Concierge at AKL? Should we?

[WEDINDISNEY]

I was wondering if it is worth us upgrading from a regular savannah view to the Concierge room? Also if we did upgrade can you request a savannah Concierge room I guess is what you would call it?
I read somewhere that you could have either a savannah view or a pool view,(Concierge) but that you couldnt request it that it would be up to the resort. Which I would assume that you wouldnt find out until check in time and then you might be stuck with a view that you dont want and would have been better off staying in a regular room and getting the right view.

 

[AkiraRaptor]

Originally posted by WEDINDISNEY
I was wondering if it is worth us upgrading from a regular savannah view to the Concierge room? Also if we did upgrade can you request a savannah Concierge room I guess is what you would call it?
I read somewhere that you could have either a savannah view or a pool view,(Concierge) but that you couldnt request it that it would be up to the resort. Which I would assume that you wouldnt find out until check in time and then you might be stuck with a view that you dont want and would have been better off staying in a regular room and getting the right view.

We did AKL Concierge last year, and are doing it again this year as well.

We love to be pampered.

As it's worth to you, that depends on what you think you'll get out of it.

We like it over a regualr room for three reasons.

1) Access to the Sunrise Savanna tour
2) free food in the Concierge lobby
3) Itiniary Service (they can help you get just about anything)

The rooms are just Deluxe Savanna or Pool rooms. I was told that only 6 of them are pool, and all of those are smoking rooms as well.

Yes you are correct, you can request a savanna view room, but they will not garuntee it. That's the hitch. What I do is as for the savanna room when I book, and also when I talk to Itiniary Services, plus also state that you want a non-smoking room.

You could still get the pool view, but chances are you will get that savanna view.

The odds are a couple of people will want smoking, and they will not fill the other pool rooms until they fill all the savanna rooms.

Also, I belive most people check in/out over the weekends. We check-in on Mondays or Tuesdays, thus usally the odds are more rooms have becme available.

I know it would suck to pay all that extra cash, and not get the savana. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why Disney does this to it highest paying customers of the AKL resort. You can book a regular or deluxe savanna and know when you check in you are getting what you paid for, but no, if you pay top dollar, it's a crap shoot. Makes no sense to me.

If I do get a pool view, I will to high heaven about it, and make them move me as soon as a savanna room opens up.

 

[dox]

To AkiraRaptor:

Thanks for your comments. I was actually discussing this with a friend recently as we contemplated doing a concierge stay on our next trip. A few questions for you:

What is the quality of the food choices at the AKL concierge?

Was it consistent on your stays?

Does the concierge lounge have any special view a la Poly concierge?

 

[dox]

One more question, sorry if this is personal, but when you booked concierge are any discounts available such as AAA, AP holders, etc. or do you have to pay rack rate?

 

[imagineersrock]

the AKL concierege has (in our opinion) the best food of any of the wdw resorts' concierege, its actually what you could call a "Mini-buffet" -if you really wanted to; you could just eat at the concierge during your stay at the AKL and nowhere else. (again, if thats something you would like to do) -but yes; great food

also, as for a 'special view' well, the concierge area at the AKL is like a giant balcony within the main area of the resort; so you can look out having a beautiful view from high up of the resorts' interior, as well as the great view through the enormous glass wall looking out onto the savannah

so IMO, i think that if you're gonna pick a resort to stay at for it's concierge; AKL would b a best bet! -hope this helps

 

[AkiraRaptor]

I'll back imagineersrock statements 100%.

The food is changed out multiple times a day, so depending upon what time you stop in, it's different. The food is mostly "cold" types, but they do have heated foods later in the day.

It was mostly the same stuff each day, but they would have a few differencs each day. And like imagineersrock said, you could eat there. The food is prepaired by Boma and Jiko, so it is very good. There are even drinks (alcoholic) in the evenings.

My fovorites things were the African Smoothies and the Cinomon Crisps. :slurp:

The view is over the main lobby, and there is a small balcony off the elevators that I belive overlooks the pool area.

As to discounts, it's no different than other rooms. Just cost a bit more. :lol: Last year we used a discount code from MouseSavers that got us about 41% off with the Silver package (the one with the 2 wishes per night). This year, we are using the new Fairytale Package that just came out since we were already booked for 7 nights, so this is saving us about 43%.

If a better code comes out before we go, I'll switch as well. Our cost for 2 adults, 7 nights AKL concierge, on the Fairytail Adventure Package with Silver Add-On and the Disney Club discount came to $3589.45 (with taxes). Is a good deal for that kind of stay.

AAA will not get you that kind of discount, it's usally only 10%, don't know when you're going, so I don't know what AP's will be for you. But if you have some time before you go, with a little looking (hint: goto MouseSavers.com), you should never have to pay full rack rate.

Good luck, and have fun.

 

[lentesta]

I stayed at the AKL, concierge-level, this past weekend. Imagineersrock is right - this is one of the best concierge areas in WDW. IMHO, a much better value than the Grand Floridian concierge.

If I may make one suggestion, it's that you wait to ask for the upgrade until you get to the resort. I arrived last Friday at 12:30 a.m. and was booked into a savannah-view room (using a code from Mousesavers.com). I casually asked if any upgrades were available, and was offered concierge at $140 extra per night. I said that was too much, and politely declined. A manager came over and offered it to me for $60 per night, which I accepted. Then he said "It's too late to use the concierge tonight, so we'll only charge you $30." I'm not saying you'll get the same deal, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to try. I tried not to throw my credit card at the guy as fast as I could.

If nothing else, ask if access to the concierge can be added to your regular room for a small fee. From what I could hear, it's simply a matter of the CM entering in a certain two-letter code somewhere on your reservation. Q-something, I think. Any CMs out there that can verify this?

Also, you can ask the concierge for bottled water before you head out to the parks. For our party of 4, that was $8 in savings per day, not including the breakfast we ate every morning.

Have a great time at the AKL.

Sincerely,

Len

 

[AkiraRaptor]

Originally posted by lentesta
If nothing else, ask if access to the concierge can be added to your regular room for a small fee. From what I could hear, it's simply a matter of the CM entering in a certain two-letter code somewhere on your reservation. Q-something, I think. Any CMs out there that can verify this?

Great job. I would like to add that concierge is not only a service, but is specific to certain rooms on the 5th and 6th floor. They are made up of Deluxe Savanna and Pool rooms, one and two bedroom suites, and the two master suites.

From what I've been told, you can't just have any old savanna room and then upgrade that same room, they probebly gave you a savanna concierge room instead of the savanna room you orriginaly booked.

If I'm wrong, then it was something different they did just for you (you lucky dog :lol: ). They give you special room cards that activate the elevator to the 6th floor. Most concierge is on the 6th, but a few, like the room we had last year, are on the 5th.

Good info on the water, I didn't know that. They did give us water when we checked out as an African tradition. I'll have to ask for the water on our next trip.

 

[lentesta]

Hey Akiraraptor,

I believe it can be an add-on to any savannah-view room - I was in 4136. As you mentioned, that room ain't normally considered concierge. The CM checking me in asked the manager whether I needed to switch rooms. That's when the manager mentioned the two-letter Q-something code to add to my profile. That's why I think it may be an a la carte option. And worth it.

I'll check my bill to see exactly what category of room I got, though.

Len

 

[AkiraRaptor]

Originally posted by lentesta
Hey Akiraraptor,

I believe it can be an add-on to any savannah-view room - I was in 4136. As you mentioned, that room ain't normally considered concierge. The CM checking me in asked the manager whether I needed to switch rooms. That's when the manager mentioned the two-letter Q-something code to add to my profile. That's why I think it may be an a la carte option. And worth it.

Most deffinatly. Does sound like a la carte, and most likely at the managers disgresion. I've been told by several CRO people and at least 3 of the concierge staff that their were only 55 Deluxe rooms for concierge, and the rest were suites.

So this a la carte allows them to break that number. Very interesting. This could come in handy if we show up and get a pool view instead of the savanna view.

Thanks Len, alwaysn good to learn something new about my favorite resort!

 

[dox]

Thanks for the info folks. I'll definitely check out the codes on Mousesavers.com. I usually use my old florida driver's license to get fl. resident discounts, but i've never stayed at concierge and I doubt it would work there, as they limit what resorts you can use your resident discount at.

 

[WEDINDISNEY]

Thanks for all the help. I really want to upgrade and go with the concierge savannah view room but Im still having second thoughts. Im afraid that Im going to upgrade req a savannah view and wind up with a pool view and not be happy at all. HOWEVER:
When I booked our vacation with my travel agent she put a req in for us for a king size bed and that it was our 1 year ann. She said that Disney should prob honor this req since its our anniv. Then again she said they might not since we are going at the end of July and its very busy at that time.
Im thinking of upgrading to the concierge savannah room and having her still add that its our anniv and then maybe either faxing or calling the resort before we go and ask again and then also when we check in and re mention that it is our 1 year anniv and that we were married in Disney last year. I guess it cant hurt at this point.
Oh what the hech I guess that we will just take the chance and see what happens.