Be careful at Animal Kingdom Lodge!

[TeamSy]

The same thing happened to us during our past trip at Yacht Club in August!!! We just checked in and were checking out the room, looking around... got to the balcony and I shut the door behind us so we didn't let bugs in/AC out and we got locked out!!! THANK GOD we had a cell phone or we'd be jumping onto the roof and waving security down via the cameras!!!

When we called, the general line tried to help us and I was like NO WE NEED THE FRONT DESK! Then they told us it wasn't possible to get locked out... well, guess what - it IS! Anyway, once we got ahold of the front desk a manager, cast member, and maintenance guy all came into the room rather quickly. They couldn't get the balcony door open at first either, but eventually did. It was a hot mess. The door was obviously not supposed to do that and was just broken. They were apologetic... not like it was anyone's fault and the manager offered us extra fast passes, which was unnecessary but awesome! We put them to good use!

After that experience I don't think I'll ever fully shut a balcony door while we're both outside ever again!

 

[AJA]

I never thought of that! Thanks for the heads up.

 

[DisneyMom111]

An update to our story....I emailed Disney to let them know about our fun experience hoping they would fix the doors so they won't do that anymore. Well a few days later a super nice CM called me to let me know they were going to look into the problem and offered us 2 fastpasses each to be used on any rides, any time, next time we go. He said they will be on top of the 3 we normally get. That was a nice surprise! Now we have something to look forward to on our next trip, an extra ride on Mine Train perhaps! I love Disney's customer service.

 

[Sinderelly]

Wow you are so very lucky you had cell phones and weren't in your underwear.

I would have probably panicked.

 

[DisneyMom111]

Wow you are so very lucky you had cell phones and weren't in your underwear.

I would have probably panicked.

My poor son WAS in his underwear!! haha When they came into our room to let us back in, he stayed in the dark corner of the balcony until they left before coming back in the room!

 

[gmccreary]

Thanks so much for this!! Staying there for the first time in August.

 

[North of Mouse]

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

We left the door open at AK and to our surprise ( we are from the UK ) found a possum in our Walmart bag in our room. My wife's scream woke the floor... We had never seen a possum before. I found the critter quite cute until I was informed how horrid they are.

 

[RedSox68]

Critters.... large and small!!! I don't want any additional occupants in my room!

The one time we had a savannah room, we went to open the sliding glass door at night to step out and heard a running sound coming toward us -- sounded like the feet of a very big clickety clackety bug! We slammed the door and never opened it at night again LOL

Seems like they were aware that this has happened before and should have resolved this issue after the first time someone got locked out!

 

[usnuzuloose]

I think it was last year someone on a cruise ship got locked out on his balcony and all he had was his laptop out there, no phone. He reached out to another forum and everyone started calling the company so they could reach the ship to get him some help.

 

[RedSox68]

I think it was last year someone on a cruise ship got locked out on his balcony and all he had was his laptop out there, no phone. He reached out to another forum and everyone started calling the company so they could reach the ship to get him some help.

Geez, I didn't think about the cruise ship doors doing that!

 

[DisneyMom111]

We left the door open at AK and to our surprise ( we are from the UK ) found a possum in our Walmart bag in our room. My wife's scream woke the floor... We had never seen a possum before. I found the critter quite cute until I was informed how horrid they are.

OMG I would have screamed too!!

 

[brooke789]

Hey guys! Glad this popped back up. We stayed at AKL for 8 nights. I'd read about this before our trip so we were being cautious. On our first night DH and I were sitting out on the balcony after the kids went to bed. I kept the door ajar the whole time. Then we started having some kind of crazy bugs bittings us (mainly me!) and decided for the next night we really didn't need the door even ajar. So, the next morning my husband took a hair band and wrapped it around from the door handle to the lock switch to keep it in the unlock position. We actually left it like this the entire trip. Actually, we forgot about it and it may or may not still be there (5372 or 5273). We never had an incident while we were outside, but one time while the kids were fighting over opening or closing the door it did lock itself even with the hair band. Luckily, we were all inside the room.

We decided what it really needed to hold it tighter was a rubber band. So, if you're staying I'd recommend just dropping a rubber band into your bag!

ETA: Our issue was basically the door being slammed closed. No other time in 8 days did it lock itself.

 

[cigar95]

Wow you are so very lucky you had cell phones and weren't in your underwear.

Don't forget that AKL has surveillance on the balconies to deal with guests who drop food and other stuff into the savanna. Probably want to avoid going out on the balcony, or in the room with the curtains open, wearing something you'd rather not be seen in by a stranger. (I can only imagine the stories the security CMs can tell . . . . )

 

[highlander357]

Congratulations on your extra magic! I am glad you had your phone with you.

 

[MsThumper]

Hey guys! Glad this popped back up. We stayed at AKL for 8 nights. I'd read about this before our trip so we were being cautious. On our first night DH and I were sitting out on the balcony after the kids went to bed. I kept the door ajar the whole time. Then we started having some kind of crazy bugs bittings us (mainly me!) and decided for the next night we really didn't need the door even ajar. So, the next morning my husband took a hair band and wrapped it around from the door handle to the lock switch to keep it in the unlock position. We actually left it like this the entire trip. Actually, we forgot about it and it may or may not still be there (5372 or 5273). We never had an incident while we were outside, but one time while the kids were fighting over opening or closing the door it did lock itself even with the hair band. Luckily, we were all inside the room.

We decided what it really needed to hold it tighter was a rubber band. So, if you're staying I'd recommend just dropping a rubber band into your bag!

ETA: Our issue was basically the door being slammed closed. No other time in 8 days did it lock itself.

Thanks for the tip. We will be there in 3 weeks, so right now I am going to put some rubber bands in my electronic cord bag that always travels with me.

 

[MouseOfCards]

We were just there last week, savanna view room. About 10pm, we couldn't sleep so we went out on the balcony and closed the sliding glass door behind us...and it LOCKED from the inside. We got trapped out there, in our pajamas! Thank GOD we had a cell phone so we had to call the front desk for help. But we had already put the safety lock on the door so it took some time of them playing around to get in the room and let us back in. We were mortified! I told the lady it seemed like a bit of a safety issue that the doors could lock like that! So anyone staying there....be careful and don't shut the door all the way!

Hey guys! Glad this popped back up. We stayed at AKL for 8 nights. I'd read about this before our trip so we were being cautious. On our first night DH and I were sitting out on the balcony after the kids went to bed. I kept the door ajar the whole time. Then we started having some kind of crazy bugs bittings us (mainly me!) and decided for the next night we really didn't need the door even ajar. So, the next morning my husband took a hair band and wrapped it around from the door handle to the lock switch to keep it in the unlock position. We actually left it like this the entire trip. Actually, we forgot about it and it may or may not still be there (5372 or 5273). We never had an incident while we were outside, but one time while the kids were fighting over opening or closing the door it did lock itself even with the hair band. Luckily, we were all inside the room.

We decided what it really needed to hold it tighter was a rubber band. So, if you're staying I'd recommend just dropping a rubber band into your bag!

ETA: Our issue was basically the door being slammed closed. No other time in 8 days did it lock itself.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[aprilgail]

You were very lucky! AK is the only place I have gotten tons of mosquito bites at night on the balcony.

I usually stay at Port Orleans Riverside and every time I am there I get SO many mosquito bites- last time I got like 6 on my face alone!

 

[SplashMountainMom]

This happened to us on our honeymoon in Costa Rica.
We are both early risers, had showered then headed out to the patio to take in the gorgeous views.....wearing only towels. There was a bit of panic when we realized the sliding door was locked but, lucky for us, we were on the ground floor and the only people around at 6am were the maids. There was a lot of giggling and remarks in Spanish, but these lovely ladies were able to open the sliding door (from the outside) within a few minutes. After this, we were careful to leave the door open a crack when on the patio, but made sure the security bar was in place at night or if we left the room - it was just too easy how they were able to open that door from the outside.

 

[Happy2BGoofy]

Thanks for the post. We bill be there at the end of August and then in mid October for the Food and Wine Festival and then the MNSSHP.