I am mostly a "lurker" here, but I thought I would share our Wilderness Lodge vacation with you as I have found that good, bad or ugly these reports could be useful for the next vacationer!
We stayed at the Poly last year and thought any other resort stay would be hard to top after that, but Wilderness Lodge was beautiful! We are a family of five so staying in most resorts prove to be a litle crowded, however, we had plenty of room at WL. At the Poly we used the day bed as another bed for our DD (4) but at WL we had bunk beds so we had DS (9) sleep alone on tp and DS (7) sleep one way on the bottom and DD(4) sleep the opposite way and it worked just fine! We were driving up from NJ (parents were flying in to meet up w/us for 6/22) so we stayed at Buena Vista Suites for 2 days before checking into WL, but we agree we should have headed straight to WL instead of staying off-site. DH went early morning to check-in (6/22) and our only request had been connecting rooms since my parents were joining us. They could not honor that right away and we were placed on the 5th (5024) floor overlooking a small pond w/my parents placed just a couple doors down in 5018 since they didn't need the bunk beds. The kids loved seeing all the birds and bunnies each morning. They offered to change us the next day, but frankly we were not switching rooms after seeing the view! We had a partial veiw of Cinderella's castle, the monorail & the Contemporary! There we some tree tops in the way but we could pretty much see the fireworks everynight & the veiw was even better in my parents room. We also had a partial view of the water -light parade but could see the Contemporary show better, LOL!
Like mentioned in another post by a guest going the same time we did, we had no problems getting seats at the pool, the water was nice, clean and the slide kept my 4 yr old busy for 2 hrs straight! Do remember to cover your food well though since the birds are pretty aggresive about getting into things left unattended. We all LOL watching a bird peck under a pile of towels to open a bag of chips!
Roaring Forks was 100 times nicer & cleanner than the Poly's. I thought the problem at the Poly was that it was located too close to the pool, but they had very little seating there and there was this *stink* that was there everyday. We were often bumped, food dropped, no place to sit, ect...but RF was also located close to the pool and it had a huge seating area that could accomodate many early park-go-ers. It was VERY clean and the people were very friendly. There was always a line but never really a long wait for food. Me & DH got the migs and felt our money was well spent. We brought our own cooler so the kids had their drinks in there.
The mercantile had everything from clothes & gifts to food to milk, wine & beer. If you do plan on wanting a drink I would get it at the store on the way in or even buy it in the Meracantile since the drinks are pretty pricy at the Wispering canyon as we learned the first night there.
Wispering Canyon, I just can't say enough good things about it. We ate there several times, different times of the day and never waitted very long to be seated. And this was for a party of 7. DH and my dad were a little late the first night getting seated because they were talking to the CM's at the front desk. Kate made sure the whole place knew when they did get seated by announcing that they were LATE! I never saw my dad's face get so red. They were loud, funny, embarassing and the kids had a blast! Make sure you ask for red crayons and ketsup when you go. They make a huge fuss about special occasions and the pony express ride for the kids is not to be missed. My dad's B-Day was July 1st but since they were leaving that day we celebrated the night before at the WC. I had called to pre-order a cake the day before and they had it right there at the WC for when we got there. Our waiter Steve played his kazoo to the tune of "Happy Birthday" just for my dad, and it was really special. He was glad that he didn't have to ride a "pony" solo thru the hotel, LOL, like we saw during the week. If you pay by credit card make sure you are prepared for the loud whopping *HOOT* when it goes thru OK because they do make an announcement for all to hear.
Mousekeeping didn't bother us at all. While we didn't get the towel thingies I read about here, we did get our stuffed animals tucked in and the kids toothbrushes fixed up nice along the sink. We were only disturbed one morning when we decided to sleep in late and we told her to give us an hour and that was that.
The only negative feedback I could give was sometimes the CM's did not know the answers to some simple questions about some of the Disney services. We thought it would be great if they were all on the same page as often we got different answers. An example of this was when we asked about transportation (boat & bus) the Magic Kingdom for CRT breakfast before the park opened. We aksed about transportation and times being that our reservation was before the opening of the MK....we never did get a clear answer so we decided to take our own van & not risk being late. At check in though you are given a map & newletter about WL with some basic questions answered which WAS very helpful for other info we needed.
Some quick advice about navigating the parks right now. READ about everything before you get there. Question your family and make a plan about things you want to do and want to skip. This is a much busier time than when we usually go. It was hot & crowed but if you have a plan and are prepared you can do all you want to do! Especially know how FASTPASS and the Child Swaping works...this will help you cut down waits for big rides. My parents were floor'd watching us enter good rides with little to no waitting. They are older (in their 70's and had no idea what we were doing...they thought we were cutting!) At MGM during the Star Wars weekend many people were waitiing almost 2 hours for the ride. We had been on it many times before this weekend and being honest, it is an older ride. Now that the Star Wars movie is out and many fans were visiting that weekend is was mobbed but people didn't think to use FP. We walked right in having used FP and as we came out an angry family complained LOUDLY because they waittied 1 1/2 hours for it and weren't impressed. Another tip...bring rain ponchos and keep them with you at all times! It rainned every single day but we still were able to do many many things! Here in NJ I would never venture out in an outdoor park during rain/lightning, but Disney is super fanantical about guest safty and thousand of rods keep you quite safe. Be prepared to be flexible though as some outdoor things get delayed or postponed. It was one of the reasons we missed the stunt show, but we will get it in next time for sure, LOL!
Hope some of this helps! We loved WL and while Poly was nice being on the monorail sytem, WL has so many perks, we will most likely be back! You won't be dissapointed!!!
We stayed at the Poly last year and thought any other resort stay would be hard to top after that, but Wilderness Lodge was beautiful! We are a family of five so staying in most resorts prove to be a litle crowded, however, we had plenty of room at WL. At the Poly we used the day bed as another bed for our DD (4) but at WL we had bunk beds so we had DS (9) sleep alone on tp and DS (7) sleep one way on the bottom and DD(4) sleep the opposite way and it worked just fine! We were driving up from NJ (parents were flying in to meet up w/us for 6/22) so we stayed at Buena Vista Suites for 2 days before checking into WL, but we agree we should have headed straight to WL instead of staying off-site. DH went early morning to check-in (6/22) and our only request had been connecting rooms since my parents were joining us. They could not honor that right away and we were placed on the 5th (5024) floor overlooking a small pond w/my parents placed just a couple doors down in 5018 since they didn't need the bunk beds. The kids loved seeing all the birds and bunnies each morning. They offered to change us the next day, but frankly we were not switching rooms after seeing the view! We had a partial veiw of Cinderella's castle, the monorail & the Contemporary! There we some tree tops in the way but we could pretty much see the fireworks everynight & the veiw was even better in my parents room. We also had a partial view of the water -light parade but could see the Contemporary show better, LOL!
Like mentioned in another post by a guest going the same time we did, we had no problems getting seats at the pool, the water was nice, clean and the slide kept my 4 yr old busy for 2 hrs straight! Do remember to cover your food well though since the birds are pretty aggresive about getting into things left unattended. We all LOL watching a bird peck under a pile of towels to open a bag of chips!
Roaring Forks was 100 times nicer & cleanner than the Poly's. I thought the problem at the Poly was that it was located too close to the pool, but they had very little seating there and there was this *stink* that was there everyday. We were often bumped, food dropped, no place to sit, ect...but RF was also located close to the pool and it had a huge seating area that could accomodate many early park-go-ers. It was VERY clean and the people were very friendly. There was always a line but never really a long wait for food. Me & DH got the migs and felt our money was well spent. We brought our own cooler so the kids had their drinks in there.
The mercantile had everything from clothes & gifts to food to milk, wine & beer. If you do plan on wanting a drink I would get it at the store on the way in or even buy it in the Meracantile since the drinks are pretty pricy at the Wispering canyon as we learned the first night there.
Wispering Canyon, I just can't say enough good things about it. We ate there several times, different times of the day and never waitted very long to be seated. And this was for a party of 7. DH and my dad were a little late the first night getting seated because they were talking to the CM's at the front desk. Kate made sure the whole place knew when they did get seated by announcing that they were LATE! I never saw my dad's face get so red. They were loud, funny, embarassing and the kids had a blast! Make sure you ask for red crayons and ketsup when you go. They make a huge fuss about special occasions and the pony express ride for the kids is not to be missed. My dad's B-Day was July 1st but since they were leaving that day we celebrated the night before at the WC. I had called to pre-order a cake the day before and they had it right there at the WC for when we got there. Our waiter Steve played his kazoo to the tune of "Happy Birthday" just for my dad, and it was really special. He was glad that he didn't have to ride a "pony" solo thru the hotel, LOL, like we saw during the week. If you pay by credit card make sure you are prepared for the loud whopping *HOOT* when it goes thru OK because they do make an announcement for all to hear.
Mousekeeping didn't bother us at all. While we didn't get the towel thingies I read about here, we did get our stuffed animals tucked in and the kids toothbrushes fixed up nice along the sink. We were only disturbed one morning when we decided to sleep in late and we told her to give us an hour and that was that.
The only negative feedback I could give was sometimes the CM's did not know the answers to some simple questions about some of the Disney services. We thought it would be great if they were all on the same page as often we got different answers. An example of this was when we asked about transportation (boat & bus) the Magic Kingdom for CRT breakfast before the park opened. We aksed about transportation and times being that our reservation was before the opening of the MK....we never did get a clear answer so we decided to take our own van & not risk being late. At check in though you are given a map & newletter about WL with some basic questions answered which WAS very helpful for other info we needed.
Some quick advice about navigating the parks right now. READ about everything before you get there. Question your family and make a plan about things you want to do and want to skip. This is a much busier time than when we usually go. It was hot & crowed but if you have a plan and are prepared you can do all you want to do! Especially know how FASTPASS and the Child Swaping works...this will help you cut down waits for big rides. My parents were floor'd watching us enter good rides with little to no waitting. They are older (in their 70's and had no idea what we were doing...they thought we were cutting!) At MGM during the Star Wars weekend many people were waitiing almost 2 hours for the ride. We had been on it many times before this weekend and being honest, it is an older ride. Now that the Star Wars movie is out and many fans were visiting that weekend is was mobbed but people didn't think to use FP. We walked right in having used FP and as we came out an angry family complained LOUDLY because they waittied 1 1/2 hours for it and weren't impressed. Another tip...bring rain ponchos and keep them with you at all times! It rainned every single day but we still were able to do many many things! Here in NJ I would never venture out in an outdoor park during rain/lightning, but Disney is super fanantical about guest safty and thousand of rods keep you quite safe. Be prepared to be flexible though as some outdoor things get delayed or postponed. It was one of the reasons we missed the stunt show, but we will get it in next time for sure, LOL!
Hope some of this helps! We loved WL and while Poly was nice being on the monorail sytem, WL has so many perks, we will most likely be back! You won't be dissapointed!!!
WL!!! Thanks for sharing your experience with the rest of us Even though I will be at CR in a few weeks, we have plans for meals at WC and AP at the lodge while we are there. That is my Home away from Home. Thanks again.
