The All-New "unofficial" AKL/AKV's Jambo & Kidani FAQ thread.....

[Nicole786]

I'm thinking of switching my August POP/BC split stay to AKL and I hope you guys can answer this extremely weird question! lol

One of the things I loved about staying at the WL was when you got into the bus, they went into the shpeel about "Welcome aboard the walt disney world transportation system..etc etc...we're on our way to Disney's Wilderness Lodge, which captures the heart of the blah blah blah -- sit back relax and let us do the driving...you'll be home soon!" and then they played the WL music. I loved this so much that I even video taped it and looking back it puts a smile on my face. Do they do this at the AKL?? I can upload the video if needed for clarification. Thanks!

Also, i'm just going to assume that Mara has hot chocolate for the refillable mugs? right?

 

[Nicole786]

Just wanted to add in one more question before bedtime! lol

Besides the slide, does the pool have anything else going on? Such as a waterfall or sprinklers to go underneath?

 

[ang38]

I know what you're talking about since every bus had the same spiel. I can't remember any music from any of the resorts though, but then again the buses were so loud you couldn't hear much. I'm sure AKL buses have what all the others do since it's all automated.

Hot chocolate....yes they do.

The pool just has a slide...nothing else, but it is one level all around, I think 4 feet or less after you walk into it. That way there's no worrying about it going over your head no matter where you are in it and it is pretty big.The kids are also allowed balls and such to play with.

I'm thinking of switching my August POP/BC split stay to AKL and I hope you guys can answer this extremely weird question! lol

One of the things I loved about staying at the WL was when you got into the bus, they went into the shpeel about "Welcome aboard the walt disney world transportation system..etc etc...we're on our way to Disney's Wilderness Lodge, which captures the heart of the blah blah blah -- sit back relax and let us do the driving...you'll be home soon!" and then they played the WL music. I loved this so much that I even video taped it and looking back it puts a smile on my face. Do they do this at the AKL?? I can upload the video if needed for clarification. Thanks!

Also, i'm just going to assume that Mara has hot chocolate for the refillable mugs? right?

 

[ang38]

The only concierge rooms at AKV are the ones located on the 6th floor. The others do not have club access. Those I think 6 rooms share the lounge. The lounge was never really crowded and we always found a seat.

sorry if this is a dumb question do the AKV have concierge rooms too? does this mean the Villas share the concierge lounge with the AKL club level?

 

[ang38]

Pictures of the rooms or the lounge?
The rooms themselves haven't changed since the conversion.

And for those of us that have never stayed on the Club Level but will be real soon....any details or photos would be oh so appreciated. Just can't get enough !

 

[ang38]

We just got back also. What were the dates of your stay? We were there the 14th -17th and did the morning safari on the 15th. We stayed regular club level room on the 4th floor and were disappointed in the amount of animals also. We've stayed Arusha Savannah before and had animals galore outside our room. This time there were hardly any except a few zebra until our last day. Some-one said that they were painting and had moved the animals. We saw more outside the window overlooking the savanna you were on! If this was our first stay we would have been very unhappy!

I just got back from AKV. I posted this on the AKV lovers thread and I wanted to post it here also:

Hi everyone! I just got back from my Conceirge studio stay and I have to saty that I am really spoiled! It was great! I had one of my friends with me and she was just in awe!

The only drawback that I found was that the savanna view was only so-so. My previous stay at AKL was on the second floor overlooking the Arusha savannah and you could see animals jsut about all the time. However the AKV Conceirge SV rooms overlook the small alcove on the Sunset Savannah. Yes we did see cattle, ostriches, and a giraffe but the views weren't as good as my previous stay.

OK negative out of the way, the CL was incredible. We had room 6206 and it was one of the savanna view rooms. We really enjoyed the breakfasts, appertizers with wine and the food available throughout the day. We also did the sunrise safari and it was everything that I hoped for and more!

 

[ang38]

We moved 3 times this last trip and it was great each time. When we were all packed we called down to bell services. At all 3 resorts they were at our door w/i 10 minutes. They marked all our bags for the next resort and left with them. When we arrived at the next resort we called down to bell services and they brought them up to our room , again w/i minutes. We were told that they transfer luggage between 1 and 4 pm. The great thing was that in all our changes our rooms were ready before 11am! CR by 10am , YC by 9:30 am and AKL at 9am! It was truly amazing since I thought we would be homeless on those days~

when they move your luggage for you how does that work?
how much in advance do you make arrangements to have it taken to the next resort, and do they just hang on to it at the new resort til you get back to your room?... we will be staying 2 nights at CR (yes I know I need to change my ticker) then 5 nights at OKW, then 2 nights at AKL

 

[BKMETV]

We moved 3 times this last trip and it was great each time. When we were all packed we called down to bell services. At all 3 resorts they were at our door w/i 10 minutes. They marked all our bags for the next resort and left with them. When we arrived at the next resort we called down to bell services and they brought them up to our room , again w/i minutes. We were told that they transfer luggage between 1 and 4 pm. The great thing was that in all our changes our rooms were ready before 11am! CR by 10am , YC by 9:30 am and AKL at 9am! It was truly amazing since I thought we would be homeless on those days~

I was so glad to read this since we are doing a split stay in Dec. and will be relying on Disney to transport everything.

 

[angiepangie8]

We moved 3 times this last trip and it was great each time. When we were all packed we called down to bell services. At all 3 resorts they were at our door w/i 10 minutes. They marked all our bags for the next resort and left with them. When we arrived at the next resort we called down to bell services and they brought them up to our room , again w/i minutes. We were told that they transfer luggage between 1 and 4 pm. The great thing was that in all our changes our rooms were ready before 11am! CR by 10am , YC by 9:30 am and AKL at 9am! It was truly amazing since I thought we would be homeless on those days~

I was so glad to read this since we are doing a split stay in Dec. and will be relying on Disney to transport everything.

me too thanks for the info. I hope we are that lucky when we move from the Pop Century to AKL!

 

[angiepangie8]

I just bought my binoculars for our AKV stay! I didn't want to spend a ton of $ on them so I got the 12x magnification 25mm. Anyone know if that will be good enough?

 

[tinkermamaof2]

I just bought my binoculars for our AKV stay! I didn't want to spend a ton of $ on them so I got the 12x magnification 25mm. Anyone know if that will be good enough?

You probably won't need them much. I was worried this February on our first trip to AKL as I had forgotten ours, but was very happy when we got there and almost happy that I didn't use the space to pack them. It may depend on where your room is and just how close of a look you want at the animals, but the savannah isn't really that large. It is beautiful though, and I can't imagine staying anywhere else at Disneyworld. My girls were very happy. The animals at times were right in front of our patio. Have Fun!

Patti

 

[angiepangie8]

You probably won't need them much. I was worried this February on our first trip to AKL as I had forgotten ours, but was very happy when we got there and almost happy that I didn't use the space to pack them. It may depend on where your room is and just how close of a look you want at the animals, but the savannah isn't really that large. It is beautiful though, and I can't imagine staying anywhere else at Disneyworld. My girls were very happy. The animals at times were right in front of our patio. Have Fun!

Patti

thanks
how awesome!!

I'm getting sooooooo excited

I think once we get there I may want to spend more time in the hotel then I anticipated and maybe cut down on our park time!

 

[Debbie Jean]

We're going to be staying at AKV in a 1 bedroom on concierge level in 2 weeks!

For the first time, we are having to rent an ECV due to my wife injuring her knee. Does anyone know if an ECV can comfortably fit in a 1 bedroom villa and still leave us room to move around? I'm thinking about parking it in the kitchen at night, since we probably won't be using that at all!

We just returned from AKV in a 2 bedroom lock-off and I always rent an ECV. I parked it in the kitchen... plenty of room and lots of choices for outlets to recharge at night.

 

[ang38]

The bell service people were some of the best we met~ They all went out if their way for us. It was so painless that we could have kept on switching!! Just remember to have everything ready before you call them to your room! We spent more money on tips for bell services than anything else~

I was so glad to read this since we are doing a split stay in Dec. and will be relying on Disney to transport everything.

 

[Donald is #1]

We just got back also. What were the dates of your stay? We were there the 14th -17th and did the morning safari on the 15th. We stayed regular club level room on the 4th floor and were disappointed in the amount of animals also. We've stayed Arusha Savannah before and had animals galore outside our room. This time there were hardly any except a few zebra until our last day. Some-one said that they were painting and had moved the animals. We saw more outside the window overlooking the savanna you were on! If this was our first stay we would have been very unhappy!

Hi! We probably saw each other in the lounge. We were there from 5/15 until 5/20. We did the safari on the 18th. I think that the sunrise safari spoiled me. The regular safari just won't seem good enough anymore.

Interesting that you didn't seem many animals. On the 15th, I did see less animals on the Arusha savannah than I remembered on my trip last year. But within a day or 2, it seemed to be back to normal.

 

[ang38]

We probably did see each other! We did see an increase on the 16th, the night before we left! The first 2 days was like they kidnapped all the animals but the bunnies! Hubby was actually getting excited about seeing bunnies If it was our first stay we would have been really upset.But all was well....we just walked the hotel to see what we wanted. I think we visited every staircase from the bottom to the top. We were places I didn't know existed! The maids were looking at us funny after awhile

Hi! We probably saw each other in the lounge. We were there from 5/15 until 5/20. We did the safari on the 18th. I think that the sunrise safari spoiled me. The regular safari just won't seem good enough anymore.

Interesting that you didn't seem many animals. On the 15th, I did see less animals on the Arusha savannah than I remembered on my trip last year. But within a day or 2, it seemed to be back to normal.

 

[eeyoresnr]

We moved 3 times this last trip and it was great each time. When we were all packed we called down to bell services. At all 3 resorts they were at our door w/i 10 minutes. They marked all our bags for the next resort and left with them. When we arrived at the next resort we called down to bell services and they brought them up to our room , again w/i minutes. We were told that they transfer luggage between 1 and 4 pm. The great thing was that in all our changes our rooms were ready before 11am! CR by 10am , YC by 9:30 am and AKL at 9am! It was truly amazing since I thought we would be homeless on those days~

awesome....thanks for the info...this will definately put my husbands mind at ease

 

[angiepangie8]

Does anyone know if the kitchen in the AKV stocks a teflon or a non-stick pan? I was planning on making pancakes for breakfast and so I am hoping there is.

Also I know no helium balloons are allowed but what about regular blow up balloons? I was going to bring some to decorate our room the the three Bdays we are celebrating.

Thanks!

 

[pilferk]

Does anyone know if the kitchen in the AKV stocks a teflon or a non-stick pan? I was planning on making pancakes for breakfast and so I am hoping there is.

Also I know no helium balloons are allowed but what about regular blow up balloons? I was going to bring some to decorate our room the the three Bdays we are celebrating.

Thanks!

I can't remember on the non-stick pan. I THINK there was one....but would wait for someone to confirm. There was DEFINITELY a frying pan...I just can't remember if it was non-stick or not.

As for balloons....nope. They're not allowed at all. That's what we've been told It's not about the helium. It's about them somehow making their way out onto the savanna and having an animal ingest one, and either choke on it or do some other harm to it.

 

[RachelTori]

I can't remember on the non-stick pan. I THINK there was one....but would wait for someone to confirm. There was DEFINITELY a frying pan...I just can't remember if it was non-stick or not.

As for balloons....nope. They're not allowed at all. That's what we've been told It's not about the helium. It's about them somehow making their way out onto the savanna and having an animal ingest one, and either choke on it or do some other harm to it.

That's also why plastic straws are not allowed at AKL or AK. The paper straws work well, but my kids don't care for them!