Just back from BWI/AKL!!!!

[Alice42]

Hello Dis-ers,
DH and I just returned from an 8-night stay at WDW. So sad to leave.
We had a split stay at BWI and AKL, here's the scoop:

BWI: Stayed in room 5311, standard view of parking lot, bus stop, and main entrance. Could see TOT, the top of Sorcerer Mickey's Hat and Muppetvision balloon. We had a full balcony and the room was all the way at the end of the hallway. It was a very quiet, lovely room. The room was on the larger side with a king bed; no daybed. Everything was clean upon check-in. We arrived at the resort at 7 am (red-eye flight) and our room was not ready until 3 pm; worth the wait. The resort itself was awesome. We used the quiet pool a lot (loved it!!! ). Loved the proximity to Epcot. Cons: wierd stain in bathtub and the water took forever to get hot water in the shower.

AKL: Room 4032, pool view, 2 beds. I will start with the cons since it is the most prevalent. I wanted to take a nap upon check-in and pulled back the comforters and found long black hairs everywhere
We immediately called mousekeeping to change the linens and put small pen marks on the bottoms to ensure that everything was changed. Went out to the parks for a while and came back with clean, hairless sheets. I was still creeped out though!
The beds were not as comfortable as at BWI. We could also hear other rooms plumbing (i.e. toilets flushing and showers running). We did not spend as much time in the room here than we did at BWI. The rooms were significantly smaller at AKL as well. I remember having a better experience when we stayed in the savannah view room a few years ago.

On a brighter note, we loved the uzima pool area, ate at Boma twice and had a good room service experience. DH used the fitness center and absolutely loved it!

AKL bus service was hit or miss; one time it took almost 30 minutes to get a bus from AK to AKL I wish they had a walkway!


I definitely prefer the Epcot resort area and will probably stay at either YC/BC/BWI next visit!

Feel free to ask any other questions!

 

[luvtheBuzz]

Thanks for the info!
We have stayed at the Epcot resorts our last two trips. I have loved it. The beds being super comfy, convenient to EPCOT, etc. Well, my husband has decided he wants to try something new and he's thinking about AKL. I'm a little nervous, since I know the rooms are smaller. So, well, now you've given me more to ponder. I'm waiting for an AP rate for later in Aug. so I'm hoping I can snag a good deal on an EPCOT resort!

 

[luvtheBuzz]

Oops, I forgot to ask. You said the room was quiet at BW. Could you hear any traffic or such with your view? I'm always looking for a quiet room.

 

[Alice42]

Oops, I forgot to ask. You said the room was quiet at BW. Could you hear any traffic or such with your view? I'm always looking for a quiet room.

Surprisingly, it was pretty quiet. Occasionally we would hear a horn honking, but it was not bothersome. They must have really good insulation and windows!

 

[Disney_Freak56]

I hate to blast AKL -- but on our last stay there our bed was less than imacculate. The bedspread was all crumpled when we arrived in the room at approximately 11:00 p.m. and needless to say, I was not a happy guest. After spending 30 minutes on hold, my husband finally went down to the front desk and a housekeeper was sent to the room to change the linens -- I also asked that the bedspread be replaced as well. I didn't even bother to look at the sheets -- didn't want to know.

Let me add that we were in a handicapped room -- which changes the dynamic of the room entirely -- not that it's a bad thing -- but when you're used to a two vanity situation to get ready in the morning and you have a bathroom area with only one vanity and everything is in the same area -- in other words, it's hard for one person to get ready while soemone else is using the facilities. The one thing I do like though is the hand-held shower unit -- you definitely get more pressure from the hand-held nozzle as opposed to the regular shower head in most of the resort rooms.

The next morning when I went into the bathroom, I noticed long black hairs on the floor and neither my husband nor I have long hair, nor do we have black hair on our heads. Once again, not a happy guest here. We did what we had to do to get it together and I stopped at the front desk and asked to speak to a manager about the bathroom. Told her of our experience the night before and what I discovered in the bathroom. She assured me that the situation would be taken care of.

After a day in the parks, we returned to our room and found -- you guessed it -- the black hairs still in the bathroom. The bed had been made, but nothing had been done to clean the floor in the bathroom.

I called housekeeping (once again) and spoke to a supervisor who assured me that she would immediately send someone to the room to mop the floor and sweep. In less than 15 minutes there was a knock at the door. I told my hubby that there was no way I could deal with this again and he would have to. I went out onto the balcony and waited until it was taken care of. He came out later and told me that all was taken care of in the bathroom, the trash had been emptied, we had fresh towels and the bed had been turned down with chocolates on the bed.

I was happy and put the incident out of my mind for the trip.

My guess about the rumpled bed is that it was assigned to another guest and they decided that it was not an acceptable room for them and asked for another room. That is fine and dandy for them, but if that was the case, then someone from housekeeping should have come into the room and checked it over to make sure it was in tip-top shape for the next guest. At least that's my hope for the room. Would really hate to think otherwise.

As far as the hair in the bathroom goes, that never should have happened. I realize that each housekeeper has to turn over so many rooms each day, but when you're dealing with the amount of floor space in a handicapped room, stray hairs are something that is very visible to the average guest.

I will have to add here that other than the complementary turn-down service, nothing else was done for us -- and not that we expected there to be anything done -- other than what we asked for. But I was terribly disappointed that I took time out of my Park time to stop at the front desk and speak to a manager (who came out from the secret door behind the front desk) and acted as if she was writng down everything I told her about my disappointment with the room.

Would I stay AKL again in the future? You betcha. I love AKL. I like to think of this as an isolated incident. I was just disappointed in the cleaning -- or the less than expected cleaning of the room because it was hubby's only second trip to WDW and I so want him to enjoy going there.

 

[mbcary]

Okay, ya'll have me a little nervous. We just changed our ressie's from POFQ to AKL. I hope I don't have the same experiences that ya'll did with mousekeeping. We are still super excited about staying at AKL though. We don't normally stay in a deluxe but we got a great discount with our AP's. I am sorry you had such a bad experience with mousekeeping. Please our trip be black hair free!

 

[Disney_Freak56]

I'm hoping it's an isolated incident. We've stayed at AKL twio other times and not had a problem at all with our room.

I'm sure your stay will be just perfect.

 

[Alice42]

This was our third stay at AKL and our other 2 stays were incident-free. No matter where you stay, Disney or otherwise, it is always a good idea to inspect the room-you never know what you will find!

 

[720L]

I have found those black hairs at EVERY resort we've stayed at at one time or another! Pop, AKL, Contemporary, CSR and more.It seems like every trip I find one somewhere.

 

[chimo2u]

I just wanted to put some minds to rest about AKL. We stayed January 15-24 2008, and our experience was beyond magical! We were lucky enough to pay only $15.00 more per night and upgrade from a savahnnah view bunk bed room to club level after our first night (found bunks too small for my oldest son who was 15 and 6 feet tall). Our housekeeping was immaculate. I had to have had the world's greatest housekeeper! she was amazing. I met her in the hall the second day, and we had a nice chat about her job, her country, everything "chit-Chatty " anyway, I thanked her for the cute towel animals she had left over the few days, and she was so happy I loved them. I found out the day she was leaving for her time off, so all my tip would be sure to get to her. About 15 min after our talk in the hall, there was a knock at the door. My husband awnsered since i had gone to concierge floor for drinks. The housekeeper had made me a wonderful towel pig (so cute) and said to my husband "for your lovely wife!" What a sweet surprise! I think I was more excited to see the towel animals than my kids! they were so excited to come back and see each day what the housekeeper left Mom! EVERY day of our 9 day trip we had an immaculate room and cute towel animals made just for us! I loved AKL as did the whole family. I was thinking of switching resorts and trying either BC or Poly club level next trip (Sept 2009... hoping for free dining!) but to tell you the truth, AKL is having a BIG pull at my heart strings the more I remember, and I may just return to "home" as it was so memorable and more than I could dream of for our first visit! Oh why do decisions at WDW have to be so hard? I have never flip-flopped so much in my life as trying to decide what resort to stay at! Anyway, please put your minds to rest about the quality of AKL... you will be on .... We definitely were!
Marie

 

[mbcary]

Thanks so much Marie! It sounds like you had a magical experience! I am hoping ours will be just as wonderful. Thanks again for sharing.

 

[Lorithetoothfairy]

Thanks Marie.... you have put my mind at ease!! We are staying at AKL in Septemer. Your stay sounded so magical!!!