Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE Information & Questions

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Can anyone tell me more about the check-in process at the villas? I booked a room at them for Feb. 23-27th because 1. they had availability and 2. were much cheaper than the regular rooms, but I should be arriving around noon that day, and I'm wondering what to do because of the 'check in at 4' thing. This is my first time booking a non-regular room, so I'm a bit lost.
Your check in for the villas will be just like check in at any resort. The villas check in is handled through the main lodge registration desk. You should be approached by a CM carrying an iPad when you enter the main building. Just tell them that you are staying in the villas. They will check you in and tell you whether or not your room is ready. You can check in at any time. The 4pm thing is just their way of telling you that you shouldn't expect the room to be available before 4pm. But if it is ready ahead of time I'm sure you will let you know. :)
 
The check in process is the same as it is if you were staying in a regular room. In October we stayed in a villa. I did online check in and put an arrival time and I received a text (and an email) stating our room was ready. We were able to go straight to our room. My in-laws did not receive a text and had to go to the front desk to check in, but it was quick and easy. Our flight landed at 11:45 and we were at WL by 2:00 so our room was ready before 4:00. So it is possible for your room to be ready early, but not guaranteed.
 
The check in process is the same as it is if you were staying in a regular room. In October we stayed in a villa. I did online check in and put an arrival time and I received a text (and an email) stating our room was ready. We were able to go straight to our room. My in-laws did not receive a text and had to go to the front desk to check in, but it was quick and easy. Our flight landed at 11:45 and we were at WL by 2:00 so our room was ready before 4:00. So it is possible for your room to be ready early, but not guaranteed.

Good to know! I have to wait a few days before I can do online check-in, but I'll update it accordingly.
 
Just returned from our first stay at the Lodge, it was awesome! Does anyone know what phone number I can call to report excellent customer service?

I did online check in and received a text with my room number and went directly to the room after getting off the bus from the airport. My daughter opened the door with her magic band and to our surprise there was another family already in the room!

I calmly went down to the front desk and explained what happened. The CM was very apologetic and got a manager to look into it. The manager, Teri, then apologized profusely and added 2 extra FP+ per person, per day(8days) AND extra table service credits. She called again to apologize and said if we needed anything else please let her know.

I would like to see her excellent customer service recognized. The extra FP+s made the trip.
Thanks.
 

That must have been embarrassing. That was nice of them to give you the extra fps and extra table service credits. :)
 
Disney Food Blog posted a grand opening first look at Skipper Canteen yesterday. The theming looks like so much fun and they have many photos of the detailed interior and tasty-looking food and beverages located HERE. A full review will be posted soon.
 
Just returned from our first stay at the Lodge, it was awesome! Does anyone know what phone number I can call to report excellent customer service?

I did online check in and received a text with my room number and went directly to the room after getting off the bus from the airport. My daughter opened the door with her magic band and to our surprise there was another family already in the room!

I calmly went down to the front desk and explained what happened. The CM was very apologetic and got a manager to look into it. The manager, Teri, then apologized profusely and added 2 extra FP+ per person, per day(8days) AND extra table service credits. She called again to apologize and said if we needed anything else please let her know.

I would like to see her excellent customer service recognized. The extra FP+s made the trip.
Thanks.
It's wonderful that you would like to recognize the exceptional service you received. Just email WDW Guest Communications at:

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

You will receive a generic reply in a few minutes acknowledging receipt of your comments and within usually a few days, you'll receive a phone call thanking you for your comments and assuring you they will be shared with WL. At WL, these guest comments are shared by management usually on a weekly basis at meetings. This will also go into the CMs record and they are much appreciated by the resort.



ETA: Will return this afternoon to catch-up on some long overdue multi-quoting:blush:
 
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We will be at the WLV Jan 31-Feb 8, so we are very interested to hear of the experience folks are having over the next month.
 
Further to the comments about rooms being taken out of inventory, when we were complaining about being notified about construction after we had booked the trip, we were trying to get an upgrade to Courtyard view as I thought that should avoid most construction. I had to wait a week for them to confirm if they can move us from Woods view to courtyard as many rooms are out of inventory apparently, I assumed it was that they had downgraded some of the view types due to the construction at the quiet pool but of course it could be that rooms are closed off for refurbishment.

I've seen a photo on another forum as well show HEAVY tree clearance between the North Wing and Bay Lake, you can now see the Lodge from the monorail. So the Woods View rooms are currently a monorail/Lagoon view.
 
I can't wait to see what it looks like next month. It sounds like it will look a lot different that what we are used to.
 
We just received an e- mail today from Disney UK advising us that Wilderness Lodge have been notified that we have accepted their $100 per day credit to spend on Disney property..$1400 is a massive spending boost for us, especially as my wife will be celebrating a big birthday next year, and has her eye on a Dooney & Bourke handbag..

Perfect!

Photobucket has not been cooperating but I FINALLY have pictures available of the "transformation". Pardon the blur on a couple...the shots looked clear to my tired eyes that night :thumbsup2

Thank you so much for posting such amazing photos. You even got the trucks unloading! What a great timeline and these will look great in the CHRISTMASTIME chapter of the thread:)

We just made plans for another WDW trip - feb 28-march 5 - and a stay at WL! We're doing a split stay at Poly, Swan or Dolphin, and then ending at our favorite, WL. It's our first time checking out the Flower and Garden festival at Epcot.

We're renting DVC points, which is a first for us. Any tips on that front? I'm sure we'll have some sort of construction view, but with 2 little ones, we are early risers!

Congratulations and I'll add your dates to the Log.

So we are on our way home from a wonderful vacation. The Lodge and all it's Christmas beauty was great! I never noticed a hint of construction. If I wasn't on these boards, I wouldn't have even known there was any going on. Pool was great, boats were fast, rooms clean, and we had peaceful nights sleep.

CL was very enjoyable once again. CM's were always friendly, chatty and accommodating. For the main dishes It rotated between chicken nuggets (which were very good) and vegetable simoas? They also had pulled pork & chili one night and rotated with seafood dishes (seafood bake and seafood pasta). Desserts/breakfast were the same each day.

We had beautiful weather the past two weeks, definitely the most we swam down there in years!
To those of you going this month, enjoy!!! It was sad seeing the tree for the last time this morning. Will be planning our next November trip sometime in February (if I could wait that long!!!!!) It was fun chatting and planning with all of you!

Sounds like the OFC menu has changed some. It's good to mix it up a bit and add new items. I hope you get to plan another trip soon:)

Please add us to the log. My fiancé and I will be there from the 12-15. We're celebrating our engagement. He proposed last month while we were there in Epcot.

I'd be happy to add you. What month and which resort? Epcot will always hold a special place in your heart.

My family will be at the Lodge December 24 - 31, staying in a 2 bedroom villa....Cannot wait!

Only 10 days to go! Happy travels and check in with us if you can.

Well, we at the end of day two. In the morning,it's almost midnight now, I'm going to go over to the trip report area and start writing up a report. Will probably call it - From The Tropics To The Wilderness.

But before I turn in for the night,just wanted to let you know that the rumor mill is at a fast and furious pace here.

Apparently,the South wing is shut down, at least on CL, taken out of inventory,in preparation for a renovation and redesign of the area from the OFC to the entire South Wing hallway. None of the CM's have any idea when the Reno will start or even how it will affect their job/ hours,etc. They have no idea what the new design will look like or how long it will take to complete. They are totally in the dark and the only " info" they're getting is by rumor.

Although we were initially told ( at 9am),our favorite room would be made ready for us , and we would get a text,by 3pm,no text came,so we came back from the MK to check things out. We were told by a different CM that our room was ready and proceeded to take us in the opposite direction. Wait a second, we're not headed towards the room we expected to get! So we went back to the desk and the CM called somewhere,don't know who or where, to find out if there were problems with that room,so we were switched. That's when she learned that all the rooms in that hallway were taken out of inventory. So the morning CM had no idea the rooms were no longer available and the afternoon CM was just finding out. Bad bad Mouse for not keeping the CM's informed. They're on the front lines and need to be the first ones to know what's going on. This had to be something that was just very recently decided,as it would be hard to believe that the CM's would not have noticed no one being placed in that hallway after a few days...

For us,they were EXTREMELY accommodating and placed us in the comparable / sort of mirror image room on the other side. So we're not complaining at all. We're fine with our room. Perhaps we showed up during that grey area time,when the powers that be made some decisions and hadn't started the flow of info yet.

So,just giving ya all a heads up,in case any other info starts trickling in.

It is a bit strange being in 7035, everything is opposite of 7127:upsidedow, (and a bit more dustydifferent housekeeper).

Seems like you arrived during a big change which took everyone by surprise. I don't know why management would want the CMs to be uninformed about major changes and "renovations." I think that just
irritates everyone - CMs and guests.

I hope you dad is eating. I assume you'll stop by (with some
cheeseburgers ;)) on your way back south?

Okay- heard that construction should be starting around January. But if anyone knows more,they're not saying yet.

It does look as if most of the south wing is still open,as I saw people leaving from there this morning. So it looks like just a few rooms are out of inventory,as the hallway doesn't seem to be that populated. Looks like they are winding down in preparation for shutting down.

I would love to see a lounge area like floors 6,5 and 4 have. It's somewhat strange that the Club Floor doesn't have at least one comfortable area for relaxing.

Hopefully as more members of these boards arrive during December,there will be more info flowing our way.

By the way,as we were moseying through Adventureland today,we saw that Skippers Canteen officially opened today. No ADR's this week,just walk ups.we spoke to two ex Jungle Cruise captains who now work there. There were fun to talk to,so it should be a nice new place to eat. We're canceling our BOG lunch for tomorrow so we can try Skippers. They open at 11 for lunch and it didn't look crowded, because I think the opening took everyone by surprise,as they weren't letting anyone know exactly when it was happening.

Since the cat is out of the CL bag…yes, big changes will be taking place to the OFC in the form of a new or expanded CL lounge, possibly a new/expanded guest check-in area with guest seating and a public CL bathroom. These were rumors this summer, but it looks like the changes are starting to move into the likely category. I don't know this definitively and it hasn't been made public, so let's still call it a rumor.

This is also speculation, but with the conversion of some WL rooms to DVC rooms in the South Wing, it's possible they may offer CL DVC, like they have at AKL's Jambo. Re-doing/moving/adding another CL lounge could possibly be related to adding DVC CL to WL.

Thank you for the scuttlebutt and I hope you'll post a SC review!

We'll be arriving on January 9th, so I'll be sure to report what I see and hear. :)

:yay:

We will be at the WLV Jan 31-Feb 8, so we are very interested to hear of the experience folks are having over the next month.

Welcome and I'll log your dates:)

I can't wait to see what it looks like next month. It sounds like it will look a lot different that what we are used to.

Even though we've seen photos on the DVC Expansion thread, I'm sure the impact will be very different in person.
 
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We just returned from a long weekend trip. We had a woods view which was really just a construction view. We didn't mind though as we weren't there to spend an excessive amount of time in the room. Since it was the weekend, there was never any construction noise. When we were packing up yesterday we could hear everything firing up around 9am, but it still wasn't terrible.

We could see/hear the fireworks from our balcony but didn't "shake the windows" as some others experienced.

The staff were incredibly friendly and attentive. Everything was exceptionally clean and well maintained. Roaring Forks was a little slow on the service, but the food was good. We also enjoyed Whispering Canyon. We were very happy with our experience (our first time staying here).
 
We have been home for 28 days and are headed back in 172 days LOL. June 4-11. I was able to get a bounce back for a woods view, but we really want a standard (and the chatter about some of the woods views makes me nervous, as I don't want to pay to look at construction when there are such gems in the standard room category). Thinking I'm just going to drop the bounce back if I can get a RO discount on a standard view. I'm so curious what it will be like by next summer. It's my six year old's favorite place lol!
 
Just wanted to let you all know that I've started to post my trip report. It's in the trip report area under From The Tropics To The Wilderness. It includes our lunch at the Skipper Canteen yesterday. Which,by the way,was a fun way to spend lunch. We just did appetizers,but they were quite good and everyone who works there is extremely friendly and happy and funny and just all around really nice.. We have three days left,leaving Sat morning. All I can think about is making sure we pick dates to come back before we leave. Is it possible to miss a place while you're still there??
 
QUESTION...what's the best way to get a copy of your room charges? Anyone have a special phone number...I've called 3 times requesting a copy of our charges from Nov. 19-25 (DD & I shared a room and we need a breakdown of each of our charges). Every time they tell me the email will arrive withing 5 minutes. We STILL have not received the email...2 different addresses and nothing from Disney on either mine or DD's. I'm beginning to feel like I need to "turn into a b**ch. :headache: IMO, it's a pretty simple request. :confused3 Any thoughts? :tink:
 
QUESTION...what's the best way to get a copy of your room charges? Anyone have a special phone number...I've called 3 times requesting a copy of our charges from Nov. 19-25 (DD & I shared a room and we need a breakdown of each of our charges). Every time they tell me the email will arrive withing 5 minutes. We STILL have not received the email...2 different addresses and nothing from Disney on either mine or DD's. I'm beginning to feel like I need to "turn into a b**ch. :headache: IMO, it's a pretty simple request. :confused3 Any thoughts? :tink:

Have you double checked your Spam or Junk folder on your email?
 
QUESTION...what's the best way to get a copy of your room charges? Anyone have a special phone number..
I called the billing department to get a copy of our bill once. They only work normal business hours though, not nights or weekends. Here is the number I called:

407-828-5630

i also have 407-939-6244 for the billing dept.

Ask them if they can mail the invoice to you. There is a level of spam filters that website services, like Google, Yahoo, AOL, etc., will use that will prevent some emails from making it your email address, even stopping it from getting to your spam filter. So you won't see it in your spam filter. They will have stopped it before then.
 
Have you double checked your Spam or Junk folder on your email?

Yes...checked the Spam folder 5-6 times over the last couple of days. :headache:

I called the billing department to get a copy of our bill once. They only work normal business hours though, not nights or weekends. Here is the number I called:

407-828-5630

i also have 407-939-6244 for the billing dept.

Ask them if they can mail the invoice to you. There is a level of spam filters that website services, like Google, Yahoo, AOL, etc., will use that will prevent some emails from making it your email address, even stopping it from getting to your spam filter. So you won't see it in your spam filter. They will have stopped it before then.

THANK YOU...both numbers are different than the one listed on the WL homepage ... I will try that route...after morning coffee! :rolleyes: That was my thought too...good, old-fashioned snail mail was going to be included in my next request. It's our fault for not checking our bill before we left :headache:; I know how easy it is to "run that bill up" during Disney visits but our merchandise receipts do NOT come anywhere close to the amount on that bill. :eek: We also switched from our original woods view room with bunk beds (which was pre-paid) to 2 queen size beds after DD's niece was unable to make the trip with us. Bunk bed rooms are listed as costing around $35 more per night so we're looking at close to a $300 credit also. I absolutely hate complaining though without all the facts...which I don't have until I get a room charge list. :headache: :tink:
 
We just booked three studios at the villas for Thanksgiving week 2016, November 19th-26th. The whole family is going!!!

We did this a few years ago and just loved it. WL quickly became our favorite resort so we decided even with the construction it is still where we want to stay.

I'm looking forward to following this thread and the construction thread as our trip gets closer. Thank you WDWKOOK and everyone for your great information, updates, and photos.
 
So my oldest pretty much just asked for a trip to Disney for Christmas. Well daddy gave in and we are booked for August 14-21,2016. We booked a standard room. Hoping to get a north wing upper level room. My girls only want to stay here, so hoping the construction isn't too bad. Might celebrate my 40th a little early.
 
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