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View Full Version : AKL: Concierge v. Savannah



roryjulie
03-18-2007, 11:19 AM
We are considering concierge for my an upcoming trip in July (for my birthday).

When I called I can get a guaranteed savannah room, or a concierge level room with no savannah guaranteed-- but you can make a request and cross your fingers,

Now, is it more worthwhile to take the regular savannah room, or to take the concierge so you can do the special breakfast safari?

Any help appreciated.

TooGoofy
03-18-2007, 01:36 PM
Hi there,
We wrestled with the same decision about our July trip also. I did lots of research and asked tons of questions here on Intercot and elsewhere. It turns out that there are only about 6 concierge rooms that are not savannah view. I was also told that those rooms were smoking rooms. I don't know how true this is.

We really wanted to do the Sunrise Safari, so we have booked concierge, and have requested Arusha savanna view. I know it's just a request, but so far, I have not heard of anyone who requested savanna view concierge who did not get it. At our 180 day mark, I emailed AKL concierge and made the request again.

We're keeping our fingers crossed, but Disney has a way of making magic happen! I say, go for concierge.

(By the way, we are going from July 2-14, with July 9-19 at AKL. Our Sunrise Safari is booked for Thursday July 12. Maybe we'll see you there!)

TammiMcMan
03-18-2007, 09:38 PM
Unless you're requesting a smoking optional room on the club level, you're almost guaranteed to get a savannah view.

tyandskyesmom
03-19-2007, 03:19 PM
I was wondering...

Is it worth doing concierge for only the food benefit? Specifically at AKL?

It appears from reading everything I have that mainly you could get a decent continential style breakfast, drinks and snacks all day and then appetizers and desserts in the evening. I have heard in some places that at some of the hotels the evening offerings fould easily be made into a dinner. What about the mid-afternoon offerings?

I am specifically wondering about AKL as we will be doing a hotel (meaning no parks!) three night stay in July and I was possibly contemplating changing our ressie. But we will not be doing it for the extended planning services or the Sunrise or Sunset Safari so if the food/drink offerings would not make it worth it, I may just upgrade to a savannah view as the time gets nearer...

Any and all detail that you can provide would really help me make up my mind!

104 more days!

TammiMcMan
03-19-2007, 04:45 PM
Is it worth doing concierge for only the food benefit? Specifically at AKL? Not typically. If you were considering an upgrade from standard savannah to standard club, then we're only talking $40-$50 more per night. I'd say in that case, with just the two of you eating continental breakfast each morning in the lounge and a glass of wine at night, you could easily justify the difference. If you're looking at an ugrade from standard or pool view though, that's closer to $110 more per night. Unless you stayed in the lounge and ate all day long, you'd have a hard time eating $110 in snacks and appetizers.


I have heard in some places that at some of the hotels the evening offerings fould easily be made into a dinner. What about the mid-afternoon offerings?If you ate a big lunch, then you might get away with filling up on spring rolls and chicken skewers for dinner, but it's not really intended to be a meal replacement plan. Mid day offerings are typically bowls of snacks (M & M's, peanuts, pretzels, etc.)


But we will not be doing it for the extended planning services or the Sunrise or Sunset Safari so if the food/drink offerings would not make it worth it, I may just upgrade to a savannah view as the time gets nearer..As I mentioned, if the cost were only another $40 per night to upgrade, then you could have an argument for doing that just because of the food/drink offerings. If you're talking $110 per night though, I'd save your money and stock your own in room refrigerator with snacks and beverages.

mouseketeer mom
03-19-2007, 05:06 PM
We stayed AKL club level, deluxe room in January. We had a savannah view. If I were to do it over, I wouldn't care about the savannah view. We were on the Kudu trail, and our room was about a mile from the lounge. I'm not kidding. It didn't feel conciergish at all. We had more luck seeing the animals from many other places at the lodge than from our room. One day we did get lucky and saw the giraffes at feeding time from our balcony, but that was it. We saw plenty of birds and dirt roads and service trucks. There are so many big windows and viewing places around the lodge, you can't help but see animals! The balcony savannah view was not was it was cracked up to be in our case. But...the pool area was breathtaking. Nicely themed, bright and sunny which was a pleasant contrast from our dark room and dark hallways, and dark lounge. So..if I was to do it again, I wouldn't care which view we had,. heck I might even ask for a pool view. The lounge offerings were not that great compared to the Poly. I'm glad we tried it. It was a neat experience, but its the Poly concierge all the way for us!

Willowwind
03-24-2007, 04:20 PM
I've stayed with a 3rd floor Savannah View on the Ostrich trail and it was amazing. If there's a hotel to stay at without going to the parks, this is the one! On the concierge level you're higher up and father away from being able to see the animals, but on the 3rd floor you've got a changing view every time you look out the window. Even at night it was fun, we could see the silly little red river hogs with their floppy ears running along behind the food trucks in the dark. We never saw them during the day. There's so much to see and do at this hotel, it's totally enough to make a non-park trip worth while.

We're staying on the club level in December and I'm a little concerned that we'll be too high up to be able to have a good view of the animals.