Animal Kingdom Lodge?

[LilGMom]

I am currently trying to decide if staying at AKL is worth it if we are staying in a standard view room? We'd be there in November of 2010, and plan on spending almost all of our time at the theme parks themselves and not the resort per say.

With that in mind, would I be better off keeping my current reservation at POP, or splurge and go for AKL (standard view room)? Do the standard view rooms have balconies where we can enjoy views of the parking lot?

Also, is Mara the kind of place where we can buy refillable mugs? Similar to the food court at CBR?

Thanks guys, I want to love AKL.

We have only booked pool and standard view rooms and never once did I feel like we should have booked something else. There are so many places for you to view the animals that I don't feel like you really have to have a Savannah view in order to enjoy the resort. All of the rooms have balconies so you can enjoy whatever view you get. And yes, the Mara is the AKL's CS. They have refillable mugs, burgers, chicken, salads, wonderful flatbread pizzas, and other various items.

 

[Ro Z]

We liked AKL. I think my expectations were way too high. We had a preferred room looking out at the animals, but it was a little nook in the back and the only time we saw many animals was feeding time. They were also building the Villas at the time we were there and I think maybe that had something to do with it. The bus ride to anyplace except the AK was loooong.
The bar area is very small. We were there during the World Series (Red Sox V Rockies) and the TV's were tiny. Great service though! The food is great at Boma and Mara. We didn't try Jiko and it was before Sanaa. The area you can walk around and look at the animals was fantastic and the CMs very nice.
Personally we like the WL better for the $$.

 

[Ro Z]

Oh Yea. Forgot..........The standard room my son had did have a balcony.

 

[LilGMom]

Oh Yea. Forgot..........The standard room my son had did have a balcony.

Was he on the bottom floor because my understanding and from personal experience all of the rooms at all of the deluxe resorts have balconies. And this is taken from AllEars: "Each room that is not ground level, no matter what the category or view, has a balcony that is long and narrow."

 

[rotlex]

I am currently trying to decide if staying at AKL is worth it if we are staying in a standard view room? We'd be there in November of 2010, and plan on spending almost all of our time at the theme parks themselves and not the resort per say.

With that in mind, would I be better off keeping my current reservation at POP, or splurge and go for AKL (standard view room)? Do the standard view rooms have balconies where we can enjoy views of the parking lot?

Also, is Mara the kind of place where we can buy refillable mugs? Similar to the food court at CBR?

Thanks guys, I want to love AKL.

All the rooms at AKL, and any deluxe, have balconies.

As far as the standard view rooms at AKL, you can get anything from a roof to a parking lot view. None that bad, from what I have seen, but why not consider taking a pool view, we did this last trip for only $10 more per night, and I think it was worth it. Personally, I wouldn't pay for Savannah view, but wouldn't complain about a free upgrade to it, LOL. Seriously though, the resort has SO many viewing areas, I just don't think your missing much without Savannah.

Again, last trip, we had a pool view. 4th floor, right near the elevators. The elevator took us out right near the arcade, Mara and pool. Fantastic location!

 

[drcandon]

We used to stay only at the Poly until I convince DW to try the AKL and rent a car....that was the end of the Poly ( for now). We did do the bus for AK itself as the parking is a pain there and it is a 5 minute trip with literally no waiting. Now, that being said the bus ride to downtown Disney is a royal pain in the rear. We were planning on staying late and for obvious reasons did not want to drive..the bus ride was about 45 minutes...The bus ride for the others parks are variable and tolerable. The good thing is the buses to both areas of the AKL are frequent and only stop at those two resorts - even late at night.

The Mara has IMHO the best resort counter service around. Lots of seating and decent food.

The resort itself is the best themed - Yes, the Poly is good for south seas island stuff, but this resort is the most detailed. The only thing it lacks is an adult only pool ( which is a crap shoot at the Poly).

As far as rooms go - all have balconies...Unless you plan on staying zero time a the resort I would go for at least a pool view. We had an Arusha view savana room ( we lucked out) on our last stay and seeing the animals was great. However, they are viewable from all sorts of vantage points in the resort.

However one drawback to the resort is the wings are very long ( not necessarly huge), designed that way so the wings of the various areas form barriers to contain the animals ( no they don't act as fences - just visual containment - makes the animals more content to stay in one place). This causes long long internal corridors - which is great for walking off a huge meal, but lousy for pushing several strollers, laden with kids, bags, cameras etc etc...

 

[pas130]

We stayed there in August. Kids loved the zero-entry pool, and walking around the resort was like being at a safari. We were upgraded at check in from Kidani to Jambo house in a suite....it was AMAZING! Here's the view from the balcony. It was like being in another world. And you can see these animals walking the hallways, so you don't need a Savannah view. Definitely you will need a day just to tour the resort.The food wasn't of interest to my DH or kids (too exotic)

 

[nemofans]

We used to stay only at the Poly until I convince DW to try the AKL and rent a car....that was the end of the Poly ( for now). We did do the bus for AK itself as the parking is a pain there and it is a 5 minute trip with literally no waiting. Now, that being said the bus ride to downtown Disney is a royal pain in the rear. We were planning on staying late and for obvious reasons did not want to drive..the bus ride was about 45 minutes...The bus ride for the others parks are variable and tolerable. The good thing is the buses to both areas of the AKL are frequent and only stop at those two resorts - even late at night.

The Mara has IMHO the best resort counter service around. Lots of seating and decent food.

The resort itself is the best themed - Yes, the Poly is good for south seas island stuff, but this resort is the most detailed. The only thing it lacks is an adult only pool ( which is a crap shoot at the Poly).

As far as rooms go - all have balconies...Unless you plan on staying zero time a the resort I would go for at least a pool view. We had an Arusha view savana room ( we lucked out) on our last stay and seeing the animals was great. However, they are viewable from all sorts of vantage points in the resort.

However one drawback to the resort is the wings are very long ( not necessarly huge), designed that way so the wings of the various areas form barriers to contain the animals ( no they don't act as fences - just visual containment - makes the animals more content to stay in one place). This causes long long internal corridors - which is great for walking off a huge meal, but lousy for pushing several strollers, laden with kids, bags, cameras etc etc...

We agree with you! AKL has the best theme, so unique! We also love Mara as well as Jiko & Boma. The bussing is great, but not to DTD. However, it's a pain going to DTD from just about anywhere. We always take a taxi to/from DTD no matter where we are staying. We had a pool view last time which was nice. We had an animal viewing area close to our room which was so peaceful. We hope to get a savannah room next time.
Yes, the hallways are long, but it will be quiet towards the end of the hallway. You can request to have a room closer to the lobby too.
I felt our room was very quiet compared to Poly. At Poly, we heard our next door neighbors all too well, hearing them talk about what their plans were for the next day, etc. At AKL, we could hear some noisy families walk past the room, but not anything from our neighbors.

 

[toodycat]

We were just there and it is a beautiful, beautiful resort and if you plan activities that take advantage of the proximity to the AK, it's totally worth it. However, I have to echo what someone else said: the CL staff was not helpful at all. Here's my review of our stay.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2579664

 

[WLSILVERCREEKSPRINGS]

I was apprehensive about staying at the AKL after reading all of the posts about how bad bus service was, how far away it was from almost everything, the rooms not being quiet, etc. Well other than missing the boats at the WL; it was awesome. Bus service was great, the room was quiet, and our longest bus ride was to the MK of course and it only took 20-25 minutes. The funny thing was that the animals were not that big of a draw for us. I packed several lenses for my camera, a tripod, plenty of memory cards in anticipation of taking a lot of animal pics and we probably only spent about 20 minutes during a 9 night stay checking out the animals. The pool & hot tub area was fantastic and we would stay there again just for that alone.

 

[Ro Z]

Was he on the bottom floor because my understanding and from personal experience all of the rooms at all of the deluxe resorts have balconies. And this is taken from AllEars: "Each room that is not ground level, no matter what the category or view, has a balcony that is long and narrow."

We were both on the 2nd floor. His room(standard view) was across the hall from ours. We had a view of animals, he had a view of the big building some the animals go into at night. And yes we both had balconies. We have always had a balcony in the deluxes we have stayed at. WL,BW,YC, AK and Poly. WLV we had a ground floor room with a patio.So I guess this is true.

 

[ppony]

Just for clarification, the second floor rooms at the Poly do NOT have balconies. I'm not sure if that's all of them but I think it is. First floor rooms have patios and 3rd floor have balconies. That's the only exception that I'm aware of for deluxe rooms and balconies. I LURVES me a balcony! And on a cruise, a veranda.

 

[DeanDoug]

We have stayed at AKL several times- we liked it so much that we later purchased AKL DVC. It is one of our favorite resorts. I'm surprised that you've heard "iffy" things... after many stays, we haven't had a single bad experience.

The theming is wonderful... the restuarants great, the pool great, and then there's the animals! Also, numerous activities (for free) for kids.

Enjoy... the only negative is the distance from the parks, but hey, Africa is far away.

 

[turtlechick6]

We just got back from a week stay at AK Kidani Village. I loved Kidani Village. Mousekeeping was great. Our two bedroom villa was amazing!!! So cool down to every last detail! We loved seeing the animals right outside our balcony!!! I really loved it.

I will say I will NEVER stay at Jambo house though. Not unless they get seperate buses for the hotels. I was lucky because the buses always stop at Kidani first so we always got on and got a seat. Poor Jambo house people had to stand and sometimes buses were full. We also got dropped off first. They need their own bus for each hotel.

 

[turtlechick6]

Oh also LOVED the Kidani village pool area and water splash park. The slide was so much fun and it all was super cool. Like your own private water park.

 

[candkmac1021]

We are staying in a 2br villa, savannah view in Kidani in December. It is our first DVC trip and our first trip in December! Woo!

 

[eeyoreland]

We just got back from a week stay at AK Kidani Village. I loved Kidani Village. Mousekeeping was great. Our two bedroom villa was amazing!!! So cool down to every last detail! We loved seeing the animals right outside our balcony!!! I really loved it.

I will say I will NEVER stay at Jambo house though. Not unless they get seperate buses for the hotels. I was lucky because the buses always stop at Kidani first so we always got on and got a seat. Poor Jambo house people had to stand and sometimes buses were full. We also got dropped off first. They need their own bus for each hotel.

I think the bussing might depend on the time of the year and the time of the day. We stayed at Jambo in February and while it might have been bothersome to make the extra stop, we always had a seat with the exception of getting on a bus from the park at closing. I'm not trying to start a debate. I just would hate for people to stay away from Jambo based on the bus horror stories. It simply wasn't OUR experience.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

We rented points to stay in a 2 bedroom villa at Kidani last December. It was amazing, and we ended up buying DVC there. I had heard the bus rides were too long, but we didn't find that too bad. Downtown Disney is a long ride, but everything else wasn't bad. The corridors can be a bit long, but certainly wasn't like walking miles on end. We had a standard view, and still saw plenty of anilmals from the hall windows, lobby, etc.

Try it - it's awesome!

 

[floridascgirl]

We adore AKL Some might complain about the walk to their room being a bit far, but where else can you see zebras, giraffes, etc...on the walk back to your room? The whole resort is such a special place.

 

[tsmith76]

our favorite, granted we have kids and their love of the animals may be part of it. On top of everything though, the dedicated bus line is fantastic. Getting to and from the parks is extremely quick as they don't share bus servcie with any other resorts.

You can't go wrong.