News AC Outage at Disney's Wilderness Lodge Impacts Rooms, Lobby, and Dining - June 2026

[monothingie]

Several people I've talked to on social media have had different experiences...

And they were not positive.

The words used to me were uninformed and unhelpful.

The front line CM were given certain parameters to operate by which has lead to a lot of unhappy guests.

 

[Fox&Hound]

These poor guests. I was there two weeks ago and it was hot. Now with increased temps and no AC! That stinks….

 

[asianway]

And they were not positive.

The words used to me were uninformed and unhelpful.

The front line CM were given certain parameters to operate by which has lead to a lot of unhappy guests.

Days like this are when it becomes apparent for a lot of people the emperor has no clothes

 

[Br0ckford]

These poor guests. I was there two weeks ago and it was hot. Now with increased temps and no AC! That stinks….

I live 20 minutes away and it's been hot hot. I can take the heat but when I'm inside I want cool. I can't imagine these poor guests having to deal with this while trying to enjoy vacation. I feel for them.

 

[zulemara]

seems they are doing just the bare minimum to placate people instead of actually make them happy.

 

[heapster411]

It surprises me that a company as large as WDWC would not plan some redundancy in their system. I work in a mid size convention center and I have ways to valve a secondary chiller into the main system if the main goes down ( maintenance, parts or electrical failure, or whatever). In an area that is prone to hurricanes; as ours is, we have access to temporary truck mounted chillers that can be connected to chill down the water to supply the system. Won't freeze you out, but make it comfortable till repairs are made.

 

[Br0ckford]

It surprises me that a company as large as WDWC would not plan some redundancy in their system. I work in a mid size convention center and I have ways to valve a secondary chiller into the main system if the main goes down ( maintenance, parts or electrical failure, or whatever). In an area that is prone to hurricanes; as ours is, we have access to temporary truck mounted chillers that can be connected to chill down the water to supply the system. Won't freeze you out, but make it comfortable till repairs are made.

Yes, but can you offer your guests a bottle of Dasani and a Mickey pretzel....I mean come on

 

[monothingie]

It surprises me that a company as large as WDWC would not plan some redundancy in their system. I work in a mid size convention center and I have ways to valve a secondary chiller into the main system if the main goes down ( maintenance, parts or electrical failure, or whatever). In an area that is prone to hurricanes; as ours is, we have access to temporary truck mounted chillers that can be connected to chill down the water to supply the system. Won't freeze you out, but make it comfortable till repairs are made.

Just pure speculation, there appeared to be multiple chillers that serve WL and they can probably run with one down.

You can get portable chillers delivered pretty quickly they’re mounted on trucks and fully mobile. They can runoff portable generators and all you’d have to do is pipe into the existing system..

Even a broken, chilled water pipe, can be routed above ground with temporary piping.

All these issues are not uncommon, but It’s not an instantaneous fix, and it shouldn’t take more than a day or two.

If this is going on for a third or fourth day, there’s something much more serious going on.

 

[wdwmagic]

Reports this morning seem to suggest the situation is improving.

 

[LAKid53]

Marriott and Hilton, never mind Rosen or other more luxury chains, would probably shut the place down until a fix and relocate guests to other hotels (even not in their brand or ownership group). At their cost. Not the guest's. That is almost certainly a policy that holds in both corporate and franchised hotels, at least any I've ever heard of outside Disney. A hotel cannot run, in Florida, without AC safely.

Guests are being relocated to Coronado Springs, according to someone who's been moved.

And yes, they are being compensated.

 

[LAKid53]

Poor cast members in their costumes with pants and long sleeved shirts.

I have a friend who's a character handler. With the triple digit heat in Central Florida right now, I hope she's doing okay.

 

[LAKid53]

This is why staying at All Stars Sports is vastly superior than WL or any deluxe. At a value resort, every room has their own loud AC (heat pump). It's for this reason I'll always chose a value resort!!1!1

Admit it, you're just cheap....

 

[Ayla]

More direct information is that they are offering guests who have not checked in full refunds for their WL booking, and to relocate them to a guaranteed room at AOA, Caribbean, or Coronado...but at full rack rate.

Current guests that stay are getting their rooms compd. Guests that relocate will not have to pay any changes if they are moved into a more expensive accommodation, but if they are downgraded to a moderate or value they have to deal with guest services after the fact.

My understanding is that it is a mess and not being handled well.

Shocking. /s

 

[asianway]

I have a friend who's a character handler. With the triple digit heat in Central Florida right now, I hope she's doing okay.

Don’t worry they don’t work that hard

 

[Ayla]

These poor guests. I was there two weeks ago and it was hot. Now with increased temps and no AC! That stinks….

Literally.

 

[LAKid53]

Don’t worry they don’t work that hard

What a....

 

[asianway]

What a....

You want to feel sorry for the performers perfectly understandable. But your character attendant positions are wildly overstaffed and frequently have access to more air conditioned breakers than your typical ops person in the parks.

 

[castlecake2.0]

You want to feel sorry for the performers perfectly understandable. But your character attendant positions are wildly overstaffed and frequently have access to more air conditioned breakers than your typical ops person in the parks.

Can confirm. They definitely are on a whole other level than front line hosts, and they act like it too.

 

[JoeCamel]

Just pure speculation, there appeared to be multiple chillers that serve WL and they can probably run with one down.

You can get portable chillers delivered pretty quickly they’re mounted on trucks and fully mobile. They can runoff portable generators and all you’d have to do is pipe into the existing system..

Even a broken, chilled water pipe, can be routed above ground with temporary piping.

All these issues are not uncommon, but It’s not an instantaneous fix, and it shouldn’t take more than a day or two.

If this is going on for a third or fourth day, there’s something much more serious going on.

But if you are trying to avoid that emergency call out charge and paying triple time for holiday work it may take a bit longer.....

 

[Goofyernmost]

Look I can understand things like insufficient staffing, lightbulbs out and rooms not serviced daily as points of contention, however, some of the just plain unreal statements by some people that still think that Disney has actual Pixie Dust that it can sprinkle on and problem and have it taken care of immediately is just plan foolish. Machinery breaks, all the regular maintenance in the world does not stop mechanical things from breaking down especially when they in a high stress situation.

It is easy for us to sit here in our AC homes and be negative about a situation that we are not currently experiencing or the magnitude of the problem that must be dealt with in this case. I myself was caught in one of the upper floors of a 20 story hotel in Miami, in July, when the AC went off. That was almost 30 years ago, but heat wasn't any cooler back then. There was no place for any of us to go so we just had to make the best of it. We didn't blame the management for a midsummer AC breakdown and we didn't even get a discount because it was thought of as an act of god.

My point is that crap happens and sometimes there is no one to blame for any of it. But it appears like Disney, in this case, is doing everything that is possible to not only fix the problem but to make it right for the guest. So instead of making judgement about a situation we are not currently directly involved in, perhaps we should just be happy that we are not having the same bad luck.