NEW (and IMPROVED, if THAT's possible!)Wilderness Lodge FAQ

[imadisneyfanatic]

What will recreation options be for a 13 yr old girl and her single parent mom? We have the gold plan with unlimited recreation. What does the Lodge have to offer on site?
Also, is there a weight limit on the small water boats/mice? Mom is a big gal at 280lbs. Any problems that you know of?
Thanks!

 

[JBurke]

imadisneyfanatic-I know they have the water mice, pontoon boats, canopy boats and the like. Plus bikes and surrey bikes to rent.
I know there is a weight limit but no one ever asked us what our weight was (not that I would ever tell )

One time when my husband went down for a day trip to WDW we rented a watermice and shared it. he's 200 and I am 140 but no one said anything about us sharing one. Unfortunatley we went very slow in the water!

 

[WiscMomof2]

Blue Fairy

We took the bus from the WL to TTC for our early CRT ressie last October and from there took the monorail to the MK. The bus to the TTC takes maybe 5 minutes from the WL. It was very quick. I don't know if the boat was running that early or not. We probably got to the bus stop at around 7:20 and we made it to the gate in plenty of time. They don't let you in until 8 AM anyway so I would aim for around the time we did. Hope this helps you. BTW, don't give up on CRT, we got ours through a cancellation!

 

[Liv2CdWorld]

Blue Fairy,

We took the boat to the Contemporary to make it to the MK by 8:00. During our stay, the boat to the Contemporary started running before the MK boat.

I would definately check with guest services when you check in.

 

[BlueFairy]

Oh, forgot we will have a car. So I can drive to TTC and park and they will let me on the monorail BEFORE 8am? Do you ride the direct monorail or the resort monorail? Then they will let us in the MK gate starting at 8? Ok, great!
Thanks.

 

[FloridaCat]

WILDERNESS LODGE REPORT

Floridacat
July 7th to 10th, 2003


Purpose:
To give you first hand information on Wilderness Lodge. A very magnificent lodging experience.

Lobby; Information I provide here is to give you a heads-up on locations in the lobby. To describe the lobby it self, would be like telling you how a good movie ends and I will not deny you that experience at any cost.

I also want to state at the outset that the service is impeccable throughout the resort.

Upon entering the massive front doors, you will find on your left public rest rooms, Whisper Canyon Café, The fireplace and then to Artist’s Point. You then descend down a wide ramp hallway to the doors to the courtyard. Turning left you will find Roaring Forks Food Court, Public Restrooms, elevators and across from the elevators is Guest Laundry.

Back at the main entrance, turning to your right will be the Bell Service desk, and then along the right wall is the check in counter. At the end of the counter is an information center where you can pick up maps and time sheets for the parks. The CM will give you a packet with Wilderness information and a Lodge activities sheet. Continuing along that wall is the elevators.
Going down the hall at the end of the check in counter is Mercantile Gift Shop, across from them are elevators. Then there is the Arcade room and Cubs Den. Going out the doors takes you to the bus terminal. There are signs informing you where each bus will stop and where it is going.

The courtyard is best enjoyed by your own exploration. I will have some comments later in this report to help you.

BUILDINGS:
For the sake of clarification I am naming the buildings LOBBY, NORTH WING A, NORTH WING B, SOUTH WING A, SOUTH WING B. With the A buildings close to the lobby and the B building connected to the A buildings; towards Bay Lake. The North buildings are on your left facing the lodge and South buildings on your right.

Rooms are numbered “Floor-Building-Room”. An example is 6008 is sixth floor, north wing, room 8. 6108 is sixth floor, south wing, room 8.
Even room numbers are to the outside and odd numbers are rooms towards the courtyard side.
Room numbers are somewhat confusing as you would assume 01 would be at the lobby and 99 at the farthest end. At WL it is the opposite. 99 is in the lobby area while 01 is the farthest from the lobby.

All 6th floor rooms are smoking and all others non-smoking.

LOBBY: South side #091 to #099 third floor to 6th floor.
North side #084 to #089

NORTH BUILDING, WING A: Outside is all Standard View overlooking the service area parking lot. This is where all deliveries are being made to the Lodge... This would work if you are only in the room to sleep. During the day there is a lot of activity of trucks making deliveries. The view is not distasteful; it’s the truck traffic during the day.
Inside rooms are Courtyard View in the general vicinity of the Waterfalls.
General Room numbers are #066 to #042 for all floors. There are some exceptions.

NORTH WING BUILDING B: Outside is Woodsview and is very quiet and private. We enjoyed it very much and would request it on future trips. We had a good view of Otter Pond, while we never saw any Otter’s there were plenty of Ducks swimming and Rabbits having dinner. The MK fireworks are very plain to see and my estimation is rooms 5010 to 5032 had the same opportunity as well as the same rooms on 4th and 6th floors. Rooms #008 to the end of the building are blocked by two large trees to view MK and to far from Otter Pond to see except a small end of it.

Courtyards views on the inside offer a fantastic view of the pool area and are somewhat noisy until the pool is closed for the day.
General Room numbers are #004 to #044 for all floors. There are some exceptions.

SOUTH BUILDING A & B: Both sides are considered Courtyard View; however the outside rooms view the Villas and are quiet. Inside view is the courtyard.
General Room numbers are same as the North Buildings and there are some exceptions.

Elevators are located where Wing A & B connect. Rooms to the far end have a long walk to the elevators or use the stairwell on the end to go to the pool or boat dock. It is my opinion that the North side offers more in convenience then the South side. Both sides are equal in access to Courtyard and pool, but the North has a greater convenience to Roaring Fork area of the lobby and to the boat dock. 5028 was a few steps from the elevator, not a noise problem, which opened into the RF hallway, Pubic restrooms and the Courtyard area just outside RF. My mornings were to fill my mug with their good coffee and sit out there and read the free newspaper and have a smoke. When the girls were ready, then I grabbed my shower and we were off.

All end units facing Bay Lake are suites

 

[Lou-Ann]

Hey there, Swampkatz, sounds like you have allready earned your veteran status. Thanks so very much for the big smile you gave me even knowing about the crickets and the boat. I hope your visit there in the future is as special as ours have been.

 

[FloridaCat]

Room numbers will not be given to you under any circumstances until it is ready for occupancy, security is the reason given.
If you arrive early you can check in, but your room key is not activated until Housekeeping clears it as ready, then you will be told what room you are in.

They will accommodate you on a room change. We arrived at 8:30 AM, check in, had Bell Service take our luggage to storage and went to MGM. We returned around 10:30 PM and were given room 6008. While it was a nice room, my DD and DGD wanted a balcony. I called front desk to see if a change could be made and the CM advised us to sleep in that room since it was so late and they would move us to the 5h floor in the morning... We separated our swimming gear from the luggage. I had Bell Service take it to storage and went over to FW for Breakfast, came back and we hung out at the pool. Around 1:00 PM a CM came out to inform me that our room was ready and it was 5028. I ask her if she could have Bell Service take our luggage to the room which she was happy to do. My DGD went up to let them in.

You should note the 6th floor rooms have a “pit” for your balcony. You can identify it in the pictures by where the roof looks like it was cut and raised. This is the 6th floor. They are very private, but you do have to stand to see over them.

The best way to get to the North Wings from the lobby is to take the main elevator to your floor and walk across the hall overlooking the lobby.

Coming from the boat dock or pool, entering by RF is best for the North Wing. The entrance close to where A & B connect is best for the South Wing.

We are convinced we do not know what a small room is as we found both rooms that we were in more then adequate. My DD has done extensive travel with her job throughout Europe and she was satisfied and comfortable. Our only complaint is the bed legs stick out and we were stubbing toes or cracking shins.

 

[FloridaCat]

POOLS: Two large hoppers by Trout pool bar have abundance of towels. The main pool is very pleasant during morning hours and does become somewhat crowded in the afternoon. Our plan was to stay at the main pool and after lunch move over to the Villas pool. While smaller is very nice and less crowded. A bonus is they have piped the lobby music to Rock Speakers in the surrounding landscape. We had a table in the shade and a speaker nearby and was very relaxing and enjoyable. WL sound track offers a very good selection of Western songs.

We had a ugly incidence on Wednesday evening at the pool. We had returned from MK and decided on a swim before hitting the sack. There, a young boy was doing cannon balls off the rocks that were upsetting a lot of people. A Mother Duck and three young one’s got into the pool, which everyone was excited to see. This Lad then started splashing the water at the Ducks and chasing them. He grabbed one small Duck by the leg and injured it. His Parents received an onslaught of strongly word parental advice.
Several went into the lobby to report it to security. I hope their name and others like them are added to a CAN NOT STAY HERE LIST. I found 99.9% of the guests to be very enjoyable and friendly and their children displayed good manners.
The following morning as I was sitting outside having my coffee, two CM with AK uniforms came out with a net. They caught the little Duck, wrapped it in a pool towel. I asked them what was going to happen to it and they said it would be taken to AK animal hospital for treatment. Call me old fashion, but if the parents in this country don’t get back to teaching reasonability, self disciplined and manners, then I fear we will become a country like the old wild west days.

DINING:
ROARING FORKS: The 20oz. Refillable mugs are a must. Coffee, tea, hot or cold, soda, lemonade and Hot Chocolate. Our calculation based on regular costs of drinks was it was paid for three times over. A must if you have children. This is a high quality mug good to be used as a travel mug. I filled mine before heading to the parks and no problem carrying and easy to refill at park fountains. We did not buy one drink at the parks.
While you observe a ton of food going out there, it is never a wait of more then ten minuets. The line at the drink station is just a few minuets. Prices are reasonable for the surroundings and comments were favorable.

WHISPER CANYON: Food is very good and we enjoyed the atmosphere. CM’s had the kids do a “Pony Ride”. Boy’s had to sing Happy Birthday to the Girls and same for the girls. I had Jeffro’s Pork Chops, DD had Sassy Sue’s Steak, DGD had Kate Coyote Chicken Pasta. All was excellent. Cornbread is as good as advertised on the Dining threads. The Triple Moose Stampede Cake is very good and very rich. We shared a piece and it was enough for all of us. It is a must try.

 

[FloridaCat]

TRANSPORTATION: For the most part, we thought it very convenient. During the morning and at park closings, the trip is one resort. It is during the day going or coming that more then one stop was encountered. Boats have two colored flags. A small Launch runs a continuous circle from WL to FW to Contemporary. It has a blue flag. The MK boat is larger and flies a green flag.
We only had two problems, a CM with the small boat told us she was going to Contemporary and did not have to wait for the MK boat. What she did not tell us it was a long walk to the Contemporary lobby, up four floors on escalators. We do not recommend this trip. The second problem was the same day at MK closing. WL & FW share the same dock, but separate boats. It was very crowed and the lines were back to the park. As we arrived a small boat was leaving the WL dock and a small boat was loading at the FW dock. Ten minutes later another small boat came to the FW dock. The crowd became agitated and some verbal abuse was being hollered to the CM. He must have contacted a Supervisor as another CM arrived there and was on the radio. Then two large boat came for both resorts and cleared the dock. We were packed like sardines, but we were heading back to the resort. This seemed totally unnecessary and poor planning on someone’s part. We waited a total of 45 minutes by my DD watch.
If WDW awards its CM for good deeds, the Pilot on the WL boat deserves it. He turned our crowd from a ugly mood to singing by the time we were half way across the lake. He started with trivia, quizzes, and having the left side of the boat singing Row Row Your Boat and the right side jumping in on the second Chorus. By the time we reached the WL dock, everyone was in a good mood laughing and talking to each other and continued to the lodge entrance... A masterful job on his part I will post this part on the transportation thread so hopefully someone can follow up on this. On a good note, we went down to the dock one evening and a Blue flag boat was there. We asked the CM if she cared if we rode the next trip with her. She said hop on and we made three round trips with her and got a lot of information from her. She was very friendly and we enjoyed her company immensely. It was very relaxing and enjoyable and you should consider it. We did it just before sunset and it was beautiful out on the lake. One minor annoyance was it seemed the bus trip to FW to pick up people was one time a few minuets and the next run seemed to take forever. It seems not all drivers are up to speed on the shortest routes.

WILDLIFE: They seem to have adapted very well to guests. One morning an Armadillo came up the walk searching for tidbits. Egrets and many other birds had no problem standing by a table for any fallen morsel. One day at the pool we had a Black bird stand on our table and attempt to open our box of doughnuts while we were sting there. On one walk down to the dock we saw a Raccoon.

CONCLUSION: alas, to long coming, to quickly over. We all agreed we could spend a week here at WL and never feel a need to go to a park and feel we had a very enjoyable vacation. We are hooked and can’t wait to return.
FloridaCat

 

[corky805]

FloridaCat........


Thanks so much for all the details....I really felt like I could envision it....so excited!!

 

[Liv2CdWorld]

FloridaCat,

THANK YOU!!!! Wonderful reading! Felt like I was there!

I must comment on your one trip back to WL from MK at closing. DS4 and I waited for 1hr 20min to catch a boat back to WL!!!! It was totally PACKED!!!!! I truly wanted to cry!

 

[FloridaCat]

My pleasure and be excited as it is a very enjoyable experience. I should add one more item. Take the time to see all the little details of the Lodge from the lobby to your bath room. every floor has interesting decor and art work.

 

[dizneykid]

hi FloridaCat,

welcome back, your posts are wonderful. very informative.

i have a questions about the smoking rooms though, they are allowing smoking option on the 6th floor in both the northwing and the southwing? when i had called the front desk said only the northwing. was just curious. also, what did you mean by this:

" All 6th floor rooms are smoking and all others non-smoking.

LOBBY: South side #091 to #099 third floor to 6th floor.
North side #084 to #089."

did you mean that these are the smoking rooms? sorry to be a pain, i hope you can understand me.

also, i can't believe about the duck incident. i would have creamed that kid and his parents. some people have no respect. i love all God's creatures and they should be treated right. if i was there i would have be screaming. when we were there in may, i did talk with a few kids (and their parents) about not chasing the wildlife. it just gets me. sorry for the vent. had to. i see too many little animals get hurt.

anyway, i am glad you enjoyed the triple chocolate moose stampede cake. it is rich, but sharing it helps.

well, again welcome back and thanks for all the info. you are a great report writer. made me feel like i was there.

 

[dizneykid]

FloridaCat is right, definitely take your time and explore the lobby. we couldn't get enough of it. it has hidden mickeys and also we found out on our last trip that the lobby tells the "story of creation" according to native americans. i won't go into detail but take the lodge tour (if you get Ranger Stan you are blessed, he is wonderful) we learned so much. can't say enough.

 

[FloridaCat]

When I mde my original ressies I rquested room 5014. When we got our room number I told the CM what I had requested and she told me that I had also requested Smoking and that only 6th floor rooms are for smoking From the room we ended up with, 5028, it was no problem as I went down to RFgot my coffee and sat outside the door. Read the paper and had my quiet time. I did observe people smoking on th balcony's and as far as I know nothing was said to them

The room numbers for the lobby are rooms that are over the lobby and I can not answer if they are smoking or nonsmoking.

On the duck incedent, the parents knew how a great many felt. I did not hear it, but his father made the comment "Kids will be kids" and I guess that is what really light the fire. I was busy keeping people away from the Ducks as the Mother herded them under some beach chairs and bedded them down there. A CM was going to keep a watch on them through the night. when she was trying to get them from the pool to the chairs you could see it's little leg was hurt pretty bad. It's in the best of hands now so hopefully it will have full recovery. I ask the AK people if they take care of the animals that adopt WDW. I was told if they live at WDW they are cared for.

 

[JBurke]

FloridaCat-thanks for the report...you are AWESOME!
I copied and pasted it to my WDW worksheet so I can reference.

Thanks again!

 

[dizneykid]

thanks, FloridaCat,

you made me feel a little better about the duck. my heart really breaks when i hear stories like that. but i know they happen. thank God we have people in this world who do take care of our little guys.

again, glad you had a great time.

 

[Wyndale]

Great review! You gave us a lot of information. I am so jazzed about this upcoming trip.

As a current armchair traveler, you've made my weekend!

 

[disneyatl]

WOW - lots of good information here. I better quit reading this site while I'm at work!!!

Here's my story. We are planning on staying at the WL in July '04 (first time) - especially after reading this thread! This is a very first vacation for my side of the family. Will have my parents, brother and his family, sister and her family, and of course, us. We have 13 people total but all are planning on reserving their own rooms! Don't want too much of a good thing!

My question.........I will have a total of 4 in a room, DH, DD, friend of DD and myself. We've thought about either...

1) reserving a deluxe room but the $390/night gives my DH sticker shock!

2) booking a standard room and trying to request an upgrade at check in

OR

3) staying in a 1 bdrm villa.....possibly renting points since it would be much cheaper that Disney rates

What do you WL vets think? Since I've never stayed at the lodge I wasn't sure if you would loose part of the theme by staying in the villas. I would just really like to have a little bit of privacy since we will have a friend of my DD with us.