ehagerty
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2001
- Messages
- 2,099
Can't wait!!! Wilderness Lodge is my dream resort....
Wilderness Lodge is my "most favorite" - although all of the DVC resorts are very close seconds.....
I had another thread with many WL pictures - that became unlinked when sonyimagestation went out of business. I can see that I need to link them to the new site. Stay tuned for that.
As for THIS trip...




Given that I've been in DVC since '92, you'd think I would know by now to check my reservation for room preference. But, no. Because the Ironman triathelon was being held at Ft Wilderness the upcoming weekend, room preferences were limited to (a) a handicap room (second floor, halfway down the long, carpeted hall) or (b) a room with THIS view:



My thoughts on the rooms (which I will bundle up for the DVC - they really do listen):
(a) Handicap room - I don't have much experience with these rooms. I have requested them at OKW, but no other exposure.
First of all, I was surprised that a handicap room was halfway down a long carpeted corridor. Having personally pushed 6 different people around WDW for a week at a time, I would not have liked ending my walk to the room pushing through a well-padded carpet down a long hall. I would have expected them closer to the elevator. I'm sure some are - but a long, carpeted corridor could be a challenge if you are not in an electric device.
Secondly, I didn't care about not having a bathtub - but I didn't realize that nearly ALL of the closet / storage space was used for the handicap modifications. We had 4 people and enough luggage to get through a week-long cruise without doing laundry and no place to store hardly anything. The closet by the door and "half occupied" by a vacuum cleaner, folded-up baby-bed, half-ironing board and iron. Pretty limited storage.
It wasn't going to work for us - so, back to the desk - to accept the LAST room on a long hall, with the "dumpster view". We actually had the room across the hall during our first stay, and thought I'd learned my lesson. I guess I got too comfortable with my "room by the elevator" preferences and got careless with reservation checking.
Random thoughts how what to do about the "dumpster view" rooms:
(1) Provide a "point rebate" to people who accept these rooms - a unilateral (not use year bound) "credit" to anyone who accepts them. Clearly they have the computing capability to categorize room inventory - if the front desk offers this room early in the check-in day (and they always will....), then at least give them the bargaining chip of offsetting the view with something other than an apology. Apologies never change the view.
(2) Provide a "cover" for this "stage." Find a way!
(3) Build a small parking lot adjacent to the "end of the long hall" room (say, the last 4 rooms at the end of each hall) that is accessible only to those rooms via card key. I wouldn't mind being at the end of the hall, if it meant SOME advantage, like having easy access to my car. There is enough room there for a small parking lot....
If any of you have ideas, post them here. I will be bundling all suggestions to guest communications in a couple of weeks.