NEW Wilderness Lodge FAQ!!

[irishone1979]

Just an FYI for all those interested in the Honeymoon rooms. They are on the 7th floor concierge and overlook the main lobby. I don't know why they designed the resort with the honeymoon rooms overlooking the lobby, if anyone has an answer please let me know. The problem with that is you hear all the noise from the lobby (I mean all of it- my dh and I were kept awake till about 12 every night and were woken up at around 5). If you can sleep through things than this won't bother you, but I am a light sleeper and had a hard time. There are 4 honeymoon rooms. 2 overlook the MK and two are just woodsview rooms. I don't know how much the rooms are (we were on the grand plan an the stay was included.) But honestly I don't believe they are worth the price. Just My humble opinion about them. The concierge staff is nice, very easy going and try to help you with all your requests or questions.
I don't know that I would stay at the WL again (It would break my bank account), but now I can say that I have been there.
We are going back to Disney next December and will be taking my DD. We will probably stay at the All Star or POFQ.
Don't get me wrong, I thought the WL was nice, but a little overpriced for my taste.

Heather S

 

[kimmar067]

To my fellow "NJ'er" ~
Hope that you and yours have a wonderful, magical time at WDW and WL....the mugs, I believe, have gone up in price to $10.99, and they are refillable at RF, which include soda, hot chocolate, coffee, and tea. They are SO worth it (and besides, it's a nice cheap "souvie" to help you remember your stay at WL!! )

Sending some pixie dust ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * your way for a safe and healthy VACA!!!

 

[Mickeycrazie]

Just back from the 3 day Disney cruise after staying at WL for 4 nights. What a way to end your vacation. Weather was great. Had a great time. Very nice resort. I kinda like a brighter resort, but don't get me wrong it is very nice. Can be a long walk if you are in either ends of the N or S wing. But if you learn to go out the downstairs door by the pool and come in through RF you can get to the lobby quicker. Only had a problem with buses one day waiting to go downtown. The mug refill is a great. Got upgrade from woodsview to courtyard view because I wanted a king size bed. Mickey and his friends brought me a card with their picture in it and they had all signed and it had 3 balloons attached and a chocolate mickey on a stick. Got a cute towel bunny and a big towel swan another day. Whispering Canyon has a great banana dustbowl and great fun for the kids. Jennifer is one of the managers there and she was a great help with making some arrangements for us. Humphrey the bear is so cute. I think they need one in a costume to walk around and greet guest. I'm williing to do that if they need me to. If you have any question, please ask.

Wishing I was back at Disney,

Mickeycrazie

 

[dream trip]

We got back just after Thanksgiving.....we had an AWESOME TIME!!! Thanks in part to the great advice I got off this thread. Disney really is a magical place and the Wilderness Lodge was just beautiful....I can't say enough good things about it!!! Any questions, please ask!
signed,
A DISNEY ADDICT!!!!

 

[helenk]

mickeycrazie and dream trip. tell us about your rooms. what view did you have reserved and where did you end up? We leave on Saturday and I can not wait!!!

 

[NJPhyl]

Thanks kimmar067 !!!! I think we're READY!!!

 

[dream trip]

Originally posted by helenk
mickeycrazie and dream trip. tell us about your rooms. what view did you have reserved and where did you end up? We leave on Saturday and I can not wait!!!

We had a courtyard view reservation. We had room 5005, it had a great view of the falls and the pool, we had to walk down a hall(not far) to get to the elevator and the elevator took us near Roaring FOrks cafe and the door to go to the pool/boat doak. COnsidering how large the hotel is, this was a very conveinent room. It was non-smoking with bunks, the kids loved the bunks! and it was an end room, so it was very quiet. I would request this room again. Any other questions, let me know!.... You will have a magical time no matter where you stay!!.....That's Disney!

 

[Kaycee]

Can anyone tell me what time the flag raising is? I'm going to ask about doing this when we check in, but we have a couple of early character breakfasts, so I'm afraid that may cut into our opportunities to be the Flag Family. Thanks everyone.

Look at my counter! I'm so excited!



Kaycee

 

[dtuleya]

I'd be glad to explain the flag family to you. We were fortunate to be able to do this on Thanksgiving Day. You must inquire about this at check-in since it can be difficult to get. The day before, a letter was placed on our bed explaining where and when we were to report.

You will meet Ranger Stan in the lobby about 8:15 AM. He will then take you and your family (up to six members I think) up to the concierge floor where you will go up some stairs to the roof. It is a wonderful view of the Contemporary, Cinderella's Castle and the Grand Floridian as well as the WL and villas. Your family will then help to raise the five flags (American first, followed by the pledge) and then two WL flags, a Disney flag and a state of Florida flag. Make sure to take your camera since Ranger Stan will be glad to take pictures for you. When you are finished, you will receive a signed certificate with your family's name on it. He is a wonderful man who gave my boys many words of wisdom. It was one of the highlights of our trip!

 

[Mickeycrazie]

We booked a woodsview room and got an upgrade to a courtyard view. We were on the 1st floor. Can't remember the view but it was not on the MK side it was on the WL Villa side. We were almost all the way down the hall. Room 1159. We had a king size bed with a disabled accessable bathroom. Didn't bother us to have that kind of bathroom. We were just happy to have the king bed. We learned quickly to go out the back door past the pool to get to RF and to the lobby, instead of going down the hall to the elevator to the 2nd floor and then down the 2nd hall to Merchantile and the lobby. Let me know if you need to know anything else.

Have fun!

Mickeycrazie

 

[WDWSuperFan]

dream trip,
When you stayed at the WL, room 5005, could you also see the water pageant from your balcony? We are going to Disney and will be staying at the WL in just a few days Thank you for any info.

 

[MrsPete]

Please tell me if I'm right about this:

When you check in, you make your request to be the flag family -- I understand that. But you don't find out right away whether you get it? You just get a letter in your room stating that you've been chosen?

 

[kacoggie]

MrsPete - when we asked about being flag family they checked the book right then. Unfortunately they were all booked during our stay. Be sure to ask when you check in - you'll have a better chance.

 

[Fridye]

WDWSuperFan --

For a water pageant view, this is the info I gathered off these boards:

The best EWP rooms are:

1) the lobby rooms on the 5th floor (there are 4 that are non-smoking that look directly out the back of the resort – 5073 (king)/ 5071/ 5069/ 5067 (“Our particular room number was 5067 and I think it sounds to be what you are looking for. We had a great view of the pool, geyser and lake. It was wonderful to watch the electric water pageant at night and the sun on the water in the day. As soon as you walked out our door you could look down over the lobby.“)

2) Possibly the 4th floor rooms 4079/ 4077/ 4075 (king)/ 4073 (king) (4067/ 4069/ 4071 have a tree in front)

3) there is only 1 lobby room on the 6th floor – 6067 (bunks?) due to the design of the building (to see the lobby you would have to walk over to the lobby railing as there is a stone wall (part of the fireplace) that would be blocking a direct view from the room door)

4) 4th (open balcony) floor South Wing (4135-4155 overlooking the main pool where you can also see the geyser and the lake) or

5) 6th (dormer “closed” balcony) floor South Wing.

The rooms from X131 through about X151 (x being the floor number) are the best (if you do not request a lobby room). Inner courtyard rooms in the south wing have odd numbers. The 2nd and 3rd floors are too low to see over the trees and around the Trout Pass Pool Bar, and the 5th floor is smoking. If you get past X151 (being rooms X153-X163) you might have some obstructions from the Pool Bar. The other side of the resort (the North wing) is hit or miss, depends on the trees around the lake. Most of the North wing can see the lake, but not the portion that they use for the parade.
----------------

We stayed in room 5157, which was about halfway down in the south wing and had a great view of the water pageant and pool (not the geyser becuase a tree was in the way). The 5th floor south wing is smoking, but we got the room because my DD wanted us to ask for bunkbeds when we checked in and that was all that was available (I sent a fax three days earlier but didn't request bunkbeds). We couldn't smell smoke in the room, but we could in the hall. I would have preferred the 4th floor.

My parents stayed in room 4129, which has a direct view of the lake and a king bed. They loved it because they could look straight out their balcony to the water. We couldn't do that -- we had to look out to our right from the balcony, but we were closer.

 

[Mermaid 3]

Just got back from the Wilderness Lodge and I can say that any room is great because the lodge itself is a magical place and the cast members are the best. It is just wonderful to stay there!!! The lodge was my favorite part of the trip. Everything about it was perfect, the atmosphere, the people, the rooms, the service, the shopping, the Whispering Canyon, Roaring Forks, Territory Lounge, you couldn't ask for anything more!

 

[pattyT]

MrsPete

Yes you find out right away if you will be able to be the Flag Family -
but they send the 'details' to your room the night before!
When we went the first 7 days were already booked - so it was a good thing we were staying for 10 days! We went up on our last day there - it was a great way to end our vacation!

 

[Lou-Ann]

To Fridye.....Thanks so much for the summary. It will be most helpful. Just wanted to comment, however, that 6067 was not bunks when we have stayed there but was 2 queens. This was in 9/02.

 

[dream trip]

Originally posted by WDWSuperFan
dream trip,
When you stayed at the WL, room 5005, could you also see the water pageant from your balcony? We are going to Disney and will be staying at the WL in just a few days Thank you for any info.

I do not think we could have seen it that well, because the lake was to our left from the balcony and some trees were in the way. Although we could see the sun rise flection off the water in the morning. The funny thing is that before you go to WDW, you just think you want to perfect room that has everything and I do not know if this is possible, to see the EWP from the hotel (it is shaped like a U) I would think you would have to be in the part of the hotel where the front lobby is located. WE may have had to sacrifice our quite end room just to see the EWP, which by the way, I do not think starts until after 8:00pm, and everyone was asleep by this time anyway!! no matter what room you stay in, you could always see the EWP by walking down to the boat dock area. We actually saw the EWP the last night we were there because we were taking the boat from Magic Kingdom back to the hotel, what a nice treat, we were waiting at the dock and it went right past us. The thing about staying at WL is that the chance of seeing everything is very good because you are so close to MK, .........Let me know if you have any other questions!!

 

[jama]

What is the best way to upgrade to concierge-- fax request ask at check in or call now to see if available? If one upgrades before arrival do you ever get the$30 night rate i have read about? Also are there any bunkbeds in concierge rooms? THANKS!! jama

 

[Fridye]

Thanks, Lou-Ann. I'll change my notes regarding 6067.