AKV Concierge and Sunrise Safari

[njkt]

I'm thinking about doing the Sunrise Safari with my family next year - I've heard it's great and the price is very reasonable (pretty much makes up for the extra cost of concierge). We live in CT so we only go to WDW once a year and usually for seven or eight nights. We also don't have enough points to spend a week in concierge level without borrowing heavily. My plan is to stay in concierge for only one night so we can do the safari and spend the rest of our vacation in a different room. I'm thinking we would schedule our trip so that we move to concierge for the last night of our trip (so we would only need to change rooms once). I also know the safari is only certain days of the week (Sunday and Thursday?). Here's my question: could we do the sunrise safari if we spend a Sunday night in concierge or would the safari only be available to guests who had been in concierge on Saturday night? Thanks!

 

[WDWMom]

If you are asking what I think, then YES!!!! We did the same thing, sort of. Spent Sat. night in AKL (Non-CL) but did the safari on Sun. We technically had to checkout and re check in though. You must be checked in to CL to go on Safari. It was a little bit of a hassle having to check out/in at 6am but was doable for our family of 5.

But the safari wasn't as great as we thought it would be.


First, we had to wait for one of the parties to arrive. They were about 15 minutes late which means we had 15 less minutes on the safari. When I asked about it, I was told this was protocol - to wait for all the parties until the all arrived even though we were told to be there 10 minutes early. Towards the end, we were rushed because the park had opened and we couldn't take our time any longer.

Second, the breakfast was sad. Scrambled egg, fresh fruit, juice and some pastries. I really expected a much nicer breakfast for the price we paid.

On the up side, our guide was extremely knowledgable and friendly. She was an animal caretaker at AKL. We also got to wait around longer to see the animals until the end when we were rushed.

 

[dgaston]

We have done the Sunrise Safari twice and found it a good experience both times. We have had an excellent CM both times (Chris) which makes the Safari experience. Our food at Pizzafari has also been amazing with a complete buffet.

That said my favorite (until next week and we do the Wild Africa Trek) has been the regular Backstage Safari -- although that is not available to children.

 

[3happydancers]

We have done the Sunrise Safari twice and found it a good experience both times. We have had an excellent CM both times (Chris) which makes the Safari experience. Our food at Pizzafari has also been amazing with a complete buffet.

That said my favorite (until next week and we do the Wild Africa Trek) has been the regular Backstage Safari -- although that is not available to children.

What did the complete buffet include? The other post stated that they only had scrambled eggs, pastries, and juice, and did not seem happy at all.