nathanyell
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2009
- Messages
- 890
Hey all,
I guess since I keep putting off writing my trip report I will give you the quick overview.
We arrived early in the day and checked in early to Club Level. I have to say that checking in CL is so different. They took us right up to our room #7085, let us get all settled then you go back and check in. They gave us a tour of the lounge and all. Daisy and Jack on the CL were awesome.
After eating breakfast and relaxing for a little while we headed for the MK to get our tickets early since our package did not start til later in the week. We had no issues getting our tickets and headed right into Tomorrowland. Got a Fastpass for Space Mountain. The crowds were surprisingly light considering it was MLK weekend. We were able to ride everything in Tomorrowland in a couple short hours. We then headed back to the hotel for a nap and apps in the lounge.
Since MK was open late(2am) we headed back, got a picture in front of the castle at night. We stayed riding rides until 1:30 am. Then headed back to our room and were in bed at 2am. I was surprised how many people were on the boat with us. There were a couple times in the evening where they combined the MK to WL and Ft Wilderness boat, but the first stop was always WL.
Since we got in so late the night before we slept in, went to the MK for lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern and couple rides then took the monorail to Epcot. Since I was with a first timer, I decided that the monorail would be the best first view of Epcot.
Since it was in the late afternoon and we were still tired so we just hit a couple things and headed back to WL. We had already checked into a new room #5031(Upgraded to CY VIEW!!!), but CL was open to us til midnight. We spend some time in the CL lounge and drank a little too much wine. Had some appetizers and took some beer to go. We then hit the hottubs in the courtyard. Later in the week we hit the Villas hottub and it was definitely our favorite.
The next day we went to EPCOT, we waited a good while for the bus, but once we arrived we were able to see all of future world and ate in Le Cellier in Canada(SO GOOD!!!). After the movie in Canada we headed back to the lodge becasue our food coma was setting in(LOL).
This evening ended up to be a disaster! We returned to our room being left open by housekeeping. I checked the halls and there were not housekeepers anywhere near. We called the front desk from the room and were assured that a manager would call or stop by.
While we waited we checked all of our stuff to ensure that nothing was missing. After an hour and 15 minutes we called again, the CM put us on hold and returned to the phone saying a manager was on their way. We waited another 30 minutes and still no one. This evening was extra magic hours at the studios, but this situation was now eating into our time.
We finally left the room and headed to the front desk. Explained the situation to the Manager(Bruce) who apologized, but I felt brushed it off. He kept making the excuse that the front desk button goes to a call center and sometimes they don't get the message(like that is an excuse). He kept saying to would never happen again. He said he would follow up with the Housekeeping manager. I requested that he also follow up with the call center to see what the issue was. He said he would.
We did get a call back from the housekeeping manager(Angela) who just said to call her. I called the next day and talked to the floor manager and he assured me that a manager would be present anytime housekeeping was in our room. Guess no managers were available because our room was not completed two days by the time we came back at 4:00. A couple days later I had to follow up with Bruce because I still had not heard of why this happened. At first he said he did not know and asked if Angela had gotten back to me. I said yes, but she did not discuss this issue. Suddenly he "remembered" that the call center had called, but there was someone new in the housekeeping office who took a message because the managers were in a meeting. I requested that Angela give me a call to confirm the story.
I told Bruce how this whole situation has wasted so much of my vacation time and he agreed. He asked if a couple fast passes would help. We received two fastpasses each. Like that really made up for the inconvenience and having to follow up on my own.
Well back to the report.
We did still get some time at Hollywood Studios that evening. We drove there to ensure that we would not have to worry about waiting on the bus. TSM said 45 minutes at 10:30, but we were in and out in 20.
Then next morning we decided to head over to AKL-Kidani Village to check it out. We went through the DVC information session. It is a beautiful resort, though I was disappointed in that there was not snack/food court at the village. You'd have to go all the way to Jambo house to get something quick.
From there we headed to Animal Kingdom We ate at Tusker House for the reserved seating to Nemo. This was one of the best meals of our trip. The food was absolutely outstanding. We stayed til extra magic hours was over (8pm) and headed back to the lodge. We stopped through the Territory Lounge and got Drinks, Wings and Nachos. The food was really good and actually cheaper than most of our stops through Roaring Fork.
The next morning we decided at the last minute to go to Kona Coafe for breakfast. We caught the boat to the Contemporary and took the Monorail to the Poly. Their breakfast, I believe, is one of the best on property.
Afterward we heading to the MK to catch the boat back to WL. This is when my spontaneous side took over. I asked DP if he wanted to ride the train. It was pulling into the station. We quickly headed through the gates, ran up the steps and just caught the train. Since it was still early 9:10, I knew that ToonTown was not open, so we got off at Frontierland. We actually rode BTMR with no wait. We proceded to ride the Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan and were in line for Pooh by 10:00. We spent a few more hours in the MK and headed back to the lodge.
We had reservations for the Hollywood and Vine Fantasmic package (4:25). Now I have to say that the Disney reservation system sucks for parties of two. When a group of 6(quoted 45 minute wait) without a reservation checks in right before you and are seated 20 minutes before us really ticked me off. We waited so long that we got to the Fantasmic show (6:30) just 30 minutes early. I think in the future I'll wait with the crowd. Fantasmic was awesome! Lucky for us the clouds held off long enough for us to enjoy it. From there we headed out on a full boat to Epcot. We watched the movie in France(my mom's favorite) and went to the second floor of Japan to watch Illuminations. Great View!
After Illuminations we strolled out nice and slow and decided to take the long way to the lodge Monorail to the Contemporary then Boat. We got there so late that we got to see them taking a monorail off of the EPCOT line. Kind of Kewl. We also did the Hottub in the rain
Friday we were up early and to the Studios just minutes after opening. We stayed there until after the Motor Car show and then went back to the Lodge. We stopped at the concierge desk and paid off our room(with the Gift Card) knowing that we would be checking into our last two days room only reservation in the morning. After the balance was cleared the CM said there was a "glitch" in the system and that they would have to print out new room keys. Sounded strange to me... next thing I knew it a manager was over and asked me how my vacation was going and how many days we'd been in the parks. This really made me uncomfortable once again. No explanation was given. I checked the key and it worked, so went about our day.
That evening we headed to the MK to see Spectromagic and the Fireworks again. The we headed right out to Epcot because it was extra magic hours. We were both hungry and skipped Illuminations and ate at Mexico. I have to say that the food has improved at San Angel Inn in the last year. We rode rides until late in the evening and headed back to the lodge.
Saturday morning, I got the checkout from our package and they had charged me and extra $233 for tickets. We had already paid for tickets on our package! So back down to the front desk. After about 20 minutes I finally got them to transfer the extra charge to our new reservation. The incompetence to this point was starting to get to me.
We had an 8:05 at LTT for breakfast. It was nice being in the park before it opened. The breakfast was really good. We went right to BTMR and were the first on the ride. Since there was no one waiting when we returned the CM said we could stay on.
Our afternoon was consumed with our new room keys not working and a wonderful maintenance person named Rita. She explained that most of the time lock issues are information entered incorrectly into the system. She went to her office to reenter the information and decided to change the lock anyway so we would not hit other issues. She was totally awesome! She even called the next morning to make sure our lock was working alright. (She should be a manager!)
That evening we had the Spirit of Aloha. In all my years at Disney I had never gotten to go to it. We had a great time and definitely had too much to drink(after all the issues we deserved it!). After it was over we strolled over the the Grand Floridian and caught the Monorail to the Contemporary. Nothing like having the boat to yourself last thing at night. This happened to us twice on our trip.
Sunday we are at Whispering Canyon which was ok. Then headed to Downtown Disney. I really feel like there is not much to do there anymore. We basically stopped at the World of Disney store and walked around. I miss Pleasure Island. That afternoon we hung at the pool and just relaxed. That evening we hit our last extra magic hours at the MK. A wonderful end to our trip!
Overall, with all of the issues, we still had a wonderful vacation! I would not trade it for anything. I will stay at WL again and still recommend Wilderness Lodge to everyone. I feel that the issues that we encountered could happen at any resort on the property.
Sorry this turned out to be so long.
Brian
I guess since I keep putting off writing my trip report I will give you the quick overview.
We arrived early in the day and checked in early to Club Level. I have to say that checking in CL is so different. They took us right up to our room #7085, let us get all settled then you go back and check in. They gave us a tour of the lounge and all. Daisy and Jack on the CL were awesome.
After eating breakfast and relaxing for a little while we headed for the MK to get our tickets early since our package did not start til later in the week. We had no issues getting our tickets and headed right into Tomorrowland. Got a Fastpass for Space Mountain. The crowds were surprisingly light considering it was MLK weekend. We were able to ride everything in Tomorrowland in a couple short hours. We then headed back to the hotel for a nap and apps in the lounge.
Since MK was open late(2am) we headed back, got a picture in front of the castle at night. We stayed riding rides until 1:30 am. Then headed back to our room and were in bed at 2am. I was surprised how many people were on the boat with us. There were a couple times in the evening where they combined the MK to WL and Ft Wilderness boat, but the first stop was always WL.
Since we got in so late the night before we slept in, went to the MK for lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern and couple rides then took the monorail to Epcot. Since I was with a first timer, I decided that the monorail would be the best first view of Epcot.
Since it was in the late afternoon and we were still tired so we just hit a couple things and headed back to WL. We had already checked into a new room #5031(Upgraded to CY VIEW!!!), but CL was open to us til midnight. We spend some time in the CL lounge and drank a little too much wine.
Had some appetizers and took some beer to go. We then hit the hottubs in the courtyard. Later in the week we hit the Villas hottub and it was definitely our favorite. The next day we went to EPCOT, we waited a good while for the bus, but once we arrived we were able to see all of future world and ate in Le Cellier in Canada(SO GOOD!!!). After the movie in Canada we headed back to the lodge becasue our food coma was setting in(LOL).
This evening ended up to be a disaster! We returned to our room being left open by housekeeping. I checked the halls and there were not housekeepers anywhere near. We called the front desk from the room and were assured that a manager would call or stop by.
While we waited we checked all of our stuff to ensure that nothing was missing. After an hour and 15 minutes we called again, the CM put us on hold and returned to the phone saying a manager was on their way. We waited another 30 minutes and still no one. This evening was extra magic hours at the studios, but this situation was now eating into our time.
We finally left the room and headed to the front desk. Explained the situation to the Manager(Bruce) who apologized, but I felt brushed it off. He kept making the excuse that the front desk button goes to a call center and sometimes they don't get the message(like that is an excuse). He kept saying to would never happen again. He said he would follow up with the Housekeeping manager. I requested that he also follow up with the call center to see what the issue was. He said he would.
We did get a call back from the housekeeping manager(Angela) who just said to call her. I called the next day and talked to the floor manager and he assured me that a manager would be present anytime housekeeping was in our room. Guess no managers were available because our room was not completed two days by the time we came back at 4:00. A couple days later I had to follow up with Bruce because I still had not heard of why this happened. At first he said he did not know and asked if Angela had gotten back to me. I said yes, but she did not discuss this issue. Suddenly he "remembered" that the call center had called, but there was someone new in the housekeeping office who took a message because the managers were in a meeting. I requested that Angela give me a call to confirm the story.
I told Bruce how this whole situation has wasted so much of my vacation time and he agreed. He asked if a couple fast passes would help. We received two fastpasses each. Like that really made up for the inconvenience and having to follow up on my own.
Well back to the report.
We did still get some time at Hollywood Studios that evening. We drove there to ensure that we would not have to worry about waiting on the bus. TSM said 45 minutes at 10:30, but we were in and out in 20.
Then next morning we decided to head over to AKL-Kidani Village to check it out. We went through the DVC information session. It is a beautiful resort, though I was disappointed in that there was not snack/food court at the village. You'd have to go all the way to Jambo house to get something quick.
From there we headed to Animal Kingdom We ate at Tusker House for the reserved seating to Nemo. This was one of the best meals of our trip. The food was absolutely outstanding. We stayed til extra magic hours was over (8pm) and headed back to the lodge. We stopped through the Territory Lounge and got Drinks, Wings and Nachos. The food was really good and actually cheaper than most of our stops through Roaring Fork.
The next morning we decided at the last minute to go to Kona Coafe for breakfast. We caught the boat to the Contemporary and took the Monorail to the Poly. Their breakfast, I believe, is one of the best on property.
Afterward we heading to the MK to catch the boat back to WL. This is when my spontaneous side took over. I asked DP if he wanted to ride the train. It was pulling into the station. We quickly headed through the gates, ran up the steps and just caught the train. Since it was still early 9:10, I knew that ToonTown was not open, so we got off at Frontierland. We actually rode BTMR with no wait. We proceded to ride the Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan and were in line for Pooh by 10:00. We spent a few more hours in the MK and headed back to the lodge.
We had reservations for the Hollywood and Vine Fantasmic package (4:25). Now I have to say that the Disney reservation system sucks for parties of two. When a group of 6(quoted 45 minute wait) without a reservation checks in right before you and are seated 20 minutes before us really ticked me off. We waited so long that we got to the Fantasmic show (6:30) just 30 minutes early. I think in the future I'll wait with the crowd. Fantasmic was awesome! Lucky for us the clouds held off long enough for us to enjoy it. From there we headed out on a full boat to Epcot. We watched the movie in France(my mom's favorite) and went to the second floor of Japan to watch Illuminations. Great View!
After Illuminations we strolled out nice and slow and decided to take the long way to the lodge Monorail to the Contemporary then Boat. We got there so late that we got to see them taking a monorail off of the EPCOT line. Kind of Kewl.
We also did the Hottub in the rain Friday we were up early and to the Studios just minutes after opening. We stayed there until after the Motor Car show and then went back to the Lodge. We stopped at the concierge desk and paid off our room(with the Gift Card) knowing that we would be checking into our last two days room only reservation in the morning. After the balance was cleared the CM said there was a "glitch" in the system and that they would have to print out new room keys. Sounded strange to me... next thing I knew it a manager was over and asked me how my vacation was going and how many days we'd been in the parks. This really made me uncomfortable once again. No explanation was given. I checked the key and it worked, so went about our day.
That evening we headed to the MK to see Spectromagic and the Fireworks again. The we headed right out to Epcot because it was extra magic hours. We were both hungry and skipped Illuminations and ate at Mexico. I have to say that the food has improved at San Angel Inn in the last year. We rode rides until late in the evening and headed back to the lodge.
Saturday morning, I got the checkout from our package and they had charged me and extra $233 for tickets. We had already paid for tickets on our package! So back down to the front desk. After about 20 minutes I finally got them to transfer the extra charge to our new reservation. The incompetence to this point was starting to get to me.
We had an 8:05 at LTT for breakfast. It was nice being in the park before it opened. The breakfast was really good. We went right to BTMR and were the first on the ride. Since there was no one waiting when we returned the CM said we could stay on.
Our afternoon was consumed with our new room keys not working and a wonderful maintenance person named Rita. She explained that most of the time lock issues are information entered incorrectly into the system. She went to her office to reenter the information and decided to change the lock anyway so we would not hit other issues. She was totally awesome! She even called the next morning to make sure our lock was working alright. (She should be a manager!)
That evening we had the Spirit of Aloha. In all my years at Disney I had never gotten to go to it. We had a great time and definitely had too much to drink(after all the issues we deserved it!). After it was over we strolled over the the Grand Floridian and caught the Monorail to the Contemporary. Nothing like having the boat to yourself last thing at night. This happened to us twice on our trip.
Sunday we are at Whispering Canyon which was ok. Then headed to Downtown Disney. I really feel like there is not much to do there anymore. We basically stopped at the World of Disney store and walked around. I miss Pleasure Island. That afternoon we hung at the pool and just relaxed. That evening we hit our last extra magic hours at the MK. A wonderful end to our trip!
Overall, with all of the issues, we still had a wonderful vacation! I would not trade it for anything. I will stay at WL again and still recommend Wilderness Lodge to everyone. I feel that the issues that we encountered could happen at any resort on the property.
Sorry this turned out to be so long.
Brian
nights then we are on our loong journey
to Disney!! 
Here is the contact number - most of the CM's in Special Needs are wonderful. Hvae you reseveration number handy when you call: Special Resort Reservations: 407-939-7807 press #1
.
