Winter Weather Escape to WDW and the WL ~ A January 2014 Trip Report

[mickeystoontown]

What a pain in the behind it was having to pull out the magic bands. It doesn't make sense that they'd send you the booklet and not tell you that you couldn't use it.

As I said before, those room view pictures are . I'm sure that it came as a shock just how ugly it was. Too bad this was one of those "pictures don't do the view justice" scenarios and it was even worse than the pictures you had seen before.

Your husband was sweet to take time to decorate the cookies. I always feel sorry for folks like that and am suckered into stopping.

 

[mickeyplanner]

This is what we learned about FP+ and unused reservations. If you missed out on using one of your FP+ reservations, you need to switch the reservation time to later that day. If no other times are available, then switch that reservation for a different attraction. Then try again to switch the new reservation for a different time. Once you are able to move the time, try again for the attraction you missed.

We had 3-4 FP+ reservations for BTMR and missed our FP+window. I went over to a FP+ kiosk and explained what happened. They showed me how to get around it. First you have to move the reservation time for later that day. In our case, they tried moving it 6-7 and it worked. The CM explained to me you have to switch the time for later in the day but sometimes there are not any times available for that attraction. In that case, switch the attraction to something else first then go back and switch the time. Once we learned about these tips, they became very usual and helped us a few more times on our trip.

I hope this makes sense and someone can find this helpful.

 

[DisneyJo]

Wow what a lovely welcome to Disney being shouted at about Magic Bands. We can't get them sent to the UK so we won't have them for the ME bus, they'd better not shout at us and let us on

How sweet of your DH to ice the cookies

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I love how pretty Wilderness Lodge looks! But I didn't really realize how the rooms looked. Your view is horrible that's for sure! Please tell me the outside and the lobby are as pretty as they look though!

I haven't had a trip yet with Magic Bands or FP+. Are they are confusing as they sound or pretty easy once you get the hang of it? It makes me a little nervous!

How cute that your dh and son stayed to decorate a cookie. They must not have wanted to hurt her feelings. Aw!

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

I love how pretty Wilderness Lodge looks! But I didn't really realize how the rooms looked. Your view is horrible that's for sure! Please tell me the outside and the lobby are as pretty as they look though!

I haven't had a trip yet with Magic Bands or FP+. Are they are confusing as they sound or pretty easy once you get the hang of it? It makes me a little nervous!

How cute that your dh and son stayed to decorate a cookie. They must not have wanted to hurt her feelings. Aw!

I have to say that the old decor in the room was pretty ugly, but this new bedding (and tiles in the shower) is much better…it's not what you think of for deluxe as in white layered bedding and a modern feel at all~it's very rustic and cabin-y. Which I typically hate, but I really like it here… I guess because you just feel like you can unwind~my kids love it. And they love the Poly too~so it's just knowing it's a different atmosphere…and that is my take on it! LOL…sorry Shelly..had to throw that in there!

 

[cstorm65]

Looking forward to the rest of your report. We are staying at the Wilderness Lodge this summer. I am definitely thinking now about upgrading to a woods view or whatever the next one is as I don't want to get stuck with that service area view.

Can't wait for more!

 

[BellaSoleil]

My head is spinning over the Magic Band stuff. What about people who book trips last minute and pick up their bands at the resort?

Bummer of a view. I'm sorry, but WL is a Deluxe Resort and there shouldn't be any room with a view of slush. Yuck!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

I wonder why it's Deluxe with views like that…maybe because of the Club level?

 

[ddluvsdisney]

It's to bad when you stay at a deluxe,and it feels and looks like a mod.
To funny about the cookie decorating.
Hope it didn't take you to long to get to AK.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

I can't believe they made you get out your MBs for ME??? What the heck? I don't get that. What about people who don't have MBs? We won't have them on this trip but we are using ME twice (one night at WDW before and after our cruise). Now I'm worried I'm going to get pulled out of line! We have old MBs from our last trip... wonder if I should bring them???

Your poor DH... I feel his pain. I always feel obligated to talk to the little old people too.

I agree with you on the look of the rooms at WL. I've never seen them firsthand, but I'm not in love with the way they look in pictures. But then again, I'm like you and much prefer the tropical look to the rustic stuff. I do think the rest of the resort looks really nice though.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Uggh that's a pain about the magic bands at the airport. I wonder what they do with the international guest who don't get them mailed to them? Maybe the CM was just confused about it.

 

[rusafee1183]

I'm so bummed they stuck you in that horrible room. Every time I see those pictures, I get mad!

When we stayed at the WL, we came in at dusk. They were just turning the "lanterns" on outside, and they were flickering beautifully. The air was slightly chilly, crickets were singing, people were roasting marshmallows on the beach while the water was making lazy waves. It was BEAUTIFUL.

Not, HUMMING ELECTRICITY BOXES and SWIRLING BUBBLING SWAMP WATER. Bah. I'm so agitated about it.

I know better than anyone that not every resort is "for everyone", but that was a pathetic showing by a GREAT resort. Shame on Disney for letting that happen.

Anyway, I have never seen the cookie lady there. That's too funny. Your DH is so sweet to hold up his plans to throw that old lady a bone. LOL.

Can't wait to hear about AK and what plans your other boys had.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Before we knew it we were at MCO and headed to the ME line. As we were approaching the line a CM was yelling to everyone to get their Magic Bands on. I wasn’t prepared for that. I knew you could wear them on arrival day and use them to get in the ME line, but I didn’t know you had to. They still send the ME booklet with the bar code for them to scan and that’s what I had out and in my hand.

I'm really surprised that they don't let you use the books with the code. They really should put a note in the box with the bands, telling everyone that they HAVE to use the bands for the bus.
....

We were finally were granted permission to get into the line. And good grief what a line it was. I’ve never seen that many people there before.

We traveled to WDW on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the line was huge. It took an hour from the time we got in line to the time the bus pulled out of the airport. We usually travel on a weekday and have never encountered such a line.
....

I jumped off the bus and headed inside to check in. DH and the boys got the luggage. I noticed that it was very warm when we got off the bus! I didn’t have to wait more than a few minutes to be called to the check in desk. As I was getting checked in I turned around and there was DH and the kids and the luggage. I was surprised, because we are usually greeted by a CM and they take our luggage right away. He said no one greeted him, so he just came on inside.

The front desk CM asked for all of our Magic Bands to “activate” them. That was weird, we had them last August and they didn’t have to be activated. So DS ran over and got the rest of them for me and we got that all taken care of. She then informed me that our room was ready!

When we traveled on a Saturday we weren't greeted by a CM, either. But we were greeted on our other two trips there. I'm curious to see if we are greeted at the door when we go to the Beach Club next month. We haven't been there since 2011, before the days of iPads and MM+. By the way, we usually only go to WDW every two years, but after a long period of not taking any trips, we decided to splurge a little. I blame the Annual Pass we bought in December. It is just too tempting to use them.

After we got all checked in we headed up to the room. We got a higher floor, like we had requested. We walked into the room and were immediately underwhelmed. It seems like people really love the WL and think it is super pretty and great. The room was not much different than a moderate.

We knew ahead of time that the rooms were the same size as the moderates, but I guess we just expected since it was in the deluxe category that they would be “nicer”. It was okay though, it was only a 5 night stay and it would be okay.

I agree that the rooms aren't as nice as the other deluxe rooms we have stayed at. They are not as nice as the Beach Club rooms. We love the BC and stayed there many times. But the WL rooms are good enough for us. They are a lot cheaper, so I guess that makes it okay for us. We love the lodge itself and the woodsy feel of the resort. But I can see where it isn't for everyone. We don't like the Polynesian.

Then I looked out the sliding door. I knew we had a service area view, but didn’t know just how bad until we walked out onto the balcony. It was instant noise as soon as we opened the door. Some sort of loud humming/buzzing sound. We looked down and there were a bunch of HUGE power boxes.

That view is worse than I expected the standard view to be. I knew about the noise from the delivery trucks, but I didn't know about the transformers. That would be a deal breaker for me. That must have made your stay rather unpleasant.
.....

I wasn’t very happy, but I just closed the door and decided I’d deal with it later. We had FP’s to get to!! So we unpacked just a few things and everyone was starved, so we went downstairs to the Roaring Forks food court.
....
There was a little old woman CM at a table in the middle of Roaring Forks with a station set up to decorate cookies. She wasn't getting any takers though. She was even approaching guests as they were finishing up their lunch and asking if their kids wanted to come decorate a cookie. No one was interested. I thought she surely wasn’t going to approach us, with the kids being older. But she did!! And we were of course in a hurry. We still had hopes of making it to the park before 3pm and making that first FP+. We declined and told her we had to get going. DH told her that we would be back later in the week and she said that they only did this on Saturdays from 12-3 or something like that. DH caved. Him and DS12 went over and she promised them it wouldn’t take long. DS14 and I bolted!!

That was so nice of your DH and son to stay and make cookies.

 

[jbmom]

Yikes, I wouldn't have had the magic bands out either! That cm needed some pixie dust or a boot to the rear end! Not a great first impression for first time visitors for sure.

That view at WL should be reclassified from standard to some kind of Wall E inspired category. I don't know if I could have handled it for even 5 nights.

Your dh gets brownie points for cookie decorating! I probably would have caved too! I can't say no, especially at Disney.

 

[2kids2luv]

Subbing in A winter trip sounds perfect about now. This winter is dragging on way too long. It's either below 0 or snowing out.

The view from your room is awful. Hope you have fun at AK and can use your FP+.

 

[disny_luvr]

It must've been so nice to fly from snowy PA to sunny and warm Florida! I wish I could do that today.

Yes, your view at the WL was horrible. They shouldn't even have rooms that look onto a view like that. The two times we've stayed at the WL we paid for a courtyard view and now I'm glad we did. I know for the future to at least book a woods view room given the poor view you received.

Your DH and DS were good sports for decorating cookies. I would've done like you and bolted. Hope you make it in time for your FP+ time.

Are you getting snow today? We are supposed to be getting anywhere from 12-16+ inches. I am officially over winter. No school today and I'm almost positive school will also be closed tomorrow. Today is snow day number 6. We are all grumpy and going nuts! Actually kids are fighting now so I'd better go put out that fire!

 

[Disney before Sally]

We have old MBs from our last trip... wonder if I should bring them??? .

Yes! The one magic band you have is yours for life. I am having anxiety about what color i pick since that is it forever.

 

[LuvEeyore]

Joining the fun dreaming of Disney while snowed in!!

 

[PrincessPaczki]

Hi Shelly! I can't wait to read more.