Animal Kingdom Lodge Deluxe Rooms

[Mazzy]

I am waiting for codes for January, and just wondered whether it is worth paying the extra for a Deluxe Savannah room at AKL. The standard Savannah rooms seem a bit small to me from the photos, and the Deluxe rooms have the daybed which would be handy I'm sure for 2 adults and 2 children (ages 9 and 12 and growing fast!) .

Has anyone stayed in both types of room? Just wondering whether a standard savannah view would be a bit pokey - we are coming from the Dolphin and I do know that AKL rooms are smaller than the rooms there.

Any opinions on this would be great, whilst I still have time to decide before the codes come out!

Thanks

 

[susy]

We just stayed there in a Deluxe pool view over labor Day Weekend. I have to say I was THRILLED with the location of these rooms! We were on the fifth floor above the lobby near the suspension bridge and just a few doors down from the elevators in the other direction. Just took the elevators down and out the doors to the pool, Mara, Jiko, Boma, the buses, and the Zawadi marketplace. It made the resort seem a lot smaller. We did not pay for this room. We had a code for $119 for a standard room and and were given an upgrade at check in. This room would be perfect for you all, because it had bunkbeds. There was also a day bed. We saw animals from other parts of the resort, but I wasn't that impressed with the savannah itself. You could see the fence behind it and the grasses were dry looking and not that attractive. I really loved our view of the pool. You could see lots of the action going on and we even signaled to each other, when one of us was down at the pool (from the balcony). This made up for the resort seeming so remote. Bus service was great to all 4 parks and Downtown Disney. Bomas was good, but Jiko was the best! They have a very good kids menu, also.

Overall, the room was a good size for just the three of us. If you are staying for more than a few days and you can get a good rate, it might be worth it for the extra space. Good luck!

 

[jamr61457]

I had initally made a reservation for a Deluxe, but later changed it to a Savannah view as the cast member told me "the only difference was that deluxe has a daybed, same size room/balcony" according to the cast member. We went from a $345 Deluxe rate to a $176 Savannah rate. For the savings, I changed my reservation from 1 nt to a 2nd nt for almost what I was spending on the 1 nt, and I don't need a daybed.

 

[gepetto]

I didn't see all that much of a difference in the deluxe and regular rooms. FYI, you are not guaranteed to get a daybed in the deluxe rooms. We only had 2 queen beds and a chair.

 

[daannzzz]

The Deluxe rooms are about 3 feet longer. They are about 381 square feet vs. 344 on the regular rooms. We had a deluxe room and it had a queen bed, bunk beds and day bed plus the table with two chairs. It was a hair crowded but since someone was almost always out on the balcony it didn't make much difference.. We were 4 adults in this room.If you got one with a king bed and day bed it would be spacious. Some people are opposed to being on the 5th floor thinking it is to far from the animals. We were quite happy here.