Back from a split stay with three nights at AKL in a standard room. Absolutely lovely stay for our first time even visiting AKL. Lobby is beautiful, go to the indoor bridge on the 5th floor for the best viewing.
We were on Kudu trail in room 4348 which is standard but has a very nice partial savannah view. I believe the room above is a studio classified as a savannah view. We saw giraffes every day and many other animals (see photo for view from our balcony). A bit further from the lobby but only a few minutes and the room was so quiet. There was a noisy family directly across the hall from us but we couldn’t hear them in our room. We sleep with a white noise machine so we didn’t wake up to anyone.
The room itself has the same refurb as CSR where we stayed for four nights prior. Same wonderful rainfall shower and big TV (though no chrome cast at AKL sadly) and pretty much everything even the mattresses, just different styling. The price was around $75/night different and I’d say it was worth it as a splurge for us for the inside entrances and theming of the resort (and animals of course). But the actual rooms themselves were hardly different except I do like the inside entrances since you get the buffer of the bathroom between the outside door and your beds. AKL did not suffer from the annoying motion bathroom fan that CSR had though, and AKL also had labeled light switches by the bed including an amazing “good night” button that turned off all the lights!
In terms of buses AKL had way longer lines than CSR. Definitely the longest lines for any deluxe that we noticed but we only went to AK and MK those days. The first night was a bit of a bummer as we waited 40 minutes for a bus from MK to AKL on our check in night. People ahead had been waiting longer. But we waited 45 for a Disney Springs bus at CSR our first night and then never more than 15 after that so I think every resort has flukes. We were worried the next night while waiting for a bus to AKL from MK since the line was quite long, but to our amazement there were three AKL buses sent within 10 minutes so everyone made it on. One guy complained his way onto the first bus since he said he’d waited 30+ all week so take that as you will. We waited an average of 10 minutes to and from the parks I’d say, lots of little kids and strollers so people may need more encouragement to squish to fit
We had breakfast and dinner at the Mara and Boma. Mara was ok but small menu and slow service for dinner especially. No walking up to stations to have your food plated in front of you. Boma was fabulous and well worth the price. Even picky eaters will be satisfied and may even try some new things they learn they like!
We took photos in front of the lobby tree on two nights and both photopass CMs were honestly rude, giving us looks and no words. I get that it’s probably a pretty unexciting position to be taking photos in front of a resort tree but you’d think we were asking them to perform some monumental task rather than snap a few photos of two adults!
We got notices in our rooms about fire alarm testing and electricity outages but weren’t there for the alarm testing (midday) and the outage was while we were sleeping. Our noise machine did not work then but I brought earplugs so no big deal, it was back on when I woke up in the middle of the night and they provided a flashlight.
Overall we will definitely be back when we want to splurge. I’d love to try Jiko and Sanaa but my mom is a pickier eater so Boma was a better option for her. I don’t think I would stay for an entire trip since it is a bit further away but it is such a unique resort and the price tag is a lot lower than other deluxes.