Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE Information & Questions

[WDWKOOK]

We're headed back to WL May 2-8 for our 4th visit (first time since 2013 though!) to celebrate our 20th anniversary!

We have a courtyard room booked. I'm curious what you'd think is the "best" room/floor. We had the 6th floor once and I don't care for those closed in balconies. What about the ones that face straight out toward the lake? What are those like? Quiet?

Any thoughts?

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

I just wanted to pop in and say how excited I'm getting for our first trip with our son and first stay at WL! Our MBs arrived today and it's feeling so real now!! I can't wait!

I bet it won't be your last stay

 

[KrazeeK120]

I bet it won't be your last stay

We do like to try different resorts (as evidenced by my signature), but I have a feeling I might really fall in love this time!

You can add my dates if you'd like, May 7-12.

 

[elaw]

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

Kook ... although we wanted to wait until the construction was complete, we're finally heading back to the WL for the first time in nearly 2 years ... for 6 nights (5/27-6/02). It was just too hard to be away for so long and the discount was just too good to pass up. Can't wait to check out the new OFC!

 

[cruisin5]

Any thoughts if the menu at Roaring Forks will change when it reopens?

 

[spritna]

Hi there, will be staying here for the first time Sept. 13-20 this year! We will be standard view so I was wondering when I call to make a room request what should I tell them if I would like a view of the castle and fireworks? I'm fine with being high up. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[danikoski]

Hi there, will be staying here for the first time Sept. 13-20 this year! We will be standard view so I was wondering when I call to make a room request what should I tell them if I would like a view of the castle and fireworks? I'm fine with being high up. Any help would be appreciated!

If you've booked a standard room, call and request 4th floor or higher. You could also request near elevator, which would put you in pretty good line of site to the MK fireworks. Although folks have been able to see fireworks from even the 2nd floor on that side of the building.

 

[spritna]

If you've booked a standard room, call and request 4th floor or higher. You could also request near elevator, which would put you in pretty good line of site to the MK fireworks. Although folks have been able to see fireworks from even the 2nd floor on that side of the building.

What side of the building do they consider that? Southside? Also how many floors are there? Thanks

 

[Wood Nymph]

I realized that I hadn't given my typical mini trip report from our stay at the WL March 24th to 29th. We had booked two standard view rooms with the annual pass discount, one for us and one for my sister and our friend. I didn't have any trouble getting the AP discount applied to her room, and it saved us 35%, which was nice. It was my sister's first time staying in a deluxe resort, she had only stayed in moderates before, so I was hoping that she would enjoy her experience. (She did, but said she missed the food courts.)

We checked in first and were given room 5088, exactly one floor above the room we had on our January 2015 trip. We had requested a room close to the lobby and got exactly what we wanted. I had our reservations marked as traveling together, and had requested rooms close to each other. They gave us connecting rooms, which was handy. They had room 5089, the last room on the floor. We had the second to last room on the floor. Neither of us had a room above us. We had a view of mostly trees. It was not a very good fireworks view. You could see them through the trees. But it was convenient to the lobby and we used the stairs a lot. And it was a quiet room since no one was above us and there was no reason for anyone to walk past our room. We didn't hear very much noise from the lobby below, either.



This was the view from right outside our room.





This is the view slightly to the right. This is the main gathering point for the construction. We saw the crew arrive as early as 7am. the buildings in the forefront include the smokehouse and other maintenance buildings. The cabins are at the back.




And this was our view to the left. It is the main driveway. We had beautiful weather on this trip, not a drop of rain, and we enjoyed sitting on our balcony.



This was our fireworks view, although it looked better in person. As you can see, the trees were in the way.

We had some construction pins waiting for us when we entered our resort room. We thought they looked a little different than the ones we received in January 2016 and when we got home we found out what it was. They shrunk a bit.



I have already posted pictures of the resort and some of the construction. I'll repeat what I said before, Geyser Point is a great addition to the WL. It not only brought back the lake views that had been taken away during construction but it made the views even better. We loved eating there. The only facets of the construction that we found inconvenient were the closed main elevators, since we had a lobby room, and having Roaring Forks closed. Our room was about as far away from Geyser Point as you could get, which, by the way, isn't really far, but it didn't make it inconvenient to grab a drink. We ended up buying some snacks at the Mercantile, instead. Usually we buy one refillable mug on every trip. But this was the first trip we didn't buy one. Besides, I didn't want one of those mugs with the white handles. They looked very odd.

One of the unexpected highlights of our trip was that I received an impromptu tour of the new Old Faithful Club. I was killing time before our dinner ADR and decided to try and get a few more pictures of the pool construction. I ran into one of the cast members who we met during our one and only club level stay, which was in January 2016. We had been unfortunate enough to arrive at the WL just a few days after they closed the old club lounge. When I ran into the CM during this March trip he offered to give me a tour of the new club lounge. It is a beautiful lounge and they left the view of the lobby open, which is nice.

All in all, it was one of our best WDW trips ever. The combination of the gorgeous WL and the lovely weather, along with traveling companions that fit our style well, made for a very enjoyable trip. I would love to go back there when the new pool is open. I think it will be lovely.

 

[danikoski]

What side of the building do they consider that? Southside? Also how many floors are there? Thanks

The fireworks are seen from the north side of the north wing. The south side of the north wing are courtyard view rooms. North side rooms are currently standard view rooms. There is no longer a South Wing for hotel rooms at WL. It is now Copper Creek Villas at Wilderness Lodge and are all DVC rooms.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Here is part 2 of my mini trip report - the trip itself.

We got up at 2:45am on Friday, Mar 24th and found a very crowded Midway airport at 5 am in the morning. It was spring break for most of the suburban school districts. And to add to the chaos, we had a high school marching band on our flight. We landed in Orlando at 9:08am and the Magical Express made the Wilderness Lodge its first stop of the route. That was the first time we didn't stop at the Poly and GF first. It was a pleasant change. We arrived at the WL around 10:30am but unfortunately, we did not get the usual "Welcome Home" greeting that we have received from a CM on our past trips. That was the first time no one greeted us outside the resort. We did see CM's greeting guests later in the day, and through out our trip, though.

There wasn't a line to check in and a friendly CM greeted us warmly. She answered all our questions and told us approximately where our rooms would be and that we had connecting rooms with my sister. We dropped our stuff off and headed to Disney Springs. We had wanted to go back to Wolfgang Puck express for lunch for several trips now, but this was the first time that it worked out well. We also wanted to get a hot fudge sundae at Ghriradelli's. Both meals were delicious. Just about the time that we decided to head back to the WL we received the text that our room was ready. We didn't have to wait long for the bus back to our resort. The DS bus shares with the Contemporary and sometimes gets very full with people trying to get to and from the MK from DS. This time the bus wasn't too crowded and it was a quick trip back with WL being the first stop. Since we had been awake since 2:24 am we decided to take a nap and explore the resort later.

We had originally intended to visit Geyser Point for a drink and then head to Epcot for food and the concert, but that didn't happen. Once we arrived at Geyser Point we couldn't seem to drag ourselves away. There was a cool breeze off Bay Lake and Geyser Point provides blankets to guests who ask for them. I was cozy and warm and loving the view. We decided to stay at the resort and eat dinner there instead of going to Epcot. Unfortunately, our meal at Whispering Canyon Cafe, a last minute reservation, was not good at all. Our food arrived cold and we had to wait for hot food. We wished we had just gone to Territory Lounge for some pulled pork nachos instead. It was the only bad meal of the trip.

We ate breakfast at Geyser Point three mornings. It was the typical scrambled eggs and pancakes breakfast. We also when we grabbed something at Territory Lounge one morning. My husband got the breakfast burrito at Territory Lounge and said that it was really good. We walked over to Trails End at Fort Wilderness for the breakfast buffet on our final morning. It was delicious as usual.

Our morning buses to the parks, Epcot and DHS, went non stop. It was nice not to have to share a bus with another resort in the morning. The afternoon and evening buses stopped at a second resort, but that was fine.

We had dinner at Raglan Road on Sunday moght, a first time for DH and I. We had prime seats, right on the main floor, and we didn't even ask for them. It was a lovely evening. But our bus ride back to the WL was a bit crazy. The bus was full of people trying to get to the MK from the Contemporary, and when we got to the WL the crowd wouldn't let us off. They just stood there. The bus driver called back to ask if anyone was getting aff at the WL and I frantically waved to get his attention. Finally, after a bit a yelling at people to move out of the way, we made it off the bus. One other family made it off behind us. I think we must have paved the way for them.

We also went to another restaurant for the first time, Boma at AKL. We had planned to take a bus to MK and then catch the AKL bus from the depot. That usually works great except that the MK bus didn't arrive for 22 minutes, and then it went to the Settlement stop at FW first. We had a nice bus ride there and back, just the four of us, and the bus driver slowed down so that we see some deer. But it did put us a little later at AKL than we had hoped to be. Dinner was delicious and well worth the trip. And we decided to take a taxi back to WL, which made it even better.

I went down to Geyser Point to watch the MK fireworks two nights of the trip. The movie on the beach is now the movie in the grass, but it is right there next to Geyser Point and you can watch both the fireworks and movie at the same time. They pipe in the music from Wishes and its not a bad view. There is a much better fireworks view from the hallway windows closest to the north wing elevators, but no music.

We really enjoyed Geyser Point and DH had a delicious bison burger for lunch one day. He didn't like the plum sauce though, and would skip it next time. I think we relaxed with drinks every afternoon and we roasted marshmallows at the campfire twice. It was a very nice trip. We plan to return to Geyser Point when we are at the BC in May. We always seem to visit the BC when we stay at WL, and visit WL when we stay at the BC. We love them both.

5/10 - made corrections to add a Trails End breakfast on our last day

 

[CleKait]

Can you bring pool noodles to use in the pool?

 

[dansdad]

Can you bring pool noodles to use in the pool?

Yup.

 

[aristocatz]

After two years, we are so excited to be headed back to WDW!!!
We were so lucky that our TA was able to score two rooms at the Wilderness Lodge for 12/3-12/7!
It will be me, DH, our two little girls (ages 5 & 2) & my parents.

Some questions....
1) What floor/section tends to be the best for standard view rooms?
2) How often does the boat run? & does the boat go anywhere else besides MK?
3) Is the geyser still working?
4) Does WL have a playground?
5) Do they still give you the "I'm celebrating" pins? It will be my daughter's birthday during our trip.

Thanks!

 

[StephandDick]

Looking forward to our November trip (please add us to the log- 11/29-12/3). I booked it late last year and it hasn't seemed real because it was so far away. We are closing in on 7 months & it is getting REAL! Excited to be heading back to WL. This is our first Disney Christmas-time trip.

 

[AngiTN]

What side of the building do they consider that? Southside? Also how many floors are there? Thanks

There is only one location for Standard Rooms now. All face towards MK/CR.

 

[Wood Nymph]

1) What floor/section tends to be the best for standard view rooms?

The best floors are the highest floors, 4th and up. The best views tend to be the rooms closest to the boat dock.

2) How often does the boat run? & does the boat go anywhere else besides MK?

The boat to MK starts 30 minutes before the park opens and runs for an hour after park close. There is a second boat that travels between WL, Fort Wilderness and the Contemporary. Both boats tend to be 20 minutes apart.

3) Is the geyser still working?

Yes, it goes off every hour at 5 minutes to the hour.

4) Does WL have a playground?

They don't have a playground right now. I don't know whether or not they are planning to build one later. There is a lovely playground at Fort Wilderness, right next to Trail's End restaurant. You can take the boat or walk the jogging path to FW to get to it.

5) Do they still give you the "I'm celebrating" pins? It will be my daughter's birthday during our trip.

They still have both the I'm Celebrating and the birthday pins at the desk. Ask for them when you check in.

 

[ToddH.]

43 days to go and I'm ready. The more I read about Wilderness Lodge and the more videos I view the more excited I get. Looks absolutely beautiful.

 

[dreamseeker9]

We ate breakfast at Geyser Point every morning except once, when we grabbed something at Territory Lounge. My husband got the breakfast burrito at Territory Lounge and said that it was really good.

Thanks for the great trip report! Is Territory Lounge only open for breakfast while Roaring Forks is closed? That breakfast burrito sounds delicious!

The crowded buses coming from DS make me nervous - we're going to have 12 of us, including 2 toddlers and someone on a scooter. I'm a New Yorker, so I'm used to a crowded commute, but not everyone with me will be!

Today is our 180-day mark, and we got all the ADRs we wanted, some for as many as 15 people! The most important ADR we secured was at Chef Mickey's for my twin goddaughters' 2nd birthday celebration. We will also be dining at Whispering Canyon Cafe, Trails End, 'Ohana, California Grill (adults only, while grandparents watch the girls), Homecomin', BOG for lunch, and Hollywood & Vine for Minnie's Halloween Dine! Good thing we're staying for 7 days!

 

[Wood Nymph]

It sounds like you are going to have a wonderful trip.

Is Territory Lounge only open for breakfast while Roaring Forks is closed? That breakfast burrito sounds delicious!

Territory Lounge was serving gourmet coffee in the morning before Roaring Forks was closed, so it will probably go back to that again.

The crowded buses coming from DS make me nervous - we're going to have 12 of us, including 2 toddlers and someone on a scooter. I'm a New Yorker, so I'm used to a crowded commute, but not everyone with me will be!

The crowded bus was one that we grabbed about an hour before the MK fireworks, around 8pm. I think if we had been leaving DS at a later hour, the bus probably wouldn't have been so crowded.

 

[jsebsirois]

So, you all convice me and we just added a few days to our trip in November, making it a split stay : Nov 7th-11th at Wilderness Lodge and 11th-18th at Bay Lake Tower. First time ever at Deluxe, can't wait!!!