Can you share your opinions on these hotels?

[rubymom]

Hi! As you can see by my post count, I am VERY new here!

My family and I are starting to talk about our Disney vacation next summer. (By family, I mean my husband and two kids, 7 and 3 next year, my mom, stepfather, brother, sister, and brother-in-law). These are the resorts we are considering:

Animal Kingdom Villas
Boardwalk Villas
Saratoga Springs
Wilderness Lodge
Beach Club

We stayed at Saratoga Springs in 2010, so I'd like to try something new next year. After doing some cursory research, my picks are, in this order: 1) Animal Kingdom, 2) Beach Club, and 3) Wilderness Lodge.

Between our five choices above, would you be willing to share your thoughts/preference/opinions? Animal Kingdom is the one I really like, but I keep hearing that animals are only out at certain times of the day, and it's not guaranteed you'll see any. Also, it seems some posters really don't like the distance from the MK. Beach Club and Wilderness both have amazing aspects, but I'm worried that if we choose one of those two, I'll always sorta be wishing we had picked Animal Kingdom.

If it were you, which one would you choose?

If you've made it through my rambling, thank you. And thanks for the help!

 

[supersuperwendy]

Since you are going in the summer I'd try for The Beach Club Villas since the pool is amazing! Second choice would be Kidani Village also because the pool area is amazing. For me Boardwalk third because we love it there! Next Wilderness Lodge for awesome boat access to MK!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Hi! As you can see by my post count, I am VERY new here!

My family and I are starting to talk about our Disney vacation next summer. (By family, I mean my husband and two kids, 7 and 3 next year, my mom, stepfather, brother, sister, and brother-in-law). These are the resorts we are considering:

Animal Kingdom Villas
Boardwalk Villas
Saratoga Springs
Wilderness Lodge
Beach Club

We stayed at Saratoga Springs in 2010, so I'd like to try something new next year. After doing some cursory research, my picks are, in this order: 1) Animal Kingdom, 2) Beach Club, and 3) Wilderness Lodge.

Between our five choices above, would you be willing to share your thoughts/preference/opinions? Animal Kingdom is the one I really like, but I keep hearing that animals are only out at certain times of the day, and it's not guaranteed you'll see any. Also, it seems some posters really don't like the distance from the MK. Beach Club and Wilderness both have amazing aspects, but I'm worried that if we choose one of those two, I'll always sorta be wishing we had picked Animal Kingdom.

If it were you, which one would you choose?

If you've made it through my rambling, thank you. And thanks for the help!

You have nine people. What kind of combination of villas were you looking at? Or were you going to put everyone in one larger villa?

But if you want AKV, why not choose AKV?

 

[erionm]

Animal Kingdom is the one I really like, but I keep hearing that animals are only out at certain times of the day, and it's not guaranteed you'll see any. Also, it seems some posters really don't like the distance from the MK.

AKV is about 6 miles from the MK parking lot. That's pretty close if you ask me.

They do checkups on the animals during the day when most people will be in the parks.

 

[DebbieB]

If you are going for a 2 bedroom, I would pick AKV Kidani for the extra bathroom and sleeper chair.

 

[rubymom]

Deb, we would get a 2 bedroom villa and a studio room (for my sister and brother-in-law), or we would get a 3 bedroom Grand Villa at Old Key West.

I love AKV, my husband loves it, I know my kids would love it, and I think most of my family would be happy there, but my mother will take some convincing. She really likes Old Key West, and I'm a little underwhelmed by that option. (Really, though, I'll be at Disney World -- I'll be happy no matter what we choose)! I just wanted to hear some opinions from others on the pros and cons of each resort so I can take those back to my family and we can discuss it.

Thanks to those who have shared their thoughts so far!

 

[disneynutz]

AKV is about 6 miles from the MK parking lot. That's pretty close if you ask me.

They do checkups on the animals during the day when most people will be in the parks.

We were just told that check ups are done in the morning, rotating 2 hour shifts for each of the 3 savannas.

The animals are called to the barn to be feed and given a once over.

During our stay at Jambo last week, we saw a few animals but it's nothing like a zoo. If you don't expect much, you will be happy. The pounding of the drums in the lodge did get old after awhile, we could hear them from our room.

Bill

 

[twinklebug]

We were just told that check ups are done in the morning, rotating 2 hour shifts for each of the 3 savannas.

The animals are called to the barn to be feed and given a once over.

During our stay at Jambo last week, we saw a few animals but it's nothing like a zoo. If you don't expect much, you will be happy. The pounding of the drums in the lodge did get old after awhile, we could hear them from our room.

Bill

So true, Yet another reason not to ask to be "near the lobby"

OP - I think your family would love any of the resorts you've listed. As the children are young, I'd lean toward VWL with it's boats direct to the MK. You'll win everyone over
Also, since MS can't guarantee your rooms will be close, VWL is the smallest of the resorts and you'll always be within a reasonable walk of each other.

 

[goldenears]

It sounds to me like your heart is telling you to go with AKV, so if that is what you really want, you should do that. We have stayed there before and the atmosphere is very special and unique. The distance to the other parks is an issue for us. We would rather not spend so much time on buses. Although the distance may only be 6 miles (as someone else pointed out), It can take quite a while to get to the MK, which is where we spend most of our park time.
Out of your choices, I would pick BCV if it is available. The pool is awesome, you can walk to Epcot and take the boat to DHS. My second choice would be VWL.
Have fun!!

 

[Anal Annie]

Hi! As you can see by my post count, I am VERY new here!

My family and I are starting to talk about our Disney vacation next summer. (By family, I mean my husband and two kids, 7 and 3 next year, my mom, stepfather, brother, sister, and brother-in-law). These are the resorts we are considering:

Animal Kingdom Villas
Boardwalk Villas
Saratoga Springs
Wilderness Lodge
Beach Club

We stayed at Saratoga Springs in 2010, so I'd like to try something new next year. After doing some cursory research, my picks are, in this order: 1) Animal Kingdom, 2) Beach Club, and 3) Wilderness Lodge.

Between our five choices above, would you be willing to share your thoughts/preference/opinions? Animal Kingdom is the one I really like, but I keep hearing that animals are only out at certain times of the day, and it's not guaranteed you'll see any. Also, it seems some posters really don't like the distance from the MK. Beach Club and Wilderness both have amazing aspects, but I'm worried that if we choose one of those two, I'll always sorta be wishing we had picked Animal Kingdom.

If it were you, which one would you choose?

If you've made it through my rambling, thank you. And thanks for the help!

Deb, we would get a 2 bedroom villa and a studio room (for my sister and brother-in-law), or we would get a 3 bedroom Grand Villa at Old Key West.

I love AKV, my husband loves it, I know my kids would love it, and I think most of my family would be happy there, but my mother will take some convincing. She really likes Old Key West, and I'm a little underwhelmed by that option. (Really, though, I'll be at Disney World -- I'll be happy no matter what we choose)! I just wanted to hear some opinions from others on the pros and cons of each resort so I can take those back to my family and we can discuss it.

Thanks to those who have shared their thoughts so far!

Of your choices BCV and VWL tie for us as our top favs while AKV is currently in 3rd. We would be happy at any of those. We are trying BWV this summer for the first time so I can't comment on that one (yet). SSR is our home resort and we like it fine...but we just like to switch it up from trip to trip so that each one is a little different...it falls in the middle somewhere for us. OKW is our LEAST favorite of all of the FL resorts.

Storm Along Bay (SAB) at the Beach Club is THE best pool. It has a sand bottom, a "lazy river" of sorts and a large slide plus plenty of lounge chairs & space. It is the only DVC pool that is big enough to "hold us" for an entire day without us getting bored. We also love the ability to walk to the back entrance of Epcot in about 10 minutes.

VWL is peaceful and relaxing. It's a wooded retreat and is really beautiful. There are a lot of large fireplaces & rocking chairs...really good for a winter vacation. That's the only time we've stayed there was in the winter. I'm not sure I can picture staying there in the heat of the summer though with all the fireplaces.

Some people complain that AKV is "too far" but it's like a whole 5 minutes further. What is 5 minutes out of 24 hours? It's not like you're going to the next county. For US though, we prefer Jambo House to Kidani. We found Kidani very underwhelming - the lobby is small and the store is barely big enough to be called a store...there are also no CS options at Kidani (the Mara at Jambo is one of the best CS places on property) so we found ourselves schleping over to Jambo House (about a 10 min. walk) for 1 thing or another more than we would've liked. We also really like to eat at Boma. Kidani has Saana which is good too...but we still prefer the variety available at Boma. We stayed at AKL way back when (before it was a DVC resort) and paid a lot to get a "deluxe savanna view" room and saw like 1 or 2 animals all week...so once we joined DVC and stayed there a couple of times we just book value or standard villas and utilize the many public viewing areas. I am not wasting points for the savanna view.

Personally we would be happy at any of those 3 choices...

 

[Shellandscott]

We took my DN 7 & 5 in 2008, we stayed at VWL. My first choice was BCV but since we do not own there, 2 bedroom lock off units were all that was available at the 7 month mark and that did not fit with the 5 yr olds style, she would have gotten out just because she would think it would be funny. VWL was my second choice due to the boat ride to MK. If I had to do it again I would do the same. I also do not like AKL due to IMHO it not being near a "good park". As OP have said BCV you can walk to Epcot and short boat to DHS, VWL is short boat to MK. Also you need to look at your vacation style, will you be at the unit very much in the day time to see the animals? Or are you a rope drop family that goes til after dark?

But in the end you need to go with your heart.

 

[bnk1120]

Op- do you plan on spending a fair amount of time at the resort? If so, then go with AKV. We have gone the last four summers and really spend a lot of time at the resort. The parks get busy and hot and we like the break from all the craziness. AKV will give you that feeling of being somewhere else and away from it all. WL is like that too, but for me the pool gets too crowded in the summer. I personally like SSR because it is quiet, has a huge pool and I love being near DTD. But you already said that would not be your first choice. Although I like BC (and will be there in September) I really would not want to stay there during the busy seasons. The pool is An attraction itself and I cannot imagine how crazy it must get!

It sounds like you only need to convince your mom that AKV will be awesome. Go on the threads about AKV and I am sure you will find lots of reasons to help convince her!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I would pick AKV! Kidani has a great pool for the ages of your children. There are bead activities for kids & grown ups. It's a vacation destination in itself IMO! I love seeing the animals! One DGC has picked Kidani as her favorite resort. All of them love the community center there, the CMs are fabulous!

It may be hard to keep track of your young one in SAB.

VWL would be my second choice for your group.

 

[marynvince]

We loved Animal Kingdom, savanah view is very cool. Between Beach Club and Boardwalk, we liked Boardwalk better. Both are nice proximity to Epcot and Hollywood studios. If you could get a THV at SSR that would be great for the accomodations. Whatever you decide, you're right it's Disney, nough said.

 

[rubymom]

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! You have given us a lot to think about. I'm going to share your opinions with my family, and we'll discuss it further.

I appreciate the help!

 

[BEASLYBOO]

OKW, 1st and formost, because of the living space, for so many adults and 2nd Kidani for the 3rd bathroom in the 2br (but the living space is sparse)

Good Luck!

 

[dsanner106]

Hi Rubymom,
Having stayed at all these and more, I would say akv and boardwalk/beach club would be my choices. having a large number of people with diverse ages you want to entertain all. BWV is our favorite resort with onsite entertainment, great food choices within walking distance, boat transports and sidewalks to epcot and Hollywood Studios. My kids fav and our sencond choice is AKV. If you like the animals and want a more relaxed feel, it is a good choice. The animals are out every day if not every minute, so you will see them. The bonfire on the savannah every night is neat with guides from Africa to tell you about what you are seeing. Storytellers every day for the kids (and adults) are a nice feature as well.
Have a great time!!

Drew from Ga

Hi! As you can see by my post count, I am VERY new here!

My family and I are starting to talk about our Disney vacation next summer. (By family, I mean my husband and two kids, 7 and 3 next year, my mom, stepfather, brother, sister, and brother-in-law). These are the resorts we are considering:

Animal Kingdom Villas
Boardwalk Villas
Saratoga Springs
Wilderness Lodge
Beach Club

We stayed at Saratoga Springs in 2010, so I'd like to try something new next year. After doing some cursory research, my picks are, in this order: 1) Animal Kingdom, 2) Beach Club, and 3) Wilderness Lodge.

Between our five choices above, would you be willing to share your thoughts/preference/opinions? Animal Kingdom is the one I really like, but I keep hearing that animals are only out at certain times of the day, and it's not guaranteed you'll see any. Also, it seems some posters really don't like the distance from the MK. Beach Club and Wilderness both have amazing aspects, but I'm worried that if we choose one of those two, I'll always sorta be wishing we had picked Animal Kingdom.

If it were you, which one would you choose?

If you've made it through my rambling, thank you. And thanks for the help!

 

[jennypenny]

With that many people I'd recommend AKV for the extra bathroom. I'd actually recommend OKW first and BLT second for roominess and AKV third, but definitely AKV out of your choices.

 

[DizDays]

Here's another vote for AKV-Kidani. You simply cannot overrate that extra bathroom with as many people as you have traveling with you. And I can't emphasize enough the sense of calm, quiet and serene you have at AKV-Kidani (Jambo, not so much - there's an energetic hustle-bustle here). We always saw animals everytime we stayed there and there's a coolness factor to that. Plus, the restaurants at both AKV resorts are amazing.

My second choice would be Beach Club - you can't get a more convenient location and Stormalong Bay is something that memories are made of.

Good luck with your choices. You can't go wrong with any of them.