AKL worthwhile if you don't get savannah view?

[vpack05]

We stayed at AKL in May/June 05. We had pool view and it was a great location!! We were down the hall (shorter than other halls) from elevator, which made it easy to get to pool. We liked being not too far (but not too close either) from the lobby and food areas. My kids (12,11,6,1) LOVED AKL and want to go back desparately. We got a great rate of $139/nt (pool view) and I hope we can get it again! ENJOY!! Leave time for AKL activities - poolside activities every day around noon (EXCELLENT!!), lobby activities, nighttime activities...it's terrific. Have fun!

 

[meab]

Leota, I can totally envision sitting on the balcony watching animals while sipping some morning coffee....if we were on a trip without my little ones!

It sounds like pool/standard view have a bit better location than savannah view.

vpack05, thanks for the tip on the other activities going on at the resort. that's what i was looking for too. for our dates, staying in a standard room at AKL over a moderate is only about $25 more per night, and i think that would be worthwhile for extra activities and the niceties of a deluxe over a moderate. the only downside will be the distance to MK. are there similar activities at WL?

 

[LindaR]

Meab, here I go again! Don't automatically rule out swimming in December! One year my daughter was wearing jeans/sweatshirt/fleece jacket one day and the next was shorts/tank and she swam!

The pools are heated and the weather/temps fluctuate sooooo much in Florida that you have to pack for both possibilities.

You will be able to see plenty of animals from a standard room at AKL if that is where you want to stay (I would not pay the extra price to upgrade if you are not spending LOTS of time at the hotel). Wilderness Lodge is beautiful and it does offer boat service to MK, too (we took the boat from MK to WL one evening for a fantastic dinner at Artist Point).

Go where your heart leads you! Have fun!

 

[meab]

we live in florida, so our blood is thin. as a rule, we don't tend to swim in december at all. for us, 70 degrees outside is "cold". but i do know how things can change. i'm just not going to take any pools into account for this trip. if it ends up being warm enough for us, the kids would be happy at any pool.

 

[HarryLeg]

We've stayed at the AKL twice, June 03 in a savanna view room and July 04 in a pool view room, we preferred the pool view room. We had a first floor room (1020) that was surrounded by wonderful plants (DW is an avid gardener) and were close to the Mara for mug refills and the lobby. We saw plenty of animals while chasing our now 7-year-old DS around to the various bead activities. We had no problems with noise from the pool, as with the door shut we couldn't hear any outside noise.
We will return to an AKL pool view room in August of 06 as requested by DS, we offered WL or Poly and he said he would miss AKL too much.

 

[Bashful2]

We stayed at AKL about 2 years ago and were upgraded from standard to Savannah view. We absolutely loved the resort. Cast members were friendly, the pool was good and the resort itself is beautiful. The only negatives I can name our that our room was a long way to the lobby and the bus service was terrible.

We were actually discussing the other day (while at AK) whether or not we'd stay there again with a standard view. We decided we would because of the beauty of the resort itself and because there are plenty of places to see animals.

On the other hand, we've also stayed at Wilderness Lodge and loved it too.

 

[disneyholic family]

I thought one of the biggest draws of AKL is that you can see the animals right from your room. But the rate for our dates is about $100 more per night for that privilege. Considering that we might not even BE in our rooms all that much, I'm debating if we'll be disappointed going with just a standard or water view. And to that extent, is it worth it even to stay at AKL if we don't get the savannah view?

Our children are 4 and 1, and we'll probably be mostly doing MK and Epcot. Are we better off skipping AKL altogether and staying elsewhere (maybe WL instead)?

Just figured I'd ask for some input. You guys are pretty knowledgable. Oh, and we're thinking of going in December.

Thanks.

without the savanah view i wouldn't stay at the AKL ....i'm not a big fan of the AKL at all.....when i stay there it's for a reason (like staying in the concierge for 2 days there so we could go on the sunrise safari)...
i find the hotel way too dark....however, we did enjoy the savanah view very much , so that made up for it...but without that view i would pick another hotel....

my 2 favorite hotels are the GF and the WL......so either of those would work for me...

 

[disneyholic family]

i just noticed that you said you're from florida.....then the WL rate you can get is totally fantastic....i'd stay at the WL (assuming you can actually get a room - it tends to be booked solid)...

as for swimming when it's 'cold', i know what you mean....we're from a climate even hotter than orlando....so typically even october in orlando can get chilly for us when there's cloud cover....

but the WL is great whether or not you swim in the pool....it's so picturesque....i love the theming...

 

[Ronnadi]

We stayed at the AKL, pool view, 2 years ago. We still had plenty of opportunities to view the animals since they have viewing areas. The areas were never crowded. Also, our 9 yr. DD did the hotel hidden Mickey hunt, so we found places in the hotel we probably would have never seen. I think it is a great place to stay. The lobby was so big and never crowded. A nice place just to sit, relax, and watch. (We were there in October.) The rooms were smaller, but we just use them to clean up and sleep. I give it a big thumbs up!

 

[WILDERNESSWOMAN]

We stayed at AKL last Feb. We had booked a standard view room and were upgraded to a pool view on the third floor, which is the same floor as the lobby. We were not too far from the gift shop/lobby, which was also close to the bus stop. The view was great, and we saw plenty of animals from many locations while we were there. Unless you are a total animal lover and plan on spending most of you time on your balcony, I really think the Savanah view is not worth it. We were there for 9 days, and after about the third day the kids weren't even interested in going to look at animals any more. I think the resort itself is beautiful and the restaurants are great - the only thing I missed was not having enough grounds to explore - everything is devoted to the animals. We like to take walks after supper/at night, and there was no place to go. My husband walks for exercise every morning, and he ended up walking the hallways because there were no outside trails. When we stayed at WL we were able to go on walks every night, plus we did a bike ride - one reason why I prefer WL to AKL.

 

[meab]

wildernesswoman, that is an interesting point about the walking trails. at first, i thought it might be nice to go on a walk after dinner, especially if it won't be so hot out. then i realized we'll probably be doing plenty of walking at the parks, so maybe that's not too important for us. i think it's still worth noting though, so thanks.

bashful2, interesting point about the poor bus service. from what i've read, people really liked the bus service from AKL because it doesn't share with another resort. have you compared AKL bus service to bus service from another resort? just wondering.

again, thanks for everyone's input. i think we won't go wrong whether we choose AKL or WL. and whichever one we don't take this time will be tops of the list for the next visit. disneyholic family, i'm going to check the florida resident rates to see which one has better availability and pricing, and maybe we'll just vote based on that.

thanks again.

 

[Bashful2]

Meab - We've used the bus service from a few of the different resorts and AKL was the only one we've ever had a problem with. The worst was coming back from the parks. We would wait and wait while we watched multiple buses from other resorts come and go. It was unbelievable and we decided we would never stay there again without a car. I don't know if it was a fluke or if it's the norm for AKL. It would be interesting to hear other's experiences.

 

[meab]

i'm also interested in hearing others responses on this one... maybe you were just there during some bus glitches?

 

[HarryLeg]

We never had a problem getting back to AKL from the parks at night. We left the parks with the crush of people after the fireworks every evening and the worst problem I had was in 04 getting from the MK to the WL after the second Wishes show. May DW, DS, and I drove to the WL to meet my cousin and his DW for dinner and afterward we took the boat over to the MK. At park closing, we head for the boat to WL and find a huge crowd. Cousin, cousin’s wife, and me decide to take the monorail to the TTC so we can catch the WL bus (WL had no bus to the MK). DW and DS head back to AKL on the bus, which they could walk right onto. Both Monorails are crowded so we decide to walk to CR in hopes of catching the smaller boat to WL. We arrive to find out that the small boat service between CR and WL didn't run that late so our only hope was the resort monorail to the TTC. Before we could get onto a monorail, my DW and DS were already at AKL. By the time I got to my van it was about 1 1/2 hours after we walked out of the MK. I still had to deal with the traffic on World Dr. Never had that kind of mess with the busses.

 

[meab]

does WL have bus to MK now? i thought i read somewhere where someone mentioned they did (in addition to the boat).

 

[Ronnadi]

We've used the bus serve every time we stayed onsite and never had any problem. AKL serve was as good as CBR or POFQ. And usually less crowded.

 

[disneyholic family]

does WL have bus to MK now? i thought i read somewhere where someone mentioned they did (in addition to the boat).

when we were there (both in july and august) there was only a boat (no bus)..
however the poster who took so long to get to his van would have been better off if he'd waited in the line for the WL boat...
though the line at closing in july was enormous, it moved very quickly as they put a lot of boats on the run at closing time....
and in the second half of august there was barely a line at all at closing (and it was cleared in two boatloads)....

the line looks intimidating but it really doesn't take all that long...
i love the WL and i love taking that boat....it's so relaxing...

 

[UrsulasShadow]

Meab - We've used the bus service from a few of the different resorts and AKL was the only one we've ever had a problem with. The worst was coming back from the parks. We would wait and wait while we watched multiple buses from other resorts come and go. It was unbelievable and we decided we would never stay there again without a car. I don't know if it was a fluke or if it's the norm for AKL. It would be interesting to hear other's experiences.

I had no problems whatsoever with AKL bus service, either to or from the resorts, when we visited in April 2003. Even if we walked to the bus stop just as the bus was leaving, we never had to wait for more than 10 minutes for the next one. We were never stranded anywhere. The only time I had ANY bus issues was after Cirque du Soleil, when we got pushed and shoved by a group of unruly teens while trying to board (being a burly girl, I simply shoved back, and read them the mommy riot act).

As to the original question, I think I'd tend to do a cheaper or different resort if I couldn't do savannah view. I really, REALLY love AKL, but the draw for me is definitely eating my Wheaties whilst the giraffes eat theirs. I love the theming, the rooms, the service (most times, anyway), the public areas...but I think I could get my fix just as easily by booking an ADR at Boma or Jiko, and wandering the lobby, viewing areas, and gift shop (which I LOVE!) before or after dinner.

 

[LouM]

Hi

I've often spent way too much money on rooms with views, including AKL. I feel compelled to make the kids look out at Cinderella's castle or the Boardwalk. At AKL they saw what appeared to be the same 2 animals lying there every day. In reality it's often dark when we are in our room, so the view is often meaningless. What my kids do love is exploring the inside of the resorts. They loved the public spaces of AKL (and WL). At AKL there are plenty of public animal viewing areas, which my kids preferred to the room view. We are staying at AKL again in Dec. and I'm not paying for the expensive view (but with luck we may get an upgrade.)