JAMBO! The UN-official AKL Thread ~ UPDATED(short film/pg 8 & slideshow/pg 12) Part 2

[disneytraveler]

I think because disneytraveler was on the Platinum Plan...right?

The IPO staff offered the Akl activities to me to but not as part of the Plan. So i had to pay for the tour which i think was 55.00. Must be correct because
its on my bill as being paid.

 

[Disney8704]

Did anyone ever found out how you are able to book the safari if ur NOT staying CL?

 

[Ronald Duck]

Thanks to all for providing not just one but two chock-full-o'-good-stuff threads about AKL, where we'll be staying in December. These two questions may be answered somewhere, but I haven't found the answers:

1) Can you add to what I already know about Standard View rooms at AKL (which is what we've booked)? Here's what I DO know (and what I don't):
a. There are only a little more than 100 Standard View Rooms overall (thus, a decent chance for an upgrade).
b. All the parking-lot-facing rooms on Giraffe and Ostrich Trails (all floors) are Standard View.
c. Some rooms at the very beginning of the Zebra Trail (overlooking the roof of Boma) are Standard. Which rooms? How far out before they become "Pool View"?
d. Some rooms above the lobby which face the pool are also Standard View (also overlooking the Boma roof). Which floors? If you are on an upper floor, are they Deluxe Concierge?
Am I missing any other Standard View Room locations?

2) This is our first stay at a western-end-of-WDW resort when we'll have a car. I'm familiar with the grocery stores on the eastern end...are there any grocery stores near AKL (on the western end of WDW) that are closer than the east-end ones?

Thanks in advance...and thanks for all the fun "thread-reading"

 

[quietgirll]

just wanted to remind everybody in just a few days ill be at the lodge...and after the way this week is already starting, i cant WAIT!!

 

[disneytraveler]

just wanted to remind everybody in just a few days ill be at the lodge...and after the way this week is already starting, i cant WAIT!!

Hey you will like it Quietgirl! Enjoy your stay!

 

[wendypooh]

...OMG, Wendy, I can't get over how much your DS has grown!!

BTW ~ looks like you and Lisa BOTH had great rooms!

I know ~~ he's growing up!!!! Boo Hoo!! LOL

 

[dm220]

hi and good day to all, we are back from the trip and we loved the akl, i am sold on this place loved everything about it...the views, the room, the food, the pool, the staff, etc, next trip we plan which i have no idea when we will stay here again,when we first arrived we had about a 3 hour wait till a room was ready, we were given a pool room which we paid for(tried asking for the upgrade to no avail unless we paid another $45 a night) inquired about 2 boxes we shipped there in advance of our arrival, they said they would send them up to the room in approx.15mins, we went up to check out the room no.3422 and we were dissapointed with the view(we seen a portion of the pool through the trees and had a roof view to the right, we felt like we lost the magic at that point, we went to the worldshowcase at epcot walked around got back to the lodge about 11pm or so, the boxes we shipped were not in the room yet so we went to the front desk to inquire about them,the fella working the desk was named michael who helped us at that point he got the box situation straightened out and we mentioned our dissapointment with the view, he immediately reassigned us to a new room savannah with bunk beds #4579 we were overjoyed with his help and kindness and felt as thought the let down feeling we first had when we arrived was removed and i can only thank him so much, we went back to the first room we had and got our 2 kids who were getting ready for bed and told them we wanted to show them something so we went for the walk and got to the room and let me tell you the joy when we seen the room was great for both our kids as well as us we absolutely loved the view and the room, so much so that i want the same room when we return in the future, we seem animals everyday and it was so peacefull and relaxing,we all used the pool on several occasions and it was great as well as the hottubs, my little girl also loved seeing the lizards that run around(she loves animals and bugs)and caught 1 during our trip(unharmed and was released),the food was great we did not try jikos but ate at bomas twice and the food was great highly recommened, the maras food was also great and we ate there numerous times,we had 50 min. massages which was great and relaxing and i would do these again they were pleasent,i thought bus service was nice and timely, i cant say how much we liked this place and thought i would share some of what we thought of the akl

 

[wendypooh]

We thought the parks were great everyday with the excption of Sunday 9/3 and Friday night 9/8 at Epcot (EMH everyone was there). The parks felt pretty empty to us (we did use TGM). On labor day we went to Epcot and it was pretty empty we walked on most everything.

I will have to go over and check out your trip report. I see you are staying at the Poly for your next trip. I keep trying to change my upcoming ressie to the Poly or Gf for part of my trip, but I have had no luck.

LOL ~~ We thought the parks were crowded!!!! Except for tue, wed, thur. after labor day!!! I guess that's why we prefer Jan. Feb.!!! On those days though it was awesome, we too walked onto everything....... some things we didn't even have to leave to get in line again!!! Yeah, I booked the Poly way back, I think it was even long before we left on this trip! I wonder why are you not able to book?? I doubt it's full that time of year?? Hummm??? How did TGM work for you guys?? We've never used that.......... just wondering??

 

[Cass]

and let me tell you the joy when we seen the room was great for both our kids as well as us we absolutely loved the view

That is so nice

 

[dm220]

and to make this post #100 a few things i forgot, we built in plenty of time to relax at the resort and sleep in, the arcade was nice, the marketplace was a great shop and we spent a good deal of money there and as a side note to that if you want to send purchases to your home from disney which we sent a lot the shipping is unbelievably cheap(we shipped about a $1000 worth of stuff for $15 and change)they must be items purchased from disney,we did the mnsshp it was our first hard tiket event and enjoyed it and thought they handled everything well, and the last thing i can think of mentioning at this time is the towel animals...lots and lots of towel animals,when michael reassigned us to the savannah room within a half hour a mousekeeper bought up about 4 or 5 towel animals and everyday thereafter we got new ones in addition to the ones we had and mousekeeping has neat way of arranging the kids stuffed animals everyday,hopefully in a few days we can get some pictures posted as we both have to go back to work so i hope they can wait a few days, and i would also like to figuire out how to do a trip report so i can post our experinces as well as copy them for our own use in the future, ok i think i used enough space good night to all

 

[Cass]

Wow the halloween party is running already?

 

[Oh_the_anticipation!]

dm220...

Glad you had a great trip. We leave in 18 days and I can hardly contain my excitement.

With all this talk of "upgrades" it makes me wonder why I didn't just book a pool view with hopes of a free upgrade??? Sure seems like a lot of people get upgrades. We booked a savanah view but with all the trouble I've had with getting the ME tags for my friend who is flying in from Brazil, I hope maybe we'll get a DELUXE savannah view???? I just REALLY want bunk beds AND a great view.

One question dm220 and others in the know....
How was the MNSSHP and what would your best tip for it be? We're going 10/12 for the first time. I'm waiting to see the weather forecast before I decide on a costume. BTW - Is there a place to buy good costumes right at Disney???? I know they have ones for the kids year round. I may just want to buy one down there. (My secret desire....to be a Haunted Mansion cast member! ) Does anyone know if a costume like that is available anywhere?

Have a GREAT day eveyone.

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

hi and good day to all, we are back from the trip and we loved the akl, i am sold on this place loved everything about it...the views, the room, the food, the pool, the staff, etc, next trip we plan which i have no idea when we will stay here again,when we first arrived we had about a 3 hour wait till a room was ready, we were given a pool room which we paid for(tried asking for the upgrade to no avail unless we paid another $45 a night) inquired about 2 boxes we shipped there in advance of our arrival, they said they would send them up to the room in approx.15mins, we went up to check out the room no.3422 and we were dissapointed with the view(we seen a portion of the pool through the trees and had a roof view to the right, we felt like we lost the magic at that point, we went to the worldshowcase at epcot walked around got back to the lodge about 11pm or so, the boxes we shipped were not in the room yet so we went to the front desk to inquire about them,the fella working the desk was named michael who helped us at that point he got the box situation straightened out and we mentioned our dissapointment with the view, he immediately reassigned us to a new room savannah with bunk beds #4579 we were overjoyed with his help and kindness and felt as thought the let down feeling we first had when we arrived was removed and i can only thank him so much, we went back to the first room we had and got our 2 kids who were getting ready for bed and told them we wanted to show them something so we went for the walk and got to the room and let me tell you the joy when we seen the room was great for both our kids as well as us we absolutely loved the view and the room, so much so that i want the same room when we return in the future, we seem animals everyday and it was so peacefull and relaxing,we all used the pool on several occasions and it was great as well as the hottubs, my little girl also loved seeing the lizards that run around(she loves animals and bugs)and caught 1 during our trip(unharmed and was released),the food was great we did not try jikos but ate at bomas twice and the food was great highly recommened, the maras food was also great and we ate there numerous times,we had 50 min. massages which was great and relaxing and i would do these again they were pleasent,i thought bus service was nice and timely, i cant say how much we liked this place and thought i would share some of what we thought of the akl

Michael is a wonderful CM and gave us our upgrade too. I would definately drop disney an email about him. We did. This guy is an unbelieveable asset to disney. He is so nice and helpful and I feel one of the best. He made your stay magical. We love Micheal too. I am glad you had a great time.

 

[shyjade]

Hey gang, I need your advise!!


Months ago I booked a Standard Room for our upcoming trip because the Pool views were booked and I can't afford a Savanah view. Periodically I've been checking the availability at AKL online and it's always the same thing...Standard & Pool views are completely booked, everything else is available (Deluxe Pool, Savannah, Deluxe Savannah, Suites). So I was hoping there would be a good chance for an upgrade.

I just checked today, and the ONLY rooms available are POOL view and SUITES!!! So I would guess the chance of an upgrade is probably out of the question, which is understandable and something I certainly didn't "expect", so I'm not the least bit upset about that.

Now the question is...do I spend the extra $100 to upgrade from Standard to Pool view, or take my chances that Standard will be "OK"? Are all pool view rooms "worth it" and a noticeable difference over Standard?

(For the record, I see that there is availabilty for EVERY room type - Standard thru Suites - for the first 2 nights we will be there, but apparently the resort is nearly booked for the last night, Friday Sept. 29th)

Based on your experiences, what would YOU do?

 

[Viki]

Hey gang, I need your advise!!


Months ago I booked a Standard Room for our upcoming trip because the Pool views were booked and I can't afford a Savanah view. Periodically I've been checking the availability at AKL online and it's always the same thing...Standard & Pool views are completely booked, everything else is available (Deluxe Pool, Savannah, Deluxe Savannah, Suites). So I was hoping there would be a good chance for an upgrade.

I just checked today, and the ONLY rooms available are POOL view and SUITES!!! So I would guess the chance of an upgrade is probably out of the question, which is understandable and something I certainly didn't "expect", so I'm not the least bit upset about that.

Now the question is...do I spend the extra $100 to upgrade from Standard to Pool view, or take my chances that Standard will be "OK"? Are all pool view rooms "worth it" and a noticeable difference over Standard?

(For the record, I see that there is availabilty for EVERY room type - Standard thru Suites - for the first 2 nights we will be there, but apparently the resort is nearly booked for the last night, Friday Sept. 29th)

Based on your experiences, what would YOU do?

My perspective, having just been there, is that there are a LOT of pool views which are highly obstructed. I went in thinking maybe some day we would just do a pool view, but now I wouldn't risk it.

On the other hand, and I don't hear you saying this is an option, the Savannah view is absolutely worth every cent! (Though I've read of few of those are less than wonderful).

 

[kimmar067]

Hi Kimmar!
I dont think it was concierge because i did not have access to the concierge
floor. I found this out when i tried to get up to the 6th fl to register for the
sunrise safari. The elevator would not let me up. I had the invitation to but
no access. I had to go up with someone from the concierge desk to get to the lounge.

I already want to go back

....I KNEW that you'd be 'hooked'.....

 

[kimmar067]

2) This is our first stay at a western-end-of-WDW resort when we'll have a car. I'm familiar with the grocery stores on the eastern end...are there any grocery stores near AKL (on the western end of WDW) that are closer than the east-end ones?

Thanks in advance...and thanks for all the fun "thread-reading"

...When you exit the AKL resort and approach a traffic light, which would be the light to make a left turn to go to AK, make a RIGHT here...it'll take you to 192, which has a Goodings(?) I believe.....

 

[shyjade]

My perspective, having just been there, is that there are a LOT of pool views which are highly obstructed. I went in thinking maybe some day we would just do a pool view, but now I wouldn't risk it.

On the other hand, and I don't hear you saying this is an option, the Savannah view is absolutely worth every cent! (Though I've read of few of those are less than wonderful).

Thanks Viki! There are no Savannah rooms available during our stay, and even if they were, that price range is not in my budget. So I guess I should stay with the Standard room instead of paying an extra $100 which may not get me much more of a view for a Pool room. Ugh! So many decisions...

 

[TiggerAllie]

The IPO staff offered the Akl activities to me to but not as part of the Plan. So i had to pay for the tour which i think was 55.00. Must be correct because
its on my bill as being paid.

So, you were allowed to book the Sunrise Safari as a non-concierge guest because you were on the Premiere Plan? Is that correct?
Is that the only way non-concierge guests can do the Sunrise or Sunset safaris?

 

[brookelizabeth]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1218466

THANKS!
Loved the report!