First trip to AKL- Please tell me everything!!!

[jacksmom]

I booked our first 4 nights at AKL (savanna view) for our March trip! I have a ds (that will turn 8 a couple of weeks before we arrive), who loooooves animals! He is soooo excited!! I would love to hear all your tips on getting the most out of our resort stay. We will move over to VWL for the week after our stay, so I plan to spend a lot of time letting ds explore and enjoy AKL! Any tips or advise welcome! :jumping4:

 

[Minky]

I LOVE THIS HOTEL!!!! We are currently trying to stay at every resort on property and this is the only one I loved SO much I had to do again...ok here goes..

Youll have a savannah view so you can see the animals from the room, which your DS will LOVE! Also in the back there are viewing areas and a cm from africa that can tell you abou the animals and if its in the evening they have nightscope binoculars so you can see. They have a bunch of kids activities that you can find out about at the front desk. The coolest thing and a free souvenir is to get LARGE pieces of paper and charcoal or black crayons, they have beautiful artwork on the floor in the lobby and you lay the paper over it and rub the charcoal on it and have a really cool piece of art. The pool area is very well themed and a lot of fun, one of my favorite restaraunts is there Boma's thats a must do while youre there. Jikos is also there its more upscale, but arguably one of the best restaurants on property. This is a hotel that you could go and stay at even if there weretn theme parks around, its that cool. They also have a cooking/play chef thing I think, where you hang out with the chefs and try different foods and desserts from both restaurants. check out the AKL FAQ thread on this board, it will help you a lot. HAVE FUN!!!

 

[dennisnlisab96]

Jacksmom...We are also going to be at AKL for the first time in March (3-9)..we are going for a surprise 8th birthday trip for our DD!! We are REALLY excited!!!

 

[Peter Pirate]

If, as you said, animals are the 'main deal' you will love AKL. It's a great hotel anyway, but the animal experience, for those who appreciate it, put this Resort over the top.

Add to that the restaurants of Jiko and Boma, dedicated bus transport, a great pool and never forget the animals and you have the makings of a great trip!

This is the only WDW Resort where I actually never mind going back to the Resort to hang out.

Have fun!

 

[jimmiej]

Have you read this?

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=68312

DW & I will be staying at AKL for the first time in February. She thinks we're staying at POP. I'm going to surprise her. I made a PS for dinner at Boma's our first night.

 

[jacksmom]

Thanks for all the help! Does anyone know what types of kids activities are offered? Also which are the best viewing areas?? :jumping4:

 

[ILuvWDWorld]

AKL has bead activities for the kids. For each activity complete, they receive a bead for their "necklace." If all the activities are complete, they receive the totem bead. It's pretty cool. When we were there the schedule was: flamingo feeding (9:00), animal tracking (11:00), Junior researcher, (1:00 or 2:00), music of the savanna (5:00), and animal games (6:30). All the times are posted by the bell services desk.

They also have cookie decorating (we couldn't squeeze this into our schedule) and medallion rubbings (which someone has already mentioned.) There are pool activites as well (i.e. family pool games, games with the lifeguards, arts & crafts with the lifeguards.)

We did the Hidden Mickey search too - it was great fun! There were about 15 or 20 throughout the resort. The kids loved the gift shop, too.

We loved AKL. We added an extra day to our last vacation just so we could hang out there. We made a day of activities at the hotel and still didn't get finished.

 

[karensi]

We are going in Feb. for DGS's 1st birthday , we have a savannah view ressie, but don't know what trail (although thinking of Zebra) or savannah to book for best view of animals. I think DGS will love seeing all the animals, just hope we have a view that will allow him to do so. Any suggestions?

 

[klmall]

Most guests have a great stay at the AKL in savannah view rooms and enjoy their visits. Just be sure to read all the warnings about what rooms to avoid and if assigned an unsatisfactory one (such as 2122), ask to be moved as we did (4548).

For our first and only AKL stay, we cancelled a discounted reservation at the Swan for a "postcard" discount at the AKL. While we did see some animals and loved the lobby etc. the rest of our stay was so inferior to other deluxe WDW hotels that we wrote a letter of complaint which was addressed later by Guest Services to our satisfaction.

I know that we were in the minority but the problems we had were mostly connected to the design of the resort and neighboring guests but we, just as those posting here had our hopes built up considerably by all the fantastic praise for the views, rooms etc.

Not meant to burst anyone's bubbles but to remind you to keep your eyes open and not let your imagination get carried away as ours did.

We were sorely disappointed! It has taken me three years to talk my husband into another Disney trip and it's only because we can attend a convention nearby!

 

[Paul Samanant]

We just got back, and I will be posting more details. One comment though, we had our own car and used it most of the time, but the one time we decided to use Disney buses, we seemed to wait forever to get to our destination and back to AKL. It was just too agravating.

I guess going to the MK, you really don't have much of a choice because driving there is not convenient (car to lot, to ticket/trans center, to monorail/boat etc.). However, for anything else, I reccomend taking your own car if you have one. You do have to park and take tram, but the tram is usually always there.....

 

[Blueeyes101817]

ill be staying there in feb..i cant wait!

 

[kimmar067]

....fellow NJ'er here going to AKL in Feb!!

 

[KAC2005]

We're going to AKL in July, can't wait!