Terrible overpriced hotel - avoid if you can

Posted by marciacasey from Atlanta on 4/12/08

Arrived at Animal Kingdom Lodge (AKL) on April 5 2008 for a one week stay. Got two rooms – one “villa” with a Savannah view (495 per night) and one a partial Savannah view (309 per night). The Savannah room was for our in-laws and two nieces who are major animal lovers. The Savannah “villa” room was a major disappointment. It is a tiny (did I say tiny) room with a queen bed and a pull out sofa-bed. What we thought we booked (based on the description by Disney Reservation) and what we got were like night-and-day. To say that we were disappointed would be an understatement. After my wife complained about the “villa” room…we were basically told that this is what we booked and tough luck. We can leave the hotel if we wanted to as they were fully booked. I was ready to walk out and check into the Ritz Carlton. The club level at the Ritz is cheaper than AKL. My nieces wanted the animal view so we were stuck. My wife had a mini-breakdown at the reception. She worked so hard to make this a perfect vacation for our nieces and a major part of the Disney experience was a disaster. Our other room was ok. It is in the same league as a Hampton Inn without the view. Our room at AKL had an excellent view of the animals. We woke up every morning to see Giraffes, Zebras and other animals just outside. This was a pleasant surprise since we were expecting a parking lot view when we checked in. The lodging part of the vacation went from bad to worse. The toilet in the Villa “Savannah” room started to backup from day 1. A previous guest apparently flushed a bar of soap and this caused the toilet to malfunction. The engineers came three times but could not fix it. It would be ok for a couple of flushes and then malfunction. After the fourth time…I had enough and threw a fit at the front desk around 10 PM. It was unacceptable that a 4-star hotel charging $495 per night could not provide a functioning toilet for guests, especially old disabled guests. Four days without a working toilet is not acceptable. They immediately sent engineering to yank the toilet out and replace it with a new one. Unfortunately after engineering did this they forgot to tell housekeeping to clean up the mess. We had to live with a stinky messy toilet till the next day as it 12 PM and we were exhausted after visiting the parks all day. The concierge desk at AKL were pretty unhelpful. Some were nice but a majority of them seemed to be unprepared. Make sure you plan carefully if you need wheelchairs at AKL or theme parks. Double check the information given as it is often inconsistent. We were going to the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at the Wilderness Lodge. It was raining and was a cars-trains-boats-bus type journey before it was over. Nobody seemed to know exactly where to park and which mode of transportation would result in the least amount of walking for my mother in-law. Don’t bother asking concierges about restaurants outside of Disney or even directions outside Disney. They were pretty clueless. Other than our hotel room fiasco…the Disney experience was pretty amazing. Despite the crowds we were able to get on most rides without much of a wait by using the FAST pass and some planning. We did four Disney parks and two Universal parks in six days. The Universal parks are a must do if you like more adventurous rides. Make sure you get the Express pass at Universal it will save you 30-45 minutes in line at each ride. Bottomline – don’t stay in Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge if you can avoid it. There are much better hotels at a fraction of the cost around the theme parks if you have a car.

Great Experience

Posted by tmlh from Wisconsin on 1/1/07

Our family of three stayed here Dec 10-14, 2006 and had a great time. We did have a dispute over our first room. We booked a Savannah view and found our first room (2484) had a lovely view of the hot tub! But a quick call to the front desk and all was forgiven. Our new room (4457) was perfect with views of giraffe, antelope, kudu, gazelle and various birds throughout the day. The restaurants Jiko and Boma were excellent but pricey. Service and atmosphere at both were fantastic but guests should make reservations early and expect to spend a lot. The Mara is very cafeteria-like with burgers, pizza, pre-made salads, chips, etc. Good if you're in a hurry but nothing in the way of taste. The entire hotel staff surpassed my expectations. Even the clean up crew at Mara had smiles and warm greetings for everyone. Housekeeping was always prompt and thorough. Consierge was helpful at planning our days. The Disney bus system was great. I've read complaints about long waits but we never waited longer than 10 minutes for a bus to or from any park. This hotel is out of the way and less geared toward the kids. Sure they are everywhere - this is Disney after all - but we never felt crowded or stressed by crying babies or screaming toddlers. I think Animal Kingdom does a better job at crowd placement. Maybe it's because this place is so spread out and yes, that means a long walk to restaurants, pool, game room, etc. But that's a good thing in my opinion. Just remember the stroller and wheel the kids around! Great place to stay at Disney and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a low-key, top-notch family vacation.

Turn that frown upside down and book a vacation to Animal Kingdom Lodge where the food is great,an all you can eat buffet and a pool to relax in to get a tan!

Posted by Michelle from Mohegan Lake , N.Y. on 7/21/06

I have been to this hotel there were soooo many things to do in sooooo littel time I loved it. I thought the food was really good. I went for my birthday!

Nothing Magical About Animal Kingdom Lodge

Posted by Jennifer from Maryland on 11/14/05

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge from 11/10/05 - 11/13/05 with our son. Our friends also went and had a separate room. We both found the service to be TERRIBLE. My husband pre-arranged to have flowers waiting in our room for my birthday upon arrival - - they were not delivered until 8:00 that night. Anytime we called the front desk, we were placed on hold for at least 20 minutes. For the price we paid, we expected a decent view (even if pool view). We were sent to the bottom level and had a lovely view of a bush. The transportation was a nightmare. Do not believe that buses arrive every 15-20 minutes. It simply is not true. At one point we paid $20 for a cab ride to Magic Kingdom so that we could get there by the time it opened. Our room was only cleaned once during our stay - - though she did a very good job. If you are planning on going anywhere besides Animal Kingdom - - DO NOT STAY AT ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE.

Animals a Go-Go

Posted by Barb from Germantown, MD on 11/5/05

Waking up to watch giraffes eating their breakfasts every morning was a real treat! The restaurants are lovely. Downside, the loooong walk from the bus stop to our savannah room each night. That often turned into a dragging of tired kids...