E
erikthewise
Guest
OK, I'm tired of waiting for Spring and getting grouchy. 
We stayed AKL a couple months ago and had a reasonably nice stay, aside from the torrential rains.
But one minor thing really got under my skin, and that is the walk from the self-parking area to the lobby. They seem to have gone out of their way to make it as difficult as possible.
Of course there is the usual problem that all the spaces convenient to the lobby are reserved for valet parking, but I'm used to that.
The first thing you come to when walking from self-parking to the lobby is the exit ramp from the lobby area used by cars and buses. It would have been soooo easy to put in a sidewalk next to this road leading up to the lobby, but apparently they couldn't be bothered. It is tempting to try to walk up the exit ramp anyway as it is by far the shortest route to the lobby, but that is dangerous as you can't see the vehicles coming until they start down this steep road, and there is no place to escape other than to dive into the bushes.
After you walk past the exit ramp, you come to an uphill path that leads through dense foliage to the lobby. But if you take it, you discover that it winds back and forth several times, taking about four times the necessary distance to get to the lobby. It is then that you remember the little wheelchair sign next to the beginning of the path and understand what it means -- this is the wheelchair-accessible path! You better have a good motor in your wheelchair to get up this path, even with the switchbacks.
The next time you go past the wheelchair path until you finally get to the pedestrian path up to the lobby. It is convenient if you're walking to or from the valet lot, but guests never do that, do they?! It is very inconvenient to and from self-parking; you have to go quite a bit out of your way.
I am fortunate to be in good health and capable of walking back and forth to self-parking ten times without strain, but those with mobility issues could be really affected by this situation. It's as if the entire lobby/parking area was designed by valet attendants to make things as easy as possible for themselves and as much a nuisance as possible for guests with the arrogance to park their own cars. Well they can just rot. I'm NEVER going to valet park at AKL! (Though I may well stay there again -- it's a great resort.)
I feel better now. Kind of.
We stayed AKL a couple months ago and had a reasonably nice stay, aside from the torrential rains.
But one minor thing really got under my skin, and that is the walk from the self-parking area to the lobby. They seem to have gone out of their way to make it as difficult as possible.
Of course there is the usual problem that all the spaces convenient to the lobby are reserved for valet parking, but I'm used to that.
The first thing you come to when walking from self-parking to the lobby is the exit ramp from the lobby area used by cars and buses. It would have been soooo easy to put in a sidewalk next to this road leading up to the lobby, but apparently they couldn't be bothered. It is tempting to try to walk up the exit ramp anyway as it is by far the shortest route to the lobby, but that is dangerous as you can't see the vehicles coming until they start down this steep road, and there is no place to escape other than to dive into the bushes.
After you walk past the exit ramp, you come to an uphill path that leads through dense foliage to the lobby. But if you take it, you discover that it winds back and forth several times, taking about four times the necessary distance to get to the lobby. It is then that you remember the little wheelchair sign next to the beginning of the path and understand what it means -- this is the wheelchair-accessible path! You better have a good motor in your wheelchair to get up this path, even with the switchbacks.
The next time you go past the wheelchair path until you finally get to the pedestrian path up to the lobby. It is convenient if you're walking to or from the valet lot, but guests never do that, do they?! It is very inconvenient to and from self-parking; you have to go quite a bit out of your way.
I am fortunate to be in good health and capable of walking back and forth to self-parking ten times without strain, but those with mobility issues could be really affected by this situation. It's as if the entire lobby/parking area was designed by valet attendants to make things as easy as possible for themselves and as much a nuisance as possible for guests with the arrogance to park their own cars. Well they can just rot. I'm NEVER going to valet park at AKL! (Though I may well stay there again -- it's a great resort.)
I feel better now. Kind of.
