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

[Deb & Bill]

Just a quick question--I am hoping to book our 2013 trip pkg tomorrow. I think I posted this here before, but originally, we were hoping to stay at Poly. However, my son (and all of us) fell in love with VWL while there in June.

We used our DVC points for a one bedroom villa in June, but this time I Am hoping to just pay for it (don't want to use points). Do I just book it online and select that resort? Or is there a different process since it's in the Villas? I just want to have all of my ducks in a row!

Thanks!!

If you are a DVC member, you can call MS and book VWL for cash. You'll be treated as a DVC member with limited housekeeping.

 

[Villains_Rock]

Is anyone familiar with how split stays are treated at the WL if both portions of the split stay are at the WL in the same room category? If I were to do this to take advantage of free dining for the last four nights of a seven night stay, would my family have to change rooms when we checked out for the first portion of the split stay and then checked in for the last portion of the split stay?

Also, has anyone, recently, had any experience with picking up their park tickets early. I hear from other posters on this board that it is possible to pick tickets up from part of a package when doing a split stay (up to three days early). The only thing that makes me nervous about this is that Disney phone reps say this is not possible, even though others say it is, so I would not want to get all the way to Disney and find out this was not possible.

Hi guys...I'm a lurker, but thought I'd chime in...

My friend did this at POP during marathon weekend. She didn't have to check out or do anything crazy. All she had to do was walk to the front desk and "check in" for her new reservation. It was the same thing...she wanted free dining for the days after the races, however it wasn't offered for the weekends itself. She said it was easy peasy and it only took a few minutes out of one of her mornings!!

As for the park tickets...I'm pretty sure you can get as many as you want on your first ressie and then just use them as you go as long as they are used within 14 days of the first tickets use. Or if you are worried, maybe add on the "no expiration" feature. How many days are we talking about? Are you staying 7 nights on one ressie and 7 on the next...or is it only a couple?

 

[nyrebecca]

I will definitely check in while we are there!!! We are only bringing the iPad, so uploading pics to Photobucket won't be possible, but I'll take plenty of pics and upload when I get back!!!

I hope you have an amazing vacation with the family at the WL! You should be well on your way there by now, but I do hope it is a safe flight!

 

[nyrebecca]

The weather is a little overcast when we arrived but the sun came out. Got the room we wanted and the food on CL is unbelievable. Watched Tarzan on the beach and saw the water pageant and MK fireworks from the beach

Hope you are enjoying your stay at the WL! We found the food on the CL to be so wonderful that I managed to gain 3 lbs while we were there!

 

[WDWKOOK]

In case y'all didn't know, Candace (Mousemommy1) will FINALLY be at WL/CL today. Have a safe trip and we can't wait to hear from you

Thanks for the welcome! Yes, my husband loves fishing and the outdoors, one of the reasons I chose WL. When initially looking through the Disney website resort information, I instantly knew this would be the perfect fit for our family. The price was a tough sell, as he's a pretty thrifty guy. I got him by comparing it to our wedding, where we splurged on location and it was well worth it. There was also the consideration of "just how much time are we going to spend in our room anyway?" I think since our daughter is 7, we will definitely be taking the mid-day break for a rest and a swim. I was wondering if anyone had ever gone on one of the guided fishing trips? I know he is interested! The planning has been fun, all of our ADRs are set. Another thing I have been trying to figure out is about when we will actually arrive on property. Our flight arrival time is 4:45PM. Assuming it is on time, what is a realistic estimate? That would help me figure out what to do for dinner that night. Thanks again for the advice and good wishes!

I haven't done the guided fishing trip, but hopefully someone else has and will comment.

We always drive now, and only flew before they started DME. I assume you're taking DME? One WL poster once reported that from the time he landed to the time he arrived at WL, it was about one hour, which may have been making really good time. So just to be safe, I would factor 1.5 hours from MCO to WL so you'd arrive at WL by 6:30. You need to check-in and probably want to go up to your room to freshen-up, so I would make the ADR for no earlier than 7:30 if you're eating at WL. If you're eating at the MK, I wouldn't make it for earlier than 8:00. Keep in mind that you can always show-up early to an ADR, but it's tougher to show-up late.

Is anyone familiar with how split stays are treated at the WL if both portions of the split stay are at the WL in the same room category? If I were to do this to take advantage of free dining for the last four nights of a seven night stay, would my family have to change rooms when we checked out for the first portion of the split stay and then checked in for the last portion of the split stay?

Also, has anyone, recently, had any experience with picking up their park tickets early. I hear from other posters on this board that it is possible to pick tickets up from part of a package when doing a split stay (up to three days early). The only thing that makes me nervous about this is that Disney phone reps say this is not possible, even though others say it is, so I would not want to get all the way to Disney and find out this was not possible.

Hi guys...I'm a lurker, but thought I'd chime in...

My friend did this at POP during marathon weekend. She didn't have to check out or do anything crazy. All she had to do was walk to the front desk and "check in" for her new reservation. It was the same thing...she wanted free dining for the days after the races, however it wasn't offered for the weekends itself. She said it was easy peasy and it only took a few minutes out of one of her mornings!!

As for the park tickets...I'm pretty sure you can get as many as you want on your first ressie and then just use them as you go as long as they are used within 14 days of the first tickets use. Or if you are worried, maybe add on the "no expiration" feature. How many days are we talking about? Are you staying 7 nights on one ressie and 7 on the next...or is it only a couple?

Thank you for helping Akess and WL Lurker! Don't be a stranger!

I'll just add that you will receive a new KTTW card for your second reservation. Your first reservation will be considered a 'continuing reservation' because it continues on to your second reservation. Make sure this is noted in your reservation so that the room assignor can block the same room for you for your second reservation. Just explain this to the CM when you check-in for reservation #1 and you won't have any issues.

And this is why I love this thread. I'm learning new things all the time. I know you were answering someone else, but it brought up a coupe of questions for me!!

Archery. Please tell me more. My DBF recently bought his first bow and I think he would love to do this activity on our off day of vacation. Do I need to reserve anything in advance?

Taking the monorail to Epcot. Does the monorail from MK go directly to Epcot? This will be our third WDW trip and we have yet to ride the monorail. We are DLR vets and it odd to us that the monorail is actual transportation and not a ride! Thanks!

The archery Experience is so much fun, we even did part of it in the pouring rain once and it was still a hoot. You'll need to make a reservation either through the IPO, if you're staying club level or by calling (407) WDW-PLAY.
The Archery Experience is offered every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 2:45 - 4:15 for ages 6 and up. It only costs $25 and is located behind the Bike Barn at FW. You'll check-in at the Bike Barn and sign some legal mumbo jumbo and then walk right behind the Bike Barn. They are very well organized and the rules are explicit and easy to understand, but you must follow them. It lasts about 1.5 hours and you'll be busy the whole time. I highly recommend it and I think we might even do it again it was so much fun.

Here is a link to an AllEars review of it with photos:

http://land.allears.net/blogs/photoblog/2010/03/ready_archery_experience_revie.html

 

[nyrebecca]

Well I am starting to get a bit worried about our October trip. We have never been in Oct., usually we go in November the past few years.

I was looking at the FD and said wow, no rooms at the WL. Then I dropped the discount and said wow, only deluxe club level rooms left. So I started looking around and said wow, there really aren't a lot of rooms available in a lot of the resorts.

Is October generally usually this busy? We are going October 21st thru the 27th?

 

[TheLodgeLady]

Good morning Lodgers!!

I have to say, I think we have "The Most Helpful Thred on the DIS"

Have a great day!



Hoping Cshel85 and Mousemommy are having a wonderful time, can't wait to hear how it is going.

 

[mom2rtk]

1
As for the park tickets...I'm pretty sure you can get as many as you want on your first ressie and then just use them as you go as long as they are used within 14 days of the first tickets use. Or if you are worried, maybe add on the "no expiration" feature. How many days are we talking about? Are you staying 7 nights on one ressie and 7 on the next...or is it only a couple?

They are asking because the free dining portion of their trip is undoubtedly the second of their 2 reservations, necessitating that the tickets be purchased as part of that package and picked up early.

There has been a rash of threads on this lately. I will share my own experience and what I've read since we're doing the same thing, as are many others because of the blackout dates associated with this promotion.

Last year we did 2 room only days prior to our FD package. I didn't even ask the phone agent if we could pick up our package tickets early because I had read here that you could get them up to 3 days early. Then without me even asking, they went out of their way to tell me I could not get them early. Same thing last year, TONS of threads on this topic. LOTS of people being told they could not get their tickets early.

I cautiously proceeded since Cheshire Figment, who works in ticketing, continuted to post that they had received nothing to the contrary and the practice was continuing. He always recommends picking up your tickets at Guest Relations in the parks or at DTD. I was pleasantly surprised when we checked in at the Pop Century to find that it was no problem at all to pick them up there.

Will that change this year? Probably not. But there's no way to know for certain if a policy change will come down prior to our trip. I once again am proceeding cautiously and keeping my fingers crossed.

All I can say is that if this does indeed change, they will have a LOT of unhappy customers. And they will undoubtedly lose a lot of business to Universal on those few days before people's packages start.

One option if it changes would be to supplement with some MVMCP tickets on Friday and/or Sunday.

Just to be on teh safe side, I will probably reduce our package tickets down to 2 days. If all goes well, we'll pick them up early and add the remaining number of days we need once we have activated them at the parks. If we run into trouble, we will purchase all new tickets on our first day there, then put back our 2 day package tickets to use on a later vacation. Hopefully this won't be necessary. But I do always like to go in with a plan.

 

[WDWKOOK]

Well I am starting to get a bit worried about our October trip. We have never been in Oct., usually we go in November the past few years.

I was looking at the FD and said wow, no rooms at the WL. Then I dropped the discount and said wow, only deluxe club level rooms left. So I started looking around and said wow, there really aren't a lot of rooms available in a lot of the resorts.

Is October generally usually this busy? We are going October 21st thru the 27th?

Hopefully someone who has been there at the time will help you. Unless a resort is undergoing a rehab and has pulled rooms out of inventory, then lack of availability would tell me that it's going to be crowded. But, I would think the Epcot area resorts would go first and not WL

Good morning Lodgers!!

I have to say, I think we have "The Most Helpful Thred on the DIS"

Have a great day!



Hoping Cshel85 and Mousemommy are having a wonderful time, can't wait to hear how it is going.

Thanks to knowledgeable and helpful DISers like you

 

[WDWKOOK]

They are asking because the free dining portion of their trip is undoubtedly the second of their 2 reservations, necessitating that the tickets be purchased as part of that package and picked up early.

There has been a rash of threads on this lately. I will share my own experience and what I've read since we're doing the same thing, as are many others because of the blackout dates associated with this promotion.

Last year we did 2 room only days prior to our FD package. I didn't even ask the phone agent if we could pick up our package tickets early because I had read here that you could get them up to 3 days early. Then without me even asking, they went out of their way to tell me I could not get them early. Same thing last year, TONS of threads on this topic. LOTS of people being told they could not get their tickets early.

I cautiously proceeded since Cheshire Figment, who works in ticketing, continuted to post that they had received nothing to the contrary and the practice was continuing. He always recommends picking up your tickets at Guest Relations in the parks or at DTD. I was pleasantly surprised when we checked in at the Pop Century to find that it was no problem at all to pick them up there.

Will that change this year? Probably not. But there's no way to know for certain if a policy change will come down prior to our trip. I once again am proceeding cautiously and keeping my fingers crossed.

All I can say is that if this does indeed change, they will have a LOT of unhappy customers. And they will undoubtedly lose a lot of business to Universal on those few days before people's packages start.

One option if it changes would be to supplement with some MVMCP tickets on Friday and/or Sunday.

Just to be on teh safe side, I will probably reduce our package tickets down to 2 days. If all goes well, we'll pick them up early and add the remaining number of days we need once we have activated them at the parks. If we run into trouble, we will purchase all new tickets on our first day there, then put back our 2 day package tickets to use on a later vacation. Hopefully this won't be necessary. But I do always like to go in with a plan.

Thank you, mom2rtk for posting this great information for Akess and others

 

[Akess]

I'll just add that you will receive a new KTTW card for your second reservation. Your first reservation will be considered a 'continuing reservation' because it continues on to your second reservation. Make sure this is noted in your reservation so that the room assignor can block the same room for you for your second reservation. Just explain this to the CM when you check-in for reservation #1 and you won't have any issues.

Thanks for the information, WDWKOOK. Although having to change rooms may seem like a minor detail in comparison to the savings through free dining, the savings would not be worth it to me if that meant packing my stuff back up after three days and moving to a different room.

 

[Akess]

They are asking because the free dining portion of their trip is undoubtedly the second of their 2 reservations, necessitating that the tickets be purchased as part of that package and picked up early.

There has been a rash of threads on this lately. I will share my own experience and what I've read since we're doing the same thing, as are many others because of the blackout dates associated with this promotion.

Last year we did 2 room only days prior to our FD package. I didn't even ask the phone agent if we could pick up our package tickets early because I had read here that you could get them up to 3 days early. Then without me even asking, they went out of their way to tell me I could not get them early. Same thing last year, TONS of threads on this topic. LOTS of people being told they could not get their tickets early.

I cautiously proceeded since Cheshire Figment, who works in ticketing, continuted to post that they had received nothing to the contrary and the practice was continuing. He always recommends picking up your tickets at Guest Relations in the parks or at DTD. I was pleasantly surprised when we checked in at the Pop Century to find that it was no problem at all to pick them up there.

Will that change this year? Probably not. But there's no way to know for certain if a policy change will come down prior to our trip. I once again am proceeding cautiously and keeping my fingers crossed.

All I can say is that if this does indeed change, they will have a LOT of unhappy customers. And they will undoubtedly lose a lot of business to Universal on those few days before people's packages start.

One option if it changes would be to supplement with some MVMCP tickets on Friday and/or Sunday.

Just to be on teh safe side, I will probably reduce our package tickets down to 2 days. If all goes well, we'll pick them up early and add the remaining number of days we need once we have activated them at the parks. If we run into trouble, we will purchase all new tickets on our first day there, then put back our 2 day package tickets to use on a later vacation. Hopefully this won't be necessary. But I do always like to go in with a plan.

Thanks for the advice. And you are correct, I am asking because the package tickets would be with the second portion of our split stay. I know it is advised to go with a backup plan in case there is a change in policy between now and then, but I am not sure I want to stress myself out over this until we get there. We had originally thought this would be our last trip to Disney World because my daughter is getting older (she will turn 15 a few days after we return from Disney); however, we did just find out that my daughter's dance team will be traveling to Disney World in June 2013. I think, though, that we have to purchase our tickets in a package for the dancers, but I am not sure about the parents and siblings of the dancers.

Back to your thought of only buying two-day tickets with the package, then adding days onto those two-day tickets if you are able to pick them up early, and putting them away for a future trip if you were not able to pick them up early. Do you know if you would be able to add the days on at guest relations in DTD where you would try to pick them up early?

 

[Akess]

Hi guys...I'm a lurker, but thought I'd chime in...

My friend did this at POP during marathon weekend. She didn't have to check out or do anything crazy. All she had to do was walk to the front desk and "check in" for her new reservation. It was the same thing...she wanted free dining for the days after the races, however it wasn't offered for the weekends itself. She said it was easy peasy and it only took a few minutes out of one of her mornings!!

As for the park tickets...I'm pretty sure you can get as many as you want on your first ressie and then just use them as you go as long as they are used within 14 days of the first tickets use. Or if you are worried, maybe add on the "no expiration" feature. How many days are we talking about? Are you staying 7 nights on one ressie and 7 on the next...or is it only a couple?

The tickets I am referring to are packaged with the free-dining package, which are part of the second half of our split stay.

 

[Mousemommy1]

We are here! The CL lounge is beautiful! Homemade chips and dip, yum yum yum!!! Room is amazing, perfect view of castle and monorail wizzing by!!!

 

[nyrebecca]

We are here! The CL lounge is beautiful! Homemade chips and dip, yum yum yum!!! Room is amazing, perfect view of castle and monorail wizzing by!!!

Yay!! Sounds like you have the perfect view! Did you you get bunk beds?

 

[bowbat]

We are here! The CL lounge is beautiful! Homemade chips and dip, yum yum yum!!! Room is amazing, perfect view of castle and monorail wizzing by!!!

Yay! Once you're back, would you mind posting the room number? We'd love a room overlooking MK.

 

[feline figaro]

Hi everyone

Just a question about Standard room views, i ve read that they tend to be over looking the service areas but was wondering if that applies to all rooms?
Do any of the standard rooms offer better views?
If so does anyone know which room Nos ?

Many thanks

 

[mom2rtk]

Thanks for the advice. And you are correct, I am asking because the package tickets would be with the second portion of our split stay. I know it is advised to go with a backup plan in case there is a change in policy between now and then, but I am not sure I want to stress myself out over this until we get there. We had originally thought this would be our last trip to Disney World because my daughter is getting older (she will turn 15 a few days after we return from Disney); however, we did just find out that my daughter's dance team will be traveling to Disney World in June 2013. I think, though, that we have to purchase our tickets in a package for the dancers, but I am not sure about the parents and siblings of the dancers.

Back to your thought of only buying two-day tickets with the package, then adding days onto those two-day tickets if you are able to pick them up early, and putting them away for a future trip if you were not able to pick them up early. Do you know if you would be able to add the days on at guest relations in DTD where you would try to pick them up early?

Yes they can upgrade for you at the time you pick them up. But that will bump you up to the new ticket prices and you'll have to pay the difference. I sort of lost track of the discussion on bridging package ticket prices to know whether they for certain still do this, but up until now they have been willing to bridge the price so you only pay for the new days, not the difference in old to new prices, as long as you used the ticket to enter a park first THEN added the additional days. So I would suggest doing it this way in hopes of keeping the old pricing structure.

 

[TheLodgeLady]

We are here! The CL lounge is beautiful! Homemade chips and dip, yum yum yum!!! Room is amazing, perfect view of castle and monorail wizzing by!!!

Yay!! We love those homemade chips

 

[WDWKOOK]

We are here! The CL lounge is beautiful! Homemade chips and dip, yum yum yum!!! Room is amazing, perfect view of castle and monorail wizzing by!!!

Just wait till 5:00 appetizer time and 8:00 cobbler time. Looks like you'll be watching Wishes from your room balcony tonight? I'm so glad you love your room. The 7th floor still must be fairly empty? Have you met Cshel yet?