JAMBO! The UN-official AKL Thread ~ UPDATED(short film/pg 8 & slideshow/pg 12)

[kimmar067]

My heart will always belong to my fave - THE WL - , but her 'baby brother', the AKL, sure is a CLOSE 2nd!! Although we experienced some difficulties with check-in [which was smoothed out right away!], our vacation was filled with memories to last a LIFETIME!!! Everything was superb:
1) the room
2) the service
3) the pool
4) concierge
5) the Sunrise Safari
6) THE ANIMALS!!!

[see page 3 for pix, page 8 for short film]

Click here for a link to AKL slideshow:
http://www.allearsnet.com/acc/aklss.htm

 

[rgf207]

I'll be at AKL March 4 - 11. Can I ask what problems you experienced at checkin? Maybe so I can be better prepared if it happens. Also, what type of room did you have and how did you like it. How was the bus transportation?

Any info you can give would be great. Thanks and I'm glad you had a great stay.

 

[kimmar067]

...VERY late (about 11:40PM) and were scheduled to RE-check in the next morning [into concierge]. A few days earlier, I had spoken to Don in concierge requesting to just check into a concierge room when we arrived, so that we wouldn't have to switch rooms, which he agreed to [Don was EXTREMELY accomodating, and helpful in every way possible!] Well, there was a glitch in their system, because, when we went to the registration desk [after waiting on line for about 10 minutes!] we were told to go BACK outside by the "Valet" and they'd have our paperwork and keys THERE. However, when we went back outside, the young lady there told us to go INSIDE, and that she DIDN'T have any of our paperwork or keys!! I explained that I had talked to Don in concierge 2 days prior, and suddenly I was taken care of. So, I don't think it was really a fault of any particular CM, but, rather, a misunderstanding, which was aggravated by the fact that we'd had a LONG day [a 2-hour drive to Atlantic City, NJ, followed by a 2 hour wait at ACY airport] and we were bushed!

We actually had TWO rooms - one, while staying concierge, and another for the rest of our stay (we had the 2nd room, because we originally were scheduled to check into Ft W cabins on Tuesday, but we cancelled those and decided to stay at AKL for the remainder of our trip!) Our first room was #5421, which was only 5 or 6 rooms from the lobby[to the right], overlooking Arusha Rock. The other room was #5381, which was to the left of the lobby; it was almost ALL THE WAY at the end of the hall (Whew, what a walk after a day at a park!) but it was a deluxe savannah view room, and the views for BOTH rooms were amazing!!

Finally, the buses were GREAT! We never waited more than about 10 minutes for any bus. The only time we had a problem was when we were very late for our ressies to Le Cellier, we boarded the "Epcot" bus, but it headed for AK FIRST, which caught all of the Epcot-bound guests off-guard!

 

[hbridges]

We are going in 2 weeks! Can't wait. How late is Mara open? Glad you had a great time!

 

[bjakmom]

Glad you had a wonderful trip !!! Were there many animals out on the savannah? When I was there in early Feb there were very few animals out - I was only there for two days and the weather had been cold - on our stay before there were lots of animals , so I'm wondering if the lack of animals was temporary and perhaps due to the cold weather.

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

I just wanted to say I agree with you 100%...The WL is still #1 in my book, but AKL runs a close second! I think if AKL was more centrally located I would be torn as to which resort to stay at. I think the restaurants...including mara...are the best on WDW property. And I love that pool!

Glad you had a good time!

 

[kimmar067]

....Mara was open till' 11:30PM.

 

[Harambe]

Can you tell me what hour the storytelling took place? The one out by the fire pit. And was it held nightly? THANKS!

 

[musicmom3]

We left AKL on 2/25 and I have to agree, it was a great stay after we got through our own personal check-in mixup! Perhaps there was some check-in virus last week! We were first assigned a smoking room facing Arusha Savannah (we can't tolerate the smell, even when the room is "refreshed," and I had communicated that several times both before and during registration), so we went back down and were offered a 2nd floor room in the bump-out building facing Sunset Savannah. I didn't really want to be there, so I kept politely asking for Arusha, and that's where we finally ended up, on Kudu Trail, with views of zebras, giraffes, elands, and wildebeasts galore. We also had a marching band of peahens who would strut by at 7:00 AM making a glorious racket. Almost as good as a Mickey wake-up call!

 

[kimmar067]

...KNOW those peahens!

 

[kimmar067]

Can you tell me what hour the storytelling took place? The one out by the fire pit. And was it held nightly? THANKS!

....nightly, but I don't remember the time (I DO know that there was cookie-decorating at Boma at 1PM daily for the kids! -yum,yum- )

 

[Robopig]

For 10 days, any photos you have to share???

 

[kimmar067]

...pix of AKL, so I will try to get 'em posted ASAP!!

 

[musicmom3]

I highly recommend the culinary tour, which takes place at 4:00 on weekdays and 3:45 on weekends. It was mostly adults (and my two teens), and we got to hear all sorts of interesting info about African and Indian foods, and we also got to taste-test at Jiko and Boma. My 16-year-old daughter made friends with one of the chefs at Boma (she has dietary preferences that she happened to mention), and when we arrived for our PS that night, she happened to see him. What happened next was absolutely magical. He brought to our table a wok-style plate heaped with incredible food. He sat with us at the table, and then hustled back into the kitchen, only to return a few minutes later with fried oreos for all of us! I have come to the conclusion that there is no magic better than totally spontaneous, unexpected magic. Needless to say, we will be returning to Boma, not only for the wonderful food, but for the spirit of the chefs who work there.

 

[ILUVDXL]

Can you guess?

 

[kimmar067]

I highly recommend the culinary tour, which takes place at 4:00 on weekdays and 3:45 on weekends. It was mostly adults (and my two teens), and we got to hear all sorts of interesting info about African and Indian foods, and we also got to taste-test at Jiko and Boma. My 16-year-old daughter made friends with one of the chefs at Boma (she has dietary preferences that she happened to mention), and when we arrived for our PS that night, she happened to see him. What happened next was absolutely magical. He brought to our table a wok-style plate heaped with incredible food. He sat with us at the table, and then hustled back into the kitchen, only to return a few minutes later with fried oreos for all of us! I have come to the conclusion that there is no magic better than totally spontaneous, unexpected magic. Needless to say, we will be returning to Boma, not only for the wonderful food, but for the spirit of the chefs who work there.

...on Friday??? There was a table next to us near the back of the restaurant that had a huge wok-like contraption with skewered shrimp sticking out of it!

Also, Chef Mike came out to our table and introduced himself to us. My DH has Celiac Sprue [gluten/wheat intolerance], so Chef Mike walked us through the whole buffet area and explained what my DH could/couldn't eat. It was so AWESOME!!

 

[musicmom3]

...on Friday??? There was a table next to us near the back of the restaurant that had a huge wok-like contraption with skewered shrimp sticking out of it!

Also, Chef Mike came out to our table and introduced himself to us. My DH has Celiac Sprue [gluten/wheat intolerance], so Chef Mike walked us through the whole buffet area and explained what my DH could/couldn't eat. It was so AWESOME!!

No, on Wednesday! But the wok thing did contain skewered shrimp, skewered pork satays, and some kind of yummy vegetable combination in sauce. MY DD does not eat beef, so this is how the whole thing started. The chef who performed our culinary magic was DJ (short for a really long name with LOTS of vowels).

 

[kimmar067]

....I noticed is that they [the party in the table next to us] were quite loud and, obviously, having a great time! Also, they were seated at a non-typical table (it was shaped like a huge artist palette)!

 

[kimmar067]

....St. Anthony, for answering my prayers! I thought I had left my digital camera in Atlantic City at the car show , containing ALL of my WDW pix, but, apparently my wonderful DH found my camera!!!(more of that magical pixie dust finding its way to our family! )

 

[luxfirsttrip]

How much time would you suggest spending at AKL versus the parks? We will be there in May for our first trip and I have heard that there are a lot of things to do. My triplet girls are 7. Other than the pool what else should we do while we are there?