Linda Mac's Orlando Adventures

The Kilimanjaro Club at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge have been moved to the presidental suite for the next few months while the 6th floor rooms are being remodeled. It is smaller then it's orginal spot but has a view of the savannah.

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Signage located at the main elevators on 3rd floor across the lobby from front desk (elevators to Boma on ground level).

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The next set of photos are looking out over the Sunset Savanna. Some were taken from an exit stairway on the outside of the building on 5th floor of Kudu Trail Guest room area and the others were taken from 3rd observation deck just pass the front desk, outside the exhibit room.

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Exterior view of the Presidental Suite - temporary home of the concierge Kilimajaro Club.

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Zawadi marketplace -- Getting ready to install a new, bigger cooler for DVC food items like deli meats, frozen pizza, etc..

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Possible future entrance to AKV. It is at the end of the parking lot.

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Jambo everyone, from one of the new Zebra Trail DVC rooms on the 5th floor of Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Lightning in the area has closed the Uzima Pool, so I figured this would be a great time to share my adventure. Well, at least the beginning of it.

It has been a very exciting day for me so far. I was lucky enough to secure a Savanna View Studio. With only 10 rooms opening today, I was really lucky to get one. I had been staying at All Stars Music for the last few nights and a cast member at the concierge desk was kind enough to call and check on the AKL reservation. To my surprise, Disney planned to "release" the rooms at 10:00 am. Good-bye AS Music, Hello Animal Kingdom Lodge!

I arrived at the AK Lodge just before 9:00 am and I was the first DVC member to use the free valet parking service here. That was pretty cool.

I proceeded to the front desk and check-in was very, uneventful. Hmm.... After all, it is OPENING DAY. Where’s the party? Well, why not check out the location of the room. I went up to the 5th floor and was immediately booted out by security who informed me that it is hard hat area. Well, maybe my map reading is not so good. I decided to just wait till the room was released at 10 am.

With almost an hour to kill, I walked out to the Arusha Rock Savanna Overlook and things were quiet. I was debating between having breakfast at Boma; it's a wonderful buffet or the food court, The Mara. The food court won and it turned out to be a good thing.

Mike, who helped with my check-in, approached me just as I was paying for breakfast and asked me to return to the front desk when I finished my meal. Is there a problem with my reservation, I asked? He assured me there wasn't and it would be "a good thing" to return when I finished because "people" from the Vacation Club wanted to meet me. OK. I could not concentrate on my breakfast so I was really glad it was only a $6 meal instead of a $17 buffet. The feeling was similar to when the Dream Team asked me if I knew about The Year of a Million Dreams Giveaway. Visions of Cindy's Castle danced in my head, till they handed me a fastpass. What was to come this time?

It turned out Mike, is with the IT department and in charge of the new software for the villas not the front desk. Once I arrived back at the front desk, he introduced me to Genny, the Opening Project Manager for the DVC Villas. Genny congratulated me on “officially” being the first member to check-in for the opening. She also asked if I would be willing to be interviewed and have my photo taken for the members website. Well, YES!

More from Animal Kingdom Lodge’s Opening Day to come.

As the first DVC member to arrive for the opening, I was asked to recreate my arrival at the Front Desk. The original Cast Member that checked me in, Mary Lou was called over so that Diane from DVC Communications could take some photos for the Member's website. The picture/pictures should be up in a few weeks. I was also required to sign a waiver before any pictures were taken. The event was over in just a few minutes. Now, to my room. Yippee!!!

Genny offered to escort me upstairs which I quickly took her up on since I had trouble earlier with the security guard. As luck would have it, he was still on duty. I couldn't help myself from saying 'I'm Back". We all laughed about. Genny and I proceeded down the hallway pasted a set of rooms that had work people going in and out. I am guessing these next 10 rooms will open within a week or so from what I could see when I peaked in. I did ask about the rumors of the AKL closing for the summer due to the construction but was told that rooms in certain areas of the construction would be block from usage during the loudest times.

There was an official looking group of Cast Members up ahead and they were kind of talking and looking at me as we approached. Genny made the announcement that their first DVC Member had arrived and told them my name. The song "Be Our Guest" starting playing in my head as everyone applauded me and were sincerely happy to meet me. WOW! One of the members of my welcoming committee turned out to be the General Manager of Animal Kingdom Lodge, Steve Schreiber. I was introduced to each cast member and their positions ranged from Housekeeping Floor Manager to the Construction Manager for DVC Project.

Finally, it is time to see my room. Everyone held their breath when I inserted my Key To The World card into the lock for room 5419. It worked and the applause started again. I asked if anyone want to come in because I was not sure what to do with a whole group of people standing at my door trying to watch my expression as I walked in and looked around. Oh, no, no they answered. We will leave you to enjoy the room. Everyone welcomed me home, again.

The first thing I noticed beside the awesome view of the Arusha Rock Savanna was a giant basket of goodies on my table. Can this day get any better? As a matter of fact, it did get better. The basket was topped with Mickey and Minnie Mouse Plushes dressed in their safari outfits. I was shocked at the amount of "stuff" in treasure chest as it turned out not to be a basket upon closer inspection. There are all kinds of DVC goodies like luggage tags, a car license plate, a members cap (which I proudly wore to the pool), playing cards, an alarm clock with Goofy sleeping and words saying "Dreaming of my Next Vacation", a mouse for my computer filled with blue liquid and a flowing sign that has the DVC logo on one side and Disney's Best Kept Secret on the other, a "Welcome Home" mouse pad that looks like an old fashion rug with fringes on each side, a travel mug and 3 Vacation Magic visors. I am opening the goodie chest as I am writing this since it was too pretty to take apart earlier. The members cap was easy to remove without disturbing the rest of the items.

If all the DVC stuff wasn't enough, the treasure chest has craved wooden safari animals and a mask, a candle painted to look like a zebra pattern and food, lots of food. What a goodie chest would be complete without Mickey Shortbread Rounds and raspberry truffle malted balls, seasoned pretzels, sweet and tangy mustard, cheese spread, key lime thimble cookies, a tiramisu cake and pecan divinity.

After all this excitement, it is now time to take a good look at my Studio. It is laid out very much like the Saratoga Springs except there are 2 sinks in bathroom vanity area, the closet is smaller but there is a wardrobe for hanging your clothes, it sits in front of the pillow topped queen size bed and there are 2 individual square coffee tables. Oh, yeah there is a large, High Def Flat Screen TV by LG as well as a DVD Player.

More to come....including both studio and onebedroom room pictures with larger versions later this afternoon.

I would like to share some of my pictures of the newly opened DVC Studio Room at Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas. Most of these photos are from Room 5419, located on the 5th floor on the Zebra Trail. My room looked out over the Arusha Rock Savanna.

Looking towards the balcony

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