Pros/Cons of AKL please weigh in

[IandGsmom]

Im am looking at resales. Originally wanted an Epcot resort but refuse to pay the price per point they are going for right now. My hubby hasnt wanted to stay at the AKL since its so far from everything BUT I think if we can stay on the concierge level, that might convince him.
I realize that the concierge is limited so my questions to you AKL owners are these:

Would you buy at AKL if you had to do it over again?
Have you been successful or not getting the concierge level at 11 months?
Any other thoughts??

 

[Nabas]

Im am looking at resales. Originally wanted an Epcot resort but refuse to pay the price per point they are going for right now. My hubby hasnt wanted to stay at the AKL since its so far from everything BUT I think if we can stay on the concierge level, that might convince him.
I realize that the concierge is limited so my questions to you AKL owners are these:

Would you buy at AKL if you had to do it over again?
Have you been successful or not getting the concierge level at 11 months?
Any other thoughts??

Having stayed at all the Deluxe Resorts, we think that as a stand-alone hotel, AKV is WDW's best. Certainly a great addition to WDW and fully in keeping with the attention to detail that WDW is famous for.

But your husband is right. It does feel more isolated than most of the other resorts. I sometimes wonder if that was intentional, in order to fully realize the African savannah effect.

We always have a car when we stay at AKV and prefer using that to get around.

 

[drusba]

Do not buy AKL based on the intent of always getting the club level rooms. There are two reasons for that. First, the club leve rooms are not themselves that great, smaller than those at Kidani and with so-so views. There are three 2BR lock-offs (including a HA unit) that have a savanna view but it is not a good one. The other two 2BR lock-offs have pool view.

Second, because there are so few of them -- 5 2B lock-offs for a total of ten possible rooms if broken down to studios and 1BRs --and because demand is very high, they can be difficult to get even at 11 months out for almost any time of year and you can thus be blocked out before you even get a chance to reserve. Since AKV members can reserve beginning 11 months out from date of arrival, what often happens is that someone can go on and try to reserve at exactly 11 months out and find his first one or two nights or even more are already gone because someone with an earlier arrival date has already reserved those nights. Particularly for a studio or 2BR, it is the most difficult reservation to get even at 11 months out so you may be often disappointed if your plan is to always get club level.

 

[DisneyDiana]

We like feeling removed from everything and book our more resort than park time trips at AKV. We absolutely love it there but I have had trouble booking club level at exactly 11 mos. many times. I prefer savannah view anyway. I do think you should be careful since your husband is not convinced. Be sure to stay there before you buy there.

 

[JimC]

We own there and are quite happy with staying there. We prefer Kidani villas over Jambo villas. We have stayed at both, including concierge at Jambo. Kidani villas are timeshare designed. Jambo has converted hotel rooms. Kidani one bedroom villas have two bathrooms. We prefer the savanna view villas.

The lobby at Jambo is spectacular. Both Sanaa and Jiko are wonderful restaurants. Boma is an extremely popular buffet.

When we stay at Kidani we focus our recreation around the resort, AK, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon and DD.

 

[Docmom]

We own at AKL and love it. Pros are the ability to book a value room which are less points as well as the concierge rooms but both usually go quickly so the 11 month reservation timeframe is a huge benefit. The savannah views are incredible too. There is a lot to do at the resort also with daily cultural programs. The restaurants are among the best in the entire WDW complex. Cons are that it is farther to the parks than the other resorts (that can also be a pro for some) and it is a large resort. We have absolutely no regrets that we bought there.

 

[DVC Mike]

We used to own at AKV, and have since sold.

The theme is nice as are the views of the animals. We found that the dark theme tended to result in the room not always getting cleaned thoroughly.

While dining options offered are pretty nice, as are the pools, you have to hop on a bus to dine elsewhere or to get to any theme park. There isn't a nice place to just take a walk around.

AKV doesn't have a good location on property, so you have to hop on a bus. I prefer BWV and BLT.

 

[jekjones1558]

I have enjoyed my AKV stays. So relaxing. We always rent a car so AKV's location is no problem for us.
We have not bought AKV points because we would always want a savanna view room and they are usually available to book at 7 months. So for us it is more important to own where the 11 month booking priority is needed.

 

[disneynutz]

IMO you should buy at your favorite resort even at a higher price. You will in theory keep your ownership for years and years and you will be staying at the resort more and more as time goes on.

AKV is nice, we own there but the animals are expensive to maintain and depending on the room you get you may only see a couple of birds. The dark colors can make you feel closed in and the distance from everything an issue.

For us spending a little less on the resort doesn't make sense since we are committing to spend a couple of hundred thousand dollars on Disney vacations.

Bill

 

[AlohaAnnie]

We own AKV and have stayed at

BLT - twice
BCV - Once
BWV - Once
AKV - Twice

You do not have to buy where you want to stay unless you plan to go every year during a busy week or you only want to stay at one resort. We chose the Lower point purchase and have never regretted buying at AKV. In fact, it has become our favorite resort. But we like the animals the the darker theme and we do not mind the distance.

I think it depends on what you want.

We chose lower rate for our budget and our dues are reasonable.

We were also able to book a Deluxe studio CL at 11 months out for 9 days/8night stay during spring break 3/28-4/5/14.



If it were us obviously we would go with the lower purchase price.

 

[RobynPrincess]

We love AKL, we like being a bit more isolateld, in fact we stayed 2 nights in blt recently and were so pleased to get back to AKL for it's peace and tranquility! We come from the uk and so we usually stay longer and hire a car, I don't know if I would love it as much if I was always reliant on the buses, but that's cause I hate buses lol. I would buy at AKL again if I had my time over...

 

[bobbiwoz]

I would not buy AKL if I only wanted CL for my stays. I have had 3-4 short CL stays, booking at 11 months, but I mostly have used my AKV points for booking value villas at 11 months. I have been able to use other points for savannah view stays at 7 months or less!

 

[Simba's Mom]

If I were in the position to buy more points, it would probably be at AKL. I love all the activities they have, the butternut squash soup at the CS is one of my favorite quick serve offerings, I love seeing the animals, they have one of the best gift shops (at Jambo, not Kidani), and I love the point-saving of the value villas.

 

[dsneygirl]

We love AKL. In Sept we did 5 nights at AKL and 5 nights at BLT basically polar opposites and could not be more different.

My boys are water rats and the pool at Jambo is amazing, the Splash pad area at Kidani is also great.

The food options are excellent (Boma, the Mara, Jiko) and the whole atmosphere is just incredible.

We prefer Jambo as I like the hustle and bustle and coming home through that majestic lobby it transports you to another world.

MK is the farthest at about 15-18 min but I don't think it's much worse than an Epcot resort that makes multiple stops.

 

[kristenabelle]

MK is the farthest at about 15-18 min but I don't think it's much worse than an Epcot resort that makes multiple stops.

Preach! It's further away, but at least AKL has dedicated buses. After dealing with Pop, AOA, and POR buses at park closing, AKL's transportation isn't so bad at all.