1st time at AKL??

[Crjmom]

Hi,
Will we be staying at AKL the first week of Oct. and have never stayed there before. Just wondering if anyone can give me any advice/pointers/tips/suggestions?? We've always stayed at the moderates CSR/CBR and hope our 2 DD's 8 & 9 will love it. I booked just a standard room since we will be on somewhat of a budget. How is the pool/food?? ANy standard rooms better than others as far as requests go? Thanks in advance for your help. Can't wait!!

Thanks,
Traci

 

[gepetto]

Request a room with a balcony. Maybe one of the higher floors overlooking the parking lot. The ones near the bus stops just have a cement wall.

The pool there is great. The food at Mara (food court) is just so-so. Boma is very good.

 

[jsginmd]

Can't say that I'm an expert on AKL, but I did spend 5 days there this past May with my extended family.

ROOM REQUESTS
First and foremost, I would recommend calling the hotel now and a few days before you go and politely asking that "if there are any complimentary upgrades available, I would be ever so grateful and appreciative". When I went, we had three rooms on the reservation. One was a savannah view and the other two were standard view. When I put in my room requests, I asked, politely and half-jokingly, that if someone was feeling generous, I would be happy to accept any complimentary upgrades. Don't know if it was because of the request, lower occupancy, or the fact that one room out of the three was already savannah (and paid at the savannah price), but all three rooms were made savannah rooms and they were right next to each other (not part of my request, but convenient anyway)! It never hurts to ask (even if it was a little awkward).

If you can get the savannah view (you won't know until you get there on a request), I'd recommend lower floors (2nd or 3rd) because there are a lot of trees that can obscure the view. We were on the 2nd floor and had great sightlines.

If you keep the standard view, I would try to go as high up as you can to get away from the parking lot and sidewalks. Don't have any direct experience here, but that was the request I made if there were no upgrades available. Not that I noticed any noise with the balcony doors closed....

The counter service and restaurants are near the pool area on the first floor (no guest rooms on the first floor). You can find a map of the hotel at www.wdwig.com and you can request room trails (hallways). It's a beautiful hotel so I wouldn't worry about a long walk to the restaurants unless you are going to make frequent trips back and forth.

There are plenty of common viewing areas so don't worry about the standard view. Definitely take a stroll around the hotel and check it all out. It's great!

FOOD
We ate at Boma and everyone found something they liked (big buffet, save room for dessert). We had a great time and our server was great with the kids. We ate quite a few times at the Mara (quick service). A decent variety, but I think we started to get tired of it after five days.

POOL
The pool is very big and has a zero-depth entry (like walking into the ocean). There is a slide (OK, nothing fancy). There are also two hot tubs. We had a good time in the pool. There is no quiet pool, but it calmed down quite a bit later in the evening when we were there. We never had a problem finding a few chairs for our things either.

OTHER
I was most concerned about the bus service since AKL is so remote. We really didn't have a problem though. Since there are no other options except to drive ourselves, we took the bus everywhere. It also gave us the freedom to hop parks and not worry about getting back to the car later. The only thing that seemed to happen was no matter which park we were heading to, every other bus came first. Not that it was a long wait (15 minutes, tops), but we started to think it was something about us that the buses were avoiding.

We went to EPCOT one day and hopped the monorail to the Polynesian for lunch. From there, we went to the MK and caught the AKL bus from MK. You don't share a bus with anyone else (except Blizzard Beach/MGM, I think. But we never shared on our trip.) and there is only one stop at the hotel. The buses get closer to the parks than your car can (especially MK) and it's not a big wait. Besides, the kids liked sitting by themselves on the bus like the grown-ups.

The one car drive we did do was to DisneyQuest. That was only because we didn't want to walk from the DD stops and there is usually plenty of parking near DQ.

Have a great time. If I can answer anything more specifically, let me know.

 

[bigsis1970]

Would you mind sharing your room numbers and if they had bunk beds or not? i am there for 2 nights in Dec and really want to get the best viewing as we are there to enjoy the hotel only - no parks for those days .. do you know if all Savanah rooms have the Balcony ?? Thanks Michelle

 

[pollyanna]

jsginmd......thank you for you very informative post!!!....

Did you try the lounge-Victoria Falls? I'm trying to discover if " hot appetisers" are served there?

 

[Tesabat]

Hi Pollyana - I've been researching AKL for an upcoming trip. In addition to Victoria Falls lounge - which as you know serves "snacks" (and that's all I can find too) - is the Capetown Lounge and Wine Bar - which is attached to Jiko's - so you know they will serve hot appetizers and probably have some fun and unique selections. (I'm going by the fact that every resort I've stayed at in WDW that had a lounge attached to the restaurant had some selected items for the lounge from the restaurant kitchen.) Hope this helps!

 

[JudithM]

When we stayed at the AKL we took advantage of the resort activities like storytelling in the evening & the lobby tour in the afternoon. We had a 3rd floor standard view room overlooking the handicapped parking lot - there was some vegetation between us & the parking lot, so we didn't see only cars. We had plenty of opportunity to see the animals & talk to the CMs at the three savannahs. If you are advetureous, then try the buffet at Boma's. They will let you look around the buffet before making a decision. We have eaten at Boma's for both breakfast & dinners & look forward to more meals there . Have fun & enjoy!

 

[jsginmd]

Sorry I didn't get back sooner, but I'll try to answer your questions.

Our room number was 2455 (and 2453 and 2451). They were in the corner of a little offshoot wing and I thought we'd be disappointed with the view. I had requested Zebra trail because I knew on the Arusha Savannah there are zebras and I know my daughter would recognize them. I forgot to request a specific savannah or side of the trail. The view was great though. It was relatively cut off from the rest of the hotel (very quiet), but there were feeding areas directly in our view so there were always some animals out. There must have been a backstage animal area nearby too, because we once were treated to a parade of animals going in for a "break".

Our room had two queen beds (as did the other two). Didn't make any specific requests on that, but either would have worked for us. I think all savannah rooms have a balcony, but I couldn't say I'm 100% sure. I know we did have to sign a form saying if we threw food (or anything else) into the savannah, that we would be kicked out immediately. Fair enough, to protect the animals' health.

We didn't get a chance to try Victoria Falls, but we did hit the pool bar a few times. Sorry I can't confirm or deny the "hot appetiser" question. I'm sure a call to Disney Dining or the AKL itself would answer it definitively. We did pick up a bottle of African wine to take home. We're saving it for a special occassion. The wine we had at Boma was very good (unfortunately, I don't remember what it was beyond a Merlot).

There is a fairly decent room service menu, although we were a bit put off by the prices and did not partake.

I definitely want to go back to AKL in the future and take it easier. We really did not take advantage of the hotel and all its splendor. That's what future trips are for, right?

Have a great time. It won't be difficult at AKL.