OKW & AKL Concierge...Wow!!

[queenof4hearts]

We had so much fun on our first trip as owners!! We stayed at OKW 2/12 - 2/16, then Disney moved us to AKL Concierge ( very smooth) . We stayed in a deluxe room with bunk beds for one night then we moved again to a 1 bedroom suite for three more nights which was awesome!! It was not a complimentary upgrade but well worth it. My husband hates to be cramped, esp. after staying at OKW 2 br.\

Weather was awesome as others heve reported. Evenings are chilly. I told my husband we did not need to purchase the PAP's as the resorts are sooo cool and the pools sooo great the kids hardly asked to go to the parks.

OKW was spectacular, we have never been here before. The guards also said Welcome Home to us every time. What a great atmosphere. No complaints here. We were in bldg. 27 third floor, no elevator. My husband said he would buy here if we could. Maybe we will put our name on the waiting list.

We did bring our laptop and used it at OKW. I hooked up to AOL w/ a local # and I think it was $.35.Very handy.

AKL was amazing. The bellhop said that it was like walking in to a movie theatre and I felt this described it perfectly. It is easy to adjust to. DH said that if I had told him it was so dark he would not have wanted to stay here, but he loved it. When we got to our suite (it was not available 1st night) we were above a giraffe feeding area. How cool. Our balcony was huge. Kids loved the pool. Disney properties are so clean and well taken care of, it is hard to complain about anything.

Concierge is very handy with kids. The only thing that bothered me slightly was watching a couple of men pack away as much food and drinks as they could in bags. I thought this was kind of tacky and hampered the 'atmosphere' slightly. We felt everyone to be very professional and polite.

If anyone has any specific questions please feel free to ask. I know this was long. We can't wait to go back in June to BCV!!

 

[vbfamily]

It sounds like you had a great trip. Glad to hear it.

I understand your frustration with people stuffing food into bags but I'm going to leave this topic alone because it was really hotly debated on the resorts board a couple of weeks ago and got way out of hand.

Would you mind answering a few questions about AKL?

What floor was your suite on? Did you have a savannah view and was it non smoking?

Did you use points to stay at AKL? Did you go to the parks a lot and how was transportation?

Thanks in advance for any info. I've noticed a lot of great trip reports coming out of OKW lately. Maybe we'll give it a try.

 

[queenof4hearts]

vbfamily,

We stayed at AKL w/ points. 236 to be exact (for 4 nights). The upgrade from concierge to 1 br suite for three nights was about $575. She asked if we wanted to use points for this upgrade but we stayed for business so DH's work picked up this extra tab. I do wish I had asked how many extra pts it would have been but I didn't. I know this was not the most economical but certainly easy and convenient so it worked for us. An experience we may have never tried.

I think our suite was 5827 but I may be wrong, definately on the kudu trail. It was nonsmoking savanahh view. We had 4 giraffes eating close to our balcony at least two times a day. It was spectacular! it was a bit of a hike to concierge but this was okay w/ us.

We had our own car except my husband went to the Daytona 500 on the day we transferred to AKL so I used the Disney transportation for our luggage. This was easy as pie. So I really did not exp. Disney transportation.

OKW was terrific and relaxing atmosphere.

 

[mlshields]

What a nice time! We (me, DH& DS -9 and DD -6) are going to OKW in May '04 with my parents - I have narrowed it down to buildings 23 & 62 we are staying a 2 bedroom and I was interested in knowing which building you would think would be a better location. I have owned at OKW since 99 but I have used my points for two cruises and this time I would like to go "Home". The reason I picked those two buildings is to be close to the main pool and stores - but they still look somewhat quite. It is hard to figure how far you really are from the map so any advice would be welcomed!

 

[mlshields]

sorry for the stupid typo I meant "quiet"

 

[queenof4hearts]

Mlshields, Hi, I did not even catch the typo ( ha ha). I found bldg.27 to be close enough to the main pol and shops w/ a beautiful view of golf course. DH wished he could see the golf hole so we could see more golfers but it was extremely quiet and peaceful and private. I did not really check out other bldg #'s so I can not give you any advice. I walked many a times to pool and shops often w/ 2 or three children and it never bothered me. I miss it already!
I forgot to mention that when we arrived at OKW at about 12:30pm we got right in to our room. This was such a nice surprise.

 

[rpink58]

MLSheilds,
Remember you can request any building but you might not get the building you request.I always request a certain building but have only gotten them a couple times.

 

[PamOKW]

What a terrific trip. Thanks for sharing your. It's nice to hear you had no complaints.

 

[CaptainMidnight]

sorry for the stupid typo I meant "quiet"

You can click on the edit button in the right bottom corner of your posting box and make any corrections to your post you would like to. Just in case you weren't aware.

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by mlshields
- I have narrowed it down to buildings 23 & 62 we are staying a 2 bedroom and I was interested in knowing which building you would think would be a better location. The reason I picked those two buildings is to be close to the main pool and stores - but they still look somewhat quiet. It is hard to figure how far you really are from the map so any advice would be welcomed!

mlshields.
If I were you I wouldn't just specify 2 bldgs(23&62) only. You would have a better chance by saying a block of buildings(like 11-14 or 23-26) so the room assigner has a little more to pick from for you.
For the buildings that I mentioned you are only a 3-5 minute walk to the HH and main pool.Building 62 is a 2 minute walk.

 

[vbfamily]

Queenof4hearts,

Just curious, what made you want to stay in a suite as opposed to 2 connecting rooms?

Did your kids love the suite? If you were in the parlor or the bedroom could you hear whatever part of your family that was in the other room?

We're going to AKL in October/November for part of our trip and the suites look so nice.

Thanks in advance for any more info.

 

[Cruelladeville]

mlshields and QueenofHearts,

ml--I have stayed in both 23 and 62 and they were so awesome!! I stayed in 23 last summer, after requesting and not getting 62. Now 23 is my new favorite place to stay! It was so awesome!! I would love to stay there again. I never wanted to leave!

Queen--would you please describe the suite? What was the location to the pool and where was the concierge lounge? Do you know what the cost of the suite would have been if you weren't on points? Please review the points again--did I understand you correctly that the room was 236 points for 4 nights+you had to pay another $535? I love AKL, but I also find the room to be way too small after OKW. We did it the same way you did when we went last summer, but found a regular room to be too confining with 4 of us, so a suite might be the answer for us. I hope I am not being too nosy.

 

[queenof4hearts]

vb family,
We were originally only going for two nights after 4 at OKW then my husband needed to stay 2 extra nights for business. I knew the deluxe room would be too confining for our family of 5 for 4 nights but of course everything was booked. I immed. put on a request for a suite upgrade. I actually did not even think to ask about 2 connecting rooms in concierge but I think I would not have been as happy w/ room layout.

We were in a deluxe room for 1 night w/ 2 bunkbeds, queen size beds and a daybed that pulled out. Then we moved to the suite. It was magnificent, close to the door there was a 1/2 bath then you walk into a very spacious room w/ a table w/ 4 chairs, a kitchenette complete w/ small frig, a pull out couch and tv armoire and sliding doors to the oval oversized balcony connecting to the one bedroom. Then by the table there are two large double heavy doors seperating the living space from the bedroom where there were two queen beds, tv armoire and sliding doors to balcony. The master bath was huge and the shower was huge (DH was amazed, we all could have showered together, ha ha). With the suite there is more of a family room atmosphere than two bedrooms, as in 2 adjoining rooms, and more room for the kids and us to move around in. The balcony was oval and my guess would be that they appoint the suite views to be around feeding zones? We were on 'giraffe alley'. I would absolutely do a suite again. I think the rooms were pretty quiet although we usually had the double doors open and I did not pay too much attention to noise. The location to concierge from our room and suite were both a good distance. Probably a 5 min. walk. It would have been nice to be a bit closer but it was fine w/ us. The pool was probably a 7-8 min. hike. The hotel is big and the hallways are long. Idon't know the cost of the suite w/out points, sorry.
Cruella, a concierge room for the 4 nights was 236 pts. We switched to the 1 br suite after the first night (as soon as it was available). The additional charge was about 575. Not cheap, but well worth mine and my DH's sanity. I would do it again in a heartbeat. We loved the space at OKW. When staying at AKL I certainly did miss the w&d. I am too lazy to leave my room on vaca to do laundry but if it is in my room it is no big deal. The home away from homes are my favorite!
The AKL pool was fantastic too.

 

[vbfamily]

Thanks for the reply Queenof4hearts,

I can almost say with certainty that we are going to go for the suite.

I do know the prices for cash and they aren't cheap. Regular season, the one bedroom suite is $710 per night and discounts on suites are RARE.

Would you mind answering just one more question? I promise I won't ask any more.

Could you hear your neighbors? We are going in October so my DH can do a triathlon and he wants a quiet room for rest before and after. I know we could end up in the same room and have a totally different experience but I'm just curious. I think our kids would like to have the room to relax like you said your kids did.

Thanks for the info.

Glad you had a great time.

They need to have Animal Kingdom Villas. I've seen a lot of posts from DVC members staying at AKL and all of them are overwhelmingly positive.

 

[queenof4hearts]

Hi vbfamily,

I don't mind answering any questions. No, we did not hear any noise from any neighbors. But since you mentioned it the balcony in our room was very close to the balcony ( a small balcony ) next door. We never noticed anyone on it though, can't say if it was vacant or not. Are you going to try and use pts. for your stay? If you do find out price for pts on a suite I would be interested to know. I could kick myself for not asking when the concierge CM asked me!

 

[rpink58]

I ussually ask for somewhere on Old Turtle Pond Road.

 

[vbfamily]

I don't know what the total pts would be for a suite. I don't think it says on any of the point charts in the guidebook, etc.

I think we are going to pay cash. Not sure, though.

I tried to look up your room number on the map of AKL and couldn't find it. If you know what room number you had, I'd love to know for sure. Sorry for being nosy, but I actually may request your suite. I know there aren't that many in the hotel and my odds aren't good for getting too many requests.

It just sounds great. Non-smoking, nice balcony, quiet. I'm kind of nervous because I want a quiet room and I have heard that the rooms on the 5th floor are pretty quiet. You were on the 5th floor weren't you?

If I find out what it cost to stay in a suite for pts, I'll let you know. I actually thought we couldn't use pts for suites but I'm going to do a little research.

Thanks