NEW Wilderness Lodge FAQ!!

[melomouse]

Okay, now I am getting really stressed after reading through most of the 80-something pages.
And though I so appreciate 999 ghosts help, I don't even want to bother her AGAIN...

My secret must be revealed. I am a smoker who booked a standard room at WL. Did not request smoking room, in fact, downgraded myself from woodsview a few weeks ago because it wasn't available when I called CRO originally.

What I really want is a non-smoking ROOM where I can smoke on the balcony. Outside. Alone. I. the smoker, cannot stand tobacco smoke embedded in carpets and furnishings. I smoke ouside at my own home.
I am also guiltily and tremendously respectful of where designated areas are. Quit for 8 years and went back. Tremendous loss last year. in my family.

So - do I state this in my room request fax? Pay to be upgraded because of this need? If I smoke outside the building, while I be in the forest having the last butt at night?
No standard smoking rooms, said 999 ghosts in an earlier post.
Yes, it's true - this addiction is more trouble than it's worth!

2 more weeks!!!!!!

 

[randbmom]

I now feel I have earned my Master's degree in WL FAQ. 999ghsts, thanks for being my "professor". We have decided to extend our PO-R stay for two nights at WL 11/30-12/2, making use of new AP's.
My big dilemma is concerning my room request. I know I want North Side floor 4 or 5 (I have woods view ressies). I was planning on requesting MK/otter pond view, when I realized the Christmas tree will be up. What better time of year for a lobby room!
999ghsts, I'm considering requesting north side and leaving the rest to chance (or magic). We requested bunk beds. Are there any rooms with a woods view that have neither a lobby entrance nor an otter pond view? If it's just "woods" I have that at home!!
Kimmar, I am wishing you a wonderful trip.
Thank you to all who contribute to this thread. I knew very little about WL beyond attending a character breakfast at Artist Pointe a few years ago. Now I can't wait!

 

[sleeping beauty 2]

We are staying at WL 10/20 - 10/25. Have reserved a Courtyard view, but would like to have a view of the Fireworks at MK. Is this possible? We have two little ones that are very heavy to carry at the end of a long day. Should we request something closer to the lobby? What floor is the lobby on? Any comments on the transportation?

 

[HappyTears]

I too am looking for a courtyard view suggestion to let us see the water parade and possibly the castle's kiss goodnight. I'm not sure if this is a possibility. but if there is an answer this is the place to look.

 

[DisneyAlly]

Hey Kaycee,

We'll be seeing you around! We are checking in on Dec 20.
Our DD is 6 and DS is 8. We are all very excited coz we'll be attending our first MVMCP on Dec 20. Hooray !!! Then DH will be celebrating his birthday there. Still thinking about how we can make it special for him. Oooh...it's so much fun to daydream and plan. I love this board, especially this thread!

 

[zachsmom8899]

999ghsts

Since you have such great expertise on the WL, I thought I could ask for your help. I am heading to Disney on October 2nd and staying at the Wilderness Lodge. Although I have been to Disney several times before, this is actually my first time staying on-site. However, it will be my DS and my mom's along with my friend and her 2 children's first time there at all. I would like to make this a very special trip since we will also be celebrating my friends __th bday. I thought you might be able to suggest an area (I know we can't really request room numbers) they would make it special. We have booked 2 woods view rooms and would love to have a balcony with a MK view for the fireworks. But I hear so much about the lobby rooms being so special. Are there any lobby rooms that offer a view of the fireworks? Also, do you know if they do fireworks during October. And if not, would you suggest a different view?

Also, does the WL do anything special for birthdays?

And last, do they do upgrades frequently at WL? And is it randomly done?

Thanks for all you help. 2 months to go!!!!

 

[mks345]

Just had to make a comment on the woods view room/MK side. We just got back from WL on Saturday. I had requested woods view/MK side, and we got room 6030. It was absolutely a great view and a great room. We saw the fireworks every night and the otter pond as well. No noise from service trucks at all. The room had two queen beds. So my advice to you all is that if you don't get woods view rooms on the 4th or 5th floor, all is not lost. The sixth floor was quiet and great!

And thank you so much, 999ghsts, for all of your advice. We had a great time in a wonderful Lodge.

Marcia

 

[lvinay]

Hi All,
I currently have two very attractive options to choose from and hope to get some advice. I have 2 rooms reserved at the SWAN for $129/nt each (teacher's discount) and 2 at WL for $119/nt ea.
We plan to be there Dec. 15 - 23, and do not want to split the stay, so I have to choose which resort to stay at. One of the main Swan attractions (aside from the location near EPCOT) is that I have enough Starwood points to get Concierge Level. Did I read correctly that I can also add on concierge level at WL for $35.00 a night, if so, that makes the decision even harder.
How does the WL look at Christmas, are the decorations really special? We'll have 4 children, (4 and 7 years old), and I know the Swan is not the best children's resort. What special events take place during Dec for kids at WL?
Also, I know transportation to MK is by boat, what about the other parks?
Finally, I'd need two rooms (hopefully connecting and hopefully both with a Queen and bunk) one with a view of MK if possible, is there any such thing?
Thanks for any advice you can give me, Linda

 

[whtyger97]

When do the buses start running to epcot in the morning for the character breakfast?

 

[rtjcbrown]

Just returned from a weeks stay at WL and am left with some negative impressions. I was a lurker for weeks picking up info before going that came in handy.
After staying at other disney deluxe and moderate properties, I have to say that this resort is CLEARLY NOT at the level of other deluxes. Very cheaply built. It makes for a good first impression, but is no more than a moderate after that. The rooms are very small. Wallpaper peeling in room and bathroom. Paperthin walls, you could here every toilet flush around you. On a rainy night, the lobby was leaking, both thru the roof and in through the double-doors leading from the back deck. A stream also was running down the hallway towrds the Roaring Forks.
The Transportation was Terrible. It really is a joke when it takes 2 hours to get to disney from New Jersey, and 1 hour to get from the WL to the magic kingdom. You call that deluxe? Most frustrating was waiting on the dock in the rain, watching 2 consecutive ferries cruise buy the WL empty, go to Fort wilderness to pick up, and cruise right by without stopping! A 55 minute wait for a bus at MGM was also appreciated by the 200 or so people waiting for a ride at 7pm.
In my opinion, stay away from the WL unless you get a discount and pay moderate rates. Definitely not a deluxe resort. I won't even get into the housekeeping situation.

 

[ColetteN]

rtjcbrown

Sorry to hear you had a negative experience at the WL. Did you mention your disappointment to anyone at WL (CM's, supervisors, managers)? Did you get any type of response from anyone if you did so?

When were you taking the transportation? At peak times? Did you encounter this transportation problem only at certain times (i.e. right before park opening or at park closing) or was it at all times throughout the day? I agree, 2 water shuttles passing by the WL without picking up is frustrating - were they already full with FW guests on the return trip?

Hopefully you enjoyed your "park" time or other vacation activities.

Colette

 

[DisneyAlly]

Hello!

Is early check in possible in WL? We'll actually be in MCO
by 9am, and after picking up rental car, picking up some grocery, etc, we'll be ready to check in before 11am. Is that way too early? Should we just go the park first and then come back to check in at 3pm?

 

[rtjcbrown]

Colette,
I am sorry to say that the transportation problems were not at peak times. We thought this would be easier on our 20 month old daughter. It was not. I complained to a manager who referred me to transportation dept who waits a day to call you back. Not the kind of "Deluxe" treatment you would expect. It is a shame to see people who pay $50 a nite for a campsite get preferential treatment over a people paying for deluxe hotel amenities.

 

[johndavid]

First, thank you so much for all of your advice. We will be staying at the lodge 12/7 to 12/14 and can't wait to be there again, the resort is incredible and the CM's couldn't have been more helpful. I'm sure you have answered this question before (sorry). We have a deluxe room reserved and I read another post where you recommended 6123 or 4123 for a good view of the lake, are these both open balconies or is 6123 a dormer balcony?

Thanks in advance and hope to see you in December.

 

[Nik's Mom]

DisneyAlley,
We checked in at about 8:00 a.m. last year, but our room was not ready until noon. We just headed to MK for a few hours, then headed back to the hotel. Unfortunately, we still had to wait for about an hour for our room to be ready. We were very tired after traveling over night from Los Angeles with a toddler, but I did not complain about the wait. We had faxed a room request over, and once our room was ready, it was exactly the area that we had requested. If you do not have a room request, maybe you will have your room ready much quicker.
The cm's were very kind to us while we waited. They held our luggage for us until we were allowed into our room.

 

[ColetteN]

rtjcbrown

That's disappointing to hear that you received no satisfactory outcome to your voiced complaints. I would expect a deluxe resort to offer "deluxe" customer service as well. (Not that any Disney resort, for that matter, should give anything less than top notch customer service!) I can understand your disapointment in the WL.

I know nothing can be done about your experience now, but I appreciate you posting to let future visitors know. I would suggest writing a letter to WL management as well as Disney resort management, expressing your dissatisfaction with the place. At the very least, they will know that they had a dissatisfied customer. (Maybe even put in it that quote from Walt himself about losing a customer.....I've seen it in a thread - do you know the one I'm talking about?)

Colette

 

[DisneyAlly]

Thank you, Nik's Mom. I think it's worth the wait if one gets the room exactly in the area requested. We'll be pretty tired too - we will have to get up at 4am to take the first flight out so I am hoping DD and DS can catch some ZZZ's in the room before heading out to the park.


Hi there 999ghsts!!!

 

[Ned Land]

999 ghsts,

What are the room numbers of the rooms that are directly facing the lake in the middle of the south wing (not x166-x169)? Also, you mentioned that people can smoke on the 4th floor terrace in the "bear face" area? I can't remember what is above this area on the 5th floor. Can you tell me what occupies that space? Would 5073 or 5071 or 4075 or 4077 have smoke to deal with?

Thank you.

-NL

 

[donaldsduck]

Hello everyone! Just back from a wonderful week at the WL!!

We LOVED it! The lobby is just incredible and so beautiful. We arrived at 10am and got right into our room without any wait.

We had room 5120 and it wasn't as nice of a view as I expected (we booked woodsview, but our view was actually of the other side of the lodge and it overlooked a walkway and a few trees). We asked about getting a better view but were told that where we were was "woodsview". It didn't bother us. We got the bunk beds we requested and my daughter really loved those!

When we checked in our CM wasn't very friendly. She barely said two words to me and when I asked about being a flag family she snapped, "I'll have to check on that later!" She never did bother to check. But I refused to let these things bother me!

All of the other CM's we encountered were super friendly. Everyone went out of their way to say hello. We just must have gotten a grump upon check-in.

The transportation was on the whole good. The only thing that was a bother was the ferry going to Ft. Wilderness! At first this didn't bother us that much but by mid-trip it was a big pain! The ferry would go from MK to Ft. Wilderness and no one would even get off there or on! Just a big waste of time. Especially when you're hot and tired from a long day at MK. We never had to wait more that 5-10 mins for a boat though so that was good. We only went on the bus one time and it arrived within 5 mins.

The Whispering Canyon and Roaring Forks were both delicious. And we ordered room service pizza one night that was really good too.

We enjoyed the pool a lot but it did tend to get crowded during the afternoon. My DD (7) loved the slide. I like the frozen drinks at the Trout Bass Bar located by the pool!

My daughter went to the Cubs Den one night and she had a wonderful time. She didn't want to leave when I picked her up!

I had hoped to run into lucki4 but I never did see her. As a matter of fact, I never saw any lime green ribbons.

I'll be happy to answer any questions if anyone has any. All in all my family loved the WL and I will definitely come back again. Hopefully they will work out the Ft. Wilderness boat issue before then.


P.S. 999ghts identity still remains a mystery to me!

 

[lvinay]

Thank you for the advice and information about WL. It was difficult for my family to decide between Swan and WL, but finally location, transportation ease, and the ability to upgrade to concierge made us choose Swan. I will be calling CRO to cancel the two standard rooms I had reserved (Dec. 15 - 23) at WL around 10 am EST tomorrow morning. I know someone was looking for those dates, so here is a heads up. Hope you can get them (I don't think it is possible to transfer the ressie to another person is it?)
Thanks again, Linda