AKL - Savannah rooms

hoosiergirl7

Mickey is My Boyfriend
Joined
Aug 31, 2006
Messages
1,454
My husband and I are trying to decide where we want to stay in April when we go. He's interested in AKL but isn't convinced that if we book a Savannah room we'll get to see the animals often.

For those who have BTDT can you tell me if the animals were in view all the time or most of the time, etc. Dh is convinced they will be hiding behind trees the entire time and it would be a waste of money if that's where we decide to stay.

Thanks!
 
Come now, this is Disney!

They put out "snacks" for the different animals to keep them well in view and moving around among the various areas throughout the day. We've stayed Savannah view twice (5 days and 10 days) and honestly were jaded by the end of the second trip - oh, it's just another giraffe family right off of our balcony, woo-woo. There are some savannah view rooms that have better views than others, but most of the savannah view rooms will show you as many animals as you have the patience to sit and watch!
 
I understand there are 3 different savannahs and, depending on what animals you want to see, you should ask for the appropriate savannah view. (we asked for the Urusha Savannah to see the ZEBRAS!) :banana:
 
We were on the Kudu trail with an Arusha savannah view and I can tell you that there were animals outside our window everytime we looked, which was often! They were there in the morning and at night. I know there were zebras and giraffes, but I don't know what the others were called. I walked around to the Zebra and Giraffe trails and saw animals all over the place from that side too.

Here are some pictures from our balcony:

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I saw the ankole cattle, giraffes, and various birds every single day we stayed there. Of course, I'm an early riser, and was out on the balcony eating my breakfast as the trucks came around to put the food out for everyone.
 
We had a Savannah view room and we saw animals almost all of the time in the room the morning and the evening are the best time by the way
 
We saw lots of animals!

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I stayed at the AKL back in 2003. We were there in early May so we were usually back in our room by 10/11 or so. Every night cast members would come and put out food for the giraffes and they'd be munching right outside our balcony. My mother and I would run down to Mara to pick up a late night treat for ourselves and sit and watch the giraffes. It was one of our favourite parts of our trip.
 
The Savanah room view is nice, but gets old, very quick.

It got to be a running joke with our family....."hey look, A giraffe"....you can only see the same 3 giraffe and 1 ox so many times beofre you just dont care anymore.

I will say it's something you should do at some point, prefferably on a 3 night stay. But i would not base a stay on it. Nor would I pay extra. Pool view at AKL would be the better choice in my opinion.
 
My family LOVES the savanna view rooms! We see animals A LOT when we stay there and my girls really appreciate it! We split up our room time...we stay there for 11 nights. 4 of those nights are in a savanna view room and the rest are in a pool side room. It's worth the extra money to stay for the first 4 nights in a savanna view, but anymore than 4 and it gets a little too much. It's very easy to change rooms too, because we just pack everything up before we go to the parks, we go down to the desk and check out of our old room, ask them kindly to move our bags (that are still in our old room) and then they check us into our new room. When we get back from the parks that night, all of our stuff is in our new room! It couldn't be easier! If you're only staying 4 nights or even 5, I'd say just get the room you prefer. BOTH views are amazing and if you can appreciate the beauty of the savanna, and truely LOVE animals then the savanna view is great! Pool view is amazing too, but we think of it this way...We go to a few very nice hotels all over the place. WE CAN ALWAYS get a beautiful pool view/ocean view room...how many places can you wake up to animals on the savanna? (Unless you're planning a safari in Africa or where ever, not many places offer this!)
 
The savannah view rooms we've had in the past have all been great, for the exception of this past trip. The animals are always around and there's always something to see in the savanna view rooms. My last trip i was right by the construction and didnt see anything for 2 days straight. I figured the construction was keeping them away. We went to view the animals in the many viewing locations around the resort and were very pleased to see them so close, as always.

If you do stay at AKL, don't forget to do the night vision viewing of the animals. We did this and it was awesome. :3dglasses
 
I honestly forget the trail we were on and can't put my fingers on a map(when you walked into the main lobby and faced the savannah, it went diagonally off to the right). We were past the pool and a wing that I think overlooked the pool, facing out. We only saw giraffes, kudus (?) and birds. After the first day or two we saw it all and the kids were no longer interested though I could always sit out on the balcony and watch the giraffes. We only saw the zebras and other animals when walking back through to the lobby.
 





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