Animal Kingdom Lodge 2001 Concierge Service Reports

Kim Fajerski, December 2001

This past December one of my friends and I decided to stay at the AKL, when we went to look at the prices for "standard savannah view" vs "concierge view" the difference turned out to be a little over $60 per night. For the $60 we basically had an endless supply of food. When we checked in it was "african snacks" like trail mix, and fruit (they had this guava juice to die for), they had high tea in the late afternoon, along with cookie decorating for the kids, horderves (from Boma) along with a cooking demonstration from a Boma chef in the early evening along with african wines, in the late evening we had dessert along with cordials. Then when we got up the following morning they had a breakfast buffet (not hot stuff like eggs and bacon) but cereal, bagels and toast along with juice/coffee.

Plus it was totally cool to get on the elevator and having to use our room keys and get the "access" to the "upper floor"…one other thing: did you know that the room keys for the concierge are gold instead of the traditional blue…

*****

Deborah A. Graham, August 2001

We had three rooms on the 5th floor concierge on 8/12-8/15. We got a rate of $265 tax included per room per night for the three nights (AP rate).

It was a wonderful experience. The lounge had plenty of food whenever we went to the 6th floor and the two attendants were constantly replenishing the various juices and snacks. Andrea came to our rooms and presented our parents with gifts for their anniversary, she was very special as were all of concierge CMs.

We did the Sunrise Safari and it was fantastic. Joe, our guide, was very knowledgeable about the animals and gave us a lot of detailed information. We saw so many beautiful animals and we even saw the African Elephants walking nose to tale across the savannah. The breakfast at Tusker House was delicious and the hosts were so nice and personable. We hated to see it end! We used our fast passes to do the Kilamanjaro Safari after breakfast and while it wasn't as intimate it was great also.

All in all our concierge stay was well worth the price. We will be doing it again in May and August of 2002. We had no problems with the travel times or the bus service, the busses are dedicated to the Animal Kingdom Lodge only so its a straight shot to any park.

*****

Kennect, June 2001

Beau and his staff made sure everything was done to make the visit memorable. I personally found it to be a great value overall considering all of the extras that one receives. We even did the Sunrise Safari and had a wonderful time. The safari portion was great and the breakfast afterwards was simply a feast. I felt it was well worth the money. Everyone involved with it really seemed to be interested in making sure you had a good time.

Even the chef that explained what was on the breakfast buffet. Those fried eggs on green tomato's were quite interesting. I don't know if this is a regular thing or not but they even had a cooking demonstration one evening with one of the chefs from Jiko's. The only downside I can think of is the idea that the evening snacks were so good that you really didn't want dinner after sampling things there in the lounge.

*****

WebRay, May 2001

Hubby (Bob) and I (Cheryl) returned from a wonderful two night stay (May 18-20) at DAKL. Early in the week, before we were to check in, we received a call from Martha, the itinerary planner. She was double checking the room requests we had made, and asking if we were visiting for a special occasion, or if there was anything in general she could arrange for us before we arrived. We had a great conversation, and before hanging up, she told us when we arrived at the guard gate to let the guard know that we were concierge guests and he would call forward and someone would meet us and take us directly to our room if it was ready, or to the concierge lounge if it was not. Martha had already taken the credit card to arrange room charging privileges, we did not have to go to the front desk to check in.

We pulled up to the gate about 1:30pm that Friday afternoon, followed Martha's directions and sure enough, within the time it took us to drive up to the resort from the guard building, there was someone there to meet us (this is a very short drive, probably not even one minute). Very impressive so far. Terrie was there to greet us and take us to our room. She asked us if we wanted a tour of the lodge first, we told her we had toured during the open mouse, so we were ready to go to the room. She said great. Along the way she pointed out Hidden Mickey's, told us some resort facts. When we got to the room, she opened the balcony door to keep us busy while she unloaded the luggage. She then reviewed the animal identification sheet with us and said…about this time of the day, the animals were taken in for a check up and let out in a couple of hours. She then showed us up to the concierge lounge and introduced us to Sue. What a neat lady!

She printed our PSs as I had lost my calendar with all the times and numbers. She explained the concierge menu/times and invited us to have a snack. Sue said there is a great smoothie that will give us some energy. The fruit smoothy was yummy, we had some chips and fire mix and headed back to the room to unpack.

By the time we got back to the room, the animals were out…Giraffes and Zebra's right under the balcony. We had room 5233 overlooking the Arusha Savannah. Very nice view. We decided to go down to the pool and get some sun. We enjoyed some time in the hot tub and pool, tried a drink from the bar…a lodge specialty…a margarita made with a tangerine Liqueur, very tasty.

Time to head back up to the room and change for dinner at Jiko's. We wanted to stop by the concierge lounge before dinner to test some of the wines and hors d'oeurvres. All I can say about that is wow. The treats are brought up from Boma and Jiko…there were hot meats…tuna and something else (beef/lamb) on skewers with the salsa's that matched. They were so yummy. We were chatting with a table of ladies beside us, they said that they could have supper right here, but the restaurant menus looked so delightful…they will have to keep their ps anyway. We laughed and agreed. Time to head downstairs to Jiko.

After dinner, back up to the concierge lounge to check out the late evening offerings. We had a drink and off to the room to relax. Also, throughout the time we were leaving/entering our room to day there had been two surprises left for us. We were tickled. The first was for me, a little treat for my 40th birthday. The second was for both of us…I guess because we were concierge guests. Upon receiving this gift our expectations had been exceeded…I am not going to say what it is because I want all of you to have your own magical experience…let's just say it was very very very nice.

Saturday we once again hung out at the pool, walked through the lobby looking at all the art, checked out the exercise room, Mara and the grounds. The whole resort is absolutely breathtaking. We had room service delivered for breakfast; banana stuffed french toast (yummy) and eggs with pork loin for hubby.

We had the afternoon snack delivered, a bucket of Casablanca (beer) with flatbread, hummus, another spread and fire mix. We had it on the balcony while watching the animals. The cattle were playing below the window…the smaller one was trying to get after the bigger ones food, you could hear the horns clacking as one shoved the other away. You could see the giraffes tongue as she reached for the leaves on the trees. You can hear the grass crunch as the zebra walk through it. What a treat, I could sit there all day.

We went up to concierge, had a drink and headed back to the room. We relaxed on the balcony and turned in. About 2am I woke up and had to check for animals again, sure enough, tonight they were there. The smoke had cleared, it was a beautiful evening with a cool breeze. The zebra's were right below the balcony…antpotle cattle were over by arusha rock and the wildebeast had finally decided to come out and play. They had been laying in the distance under a tree all day. I watched for about two hours, crazy as it seems I was not the only one awake at this hour…I could see camera flashes from many balconies.

We went up to concierge to say good bye to Sue, she gave us her card
and said if we ever needed anything to give her a call. She is truly something special.

The weekend was so relaxing, we had a great time. We couldn't believe it was over already. We can't wait to go back again. This resort is the perfect place to just go and soak up atmosphere. We never left the resort…no parks. This resort is now among our favorites on Disney property. The people, food and service were all wonderful. What a weekend!

*******

Louis Lupin, May 2001

We stayed on the concierge level at AKL a few weeks after it opened (4/28
through 5/2). We did not utilize the advance planning. The service at the concierge lounge was fabulous. This may have been due to the fact that the Disney board of directors stayed there a few days before, so the staffing may have been at what seemed like an unusually high level. Or it may have just been because it was new.

Except for very early in the morning (I have a two year old who wakes up at the crack of dawn, so I was in the lounge as early as 7:00 a.m.), there were always two cast members manning the desk, and at least two others replenishing the food. It's been too long for me to remember all of the food offerings, however, I do remember that there was enough food to skip dinner if you wanted to following the afternoon snack buffet. At night there were several different wines and after dinner drinks to sample.

I've seen reports on your site about the Sunrise Safari tour and breakfast. The tour itself was a bit disappointing, because it was too early to see most of the animals, but the breakfast was fabulous. Also, it was raining very hard when the tour finished, so everyone on the tour who needed one was given a free Disney rain pancho. For us, this tour was a bargain, since the price was only $19.95 at the time (pre-grand opening price).