challenge: sell me on concierge AKL or WL?? Poly?

[ohMom]

we are considering concierge for a trip in Dec - 4 nights at the parks. We have two daughters ages 6, 11.

I want to do a character breakfast at Cindy's Castle this time!

And, I'll be honest, if we go CL, we'll be eating a large lunch at the parks and a lighter dinner at the lounge. I know there is alot of hoop-la about folks that do that, so where is the best place to do so. But, if i'm paying for it, I want it to be worth it. We aren't big eaters anyways. We'll be cruising after the parks so we'll save our pigging out for then!

would I be better off to book standard and hope for a $30 upgrade at check-in? We'd be there in value season Dec 7 - 11. What is the possibility of an upgrade, in your opinon??

 

[ducklite]

Please don't plan on making a dinner out of the food in the concierge lounge. First of all, it's appetizers, not dinner, and second, I've seen people not get anything because others helped themselves to enough for appetizers for ten people, and they ran out. A poster talked awhile back about some guy grabbing an entire box of uncrustables at the Poly concierge, and then there were none for anyone else.

It happened to me at the dessert buffet at the AKL, one lady took two HEAPING plates of cookies. I was behind her waiting patiently as she piled more and more on, until there were none left. How rude was that? And no, I couldn't simply ahve something else, I have allergies and the cookies were one of the few things that I could eat. Turns out she had "guests" from another resort in her room, and was taking tons of stuff back to them!

If you stay concierge you will get "Your money's worth" without making dinner out of the concierge lounge. Breakfast alone would cost you close to that. Trust me, you'll get more than your $30 worth.

I HIGHLY doubt you'd get a $30 upgrade to the Poly concierge, it's possible for WL, and remotely possible for AKL. Much depends on when you check-in. If you're trying to check-in over a weekend, they are much more liekly to be full.

Anne

 

[JOC]

We stayed at the Polynesian concierge in December and like Ducklite said, some people do like to hoard the food. I saw one man pile a plate high with fresh strawberries (these were in the children's section by the way and he probably took half of what was there for the kids) and more cut-up fresh fruit from the adults section (plus three or four bananas) and then proceeded to make himself a HUGE fruit plate. He also dumped about five packets of sugar on his fruit...don't ask me why. That said, the Polynesian concierge always replenished the food during the time I was there, so nothing ever really ran out...but it can still be annoying to wait in line and have the person in front of you take everything. The lounge staff was very accomodating though...if there was something that you wanted that wasn't out they would go in the back and get it for you.

 

[ohMom]

i have heard your opinion, thanks. But my questions are still unanswered as far as comparing these resorts concierge. Thanks for sticking to that!

I do have manners and wouldn't pile a plate or allow my children too. Nor would I take so much that I cleared out what was out. Again, we are not big eaters, i.e. I order a kids meal at fast food many times, or appetizers for a main course at restaurants.

I appreciate your wanting to vent, but I didn't cross that line. What I meant was our share off the buffet would probably be enough for a meal for us.

 

[JOC]

ohMom,
As far as my post goes, I wasn't tryng to vent or point fingers at you or your eating habits...just telling you what I saw. Sorry you took it the wrong way.

 

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by ohMom
we are considering concierge for a trip in Dec - 4 nights at the parks. We have two daughters ages 6, 11.

I want to do a character breakfast at Cindy's Castle this time!

And, I'll be honest, if we go CL, we'll be eating a large lunch at the parks and a lighter dinner at the lounge. I know there is alot of hoop-la about folks that do that, so where is the best place to do so. But, if i'm paying for it, I want it to be worth it. We aren't big eaters anyways. We'll be cruising after the parks so we'll save our pigging out for then!

would I be better off to book standard and hope for a $30 upgrade at check-in? We'd be there in value season Dec 7 - 11. What is the possibility of an upgrade, in your opinon??

Hi,

We just returned from the AKL Concierge. Please do not plan on making a dinner our of the evening offerings. You are not paying for it (dinner). Dinner is not indicated as a service of any of the Concierges on WDW property. The following is from the Concierge Information Package we received when we checked into Concierge at the AKL.

6:30am Sunrise Offerings
Coffee and assorted juices.

7am - 10:30am Adventurous Awakenings
Assortment of fresh fruits, juices, pastries and cereals.

11:30am - 3pm Safari Snacks
selection of African snacks and beverages.

3pm - 4:30pm Afternoon Tea
Imported loose leaf teas, assorted freshly baked scones, cookies and biscuits.

5pm - 7pm Twilight Offerings
Array of wines, hors d'oeuvres and African specialty appetizers from Boma and Jiko.

8pm - 10pm Evening Indulgences
Sampling of desserts and premium cordials.

We were able to grab a quick breakfast. As long as you are not the type needs to have hot breakfast items then you can make a meal out of the breakfast offerings. Snacks mean just that. In the afternoon there were gummy bears, goldfish, animal creakers and some other pickings. The Twlight Offerings had great South African wines. For food there was chicken nuggets every night and then a rotation from Boma and Jiko. One night there was shrimp and meatballs and chikcen wings, but all were with an African flair. We would go up at 5pm have a class of wine a couple of chicken nuggets and a meatball/chicken wing or two relax and then head out to dinner. I am not a big eater and I found that by having the wine and pickings I was not up for an appatizer at the resturant. The mini-zebra domes and cordials at night are a great way to end the day. They also only offer bottled water on request.

The AKL Concierge was out standing and we are thinking of make it a Feb must do but the offerings in the lounge are not ment for people to make meals out of them. As long as you keep that in mind you will not be disappointed.

Also the Sunrise Safari cannot be beat. It is $49.95 per person and is offered on Saturday and Tuesday mornings. We think it was the best $100 we have ever spent.

I am also not sure which resort you are referring to about the $30 upgrade but the difference between a regular savanna view room and a Concierge Savanna view room is about $100 a night. We stayed for 5nights at an AP rate of $277 and change a night including tax.

Hope this helps and if you have any other questions about the AKL Concierge please feel free to ask.

 

[ducklite]

Well, I did answer your ? about chances for an upgrade. As far as if you think that you'll definitely get Cindy's by booking concierge, you're mistaken. The concierge people do not guarantee anything. In fact they tell you that if it's really important to you you need to try to get it on your own as well.

Not sure what else you want to know.

If you want comparisions there are tons of threads even in the past week that compare them. I've stayed at Poly and AKL concierge, I love both. Not sure what specifically you want to know about them.

Anne

 

[gepetto]

I doubt you will see the $30 upgrade at Polynesian or AKL. WL maybe. In any case, if you're wanting to stay concierge to save money on dinner, then you may want to re-think Polynesian. The evening selections are themed...one night they have sushi. The food is good, but the theming for the evenings you are there may not be to your liking.

 

[vbfamily]

If it is a question between AKL or WL, then I would say AKL!!!
They simply offer more than WL as far as food, help, etc.-AKL Concierge has an excellent reputation-there are many posts on this board pertaining to that.

WL Concierge is only worth it if you get it in the form of an upgrade-IMHO-I would never pay full price for WL Concierge again-we were booked at full price and ended up paying for a regular room with the $30 upgrade. Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed it but wouldn't pay the $100 or so more it costs over a courtyard room rate. You may get the upgrade at the time you are going but it isn't guaranteed so then you have to decide if you definately want it-if you do then you should book it outright.
We were able to make a light dinner out of the evening offerings and we weren't pigs-it just wasn't ever packed and there was plenty of food to go around. The CM's were nice but not overly helpful.

The manager from AKL Concierge called me about our future stay and I couldn't believe it-very nice, very helpful.

AKL called us before our stay-WL did not-AKL has an actual lounge-WL does not.

Is there a particular park you want to be near or a particular them you favor? That may help you decide.

Have not stayed at Poly Concierge but I have heard that it is very kid friendly.

I would say AKL is my #1 choice and WL if it was the $30 upgrade and maybe someday we will try the Polynesian-we visited there on our last stay and just didn't like the resort-don't know why.


Hope this helps

 

[vbfamily]

I know you didn't want this to turn into a debate on making a light dinner out of the evening offerings-that's been done before.

The truth is, we did. The concierge floor was virtually empty when we were at WL-we were even encouraged by CM's a couple of time to go back up and get more food.

You seem like you have good judgement. I'm sure if you feel like you can make a light dinner out of it you can.

By the time my kids had a couple of pb and j roundwiches, some vegetables, cheese, etc. They were full and we weren't hoarding. Sometimes around 10:30 pm or 11:00 we went down to the snack bar because we needed a late night snack in addition to what we had earlier but we spent nowhere near what we would have on food had we not had the concierge service.

Have fun.

 

[dylcon]

We stayed AKL 2 weeks ago, and the CL food was good, and plentiful. We basically had "dinner" 2 of our 5 nites in the lounge, as we ate late lunches at the parks.

Rather than load up the plate and deprive others, I would always ask one of the concierge staff for an extra plate of ___&____, and they were always (happily) willing to accomodate.

Plenty of PB & J for the little ones, and always a good variety of vegetarian offerings for all....a nice "hold me over!"

They're always on hand making certain there's enough for everyone!

They pretty much had the same "basic" foods each nite, so it is a nice break eating elsewhere....but other than Mara, something light within the hotel is difficult to come by.

The amount of savings IMO was quite worth it....although we had a 2 bdrm suite which was a tad disappointing...but that's a whole 'nother story!

 

[>>^..^<<]

Hi there...

Just wanted to tell you that we have similar eating habits as your family...

We would have our "big" meal of the day at the parks and at night the evening offerings in the concierge lounge at AKL were perfect for us. ( normal, reasonable amounts)

In fact.. out of 9 nights in concierge - we only went out for dinner twice, once to Hoop Dee Doo and once to Boma - because we wanted to try it.

I can't speak for the other resorts - but I highly recommend AKL concierge and if you are anything like us - you will find the evening appetizers & desserts enough to satisfy you until breakfast.

Besides the food... the lounge is just a wonderful place to hang out, chat with other familys or watch a DVD. The service is also excellent.

I have some photos on my weblink below if you want to see photos of the resort/lounge...

Good luck deciding!

>>^..^<<

 

[taylor1293]

We were at the Polynesian Concierge last summer.

We would have our large meal for lunch, then eat in the concierge lounge for a light dinner. There was plenty of food available and the CM's even encouraged us to take extra back to our room! The Hawaii building was at 60% capacity so that may of had something to do with so much food being available?

We are considering trying AKL Concierge this June because of the wonderful reports I've read on this board. Hopefully, we will find their offerings similar to the Polynesian.

Good luck making your decision! Have a good trip!

Teresa