Hello!  And welcome to Disney's Wilderness Lodge Resort!  

We had the pleasure of staying at this beautiful resort in July 2005.  After seeing many, many pictures of the resort on the internet and watching the Travel Channel's "Great Hotels" featuring the Wilderness Lodge, NOTHING compares to actually stepping inside the cavernous lobby!  Here are some pictures of the lobby....

One thing that I didn't realize, even after studying hundreds of pictures of the lobby, was that the teepee chandeliers are HUGE!!  You can't tell how big they really are from the photos because they are in proportion to the lobby.  But once you see them in person, especially looking down at them from the 7th (top) floor, you realize that people could actually fit inside them!!  

I took this next picture from the 7th floor, looking down and towards the front doors.  If you look near the top center of the picture you will see sofa groupings on some of the lower levels.  These sofa and chair groupings had some of the most comfortable furniture I've ever been on! :} 

Again, looking down from the 7th floor, towards the Guest Services/Check-In area...

With the Whispering Canyon Cafe to my left, I looked straight up and snapped this picture!

With the front doors behind me, looking to the back left corner you can see the 7 story high chimney of the lobby fireplace.  The many different levels of stone that you see represent the actual levels of stone found in the Grand Canyon. 

One of the features of the lobby that we really like is the bubbling brook, with a foot bridge that goes across it.  The brook fills the lobby with the wonderful sound of running water.  Late at night John and I would sit down in the lobby to relax after a long, but fun, day in the park, and between the soothing sound of the water, and the comfort of those chairs, I could've slept right in the lobby! 

The large windows/doors that you see in these pictures lead out the back, to the stream, the pool, hot tub, the geyser, the marina, and the boats that take you to the Magic Kingdom, the Contemporary Resort, and Fort Wilderness.

A few closer shots of the fireplace.  And yes, that IS a real fire burning!  :} 

Now, onto the 7th floor, which is the concierge floor!

This first picture is of the new room which now has the food and drink offerings that are a part of the concierge level.  It wasn't quite finished while we were there, but I was able to get this picture. 

These are the doors to the new lounge room, as shown when closed and locked.  They look very similar to the doors on the lobby fireplace! 

From what I've been told, the 2 big screen, flat panel, plasma tv's on the 7th floor are a new addition to the concierge.  As you can see, they're encased in a wood mantle which helps them to fit in with the decor of the resort.

This display case on the 7th floor contains fossils from the actual Grand Canyon. Very interesting!

During our stay, and previous, this is how the food offerings were arranged for the concierge guests:

On this particular evening we stopped before dinner and sampled the soup and chili, along with soda and wine ;)  The chili and cheddar-potato soup were outstanding :}   We had breakfast each morning on the 7th floor and we really enjoyed taking our food to one of the tables and munching while we enjoyed the view of the lobby.  There is so much detail to see, we never got tired of it.

The sofa and chair groupings along the railings of the 7th floor were comfortable and provided a great place to relax, and/or people watch, overlooking the lobby below.

Now, finally, welcome to our room! :)  We were in room #7043 which is an "inner courtyard" view.  It has a queen bed, and bunk beds. 

Inside the armoire was the tv and another drawer.

All of the rooms at the Wilderness Lodge have balconies.  The rooms on the 7th floor have what they call "solid wall" balconies, meaning that (as you can see) the front wall of the balcony is solid, as opposed to the open-railing type of front wall on the balconies of the lower floors.  When you are sitting, you can't see much except straight across and up.  In nicer weather this *might* have been seen as a negative, but we didn't spend much time out there.  We much preferred to sit down in the lobby :}  The next few pictures show the view from the balcony....

This is what you see when standing in the center of the balcony, looking straight ahead:

Here is your view looking to the right (towards the center of the building):

Now look to your left and you can see the pool, the poolside bar, and the lake:

Looking straight down, you see the stream that started in the lobby (to your right) as that bubbling brook! :}

Looking down and to your right, you see exactly where the stream comes out of the lobby:

Looking to your far left, you see more of the lake.  All in all, we thought our room had a great view of the inner courtyard :}

These next few pictures are external shots of the Wilderness Lodge, as taken from the boat to the Magic Kingdom:

While standing at the dock waiting for the Magic Kingdom boat, I happened to turn back to look at the Lodge and saw the geyser was going!  

This last picture was taken while we were waiting at the bus stop.  The bus stop is a bit over to my right.  I crossed the road to get a somewhat better shot of the front entrance.  As beautiful as the Wilderness Lodge looks in pictures, it is even better in person :}