AKL Pros and Cons

[Leota]

We went to AKL for my 40th B-Day too!
While the Dolphin is my favorite resort, we loved AKL enough that we will be bringing the grandsons there for a couple nights this Dec to experience the Pros, but only a couple nights so the cons don't bother us too much.....

Pros -
Savannah Views! We spent ALOT of time on our balcony with the animals & little time at the Parks.
Immersive Themeing- It is truly a magnificent resort. Just stunning, incorporating all the senses. I spent a couple afternoons just wandering the resort, viewing the exhibits, taking pictures....soaking it all in.
Relaxed, quiet pace, nice break from the hustle & bustle of the Parks. YOu could spend all your time right at AKL relaxing & rejuvenating. It's very peaceful.

Cons -
Location - It's just so far from everything - we are spoiled by staying so often in MK or Epcot area resorts where dining & entertainment options are just a hoop, skip & a jump away. We cabbed to dinners as bussing would have taken a good 1.5 hours.
Transporation - We had heard transpo was great at AKL, but that was not our experience. In fact, one trip home from AK, we waited 40 minutes for a bus!
Small rooms & hard beds. - Again, we are spoiled by the Heavenly beds at Swan/Dolphin & the large airy rooms at them - but we spent most of the time on the Balcony, so the room size wasn't that huge a deal. I think all the beds at Disney owned resorts are hard,tho, this is not particular to AKL IMHO.

 

[milmore104]

An EXCEPTIONAL CM (called him Jon don't want to try his "real" name) made our stay at AKL fantastic. I decided to bring my 80 year young DGM w/ us on our trip. Well she woke up earlier than all of us every morning and wanted to go get coffee. Well as you all know it is a BIG resort and she's old and confused. She likes to talk to people and can get turned around easily. You can imagine I wasn't about to let her wander the resort by herself but on the other hand I couldn't let her know that! Well one her 2nd day there she started talking to Jon. I had mentioned to him about how she loves to talked and how easily she gets turned around. I had thanked him for taking the time to talk w/ her and humor her. He said no problem and asked if he could add some Disney Magic into my trip. The next morning he was there at our door to "talk" to my DGM some more and take her for a cup of coffee. For the next 5 days he was there every morning waiting to her all about my DGM day and have a cup of coffee w/ her. It made the Magic of Disney forever in our hearts. It's CM's like Jon that make the Magic come alive. Thanks Jon!

 

[Leota]

An EXCEPTIONAL CM (called him Jon don't want to try his "real" name) made our stay at AKL fantastic. I decided to bring my 80 year young DGM w/ us on our trip. Well she woke up earlier than all of us every morning and wanted to go get coffee. Well as you all know it is a BIG resort and she's old and confused. She likes to talk to people and can get turned around easily. You can imagine I wasn't about to let her wander the resort by herself but on the other hand I couldn't let her know that! Well one her 2nd day there she started talking to Jon. I had mentioned to him about how she loves to talked and how easily she gets turned around. I had thanked him for taking the time to talk w/ her and humor her. He said no problem and asked if he could add some Disney Magic into my trip. The next morning he was there at our door to "talk" to my DGM some more and take her for a cup of coffee. For the next 5 days he was there every morning waiting to her all about my DGM day and have a cup of coffee w/ her. It made the Magic of Disney forever in our hearts. It's CM's like Jon that make the Magic come alive. Thanks Jon!

That is sooooo Fantastic! I love to hear Pixie Dust Stories like this!!!

 

[flminivanmama]

that is so sweet and heartwarming!

 

[WonderWomanDC]

When I stayed there for my wedding, they were amazing.
We had some major problems with our room block and a cast member. When the manager found out, we were given a complimentary upgrade to the huge suite on the 5th floor for a night - I think it's the Presidential Suite. It was beautiful. I have video of it that I've been meaning to link. They also rearranged all of our room block so that our guests could have what they needed - king beds, bunk beds, etc. and they were about 95% accurate - and this was during super soap, so they were incredibly busy. I can't say enough about how wonderful they were during my stay. We also got complimentary champagne the night of our stay in the suite.

 

[YCFAN]

WonderWomanDC: I just PM'd you.

 

[MEGADAN]

This was our second stay at AKL. We love the Savannah view rooms and the resort is one of the nicest at WDW.
After reading so many posts on the lighting in the rooms, I have to stay it does get a little annoying. I realized that it was much too dark. During the day the glare from balcony makes it difficult to find things and in the evenings the room is just downright dim.
We loved Jiko,Boma and Mara. The pool is very scenic and over-all it is a great resort.

 

[BostonRob]

I've only stayed there once and I loved it. And this is coming from somebody who loves the Epcot resort area because of all the restaurants and bars. It probably helped that we were travelling with my 2 year old daughter, so I wasn't as interested in bars as I had been in years past. Anyway, the one bit of advice I have is to rent a car. I can't comment on the AKL bus transportation because I never took a single bus. But I will say that my biggest concern about the AKL was that it was isolated. We never felt isolated because we could be anywhere in 10 minutes in our car.

And if you do rent a car, use the valet parking. You're on vacation, pamper yourself a bit.

 

[DisneyFreaks]

Does anybody else have any suggestions as to what to request for a standard view room?
Thanks again![/COLOR]

We had really nice rooms (with the open railing balconies) in Ostrich Trail on the third floor. (Lobby Level) They faced the handicap parking lot and had alot of bushes and trees in between so it really wasn't bad at all. We couldn't see the main parking lot from our balconies. Extremely quiet. Not far from the gorgeous lobby or the elevators. I wouldn't hesitate to stay in those rooms again. HTH

 

[letterdavidman]

When I stayed there for my wedding, they were amazing.
We had some major problems with our room block and a cast member. When the manager found out, we were given a complimentary upgrade to the huge suite on the 5th floor for a night - I think it's the Presidential Suite. It was beautiful. I have video of it that I've been meaning to link. They also rearranged all of our room block so that our guests could have what they needed - king beds, bunk beds, etc. and they were about 95% accurate - and this was during super soap, so they were incredibly busy. I can't say enough about how wonderful they were during my stay. We also got complimentary champagne the night of our stay in the suite.

What exactly was/were the problem(s) with the cast member? And when you say "manager" do you mean the General Manager of AKL? Or just the desk manager on that particular shift? How long did it take to get your problems resolved? Did you miss any significant park time in the process?

Thank you very, very much for all of this extremely helpful info!!!

--Jeff