Drove in this morning after spending the week at Jambo house in a studio. this was our first time at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had two studio's. The first five nights we stayed in room #5206 as a savanah view and then moved the last two nights to #5122 a value view studio. I have to say that both looked over the sunset savanah, however, I liked the view from the value view much better. The tiny bit smaller room was really not a huge factor for us. My father-in-law had his own studio and was never much further than two or three doors away.
Overall, we really loved the resort. My DD10 loved the campfire stories and night vision binoculars. I loved the lush greenery and themeing of the resort. The drums were a little bothersome at night since we were located in 5th floor lobby area, but we didn't hear them when we changed rooms.
The one thing that really bothered me about the resort was the bell service and check-in. When we pulled up to check in, there were a few cars and a cast member came up to ask us if we wanted to valet park. We said no, we were checking in and he then proceeded to jump from vehicle to vehicle and pulled them up, leaving us literally behind about 4 vacant cars. No other cast member came to us until I had starting putting our luggage from our car parked behind several other empty parked cars (Waiting for valet parking) onto the area in front of the entry doors. I had the car almost completely unloaded. I then grabbed a trolley and started to put all our luggage on that when a cast member finally came over to hand me a ticket for the cart full of luggage. No welcome homes, nothing....
I then proceeded to check-in and was told my DD10 had her own room. I tried to explain to the check-in cast member that no her and I were in one room and my DFIL was in the other. The cast member said that I had it wrong. I finally took the room keys and showed him who was who and that she is only 10 and cannot be in her own room. It took a while but he finally understood and changed the room keys and rooms around. At this point, I felt a little annoyed and just wanted to get to our rooms. Luckily they were ready and off we headed.
This experience will not change how I feel about the resort, we really liked it. But really feel improvement is definitely needed. Even when we changed rooms, we moved our own luggage, Bell service was just not that user friendly nor were the check-in cast members.
Concierge on the other hand, particularly Ryan was outstanding. Everytime I needed something, they were on the ball and were able to accomodate me. My DD had burned her hand on my curling iron and we went to the store for burn cream, not luck, they told us to go to the front desk and ask. We did and were told that they were all out. We then went to concierge and Ryan actually went to the Kitchen and got some burn gel for my DD. I am certainly going to write to Disney about how truly appreciative I was of his true geniuine concern and willingness to go above and beyond. Thank you Ryan!
Parks were busy, but we went slow and enjoyed. Boma was exellent. And we had a great time.
Just thought I would share....
Overall, we really loved the resort. My DD10 loved the campfire stories and night vision binoculars. I loved the lush greenery and themeing of the resort. The drums were a little bothersome at night since we were located in 5th floor lobby area, but we didn't hear them when we changed rooms.
The one thing that really bothered me about the resort was the bell service and check-in. When we pulled up to check in, there were a few cars and a cast member came up to ask us if we wanted to valet park. We said no, we were checking in and he then proceeded to jump from vehicle to vehicle and pulled them up, leaving us literally behind about 4 vacant cars. No other cast member came to us until I had starting putting our luggage from our car parked behind several other empty parked cars (Waiting for valet parking) onto the area in front of the entry doors. I had the car almost completely unloaded. I then grabbed a trolley and started to put all our luggage on that when a cast member finally came over to hand me a ticket for the cart full of luggage. No welcome homes, nothing....
I then proceeded to check-in and was told my DD10 had her own room. I tried to explain to the check-in cast member that no her and I were in one room and my DFIL was in the other. The cast member said that I had it wrong. I finally took the room keys and showed him who was who and that she is only 10 and cannot be in her own room. It took a while but he finally understood and changed the room keys and rooms around. At this point, I felt a little annoyed and just wanted to get to our rooms. Luckily they were ready and off we headed.
This experience will not change how I feel about the resort, we really liked it. But really feel improvement is definitely needed. Even when we changed rooms, we moved our own luggage, Bell service was just not that user friendly nor were the check-in cast members.
Concierge on the other hand, particularly Ryan was outstanding. Everytime I needed something, they were on the ball and were able to accomodate me. My DD had burned her hand on my curling iron and we went to the store for burn cream, not luck, they told us to go to the front desk and ask. We did and were told that they were all out. We then went to concierge and Ryan actually went to the Kitchen and got some burn gel for my DD. I am certainly going to write to Disney about how truly appreciative I was of his true geniuine concern and willingness to go above and beyond. Thank you Ryan!
Parks were busy, but we went slow and enjoyed. Boma was exellent. And we had a great time.
Just thought I would share....
