Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE Information & Questions

[ByrdGal]

Looking forward to our stay at the WL Aug 20-27. It's my 3rd trip to DW, but haven't been in 22 years and never as the planner. It's DH, DS & DDs first time. Today is my official delurking day!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Looking forward to our stay at the WL Aug 20-27. It's my 3rd trip to DW, but haven't been in 22 years and never as the planner. It's DH, DS & DDs first time. Today is my official delurking day!

Welcome! You chose a great place to come out of lurkdom, and a great resort. 22 years between trips is a very long time. I had that same amount of time between my first and second trip, but was five years old for the first one! A whole lot has probably changed, and there is always so much to see and do. Have a great time at WL and be sure to enjoy Bay Lake. Whether you rent a boat or just ride the ferry boats to MK, FW, and CR it is one of the nicest "features" of WL an is just outside the back door.

 

[mkaufman22]

I was planning on booking WL for our trip in December. It's my husband's first time to any Disney park and since we went to Yellowstone on our honeymoon, I thought Wilderness Lodge would be a fun place to stay. As long as we get a courtyard with an interior view, sounds like we should be okay from the construction noise? I don't want my husband to have a bad first experience and never want to come back....

 

[Dean Marino]

Comment without proof - and just regarding the VILLA's, where we stay....

I'm not sure about any "motion sensors". For a good long time now, we've been looking for anything that looks like an IR LED window on the thermostat, or placed remotely in the room. Motion sensors require SOMETHING in the way of an emitter and detector - and I just can't find one.

Having said that - first thing we do when we get to a room is to set the "temperature" to 64 degrees . For fun, I'm going to take my USB ambient temperature probe WITH me on my November trip - then, I'll let everyone know what "64 degrees" on the Thermostat REALLY is - I'm guessing that thing has been set up to lie by a good 5 degrees F.

 

[JPDtheJD]

There is another short thread addressing bus issues several posters reporting slow buses over several days and waits of 45+ min.
Has anyone there now finding the same problems??? I am wondering whether I need to consider renting a car for our trip in mid-August.

I was concerned about that too. We were there June 5-14. Even though it was frustrating, we never waited longer than 15 min for a bus to Epcot. We did not have to wait long for Animal Kingdom or MK buses. The wait seems longer with small children or when it is raining. The downside to waiting 15 minutes for an Epcot bus is that it stops at Ft. Wilderness on the way. Bright side is it drops WL off first on the way back. It took only about 8-10 to actually get home from Epcot once the bus started rolling.

 

[aVASTGrl]

Are we allowed to decorate our balconies for the holidays? I was thinking of getting a set of fun Halloween lights (battery operated, of course) to put up outside! Although if I end up with an inner cy room, I might not...I would feel kind of bad "ruining" people's Lodge photos :x

 

[thewilderness3]

There is another short thread addressing bus issues several posters reporting slow buses over several days and waits of 45+ min.
Has anyone there now finding the same problems??? I am wondering whether I need to consider renting a car for our trip in mid-August.

We just returned home from a 10 day stay at WL and can confirm the lengthy bus waits to Epcot. One Saturday morning we arrived at the bus stop at 8:15 so we could get to Epcot for rope drop to ride Test Track then head over to Hollywood Studios to use our FP for the day. Well, at 8:50 we were still waiting for a bus to arrive despite being told by numerous other bus drivers that a bus was '2 minutes away'. We finally just got on the Hollywood Studios bus and took the boat to Epcot. We had other issues with waiting for Epcot busses, but busses to all other parks were minimal wait times.

 

[basketlacey]

I'm new to the thread and I plan to go back and read more but I have a few questions that I'm hoping someone will be kind enough to answer for me in the meantime:

Do the studio villas usually get discounted when a RO comes out?
Has anyone stayed with a party of 5 in a studio since the refurb? Thoughts?
Is the feature pool now back open and finished with construction?

 

[Wood Nymph]

I'm new to the thread and I plan to go back and read more but I have a few questions that I'm hoping someone will be kind enough to answer for me in the meantime:

Do the studio villas usually get discounted when a RO comes out?
Has anyone stayed with a party of 5 in a studio since the refurb? Thoughts?
Is the feature pool now back open and finished with construction?

Yes, the studio villas as well as the one and two bedroom villas will get discounted.

Yes the main pool is complete and fully operational.

 

[Daisy62]

Hi! I just booked the WL club level this am. We will be there December 6-11. Our two favorite resorts are the Poly and the WL. Since we are there near Christmas we chose the WL this trip. I'm reading about some Work being done there during our stay. I requested a courtyard view hoping we can avoid too much noise. It's all good no matter where they put us as we are just thrilled to go!

It's been a few years since we have stayed at the WL. Has the pool has any changes to it and how many hot tubs are there. Also is there an age requirement for the hot tubs? My youngest will be 16 and hoping to enjoy them with us. Thanks!

 

[ocean134]

Looking forward to possibly having my first stay at Wilderness Lodge in February 2016 for my one year wedding anniversary!

 

[alldiz]

I will be staying at WLV over Thanksgiving. Does anyone know if there are any renovations going on. There are rumors?? of building bungalows
over the water. Is there any confirmed renovations going on....didn't see any on rehab schedule
Thanks
Kerri

 

[jen7233]

Our trip is coming up next week! So excited!

I might need to request a late checkout. Wondering if it can be accommodated. I'll ask when I get there but...

If you've done this before at WL, is it difficult? Did you ask during check-in, or wait until check-out day? Any additional cost or considerations?

 

[CuteAsMinnie]

I will be staying at WLV over Thanksgiving. Does anyone know if there are any renovations going on. There are rumors?? of building bungalows
over the water. Is there any confirmed renovations going on....didn't see any on rehab schedule
Thanks
Kerri

Check out page 1 of this awesome thread. There you will find a wealth of information thanks to our very own Kook!!.

 

[CuteAsMinnie]

Our trip is coming up next week! So excited!

I might need to request a late checkout. Wondering if it can be accommodated. I'll ask when I get there but...

If you've done this before at WL, is it difficult? Did you ask during check-in, or wait until check-out day? Any additional cost or considerations?

Just go down to the front desk them the day before. It usually is not a problem. They can also hold your bags if they are not able to honor your request.

 

[jen7233]

Thanks!

 

[alldiz]

Check out page 1 of this awesome thread. There you will find a wealth of information thanks to our very own Kook!!.

Thanks..... I am bummed.... Nothing else available now for thanksgiving and I was soooo looking forward to my stay there during Xmas decorations.
Now there will be construction:-(
Not even happy about the bungalows... WLV was awesome because it felt peaceful... Now it will be more crowded and take away shoreline open space views :-(
Kerri

 

[michael's mom]

For those of you who have requested to change resorts, how was it handled? Were you offered a "refund" if you ended up at a Mod or a lower valued room catergory? Did you have to pay more if you ended up at one of the other deluxe resorts?

I've been so excited to stay at the WL. DH and I were planning on it for our honeymoon but it just didn't happen. Now...to hear that the scaffolding noise is keeping people from mid-day naps is making me nervous. We have CYV room and from the sounds of it the scaffolding is on one side being a nuisance and the mysterious construction is on the other. I have no plans to make any changes as of yet, but was just hoping for some insight on how it works if you need to change while there.

 

[dansdad]

For those of you who have requested to change resorts, how was it handled? Were you offered a "refund" if you ended up at a Mod or a lower valued room catergory?

Yup.

Did you have to pay more if you ended up at one of the other deluxe resorts?

Yup.

 

[crazy for the mouse]

Does anyone know what kind of soda is available for the refillable mugs?