GF, AKL & WL Room Location Experts: I need your help!

[Kasmir]

Hi, Fellow DISers-

This is our first trip to WDW as a family -- other than one frantic one-day park hop between three parks about eight years ago (Can you say "blisters?") -- and I want to make sure that it's perfect! I know... don't we all? We'll be in WDW for 13 nights in early Dec and I'd like to split our stay between the GF, AKL and WL.

Anyway, I am calling to make my room reservations by the weekend and I'd like your advice...

How do these room choices sound? Yes, I know there are no guarantees, but I'd like to ask when making my reservation.

GF:
Main Building Deluxe Tower Room
Lagoon View/Castle
Non-Smoking
Upper Floor
Are these rooms Concierge only?

AKL:
Savannah View
Deluxe Room
Sunset Savannah
Even #’d rooms: 5572 through 5584
Odd #’d rooms: 5541 through 5555
On Kudu Trail
Non-Smoking

WL:
Deluxe Room
Corner room, if possible
Lagoon/MK view
6th Floor
Non-Smoking

For the most part, we'd like our room locations to be quiet, but relatively close to the amenities. I do really hate to walk miles and miles to our room and restaurants, etc, when we've just walked miles and miles in the parks.

The only exception that I made to this is at AKL because I think having a room overlooking the feeding area would be extra-special for my wildlife-loving family. Is that area really special, or should I go ahead and ask for Zebra Trail, Rooms 5423-5437, Arusha Savannah -- which is A LOT more centrally located?

Thank you in advance for the help! I know that this will be our last trip to WDW for a VERY long time because my DH has other places high on his priority list that he'd like to visit next.

I love this planning! And I appreciate your help!

Where has your family stayed and enjoyed?

Sheila

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

WL:
Deluxe Room
Corner room, if possible
Lagoon/MK view
6th Floor
Non-Smoking

I'll try and help on the Wilderness Lodge.

Deluxe Room's are great but there are no deluxe rooms on the sixth floor and the smoking optional floor is the 6th floor North Wing.

Most deluxe rooms over look Bay Lake some over look the Inner Courtyard. Which means they are facing away from the MAGIC KINGDOM

Sorry

 

[twojo21]

the savannah view at the animal kingdom lodge for sure! arushu is near the main lobby. me & my fiance stayed there & we just loved it! it was exotic, relaxing & was so great watching the giraffes from our balcony. your kids would probably like the african storytelling at arusha rock too, the pool is nice, but our favorite was the hottubs after a long day. we enjoyed the food & wine at jiko's too.

at the wilderness lodge we stayed in a deluxe room with a view of the forest & water. the food was good, we enjoyed artist point & we loved taking the boat to magic kingdom & the monorails. we also took the boat over to ft wilderness for the campfire sing a long with chip n dale, marshmellows & cartoons, which was fun.

at the grand floridian we stayed at the sugar loaf conceriege & they were so helpful, we also liked all the conceriege lobby goodies in the morning & night. all the restaurant options were great, V&A and citricos we found so romantic. there's also the 1900 park fare character buffet and we loved the onsite gf spa treatments. the monorail is very convinient too. the best spot at gf though for us is watching the mk fireworks on the beach.

 

[lisareniff]

AKL:
Savannah View
Deluxe Room
Sunset Savannah
Even #’d rooms: 5572 through 5584
Odd #’d rooms: 5541 through 5555
On Kudu Trail
Non-Smoking

The only exception that I made to this is at AKL because I think having a room overlooking the feeding area would be extra-special for my wildlife-loving family. Is that area really special, or should I go ahead and ask for Zebra Trail, Rooms 5423-5437, Arusha Savannah -- which is A LOT more centrally located?

I will try to take a stab at the AKL requests, someone correct me if I'm wrong...
On my map the room numbers you have correspond to the zebra trail and Arusha and Uzima Savannahs. The zebra trail has all 54xx's and 55xx's. Not necessarily a bad spot. I walked my daughter down here hoping she would fall asleep. We went out on the stair well in the end wing (5541-5566) and saw many giraffe's and the ancoke cattle (sp?) getting fed. The fence division between the two Savannah's is here. Also the smoking rooms are in that end section on the fifth floor (5571-5596). We were on the Kudo Trail, room 5311, Arusha savannah (not really what we requested, but not a bad spot either). The zebras tended to get fed near our window. DD9 was happy about that.

 

[TammiMcMan]

I can help with the GF room request. There is no such thing as a "deluxe tower" room. If you go to this site, http://www.the-grahams.net/gf/rooms.html, you'll see the different room layouts. The main building has concierge rooms only. If you've seen pictures of the main building, the ones that look like tower rooms are actually suites. Not sure if you're looking for a deluxe room or a tower room. If it's a tower room, the lagoon views are very limited, but you can certainly request it. If it's a deluxe that you're looking for, then you'd want the main building. That is very pricey, but it does come with the concierge service.

Tammi

 

[Kasmir]

Thank you so much!

Thanks, Tammi. I'm going to look at that website. Yes, what we're looking for is the Tower Room, not a suite. We're not interested in Concierge, because although it looks very nice, we're not snackers and have numerous sit-down meals planned. Ah, well, I guess we won't request the main building.

Lisareniff: Argh! I looked up those numbers on the AKL map and the Dreams Unlimited website suggested those room numbers for the feeding areas on Kudo Trail... but we definitely don't want to be near the smoking rooms.

Thanks, twojo21, for the advice!

MAGICinMYHEART: No, it sounds like I won't get a MK view, that's for sure! Thank you for the heads up about the smoking section.

Again, thank you so much!

Any other advice?

Sheila

 

[TammiMcMan]

Thanks, Tammi. I'm going to look at that website. Yes, what we're looking for is the Tower Room, not a suite. We're not interested in Concierge, because although it looks very nice, we're not snackers and have numerous sit-down meals planned. Ah, well, I guess we won't request the main building. Any other advice?

Okay, I just wanted to make sure I was pointing you in the right direction. As an FYI, the tower rooms only sleep 4 and most don't have a lagoon view. They face the garden (that's why you won't see a choice of views for that room type). It's nice having that extra space, you'll just have to decide what's more important to your family, that or the view. If you end up opting for the view, then I would request Sago Cay, corner room. It's really convenient to the main building (bus stop, monorial & restaurants), it's quiet and only a 2 or 3 minute walk to either of the pools.

Good luck with your planning.

 

[lisareniff]

Lisareniff: Argh! I looked up those numbers on the AKL map and the Dreams Unlimited website suggested those room numbers for the feeding areas on Kudo Trail... but we definitely don't want to be near the smoking rooms.

Any other advice?

Sheila

I went to the DU web site and saw that paragraph. It sounds like they suggested doing what my daughter and I did.... stand on the outside stairwell and watch the animals being fed. It sounds like they were describing the end of the Zebra Trail and the last wing section. I believe only one of the two areas were smoking. The last wing section (5541-5566) I believe is not.

However there are lots of great views at AKL. They feed the animals thoughout the savannahs. We could see 2-3 feeding spots from our Mid Kudu Trail/Arusha Savannah room. So don't worry too much about the exact location. I was hoping to get Mid Zebra Trail/ Arusha Savannah but ended up on the other side of the lobby (Kudu trail). At first I was disappointed but it was just fine. My DD9 really liked the zebras best and they were under our window most!

edited to add: Your going to love it at AKL!

 

[Kasmir]

Thank you again, Lisa & Tammi...

I'm going to take a look at Sago Key and and check out the feeding areas at AKL via the stairwell...

Thanks so much for the valuable input! DISers are the BEST!!!!

Sheila