VWL lovers and Old Faithful Inn

[Simba's Mom]

I was just watching a show about the OF Inn, and it got me wondering-have any VWL lovers ever been to the actual OF Inn? After seeing it, how realistic do you find the lobby of the WL, which is supposed to be based on it? And did going to the OF Inn make you homesick for WDW? I was just wondering because we've made ressies there this June (at the real OF Inn), and I'm so afraid that I'll walk in and say "This makes me miss WDW!" at which point DH will probably want to commit unspeakable acts.

 

[skylynx]

We love Wilderness Lodge, and were just at the Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone this past fall. If anything, seeing the real thing makes you appreciate the efforts to mimic it in Orlando. That said, there is no comparison to the absolutely authentic lodge, the real geyser, and the bison, elk, deer, and moose that are the "locals." I like to think of Wilderness Lodge as honoring the magnificence of Old Faithful Inn, not an attempt to one-up it with modernization or replace the need to see the historical original. In my opinion, if you love Wilderness Lodge, it should incite you to want to see Old Faithful Inn and other of our great National Park lodges. I've been to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, but love our MK Cinderella Castle no less because I've seen the inspiration for it.

If you think about it, isn't most of Disney a reminder of and appetizer for these wonderful places in the world that really exist? Pirates makes you want to visit a Caribbean Island, Animal Kingdom park and lodge make you long to explore Nairobi, Wilderness Lodge makes you hungry for the great north woods and the true "wilderness" that is alive and well in many of those big square states out west. Epcot gives you a taste of nations you might want to discover "for real." Though critics of Disney like to suggest that people who have been to, for example, the French pavilion at Epcot will equate it with a trip to Paris and thus not bother to see the real thing, I think it is more likely people who enjoyed it will be inclined to make the effort to take a trip to France. With the exception of the Grand Floridian...virtually all of WDW resorts are modeled and themed after other places.

Will Old Faithful Inn make you long for WL? Probably for a moment-but then you'll be much to busy running out to see the geyser, marveling in the free roaming animals, and being in general awestruck by the magic thermal kingdom that is witnessed almost nowhere else in the world. And then the next time you go to WL, you'll be able to appreciate it all the more!

 

[Inkmahm]

My DH and I haven't been there yet but it's on our list of places to visit someday when we're retired and don't have to worry about burniing through vacation days!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We stayed in the Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone about 11 years ago in one of the newer rooms. When they built WL at WDW, I wanted to stay there because it reminded me of Yellowstone. We went back to Yellowstone about two years ago and were at the Old Faithful Inn for the 100th anniversary. The lobby seemed smaller since I have been to WL several times since I had been back to OFI. But OFI is still a wonderful place to stay. Do not expect WDW rooms. Especially if you have one of the older original rooms (very tiny about 70 sq ft and a bathroom down the hall).

There is so much to do at Old Faithful and Yellowstone, with all the trails/paths and geyer basins. Just stay on the boardwalks (and you won't dream about the BWV either).

By the way, if you are there in early June, there will still be lots of snow in the park (and some roads may still be closed because of snow).

You will be awestruck by Yellowstone.

 

[Granny]

If anything, seeing the real thing makes you appreciate the efforts to mimic it in Orlando. That said, there is no comparison to the absolutely authentic lodge, the real geyser, and the bison, elk, deer, and moose that are the "locals." I like to think of Wilderness Lodge as honoring the magnificence of Old Faithful Inn, not an attempt to one-up it with modernization or replace the need to see the historical original.

Denise...your entire post was quite eloquent, and I found it very insightful.

I've never been to Old Faithful Inn (or anywhere near Yellowstone), but this description makes me want to visit there someday. It is now officially on my "list of places to visit" that I have in my head.

Deb...I appreciated your comments too. It really sounds like a wonderful place.

I really didn't know that WL was modeled after any particular place. Everything I had seen just talked about a tribute to the great lodges of the Northwest, and this has been very interesting.

Simba's Mom...thanks for the thread!

 

[mtdsnylvr]

We live in Montana, so Old Faithful Inn is a sentimental favorite. I think the history of Old Faithful is what makes it so special. Take time to read the captions on the photos around the Lodge. Also, make sure to sit on the porch above the car lane, in the evening with a glass of beverage of choice and take in the wonders of nature. Lake Lodge is also impressive, for different reasons. We head down to "the Park" once a summer. I plan the trip through Cooke City, MT, through to Jackson, WY, with a night in the Park. Old Faithful is our favorite stop. If you have time, make sure to drive down to the Tetons. Stop for a break at Jackson Lake Lodge and take a view from their windows and deck. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Sammie]

Actually WL is a blending of styles from Sequoia, Yellowstone and Yosemite. Advance design teams visited all 3 prior to the development of WL.

The Grand Floridian is themed in architecture after the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego.

 

[LisaS]

We love Wilderness Lodge, and were just at the Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone this past fall. If anything, seeing the real thing makes you appreciate the efforts to mimic it in Orlando. That said, there is no comparison to the absolutely authentic lodge, the real geyser, and the bison, elk, deer, and moose that are the "locals." I like to think of Wilderness Lodge as honoring the magnificence of Old Faithful Inn, not an attempt to one-up it with modernization or replace the need to see the historical original. In my opinion, if you love Wilderness Lodge, it should incite you to want to see Old Faithful Inn and other of our great National Park lodges.

What a wonderful post! We visited the Old Faithful Inn in 2002, a year before our first trip to WDW, and thought it was absolutely amazing. We weren't able to get a reservation there so we stayed at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, but we spent a few hours in the OFI and went back to have lunch there on our last day in Yellowstone. That same trip we visited a few other of the "great lodges" in Glacier National Park, even spending a few nights at the Many Glacier Inn. We fell in love with these old lodges so I guess it should not have surprised us that we fell in love with VWL the first time we stayed there and ended up adding on points there.

I agree with your statement that seeing the real thing makes you appreciate the WL and the attention to detail in recreating that feeling you get stepping inside one of these "great lodges". And it's much easier getting a reservation at VWL/WL than it is getting one at the OFI!

 

[shellbelle1971]

We take an annual family trip to Yellowstone (in our motor home, so we haven't stayed at Old Faithful Inn) but we always make a trip there. The lobby is so amazing!

That said, when travelling with children, the Wilderness Lodge is a lot more family friendly. At the real Old Faithful Inn, you have to keep the kids indoors, or very close by, lest a toddler try to pet one of the gazillion bison wandering on the sidewalks outside your front door. The real Old Faithful Inn has no suites, let alone kitchens. Many of the rooms don't even have their own bathroom!

The real Old Faithful Inn is eye-popping, but not (for us) a practical choice.

 

[Deb & Bill]

... We fell in love with these old lodges so I guess it should not have surprised us that we fell in love with VWL the first time we stayed there and ended up adding on points there....

Just like us. We had lived in Montana for five years before we moved down south. We loved going to Yellowstone and Glacier. So when VWL was added, we had to add points there. It's a lot easier going to WDW from where we live now. But we do like to head back up there every so often. We did Jan in Yellowstone once and it was fantastic. We'd love to do it again, but bring our son this time.

 

[diznyfanatic]

One of my fondest memories as a child was staying at OFI during a three week family driving vacation to the West Coast. I can still recall the awe I felt watching the geyser erupt right on schedule.

When we walked into the WL lobby for the first time last year, I was again awestruck and was transported back to that wonderful time of my youth. We came home from that trip and did an add on at VWL.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Thanks everyone! Skylynx, I loved your insight into the resort theming. I hadn't thought of it before, but you're right. Actually, Deb & Bill, I found out just before I reserved that some of the rooms don't have private baths and that the rooms in the main Inn are very tiny, so we're staying in a side room-I've got to have a room with a private bath so when I called for reservations, that's what I specified. But we'll spend time visiting the main lobby. Mtdsnylvr, the main purpose of our trip is the Grand Tetons, we're only spending one day in Yellowstone, just to see Old Faithful (I'm reminded of Clark Griswold at the Grand Canyon-just taking a quick look, then hopping back in the car). Hopefully, there'll be another trip some day just for Yellowstone. We're staying for 3 days inside Grand Tetons, but I don't think there's a resort that's the model for any WDW resort (except maybe for Fort Wilderness?) But a room with no private bath-I'm glad WL didn't go to that extreme to be like OF Inn!

 

[carolina_yankee]

I don't know - I think VWL makes me homesick for Yellowstone!

The interior lobby (smaller as someone mentioned), and many more timber beams because that's how they built the inn (think of it as the world's largest log cabin):

And, of course, with this in your back yard, you won't be worrying about 'rope drop'!

To me - the best part of the Inn was it's proximity to a whole bunch of geysers and multi-colored pools. The crowds hoard the place in the afternoon, but you have it all to yourself in the morning. We watched Ol Faithful at 7 am, with about 20 other people - it was quieter than church. I then took the geyser walk (an easy boardwalk from the Lodge's entrance) and was alone for nearly 2 hours (though you can do the walk in 30 minutes - it was just that beautiful.

The photos are on these pages of my Road Trip USA gallery:

http://carolinayankee.smugmug.com/gallery/1926099#P-9-15

http://carolinayankee.smugmug.com/gallery/1926099#P-10-15

http://carolinayankee.smugmug.com/gallery/1926099#P-11-15

Enjoy your trip!

Dirk

 

[goofy4dvc]

Actually WL is a blending of styles from Sequoia, Yellowstone and Yosemite. Advance design teams visited all 3 prior to the development of WL.QUOTE]

We were at Crater Lake a couple of years ago and had lunch in the lodge there. It is also very reminiscant of these and WL. Definitely a time gone by...and definitely a time great to preserve and revisit!

 

[Sammie]

I will never forget a visit to WL, when it first opened. We were enjoying drinks near the pool and some guests were viewing the geyser.

One said to the other, "I really like this one, so much better than the one that was built at Yellowstone".

 

[Granny]

I will never forget a visit to WL, when it first opened. We were enjoying drinks near the pool and some guests were viewing the geyser.

One said to the other, "I really like this one, so much better than the one that was built at Yellowstone".

Ah, don't you just love some of the tourists and things they say!

carolina_yankee...those are wonderful pictures and add a whole new dimension to this thread. I think we might just have to make an extended trip to the northwest at some point in the future. Thanks for sharing the pix!

 

[carolina_yankee]

Ah, don't you just love some of the tourists and things they say!

That's when I seriously consider tossing people into a geyser themselves. Geesh!!

carolina_yankee...those are wonderful pictures and add a whole new dimension to this thread. I think we might just have to make an extended trip to the northwest at some point in the future. Thanks for sharing the pix!

Thanks - As I was putting captions on the photos in the gallery today since others would be looking at them, I was almost tempted to cancel our next WDW trip and re-trace our Road Trip. The national parks in the west are really phenomenal.

At least this summer we're combining Yosemite with Disneyland, for a perfectly well-rounded vacation!!

Dirk

 

[skylynx]

We bought a book on Old Faithful Lodge on our last trip, and learned there were all kinds of problems with bears climbing around the lobby that were nigh impossible to shoo out back in the early days of the lodge. Couldn't you just see guests scrambling as workers with rakes and brooms tried to swat the bears out? We also got another wonderful book, called "Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park" by Lee Whittlesey. This is one of those funny-but-not-funny books with accounts of people being trampled by horses, gored by bison, tumbling into geysers, putting a car in the parking lot into reverse by mistake and backing into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, etc. It is a neat book to buy or get from the library to read before/during a visit there (if for nothing else but to make you take the "stay on the path" signs seriously!). At the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, by the way, is the real "Artist's Point" the restaurant at WL was named for.

Here's a photo of our impromptu snowstorm at Old Faithful Inn in September. And yes, I'm carrying a souvenir mug that can be refilled at any snack bar in the park!

 

[Deb & Bill]

...We also got another wonderful book, called "Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park" by Lee Whittlesey. This is one of those funny-but-not-funny books with accounts of people being trampled by horses, gored by bison, tumbling into geysers, putting a car in the parking lot into reverse by mistake and backing into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, etc. It is a neat book to buy or get from the library to read before/during a visit there (if for nothing else but to make you take the "stay on the path" signs seriously!). At the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, by the way, is the real "Artist's Point" the restaurant at WL was named for. ...

I bought the same book two years ago. Really fascinating reading. So much so that I bought a book Death at the Grand Canyon last summer. Haven't read it yet, but I will bring it along this summer to WDW and TL.

 

[Sammie]

Too funny about the bears, must have been Yogi and Boo Boo looking for a picnic basket.