iluveeyore
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2005
- Messages
- 2,470
Just had our first trip to AKL - have visited before, but never stayed. Got a great rate so surprised DH for his 40th.
The bad was our first day - mostly our fault, but I felt it could have been handled a bit better to help us out a bit.
We drove down from southern Ontario on Saturday as far as Martinsville, Virginia because my DH had wanted to go to the Nascar race for his birthday, and the race was on Sunday, Oct. 21 - combine it with a trip to WDW and I'm so there!!!
Had a great time at the race Sunday - beautiful day, gorgeous mountains. Left the track with millions of others around 6pm - on the road to Florida by 8pm. Thought we'd drive as far as Georgia and stop for a nap at a rest stop. By midnight, I climbed in the back and went to sleep, told DH to wake me when we pulled over so we could lay the seats down in our Durango and get a good sleep. When I woke up, we had stopped and it was 3:30 am. - we were on the other side of Jacksonville! DH had drove through because there was construction he didn't want to get stuck in. I said if we stopped now, we would get onto the I-4 just as rush hour was starting, so we decided to push on through and hope to get in our room early. We've checked in early before (not quite so early), so I thought we'd give it a try.
Once at at the AKL, we were both half asleep and feeling completely horribly and groggy. It was 6am, and the check-in desk had just opened.
I gave her our names, and told her our story of not sleeping all night and really needing a room sooner rather than later. I told her I realized check-in was not until 3pm, but please try as we felt lousy and needed a bed. Usually if we fly and it's not ready, we happily head out for the parks to pass the time. When you haven't slept and have spent 12 hours in your truck, you just want to lay down and die some where private.
No luck, booked solid and no empty rooms - we had even offered to pay for an upgrade - nothing!
She gave us our keys, the little card with the number to call and said we could wait in the lobby or by the pool. I didn't want to fall asleep in the lobby that seemed to be coming to life, so off we went to the parking lot, pulled up a seat in the truck and had a snooze. I was awakened at 8:30 am by a family getting into the van right beside us when I heard a little girl ask "Daddy, why is that lady sleeping in her truck?" I woke up DH and we headed to the lobby to call the number on a house phone. Still not ready. After calling 8 times, and two visits back to the front desk, at 2:30 pm a new cm I got finally put a note on the ressie to 'rush' the room (why hadn't this note been on there the whole time????), and the room was magically ready 10 minutes from then. Finally!! We had a ressie at Boma for 4:40, so we just showered and changed and went down to eat. We were in bed by 6pm and slept all night.
The rest of the week was great - the lodge is beautiful and I love the African theme.
The only thing we shook our heads at was that our room was right beside the housekeeping storage where they came out every day with their carts, and our room was clean by 11 am or sooner every day - except the one we wanted to get in early!!
Oh well, we wasted the first day, but what can you do - no magic pixie dust by the staff the first day
I would still recommend it - just not sure why they were so booked solid in October, especially when the parks seemed half empty compared to our July trip. Everyone must have spent every day at the resort, or that was the only one full!
The bad was our first day - mostly our fault, but I felt it could have been handled a bit better to help us out a bit.
We drove down from southern Ontario on Saturday as far as Martinsville, Virginia because my DH had wanted to go to the Nascar race for his birthday, and the race was on Sunday, Oct. 21 - combine it with a trip to WDW and I'm so there!!!
Had a great time at the race Sunday - beautiful day, gorgeous mountains. Left the track with millions of others around 6pm - on the road to Florida by 8pm. Thought we'd drive as far as Georgia and stop for a nap at a rest stop. By midnight, I climbed in the back and went to sleep, told DH to wake me when we pulled over so we could lay the seats down in our Durango and get a good sleep. When I woke up, we had stopped and it was 3:30 am. - we were on the other side of Jacksonville! DH had drove through because there was construction he didn't want to get stuck in. I said if we stopped now, we would get onto the I-4 just as rush hour was starting, so we decided to push on through and hope to get in our room early. We've checked in early before (not quite so early), so I thought we'd give it a try.
Once at at the AKL, we were both half asleep and feeling completely horribly and groggy. It was 6am, and the check-in desk had just opened.
I gave her our names, and told her our story of not sleeping all night and really needing a room sooner rather than later. I told her I realized check-in was not until 3pm, but please try as we felt lousy and needed a bed. Usually if we fly and it's not ready, we happily head out for the parks to pass the time. When you haven't slept and have spent 12 hours in your truck, you just want to lay down and die some where private.
No luck, booked solid and no empty rooms - we had even offered to pay for an upgrade - nothing!
She gave us our keys, the little card with the number to call and said we could wait in the lobby or by the pool. I didn't want to fall asleep in the lobby that seemed to be coming to life, so off we went to the parking lot, pulled up a seat in the truck and had a snooze. I was awakened at 8:30 am by a family getting into the van right beside us when I heard a little girl ask "Daddy, why is that lady sleeping in her truck?" I woke up DH and we headed to the lobby to call the number on a house phone. Still not ready. After calling 8 times, and two visits back to the front desk, at 2:30 pm a new cm I got finally put a note on the ressie to 'rush' the room (why hadn't this note been on there the whole time????), and the room was magically ready 10 minutes from then. Finally!! We had a ressie at Boma for 4:40, so we just showered and changed and went down to eat. We were in bed by 6pm and slept all night.
The rest of the week was great - the lodge is beautiful and I love the African theme.
The only thing we shook our heads at was that our room was right beside the housekeeping storage where they came out every day with their carts, and our room was clean by 11 am or sooner every day - except the one we wanted to get in early!!
Oh well, we wasted the first day, but what can you do - no magic pixie dust by the staff the first day
I would still recommend it - just not sure why they were so booked solid in October, especially when the parks seemed half empty compared to our July trip. Everyone must have spent every day at the resort, or that was the only one full!
