AOA, AKL, or BWV studio?

[kyleandconnorsmom]

Hi! I am currently planning my family's first WDW vacation since 2011 and DH's first since 2008. I have actually had a room booked at POFQ for awhile now, but have gotten to do very little planning due to DH's reluctance to go. Just recently he finally discussed some vacation details with me and revealed that he only wants to go 5 nights vs the 6 I had planned. Because of this, we now have more resort options within our budget.

We are going the first week of March and it will be myself, DH and our DS's (12, 6, and 2). I am pretty sure I have narrowed it down to a standard room at AKL, a studio at BWV, and a suite at AOA. DS6 has wanted to stay at AKL since he saw it on tv and is an animal lover. However, after showing him pictures of all 3 options he said he would be happy with any of them, but is favoring BWV. DS12 said he prefers AKL, and my little guy said he wants to stay with Lightning McQueen (he has to weigh in if his brothers are . DH wants nothing to do with planning and has said he would be happy squeezing in to a room at All Star Sports (the only WDW resort he has ever stayed at, in 2008).

Our touring style is pretty laid back. We will do days in the parks and evenings at the resort or DTD. Pool time is really important to my boys and DH. We will also take a day to hang out at the resort and maybe drive over to Cocoa Beach for a short time, so I want a resort that will keep us entertained, especially in the evenings. It would be great to have the extra sleeping surfaces at AOA, but I am concerned that there won't be much to do in our downtime there. However, I know DH would love having a proper food court as opposed to Mara and the options at BW.

I am really up in the air with this. All of these options are within a couple of hundred bucks of each other, with AKL being the cheapest. I have never set foot near any of these resorts, so I know very little about them, other than what I've been reading and watching. What would you recommend?

 

[goofy4tink]

Well. That's a hard choice. AKL-Jambo house has Mara, a food court, down by the pool. Getting a savannah view room...that's a great thing! And there are various activities around the resort. The pool is a lot of fun as well. Bit, you do have to take buses everywhere. And it takes a fair amount of time to get to the parks, other than AK.
AoA is a lot of fun.....very bright and colorful. The family suites will give you a lot of space. The kids will like the pools as well....but there is no pool slide. The food court is fine, and you can always walk over to Pop and eat there as well.
BW is DU ...and you get to walk to two parks! Bit, there isn't food court....one of the only things I don't like at BW. You can always walk over to the Dolphin and eat at Picabu...a very good cafeteria style restaurant. The pool area at BW is terrific...very fun slide.
A studio will give you a queen bed and a sleep sofa, with a pack and play available. You also have a microwave, fridge, toaster and coffee maker, with a small sink. Very nice for a family.
BW has entertainment in the evenings, out on the boardwalk. It's nice, but after a short time you've pretty much seen why there is to see. At least at AoA you and your dh would be able to have privacy, and put the kids to bed at night, but you could still be awake in the master! Always a plus.

I guess it boils down to what you consider to be most important.....size of room, food options, pools, entertainment options. Just be careful.....you could get spoiled at BWVs or either of the other two!

 

[kyleandconnorsmom]

All of the points you brought up are reasons why I'm considering each. I didn't know about Picabu, I will have to look that up. Thanks!

 

[MouseOfGold]

We just returned about a month ago from a split stay at AoA LM/AoA CS/AKL CL. I'll give you my opinion on AoA & AKL but I've never stayed at BWI so I can't comment on it. (That clown pool slide freaks me out though!)

I have never stayed at a value resort prior to this past trip so I'll admit I was a bit nervous about whether I'd like it.

AoA- We LOVED our Cars suite! It was spacious for our party of 4. I loved having 2 bathrooms, a small kitchenette with all the necessities, the extra murphy bed and 2 TV's for when we wanted to watch them. The kids loved the over the top character theming, the Nemo playground area, the Big Blue pool and the Nemo splash pad. The buses ran smoothly. The food court food was ok but I think all of the food courts are just ok at Disney. Gift shop was nice and had a large selection of various items. CM's and Mousekeeping were very friendly and helpful. I did online check in and we were greeted by name by a smiling CM when we stepped off of the ME. She handed us our check in papers, went over some info. and sent us off to our room which was ready and waiting. That was nice!

AKL (CL) - I was SO looking forward to winding our trip up with a stay at this resort. My kids and I love animals. The Christmas tree in the lobby was breathtaking. Watching the animals off of our balcony was awesome. The room was nice. The Mara was good, breakfast at Boma was great! It was too cold to swim but the pool looked nice with lush landscaping. The night vision experience was fun. The resort had a more adult and luxe feel to it. Gift shop was smaller and offered less of a variety. As far as the staff-I was a bit disappointed. We came from such a surprisingly nice stay at AoA that I figured the staff would be as great if not more. We took a taxi from AoA with all of our luggage. We were dropped off in the center of the drop off area in front of the resort entrance. The taxi pulled away and I stood there waiting for about 10 mins. waiting for ANY bell service person to assist me. And they were walking around. I had about 12 pieces of luggage/bags so I clearly needed assistance. Then check in at CL was painfully slow. I had to finally ask a CM if they were ready to check us in. And I saw that they were notified we were sitting there waiting by the CM who brought us to the CL floor. Mousekeeping was less than friendly. I REALLY wanted to love this resort in hopes of booking a return stay there. But I did NOT love it.

I know many people love AKL and wouldn't book anywhere else but it wasn't that magical for us. I'd rather stay in a suite at AoA over AKL again.

 

[kyleandconnorsmom]

That doesn't sound like the best experience at AKL I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your time at AOA. It's good to hear from someone who recently stayed at both!

 

[DebbieB]

The downside to a BWV studio is you will have a queen bed and a double pullout. They are supposed to be adding a murphy bed sometime this year but there's no timetable.

The upside is being close to Epcot & DHS, you can walk or boat to either.

 

[kyleandconnorsmom]

I think I have pretty much ruled out BWV. It's the place I most want to stay, with Epcot being almost our entire family's favorite park, it's a dream location. However, this should be our last trip where we count as a family of "4". I am thinking that we will probably spend a lot of upcoming trips in either villas or deluxes that accommodate 5. This will be our last chance to stay in one room at AKL and, am I correct that Jambo House only has studio villas? And as far as AOA, the theme won't appeal to my boys too much longer. ODS has outgrown it already, but will think it's neat and cute for his brothers and enjoy it from the same point of view that DH and I will. So, I'm going to have to do some more thinking between AKL and AOA. Thanks everyone for your input!

 

[DebbieB]

I think I have pretty much ruled out BWV. It's the place I most want to stay, with Epcot being almost our entire family's favorite park, it's a dream location. However, this should be our last trip where we count as a family of "4". I am thinking that we will probably spend a lot of upcoming trips in either villas or deluxes that accommodate 5. This will be our last chance to stay in one room at AKL and, am I correct that Jambo House only has studio villas? And as far as AOA, the theme won't appeal to my boys too much longer. ODS has outgrown it already, but will think it's neat and cute for his brothers and enjoy it from the same point of view that DH and I will. So, I'm going to have to do some more thinking between AKL and AOA. Thanks everyone for your input!

Jambo has all size villas.

 

[tobikaye]

Another thing to consider is that you can visit the other hotels, so once you pick a resort, you can plan to visit one of the other resorts. You could head to BW one night and walk the boardwalk or head to AKL and look for animals, even go to AoA and look at the Cars area and eat.

I would suggest you pick the resort room that would be the most comfortable for your family and the resort that looks to have the pool or food options you are most likely to use.

 

[kyleandconnorsmom]

Jambo has all size villas.

That's really good to know. I'm not sure why I thought that. So that means that AKL will still be an option for us in the future.

 

[kyleandconnorsmom]

Another thing to consider is that you can visit the other hotels, so once you pick a resort, you can plan to visit one of the other resorts. You could head to BW one night and walk the boardwalk or head to AKL and look for animals, even go to AoA and look at the Cars area and eat.

I would suggest you pick the resort room that would be the most comfortable for your family and the resort that looks to have the pool or food options you are most likely to use.

Those are good suggestions! I have already planned to go to the Boardwalk on our HS day and eat at ESPN Club (We are sports-lovers, and ODS has asked to go here.)

 

[Mynamewastaken]

I would do AKL. We are going there in Feb- our first time. I have never stayed at AOA but the theme seems too in your face. My kids are older 8.5 and 6 and they are both excited for ALKV. We are doing a split between that and the BWV for hubby who prefers to be near Epcot.

 

[Babsy]

I would stay in the AKL. It is the lowest price, two of your three sons have indicated a partiality for it, there is lots of entertainment here, the pool is great, Mara is a good food court. There are great TS restaurants. You can also use the pool at AKV. With the youngest at 2, you can still stay in a room for '4' here. there are bunk beds that DS's 6 and 12 should enjoy.

all the resorts that you are considering require a bus to the MK. The bus transportation from the AKL is good with only 2 stops (Kidani and Jambo house).

Next trip go for BW where you can sleep 5 in one room.

 

[kyleandconnorsmom]

Thanks everyone! Well, we were planning on visiting family on the way down there, but they are not going to be home, so because of that I talked DH in to 7 nights. I kind of got my heart set on trying one of these resorts, so, in order to afford it, I decided to do a split stay. The first 3 nights will be in a LM room at AOA (it will be a tight squeeze, I know, but I really want to try this resort) and 4 nights at AKL. I have never done a split stay. Will this be enough time to enjoy the resorts if we do days at parks and afternoons/evenings at the resorts?