Slightly Nervous... venturing to unknown resort!

[shinez]

Hi Dis'ers!!
I am headed to the WILD side... the Wilderness Lodge! Never been here to stay and slightly nervous, since I am a Poly girl thru and thru... need tips, tricks and advice to help ease my fears, as well as room 'requests' for our courtyard view room... Please help! Thanks everyone! You rock!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

I just said this on your other post but I'll say again, I think the biggest difference is the room size. So take that into consideration when packing. Maybe smaller luggage or pieces that are easily tucked away so you don't take up your floor space. At the Poly we always tend to spread out but when we are at the smaller resorts I try to pack the kids together and use our smaller bags.

 

[skylynx]

As a DVC owner at Wilderness Lodge Villas, I'm probably biased, but this is my favorite resort at all of WDW. My family stayed at the main lodge long before we owned DVC points there, though.

Ten neat things about Wilderness Lodge (and there are plenty more!):

1. If you like the grand, Copeland-esque music they play in the lobby you can ask at the concierge desk for a copy of the playlist. There's also cool information about the construction of the lodge and the chandeliers, totems, etc. You can also take a guided tour where the same sorts of things are explained.
2. One family each day gets to go up on the big tower and raise the flag. You might just get lucky if you ask the concierge about availability!
3. The Territory Lounge is a really nice, quiet place for adults to go for drinks and really good appetizers like the beer cheese fondue.
4. The "geyser" erupts on a regular schedule.
5. You can sit on the beach and watch the water pageant!
6. The Whispering Canyon Cafe always offers a free side dish of goofy entertainment along with your food.
7. When you are exhausted, it's nice to sit and rock in front of the fireplace.
8. If you have time, look at the gorgeous pieces of native art that are in most of the main public areas.
9. You can rent the water sprites (or whatever they are called now), rent bikes, or even take a really nice walk over to Fort Wilderness.
10. You can stand in the pool at the waterfall end and let the water tumble over your shoulders...ahhhh

 

[mckelvey72]

I have never been to Poly but our first trip last year was WL and we LOVED it. We are going back in December and the kids picked it again. NO desire to try anywhere else!!! We had 4th floor woods view with bunk beds and the bunk beds worked out great with the 2 kids. Gave them their own space for their stuffed animals and no complaining about kicking etc. At night my husband and i would sit on the balcony and we could see Wishes fireworks. We had a small pond and trees to look at which we liked very much. My kids were 12 and 6 at the time last year and we felt comfortable with them taking the elevator downstairs and grabbing soda refills. We loved the theming and all the activities. LOVED the boat to Contemporary and MK. We spent and entire day at the resort .... renting bikes, renting the little boats, swimming, taking walks.

Again, never been to Poly but WL is very nice. And we loved the restaurants there as well. Just make sure you ask for Ketchup!!!!

Donna

 

[Wood Nymph]

Hi Dis'ers!!
I am headed to the WILD side... the Wilderness Lodge! Never been here to stay and slightly nervous, since I am a Poly girl thru and thru... need tips, tricks and advice to help ease my fears, as well as room 'requests' for our courtyard view room... Please help! Thanks everyone! You rock!

I love the WL. It is gorgeous. The biggest difference you'll notice is that the rooms are much smaller. You will probably miss the monorail. But you will not miss walking outdoors to get to main building to refill your mug. Everything is under one roof at the WL and the resort as a whole is more compact. And there are hot tubs at the WL. It isn't all insane with people who don't belong there, either.

Just keep an open mind and accept the fact that you probably will miss the Poly, but that doesn't mean that you can't love another resort, too.