animal kingdom lodge

[vhoffman]

Has anyone stayed at this hotel recently and what were your impressions? I found a rate of $149 per night--is that a good deal? I've read on other boards that many find the rooms a little too small with poor lighting. Some say you can't read at night because the lighting is so dim. Also, is it really worth the extra $$ to get a room with a savannah view? I understand there are many good observation windows in the lobby. After all, there's no guarantee the animals will come past your balcony just because you paid big bucks for it. Seems to me your viewing range is best in the lobby. Also, what eating options are available here? I understand this resort is located some distance from other resorts, compelling you to eat many of your meals there. Are they overpriced? How is the transportation? AKL is in a somewhat remote location from the rest of the park, however, I read that the buses that service this resort only serve this resort, that is, they don't make stops at other hotels along the way. That would be nice to avoid crowds and standing room only. And last but not least, how interesting is it for a 6-year old? Enough to hold her interest for a 7 night stay?

Thanks for comments.

 

[webray]

I wouldn't stay at AKL without getting a balcony room. You have to see this place to believe it. The animals are rotated throughout the savannahs...so, yes, you are pretty much guaranteed to see animals right below your balcony. The only time they aren't out is from around lunch time to mid day when the animals go in for a medical check up.

The rooms are not poorly lit. My husband is a huge reader, and he had no trouble at all. The decor is dark woods and is beautiful...mostly all hand carved. The rooms are done in earthtones.

You have 4 eating options...room service, Jiko, Boma and Mara.
Jiko is the upscale sitdown serves dinner.
Boma...buffet stykle serves breakfast and dinner.
Mara...quick eatery...serves a wide variety.
Room service..breakfast, lunch, dinner.
If you go concierge..that gives you a 5th option with snack options from about 6:30am to 10pm.

We spent a long weekend at AKL..never left the resort, had no trouble finding things to do and food to eat. Wonderful! When we have used the bus transportation at AKL...we have had no problems at all..yes, direct routes, no stopping at other resorts.

Your six year old would be thrilled with this resort. There is plenty to do.

 

[DeeCee]

I think that a 6 year old would love staying at AKL. It is such an amazing resort.

I would highly recommend a savannah view room. I love sitting on the balcony watching the animals. I always look out in the middle of the night and see them then, too.

If you decide to go with a non-savannah room, you will still have several places to view the animals, but there is nothing like relaxing on the balcony with a view like that.

Also, I always bring books to read, and I never felt that there wasn't enough lighting.

I never had any complaints about the transportation. We never had a long wait for a bus. (always less than 10 minutes).

I've never eaten at Jiko, but Boma was great for dinner and Mara was always good.


Have fun.

 

[Sally Bradley]

I agree with the above posts wholeheartedly. I expected to like it, but came away loving it! The opportunity to see animals at 6:30 in the a.m. and at night really made our stay there wonderful. My DD and DH were up at 6:30 each morning to see if they could spot the giraffes!

The food was wonderful...we did Boma twice, once for breakfast and once for dinner. We had a rental car and did not find the drive uncomfortable at all.

The most amazing thing is we went to AKL from the GF...the GF seemed bland and too busy in comparison. Even though there were tons of people at AKL, it gave the impression of very few people and not crowded at all.

 

[mport]

We just returned from our first stay at the AKL. It was very nice. We had a savanna view. It was neat for us to get up in the morning and see the animals. We were there for a week and didn't see any animal at night. We asked about this and the attendants outside told us the animals were staying at the back fence for some reason and they were not sure why.
The third flood is the main floor and closest to the animals, the fifth floor, you are looking through the tree tops to see the animals. There are many viewing areas in the hallways. There are also patios you can walk out on and there are rocking chairs you can sit on and enjoy the animals.

Boma in our opionion is far to over rated. We ate there one night and were not impressed at all. 2 adults and 2 children (3 Adults and 1 child, Disney considers our 13 year old an adult) cost us $100 including the tip. There was nothing fancy. The kids ate Mac and cheese and chicken fingers, my wife and I had samplings of two or three different things, one salmon (which was very dry) and I don't rememeber the others it was nothing fancy. The deserts on the otherhand were excellent!

Mara was much better, the chicken wraps (for us), burgers or pizza for the kids, for four of us it was about $33.00.

Would I pay for savanna view again? Not sure depends on our budget next visit. We love AKL and also WL not sure which one we will go back to.

The bus situation is great though because you don't have any stops, you go right to your destination.

 

[wannabee princess]

We stayed at AKL the second week of December, and we too only can say wonderful things about it!

I would say that yes, $149 is a good rate! I felt the rooms were a good size - definitely not too small, and I felt the lighting was fine to read by.

I would definitely prefer to have a savannah view, but if I could only afford to stay at AKL without the savannah view, I would do that. There are options for viewing outside of your room, but I agree that there is nothing like waking up in the morning and stepping out on your balcony to be greeted by the sight of giraffes and zebras and ankole cattle grazing! It is also nice when you return from the parks and can just sit and relax watching the animals from the privacy of your balcony.

Technically, I don't think you would see many animals from the main lobby - although there are great viewing sposts located near the lobby (right off of the lobby is a smaller lobby with a balcony for viewing) and out the doors and down a walkway you can go to a great spot to view.

As for eating, others mentioned the options at AKL, and I personally have to say that we ate most of our meals away from the lodge! We ate at Mara the day we arrived, simply for convience sake, and one day when we were doing a pool day, we ate there. We also tried Boma for dinner. Pricing is average for Disney - not as cheap as say going to a McDonalds, but not out of hand for a Disney property.

Bus service is okay - if you miss the bus going to your destination, you may have up to 20 minutes before the next bus, but that would mean that you walked up as the other bus pulled out. We did wait for the bus up to 10-15 minutes once or twice. I do like that you don't make any extra stops - I think that makes up for the 10 minutes of waiting (we have spent 10 minutes on a bus making stops in the past!)

I can't speak directly about your 6yo, but my 8yo was fascinated by AKL!! I can't imagine us staying anywhere else at Disney!

 

[TJA]

We just stayed at AKL last month for 4 nights -- me, my husband, and 2 twin babies (7 months old). We had a standard room for $109 + tax per night, I think equalling about $123 per night. It was during value season. If/when we stay there again, we will definitely choose a savanah room. We were in our room fairly often because of having 2 babies with us, so we would've loved to sit on the balcony and watch the animals while the babies were napping. Yes, we found the room to be small for our situation (2 babies -- 2 pack and plays, etc.). As far as the lighting, well, we found the entire room didn't get very bright in general, but we could easily read if we were sitting directly next to a light. Otherwise, the room in general seemed fairly dark mainly at night even with all the lights on. Of course, opening the curtains during the day cured any lighting deficiencies. No, the restaurants at AKL did not seem overpriced to us. We loved Boma, did not try Jiko, and enjoyed Mara for a late-night snack or a quick bite. You will not be deprived of good eating by staying at AKL! Yes, it is a bit of a drive to the parks (except AK of course), so think about where you'll be spending the most time and if the driving distance will be okay with your family. Have no worries about the bus transportation. As you know, AKL does not share with other resorts -- HUGE plus. We never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a bus.

Though my kids are not even 1 year old yet, I did observe that the AKL seems very kid-friendly. The pool is fantastic with a zero-depth entry and a very fun-looking slide. It is also a very large pool so it never seemed too crowded. There are always at least 4 lifeguards on duty.

I would definitely say there is enough to do at AKL to keep a 6 year old interested for 7 nights, especially since I assume you'll be going to parks too. It is a very beautiful and fun resort.

 

[jcemom]

You can see the menus and prices here:
http://allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm#res

"Overpriced" is probably a relative term when at Disney but you can check it out and decide for yourself.

 

[erikthewise]

Keep in mind that somewhere around 90% of the rooms at AKL are "savannah view", so it's not really a "splurge", it's the normal thing to do at AKL. The "standard view" rooms are limited in number and have a view of the parking lot or bus stop, and of course have lower rates.

The only way you're not going to see animals is if they decide not to eat. Their food is placed in locations that force them to come out into plain view. If you book savannah view, you WILL see animals, and lots of them. However not every species at the resort can be seen from every room. There are three separate savannahs with different mixes of animals.

 

[jcemom]

http://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/resorts/AKLodge/aklmap.jpg

Here's a map showing the layout of the resort, which rooms overlook which savannah's, where the different animals are, etc.

 

[maryliz]

Make sure you get bunk beds ... your 6 yo will love them! I did find the room quite dark, but there were reading lights so it was OK. I would not spend the $$$ to go to AKL unless I was definitely getting a Savannah room. Our kids were 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 when we went, and it was awesome for both of them. There is lots to do there, so boredom will not be a problem. It poured rain the first 24 hours we were there, and we spent the time exploring the entire resort ! It's absolutely beautiful. Enjoy.

Mary Liz

 

[kevind65]

our family really liked AKL. as far as paying extra for the view; that depends on your family I think...to us, we spend alot of time in the parks and second in the pools; so, for us it wasn't worth the extra cash for the view. there are other views than standard and savannah. we had a pool view which was perfect for us. close to everything and we took advantage of the numerous viewing areas around the resort to see the animals. heck, I even have a picture of dd in the pool, and if you look in the background; you can see a giraffe in one the savannahs'. pretty cool we thought...we also thought the rooms to be a little on the dark side. Of course, there were lights if you wanted to read...the lobby was unbelievable and the whole place smells soo good....we did not eat at Jiko, so , can't help with that one...We liked Boma and mara was typical of the quick places at all the resorts. the bus transportation was fine. we never seemed to wait any longer for buses than at any of the other resorts...the walk to the bus stop was a little on the long side, but not too terrible....I think the whole thing about AKL being away from everything else is a little exagerated...It's probably 1-2 minutes to the turn-off by the all-stars, mcdonalds & Blizzard Beach by car from AKL....not exactly in the middle of nowhere...overall, AKL is a pretty cool resort....btw: our dd was 10 when we stayed here and she loved it..

 

[kadaten]

We stayed at AKL for five nights 12/17-22, and loved every minute of it! We had a Deluxe Pool view, but were able to see animals from the lobby, the viewing areas outside, the landing at the stairs, and from thei viewing windows halfway down the Zebra trail. We got a free upgrade to the Deluxe Pool view due to some check-in problems. I found the rooms to be a nice size, and lit well enough. I typically open the drapes first thing every morning so I wouldn't notice the darkness anyway. The shower room is a bit dark (one small light), but who needs lots of light to shower? As for size, the Deluxe rooms are a bit bigger than the standard. I was comfortable in our Deluxe, but am not sure how it would be in a standard. One couple who arrived early had to spend one night in a standard room and did think it was a bit small, but they're also the hardest to please in our family, so it may have just been them!

My neice and nephew who were 5 and 7 loved AKL and wish we had spent more time in the resort! Be sure to check out all the kids activities on the board by the bell desk or outside Boma. Some are free and some require a small fee, but there's plenty to keep them busy. Also pick up a hidden mickey sheet when you check in if there's not one in your folder. Our kids loved that!

I loved Boma for breakfast and dinner. Mara was OK....limited selection, but enough to get you through a meal. Had my pizza been a little warmer, I might have a better review.

All the CM's were absolutely wonderful!! Check-in went well for me, especially after they upgraded all 9 of our rooms! At Boma, the CM's were more than happy to seat all 20 of us together, even though we had split reservations. (Don't mention that, though, to anyone at group dining! They're pretty sure to tell you you WILL NOT BE SEATED TOGETHER if you get split reservations and a pretty forceful about it.) I simply mentioned when we checked in a little early that there were 20 of us and if we could sit together we'd love it, and would be willing to wait extra if necessary. She said "no problem", told me she'd call me in my room when our tables were ready, and even managed to seat us early!! Even with a full lobby!!

I'll definitely be returning to AKL and this time will make sure I schedule a resort day or two to fully explore everything there is to do there!

Katie