Wilderness Lodge Mess

[MamaBear58]

Thank you for this. I'm back on the phone with them now. On hold waiting for GS. Hoping it works for me, as well. I explained to the CM I talked to initially that I understand there is nowhere else for me to go, so I'm hoping that someone else can do something for me. We shall see.

ETA: So she offered to move me to another room (including GF outer building Lagoon view and a deluxe savannah view studio at AKL...that won't work for us b/c I'm not going to make the kids sleep on a sleeper sofa) for the same price OR take the $50/night credit. Now I need to decide what to do. One of the reasons I was looking forward to staying at WL was so that the kids could have the bunk beds. I know they'll be excited about that. GF rooms look particularly stuffy and un-kid-like to me. But their pool will be open. So now I need to decide what to do.

What???????? I have a GF-Outer-Lagoon room only and they won't move me there for the same price???? What category room do you currently I have booked at WL? I have a CY-BB. Thanks.

 

[misskerri]

What???????? I have a GF-Outer-Lagoon room only and they won't move me there for the same price???? What category room do you currently I have booked at WL? I have a CY-BB. Thanks.

Woods View BB. Dates might make a difference, too. I think she was searching for available rooms.

 

[MamaBear58]

Woods View BB. Dates might make a difference, too. I think she was searching for available rooms.

Understood. We are 11/15 to 11/22. And happy for you...just frustrated at the inconsistency! !!.

 

[misskerri]

Understood. We are 11/15 to 11/23. And happy for you...just frustrated at the inconsistency! !!.

The thought of staying at GF kind of leaves me cold. But they WILL have a feature pool open. That would be the only reason to go there. Reduced monorail service would also be annoying. We will be there Oct 2nd-8th.

 

[MamaBear58]

The thought of staying at GF kind of leaves me cold. But they WILL have a feature pool open. That would be the only reason to go there. Reduced monorail service would also be annoying. We will be there Oct 2nd-8th.

I understand. That is how I feel about the Contemporary.

 

[minnime66]

I have been lurking on this thread for a bit now, reading everyone's experiences. Thank you all for sharing. I just got off the phone with Disney and since we wish to stay at the WL, we were given the $50 a night credit for the length of our stay. We have a room only and it hasn't been paid off so it just gets applied as a payment to our amount that is still due. Thank you all again for sharing your information, as I like to say...another $1 saved on the Disney reservation is a $1 towards our next trip !!

my thoughts exactly !! Disney will get the money back one way or another.

 

[Danielle1971]

I'm just curious to know if anyone is getting a $50 credit prior to pool renovations! I'm due to arrive in 5 weeks! Hoping everything goes smoothly! I got my packet in the mail & it's coming up quick! This is so exciting!

 

[misskerri]

I understand. That is how I feel about the Contemporary.

Back on the phone to move to GF, b/c DH is STOKED about that. LOL. I'm a little suspicious that maybe it won't be a free upgrade, though, since it's a HUGE upgrade, monetarily.

We're officially moved. I am sad that we won't be staying at WL, with the bunk beds, but the construction and lack of feature pool would have annoyed me to no end.

NOW...we're scheduled for HDDR at 8:30 on our arrival night. Best way to get there? Taxi?

 

[MamaBear58]

Back on the phone to move to GF, b/c DH is STOKED about that. LOL. I'm a little suspicious that maybe it won't be a free upgrade, though, since it's a HUGE upgrade, monetarily.

We're officially moved. I am sad that we won't be staying at WL, with the bunk beds, but the construction and lack of feature pool would have annoyed me to no end.

NOW...we're scheduled for HDDR at 8:30 on our arrival night. Best way to get there? Taxi?

Good for you. And yes, I would take a taxi.

 

[minniebeth]

Back on the phone to move to GF, b/c DH is STOKED about that. LOL. I'm a little suspicious that maybe it won't be a free upgrade, though, since it's a HUGE upgrade, monetarily.

We're officially moved. I am sad that we won't be staying at WL, with the bunk beds, but the construction and lack of feature pool would have annoyed me to no end.

NOW...we're scheduled for HDDR at 8:30 on our arrival night. Best way to get there? Taxi?

If you take a taxi to Fort Wilderness, you will still have to take an internal bus from the front of the grounds to the Marina area where Pioneer Hall is.

Just offering another option (pending on changed monorail hours, so double check what times the monorail is running):

Take the monorail from the GF to the Magic Kingdom. As you get off the monorail, look for the boat dock to the right. They have a boat that goes to Fort Wilderness from there. It will take you very close to where Pioneer Hall is.

Make sure whichever way you get there, you leave plenty of time for transportation.

Have fun!!

 

[KTexas]

Check out the first post on the wilderness lodge thread for exact and most current information ... But here's the general pool refurb./ construction info. Main feature pool will be closed Sept. 3 through November 27th. The quiet pool by the villas will remain open for use by all guests as well as the contemporary resort & Fort Wilderness pools. Extra boats are planned to take guests from WL to contemporary & Fort wilderness pools.
As far as the lobby and stream it was scheduled to be complete the first week of this month ( July ) but it still is not complete when I looked yesterday on the wilderness lodge thread. I can't even fathom that it would not be done by September? Since it was suppose to be done a week ago.
I would suggest looking at the wilderness lodge thread for more info. : ) hoping this helps some and you have a wonderful trip with your family!

Thank you so much! We really have our hearts set on WL for our first stay, but I think I will call and see what can be offered to us, as you and others have done. Thank you!

 

[LuvDisney1825]

Did they offer you a discount off the increased cost to move to CR or GF? If yes I am interested in details, because I too want to stay in the MK area. Thanks.

Yes $500 discount to switch.

 

[LuvDisney1825]

Our trip is 11/13-11/21…..
wondering if we should just chance it being done at WL….thoughts?

Our dates are 11/14-11/22 and we are hoping for this also. We don't use the pools much when we are at Disney so if its not open yet, it won't ruin our trip.

 

[jettagirl]

We had a woods view room booked at WL for Nov 19-22nd (split stay as we'll be at BC prior to that) and, thanks to this thread, I called last night to see if another MK resort would be available to us. I was on the phone for close to an hour (most of that was spent on hold at various times) but, in the end, we made the switch to the Contemporary (garden wing - garden view room). We had a woods-view room booked at WL and it was discounted (we booked it on a bounceback in February) so I wasn't sure how much more the CR would cost. To my surprise it was less than $200 for the 3 nights that we are there.

I've never stayed at WL and was really looking forward to it but the closure of the pool was pretty much a deal breaker for us. We have a 3-year old DS who loves to swim and I will be 32 weeks pregnant at the time so the idea of taking a ferry to go for a quick swim did not appeal to us at all. We'd probably spend more time travelling than swimming!

The good part about the CR is that we can now walk to MK which I love. I had also considered the GF but the reduced monorail hours in the AM put a damper on that plan. I think the CR is the best fit for us this time around and hopefully we'll stay at WL another time (that just means we have to go back to WDW - ha!)

 

[williamscm3]

We had a woods view room booked at WL for Nov 19-22nd (split stay as we'll be at BC prior to that) and, thanks to this thread, I called last night to see if another MK resort would be available to us. I was on the phone for close to an hour (most of that was spent on hold at various times) but, in the end, we made the switch to the Contemporary (garden wing - garden view room). We had a woods-view room booked at WL and it was discounted (we booked it on a bounceback in February) so I wasn't sure how much more the CR would cost. To my surprise it was less than $200 for the 3 nights that we are there. I've never stayed at WL and was really looking forward to it but the closure of the pool was pretty much a deal breaker for us. We have a 3-year old DS who loves to swim and I will be 32 weeks pregnant at the time so the idea of taking a ferry to go for a quick swim did not appeal to us at all. We'd probably spend more time travelling than swimming! The good part about the CR is that we can now walk to MK which I love. I had also considered the GF but the reduced monorail hours in the AM put a damper on that plan. I think the CR is the best fit for us this time around and hopefully we'll stay at WL another time (that just means we have to go back to WDW - ha!)

Sorry to be a tad off topic, but what's going on with the monorail and reduced hours? I knew they had been working on it but I thought it had been finished or close to getting finished?? I'm out of the loop on that one!

 

[jettagirl]

Sorry to be a tad off topic, but what's going on with the monorail and reduced hours? I knew they had been working on it but I thought it had been finished or close to getting finished?? I'm out of the loop on that one!

According to the rehab section of allears.net: "The Monorail is operating on a fixed schedule not dependent on park hours. The Magic Kingdom Resort beam runs from 8:30 a.m. to midnight; the Magic Kingdom Express beam runs from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.; and the Epcot beam runs from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Extra buses and watercraft will run during the Monorail's downtimes to provide additional transportation options." This paragraph I quoted appears for each month until the end of the year so I am assuming it's already started.

We usually have breakfast reservations at CRT or Crystal Palace as close to 8 AM as we can get. So, if the monorail isn't running until 8:30, I am guessing we'd have to take a bus (or a boat, if applicable) which sort of takes away from the convenience of staying at a monorail resort.

 

[williamscm3]

According to the rehab section of allears.net: "The Monorail is operating on a fixed schedule not dependent on park hours. The Magic Kingdom Resort beam runs from 8:30 a.m. to midnight; the Magic Kingdom Express beam runs from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.; and the Epcot beam runs from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Extra buses and watercraft will run during the Monorail's downtimes to provide additional transportation options." This paragraph I quoted appears for each month until the end of the year so I am assuming it's already started. We usually have breakfast reservations at CRT or Crystal Palace as close to 8 AM as we can get. So, if the monorail isn't running until 8:30, I am guessing we'd have to take a bus (or a boat, if applicable) which sort of takes away from the convenience of staying at a monorail resort.

Oh I see...thanks for the info! I was not aware that would still be going on in November:/ That does make things a lot more difficult for people needing to get to MK early...especially since you expect that service after paying for a monorail resort!

 

[MamaBear58]

Yes $500 discount to switch.

Thanks for the info.

 

[MamaBear58]

Oh I see...thanks for the info! I was not aware that would still be going on in November:/ That does make things a lot more difficult for people needing to get to MK early...especially since you expect that service after paying for a monorail resort!

Me neither. I thought it was a summer thing and that they expected the monorail to be back on normal hours (although I have to confess I don't know what they are) by sometime in Sept. End of year? Seems like a long time to be on a reduced schedule.

Poly construction, WL pool rehab and reduced monorail hours. We sure picked the wrong time to go to Disney for a MK-based trip. This is going to make it easier to cancel if Disney won't work with me on the increased cost to move.

 

[MartDM]

I appreciate all the info here & was able to get the $50 discount (we are in a 1BV and there is nothing comparable available for our stay). Hoping the villa pool isn't overrun while we are there.

As for the water park tickets, I asked for clarification of exactly what accommodations are being made and was told only the discounts and use of CR/FW pools with extra transport boats. No mention of the water parks.

Is this a confirmed offer? Will I be offered at check in? Is TL an option vs. BB (I realize BB is the only option during many of your stays but we are late Sept/early Oct)? We are specifically going earlier this year so DS7 can finally go to TL as it's always closed during our Fall visits and we've done BB to death.

Just wondering if tickets to TL are something I should pursue?