AKL Room requests/Chances of a Savannah upgrade?

[mollies_mum]

Hi,
After some great advice from everyone here I would like to ask you all one more thing about AKL.
I have booked a standard room view, would like a Savannah but not sure yet if my finances can stretch to that (Virgin want £750)
What I would like to know is if I had a standard room what are my chances of there being the chance to pay to upgrade at checkin? (our flight doesn't arrive till 6pm)
Also if I do pay for a Savannah view with Virgin what would be a good room request? What is the best Savannah to spot the most animals? From what I have read generally the third floor is a good one.
Also how far are the Savannah rooms from the restaurants/pool.
Thank so much, I'm really just trying to work it all out!

 

[disneyholic family]

Hi,
After some great advice from everyone here I would like to ask you all one more thing about AKL.
I have booked a standard room view, would like a Savannah but not sure yet if my finances can stretch to that (Virgin want £750)
What I would like to know is if I had a standard room what are my chances of there being the chance to pay to upgrade at checkin? (our flight doesn't arrive till 6pm)
Also if I do pay for a Savannah view with Virgin what would be a good room request? What is the best Savannah to spot the most animals? From what I have read generally the third floor is a good one.
Also how far are the Savannah rooms from the restaurants/pool.
Thank so much, I'm really just trying to work it all out!

personally, i wouldn't stay at the AKL without a savannah view, HOWEVER, if your finances are tight, paying £750 for the view is completely ridiculous...
save the money and spend it on fun things on your holiday (nice dinners, spa, sports, shopping, whatever)....
how much time do you really stay in your room?
and there are other places in the resort to view animals..

if the upcharge was £100 to £200, I would say go for it, but not £750....paying that much money just to see a few giraffe out your window, when you actually happen to look out your window, really isn't worth it...
save it and spend it on something special you've always wanted to do...

 

[mumloveseeyore]

just got back a month ago, there seem to be more rooms with savannah views than without, we asked for rooms with bunkbeds and also got a savannah view, not the greatest but as we were near the animal barns we quite enjoyed watching the keepes feeding, caring for the animals. i wouldnt pay for an upgrade as there is a fair chance you might get one anyway.

 

[mollies_mum]

Thanks for your replies

We are going for the last two weeks in October so I'm hoping it wont be too busy and that we will have more of a chance of getting a good view because the hotel may be emptier...?

Can anyone recommend a good room request that will help to maximise our change of getting a savannah view?

Thanks again

 

[wayneg]

Personally I would not request a room, if they think you want a specific room or area why would they upgrade you? would have thought less chance myself.

I have heard longer stays have less chance of upgrades but at quiet times of year there must be a good chance for you. We only stayed 3 nights last year and got upgraded.

I am same as above, wouldn't stay there in a std room but wouldn't pay £750 to upgrade. would rather stay elsewhere and just visit a couple of times to see the animals. Difficult choice.

 

[fleurbie]

Hi we went in oct 2005 and had a free upgrade, so there's every chance you will get one, i read on here when planning last visit that they always upgrade you if they have the rooms avalible, we had a lovely view and plenty of animals went past our room. we were staying for two weeks. As the walk to pool, and lobby etc is all inside it's hard to tell how close you are, we about 10 min walk if memory serves me right, Hope you have a lovely stay:thumbsup

 

[jtlover]

I have stayed in both a standard room and a savannah view room.

We paid to stay concierge in August which meant we had a savannah view which was amazing as I woke up everyday looking for Miles the giraffe and Clifford the bongo from my room. I got to know one of the keepers so found out about the animal names. I fell in love with Miles.

I personally wouldnt pay for a view again, even though it was good. When we stayed in a standard view room we went to the viewing areas to see the animals which was fine. I wouldnt pay £750 to upgrade just for the view.

 

[Shazzie B]

just got back a month ago, there seem to be more rooms with savannah views than without, we asked for rooms with bunkbeds and also got a savannah view, not the greatest but as we were near the animal barns we quite enjoyed watching the keepes feeding, caring for the animals. i wouldnt pay for an upgrade as there is a fair chance you might get one anyway.

Us too! We went two years ago and paid for a Savannah room; whilst it was lovely we didn't book this year (booked Discovery Cove day instead!). To be honest we don't spend much time at the hotel anyway-we did enjoy having a belcony though. We asked for Bunk Beds room as DS & DD are too old to share a bed now; we were given a room that overlooked the Savannah - but not quite so picturesque as previously - near animal barns, but we saw just as many animals. It is quite a walk to the pool/lobby area from where we were though (didn't bother us-we thought we'd be over looking the car -park area).

To be honest I think it's a great hotel what-ever room you get. Have a great time.

 

[Macl1uk]

The Animal Kingdom Lodge is magical. We love Animal Kingdom Lodge in 2004 we stayed 16 nights and had a fantastic view of the Uzima Savannah even though we only paid the standard rate. In 2006 we returned for 21 nights and were initially given a room overlooking the car park, tiny window up high without any balcony, it was a type of room I would expect staff to occupy not paying guests. Soon swapped to the Sunset Savannah, view was not fantastic, but again I only paid the standard room rate. 2009 we stayed for 15 nights and had a fantastic Savannah room (this time we paid for the upgrade).

Yes there are more Savannah rooms than standard rooms, however there are quite a few Savannah rooms with limited view, i.e. the room could be in a corner and you would have to look out to the right or left to see the Savannah.

If you are unlucky and get a bad view, there are many locations around the hotel and grounds to see the animals.

 

[fuse04]

AKLy is great as is the Savannh view. You can upgrade at WDW when you get there but it may well cost more than Virgin. WDW will sell you a room at the standard rack rate and deduct what Virgin have paid for the room and not what you have paid Virgin.

Then earlier you get t check in the bestter the chance of a upgrade but the longer the stay the less chance.

 

[torsie24]

We booked standard for our trip last month (2 week stay) and were upgraded to possibly the best location we could have hoped for.

We were in the first block of the Zebra trail overlooking the Arusha (main savannah). We think technically this is one of the standars blocks, as we had sand and not grass in front of us, and often the keepers would park their feeding jeep outside our room.

But I would request this room again! We were literally 10 seconds from the lobby and super close to the pool and Mara. Absolutely perfect location.

Our photos talk for themselves I think.

So I wouldn't request anything, just keep quiet and hope, and if you are celebrating anything special, maybe let them know that, it could help as we had our engagement on our reservation.

 

[Danauk]

We booked a standard view for our last august trip, I did request a non car park view so am not sure if that helped or not plus we had our anniversary noted on the reservation. We were given a room in a similar location to Torsie but a little further down the coridoor only we were a few floors higher on the 4th floor. We had a great view over the savannah, had quick access to the lobby, pool and mara for drinks. I would definately ask for this location again. Here are a couple of my pictures.

 

[TinkTatoo]

We booked a standard view for our trip in October and I asked at check in about upgrading to a Savannah view, we were quoted $70 per night based on the rack rates difference between a standard and Savannah room. I decided that it wasn't worth it for us and asked where our standard view room was. It was a car park view but the CM said she'd see if any other standard views were available. we ended up in one of the very last rooms at the end of the Zebra trail. It was a long walk (but we didn't mind) we had a partial Savannah view and saw loads of animals.

I'd go with what others have suggested and ask for a non carpark view then check where your room is at check in but be prepared to accept a car park view if that's all they have left.