Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE Information & Questions

[ALMinVA]

Yesterday we hit Animal Kingdom at opening and by 11 we had done the Safari, Everest, Primevil Whirl twice and the flying dinosaurs. We grabbed lunch at Restaurantisaurus and headed back to WL.
We swam for a few hours and rested and then it was off to Epcot. Dh chose Spice Road Table in Morocco for dinner so that was our second stop after Spaceship earth. Then the American show and some caramel shopping in Germany and finally we ended with Nemo, Figment, Land, and test track.
Today we are having breakfast at Whispering Canyon with my good friend who works for Disney and then no set plans until MK tonight.
The pool was not crowded at all and i had a nice chair by the slide. Dh swam with the kids.
Really happy with our WL choice.

 

[mevelandry]

I forgot how stunning this resort is at night.

Took that last night

Wow. This is a great picture. Thanks for sharing.

 

[mevelandry]

I saw I was in the list but with a ? ... We're staying for one night only on April 21 st.

We're doing a 3 nights Disney Cruise to the Bahamas followed by a split stay. 1 night at SSR, 1 night at WL-CL and 1 night at GF-CL... So excited!!!! XD

 

[kastoney]

So many beautiful photos!! Quick question for next year. In 2016, I'll travel with our three boys and my parents for Princess Half Marathon weekend. We're hosting my parents, and want to stay deluxe, preferably CL, but want to keep costs reasonable. Looks like the best value would be a deluxe CL room. Pros: Would sleep all six, include club access and WL has lots of great space both in the lobby and the lounge. Pool area has always been pleasant during our previous stays, too! When we're at the resort staying CL, we're rarely in the room much. We spend most of our resort time in the club lounge and at the pool. Cons: That's a lot of people in a small space. Thoughts from anyone who stayed in a deluxe room?

We stayed in the deluxe club level room last year and it will definitely be close quarters. You will have toe balconies, but they are not very big. Also note that the deluxe rooms are on different floors than the club level so its always an elevator ride away. That said, as long as you use the bedroom for hanging out space it will likely work. However you may want to consider checking out the villas instead since they offer more living space.

 

[wifey]

We were discussing our choices for our upcoming first ever Wilderness Lodge stay (08/12 to 08/26) and remembered reading about this option.On the Disney website it states there is a Giddyup and Go Fried Chicken 10 piece meal with either biscuits or cornbread and a choice of two sides for $23.99. Is that for one quick service crediton the dining plan or is it taken for each person on the reservations its the plan or something else entirely.We thought someone here would have this info I have not seen any posts about it in the food threads but maybe it's just me. We were thinking of walking down therefrom the hotel on our first park day since they have removed our favourite meal from the menu at Yak&Yeti and Tusker House seems way too cramped and noisy for us on our first day to cope with especially after travelling for almost 24 hours straight just to get to WDW. Any further info will be greatly appreciated

 

[metz72]

Ok. I did it. Told the TA to change our 9 night CBR to a 6 night CBR 3 night CL WL. There usually is a discount the time we are going and I am hoping it comes through this year or I might have to drop the club level but I am very excited about staying at the WL no matter what. All the comments on how relaxing it is really made the decision for me.

 

[jen7233]

Hi! My daughter and I are super excited to stay at WL 9/27-10/3!! We also switched from POR. DD (5) wanted to stay at "the one with the waterfall" over "the one with the princess room" haha. We stayed at Pop during our first visit and spent all our time in the parks but, based on what I've read here and the amazing pictures you've posted, I'll definitely be planning more time at the hotel for this trip I really appreciate all the information in this thread!

That's funny, my kids said the same! They wanted to stay at the waterfall one.

 

[chiisai]

I have been loving all these photos!!! I hope I can post some while I'm there.

Every day I get more excited. I feel like...the parks are the vacation for my kids and WL is the vacation for me. And, biergarten is for DH!

WL reminds me of my mom. She died the year my son was born (9 years ago). She lived in redwood country on the West coast of the US. I know Old Faithful is in WY, but it feels so much like her home from all the pictures. It just feels comforting.

55 more days...

 

[pixarmom]

We stayed in the deluxe club level room last year and it will definitely be close quarters. You will have toe balconies, but they are not very big. Also note that the deluxe rooms are on different floors than the club level so its always an elevator ride away. That said, as long as you use the bedroom for hanging out space it will likely work. However you may want to consider checking out the villas instead since they offer more living space.

Thanks so much! We're OK with different floors for the lounge - just stayed Poly CL and AKL CL earlier this month and we don't mind. I checked the price of villas for similar dates this year, but we would need a two-bedroom, which significantly increases the cost and we lose CL. When helping organize three boys and two parents, while running three races, CL is really helpful to me!

I'm traveling with just the boys for Spring Break this year and we're staying standard CL at WL - wonder if I could take a quick look at a deluxe room while I'm there. If it's too cramped, BWI deluxe would be my back-up plan, but the boys are voting for WL right now!

 

[pas130]

Thanks so much! We're OK with different floors for the lounge - just stayed Poly CL and AKL CL earlier this month and we don't mind. I checked the price of villas for similar dates this year, but we would need a two-bedroom, which significantly increases the cost and we lose CL. When helping organize three boys and two parents, while running three races, CL is really helpful to me!

I'm traveling with just the boys for Spring Break this year and we're staying standard CL at WL - wonder if I could take a quick look at a deluxe room while I'm there. If it's too cramped, BWI deluxe would be my back-up plan, but the boys are voting for WL right now!

The WL Deluxe has two separate spaces where the BWI is one big room...if that matters. My DBIL recently returned from a Deluxe room stay, and he said WL CL is his fave (his DH prefers YC CL...but the Pas' always win )

 

[pixarmom]

The WL Deluxe has two separate spaces where the BWI is one big room...if that matters. My DBIL recently returned from a Deluxe room stay, and he said WL CL is his fave (his DH prefers YC CL...but the Pas' always win )

Hi Pas! It does! So far, my reasons for the WL deluxe preference are:

1) Separate spaces. Great for many reasons, including pre-race sleep!
2) While I LOVE the BWI quiet pool, my kids will always want the main pool. So WL main pool is a good compromise of fun and relaxation. The BWI slide is awesome, but it's not my favorite pool for relaxing.
3) I really love the CMs at BWI, but the no-view lounge is unfortunate. Given the amount of time we'll all spend in the lounge, I think the WL lounge is preferable.
4) Our APs will expire the day of the half marathon. So we plan to hang out at the resort and not go into a park that day. (Well, that's what I plan - the kids would plan something different.) Far easier to stay strong on that front if we aren't right next to Epcot!
5) Boys prefer renting boats in MK area over the Epcot area.
6) Our pre-weekend stay, before my parents arrive, will be at either Poly or BC and I'm leaning towards BC right now. So it would be more fun to split between BC and WL than BC/BWI.
7) Territory Lounge.
8) Better fitness center for my dad, who requires a fitness center daily.

On the other hand, the BWI deluxe room is reportedly 644 square feet vs. WL deluxe room at 500 square feet. Not sure if those numbers are accurate.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We were in room 4088. It is a woods view room that overlooks the lobby and is located above Whispering Canyon Cafe. It has two queen beds and does not have a connecting door. And, of course, it has an enclosed balcony. Every woods view room we've been in has had an enclosed balcony. Our daughter's room was next door, room 4089, and it has an open balcony. The same thing happened when we were in room 3104, we had an enclosed balcony and the room next to us had an open balcony. But these balconies aren't as bad as the 6th floor dormer balconies, because they are not as deep.



There is a picture of the outside of this room that Kook has posted on the first page of this thread. The rooms in this picture begin on the fourth floor. Room 4089, the room our daughter was in, is the second room from the right on the lowest floor. Our room in 4088, the third from the right. Just below our balcony is the roof of WCC (Whispering Canyon Cafe).


Here is the view from our balcony. We could see fireworks while sitting on the bed. They were just about straight out and through the trees. We ended up seeing them 4 out of the 5 nights we were there.








Our room was located right above the WCC sign. When you walked straight out the door and looked down, this is what you saw.




This room was by the writing table and just around the corner from the wonderful sitting area with a fireplace. DH spent a quiet afternoon there. (I don't have a picture of the comfy sitting area. )





There were some great things about this room. The location was great. It was really nice to be over the lobby and see what was going on. I never would have gotten those pictures of the chandelier repair work if our room was located down one of the wings. We felt very immersed in the atmosphere there.

We could hear the noise from WCC, especially during the dinner hour when they were "whooping it up". I think everyone in Orlando was celebrating a birthday at WCC on Saturday night. But the noise usually ended by 10-10:30pm. And it was very quiet after that - until the delivery trucks rolled in.

We could hear the trucks arriving and an occasional beep-beep when they backed up. But it wasn't as loud as it would have been if we were in a standard room. I heard them as early as 5:30am. But they didn't wake me up, I was already awake. It wasn't any louder than the traffic on my street, so the truck noise was fine with me. And the mornings in the restaurant were a lot quieter than the evenings were.

I would stay in room 4088 again, in spite of the enclosed balcony and the noise because I loved being at that end of the resort. It was very private and it felt like our own little territory. I really enjoyed being above the lobby, too.

Unfortunately, we don't have any plans to stay at the WL in the near future. We stayed here five times between Feb 2013 and January 2015, and have enjoyed every visit.

I do hope to stay here again in the future. In fact, I would love to stay many more times.

 

[WDWKOOK]

I posted this week that the DISboards would be converting its forum hosting software from vBulletin to XenForo. The date for the migration has been changed to 2/1. Expect the DISboards to be down for part/most of Sunday. When it's back online, there will be some tweaking that will need to be done. Everything will be formatted a bit differently and there will be some editing that I'll need to do to the information at the beginning of the thread. Signature blocks should remain the same as well as user-selected avatars. DISboard-provided avatars will have to be re-posted by the user and post counts will be calculated based on actual number of posts. Smilies will also be disabled until they are all manually re-entered into the new software.​

I'm soooo excited I just had to share...

I just added an additional night to the beginning of our trip for a total of 10 nights at the beautiful Lodge!!

I was also able to change our Southwest flight to the new day for no additional cost. We now arrive 2 hrs earlier than our previous flight.

Plenty of excitement at my house!!

KOOK please update the Log to reflect my new May 29th arrival date when you get a chance. Thanks!!


Carla

Adding another night is awesome! I'll update the Log.

Just switched over to WL from POR for our November trip! Getting ready to work my way through the thread, but anything about this resort that is not to be missed? We'll be there the 7th-12th, so I know the tree probably won't be up yet (husband picked the dates and they're non-negotiable). Thanks for any advice! I've been eyeing this place for a while, excited to check it out!

Welcome to the thread!

Lots of ACTIVITY and RECREATION information on the first two pages which covers it all, but no, the tree won't be up then. Congratulations on making the big switch and I'll add your dates to the Lodgers' Log.

I forgot how stunning this resort is at night.
Took that last night

Beautiful, Peteykirch!

Hi! My daughter and I are super excited to stay at WL 9/27-10/3!! We also switched from POR. DD (5) wanted to stay at "the one with the waterfall" over "the one with the princess room" haha. We stayed at Pop during our first visit and spent all our time in the parks but, based on what I've read here and the amazing pictures you've posted, I'll definitely be planning more time at the hotel for this trip I really appreciate all the information in this thread!

Welcome to the thread, Sarah and I'll log your dates, too. If DD loves the waterfall, just wait till she see the geyser erupt right before her eyes.

Oh this thread is giving me rather a dilemma.

We are planning a split stay April 2016. My thoughts are 5 nights VGC, 3 nights AKV , 3 nights on the Dream the 4 nights at VGF. However I'm seriously thinking of switching g at 7 months and trying the lodge as it looks so beautiful and will fit with our other home resorts.

Ahh decisions decisions

Oooo, I love a resort dilemma and I eagerly support this switch to VWL

Yesterday we hit Animal Kingdom at opening and by 11 we had done the Safari, Everest, Primevil Whirl twice and the flying dinosaurs. We grabbed lunch at Restaurantisaurus and headed back to WL.

We swam for a few hours and rested and then it was off to Epcot. Dh chose Spice Road Table in Morocco for dinner so that was our second stop after Spaceship earth. Then the American show and some caramel shopping in Germany and finally we ended with Nemo, Figment, Land, and test track.
Today we are having breakfast at Whispering Canyon with my good friend who works for Disney and then no set plans until MK tonight.

The pool was not crowded at all and i had a nice chair by the slide. Dh swam with the kids.

Really happy with our WL choice.

Great update and what fun you've had. Sounds like those tour group crowds may have dispersed

I saw I was in the list but with a ? ... We're staying for one night only on April 21 st.

We're doing a 3 nights Disney Cruise to the Bahamas followed by a split stay. 1 night at SSR, 1 night at WL-CL and 1 night at GF-CL... So excited!!!! XD

Got it - what fun splits!

We were discussing our choices for our upcoming first ever Wilderness Lodge stay (08/12 to 08/26) and remembered reading about this option.On the Disney website it states there is a Giddyup and Go Fried Chicken 10 piece meal with either biscuits or cornbread and a choice of two sides for $23.99. Is that for one quick service crediton the dining plan or is it taken for each person on the reservations its the plan or something else entirely.We thought someone here would have this info I have not seen any posts about it in the food threads but maybe it's just me. We were thinking of walking down therefrom the hotel on our first park day since they have removed our favourite meal from the menu at Yak&Yeti and Tusker House seems way too cramped and noisy for us on our first day to cope with especially after travelling for almost 24 hours straight just to get to WDW. Any further info will be greatly appreciated

From the research I've done, it doesn't seem to be an item that's listed on the DDP.

Ok. I did it. Told the TA to change our 9 night CBR to a 6 night CBR 3 night CL WL. There usually is a discount the time we are going and I am hoping it comes through this year or I might have to drop the club level but I am very excited about staying at the WL no matter what. All the comments on how relaxing it is really made the decision for me.

I hope you get to apply the discount soon so you can enjoy the OFC

I have been loving all these photos!!! I hope I can post some while I'm there.

Every day I get more excited. I feel like...the parks are the vacation for my kids and WL is the vacation for me. And, biergarten is for DH!

WL reminds me of my mom. She died the year my son was born (9 years ago). She lived in redwood country on the West coast of the US. I know Old Faithful is in WY, but it feels so much like her home from all the pictures. It just feels comforting.

55 more days...

That's so sweet that it reminds you of your mom. You're trip is going to be great.

Thanks so much! We're OK with different floors for the lounge - just stayed Poly CL and AKL CL earlier this month and we don't mind. I checked the price of villas for similar dates this year, but we would need a two-bedroom, which significantly increases the cost and we lose CL. When helping organize three boys and two parents, while running three races, CL is really helpful to me!

I'm traveling with just the boys for Spring Break this year and we're staying standard CL at WL - wonder if I could take a quick look at a deluxe room while I'm there. If it's too cramped, BWI deluxe would be my back-up plan, but the boys are voting for WL right now!

We stayed in Deluxe room #5123 this past summer. How about two Standard CL rooms? You could even get one room with bunks and you'd have two bathrooms!! One bathroom for 6 people is just not enough IMHO. We only have 3 people and that's often one too many with a teenager.

The WL Deluxe has two separate spaces where the BWI is one big room...if that matters. My DBIL recently returned from a Deluxe room stay, and he said WL CL is his fave (his DH prefers YC CL...but the Pas' always win )

Hi Pas! It does! So far, my reasons for the WL deluxe preference are:

1) Separate spaces. Great for many reasons, including pre-race sleep!
2) While I LOVE the BWI quiet pool, my kids will always want the main pool. So WL main pool is a good compromise of fun and relaxation. The BWI slide is awesome, but it's not my favorite pool for relaxing.
3) I really love the CMs at BWI, but the no-view lounge is unfortunate. Given the amount of time we'll all spend in the lounge, I think the WL lounge is preferable.
4) Our APs will expire the day of the half marathon. So we plan to hang out at the resort and not go into a park that day. (Well, that's what I plan - the kids would plan something different.) Far easier to stay strong on that front if we aren't right next to Epcot!
5) Boys prefer renting boats in MK area over the Epcot area.
6) Our pre-weekend stay, before my parents arrive, will be at either Poly or BC and I'm leaning towards BC right now. So it would be more fun to split between BC and WL than BC/BWI.
7) Territory Lounge.
8) Better fitness center for my dad, who requires a fitness center daily.

On the other hand, the BWI deluxe room is reportedly 644 square feet vs. WL deluxe room at 500 square feet. Not sure if those numbers are accurate.

BWI Deluxe Vs. WL Deluxe: WL wins. Reiterating some of what Jeanette posted, the Deluxe room at BWI only has a separate sitting area with the sleeper and TV (psac's photos are in the BWI thread). WL has French doors between the two queens and the sleeper in the living room and it has a wet bar and Jack and Jill bathroom (two separate entrances). There are two balconies instead of one and there are more easy chairs.

We were in room 4088. It is a woods view room that overlooks the lobby and is located above Whispering Canyon Cafe. It has two queen beds and does not have a connecting door. And, of course, it has an enclosed balcony. Every woods view room we've been in has had an enclosed balcony. Our daughter's room was next door, room 4089, and it has an open balcony. The same thing happened when we were in room 3104, we had an enclosed balcony and the room next to us had an open balcony. But these balconies aren't as bad as the 6th floor dormer balconies, because they are not as deep.

There is a picture of the outside of this room that Kook has posted on the first page of this thread. The rooms in this picture begin on the fourth floor. Room 4089, the room our daughter was in, is the second room from the right on the lowest floor. Our room in 4088, the third from the right. Just below our balcony is the roof of WCC (Whispering Canyon Cafe).

Here is the view from our balcony. We could see fireworks while sitting on the bed. They were just about straight out and through the trees. We ended up seeing them 4 out of the 5 nights we were there.


Our room was located right above the WCC sign. When you walked straight out the door and looked down, this is what you saw.

This room was by the writing table and just around the corner from the wonderful sitting area with a fireplace. DH spent a quiet afternoon there. (I don't have a picture of the comfy sitting area. )

There were some great things about this room. The location was great. It was really nice to be over the lobby and see what was going on. I never would have gotten those pictures of the chandelier repair work if our room was located down one of the wings. We felt very immersed in the atmosphere there.

We could hear the noise from WCC, especially during the dinner hour when they were "whooping it up". I think everyone in Orlando was celebrating a birthday at WCC on Saturday night. But the noise usually ended by 10-10:30pm. And it was very quiet after that - until the delivery trucks rolled in.

We could hear the trucks arriving and an occasional beep-beep when they backed up. But it wasn't as loud as it would have been if we were in a standard room. I heard them as early as 5:30am. But they didn't wake me up, I was already awake. It wasn't any louder than the traffic on my street, so the truck noise was fine with me. And the mornings in the restaurant were a lot quieter than the evenings were.

I would stay in room 4088 again, in spite of the enclosed balcony and the noise because I loved being at that end of the resort. It was very private and it felt like our own little territory. I really enjoyed being above the lobby, too.

Unfortunately, we don't have any plans to stay at the WL in the near future. We stayed here five times between Feb 2013 and January 2015, and have enjoyed every visit.

I do hope to stay here again in the future. In fact, I would love to stay many more times.

What a terrific TR that I will link to in the ROOM section of the thread. Thank you for the great overview and photos. It was sad reading that you have no plans to return, but you sure did stay a lot in the last couple of years. Don't be a stranger around these parts

 

[Sandy321]

Thanks Kook for keeping up to date with the refurb of the disboards!

I think I may go through withdrawals!

I'll be sad to lose my tag, because it reminds me of a time long ago that was very special (My first Half Marathon, and meeting dissers!)

but I am happy to read that all your hard work is going to move over!

 

[WDWKOOK]

Thanks Kook for keeping up to date with the refurb of the disboards!

I think I may go through withdrawals!

I'll be sad to lose my tag, because it reminds me of a time long ago that was very special (My first Half Marathon, and meeting dissers!)

but I am happy to read that all your hard work is going to move over!

You're welcome, Sandy. You might want to screen grab your tag. Not sure exactly how they'll be affected. It seems they can't be animated and there will be size limitations. I wish they'd let users create their own tags, within the new limitations. It would sure save the Tag Fairy a lot of precious time

 

[bluecastle]

You're welcome, Sandy. You might want to screen grab your tag. Not sure exactly how they'll be affected. It seems they can't be animated and there will be size limitations. I wish they'd let users create their own tags, within the new limitations. It would sure save the Tag Fairy a lot of precious time

Looks like the page numbers have changed.

I like being able to use all these features without having to type in HTML codes. Just trying stuff out. Insert Image didn't work with the same image code that I have used before, but I can still copy and paste in text box the old way.


It's going to take some time to get used to this! I like that I can edit!​

 

[dubskates]

Checking out the new boards... and counting down the days: 75 days to go! Soooo excited!

 

[Kari0180]

We checked in on Friday and I have to admit, we're kind of disappointed. I was so excited to stay here, but we haven't had the best of luck with anything related to the hotel. I did online check in and requested 4th or 5th floor, also followed up with a phone call a few days before our stay for an inner courtyard room. So when we checked in, was kind of bummed to get a ground floor, HA room (I know that room requests are just those, requests, but wanting a higher floor room to the ground floor, really?). As a previous poster mentioned, the HA bathroom is not the best, the shower runs all over the floor of the bathroom, I slipped and almost fell yesterday, so I just need to be more careful. As for our view, I have the view of a bush, a sidewalk and a rock, not exactly what I would call "courtyard view". We are not in the room that much, so trying to overlook all this. The bus situation has not been great, today, we finally caught a break, but on Friday, we waited 40 minutes for a bus to EPCOT and yesterday, we were trying to get to Hollywood Studios for EMH, we were at the bus stop at 6:55, a bus finally showed up at 7:40. We haven't had as much a problem getting back to the hotel thankfully. And the last thing, which I find just weird is that we're not getting any shower gel, housekeeping supplies us with plenty of everything else every day, but no shower gel. I used the bar soap Saturday morning, went to the front desk Saturday night and asked for some, but was told it's not supplied anymore, so went to the mercantile to buy some (for $18, but it's H2O and I love that stuff!!), but then talking to some people this morning and finding out that they've been getting it with no problem. So, I'm just kind of confused, but we still have a few days left and hopefully things will get better!

 

[Wood Nymph]

And the last thing, which I find just weird is that we're not getting any shower gel, housekeeping supplies us with plenty of everything else every day, but no shower gel. I used the bar soap Saturday morning, went to the front desk Saturday night and asked for some, but was told it's not supplied anymore, so went to the mercantile to buy some (for $18, but it's H2O and I love that stuff!!), but then talking to some people this morning and finding out that they've been getting it with no problem. So, I'm just kind of confused, but we still have a few days left and hopefully things will get better!

Club level at the WL gets shower gel but the regular rooms do not. I really don't know why they don't provide it for all rooms. Other deluxe resorts, like YC/BC for example, provide shower gel in all the guest rooms.

 

[GillianP1301]

I'm excited to be posting here, finally staying at Wilderness Lodge! I have almost stayed here on 2 previous trips, but it never quite worked out. I had booked AoA Cars suite on the bounce back when we were there last August, but I'm able to get WL standard for the same price, so going for it this year! We've got 9 nights booked Aug 29 - Sept 7. We spend next to no awake time in our room, so I'm not concerned at all about lack of view. I am a little concerned about noise though (we never get pool view rooms for this reason), from loading area, so hoping for a high floor there and that it won't bother us too much. If anyone has any feedback on noise levels in the standard rooms and can share, I'd appreciate it. I may consider woods view, if I can justify the additional $400 - $500.