Wilderness Lodge Villas vs. Wilderness Lodge questions

mrtoad

mrtoad

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hi,

Our upcoming trip is nearly here and had some questions for anybody about the WL villas. We have stayed at the WL 2 times, but not in many years due to cost. We just cannot afford it and only stayed those 2 times due to a great deal we had gotten. We usually stay at Port Orleans either Riverside or FQ. This trip however we are staying the WL villas as a friend of ours sold us points from their timeshare and so we got it for considerably cheaper than staying at POR.

So onto the questions...

For the Villas, do you still feel like you are part of the lodge or is far off? It is hard to tell from the maps as I don't know if they are scale. We stayed once at Fort Wilderness in one of the cabins and I did not like it as I felt very far removed and did not feel like Disney to me.

Also for laundry facilities. How far are they from the villas? Looks like they are only in the lodge is that correct?

Do the rooms get cleaned and beds made the same as at the WL? I am assuming so but never have stayed in one of the vacation homes so not sure.

Any other info you feel would be helpful would be appreciated as well.

Thank you in advance!
Mike
 
LuvtheGoof

LuvtheGoof

Grill Master
Premium Member
mrtoad said:
Hi,

So onto the questions...

For the Villas, do you still feel like you are part of the lodge or is far off? It is hard to tell from the maps as I don't know if they are scale. We stayed once at Fort Wilderness in one of the cabins and I did not like it as I felt very far removed and did not feel like Disney to me.

Also for laundry facilities. How far are they from the villas? Looks like they are only in the lodge is that correct?

Do the rooms get cleaned and beds made the same as at the WL? I am assuming so but never have stayed in one of the vacation homes so not sure.

Any other info you feel would be helpful would be appreciated as well.

Thank you in advance!
Mike
Click to expand...
It isn't a long walk. Only a few minutes.
Laundry room is on the first floor of the villas near the elevators
Since you are renting points, you are staying as DVC. If staying 7 days or less, you will get Trash and Towel service on day 4. If you are staying longer, you would get a full cleaning on day 4, and Trash and Towel on day 8. You will not get daily cleaning or any kind of turn-down service. You can purchase additional Trash and Towel or full cleaning services from the front desk.
 
mrtoad

mrtoad

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
thank you for the information. Do you know what the extra trash and towel service costs? Are we allowed to just go and request some fresh towels at the front desk or is there a cost for that too? For the pool, we can use the main pool at the lodge correct? Are there towels at the pool for when swimming still or do you need to use the ones in your room?

Thanks!
 
Weather_Lady

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
The Villas are "attached" to the Wilderness Lodge via a covered walkway. The WL and VWL share all the same amenities. The Villas has a "quiet pool" near it, about a 60-second walk from the main pool, but anyone from either place can use either pool. We stayed in the Villas and used the "main, Lodge pool" exclusively.

Regarding towels: if you pay out-of-pocket (and aren't using DVC points), you get regular, daily cleaning and refreshing of your villa, just as if you were staying at a regular Disney hotel. If you are staying on owned or rented DVC points, you get the trash-and-towel service on day 4 only. The 1 and 2-bedroom villas have their own in-room washer and dryer, so if you're staying on points and need more frequent replacement of your towels and the front desk doesn't offer them (I have no idea whether they do or not, sorry!), washing your own is a convenient option (although my family found that even with daily showers, the trash-and-towel service on day 4 of our 1-week stay was just fine. We weren't messy, and a broom, vacuum cleaner, and other cleaning supplies were stocked in the villa for us to use when needed.) Swimming towels are provided poolside at both pools -- there are huge rolling racks of clean swim towels, as well as bins in which to place "used" swim towels to be rewashed, so you don't need to use the ones from your room.

My advice, if you are interested in a villa and are at least 7-11 months out from your intended stay, is to look into a DVC rental through David's DVC Rentals or a similarly reputable DVC rental agent. We went through David's for our visit in May of this year, and got a 2-bedroom villa at VWL for less than 60% of what the out-of-pocket cost would have been had we gone through Disney directly. The only downside of renting points is that you can't cancel (it's non-refundable), but we covered our $3,500 investment with $230 worth of cancel-for-any-reason vacation insurance through TravelGuard.
 
Gomer

Gomer

Well-Known Member
mrtoad said:
thank you for the information. Do you know what the extra trash and towel service costs? Are we allowed to just go and request some fresh towels at the front desk or is there a cost for that too? For the pool, we can use the main pool at the lodge correct? Are there towels at the pool for when swimming still or do you need to use the ones in your room?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Looks like you got most of your questions answered already.
But to your towel point. Towels are available at the pool, so you don’t need to worry about wasting your towels for that reason. My family of four never had trouble running out of towels in our 1BR unit. They stock you pretty good.

If not, I’ve lifted these rates off allears. Never had to use it myself, but these should be accurate:

You may also choose to pay for daily housekeeping or have additional towels etc. Check with the front desk for information and pricing. 2010 Pricing: Housekeeping Studio Full Cleaning $30 One Bedroom Full Cleaning $45; Two Bedroom Full Cleaning $60. Trash and Towell Studio $15; One Bedroom $20; Two Bedroom $25.
Laundry Soap $1; Soap and Shampoo Package $5; Extra Towel Package $6 per bathroom; Coffee Package $3.

As for the separate building? I love it. You don’t’ feel too removed, but you can still find that elusive bit of quiet in Disneyworld, which is very rare. The “lobby” of the DVC building is one of my favorite spots in all of WDW. So relaxing and soooo very quiet. But, you are a very quick walk away from the bustle of the WL proper, so you don’t feel too outside of the fun. But, I like peace and quiet. Your mileage may vary.
 
ABQ

ABQ

Well-Known Member
Gomer said:
As for the separate building? I love it. You don’t’ feel too removed, but you can still find that elusive bit of quiet in Disneyworld, which is very rare. The “lobby” of the DVC building is one of my favorite spots in all of WDW. So relaxing and soooo very quiet. But, you are a very quick walk away from the bustle of the WL proper, so you don’t feel too outside of the fun. But, I like peace and quiet. Your mileage may vary.
Click to expand...
Agree with this 100%, the VWL lobby is an awesome space. Between the main space itself and the Iron Spike room off to the side. They nailed that area perfectly in design.
 
mrtoad

mrtoad

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
thanks everybody! This is exactly what I needed to know. We are already rented, I got them from a friend who has several WDW timeshares. They have never stayed in the WL villas though so was unable to ask some questions of them. We saved a ton of money. We were originally going to stay at the art of animation in a standard room due to cost but when they offered to rent us the points it was only a difference of about $40 a day to upgrade to the villas so we are very happy.

we arrive on the 26th of this month and staying until the 2nd of September. Hopefully the pool work starts after the 1st but if not it is ok we can use the quite pool on the last day.

I am glad to hear it is not too far off and that it feels connected yet quiet. I just wanted to make sure it still felt like Disney. I know everybody has their own feeling of what the trip should be like and as nice as the cabins were when we stayed at FW, it to me just was not Disney.

Very excited for our trip. Making custom shirts today to surprise my kids with. They know about the trip already so I need some little surprises for them. I have already made them some buttons and a few shirts, but in the home stretch and gotta get it done!

Thanks again everybody!
 
SharonD

SharonD

Well-Known Member
Beautiful shirts! You do nice work.

Here are a few photos of the Villas at WL:


This one shows the walkway from the Villas to the main lobby:
8W9C1495_HDR-Edit-M.jpg



This photo shows the lobby area of the Villas - it's very nice, and there are more sitting areas off to the sides
8W9C1466_HDR-Edit-M.jpg



The Quiet Pool at night:
8W9C1908_HDR-Edit-Edit-M.jpg
 
mrtoad

mrtoad

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thank you, I like making shirts. I am happy with how they came out mostly.

Thank you for the pictures. It looks gorgeous. I am so excited to get there.
 
squidward

squidward

Well-Known Member
mrtoad said:
Hi,

Our upcoming trip is nearly here and had some questions for anybody about the WL villas. We have stayed at the WL 2 times, but not in many years due to cost. We just cannot afford it and only stayed those 2 times due to a great deal we had gotten. We usually stay at Port Orleans either Riverside or FQ. This trip however we are staying the WL villas as a friend of ours sold us points from their timeshare and so we got it for considerably cheaper than staying at POR.

So onto the questions...

For the Villas, do you still feel like you are part of the lodge or is far off? It is hard to tell from the maps as I don't know if they are scale. We stayed once at Fort Wilderness in one of the cabins and I did not like it as I felt very far removed and did not feel like Disney to me.

Also for laundry facilities. How far are they from the villas? Looks like they are only in the lodge is that correct?

Do the rooms get cleaned and beds made the same as at the WL? I am assuming so but never have stayed in one of the vacation homes so not sure.

Any other info you feel would be helpful would be appreciated as well.

Thank you in advance!
Mike
Click to expand...

You don't feel removed at all. In fact, some of the rooms at the Villas are closer to the lobby than some of the rooms at the Lodge.

I love staying in the Villas. You don't feel at all separate from the Lodge, yet you have your own rustic little escape. The bus stop is closer to the Villas as well.
 
UofMGuy423

UofMGuy423

Well-Known Member
I've stayed at both the main lodge and the Villas. When at the Lodge, we were in one of the wings at the far end closest to the Lake and overlooking the Pool. At the Villas, we've had different rooms over the years, but I prefer the Villas because it's smaller, it has it's own mini-lobby and we always went into the main Lodge to eat or walk around. At the Villas, I never felt separated from the main Lodge. I actually felt closer given the size of the Main lodge. Have a great trip!
 
mrtoad

mrtoad

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
great thanks! that is good. We have stayed in the lodge itself twice and one room was not a far walk from the lobby and one was kind of far so that is good to know. nearly here.... :)
 

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