Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE Information & Questions

[rotlex]

Just got back a couple of days ago. My impressions:

We had rooms 1030 and 1032. Connecting. The best rooms and the worst, all at the same time. These rooms are located straight down the ramp from Roaring Fork. So, convenient. And noisy. I always request AWAY from the elevators, but it couldn't be helped this time. It certainly didn't destroy our stay (but I'm still always amazed at people who scream in the hallways and talk super loud at 11pm).

Really no complaints other than one: mobile ordering. I'm okay with it being an alternative to waiting in line, etc., but not a fan when it is the only way to order. Other than photos, I don't like having my head buried in my phone all day long, so this just isn't for me. And sometimes I just like to stroll to a quick serve and pick up a snack, not having to click a million and one buttons to purchase everything. I really hate it. I understand the original reasons for it, but it doesn't make sense anymore. If you don't have a phone attached to you at your hip, you don't eat. I did speak to Guest Services about this (had a wonderful conversation with them) and they are hearing more and more complaints about this. So, it is noticed by not just me. Also, the quick service menus need to be expanded...not enough choices. But I doubt that will happen anytime soon, if ever.

The rooms are beautiful and the beds are super comfortable (I know one poster said they were too firm, but I did not find that to be case). The shower is great with the waterfall rain head. Plenty of storage and space, etc., for us. Myself and my granddaughter were in the room.

Interesting side note: our two rooms were different! My room had a separate toilet closet with a sliding door, and then the sink (one sink) and shower together in the other portion of the bathroom. My daughter's room had a shower/toilet combo with sliding door, and their double sink was outside of that. I concluded that it was because of a structural beam that ran near the closets and thus couldn't be helped, or maybe they were trying out different sink ideas. Anyway, I actually like my bathroom better because of the private toilet area.

The geode night light is pretty.

Conclusion: yes, I would stay here again and plan to on many more visits.

Trying to understand the mobile ordering piece. There is NO alternative? I am asking because we will be traveling for the first time in a month with some older relatives who do not have smart phones. (Most have a problem using their flip phone, lol).

There must me some way you can order without one? Is this also the case for Roaring Fork and Geyser Point? Seems a bit extreme?

 

[Brett Wyman]

Trying to understand the mobile ordering piece. There is NO alternative? I am asking because we will be traveling for the first time in a month with some older relatives who do not have smart phones. (Most have a problem using their flip phone, lol).

There must me some way you can order without one? Is this also the case for Roaring Fork and Geyser Point? Seems a bit extreme?

No alternative but they can assist you with putting the order in if you need. A couple weeks back at WL the freezer section in the gift shop went down when the kid wanted a Mickey Bar. I had to do mobile order at Roaring Fork for just a single mickey bar.

 

[Best Aunt]

Trying to understand the mobile ordering piece. There is NO alternative? I am asking because we will be traveling for the first time in a month with some older relatives who do not have smart phones. (Most have a problem using their flip phone, lol).

There must me some way you can order without one? Is this also the case for Roaring Fork and Geyser Point? Seems a bit extreme?

Speaking to mobile ordering in general (not at Wilderness Lodge in particular) - I've been following the Here Now, Just Back thread on the theme park board. It sounds like there are cast members outside the doors of restaurants. Some of them are being pretty aggressive about forcing people to use mobile order. Some of them don't seem to care that some guests don't have smart phones, want to pay with cash, have multiple food allergies, etc. Some of them are saying no mobile order, no food. I think they are supposed to let people order at a cash register, but guests might have to fight for their right to do that. And if they get in, it might be just one cash register with a long slow line because people who have easy orders probably are doing it through the app.

So if you have family members who will want or need to order at the register, prepare them for the potential problems

 

[silverace]

I did for 1 night once - it was not great - but we do not spend much time in the room so it was not the end of the world - it is the principle

 

[Lisann]

I spoke to this very problem (elderly and mobile orders) with Guest Services. I told them that I had witnessed an elderly gentleman trying to get food (he was at least 85 years old), and the Cast Member told him no, he would have to mobile order. It broke my heart!! Had I not been with others at the time (and trying to get out of the resort to head to the parks), I would have ordered for him. And I look back now, and I should have ordered for him and made my party wait.

What if your phone is not charged? What if you left it somewhere else? What if you don't live for your phone? And there are more elderly (in my opinion) at Wilderness Lodge, it seems to be the case when I have been there.

I made sure that Guest Services knew that this was unacceptable. I want to be served at WDW, not have to provide the service to WDW. I really hope they fix this, and soon. Again, I had a very good and very long talk with Guest Services, and they are aware and will address this situation. But maybe if others would let Guest Services know about the mobile order situation, then maybe they might be even more inclined to change this back to where it used to be (cash register walk ups to be reinstated again, along with mobile order if you choose). There are merits to both ways of ordering.

 

[Brett Wyman]

I spoke to this very problem (elderly and mobile orders) with Guest Services. I told them that I had witnessed an elderly gentleman trying to get food (he was at least 85 years old), and the Cast Member told him no, he would have to mobile order. It broke my heart!! Had I not been with others at the time (and trying to get out of the resort to head to the parks), I would have ordered for him. And I look back now, and I should have ordered for him and made my party wait.

I made sure that Guest Services knew that this was unacceptable. I want to be served at WDW, not have to provide the service to WDW. I really hope they fix this, and soon.

That seems like an extreme case. Ive seen them help people place orders on multiple occasions. Or do you mean the elderly gentleman didn't have a mobile device? I suppose that would be an issue if so. But please remember the CM working the restaurant has no control over this policy. They literally aren't opening the registers for service in locations with mobile service. There is no cash in the drawer and the POS system may not even be running.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

I'm out of the loop on this, you can't just walk up and order things in quick service right now?

 

[Lisann]

That seems like an extreme case. Ive seen them help people place orders on multiple occasions. Or do you mean the elderly gentleman didn't have a mobile device? I suppose that would be an issue if so. But please remember the CM working the restaurant has no control over this policy. They literally aren't opening the registers for service in locations with mobile service. There is no cash in the drawer and the POS system may not even be running.

He didn't have a mobile phone. And honestly, I've seen that more than once, because I lived it, too. It was in the park (Hollywood Studios). And the previous poster mentioned that some Cast Members are aggressive about it, while others are not. I've witnessed that as well. I'm not sure that it's extreme or not happening.

 

[Lisann]

I'm out of the loop on this, you can't just walk up and order things in quick service right now?

That is correct. At least as of two days ago. Mobile ordering only.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

That is correct. At least as of two days ago. Mobile ordering only.

What a joke

 

[Brett Wyman]

He didn't have a mobile phone. And honestly, I've seen that more than once, because I lived it, too. It was in the park (Hollywood Studios). And the previous poster mentioned that some Cast Members are aggressive about it, while others are not. I've witnessed that as well. I'm not sure that it's extreme or not happening.

Yeah I wasn't there obviously but if a customer is demanding to use a system that isn't online I suppose a CM may become irritated if asked over and over. Its like asking to go on a ride thats closed, when its closed. The option just isn't there right now. There are snack carts and similar that do take cash right now(basically anything that doesn't have mobile ordering). I would hope a CM would direct a person in those situations to one of those.

That is correct. At least as of two days ago. Mobile ordering only.

This has been the case since they reopened with COVID restrictions. So for almost a year now.

 

[JoJoGirl]

I spoke to this very problem (elderly and mobile orders) with Guest Services. I told them that I had witnessed an elderly gentleman trying to get food (he was at least 85 years old), and the Cast Member told him no, he would have to mobile order. It broke my heart!! Had I not been with others at the time (and trying to get out of the resort to head to the parks), I would have ordered for him. And I look back now, and I should have ordered for him and made my party wait.

This could have been my parents at the Yacht Club in May. They were forced to use mobile order, because of course they were honest and told the CM at the door that they had a smartphone (even though they have a lot of trouble using it.) Then after walking them through the process, for some random reason their payment would not go through. So everything had to be canceled and after a huge, time consuming ordeal they were finally allowed to pay cash for their food. It was very stressful for them and frankly made them feel old and dumb, which should NEVER happen at Disney! What is the world coming to when a hungry couple in their 80’s with cash in their pockets cannot buy a sandwich and a drink?

Mom loves Disney, and Dad just likes to go on vacation. However, both of them said that they will not return to Disney until the requirement for mobile-everything goes away.

I did give Disney feedback about what happened, and included that they are losing customers because of it. Hopefully someday they will listen.

Edited to add: Thank you for bringing this to the attention of Guest Services! The more people who do this, the sooner the problem will be addressed. Hopefully before Christmas when I will be at WL again.

 

[dalmatian7]

I've also posted this on the disAbilities thread. Does anyone know anything about the two queen, wheelchair accessible rooms with a tub, or have pictures? We have a standard club level room booked, and my 94 year old mom will be using a wheelchair to get around, but she can walk. I called WDW and asked if any of the standard club level rooms had either a walk-in shower, or hand rails for the tub, and it was suggested I book the wheelchair accessible room with tub. We can't book a king room with walk-in shower, because there are three adults traveling. Also, anyone know which rooms these might be on the 7th floor?
Thanks for any info.

Edited to add that I did see a picture of the bathroom with the tub rails. SueM was good enough to post a picture.

We had a two queen wheelchair accessible room on the 7th floor in 2017. They are some of the first rooms in the hallway from the lounge. Its awful but for the life of me, I can not remember if it was a full shower or a tub ( I am leaning towards tub because I know there was a curtain). All of the bathroom was in one room with only a single sink so there was plenty of room to have a wheelchair in the bathroom. The closets were configured a little different to allow for access from a lower vantage point. I don't know how this was affected by the refurb.

 

[patty57]

We had a two queen wheelchair accessible room on the 7th floor in 2017. They are some of the first rooms in the hallway from the lounge. Its awful but for the life of me, I can not remember if it was a full shower or a tub ( I am leaning towards tub because I know there was a curtain). All of the bathroom was in one room with only a single sink so there was plenty of room to have a wheelchair in the bathroom. The closets were configured a little different to allow for access from a lower vantage point. I don't know how this was affected by the refurb.

Thank you.

 

[ksromack]

Just a quick note there are only 10 Deluxe rooms at the WL. on Floors 1 - 5. They are all at the end of the north wing of the lodge and overlook Bay lake.

They also offer CL access service normally but CL services have not returned currently.

Dave

We were happy to be put in the one on the first floor during our May 2019 trip.....and to have CL included at a normal room price was really fabulous! Soon CL will be back. I'm sure I read that somewhere on the DIS.

 

[maryj11]

Do the have the H2O shampoo, conditioner, and lotion in CCV rooms?

 

[StaceyHSD]

I think the mobile ordering is mainly a staffing issue at this point. They still have a lot of places that aren’t even open yet that they’re staffing up. So I think that’s a big part of it. However, I can totally see them taking advantage of the situation to not have as many registers operating going forward. And in a place that has like 10 registers going down to, say, 7 probably isn’t the worst idea. However, for smaller places probably a bad idea. I think having mobile ordering as an option is great. Forcing people to use it is not.

From the reports I’ve seen Woody’s Lunchbox at HS seems to be one of the worst offenders for forcing people to mobile order. I’m not even sure if they have a cashier there to allow walk up orders. Other instances I’ve seen people report about include another location where they had to insist on speaking to a manager just to allow them to order at a register.

I think Disney at this point would be better served having those cast members policing mobile order actually working in the QS serving food or working a register but what do I know?

 

[ajksmom]

There are very nice showers in the restrooms at the leisure pool. They have been closed during the Covid restrictions but should open eventually. You can request a late check out but I think the latest they will give you is 1pm. Keep in mind that they don't always grant late check out.

Just back from CCV. Showers are again open by the cove pool.

Do the have the H2O shampoo, conditioner, and lotion in CCV rooms?

Yes the travel sizes. Not the refillable pumps.

 

[maryj11]

Just back from CCV. Showers are again open by the cove pool.
Yes the travel sizes. Not the refillable pumps.

Oh good I love H2O products!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Very interesting. Any sense what those issues are? Simply overbooked? We check in to Copper Creek for 8 nights on Sunday (cash booking through Disney). I know a certain amount of DVC rooms are held back for cash, but seems dicey given the current state of resort occupancy, demand and surplus DVC points.

DVC own about 2% of the Copper Creek Villas. If an owner wants to cruise on the DCL or do Adv by Disney or book at Disney hotel using points, their points get turned into vacancy for cash. So they aren't really held back, but are owned by Disney or traded to Disney.