Is AKL worth the money if you dont get a savannah view?

[ophelia2002]

Without the chance of sighting animals from your balcony, is it worth the extra money to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge versus a mod resort?

 

[LindaBabe]

Yes. Lots of public viewing spots, wonderful pools, ambiance, activities, cultural presentations, and food. I never spring for a Savannah view.

 

[kapoof]

we had a pool view and yes it is worth it if you can afford the extra money.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I thought so.

I booked a pool view and got a view of the hot tub with people making out in it and I still think AKL was worth the money.

I did keep the curtains closed in my room the whole time after seeing those people though.

 

[mrsz06]

My hubby and I stayed club level there in Jan of 2011 and really enjoyed it. My hubby is not a Disney person but goes along to make me happy. We spent a lot of time at the resort. Since we went during a slow time we were done with the parks around noon everyday. We spent the afternoons on the balcony watching all the animlas. We really liked the laid back peaceful atmosphere. I will admit if we hadn't of gotten a room discount there is no way we would have stayed there.

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Absolutely worth it IMO! I think the difference would be that I would spend less time on my own balcony and more time relaxing around the resort - in the rocking chairs on the public balconies and viewing areas - or may be more time around the pool. The resort is beautiful and has lots of great places to enjoy.

 

[bethclayton]

we stayed pool view and absolutely loved it there. worth every penny. can't wait to go back one day!

 

[Momofone92]

Yes

We have actually had a pool view once and a Savannah view another time. I prefer the pool view. The rooms are closer. Our Savannah room was sooo far away. I whined a lot

 

[MickeyEars]

We're staying at AKL for the first time next trip and we're soooo excited!! We booked "pool view" and I'm sure we will enjoy it.

Can't wait to go!!!

Carla

 

[elaine amj]

We only walked around the resort and I loved it. The pool was beautiful and the hot tub incredibly charming. I would love to stay there...even without th savanah

 

[disneybliss2]

Yes!!! There are so many different viewing spots both inside and outside of the resort. We booked a standard view this past summer. Having never been there before, I was a little leery in advance, so I upgraded for a minimal amount (regularly around $10, but I had a room discount which made it even a little less) to the pool view. We loved our room & view. We loved the location of the pool view rooms (not as far back as the savanna view, waaay less money, but still a nicer view than the standard view--perfect compormise). We didn't feel slighted in the least by not being able to look directly outside our balcony to view the animals. In fact, I was surprised by all the places you could easily see the animals even from the inside of the resort.

While we love POFQ and would stay there again, we LOVED AKL. Some perks: It's nice to have an interior entry room. All the cultural activities they offer are wonderful. You feel like it's another mini vacation in itself when you leave the parks and come back to the resort (you get Disney & Africa all in one). It's nice to have easy access to Boma, and the CS restaurant Mara had tastier options than your standard CS options. The attention to details in the resort are wonderful. The African cast members were absolutely wonderful and added so much to our vacation. Seeing the animals up close was amazing. The pool was large and had a great slide that our kids loved. The rooms are beautifully designed. Hmmm...and those are just the reasons off the top of my head.

 

[mickeynut1]

For us, yes!! We've stayed in both pool view and savanna view and while we did enjoy seeing animals from our balcony when we stayed savanna view, we loved our pool view just as much and wouldn't hesitate to book pool view again .

 

[MelanieRI]

A perk to getting a pool view is that you end up closer to everything, too. We stayed at AKL with a pool view and loved it. We didn't have to go that far to get the food court or to the buses. I've heard a lot of people who've had a SV complain about the long walk back to their room at the end of the night.

 

[pigletto]

YES!!

In fact, I doubt we'd ever pay the extra money for savannah view. We don't spend a ton of time in the room so it was just as easy to walk to a viewing area. There was a huge window with a great view just outside our room when we had pool view! It was still nice to sit on the balcony a bit with the pool view as well. The resort itself is stunning and I really don't think you'll be missing anything

 

[taymorel]

Even if we did not stay Savanna view, AKL would be worth it. We love the theming and my husband is addicted to Animal Planet channel, so he loves AKL--the viewing areas are awesome and the CM's are so friendly and helpful.

 

[plutospup]

By not having a Savannah view (we had pool view) it forced us to check out the public viewing areas on all savannahs which was great! I'm afraid if we had a savannah view we would have been less inclined to check out the other savannahs.

AKL is beautiful, and I'm sure you'll have a great stay whatever room you might have.

 

[LovinPooh]

Super happy i have a pool view room booked nxt month. Our first deluxe stay
This resort looks amazing. I would much rather be closer to the buses then savannah view.
Are the activities open to all? I havea 13year old who excited to do the cookie decorating.

 

[Jess6001]

We've stayed at AKL 3 times. Once with Savannah view and twice with standard views. We're not the type to sit and relax on the balcony so when we had a savannah view we spent probably 10-15 minutes a day there checking out the animals. AKL has so many great places to view the animals all around the resorts and that's where we did most of our viewing. Usually we'd be swimming at the pool and take breaks to check out the flamingos and savannah around the pool. That's even better than from your room because they have the guides there who can explain to you what kind of animals you're seeing and tell you more about their homeland (the guides are all from Africa and so it's great to hear about it straight from them!). AKL is my favorite resort on property- I'm not sure if there's any resort like it in the world! (I guess except for staying on the real African Savannah??)

 

[Jess6001]

Super happy i have a pool view room booked nxt month. Our first deluxe stay
This resort looks amazing. I would much rather be closer to the buses then savannah view.
Are the activities open to all? I havea 13year old who excited to do the cookie decorating.

Anyone can do the cookie decorating. We did it (three adults) when we had some extra time we needed to kill.

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

YES!!

In fact, I doubt we'd ever pay the extra money for savannah view. We don't spend a ton of time in the room so it was just as easy to walk to a viewing area. There was a huge window with a great view just outside our room when we had pool view! It was still nice to sit on the balcony a bit with the pool view as well. The resort itself is stunning and I really don't think you'll be missing anything

I'd agree with this. We were given a "standard" view and when we got to our room we had a great view of the sunset safari, but overlooking one of the evac corrals. We still saw giraffes every day. There are a few rooms on the way to the bus stop (that last one that has a GIANT wall ) that I wouldn't want, but the resort is gorgeous and worth the money.