Review of Wilderness Lodge-December 17-23 Trip

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

I am going to do our full reports later but just wanted to put our room and dining reviews in tonight...

We checked into the Wilderness Lodge around 3pm in the afternoon December 17th. I had done the online check in a few days before. When the castmember assisting us got to the room assignment, he looked at his computer then at us and shook his head. He got on the phone for a moment and then said, I am sorry but I see that you booked a standard room with two queen sized beds but you were given a room with one queen and bunk beds. There were three of us staying in the room and we are all pooh sized so I told the castmember this would obviously not work. He said, I didn't think so either so I called my supervisor who said we are 100% booked and there is nothing we can do. Next to us was a very excited young woman who had been upgraded from All Star Movies to a standard two queen bed room at the WL. I told him I booked in February and should be given my room choice before they give it to someone receiving an upgrade. The castmember disappeared into the back for about 20 minutes and returned with good news, we would receive a two queen size bed room and were receiving an upgrade to woods view. We would have to wait an hour or so for them to clean it for us.

Our room #6026 actually was a water/woods view with a nice view of the MK fireworks each night. It was nice and comfortable and although my son and mother thought it was a bit on the small side for a Deluxe it was more than big enough for our needs. Before we headed out for dinner at DTD I put some bottled water, juice and milk in our refrigerator and decided to leave a wake up call for the next morning only to discover our phone did not work. I reported this to the front desk and when we returned the phone was in working order. When I went to get some water out, I discovered our refrigerator did not work. We called the front desk and they sent a repairman out. He checked the unit and declared that indeed it was broke. About 30 minutes later we received a new refrigerator that worked great. While we were waiting my son went to turn the TV on and yep, the remote did not work. I refused to call the front desk again and changed the batteries out of a pack I brought from home and the remote worked fine. We noticed that we were having trouble with the lock on our door. It would stick when trying to unlock it. About midway through our stay our mousekeeper discovered our door wasn't closing all the way and anyone could just push it to open it. Luckily, we didn't have anything stolen. A repairman came one morning and fixed the door for us.

I will say that after the first few glitches we had no more problems and although we had issues the staff was nice and quick to fix everything. In my opinion, the WL is due for some refurbing which would take care of a lot of equipment breakdowns. Management should do a better job with room assignments and keep the customers satisfied. If you pay for something that's what you should receive.

We had a lovely mousekeeper named Priscilla that kept our room clean and well stocked every day. She also discovered and reported the problem with the door. All the restaurant, bell hop, gift shop and hotel staff were friendly and helpful. The lobby and grounds were beautiful. We had the best luck with transportation. The only bus we waited more than 5 minutes for was the one going to the Animal Kingdom and I think we waited about 20 minutes for it. Although we shared with the Grand Floridian and Ft. Wilderness, we never missed a park opening. I would stay at the resort again even with the problems we had.

[Melanie]

Excited to read your review, as we are staying at WL next week for the first time in 16 years. Glad your room issues/check in were worked out. The maintenance issues sound discouraging. I don't know when the last refurb was, but sure sounds like another is in order.

Thanks for sharing your experience! Look forward to your full report.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

Wow! What a run of bad luck when you first checked in!

Crazy about the room - especially with the "upgrade" couple there too.

I'm glad they got everything repaired and that all in all you had a good stay.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Yes, it was a bit crazy and we had other issues which I will mention in my full reports. For the most part, I thought the cast members were great and helpful, in this resort and in the parks. It seems to me they are understaffed and over worked. One castmember told me DW had just let 250 castmembers go in the past week or two. Doesn't make sense to me since attendance seems to be steady. Still the resort was lovely and we would stay here again.

[JoDisney]

This is more than strange, as we arrived at the Wilderness Lodge on Dec. 20th and our reservation was for a standard with two queens. We were also told they had us reserved for a queen and bunk. I explained we could not do the bunk, as my older son is 6'5"! The CM at the front desk also had to call "someone" and we received the two queens. We received a woods view with view of Water on Contemporary side.

[McLiberal8]

Adjacent rooms, connecting rooms or specific room location and types of rooms or bedding are
on a “request basis only” and are subject to availability at the time of check-in.

I know it can be annoying to expect one thing and show up to another, but it is in the T&C. I used to work in the hotel reservation biz, and sometimes circumstances can be out of control, and a certain room type is gone by the time you get there.

Glad it all worked out.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

I know it can be annoying to expect one thing and show up to another, but it is in the T&C. I used to work in the hotel reservation biz, and sometimes circumstances can be out of control, and a certain room type is gone by the time you get there.

Glad it all worked out.

Actually last I checked under standard view they only have two queen sized beds or king size listed, so you have to assume that's what you will get. I understand arriving at a hotel without a reservation you have to take what is available but when a trip was booked 10 months out and it shows availability under this category that's what you should receive. Besides why not give the room with two queens and a bunk to the person receiving the upgrade from All Stars. We were checking in before she walked in so I know that room was still available.

But yes, it did work out in the end.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

This is more than strange, as we arrived at the Wilderness Lodge on Dec. 20th and our reservation was for a standard with two queens. We were also told they had us reserved for a queen and bunk. I explained we could not do the bunk, as my older son is 6'5"! The CM at the front desk also had to call "someone" and we received the two queens. We received a woods view with view of Water on Contemporary side.

Yes, my son is 6'1" and weighs 280 lbs. There is no way he would fit in a bunk bed. I really am not one to make a fuss, but we couldn't have stayed in that room.

I know a lot of people would have been asking for some sort of compensation for all the problems in the room, all we asked is that it get fixed and we were nice to the staff when we asked. I know problems occur, it was how they were handled that made me say I would stay at this resort again.

[BrerGnat]

Thanks for the report!

For what it's worth, a "bunk bed room" IS an upgrade from a Standard (2 queen) room. They cost more. What I am betting happened is that they bumped the people from All Stars up to the "standard" category at WL, and upgraded those who had booked that category into the Bunk Bed room. That's how they tend to handle stuff like overbooking, or needing to move people around. Rarely will someone get downgraded. Unfortunately, bunk beds don't work for everyone so I understand how that must have been frustrating.

We were at WDW last week as well, at the Beach Club. After last week and my stay at the Boardwalk Inn in May, I am convinced that most of the deluxe resorts are probably due for a refurbishment soon. The wear and tear on the rooms is incredible!

[SBETigg]

I would have had a problem if I didn't get the accommodations I needed after booking well in advance when someone is there upgraded from a value resort getting exactly what I need. Fortunately, they made it work-- but wow, all those problems with the room. I'm glad they were right on it for you.

[Melanie]

So for our trip next week, my in-laws booked a king room and we booked a queen/bunk room. These are paid upgrades, so we are guaranteed to get these rooms, right?

I ask because I'm unfamiliar because we always just book standard and take what they give us.

[BrerGnat]

So for our trip next week, my in-laws booked a king room and we booked a queen/bunk room. These are paid upgrades, so we are guaranteed to get these rooms, right?

I ask because I'm unfamiliar because we always just book standard and take what they give us.

Yes, you are guaranteed at LEAST those categories. If they have to downgrade you for any reason, you are entitled to a refund of the difference. This is rare. If they overbooked either category, my guess is that you'll end up in a better view category or at the Club Level in identical room types.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Thanks for the report!

For what it's worth, a "bunk bed room" IS an upgrade from a Standard (2 queen) room. They cost more. What I am betting happened is that they bumped the people from All Stars up to the "standard" category at WL, and upgraded those who had booked that category into the Bunk Bed room. That's how they tend to handle stuff like overbooking, or needing to move people around. Rarely will someone get downgraded. Unfortunately, bunk beds don't work for everyone so I understand how that must have been frustrating.

We were at WDW last week as well, at the Beach Club. After last week and my stay at the Boardwalk Inn in May, I am convinced that most of the deluxe resorts are probably due for a refurbishment soon. The wear and tear on the rooms is incredible!

Yes, and I am betting the woman getting the upgrade would have been delighted with the bunk beds, I did hear her mention she had two kids. Its funny looking back at it because the cast member checking us in looked at his screen, looked at us and shook his head. He knew it wasn't going to happen

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Yes, you are guaranteed at LEAST those categories. If they have to downgrade you for any reason, you are entitled to a refund of the difference. This is rare. If they overbooked either category, my guess is that you'll end up in a better view category or at the Club Level in identical room types.

I did stress when I booked that we couldn't use a room with bunkbeds and was told not to worry because standard view only comes in king or two queens.

[buzznwoodysmom]

We were at WL at the same time as you and we had zero issues! I have to be honest here and say that our room was starting to show some wear, but overall our room was in perfect working order.

Its funny because years ago, I think just after the refurb when the current furniture and bedding were first put in we had several issues with our room. I actually think it was Natalie (BrerGnat) who was at WL the same time as me and had no issues whatsoever. It always amazes me how different guest experiences can be at the same resort during the same time period.

I am glad that all your concerns were taken care of promptly. We've also had an issue with door problems at CBR one year. We had connecting rooms. We all entered and exited through my room each and every day, never using the door in my SIL's room. Two nights in a row we came back to find the curtain jammed in my SIL's room leaving her room, as well as our room (since we left the connecting door open), open to anyone who may have noticed the curtain sticking out. Housekeeping must have not noticed that the curtain got caught in the door when she exited the room. We called the first time it happened and we were assured it would not happen again, they would notify our housekeeper and make sure she was aware of this problem, only for it to happen the very next night. My SIL had also had some strange messages left on her phone the first night we were there which made the whole situation much worse for us. We were three woman traveling with 4 kids, no hubbies on this trip, and the phone messages had worried us that someone may have been watching us. Then when the door incident happened we were very upset, to say the least. The second night that we found the curtain jammed they sent up a repair person to fix the problem and it didn't happen again. Of all the problems (mostly small issues) we've had with resort rooms in Disney over the years, this one really bothered me.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

yeah the door issue could have turned into a bad situation if the wrong person would have noticed. Luckily, that didn't happen. When we told them we couldn't stay in the room they assigned us they had to scramble to clean the room we stayed in so maybe they didn't have time to notice everything. We were happy with the room after everything was straightened out. We could watch Wishes from the balcony at night which was a plus

I looked at the receipt I was given after we got home and noticed that they were going to give us a courtyard view which would have been a nice upgrade as far as the view. Too bad it had bunkbeds.

[mom2morgan]

What baffles me is how they could say they were "100% booked and there was nothing they can do" and then suddenly come up with the right room in a better area? Does that mean it was always available to upgrade you but they were just hoping if they didn't offer it you'd just take what you were getting and not make a fuss? That seems a little dishonest.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

What baffles me is how they could say they were "100% booked and there was nothing they can do" and then suddenly come up with the right room in a better area? Does that mean it was always available to upgrade you but they were just hoping if they didn't offer it you'd just take what you were getting and not make a fuss? That seems a little dishonest.

Yes it does, doesn't it. I wondered that too.

[LudwigVonDrake]

The Wilderness Lodge is my favorite deluxe WDW resort and I'll be there again in 191 days!!

[Jeff]

Thanks for your review!