toodycat
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 4, 2008
- Messages
- 1,648
Trip Report: Husbands 50th birthday at AKL Club Level: The Good, the Bad, the Mad and the Not-So-Scary Part I: Arrival
Background: We planned to spend DHs 50th at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in a club level room. We had stayed at the AKL once before briefly in 2002 and really enjoyed it. Our subsequent trips had all been Magic Kingdom-centered so we had stayed at resorts with easy transportation to MK. In this case, we were planning an Epcot and Animal Kingdom-centric trip. I tried to make many birthday plans in advance by corresponding via email with the itinerary planning staff several months ahead of time. I didnt request anything unreasonable: we booked the Sunrise Safari, ordered tickets to Mickeys Not-So-Scary Halloween party, planned a birthday dinner at Jiko for our little party of three---DH, DS (16) and myself----with a special theme cake and pre-ordered a humorous birthday hat to be waiting in the room when we arrived. (The IPO office told me they would order the hat and that the charges would be applied to my Amex about a week before arrival. As of a day or two before our departure, they said they were still waiting for confirmation on the cake.) Because we had cancelled an anniversary celebration at the club level at AKL several months ago, the IPO designated the trip our anniversary celebration as well. The day before departure, I emailed our flight number and expected arrival time at the Lodge to the IPO.
Arrival: The lobby of the Animal Kingdom Lodge is as breathtaking and exotic as we remembered it. Unfortunately, we received a fairly indifferent and confused welcome when we arrived at AKL at about 9 p.m. Last summer, we stayed at the Grand Floridians Club Level and a representative met us at valet parking, sat with us in the lobby and registered us personally. At AKL, no one said more than hi and when we asked if we would be registered separately by club staff, we were told they only meet guests until 3 p.m. This made little sense since check in starts at 3 p.m. The young woman who helped us at the front desk exuded cheerfulness, but was unable to locate our registration packet or confirm that any of the birthday arrangements had been put in place. She told us to check at the concierge lounge. We went up to the concierge lounge and the gentleman there did not have our registration papers. Also, he said the young woman at the front desk had given us the wrong keys---club level keys are gold and she had given us blue---this is not much of a distinction, except that you need a special key to access the concierge lounge at AKL. He told us to return to the front desk to get the registration packet and to come back to him to get the gold keys tomorrow morning because we close here at 10 p.m. I dispatched a hungry son and husband to wait for a table at Boma and went back to the front desk to straighten everything out with another cast member who was able to find our registration packet. I wanted to confirm the birthday hat and the cake, but she was still not sure. She disappeared behind the scenes for a while and returned to tell me that the hat would not be arriving until late the next day. Since his birthday was the next day, I told her to forget it, that I would buy a hat myself.
We had a lovely dinner at Boma. One of the things we really like about the Animal Kingdom Lodge is the opportunity to try many new foods. The grilled pork and chicken were delicious as were the corn meal and spinach mix and the grapefruit avocado salad. After dinner, we went into the Marketplace to look for a birthday hat. There, on display, were at least three of the exact hat I had ordered weeks ago that the CM had just told me could not be delivered until late tomorrow. I was not feeling the magic.
Things improved and declined when we arrived in our room. There were four long stemmed roses on our bed, (but no vase to put them in anywhere in evidence) and a towel heart, a button that said Happy 50th birthday for my DH with his name on it plus two Im Celebrating buttons for DS and me, two buttons that said Happy Anniversary with both DH and my names on them and two swag bags---one for DHs birthday which what appeared to be a ceramic infuser of some sort inside and another for an anniversary with his and hers elephant bottle colognes, chocolate martini glasses filled with chocolate covered cherries and a certificate reading, Happy Anniversary Lolito Safari! We are not the Lolitos! Mousekeeping had done a good job in providing us with a clean room and H20 Disney toiletries, but only two robes and no shampoo or conditioner, a fact that was made embarrassingly clear when the entirely soaked six feet of DS emerged from the shower, wrapped in a small towel, searching for shampoo with some urgency. That evening, I wrote a note to Mousekeeping with a generous tip, requesting a third bathrobe and shampoo and conditioner. The next day we were deluged with all types of toiletries and an additional robe which was so shrunken from previous washings that none of us could fit in it and we are not a plus size family.
Background: We planned to spend DHs 50th at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in a club level room. We had stayed at the AKL once before briefly in 2002 and really enjoyed it. Our subsequent trips had all been Magic Kingdom-centered so we had stayed at resorts with easy transportation to MK. In this case, we were planning an Epcot and Animal Kingdom-centric trip. I tried to make many birthday plans in advance by corresponding via email with the itinerary planning staff several months ahead of time. I didnt request anything unreasonable: we booked the Sunrise Safari, ordered tickets to Mickeys Not-So-Scary Halloween party, planned a birthday dinner at Jiko for our little party of three---DH, DS (16) and myself----with a special theme cake and pre-ordered a humorous birthday hat to be waiting in the room when we arrived. (The IPO office told me they would order the hat and that the charges would be applied to my Amex about a week before arrival. As of a day or two before our departure, they said they were still waiting for confirmation on the cake.) Because we had cancelled an anniversary celebration at the club level at AKL several months ago, the IPO designated the trip our anniversary celebration as well. The day before departure, I emailed our flight number and expected arrival time at the Lodge to the IPO.
Arrival: The lobby of the Animal Kingdom Lodge is as breathtaking and exotic as we remembered it. Unfortunately, we received a fairly indifferent and confused welcome when we arrived at AKL at about 9 p.m. Last summer, we stayed at the Grand Floridians Club Level and a representative met us at valet parking, sat with us in the lobby and registered us personally. At AKL, no one said more than hi and when we asked if we would be registered separately by club staff, we were told they only meet guests until 3 p.m. This made little sense since check in starts at 3 p.m. The young woman who helped us at the front desk exuded cheerfulness, but was unable to locate our registration packet or confirm that any of the birthday arrangements had been put in place. She told us to check at the concierge lounge. We went up to the concierge lounge and the gentleman there did not have our registration papers. Also, he said the young woman at the front desk had given us the wrong keys---club level keys are gold and she had given us blue---this is not much of a distinction, except that you need a special key to access the concierge lounge at AKL. He told us to return to the front desk to get the registration packet and to come back to him to get the gold keys tomorrow morning because we close here at 10 p.m. I dispatched a hungry son and husband to wait for a table at Boma and went back to the front desk to straighten everything out with another cast member who was able to find our registration packet. I wanted to confirm the birthday hat and the cake, but she was still not sure. She disappeared behind the scenes for a while and returned to tell me that the hat would not be arriving until late the next day. Since his birthday was the next day, I told her to forget it, that I would buy a hat myself.
We had a lovely dinner at Boma. One of the things we really like about the Animal Kingdom Lodge is the opportunity to try many new foods. The grilled pork and chicken were delicious as were the corn meal and spinach mix and the grapefruit avocado salad. After dinner, we went into the Marketplace to look for a birthday hat. There, on display, were at least three of the exact hat I had ordered weeks ago that the CM had just told me could not be delivered until late tomorrow. I was not feeling the magic.
Things improved and declined when we arrived in our room. There were four long stemmed roses on our bed, (but no vase to put them in anywhere in evidence) and a towel heart, a button that said Happy 50th birthday for my DH with his name on it plus two Im Celebrating buttons for DS and me, two buttons that said Happy Anniversary with both DH and my names on them and two swag bags---one for DHs birthday which what appeared to be a ceramic infuser of some sort inside and another for an anniversary with his and hers elephant bottle colognes, chocolate martini glasses filled with chocolate covered cherries and a certificate reading, Happy Anniversary Lolito Safari! We are not the Lolitos! Mousekeeping had done a good job in providing us with a clean room and H20 Disney toiletries, but only two robes and no shampoo or conditioner, a fact that was made embarrassingly clear when the entirely soaked six feet of DS emerged from the shower, wrapped in a small towel, searching for shampoo with some urgency. That evening, I wrote a note to Mousekeeping with a generous tip, requesting a third bathrobe and shampoo and conditioner. The next day we were deluged with all types of toiletries and an additional robe which was so shrunken from previous washings that none of us could fit in it and we are not a plus size family.
