The Wilderness Lodge FAQ (Part 6) Simbas and Tiggers and Humphreys OH MY!

[mickeysmyboy]

Ok, I have 2 more questions.

1st, when do the Christmas decorations come down? We check in on January 3rd and would LOVE to see some of those beautiful Christmas decorations!! We love christmas!!

2nd, we are staying in a Concierge level room. I kind of go the jist of the room locations from the beginning of this thread. Is requesting a room in the North Tower facing MK a good request or is that too specifc?

When we stayed at WL in 06 we had a Courtyard view room in the north tower on the 3 or 4th floor (I believe, I can't remember) and I requested a view of the lake. We had the last 2 rooms at the end of the hall and we had a very nice view! We could see the lake (although it was obstructed by trees,) the pool etc.

I took this picture looking left from our balcony looking out over the path down to the boat dock. It was very early in the morning, probably 6:30ish.

 

[rie'smom]

Donald is #1

Valet parking is free for DVC Members at all the DVC Resorts (that have valet parking) as long as you are staying on property. If you are just staying at the Villas and not a member there will be the normal charge.

Yes valet service is available 24/7, but remember after hours there may only be one or two attendants available so wait times to pick-up your vehicle maybe a little longer. When dropping off your car late the attendant maybe away from the desk but they are never to far away.

Beckie

We're DVC members and will be staying at Wilderness Lodge-not villas and not on points. Will I have to pay for parking? I never thought about this until I saw your post. Thank-you!

Ok, I have 2 more questions.

1st, when do the Christmas decorations come down? We check in on January 3rd and would LOVE to see some of those beautiful Christmas decorations!! We love christmas!!

2nd, we are staying in a Concierge level room. I kind of go the jist of the room locations from the beginning of this thread. Is requesting a room in the North Tower facing MK a good request or is that too specifc?

You are so lucky to be staying concierge!!! I'm calling ever day but no luck so far. Have a great trip!!

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

We're DVC members and will be staying at Wilderness Lodge-not villas and not on points. Will I have to pay for parking? I never thought about this until I saw your post. Thank-you!

Rie'smom

I never have, it's a perk of being a member. If for some reason they have charged the service to my room I call and request the charges be removed. (They always have) Remember to just tell the Vallet you are a member and offer to show your membership card.

Beckie

 

[rie'smom]

Thanks Beckie!!! I love unexpected perks!!!!

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

1st, when do the Christmas decorations come down? We check in on January 3rd and would LOVE to see some of those beautiful Christmas decorations!! We love christmas!!
2nd, we are staying in a Concierge level room. I kind of go the jist of the room locations from the beginning of this thread. Is requesting a room in the North Tower facing MK a good request or is that too specifc?

Mickeysmyboy
The Christmas decorations come down very soon after New Years but as the 1st is on a Thursday they may leave them up through the week-end. It really depends on their schedule they work at night so they could be there one day then be gone the next.

When you speak with the IPO you can request North Wing facing the Magic Kingdom or overlooking the courtyard which ever veiw you would like. Niether would be too specifc. Remember the views toward the Magic Kingdom also overlook the service area but the views at night are so worth it.

Beckie

 

[Donald is #1]

Donald is #1

Valet parking is free for DVC Members at all the DVC Resorts (that have valet parking) as long as you are staying on property. If you are just staying at the Villas and not a member there will be the normal charge.

Yes valet service is available 24/7, but remember after hours there may only be one or two attendants available so wait times to pick-up your vehicle maybe a little longer. When dropping off your car late the attendant maybe away from the desk but they are never to far away.

Beckie

Excellent thanks! I don't mind waiting a few minutes for them to take the car. Since we probably aren't arriving at WL until 11:30 PM - mid-night, I figure that valet will be much easier than parking the car and schlepping the bags.

We're DVC members and will be staying at Wilderness Lodge-not villas and not on points. Will I have to pay for parking? I never thought about this until I saw your post. Thank-you!

Based upon MAGICinMYHEART's response, then no you won't need to pay for valet parking.

 

[ang38]

You sound like me! I hate heights and it has gotten worse with the birth of kids. Mine are now adults and I still tell them to get away from railings or edges and such! I have a very hard time standing near rails. We sat near the windows overlooking the pool. It was not near the rails and the view was great! There are plenty of seats away from the railings so have no fear! Go and enjoy yourself. If I can do it anyone can : )

Wooo hooo I love this thread! We stayed at WL on our trip Oct/Nov 06 and feel in love with it! It's so beautiful and so peaceful! We're staying there again in January! 90 days to go, but whose counting

I have a strange question for anyone whose stayed club level at WL. We are booked club level and I'm a little concerned about the 7th floor. Not that I don't expect it to be wonderful but I'm concerned about the way the have the Old Faithful Club setup in relation to the railings. I kind of have a height thing and I'm completely neurotic(DH says admitting it is half the battle.) I saw a picture that appeared that the have the tables setup right against the railing overlooking the lobby. I truely don't think I could sit there even without our 3 little ones. But, with our 3 kids (7, 6, 1) I'd be completely nervous that one of my boys (the 6 and 1 year old) would some how get themselves from the chair over the railing....

I told DH my paranoia about this last night and showed him the picture and he said it would make him a little nervous to. Thanks honey! I thought he'd be the voice of reason and tell me it would be ok.

We'd change our reservation BUT 1, the trip has been completely paid off already & 2, we are looking forward to CL! We were upgraded at GF from standard GV to CL room in the Sugar Loaf building with a view of the marina lake. We LOVED CL!! We figured we could combine 2 things we love at WDW WL (our fav resort so far by far!) and CL.

I haven't spoken to anyone from IPO yet. We changed our reservation a few weeks ago to WL CL and I figured I call and give them my details and ask them about the setup if they knew.

Anything you can do to ease my anxiety would be great! Any pictures would also be great!! Thanks soooooo much!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

to the above poster: I am deathly afraid of heights and ended up not being able to use the club level food on our first visit in 2004. In 2005 the WL club floor was remodeled and the food service is now in a lovely room across from the concierge stand. You have nothing to fear!

You sound like me! I hate heights and it has gotten worse with the birth of kids. Mine are now adults and I still tell them to get away from railings or edges and such! I have a very hard time standing near rails. We sat near the windows overlooking the pool. It was not near the rails and the view was great! There are plenty of seats away from the railings so have no fear! Go and enjoy yourself. If I can do it anyone can : )

Thank you both soooo much!! You really eased my fear! Now I can continue to be excited and get more excited for the trip and not have to worry about having a massive anxiety attack when we get there!!

Mickeysmyboy
The Christmas decorations come down very soon after New Years but as the 1st is on a Thursday they may leave them up through the week-end. It really depends on their schedule they work at night so they could be there one day then be gone the next.

When you speak with the IPO you can request North Wing facing the Magic Kingdom or overlooking the courtyard which ever veiw you would like. Niether would be too specifc. Remember the views toward the Magic Kingdom also overlook the service area but the views at night are so worth it.

Beckie

Thanks Beckie!! Your truly a WL expert!! I've read/skimmed through 1/2 of pages in the thread at this point and your so helpful!

I hope, hope, hope that the tree and decorations will be there for at least the first day! I just want to see it and take a few pics!

I'm definitely going to request a room with a view toward MK. We just won't look down

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

We are going to be there on a Sat. and Sun. night so if anyone has any info on the food selections in CL that would be great. Also can anyone tell me if the seventh floor rooms are all off of the lobby and if not, are they all over the seventh floor and where is the lounge for that floor located?

Disneylover

If you go back to page 101 and read MemoryMakers'post she has a great review of the food and Club Level post 1505 and great photo's of the Lounge on post 1511.

There are only 4 Club Level rooms located off the Lobby on the 7th floor, these are the Honeymoon Suites. (Two are located on each side) The 7th floor doesn't extend down the entire length of the Lodge only about halfway down the wings. The Lounge or the Old Faithful Club located off the Lobby on the Southside on the Lodge. (next to one of the Honeymoon Suites)

Hope you have a Great Trip
Beckie

 

[rie'smom]

I can get club level for all but the last 2 nights of our stay-Nov 24th and 25th.
Do you think if I book it for the 19,20,21,22,& 23, that there's a good possibility,they'll go ahead and let us book the other 2 nights at club level once we arrive if I can't get it ahead of time?
I have courtyard view right now but I really wanted club, thanks!

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Rie'smom

Yes If you can book 5 of your 7 nights now I would do it, remember that even if you have to move to another room for the last 2 nights, you will still have access to the Club Level all day on the 24th. It will be easier to pick-up two nights rather then 7 nights. Once you are staying on the 7th floor the Cast Members will do everything they can to keep you from moving.

Good Luck
Beckie

 

[tardin1964]

Tardin...thank you for the report. I'm glad you had a good stay at WDW, and I think you made the right decision.

I hope a great new job opportunity presents itself to you soon.

Thanks Ransom.

Tardin

Thank you for taking the time to post your great report, next Thursday I plan on enjoying a cool libation from Territory Lounge. I'm so glad you and your family had a wonderful time.

I hated Tropical Storm Fay she was awful too much rain. We ended up with 18" here in North Florida.

Best wishes for success in your new job hunt.

Beckie

Thanks Beckie...

Fay was nasty... I know it really effect a lot of Floridians. As far as being in WDW during the storm we were still able to enjoy the parks as long as you didn't mind wearing a poncho!!!! For most of 8/21 & 8/22 it seemed like it would rain hard for 2 or 3 hour and then it would stop for 2 or 3 hours so at least it was a constant rain. On Saturday 8/23 Fay was pretty much gone.

One other thing I forgot to mention in my trip report. One of our last days having breakfast at Roaring Forks there were some Disney suits checking out the line situation. They were discussing how the line for people trying to pay was backing up into the line for people trying to get hot food. For those of us who have experienced this knows that when this happens you basically have to cut through lines just to get over to the drink stations....etc. I'm not sure what they can do about this since the place is not that big...but hopefully they can figure out something.

 

[Angel16]

Maybe they will deceide to enlarge WW Make things much easier for most of the year.

 

[rie'smom]

Rie'smom

Yes If you can book 5 of your 7 nights now I would do it, remember that even if you have to move to another room for the last 2 nights, you will still have access to the Club Level all day on the 24th. It will be easier to pick-up two nights rather then 7 nights. Once you are staying on the 7th floor the Cast Members will do everything they can to keep you from moving.

Good Luck
Beckie

Thank-you!!!!!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Does anyone know if the Mechantile sells milk?

I was thinking about putting an order in with Garden Grocer but really all we would need is water, fruit (my kids & I eat tons & tons of fruit) and milk for DS who will most likely still want a bottle of milk before bed. That's really the only thing we can't do without because of the concierges offerings. We'll be able to get apples, oranges etc in The Old Faithful Club and will fill the kids cups with water or juice there before we head out in the morning.

If I can buy a 1/2 or full gallon of milk in the Merchantile it would be great!!

 

[rw_hadley]

Does anyone know if the Mechantile sells milk?

I was thinking about putting an order in with Garden Grocer but really all we would need is water, fruit (my kids & I eat tons & tons of fruit) and milk for DS who will most likely still want a bottle of milk before bed. That's really the only thing we can't do without because of the concierges offerings. We'll be able to get apples, oranges etc in The Old Faithful Club and will fill the kids cups with water or juice there before we head out in the morning.

If I can buy a 1/2 or full gallon of milk in the Merchantile it would be great!!

I know they did when we were there in December, 2006.
One would assume they'd still carry a staple like this.

 

[rie'smom]

Well, I called. Club level was only available for 1 of our rooms for 5 days of our 7 day trip.

I was going to book it but the CM just couldn't understand that I needed a total of 7 days and that it was ok if the last 2 weren't club level.

I was afraid that she would totally mess up our reservations, so I just said forget it.

It is noted on our reservation that we would like club level. Hopefully, we can get it at checkin, if not, we'll still have a wonderful trip!!

 

[Troop o' Goofs]

Well, I called. Club level was only available for 1 of our rooms for 5 days of our 7 day trip.

I was going to book it but the CM just couldn't understand that I needed a total of 7 days and that it was ok if the last 2 weren't club level.

I was afraid that she would totally mess up our reservations, so I just said forget it.

It is noted on our reservation that we would like club level. Hopefully, we can get it at checkin, if not, we'll still have a wonderful trip!!

Call back and talk to a different cast member. Sometimes all it takes is a second phone call.

 

[rie'smom]

Call back and talk to a different cast member. Sometimes all it takes is a second phone call.

I'll try tomorrow, thanks. My stomach is doing flip flops-I think I may be coming down with a stomach bug.

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

You may have to make two separate reservations, one ress for 5 nights then the second ress for the last two nights. It does sound complicated.