Animal Kingdom Lodge room request

[GADaisy]

Hi, This is our first stay at the AKL! Yay! I'm in the process of checking in online with the My Disney Experience. There is a section for room requests. I realize, I might not get a request but who knows?? We have a standard view room booked, but the choices might be possible upgrade options. They are ground floor, upper floor, near lobby, near elevator, sunset savanna view, highest floor, kudu trail view, lower floor, near transportation. Our preference would be to not have a parking lot view. Close to lobby (does that mean close to transportation?). We will only have 2 days in the parks. We are planning early starts to the days and coming back to our room during the day before we hit another park. T.I.A.

 

[figment_jii]

The bus stop is near(ish) to the lobby, so being close to the lobby is probably ideal if you want easy access to the buses - however, I would guess a lot of those rooms will overlook the parking lot area. I would probably choose something on an upper floor with a Savannah view. For most folks, you're probably talking about a 5 minute walk, give or take a few minutes. So if you're staying at AKL, I'd rather see the animals from my room than save a few minutes walking.

 

[sndral]

Interesting choices for a standard view room. Take a look at a map of AKL Jambo. The 2 short arms in the front of the building are closest to transportation. Half of them look out over the parking lot/front and are relatively close to the lobby. The other half on one of the arms (ostrich trail) look out over a sliver of sunset savanna (which I'm guessing you'd get if you choose 'sunset savanna view) and the other half on Giraffe trail are pool view.
The 2 very long arms at the back of the resort are zebra trail which overlooks Arusha or Uzima Savannas or the pool. These are popular because they are close to the pool and Mara.
Since they are offering you kudu trail and all of those rooms overlook a savanna - half Arusha savanna, the other half front sunset savanna, if seeing animals from your balcony is most important to you I'd pick Kudu trail and realize it might be a long hike to/from transportation, Mara and the pool. If you don't want the hike and are ok w/ the parking lot view chose close to lobby or transportation. Keep in mind most of the prime savanna view closer to the lobby rooms probably go to people who paid several hundred dollars more for the savanna view or Arusha view booking category. Good luck

 

[mevelandry]

Being there in december, I can tell you the farthest rooms are inside the main building anyway. No more than a 2 minutes walk.

Ask kudu trail. You might end up with a little part of savannah view!

 

[rlovew]

Hi, This is our first stay at the AKL! Yay! I'm in the process of checking in online with the My Disney Experience. There is a section for room requests. I realize, I might not get a request but who knows?? We have a standard view room booked, but the choices might be possible upgrade options. They are ground floor, upper floor, near lobby, near elevator, sunset savanna view, highest floor, kudu trail view, lower floor, near transportation. Our preference would be to not have a parking lot view. Close to lobby (does that mean close to transportation?). We will only have 2 days in the parks. We are planning early starts to the days and coming back to our room during the day before we hit another park. T.I.A.

Those are the same choice as for every room at AKL- choosing a view that is not available to standard view will almost guarantee you won't get your request- why bother requesting something that doesn't fit your room- it would be ignored by the room assigners anyway.

 

[mevelandry]

Those are the same choice as for every room at AKL- choosing a view that is not available to standard view will almost guarantee you won't get your request- why bother requesting something that doesn't fit your room- it would be ignored by the room assigners anyway.

The only best way to guarantee a certain type of view is of course to upgrade for that category of room...

... but I know for a fact that some people had rooms which, while not "categorized" as savannah view but categorized as standard, had partial view of savannahs.

You can request it. Chances are slim but you have nothing to lose... Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky?

p.s.: Worst case scenario, there are at least two spots from where you can watch the animals from a balcony. Hopefully, you won't get too far away from one of them.

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

We are checking in at AKV in 14 days and I have a Deluxe Standard view villa booked, but am hoping for a Savanna Upgrade!!!

Honestly I have gotten an upgrade every single time I have stayed at AKV! So your chances are good if the resort is not full! Now in May we had a pretty good walk to the lobby, but it was worth it for the view we had. We could even see the Eiffel tower from Epcot and some of the Fireworks at night.

The one time they said I could wait for Savanna view ,but a pool view was ready so I took that and it was really nice too.

Good luck! I hope it works out for you.... Never hurts to ask....I always am polite and smile and ask if there is any way we can get a savanna view and it usually works..I guess I will see what happens in a couple weeks!!

I am booked on rented points through my DVC friend.

So excited!! I am ready to go now.............

 

[Autumnslight]

I'm doing online check-in for AKL too, and these options confuse me. I booked a pool view room, but I still get options to request Kudu Trail, and various savannah views. I'd love one of the higher priced savannah views instead of the pool view, but certainly wouldn't want to end up with some partial/obstructed "cheap" savannah view room instead of pool view. If I've paid for at least pool view, they wouldn't give me a "lesser" view room, regardless of what I request in the online check-in, right???

 

[wiigirl]

Being there in december, I can tell you the farthest rooms are inside the main building anyway. No more than a 2 minutes walk.

Ask kudu trail. You might end up with a little part of savannah view!

Good tip!

 

[dansdad]

If I've paid for at least pool view, they wouldn't give me a "lesser" view room, regardless of what I request in the online check-in, right???

Sure they would if you request it. They sometimes grant peoples request for a room location/category higher than they booked. It could work the other way too if you request it.

 

[GADaisy]

This sounds weird, but I don't mind if we can't see animals from our room. I'd rather not have a parking lot view and would prefer to not have a long hike to transportation. When we stayed at Shades of Green last, I swear it was like a half a mile to the lobby. Sheesh! I think we might be in and out of our room and would like to make that as easy as possible. But you're saying, the Lodge is not that big?

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

This sounds weird, but I don't mind if we can't see animals from our room. I'd rather not have a parking lot view and would prefer to not have a long hike to transportation. When we stayed at Shades of Green last, I swear it was like a half a mile to the lobby. Sheesh! I think we might be in and out of our room and would like to make that as easy as possible. But you're saying, the Lodge is not that big?

I understand! I really do not mind the walk at all, but I tell you I really enjoyed the pool view and it was close to the Lobby!!! That was a very nice!!! Made up for no view of the animals....

So this coming trip I will take either one

 

[DCDisney]

Shades of Green and AKL feel very similar in size to me in terms of the walking along the corridors. At least it's an inside walk.... We've frequently gotten upgrades at AKL but it tends to be partial upgrades. So if we book standard we've gotten obstructed pool view, if we book pool view we've gotten obstructed savanna view, etc. They have always asked us at check in though before switching. Our one time of doing on line check in with standard view we asked for close to lobby and got one of the very first rooms off the lobby which was a very obstructed pool view and I loved it. It was really easy to get to Mara too. I don't pay for savanna view any more. Since they added Kidani it seems like there are far less animals than there used to be. When we are only there in the am and pm it feels like we weren't seeing anything more than birds and an ox or 2 when on previous trips it was tons of zebras or giraffes. Maybe the feeding times have changed too.... It's better for us to get refillable mugs and find a nice spot with animals to enjoy rather than pay for the view and be disappointed. We did get downgraded from a bunk bed room to a regular room on one trip and they do not refund the difference if you agree to the change. We were traveling with family and unless we agreed we were going to have rooms on the total opposite sides of the resort even though we had asked for adjoining. It sounds like your biggest concern is the parking lot view that isn't listed as a choice. You should call and ask that they add a request for no parking lot view and hope for the best from there since technically that's what you paid for.

 

[GADaisy]

Thanks for all your input everyone. I am just so excited, I don't even care if its a parking lot view at this point. I am so excited for the lobby and theming etc. we have our Magic Bands but have only made one dinner reservation. We are keeping our plans loose with emphasis on Epcot and AK. I don't want to have to rush back for reservations. We are visiting our son who is doing the college program.

 

[MrsJ Henry]

We have been to AKL 3 times. Each time we booked a Standard view and each time we were upgraded. The first time had a great view of the animals but was on the END of one of those LONG ARMS of the resort. That walk got old real fast for us!
The second time we were upgraded we were upgraded to pool view. Not bad at all and nice being close to the pool.
Third time we were upgraded to Savannah view and we refused because My husband has a bad back and really did not want to make those long walks again.
So she gave us a room near the lobby on one of the short arms that still looked out over some animals. GREAT ROOM.
It is the hall to the left as you walk in through the front doors and it was on the right side of the hall when walking down. So close to everything!! And still nice to sit out on the balcony and see animals.
This has been our favorite room.
The resort is beautiful and I wouldn't care if I got a savannah view or not . I would much rather be a little closer to everything. That being said... I don't think I would like a parking lot view.