An odd question about AKL suites.

[floridafam]

Can you book a 1br suite and a concierge room and have them be "guaranteed connecting for families"? thereby assuring your suite will be on the 5th floor.

I know you can book connecting rooms with the suites at WL but those are only on the 7th floor. The suites at AKL are on various floors.

Also, I read about a 3br suite at AKL. Would this just be a 2br suite with a connecting room?

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[Janet2k]

FloridaFam, from what you've described, I feel you should book a two-bedroom suite and request that it have a secondary bedroom that can be locked off from the rest of the suite. I don't know how many of the AKL's two-bedroom suites fall into this category, but my guess is that most of them do. The only two-bedroom suite that would not fall into this category would be the Presidential Suite. If you want to lock off the second bedroom, stay away from the Presidential Suite.

 

[Janet2k]

Oh, I just re-read your post. It sounds like you're after the fifth floor. Hhhhmmmmm... I wish you luck. My two-bedroom suite was on the fifth floor and it was lovely. My one-bedroom suite was on the third floor and it was lovely, too (this suite could be turned into a two-bedroom suite, if required). Both floors were great and both suites were identical (expect for the balcony layouts).

 

[floridafam]

Janet2k,
I have gone back and forth with our October reservations. I really want to be on the top floor so I think we will just book 2 concierge rooms.

I thought maybe if I booked a suite and a concierge room they could guarantee that they would connect but I doubt it since all the suites are not specifically on the 5th floor.

They offered to do this at WL when we thought about staying in the Yellowstone Suite but there is only one of those and only on the 7th floor.

I think we'll pass on the suite this time and guarantee ourselves rooms that we know will be on a high floor.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Janet2k]

FloridaFam, I was really hoping you would stay in a WDW suite during your upcoming vacation. I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to viewing your photos and reading your trip report. Are you sure you're going to forgo the suite route? Is there a particular reason why you have your heart set on the fifth floor? I've stayed on the fifth floor once and the third floor twice. I loved both floors. If you really want the fifth floor, then make sure that when you book your concierge rooms, you don't book the ones that are on the sixth floor. I'd hate to have you end up on a floor not to your liking. Yikes!

 

[floridafam]

I'm not sure yet what we will do.

I think I want the 5th floor because it is more likely to be quiet. DH has to get up early 2 days and I want to provide him with a nice relaxing atmosphere. Did you find your lower floor suites to be any different than the one on the 5th floor?

How were the balconies different from 3rd to 5th floor? Was the one on the 5th floor bigger?

My MIL will be with us and I don't know if she would be comfortable on the sofa bed and I don't think we want to get the 2br. I WANT the Presidential Suite but I also want my kids to be able to go to college

Planning a vacation shouldn't be this stressful.

Are you saying that you didn't mind being on a lower floor? Did you actually prefer it? Did you have a long walk to the concierge lounge? I'm guessing even if we had a long walk to everything that would actually be a plus for my DH because maybe the room would be a quieter one.

I'm definately doing a trip report no matter where we stay. I'm very interested in trying out BWV because of the size and closeness to so many of the things we want to do.

 

[carriep1657]

Hi Janet and Floridafam. We stayed in a 2 bdrm suite on the 3rd floor. I have to admit that I had quite a bit of balcony envy and wished that we had gotten the 5th floor. We had a lovely view out of one bedroom but the views from the parlor and the king bedroom were primarily of trees. The rest of the family loved our room. I was the only one disappointed in the view.

FYI, for our room, we requested

1. shortest distance to the concierge lounge for medical reasons
2. bunk beds
3. 5th floor

Our first two requests were met. It's my understanding that none of the 1 or 2 bdrm suites are close to the lounge other than the Presidential and Vice-Presidential.

My step dad is disabled so we were given the suite that was closest to the lounge, lobby, food court, pool, restaurants, etc. That being said, if my step dad wasn't with us, I would have preferred one of the suites further out. I didn't find it to be much of a walk. However, it was quite a hike for my step dad and he always had to sit and rest at least twice on a walk from the lounge to our room. He would stop once in the lobby near the firepit then he'd stop again at a bench that was where you turned to get to our room. I'm estimating that the total walk from our suite to the lounge would be somewhere between 1 and 2 blocks.

 

[Janet2k]

FloridaFam, our third floor suite was on the end of one of the “fingers” and thus was very, very quiet.

Our fifth floor balcony was nice: click here to view a photo of it.

As was our third floor balcony: click here to view a photo of it.

Looking back, we didn’t spend much time in our suite during either stay, so neither balcony saw much use (we preferred hanging out at the pool area or on Arusha Rock).

Do I have a preference for floors at the AKL? Not anymore. Since my first stay was on the fifth floor, I thought I only wanted to stay on the fifth floor. But my second stay found me on the third floor (even though I had requested the fifth floor), and I really enjoyed it. When it came time for my third stay, I didn’t care where the room was as long as it was at the AKL (my favorite resort).

The walk to the concierge lounge from either of those suites was about the same (the suites were found on opposite sides of the resort from each other). I think the walks were well under five minutes (probably more like three or four minutes). I got over my thoughts regarding proximity to concierge lounges during my GF and YC suite stays – all of those walks were long, especially the GF ones since my suites were found in Conch Key and the GF’s concierge lounges were found in the main building and Sugarloaf. As you can see, for my family, proximity doesn’t matter too much. However, your family may feel differently. At least at the AKL, all the suites are found in the same building as the concierge lounge, so that is a good thing.

 

[Janet2k]

Carriep1657, oh, I am so sorry that you experienced the dreaded “balcony envy” (hee hee!). But the rest of your family didn’t seem to mind, and that is a good thing. At first I experienced it, too, but then I really enjoyed the longness of the balcony and I thought it was pretty nifty. During our suite stays in the GF’s Conch Key, I had wished our balconies had been joined into one, continuous, long balcony, but dividers separated them from each other. I really hated that fact and found it a stupid design. At least at the AKL, the parlor room and master bedroom had one continuous balcony, and I really loved that fact. The AKL’s architect put a little thought into “balcony” design, and I, for one, really appreciated it. During our third-floor AKL stay, that suite’s balcony made me happy. If I stay at the GF in a suite again, it will be I who experiences “balcony envy,” as I will be lusting over the balconies at the AKL!

 

[floridafam]

Did you find the noise level from other rooms to be any different between the 3rd and 5th floors?

Were you on different savannah's each time?

I just worry way too much about little things.

I think as long as we are at AKL we will have a good time.

Were going to try OKW but decided it will have to wait until the kids are a little older.

 

[Janet2k]

The noise levels were the same -- practically non-existent. All three AKL stays were on different savannahs.

And don't feel bad about stressing over your vacation planning. I am the same way. A vacation is my most expensive purchase each year and thus I want to do my best to make the most of it. The more pre-planning I do, the easier my vacation will flow once it begins. That said, I think something has gone wrong for each of my vacations, but that is life. I have been fortunate to have rolled with most of the punches.

 

[floridafam]

We are going to stay in the 1br suite. It was only available for 6 out of the 9 nights that we needed but we will either add on the days later if they open up or stay somewhere else those last 3 nights.

I am NOT changing our ressies again. The only request I put in was non-smoking.

This way I don't have to look for codes, etc. because you can't use them on suites so we are all set.


Janet2k,

Do you use the bus transportation when you are at AKL? How is it?

 

[carriep1657]

floridafam, I think you will really enjoy AKL. It is a wonderful resort. We all had a wonderful stay. Our suite was extremely quiet. The floor plan was great. I loved the concierge lounge. The walk was no problem. I loved walking through the lobby and smelling the wonderful smells.

Janet2k, you are right about the long balcony being so nice. My mom really enjoyed it. It was the one that was blocked by trees and was right above the hot tub area. She loved the privacy and we all enjoyed hearing the music and sounds of people and guides talking below. She liked sitting out there in her pjs and knowing that nobody could see her. If you stood at the far end of the long balcony, there was an unobstructed view of the savannah.

When I made the room requests, I told them that the most important request by far was that we be close to the lounge and action as one member of our party was disabled. They met that request and I am so grateful for that. I forgot to mention that our room was handicap accesible. It was wonderfully designed and met all of our needs beautifully.

I think that every other member of my family would request want the exact same suite if we returned.

Have a wonderful trip. I wish we were going back.

 

[Janet2k]

FloridaFam, I’m glad to hear that you’ll be sticking with the one-bedroom suite. Yahoo! Hopefully it will open up for the rest of your stay. I experienced the same problem once when I was staying at the GF in a two-bedroom suite. The suite was not available for the last couple of nights and thus I had to book a one-bedroom suite and a concierge room. No big deal. I then decided to see what two-bedroom suites were available at the other resorts, and found that the only two-bedroom suite available at the Yacht Club was the Captains Deck Suite, so I booked it. I didn’t know anything about that suite at the time but came to the Dis to find out what I could. I think AlohaMickey (I wish he was still around) told me about it and even sent me a floor plan to both the suite and the resort (gosh, Dis’ers are so nice). It was great having some advance info about the Yacht Club since I had not stayed there before. So, my suggestion to you is to consider the option of resort hopping if you can’t get the accommodations that you need for those days. I know that we really enjoyed hopping over to another resort to finish out our vacation. We love experiencing new resorts.

You asked about Disney transportation and the AKL. When we stay at the AKL, we rarely leave, but when we do, we use either taxicabs or Disney buses. We had a problem late one evening with a taxicab that never arrived. Arg! After waiting over 30 minutes for it to arrive, we told Bell Services about the problem (the no-show cab), and then we walked over to the bus stop and hopped on a bus that took my husband, our son, and myself directly to the BoardWalk. This bus was supposed to head to one of the theme parks, but the bus was empty and the bus driver asked my husband where we were heading. My husband said that we eventually wanted to get to the BoardWalk but knew that we had to go to a theme park first, and then transfer onto a resort bus. The bus driver set his sign to “Special” and asked us to hop aboard, he was going to be our personal driver to the BoardWalk. We couldn’t believe it. We’ve been in stretch limos before, but we’ve never had an entire bus dedicated to just ourselves. We got the biggest kick out of that. Anyway, when we arrived at the BoardWalk, my husband attempted to pay the bus driver for our ride, but the bus driver flatly refused. We told him that since our taxicab stood us up, we felt it only right to give him our fare. Again, he wouldn’t consider taking our money, he said it was his pleasure to drive us to the BoardWalk and put a smile on our face. Talk about Disney Magic. *Sigh*

I know what I just mentioned is not the norm, but when we’ve used the Disney buses from the AKL, we’ve never had to wait more than 15 minutes. The bus service has always been good for us.

 

[Janet2k]

Carriep1657, your suite sounded perfect. Since you said that it was handicap-accessible, what sort of bathroom facilities did it have? Did it have a roll-in shower? What other special features did your suite have? By the way, do you have photos posted of it on the ‘net?

 

[floridafam]

Hopefully, the last 3 nights will open up. I'm not too worried.

Getting ready to leave for Florida on Wednesday.

I'll post a trip report over on the Orlando area hotels board if anyone wants to see it when we get back.

We are staying 3 nights in Panama City Beach so DH can do the Gulf Coast Triathlon and then we are going to Sand Key for a week and staying at the Sheraton Sand Key where we were married.

Right now I am in that "I have too much to do before I go on vacation that I don't want to go on vacation anymore" kind of a mood.

Looking forward to AKL in the fall.

 

[floridafam]

I'd also be interested in seeing the pictures of the handicap-accessible suite. I think ducklite said that the suite she stayed in on her last trip was HA.

Forgot to mention,

DH has an unexpected appt. in Leesburg while we are in Florida and we may get to stay in Orlando for a night. Maybe I'll see if we can book a 1br suite.

 

[Janet2k]

FloridaFam, I’m glad to hear that you won’t stress out about the “missing” nights for your upcoming AKL stay (what a great Disney Attitude to have). And as far as this week’s FL vacation goes, have a wonderful time! By the way, I know exactly what you mean about the “’I have too much to do before I go on vacation that I don't want to go on vacation anymore’ kind of a mood.” I get in that mood before each of my group vacations. Yowsa, do I get in that kind of mood! I wouldn’t wish it on anyone (hee hee).

Did Ducklite post any photos of the suite that she stayed in? Do you think it was the same suite that Carriep1657 stayed in?

 

[floridafam]

I don't believe ducklite has posted her AKL pictures yet. She said the link would appear in her signature when she did and I have not seen it yet.

 

[carriep1657]

Janet2k and Floridafam, I wish I had taken more pictures of our room. All I have is a photo of my DD on the top bunk of her bed and a couple of photos from our balcony. My mom's the big photographer in the family. Unfortunately, she had a stomach flu for most of our stay and spent the majority of her time at the AKL resting in bed or on her balcony.

I will have to ask her a bit more about the bathroom in the master. That was really the only place I could tell that the suite was HA. There was a roll in shower. It seems like there were extra wide doors getting into the WC area. I do remember that their bathroom was huge. They may all be like that though. One thing that I did notice was that the suite's 2nd bedroom could be locked off from the rest of the suite making a standard room and a 1 bdrm suite. However, that 2nd bedroom had no room number on it. It didn't look as though it was ever used as room on it's own and that surprised me. I wondered if that had something to do with the suite being HA. I've heard people mention that the rooms at AKL seemed small. While the master bedroom and the parlor area were both good size. I felt like the 2nd bedroom was very small. I wondered if the extra large HA bathroom for the master was the cause of it.

I guess I'll just have to go back and get a non-HA 2 bdrm suite so that I can compare the two and report back to you on what I find.