Number 9 is really FINE! Welcome to AKL LITE - the 'unofficial' FAQ Thread

[spicycrab]

Our first night here and loving it! We had no dinner plans and managed to get a Boma res using the MDE app.

Our room is standard savanna (uzima). We have all that except microwave. I was surprised to see a pack n play right in the closet. I thought that was a request item. If the 6 year old kicks the 12 year old in her sleep, I can throw her in it, lol. I certainly hope private bathrooms are included in each room! It's been many years since I've shared a hotel bath! Lol.

Lol! Thanks!

 

[BiancaBernard&Penny]

Ok, zebra dome question. My oldest (13, not actually mine, we borrowed her from a friend) had a ZD. Then I went up and saw the "made with alcohol" notice. I assume they are ok for minors? If they had significant alcohol they would have to be "distributed" cautiously, right? I imagine (from logic and taste) that it has less alcohol than cough syrup. Regardless, I grew up in a German family where brandy filled chocolate was a normal thing, lol. My friend has similar thoughts. But, still, curious? She didn't even like more than one bite, anyway.

 

[TruBlu]

Ok, zebra dome question. My oldest (13, not actually mine, we borrowed her from a friend) had a ZD. Then I went up and saw the "made with alcohol" notice. I assume they are ok for minors? If they had significant alcohol they would have to be "distributed" cautiously, right? I imagine (from logic and taste) that it has less alcohol than cough syrup. Regardless, I grew up in a German family where brandy filled chocolate was a normal thing, lol. My friend has similar thoughts. But, still, curious? She didn't even like more than one bite, anyway.

I took a picture of the ingredient list. I guess there is a small amount of alcohol, but I imagine it is cooked off or they wouldn't sell them to children. There were no restrictions on who could buy them.

Sent from Tracey's iPhone using DISBoards

 

[kimmar067]

Can you please add us to the list? We will be staying at AKL in a pool view room (hoping to be close to the pool and Mara), 8/22-8/30. This will be our first stay at AKL, we have eaten at Boma many times and we have always wanted to try AKL, so glad we will get the chance this year!

...well then, request Zebra Trail, near elevator....that way, you can take the elevator all the way down to the first floor and wind up right near The Mara...

 

[psac]

6 more days

Exciting, enjoy!

 

[pinkvol7]

This is my first post!! We are going to Kidani June 16-22. We have a 2 bedroom. Rented points from a friend for cheaper than it would be to stay at value. It will be my mom, 2 kids, and me and the hubs. We are celebrating our 13th anniversary while there!! CM told me we would not know if it is a savannah view till check in. Fingers crossed!! Excited!

 

[Pinkocto]

This is my first post!! We are going to Kidani June 16-22. We have a 2 bedroom. Rented points from a friend for cheaper than it would be to stay at value. It will be my mom, 2 kids, and me and the hubs. We are celebrating our 13th anniversary while there!! CM told me we would not know if it is a savannah view till check in. Fingers crossed!! Excited!

Congratulations!

 

[RachelTori]

This is my first post!! We are going to Kidani June 16-22. We have a 2 bedroom. Rented points from a friend for cheaper than it would be to stay at value. It will be my mom, 2 kids, and me and the hubs. We are celebrating our 13th anniversary while there!! CM told me we would not know if it is a savannah view till check in. Fingers crossed!! Excited!

to Disboards and to the thread!

Congrats on your booking. A 2-bedroom in Kidani is awesome.......... so much room!

I think you may have received some misinformation from the CM though. Kidani only has 2 "views" - Standard and Savannah and the amount of points per night differs, depending on which one you choose. Your friend would be able to tell you whether he/she booked a Standard or Savannah view. If it's a Standard View, the likelihood of getting upgraded at check-in is very remote since it is a DVC (points) reservation. If it's a Savannah View, you won't know which Savannah till check-in: Sunset or Pembe.

I just don't want you to get your hopes up and then be disappointed. Even a Standard View will be awesome!

 

[WeCantWait]

...well then, request Zebra Trail, near elevator....that way, you can take the elevator all the way down to the first floor and wind up right near The Mara...

Thanks so much for this information! I will be sure to add this request!

 

[franandaj]

I usually travel at slower times of the year so I haven't had much trouble at the 7 month window. My last DVC trip was my crazy trip of splits stays in October for F&W. I did BWV 4 nights, AKV 2 nights, VWL 2 nights and OKW 4 nights .... all studios and all at the 7 month window. I feel I was really lucky to get BWV at that time of the year but I figure I could have gotten more nights at the other resorts if I'd wanted to.

I'm planning my next trip for Oct/Nov for 10 to 12 nights but think I'll only do a 2 resort split ... maybe a lodge split if I can manage it.

Hey Linda! Long time no see around here! I hope your trips to AK work out. We're going Sept/Oct next year for F&W, Finally making up that one trip we had to cancel.

 

[franandaj]

I took these shots on the Savannah before the sun went down.

So around 9PM, I decided it was time to get ready to head down to Kidani for our meet up with the Safari. We were supposed to meet at Sanaa at 9:45PM, we showed up a little early and were the only folks sitting there. The whole time. When our guide came to fetch us, it turned out that there were only four people signed up for this evening’s safari and the other two didn’t show up. Cool! We had the whole truck to ourselves!

We didn’t bring the big camera because we figured that there really wouldn’t be much opportunity for picture taking. I always have my P&S on me so that’s what we ended up having for pictures. None of them came out very well, but I’ll share them anyways since they are all that I have.

Our guides were two very nice ladies who work the evening shift in the barn. One drove the truck while the other sat in back and told us about the animals. Evidently their jobs are less than glamorous. Besides having to clean up the poop in the barn area, one of their main jobs in the night shift is to measure out all the food for the morning shift to give the animals when they arrive. They had just completed this portion of their jobs before coming to fetch us for the safari.

If you have taken the Wanyama Safari our course was very similar. We drove around to the back entrance behind the barn and drove past the Pembe Savannah. There wasn’t much to see here. Okapi are from the equatorial regions and prefer a warm climate. It was much too cold for them to be out on the Savannah tonight, they were hunkered down back in the barn.

We proceeded to the Sunset Savannah where the remainder of our trip took place. I inquired about the Antelope (I think it was) that Kathy told us about. Seems they had to put some sort of fence up around Sanaa about a week before we arrived because he was having a problem. Turns out they had taken in five males of his species. Normally males are not desired by zoos and other animal habitats, as you really only need one to keep a good population going. Their ill tempers and other habits make them less than ideal subjects. But in the spirit of ‘Ohana, Disney gave them a chance and took in the lot.

It seems that this one fellow, had a slight problem seeing his image in the windows of Sanaa. We did not see any barriers when we dined there, so I had guessed they resolved the problem. Well the long and short of it was that the poor guy was back in the barn and is going to have to sold or traded to another facility. They moved him off the Savannah, but he just isn’t going to cut it here at AKL or AK and needs a new home.

So back to our tour. The animals are not at all afraid of the truck and shortly after coming onto the savannah, we found these two (a mother and daughter) sharing a late night snack.

I did not use any kind of zoom on these photos we were literally THAT close up to these giraffes. I could see the muscles in their cheeks move as they were chewing the leaves. I was in awe of these beautiful animals and the fact that we were so close up to them.

Then we drove over near the lobby where these vultures were hanging out.

Now there was a whole backstory about these zebras. They are females and evidently the older one has taken the younger one as a companion. Normally the male dominates the group of zebras, but for some reason these two have sort of broken off from the rest of them and they hang out together. I know that there was more to the story, but it was late and it has been about three weeks since the tour, so I’m lucky I remember this much!

As we drove around the savannah, we passed the wildebeasts. There wasn’t much of a story about them, or none that I remember.

We headed over to the savannah area near our room. This is a shot of it, the one on the lowest floor where you can see the suitcase that is open and leaning up against the sliding glass door.

The Ankole Cattle were over here. Evidently the all brown ones are much more valuable in Africa than the ones with white and brown. Our brown cattle were a male and a female. The one who was poking at the giraffe food with his antler was the male. He is pretty hard to live with. They tried several different females on this savannah. The one who is currently on the Pembe Savannah was the latest refugee from him. They switched the two cows and moved the one that is now on the Sunset Savannah from the Pembe. She wasn’t thrilled to be placed with the guy on the Sunset, but evidently the one who was moved out was sooooo happy to be away from the steer on the Sunset Savannah, they let her stay on the Pembe and the current Sunset cow learned to live with the steer. Our guide says that she just ignores him and they do fine.

I didn’t get any decent pictures of them at night, they were all just too blurry. We were out for about an hour and it was just after 11PM. It was very cold out, so we headed back to the lodge. This is Fran trying to keep warm.

And our guide. I wish I was better with names, I’ve completely forgotten it!

And this is the two of us with the truck.

 

[pinkvol7]

to Disboards and to the thread!

Congrats on your booking. A 2-bedroom in Kidani is awesome.......... so much room!

I think you may have received some misinformation from the CM though. Kidani only has 2 "views" - Standard and Savannah and the amount of points per night differs, depending on which one you choose. Your friend would be able to tell you whether he/she booked a Standard or Savannah view. If it's a Standard View, the likelihood of getting upgraded at check-in is very remote since it is a DVC (points) reservation. If it's a Savannah View, you won't know which Savannah till check-in: Sunset or Pembe.

I just don't want you to get your hopes up and then be disappointed. Even a Standard View will be awesome!

Thanks!! My friend converted RCI points and he says he doesn't know about the room as far as the view. I just figured we would plan on standard view and be surprised if it ends up being a savannah room. This is our second Disney trip. Stayed at ASM last time. A little worried about going in June. Went in October last time.

 

[John's Mom]

Alison - Thanks for sharing your pictures. The night pictures turned out really well.

 

[RachelTori]

Thanks!! My friend converted RCI points and he says he doesn't know about the room as far as the view. I just figured we would plan on standard view and be surprised if it ends up being a savannah room. This is our second Disney trip. Stayed at ASM last time. A little worried about going in June. Went in October last time.

Oh, I don't know how the RCI conversion works -- kind of surprised though that the "view" isn't available till check-in.

June will be fine. Sure it will be busy, but as long as you prepare (ADRs, must-do rides & attractions, etc), you will have a great time! Make sure to build in plenty of resort time -- spend time at Jambo House too! Lots of activities (for kids and adults ), great swimming pools, 3 wonderful restaurants (Jiko, Boma & Sanaa), and of course - Zebra Domes!

Happy planning!

Alison - Thanks for sharing your pictures. The night pictures turned out really well.

I agree! Great pictures Alison -- thanks for sharing!

 

[lmminghe]

We are going to AKL for the first time in July! We are doing a split stay and ending our vacation at AKL as a surprise to my DD and DS! I can't wait!! I have booked a room with bunk beds on the Arusha Savannah. Question is regarding a room request. We obviously want to see animals - what floor should we request? Also, I would love to be close to the pool as we are planning on spending all of our time at the resort. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[RachelTori]

We are going to AKL for the first time in July! We are doing a split stay and ending our vacation at AKL as a surprise to my DD and DS! I can't wait!! I have booked a room with bunk beds on the Arusha Savannah. Question is regarding a room request. We obviously want to see animals - what floor should we request? Also, I would love to be close to the pool as we are planning on spending all of our time at the resort. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Arusha Savannah - the 2 trails available would be Zebra & Kudu.

Zebra is on the pool, transportation, and restaurant side. I would suggest you request "Zebra Trail, lobby level" which is 3rd floor. I believe you would find that most convenient. Enjoy!

 

[NJMermaid]

Starting next Tuesday, just booked it, consider ourselves lucky to be going on vacation next week. Here it is:

Tues,Weds, Thurs, SSR studio

Fri AKL CL one bedroom club level, yippee!I feel so lucky that this room opened up.

Sat,Sun,Mon Pop Century

AKL Club Level, one bedroom, we will enjoy this special resort, on the club level, I just am amazed at my luck to score this room, even for one night.

You are all big fans of AKL, we booked the Waynyama safari, with dinner at Jiko for Friday afternoon/evening, any other good advice for us.

 

[DevonsDisneyMom]

This is my first post!! We are going to Kidani June 16-22. We have a 2 bedroom. Rented points from a friend for cheaper than it would be to stay at value. It will be my mom, 2 kids, and me and the hubs. We are celebrating our 13th anniversary while there!! CM told me we would not know if it is a savannah view till check in. Fingers crossed!! Excited!

How awesome! We will be at Kidani from the 14th to the 21st! Can't wait. We rented points too. It was shocked when I saw renting points was cheaper then staying at a moderate resort for us. Have you stayed at the AKV before. We have stayed at Jambo House and loved. This is our 1st stay at Kidani. Hoping we love it here just as much!

We are going to AKL for the first time in July! We are doing a split stay and ending our vacation at AKL as a surprise to my DD and DS! I can't wait!! I have booked a room with bunk beds on the Arusha Savannah. Question is regarding a room request. We obviously want to see animals - what floor should we request? Also, I would love to be close to the pool as we are planning on spending all of our time at the resort. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

We were on floor four and loved the view of the savannah. Our room was located on Kudu trail. Great location. It was about a 3 minute walk to get to the pool area if that.

 

[kimmar067]

....where was THIS taken? At the North Pole???!!?!?! You two look abolutely FROZEN!

 

[franandaj]

....where was THIS taken? At the North Pole???!!?!?! You two look abolutely FROZEN!

Hey! For us wussy little Southern Californians, temperatures even in the high 30s might as well be frozen. Even a lot of the animals had the good sense to be inside! It was well after 11PM too.