Back from AKL!

[WDWBetsy]

Returned late last night from our wonderful stay at AKL. We were in room 3221 (Arusha Savannah), and we were very pleased with our view. Had booked a savannah view and requested a room close to the lobby on 2nd or higher floor. We were very happy with what we received.

The staff were extremely helpful and friendly, our room was spotless and comfortable, and the food was delicious! Will be posting more photos soon. Took a bunch and it's taking a while to upload (and do laundry at the same time).

The darkness of AKL I'd heard about was mainly in the evening, and IMHO it was awesome. I haven't experienced a resort like this before, and they really make you feel like you're someplace special and unique. Definitely not your normal hotel lobby and restaurants. Our room had plenty of light fixtures to brighten up the room as needed.

Mousekeeping was great and we received one towel animal.

We went to all the parks but took many breaks since I was constantly exhausted. I overdid it on Friday, so we relaxed at the resort on Saturday. I was so glad that our room was so close to the lobby. I really don't think I'd go to Disney World during the first trimester again. Thankfully I haven't experienced "morning" sickness, but my appetite was off a bit.

The hotel was beautiful. The holiday decorations were outstanding. Loved the atmosphere and music. Spent lots of time in the gift shop.

We loved the dining plan! Extremely worth the money and convenience. Ate dinner at Boma twice and breakfast once. The Mara's food was really good and we always found a clean table. The CMs were great. The fridge in our room was very convenient.

Didn't swim since it was too cold for us. But many were taking advantage of the pool and it looked nice. DH used the fitness center twice and was very impressed.

Bus service was great! It seemed like we would walk up to a waiting bus each time or one would arrive within a couple of minutes. Only twice did we have to wait about 10 minutes for a bus. Not bad. And IMHO, the ride time to the parks was not that bad.

We used Magical Express and liked the trip to the airport to the resort. The greeters with the big white hands pointed us to where we needed to go, and everything was well organized and impressive. We stopped at Pop Century and Coronado Springs before AKL. The stops didn't take long and we were on our way. It was also nice seeing the front of the resorts. Our luggage arrived about two hours after we arrived in our room.

I didn't like the return trip to the airport as much: our poor driver had to load/unload the luggage under the bus by himself since not all airlines participate in the return check-in/luggage transfer. Everyone had to show him your luggage to be loaded and give him the vouchers. Then you got on the bus and relaxed. At AKL it wasn't that bad since there were only about 20 total people (including about 10 kids) and it was pretty organized. But when we made a stop at Pop Century, there were considerably more people waiting with a ton of luggage.

As soon as he got off the bus to get the vouchers, he was surrounded with people pushing their vouchers in his face (no line at all), and he did the best he could. They really need to have 2 people doing this. Not only for the vouchers, but for the loading/unloading of luggage. I was seriously worried about him hurting himself. We were picked up at 5:05PM (we were in the pickup area by 4:40PM) and went through security around 6:30PM. The driver had us wait on the bus until he unloaded all the luggage, which took some time. Thankfully we were near the front of the bus and I spotted our luggage from the window.

During the unloading of luggage at the airport, a woman, her mother and daughter approached our driver wanting transportation (he was in the middle of unloading all our bags). Her bags were on a cart and I don't believe she had checked in with the Magical Express reps. He tried directing her to the place to check-in and she wouldn't take his word for it and went to ask the taxi stand guy. In the meantime, this woman's mother asked the driver about getting on the bus (he was still unloading) and he again tried to explain the procedure. Her daughter came back (having been told to go to the Magical Express desk again - I could see them directing her back upstairs) and the mother turned on her heel and flipped her scarf in the driver's face. I have to imagine that this family didn't read her Magical Express docs or perhaps didn't get them. But it just irritated me to see this guy struggling by himself without any help and then get a scarf flipped in his face.

I will be sending my comments in a letter to Disney. The return trip just left me unsure of using it again. It was included in our stay and that saved us about $100 vs. using a towncar service. The driver provided good service, and we tipped him well to thank him. They just need more people helping on the return trips. And perhaps a rep at the bus area so they can answer questions that the drivers shouldn't have to.

While I'm sad that our vacation is over, I'm glad to be home. The parks were more crowded as the week went on, but we had a fun time. Hopefully, we'll be taking our child back when they're 3 or so...

 

[johnsonet]

Welcome back - sounds as though you had a great trip!
AKL is my favorite resort! It is so unique. I LOVE it! Thank you for your photos.
Taking your little one back to WDW will be so much fun for you!!

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Thanks for sharing the beautiful pictures!

 

[Forever a Princess]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[disboo]

I love AKL, too. It just mught be my favorite! Thanks for the great pics and descriptions.

 

[Nancyg56]

Thank you for sharing your experiences. Love the pictures, and am looking forward to seeing this lovely resort for myself. You gave me a little quick fix!

 

[mmiller]

The trips sounds great (except for the return trip to the airport) We are going to AKL on Jan 21-28 and my major concern was the trip from AKL to the theme parks....when you say the ride wasn't that bad...can you translate that into time? Like how long did it get to the farther destination....Magic Kingdom? 10 mins or 20min? and were there movies on board for the kiddies? and did you stop at other resorts along the way to pick up others or go direct to each theme park? Thanks sooo much for any info...We are so excitied and just can't wait

 

[Disney Fool]

Thanks for the report and photos; you sound as thought you had an awesome time. It's one of my favorite resorts. You leave there really feeling refreshed! I'll be checking in on January 16th and I can't wait. It amazes me that so many on this board complain about the drive time to the parks. Are they not aware that the All-Star resorts are right near the AKL? Does anyone complain about the distance from there? Nope. Actually, when you think about it, it's the same distance to get to AK from the Grand Floridian, or Polynesian or the Contemporary.

 

[Ilovestitch]

did you stop at other resorts along the way to pick up others or go direct to each theme park?

AKL doesn't share busses w/any other resort- I believe they are the only deluxe like this.

AKL has great transportation- that's one of the benefits of staying there!

 

[Ilovestitch]

Actually, when you think about it, it's the same distance to get to AK from the Grand Floridian, or Polynesian or the Contemporary.

I agree, Disney Fool.

And not only is it the same distance, but it takes LONGER from the monorail resorts b/c they share a bus so you have wait as it picks up other guests, versus AKL buses that go directly to the park.

 

[n2mm]

We too just returned last night from our 4 night stay at the AKL. This is such a nice resort. We originally booked 2 standard rooms, non-smoking and was pleasantly surprised to get 2 savanna view rooms, connecting doors, one room with bunks. I made no requests except the non-smoking for medical reasons and again, being flexible worked out great for us. But the plus for us was we had a cast discount of 60% off, so our room was only $79 a night....wow, what a great deal for a savanna view room.

I agree that the staff at this resort are so incredibly nice. We don't use the buses, so can't comment, but we did use the airport baggage claim for the first time since we were using United. It was great not having to deal with our luggage and it's great that you DON'T have to use DME to use this perk for your return flight home.

NEGATIVE: We arrived early Thursday (and rented a car), but my daughter and SIL and GD arrived that evening and used DME.....her comment was "never again". She arrived at the airport around 5:45PM and went to the checkin counter. She used the luggage tags since we signed her up for DME one-way. She arrived at the resort about 8:45PM...yes 3 hours later. She was very frustrated, especially traveling with a baby. Had we imagined that type of wait, hubby would have gladly driven the 25 minutes to the airport to pick her up, as he's done in the past. We figured--lesson learned. My oldest daughter used this service in September and arrived at the airport at 8:30AM and was at the resort (pop) by 9:00AM, so we didn't think it would be that bad. We commented this to the desk staff and they agreed. The morning runs smoothly, but the evenings can be horrible. She said they are still trying to work out the bugs, especially before they start charging people for this service. Her luggage acutally beat her there, since we already had checked in for her that AM, her room had already been assigned before she arrived.

 

[WDWBetsy]

The trips sounds great (except for the return trip to the airport) We are going to AKL on Jan 21-28 and my major concern was the trip from AKL to the theme parks....when you say the ride wasn't that bad...can you translate that into time? Like how long did it get to the farther destination....Magic Kingdom? 10 mins or 20min? and were there movies on board for the kiddies? and did you stop at other resorts along the way to pick up others or go direct to each theme park? Thanks sooo much for any info...We are so excitied and just can't wait

I believe it took about 5 minutes to get to the AK, about 15-20 to Epcot and MGM, and maybe 20-25 to MK. I should have timed it but I was caught up in the excitement. Traffic wasn't bad and we seemed to hit the lights right. DH and I commented that it seemed to take longer on the POR bus on our 2003 trip. There are no movies on the bus.. We passed the time talking to little kids who were really excited about going to the parks. As others have said, AKL doesn't stop at other resorts, so that's a definite perk. We never had to stand up on the bus at all.

Hope you have a truly magical time!

 

[WDWBetsy]

A couple of things I forgot to mention:

1. I was really surprised by the people (adults and children) running in the hallway past our room - at all hours. I even woke up at 2AM to hear loud voices and running. I wouldn't expect this in any deluxe resort, at a value or moderate perhaps since they have outside corridors. I can understand if people are in a hurry to get to the parks, but IMHO, it's inconsiderate and a possible hazard to those walking in the hallway, especially since the hallway isn't a straight shot, it's curved. We even saw a woman and child run past us and jump over a room service tray without stopping. We tend to be careful not to be loud in front of other people's rooms, especially after 9PM or before 7AM. Just my opinion.
2. On our last two nights, I was also surprised to hear children on the balconies near us constantly screaming at the animals (even if they weren't there). I can understand the excitement of seeing a giraffe or zebra when you're little (or even as an adult), but I guess I just expected the parents to try to quiet the children (like, "Honey, don't scream - the animals will get scared"). It's one thing to have a child yell a couple of times, and another to hear it for a half hour.

Just my two cents. I wouldn't keep these things from us staying there again, but these are just observations I wasn't expecting.

 

[Ilovestitch]

I agree about the people running in the hall.

Last May- we saw one family and the parents actually ENCOURAGED their kid to run.

The little boy was not paying attention when he was running and smacked right into the wall where it sticks out a little bit and fell flat on his back!

I hate when parents let there kids do stuff like that and then are shocked when they get hurt. I don't have kids though, so what do I know....

 

[Ladyhawke10]

I agree about the people running in the hall.

Last May- we saw one family and the parents actually ENCOURAGED their kid to run.

The little boy was not paying attention when he was running and smacked right into the wall where it sticks out a little bit and fell flat on his back!

I hate when parents let there kids do stuff like that and then are shocked when they get hurt. I don't have kids though, so what do I know....

Oh my gosh, I saw something like this during one of our stays at AKL. Once, I was pushing a stroller (with my son inside) and a family came RUNNING toward us down the hall--I tried to get to one side of the hallway, but it seemed one of the little girls was running DIAGONALLY and I couldn't get out of her way--it was like she was running in a straight beeline for me! She ended up running right into me and falling down (I was standing there shocked by the whole thing) and then her dad just got her back up and they all took off again without any explanation as to what all the running was about, or even an apology (though I was more worried about the little girl falling than anything). I guess people get fed up with the long hallways, but it's really not safe for the families running or bystanders who are just going to their rooms! I wonder how many accidents have happened like this? I've actually posted on this incident before and glad it was brought up again.