Just got back from spending 8 nights at AKL in a Pool view room. I hope I don't come across too negative, my wife sometimes says that I do that but here it goes.
I thought the Lodge was a little too dark for my taste. Service was fine and timely. The only problem we had was at checkin. They tried to give us a room with bunkbeds and after spending only five minutes in the room we knew there was no way we could take 8 days of fighting with our two year old and her climbing up to the top bed. A trip to the front desk fixed that and we got a room with two queen size beds, but the room wasn't ready so we had to wait about 3 hours. A great lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe made it all worth while. Funny that the 1st person we spoke with at the front desk didn't ask us our preference knowing that we had a two year old. Oh well at least they fixed it.
I found the pool a little more crowded than I would have liked but that's really my problem to deal with. Not much of a people person but I had a few nice conversations down there. My kids loved it so that's really all that matters any way. The animals were great and there were plenty of places to view them if you didn't have a room that overlooked the savana.
We made the mistake of stopping in Cocoa Beach at a resort hotel. We got a two bedroom size room with a full kitchen and living room for two nights. It was great! So when we stayed in that tiny room at AKL it took a little away from the magic. So like I said the room was small for a family of five but worked out ok. I probably would have stayed in the room more if it were a lot bigger which probably would not have gone over too well with the wife and kids.
Didn't think too much of Universal but it was ok. At WDW I always make it a point to go on the Swiss Family Robinson tree house which drives my wife crazy. She just doesn't understand that the SFR movie was one of my favorites as a kid and that tree house has been there for many a year. I remember it, Tom Sawyer's Island and the Haunted Mansion very fondly when I was a kid. I can't tell you how many kids and some parents keep commenting about it being Tarzan's tree house but I just smiled since I knew the truth. We probably did more at MGM than we've done in the past it was pretty cool.
The bottom line is that we love Disney but another stay at AKL will probably not be in our plans for the for seeable future. I never figured what a problem it would be not to be able to have a straw and lid for a cup of coke. Forgot the sippy cup in Cocoa Beach and the little one still has not mastered the art of taking a drink out of a regular cup. Oh well, can't wait to get back to OKW and a larger room.
Y-ASK
I thought the Lodge was a little too dark for my taste. Service was fine and timely. The only problem we had was at checkin. They tried to give us a room with bunkbeds and after spending only five minutes in the room we knew there was no way we could take 8 days of fighting with our two year old and her climbing up to the top bed. A trip to the front desk fixed that and we got a room with two queen size beds, but the room wasn't ready so we had to wait about 3 hours. A great lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe made it all worth while. Funny that the 1st person we spoke with at the front desk didn't ask us our preference knowing that we had a two year old. Oh well at least they fixed it.
I found the pool a little more crowded than I would have liked but that's really my problem to deal with. Not much of a people person but I had a few nice conversations down there. My kids loved it so that's really all that matters any way. The animals were great and there were plenty of places to view them if you didn't have a room that overlooked the savana.
We made the mistake of stopping in Cocoa Beach at a resort hotel. We got a two bedroom size room with a full kitchen and living room for two nights. It was great! So when we stayed in that tiny room at AKL it took a little away from the magic. So like I said the room was small for a family of five but worked out ok. I probably would have stayed in the room more if it were a lot bigger which probably would not have gone over too well with the wife and kids.
Didn't think too much of Universal but it was ok. At WDW I always make it a point to go on the Swiss Family Robinson tree house which drives my wife crazy. She just doesn't understand that the SFR movie was one of my favorites as a kid and that tree house has been there for many a year. I remember it, Tom Sawyer's Island and the Haunted Mansion very fondly when I was a kid. I can't tell you how many kids and some parents keep commenting about it being Tarzan's tree house but I just smiled since I knew the truth. We probably did more at MGM than we've done in the past it was pretty cool.
The bottom line is that we love Disney but another stay at AKL will probably not be in our plans for the for seeable future. I never figured what a problem it would be not to be able to have a straw and lid for a cup of coke. Forgot the sippy cup in Cocoa Beach and the little one still has not mastered the art of taking a drink out of a regular cup. Oh well, can't wait to get back to OKW and a larger room.
Y-ASK
I may have to rethink my plan. Thanks for the trip report.
. It was my wife's choice to stay at AKL and she and kids enjoyed the resort very much so what I'm saying about the resort is only my opinion. Nice place, rooms too small for a family of 5 and too dark.
