Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE Information & Questions

[Hockeyfan17]

We are here right now and loving every minute of it. It is our first stay at the lodge and it couldn't be better. We had requested connecting rooms and a north wing room close to the lobby. We didn't get north or connecting but were on the 6th floor close to the lobby. Knowing that these are simply requests, we were fine with where we were, but did go to the desk to ask. A very kind CM did some sear hing for us, as connecting rooms were more important than view or wing. She found us connecting rooms on the 2nd floor, North wing. They are fantastic. Not exactly close to the lobby, but very close to the pool and the boat launch. The constuction right now is minimal, and even in the south wing we spent one night in, there was no impact. Tbis has quickly become our favourite resort and we will certainly be back.

The pool area is fantastic, and any of the food we have had here is also very good. Transportation has been good, albeit with some bad luck on departing busses.

As for laundry, the cost is $2.50 for each load (wash is $2.50 and dryer is another $2.50). We bring our own tide pods so we don't have to buy soap here.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Does anyone know if the construction will impact viewing of the Electrical Water Pageant?

You wouldn't be able to view it from the beach, as the beach will be closed.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

So you are in a standard view room? We have standard view booked for next May, and I would like it to be open to the lobby also. If construction is on the south side at that time, I will be requesting a north room. Were you able to make both of your requests through online check-in, or did you contact WL directly? I am a little worried about lobby noise, especially above WC. Thank you for any advice.

4088 would be considered a woods view room, since the only standard view lobby rooms are on the South side. That doesn't mean you wouldn't get a woods view with a standard reservation though. We have twice stayed on the 6th floor above the registration desk after booking standard view and loved it. We don't have any problem with WCC noise, but you could hear it in the room during the evening dinner rush.

You wouldn't be able to view it from the beach, as the beach will be closed.

With the beach area closed and likely fenced off, you can still get nice EWP viewing from the transportation (North) boat dock or the area by the hot tubs.

 

[Poola]

the only standard view lobby rooms are on the South side

Are you more likely to get the dreaded "green roof" view with a standard room on the south side? Is the registration desk on the south side?

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Are you more likely to get the dreaded "green roof" view with a standard room on the south side? Is the registration desk on the south side?

Yep, the "Green Roof" view (arguably one of the worst balcony views on WDW property) is from the standard view rooms that open to the lobby on the 4th floor on the South side. We still don't have any problem requesting open to lobby for a Standard view reservation because we really like the view from the door side of the room, and if you do get upgraded to a higher floor the view is quite nice. We have never wound up with a green roof view room, but wouldn't complain if we did.

The registration desk is on the South side of the lobby, and WCC is on the North side. The rooms above WCC are considered Woods view, and have balconies that face generally towards MK but there tend to be more trees obstructing the view than the standard view rooms further down the North wing.

 

[Poola]

Yep, the "Green Roof" view (arguably one of the worst balcony views on WDW property) is from the standard view rooms that open to the lobby on the 4th floor on the South side. We still don't have any problem requesting open to lobby for a Standard view reservation because we really like the view from the door side of the room, and if you do get upgraded to a higher floor the view is quite nice. We have never wound up with a green roof view room, but wouldn't complain if we did.

The registration desk is on the South side of the lobby, and WCC is on the North side. The rooms above WCC are considered Woods view, and have balconies that face generally towards MK but there tend to be more trees obstructing the view than the standard view rooms further down the North wing.

Thank you for the information. I'm trying to get my bearings, so I can be thinking about what we want to request for online check-in. Our requests will depend what the construction situation is at that time, but I'm planning ahead (and obsessing).

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Thank you for the information. I'm trying to get my bearings, so I can be thinking about what we want to request for online check-in. Our requests will depend what the construction situation is at that time, but I'm planning ahead (and obsessing).

No problem, I'm happy to help. Planning (and obsessing) is what we all do here. There is a color coded map of room locations on the first page here which gives an idea of the locations of the categories of rooms, but throwing in another variable with the construction keeps it interesting.

 

[lsg1]

So you are in a standard view room? We have standard view booked for next May, and I would like it to be open to the lobby also. If construction is on the south side at that time, I will be requesting a north room. Were you able to make both of your requests through online check-in, or did you contact WL directly? I am a little worried about lobby noise, especially above WC. Thank you for any advice.

I have a woods view room. I requested it by calling and speaking to someone directly at the Wilderness Lodge, not CRO

 

[Lillian Gracey]

Tomorrow DH and I leave for Disney World! We won't be at WL until Thursday. I'm so excited that our trip is finally here! I'm happy to hear the construction isn't too bad!

 

[mrsp1030]

Wondering how the construction will impact current villas...we were there last fall and loved it but not sure about this Dec.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Wondering how the construction will impact current villas...we were there last fall and loved it but not sure about this Dec.

It appears there will be some impact, starting with the fact the villas pool will be closed for an extended period starting in September 2016. Also the beach area and boat rental dock will be closed. Our thought is that the majority of construction will be away from current buildings, so if you are ok with work going on in surrounding areas it might not be that bad.

There is lots of information and discussion about this project on this thread.

 

[MelissaRV]

We are there now. We requested a north room that opens into the lobby and got that exact room - it is 4088...very convenient for just walking up the stairs in the front. The construction has not imported us one bit. You see it as you drive up, and you see it if you look up in the court yard, but I havent heard a thing.

We love it so much here that we originally had a split stay of three nights here and six nights at POR, but I went down and asked if we can just stay here and they changed the reservation and now instead of moving tomorrow, we are staying on another 6 nights!!!

That's awesome that they did that for you guys. I was wondering if that would be a possibility. We are going to Disney for our 2nd time in October and we ended up having to do a split stay between WL and POR. My kids are dying to stay at WL. I haven't been able to snag a room for the entire week. Maybe I'll ask when we get there. Just curious, did they charge you more and did you have a package (dining tickets resort) booked already?

 

[JKSWonder]

We just returned from our week long trip, 8/22 to 8/29. We had booked a standard room and requested a high floor with bunk beds. We were placed in Room 5082, off the lobby, 5th floor, and a woods view. Room was in great shape.

We were not impacted by construction in any way, though there was a bit of scaffolding on the corner of the building visible from our balcony.

Bus service was for the most part o.k., although we did give up on one day after waiting 35 minutes for a bus to Hollywood Studios and took a taxi instead. Bus service from anywhere to Downtown Disney is always a pain, WL is no exception there. Bus service to MK was quick and painless and the Boat service was really pretty wonderful.

Housekeeping did a good job. Every CM was incredibly polite, we always got a smile and/or a hello.

We loved the pool and I wish we could have spent some more time there. Some sticker shock at the pool bar. $11 dollars for a margarita, and not a huge margarita at that. That's Disney pricing for you though.

All in all, I think Wilderness Lodge has now become my new favorite. I would definitely want to go back.

Happy to answer any specific questions anyone has.

 

[Lillian Gracey]

DH and I got our room and we're in 6032! We're in the North Wing on the 6th Floor facing Magic Kingdom! I can see Space Mountain peeking through the trees. This is exactly what I wanted! I'm hoping to see Wishes tonight from our room! I'm so happy with my stay so far! The room was well worth waiting 4 hours for.

 

[WDWKOOK]

DH and I got our room and we're in 6032! We're in the North Wing on the 6th Floor facing Magic Kingdom! I can see Space Mountain peeking through the trees. This is exactly what I wanted! I'm hoping to see Wishes tonight from our room! I'm so happy with my stay so far! The room was well worth waiting 4 hours for.

So happy for you, Hannah! Enjoy every minute!

 

[pas130]

DH and I got our room and we're in 6032! We're in the North Wing on the 6th Floor facing Magic Kingdom! I can see Space Mountain peeking through the trees. This is exactly what I wanted! I'm hoping to see Wishes tonight from our room! I'm so happy with my stay so far! The room was well worth waiting 4 hours for.

Enjoy!! Ditto what Kook said! Have a wonderful time! (It's killing me not to change my December trip )

 

[WDWKOOK]

Howdy!

Going in the way back multi-quoting machine to catch-up with all I missed while on vacation. Thank you to all who answered questions, with special thanks to @GrandCalifornian and @Wood Nymph.

Last week, I posted scaffolding and current Mercantile merchandise. This is all I have left...






Old Faithful Club during snack time:

Hi Kook! Yep, Melissa is pregnant and due in December. I mentioned it a while back in a multi-quote, but it was easy to miss.

We haven't gone far from WL, and we think the location will be ideal with an infant.

Have a great time on your trip. You'll be just across the water bridge.

So happy for you both and Allie must be excited to be a big sister just in time for Christmas. I know your DS is going to be so well dressed at DLR and WDW. I can't wait to see all the cute outfits Melissa creates for him!

Back to WL news -

We received our letter from Disney Destinations telling us about the construction during our January trip.

They assure us that construction noise will not begin before 9am. And they don't say anything about DVC units in the south wing.

Thank you for posting. They have very strict rules about when they can announce DVC projects. It could be a while before it's announced. Someone posted a DVC announcement timeline on the WL DVC Expansion thread that may help to speculate when the announcement might be made.

Experiencing our worst bus service to date trying to get to Epcot waited 50 minutes for it! Three for DHS five for AK three for DTD four for MK and five for FW in that time, appalling service today!

We've found the Epcot bus to always be the longest wait. But, after just spending 10 nights at monorail resorts, we really missed that Epcot bus. The monorail was often down, completely full or very slow to arrive and we wished we had a bus option. It was very frustrating and we concluded the only answer is to stay at an Epcot Resort.

However, the MK bus was great, as usual. I had it all to myself one early afternoon when I took it to get back to GF:

Thank you for the email address so I could let WL and Disney know about the great service we had at WCC. I received a very nice email from someone yesterday thanking me and assuring me that our server would be notified and commended.

I think it's great when guests take the time to acknowledge exceptional service.

We took the Escape Walt's Wilderness Resort tour yesterday morning with CMs Mr Critter and Abbe and Cathy and JT the boat captains. Thoroughly immersed us in the history of Walt's dream for the place and some wildlife spotting too ,followed by a carriage ride with the beautiful air of Belgian horses Beau and Bob and a tour of the working barn and met the rest of the team who look after them and work along side these magnificent working horses and ponies. Even came out of it with a pony shoe each from a lovely little white pony named Benji one of a team of six who pull Cinderella's carriage. Even the breakfast was tasty. Highly recommended!

Thank you for posting your review, @wifey. We're looking forward to taking the tour on our next vacation.

Well, as much as I was looking forward to the lodge, Disney offered to upgrade us to a room over at the Contemporary in order to make up for the renovations at WL. So hopefully we will be staying here next time we come to disney, but this year it looks like we are going to pass. Guess we can be removed from the roll call now =)

I completely understand and we'll see you on the CR/BLT thread

 

[WDWKOOK]

Reading this thread today, I learned from a previous post that the WL rooms have ceiling fans. This is a huge plus, and something I hadn't noticed in all the pics I've seen. We all sleep with fans on in our rooms just for the white noise, so I was really happy to read that.

The only WL rooms that don't have ceiling fans are the Deluxe rooms; they replaced them with lights. Since we love fans as white noise, too, we requested a box fan when we stayed in the Deluxe room. I believe you can request them from housekeeping at all resorts.

Kook, I can't really tell from the pictures...what is the exterior work that they're doing? It looks like they're essentially re-siding the entire Lodge. Is that right? If so, is it changing the look of the Lodge, or is it more along the lines of maintenance work?

I guess to me, I would consider the exterior construction to be "minor" in that they're only doing small sections at a time.

Wood Nymph was correct that they're replacing the timber in those areas near CL (7th floor) pictured in her post below. But, there is also scaffolding up where they are doing repairs. The construction worker told me about a week ago that the project would take another 4-6 months.

I'm sure that Kook will be along to clarify, but my guess is that they are putting new siding on these two corner sections. There is one on each inner corner of the lodge.

While seeing all of these post regarding construction and scaffolding might make me a bit nervous, we are going to be troopers and stay put.
We are ready to go back to the lodge and treat our lil princess to club level!

If possible can we be added to the list for the dates 9/23-9/29 2015?

Disneyworld, WL, MNSSHP, F&W & HHN here we come!!!!

Yippee! I will (finally) add you to the Lodgers' Log

Hi! New to these boards. Is there a separate VWL thread? Will the villas be affected? We're staying 9/26-10/2.

Thanks for any info!

to the thread and the DIS! I hope you found the WL DVC Expansion thread and the VWL DVC thread. Let us know if you have any questions and I'll log your dates in POST 1.

We called this morning and the construction in December should include:

• Playgrounds-closed
• Marina-closed
• Beach-partially-closed
• Not main pool-closed

They upgraded us to Polynesian as we wanted to use all facilities... We'll make it there some day, WL!

@Trinity524, thank you for the closure update. Just so you're not surprised, Poly's East (quiet) pool is closed and isn't due to re-open until next year. Consequently, the feature pool gets very crowded. We ended up on the beach instead. Here are some photos I took less than two weeks ago:

I don't think so either. We're there 12/16-12/21. They said it really shouldn't impact our stay unless we want to use the beach or playground. Then they offered to move us to AKL, but that doesn't work with the plans we've already made. They couldn't put us anywhere else and keep our free dining, so I stuck with WL and the extra FP. I just hope we don't hear construction noise. That's not very "magical," even during the day

Keep in mind that if after you arrive you're displeased, don't hesitate to speak to a GSM. They will work with you to make you happy or you have the option to move to another resort. Have a resort in mind where you think you'd be happier and either go in person to that resort first to inquire about changing or speak with a WL GSM.

We had a reservation at WL CL in December. After receiving the letter about construction I called Guest Services. They told us it wouldn't impact our stay. When I expressed concern about all of the closures we weren't offered any alternatives. We decided to switch to the GF.

Within the WL DVC Expansion thread, (link in top of POST 1), alternatives that have been offered to booked guests are discussed.

Does anyone have a laundry price list? We are at the lodge for two weeks and I'm really tempted to splash out!!

Here is a 2010 list from CR, but all resorts are the same. The charge is per item, so the cost is astronomical and would probably be more now since this list is from 2010:

We just returned from our week long trip, 8/22 to 8/29. We had booked a standard room and requested a high floor with bunk beds. We were placed in Room 5082, off the lobby, 5th floor, and a woods view. Room was in great shape.

We were not impacted by construction in any way, though there was a bit of scaffolding on the corner of the building visible from our balcony.

Bus service was for the most part o.k., although we did give up on one day after waiting 35 minutes for a bus to Hollywood Studios and took a taxi instead. Bus service from anywhere to Downtown Disney is always a pain, WL is no exception there. Bus service to MK was quick and painless and the Boat service was really pretty wonderful.

Housekeeping did a good job. Every CM was incredibly polite, we always got a smile and/or a hello.

We loved the pool and I wish we could have spent some more time there. Some sticker shock at the pool bar. $11 dollars for a margarita, and not a huge margarita at that. That's Disney pricing for you though.

All in all, I think Wilderness Lodge has now become my new favorite. I would definitely want to go back.

Happy to answer any specific questions anyone has.

Thank you for posting your review. I hope you get to book another stay soon

 

[pas130]

Kook! I never welcomed you home!

 

[WDWKOOK]

Kook! I never welcomed you home!

Aren't you sweet - thank you. I am SO behind, but DD and I had a wonderful vacation, (some details are on the GF thread). Is that a new, shiny ticker I spy? Is the news on your TR thread?