At AKL right now

[SqueakyMouse]

Checked in yesterday morning around 9:00. Fellows out front said extremely unlikely that our room would be ready. As we've experienced this in the past at AKL, sent the luggage to storage and tipped the guys. Upon check-in, got immediately into our room -- an upgraded one! Called downstairs to have our luggage brought up. (another tip!) Upon delivery, bellhop shared that the resort would be extremely quiet for the few days after the 4th. (Good info for future reference!!) It is now apparent that many, many rooms are empty. Hmmm... this makes me wonder why I was originally told that it would be another $1600 to upgrade to a savanna-view room from the AP standard view we booked??? (BTW, I once booked 10 days savanna view at AKL expecting my 3 kids to be blown away by the wonderful view of animals from our room, and they only walked out onto the balcony one time the ENTIRE trip! LOL!! Thus, the extra $$ to ensure savanna-view was definitely not worth it for our week this trip.) I cannot believe that all the AP standard savanna-view rooms have been booked. (For this very reason, I really hate not being able to access the AP reservation site with our passes obtained at the end of March!!!!) Regardless, it worked out well for us. Our room is very close to the lobby, on the Kudzu Trail, and facing the Sunset Savanna. Not the greatest view but much better than the rooftop or parking lot view we were expecting. As usual during warmer months, the pool was quite busy yesterday afternoon. Couldn't find any chairs in the sun, but actually ended up better grabbing some in the shade. Nice breeze. Mara was dead quiet at 6:00 last night. Maybe 4 other families inside. A few more outside. All CMS extremely nice and helpful.

 

[DisGirl819]

Sounds like an awesome start to a trip! We arrive at AKV in 8 days!!

 

[mickeynut1]

Checked in yesterday morning around 9:00. Fellows out front said extremely unlikely that our room would be ready. As we've experienced this in the past at AKL, sent the luggage to storage and tipped the guys. Upon check-in, got immediately into our room -- an upgraded one! Called downstairs to have our luggage brought up. (another tip!) Upon delivery, bellhop shared that the resort would be extremely quiet for the few days after the 4th. (Good info for future reference!!) It is now apparent that many, many rooms are empty. Hmmm... this makes me wonder why I was originally told that it would be another $1600 to upgrade to a savanna-view room from the AP standard view we booked??? (BTW, I once booked 10 days savanna view at AKL expecting my 3 kids to be blown away by the wonderful view of animals from our room, and they only walked out onto the balcony one time the ENTIRE trip! LOL!! Thus, the extra $$ to ensure savanna-view was definitely not worth it for our week this trip.) I cannot believe that all the AP standard savanna-view rooms have been booked. (For this very reason, I really hate not being able to access the AP reservation site with our passes obtained at the end of March!!!!) Regardless, it worked out well for us. Our room is very close to the lobby, on the Kudzu Trail, and facing the Sunset Savanna. Not the greatest view but much better than the rooftop or parking lot view we were expecting. As usual during warmer months, the pool was quite busy yesterday afternoon. Couldn't find any chairs in the sun, but actually ended up better grabbing some in the shade. Nice breeze. Mara was dead quiet at 6:00 last night. Maybe 4 other families inside. A few more outside. All CMS extremely nice and helpful.

Glad your room was ready upon check in and congrats on the upgrade.....sounds like you're having a nice start to your trip .

Regarding the upgrade.....if you inquired about an upgrade at check in, the $1600 difference was most likely at rack rate. When you book with a discount and pay to upgrade at check in, the discount does not usually carry over to that upgrade. You were probably quoted the difference between what you paid for the standard view and rack rate for the savanna view.

 

[kmb584]

Enjoy that pixie dust!

 

[vettegirl]

Enjoy! Me were upgraded a couple of years ago from standard to a Arusha view, would not pay but for free it's pretty awesome

 

[SqueakyMouse]

Glad your room was ready upon check in and congrats on the upgrade.....sounds like you're having a nice start to your trip .

Regarding the upgrade.....if you inquired about an upgrade at check in, the $1600 difference was most likely at rack rate. When you book with a discount and pay to upgrade at check in, the discount does not usually carry over to that upgrade. You were probably quoted the difference between what you paid for the standard view and rack rate for the savanna view.

No, this was when I booked on the phone a couple of weeks ago.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

Sunday evening was MUCH busier at the lodge...and somewhat busier at the parks. Not too many animals out and about. Pool and Mara was much busier last night as compared to Saturday night. However, managed to sit in the hot tub off the Zebra Trail by ourselves around 10 p.m. Quite relaxing. Mara food only ok. Not bad, but not great either.

 

[kimysbug]

Keep the up dates coming

We check in Saturday!!!

 

[Minnesota!]

Enjoy! we will be there one month from today! WOOO HOOO!

We had savannah view last time and - like you - we only used the balcony once. It just wasn't that appealing to us. It was too quiet, honestly. So this time, we got pool view. I like the noise!!!

 

[wiigirl]

Have a wonderful trip!