Is a standard view really that bad at AKL?

Happy Artist

Earning My Ears
Joined
May 31, 2015
I love AKL, and have stayed there 2 times with a savannah view room. I am trying to save money on this trip. Will I really miss the view of the animals? What are the views like ? any photos? Are the walks long to the lobby?
 
I love AKL, and have stayed there 2 times with a savannah view room. I am trying to save money on this trip. Will I really miss the view of the animals?

With a request of "partial savannah view" we have had great views of the animals from our balcony 4 times now. Granted it's just a request, but we've gotten lucky every time.

What are the views like ?

Could be a partial view of the savannah, a rooftop or parking lot. Plus there are so many other places to view the animals from other than your room.

Are the walks long to the lobby?

In our experience, no.
 
Some of the standard view rooms have views of the parking lot and bus stop. Short walk to lobby.Plenty of public areas to view animals.
 
I think that only you know what kind of compromise you want to make in terms of view. In WDW AKL is the only resort I will pay for a view, and that one is Savannah, but if I really wanted to stay there I would compromise the view and take my chances. My husband would not. I do think that you need to be okay with a parking lot or bus stop view if you book this level though, and be prepared consider anything else a bonus.

I think that this kind of preference is really a personal thing. My husband wants ocean front if we go to a beach. Not oven view. Not ocean side. He means Ocean front. In DIsney he wants monorail resort. Not deluxe on the Boardwalk. Not DVC villas with enought room to sink a ship. Monorail, preferably with the Castle front and center. Me? A room is a room, and a view is a bonus. As long as I am there I will find a way to see what I want to see and get to where I need to go. So I knwo where and when I can compromise to save money, but only you know if you will be disappointed in your compromise.
 


We've stayed in a standard room at AKL twice, requested partial view both times and received it. The first trip they had us in a parking lot view but I asked nicely if there was anything with a little better view and they gave us a different room with an amazing view. The second time we got a great view also but it was about a ten minute walk to the lobby, however even with a savannah view you could be far from the lobby. Despite there being a good chance of a parking lot view I would book standard again if it meant I could stay there within my budget. I think the price of a standard at AKL is a great value for a deluxe resort. Especially considering the amazing views from some of the standard rooms. But even without seeing animals from the balcony it's an amazing resort.
 
Plus there are so many other places to view the animals from other than your room.

I agree. We've never stayed standard, but like stated above, there are several animal viewing areas around the resort, so having that view from our room isn't a necessity for us. If savanna view wasn't in the budget, I'd have no problem booking standard if that's where I wanted to stay ;).

I think the price of a standard at AKL is a great value for a deluxe resort. Especially considering the amazing views from some of the standard rooms. But even without seeing animals from the balcony it's an amazing resort.

I agree :)
 
I wouldn't hesitate booking standard at AKL if that is what is in your budget. It's a gorgeous resort with animal viewing areas that you can take advantage of during your stay.
 


We always book savannah view at AKL but if I wanted to save money, sure I'd take standard view. I don't particularly like looking at the parking lot or a rooftop but you can always do your animal viewing in the public areas. While we do spend more time sitting on our balcony at AK because of the animals, if I didn't have that view, I'd be more apt to be watching TV or napping when I'm in the room; if I want the animal view, I'll go to the public areas. It's just a minor adjustment of where and how you spend your time. It's such a lovely resort, I think you can easily compensate for the lack of a savannah view.
 
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I've never booked a view in any Disney resort. Only standard. I don't mind a view of trees or even a parking lot if it saves money. But most of the time the view is still not horrible. Usually grassy area or trees or walkway. But was lucky enough to go with someone who DID book a Savanah room and loved it. Everyone should experience it once if you can. AK is the only resort I would consider paying for the view. (ok maybe I would like a theme park view at a monorail resort lol but that would be a one time thing, special occaision and not a deal breaker)
Your walk can be short or long no matter what view you book.
 
When you check in, politely request a standard room with a partial Savannah view. We had a great view, I believe on Zebra Trail, however it was a far walk from the room to the lobby/bus. Decide what's more important....do you want a better view or to be closer to the lodge.
 
We were automatically upgraded to a full Savannah view. Now I can never stay there again because I can't justify the cost to upgrade but won't risk NOT having it. :rotfl:
 
The "partial" views are great. The one time I booked I did standard and got lucky. I believe there's more standard rooms with a partial view than no view but that may just be for DVC studios in Jambo.
 
We have stayed in a standard view... with a lovely view of the parking lot. IMHO, a parking lot view at AKL is better than no stay at AKL at all! :tongue: As others have said, there are many other places to see the animals! Enjoy.
 
I think what is so special about that resort is the ability to look out the window and see animals. Not that the standard views are so horrible (actually don’t really know that) but that the savannah views are so incredible. I would stay there again with any view, but the savannah view is what is so amazing.
 
This is my home resort for DVC and I honestly would never use points for savannah again. We have stayed there multiple times and I would say at least two times we had standard view, we still saw animals. The savannah view we had was not worth the points. Maybe that was just the room we got but the animals were few and far between. There are so many places in the resort you can view animals, even in the hallways between rooms, so I would personally go with standard.
 
The 2 times we stayed at AKL, we had SV rooms. I know a lot of posters say there are plenty of animal viewing spots in the hotel, but we mostly looked at the animals first thing in the morning while still in PJs and getting ready for the day. This way, while a couple of us are getting ready the others are occupied looking at the animals:) I really would not want to have to get dressed just to go to one of the viewing areas or having to wait for the others to get ready etc. My DW said she does think she would like a standard room, unless there was at least partial SV, I know my DDs wouldn't.
 
We’ve stayed at AKL 6 times now, always booked in a standard view and always gotten at least a partial savannah view. In December we were in room 4344 on the kudu trail and we actually looked over the night barns of the animals but had plenty of giraffes, gazelles, zebras, etc throughout the day. 3 years ago we were in room 4343 (across the hall from our most recent room) and had an amazing view of the sunset savannah that was unbelievable. We take the risk of a parking lot view because we also know there are a ton of places to see the animals throughout the resort. Personally I wouldn’t spend the money to upgrade there.
 
I love AKL, and have stayed there 2 times with a savannah view room. I am trying to save money on this trip. Will I really miss the view of the animals? What are the views like ? any photos? Are the walks long to the lobby?

We've stayed in standard view rooms twice and lucked out to have partial savannah views both times. This last time we were initially assigned to a parking lot room right off the lobby. We asked very nicely if there was any chance to be moved to a room with a partial savannah view and the cast member worked some magic and moved us to a room on the kudu trail overlooking the Sunset Savannah. It was a farther walk from the lobby, but worth it for us to be able to wake up and watch the animals from our balcony in our pjs! I have a few pictures- we had a slight view of the "people pen", which is probably why it is classified as a standard room, but could see Sanaa and the Kidani savannah look out from our balcony, so could see a great deal of the sunset savannah.
 

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We stayed standard view once after having always booked savanna. It was diasappointing, to be honest. Sure, there are public viewing areas, but you can visit those even if you’re not staying at the resort. To me, the draw of AKL is having the animals outside of your balcony. Without that, I’d rather stay at Wilderness Lodge for a similar feel but better location.
 

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