Animal Kingdom Villas

[FARBRI]

WE JUST STAYED AT ANIMAL KINGDOM VILLAS IN A ONE BEDROOM. (WIFE AND 2 SONS 4 &2) IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE THE ROOM SEEMED BIGGER THEN THE OTHER DVC RESORTS AND THE VIEW WAS AWSOME. THEY SAY YOU MAY HEAR CONSTRUCTION SOUNDS, BUT WE DIDN'T HEAR A THING AND HARDLY EVEN NOTICED ANY CONSTRUCTION WORKERS.

WE JUST BOUGHT INTO THE DVC IN JAN OF 2006 AT SAROTAOGA SPRINGS. I ONLY WISHED I KNEW THAT THEY WERE OPENING THIS RESORT AND I WOULD HAVE HELD OFF. ( I AM NOT A BIG FAN OF SARATOGA )

THE ONLY DVC RESORT WE HAVE NOT STAYED AT YET IN DISNEY WORLD IN WILDERNESS LODGE WHICH WE ARE BOOKED TO STAY IN FEB.

 

[jakenjess]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! We saw the model rooms last week when we were down, and I thought they looked much nicer in person than in the pictures I've seen posted. You'll LOVE the VWL!

 

[AKV707]

Glad to hear that you liked AKV. Can't wait to stay there!

 

[wildernessDad]

WE JUST BOUGHT INTO THE DVC IN JAN OF 2006 AT SAROTAOGA SPRINGS. I ONLY WISHED I KNEW THAT THEY WERE OPENING THIS RESORT AND I WOULD HAVE HELD OFF. ( I AM NOT A BIG FAN OF SARATOGA )

I haven't been to SSR yet, but it seems pretty nice to me. I like the fact that it's close to DTD, just a boat ride away. I think that the Adventurers Club is calling me.

 

[byoung]

Thanks for reporting.

 

[Coach81]

Glad to hear you like AKV, we will be staying there for the first time in May of next year. I cannot wait to see my six year olds face when we get there

 

[Jaaron2]

We bought in this year to AKV and cant wait to stay there Every time I read a thread like this it just makes me want to get there that much faster.

WE will actually be as SSR in 6 weeks and plan to check out AKV during our trip

 

[kespo]

glad you enjoyed AKV. My husband and I loved staying at AKL before we bought DVC. Like you, If we knew they were going to build AKV we would have held off from buying SSR. We did add on when the announced AKV, but would have loved to have all of our points at AKV.

Can't wait to stay in Jan...

 

[RLRDA]

WE JUST STAYED AT ANIMAL KINGDOM VILLAS IN A ONE BEDROOM. (WIFE AND 2 SONS 4 &2) IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE THE ROOM SEEMED BIGGER THEN THE OTHER DVC RESORTS AND THE VIEW WAS AWSOME. THEY SAY YOU MAY HEAR CONSTRUCTION SOUNDS, BUT WE DIDN'T HEAR A THING AND HARDLY EVEN NOTICED ANY CONSTRUCTION WORKERS.

WE JUST BOUGHT INTO THE DVC IN JAN OF 2006 AT SAROTAOGA SPRINGS. I ONLY WISHED I KNEW THAT THEY WERE OPENING THIS RESORT AND I WOULD HAVE HELD OFF. ( I AM NOT A BIG FAN OF SARATOGA )

THE ONLY DVC RESORT WE HAVE NOT STAYED AT YET IN DISNEY WORLD IN WILDERNESS LODGE WHICH WE ARE BOOKED TO STAY IN FEB.

Well, it sounds like you "need" to do an AKV add-on!! We "needed" to do the same thing! It's such a great resort we wanted to be able to book at the 11 month window at least every other year or so.

We own at Saratoga, too. It's hard for me to say I like or don't like certain resorts. We like every DVC resort we've stayed at for different reasons. But AKV is such a fantastic DVC, for sure.

 

[twinmom108]

We were just there too. Oct 8-15. We stayed in a 1 bedroom for 4 days then switched over to a studio for 3 days. The tree tops blocked most of our view in the 1 bedroom, and there were hundreds of love bugs (some smashed) on the balcony. Although it seemed dark, we loved the room and decorations.

When we switched to the studio I was afraid it might be a let down after staying in the 1 bedroom. The room was fantastic. It was located closer towards the lobby and had a wonderful view. From our balcony we could see giraffes, zebras, a gazelle (that chased one of the zebras), several diff types of oxen and birds. Also there were no love bugs - none the whole time we were in the studio. Made me wonder why we had so many in the other room which was in the same wing further down the hallway.

We are absolutely happy that we did an addon at AKV it is a great resort. We did take a small excursion to our first Home Resort - VWL. As great as AKV is, VWL is still our favorite and you're going to love staying there.

 

[darby74]

Thanks for the enthusiastic post. We're going to be staying at the AKVs in 8 days and are looking forward to daughter's reaction to the zebras and giraffes (her favorite animals). I stayed at the hotel during a business trip in May and didn't find the construction bothersome then (I was out early and back late though). I'll be sure to post a report once we're back.

 

[alldiz]

So glad you loved AKV....I can't wait to stay there...

BTW....your gonna loooove WL
Kerri

 

[justjudy]

Glad to hear you enjoyed your stay at AKV. We were there in September and loved it as well.

 

[3DisneyKids]

SSR and AKV are our two homes...they are very different from each other and we love them both!

Like you, we were bowled over by AKV! However, I would not want to stay there on every trip...which is why DVC is so awesome!

 

[dvc4me27]

Does anyone know if it is harder to book a studio then a 1 or 2 bedroom? I've stayed at 2 br's at SSR and had no booking problems in the past. I thought that going in October/earlier November wouldn't be an issue, but I was wrong. I know that waiting until AKL was open for booking might be an issue and when I couldn't get a whole week there I was disappointed but understanding. So then I tried to get a whole week at any DVC resort at the WDW and couldn't get booked anywhere for all Oct/early Nov. I wound up splitting time between AKL and SSR. I've only been a DVC member for a short time. Am I always going to have to book at SSR 11 months out and then change try to change my reservation several months later when I can book at other DVC resorts?

 

[AKV707]

I am new to DVC as well, but from what I have learned here, it depends on the time of year. I was able to get a studio at OKW for food and wine only a few months out. I booked a 1 br at AKV for next summer at 11 months out. I think that with AKV beiing new, a limited number of villas available and developer points in abundance, AKV is tough to get right now.

 

[Lauralei]

I own at SSR and understand what you mean by you're not that thrilled with it. It is beautiful but unless you get a GOOD view of DTD there's not much to it. In 2/2006 I wanted "a room with a view" and I was stuck in a room all the way on the other end closer to the West Side. I also got a ground floor which didn't help. This resort depends more than any other on getting a room with a view that you really want. Otherwise its nice but ordinary. I could have stayed offsite in a similar place.
Last year (2/07) we stayed at WLVillas. I LOVED IT! This time I asked for a ground floor room as close to the lobby as possible. And I got the closest ground floor room. It's really weird though because when we were checking in they wanted to give us a room on the 4th floor and we didn't want it. Then about 1 minute later they had this room, so I don't see why they didn't give it to us in the 1st place. Anyway, the closeness to MK is great. It's nice to ride the boats, the Electric Water Pageant (which I've never seen before) was great, you can walk to FW (my 7 yr old was with me and he had no problem). This really is a favorite of mine!
This Feb. 08 we are staying at AKVillas, and I am looking forward to it. Glad to hear its so nice. We stayed at AKL with a SV in 2/04 and really liked it. (My DH the most and thats important ).
I have a question. Does anyone know if you can upgrade on check-in? I have a SV room but if they have a Concierge SV available I'd like it. Can you do that? I didn't want to book a Concierge because you can't guarantee a SV and that's what was most important to us. If anyone knows if I can upgrade at check-in or not, please let me know--thanks
and once again I LOVED WLVillas!

 

[RLRDA]

I am new to DVC as well, but from what I have learned here, it depends on the time of year. I was able to get a studio at OKW for food and wine only a few months out. I booked a 1 br at AKV for next summer at 11 months out. I think that with AKV beiing new, a limited number of villas available and developer points in abundance, AKV is tough to get right now.

You're probably also going to see higher demand for 1BRs at AKV b/c they accomodate 5 instead of the usual 4 people.

 

[rigsby25]

Did anyone who has stayed in the 1br at AKV sleep in the chair/bed? Was it comfortable?

 

[drakester]

I too would love to know the answer to this question.