I shared the following post on our DVC Fan FB group, but I felt It deserved a post here as well. I’ve shared previously that after staying at Wilderness Lodge in a two-bedroom at Boulder Ridge, as well as a studio and cabin at Copper Creek, that the resort is quickly becoming my favorite. However, when you take care of my mother the way they did a few weeks ago, well – then you’ve won me over mind, body, and soul. Here’s the post:
I want to share a little story about something that happened while I was away. This just further cements my feelings that Wilderness Lodge really does exceed expectations in customer service.
Every year, my aunts Janice and Edith come to visit my mother here in Orlando. This year, I decided to put them up in a cabin for three nights at Copper Creek. Mom LOVED staying there during the Dreams Unlimited Travel 20th anniversary celebration, and I knew they’d love to have that experience. Of course, I was going to be in Europe during their visit, and I’d hoped that everything would go smoothly. They checked in without issue, and their cabin was ready (because let’s face it, very few people are staying in them). A few hours after they got settled, they received a call from a manager telling them they were assigned the wrong cabin and would need to move to a new one. The issue: there was a small gas leak in the cabin, and they were coming in to fix it the next day. My mother told them that they already had started unpacking and had clothes on hangers, etc., and the manager assured them they would move everything and they wouldn’t need to worry about it.
They escorted them to a new cabin, and shortly after a bellman arrived with all their clothes and belongings (still on hangers) and set everything up. The manager asked my mother what her plans were for the evening, and she told them they were just planning to order room service. The manager told them to order whatever they wanted, and it would be taken care of. In addition, they were going to refund one night’s points back to my account for the inconvenience. My mother was GUSHING to me about how nice and how wonderful they were.
Think about that for a second – they had to move cabins because of a gas leak, and the way and the manner in which the manager (Lorraine Oakley) handled the situation made my mother even happier that she was there. THAT is FANTASTIC guest service. I asked my mother if she thought the manager might know who I was and maybe that’s why they were being so good, and she said she was fairly certain they didn’t. She mentioned after the fact that her son had a podcast (she likes to brag) and that I’d be so happy to hear this. She said the manager was surprised to hear that and had no idea about me – so I’m fairly certain this was just standard procedure.
The more experiences I have with Wilderness Lodge the happier I am that I have contracts at both Copper Creek and Boulder Ridge. They really are amazing!!!
As important as I feel it is to point out service failures and the general decline of service across the parks and resorts, it is even more important to point out the places where exemplary service is still the coin of the realm. Wilderness Lodge has repeatedly shown that level of service over four visits in the last year.
Simply put, I have my new favorite place to stay at Walt Disney World.
This is fantastic!
What a great surprise for your Mum and family Pete and glad to hear she was pleased as many would have questioned why Disney staff allowed people to check into a room or cabin that had a gas leak in the first place.
Good to read the manager went out of her way to ensure everything was taken care of.
In the way that Disney has a practice of moving chefs from success restaurants around to rescue those that are failing, perhaps Disney should do the same with resort managers. I wonder how different your Grand Floridian experience would have been had the current Wilderness Lodge management been in charge.
This is so good to hear.
Reading this makes me even more excited about our upcoming stay at Boulder Ridge villas
Just wait til Xmas. Just gets better. Top resort. Top people.
This is such wonderful news😊
198 days to our stay at a 2 bedroom in Boulder Ridge👍
DVC since 2005 but first ever trip to Wilderness Lodge.
Sounds like the Grand Children are going to enjoy this new Adventure 😊
My apprehension is going away. Thank you for all he wonderful feedback👍❤️
Thank you Pete we love Copper Creek resort and look forward to our first stay as DVC members in June! The manager is wonderful and cast members go out of the way to assist you. Your Mother is darling and I am glad she had a wonderful time while you were gone. Keep up the great reviews and podcast!
We have small contracts at Boulder Ridge and Copper Creek. We call the Wilderness Lodge our “Super Home”. We have stayed at both but like Boulder Ridge better. It was built as a DVC and Copper Creek was a hotel conversion. Don’t get me wrong. Any day at Disney is magical.
So glad to read this my family has a vacation stay at Wildness Lodge in early June. I’ve been a little nervous its the first time we are not staying at 1 if the other 3 deluxe resorts. Last visit was at Contempory & it was great to be able to walk back & forth to Magic Kingdom & the monorail. Still nervous about the bus service does anyone have info on that
Staying at the Wilderness Lodge has been wonder for us. We have stayed there for many years before Copper Creek was introduced. We became DVC members last year with our memberships at both Boulder Ridge and Copper Creek just so we would have 11 months out to plan our stays. We always take the boats to Magic Kingdom and it’s wonderful. We only ever take a bus to Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios. The bus trips have gotten much better. You don’t have to wait too long between buses. When we go to EPCOT we take the boat to Magic Kingdom and catch the monorail to the TTC and ride the EPCOT monorail. It’s a fun trip.
Stayed at WL on cash this past August. Due to a unforeseen issue (my son refusing to get on the plane) we arrived a day late missed our reservation at Artist Point. After receiving a generic email from the General Manager I replied letting them know the situation and within 20 min got a call from an assistant GM (wish I could remember her name) saying they made us a reservation for that night if we wanted it. We don’t currently own there, but I have a feeling we will sooner than later.