AK or WL standard room?

[pitmindi]

Hi, I'm still deciding between Swan or a Disney hotel with free dining. If I don't stay at the moderate, since husband didn't like Carib beach, and I'm afraid the others will be similiarly disappointing, I'm considering a standard room at the Animal Kingdom or Wilderness Lodge. What would this room be like? How nice are these hotels? How do these hotels compare with the Swan, which seems awsome? How nice are the pools? Lots of questions. Thanks for the help from all you experts. Mindy

 

[nanalisa]

I've stayed at both AKL and WL, and I would go for the WL. We had a standard room there once and our balcony looked out over the villas and roof. It wasn't bad, especially for what we paid. I think the standard rooms at AKL look out over the parking lot. Both pools are nice. AKL pool is bigger, with a nice slide but WL pools has more charm and a nice slide. I love the WL because it is close to the MK and the other MK resorts since we eat there a lot. It has more a Disney feel to me. We've haven't stayed at the Swan or Dolphin yet, but I'm sure they are nice also.

 

[S. C.]

I've stayed at both AKL and WL, and I would go for the WL. We had a standard room there once and our balcony looked out over the villas and roof. It wasn't bad, especially for what we paid. I think the standard rooms at AKL look out over the parking lot. Both pools are nice. AKL pool is bigger, with a nice slide but WL pools has more charm and a nice slide. I love the WL because it is close to the MK and the other MK resorts since we eat there a lot. It has more a Disney feel to me. We've haven't stayed at the Swan or Dolphin yet, but I'm sure they are nice also.

ITA

We have stayed at both. Had a pool view at WL (free upgrade from woods view)

We have stayed twice at AKL, 1st time we had a standard view which wasn't bad. We had requested a room away from the bus stops & early morning noise since we are not morning people. Had a quiet view looking out towards parking lot.
2nd time was last month (only because we couldn't get an ap rate for our dates at WL) and we had a savannah view which we enjoyed but was not in the room enough IMO to justify the extra cost to view the animals.

We all agreed that we liked WL better. AKL is nice but too far away.

 

[n2mm]

A standard WL room is a very hard room ressie to get. If you're talking about the package that is available next month, you need to get on the phone and find out which, if any is still available. Your options may not be that good. We have managed to get a standard at AKL when the standard at WL is gone, but this is the second time this package was released.

 

[Leota]

I have stayed at all 3 resorts you are talking about. IMHO, the Swan is far & away the best of the bunch, esp. when you are talking std. rooms.

But, if I were choosing a WDW owned resort to take advantage of free dining, I would choose a WL std. over a AKL std. The whole draw of AKL for us is the savannah view. That's the ONLY reason we are going back again. Otherwise the rooms are too small & dark, the resort too far away from everything to choose it over S/D.

I'm afraid you are going to find it pretty hard to book a std. room with free dining this late in the game, however. Those 2 resorts std views go quickly because they are relatively cheap deluxes. I couldn't even get a std view at the CR, all they had left were suites.