Number 9 is really FINE! Welcome to AKL LITE - the 'unofficial' FAQ Thread

[archdandy]

I'm really torn here. When I first started looking at renting DVC points for AKL there wasn't any availability for standard view so I had to go with savannah view. But now standard view has opened up for our dates and I'm wondering if I should keep going with the savannah view or just choose standard and hope we get a good savannah view. I know that a good portion of the resort rooms have savannah views anyways and if we picked standard it would save us a couple hundred dollars. What would you guys do?

 

[NickP33]

My family and I have toured AKL several times over the past 10/11 years and we haven't been all that impressed. But this past April, we walked around the pool area and explored a lot more than usual, and now we are HOOKED!! I just booked a trip from 5/27-6/2 in a Pool View room. I can't wait!

 

[M1Thumb]

Hi. Board newbie here and have a few questions about the AKL. We've previously stayed at the Polynesian CL (and loved it) and made plans to stay at the AKL CL later this year.

Does anybody have any tips or recommendations about room requests? When I made my reservation, I put in a request for a bunk bed room. The Disney site stated that it's an option for CL rooms, but apparently the reservation system cannot guarantee it. They recommended that I call a week before check-in to reaffirm this request. Is there a good way to go about this? Has anybody successfully requested a CL room w/ a bunk?

At the Kamehameha Club, they offered a wonderful rum punch during the evening cordials. Does the Kilimanjaro Club offer anything similar?

And a non-CL question: are there Animal Kingdom / safari-themed outfits for Duffy? My kids loooove their Duffies.

 

[mommyarewegoingback]

Me too. I have been a lurker of this thread. Thanks for all the info. Most of our trips as of late have included dinners at Boma. I have stayed at AKL CL for 2 days, 2 years ago (where we didn't leave the resort at all) and now returning back as DVC members for a weeklong stay this Memorial Day week also. We can't wait! My DD can't wait to get more beads and play the drums again

We were only able to get a standard view studio, kidani this time around, since we have another trip planned this fall. So my question is this, because I have a studio, and don't want to be far the lobby & bus stops but also on the way to Jambo for the QS, I was going to request close to the Timon elevators. Sound about right?

As for supermarkets, Publix by Orange Lake via Sherberth is the closest, right? We'll have a car so didn't want to do Garden Grocer. Thanks.

-Virginia

 

[ddixon1]

Up at dawn for park open. Go, go, go, go with few breaks & a pretty strong pace. Stay & close the park. If possible then go close another park with EMH (Extra Magic Hours).
Think break neck speed & then put it on steroids.

Holy crap. Thanks for the description.

 

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Considering renting points for our upcoming trip in June. We have stayed at Jambo House and absolutely LOVED it! If we rent the points however, we would be staying at Kindani Village. Will I like it there? Pros/Cons to staying there instead of Jambo House?

Any ideas on where I should request for a room location? Would be booking a standard studio. Want to be close to lobby and transportation and possibly the pool!

thanks!

 

[iheartjuppy]

We're headed back "home" to AKL! We stayed here in 2009 when DS was 3 weeks shy of turning 2, and all three of us fell in love. On our last trip (2010), we stayed at WL because AKL was sold out for our dates & promo. We had a lovely time at WL but it was no AKL, if you know what I mean! We were so spoiled waking up and having Zebra outside our balcony, that even the gorgeous pool view at WL couldn't compare.

We're surprising DS, who will turn 5 on this trip, and his little sister (who will be about 3 weeks shy of turning 2 - funny how that works out!). On our other AKL trip, we had an Arusha view, but you didn't have to reserve that as a special upgrade at that time. Our room was right on the lobby level and one of the last rooms before the little "bridge" between sets of rooms so we only had a neighbor on one side of our room. It felt like a secluded room, even in the middle of this bustling resort. We reserved Arusha specifically this time, and will be there in May, looking forward to hearing "Welcome home!"

I'm already dreaming about that juice at Boma!

 

[tarak]

DevonsDisneyMom, we just got back from a five day trip to AKL. We rented DVC points for the first time, and my husband is set that it's the way to go from now on. The only way we can stay at AKL now is to get two connecting rooms or a 1BR suite. Renting DVC points was less than half the price of the other options. Just having clean laundry when we flew home was pretty magical. My husband really preferred the Kidani lobby to Jambo House - he always felt it was so noisy there. It really has a more intimate feel to it.

We landed at Orlando around 1:15 and we were on the ME and at Kidani Village by 2. It was amazing how fast and efficient it was. We stayed in a one BR villa on the Pembe savannah. Seeing the okapis was nice. But I think I'd request a different savannah next time. I missed seeing the giraffe and zebras. Otherwise, it was lovely. The villa is huge. We didn't feel like we were bumping into each other all the time. I didn't mind at all not having housekeeping the first three days. It was nice, actually, not having to worry about coming back to the room to discover it was being cleaned. It's not like I change the towels at home every day. The only downside to the room location was it was really far from the lobby. Weirdly, the walk from Jambo to Kidani didn't bother me at all. But somehow, that walk from the lobby to the room seemed to last forever. Maybe because we were usually tired by the time we got there?

We stayed from Jan. 27-Feb. 1. Crowds were minimal and we usually walked on to everything. I don't think any of the FP machines ran out (at least when we saw them). The only place that seemed crowded was the new Fantasyland, and I think that might have been partly due to the construction. With all the walls up, it sort of squeezed everyone together. I wasn't so blown away by the Little Mermaid ride that I'd worry about hitting it before the new mine ride opens. I know it will likely be crowded when that opens, too. But I'm hopeful the cattle chutes will be gone by then, so it will feel like there's some avenue of escape. We had fantastic luck with Disney transportation, usually walking up to the bus stop just as one was pulling in.

We did the QS dining plan. I think even that's too much food, although we did manage to use all our credits. Next time we go, my oldest will be ten, and it's likely not worth it to pay the extra money each day for her. She eats less than her five-year-old brother.

Still love the African stew (although it's over rice now - why do I remember bread bowls?) The kids really liked the roasted chicken legs and the couscous. Two of them turned up their noses at the zebra domes. Fine - more for me, right? I ate the leftovers for breakfast the day we left.

Can't wait to go back. I'm trying to convince my husband to go next year the same time. He didn't say no, so I'm cautiously optimistic.

 

[DevonsDisneyMom]

DevonsDisneyMom, we just got back from a five day trip to AKL. We rented DVC points for the first time, and my husband is set that it's the way to go from now on. The only way we can stay at AKL now is to get two connecting rooms or a 1BR suite. Renting DVC points was less than half the price of the other options. Just having clean laundry when we flew home was pretty magical. My husband really preferred the Kidani lobby to Jambo House - he always felt it was so noisy there. It really has a more intimate feel to it.

We landed at Orlando around 1:15 and we were on the ME and at Kidani Village by 2. It was amazing how fast and efficient it was. We stayed in a one BR villa on the Pembe savannah. Seeing the okapis was nice. But I think I'd request a different savannah next time. I missed seeing the giraffe and zebras. Otherwise, it was lovely. The villa is huge. We didn't feel like we were bumping into each other all the time. I didn't mind at all not having housekeeping the first three days. It was nice, actually, not having to worry about coming back to the room to discover it was being cleaned. It's not like I change the towels at home every day. The only downside to the room location was it was really far from the lobby. Weirdly, the walk from Jambo to Kidani didn't bother me at all. But somehow, that walk from the lobby to the room seemed to last forever. Maybe because we were usually tired by the time we got there?

We stayed from Jan. 27-Feb. 1. Crowds were minimal and we usually walked on to everything. I don't think any of the FP machines ran out (at least when we saw them). The only place that seemed crowded was the new Fantasyland, and I think that might have been partly due to the construction. With all the walls up, it sort of squeezed everyone together. I wasn't so blown away by the Little Mermaid ride that I'd worry about hitting it before the new mine ride opens. I know it will likely be crowded when that opens, too. But I'm hopeful the cattle chutes will be gone by then, so it will feel like there's some avenue of escape. We had fantastic luck with Disney transportation, usually walking up to the bus stop just as one was pulling in.

We did the QS dining plan. I think even that's too much food, although we did manage to use all our credits. Next time we go, my oldest will be ten, and it's likely not worth it to pay the extra money each day for her. She eats less than her five-year-old brother.

Still love the African stew (although it's over rice now - why do I remember bread bowls?) The kids really liked the roasted chicken legs and the couscous. Two of them turned up their noses at the zebra domes. Fine - more for me, right? I ate the leftovers for breakfast the day we left.

Can't wait to go back. I'm trying to convince my husband to go next year the same time. He didn't say no, so I'm cautiously optimistic.

Tara thank you so much! Did you rent thru Dave's DVC rentals? This was such a huge help with your thoughts on Kindani! We have stayed at Jambo house and LOVE it. I think we are going to do the QS dining plan too when we go.

What did you guys do for park passes? were you able to add them to your key to the world card when you arrived?

 

[Castlepixie]

There is a great map on www.allears.net
If you get bottom floor you'll have an easier walk to the Mara but not a great pool view. We always try to get higher floors for a better view/ less pool noise.

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Thank you! I will check out the map.

 

[tarak]

Tara thank you so much! Did you rent thru Dave's DVC rentals? This was such a huge help with your thoughts on Kindani! We have stayed at Jambo house and LOVE it. I think we are going to do the QS dining plan too when we go.

What did you guys do for park passes? were you able to add them to your key to the world card when you arrived?

We did use David's DVC rentals. I've also heard good things about the DVC rental store. The whole process was a piece of cake. We called early December to add the dining plan to our reservation (you have to pay for it at the time it's set up, but have to schedule it about a month before you arrive). My older kids were taking a YES class during the week, so my husband ticket and there's came through the YES program. You can't add those passes to the KTTW. I had two 10 day non expiring passes I bought a while ago (before one of the price increases), so I used those for my son and me. I don't know if I could add those to the KTTW. Since I was carrying the other passes around anyway, I didn't bother to check.

 

[bluesky1997]

So, I guess this was the wrong board for my question, lol! Alrighty then, I'll try some where else!

 

[t_daniels]

Hi all!

I hope this is the right place for my questions so please let me know if I should post this on the general thread if its not the right place!

We (me, dh, dd (will be 9) & ds (will be 11)) are going on our first Disney cruise for Christmas this year and have decided to extend our stay after for WDW. We've only been to WDW once, in 2010, and we camped at FW so I have no knowledge whatsoever of the resorts. After doing an exhausting online search, I have fallen in love with AKL (which I'm assuming is the correct abbreviation for Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is different than the Animal Kingdom Villa right?) It's a bit more than I wanted to pay but welcome to WDW! Any way, I would love a Savannah view with the bunk beds (which I think is way cool that they have this option!), is it worth the extra money to, pay for this resort and the upgraded view when we are only going to be here for 3 nights? What is the safari like, is it a must do? I was thinking we could do this on arrival day since we will be coming straight from the ship. (Not sure we'd be up for the parks our first day off the ship so I'm hoping for a relaxing day at the resort.) Is it hard to get reservations for the safari?

Do I book directly on the disney site or through a travel agent? Do they offer discounts or am I too late for that (end of Dec. 2013).

Sorry for the novel! I'm a bit overwhelmed if you hadn't noticed already, lol! Thanks so much in advance for any help!! I really appreciate it!

Most here would say, AKL is worth the splurge.

You can book through Disney or a TA, either one.

Lots of info on the past few pages on the safaris, I think. I've never done one.

 

[franandaj]

Hi all!

I hope this is the right place for my questions so please let me know if I should post this on the general thread if its not the right place!

We (me, dh, dd (will be 9) & ds (will be 11)) are going on our first Disney cruise for Christmas this year and have decided to extend our stay after for WDW. We've only been to WDW once, in 2010, and we camped at FW so I have no knowledge whatsoever of the resorts. After doing an exhausting online search, I have fallen in love with AKL (which I'm assuming is the correct abbreviation for Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is different than the Animal Kingdom Villa right?) It's a bit more than I wanted to pay but welcome to WDW! Any way, I would love a Savannah view with the bunk beds (which I think is way cool that they have this option!), is it worth the extra money to, pay for this resort and the upgraded view when we are only going to be here for 3 nights? What is the safari like, is it a must do? I was thinking we could do this on arrival day since we will be coming straight from the ship. (Not sure we'd be up for the parks our first day off the ship so I'm hoping for a relaxing day at the resort.) Is it hard to get reservations for the safari?

Do I book directly on the disney site or through a travel agent? Do they offer discounts or am I too late for that (end of Dec. 2013).

Sorry for the novel! I'm a bit overwhelmed if you hadn't noticed already, lol! Thanks so much in advance for any help!! I really appreciate it!

Whether or not it is worth the extra money is something only you can decide. I have stayed as little as two nights and enjoyed the resort and stayed as many as five at one time. I would not plan anything the day I arrive anywhere, but that's just me.

It all depends on which safari you want to do as well. The Sunset Safari runs a couple hundred dollars per person per night because a gourmet meal at an African restaurant is included. I'm not sure how used to fine dining your DDs are, but they might not appreciate a $200pp meal even if it comes with a safari.

The other safaris are the Sunrise (only available to CL level guests) and the nighttime safari which begins at 10PM. Not sure that something that finishes close to midnight is appropriate for kids. Besides at Christmas time the weather will be very cold. We were freezing when we did it last week and that was in February during a somewhat warm spot.

If you have questions, you'll need to give a couple days for folks to get back to you, as not everyone is on the boards every day. Some of us are even at WDW right now!

 

[bluesky1997]

Whether or not it is worth the extra money is something only you can decide. I have stayed as little as two nights and enjoyed the resort and stayed as many as five at one time. I would not plan anything the day I arrive anywhere, but that's just me.

It all depends on which safari you want to do as well. The Sunset Safari runs a couple hundred dollars per person per night because a gourmet meal at an African restaurant is included. I'm not sure how used to fine dining your DDs are, but they might not appreciate a $200pp meal even if it comes with a safari.

The other safaris are the Sunrise (only available to CL level guests) and the nighttime safari which begins at 10PM. Not sure that something that finishes close to midnight is appropriate for kids. Besides at Christmas time the weather will be very cold. We were freezing when we did it last week and that was in February during a somewhat warm spot.

If you have questions, you'll need to give a couple days for folks to get back to you, as not everyone is on the boards every day. Some of us are even at WDW right now!

Thanks for the info.! I didn't realize the safari started so late. That's definitely something to reconsider.

And thanks for letting me know it might be a couple days for a response. I'm finding it's hard to be patient when you are obsessing over a Disney vacation!

 

[Pinkocto]

I'm really torn here. When I first started looking at renting DVC points for AKL there wasn't any availability for standard view so I had to go with savannah view. But now standard view has opened up for our dates and I'm wondering if I should keep going with the savannah view or just choose standard and hope we get a good savannah view. I know that a good portion of the resort rooms have savannah views anyways and if we picked standard it would save us a couple hundred dollars. What would you guys do?

I would stick with savannah view, it's so wonderful!

 

[Pinkocto]

What's so funny about TP?

I bring my own Charmin on trips. I happily accept if that means I'm crazy. One should be as comfortable on vacation as at home.

 

[TruBlu]

I bring my own Charmin on trips. I happily accept if that means I'm crazy. One should be as comfortable on vacation as at home.

I work for the government. After using their TP at work, everything at Disney feels like a cloud!!!

This thread has taken a very strange path...

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Pinkocto]

Hi all!

I hope this is the right place for my questions so please let me know if I should post this on the general thread if its not the right place!

We (me, dh, dd (will be 9) & ds (will be 11)) are going on our first Disney cruise for Christmas this year and have decided to extend our stay after for WDW. We've only been to WDW once, in 2010, and we camped at FW so I have no knowledge whatsoever of the resorts. After doing an exhausting online search, I have fallen in love with AKL (which I'm assuming is the correct abbreviation for Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is different than the Animal Kingdom Villa right?) It's a bit more than I wanted to pay but welcome to WDW! Any way, I would love a Savannah view with the bunk beds (which I think is way cool that they have this option!), is it worth the extra money to, pay for this resort and the upgraded view when we are only going to be here for 3 nights? What is the safari like, is it a must do? I was thinking we could do this on arrival day since we will be coming straight from the ship. (Not sure we'd be up for the parks our first day off the ship so I'm hoping for a relaxing day at the resort.) Is it hard to get reservations for the safari?

Do I book directly on the disney site or through a travel agent? Do they offer discounts or am I too late for that (end of Dec. 2013).

Sorry for the novel! I'm a bit overwhelmed if you hadn't noticed already, lol! Thanks so much in advance for any help!! I really appreciate it!

I agree with everything that's already been said.

I'm not sure of the age limit on the safari, I'm thinking its 12. I'm hoping someone else chimes in here.

Last year I did a cruise first and then three nights at AKL. It was like a vacation after a vacation, totally wonderful. To offset cost you might consider renting points. I don't think they've started discounts for December but I might be wrong on that.

 

[TruBlu]

I don't think they've started discounts for December but I might be wrong on that.

Last December they offered free dining, so you could get lucky!

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