Animal Kingdom Lodge Partial closer till Sept. 1

[wen-tom]

Summer-Caitlin.- just wanted to wish you all the very best with this. i have been following this thread and i can completely understand how you must feel. I had my honeymoon at AKL 2 years ago. It was the only resort we considered and i have no idea what i would have done if this had happened to me 6 weeks out! we were upgraded from standard view to savanah view as a "wedding present" from disney and it was really fantastic

personally, if you have your heart set on AKL as we did, i would hang in there unless you are told that you HAVE to move. AS suggested, visit AKL before your stay and if its not as magical as you expect it to be, explain your situ to the front desk. i'm sure they will do everything they can for you.

it can be hard to get your point across to TA's!

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Thanks guys for your thoughts on my predicament, I have another update though...

My TA just got back to me and said that the woman that had been dealing with my query (tour operator) was off today, however they decided to look into it to see what could be done. Apparently The Poly is all sold out but The GF has availability. However he has said that the woman that helped him can't authorise to do GF for the same price as AKL, but the original woman who is a manager is in tomorrow morning and she can authorise it(if she wants to). He has said he will call first thing tomorrow and try and get this sorted then let me know straight after. If it's not sorted tomorrow, I am going down to the store as I can't handle all this waiting around!

 

[John's Mom]

Good Luck! I'm sure everything will turn out perfect for you.

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Well everyone I have THE UPDATE!!!

We have been moved to The Grand Floridian for the whole 7 nights we were due to stay at AKL.

I am ecstatic to say the least. DF and I could never have afforded to stay here for that length of time. It wasn't easy getting a swap at all but in the end I went down to the store this morning and stood my ground.
I spent 30 minutes with the girl that had been dealing with my query and wouldn't you know it the phones were down at their office, they couldn't receive calls nor could they make any . Anyway, I explained my concerns regarding their customer service and told them how much I had spent with their company and that I would never return again if this remained unresolved. I think saying I was a Law Student actually helped as she seemed to get more concerned once I dropped that little nugget!
I must admit this girl is very pleasant and she has been the only one that I know has been trying her best, can't say the same for the rest of them though .
Anyway she sat and wrote an email to my tour operator explaining the whole situation and I told her this wasn't good enough I wanted it sorted today, we all know how long some companies take to respond to emails. So she called, from her own mobile, another Going Places and asked them to call my tour operator and swap the booking. She said to me she would give them until 3pm to do this and get back to her. If they didn't get back to her by then she agreed to call them from her mobile.
So I waited until I got the phone call from her which came 5 minutes ago. She confirmed that my tour operator will swap over the accommodation on Monday as their computers are down today. But I told her that I want to receive the new paperwork to show this is confirmed. She has agreed to call my tour operator on Monday and get it swapped, they have reserved with Disney today a room for the whole 7 nights, it's only the paperwork outstanding.
So, that's it, drama over, I can get back to enjoying the lead up to our DFTW in 44 days, to which I really feel like in the end we received loads of pixie dust

Thanks to everyone who has supported me on this, I felt stronger because of it.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

That's great news Summer-Caitlin!!! Maybe you actually received a better upgrade by having to wait a bit longer to get it taken care of.

 

[RachelTori]

Summer-Caitlin,

Soooooo happy to hear this worked out for you!

Best Wishes for your big day
Best Wishes for a wonderful GF honeymoon
and Best Wishes for a happy marriage.

Congrats!! (and please post after you return home)

 

[wdw4pwe]

Hooray!!!!! Finally good news for you !!!! The pixie dust always works ... Enjoy your special day and your Magical honeymoon !!!!

 

[cocowum]

Yay!!!! I'm glad you finally got it sorted out!!! I'm sure you'll have a fab time at GF.

 

[Dis Ohana]

Good for you, Summer-Caitlin! GF would be my first choice if it were my honeymoon! Have a wonderful trip, you sure worked hard for this one!

 

[pooksma]

Summer-Caitlin,

Awesome!!! I am really happy for you. Today I am off to a wedding and I was thinking of you and wondering if anything had been resolved. Way to stick to your guns girl!

 

[John's Mom]

Summer-Caitlin,

Congratulations on the GF! Let's hope the next good news you get is the peanut butter mousse in your wedding cake.

Don't cancel your ADRs for Boma and Jiko. You can explore the AKL before or after your meals.

 

[Cookie5nupe]

Are std veiw rooms being moved as well? I talked to my TA from AAA yest and she informed me that construction was not an issue with those rooms. That all construction was on the otherside of the resort.

If it's a non issue I'd much rather stay than go.....

Any input would be much appreciated.

My dates are Aug 13 - 18

~cookie

 

[TxRabbit]

Are std veiw rooms being moved as well? I talked to my TA from AAA yest and she informed me that construction was not an issue with those rooms. That all construction was on the otherside of the resort.

If it's a non issue I'd much rather stay than go.....

Any input would be much appreciated.

My dates are Aug 13 - 18

~cookie

My std view room was moved. I have read of other std view rooms that were moved. Unless your TA called in to verify that your room was or was not affected, she would not know. Some std view room are in the same wing as savannah view room, some are in a pool view wing. Most pool view rooms appear to not be affected, so some std views should be good. I would verify that your TA called to check on your particular reservation. Our stay began 8/19.

 

[ellenec]

We were staying at AKL standard for 3 nights Aug.23,24 and 25th. When I called our room was affected and they offered us BC,BWI, Contemp. and Saratoga. We took BC!!! I love that pool. Have your TA call again.

 

[grannyminnie]

Summer-Caitlin, so glad you got it all sorted out and can now enjoy the countdown to your big day! We're all thrilled for you...and like another poster said, you must be sure and report back to us when you can. I, for one, love reading about the GF, since I haven't stayed there yet.
Here's hoping you get even more pixie dust sprinkled on you and DF since it's your Disneymoon!!

 

[DisneyBride'03]

Summer Caityn

I am thrilled for you!!!!!!!!

As a fellow Disney Bride...you will love GF during this special time I sure did...I knew you could make this happen...glad you felt you were supported here...cause you were!!!

Hip HIP Hooray!!

 

[raven69david]

CRO/Guest Relations said construction on AKL is scheduled to finish 4/30/09.

With that being said, i asked if we would be moved for our trip in December. They stated that only some guests staying there in affected areas through 9/30/07 are being reassigned to a different resort. There was no mention of guests being moved beyond that time period, however i didn't feel very reassured this would happen when our trip comes up. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully we'll be one of the first guests they call and we can get GF for the price we paid for an AKL standard room (with 40% code).

And for the record, the lodge is not closed. I'm sure everyone's already summized that by now, but just wanted to reitterate that little tid-bit.

 

[rlduvall]

CRO/Guest Relations said construction on AKL is scheduled to finish 4/30/09.

I believe that the majority of the work "inside" the existing Lodge will be done soon (hopefully by the date they are talking about - 9/07). As you know, the 5th and 6th floors are being converted into villas for DVC. They will also start construction on stand-alone new villas soon, "outside" of AKL. I'm sure that is the 04/09 deadline mentioned by CRO. That should only potentially affect people who have a savannah view which is overlooking the new DVC villas. Something I would not be too happy about - but not nearly as disruptive as the construction is in the actual Lodge.

 

[grannyminnie]

To rlduvall: Does that mean that the animals on the savannahs near the new DVC villas will be moved, thus giving people no animals to view off the balconies?

 

[DznyLvr2005]

I have a ressie for AKL savannah view for sept 22-29... I'm thinking about calling disney myself and just asking them, am I going to have to move or not???
We never would have been able to stay at AKL savannah view, but we were able to get the 40% off code that was offered a few months ago...
I'm worried that IF i have to move they will take into consideration that we got 40% off and give us a crappy room somewhere... I don't know.. I'm kinda worried!!
It was a toss-up between AKL and poly... I wonder if they will move us to the poly???? If I ask?? It's our anniversary and probbaly not going back to Disney for a few year after this trip.