Your thoughts on Animal Kingdom Lodge Club Level?

[Spliter]

I'm considering a last minute four day trip early fall. Possibly staying Animal Kingdom Lodge. What do you think of their club level? Worth the price difference? TIA

 

[cedricandsophie]

I love it but have only stayed using DVC points. It's very small and on the top floor of the Jambo building. I don't know what the up charge would be since we never pay for it.

You get breakfast items with oatmeal, cereals, rolls, etc. good coffee, etc. then after that there are light snacks throughout day and access to soda or water. Around 5 there is South African wine, beer, soda with cheese and crackers, veggies and one or two hot appetizers. I've seen a lot of people obviously using the happy hour as their dinner. About 8 or 9 they put out after dinner liquors and desserts. The staff is great.

We never go to parks when we stay there so we enjoy it all day long. And I have a glass of wine or two before dinner so we don't have to get a bottle of wine st dinner and then we don't buy dessert, we just come upstairs.

But like I said it is very small and there are a lot of noisy kids around. It's nothing like a club level at the four seasons for instance.

 

[Lovinallthingsdisney]

I'm considering a last minute four day trip early fall. Possibly staying Animal Kingdom Lodge. What do you think of their club level? Worth the price difference? TIA

I personally think it is worth it. Others will disagree. We have stayed CL 2 of the past 3 years and LOVE it. Staying Club Level provides you an Arusha View room. We have always had great animal views. Aside from that, you have access to the lounge for food, drinks and snacks throughout the day. The Arusha view rooms seem to be further down the hallways, but that makes sense when you think of the building shape. If you can swing the additional cost, I would recommend. I don't think it was terribly more than a "regular" Savannah view room.

 

[Mousemommy1]

If you were planning on staying perhaps savannah view anyway, it's worth it. It's usually a minimal amount higher than the savannah view rooms and you still get the savannah view.

 

[MsThumper]

We were at AKL 4 nights last week and we stayed club level. We did not go to the parks.

We have been fortunate to receive complimentary upgrades to club level twice before, once at YC and once at BWI, so this was the first time we paid for it ourselves. When pricing a room, the price difference between the non club level and club level rooms usually is just too much money for us to justify staying club level because it is just us 2 adults. Luckily, for this trip, with a Florida Resident discount, club level was only $54 difference for us.

We loved it. Our room was on the 4th floor and club level is on 6, but we didn't mind the walk. We thought they had a nice selection of snacks and drinks. We are not big breakfast eaters, so what was offered for breakfast was fine for us. We only had dinner reservations for 2 nights, so we were satisfied with the offerings in the evening for dinner 2 nights, because we prefer to eat our largest meal at lunch time.

We are wine drinkers. It seemed like every other night the wine was out for you to serve yourself, but the other 2 nights, we had to ask for what we wanted. Our requests were always filled quickly. The CM's were very friendly and responsive.

There were a few small tables over near the stairs and we always sat there and were not bothered by any noise.

On arrival day, our room wasn't ready until after 3pm, even though on our online check-in we asked for a room to be ready early. So it was much nicer sitting in the club lounge than in the lobby waiting for our room-ready text.

 

[Spliter]

Thanks so much for your opinions. Much appreciated!!!

 

[Sue M]

We loved AKL CL! Very nice lounge area overlooking the lobby. Great food, CMs were nice. And mid day they have tea with scones, clotted cream & jam. Yum.
To me the CL was totally worth it. We had an AP discount.

 

[toodycat]

We stayed there for DH's 50th birthday. It was very nice, but not amazing. The food was pretty good. The assistance from the club staff was not as good as the GF. If the price difference between that and the savannah isn't huge, I would go for it. If it's a very big difference, I would not.

 

[Spliter]

We stayed there for DH's 50th birthday. It was very nice, but not amazing. The food was pretty good. The assistance from the club staff was not as good as the GF. If the price difference between that and the savannah isn't huge, I would go for it. If it's a very big difference, I would not.

Price difference isn't a big amount daily. People seemed to enjoy the convenience enough so I'm going to book it. TY

 

[morganms22]

Just my opinion...

We stayed at AKL on Club Level in April. I personally did not think it was worth what we paid for it. I know these are small things, but they discontinued the turn down service and chocolates upon arrival right before we left for our trip. The food selections in the lounge were just alright to me and we really didn't visit enough for it to make a difference as it was far from our room. Plus, we were above the tree line so although we were on the Arusha Savannah our view of the animals was completely blocked at times.

I would only suggest paying for it if it's on sale for a reasonable rate. Or, if you can use DVC points it is worth it. If I were to stay there again, I would just book a Savannah view.

 

[dansdad]

I know these are small things, but they discontinued the turn down service and chocolates upon arrival right before we left for our trip.

Actually they're not discontinued, they are available by request. Before both were automatic. It's a silly change that they are piloting at AKL only as of now.

 

[morganms22]

Actually they're not discontinued, they are available by request. Before both were automatic. It's a silly change that they are piloting at AKL only as of now.

Interesting, the concierge told us the chocolate giraffes and letter upon arrival were discontinued when I asked at check in. I saw on here you could request turn down before we left, but no one ever mentioned it at the resort so I never bothered.

 

[dansdad]

Interesting, the concierge told us the chocolate giraffes and letter upon arrival were discontinued when I asked at check in. I saw on here you could request turn down before we left, but no one ever mentioned it at the resort so I never bothered.

I don't/didn't know about chocolate giraffes. My In-Laws just returned from a week at AKL CL and requested nightly turn down and chocolates were left on the pillows when the did the turn down service. I assumed that's what you were talking about. I don't think the nightly chocolates were giraffes.

 

[MsThumper]

Interesting remarks about the turn down service. As I mentioned previously, we were at AKL, club level, four nights last week. Someone came to our door the first two nights that we were there and asked if we wanted turn down service. We said it was not necessary and the lady said that we would miss out on the chocolates. The other two nights we probably had the "do not disturb" sign out.

 

[morganms22]

I don't/didn't know about chocolate giraffes. My In-Laws just returned from a week at AKL CL and requested nightly turn down and chocolates were left on the pillows when the did the turn down service. I assumed that's what you were talking about. I don't think the nightly chocolates were giraffes.

Yes, they were these really cute chocolate giraffe lollipops!

 

[morganms22]

Yes, they were these really cute chocolate giraffe lollipops! Anyways, that didn't make or break our stay. I just wouldn't pay what we paid for it again.