The NEW WL FAQ (Part 5) Simbas and Tiggers and Humphreys OH MY! Part 2

[mtpalmer]

We are so excited just booked part of our week long stay at Wilderness Lodge. We will be there Dec 24th til Dec 27th. I am looking for ideas to make Christmas extra special for my boys 5 and 10 yo. This will be our 3rd week long vacation to Disney and thanks to the disboards we have had great trips both times. I would love to hear some ideas on how to make this one special. We stayed on site and at Thanksgiving both times but have never gone away for Christmas before. Not sure yet how to handle the Santa question and how to hide presents in a hotel room, so if anyone has ideas for that also I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!!!

 

[JPN4265]

Our next Disney trip was going to be 1/09, when my wife graduates from Duke's School of Nursing. But, unselfishly, she is letting me take my DD6/DD4 to Disney this December without her, as she needs to stay home to study. The girls and I are so excited to be going this year, and our first time in December. Can't wait to see WDW at Christmas time.

Hope to see some of you the 2nd week of December.

Anyone have an idea for a nice Disney Christmas gift for my wife.

What a GREAT wife!!!!:

 

[Liz]

We are so excited just booked part of our week long stay at Wilderness Lodge. We will be there Dec 24th til Dec 27th. I am looking for ideas to make Christmas extra special for my boys 5 and 10 yo. This will be our 3rd week long vacation to Disney and thanks to the disboards we have had great trips both times. I would love to hear some ideas on how to make this one special. We stayed on site and at Thanksgiving both times but have never gone away for Christmas before. Not sure yet how to handle the Santa question and how to hide presents in a hotel room, so if anyone has ideas for that also I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!!!

Could you have Christmas at home the day before you leave or something because Santa knows you'll be gone? And then have a few things down in Florida but you wouldn't have to take everything? Or else ship a box down to the resort? Sounds like a great time! Have fun!

 

[Ratpack]

Not sure yet how to handle the Santa question and how to hide presents in a hotel room, so if anyone has ideas for that also I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!!!

We went over Christmas last year and the way we handled the Santa issue really worked well. It is a little bit of work and planning butwe pulled it off without a hitch. We had all the gifts ready to be placed just as if they would have been on Christmas Eve and hidden. After we get everything for our trip loaded in the car and the kids buckled in, I go in to make all the last minute checks and set the alarm and so forth and while in the house I set out everythingfrom Santa. This is where the planning and prep pays off, so that it doesn't take long. After I am done, we leave. One thing we always take with us when we go at Christmas is a small fiber optic tree for the room. So on Christmas Day, the kids wake up to a letter on that tree from the big guy himself simply explaining how he knows they are enjoying there trip to WDW and he has left the toys at the house for them to enjoy when they get home. So when we arrive at home, the kids run in the house and there are all the toys just like Santa said.

 

[MINNIE OF TWO MICE]

Ratpack - That sounds Awesome and a very good idea!!!!

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Anyone have an idea for a nice Disney Christmas gift for my wife.

DADof2Princesses

When my DSis graduated from nursing school I purchased her a trading pin "Nurse Minnie." She loves it. The Christmas Shop over at the Magic Kingdom also has beautiful unique gifts for the Holidays.

A nice 14kt Charm of her favorite character (Tinkerbell or The Castle) added to a gold chain or bracelet.

Beckie

 

[usewickhouse]

Usewickhouse
I thought you posted that you canceled your WL reservation and booked over at POFQ. I removed you from the December List...?

I'm not an expert when it comes to the room assigners, have no idea how they assign the rooms other then by the date they receive the reservation. My last name is S and I usually receive my basic request when I visit.

There are only about 21 Bear Face rooms (Courtyard View off Lobby) so arriving early would help your chances but if there are already guest staying in the rooms...there won't be anything the room assigner can do to meet your request.

Beckie

Well...I did change from WL to POFQ and then back to the WL and there is a chance we will have to change again. I just found out DD9 has her big Christmas concert for chorus during our planned stay. So, we are now thinking we will only be able to go for the weekend and there is no rooms avail at the WL for the new dates. I still was curious about how they go about assigning the rooms. Maybe one of these days we will finally get to stay at the WL during Christmas.

No matter what happens we will still go over on 12-15 I booked a sleigh ride for that night and would not miss that for anything. Thanks for all your continues help and all your wonderful information about the WL. Becky

 

[Carrie772]

Hello Folks! My family and I are leaving for WL in 3 days! Yay! We are truly looking forward to returning to such a lovely resort. Now, I have heard alot about being flag family and tried to sign up year before last when we checked in. I was unsuccessful. Is there some trick to getting on the calendar? Can I call ahead of leaving?

 

[TripTime]

I had originally booked a standard and have now upgraded to a courtyard. I know nothing about the courtyard as far as what to request. I know some face the villas but other than that which rooms offer the best views?What floors offer the best view? Is it noisier having a courtyard view compared to maybe a woods? This will be in January so I don't expect alot of noise from the pool. Please help!!!!

 

[DADof2Princesses40]

I had originally booked a standard and have now upgraded to a courtyard. I know nothing about the courtyard as far as what to request. I know some face the villas but other than that which rooms offer the best views?What floors offer the best view? Is it noisier having a courtyard view compared to maybe a woods? This will be in January so I don't expect alot of noise from the pool. Please help!!!!

TripTime,

Last year I stayed in a courtyard view (409). Its on the north side. We had a nice view of the pool/falls. We never had a noise problem, and this was in September. Note that we were at the parks all day, so if someone wants to nap during the day, I'm not sure about that.

One sound we did hear was late in the evening (I guess about 30 min after MK closes) when Disney runs their little light parade across the lake. We had to stand on the balcony and lean a little, but we could see/hear it nicely through the trees. A nice way to end each day.

 

[SpaceGirl]

Hello Folks! My family and I are leaving for WL in 3 days! Yay! We are truly looking forward to returning to such a lovely resort. Now, I have heard alot about being flag family and tried to sign up year before last when we checked in. I was unsuccessful. Is there some trick to getting on the calendar? Can I call ahead of leaving?

You will need to request Flag Family when you check-in, no calls or request are accepted before then. You may request to be added to a Wait List if they inform you that your dates aren't available.

 

[GatorEye]

Not much time to do it now. If anyone else wants to take it feel free though!

What did it entail and how were you going to organzie the information?

 

[orangemonster]

subscribing to thread...

 

[abminer]

All this talk of sleigh rides and stuff made me think of another question. The main pool at WL looks so cool. All the hotels at WDW are heated, right? Will we be able to swim in mid December? That would be great in the evenings after a day of commando touring.

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Hidden Springs Pool at the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge will be closed October 8-November 21, 2007. The feature pool at Wilderness Lodge will be open during this refurbishment

 

[mom22boys]

Can I find the room rehab schedule anywhere on this thread? Or have all rooms been remodeled already? We are thinking about traveling in May 2008 and reserving either Woods View with bunkbeds or a Courtyard View with bunkbeds.

Also, we were thinking about renting a car. It seems that the only thing consistantly controversial about WL is the transportation. Any thoughts?

Much thanks!

 

[burberryplaid]

I had originally booked a standard and have now upgraded to a courtyard. I know nothing about the courtyard as far as what to request. I know some face the villas but other than that which rooms offer the best views?What floors offer the best view? Is it noisier having a courtyard view compared to maybe a woods? This will be in January so I don't expect alot of noise from the pool. Please help!!!!

We were upgraded to a courtyard view that faced the villas in September (5139) and it was wonderful. There was a bit of a walk to the buses, but we were right near the elevators. and it wasn't bad. We had very little trouble with noise. We did hear kids in the hall coming back from the parks one night, but within a minute or 2 they were gone, and were never heard from again.

All this talk of sleigh rides and stuff made me think of another question. The main pool at WL looks so cool. All the hotels at WDW are heated, right? Will we be able to swim in mid December? That would be great in the evenings after a day of commando touring.

Yes, the pools are heated and you'll be able to swim if you so desire. They also have hot tubs you can use.

Can I find the room rehab schedule anywhere on this thread? Or have all rooms been remodeled already? We are thinking about traveling in May 2008 and reserving either Woods View with bunkbeds or a Courtyard View with bunkbeds.

Also, we were thinking about renting a car. It seems that the only thing consistantly controversial about WL is the transportation. Any thoughts?

Much thanks!

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm 99% sure all of the rooms were refurbished last year and nothing new is scheduled at the moment.

As for renting a car, we used Disney transportation for our stay last month and had no issues. We were able to get to where we needed to be very quickly by boat or bus. We never waited more than 20 minutes for either one. The only tricky situation we had was getting to Animal Kingdom for our dinner reservation at Jiko, but it wasn't a problem. We took the first bus to the parks that came (it happened to be Magic Kingdom) and then took a bus to the Animal Kingdom lodge from there. We still made our res with no problems

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Can I find the room rehab schedule anywhere on this thread? Or have all rooms been remodeled already? We are thinking about traveling in May 2008 and reserving either Woods View with bunkbeds or a Courtyard View with bunkbeds.

Also, we were thinking about renting a car. It seems that the only thing consistantly controversial about WL is the transportation. Any thoughts?

All the rooms have been refurbished, work was completed last year.

As far as renting a car...I have stayed at the Wilderness Lodge over 25 times, during most of my visits my car has remained in the parking lot until we were leaving.

I have stayed at every resort on property except 2 (Yacht Club and PORS) the transportation at the Lodge is just as good if not better then any other WDW resort.

Beckie

 

[mom22boys]

burberryplaid and MAGICinMYHEART, thanks for the quick replies! It is exciting to hear that all of the rooms have been rehabbed.

 

[DJEd]

Hidden Springs Pool at the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge will be closed October 8-November 21, 2007. The feature pool at Wilderness Lodge will be open during this refurbishment

Really? That is a bit disappointing. We'll be there Nov. 6 to Nov. 13. We like the smaller pools as they are usually empty - when we were at CBR in 2005 we used the smaller pools way more than the feature pool.

Oh well.

Ed