Wilderness Lodge Tips Please!

One of my bucket list items is to stay at WL and magically my TA called me yesterday to tell me that she could upgrade my family to WL with a woods view from POR preferred for only $32 more for my whole trip!!! Can you tell I am excited?! So, now that I have done tons of research on POR, I now need to switch gears to WL. Would you all be so kind to share any helpful website, links, or other helpful suggestions You guys are always the best and I am so grateful for all of the tips you have shared already. As a point of reference, we have never stayed at a WDW hotel before, only timeshares outside. We are really looking forward to this trip.

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I can’t wait to hear what tips you get - we’re staying at WL for the first time in March, and we’re really looking forward to it.

I did see that there is a possible refurb of WCC that might be happening while we are there. I’m kind of hoping that isn’t true, because I canceled an O’hana on arrival night and made a Dessie at WCC just for convenience. :grin:

Check out http://www.wildernesslodgesite.com - lots of good info there.

Oh, I love the looks of that site. I stalked the POR one, so I hoped there was a WL one too. Thank you!

Depending on who is going, I highly recommend artist point for dinner. It was fantastic! And we got a great reservation time just 2 days before. I think it’s a hidden gem!

I have two angel baby boys going with us (aka ds2 and ds6). We eat out about once a week, so their table manners are ok, but after a long day of driving I doubt they will be able to sit still and be quiet. I was looking for rowdy and fun or we try a QS at one of the other MK resorts. Any suggestions?

I love Captain Cook’s at Poly. The pork nachos are amazing!

How fun and what a great upgrade!!! We stayed at WL in oct for the first time and enjoye it! (Usually AoA is our home resort) the pool was closed so we missed out on that! The resort is beautiful and we loved our room. Had ds4 and ds9 months with us… Took boat to mk… Took forever to get to mnsshp but what a fun and different way to get to park! The bus at midnight back to WL was maybe a 4 min ride, perfect!!! Only thing I wasn’t a fan of was the quick serve… We got there around 7:30 for coffee and a quick bite and I couldn’t even move my single stroller around… It’s so tiny and all I needed was coffee! There wasn’t mich seating either but we grabbed a table outside which was nice. Hope that helps… Have fun and make sure to report back so we can all be jealous :wink:

Yummo! I’ve heard great things about Captain Cooks. Is that the place you can get bread pudding?

I know you can get the bread puddng at the Tamu Lounge, I am not sure about Captain Cook’s, but lots of great choices there.

It’s tonga toast at captain cooks. I was looking up ways to try favorites last trip without the need for sit downs and I knew they were offering bread pudding somewhere. I can’t wait.

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You. Will. Love. It.
BUT… the QS (Roaring Forks) is way too small for the size of the resort. Suggest buy breakfast and snack staples at the Mercantile or order from Garden Grocer to avoid the chaos down there in the morning (and just about any other time, for that matter).

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What about coffee in the rooms? Is it decent? We will be driving so I plan to bring a small cooler with creamer and a few other small perishables. I will probably also bring a small package of waters as well as our Brita water bottles.

I’m not sure, we stayed in the Villas, and I’m not a coffee drinker. Sorry I can’t help! :frowning:

I’ve stayed once and not sure I can offer many tips, but will suggest leaving time in your plans to enjoy the resort. Walking the grounds inside and out is worth the time, as the Wilderness Lodge theme carries through all around. Follow the stream from the lodge, down to the pool, then walk out toward the beach along the lagoon, stopping to watch the geyser (from a safe distance) if you time things right.

Since you’re driving, transportation should be easy, but just remember to stay to the right when you go through the Magic Kingdom parking tollbooths (it’s easy to miss the turnoff for the Wilderness Lodge if you’re not in one of the booths to the far right). Getting back out is also a little convoluted, but follow the signs and you’ll get that after one or two trips out of the hotel. It’s hard for me to describe, but you might be able to preview the route using Google Maps.

If you can schedule a meal at the resort, then there are some good choices for sit down meals. Whispering Canyon is almost always fun for any fun-loving family and Artist Point seldom disappoints those looking for finer dining.

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Any ideas on room requests during online check-in? We have a woods view booking.

WL is our favorite! We will be staying there again in July.

  1. For arrival night dinner if WCC is closed I would recommend Trails End over at Ft. Wilderness, you can boat over. Food at AP is fantastic but with your boys TE might be better.

  2. For room I would request highest floor in the wing over Roaring Forks, it is the wing that faces CR and you may get views of MK and wishes. I would say 6th floor would be good.

  3. Things that are awesome about the resort:

We schedule one night of each trip just to stay and enjoy the resort. The pool is great. Smores and fire on the beach. Movies on the beach. Water light parade from the beach. Rent bikes and go to Ft. Wilderness and do the campfire sing along. And just enjoy the lobby it is fantastic.

Hope this helps, have fun!

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Check out all the great information that TP has about the resort at Disney's Wilderness Lodge - scroll to the bottom and there is a section on “Good (and Not-So-Good) Rooms at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge”.

Also, check out the TP Room Finder at View of Disney's Wilderness Lodge - you can search for rooms, see sample views, and get details on how to request certain rooms.

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I bought a gallon of spring water in the store for $2.95 and made coffee in the room. It was as good as the quick service coffee.

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