A little help please... WL, AK, or POL???

[jaw407]

I booked five nights at WL (courtyard) in June. I was looking around on the WDW website and found AK (standard) for $340.00 cheaper. I can also get POL (garden) for $330 more than WL. We have not stayed at any of the three and would like any comments. I can stretch POL if it's that much above the others. We are a family of four with two teenage boys.

 

[kaysmommie]

I booked five nights at WL (courtyard) in June. I was looking around on the WDW website and found AK (standard) for $340.00 cheaper. I can also get POL (garden) for $330 more than WL. We have not stayed at any of the three and would like any comments. I can stretch POL if it's that much above the others. We are a family of four with two teenage boys.

I've stayed at WL twice and it is beautful and has good restaurants too. If you had little kids they I would say stay at Poly because it's on the monrail, which makes it easier for naps. Poly has good restaurants too, I"m staying there on my upcoming trip for the first time. DH is sad because he loves WL. I would rather stay in a courtyard view than standard at AKL. Did you check out the Savanah view at AKL? All three resorts are beautiful but alot of people like Poly. Have a great trip!

 

[DisOrBust]

I would stick with what you have. We love AKL but i would not chance a standard view room. Some there are REALLY bad.

 

[grimley1968]

I would also stick with WL. It's an awesome resort.

Keep in mind, the prices are the same at WL as at AKL for like rooms. The Poly is in the next tier of pricing, because it's a monorail resort.

I'd definitely choose WL over AKL for the same price, or even your price difference for the courtyard view. Not only because I love WL, but also because it has non-bus transport to one park: MK. With AKL, it's buses everywhere. If I'm paying Deluxe pricing, I'm paying largely because most of the Deluxes provide non-bus transport to one, and sometimes two, parks. AKL does not provide that. Until they do, I'll never pay the same for AKL as for WL.

 

[pepe of ohio]

I would also stick with WL. It's an awesome resort.

Keep in mind, the prices are the same at WL as at AKL for like rooms. The Poly is in the next tier of pricing, because it's a monorail resort.

I'd definitely choose WL over AKL for the same price, or even your price difference for the courtyard view. Not only because I love WL, but also because it has non-bus transport to one park: MK. With AKL, it's buses everywhere. If I'm paying Deluxe pricing, I'm paying largely because most of the Deluxes provide non-bus transport to one, and sometimes two, parks. AKL does not provide that. Until they do, I'll never pay the same for AKL as for WL.

We have stayed at the Poly, for the money its fantastic, for less money WL is great. Easy boat ride to CR and monorail around to all three resorts for dinners, shopping and lounging. Its quick, and we boat to Fort Wilderness, quiet, quaint, perfect for beer and pizza at Trails End. We can see the EWP from WL beach, and most of the high fireworks or boat to the CR and see it all. Pool theming is awesome and the 2 jacuzzis even better. Trout Pass pool bar has some great drinks and the short boat ride to CR, has the largest game room on property.

We have stayed at AKL for 3 days, once, that was enough. Long long hallways, animals rarely out in our savannah, unless browse was put out. Dark themeing and when the sun goes down, nothing to do but stand in a bus line to go elsewhere, not fun.

 

[WaterPoloDisney]

Some rooms at AKL are bad?


Never had that experience. AKL is one of my favorite resorts. Here is why:

1) The rooms in my experience are much cleaner and less worn than any other deluxe I have stayed in.
2) The pool cannot be beat other than by SAB at YC/BC.
3) The food court is excellent.
4) The restaraunts at the AKL can't be beat other than by the contemporary.
5) If your kids like animals at all, then AKL is a no brainer.
6) The resort has tons of activities for kids.
7) Simba's kid's club is unbeatable.
8) The ambience of the resort is BY FAR one of the best--second only to GF in my opinon. The decor is amazing and the themeing is fun. I am from the west and vacation nin Hawaii all the time. I can't help but feel lide the decor of the Poly as being faux. On the other hand, I have been to africa and the AKL is dead on with the theming. It is at least a 4 star hotel by any standard.

 

[grimley1968]

Some rooms at AKL are bad?


Never had that experience. AKL is one of my favorite resorts. Here is why:

1) The rooms in my experience are much cleaner and less worn than any other deluxe I have stayed in.
2) The pool cannot be beat other than by SAB at YC/BC.
3) The food court is excellent.
4) The restaraunts at the AKL can't be beat other than by the contemporary.
5) If your kids like animals at all, then AKL is a no brainer.
6) The resort has tons of activities for kids.
7) Simba's kid's club is unbeatable.
8) The ambience of the resort is BY FAR one of the best--second only to GF in my opinon. The decor is amazing and the themeing is fun. I am from the west and vacation nin Hawaii all the time. I can't help but feel lide the decor of the Poly as being faux. On the other hand, I have been to africa and the AKL is dead on with the theming. It is at least a 4 star hotel by any standard.

Maybe this is all true, but none of this is factually any better than what WL offers, except for the access to animals. They were designed by the same architect, have the same room dimensions, and both resorts are shaped very similarly. Oh, and I'd stack up WL's pool with AKL any day. It's a very nice pool. Since it was designed by the same architect, the pools are probably more alike than different.

The thing WL has all over AKL is transportation, though. To me, that is reason enough to charge less for AKL than WL for like rooms. I could never dish out the same as WL prices for AKL, if it means not having any sort of non-bus transportation to anywhere from the resort. That's just part of the "Deluxe" experience for me. I was frankly astounded Disney did this and called AKL a Deluxe, when it really offers no better functional amenities than what the Moderate resorts offer.

The second Disney creates some kind of non-bus method of transportation to the Animal Kingdom park, I'll consider it a Deluxe resort in the way that I consider all the other Deluxes that offer this.

Also, keep in mind that the Poly is supposed to represent all of Polynesia, not just Hawaii. And the entire Poly resort is undergoing a massive refurbishment, so it looks different than it did just a year ago. Still, it's not too bad for a resort built in the early 70's. It's fared better than CR I think.

 

[NCMickeyFan]

Hi! If I were you, I wouldn't trade a magnificent courtyard view at the WL for a standard at the AKL. I've stayed at all 3 resorts and love them all for different reasons. WL is just breathtaking and feels warm and homey. AKL is wonderfully themed too but I didn't really care for the candid cameras all over the place (especially watching the savannahs!) but they do have the best food court and sit down restaurants of any other deluxe resorts. Jiko and Boma both are WONDERFUL!!

The Poly on the other hand is another fave of mine. I've stayed there twice in the past 6 months and had both the garden and lagoon view and loved them both. We were in Tahiti longhouse for our lagoon view and then back in December got Aoteroa (sp?) for a garden view. Both were excellent locations although the room in Aoteroa only had one sink which wasn't really even an issue but the room was slightly smaller (by maybe 50 sq ft) than our room in Tahiti. The transportation just really can't be beat from this resort. So, if larger rooms and ease of transportation are important to you, I'd pick the Poly.

Good luck in whatever you decide

 

[biggroofy]

I am also struggling among WL, Poly, and SSR. Anyone has stayed in both WL and Poly and can give a comparsion in room quality, transportation, and noise level?

If I am going there in December, do you think all rooms in Poly will be rennovated?

 

[SeaSpray]

I've stayed at the WL and the Polynesian. (I have pictures from both resorts on my web site, the link is below in my signature). We loved both resorts, however the Polynesian is definitely #1, in our opinion. This is because of the location, overall theme, restaurants, and transportation options. You have the monorail and the boats to take you back and forth to the Magic Kingdom, but you're also a short walk to the TTC where you get the Epcot Monorail too.

I love the volcano pool at the Polynesian; no where else can you swim at night and watch the fireworks over the castle at the same time. On the other hand, DH and I really enjoyed sitting in the large comfortable leather chairs in the lobby of the WL at night after a long day, and just relaxing...people watching...listening to the sounds of the bubbling brook... Like I said, we really did love both resorts, but the Polynesian is our absolute favorite

The rooms at the Polynesian are large, some of the largest on Disney property, every room has 2 queen beds and a day bed. This was perfect for us since we have 2 teen boys who like to have their own beds.

When we stayed at the WL we had a room with a queen bed and a set of bunk beds. The bunks were OK, but for our boys' ages, the headroom was very, very tight. Especially on the bottom bunk. An older child, or an adult, can't sit up in bed on the bottom bunk, there's just not enough room between the bottom and top bunks. I don't think we'd stay there again in just 1 room with our DSs again. We'd either have to get a deluxe room with a day bed, or two regular rooms.

As far as noise level goes, we didn't hear any noise from either resort.