what's up with AKL concierge?

[PRaffen]

I have had to request (for the second time) the itinerary planning form from the AKL concierge. After my first request, I was told it would be mailed the beginning of April. Still have not heard from them.

Have read such glowing reports about AKL concierge on these boards which is one of the reasons I booked with them.

Is their contacting guests one of those "hit or miss" things?

Although we've stayed on-site many times, this is the first time we've splurged to stay concierge as I would like to do the sunrise safari.

Wondered what your experience was before your arrival - did they contact you? did they get the PS you asked for, etc?

Not getting good vibes here. Encouragement, suggestions anyone?

 

[litlpixie]

We had great luck w/ them. About a month and a half before our trip we decided to go Concierge and just several days after that our form came. Sounds like they slipped up, hopefully they dont do that often as we are planning to return there. By the way, AKL is now our fave!! Concierge was awesome with changing ressies, locating a missing video camera, turn-down, etc. Didnt get to do any of the safari this time, though. We've been back for a month and I can still hear the african music they play lobby, now playing in my head. Can't wait to go back!! Have fun!

 

[sakana]

We're planning a trip to Walt Disney World in November, I'm so excited I ould burst

We're also staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Concierge. What is an itinerary planner? How do you request (if not receive) one?

Any and all information about AKL Concierge welcome and appreciated, I've already scoured every review I could find online LOL Comments about transportation to other parks/resorts appreciated.

Also what companies stop at the grocery on the way from airport?

Has anyone gone to Cirque du Soleil and is it fun/worth a visit?

Dining recommendations would be great too, in fact, anything Disney is fine!! LOL

PS Any recommendations on what to do with the first "half day?" & at what time can we expect to be able to check-in to our room, any photos of rooms also appreciated, tell me your links!

We also plan to sign up for the Sunrise Safari on Tuesday.

 

[Hieatt]

Sakana... I have answers to a few of your questions:

Cirque: We have done it twice. It is worth it - probably the single best attraction at WDW. Buy tickets early and sit as close to the front as possible... I have sat in the first row and in the upper center section, and being close was better. It's expensive, but consider that Cirque shows in Vegas are double the price.

Grocery stop: We have used Tiffany Town Car... they will do a grocery stop and we have found them to be excellent.

First half day: Some of the best options include going to Cirque, just swimming and hanging out at the resort, doing a character dinner, or booking an Illuminations cruise.

We plan to be down in late November ourselves... have fun!

 

[PartyOf5a]

When we stayed AKL concierge for Christmas, we didn't get a planner either...and I think it's because we didn't book until November. That being said, I called the concierge desk to see how I could make a couple arrangements and they took my phone number, told me to hang up so they could call me right back and pay for the call. The literally called within one minute, we talked about my requests and that was that.

Why not try giving them one more call? Explain the situation and I'm sure they will take care of you. Or, you can email them. I don't have the email address right now but I bet someone here does.

 

[k&a&c'smom]

That email is wdw.aklodge.concierge@disney.com. I upgraded to CL at check-in, so I can't comment on their pre-planning, but AKL CL is fantastic!! They are so warm and helpful, I can't imagine they are deliberately slighting you.

I thought I'd add, we are staying at WL CL in July, and have been having trouble with our email messages getting through. WL and the Poly share an IPO, and both are not getting their messages, they've stated they are having problems with their mailbox. Have you been calling or emailing AKL? I know that Poly CL last month sent an email, right after I contacted them with my address, which included the Itinerary Planning Form. The one sent by mail came a couple of weeks later.

 

[lindeyspol]

We are spending our last 2 nights in AKL concierge. I originally had pool view but heard such glowing reports here that I decided to upgrade. I booked a few weeks ago for a mid-June trip and although I still haven't received a paper itinerary planner (got one for our Poly stay though) I was surprised instead to receive a phone call from Sue. She acted as though she had all the time in the world for me and took care of finding out a little bit about our family and helped us by suggesting some things we hadn't thought of yet. We have emailed several times since, always with quick response and she even called again today. I decided to change our Sunrise Safari to Sunset and she wanted to make sure everything was ok and help get things shuffled around including making child care arrangements. She has been absolutely wonderful so far and we are looking forward to meeting her when we arrive. Also, we received paper copy for Poly concierge and although no phone calls, Melissa has been in contact by email and has been wonderful as well. She has also gotten us hard to get sold out spots for Pirate Cruise for our son. I would email AKL--you never know how some circuits get crossed--I'm sure they will be just as wonderful and accomodating for you!

 

[luvdzny]

We are staying AKL concierge in mid June. As soon as I made the reservations I e-mailed them and told them I wanted to do the Sunrise Safari. The called me back and told me they would put me on the list for the Safari. As soon as the date came up to book it, they called me to let me know it had been taken care of. I have since e-mailed them a few times and received a response within 24 hours. I would let them know that you want the Safari right away, that way they can book it as soon as it is available.

 

[sherry8253]

Hi PRaffen - I am one of the few who does not ohh and ahhh over AKL concierge. I was very disappointed in the services I received and I am very easy to please. Good luck. PS I must say the sunrise safari did make it all worthwhile!!! I would stay concierge again at AKL just for that alone.

 

[sherry8253]

Hi PRaffen - I am one of the few who does not ohh and ahhh over AKL concierge. I was very disappointed in the services I received and I am very easy to please. Good luck. PS I must say the sunrise safari did make it all worthwhile!!! I would stay concierge again at AKL just for that alone.

 

[#1hockeymom]

Please email the AKL IPO! They really are wonderful, but in my two concierge trips to AKL I have yet to see what an itinerary planner even looks like! Emails have always gone smoothly, and I love having the ability to easily change things and "presto!" it is done! I have a paper trail, so I know what I changed, the dates, and whether or not I mentioned something or not. Sue, Andrea, and Allanah are just wonderful to work with!

Happy planning, and have a wonderful trip to AKL!
Debbie

 

[dansyr]

Hi
We did Akl concierge last sept and it was great. If you haven't recieved anything in the mail yet just e-mail them with your requests. It was my dbf's birthday trip so I e-mailed them as soon as we booked and they were wonderful.

 

[Tedmom]

Originally posted by sakana
We're planning a trip to Walt Disney World in November, I'm so excited I ould burst

We're also staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Concierge. What is an itinerary planner? How do you request (if not receive) one?

--We found emailing the AKL concierge worked wonderfully. Since we booked on late notice, we did not wait and contacted them immediately after making our reservations. They were awesome and were able to secure every PS that we asked for, including CRT!!!

Also what companies stop at the grocery on the way from airport?

--We used Tiffany Town Car. Gil was our driver and was excellent. They do a grocery stop, but we chose not to use it this time. We thought Gil and Tiffany did a great job.

Has anyone gone to Cirque du Soleil and is it fun/worth a visit?

Dining recommendations would be great too, in fact, anything Disney is fine!! LOL

--We loved Boma for breakfast and dinner. We also loved the Yachtman's Steakhouse at the Yacht Club. CRT was terrific, but so was the Columbia Harbor House at MK for lunch. Get a table upstairs and enjoy the peace and quiet!

PS Any recommendations on what to do with the first "half day?" & at what time can we expect to be able to check-in to our room, any photos of rooms also appreciated, tell me your links!

--We arrived at AKL around 2:30 p.m. and our room was ready. We did Cirque du Soliel at 9 p.m. on our arrival 1/2 day. Cirque was fantastic and we are sooooo glad to have chosen to do this. It was one of the best things we have experienced. We questioned whether we would be peppy enough for this show after traveling most of the day, but we had no trouble staying awake for this compelling show. We also had a 6:30 PS for Wolfgang Puck's Cafe, but did not enjoy the experience (too noisy, too crowded and turning over tables as quickly as possible appeared to be the main goal of this restaurant).

We also plan to sign up for the Sunrise Safari on Tuesday.

--Next to Cirque, this was our other most favorite activity of our trip. Not only was the up close and personal visit with the animals awesome, but so was the breakfast buffet at the end! Enjoy your trip!

 

[Praise2Him]

We stayed at AKL concierge last May for our 20th anniversary and everything went smoothly - no problems at all. The only strange thing was that I'd heard of them calling people on their birthday after their visit. My b'day is August 9 and DH is August 23. They called him, but not me (all reservations were in my name!)