Just back from AKL. Loved it! We have stayed at GF and Beach Club before. What we really liked about it was that it is almost like another Disney park. The theming is incredible. Even the pool looks like an African watering hole. The grounds are lush with many flowers, and the cms around are fantastic. Especially the ones around the animal look out areas. They are always ready to answer questions and chat, and they have really cool night vision binoculars you can use. We had dinner at Jiko's one night (the best dinner of our trip) and breakfast at Boma's. We made great use of Mara's, the fast food place, for snacks and quick breakfasts.
The one thing that was disappointing was our room. The setup and theming are great (although the room is, indeed, very dark, hard to read at night and impossible to apply makeup.... I ended up doing my makeup on the balcony!) We paid for a savannah room.... were expecting what we saw in videos with lush greenery, animals around, etc. What we got was a second floor room (which I had requested) overlooking the Sunset Savannah (I wanted Arusha)...But our view was actually over cement ground and a huge holding pen used to protect guests in case of an emergency. If we hung way off our balcony and looked off to the right, we could sometimes see an animal. Once a day or so we would see a giraffe or two eating across the other side of the holding pen, his head visible above the corral. I don't think it would have been so bad had we been higher up, but we were very disappointed. Thought about asking for a different room, but just too much effort. I think they need a new catagory of room "partial view savannah". This way no one would be disappointed as their expectations would match the view. These rooms would be great for standard view guests to recieve a free upgrade, and/0r priced less than Savannah view rooms.
I would refuse to accept this room next time. But as you can see we still loved the resort! Don't forget to look for the "hidden" hot tub around behind the pool bar. Never crowded! Questions?
The one thing that was disappointing was our room. The setup and theming are great (although the room is, indeed, very dark, hard to read at night and impossible to apply makeup.... I ended up doing my makeup on the balcony!) We paid for a savannah room.... were expecting what we saw in videos with lush greenery, animals around, etc. What we got was a second floor room (which I had requested) overlooking the Sunset Savannah (I wanted Arusha)...But our view was actually over cement ground and a huge holding pen used to protect guests in case of an emergency. If we hung way off our balcony and looked off to the right, we could sometimes see an animal. Once a day or so we would see a giraffe or two eating across the other side of the holding pen, his head visible above the corral. I don't think it would have been so bad had we been higher up, but we were very disappointed. Thought about asking for a different room, but just too much effort. I think they need a new catagory of room "partial view savannah". This way no one would be disappointed as their expectations would match the view. These rooms would be great for standard view guests to recieve a free upgrade, and/0r priced less than Savannah view rooms.
I would refuse to accept this room next time. But as you can see we still loved the resort! Don't forget to look for the "hidden" hot tub around behind the pool bar. Never crowded! Questions?
