Just back from CBR and AKL!

[bunnyfoo]

I just got back today from a 7 night stay at Caribbean Beach and 4 nights at Animal Kingdom. It was our first time staying at a Disney resort (not the first time at WDW ) and we had a blast! So here are my reviews...

CBR
The resort is great, the staff is very friendly and helpful! We requested to stay in the Jamaica village (after reading the boards) and all of our requests were honoured. We were given a room in building #42 that had a view of the lake and was on the second floor. If you want a room that's closest to the bridge to Parrot's Cay, ask for Jamaica #45 or Aruba #51. I think the walk to Old Port Royale was about 10 minutes from our room. If you like to sleep in, the food court stops serving breakfast at 11:30 AM ... If you get there before 11AM, you'll have more choices. The quiet pool usually had people in it, if you went later at night there were less people ... more couples. The bus service was pretty good, I never waited for more than 15-20 minutes at the parks or the resort. Overall, the rooms were pretty soundproof and were quiet ... but we had noisy neighbours who moved in on day 3 That family had kids who would run up and down the hallway, dribbling some type of ball and would yell and scream! The parents didn't seem to say much ... they'd yell a lot though which didn't seem to help any. Fortunately, they were only noisy in the mornings for about 1/2 hour.

AKL
We booked a standard room and were really surprised when we were offered an upgrade to a savanah view at no extra charge! It was great to see the animals right from your room. There are tons of viewing areas around the resort though ... The staff here are great too, I had one of the guides help me with the Hidden Mickey search (some of those are really hidden). The rooms are generally quiet, I didn't hear anyone ... but I did hear lots of plumbing noises (like when someone in another room would flush the toilet or start the shower). The food choices are good too, we ate in The Mara and Boma. Unfortunately, we had a bad experience while at Boma last Thursday. Apparently, they had just installed a new computer system and there were several tables who had problems getting their checks. We waited for more than 45 minutes from the time we asked for the bill until the time we paid We were pretty upset and asked to speak with the manager, but she never showed up ... several other tables had the same problem. Other than that experience, everything was great ... bus service was prompt at the parks and resorts.

I'd definetley go back to either resort ... any questions, just let me know and I'll try to answer them

 

[floridafam]

Glad to hear you had a great trip.

What floor were you on at AKL?

Did you enjoy the pool?

Do you remember what savannah you were on?

Thanks again for a great trip report. If you think of anything else, let us know.

 

[bunnyfoo]

The pool was huge and it had a water slide I only wish the pool had a deeper end. The deepest part of the pool was about 5 feet but that's probably because there are so many children around. There were two hot tubs which were both really nice.

Our room was on the second floor on the Zebra trail, facing the Arusha. We saw lots of the Ankole cattle. I wish we were a little further in (our room was one of the first when you entered the cooridoor) ... so the giraffes never came really close because there weren't many trees (or feeding boxes) ... but there was a lookout point near the pool that we saw three of them grazing at one day! I'll have to post some of my pictures once I download them from my camera

 

[magicmouse2]

I was thinking of doing the same next year. Was the upgrade to AKL worth it or would you have been just as happy staying at CBR the whole time

 

[wedindisney2002]

Did you ask to be upgrade when you checked in? or Did the CM just ask you when you checked in. Would you recommened the floor etc that you were on? We are staying at AKL in July into Aug and want to know what floor/view we should ask for when we check in. Thanks so much.

Have a magical day OoO

 

[gumdrop]

Thanks for sharing the reviews! Congratulations on that great upgrade at AKL! Welcome back!

 

[bunnyfoo]

Originally posted by wedindisney2002
Did you ask to be upgrade when you checked in? or Did the CM just ask you when you checked in. Would you recommened the floor etc that you were on? We are staying at AKL in July into Aug and want to know what floor/view we should ask for when we check in. Thanks so much.

Have a magical day OoO

No, actually I had forgotten to fax in my room requests or even call about them. When I arrived, the CM offered to upgrade me for $66/night. I told her that was too expensive for me. She asked if it was my first time at AKL and I said yes. Then she said not to worry about it, that she would take care of it for me. So that's how I ended up with an upgrade I think I would have been happy with either a standard or a savanah view... there are lots of places to look at the animals around the resort and they're not always around your room.

I stayed on the 2nd floor. I thought it was nice ... a close walk to Boma, The Mara, the pool and the lobby. It was a slightly longer walk to the gift shop and the buses but after staying at CBR, we were use to walking

 

[wedindisney2002]

Bunnyfoo thanks for the help. We booked a savannah view room and now Im wondering if we should have just booked a standard room and see if we would have gotten the upgrade.
But with my luck I would do that and wouldnt get the upgrade. This trip is for our 1 year anniv so I wanted to book the view that we really wanted.

Thanks again OoO