A nonsmoker at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

[adrianna_sarah]

I really can't bear to be around cigarette smoke. Something about the smell just makes my stomach turn over and over and over. I am about to make a room request for AKL, but don't want to accidently land myself near the smoking section. Please help. All the guidebooks seem to advise booking the inner circle (Arusha Savannah). I am rather fond of osterich, which are only found on Sunset Savannah, so I was thinking that I might have a good chance of actually landing there. Will this put me near the smoking section of the hotel?

Thanks!

P.S. This is not an anti-smoker posting. To each his own. Just can't bear the smell.

 

[Meezers]

I remember reading someplace that at AKL the smoking rooms are kinda clustered together at the end of the Zebra trail.

We always request a non-smoking room for medical reasons....this way it is assured and we don't have to spend a night in the ER with reactions to the smoke smell.

My brother is a smoker....it is getting to be where I can't even hug him unless it is right after his shower....the smoke smell just chokes me

 

[Mousemom]

We have stayed here a couple of times and have always requested a non-smoking room because we have a son who has severe asthma and can not be around cigarette smoke at all. They have always accomodated us and our rooms that we got never smelled like cigerette smoke. We were in zebra trail, 4th floor, by the elevators both times. We are making our 8th trip to WDW in June and can say that we have always, at every resort we have stayed at, been given a non-smoking room.

 

[wld]

I also just requested a non smoking room. No problems. And I believe they are all clustered on the ends of the hallways. At least when we walked all the way down there one day I could smell it. But that was a long way from our room and not a way we would have went. A CM had just told us to walk down there and go out the stairway to see a different savanah.

 

[gepetto]

our end of the hall was non-smoking. That didn't stop our neighbors from chain smoking out on the balconies.

 

[Meezers]

Smoking on the balcony would cause a very quick call to management from this evil person! That would just make be go beserk!

 

[LVSWL]

We just spent 3 nights in a savannah view at AKL, and we will never return. We requested non-smoking for medical reasons, I get awful migraine headaches. The next door neighbors were chain smoking on their balcony. I went to the front desk and ask if it was allowed in a Non smoking room and they said absolutely not because of the animals and that they would handle it immediately. The folks continued to smoke all evening. The next morning I called the front desk and ask if anything was going to be done, referred to my conversation the previous night, and they said they would take care of it. We hear the phone ring next door, and then the kids on the balcony saying, "who are the people next door?" and the father saying"some people think that they are god".They continued to smoke in their room and leave the door open. We went to the park that day came home, that evening their kids climbed up on the table on their balcony and knocked off the glass that they were using as an ashtray and it fell to the ground and broke, of course they didn't want to call, because they weren't supposed to be smoking. The next am I called again because at sunup they were smoking again on the balcony and got a new manager who showed no record of the previous calls and had to give them the benefit of the doubt and said she would call them, but would we like to move? I was furious, I said yes, move us, and comp us the nights stay. We booked the kind of room we wanted, savannah view , non-smoking. We followed the rules. They booked non-smoking to get the view, did not follow the rules, but were not asked to move. Our new room had a great view, and guess what smokers all around. In 13 trips to WDW we have really never run into that kind of problem. It was sad, because you really want to be out on your balcony, the animals were beautiful.

 

[adrianna_sarah]

Outrageous! I really hope your experience is the exception and not the norm. I can take a lot, but this I would have to complain about!

 

[minkydog]

We spent 6 days at AKL and never smelled smoke the entire time. My DH has severe lung disease and was on oxygen at the time. If cigarttes had been lit, I would have smelled it(and probably gone into berserk protection mode!).

 

[grumpyandbashful]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience - I get migraines, too and cigarette smoke is a big trigger for me as well.
I always request non-smoking room for medical reasons (I have to say asthma, because people don't understand the migraine connection ).
AKL is our favorite resort, and we've been lucky enough to never have a problem like yours there - no smoke smells anywhere.
I hope you'll give it a try again. I think you had really bad luck with the awful family next door.

 

[fam4jc]

Hi. I think you biggest concern won't be the room but outside. There are smoking areas by the pool, by the hot tub and out front on the way to the bus stop. Just FYI.