Getting a room request for a standard room at Animal Kingdom Lodge?

[maryj11]

Has anyone gotten their room request for a standard room at Animal Kingdom Lodge? I'm about to book a standard room but do not want to be far away from the pool, buses, or food. We are hoping they are pretty good at granting room request.
What has been your experience with getting a standard room near the place you requested?

 

[dansdad]

Has anyone gotten their room request for a standard room at Animal Kingdom Lodge? I'm about to book a standard room but do not want to be far away from the pool, buses, or food. We are hoping they are pretty good at granting room request.
What has been your experience with getting a standard room near the place you requested?

We've had really good luck in that we have booked Standard 5 times now with a request of partial savannah view and gotten it all 5 times. However, whether or not you get your requests granted is completely dependent on occupancy and how many others requested the same. Both of which only WDW knows for any given dates, so it's impossible to predict what your results will be.

 

[maryj11]

We've had really good luck in that we have booked Standard 5 times now with a request of partial savannah view and gotten it all 5 times. However, whether or not you get your requests granted is completely dependent on occupancy and how many others requested the same. Both of which only WDW knows for any given dates, so it's impossible to predict what your results will be.

Oh good. Was your room a long walk with the partial savannah view?

 

[dansdad]

Oh good. Was your room a long walk with the partial savannah view?

We didn't thinks so.

 

[Dug720]

Requests are always just that. They try to honor them, but are not always able to.

It has been a while since I stayed at AKL (will be remedied in July), but I do not remember pool and food being close to the busses. So you would need to prioritize your requests and put what is most important (close to pool or close to food or close to busses) as your top priority. Otherwise you may get your least important priority or none at all if the assigner doesn’t know which is most important. They will either guess or just put you in any available room rather than risk guessing the least important.

 

[mcall12]

We always request Zebra trail at AKL. The restaurants are all off the lobby on this side of the resort, as is the pool. The buses are out front and down to the left (if you’re leaving the lobby) so that’s probably the farthest thing but we didn’t mind the walk. There are nice windows all along the way to the room that overlook the savannah so it kind of breaks up the walk. The standard rooms we’ve gotten on that side all had at least a partial savannah view. We leave our request as “zebra trail” only rather than specifying anything further.

 

[maryj11]

We always request Zebra trail at AKL. The restaurants are all off the lobby on this side of the resort, as is the pool. The buses are out front and down to the left (if you’re leaving the lobby) so that’s probably the farthest thing but we didn’t mind the walk. There are nice windows all along the way to the room that overlook the savannah so it kind of breaks up the walk. The standard rooms we’ve gotten on that side all had at least a partial savannah view. We leave our request as “zebra trail” only rather than specifying anything further.

Thanks! I did look on Tourin Plans room finder and only showed a couple standard rooms on Zebra trail. Maybe it was my internet glitching.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

We once got a nice pool view room with a standard booking. It was just luck as we didn't make any room requests. It was close to the lobby.

 

[Dug720]

Thanks! I did look on Tourin Plans room finder and only showed a couple standard rooms on Zebra trail. Maybe it was my internet glitching.

Standard with 2 Queen Beds show quite a few on Zebra. Not as many as on Kudu, but there are a number that show.

Standard with Queen and Bunks only shows a couple.

Standard with King doesn't show any.

Just make Standard 2 Queens your only search parameter.

 

[dansdad]

Thanks! I did look on Tourin Plans room finder and only showed a couple standard rooms on Zebra trail. Maybe it was my internet glitching.

No, it's not your internet glitching. That tool is very inaccurate when it comes to room types.

 

[starousse]

Last year we booked a standard room but requested a partial Savannah view. Although it was a nice view for what we paid, it was far out from everything. Coming back late from the parks were a killer, as it seemed the walk went on and on forever. If view is not important, just request close to lobby.

 

[maryj11]

Last year we booked a standard room but requested a partial Savannah view. Although it was a nice view for what we paid, it was far out from everything. Coming back late from the parks were a killer, as it seemed the walk went on and on forever. If view is not important, just request close to lobby.

Thank you! That is what I'm afraid of being far away.

 

[maryj11]

No, it's not your internet glitching. That tool is very inaccurate when it comes to room types.

I agree! I was checking a room facing the pool and it showed a savannah view

 

[VAfamily1998]

About a year and a half ago (April 2017) I booked a standard room at AKL and requested a "quiet location" We had a very early morning flight and arrived at MCO around 9 or 10 am, and while waiting for the Magical Express received the notification that our room was ready. I was given a room directly above the porte cochere (I think it is 5103 or very close) which I did NOT feel was "quiet." This room might have been ideal for someone who requested "close to the lobby/transportation."

When we arrived at the hotel I went to the front desk and asked if they had anything else in a quieter location. The employee at the front desk was very nice and found us a room FAR down the Kudu trail (I think it was 3351, or very close to that.) I LOVED that room. Yes, it was a FAR walk from the lobby, but it was very quiet and exactly what I wanted.

So my advice would be to request what you want, but if your room does not meet those requests, to ask (very politely) at the desk if there are other rooms they can move you to.

 

[maryj11]

About a year and a half ago (April 2017) I booked a standard room at AKL and requested a "quiet location" We had a very early morning flight and arrived at MCO around 9 or 10 am, and while waiting for the Magical Express received the notification that our room was ready. I was given a room directly above the porte cochere (I think it is 5103 or very close) which I did NOT feel was "quiet." This room might have been ideal for someone who requested "close to the lobby/transportation."

When we arrived at the hotel I went to the front desk and asked if they had anything else in a quieter location. The employee at the front desk was very nice and found us a room FAR down the Kudu trail (I think it was 3351, or very close to that.) I LOVED that room. Yes, it was a FAR walk from the lobby, but it was very quiet and exactly what I wanted.

So my advice would be to request what you want, but if your room does not meet those requests, to ask (very politely) at the desk if there are other rooms they can move you to.

Thank you for the information. Yes sounds like they were good at changing your location. I will do that if we don't like ours. Right now I'm trying to decide between standard view and standard deluxe studio. The studio is not much more than a regular standard room with the discount that has come out.

 

[sndral]

Thanks! I did look on Tourin Plans room finder and only showed a couple standard rooms on Zebra trail. Maybe it was my internet glitching.

We once got a nice pool view room with a standard booking. It was just luck as we didn't make any room requests. It was close to the lobby.

I agree! I was checking a room facing the pool and it showed a savannah view

Realize that there is now a room booking category at AKL Jambo for pool view which costs more than a standard view room but less than savanna view - most of the Zebra trail non savanna view rooms are now classified as pool view. There are a few standard view Zebra trail rooms with partial savanna views overlooking the people pen on Uzima savanna - but those would be a bit of a hike to the lobby but convenient to the elevators that go down to the pool and the QS restaurant.
AKL has changed their booking categories and the classifications of which rooms fit into which booking category through the years. Complicating things further the DVC villas on the 5th and 6th floors have different view categories than the resort rooms.
The pool, the restaurants including the QS - the Mara, the gift store, and the buses are all located on the Zebra & Giraffe trail side of the lobby.
If being close to the amenities is important to you just ask for close to lobby, Giraffe trail rooms have a door that leads out to the sidewalk to the bus stops and an elevator to the pool/Mara, but you risk getting one of the parking lot/front of building rooms, however, the request should be easy to get as most people who book standard view want a partial savanna view even if it means they have to walk a bit.

 

[sndral]

Thank you for the information. Yes sounds like they were good at changing your location. I will do that if we don't like ours. Right now I'm trying to decide between standard view and standard deluxe studio. The studio is not much more than a regular standard room with the discount that has come out.

The studio will be on the 5th floor and have 1 queen bed and one sofa bed. Unless it’s a value studio it will be off the lobby or on Zebra or Kudu trail. Standard view studios will have pool (including pool + roof) or partial savanna views.

 

[maryj11]

Realize that there is now a room booking category at AKL Jambo for pool view which costs more than a standard view room but less than savanna view - most of the Zebra trail non savanna view rooms are now classified as pool view. There are a few standard view Zebra trail rooms with partial savanna views overlooking the people pen on Uzima savanna - but those would be a bit of a hike to the lobby but convenient to the elevators that go down to the pool and the QS restaurant.
AKL has changed their booking categories and the classifications of which rooms fit into which booking category through the years. Complicating things further the DVC villas on the 5th and 6th floors have different view categories than the resort rooms.
The pool, the restaurants including the QS - the Mara, the gift store, and the buses are all located on the Zebra & Giraffe trail side of the lobby.
If being close to the amenities is important to you just ask for close to lobby, Giraffe trail rooms have a door that leads out to the sidewalk to the bus stops and an elevator to the pool/Mara, but you risk getting one of the parking lot/front of building rooms, however, the request should be easy to get as most people who book standard view want a partial savanna view even if it means they have to walk a bit.

Thank you for all the information, it is confusing with all the different room types.

 

[maryj11]

The studio will be on the 5th floor and have 1 queen bed and one sofa bed. Unless it’s a value studio it will be off the lobby or on Zebra or Kudu trail. Standard view studios will have pool (including pool + roof) or partial savanna views.

Thank you! So are most the standard studios close to the pool?

 

[HopperFan]

Realize that there is now a room booking category at AKL Jambo for pool view which costs more than a standard view room but less than savanna view - most of the Zebra trail non savanna view rooms are now classified as pool view. There are a few standard view Zebra trail rooms with partial savanna views overlooking the people pen on Uzima savanna - but those would be a bit of a hike to the lobby but convenient to the elevators that go down to the pool and the QS restaurant.
AKL has changed their booking categories and the classifications of which rooms fit into which booking category through the years. Complicating things further the DVC villas on the 5th and 6th floors have different view categories than the resort rooms.
The pool, the restaurants including the QS - the Mara, the gift store, and the buses are all located on the Zebra & Giraffe trail side of the lobby.
If being close to the amenities is important to you just ask for close to lobby, Giraffe trail rooms have a door that leads out to the sidewalk to the bus stops and an elevator to the pool/Mara, but you risk getting one of the parking lot/front of building rooms, however, the request should be easy to get as most people who book standard view want a partial savanna view even if it means they have to walk a bit.

Not new. We stayed Pool View as bookable category in about 2005 or 2006.
We had previously booked Standard (2004), were upgraded to Savanna.
It was incredible.
Didn't want to stay standard, didn't have Savanna budget.
So we stayed Pool View.
Hated it.
I will only book Standard or Savanna now.