of luck evening and DH is bracing for the Wrath of me because of his insistence on mostly water instead of wheels to get here. Well, out of the darkness, by the Trading Post,comes this young man,jumping over the fence,running across the grass and jumping over the fence again. He comes up to us and asks if we're the 5:30 ride. I say yes and I'm glad he got our message about being late. He says What message,there was no message. So I start running off at the mouth about how I really did try to send a message and I feel terrible about being late and I didn't want anyone here to think, and he finishes my sentence - That You Were Blowing Us Off???????? We NEVER thought that. If someones late,it's for a good reason (at this point,DH loses his neck,as his shoulders go up,meeting his ears as he braces himself for me throwing him under the bus for this one,but,aha,I don't). I just apologize profusely some more,because I really do feel bad about being late. This nice young man, Jay, says, we had another couple show up early, so it will all work out and you will most definitely get your carriage ride! Just go have a drink or go for a walk and we'll see you in about 20 minutes. I was stunned,not only did we not get a lecture or lose our ride,but we were treated so nice and respectfully. Now that's some pixie dust for us!!! DH got to relax his neck muscles, so he was pretty grateful too.
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

 

[Wood Nymph]

do they ever do BB Free dining?

From what I understand, there is a free dining bounce back offer that will be available until 11/15/14. The free dining dates are August 20th to Oct 2nd, 2015.

There is also a room only discount offer for 2015 that is available now. It is for 35% off deluxe resorts and 30% for moderate resorts during select dates.

 

[Wood Nymph]

2) The upper left of the pool area is going to be an interactive fountain area for children, although Ranger Jack is taking bets they'll be more adults rolling around in that area, than children. There are little tree stumps placed mostly in the middle, which, although add to the rustic appearance, I'm not sure if placing them in an area where you expect children to run & jump, is such a good idea. Perhaps they are intended to be fountains for some of the water jets....the pool is still filled with water & looks pretty. Two days ago, there were a few workers spray painting the "rocks" at the slide, tweaking their appearance, but now most of the activity is at the interactive fountain. They are working 7 days a week and they are continually active. Have not seen much downtime with the workers.

I can't wait to see what the finished product looks like. We'll be there in January with our other grandchildren, age 5 and 7, the same ones who were there with us in Feb of 2013. I hope it will be warm enough for them to enjoy it.

It sounds like they are trying to wrap up the construction on time. They weren't working on the weekend when we were there in October.

Although we don't see Off Kilter,we do manage to see Chinese acrobats,the Japanese Drummers,a mariachi band and a Morrocan band. All are wonderful.

Unfortunately, Off Kilter is no longer there. It has been replaced by a lumberjack show. From the size of the crowds, I would say that this new show is a ht. We haven't stopped to watch it yet, but someday I hope we'll see it.

We allow ourselves two hours to get back to FW,but it ends up taking longer because DH wants to get on a boat whenever he can,and that causes us to be 15 minutes late. ...
I just apologize profusely some more,because I really do feel bad about being late. This nice young man, Jay, says, we had another couple show up early, so it will all work out and you will most definitely get your carriage ride!

They are pretty good about people being late. It is hard to plan arrival times when the buses and boats don't run on a fixed schedule.

I'm so glad that you got your carriage ride. We've never been on one but it does sound lovely. One of the things we like best about staying at the WL is how close it is to FW. We love going over there.

 

[bareed]

Only 42 hours until our arrival at the Wilderness Lodge! I was wondering if someone there now or recently could tell me what types of pins the lodge pin board or cast members were offering to trade with my 8 year old? I thought during our last 2 visits to the lodge cast members had more unique pins to trade then at some of the park shops. Also should I be concerned about him wearing his lanyard on the plane with pins he wants to trade on it? I dont think this would be viewed as contraband but also dont want him to lose the pins that he wants to trade if he cant carry it on the plane either.

 

[nyrebecca]

Does the BB cover the 21st? I think the dates were through the 20th (curious because we were looking then).

It does not include the 21st. We checkout that day so no increase in our price.

 

[JnKinVA]

Also should I be concerned about him wearing his lanyard on the plane with pins he wants to trade on it? I dont think this would be viewed as contraband but also dont want him to lose the pins that he wants to trade if he cant carry it on the plane either.

I have carried my lanyards with pins in my carryon multiple times and haven't had an issue.
Plus...if flight attendants can wear pins, your son should be able to

 

[dkrauss]

Lets see if I did this correctly. Pics taken from 7th floor.

Wow they made huge progress since we were there in September!

Doug

 

[*pixie*dust*]

Is the pool itself being expanded? Or just the splash pad added?

 

[elaw]

Is the pool itself being expanded? Or just the splash pad added?

The pool's "Footprint" appears to remain unchanged.

 

[CuteAsMinnie]

... But there seems to be a lot less deck space...??? Maybe they'll make up for it on the other side?

 

[AngiTN]

... But there seems to be a lot less deck space...??? Maybe they'll make up for it on the other side?

Maybe. Hard to say till they remove all the dirt and equipment from around the splash area. The kiddie pool was always on that side. I guess the question is how much bigger is the splash pad.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

There was never enough deck space at this pool. They really needed to build out into the lake and move everything out to add deck.

 

[Wood Nymph]

From what I've been able to see of the construction, it looks like the area between the pool and the sidewalk to the boat dock will remain unchanged. The splash pad does have a bigger footprint than the old one and looks it is closer to the wooden walkway now. But it all fits. The old splash pad was set pretty far back to begin with.

I couldn't see what was happening on the south side but my guess would be that they would have to move the walkway to the beach over, so that it is closer to the south wing if they want to get the pool chairs inside the fence.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Only 42 hours until our arrival at the Wilderness Lodge! I was wondering if someone there now or recently could tell me what types of pins the lodge pin board or cast members were offering to trade with my 8 year old? I thought during our last 2 visits to the lodge cast members had more unique pins to trade then at some of the park shops.

We were at the WL last month and our grandson was fascinated by the pin board. I thought that it was a pretty good selection.

 

[kribarry]

T-minus 2 hours until we are at the WL!!! I can't wait to see it, smell the lobby and hear the music again!!!!