OMG! I just booked AKL CL for July 2006!

[patsal]

A special surprise for my DD 10--she'll be 11 then and will have just finished 5th grade. She is a really hard worker and is a straight A student with many extra curricular activities. She is often overlooked (her older brother is an academic nightmare and requires so much effort from my DH and I to stay on track) and I think she will be thrilled about it since she is a huge animal lover. I know it is a full year away, but I can't really wait to see the look on her face when we check in!
I've never stayed CL before-- PLEASE tell me everything I need to know!

 

[goin2disneyagain]

I've never stayed CL so I can't help you there. Congratulations on picking an awesome resort, your DD will love it!!

 

[Nik's Mom]

I've never stayed cl before but we loved AKL! It's our favorite resort!!! What a nice Mom you are! Your dd will be thrilled!

 

[cinmell]

I've never stayed at AKL but I just wanted to say have a wonderful time!

 

[wdwaholic]

We will be staying AKL-C in 21 days and the IPO staff has been excellent!!They have made all our Advanced dining reservations, gotten us an Illuminations Cruise and are doing some special things for me to surprise my family.The AKL Concierge is reported to be the best Concierge service on site.The rooms are located on either the 5th or 6th floors.There is a really good overview of Concierge services on www.allearsnet.com and there is a thread on this resorts board with all concierge info.
HTH
Trish

 

[BluOrchid2]

how wonderful for your daughter!

 

[nixieh]

Hi there

We are also considering AKL Concierge for next Summer (Aug), not stayed before so I can't tell you anthing but I was just wondering how you booked, was it with a TA or directly with Disney?? I want to get either AAA or AP discount but dates are too far out at the moment.

Thanks

Nicola

ps I'm sure your daughter will be thrilled!

 

[patsal]

Nexieh - I went to the Disney web site to price it out ($546 per night), then I booked through Dreams here (I have used them successfully many times) and they were able to apply my AAA discount ($411.50 per night). Hopefully an AP discount will come out and I will be able to have Dreams apply that to the room rather than the AAA. I am not one who waits for the AP discount before booking--I book what I want and if I'm lucky a discount will come out (have been able to apply the discount about 75% of the time).

WDWaholic - thanks for the all ears link--that will be very helpful. I looked over the thread here and only got about halfway through it so I'll be reading further later. I think the best thing I learned so far is to contact the C CM's so that they will be able to assist me. I know I'd like to have a few balloons and a card in the room so she will be surprised! Maybe a Sunrise Safari as well, but I have a bit more to learn about that.

 

[Bugsmom73]

COngrats and good for her!!!!!

 

[MOQ3424]

We are staying at the AKL for the first time, we are leaving in only 4 DAYS!!!

I hope she will be as excited as I am!!!!

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

How fun for her!!!

 

[wannabee princess]

We stayed CL at AKL and loved it! It was an awesome experience and I would do it again in a minute! The CMs at the CL are very helpful and pleasant to deal with, the lounge is a nice place to sit and have a snack, the room was great! We have also stayed AKL not CL, and have to say the difference wasn't horrible, but it was enough to make me really miss CL!

From the minute we drove up to the Lodge, we felt like we were extra-special guests, and the bellhop we had was super! We took advantage of visiting the CL every day, and generally more than once a day. I had made a couple of requests of the CMs (had Santa Mouse ears delivered to our room - it was Dec and I did pay for them) and was very pleased with their taking care of everything. But, the best part for us was being able to do the Sunrise Safari at AK! It was worth every penny we spent. I would stay CL again just to experience this!

If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to try to answer!