# Disney wilderness lodge refurbishment



## Catira (Oct 25, 2014)

Hi has anyone stayed recently at wilderness lodge? We have an upcoming reservation and it seems they are still working on the main pool. 
I assume requesting woods area will be farther away from the noise?


----------



## vacationhopeful (Oct 25, 2014)

Main pool is near the lodge. The Villas are not directly on top of the main pool; but yes, the woods area is very quiet ... stayed in a higher floor in May; might have seen 1 other person the entire week on another balcony. And that pool was VERY quiet - with few guests either in the water or lounging on the chairs.


----------



## Miss Marty (Oct 25, 2014)

*Disney`s Wilderness Lodge and Disney Vacation Club*

_Main Pool_

There is nothing worse than anticipating a specific Disney resort attraction, and after you arrive, finding out that it will be closed for the duration of your stay

_Disney's Wilderness Lodge Main Pool is located behind the main lodge._

The pool area was closed and underconstruction when we visited in September.  It is scheduled to reopen around Thanksgiving 11/27/2014.  We were able to step outback for a few minutes to get pictures by Fire Rock Geyser but there were walls around the pool area to keep people safe and out of danger.

Guests may use the pool at Fort Wilderness or Disney`s Contemporary. Transportation will be provided. Enjoy your vacation. Welcome Home!


----------



## Lisa P (Oct 25, 2014)

We spent the week between Sept/Oct at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge.  Our 1BR villa was on the 4th floor overlooking trees and the Villas pool, very peaceful in the early morning and late evening.  Loved the atmosphere of the resort and easy access to the boats on Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon.

On the main resort side, the experience inside the lobby atrium and inside the restaurants (including Roaring Forks counter service toward the back of the building) was unaffected by the courtyard and pool area construction.  One intermittently rainy afternoon, we took some reading material and walked over the main lobby atrium.  There are a couple upper level quiet sitting areas that overlook the lobby on one side and have huge, high windows on the other, with small, gas fireplaces and cushioned seating.  We picked a spot to read, sip coffee, unwind, people-watch for a while.  There was a little ongoing work in the courtyard outside but we didn't hear any of it.  However, the noise outside in the courtyard area, heard while sitting outdoors near Roaring Forks or when walking out past the wooden fence barriers to go to the boat launch to MK, was very loud at times... even with jackhammers, other power equipment and beeping trucks.  It would not be possible to really relax anywhere outside or with windows open on the courtyard side during the daytime hours while construction is active.

We could hear a little of the noise over on the villas side when outside during the day too but it wasn't bothersome from over there.  The "quiet" pool activity (kids playing) and distant boat horns were actually more noticeable (and those weren't bad either).  As our villa room was obviously NOT in the main resort's courtyard, we just kept our windows and sliding balcony door closed when we wanted to nap or watch TV during the daytime, which we don't do very much anyhow.

In the heat of the day, if we were at our room, we wanted the A/C and did not care to use the balcony.  With our morning coffee or in the evening, we did enjoy relaxing on the balcony.  So we didn't find construction noise disruptive to our vacation, in the least.  We would definitely not hesitate at all to use our precious vacation time there at the villas or at a woods view hotel room during this time.  The Lodge and Villas are both really wonderful.

As for the smaller villas pool and hot tub, we did use them a couple times but it tended to be pretty busy every day with families, as it was the only available pool within walking distance of so many rooms.  They have set up a temporary outdoor bar, just outside the villas' entrance to the fitness center, to provide service to the villas' pool while the main pool's bar is being renovated along with the rest of the courtyard.  We did manage to find open lounge chairs by the pool when we wanted them.  It seemed like many others only visited this pool when they just wanted a brief swim too.  For this, it served well.

We saw some people in swimsuits getting on the boats to the Contemporary Resort or Fort Wilderness, to use their pool areas, which is what is offered when you check in at this time.  However, we had also read that guests checking in should ask about access to Blizzard Beach (or once BB closes for annual maintenance, Typhoon Lagoon).  So we did and it worked.  We visited BB twice that week using pass access that had been added to our Magic Bands.  Disney is providing these to guests at both Wilderness Lodge and Polynesian Village Resorts, on request, while both have their feature pools closed for renovations.

Enjoy your visit to the Lodge!  Ours was a terrific vacation and we hope to return again.    The resort is stunning.  I'll try to post a few photos.


----------



## Lisa P (Oct 25, 2014)

Sorry for the poor photo quality - these were taken with my cell phone around Sept. 29, 2014.

The awesome main lobby at the Wilderness Lodge ---------- and two pics of the charming Villas' lobby:






 .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	








Two photos from the main courtyard pool area ---------- and one of ~2/3 of the Villas' pool during a quieter moment:









 .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .


----------



## Catira (Oct 25, 2014)

Lisa thanks for taking the time and posting pics. I called and requested woods view in hopes of avoiding the construction noise. I'm hoping we can have some quiet time when we go back to resort to rest from the parks. Really hope they will have the Xmas decor up while there


----------



## vacationhopeful (Oct 26, 2014)

That is REALLY great ... getting the FREE access to which ever of the Water Parks are opened. If you have kids or teenagers, that is a BIG perk. Of course, I personally might not ever pay for either of those parks ... but a FREE visit to just 'check them out' ... watch me ride the bus over there and stick my toe into that experience.


----------



## nikkiwu (Dec 4, 2014)

I actually just returned. We checked out 11/28 and the pool had had quite a bit done between our check in date of 11/20 and check out 8 nights later. I think they were planning to reopen on 11/28 - not sure if they did that or not. It definitely wasn't 100% but I think the goal was to get the pool operational while they continued to finish out things like the slide and what appeared to be a refreshments bar.

To be honest, we had a courtyard view, straight on view of the lake and workers were right below us and I barely noticed it. I am very glad we had the view we had as the Electrical Water Parade was a highlight every night we were able to see it.

As always Disney does an excellent job with covering up refurbished areas and this, while messy, was no exception. I'm super picky and it barely affected me. It was gorgeous at Christmas.


----------



## nikkiwu (Dec 4, 2014)

Oh and also - we used the quiet pool and it worked out great. Love the pool, wasn't terribly crowded, and it had a great hot tub. We also went over to the Contemporary which we found we loved. They will also give you a length of stay pass to Blizzard Beach if those options don't suit you, just need to ask. This is, of course, if the main pool is still closed.


----------

