AKL...anything negative?

[donnamerry]

No negatives here either! (except for the earlier post mentioning having to leave)! It is just awesome there. Must say you do feel as if you are in Africa! which is what they want you to feel and do a marvelous job of it! I can't wait to go back in June for a couple nights then moving over to either WL or Poly!

 

[DisneyMim]

Another thumbs up for the AKL. We stayed there last visit and we liked it so much we are going back in 2 weeks. The room size is comparable with the WL. My kids LOVE the bunkbeds. I wish all the resorts offered them. The resort truly transports you to another place, as all Disney resorts do.

 

[DeeP]

I liked our stay at AKL but I have to admit I was not as wowed by this resort as I thought I was going to be. I thought the resort was very unique and we greatly enjoyed the restaurants and seeing the animals. We are DVC members with our home resort at BWV, so after staying at BWV, when we came to AKL we found the rooms to be small but beautifully decorated and the main negative for us was the far away from everything location of AKL. We are used to being at BWV that has 2 parks within walking distance and great nightime entertainment and loads of wonderful restaurant choices right outside our door, so for us AKL was very different, but we still enjoyed our stay. We have returned to AKL since our stay last July but now we go to enjoy the restaurants, animals, great gift shop, story tellers, etc and stay at BWV.

 

[Captain Crook]

Certainly no hotel will be the perfect fit for everyone, but those looking for the AKL style will not be disappointed at anything significant.

Like Janet & others, I find it hard to leave the lodge when I'm there and it certainly takes no arm twisting to get me to go back for a rest! A must do is talk to the African CM's...Just chat. These are great people with lots of interesting things to say. Disney gets high marks for bringing them to us.

As to the standard view rooms supposedly along the bus stop walk, I have to wonder. On my last visit I peered at these rooms and then walked through the Resort to find them...I believe these rooms are part of the Spa and not guest rooms. Has anyone stayed in one of these rooms if they do exist?

 

[the Legend]

I have a negative comment ...

After reading all the positive comments, I am regreting choosing WL over AKL for my holiday in September thereby forcing me to return next year and stay at the AKL.

Life is tough. But it must be done.

 

[DisOrBust]

Captin C.. mom my and I actually went to the front desk and asked because we thought maybe they were rooms for the keepers. No we were told those are standard view guest rooms. We couldn't believe it.

 

[ducklite]

Oh, I thought of one more negative, and this one is a biggie to some people. There is NO jogging path or running trail or anyplace to run there. If you are a runner, your choices are to pay to use the health club or run in the parking lot.

This was a total bummer to my DH in December when he was in training for the WDW Marathon. Running 18 miles around a parking lot made for a very grumpy man.

Anne

 

[Captain Crook]

DisOrBust, I understand what you're saying & I hear what the front desk told you, but what I'm saying is that I could find no way to get to where I thought the offensive rooms would be located. It seems to be the spa in that particular area...That's why, despite being told by the front desk, I'd like to hear from someone who has actually seen these rooms from the inside. Anybody?

BTW, I mean no offense DisOrBust, you've brought up a great point...I'd just like an insiders opinion (get it? Insider, as in having been in the room, bahahahaha... ).

 

[DisOrBust]

No offense taken!

I would like to also hear from someone who has actually been in one of these rooms. I just can't believe a Deluxe would even offer such a room to a guest.

 

[DeeP]

I don't know how you get to those rooms with the horrible location but when we were there in July there were definitely people staying in at least 2 of those rooms because the curtains were open and they are soooooo close to the walkway we were able to look inside the rooms. One room had kids sitting on the end of the beds watching tv and the other room had a beach towel and bathing suits drying on the balcony railing and you could see in the room and the beds were unmade, the rooms were definitely occupied. We commented on the horrible location and said we hoped the people were not paying a lot to stay there!

 

[gepetto]

Dee, I don't think those rooms are very expensive. I remember this summer the AKL standard view rooms going for around $130.

 

[eller]

Something we easily live without, but still like to have around.

Lori

5/1997 Off site, 2/2000 Off site, 2/2001 Poly, 10/2001 POFQ, AKL & Magic, 1/2002 AMo & AKL, 12/2002 CSR & CR