How was your AKL-CL Experience?

[GoochDSA]

My girlfriend and I decided to splurge a bit (with the help of a pin) and go AKL-CL on our next trip. I have seen pictures of the food and lounge, which we plan on using a lot for breakfast/pre-dinner/early nights. I have also talked to IPO quite a bit about some stuff and they have been very helpful for the most part. Just out of curiosity, does anyone who stayed AKL-CL have any tips/pointers/experiences they would like to share? I'd love to hear about it.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

My girlfriend and I decided to splurge a bit (with the help of a pin) and go AKL-CL on our next trip. I have seen pictures of the food and lounge, which we plan on using a lot for breakfast/pre-dinner/early nights. I have also talked to IPO quite a bit about some stuff and they have been very helpful for the most part. Just out of curiosity, does anyone who stayed AKL-CL have any tips/pointers/experiences they would like to share? I'd love to hear about it.

We stayed AKL-CL in January 2010. The IPO wasn't of much use to me since I do all my own planning for the most part. I wouldn't say they were just "totally fabulous" or stood out to me in some way. They were pleasant and while we were there it was nice to have them there to help with anything that came up. We thoroughly enjoyed the lounge and relaxing there. The one thing I would say is a must for AKL-CL is the Sunrise Safari. This was quite possibly the most magical of all Disney experiences we ever had. Seriously. If you want to have a look you can skim thru my TR in my signature for Jan. '10. :wave:

 

[SeaCastle]

We did club level at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in August 2010 (we actually left exactly from one year from the date of this post!).

Like sweetpee_1993, we do most of our planning on our own, but found the concierges to be helpful (in what limited capacity they could be). Didn't get a chance to do the Sunrise Safari, but we did make good on the lounge. Though I don't think we broke even, we "saved" a lot of money (and time) walking down the hall to pick up food and eating it in our room, then heading out. I guess your experience with that depends on your family and their eating habits, but we found it all incredibly convenient. The views were quite nice as well.

 

[GoochDSA]

Thank you both for sharing.

We stayed AKL-CL in January 2010. The IPO wasn't of much use to me since I do all my own planning for the most part. I wouldn't say they were just "totally fabulous" or stood out to me in some way. They were pleasant and while we were there it was nice to have them there to help with anything that came up. We thoroughly enjoyed the lounge and relaxing there. The one thing I would say is a must for AKL-CL is the Sunrise Safari. This was quite possibly the most magical of all Disney experiences we ever had. Seriously. If you want to have a look you can skim thru my TR in my signature for Jan. '10. :wave:

We are skipping the Sunrise Safari this time around (I guess we'll just have to book AKL-CL again... shucks). We are doing the Wanyama Safari instead and we just couldn't budget both. We have also done the Backstage Safari at AK and even though we tried to justify the cost, we just couldn't (I will skim your TR to try to convince myself again). Giving up making my own ADR's was something that I just couldn't do. I have been talking with IPO about setting up our ME and also about options for proposing to my girlfriend at the resort on our trip, they have been somewhat helpful.

We did club level at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in August 2010 (we actually left exactly from one year from the date of this post!).

Like sweetpee_1993, we do most of our planning on our own, but found the concierges to be helpful (in what limited capacity they could be). Didn't get a chance to do the Sunrise Safari, but we did make good on the lounge. Though I don't think we broke even, we "saved" a lot of money (and time) walking down the hall to pick up food and eating it in our room, then heading out. I guess your experience with that depends on your family and their eating habits, but we found it all incredibly convenient. The views were quite nice as well.

Even though we like breakfast food we are not big breakfast eaters (but are huge fans of "Brinner". We have full intentions on grabbing breakfast at the lounge and eating out on our balcony in the mornings. I have heard a lot of people complain since the CL rooms and lounge are on different floors. In your opinion, was walking back to your room with food/drinks that inconvenient or is it something that really isn't as big of a deal as some lead it to be?

 

[docdebbi]

our room was miles away from the lounge. well, ok not miles, but it sure felt like it. yes it was a problem. we never took food back to the room, just wasn't worth it.
i must say, i was not all that impressed with CL here compared to other resorts. some of the perks are nice, our room was well placed for animal viewing, getting to do the safari was nice. that's about it.
i think most of us here can do better trip planning than the concierge service can, we know what we like, we know the inside tricks, we know where we want to go and when, and they do NOT have access to any better reservations than you can get yourslef, so that was of no service to us.
that said, we go AKL-CL again starting in 7 days. Why? because it is nicer than a regular room, it is nice to have the lounge, even if you eat there instead of in your room, and the little perks do make the trip feel special. i'm taking my parents to celebrate their 80th birthdays, i think they'll like the little extras. i do feel it is worth the minor increase in cost, and this IS a special trip for you. Good luck, hope her answer is yes!

 

[GoochDSA]

our room was miles away from the lounge. well, ok not miles, but it sure felt like it. yes it was a problem. we never took food back to the room, just wasn't worth it.
i must say, i was not all that impressed with CL here compared to other resorts. some of the perks are nice, our room was well placed for animal viewing, getting to do the safari was nice. that's about it.
i think most of us here can do better trip planning than the concierge service can, we know what we like, we know the inside tricks, we know where we want to go and when, and they do NOT have access to any better reservations than you can get yourslef, so that was of no service to us.
that said, we go AKL-CL again starting in 7 days. Why? because it is nicer than a regular room, it is nice to have the lounge, even if you eat there instead of in your room, and the little perks do make the trip feel special. i'm taking my parents to celebrate their 80th birthdays, i think they'll like the little extras. i do feel it is worth the minor increase in cost, and this IS a special trip for you. Good luck, hope her answer is yes!

The distance from the rooms to the lounge has always been the one thing that has bothered me, even before we booked. I wanted BWI, she wanted AKL and as always she won, but it does save me a bit of money. Besides the distance from room to lounge, what else didn't you like about it? How were the offerings other than breakfast? How were the CL CM's? Have you done any other CL at WDW?

That's awesome that your taking your parents for their 80th birthdays. The resort alone is beautiful so even if they choose not to do parks there are plenty of places other than their room or the lounge to relax and hang out.

I hope she says yes too. I'm probably going to do it early in the trip instead of letting the pressure build and become a distraction. I could always do it on the bridge over the lobby, this way if she does say "no" all it would take is a little push. :lookaroun

 

[MaxsDad]

I have stayed twice AKL CL in a studio. We really enjoyed it. It is the only CL we have done.

Yes, Sunrise Ssafari is great. Have not done the "dinner one", but it looks real nice.

One of our favorite food items are the Kettle Chips. They seem to be cooked fresh and are delicious. I also liked the juice a lot. Try it. Dinner time food included skeewers (?) of barbeques meat. Dinner time foods changed from day to day. Night deserts varied, but unfortunately did ot include Zebra Domes.

Atmosphere up there is very relaxed, with a great view of one of the best lobbies in WDW. Comfortable furntiure.

IPO comes in handy if you need something on the fly. Having a separate check in is nice too.

 

[Sailor Mouse]

We stayed at AKL-CL level last year for our honeymoon in October, thanks to DVC and my parents.

Oh wow, was that amazing. We've never stayed on a Club Level before, so it was a bit of a new experience for both of us. Our room was pretty close to the lounge, and right by the elevator, although we couldn't hear anything outside of our room, which was good.

I thought the breakfast and snack offerings were great, but I have no clue how they compare to the offerings of other clubs. My DH and I are both rather lactose intolerant, and we were impressed that they had two varieties of soy milk available in the fridge of the lounge for cereal in the morning.

I wish I had taken photos of the lounge food area, because they had some cool stuff. Breakfast was fairly standard - oatmeal, quinoa, bagels, toast, and cereal, orange, mango, and pineapple juice (I might be forgetting something). Lunch time had snacks and appetizer stuff, such as hummus and naan, and Uncrustables (round peanut butter and jelly sandwiches) and gummy bears for the "kids"... I will completely deny eating a gummy encrusted sandwich :lookaroun The latenight offerings were pretty great - with more little apetizers and finger foods, but also desserts from Boma. They had Zebra Domes every night we were there. There were cordials (Amarulla, Scotch, Bourbon, Kahlua, and a few others) as well as beer and wine.

We spent a great deal of time enjoying the nice weather out on the little deck outside our room, nibbling on snacks and such. It was very relaxing, and great if you usually end up spending time in your room.

We did both the Sunrise and Sunset Safaris last October because we didn't know when we'd have the chance to do them ever again. The Sunset (Wanyama) Safari was great, and we got to learn quite a bit. The meal at Jiko was spectacular.

The Sunrise safari was absolutely spectacular, and I would recommend it to anyone who has the chance to do it. You end up gathering in the lounge at an ungodly early hour, but even for an anti-morning person like me, it was worth it. We love the safari, and had always heard that the animals are more active in the morning, but we didn't know just how much more active. I have photos of a White Rhino from about 3 feet away, because it was curious and walked alongside our jeep, and we had to stop for it a few times. The giraffes were actually frolicking through the tall grasses. The male Lion was wide awake, and actually roared at us as we passed by. It was awesome. The breakfast afterward was really nice, too, with a pretty standard buffet fare, but you got more of a chance to talk to your safari guides even more while everyone was eating.

Honestly - if you don't know if you'll get to stay at AKL-CL again... go for the Sunrise Safari. It was amazing.


(We are staying there again this year, for our one-year anniversary, and we're doing it all over again. We've signed up for both the safaris, because we enjoyed them that much)

Whatever you decide, enjoy It's a great resort, and the club level is pretty dang awesome.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Okay, now that I'm thinking about it I'll get more detailed. LOL!

I wouldn't say we were "miles" away from the lounge but it was a mild irritation to be on the 4th floor while the lounge was on the 6th. It kinda detracted from the experience, actually. Why didn't they make the 5th floor the DVC units vs. the 6th floor? I mean, if you have people who are booking a club level room at a resort don't you think you should put them on the club level? I really felt it detracted from the overall experience. I really did.

The Tusker beer was really yummy! Definite perk there!

When we stayed AKL-CL we had my in-laws in a connecting room with ours. We found the lounge to be like an extended living space. Instead of sitting and relaxing in each others rooms (sitting on beds because there's not much seating in the AKL's small rooms) we'd go sit in the lounge with some refreshments. For example, the morning the guys went to play a round of golf they left super-early for their tee time. Well, my mother-in-law and I took my younger son and went to AK for some fun. We spent a few hours enjoying the park. When the big guys were finishing up their round my hubby sent me a text so we could start making our way back. Nobody said a word about where to meet up. We got back to the resort, dropped our sweaters/jackets in our rooms, then went to the lounge for a drink. We hadn't been seated maybe 5 minutes when our golfing guys arrived, pulled up some chairs, and we were able to relax and share the details of our mornings. It was just a nice place to meet up, relax, and use as an extended living space.

One thing I truly enjoyed was the coffee options. No Nescrappy coffee in the AKL-CL. Nope. You get the real deal! Espresso, cappucino, etc. LOVE that! And to my understanding it's not something all club lounges have which is one thing I'm pretty disappointed about the YC's club lounge and we haven't even gotten there yet. LOL! I'm a coffee snob. I cannot stomach that Nescafe nastiness.

When we flew in it was the middle of the night when we arrived via ME. No special check-in during the late night/early morning hours. **sniffle sniffle** Unfortunately, because we were on the last flight out of Houston the airline didn't put all of our 9 checked bags (for 6 people including 3 sets of golf clubs) on the airplane. We checked-in after midnight. I then shoo'd the 3 unlucky souls who didn't get their luggage (both in-laws & my hubby) into the showers & robes so I could take the clothes they had to the guest laundry. I was up past 3 a.m. doing laundry on our first night. LOL! What's worse is that our unlucky people had also stuffed their warm jackets/coats into the golf club cases to pad the club heads and not have to tote them thru airports. So the next morning when we were ready to head out these 3 people were in short sleeves, no layers, and the outside temperature wasn't going up over about 30. I went to the club concierge to request some extra toiletries (they put these nice little disposable toothbrushes in the rooms) etc. and to reiterate that as SOON as the luggage arrived we'd love to have it. The concierge lady was super sweet about all our difficulties even tho not a bit of it had anything to do with anything Disney had any power over. It was the airline. She sent mousekeeping to us right away with a big assortment of anything we could possibly need for toiletries and such. She also put a $50 credit on each of our room accounts because we would have to go buy long sleeve shirts, sweats, jackets, etc. I know $50 doesn't go far when buying Disney sweatshirts but it was a nice gesture especially considering that the issue wasn't something Disney had anything to do with whatsoever. The CM also made phone calls to get our luggage brought over from the airport as soon as it arrived from Houston by puting in a rush work order. So sweet. That is the biggest thing that stood out to me from our CL experience.

 

[AgentP65]

I have been talking with IPO about setting up our ME and also about options for proposing to my girlfriend at the resort on our trip, they have been somewhat helpful.


Best of luck with your proposal!!! How could she not say 'yes'?!

For those folks who have stayed at AKL (Jambo) or AKV (Kidani):

Do you rent a car or use the buses to get to the parks? How long does it take to travel to the parks from AKL (particularly to MK)?

Is it possible to walk from Jambo to Kidani? How many minutes?

Is it worth it to pay $650-$900 more for a Savanna View room? When I looked at a 7-night stay in October, it would be $650 more for Savanna view and $900 more for Arusha view. I've heard some people say that the Observation Decks provide great viewing spots without having to pay extra for a view room. We usually just grab a quick breakfast bar on the way to the parks and then have a sit-down lunch, so I doubt we'll be having a leisurely meal on our balcony in the mornings. We're just too revved to get to the parks for early touring. But maybe an after-dinner drink on the balcony before retiring for the evening

Can you only do the Sunrise Safari if you are CL?

Thanks for any tips/advice you can share!

 

[Sailor Mouse]

For those folks who have stayed at AKL (Jambo) or AKV (Kidani):

Do you rent a car or use the buses to get to the parks? How long does it take to travel to the parks from AKL (particularly to MK)?

Is it possible to walk from Jambo to Kidani? How many minutes?

We did not rent a car this past October - we relied on the buses entirely, which was both a blessing and a curse. There were some times we had no issue getting back to the resort, and one time returning from a dinner at Whispering Canyon resulted in a nearly 2 hour jaunt between WL, DtD, MK, and the Contemporary, before finally returning to AKL... that was... "fun" :brick:

This time we are taking the Auto Train down to Florida, so we will have a car with us, and won't have to worry about that. Hopefully.

As for walking:
Yes, it is quite possible. We did that our first night there, to go to AKV for dinner at Sanaa. It was a pretty nice walk, and there are signs between the two buildings to guide your way. I think it was about 20 minutes at a fairly leisurely pace. We got there in time and weren't too winded from the trek.

 

[AgentP65]

As for walking:
Yes, it is quite possible. We did that our first night there, to go to AKV for dinner at Sanaa. It was a pretty nice walk, and there are signs between the two buildings to guide your way. I think it was about 20 minutes at a fairly leisurely pace. We got there in time and weren't too winded from the trek.

Thanks, Sailor Mouse!

We're staying at the Poly again this October but are looking at AKL for 2012. We have an ADR for dinner at Sanaa (first time!) on 10/4 and wanted to check out the main lobby and possibly a room over at Jambo before dinner.

We can't deal with the resort-to-resort and DTD bus rides from hell, so we just bite the proverbial bullet and spring for a taxi (usually ends up being 2 evenings out of our 8-day trip). From Whispering Canyon, could you have taken the boat over to MK and then a direct bus back to AKL? That has got to be faster than a 2-hour bus ride all over the property :shrug: Gotta love some of those "magical" motor coach routes!

 

[docdebbi]

we have stayed club level at poly, GF. those are a little nicer, but don't think i'm bashing AKL-CL, we're going again next week for a reason. (it may just be the chocolate covered strawberries we got at check-in, my daughter was in love)
anyway, the lounge offerings, are pretty standard for breakfast as stated by other posters, but the afternoon and evening appetizers are brought from jiko and boma and therefore different than you'll get anywhere else. they are delicious and interesting and give you a little taste of both restaurants in case you can't get there- which we didn't as we had other ressies. that is a major plus. there are african wines offered which is also interesting. i don't know about beers, that's my son in laws department:ROFLOL: there are also standard offerings, cookies, chips, etc for the less adventurous.
overall, we enjoyed the CL, but it is indeed a hike to the lounge, not the end of the world, but annoying.
the CMs are GREAT here. the concierges were as helpful as possible, and many CMs are actually from Africa and love to share their stories with you.
we do rent a car all the time, just easier. you can walk to animal kingdom if you want but you need transportation everywhere else. although being close to DHS and Epcot make transit shorter. MK is a hike.
i'd be careful with the "push" thing in the lobby, too many witnesses. just hope she says yes. you could ask the concierge if/when a photopass guy will be around. they are sometimes in the lobby for posed pictures, bet it would be great to have them take photos for you if you do decide to do it there. that would indeed be a unique spot!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Yes, you have to be club level to book the Sunrise Safari. I have heard of people booking CL for a single night to be able to do it, tho. That's always an idea.

We used buses to/from parks & cabs to/from other resorts for ADRs.

I'm not a big critter person and considering the heat in October I don't think I would book Savannah or Arusha view for myself. My youngest is insane for animals so his enjoyment made it a worthwhile thing for me. I think it depends on each person's likes/dislikes as to if the extra cost is worth it. It's a beautifully themed resort, great restaurant options, plenty to do, and a fantastic pool complex.

The distance from the parks, to us, was a real asset. If AKL were near a park it would detract from the theming. The remote feeling is what makes the place so relaxing. You truly do feel like you're in another world. To me, that's the part that makes the AKL so special.

 

[GoochDSA]

Thank you all for your opinions and some of your experiences. I must say that my girlfriend and I re-visited the Sunrise Safari option and after I presented the price and dates it's available to my girlfriend we decided to go for it, she even offered to pay.

Thank you all again for your input. :sohappy:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Yay!!! Congrats! Y'all will have a great time! :sohappy:

 

[GoochDSA]

Yay!!! Congrats! Y'all will have a great time! :sohappy:

Yup, another thing to be excited about. I'm glad she offered to pay because I don't know if I would have been able to budget that along with all the other costs I still have to pay (not including the ring and anything else I might get for the proposal :brick.

 

[dreamscometrue]

First of all, I like free Tusker and Yuengling beer.

We split our last trip between Kidani and a CL studio. We very much enjoyed the studio, and booked again at 11 months out, for a 7 day stay next Spring Break.

The CMs were very helpful and we very much enjoyed the food offerings. We'd always prepared breakfast in our room in out kitchenette, but enjoyed the great breakfast offerings in the lounge. After a morning and afternoon in the parks, we liked having wine and cheese or beer and cheese, which we took to our room and enjoyed on the balcony. (Btw, even when beer was put away for the day, they told us to just ring the bell at the lounge kitchen door, and they would gladly get us more. )

One other thing; I talked to a few guests who had done CL at AKL many times and they commented on how there used to be more offerings a few years back. Someone said that the more elaborate food items were cut back because people were basically having a meal at CL, instead of going to Boma. I have no idea if there is any validity to that rationale or not, but we were happy with the selection that was offered 6 times during the day.

 

[coachwnh]

great choice. stayed CL this past June and we loved it. the staff was awesome. they made sure to keep my frig filled with beer so i didnt have to make the walk back to the club to get one after all day (and late nights) in the park. they were able to accommodate a food allergy for my wife (which included gluten free beer) and the different foods were a nice treat. overall, i have nothing bad to say about CL at AKL. we had a great experience there and the view of the animals was great.

 

[dreamscometrue]

they made sure to keep my frig filled with beer so i didnt have to make the walk back to the club to get one after all day (and late nights) in the park.

They'll do that? I never thought to ask for that. I just grabbed a few beers each night to keep in my fridge, but they'll 'stock it' to some degree?