Disney' Wilderness Vs Animal Kingdom Lodge

sky7777

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jul 21, 2004
I need ur advice and opinions deciding which resort to stay for 7 nights in December? The Disney's Wilderness (Courtyard view
) is $127 more than the Animal Kingdom Lodge (pool View)

Disney' Wilderness Vs Animal Kingdom Lodge

Pls advise......I am still couldn't decide even after making the decision to go with Disney' Wilderness ....:confused:

Thanks in advance
 
If you are saying that the WL is $127 more "per night" then I would take AKL hands down. If you are saying a total difference, yes it makes it more difficult to decide based on that.

You have the option to split your stay and enjoy both since you are staying a 7 nights. If you want to stay put, I'm thinking the AKL would offer you more to do for that long, but it does not have the water activities or easy access to FW activities IF they are something you would take advantage of.

At WL we boat to MK but drive to all others. At AKL we have used buses (very good service) and driven to parks. I think you have to decide what parts are most important: close to MK, transportation, types of activities.....

Either way you can not go wrong - both awesome hotels !!
 
Both are wonderful resorts, but the AKL is newer and that makes a difference. Also, you have the animals there which is unique for any resort. The WL is on the Seven Seas Lagoon and has waterboats, but for younger kids the animals win every time.
 
These are two of our very favorites and you can't go wrong with either! However, in December, I would definately go with the Wilderness Lodge. It is the perfect resort for a holiday visit! It's just breathtaking at Christmas time and much more "Christmassy" than AKL.
 


I also vote for splitting your stay. Maybe do 3 nights at WL and the rest at AKL. That way you get to enjoy the best of both worlds and save money. Both resorts are beautiful and they are my 2 favorites, although I'm slightly partial to the AKL. You can't go wrong with either one!
 
For all 7 nights, I will have to pay $127 extra to stay at WL!

I thought of splitting the nights too, but we are afraid the check-in and check-out from-and-to hotel might take away too much of our time.

Here are dates and tentative plan

12/11 (Sat) - arrived in noon. Will not use hopper past, but will hang around in the resort or Disney' downtown.

12/12 (Sun) - MK and Mickey' VEry Merry Christmas Party

12/13 (Mon) - AK

12/14 (Tue) - MGM

12/15 (Wed) - Epcot

12/16 (Th) - Universal Studio

12/17 (Fri) - Island of Adventure

12/18 (Sat) - undecided . Returning home in the afternoon.


Say we stay at AKL for the first 5 nights, then we will have to checkout on 12/16....but we are suppose to head to Universal Studio? So...any good suggestions in doing this without loosing too much time?

This is a honeymoon trip between me and wifey, so no kids...

Oh ya, i plan to rent a car for that week....seems to be cheaper than taking those shuttles from airport-to-Disney's resorts and from Disney-to- Universal. right?

Btw, what's the difference between the Courtyard View room and Woods View Room in the WL?

Pls advise...

Thanks a million
 
Just to consider...
when we split out stay last summer, it took 5 minutes to check out, the hotel transferred our luggage, and then 5 minutes to check-in to the new hotel. It was very fast and easy. The only think that surprised me was how much of a pain it was to pack up and then unpack.

WL, because of the beautiful Christmas atmosphere
AKL, because of the exotic-ness and the beautiful (and so close!) animals

Hmmm...tough decicion.

Oh, one more thing to consider: AKL has a great bus system, since they don't share with other resorts. I never had to wait more than a few minutes for a bus, and we quickly went express to our destination.
 


IMHO the Wilderness Lodge takes the cake hands down. I prefer the turn of the century Americana that the WL offers ( not counting the air conditioning ) from the rustic cut out of the woods look with a indoor spring and creek ( everybody should have one ) to the waterfall's and gyser. The piped in cricket sounds add a certian flair along with the hardy rain in your face, wind in your hair, bow legged, saddle sore, out with the bugs, non-country, country music. This place has style. One might not quite appreciate it when their there, but once your back home in the same old hour to hour, day to day grid, thats when one remembers the resort stay. Along with the ever popular " "Darn" I wish we were back at the Lodge! " comment. The only thing WL lacks is room's with, well, room. Wide open spaces and WL floor space, meaning "Lack Of" is the only draw back I can think of. But then again, I've said it before and I'll say it again. How much time does anyone really spend sitting around admiring the Resort anyway? It all depends where one wants to spend their money.
I did'nt go there to sit by the pool. Give me the rides and the fastest way too them. Then the quickest way back so I can catch some sleep, grab some chow, bust off the dust and then rush out to do it all over again...and again...and again...............
 
The way Karl C feels about WL, I feel about AKL. ;)

We split our honeymoon last year between WL and AKL...(we stayed WL first, then moved to AKL.)

AKL blew us away.

The sights, the SMELLS, the decor...both of us just fell in love. We felt "home" at that place. 3 months later DH took me back to AKL for my birthday...when we walked into the lobby, I just breathed in and felt "home".

Personally, the AKL lobby blew me away...I think it's much more impressive then WL.

But maybe I'm biased as I live in the NorthEast. (Yes, I realize the WL is NorthWEST...but still - lodge/trees/woods...feels like Vermont/New Hampshire to me.) But I don't think there's anywhere else in the US that you could get the AKL experience.

like others said - split the trip if you can...it really isn't that much of a hassle. (and even if you don't have a Savannah view at AKL, don't worry...there are so many viewing areas...it's worth it!)

good luck!
 

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