Wilderness Lodge Update: New Rooms, Merchandise & Photos
We haven’t dropped in on Wilderness Lodge since last Christmas, which is borderline criminal since this is my favorite resort at Walt Disney World. In this update, we’ll share new menu info, merchandise photos, take a stroll around the hotel grounds, and share photos of what are sure to be controversial new room designs.
Pictured above is the view from our balcony from Wilderness Lodge. This is by far the luckiest we’ve ever gotten in terms of Wilderness Lodge rooms–I don’t think we’ve ever had a view there of anything other than trees (still better than parking lots!).
It would’ve been even better one room to the right without that tree blocking Cinderella Castle, but it’s difficult to complain about this–especially after our last two Deluxe Resort rooms at Walt Disney World had only one person balconies for some odd reason. Anyway, on with the Wilderness Lodge update…
We’ll start with the update for which I don’t have photos: the new menu at Whispering Canyon Cafe. We plan to return in the near future, but a couple of things are worth noting for now. First, the hootin’ and hollerin’ hijinks are back. Perhaps not at quite the same decibel level as before, but the fun for which Whispering Canyon Cafe was known is definitely back in full force, and we could hear it outside the restaurant several times during our stay. So good news there!
Second, there are several new breakfast, lunch, and dinner skillets. For breakfast, there’s the Heritage Skillet or the Carnivore Skillet. The Heritage Skillet comes with country potatoes, hickory-smoked bacon, and pork sausage links. The Carnivore Skillet comes loaded with house-smoked ham, hickory-smoked bacon, pork sausage links, and oak-smoked beef brisket. Both also include house-made buttermilk-cheddar biscuits, scrambled eggs, and Mickey Waffles.
At lunch, there’s the Signature Lunch Skillet, which comes with maple-chipotle BBQ slow-smoked pork ribs, barbecued pulled pork, and citrus-herb chicken. On the dinner menu, the Traditional Dinner Skillet offers oak-smoked mustard BBQ beef brisket, maple-chipotle BBQ pork ribs, slow-smoked pulled pork, and citrus-herb chicken. The “Pig” Dinner Skillet with heaping helpings of braised pork belly, maple-chipotle BBQ pork ribs, slow-smoked pulled pork, and mustard BBQ “piggy wings.” Both of these particular skillets come with western-style sausage as well.
It’s not all highly carnivorous: the Land and Sea Dinner Skillet comes with house-smoked salmon, citrus herb chicken, vegan sausage, and charred portabella mushrooms. The Vegan Dinner Skillet offers maple-chipotle BBQ jackfruit, spicy vegan sausage, mustard-glazed beefless tips, and herb-brushed trick’n chick’n.
Moving to merchandise, I don’t think any of this is new new.
These are mostly items I forgot to photograph during our last stay at Wilderness Lodge, and some readers expressed interest in seeing what’s currently available.
I love stuff like this.
If we had a cabin or eclectic design, I’d buy that frame in an instant. It’s perfect.
Maybe it’s just because I’m a proud camper, but this mug rubs me the wrong way.
It also seems like a weird thing to broadcast on a mug. It’s otherwise a cool design, but the text unnecessarily limits its target audience. I’d buy it without that.
This shirt is pretty cool.
The white shirt to its right is an awesome Reyn Spooner Yosemite National Park shirt. (There’s also a Joshua Tree NP shirt I love even more.)
More stuff, namely the red shirt (right) and mug (left). Nothing else is Wilderness Lodge specific.
I’m not a huge fan of the mug. It’s a cool idea, but the way the middle section removes (via velcro) just feels a bit clunky and cheap.
This is great.
Nice colors, understated design, and sharp lines. I’d be highly tempted to this in a men’s cut (then again, I didn’t look at the price…so maybe not).
The hat I got around Christmas is still available.
I haven’t worn it in a while due to the weather, but come November and December it’ll go back into regular rotation. One of my all-time favorite pieces of Walt Disney World merchandise.
Now let’s take a brief evening stroll around Wilderness Lodge.
Geyser Point is still a solid option; visiting for sunset and ordering from the lounge menu is definitely the way to go here.
This is the one detail I like from the contrived railway storyline that was added during the last expansion.
Some of the trees are starting to fill in a bit more, but this area still has a ways to go. The significantly widened sidewalks (to accommodate emergency vehicles) will always be an eyesore.
Around the main lodge, the stream/creek and more intimate walkways are still delightful. This view is one of my favorites at any Walt Disney World resort.
The boardwalk around the geyser is also still beautiful and has a more ‘natural’ vibe.
It’s also tough to beat this view–or any view–inside the main lobby. Wilderness Lodge is great any time of year, but I really can’t wait until Christmas comes around again.
Moving on to a look at some of the rooms at Wilderness Lodge…
Above is the Honeymoon Suite. To my knowledge, there are four of these rooms on the 7th floor, each having a vaulted ceiling and a large room layout.
This room is newly-reimagined, debuting within the last couple weeks or so.
I’m not sure whether this is a testing ground for the inevitable room redesign for the standard rooms at Wilderness Lodge. I don’t have any inside information on this, but I’d expect that to occur sooner rather than later given what we’ve witnessed elsewhere around Walt Disney World. To my knowledge, Wilderness Lodge is one of the few Deluxes that has yet to receive a big refurb.
Simply going off of past precedent, elements of this room style that are almost certain to be incorporated into reimagined rooms at the rest of the resort. Namely, the wood floors and more low-key headboards. These are hardly groundbreaking insights; anyone who has seen a few other new rooms around Walt Disney World would surmise the same.
Above is the bathroom. Note the large shower, which I believe used to be a large jacuzzi tub.
Overall, I’m not a fan of this design. I can’t say I’m surprised, though. Wilderness Lodge’s rooms have a lot of texture, patterns, and rustic charm…basically three things at odds with the chic modern styles Walt Disney World has chosen for other room redesigns.
Above is our room for this stay. It’s showing some wear in places, but what it needs is a refresh with new goods, not a wholesale redesign. (It also, obviously, needs bed runners added.) The core look is great–and timeless.
If any resort should retain its highly-themed character, it’s Wilderness Lodge. (Actually, both lodges.) I understand bland one-and-done guests wanting bland style, but those people can book at one of the other dozen-plus resorts that has been generified.
Wilderness Lodge is an ornately themed resort and anyone with any sense knows exactly what they’re getting when they book here. For Walt Disney World fans like us, that is exactly why we book here. If we wanted a vaguely woodsy Marriott, we’d book one.
Similar to our standard room–at least in terms of the bedroom–the Deluxe Room is pictured above.
The big difference is the living room area, which makes it great for families or larger parties.
I personally love the style of this room. I also noticed the furnishings in this room looked nicer than ours; like the furniture had just been replaced or refreshed. It’s perfect–nothing about this needs to change.
Here’s a look at the bedroom through the bathroom to give you an idea of the layout. The living room is directly behind the bedroom.
All in all, it’s a nice design that could sleep up to 6 people. (That might be tough to juggle in terms of bathroom/shower use, but it’s feasible in terms of beds.)
Finally, we’ll end this Wilderness Lodge update with a look at Happily Ever After from the resort.
This was shot from the hallway near our room–I had no idea a view like this was even possible until seeing it. This now ranks as one of my favorite views for Magic Kingdom fireworks outside the park!
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of the new rooms at Wilderness Lodge? Do you prefer these to the ‘busy’ old style, or do you think they’re thematically lacking? Do you agree or disagree with our take that Wilderness Lodge should be the last place to have its theme reduced? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
If I could afford to stay at a deluxe resort at WDW instead of our usual All-Star or Pop Century, I would definitely pick the Wilderness Lodge. It’s beautiful inside and out, has a nice choice of places to eat, it’s very quiet and peaceful, and I always feel relaxed when I visit. Sit by the inside burbling water feature, or near the fireplace, walk around the property and explore!
I also hate the generified (great word) look we are seeing far too much lately. Plain white bedding is so awful. I am still kicking myself for not buying one of those awesome headboards off ebay before they disappeared. Shipping was more than the item, but damnit, now I want one even more!
Having been to Yellowstone several times and Old Faithful Inn, I LOVE WL. Best place on property and hope to stay there again. I was really hoping for some new shirts! I already have the blue and gray ones. Maybe in September I’ll just buy backups in case something happens to mine…
We have eaten dinner there and gone just to walk around and see the decorations at the holidays. Part of me loves the Wilderness Lodge however, I WISH it was on the monorail. I don’t like the idea of having to take a boat to magic Kingdom!
We LOVE staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and I even wish we bought our DVC there instead of Saratoga but it didn’t exist then.
We have stayed at the AKL Kidani twice and loved the atmosphere but we usually try and stay at either Boardwalk/Beach or Bay Lake/Floridian due to convenience. Nothing beats being able to walk to parks.
Ugh that vanilla honeymoon suite. Awful. I love the lodge and the rooms are fine, except it does need new furniture. Dressers are pretty beat up. The last refurb didn’t touch furniture, just soft goods and recovered headboards. Redid tile in bathroom and added in entry way.
My fav is the carved animals in the headboard. I hope they don’t get rid of them.
Fully agree Wilderness Lodge is a resort that should retain its classic theming throughout the rooms. It was a home run from the beginning and sometimes you don’t fix what ain’t broken. All attempts to tone down the Poly have led I have coined the term “beigification” to describe the depressing move to today’s bland current decor. It has impacted almost all of Las Vegas and even well-known over the top brands like Carnival Cruise Line, in addition to the land of themery that started it all and did it better than anyone, Disney. I have no interest to go on vacation and stay someplace that looks like a boring, cookie cutter model home. I want to escape to someplace special, immersive, magical and fun.
Decades ago we stayed in the Wilderness trailer, which was nice. We stayed in the Animal Kingdom Lodge, whisch was wonderful. Our favorite Christmas lodge is Wilderness. Love all the details. The honeymoon suite would be a downer being so plain. Refresh the worn out with more of the same. Plenty of non-descript boring places.
Noooo with the update! If they have to replace the fun carpet, at least keep the headboards and the imaginative, quirky elements that make the room special and unique! And keep some of the warm tones found throughout the cabin, both wood tones and colors. Not only is the room boring, but it really clashes with the theme of the resort. And BTW, I agree with the poster who said the updated room looked like a hospital room (birthing room). My sister and I are coming in December just to enjoy the WL at this time of year. Fingers crossed and hoping for a room that is not sterile and cold.
We recently returned from a weeklong stay at Wilderness Lodge and loved every minute of it. It’s definitely our “home away from home” at Disney World. We also had a great view of “Happily Ever After” from our balcony and we really enjoyed watching it from there. The Wilderness Lodge is an amazing resort and only comes in second to the Grand Californian at Disneyland. It’s an incredibly themed resort that offers a lot of places to relax after a long day at the park. It always feel cozy there. In fact after staying at a few other Disney Resorts like Beach Club it feels the most relaxing. I hope that when they update the Wildness Lodge rooms, that they will do it the same way they updated the Grand Californian Hotel and Spa….they freshened and updated the rooms while honoring the theme of the resort.
We love the Wilderness Lodge, but this redesign is not good. The “honeymoon suite” looks like an upscale private hospital room. The type where cosmetic surgery is performed on Beverly Hills Housewives.
What a shame.
I agree with the recent trend in down-theming rooms being a big concern. Having bought into DVC and staying on site for the theming, this is the biggest draw for us! I can’t imagine what abomination will befall Poly if they remove theming there too! A more immersive environment is what sets Disney apart, and by removing that and watering it down, they remove what makes them special. If I wanted a plain hotel room, I’d go elsewhere. I wanted a magical vacation.
The fun of the different hotels is their different exciting themes!!
Why change a good thing just refresh what’s there your trying to use contemporary furniture not rustic. If you keep that new stuff we’ll look for another
hotel Wilderness has always been our go to hotel so dump the bland stark look.
An opportunity missed, Tom. You should’ve had an article titled “Guess the resort.”
Walt Disney would tar and feather the imagineers responsible for that honeymoon suite.
I may be in the minority, but I quite like the wooden floors and the plainer headboards pictured above. I love Wilderness Lodge, but the current headboards always seemed so fake to me. The more natural look above seems more in character with the Lodge theme. But I honestly wouldn’t care if only I could afford to go back soon! 😀
Totally agree with you on the decor. That honeymoon suite is stark & cold, would be very disappointed to stay there. We are staying here at the villa so for our honeymoon & im sure hoping it isn’t refurbished if that’s the look they’re choosing. Most of the refurbs I’ve seen on property have lost some of the theming, sadly.
It seems like they want chic, all white, boring rooms that look like an average upscale hotel room than any sort of Disney feel or theming that makes staying at a Disney World hotel special. 🙁
WL is our resort and we’ve been there more times than I can count. I’m curious as to what floor and area of the lodge you were in to get that view? Just beautiful!!
5 years ago we got to be the “Fireworks Family” wherein a cast member walked us to the roof for a private viewing of (then) Wishes! One of our best Disney memories!
Is this luck of the draw? Or is there a way to put your name out there?
We had asked to be the Flag Family, but that was full so they offered it as a consolation. It was 5 years ago so not sure if they do it anymore. There were catwalks and other backstage-type areas involved.
I’m with ypu… been going to the Lodge since 1994 and love it. I has been and continues to he my favorite… the new look is the wrong direction. I just wish they would bring back the original emblem. Last time there it was still on the floor mats outside the door.
We love the Wilderness Lodge for its coziness and rustic theme, so I am not a fan of the new decor. It doesn’t go with the “Lodge” feeling and the color scheme doesn’t evoke a wilderness/woodsy feeling. But, as long as they don’t change the lobby, grounds and outside architectural elements, it will still be our favorite.
We’ll be staying there next year. What room we’re you in with that fabulous view?