mrsxsparrow
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2010
- Messages
- 1,027
I just got back from my first trip to WDW and my stay at Wilderness Lodge, and although I've never posted on this thread I've enjoyed reading it and found it pretty helpful so I thought I'd share a little review.
We stayed 1/6 through 1/9 and we were there to run the half marathon. We were traveling with a friend of ours, and our reservations were linked so that we would hopefully have rooms close by. We did online check in and arrived via Magical Express around 7AM. Our room wasn't ready, but when we said we'd rather have a room now than be close to our friend they found us one right down the hall from him. We had reserved a standard view/room and when we got there we had bunk beds. I know this is technically an upgrade, but with three adults on the reservation, and a 15 year old (six foot tall boy) as the fourth, there was no way that would work out. So we went back down and decided to wait for a room with queens.
Apparently the ME people weren't notified of this change, because they originally delivered our baggage to the room with bunk beds! Easy fix though, not a big deal.
The room was in great condition, the fridge was cold when we got there, and we had towel animals every day. The TV had closed captioning and even when we set the CC to "Off" it wouldn't go away
We didn't watch much though so it didn't bother us. We had a view of some rooftops... just kept the drapes shut. We weren't in the room much. We were on the fourth floor right over the lobby, across from Whispering Canyon. I actually loved this location. At night you could hear a little noise if you really listened but it was gone by 9PM.
Whispering Canyon was good, and we thought Roaring Forks was excellent. Transportation was okay. I loved the boat to MK and the Contemporary. Most of the buses did share with Fort Wilderness, which wasn't big deal. There was confusion about marathon transportation... the first few people told us busses to the expo left from the bus stop but really they left from the front of the lobby. There was one issue on Friday morning, when we had a reservation at Tusker House for 8AM. We got to the bus stop a little before 7AM, and after watching three busses for each of the other parks go by, we asked a driver if an AK bus would be coming. He called in and they kept insisting an AK bus had been by at 7:21AM. It was 7:45AM and this point, and they were a few other families waiting for the AK bus, so I know we didn't just miss it. An AK bus finally came, but stopped at the Grand Floridian first for some people with breakfast reservations. We ended up getting to AK around 8:30AM. Luckily it was a slow day and we were able to be seated right away.
There was one interesting incident with a suitcase. Someone had left their suitcase in the middle of the lobby, and they called in security and what I assume was a manager to keep people out of the main section and away from the bag. Then a policewoman and a bomb sniffing dog came in to examine it! Turned out to be fine, someone probably just forget it, but it was somewhat exciting to watch.
All in all, I LOVED this resort! I originally had a goal to stay in all the resorts but I kind of don't want to leave this one. I'm going back to WDW in February, staying at the Poly, and I'm a little sad its too late to switch my reservation to WL. We can't wait to get back
We stayed 1/6 through 1/9 and we were there to run the half marathon. We were traveling with a friend of ours, and our reservations were linked so that we would hopefully have rooms close by. We did online check in and arrived via Magical Express around 7AM. Our room wasn't ready, but when we said we'd rather have a room now than be close to our friend they found us one right down the hall from him. We had reserved a standard view/room and when we got there we had bunk beds. I know this is technically an upgrade, but with three adults on the reservation, and a 15 year old (six foot tall boy) as the fourth, there was no way that would work out. So we went back down and decided to wait for a room with queens.
Apparently the ME people weren't notified of this change, because they originally delivered our baggage to the room with bunk beds! Easy fix though, not a big deal.
The room was in great condition, the fridge was cold when we got there, and we had towel animals every day. The TV had closed captioning and even when we set the CC to "Off" it wouldn't go away
We didn't watch much though so it didn't bother us. We had a view of some rooftops... just kept the drapes shut. We weren't in the room much. We were on the fourth floor right over the lobby, across from Whispering Canyon. I actually loved this location. At night you could hear a little noise if you really listened but it was gone by 9PM.Whispering Canyon was good, and we thought Roaring Forks was excellent. Transportation was okay. I loved the boat to MK and the Contemporary. Most of the buses did share with Fort Wilderness, which wasn't big deal. There was confusion about marathon transportation... the first few people told us busses to the expo left from the bus stop but really they left from the front of the lobby. There was one issue on Friday morning, when we had a reservation at Tusker House for 8AM. We got to the bus stop a little before 7AM, and after watching three busses for each of the other parks go by, we asked a driver if an AK bus would be coming. He called in and they kept insisting an AK bus had been by at 7:21AM. It was 7:45AM and this point, and they were a few other families waiting for the AK bus, so I know we didn't just miss it. An AK bus finally came, but stopped at the Grand Floridian first for some people with breakfast reservations. We ended up getting to AK around 8:30AM. Luckily it was a slow day and we were able to be seated right away.
There was one interesting incident with a suitcase. Someone had left their suitcase in the middle of the lobby, and they called in security and what I assume was a manager to keep people out of the main section and away from the bag. Then a policewoman and a bomb sniffing dog came in to examine it! Turned out to be fine, someone probably just forget it, but it was somewhat exciting to watch.
All in all, I LOVED this resort! I originally had a goal to stay in all the resorts but I kind of don't want to leave this one. I'm going back to WDW in February, staying at the Poly, and I'm a little sad its too late to switch my reservation to WL. We can't wait to get back
My kids have missed four days of school due to snow this school year. I think the weather forecasters are responsible for two of the four because it wasn't that bad.
The worst weather we ever had in 30 yrs of WDW resort stays was the first weekend of Feb, both times. It was raw and rained all day almost everyday of our 4 ngt stay. It never stopped us - we wore coats, gloves, scarves and ponchos. 
We usually go for Star Wars Weekends, but we wanted to include 
