Advice ... POR vs. AKL

[cjsmom5]

I am just looking for some overall thoughts and opinions. We are wavering between staying at POR or AKL. It will cost us about $100 more per night to stay at AKL Savannah view room over POR Standard View room. We are there for 10 days so it will be about $1000. Is it worth the increased cost?

My DH and DS(5) both love animals. We like the overall decor of the hotel and thought the rooms were fine. The "out of the way" location doesn't bother us as we have been to WDW 10 times. And, we will be there 10 days this trip.

We have stayed at POR and POFQ 10 times in the past. So we are very familiar with that resort. This would be our first stay at AKL.

Being the "thrifty minded" individual that I am ... I am carefully contemplating the outlay of an extra $1000 for the AKL. Am just looking for some different opinions.

Thanks

 

[susy]

Have you visited the lodge yet? If you HAVE the $1000-go for it! I would not go into debt, though. What about splitting the stay? Or a standard room at AKL? The lodge itself is sooo wonderful! The transportation is great. There are plenty of viewing areas. We had a pool view and had a great time. It was especially lovely at night and the location couldn not have been better. I wodul weigh all the different options. You can always politely ask for an upgrade when you check in. I say treat your self and don't forget to ask for turndown service.... eat a zebra dome for me... I've heard they have them at Mara! I am REALLY missing AKL right now!

 

[KathyFP]

IMHO - If you can afford it stay at AKL. we stayed there our first trip and then stayed at POR on a subsequent trip. No comparison. AKL was wonderful. The transportation was never an issue and we went off peak. The décor was phenomenal and the animals were awesome. If we had the money we would stay there everytime.

In addition there were all of the differences between staying at a moderate vs a deluxe.

 

[firstmickey]

I have stayed at both and love both, but if I had the money I would definitely stay at AKL again. My kids both loved it. (the six year old keeps asking to go back there).
It is worth the extra money (if you have it) for the experience of staying there and being with the animals.
One AM, while in the hot tub by myself, I saw a giraffe very close to me munching on the trees.
The pool is very nice.
The CMs are wonderful there.
Boma is great.
The food court there, however, does not have the variety of the POR food court.
The transportation was good that you didn't have to share buses but it did take about 10 mins longer to get to MK.

Overall, I feel this resort is much more relaxing after a busy day at the parks.

 

[padisneylover]

We have stayed at both POR and AKL! After being at AKL it will be very hard as long as we can afford it to go back to POR, even though that is our favorite mod. resort.
The beauty of both is fantastic but the live animals at AKL has it all over POR. Then again we enjoy the ability to walk around POR espically along the river that is not present at AKL. You can though find many places to walk around AKL and sit and view the animals. The buses from AKL are better than POR in that they aren't shared with other resorts and are one of the first if not first ones in the line of buses when you leave the park.
We perfer the pool at AKL and the wp's and find that the breakfast buffett is faboulus at Boma. As previous posters have said it money is not a problem go for it

 

[Hollymom1229]

AKL has so much to recommend it, and is really worth the extra money, especially for an extended stay.

 

[bekkiz]

we had the same choice for our honeymoon. We've stayed at both and truly love them both. I loved eating breakfast on the balcony with all of the animals right in front of me. However, I also want to be able to go to discovery cove ($500/two people) and have some very excellent meals. POR is calm, romantic, has king beds and is beautiful all at a lot less, so we went with POR You'll have a terrific time either way

 

[sm5199@msn.com]

DH and I have stayed at both POR and AKL. We liked the food court at POR better. But the Boma breakfast buffet was amazing. We liked the fact that there were quiet pools at POR. We didn't find the bus service at AKL to be all that great (longer waits than we ever had at POR). We also enjoyed the boat to Downtown Disney at POR. We didn't have the kids with us, so the animals weren't that big of a deal for us. I think if we had 10 nights and we were bringing the kids, we would spend five nights at each. It would really be like having two vacations because these resorts are so different.

 

[jdads2]

We spent our last vacation at AKL. It was truly amazing. My parents joined us and they loved it as much as our kids. This trip we are goingt to be staying at POR. There are a few reasons why we aren't going back to AKL.

1. My in-laws aren't crazy about going to WDW let alone staying on site. The extra cost to them would have made it even harder for us to convince them to go.

2. The money that we save is going towards a kidless vacation early next year. GF or Swan I would guess.

3. We are on a mission to try each resort. POR was to be our first but I ended up getting great rates at other resorts and our stay at POR got put to the back shelf.

That being said, if you have the $1000, stay at the AKL! Well worth the extra $.

 

[Erica]

AKL is worth it if you have the $$$. The bus transportation was excellent, the food outlets are faboo, and the themeing of the hotel is gorgous!

The only reason why I am not staying there again is because I like to stay at a different hotel each stay

-Erica

 

[Gette88]

I too have stayed at both and LOVE both. They are both great, beautiful hotels. If I was to choose one and money was no object I'd pick AKL. Since your family loves animals I think they will live AKL. The pool is awesome and so are the restaurants, we liked Mara. I don't think you'll be disappointed at either hotel but AKL is spectacular.