Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge
Oct 16, 2002, 2:21 pm
#16
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I forgot to mention 2 other properties (that I usually avoid):
Disney's All-Star hotels, which are the lowest priced on property.
Disney's Coronodo Beach Hotel, which is mainly designed as a convention property.
They are situated between Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Epcot Resort area.
Disney's All-Star hotels, which are the lowest priced on property.
Disney's Coronodo Beach Hotel, which is mainly designed as a convention property.
They are situated between Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Epcot Resort area.
Oct 17, 2002, 2:17 pm
#17
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Also, if you are a Starwood fan, here is some news that might effect a future stay:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum74/HTML/005321.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum74/HTML/005321.html
Oct 17, 2002, 8:17 pm
#18
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Chicago
Posts: 207
In addition to PremEx's info, the Wilderness Lodge, Wilderness Villas, and Ft. Wilderness Campground and Cabins all have boat transportation to the Magic Kingdom, buses to all other parks. We found the wait time for the boats to be pretty slow (unlike Boardwalk, Yacht, & Beach). A car really is a great thing.
Also, we recently ate at Boma's in the Animal Kingdom lodge. I loved it! I was always reluctant to eat there as I am not an adventurous eater. But after looking at the menu on the WDWIG web site ( www.wdwig.com ), it seemed like I could probably find enough to tide me over until I got back to the room for a Star-Kist Tuna kit. Boy, I have never been so wrong about a restaurant! This is by far the best meal on property. And an amazingly good value too! I did find some of the plain meats (Chicken, Prime Rib) a little dry, but with the selection they offered of all of the other food, I had no problems eating myself beyond full! As our waiter explained to us it is based off of African foods which means there are a lot of spices, but it's not spicy. Just flavorful.
Also, we recently ate at Boma's in the Animal Kingdom lodge. I loved it! I was always reluctant to eat there as I am not an adventurous eater. But after looking at the menu on the WDWIG web site ( www.wdwig.com ), it seemed like I could probably find enough to tide me over until I got back to the room for a Star-Kist Tuna kit. Boy, I have never been so wrong about a restaurant! This is by far the best meal on property. And an amazingly good value too! I did find some of the plain meats (Chicken, Prime Rib) a little dry, but with the selection they offered of all of the other food, I had no problems eating myself beyond full! As our waiter explained to us it is based off of African foods which means there are a lot of spices, but it's not spicy. Just flavorful.
Dec 10, 2002, 5:07 pm
#19
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PremEx:
Here's my *very* general WDW advise:
To me, Animal Kingdom Lodge is fantastic and must be seen. </font>
Here's my *very* general WDW advise:
To me, Animal Kingdom Lodge is fantastic and must be seen. </font>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">I personally prefer to get around by car. No waiting for buses/boats or monorails. No having to "transfer" to get to some spots.</font>
Dec 13, 2010, 11:54 am
#21
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,990
Horrible stay, sad to say...
We just returned from six nights in a one-bedroom, savanna view suite at Kidani. Have to say it was extremely disappointing and we won't be returning. While the property is nice, we had horrible service and other issues throughout our stay.
First, we we given incorrect/inconsistent information about parking, which cost us money we did not need to spend, some of which was eventually refunded after we complained.
Then, houskeeping failed to show on two of the five mornings - even after we complained in person to management after the first 'no-show'.
Interestingly, when I went back the second day to speak with the "Manager" who assured me everything would be fixed after I complained the first time, the second "Manager" denied the first "Manager" even existed!
Another thing - a small thing - but a big one for us - housekeeping also forgot to leave coffee, even when we left a reminder note with a big tip! It took two phone calls and a 45 minute wait to get some delivered.
Our 'express' check-out failed to materialize - the itemized bill was never delivered to our room overnight as promised. Nor did it come when we called -not once, but twice - even though they promised to bring it up immediately. I am still waiting for the promised 'emailed receipt' two days later...
We also found the bus transportation to be terrible. It took forever for buses to show up at the resort - we gave up after waiting half an hour several times (it was very, very cold, so waiting outside was very uncomfortable).
The buses were also so over crowded we couldn't ever get seats, even for our two-year-olds (and don't get me going about all the adult males who refused to give up their seats for the elderly, or the young, or even mothers with babies...).
So we had to stand the entire trip, bags/kids/strollers in hand. Bus transportation to the Magic Kingdom took over and hour! Sometimes we - and others, of course - couldn't get on at all, even standing! We finally gave up completely and drove our car to the parks & restaurants instead.
All in all we just found the whole experience to be unacceptable. I can see how I might have to have lower expectations if we were staying at a value resort. But to endure all this after spending $5000 on supposedly higher end accommodations? Forget it.
Oh, and once we got there we couldn't get a single reservation for dinner or lunch at any of the resort's restaurants. Because of the cold weather and the bus issues, we thought we might dine at the resort more often than anticipated (we did have one pre-arrival booking for the buffet restaurant, which was mediocre, quite frankly, to say the least) instead of going out. But no, we couldn't get in anywhere except for quick service, even though we were resident resort guests. I can guarantee you this would never happen at the Swan or Dolphin, who would find some way to get their own guests into their own dining facilities, even if fully booked.
Don't get me wrong. We will return to Disney. But not to the Animal Kingdon Lodge. And for sure not without a car!
Cheers,
First, we we given incorrect/inconsistent information about parking, which cost us money we did not need to spend, some of which was eventually refunded after we complained.
Then, houskeeping failed to show on two of the five mornings - even after we complained in person to management after the first 'no-show'.
Interestingly, when I went back the second day to speak with the "Manager" who assured me everything would be fixed after I complained the first time, the second "Manager" denied the first "Manager" even existed!
Another thing - a small thing - but a big one for us - housekeeping also forgot to leave coffee, even when we left a reminder note with a big tip! It took two phone calls and a 45 minute wait to get some delivered.
Our 'express' check-out failed to materialize - the itemized bill was never delivered to our room overnight as promised. Nor did it come when we called -not once, but twice - even though they promised to bring it up immediately. I am still waiting for the promised 'emailed receipt' two days later...
We also found the bus transportation to be terrible. It took forever for buses to show up at the resort - we gave up after waiting half an hour several times (it was very, very cold, so waiting outside was very uncomfortable).
The buses were also so over crowded we couldn't ever get seats, even for our two-year-olds (and don't get me going about all the adult males who refused to give up their seats for the elderly, or the young, or even mothers with babies...).
So we had to stand the entire trip, bags/kids/strollers in hand. Bus transportation to the Magic Kingdom took over and hour! Sometimes we - and others, of course - couldn't get on at all, even standing! We finally gave up completely and drove our car to the parks & restaurants instead.
All in all we just found the whole experience to be unacceptable. I can see how I might have to have lower expectations if we were staying at a value resort. But to endure all this after spending $5000 on supposedly higher end accommodations? Forget it.
Oh, and once we got there we couldn't get a single reservation for dinner or lunch at any of the resort's restaurants. Because of the cold weather and the bus issues, we thought we might dine at the resort more often than anticipated (we did have one pre-arrival booking for the buffet restaurant, which was mediocre, quite frankly, to say the least) instead of going out. But no, we couldn't get in anywhere except for quick service, even though we were resident resort guests. I can guarantee you this would never happen at the Swan or Dolphin, who would find some way to get their own guests into their own dining facilities, even if fully booked.
Don't get me wrong. We will return to Disney. But not to the Animal Kingdon Lodge. And for sure not without a car!
Cheers,
Dec 13, 2010, 12:31 pm
#22
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Flews.. Sorry to hear about your experience. My wife's childhood friend and husband just returned from Animal Kingdom Lodge, and said it was fantastic. Oddly enough, Animal Kingdom Lodge was rated by Theme Park Insiders as the number 1 lodging experience at Disney World. It would be best next time to get a hotel off of the WDW.. part of the experience at WDW is travelling on their transportation to wherever you need to go. If you can't handle the speed in which the transportation arrives, its best to take your car.. and if you're accustomed to excellent service, then I would recommend getting a 5* hotel i.e. Waldorf Astoria (may be a little out of the way) to meet your needs. Our mindset when we stayed at the Cabins at Fort Wilderness was "camping and roughing it".. my wife always wanted to go camping.. she didn't like the fact we did it at Disney World though. I said, when camping, you're roughing it and making do with what you have.. It's not like Fairmont Hotels you know.. she said, no more, I can't handle roughing it. Oh well.
Dec 13, 2010, 2:11 pm
#23
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We just returned from six nights in a one-bedroom, savanna view suite at Kidani. Have to say it was extremely disappointing and we won't be returning. While the property is nice, we had horrible service and other issues throughout our stay.
First, we we given incorrect/inconsistent information about parking, which cost us money we did not need to spend, some of which was eventually refunded after we complained.
Then, houskeeping failed to show on two of the five mornings - even after we complained in person to management after the first 'no-show'.
Interestingly, when I went back the second day to speak with the "Manager" who assured me everything would be fixed after I complained the first time, the second "Manager" denied the first "Manager" even existed!
Another thing - a small thing - but a big one for us - housekeeping also forgot to leave coffee, even when we left a reminder note with a big tip! It took two phone calls and a 45 minute wait to get some delivered.
Our 'express' check-out failed to materialize - the itemized bill was never delivered to our room overnight as promised. Nor did it come when we called -not once, but twice - even though they promised to bring it up immediately. I am still waiting for the promised 'emailed receipt' two days later...
First, we we given incorrect/inconsistent information about parking, which cost us money we did not need to spend, some of which was eventually refunded after we complained.
Then, houskeeping failed to show on two of the five mornings - even after we complained in person to management after the first 'no-show'.
Interestingly, when I went back the second day to speak with the "Manager" who assured me everything would be fixed after I complained the first time, the second "Manager" denied the first "Manager" even existed!
Another thing - a small thing - but a big one for us - housekeeping also forgot to leave coffee, even when we left a reminder note with a big tip! It took two phone calls and a 45 minute wait to get some delivered.
Our 'express' check-out failed to materialize - the itemized bill was never delivered to our room overnight as promised. Nor did it come when we called -not once, but twice - even though they promised to bring it up immediately. I am still waiting for the promised 'emailed receipt' two days later...
Kidani Village, as you know, is the DVC, or timeshare, portion of AKL. Daily housekeeping is only for guests who have booked through Disney reservations. Owners and people to whom they rent will only get housekeeping once per stay.
What I think happened is that you were confused with an owner.
Not that I'm trying to excuse the treatment, but I suspect that's what happened.
We also found the bus transportation to be terrible. It took forever for buses to show up at the resort - we gave up after waiting half an hour several times (it was very, very cold, so waiting outside was very uncomfortable).
The buses were also so over crowded we couldn't ever get seats, even for our two-year-olds (and don't get me going about all the adult males who refused to give up their seats for the elderly, or the young, or even mothers with babies...).
So we had to stand the entire trip, bags/kids/strollers in hand. Bus transportation to the Magic Kingdom took over and hour! Sometimes we - and others, of course - couldn't get on at all, even standing! We finally gave up completely and drove our car to the parks & restaurants instead.
All in all we just found the whole experience to be unacceptable. I can see how I might have to have lower expectations if we were staying at a value resort. But to endure all this after spending $5000 on supposedly higher end accommodations? Forget it.
The buses were also so over crowded we couldn't ever get seats, even for our two-year-olds (and don't get me going about all the adult males who refused to give up their seats for the elderly, or the young, or even mothers with babies...).
So we had to stand the entire trip, bags/kids/strollers in hand. Bus transportation to the Magic Kingdom took over and hour! Sometimes we - and others, of course - couldn't get on at all, even standing! We finally gave up completely and drove our car to the parks & restaurants instead.
All in all we just found the whole experience to be unacceptable. I can see how I might have to have lower expectations if we were staying at a value resort. But to endure all this after spending $5000 on supposedly higher end accommodations? Forget it.
I also don't use the buses and prefer to drive if I'm not at a monorail hotel. The bus service, in general, is not what it used to be.
Oh, and once we got there we couldn't get a single reservation for dinner or lunch at any of the resort's restaurants. Because of the cold weather and the bus issues, we thought we might dine at the resort more often than anticipated (we did have one pre-arrival booking for the buffet restaurant, which was mediocre, quite frankly, to say the least) instead of going out. But no, we couldn't get in anywhere except for quick service, even though we were resident resort guests. I can guarantee you this would never happen at the Swan or Dolphin, who would find some way to get their own guests into their own dining facilities, even if fully booked.
IF we go during free dining time, we either resign ourselves to quick service OR try to get a reservation at one of the Signature dining restaurants that need 2 meal credits - most people on the dining plan won't waste 2 credits to eat there. But, one of them, Jiko, is in the AKL, and you say you couldn't get in there either
Don't get me wrong. We will return to Disney. But not to the Animal Kingdon Lodge. And for sure not without a car!
I'm sorry you had a bad experience. The next time you want to go, post here or send a PM. I'm the "disney reservation person" at work and have planned several trips for people, all who come back raving about how much they loved it and my selections, based on their wants/needs.
Last edited by Mary2e; Dec 13, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Dec 13, 2010, 2:19 pm
#24
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Our mindset when we stayed at the Cabins at Fort Wilderness was "camping and roughing it".. my wife always wanted to go camping.. she didn't like the fact we did it at Disney World though. I said, when camping, you're roughing it and making do with what you have.. It's not like Fairmont Hotels you know.. she said, no more, I can't handle roughing it. Oh well.
The cabins are not camping or roughing it. Granted, they are basic accommodations, but, as you know, are more like single wide pre-fab homes with a full kitchen (with dishwasher), dining/living room, and a separate bedroom AND HOUSEKEEPING SERVICE.
That's not camping or roughing it - if you wanted to camp, you could have gotten a camp site and pitched a tent for about $50=$75 a night. Disney classifies the cabins in their moderate category.
We've stayed in the cabins several times and love it at Ft. Wilderness and will definitely return. The cabins are IN the campground, but it's not camping
Dec 13, 2010, 5:55 pm
#25
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The cabins are not camping or roughing it. Granted, they are basic accommodations, but, as you know, are more like single wide pre-fab homes with a full kitchen (with dishwasher), dining/living room, and a separate bedroom AND HOUSEKEEPING SERVICE.
That's not camping or roughing it - if you wanted to camp, you could have gotten a camp site and pitched a tent for about $50=$75 a night. Disney classifies the cabins in their moderate category.
We've stayed in the cabins several times and love it at Ft. Wilderness and will definitely return. The cabins are IN the campground, but it's not camping
I know its not camping.. I wanted to save some $$$ on our August 09 trip, so I used roughing it as an excuse. I would probably stay there again, and has lots of space to move, plus kitchen, living area.. Cabins are spread out.. my wife said it was a bit musty.. didn't bother me one bit actually.. so I told her.. look we're roughing it and its like camping being in the cabin, plus we were hardly on premises, always out and about. So it's an inside joke to my wife who is used to one bedroom suites a Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.Got to correct my previous post.. Its' not Animal Kingdom lodge that was highly rated on Theme Park Insiders.. It's Wilderness Lodge. Sorry for the faux pas. And my wife's childhood friend came back from Wilderness Lodge.
Mary2e.. which travel company do you work for? Small World?
Dec 13, 2010, 5:59 pm
#26
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Sorry you had such a tough stay - what you post above is unacceptable, but I'll try to explain my thinking as to why it happened.
Kidani Village, as you know, is the DVC, or timeshare, portion of AKL. Daily housekeeping is only for guests who have booked through Disney reservations. Owners and people to whom they rent will only get housekeeping once per stay.
What I think happened is that you were confused with an owner.
Not that I'm trying to excuse the treatment, but I suspect that's what happened.
We've stayed at all the deluxe resorts except for this one - because of its distance to just about everything else except the highway I also don't use the buses and prefer to drive if I'm not at a monorail hotel. The bus service, in general, is not what it used to be.
Welcome to the ruination of Disney dining by all the "free dining plan" guests. Even though your stay was during extremely low season, they have managed to fill up the hotels will all these people wanting free dining (but pay full rack for the room when discounts are available). They make reservations 180 days in advance. You basically don't stand a chance if you don't plan in advance.
IF we go during free dining time, we either resign ourselves to quick service OR try to get a reservation at one of the Signature dining restaurants that need 2 meal credits - most people on the dining plan won't waste 2 credits to eat there. But, one of them, Jiko, is in the AKL, and you say you couldn't get in there either
With such a young child I never would have recommended you stay at the AKL. If price was an issue, the next less expensive deluxe hotel would be the Wilderness Lodge, and it has fairly easy access to the Magic Kingdom by boat. It would have been worth the few extra dollars. It would have taken about 15 minutes to cross Bay Lake and be delivered to the turnstiles at the park.
I'm sorry you had a bad experience. The next time you want to go, post here or send a PM. I'm the "disney reservation person" at work and have planned several trips for people, all who come back raving about how much they loved it and my selections, based on their wants/needs.
Kidani Village, as you know, is the DVC, or timeshare, portion of AKL. Daily housekeeping is only for guests who have booked through Disney reservations. Owners and people to whom they rent will only get housekeeping once per stay.
What I think happened is that you were confused with an owner.
Not that I'm trying to excuse the treatment, but I suspect that's what happened.
We've stayed at all the deluxe resorts except for this one - because of its distance to just about everything else except the highway
I also don't use the buses and prefer to drive if I'm not at a monorail hotel. The bus service, in general, is not what it used to be.Welcome to the ruination of Disney dining by all the "free dining plan" guests. Even though your stay was during extremely low season, they have managed to fill up the hotels will all these people wanting free dining (but pay full rack for the room when discounts are available). They make reservations 180 days in advance. You basically don't stand a chance if you don't plan in advance.
IF we go during free dining time, we either resign ourselves to quick service OR try to get a reservation at one of the Signature dining restaurants that need 2 meal credits - most people on the dining plan won't waste 2 credits to eat there. But, one of them, Jiko, is in the AKL, and you say you couldn't get in there either
With such a young child I never would have recommended you stay at the AKL. If price was an issue, the next less expensive deluxe hotel would be the Wilderness Lodge, and it has fairly easy access to the Magic Kingdom by boat. It would have been worth the few extra dollars. It would have taken about 15 minutes to cross Bay Lake and be delivered to the turnstiles at the park.
I'm sorry you had a bad experience. The next time you want to go, post here or send a PM. I'm the "disney reservation person" at work and have planned several trips for people, all who come back raving about how much they loved it and my selections, based on their wants/needs.
Dec 13, 2010, 8:31 pm
#27
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None. I'm a financial systems manager. Planning Disney vacations is something I enjoy doing for myself and friends.
What makes you think I would work for a travel agency? I said I was the planner for people at work - as a favor.
None. I'm a financial systems manager. Planning Disney vacations is something I enjoy doing for myself and friends.
What makes you think I would work for a travel agency? I said I was the planner for people at work - as a favor.
Dec 14, 2010, 6:20 pm
#28
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)
None. I'm a financial systems manager. Planning Disney vacations is something I enjoy doing for myself and friends.
What makes you think I would work for a travel agency? I said I was the planner for people at work - as a favor.
None. I'm a financial systems manager. Planning Disney vacations is something I enjoy doing for myself and friends.
What makes you think I would work for a travel agency? I said I was the planner for people at work - as a favor.
Dec 15, 2010, 8:32 pm
#29
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We always rent a car at WDW to avoid the slow unpredictable bus service you mention. I have always puzzled over the affection so many people have for the Disney bus system, when you can rent a car very cheaply in Orlando. At the busy times, I just cannot stand those buses.
For the money you are spending for a Disney trip, a rental car (or your own car) and parking (free for resort guests or passholders) on top of it is almost nothing and avoids a lot of frustration.
Unfortunately, if you want to guarantee sit-down restaurant service you have to reserve WAY WAY in advance. Often I have entered a park in the morning to see that all restaurants are filled for all seatings for the whole day.
AKV is pretty remote as Disney resorts go. I think with 2 year-olds I might choose a different resort closer to the action, but that's perhaps just my opinion.
Several people in this forum are extremely knowledgeable about Disney and we are happy to give advice, so next time ask away.
It's no consolation, but many people going in about a week are going to be slammed a lot worse than you.
Dec 25, 2010, 3:11 pm
#30
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,990
Thanks all for responding to my post. (Which is more than I can say for AKL management - I can only deduce they REALLY don't care). And for some helpful tips.
We've just booked our next stay, for the kids third birthday in April (ahead of Easter). This time we are staying at the Dolphin. We've already received a complimentary upgrade to a large suite (we are top tier SPG loyalty members), and have had no problems booking restaurant reservations, including the charactor dinner.
While this property isn't themed in the same way the WD properties are, it's handy to Epcot and Disney Studios, as well as some nice neighbouring resorts. We plan to spend more time by the pool, and less at the parks. We've pretty well had our fill of AK, and we'll take the Epcot monorail, or even a town car, to MK. So this one fits our bill nicely.
Cheers,
We've just booked our next stay, for the kids third birthday in April (ahead of Easter). This time we are staying at the Dolphin. We've already received a complimentary upgrade to a large suite (we are top tier SPG loyalty members), and have had no problems booking restaurant reservations, including the charactor dinner.
While this property isn't themed in the same way the WD properties are, it's handy to Epcot and Disney Studios, as well as some nice neighbouring resorts. We plan to spend more time by the pool, and less at the parks. We've pretty well had our fill of AK, and we'll take the Epcot monorail, or even a town car, to MK. So this one fits our bill nicely.
Cheers,