(CLOSED) Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE and VILLAS INFORMATION THREAD ~2014~

[WDWKOOK]

Silly question of the day.

We will be staying at WL next week. I know you can buy laundry soap from a vending machine near the laundry machines but does anyone know what brands are available?

DS has eczema, so I am wondering if I should bother packing his hypoallergenic baby laundry detergent. I'd rather not (travelling via airplane).

Any insight on laundry soap brands would be appreciated.

Looks like Tide and that's not a silly question! (Otherwise, I look silly having taken these photos)

 

[The Librarian]

Looks like Tide and that's not a silly question! (Otherwise, I look silly having taken these photos)

Thank you for your not so silly photos.

Though, it would be sort of funny to see someone taking pictures of the laundry detergent vending machine. My line to strangers for stuff like that is often "I'm from Canada"

 

[Starwind]

We're back from our mid-November stay at WL and I though I'd post some info about it.

We were never advised by Disney that the pool would be closed, but we learned about it through this forum and another. So I called Disney's Guest Services to express my displeasure at the closure, but mroe than that, about not being told about it. We were offered to be moved to another (specific resort and room type) Deluxe resort at no extra cost, or >$50 per night to stay at WL. We chose to stay at WL, and we are glad we did.

Our room was woods view. Although we had asked for an upper room floor in the north wing (where we have stayed before), we were initially assigned a ground floor room in the south wing, overlooking the Villas building. because I do not like ground floor rooms at any hotel for security reasons, we asked if there were non-ground floor rooms available. we were switched to a second floor room in the same wing.

Initially we were disappointed by the room location, but we came to love it. enough that in future stays at WL that is where we will ask to be assigned.

The room was hand for accessing everything -- buses, Roaring Forks, lobby, Mercantile. I had a scooter for the first time, and it was easy to navigate to the room, and I enjoyed not having to do elevators (I got enough of them at Beach Club at the end of our WDW visit) Whether using the scooter or walking, the location worked well for us, the view of the trees with a bit of buildings through them was fine, and we were generally happy.

One thing we did not like, and I will be writing a complaint to Disney about, is the location of the smoking area not too far outside the doors that go towards the buses. It is way too close to the building. The smoke comes into the building and the whole inside hallway there, often all the way up to the Conceirge desk, is smoky most of the time. This is a problem when one is allergic/sensitive to such smoke.

The construction was interesting. During our actual stay at WL the fences were all still up. But we returned after our cruise during our Beach club stay to see the Christmas decorations (they went up nearly at the end of our BC stay, the end of the trip -- we were not pleased with them going up so late this year; BC's were not even up at ALL during our stay, going up the 25th).

During the decorations visit, the fences were mostly down and it was fascinating to watch the work still being done. For example, a log structure being built.

The scaffolding up against the bear face rooms wall had a type of netting or mesh cover on the outside of it, the whole height of the scaffolding, which bascially covered that side of the building.

The decorations were great and we took lots of pictures Very glad we made the visit back to see them. Wish they had been up when we were actually staying there.

-SW

 

[Starwind]

Silly question of the day.

We will be staying at WL next week. I know you can buy laundry soap from a vending machine near the laundry machines but does anyone know what brands are available?

DS has eczema, so I am wondering if I should bother packing his hypoallergenic baby laundry detergent. I'd rather not (travelling via airplane).

Any insight on laundry soap brands would be appreciated.

The laundry detergent in the machines is Tide. Normal Tide, not even a "fragrance and dye free" option. For me this is not an option, as I react even to the tide Free of perfumes and dyes.

My solution was to buy a bottle of All Free and Clear liquid from Garden Grocer. We did a number of loads of laundry at WL, on the cruise, and at BC. At the end of the trip, I left the mostly full container in the BC laundry room with a "Free to Good Home" note. Hopefully someone was able to make use of it.

In the past on various trips I have brought All Free & Clear pods, or transferred some of the detergent into leak proof travel containers. All three methods have their pros and cons.

-SW

 

[WDWKOOK]

Thank you for your not so silly photos.

Though, it would be sort of funny to see someone taking pictures of the laundry detergent vending machine. My line to strangers for stuff like that is often "I'm from Canada"

Can I borrow that one? Of course, I won't be from the great province of Ontario

I got "caught" this summer taking a photo of the poolside menus at BWI. The menus were piled up at the bar where everyone was seated. As I was taking photos, a kind family passed to me the drink menu and remarked that I must be taking these photos for the DISboards. Maybe next time I'll just say, "No, actually I'm Canadian!"

We're back from our mid-November stay at WL and I though I'd post some info about it.

We were never advised by Disney that the pool would be closed, but we learned about it through this forum and another. So I called Disney's Guest Services to express my displeasure at the closure, but mroe than that, about not being told about it. We were offered to be moved to another (specific resort and room type) Deluxe resort at no extra cost, or >$50 per night to stay at WL. We chose to stay at WL, and we are glad we did.

Our room was woods view. Although we had asked for an upper room floor in the north wing (where we have stayed before), we were initially assigned a ground floor room in the south wing, overlooking the Villas building. because I do not like ground floor rooms at any hotel for security reasons, we asked if there were non-ground floor rooms available. we were switched to a second floor room in the same wing.

Initially we were disappointed by the room location, but we came to love it. enough that in future stays at WL that is where we will ask to be assigned.

The room was hand for accessing everything -- buses, Roaring Forks, lobby, Mercantile. I had a scooter for the first time, and it was easy to navigate to the room, and I enjoyed not having to do elevators (I got enough of them at Beach Club at the end of our WDW visit) Whether using the scooter or walking, the location worked well for us, the view of the trees with a bit of buildings through them was fine, and we were generally happy.

One thing we did not like, and I will be writing a complaint to Disney about, is the location of the smoking area not too far outside the doors that go towards the buses. It is way too close to the building. The smoke comes into the building and the whole inside hallway there, often all the way up to the Conceirge desk, is smoky most of the time. This is a problem when one is allergic/sensitive to such smoke.

The construction was interesting. During our actual stay at WL the fences were all still up. But we returned after our cruise during our Beach club stay to see the Christmas decorations (they went up nearly at the end of our BC stay, the end of the trip -- we were not pleased with them going up so late this year; BC's were not even up at ALL during our stay, going up the 25th).

During the decorations visit, the fences were mostly down and it was fascinating to watch the work still being done. For example, a log structure being built.

The scaffolding up against the bear face rooms wall had a type of netting or mesh cover on the outside of it, the whole height of the scaffolding, which bascially covered that side of the building.

The decorations were great and we took lots of pictures Very glad we made the visit back to see them. Wish they had been up when we were actually staying there.

-SW

Thank you for posting your TR, SW! It's great that you didn't end up regretting not changing to another resort. Let us know if you get a response from Guest Communications Re. the DSA location right next to the arcade. I'm curious what they'll say since I'm sure yours won't be the first complaint about that DSA location.

 

[addiesmom]

While I was walking outside at the Lodge today, I ran into a super nice gentleman that said he was part of team managing the pool project. He talked about how the weather delayed things. He said official date is 12/3 but they are actually trying to open Monday. Thought I'd share. He stressed they are trying very hard for Monday and it looks like it will happen. I do wish we hadn't paid for upgrade to courtyard as we are right by scaffolding in 4113. Never heard noise from that work or the pool. Overall we've had an amazing stay! Sadly we leave tomorrow, but thankfully we have our June trip to finish planning and help us through our Disney withdrawals. Lol.

 

[tabbibus]

Just checked in. Got the BB tickets but no 50 dollar credit. Should I make a fuss?

 

[MaggiesMomNJ]

Thanks for the update... I just called to add "away from DSA" to ressie and asked about the pool. They did not have a date which wasn't good but your news sounds promising!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Just checked in. Got the BB tickets but no 50 dollar credit. Should I make a fuss?

Yes, you should go back to ask for the $50 credit. Since the pool was supposed to be finished and it isn't, then you should have no trouble getting $50 per night.
Our daughter had to go back and ask for the additional credit because they had only given it to her for her first night instead of all three of them.

Our room was woods view. Although we had asked for an upper room floor in the north wing (where we have stayed before), we were initially assigned a ground floor room in the south wing, overlooking the Villas building. because I do not like ground floor rooms at any hotel for security reasons, we asked if there were non-ground floor rooms available. we were switched to a second floor room in the same wing.

Initially we were disappointed by the room location, but we came to love it. enough that in future stays at WL that is where we will ask to be assigned.
-SW

We had a woods view room on the third floor in this section and just like you, were disappointed at first then came to love it. The room as very quiet and we loved how close it was to everything. This last trip we had another third floor room in this same section, except it was courtyard view instead of woods view, and it was a great location.

 

[bookgirl]

While I was walking outside at the Lodge today, I ran into a super nice gentleman that said he was part of team managing the pool project. He talked about how the weather delayed things. He said official date is 12/3 but they are actually trying to open Monday. Thought I'd share. He stressed they are trying very hard for Monday and it looks like it will happen. I do wish we hadn't paid for upgrade to courtyard as we are right by scaffolding in 4113. Never heard noise from that work or the pool. Overall we've had an amazing stay! Sadly we leave tomorrow, but thankfully we have our June trip to finish planning and help us through our Disney withdrawals. Lol.

Hey you are in the room we stayed in Halloween week. Loved that room.

 

[PlutosBone17]

Just checked in. Got the BB tickets but no 50 dollar credit. Should I make a fuss?

After going back and forth on it all day I went back and asked for the $50 credit for each night of the stay. They did give it to me although it was a little awkward. We have young children and planned on spending time at the resort to use the splash pad. I figured if they put a date online, that meant it was worst case scenario. If we were so exhausted from spending the past 4 nights in 4 different hotels, we would have switched resorts over having a credit. Love the resort but don't vacation much and was looking for entertainment for the kids and a stress free environment (not hearing the beeping of construction equipment at 10:20pm).

 

[PlutosBone17]

I could currently play catch with the guy on the man-lift. I do all the vacation planning and my wife is currently questioning my ability to make plans in the future!

 

[Violet Parr]

We are staying in a standard view on Dec. 3. We've always stayed in the villas, but never the main lodge. I was going to switch to a courty ard view but after hearing about the scaffolding, I'm not so sure we would want to do that.

I was going to switch to a studio villa, but they are all booked up now.

SO, I have requested a 5th floor room. Was that a good request to submit? I really don't want to face construction. I'm keeping an eye on the studios at the villas, but I doubt something will come up this late in the game.

What areas of the resort are the standard view rooms? We probably won't spend much time in the room. We love the lobby and bar so much, we'd likely be there most of the time.

We also LOOOOVE the villas lobby. Are we allowed to use that as guests of the main lodge?

Thanks

VP

 

[Syndrome]

We also LOOOOVE the villas lobby. Are we allowed to use that as guests of the main lodge?

Thanks

VP

OK, SHHHHH we are going to have to keep that on the down low !

We will be in a VWL studio in a couple of days and also LOVE the villas lobby.

BTW, we have been looking for MONTHS for some extra days to show up for a VWL studio to extend our stay ..........never happened, even with a waitlist . We will also be at Old Key West, and Bay Lake Tower now.......but really wishing we could have extended our time at WL .
It is SO hard to get in at VWL in December ...........we made our reservation 11 months in advance !

 

[Violet Parr]

OK, SHHHHH we are going to have to keep that on the down low !

We will be in a VWL studio in a couple of days and also LOVE the villas lobby.

BTW, we have been looking for MONTHS for some extra days to show up for a VWL studio to extend our stay ..........never happened, even with a waitlist . We will also be at Old Key West, and Bay Lake Tower now.......but really wishing we could have extended our time at WL .
It is SO hard to get in at VWL in December ...........we made our reservation 11 months in advance !

There were studios via the regular room stock just yesterday (there are still 1 bedrooms available via regular room stock right now) but I missed those. We've always rented points at VWL, and we're renting points at BLT for the first couple of days of our trip. This is just a quickie kid-free trip though, so for WL we are staying at rack rates for the first time. Our last VWL trip was 9 nights last December and we booked it in January of 2012, and we had to waitlist a few nights for a few months. It's crazy!

VP

 

[mrsap]

Hey guys! Just woke up here at AoA, going to get my stuff together so we can move over to WL in a couple hours!!!!! I think I'm most looking forward to walking into the front door and seeing that beautiful tree!!!!!! We are going to make it a resort day and just hang out and enjoy all of its amenities and then tonight we are heading over to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party! I'm truly looking forward to spending the next week at the Lodge!!!

Thank you again to everyone who has been SO helpful on this board! Kook you are great! I'll post more when I have some time!

 

[elaw]

 

[patty57]

elaw, you're there already? How is everything looking?

Now, I see your next two pictures. Is the construction just around the splash pad?

 

[mom2william]

Checked in yesterday. Was given 100$ credit because of construction. We have a courtyard view. Can see creek and some pool and it's really not that bad. Weather is perfect! It would be great if they'd open pool monday. When we returned home last night around 10, they were working on pool. I was told hotel is sold out so its busy, but wonderful! The Christmas decorations are gorgeous! So glad we picked this place. Room was very clean and front desk staff was very good.

 

[tabbibus]

Plutosbone, did you talk to concierge or someone else ?