Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE Information & Questions

[mamabunny]

Merry Christmas to all of my friends here - may your day be peaceful and warm

 

[bluecastle]

Merry Christmas to all of my friends here - may your day be peaceful and warm

I wonder how many of us there are who love both FQ and WL?
Happy Holidays!

 

[AngiTN]

I wonder how many of us there are who love both FQ and WL?
Happy Holidays!

Raising our hand.
FQ is by far and above our favorite Mod and if we aren't at WL or BWI, you'll find us at FQ
We have it booked for our Feb trip

 

[mamabunny]

I wonder how many of us there are who love both FQ and WL?
Happy Holidays!

I think it's almost a natural "fit" - both Resorts feel intimate and cozy, and both offer both bus and water transport. Both have a very unique, specific American backstory, and both Resorts have theming that is immersive without being too cloying, or too "Disneyfied". When I get back from the Theme Parks, I need an environment that is a bit less chaotic, and visually "calmer". It's why although I am fascinated by the idea of the Star Wars hotel experience, I probably won't ever stay there; I need a break from the "Disney" at some point every day. Both FQ and WL offer that without losing their overall ambiance.

I will happily stay at *any* Disney World Resort, but FQ is our favorite Mod, hands down, and WL is our favorite Deluxe (with Poly as a close second).

 

[Mrspeaks]

We are staying at WL for our September trip. I’m so excited. It looks beautiful. I am looking forward to trying the new character meal at artist point and Hoop dee doo. How easy is it to travel to hoop dew doo? I hate they are closing Mickey’s backyard bbq. We really enjoyed that. Is the boat th quickest way to get to MK? I think I read there are buses too. We are planning a ppo breakfast and emm two days. Can you take the boat to the poly? Thank you!

 

[Roxyfire]

We are staying at WL for our September trip. I’m so excited. It looks beautiful. I am looking forward to trying the new character meal at artist point and Hoop dee doo. How easy is it to travel to hoop dew doo? I hate they are closing Mickey’s backyard bbq. We really enjoyed that. Is the boat th quickest way to get to MK? I think I read there are buses too. We are planning a ppo breakfast and emm two days. Can you take the boat to the poly? Thank you!

The boat is much slower and starts later than the buses. The bus is literally like 5 minutes to magic kingdom. You cannot use the boat to get to the Poly at all, they are separate lines. Instead you would go to Magic Kingdom and use the Monorail or the boat that goes to Grand Floridian and Polynesian. It's easier to grab a taxi or uber/lyft if you didn't want to use the disney transport.

 

[PolyRob]

How easy is it to travel to hoop dew doo?

As for the Hoop Dee Doo, I have found the boat is the easiest way. The Fort Wilderness boat launch is very close to Pioneer Hall. I much prefer this than bussing to FW and using an internal bus. Going home there are also usually less people heading towards the boats than busses.

 

[RolloTomasi]

The boat to MK isn't THAT much slower. Because I'm a nerd and I love the boat ride I recorded it the last time I was there and it's a ten minute ride from dock to dock (actually 8:18 according to the video but I cut off right before docking at MK). It's usually a breeze going through security too. Full disclosure though, I'm not a fan of the buses.

 

[AngiTN]

The boat to MK isn't THAT much slower. Because I'm a nerd and I love the boat ride I recorded it the last time I was there and it's a ten minute ride from dock to dock (actually 8:18 according to the video but I cut off right before docking at MK). It's usually a breeze going through security too. Full disclosure though, I'm not a fan of the buses.

The main difference of what time each starts running

 

[Capitalangel]

The main difference of what time each starts running

We took a boat over to the Contemporary at 6:45 in the morning so I am not sure how much earlier people are trying to get places but the boat is an option if it is after then

 

[reluctantredhead]

We just returned from an incredible trip to WDW -- 12/20-12/23 at WL, and 12/23-12/27 at BC.

This was our first stay at WL, though we've stayed at every other Deluxe before and every Mod except CBR. We loved the WL and can certainly understand why it has so many fans!

I was initially disappointed because we booked a stay in a deluxe CL room and I had requested a higher floor, but we were placed in room 2003. However, my disappointment faded away once I saw discovered how convenient our room was to the boat dock...we could literally see the boat approaching from our window and race out the door to be out at the dock in about 60-90 seconds. This eliminated the need to stand out on the dock and wait in the rain and cold that we experienced during our trip.

The CL and its staff were absolutely amazing! They were all so welcoming and friendly -- very similar to how we felt about the CL staff at BWI on past trips. We enjoyed the food offerings and the beautiful view of the lobby as well. The fact that they contacted me beforehand to ask if we wanted our fridge stocked, and whether we'd need anything else to make our stay more comfortable, were very much appreciated as well. When we got to our room, our fridge was fully stocked with the beverages I'd requested, and I had a gallon of distilled water waiting for me as well (I'd requested it for a medical device). Incredible service indeed!

Our room was just perfect for our needs. Our D (16) stayed on the pull-out sofa in the living room, and H and I stayed in one of the two queen beds in the bedroom. I know it's somewhat controversial and there are differing opinions on this topic, but we also loved that the Disney theme was still very strong in the decor of our room -- from the bathroom tiles to the carvings in the headboard, to the coat rack, plus the little details in the lobby and the elevator...we're old school I guess, but we really miss those things in the renovations that have taken place in some of the other WDW resorts.

We loved our WL stay so much we actually tried to book a Bounceback stay for the same room category and dates, but it was unavailable. We booked a placeholder stay at the CR, but I'm going to try to book the WL again if an AP rate comes up for our dates.

ETA: Sorry for the dark photos! No future in a photography career for me, lol!

Edited again to add: I was also very impressed that waiting for us in our room was a itinerary for our entire stay, including all meal/party reservations and FP+s that we'd booked (both the free and the CL ones), and all confirmation numbers. In addition, each day we received a "Guide to the Magic" that listed out each of these plans, along with park hours. My H had all this on a spreadsheet, but he was ill one of the days and had to go back to the room so we were without it...but my D had packed the itinerary in her handbag, which was very helpful when the Disney App was down.

view from the front door

view of the living room/tv area
view of the wet bar in the living room

 

[reluctantredhead]

Here are some more photos from room 2003...

the two queen beds in the bedroom

the bedroom armoire

the sink area of the bathroom

 

[reluctantredhead]

And a few more shots of room 2003...some of my favorite room details.
Super cute coat rack in the living room!
Love the Disney tile in the shower!
The headboard carvings and sculptures were so intricate and special. Again, I get it that not everyone likes this stuff...but I guess I'm just a kid at heart so I love it, and it's these kinds of details that tell me I'm in a Disney room.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We loved our WL stay so much we actually tried to book a Bounceback stay for the same room category and dates, but it was unavailable. We booked a placeholder stay at the CR, but I'm going to try to book the WL again if an AP rate comes up for our dates.

Thank you for your review of deluxe room 2003. We were in deluxe room 4003 in September and I agree with everything you said. We loved that room.

As far as booking a bounceback - don't give up. You might still get one. We had tried to get a WL room with our bounceback for last September but there wasn't one available, so we booked the YC. Then, about six months later, a regular room at the WL became available. so we switched to the WL. Then, when the annual pass discounts came out, we were able to get the deluxe room for a 35% AP discount, which was a lot better than the 30% bounceback discount. So just keep checking.

 

[Three cats]

Did anyone else notice the “Courtyard King” booking category? I’ve never noticed it before.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Did anyone else notice the “Courtyard King” booking category? I’ve never noticed it before.

I saw that today for the first time. A CM told me that they were going to remove some of the bunkbeds. Maybe they are going to replace them with king beds.

 

[nicoco]

Does anybody know when Copper Creek rooms will be available to reserve with cash? Looking to book December 7-12, 2019 (with some flexibility) but unsure if the ship sails on January 7, January 12, or has already sailed and I need to accept it won't be happening. Very lucky to have a stay scheduled for non-DVC Wilderness Lodge already but was hoping to surprise my extended family. Between SWland and everybody knowing Wilderness Lodge is the best at Christmas, I am suspecting we are doomed.

 

[CarolynFH]

I tried searching this thread and the one on the DVC Resorts board but no luck. We have a CCV studio with walk-in shower booked, and I was wondering whether those studios seem to be scattered throughout the CCV section or tend to be found in certain areas or on certain floors. Also, do any of the alternate studios have walk-in shower?

TIA!

 

[Starwind]

Does anybody know when Copper Creek rooms will be available to reserve with cash? Looking to book December 7-12, 2019 (with some flexibility) but unsure if the ship sails on January 7, January 12, or has already sailed and I need to accept it won't be happening. Very lucky to have a stay scheduled for non-DVC Wilderness Lodge already but was hoping to surprise my extended family. Between SWland and everybody knowing Wilderness Lodge is the best at Christmas, I am suspecting we are doomed.

We are planning our next WDW stay, which will include an AKL-Jambo studio and a CCV studio stay, reserved for "cash" through Disney directly.

The following only applies to the general public making reservations directly with Disney; I do not know the timelines involved for reserving stays any other way [such as a DVC member through Member Services].

For the last year I have been "stalking" the WDW website to get a handle on when Disney releases their DVC rooms for the general public to reserve. And I can conclusively say "it depends" and is between 11 and about 8 to 9 months out.

For example, AKL-Jambo has availability for almost all room types (including "value" studio and 1 bedroom) for Nov 11-14, while CCV only shows studio with walk in shower available. For Nov 18-21, AKL-J shows nothing available, but CCV still has the studio with shower available. After that neither looks to have availability yet.

Sticking with a Mon-Thurs stay, to get more than walk in shower availability for CCV: 11/04/2019 - 11/07/2019 and 10/28/2019 - 10/31/2019 and 10/21/2019 - 10/24/2019 etc has both studio types; when I checked last week, you had to back into September to find more than just the studios at CCV - doesn't mean some later ones had not been released, but I never saw them. And CCV slowly loading room types instead of all at once like the other resorts do seems to be the normal pattern for what I have seen over the last year. They are slower to load any at all [one of the last resorts to load theirs in, and then when they do it will just be a studio, usually the ones with showers; then they load the other studio; then some weeks or even months later the other room types show up].

Bottom line: they will not be available until no more than 11 months out. I believe that is from the last day of your stay, but hopefully someone else can speak to that. And they may not be loaded into the system yet at 11 months out -- at least for online reservations. I haven't tried calling, so maybe the reservation centre can see them even though the website can't in that in-between zone of 11 months to whenever they show up at 8-9-10 months.

Our solution was to book hotel rooms at both AKL and WL at the 499 day mark, the earliest room only reservations can be made. Our plan is to change them to the studios once the studios are available, but if for some reason we can't get a studio, we still have a hotel room at the resorts we want to stay at for the dates we want and at a price *cough* we are willing to pay - particularly useful since fall 2019 availability is getting harder and harder to find. For our dates the hotel room at WL is actually quite a bit cheaper than the CCV studio will be.

SW

 

[Starwind]

I saw that today for the first time. A CM told me that they were going to remove some of the bunkbeds. Maybe they are going to replace them with king beds.

This makes sense, too, since some time ago they changed the description of the "courtyard" category to be just 2 queen beds.

They don't have any pricing info available for the courtyard-king rooms yet.

SW