ktbugsmom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2002
- Messages
- 660
My husband, 4 year old daughter and I just spent 4 nights at the AKL. We arrived on Wednesday by noon and left on Sunday at 3pm. We had a wonderful time.
Our check in person was amazing. The place was quite busy, but she kindly took her time, offered me an upgrade from pool view to savanna view for an extra $10/night (I took it!) and found us a room that was ready right then! Which was wonderful since so many others were "homeless" for several hours.
The pool was wonderful. The chairs were always filled with towels, but the pool itself did not feel crowded. My daughter loved the slide and would go down it over and over and over... (I did mention the "chair saving" to a lifeguard one day, and saw her go over and start moving towels and freeing up chairs - which was great. Chairs would be saved all day long, and never a guest would use them... but that is another story and not AKL's fault.)
The buses were amazing. We never waited more than 5 minutes (we night have been lucky - but this happened for 5 days!) and I loved the direct service to the parks. Almost always got a seat.
The CMs were helpful and nice. My daughter loved the story telling, cookie decorating and other activities they put on. The CMs were very sweet to my daughter - she even hugged our story teller!
We ate at Jiko, Boma and Mara. All very good. My daughter spent one evening at Simba's club and loved it and begged to stay longer and wanted to go back another day.
We saw lots of animals (we were on Zebra trail WAY down the hall!). However, we were there for almost 5 full days, so sometimes you could look out and there would be nothing, then 30 minutes later, there would be giraffes, zebras, wildebeasts(sic?) and those African long horn cattle things (don't remember the official name). I spent many a nap time watching the animals and enjoying a cold beverage. Well worth the extra $10/day!
It was hot and humid, but not as bad as I thought it would be. The parks were fairly crowded, but if you went early and did fast pass, you were fine. However, we never made it on test track because the fast passes would either be gone in the afternoon or would be several hours out. (we spent mornings at MK or AKL usually)
The rain was not bad at all. (I went one August where it rained every day for at least 3 hours per day!) It rained Saturday night - but we had Boma reservations, so it didn't bother us. And it rained Sunday afternoon about 3pm, but we were leaving Epcot then to head to the airport.
All in all, a great trip. And, I loved AKL. However, the Boardwalk/Epcot resort area is still my favorite (due to the walk to Epcot), but my husband preferred AKL because he liked the little touches like the story telling, cookie decorating, the restaurants, the animals etc. Good thing we can visit both and it gives us another reason to go back!
Any questions, fire away!
Our check in person was amazing. The place was quite busy, but she kindly took her time, offered me an upgrade from pool view to savanna view for an extra $10/night (I took it!) and found us a room that was ready right then! Which was wonderful since so many others were "homeless" for several hours.
The pool was wonderful. The chairs were always filled with towels, but the pool itself did not feel crowded. My daughter loved the slide and would go down it over and over and over... (I did mention the "chair saving" to a lifeguard one day, and saw her go over and start moving towels and freeing up chairs - which was great. Chairs would be saved all day long, and never a guest would use them... but that is another story and not AKL's fault.)
The buses were amazing. We never waited more than 5 minutes (we night have been lucky - but this happened for 5 days!) and I loved the direct service to the parks. Almost always got a seat.
The CMs were helpful and nice. My daughter loved the story telling, cookie decorating and other activities they put on. The CMs were very sweet to my daughter - she even hugged our story teller!
We ate at Jiko, Boma and Mara. All very good. My daughter spent one evening at Simba's club and loved it and begged to stay longer and wanted to go back another day.
We saw lots of animals (we were on Zebra trail WAY down the hall!). However, we were there for almost 5 full days, so sometimes you could look out and there would be nothing, then 30 minutes later, there would be giraffes, zebras, wildebeasts(sic?) and those African long horn cattle things (don't remember the official name). I spent many a nap time watching the animals and enjoying a cold beverage. Well worth the extra $10/day!
It was hot and humid, but not as bad as I thought it would be. The parks were fairly crowded, but if you went early and did fast pass, you were fine. However, we never made it on test track because the fast passes would either be gone in the afternoon or would be several hours out. (we spent mornings at MK or AKL usually)
The rain was not bad at all. (I went one August where it rained every day for at least 3 hours per day!) It rained Saturday night - but we had Boma reservations, so it didn't bother us. And it rained Sunday afternoon about 3pm, but we were leaving Epcot then to head to the airport.
All in all, a great trip. And, I loved AKL. However, the Boardwalk/Epcot resort area is still my favorite (due to the walk to Epcot), but my husband preferred AKL because he liked the little touches like the story telling, cookie decorating, the restaurants, the animals etc. Good thing we can visit both and it gives us another reason to go back!
Any questions, fire away!
