AKL Standard Room Recommendations?

[ehagerty]

Any recommendations for room requests for AKL standard room?

 

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by ehagerty
Any recommendations for room requests for AKL standard room?

Hi ehagerty,

The standard view rooms at the AKL are located on the Giraffe and Ostrich Trails. The Giraffe Trail will put you closer to the pool and food court area, but you want to avoid a 3rd floor room as these are right on the walkway to the resort bus stop. The Ostrich Trail is further away from the pool and food court but you will not have to worry about the bus noise. I would request the Ostrich Trail but keep in mind that a request is just that and that it may not be granted.

 

[MinnieGi]

I'm not sure I'd request anything before arriving. You might be upgraded, depending on occupancy. We had booked standard and were upgraded to pool view. Our friends had gone at a seperate time from us and were also upgraded to pool view. AKL seems to have quite a good track record for upgrading when they are not full. Even if you get standard view the only rooms that would seem undesirable would be ground floor near the bus stops and there are only a few of those rooms.

 

[ehagerty]

Are you suggesting that making a request might be more of a limitation than a help? We will be going in August. On the plus side, we will be able to check in early, since we will be transferring from the WLV.

Do you have any sense as to whether upgrades are offered more early in the day - and then run out by the end of the day?

 

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by ehagerty
Are you suggesting that making a request might be more of a limitation than a help? We will be going in August. On the plus side, we will be able to check in early, since we will be transferring from the WLV.

Do you have any sense as to whether upgrades are offered more early in the day - and then run out by the end of the day?

I am not MinnieGi but I can tell you our experiance on whether or not we have gotten free upgrades. Whether or not you have a room request in does not seem to impact whether or not you get a free upgrade. There is really no pattern as to how Disney or any hotel chain for that matter gives out free upgrades.

I follow the following rule of thumb. Book the view that I can afford that I will be happy with. Make my room requests based on the room I have booked. If I get a free upgrade great. If I do not it is no big deal because I booked the view I would be happy with no matter what.

 

[MinnieGi]

My reasoning for not requesting an upgrade in advance is that the room assigner seeing that you have faxed in a request for a specific area in standard view will want to honor your request to the best of their ability and place you in your requested area for standard view. He/She may not even consider you for an upgrade since your request stated what you want in the "standard" view and they will be willing to give that to you if available. This is at least from my experience with Marriott working at their front desks and room assigning many years ago.

Since you are checking in early you will have a greater selection of possible rooms to choose from. Since there are only IMHO a few undesirable standard view rooms I wouldn't worry too much about a request for a specific area and I would think you have a greater chance at an upgrade also. However I see you are going in August. The beginning and middle of August are usually quite full for WDW resorts so the upgrade may be moot anyway. The last week in August however starts their slower season so if you are going then you may have a greater shot at getting an upgrade.

Honestly no matter where your room is AKL is a wonderful resort!
Best Wishes!

 

[Carole]

MinnieGi,

What do you consider an undesirable standard view room? Just want to be able to ask for a change in case they give us one!

Thanks,
Carole

 

[Minnie's Mate]

We have stayed at the AKL three times. Only one of those times did we reserve a Savannah view. The other two times we reserved a standard view.

On our first trip with the standard view we did not make an advanced room request and were upgraded to a pool view (this was the week between Christmas and New Years!).

Our second trip we reserved a Savannah view and I called in our room request for a Zebra Trail room and we were given a room on the second floor next to the viewing balcony. I felt we could have just rented a standard view and went to the "public" viewing balcony for all the time we spent on our balcony looking at the animals, after all, we are commandos and it was Spring break/Easter week end. Not to mention that the voices of people viewing from this balcony carried very loudly every time we were out on our balcony.

Our most recent trip to AKL I reserved a standard view and faxed a request for a bunk bed room on the Zebra trail. We were given a pool view on the 4th floor with a spectacular view of the pool! We knew we would be going to the pool a lot during our Spring break stay.

I have gleaned a few things about rooms at AKL: 1) only about 10% of the rooms are standard view. This is out of more than 1200 rooms, so the odds of an upgrade are pretty good; 2) the only rooms on the Zebra trial with bunk beds are either pool view or Savannah view, no standard view with bunks on Zebra trail; and 3) Most of the Savannah view rooms on the Zebra trail do not have bunk beds.

When you reserve a room at AKL they always tell you that it is the minimum you will get, i.e. "your reservation is for a Savannah view or better" or "you are guaranteed a Savannah view or better". This is what I have been told every time I have placed a reservation with CRO.

For this reason, I made a request for a standard rate room and faxed in my request for a non-smoking, bunk bed room on the Zebra trail and noted that because the park hours were shorter in early April, we would be spending our after park hours in/by the pool, weather permitting. This got us bunk beds near the elevator to the pool/Mara's. In other words, just what I wanted. Of course, you must be polite when requesting. I didn't ask for an upgrade, just a non-smoking bunk bed room on Zebra trail.

 

[MinnieGi]

Carole - IMO the only undesirable standard view rooms are the two or three that are between the walkway to the bus area and the Zawadi Marketplace. I'm sorry I don't know their room numbers but they'd be the last few rooms on the Giraffe Trail standard-view side. While all the standard view rooms face the parking lot these I think would receive lots of noise from everybody walking by not to mention you wouldn't have a very private balcony!

Have a fun stay!

 

[Carole]

Thanks!

 

[Minnie's Mate]

I noticed those rooms on our last visit and they are shaded by the bus pavillion. This would make the rooms even darker than they already are.

 

[KHuntress]

Is there a good map of AKL on the internet? While my current ressie is for a standard view, this trip replaces a European jaunt DH and I hoped to make for our 10th wedding anniversary. DH just keeps reminding me, "There are only so many years the kids will really want to travel with us..."

OOOooooh -- I hate it when he is right.

As a result, I really want to do something special for him. I thought maybe upgrading us would work.

 

[MinnieGi]

Deb Wills site has resort maps. Try this:www.wdwig.com

Look under "accomadations" and then under the "photo" section for AKL. You'll see a picture of their resort map. You can click on the bottom right corner to make it bigger. She also has lots of great pictures too!

 

[Disney Cape Codder]

We stayed at AKL and loved it over February vacation. We booked standard view. I requested non-smoking, bunk beds and the quietest room possible. I called the room assignor 2 days before arrival and let her know I was very concerned aout being in a loud room since we had booked standard. I also told her I knew we booked standard but would appreciate the best view possible. She advised all my requests would be met and we were being upgraded to a nice pool view since the resort was not full. My impression is they upgrade at AKL whenever possible. I was also advised if we were not happy with our room they would move us. We were very happy with our room and AKL, especially the accomodating CMS.

 

[audflash]

That makes me feel good. I booked the standard view and I was a bit worried about the noise and traffic. I hope that our experience will be as good as yours.

Audrey