Visiting AKL

[terryfromhawaii]

Has anyone gone to just visit the AKL? What do the savannah viewing areas look like? Have you been able to see many animals? We're considering skipping the safari so we can go over and visit the AKL. We've been to WDW 3 times before and going again in Nov. and we've always wanted to visit the AKL. We'll be doing AK in the morn/afternoon and then would like to visit the AKL but have an ADR for CP @ 5:10 so we have to kind of cut our AK day short. TIA!

 

[sweetinmaine]

We've gone over to AKL on our last 2 trips, just to visit...The first time we didn't see any animals at all...from the lobby/library sitting area. This past March we went into the room (I call it a library/sitting room) on the left in the lobby and we were able to see a few giraffes near the trees. We had lunch at AKL and that was very nice...I'm not sure that I'd suggest skipping the safari in hopes of seeing more animals at AKL...IMO...

Have a great trip!

 

[Ishy]

Yes, I have been twice to visit! First was at sunset - dinner at Boma's - we spent quite a while exploring at sunset - saw animals - sat by the fire - ate at Boma's - my DD fell in love with it and the following year we did Disney - we stayed at CSR for a week but since my DD had to be at college that following weekend - she did a shorter trip - with 2 girlfriends that week and stayed at the AKL - so I spent a morning with them there before heading to Ak for the day. It was wonderful. Enjoy!

 

[tinabheart]

We visited AKL in March. We too, spent some time in the lobby/library lookout point and only saw a couple of giraffes. We also went to one of the lookout points off one of the hallways towards the back and didn't really see much either.

I would definitely not count on seeing much, and do NOT skip the safari!! That was just tooo awesome of an experience! (And, I'm not really an animal lover)

 

[Chrisypoo]

If you're going to go in the early afternoon, you'll probably not end up seeing very much. The best time is early evening once the sun starts to go down. They also feed the animals then, so that brings them close to the viewing areas.

If you were willing to give up your CP ADR, I would say change it to Boma and then spend the afternoon/early evening at AKL. Between the animals and all of the artifacts around the hotel, you'll have lots to see. It really is a stunning hotel.

 

[catbertdave99]

Well, I'm going to disagree with some of the PP's... we stayed at AKL a few years ago and had a savannah-view room (that was really nice), but there are MANY great locations throughout the resort with GREAT views of the animals -- and for what it's worth, at least when we were there, the animals were easy to see in bunches.

Walk out beyond the pool to the viewing area, and then wander through the resort to the various viewing areas down the long hallways -- I'm guessing you'll see many animals and be quite captivated by the resort details themselves.

As for the safari, it is amazing, but we didn't even do it on our trip this spring -- kind of like we'd done that before, the animals haven't changed... I don't know. I really like it, but it just wasn't a priority, so yeah, if you've done the safari before, check out the resort instead... I think you'll like it.

 

[rotlex]

We went to dinner there, at Boma, on our last trip. We spent a LOT of time wandering the grounds, including the area where the rooms face the savannah. We saw quite a few animals including giraffe, some type of deer, and quite a few others. We almost missed our 6:30pm res due to enjoying ourselves, LOL.

The bad part about the visit was we decided we HAVE to stay there on our next trip. We are already booked for CBR in August, but we'll be going again next May and yep, we'll be booking a Savannah view room. I just loved the look and feel of the whole place!

 

[disneydance]

Thank you for these tip staying there in 3weeks very excited we have a savannah view room and we deffinately be up for dun rise and will be sitting outside our balcony VERY EXCITED

 

[catbertdave99]

Thank you for these tip staying there in 3weeks very excited we have a savannah view room and we deffinately be up for dun rise and will be sitting outside our balcony VERY EXCITED

This is an obvious thing, but make sure your camera is handy! The shots you can get of the animals will be amazing! I forgot to take one when we stayed at AKL (DUH!) and didn't think to buy a disposable one while we were there because we were having too much fun! (DUH - AGAIN!) I haven't made that mistake since!