The fireplace on the first floor originally was a real fireplace, but after many complaints of smoke on the seventh floor, where my family was staying, Disney decided to change it to a fake fireplace. We were at Disney World and went on the tour through the Wilderness Lodge. The tour guide pointed out that the lights that hang in the halls with the roaming buffalo on them were all the same except one on each floor. On all but one on each floor the buffalo were facing counterclockwise, on the rest they were going clockwise. I took the Institute's Disney Architecture class recently and learned of a secret at the Wilderness Lodge.
Funny thing is that there are no long-needle pine trees anywhere in the area.
The hot spring in the Wilderness Lodge's inside is not as hot as it looks. It is given this effect by four misters on all sides. At the Wilderness Lodge it is true that you can find certain wildlife while walking the grounds. When I was there in September 2001, on the first day I spotted a large snake by the swimming pool. The snake then went into some bushes and I never saw or heard of it again.