Disapointed with Wilderness Lodge

[dizneykid]

hi, i have to agree with everyone also. my husband and i just got back from WL and had a great time. we wanted a courtyard view and that is what we paid for and that is what we got. we went on this vacation never expecting anything else but what we paid for, a clean room. like my husband said, he was happy just to be at disney world and NOT be at work, and to spend time together.

hmp2z, by the way i love petfinder.com, and you are right why buy when they're gonna die. adopt.

 

[Magickndm]

Originally posted by Jen D
Um, some posters need to calm down please. Just because you think the OP was wrong to be disappointed doesn't mean you need to go off on a rant. She said she was disappointed, asked what everyone else thought, and she got her answer (and I agree with most of the responses here.)

I think she gets the point. No point in trying to make her feel like a criminal for posing the question.

I agree...the tag under her name says "Welcomed Guest", she should be treated as such.

 

[hmp2z]

The Disboards are a place for us to express our opinions... If she didn't want our opinions, she wouldn't have posted here...

 

[ragu]

I sent an email to wdw about mu mom. She is five years cancer free and we are celebrating with a trip in mid november. So I thought they could make it special in some way nbut they responded the get requests like mine all the time and could not help out. At first I was upset all the money and time I have spent down there over the years!!! But I got over it because it will not spoil my mom's great event or our vacation!!


I still love Disney!!!

 

[Wilma Flintstone]

We had a woods-view room on an upper floor a few years ago which had a solid balcony. This is for safety purposes, as the lower floors had see-through ones. We were thrilled with the room, since we were able to see the pink birthday castle cake above the trees and fireworks at night.

 

[MickeyisanNDfan]

I really have to laugh at posts like this but....has any one ever considered... people on these boards complain about not getting upgrades, wanting free stuff, requesting that WDW make something special for them at no cost, want comps but then also complain about cutbacks and shortages at WDW?
Just something to think about.

 

[CuteKatCar]

(sigh)..........wish my mom was here to go to WDW with me.

 

[safetymom]

CuteKatCar, I agree with you. It was money we received from when my mother died that paid for our first trip to WDW. I also wish my late husband could have gone to WDW. We didn't think we would enjoy it so we never went. After he died and I took my 3 kids I cry when I think about how much he would have loved WDW. Even my kids remark on the different areas he would have enjoyed.

 

[Threehearts]

Here's another take on it. We've also stayed in WDW many times and usually at the same resort. The CMs we have gotten to know told us that it is "EVEYONE"S" birthday, anniversary, recovery from serious illness and the like. It seems that this oft mentioned special occasion business(true or not) has backfired in many instances. We have been told that children corrected their parents(NOT their birthday) in front of a CM at check-in. I'm just not sure that it is taken as seriously as it once was due to the frequency of these special requests. We stay Poly LV Conc. and have yet to receive a towel animal but did get a lovely box of Mickey chocolates and a nice card once. I can see why you got your hopes up. This board can make it seem like upgrades, cakes etc. are an every guest occurence. Threehearts

 

[*Fantasia*]

Originally posted by Degli
Just got back from our family trip to WL. Approx. 4 days prior we had faxed a letter informing the Lodge as to why we were coming. It was our mother's 70th birthday. Six of us were coming and we were asking for 2 standard adjoining rooms. We had asked that if Disney could make it special for my mom would they. Low and behold they didn't have adjoing rooms and what they had was still standard.( I guess I expected some kind of upgraid. ) After mentioning our special curcumstances they did upgrade us to a woods view but the balcony was solid. You couldn't see out of it. My little one was very frustrated the whole week. Maybe this just sounds like sour grapes but it didn't seem special enough. No cake...nothing. Oh well. Anyone with a similar experience?

Whew....Thank goodness that was all you were dissapointed... When I read the title, I though you were dissapointed with the resort itself, and I am thinking "o oh hmmm there's something wrong with the room they got or the service was poor or they had a food problem at the restuarant or the pool was closed or maybe the taxi boat was not working." I am so glad that non of these happened to you or it woul have been a huge problem.

Ditto to what everyone have said. "No expectation...No dissapointment."

(sigh) I wish my husband was here to go with us to Disney. We couldn't get us to ride "It's a Small World"...It was his favorite ride.

 

[gepetto]

It does sound like sour grapes. You got more than what you paid for with the free upgrade and you're still complaining? If you didn't like the upgraded room you should have asked to be moved to the parking lot view that you paid for. There are a lot of people at WDW that are 'celebrating' occasions. Why would you depend on a hotel to provide you with a free birthday cake?

 

[Tea Please]

I have to agree with all the others. An upgrade was given. Isn't that the ultimate "freebie" everyone looks for? As far as the cake, well it was your mom, couldn't you have sprung for $30.00 to ensure a cake would be there?

Somhow it sounds as if even if a cake was given, it wouldn't have been enough. Then you would want candles, streamers, the list goes on and on.

I wonder if you had planned a differant vacation destination would you have expeceted upgrades and a party?

Be grateful for the upgrade. Many many people visit WDW on a fairly regular basis and are not given upgrades.

 

[BethA]

I posted before saying we never have received any freebies, but in the poster's defense-if you only see all the posts here of the great upgrades and freebies, etc that people get, you may expect it and be disappointed. I'm sure everyone does "have" a special event on their vacation-when we were on the cruise the dining room was FULL of birthdays every night. Let's not scare the poster away.

 

[jgates]

This is very true! We hear about the 45 people who received a 'freebie' and don't hear from the 12,413 who did not! So expectations are raised when they shouldn't be.

It is a bummer though that Disney's version of adjoining rooms and the rest of the American populations are not the same. I would also expect adjoining rooms to be together.

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by jgates
This is very true! We hear about the 45 people who received a 'freebie' and don't hear from the 12,413 who did not! So expectations are raised when they shouldn't be.

It is a bummer though that Disney's version of adjoining rooms and the rest of the American populations are not the same. I would also expect adjoining rooms to be together.

I guess the best thing to learn from this is to always ask for specifics.

As many have said requests are never a guarantee. There are not many standard rooms at the WL and not sure how many are actually rooms that connect to another room. The problem with this type of request is 2 rooms have to be open on the day you check in to be able to get it.

 

[gepetto]

Originally posted by jgates
This is very true! We hear about the 45 people who received a 'freebie' and don't hear from the 12,413 who did not! So expectations are raised when they shouldn't be.

Why would a reasonable person expect a hotel to provide them with a free birthday party and room upgrade? Stalking the room controller does not guarantee you these things. What do you expect for $200-ish/night (less with a discount)?

 

[peachgirl]

It is a bummer though that Disney's version of adjoining rooms and the rest of the American populations are not the same. I would also expect adjoining rooms to be together.

It's not really Disney's "version". "Adjoining" means next to, "Connecting" means physically connected together. I think it's pretty standard for any hotel. If you ask for adjoining you'll get rooms next to or in the same hallway area. If you want rooms that connect, that's what you have to ask for.

But, no matter what the definition...these requests are not guaranteed. Room requests are granted as a courtesy only. All you are guaranteed for the price you pay is the specific room type and view.

 

[Tinkbell]

Originally posted by *Fantasia*

(sigh) I wish my husband was here to go with us to Disney. We couldn't get us to ride "It's a Small World"...It was his favorite ride.

((HUGS)) to you, Fantasia.

As for this thread, we make our own "magic". I hope your mom enjoyed her vacation and nobody brought her spirits down by complaining.

 

[DisneyMim]

Part of the problem with these boards is that people read posts about how some people "get" things and then other people expect them too. We have been going to DisneyWorld since forever(!) and have stayed in all levels of their resorts from value to concierge and only very rarely have we recieved anything "free". I think the orignial poster was very much hoping for a cake, etc from the staff. I can understand her reasoning after reading all the wonderful reports from other people, but what you have to understand is that for every post that talks about "free extras" there are tons and tons of people who didn't get anything (AND were not expecting anything). I think it is a matter of luck. I agree with other poster who said that EVERYONE has some kind of special occasion when they visit Disney. We've had CMS tell us the same thing. Obviously they can't do something for everyone. I really really believe that if you want something special you have to request and pay for it. We always spend my son's birthday at Disney and have never received anything special during it. We've been doing this for over 11 years now and the CMS know us, but we still do not expect anything. We usually buy him a cake, etc. on our own. Let's not be too hard on the original poster. It looks as if she is new to this and was just expecting some special "magic". I've learned that sometimes you have to make your own magic.

P.S. Fantasia is that you!! I have been reading your posts for a few days now and am wondering if this is the same poster with 2 little children who lost her husband on their last trip. Please forgive me if I am out of line, but you have always been on my mind and hope that everything is going better for you and your children.

 

[bearapples71]

sorry to hear you were disappointed...i've NEVER been disappointed at WDW ever!!! once i mentioned that it was my childrens' first time to WDW and the CBR did send personalized cards and balloons from ariel and pooh for them to our rooms as a surprise...but i didn't and wouldn't have been disappointed if we had not gotten anything special...

and the WL i LOVE and always have!

anyway, i guess like everyone else has said, if you REALLY want to insure you get that special "something" you must pay for it...nothing in life is free ya know!