Wilderness Lodge Questions

[sbkline]

I was initially booked for 10 nights at Carribbean Beach, but with this new discount released on Monday, I had the opportunity to upgrade to the Wilderness Lodge for only $506 more than CBR was going to cost me. That's been one of my dream resorts to stay at, so needless to say, I'm very excited. I had some questions, though.

I read in the Unofficial Guide that "most" rooms have a balcony. I requested the cheapest level of room, so do those rooms all not have a balcony? Or do some have one and some not? Is it just hit or miss then on whether I get a room with a balcony? What about the rooms in the main building where the lobby is? Are those rooms all automatically "preferred" rooms, since they are in the main building?

We like to do surrey bike rides. Does WL offer that, or do we have to go to Ft Wilderness?

We have gone to WL before to hop the boat to Ft Wilderness, but what about going to the Magic Kigndom? Does the boat go directly from WL to MK? Or does it stop at the other resorts first? What about when we visit the monorail resorts for supper? We plan to eat a meal at each of the monorail resorts at some point. Do boats go directly from WL to the resorts, or do they just go to the Magic Kingdom, and then hop the monorail to the resorts?

That's all the questions I can think of for now. I'll post any others as I think about them.

 

[becanya]

Congrats on the stay at the WL...it's our favorite to the extent that we bought our DVC there. We have always stayed in the woods view rooms, and we have always had a balcony. My suggestion is to ask for woods view as high as possible...this year we were on the 6th floor and had a perfect view of the castle from our window! Great for fireworks viewing.

I believe the boat to MK goes straight there...It seems like I read somewhere on here that they recently added one for Fort Wilderness on its own. This year on our trip each time we got on the MK boat it went straight to the park and then straight home.

 

[sbkline]

Congrats on the stay at the WL...it's our favorite to the extent that we bought our DVC there. We have always stayed in the woods view rooms, and we have always had a balcony. My suggestion is to ask for woods view as high as possible...this year we were on the 6th floor and had a perfect view of the castle from our window! Great for fireworks viewing.

I believe the boat to MK goes straight there...It seems like I read somewhere on here that they recently added one for Fort Wilderness on its own. This year on our trip each time we got on the MK boat it went straight to the park and then straight home.

Thanks for the reply. So, is the woods view the cheapest possible view? I would really prefer a balcony, but when it comes down to it, I'm spending enough to be at WDW, and enough to be at a Deluxe Resort on top of that, so I don't want to spend any extra on a preferred room. :lol:

 

[bostondrtdog]

Great choice you will love the WL. Just spent a week there is september. There are two sides on the boat ramp. The boat on the left side will take you to directly to the Magic Kindgdom. Its about a 10 minute ride and it def beats taking the bus! The boat on the right will take you to the Contemporary or Fort Wilderness.

 

[becanya]

Thanks for the reply. So, is the woods view the cheapest possible view? I would really prefer a balcony, but when it comes down to it, I'm spending enough to be at WDW, and enough to be at a Deluxe Resort on top of that, so I don't want to spend any extra on a preferred room. :lol:

Yeah, woods view is the bottom of the barrel...but really nice! Also, if you get on the 6th floor woods view, you should have Livis as your mousekeeper. She is so sweet. Talked to us, made the kids super elaborate animals every morning...I'm talking a Dalmation with spots all over it. So cute. She really made our experience that much better.

 

[bostondrtdog]

The cheapest room would be the "parking lot" view, the woods view is a step up from that and is def worth it. If you can get a room facing the "otter pond" you will be able to see some of the fireworks.

 

[sbkline]

Yeah, woods view is the bottom of the barrel...but really nice! Also, if you get on the 6th floor woods view, you should have Livis as your mousekeeper. She is so sweet. Talked to us, made the kids super elaborate animals every morning...I'm talking a Dalmation with spots all over it. So cute. She really made our experience that much better.

The cheapest room would be the "parking lot" view, the woods view is a step up from that and is def worth it. If you can get a room facing the "otter pond" you will be able to see some of the fireworks.

So regardless of which level is the very cheapest, I guess my question centers around what it means when it says that "most" rooms have balconies. This means some don't. So is it just the rooms on the ground floor that don't have a balcony, and all the ones on the 2nd on up, do? Or are there certain rooms that don't face outside and therefore can't have a balcony? Can having a balcony room be consistent with having the cheapest level of room?

 

[becanya]

So regardless of which level is the very cheapest, I guess my question centers around what it means when it says that "most" rooms have balconies. This means some don't. So is it just the rooms on the ground floor that don't have a balcony, and all the ones on the 2nd on up, do? Or are there certain rooms that don't face outside and therefore can't have a balcony? Are there balcony rooms even on the cheapest possible level of room, whether that is a parking lot view or a woods view?

Sorry I gave you bad advice on the cheapest rooms...I guess the woods view are the cheapest rooms with bunk beds, which was a must for us.

 

[sbkline]

Sorry I gave you bad advice on the cheapest rooms...I guess the woods view are the cheapest rooms with bunk beds, which was a must for us.

No problem. :wave:

 

[voodoo321]

They do indeed rent surrey bikes and there is a nice trail to ride them on that takes you to FW.

 

[Rob562]

All of the Standard View rooms are right off the lobby or down the first section of the left-hand (Whispering Canyon side) wing. They overlook the parking lot or the delivery/service area.Everything else farther back from the lobby would have a Woods or Courtyard view.

The balcony thing might be that some balconies are smaller than others (like the "standing balconies" you sometimes see at the Yacht & Beach), or that the first-floor rooms have patios and not balconies.

-Rob

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We are checking into WL for the first time on Tues and staying in a standard room. Our travel agent put in a request for us so that we're not staying in one of the rooms directly over Whispering Canyon since I've heard those rooms can get loud.

I don't know if this is correct, but one person explained the balcony thing to me.... they said that some people don't consider the "balcony" space on the first floor rooms as true balconies (i.e. more of a patio) so Disney put the "most" in there to allow for the variance. I don't know if this is right, but considering how insane some people can be (i.e. I could just hear someone griping b/c they were expecting a true balcony on an upper floor room and ended up with more of a patio)- it seems like a reasonable explanation.

 

[maelstrom]

Every room has a balcony, except for the first floor which has a patio. None of the rooms just have windows with no sliding door.

I'd upgrade to woods view and request a view of the otter pond. You'd be able to see the castle, fireworks, water pageant, etc.

 

[becanya]

Livis all the way! She is our favorite Mousekeeper, and has taken care of us since our Honeymoon in 2005 !

More details: if you want Livis, ask for anything between 6004 - 6018, and 6022. Livis normally doesn't take care of the Queen+1 Bunk rooms... just the duel Queens in that area. Be sure to tell her Dean & Sandy said hi .

We were in a room with queen + bunks and she was our mousekeeper in October. Could have just been something different about that week. She made the stay so much more magical. This is what I love about Disney...such attention to every little detail!

 

[Mukta]

[FONT=verdana, arial][SIZE=-1]http://allears.net/acc/faq_wl.htm[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial][SIZE=-1][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial][SIZE=-1]What types of recreational options do I have? [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial][SIZE=-1]
You can swim in the pool or sun bathe on the sunny beach of Bay Lake. There is a 3/4 mile wooded path for walking, jogging or biking from WL to Fort Wilderness. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial][SIZE=-1]Teton Boat and Bike Rentals is open from 8am to 5pm for Bikes and Surrey Bikes and 10am to 5pm for Boats. Lockers are Available at the Marina, $1 per rental. Disney Vacation Club Members be sure to show your ID for a 10% discount. Other discounts may be available for Annual Passholders -- just ask.[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]When you check in, you'll be given an Activities Calendar for the week. [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial][SIZE=-1]Arcade - located near the Mercantile store.[/SIZE][/FONT]
​

 

[heartodisney]

We will be staying at WL next year, in the "Otter Pond view", do these rooms have the Queen + bunkbed on this area? My DD will be four at this time and I have already have booked, but not sure yet where we will be and there has been a nice disscussion on this area.

 

[sbkline]

Just as an update, I called the other day and asked which rooms have balconies. The answer was that all rooms have balconies except for the rooms on the ground floor, which would be a patio, I guess. I put in a request for the 8th floor, since I have always liked being higher up and my son loves elevators.

 

[devoy1701]

Just as an update, I called the other day and asked which rooms have balconies. The answer was that all rooms have balconies except for the rooms on the ground floor, which would be a patio, I guess. I put in a request for the 8th floor, since I have always liked being higher up and my son loves elevators.

the wilderness lodge only has 7 floors though...

 

[DisneyJoe]

the wilderness lodge only has 7 floors though...

and the 7th floor is the concierge floor.

 

[devoy1701]

Just as an update, I called the other day and asked which rooms have balconies. The answer was that all rooms have balconies except for the rooms on the ground floor, which would be a patio, I guess. I put in a request for the 8th floor, since I have always liked being higher up and my son loves elevators.

the wilderness lodge only has 7 floors though...

and the 7th floor is the concierge floor.

correct. so the highest that they can actually possibly be is the 6th floor if they are paying the rate of a standard room. I guess I'm not actually suprised that the Reservation line CM put a note on the reservation for the 8th floor because they probably have no idea of the setup of the actual hotel since the reservation CMs don't book the actual rooms. But I just don't want the OP to think he's going to be on the 8th floor (since there is no 8th floor) or even the 7th (because that's concierge) just because he put the note on there! I don't want there to be any disappointments! :wave: