Wilderness Lodge Feature Pool Closure

[Sparkle81]

Out of interest, is there a link anywhere to it being mentioned on the official website? Would just like to have it handy to strengthen my bargaining position with the TA if necessary

 

[Ducatipete]

Forget the link, virgin have been officially informed of the work now so they know. The letters are going out today apparently but the man who is Mr Disney at Virgin is off until Monday....If you are not with Virgin I would imagine every TA has been told but apparently if they go on the system to make a booking now the pool refurb is mentioned when Wilderness is chosen as a resort destination so tell them that.

 

[SpaceMountainUK]

When are Disney exactly planning to put this officially on their website? I was going to book WL for mid-sept last week luckily we've yet to book. No where on their site does it mention the pool closure which considering its been confirmed everywhere else the least they could do is inform people who are making new bookings!.....on the Polynesian resort page it gives notice of resort renovations, for a pool as integral to the resort experience as the WL they should be warning any future guests before people book their vacations.

 

[Disneykidder]

Whew...we are visiting there in July and I was afraid it would be during our trip!

 

[ninjaprincesst]

Oh crap I just booked a room at WL last week not knowing any of this............My kids use the pool for sure. #$%^, this is going to screw things up a bit. I should at least get a bigger room discount. I don't know what we will do.

They do have a quiet pool you can use by the villas .

 

[ninjaprincesst]

Been there done that. In fact I go over there because the hot tubs are usually empty.

First problem is work on the pool screws up the whole view.

Second I'm sure some how construction will make it hard for me to get around the area, to the boats etc.

Three the kids like the slide. I guess we can boat over to the Contemporary, how about access to the BLT pool area??? Doubt BLT.

Four is they aren't dropping the room rate for me, will I have to listen to jack hammers in the background??? I would love a vacation with that beeping sound as various equipment back up. If they charge full rates then I should get a full hotel not one in pieces. Whack a $100 off the rooms and I'll be fine with that.

It stinks I agree, thought about trying to switch, but I don't want to lose my free dining and about the only other deluxe I can afford is AKL and while the savannah view would be great the location, and fact that buses are the only transportation stinks.

 

[Mom@disney]

Not happy about this info, we finally saved up enough money to stay at this particular resort and we have to deal with a pool closure.

 

[HotelAttorney]

We ended up moving to the GF. My wife was not at all happy that we had to give up our club access and forego our planned stay at WL. I just couldn't get past the idea of having a 3 year old and 1 year old at WDW without true access to a pool.

 

[Tuvalu]

WL is informing guests about the pool closure. This arrived in today's mail:

 

[BigTxEars]

Pool refurbs suck as do all refurbs. I know they are needed and have to happen at some point which will screw up somebodies trip no matter when they occur but they suck none the less.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Has anyone confirmed the addition of one of those kiddie spray parks? My boys would love that...they seem to be adding them with all of the recent major pool refurbs.

 

[jstaley]

What is extremely upsetting to me is the fact that this has most likely been known for months and months. Instead of doing the right thing and let us know before we booked they robed us of making an educated decision. My family booked an 8k vacation in a two room villa. Now with only 75 days left to go they have nothing left to switch us to. After 12 vacations to that place I can't believe this is how they are treating us.

 

[jstaley]

Pool refurbs suck as do all refurbs. I know they are needed and have to happen at some point which will screw up somebodies trip no matter when they occur but they suck none the less.

But it is BS that they did not let us know before we booked or at least time to book something else. My trip is in 75 days and there are no villas available.

 

[BigTxEars]

But it is BS that they did not let us know before we booked or at least time to book something else. My trip is in 75 days and there are no villas available.

No doubt, communication could be much better. Not sure how far out they finalize plan for these refurbs but I would guess 4-6 months at least.

 

[ToTBellHop]

No doubt, communication could be much better. Not sure how far out they finalize plan these refurbs but I would guess 4-6 months at least.

Yes. Unless it is emergency work(and I imagine not), they have known for awhile.

 

[Sparkle81]

Forget the link, virgin have been officially informed of the work now so they know. The letters are going out today apparently but the man who is Mr Disney at Virgin is off until Monday....If you are not with Virgin I would imagine every TA has been told but apparently if they go on the system to make a booking now the pool refurb is mentioned when Wilderness is chosen as a resort destination so tell them that.

Did you get anywhere changing your resort in the end? We finally switched yesterday to Beach Club, and our free dining plan is being honoured too

 

[Ducatipete]

Well, it's taken ages to sort it out with lots of wrangling between us & Disney & my tour operator but we have finally sorted out this situation. We have been relocated to another deluxe resort with no building work happening anywhere in sight. It was stressful at times & we had to really put the pressure on our tour operator. I will say that every time we contacted Disney directly they were incredibly helpful and kept us up to date with the official line that they were taking with regard to this whole situation. All I will say is that if you draw a blank with your travel company then contact Disney customer service directly & they will tell you what can be done through your booking agent. We have kept our dining plan, our disney dollars etc, we have exactly the same as per our original booking apart from the resort we are staying at. I am not at liberty to say where we are going but we weren't asked for any more money & we didn't get a refund either. We probably did get dealt with in a different way to most due to an earlier mix up with our booking which again took some time to resolve back in January, that was actually more stressful than this as it would have ended up with us not going away at all. I will help any of you in any way I can if required by answering questions etc. good Luck.

 

[Ducatipete]

.....Oh and just to note, it was very helpful to have a client and family friend Francesca advise us, she has just embarked on the final stage of her journey to become a Barrister which will be this time next year. She has advised us what to say & when, & how to approach this whole situation from a legal standpoint. Thanks Frankie!

 

[Mom@disney]

Well, it's taken ages to sort it out with lots of wrangling between us & Disney & my tour operator but we have finally sorted out this situation. We have been relocated to another deluxe resort with no building work happening anywhere in sight. It was stressful at times & we had to really put the pressure on our tour operator. I will say that every time we contacted Disney directly they were incredibly helpful and kept us up to date with the official line that they were taking with regard to this whole situation. All I will say is that if you draw a blank with your travel company then contact Disney customer service directly & they will tell you what can be done through your booking agent. We have kept our dining plan, our disney dollars etc, we have exactly the same as per our original booking apart from the resort we are staying at. I am not at liberty to say where we are going but we weren't asked for any more money & we didn't get a refund either. We probably did get dealt with in a different way to most due to an earlier mix up with our booking which again took some time to resolve back in January, that was actually more stressful than this as it would have ended up with us not going away at all. I will help any of you in any way I can if required by answering questions etc. good Luck.

That is so great that you were able to resolve this. I didn't get anywhere with Disney when I called. They said I didn't have any other choice. Please, is their any advise you can me. We have been saving up for this deluxe resort for a long time...

 

[Ducatipete]

Did you book with Disney or a booking agent? We hassled both disney & our tour operator every day, we kept on at them because we knew WL with no pool would ruin it for us.....