Wilderness Lodge at Disney World questions
 

Hi
We leave on Friday for a long weekend at Disney World, staying at the Wilderness Lodge.

A small disappointment for all of us (DD and SIL and grandkids will be there for a week) is that the pool will be closed. The pool at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge is available to us, as is the pool at the Contemporary.

We're thinking that our schedule is so packed that swimming won't be a big draw for DH and me, but the kids may need a swim if it's hot. Anyone have experience with either of those pools, and are they easy to get to from the Wilderness Lodge?

My other question is what are the coffee/tea set ups like in the rooms? The standard few packets of crappy whitener, or something nicer? I can easily throw a few of my own tea bags and sweeteners in my bag, but DH likes coffee and cream. Can one buy milk at Wilderness Lodge? Is there a sort of convenience store or containers available for sale at the quick service restaurant? Should I bring some coffee singles? We have a dining plan so should be able to get coffee at the quick service, but he likes coffee while showering and dressing

Do you take a day pack into the parks? Like a light backpack?

Thanks.

Look at google maps satellite view and you will see that the pool at the villas is quite close and would probably be an ok substitute. It is much smaller.

The Contemporary is further away. If there is a boat launch from Wilderness to Contemporary then you could make that work since the pool is at the back of the property. Taking a bus or car would be too much effort. In my experience you really want a pool you can walk to in 5min or so otherwise it becomes too much of a big deal to enjoy.

It's not easy to get to the Contemporary, but you could easily walk to the villas pool, though it's nothing compared to the pool at the main hotel. Perhaps they are offering a straight boat connection to the Contemporary since the pool is closed, but ordinarily, they do not. You have to take the boat launch to the Magic Kingdom and then the monorail to the Contemporary. Not easy or fast. And I can't recall if the bus stops at the Contemporary before the Magic Kingdom. I think it does, and I think it's probably the next stop. So that's both faster and easier.

But it's only in the low 80s in Orlando this time of year, and sometimes cooler, so I don't think the pool is going to be a necessity.

Regarding coffee, I did not have a coffee maker in my room when I was there in April. But I think the higher-end rooms may have them. Otherwise, you have to go to the quick-service restaurant. You can definitely get milk there, either in the quick-service restaurant or possibly in the shop.

It's hard not to carry something into the park if you have kids, but I'd try to make it as small a bag as possible. If you don't have a bag, you get to skip the bag check at the gates. But I can rarely avoid that, so I usually have a little daypack with me. But the bag holders on the rides aren't big, so I think you're always better being a minimalist.

I can't imagine that we won't need a small bag with the kids.

How about DH's camera? What do people do with their cameras? I know many people don't have this problem but my husband is a newspaper photographer and can't function without a camera.

I agree that the pool probably won't be necessary but it's good to know that the pool at the Villas is close if the kids need it.

No coffee maker in the room! They advertise the rooms as having coffee makers. Humpf!

I just called the hotel and they said there are coffee makers in the standard rooms. Well, I'll live either way but the price is high and they label the resort "Deluxe" so I hope they have coffee makers.

I'm glad they do have coffee makers, but I really don't recall having one in my room, so I'm sorry about that. These rooms may be "deluxe" but you'll also see that the safe has an actual key that you have to carry around with you. Odd because the doors have automated locks that run off your wristbands.

Doug: I do get the idea that "Deluxe" is in the eye of copy writer. I'm not expecting anything but a fun weekend with my family, however, at these prices, I think there may be folks out there who expect a little more.

I just spent a week in a fairly luxurious apartment with a balcony overlooking the bay at St Jean Cap Ferrat, France and it didn't cost nearly this much. A safe with a key! Yikes.

Are there pickpockets at Disney World? That's only a semi-joking question.

There are indeed pickpockets, but I don't think they are a major problem. Security getting into both the parks and the hotels is good. Downtown Disney is completely open to the public, however.

We won't be going to DTD but my daughter might be; I'll give her a heads up.