Disney's WILDERNESS LODGE Information & Questions

[PeachKeen]

We are actually at the Wilderness Lodge property now (have been her since Sunday) and will be until this coming Sunday. We have been hanging at the Boulder Ridge Cove pool as it is not as busy and much less noisy and there have been no issues with crowding. Even on our arrival day which was over the weekend, there was plenty of room to socially distance and people have been pretty respectful. This pic attached was taken from our first day. Sorry I couldn’t figure out how to turn it right side upI understand that later in the evening once the feature pool closes it gets more crowded, especially on the weekend, but I’m talking to a cast member it has only closed to capacity a couple times since the resorts have reopened.

Masks are not required on the pool deck as many have previously reported, including walking over to the restrooms which are inside the pool area but we still wear ours when we walk over and most do as well, but YMMV.
...

Thank you very much for this detailed "eye witness report." With all the parks closing before nighttime (*such a shame, because I think the parks are most magical at night - not to mention summer heat in Florida), I worried the pools may get swarmed in the evening. We plan on spending most time at BR pool when we visit in two weeks, so this was a relief to read.

Since you offered to answer other questions, any idea on if they are still doing crafts in the Reunion Station (and, if so, when)? I don't know if this is a high touch activity that would be banned due to covid. Also, how busy has Geyser Point Bar & Grill been (again, with parks closing early, I'm wondering how highly in demand resort dining has been) - I've been dreaming about the bison burger more than I care to admit.

And one final, general question for the community. We are not DVC members (yet) but paying out of pocket to stay in BR. Will we still have mousekeeping only every 4 days? I'm specifically wondering if they will give me enough coffee to last for the 4 days for the in room coffee maker or if they will replenish it daily? (Trying to decide if I must bring extra coffee with me). Thanks again!

 

[EasternShoreGal]

Just a partial response for now but we will give more details as we investigate. Hubby and I had lunch at Geyser Point a couple days ago. Honestly it is the only meal we had truly planned to do outside our room sometime during the trip as we have the one bedroom and planned all our meals ahead (this is a reconnaissance trip for our October trip). We took a look at the radar and anticipated a pool closure and timed ahead of it. We figured we would beat the rush but there was no rush. There were 10 people total at Geyser Point the entire time we were there. That may vary for dinner so we will take a look at that and keep everyone posted. The weather has taken us in mid day until today and we never really went back out. This is a resort only trip and we planned a lot of reading, relaxing, Netflix and cocktails.
I believe if you are on a cash reservation through Disney you get the normal housekeeping (whatever they are doing during these Covid times which I know is limited). However, I can tell you if you call housekeeping my experience is they will give you whatever you need. It appeared not all our toiletries were in our room when we arrived which was odd. We called to ask specifically about conditioner and they brought us four tubes...

 

[Dave006]

Great update and thanks. I also fixed your pool picture for you.

Dave

 

[EasternShoreGal]

Thanks Dave!

I spoke with a cast member last night about Reunion Station. Right now the only “crafts” the resort is doing are the freebie coloring pages and things like that. The intention is to try to make Reunion Station a Community Hall but she said they are still working through details especially now with COVID 19 issues and don’t have a time frame as yet.
Main pool is open 9-9. We left Boulder Ridge Cove pool last night around 7:15 and it was dead. We asked if BRC pool was open 24 hours but the cast member didn’t seem to know. We supposed together that as long as you weren’t rowdy you could probably stay longer than the posted 7-11 hours. Access to the pool is via your magic band. Guessing the phone app might also work but haven’t tried that. Our experience was it got busiest around 3, which is after people had spent time in the parks and were ready to be at the pool for a while before dinner, but we estimated maybe 30 people at the pool so still a very easy social distancing scenario. We walked by Geyser Point and while most of the tables set up were occupied it didn’t seem uncomfortably crowded and there was still no wait.
I think I addressed all the questions but bring it on if you have more!
Btw, while chatting with several different groups of folks in the pool we heard the park experience has been great, although hot with a mask.

 

[EasternShoreGal]

I wanted to post an update to our experience here with the pools. It is now Saturday and we noticed yesterday that the BRV pool was more crowded than it has been all week. Today, Saturday, we have noticed the most people here since we arrived. You can distance but it is more difficult than it has been all week. Weekends do make a difference. We have also notice more mask issues today than we have noticed all week. YMMV but I encountered a couple different groups that weren’t wearing masks on property. They had them but when I walked by they didn’t pull them up. One person was on the phone with no mask visible, and two with masks on their chins. We also noticed people with masks off walking into the pool deck and several people not wearing them walking on the pool deck (this is not required but wanted to comment on the difference now on the weekend than what we have experienced all week). It isn’t a huge issue for us because we were always just passing but people have different time ran even levels and wanted to post on the difference.

 

[4ParkFamily]

Is the internal bus still running to Ft. Wilderness?

 

[kittylady1972]

Thanks Dave!

I spoke with a cast member last night about Reunion Station. Right now the only “crafts” the resort is doing are the freebie coloring pages and things like that. The intention is to try to make Reunion Station a Community Hall but she said they are still working through details especially now with COVID 19 issues and don’t have a time frame as yet.
Main pool is open 9-9. We left Boulder Ridge Cove pool last night around 7:15 and it was dead. We asked if BRC pool was open 24 hours but the cast member didn’t seem to know. We supposed together that as long as you weren’t rowdy you could probably stay longer than the posted 7-11 hours. Access to the pool is via your magic band. Guessing the phone app might also work but haven’t tried that. Our experience was it got busiest around 3, which is after people had spent time in the parks and were ready to be at the pool for a while before dinner, but we estimated maybe 30 people at the pool so still a very easy social distancing scenario. We walked by Geyser Point and while most of the tables set up were occupied it didn’t seem uncomfortably crowded and there was still no wait.
I think I addressed all the questions but bring it on if you have more!
Btw, while chatting with several different groups of folks in the pool we heard the park experience has been great, although hot with a mask.

We stayed 3 nights at Copper Creek last week. On Wednesday we hung out at the pool and there was hardly anybody there and social distancing was great:



I will say as we left the pool area to grab lunch/early dinner at Geyser Point (which was not crowded and was fabulous...we ate there twice) they seemed to at least be doing the Mickey Tie-Dye shirts in an area just outside of the pool but under cover...like maybe near Roaring Forks? I didn't go over to check it out but I was curious.

Our park experience Wed-Fri was absolutely fantastic! We brought disposable masks to use and would just ditch them at the end of the day, but honestly we didn't find them as annoying as we thought we would wearing them all day long in the heat. I think the only real complaint was on Friday when we rode Spash Mt and they got a little wet...then they were a bit irritating until they dried out. We probably should have swapped them out then but it was in the morning.

We didn't get a chance to visit the other pool, but we cuold see it from our room and it never seemed terribly busy either.

This was a last minute trip for us, planned because we heard great things about crowds and it didn't disappoint. We are considering returning in November but we'll see how things go. I would love to stay at WL again but I'm not sure we'll be able to with the DVC points we have to use.

 

[GreyStr0ke]

I had a nice little get away at Copper Creek in a 1 br villa last week. I was there from Thursday - Saturday. I live 2.5 hours away so I was surprised to get a text from Disney at 7am before I even left that my room was ready. When I arrived at about 11:30 there were 5 cast members standing at the entrance of the lobby greeting guests. And they were the only people in there. I could not believe how empty the lobby at WL was. Not to mention the parking lot. Every other time I've stayed here I've parked all the way in the back. It was nice to get a front spot for once.

I had lunch at WCC and there was only one other party in there. The server made a joke about how it was about to get rowdy in here which I found pretty amusing. Also had breakfast here on Friday before doing Epcot. Both meals were fantastic.

Due to the heat, I spent a lot more time at the Copper Creek pool than the parks. I never realized how nice that pool is and it was never busy.

When I checked out Saturday it was starting to get a little busier.

 

[MilesMouse]

Did you happen to notice if the Geyser is still turned off or if it's back to running again?

 

[PeachKeen]

Did you happen to notice if the Geyser is still turned off or if it's back to running again?

For whatever it's worth, I've watched several vlogger videos in the past two weeks, one of which was live, showing the geyser going off. However, one of them noted that it didn't appear to be at max power and didn't shoot as far in the air.

 

[Lisann]

Can someone clarify for me?

If I book a 2-bdrm at Boulder Ridge, I will NOT get a studio lock-off configuration, right? Because I do not want that. I want a room with 2 queens, and one King/Queen (whatever size it is).

Thanks.

 

[ScubaCat]

Did you happen to notice if the Geyser is still turned off or if it's back to running again?

I was there August 8-15 and it was on full blast. (It shot just a little over the tree tops.)

Can someone clarify for me?

If I book a 2-bdrm at Boulder Ridge, I will NOT get a studio lock-off configuration, right? Because I do not want that. I want a room with 2 queens, and one King/Queen (whatever size it is).

Thanks.

Exactly correct.

 

[bluecastle]

Can someone clarify for me?

If I book a 2-bdrm at Boulder Ridge, I will NOT get a studio lock-off configuration, right? Because I do not want that. I want a room with 2 queens, and one King/Queen (whatever size it is).

Thanks.

I copied this from another thread:
"In the lockoff, the 2nd bedroom is actually a studio and has a bed, a pullout sofa, and a pull down bed, plus the kitchenette. In a dedicated unit, the 2nd bedroom is actually a bedroom and will have 2 actual beds instead of a bed and a pull out sofa and it does not have the pull down bed. The living area does have a pullout sofa, though. There is no kitchenette, either, just the regular kitchen. And just one entrance to the unit."
When I stayed in BR/VWL in 2014, I requested a dedicated 2 bedroom specifically because I needed that bed configuration. Also, we had one of those small pull-down beds in the 2nd bedroom, in addition to the 2 queens. Maybe some do and some don't. Either way, if that's what you want, request a dedicated 2 bedroom, not a lock-off.

 

[Lisann]

Our park experience Wed-Fri was absolutely fantastic! We brought disposable masks to use and would just ditch them at the end of the day, but honestly we didn't find them as annoying as we thought we would wearing them all day long in the heat.

We stayed away this summer because of the heat and masks. But I have recently just found that I prefer the blue disposable surgical masks, as they seem cooler to me. Sometimes the cotton masks feel suffocating, and that is not good in WDW.

 

[ScubaCat]

We stayed away this summer because of the heat and masks. But I have recently just found that I prefer the blue disposable surgical masks, as they seem cooler to me. Sometimes the cotton masks feel suffocating, and that is not good in WDW.

I went a couple of weeks ago and was extremely surprised how the blue medical ones didn't bother me at all. I wasn't any hotter than without. I carried 2 extra in a zip lock in my pocket.

I brought some lightweight cotton ones and tried one the second day; I didn't even make it to the elevator before going back to my room and switching it out for a blue one.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Can someone clarify for me?

If I book a 2-bdrm at Boulder Ridge, I will NOT get a studio lock-off configuration, right? Because I do not want that. I want a room with 2 queens, and one King/Queen (whatever size it is).

Thanks.

If you get a lockoff, it won't have two real beds in the second bedroom and it will have the murphy bed. The dedicated will have two queen beds, not murphy bed. The master always has one king bed. The living room has a queen sleeper sofa.

 

[sara_s]

Checking in on Sunday for a 4 night trip. Will report back on crowds, social distancing, etc. We haven't stayed at the lodge since 2018, I'm so looking forward to this. Time to unplug and relax.

 

[TinkerBellLiz]

Did you happen to notice if the Geyser is still turned off or if it's back to running again?

We’ve watched it erupt twice now from our balcony. It sprays to the tree tops. Pool has been closed because of thunderstorms if you’re wondering why it’s empty.

 

[sparkle78]

Did anybody notice if the cascade cabins are open ?. I know the main lodge is closed. Hoping it opens by thanksgiving or they move us to copper creek or a (dream ) cabin.

 

[disny_luvr]

Did anybody notice if the cascade cabins are open ?. I know the main lodge is closed. Hoping it opens by thanksgiving or they move us to copper creek or a (dream ) cabin.

The Cascade Cabins are open. I just watched a video of a YouTuber that stayed in one earlier this week.