NEW Wilderness Lodge FAQ!!

[kimmar067]

...we were thinking of using the cubs' den for one night. Can you give me some info??? THANX

 

[jwfla422]

Thanks skiwee1 & plutospup for your responses. I had a feeling it would take just as long (if not longer to go the CR/walk route), I know just the walk from the dock at CR to cross the street to MK would take a while. But, thought I'd ask anyone who has done that route

I'm assuming there would be room on the boat for everyone at WL if it then stops at FW, just want dd to have a seat. What time do the boats start running? 8:00? for 9am MK opening? Plutospup, what time did you pick up the boat to MK for your CRT morning? How was your breakfast btw? Was this your dd's first visit to CRT? Did she like it or just kinda get stage fright? Mine did that our last visit to CRT.

I'd also like to know about Cub's Den, plan on taking one night for myself since this trip it will only be dd and I (she'll be 4 then). This is a great thread, everyone has been soooo helpful and informative (and NICE)!

 

[domiii]

What a place to stay! We were supposed to stay in a standard room. We sent a fax with our room request 5 days prior asking for the best view for the category of room. Due to a message in this thread, we took brownies and told the cast member (Amanda) at the desk they were from our family to their's and please share them. (999ghts hope you got some!) The ambiance, mood and atmosphere was just the best. We loved it.

When we got into the room we were overlooking the otter pond with a direct view of the fireworks in the MK. Somehow, I think it was the brownies that got us the room we were in and not the fax! We had cast members coming up to us thanking us as we walked through the lobby! Next thing we know we had balloons, chocolate totem poles and a huge chocolate covered pretzel delivered to our room with a nice note thanking us for the brownies. Loved watching the otters and other critters every morning. Rooms 5020 and 5022 if you were wondering. It was just perfect.

Unfortunately, we were not able to be the flag family. Hopefully some other time - it would be nice.

The hotel was bigger then we expected, so we requested a wheelchair for Great-Grandma. No problem! It was great for her to get around, there is a lot of walking to the room and bus stop. We took it right into the parks with us too! My mom was able to walk to and from, but got an ECV in the parks. Sorry to anyone she ran into!

Transportation - We had absolutely no problem. Boat and buses were direct. We only stopped at FT 2 times with the bus. Only waited for 20 minutes for a bus to AK for breakfast. Every other time was 10 minutes for both bus and boat. Luck of the Irish or paybacks for some random acts of kindness we did, I guess!

Food - We are not fancy food people and found Roaring Forks suited our needs just great. I agree with others who have mentioned there wasn't alot of variety. But we were all very satified. Seating area is small though. We got the mugs and made great use of them. Whipsering Canyons was alot of fun. Our waitress wasn't rowdie, but we were exhausted and were happy to watch the fun of the others. Food was good and PLENTIFUL. Go very hungry. Did not make it to Artist's Point.

Only got into the pool once and had a good time. We rented a four seater bike and rode over to FW to see the horses. Let me tell you, they look more fun then they are! It was a good laugh for us. It was hard work, but we made it to and from FW alive.

Used the laundry as we had to dry stuff. The doors of the dryers pop open if you are dyring sneakers. Did not use the washers. It was busy because of the rain. People were great...

Weather was a mess, but we coped and did not let it get to us. In fact we were lining up for the 3:00 parade in the MK when the skies opened up and it downpoured. The harder it rained, the harder we laughed at the situation. Another day we were at MGM and it downpoured for 2 hours. Fortunately we were having lunch at 50's Prime Time. Needless to say we ate slowly.

Thanks everyone for your advise. And for everyone going to WL - enjoy.

 

[donaldsduck]

WOW domii, sounds like everything went perfectly! What a great report!

I am going to request the rooms you had as they sound wonderful!


Glad to hear you had no transportation problems and that you enjoyed the food offered.

Great going with the brownies too! Sounds like the CMs really appreciated them!

Did your kids play any of the pool games? What do those consist of? Thanks!

 

[plutospup]

We got to the boat dock at about 8:15. Our PS for CRT was for 9:15. No stress or worries, and still enough time to rush over to BTM for Fast Passes(now that was a sprint!). DD4 loves breakfast with the Princesses! (She, of course, is a princess, too!). We've been fortunate to get PS three times for CRT. Last year on her birthday DD4 received a Royal Proclamation signed by all of the princesses. They really made it a special day.

 

[domiii]

Donaldsduck;

Sorry, but we did not do any of the activites offered at the pool. DD14 would probably have loved it even if she were the biggest kid there!!!

By all means request these rooms, they were fantastic! They are just down the hall from the elevator near Roaring Forks and the doors near the pool. It's a hike to the bus stop, but that was not a problem for us. The trees somewhat hindered the view of the fireworks, but not enough for me to complain about it!

The cast members were wonderful. When is your visit scheduled?

 

[donaldsduck]

domiii,

We are leaving Ohio for Tampa/St. Pete area on July 19th to see family. Then we will go to WDW on July 23 to stay at WL through the 28th. Originally we planned on doing only 2 nights at WDW but I managed to get my DH up to 5 nights! YEAH!

It will be DH and DD (7) first time and I want to make it super special for them. Your info has helped a lot and has gottem me even more excited about the WL.


Did you have the option to upgrade to conceirge for the $35.00? Just wondered as I think I would do this if we could. We are only doing one day at the parks (MK). So we plan on really enjoying the hotel and all it has to offer.

 

[domiii]

Donalsduck;

No we did not upgrade. We did the land/sea package so our money was spent up front! We didn't spend enough time in the hotel to warrant the conceirge level anyway.

 

[figment95]

Cub's Den is great. My kids (5 and 7) loved it. They have video games and crafts and they serve dinner. At 10:00 the kids get to vote on what Disney movie they want to see. My kids were kind of upset at us because they say we picked them up too early. They wanted to go back every night. While we were there, every afternoon they had an open house. The kids could go and check it out and meet the staff. Parents had to stay with the children. After I took the kids down to see it , they were so excited for us to have our night out.

 

[beb]

we are going in two weeks and cant wait we have a woodsview
we are going to request a lobby room
how do you feel about the lobby rooms
thanks

 

[domiii]

as we rounded the corner from our room towards the lobby the noise level rose quite a bit. But this was in the hallway, so I cannot comment on the noise level in the rooms. The lobby view is magnificant. Truly breathtaking! I have only stayed here this one time, perhaps a veteran of the place can offer a better opinion!

Enjoy yourself!

 

[plutospup]

Recently we had a woodsview/lobby room directly above Whispering Canyons - the noise was very minimal. We heard the "dinner bell", and someone yell "Come 'n Get It!". Outside of that it was a quiet room. If I would have heard noise I definetly would have switched rooms, but it wasn't necessary.

 

[Pluto14]

domii....sounds like you had a wonderful time. Thanks for posting a WL report. I'm going to try to request the same area you stayed in, as I'm just so looking forward to hopefully seeing the otters! Your report has me wishing I could leave tomorrow! Saturday is almost here!

I also have a ? about Disney $$.....My DH recently recieved some as a gift for his birthday. Is it possible to apply them to room charges? I think I read on another thread that guests handed them in at check in and asked the CM to apply to any room charges. 999ghsts...maybe you know if this is possible at the WL too?

Thanks in advance!

Leaving in 4 days!!!!!

 

[Pluto14]

Forgot this in my above post.....we are hoping to get together with friends of ours who live in the area on our 1st day of arrival. Will it be possible for us to meet these friends in the lobby? Is Disney strict about letting non-guests in? Being that this is my 1st time onsite, I don't know the policy. If this will be a concern, I will make other arrangements for a meeting place.

Thanks for any info.!

 

[kimmar067]

domiii-
Sounds like you had such a WONDERFUL vacation!!! (glad to hear that the weather didn't get you down... ) BTW - those brownies sound like they went a LONGGGG way!! See? A little touch of kindness can stretch very far!!! What other PS's did you make (if any)? Can't wait to hear some more details about your trip (plese post any pics if you are able to )

Pluto14-
Sounds like you are really excited to be leaving for the BEST PLACE ON EARTH. I'm sending special wishes (along with some Magic Pixie Dust ~ * ~ * ~ * !!) to hope you and yours have a great time...!!! (doin' the HAPPY DANCE!)


Countdown to WDW:
24 days - 16 minutes - Yippee!! :earsgirl

 

[duck_adoo]

Hi. We booked our trip through DU, would we be better off faxing our room request ourselves or ask DU to make the request?

Domiii-I was so glad to see you had such a great time. I was getting a little nervous about our trip in 41 days. There seems to have been alot of negatives posted lately (mostly about transportation).

I have to get one of those countdown clocks!
Thanks,
Duck

 

[kimmar067]

...600 posts!!! Woohoo!!!

 

[dwddad]

pluto14

For several years we have had guests visit us at on-site resorts. We have also driven to resorts to check them out when we were just passing through the area by car.

Your guests will be stopped at the entrance booth. They will just need to tell the guard that they are visiting, and possibly your name and room number. They may be given a temporary parking pass to put on the dash of their car.

I wouldn't change plans to meet anywhere else.

dwddad

 

[domiii]

999ghts
I am SO glad you got some of the brownies. I was hoping you would as a thank you for all your help and advice. Mom makes a mean brownie doesn't she?

kimmar067
We don't like to get too bogged down with PS so we only made one for 50's Prime Time Cafe (a favorite) and one at Donald's Breakfastasaurous. We did not have PS for Whispering Canyon and was told it was 20 minute wait ... we didn't even wait 10 minutes! I posted on the Disney restaurant forum with my reviews (all good, of course). The brownies were a hit, but don't the cast members deserve it?

Pluto14
The otters where out every morning and we could hear them barking at night. We sent a good amount of time watching them. We brought binoculars with us, which made bird watching fun, too.

duck_adoo
I look at it this way, I get the attitude I give! So the bus might stop at FW, it just prolongs the excitement to get to my destination! I said hello to every cast member who past my way with a smile on my face and got the same in return! Have a supercalifragilistic time!!!!

 

[HRCCrazy]

I have been reading all the post about WL, trying to find out all the good things about the WL, and from what I have read, it sounds like a great place to stay, so I book our next trip at the WL.
We will be staying after we do the 3 day DCL. Will be coming via the cruise line bus.
I'm book in an standard room, which is fine for me, but the only worry I have for my mother (giving her this trip for 65th BDay) is she like me and don't think a view is that big of a deal, I just don't want to get a room that over looks the loading docks, and keep her up all night do to the lights and/or noise.

Now on to the reason for the post, what floor and/or room should I ask for so we can have a quite night sleep after being in the parks all day.

Any info. will be greatful, Thanks
Big John aka HRCCrazy