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

[dogsmom]

Loved the pictures! Thanks for posting them.

 

[scoutsmom99]

Aesome pics Brooke! Great view too. I'm slowly working on uploading all of my AKL pics I took to photobucket.

African Stew from the Mara

Two Shots of our room

The flowers from Disney Florist (highly reccomend them btw!)

Anatomy of a Zebra Dome

 

[wallyb]

Turn it up!
I want to put on my my my my my boogie shoes
just to boogie with you, yeah!

Just 6 days now!

 

[Cass]

Wow, those pics before breakfast are killing me!!

Thanks for posting

 

[luvfigment]

Great pictures Scoutsmom thanks for sharing. I could really go for a Zebra Dome right now. YUMMY!

Well DFi and I decided we are doing a Disneymoon and are staying AKL (next Oct) but I can't decide if I want a savannah view or do the pool view. With the pool view we would do a spa service and all that with the saved money. I have really liked the pictures of the pool view but what are everyone's thoughts of the pool view? Did you like the pool view and was it worth it?

I have been trying to catch up on everything but have been really busy at work and haven't had enough time to search for stuff so therefore I have a question. I know a lot hasn't come out about the DVC but when is the construction on the 5th and 6th floors suppose to be done by? Do you think it will be done by Oct 2007?

TIA

 

[brookelizabeth]

scoutsmom wasn't the African Stew DELICIOUS??? I lovvvvvvvvvvvved it. Yum yum yum!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Well DFi and I decided we are doing a Disneymoon and are staying AKL (next Oct) but I can't decide if I want a savannah view or do the pool view. With the pool view we would do a spa service and all that with the saved money. I have really liked the pictures of the pool view but what are everyone's thoughts of the pool view? Did you like the pool view and was it worth it?
TIA

We really liked our pool view. There are LOTS of places to view the animals, and we didn't feel "viewing deprived" at all. I loved sitting out on the balcony and enjoying the tropical feel of the pool area (we even had breakfast delieverd to our room one morning and ate out there-very very nice!!). It's not too noisy-even when there are lots of people down in the pool (we were on the 4th floor). If we end up staying at AKL again, we will go with a pool view again. Also, so many people get poor Savannah views, I just wouldn't want to spend all the extra money and end up on "Fecal Flats" or with a people pens view.

We were on our honeymoon as well, AKL is a GREAT place for your honeymoon! We had a fantastic time. We were in 4468, pool view, king sized bed room-and there was a little couch in the room as well, which was not needed, but nice!!

 

[slkant]

The pictures are getting me excited about our trip.

I was wondering how far in advance we need to leave AKL for the following reservations: Breakfastosaurus, CRT breakfast, CP in MK for dinner, and Illuminations Dinner/Dessert Reception at Epcot (Grand Gathering held at the Odyssey, which I think is near the beginning of the World Showcase). Thanks for any advice!

 

[brookelizabeth]

The pictures are getting me excited about our trip.

I was wondering how far in advance we need to leave AKL for the following reservations: Breakfastosaurus, CRT breakfast, CP in MK for dinner, and Illuminations Dinner/Dessert Reception at Epcot (Grand Gathering held at the Odyssey, which I think is near the beginning of the World Showcase). Thanks for any advice!

I don't consider myself a pro, I've only been to Disney/AKL once, but the bus service was excellent from and to AKL on our recent trip. The longest we had to wait was about 7 minutes. It was about a 15 minute ride to the parks. On the morning we had the Epcot tour, we gave ourself 30 minutes, which was just right to get through the gate and walk to Innoventions and all that. Disney advises an hour, just to be safe.

 

[wallyb]

kimmar067 - How's your mom coping?

 

[disneytraveler]

Great pictures ! The African stew does bring back memories . I thought it was
nice to.

Wallybe must not be long now!

 

[SeaSpray]

Well DFi and I decided we are doing a Disneymoon and are staying AKL (next Oct) but I can't decide if I want a savannah view or do the pool view. With the pool view we would do a spa service and all that with the saved money. I have really liked the pictures of the pool view but what are everyone's thoughts of the pool view? Did you like the pool view and was it worth it?

TIA

We stayed in a pool view room in May and LOVED it! We would've booked another pool view room for our trip in February but there were none available with the AAA discount, so we went with a concierge room, and I've actually *requested* a pool view room again, as opposed to a savannah view room.

Of course we'll take whichever view they give us, but we really did enjoy the pool view. I have pictures on my web site if you'd like to see them, the link is below.

 

[Dusted]

Seaspray, and others of course,

How does it work booking with a AAA discount? I am thinking about buying a AAA membership only for the Disney discounts. Is there a standard discount, or is it like other codes, you have to wait for a special to be released, and how do you feel it compares to other codes, AP discounts, etc?

Many thanks.

Also, while I'm thinking about it, were you the one who had CL for $300 or so? If so, was that a AAA discount? Seems like an amazing price...

 

[plutospup]

I agree with SeaSpray regarding the Pool View room. Our pool view was on Zebra Trail, and was GREAT! Obviously we were close to the pool, as well as The Mara, and Jiko. At the end of our hallway was a great deck/porch like area to sit and watch the animals. Also, by not having a "savannah view" room, it forced us to check out all of the public viewing areas, therefore seeing all of the savannahs, and all types of animals. I'm sure savannah views are nice, but we very much enjoyed our pool view room.

 

[SeaSpray]

Seaspray, and others of course,

How does it work booking with a AAA discount? I am thinking about buying a AAA membership only for the Disney discounts. Is there a standard discount, or is it like other codes, you have to wait for a special to be released, and how do you feel it compares to other codes, AP discounts, etc?

Many thanks.

Also, while I'm thinking about it, were you the one who had CL for $300 or so? If so, was that a AAA discount? Seems like an amazing price...

AAA discounts get released (I think!) once a year, for the following year. At that point you can call Disney and book a room with the AAA discount as far in advance as you want. For example, we booked the WL and AKL back in August, for February 2007, that's when the 2007 AAA discounts were released. They were/are available for all of 2007, so once they are released, there is no more waiting, and really, you're better off making your reservations as early as possible because they only allot a certain amount of rooms and room types at each resort for the AAA discount, and once they've been all booked up, you can no longer get it.

I'm not sure if the AAA discount is a certain percentage or dollar amount off, depending on the resort/price. We always get AAA anyway, so when it saves us a few $$$ on our Disney trips, I'm happy to have that, then when/if Annual Pass or General Public discounts come out, I call back to see if they would save me any more off the AAA discount. Almost always, those other discounts do save you more; but sometimes the difference is very, very small, other times the difference between the AAA discount and Annual Pass discount can be substantial.

Yes, I'm the one who said they got a standard Concierge room at Animal Kingdom Lodge for about $300. It's actually $310 per night, and that includes tax. That's with the AAA discount. And I'm glad that I got that because today when the Annual Pass discounts came out, none were available for AKL for our dates, so I feel that at least the AAA discount saved us something

 

[SeaSpray]

Knowing that the possibility of concierge being relocated, would you keep your concierge reservations (got the AAA discount only), or would you go to a regular savannah room with the AP discount, at a savings of $80 less per night over the CL room?????

$310 for the AKL CL room (AAA discount only)

OR

$230 for the savannah view room (AP discount)

We'll be there for 2 nights, so that'd be a savings of $160.

Honestly, I'm not overly thrilled with the idea of AKL CL simply because it won't be providing me with anything other than the lounge. We make our own dining arrangements and have annual passes, so we don't need help with any of that. At other resorts, I like the location of the concierge lounges and the location of the concierge rooms themselves, so that's what makes it "worth it" to us, however at the AKL the concierge rooms are not necessarily near the lounge or even on the same floor, and at this point nobody even knows whether the lounge will be moved or not while we're there.

So other than access to the lounge on our first day in case our room isn't ready yet, and access to the lounge on our last day since we have a late flight, I really don't care about the concierge part of our reservation. That's why I'm wondering if I should just change to a regular savannah room and save some money.


Please let me know if you think we should keep the CL reservation, especially in light of the fact of the uncertainty around the relocating of the CL lounge! THANKS!

 

[TiggerAllie]

I was looking at the pictures from scoutsmom99--the bedspreads are totally different from the bed spreads we had in our room. (which had more blue and orange, red and green squares to it).

Anyone have any ideas why it would be different?

 

[slkant]

Kimmar, I think you mentioned in your trip report that your husband was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. There was an interesting article on it in today's USA Today.

 

[kimmar067]

kimmar067 - How's your mom coping?

...it's her and the 'four walls'....but, on a brighter note, she will be arriving on Nov 20 and staying for Thanksgiving AND Christmas.....

 

[kimmar067]

Kimmar, I think you mentioned in your trip report that your husband was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. There was an interesting article on it in today's USA Today.

...thanks for the 'heads up'.....