Bad rooms at AKL for my check-in flash card?

[musicmom3]

We are now in the single digits, and the rubber is meeting the road. I have gone from parking lot to pool view to, finally, a stabdard savannah view room (thanks to that old BDP code), and now I am having nightmares about walking into the room and...and...being miserably disappointed. My idea last night was to make myself a little flash card of rooms/trails/savannahs to avoid, so that I could potentially nip a bad experience in the bud when I am checking in with our CM. I have asked that a note be put in my reservation about Zebra trail, Arusha Savannah, but I think I may be out of luck since this is popular and we do not arrive until about 6:00 pm on the Friday before President's weekend. I appreciate all contributions to my flash card! Thanks for any help!

 

[Harambe]

You're going to love it! It is a gorgeous resort. You may be disappointed if you get a room with a long walk, but the views are all good, I think. And if not, you can always go to the common spots to see the animals (but I know that's not why you signed up for savannah view). I guess I'm saying, don't sweat the small stuff. Look at it like the adventure it is going to be!

 

[soccer mom]

We stayed on Uzima savannah and were very please. I have read so many great reviews about all savannahs and locations, that I'm not sure your flash card needs that much on it. Have a great trip! We have to wait until January 2006 to get back to our favorite resort!

 

[musicmom3]

I would like nothing better than to rip up the flash card! This is good news!

 

[Mickey_loves_Minnie]

That sounds very encouraging. It'll be our first AKL stay in October. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[MrsJ Henry]

You will be fine. We were on Arusha zebra.... wayyyyyyy down at the end. Now we were not that thrilled with the walk but we really liked our room. This time we are staying pool view since it is a shorter walk and you can see the animals everywhere. I think you will be happy no matter what!

 

[webray]

AKL..is all wonderful..enjoy! We thought we were going to be disapointed with our last trip. We booked at the last minute and no savannah views were available, so we took a pool view. It was totally outstanding, and the best part..cracked us up. There is a savannah behind the pool, so we got the best of both worlds. The Bongo were out in the morning when we went to the balcony. We totally loved it.

 

[elise72]

We were in 4512 overlooking Uzima Savannah...it was fantastic.

Don't worry..it will be great!

 

[musicmom3]

I am so psyched about going! Goodbye to the flash card! Now I can worry about packing!

 

[Peter Pirate]

The good savannah rooms will be dependant upon the animals and no one has control over that.

The only bad rooms, IMO, are the pool views. You can't see the pool in half of them and there is really nothing to see anyway. The standard rooms may view the parking lot but I'd rather save the money with a parking lot view than have a tree obstructed pool view for bigger $.

You did right with the savannah but don't sweat the stuff you can't control. If you whip out a flash card, the CM's at AKL may put you in a laundry view room just our of spite...

 

[crusoemom]

There are a few "savannah" rooms without great views (overlooking the people pens) - however, the last time I was there, they were only putting people in those rooms who had standard rooms and were "upgraded", including us. We were thrilled because we paid for a standard view, and the people who had actually paid for a savannah view got good savannah views. I thought that was pretty savvy marketing on Disney's part.

As it was, we still saw plenty of animals, and if we didn't see the variety that others did, that was fine because we spent plenty of time with the guides in the common areas, who could point out so much more than we could find on our own.

AKL is by far my favorite resort - with ANY room.
I'm "wicked" jealous

 

[Peter Pirate]

Once again crusomom, what's the definition of bad room. If it's 'people pens' then OK...But I will reiterate for the worried newcomers that I have stayed at AKL 12 times now and the room we had overlooking a 'people pen' had more animal activity for those days than any other room we've had. The landscape view was not so pretty, I'll admit, but the animal activity was spectacular. So you never know.

 

[musicmom3]

Peter Pirate, you made an excellent point about the effect my flash card could have on an unsuspecting CM. Thanks for the laugh!

 

[Selket]

I think I've read many times here that folks who aren't happy with their room for whatever reason have nicely requested another room and usually were put in one that met their expectations.

Sounds like you are just looking for a good view (who wouldn't!) and at check-in time it might be hard to tell what you will be looking at - in the afternoon in hot weather there are fewer animals about than in the a.m. and later evening. I'd say unless the room seemed wrong to you immediately then try it out and if you are disppointed I think they would be willing to accomodate any reasonable request for a room change. That way you shouldn't worry so much at check-in!

Have a great trip!

 

[rach98n]

We just returned and my best advice is to request (now) a room at least 2nd floor or higher. We had a standard pool view on the 3rd floor and it was wonderful. I would've hated being on the 1st floor however.

 

[musicmom3]

The point about the first floor rooms is well taken. I imagine these rooms would be hoof-level. I suppose this could give you an up-close and personal feeling about the animals, though. What was it about the first floor that you think you would not have liked?

 

[rach98n]

Exactly that...I want to be able to look out over the area. Especially with a pool view (which we had). It just feels a little less claustrophobic to me for some reason!

 

[Peter Pirate]

There are no rooms at ground level. First floor is really second level.

These offer great animal experiences if you're lucky enough to get animals close by. We had giraffes necking less than 20 feet from our balcony. The views from up above are more spectacular and you will be thankful for the ability to see animals even in the distance...But for that animal "wow" nothing beats the lower level 'animal right there' experience.

 

[Nadine and Fred]

..bit of a hike from the main lobby but a GREAT location ...I miss AKL already!

 

[sleepydoc]

what are the "people pens"? Have booked a standard pool room view, which sounds reasonably OK after reading these boards. But the term "people pens" sure does offer a not very pretty picture!