Put On Your Sunday Clothes, There's Disney World Out There! - Wilderness Lodge

[bubba]

It's a little disconcerting that the map you see on the plane has the location of the sinking of the Titanic on it!

 

[Nakkira]

Day 1
Saturday 20th January 2018
Part 2 – The Wilderness Lodge, room 4001!


Time to check in!
So here’s a fun story to start this trip off with a bang.
I really wanted to stay at the Wilderness Lodge this trip, but their ‘standard view’ (cheapest) rooms were all booked up.
So I booked a more expensive courtyard/pool view room, even though I don’t particularly care about having that view.
It’s probably noisy, and I wasn’t, like, excited to look at the pool or anything.
But I just really wanted to stay here.

Well, we check in, and there’s a problem with our pool view room.
So the cast member apologetically offered us a ‘woods view’ room, and a refund of the difference.
Errrm YES PLEASE.


Obviously I would be upset if we had to go from a Magic Kingdom view room to a pool view room or whatever.
But I was genuinely happy with this, and eagerly asked how much the difference was that we would be refunded.

“$453”

I was thrilled!!

We were told our room was number 4001 so we set off to find it!
Turns out it was here, where the yellow asterisk is:

It was the furthest room away from the lobby, but when we walked in we instantly LOVED it!

Our view was incredible!
I’ve just BEEN PAID $453 for a BETTER view!!
We could see the lagoon, the boat dock, and the boats going back and forth between the Magic Kingdom, The Contemporary, and Fort Wilderness.

It was SO nice and peaceful and it felt so secluded all the way back here.
The distance from the lobby didn’t bother us at all during the entire trip.

I know I’m enthusiastic about most things, but we honestly LOVED this room.
Looking back at the photos now makes me feel all warm and happy.


We had a little window to the side of our balcony:

Eeek it’s all so pretty!!

I found these critters in the shower

Bathroom area:

After settling in we went out to explore!

Our room was one of four rooms right on the end of the building.
There are stairs next to these four rooms here:

Which bring you out HERE:

And from the same spot turned to the right - through those trees is the boat dock!

We were so close to Magic Kingdom transportation and that made me so happy!


We wandered down the path where the new cabins are, just to be nosey.

We felt like imposters so we soon turned back

The room on with the light on on the fourth floor, second from the right is our room!

Then we walked over to Geyser Point to check that out!
It was fairly new at this point.
They had the NBA on the TVs which Jamie likes, so he thought it looked like a cool place!

Then we wandered around the two pools, and went to Roaring Fork to get our refillable mugs!

We were excited to discover that the Disney dining plan (which we had for ‘free’!) had removed the dessert from the quick service meals, and added it onto the snack credits!
This was great news, because a MANDATORY dessert every lunchtime is too much for us, so we would definitely take double-snack credits instead!
So we ended up with 56 snacks in total for the trip!
Two snacks for two people for 14 days!
Watch out, Festival of the Arts!
We’re coming!

I got a purple mug, and Jamie got blue, and we filled them with Diet Coke.

We looked in the Mercantile, which is huge and has lots of great Wilderness Lodge-specific merchandise!

There’s even a FIREPLACE in there.
It’s so lodgey I love it.

Then we had a quick look in Territory Lounge, and went back to reception to ask for a microwave for our room.
(Jamie sometimes has a problem with his eyelid and has an eye mask to do heat compressions on it.)
The cast members were great and happy to help, and they said they’d send one right up to our room
We found the perfect spot for it:

And moved our coffee machine over to the table

Then we unpacked and chilled for a while!

At 8pm the geyser started erupting pretty loudly so I went out to film it… and well…

WE WERE PAID $453 FOR THIS VIEW.

Unbelievable!
They were playing the music outside too!


I cannot believe that we’ve been able to see fireworks at 4 out of the 5 deluxe resorts we’ve stayed at, and of those we’ve only paid for that view once (Polynesian theme park view)!

We decided not to watch the fireworks from our room tonight though, because Happily Ever After was brand new to us, having just debuted in May 2017!
We wanted the first time we watch it to be in front of the castle, and that’s just what we planned to do tomorrow night

We were very tired after our long travel day.
I showered and got into bed by 9pm.
That’s 2am UK time, after a 7am start

We ordered our lunch online (you’ll never guess where ) and watched Rockets vs Golden State on TV.

And soon we fell asleep, in the comfiest beds in the world!!
I was loving the Wilderness Lodge so much already!

Goodnight!


Continued in next post!
​

Sounds Like you guys are off to a great start. I can't wait to see the rest of your magical experienced. I can't get over that you were "down-graded" with compensation to that room-view!!!!!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Amazing, I hope you have the best time! Are your family going home and leaving you behind to do Disney solo?! I feel like I would do the same thing Where else in France are you going beforehand?

Yeah, the family is all splitting up and no one else was interested in Disney! Well, that's not going to stop me!

We are doing 6 nights in Paris, 4 nights in Loire Valley, and then 3 nights in Normandy. We'll also do a drive out to see Mont St Michel one day. So we will be able to see those places but still try to be relatively relaxed! The Airbnb in Amboise is at the base of the castle, so that will be fun! I've actually visited all those places before, but it was such a rushed trip with a school tour group that we couldn't do a whole lot of exploring. But both Normandy and the Loire Valley were my favorite places, so I don't mind going back!

OMG YES my friend and I could NOT stop singing the song "I am a Princess, I am a Pirate! There's no denying, we can relyyy on each other!" If you can piece together any more of the lyrics PLEASE come back and share them with me because it drove us crazy trying to figure it out That's awesome, I have no plans right now but I will let you know if we plan anything! There were some serious annual pass conversations going on, so you never know...

Oh, I've watched so many videos of the shows - the Main Street version, the side stage version, and the main stage! I'm super excited I will be able to see 1-2 performances! And definitely let me know!

 

[pkondz]

To finally get Jamie up I played this song in his ear.



The internet is a wonderful thing

You are an evil person.

At 8pm the geyser started erupting pretty loudly so I went out to film it… and well…



WE WERE PAID $453 FOR THIS VIEW.

"I'm so conflicted!"
Awwwww!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

What an awesome room. Pixie dust starting on day one and hopefully sprinkled throughout your two weeks there.

 

[DLHNYC]

That room!!! Hope your luck continued through the rest of your trip!

 

[Neverland_Girl]

Following along and so excited for this!!! We're staying at Wilderness Lodge (well Copper Creek) in November so I love seeing your pictures of the resort.

 

[SuperPreparo]

I don't often comment on trip reports, but I loved your other reports and was excited to see you had stayed at WL. We will be staying there for the first time in September (split stay between SSR and CCV), and I'm interested in your take.

 

[Steppesister]

Sounds like you had smooth sailing over the pond. Cross-Atlantics are nice in the food dept. I couldn't help but notice the Titanic sinking site marked.

$453 bucks is nothing to sneeze at! Pretty sure I'd have been happy with that too!

Hmmm, salmon on pizza. Dubious, but I'd try it! One of these days I would LOVE to stay at WL, but gonna be a long while before that happens. Looking forward to all your views and reviews.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Following along! I love WL as well, there is something magical about that resort.

Wonderful luck with the view!

 

[PirateFish989]

Following along! My fiance and I are going to Disney World for our honeymoon in less than a month (eeeee!!!) and I had really wanted to stay at Wilderness Lodge. It's my dream resort. We just couldn't justify the cost this time. Oh well, I can live vicariously through you!!

And congratulations on the new house!

 

[Dentam]

Woohoo! I'm excited to follow along on another one of your trip reports!

Boy did you guys luck out with your room and being given money back to stay in it!! The location looks so awesome!!

 

[Smilelea]

Our view was incredible!
I’ve just BEEN PAID $453 for a BETTER view!!

Sweet!!

Love the pics from Wilderness Lodge! We get to check it out for the first time in September.

 

[juuuliebeth]

Following as well. Read through some of your old reports and they're so fun to read.

Also - this post caught my eye since I'm IN LOVE with Hello, Dolly! It's pretty much my favorite musical ever.

 

[princess aleya]

I absolutely love the pictures of Wilderness lodge. I’m definitely staying there one day soon! Lol

 

[Kippa-Dee-Do-Dah]

Following! I'm loving all of your gifs!!!

 

[TheLittleKatie]

OMG

Do you ever go too deep into the internet and discover these things?!

That is seriously impressive!

Right!? Particularly as an international traveller, it can sometimes take aaaaages to get through US airports!

Sorry. One Canadian invention that I'm not particularly proud of.

Ha did not know that pineapple pizza was a Canadian thing. You should be ashamed of yourselves

Well... on one take, David Schwimmer was laughing so hard that he spat a full mouthful back onto the plate. Matt LeBlanc didn't see that and started to eat what was on the plate for a second take....


ew... gross.

EW! That would make me gag

... for our 9pm flight.... but WE COULDN'T WAIT ANY LONGER!!!!!

Literally, I would do this The airport is so much fun! (on the way there, not the way back.)

Can anyone do that? Or only UK residents?

I think anyone can do it! I've only used it at Manchester Airport though, not sure they have it elsewhere.

You know you travel frequently when you have favourite seats.

Haha maybe this makes me sound like a travel snob oh well, i love those seats back row = no children kicking my seat for 8 hours!

Wait.... I thought you had bre-booked the seats? Or do you mean you were in front of Hymie?

We had the two seats booked, I just pushed my way onto the plane first so I could jump into the window seat first

Champagne and OJ would've been better in the morning.... but I wouldn't have complained.

You can actually choose from champagne or OJ! So you could just get both

But I hardly know you, Mr. Screen.

HAHA!

Uh.... that's not supposed to happen.

...Coming from you, this makes me nervous.. why would water pour onto me?!

I can't figure it out. A340 or B747?

B747, you smart cookie

And I see some things never change.
So pleased to post between your updates again.

you are somewhat predictable Pedro

 

[pkondz]

Ha did not know that pineapple pizza was a Canadian thing. You should be ashamed of yourselves

Why do you think Canadians apologize all the time???

Haha maybe this makes me sound like a travel snob oh well, i love those seats back row = no children kicking my seat for 8 hours!

No kicking = a good thing.

We had the two seats booked, I just pushed my way onto the plane first so I could jump into the window seat first

Oh!

You can actually choose from champagne or OJ! So you could just get both

Yusss...

Coming from you, this makes me nervous.. why would water pour onto me?!

Because something is broken!
That is not supposed to happen.

you are somewhat predictable Pedro

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Hello Katie! Glad to be following along with another of your trip reports. I "watched" this thread ages ago and then life & work got in the way, but I managed to find my way back.
What a fantastic room at Wilderness Lodge. You've really lucked out with your room views! I would love to stay at WL, it's the kind of atmosphere I enjoy. My wife says it's too "woodsy" though. But my wallet also disputes that I could stay there.
I have good news though! After four long years being away from my happy place (for a bunch of reasons) my family and I are finally going back to the World in August. I managed to get free dining at All Star Music. Not my first choice of resorts, since we became used to moderates, but I couldn't pass up the free dining. I"m just thrilled to be going back.

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Loving your updates!

Yay I'm glad!

WOW! Great timing!!

It's taken soooooo long before.. I have terrible memories of trying to get into New York

So glad this worked out for you!!

A great room, and money to buy Disney goodies YAY

YAY! I love hearing about travel day - I'm always super excited traveling to Orlando, so reading about yother people's travels brings back those nice memories of being excited for my own trip!

I love reading about travel days too! I know some people find it boring but I really like the anticipation

Wow! That is a lot of food! Looks very yummy though. Is Frankie and Benny's a chain in the UK?

Yes it's a chain here! I don't ever go there other than for breakfast at the airport though

Oh no, glad it only fell on your shoulder and not you head/face

That would've been BAD.

What did you think of Cars 3? I saw it in theaters last summer when it came out. I thought it was a nice upgrade from the second film, which really was a flop. I also thought it was a nice way to end the trilogy and tie everything together!

I agree completely! I really like the first one, didn't like the 2nd one, but thought the 3rd was fine and quite fun

Oh MY GOSH yes! When I was in WDW last summer, I felt like everywhere you turned, you saw more and more construction, especially MK and HS, since they were still working on Toy Story Land, as well as SW Land.

Hopefully it will all be worth it!!

Yes it's such a pretty resort! When I have been there for ADRs at WCC, we would sit by the fireplace or in the nice comfy chairs in the lobby. Very relaxing!

It's such a peaceful place to be!

Moral of the story. Always book what you don't want so you get what you want.

Something like that..

Didn't your mother ever tell you to turn the lights out when you leave???

HAHA I actually thought about that when I uploaded the photo.. "will people judge me for leaving the light on??" and of course, you were the one to point it out..

And I've seen what you guys do with snack credits.

We have a snack problem.

Omg 2 weeks!! What a beautiful view!!!

I know! We were so lucky to end up with such a great view!

Omg, so glad your back doing another trip report!! You and Jamie are so cute and my favorite Dis couple!


Can't wait to hear more! Congrats on your new home! So exciting!

After staying at most of the deluxe resorts, which one is your favorite?

Aww thanks so much! That's so sweet! oh gosh my favourite resort... I honestly can't pick! I love them all for different reasons... AKL for theming and restaurants, Poly for lobby, tranquility and transportation, Beach and Grand for general vibe and beauty.. I really loved the fact that the Wilderness Lodge was a cheaper deluxe, easy access to MK, good food options, theming etc etc... I think if they modernise the rooms in the same way they've been doing elsewhere Wilderness Lodge might be the winner..??! But I change my mind on this every day so I'm really just babbling, I have no idea..! Do you have a favourite?!

Great trip report so far. I love Wilderness Lodge!

Thank you! I loved it there too! I'm so eager to stay there again!