Just back from a great stay at AKL

[blanq]

We got back yesterday, after a week (May 7th-May14th) at WDW and the AKL resort. I will be doing a full trip report as soon as I get my act together at home, but thought I would post a few thoughts here in the meantime.

About AKL, we LOVED this resort, and I will say that it is our favorite to date. Keep in mind that I do not have a wide range of WDW resort experience, having only staying at CBR, WL, OKW, and the Swan on past trips. What really set this resort experience apart from the others we have stayed at was the theming, architecture, art work and small details. Every turn seemed to hold a special surprise, and I could have spent a whole week just exploring the resort itself.

We did book a standard room for $139/night with a code. The only requests I made were a no smoking room, and preferably not the third floor. I did not fax preferences to the resort. At check-in we were upgraded to a pool view. I did not request an upgrade. The CM who checked us in said "I note you booked a standard room, but we have upgraded you to a savannah room". Well, I let out a little shriek and before I could say more he said "no, no, I am sorry, it's a pool view you have been upgraded to". Well, I have to say that a savannah room would have been great, but I was more than happy to get the pool upgrade and thanked the CM profusely. Frankly, we would have been perfectly happy with the standard room we booked, and made sure to pack our ear plugs just in case they parked us in a room that adjoined the bus stop.

We had room 4006, on the Giraffe trail. We had a queen and a bunk bed, and our 9 year old son thought the bunk bed was "sweet" (his words). This was a perfect location. When we got off the elevators we hooked to the left and our room was just three rooms down on the left. We were very close to the stairs to the third floor lobby, and to the elevators.

The rooms are beautiful! I did not feel they were too dark, as has been reported by others. I thought they were incredibly cozy and charming. I liked having the dresser and an armoire, in addition to the full closet. We unpacked and had plenty of space for all of our stuff. The bathroom and sink area was nice and the tub was huge!

Now, for the toilet. My son named our toilet the "Turbo Toilet 2000". I kid you not, that thing could easily suck a toddler down. My son, who hates loud noises, would flush, plug his ears, and run! We could hear toilets flushing around us from other rooms, but it was not too annoying.

I feel the need to stress that we did not feel slighted by not booking a savannah room in any way. The public viewing areas are terrific, and we really did not spend a whole lot of time in our room anyway, even though we did take plenty of down time from the parks. We saw plenty of animals, and felt immersed in the African theme without the savannah view.

Our past trips have always been in early Dec, or late Jan, so May was a new experience for us. I must say that the resort felt really crowded to me from Wed, May 7th through Sunday, May 11th, and then the crowds seemed to drop off. The pool was very crowded during this time, and there was always a huge crowd mingling near Boma for breakfast and dinner. Also, the theme parks felt crowded during this time, with the exception of Epcot on the 11th, although wait times for the attractions were not bad. On Monday the resort really quieted down. I did ask a CM on Monday if there had been a mass check-out and he indicated that the resort had been at near 100% occupancy over the weekend, but had dropped to about 60% occupancy on Monday. Now, I was surprised to hear that because I have read here that AKL rarely is at full occupancy, even during peak times, but maybe with Port Orleans-FQ closing more people went for the upgrade here(?). Anyway, I enjoyed the rest of our stay better after the resort was more quiet.

We ate at Boma twice (once for breakfast and once for dinner), Jiko once, and the Mara a couple of times. We had great food at this resort. The African wine/beers offered at Boma and Jiko are great, and it was fun to try some.

Wow, I bet this is beginning to FEEL like a full trip report. So, I'll stop here. Feel free to ask any questions!

 

[jacksmom]

We are planning a trip to AKL in Oct, and I was wondering if you went to the storytelling in the evening and if so , how was it? Also did you do any of the activities at the resort and would you recommend them. We have a 6yo ds, do you have any tips on things the resort offers for kids? Also, we will do Boma for sure, but I was wondering if Jiko would be someplace a nice well behaved 6yo would like? Any advise would be welcomed!

 

[Momto8]

Blanq, Thanks for posting about your trip. I'm glad you really liked AKL and that you didn't think the rooms were too dark. I was a little worried about this as I've read some negative posts about the rooms being dark. We will be leaving in a little over 3 weeks for 11 days and will be splitting our stay between CBR and AKL. I'm really getting excited as I've never stayed at either resort.

We also have a standard view and didn't think it was worth it for us to pay for a Savannah view since we will not be in the room that much. I'm not going to count on an upgrade since we'll be there in June and the crowds will be starting, but if they do, it will be a pleasant surprise. Why didn't you want the 3rd floor? Is this where the bus stop is? Just trying to figure out what to request. Definitely no smoking, plus my 2 DDs would like to get bunk beds.

Is there a lot of drawer space in the rooms? How many drawers are there?

Thanks for all your help.

 

[Harambe]

Thanks for reporting! I can't wait to try this resort!!!

 

[polkadotminnie]

We were also ther May 7-10. We loved it! We were in room 3322 on the Kudu Trail. I personally liked the third floor since that was where the lobby was, but we were pretty far down the hall so there wasn't as much foot traffic. We were upgraded to a savanna view room with a good view. It was just a little to the left of the "people pen" and a fantastic surprise for us at check-in. We had bunk beds for our DD's which were a big hit. The room lighting didn't bother us at all. As for kids activities, my girls did the cookie decorating at Boma, Mother's Day jewelry box painting, and night scope animal viewing. There were other things as well like animal trivia games which we didn't make in time. We didn't notice the crowds until Thursday night when we had to park so far away that we might as well have left our car at Typhoon Lagoon (just kidding). It was a once in a lifetime trip! Can't wait to return.

 

[DisneyFreaks]

I'm so happy to read about another happy experience at this resort. We just got back too {may 3 thru may 10} and had a wonderful time there. We had standard view rooms on the third floor and they were terrific. Very quiet. Our rooms were on the ostrich trail whereas the bus stop is near giraffe trail so that could be why it had less noise. We were moved from the fifth floor and when I found out our new rooms were on the third floor I was very apprehensive but it work out great. We didn't find the rooms dark either. They were beautiful. Everything about AKL is awesome. I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as we did.

 

[blanq]

jacksmom: We did not do the storytelling, or any of the scheduled kids activities. It was beastfully hot while we were there, so our schedule was: early to a park, back to resort for a swim by noon, and back to a park in the late afternoon. We did one day a Blizzard beach, and one off day where we hung out by the pool and then did Cirque in the evening. We were never at the resort during the storytelling. They provided a list of kids activities at checkin, and I believe that a 6yo would like them. They included: flamingo/pelican feedings, spirit of Africa art tour, animal tracking, cookie decorating, junior researcher, culinary tour of Africa, cultural safari, animal viewing with night vision, etc. They also had some special daily activities for Mother's day (mainly art activities like jewlery box painting, etc). As far as other things for kids, my son loved the arcade and the pool. He liked to poke around Zawadi marketplace, loved to watch the animals from Arusha Rock, and thought he was the cat's meow to get non-alcoholic drinks from the poolside bar.

As far as Jiko goes, take your son. They have a great kids menu. My son wimped out at the last minute and wanted to stay and watch cartoons in the room, so it was just my DH and me. If our son had joined us, he would have loved this place. I am sure you already are aware that this is an expensive restaurant. It came to $120 with tip, for just the two of us, but a kids meal would not add that much to your bill.

Momto8: As far as drawer space goes, there was a dresser as you entered the room, with three deep drawers. Also the armoire has two good size drawers, along with 2 smaller ones. The closet is a double one, with just a few hangers. You can always request more hangers from mousekeeping.

The 3rd floor is actually the lobby floor, and it is flush with the ground in the front of the resort. So, the third floor standard rooms on the Giraffe trail run alongside the bus stop area, and the area where everyone walks to get to the stop. I have heard from others that these rooms can be less than quiet with all of this activity, but I can't verify that since we did not stay in a room there. I would think that the 3rd floor rooms on the Ostrich trail would be more quiet, since people don't trapse by all hours of the day/night.

 

[Momto8]

Thanks, Blanq. I will have to remember to request that they not put us in the Giraffe Trail. I'm also glad to hear that they have a lot of drawer space. The pictures I saw didn't show too much, only one dresser with 4 drawers, so I was a little worried about that.