Review of AKL and CR

[Aristomommy]

We returned home yesterday from a truly Magical vacation in WDW. We stayed at AKL for 4 nights and then transferred to Contemporary for another 4 nights. Although both places had good and bad, we fell in love with AKL. Here are some of my observations:

Theme and how it’s carried out at AKL is by far Disney’s best. We were upgraded from a standard to a savannah room. We could see giraffe, cattle, antelope, zebra and different kinds of birds outside our room at different times of day. DD participated in many activities and enjoyed them all. Isabella from Botswana was wonderful in sharing her knowledge of the animals and DD connected with her instantly. (DD is an Animal Planet nut and has tons of animal facts stored in her little brain) I overheard them talking about the living and mating habits of different antelope and why they have different shape horns. It was priceless to DD.
Mousekeeping was a minus for us while staying at AKL. They frequently forgot to replenish our towels, coffee cups and coffee. They were brought to our room immediately after a phone call, but we would have to make that daily call. Bomas was booked solid every night and would not accept walk ins. I believe this is due to the dining plan, but it was frustrating not having any dining options besides counter service. We made our ADRs well ahead of time, but for 2 evenings, we wanted to “wing it”. Well this time, there was no winging it at WDW.

Contemporary was bland after spending 4 nights in “African Savannah”. The rooms looked old and most definitely in need of rehab. We were in the North Garden Building very close to the Tower which was convenient. We walked to MK every time we visited, as the monorail was breaking down daily and sometimes there were no room for strollers. Our room was not clean when we arrived. We found candy, coins and napkins at very obvious locations in our room. Same story here: if you don’t have ADRs, restaurants are not taking walk ins. Only exception we found was Ohana’s but heir wait time was 1.5 hours. Luckily we had ADRs. I thought the monorail would be a plus at CR, but it was a hassle to use. It took a long time to arrive and they would be extremely full. It was easier to walk to MK and I would have rather taken a bus to Epcot, then transfer from one monorail to another.
Pluses about CR were view of the castle, DD loved their slide to the pool, and DH loved the arcade. Location was also good, although next time I would like to try something more themed.

All and all we had a great trip. It may sound very negative from this post, but I feel that for a deluxe category, some of the things were not up to par. Please ask any questions or anything I might have missed.

 

[Joy]

Do you remember what time the story time is? We will be at the AKL in early Feb!

Thanks!

 

[Aristomommy]

Do you remember what time the story time is? We will be at the AKL in early Feb!

Thanks!

I think it was 7:30pm. Music of the Savannah was DDs favorite, and it was 6:30pm. We also went to a Pelican feeding at 9:30am, which was fun. You'll have a great time.

 

[escape]

Mousekeeping was a minus for us while staying at AKL. They frequently forgot to replenish our towels, coffee cups and coffee. They were brought to our room immediately after a phone call, but we would have to make that daily call. Bomas was booked solid every night and would not accept walk ins. I believe this is due to the dining plan, but it was frustrating not having any dining options besides counter service. We made our ADRs well ahead of time, but for 2 evenings, we wanted to “wing it”. Well this time, there was no winging it at WDW.

Wow, what a difference 2 weeks make. We were at AKL Sept 14-19. We fell in love with the resort as well. We had no trouble doing a walk-in at Boma for 2 of those nights.

I'm sorry you had disappointing mousekeeping services. We had just the opposite experience. I hope our experience was more the norm and not just the luck of the draw.

I can't wait to go back to AKL. The next time I go, I'd like to spend more time at the resort. There really is a lot to do there. If nothing else, I could be happy sitting on the balcony and enjoying the scenery.