Okay, I have to admit I'm nervous. We had booked a Savanna Room for our September (free dining!) trip back before the first of the year when we were there over NYE. I just called today and upgraded to the concierge level because of the outstanding experience we had with the Polynesian and their concierge as well as really wanting the Sunrise Safari.
But I'm very nervous right now! The whole reason we booked AKL was to get a Savanna view room! Now we can get either a Pool view or a Savanna room and I'm seriously kinda freaking out about it! The reservation CM put it in that we request a savanna view, but if we don't get it both FH and I are going to be so heartbroken!
Does anyone have any experience with this or any advice? I'd love to get it all the advice I can at this point... especially since we won't be at AKL until at least 2 because of magical express!
My sister and I stayed CL last November. We requested a definite savannah view (my sister is animal crazy and both of her horses had died that year); I even booked directly through Disney as I was told I would have a better chance of getting my request. Went through IPO for our safari requests, and also added that we wanted Arusha, Zebra trail. We arrived at 8:30AM, were told our room was ready, and were whisked up to... a pool-view room! We told the guy that we did not want a pool-view, and he immediately took us to the CL desk. The guy there was not very happy, but he called IPO and found out that we did have the request in. They told us we would have to wait until the afternoon, but we would get Kudu, Arusha. When we went back, the woman there looked up where they put us, and said they gave us a bunk bed room! She moved us again, and we ended up Kudu, Sunset. At that point, we were happy to have any view! But it ended up being okay; we could see the pens in the distance, and it was funny to watch a giraffe who would nosy over the fence, and an ostrich who would rattle the gate. We got a lot of animal viewing, and little people viewing!
So I would say that in a way, you are arriving at a time that might be better as they will have more rooms ready to be occupied. Also, if you are not happy, just politely let them know. They will do their best to make you happy, even if it might not be until the next day. And just remember, what you think may be ideal, may not necessarily be the very best. We ended up enjoying our room, even though it was not where we dreamed of staying. And I would let IPO know you room desires, and have them book the safari, too.
Have fun! We loved it!
Good luck and give the IPO office a call...they will take good care of you (see my above post). 
I was wondering if anyone had any great ideas of how I could actually surprise them until we checked in. We will go to MGM the day of arrival, then check in mid-day. We always visit AKL, so maybe I will just tell them we are visiting again!
idea of adding a few days to the start of my vacation. When I got home from work and got on the computer 
, the first thing that I see on my email is that Jet Blue is running a 2 day sale. When I go on the Jet Blue website, the cost of my flights was actually higher than when I booked.... But, when I looked at the flights for the days before, I found that the flights were much cheaper. So, I changed by flight down to 3 days earlier & guess what(!) even with the fee for the change, it is still costing me $20 less than my original flight. Next, I call WDW to see about starting my AKL Pool view reservation 3 days earlier. Well, when I talk to the CM, he said that he couldn't extend my pool view room & still keep my AP discount. So, I ask if there is another resort available. He finds that for the 3 days (unfortunately not the whole trip) there are Savanna view bunkbed rooms available with the AP rate. So now I am very excited!! I have a savanna view room for the first 3 days of my trip and a pool view room for the remaining 8 days! 
especially since they even spelled my name wrong our last trip and finding our reservations at check in was a nightmare the first night! (I'm Abbott, they spelled it Ebote 
)
