Just back from AKL - Happy to answer questions.

[Maggi May]

Just back from a great 5-day stay at AKL and happy to answer any questions.

We booked a savanna view room and were not happy when we found our room (on the Sunset Savanna) also overlooked construction for the new AKL DVC property. I am usually not picky about hotel views, but the AKL is the one resort where the view really does count. I called the front desk and and while they could not move us the first night, we were moved to a view over the Arusha Savanna for the remainder of our trip.

That glitch aside, we had a wonderful stay and are already wanting to go back. We visited AKL many times for dinner and sightseeing and were really looking forward to our splurge at staying at a deluxe resort. I can’t say enough about the terrific cast members, activities for kids and adults, theming and overall ambiance of this hotel. Even the rainy day was OK because we spent hours watching the animals and exploring the hotel. The Lodge looks so different between daytime and nighttime, and we kept finding amazing details that we had overlooked. We had wonderful meals at Boma and Jiko, too.

Happy to answer any questions about the resort, restaurants, transportation, etc. . . .

 

[Nicole786]

On average how long would you wait at the bus stop for a bus mid-day. I plan on taking breaks, and then going to a park in the night time, but fear the transportation!

thanks

 

[Maggi May]

Hi Nicole,
Taking a break from the parks is a very good idea. We have a 3 year-old, so mid-day naps and rests were key.

I was worried about bus transportation, too, given the AKL's remote location, but it wasn't a problem. We had minimal wait times for catching buses morning and mid-day (5 -10 minutes at most). We did have to wait @ 15-20 minutes for a bus to Downtown Disney @ 11 a.m. one morning, but I think that they tend to run more buses for DTD in the late afternoon or evening.

 

[Nicole786]

Hi Nicole,
Taking a break from the parks is a very good idea. We have a 3 year-old, so mid-day naps and rests were key.

I was worried about bus transportation, too, given the AKL's remote location, but it wasn't a problem. We had minimal wait times for catching buses morning and mid-day (5 -10 minutes at most). We did have to wait @ 15-20 minutes for a bus to Downtown Disney @ 11 a.m. one morning, but I think that they tend to run more buses for DTD in the late afternoon or evening.

Wow, thanks! this sounds great!

 

[themilesfamily]

What floor do you think has the best view of the savannahs -- a lower room on 2nd or 3rd to be close to the animals, or a 4th or 5th to get a wider view of the landscape?

Also, did you participate in any of the activities (firepit storytelling, flamingo feeding, etc.?) Any comments on those?

Finally, what did you think of the pool area?

I'm glad you had a great trip!!

 

[DisneyBride'03]

We are staying for just one night at AKV...but doing resort time the whole time, trying to make the most of our "2" days at AKV....are there alot of activities every day for all age groups?

themilesfamily...we have visited AKl before..DD10 got to stay overnight with SIl when Dh and I got married, we picker her up the next day...and hung out for awhile...the pool area is wonderful, zero depth....nice pool bar....a spa...its a great ambience in the pool....

We have an Ava too! She is 16 mths...(sorry OT)

 

[Maggi May]

What floor do you think has the best view of the savannahs -- a lower room on 2nd or 3rd to be close to the animals, or a 4th or 5th to get a wider view of the landscape?

Also, did you participate in any of the activities (firepit storytelling, flamingo feeding, etc.?) Any comments on those?

Finally, what did you think of the pool area?

I'm glad you had a great trip!!

Both of our rooms were on the 2nd floor. My DH and I both agreed that while the higher floors offered a more expansive view of the savanna, we really enjoyed being closer to animals to see and hear them. Our second room was near a watering hole and we enjoyed watching the comings and goings of the animals and birds close up.

When you turn on the TV in the room, it defaults to the AKL information channel, which lists all of the daily activities and info about the animals. There is so much to do at all times of the day. We did the storytelling, African music for kids @ 5 p.m., night vision viewing, and the parade around the lobby. The last event is basically cast members starting off in the gift shop handing out instruments and leading everyone in songs in the gift shop and around the lobby. It was blast -- there must have been 50-60 people taking part.

My DS was a bit young for some of the activities, but there really was something for kids of all ages. While we were there earlier this week, the craft projects were to paint your own Halloween bag and Halloween mask. Can't say enough positives about the cast members from Africa who led many of the activities and were available to answer questions about the animals.

The pool area is very lush and relaxing. Great pool bar, and the zero entry pool is great for young kids. The only negative is that we thought the kiddie pool was a bit small and uninviting. However, the zero entry area is a great place for younger kids to play.

 

[DisneyBride'03]

Thanks for the info!!! I have read there is a "scent" or "aroma" in the lobby....did you notice?? ( A good one....lol)

 

[Cinderella]

Glad you had a great time. How long did the buses take did get to the MK? How long was the wait coming back.

Do any type of animals ever come into the hotel? Strange question I know but my son has an allergic reaction to furry animals. And they did used to bring animals into the neverland club at one point.

 

[Maggi May]

DisneyBridep03 -- The only scent we noticed was from the restaurants on the 1st floor. You can look down on Boma from the lobby area and those wonderful smells drift up.

Cinderella -- we had very good luck both times we took the bus to the MK. First, in the a.m. we caught the bus after @ 2 minutes wait at 7:40 a.m. heading to the Toddler Extra Magic Hour (or whatever it was called ) Later that night we waited @ 10 minutes for the bus to MK for the Halloween party (so fun seeing most of the passengers in costume).

Ride time was about 15 minutes. We also had good luck in not too long of a wait time on the way back from the MK. It seems as if WDW tries to assign buses based on estimated need. When we returned from the MK late at night from the Halloween party there were tons of buses for all of the resorts lined up ready to pick up people.

We never saw any animals in the lodge itself. While overlooking the savanna, we were probably 10 - 20 yards from some of the animals at some point.

 

[believen]

We are considering this for our next visit with my 70ish Mom. My question is not meant to offend any one, but my mom sometimes wanders and gets dissoriented. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge in Jan. and she could always find her way back to the main lobby, because of the compact arrangement of the resort and you could always see it! Would it be similiar or is it really spread out, where she might get worried? Some of the resorts look so huge!

 

[themilesfamily]

I do have one more question. Someone posted something about a ton of bugs at AKL -- on the balconies, around the pool, etc, and really being bothered by them. Did you notice any bugs?

 

[hapi2bme]

Is it noisy from the construction??

 

[Maggi May]

believen -- Like the Wilderness Lodge, AKL is in one big building. It is awfully spread out, but we didn't have too much trouble navigating. However, because it's laid out like a long semi-circle, many of the rooms are pretty far away from the lobby. Here is a map of the resort: http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/aklmap.htm Perhaps you could ask for rooms close to the lobby so your mom can find her way easily.

themilesfamily - we didn't notice any bugs. However, it was fairly rainy while we were there which may have kept the bugs down. I'm guessing that the person who posted about bugs was referring to no-see-um's which are active at certain times of the year in Florida.

hapi2bme - our first room overlooked the construction site for the new buildings and the equipment was fairly loud during the day. The animals on the sunset savanna didn't seem to mind it much, but it was annoying to us to hear the rumbling of heavy machinery and the beep-beep-beeps as the equipment backed up. (Of course my 3 YO DS loves construction equipment and therefore liked the view. ) When we moved to a room on the Zebra Trail we didn't hear any noise at all.

 

[raven69david]

Thanks for the info!!! I have read there is a "scent" or "aroma" in the lobby....did you notice?? ( A good one....lol)

The smell in the lobby is really hard to describe, but it is the most wonderful scent that stays lodged in your brain. It's a mixture of nutmeg, cardoman, cinnamon and wood chips. It's mixed in the fire pit located by Victoria Falls.

To me, it's a scent that gives me a feeling and is almost addictive, which may be the reason why we will be going back to stay there every trip back to WDW. It really does something to me that i cannot describe; almost like an addict that needs the drug to make him feel "good".

 

[G&GMom]

Thanks for your review. We were at AKL last month and were on sunset savanna. Just wondering what they actually said to you about the construction? We did ask to be moved but there were no rooms. Plus the front desk literally had no idea about the external construction. I felt like they thought I was making it up.

 

[123Disney]

Great info. Thanks!

 

[karylrocks]

How was the sunset savannah for viewing the animals? Is it as good as the other locations?

 

[Maggi May]

G&GMom -- I think we were pretty lucky to get moved.
When I called, they said at first that the hotel was sold out and that they couldn't move us, and then offered to move us the next day. I'm guessing that by now the front desk has gotten lots of calls about this and is better prepared to move people. It's going to be an ongoing issue, I'm sure, as that construction of individual buildings will take awhile to complete. Honestly, if I were at POR, POP or any other hotel I woudn't have been so concerned, but AKL resort is the one place to me where the view really does matter (and for which we are willing to pay!).

karylrocks -- The Sunset Savanna is a smaller area, but we saw giraffes, ostriches, red river hogs, cranes, several kinds of antelopes and smaller birds. Exploring all of the savannas, you can see that animals tend to congregate in certain parts of the resort. For example, the zebras always seemed to hang out on the Arusha Savanna, but we never saw ostriches or red river hogs there.

raven69david -- thanks for posting about the scent in the lobby. I'll have to look for it (or smell for it!) on our next visit.

 

[DISNEYmooner2008]

Maggi May - I have like a billion questions.... Would you mind answering them??? Figured I'd ask before I posted them all