AKL & getting around the world

[mmeh97@yahoo.com]

Booked for late summer here but now rethinking my choice. We have never stayed or even been to AKL so I thought a Savannah view might be a nice choice for this visit. However, it seems hard to get to other resorts, etc for dinners. We are at resort for five full days but only doing one park day. Probably a water park day but mostly hanging out and checking out the new and improved Disney Springs. I'm guessing we would have to take a bus to a park & then hop on bus to other resort for dinner. My other option is the WL (have stayed before & loved it). There is construction & we can live with that & im thinking transportation is a bit more convenient. Can't you take a boat to MK which would put you on monorail line which gives us three resort options to eat at. Is the savannah view worth my transportation stress.

 

[kmb584]

Booked for late summer here but now rethinking my choice. We have never stayed or even been to AKL so I thought a Savannah view might be a nice choice for this visit. However, it seems hard to get to other resorts, etc for dinners. We are at resort for five full days but only doing one park day. Probably a water park day but mostly hanging out and checking out the new and improved Disney Springs. I'm guessing we would have to take a bus to a park & then hop on bus to other resort for dinner. My other option is the WL (have stayed before & loved it). There is construction & we can live with that & im thinking transportation is a bit more convenient. Can't you take a boat to MK which would put you on monorail line which gives us three resort options to eat at. Is the savannah view worth my transportation stress.

AKL is a fantastic resort and a great choice for a vacation that isn't parks driven. The resort is farther out than the rest, but it isn't horrible. You're looking at a 20 minute or so bus ride to MK, where you'll be able to easily get on the monorail for CR, the Poly, and the Grand. The bus ride to DHS is a bit shorter and from there you have the walking path or Friendship Boats to access the Epcot area resorts.

Honestly, I wouldn't stress.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Consider taking uber. It will be $5 - $7 to get anywhere on property and will cut your transporation time down considerably.

 

[bettybooplove]

Booked for late summer here but now rethinking my choice. We have never stayed or even been to AKL so I thought a Savannah view might be a nice choice for this visit. However, it seems hard to get to other resorts, etc for dinners. We are at resort for five full days but only doing one park day. Probably a water park day but mostly hanging out and checking out the new and improved Disney Springs. I'm guessing we would have to take a bus to a park & then hop on bus to other resort for dinner. My other option is the WL (have stayed before & loved it). There is construction & we can live with that & im thinking transportation is a bit more convenient. Can't you take a boat to MK which would put you on monorail line which gives us three resort options to eat at. Is the savannah view worth my transportation stress.

Since you're only doing one park day I think you'll be fine. If you were doing 5 days in the parks I would tell you to reconsider.

I love Animal Kingdom Lodge but I have to admit it does feel isolated but some people find beauty in that.

You're actually at the perfect resort if you're planning to spend more time outside of the parks. Animal Kingdom, Saratoga and Old Key West are the best resorts in my opinion if you want more of a resort stay.

We haven't been to AKL in about 3 years because we felt we weren't in the middle of the action, which is important to my family. The bus rides weren't so bad but the waits were longer than any other deluxe I'd visited.

I want to give the hotel another try but only at the tail end of a trip, never the beginning or the entire stay.

Wilderness Lodge is beautiful and yes there's a lot of construction but since that doesn't bother you it may be worth looking into. I've stayed at the Lodge and the old DVC villas and I thought the bus transportation was great.

Yes there's also a boat available to Magic Kingdom. Having more than one transportation option is nice.

Oh and as far as Uber, most of the drivers are okay but I ran into more than one that didn't speak English. While they were very nice it did cause some tension because they would get lost. Navigating Disney property can be confusing and when things are being lost in translation it makes it worse.

A lot of people complain about Disney transportation but I'd rather ride a bus or boat than take an Uber or taxi.

As far as the savanna view, I've had one before and it's really nice but you can see the same animals from the lobby or at Sanaa restaurant. You could always stay at Wilderness Lodge and have lunch at Sanaa if you want to see the giraffes.

 

[msb578]

Just a note on transportation: At WL, there's also a boat that goes between it, the CR, and the Fort.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Just wanted to throw out that we stayed at WL earlier this month and the construction is not intrusive at all. It didn't affect our trip one bit.

 

[Hopefully]

I would choose WL myself. I find the room themeing of AKL too dark. It isn't my personal style
The new areas are scheduled to open on July 17th. The majority of the construction is completed

 

[mmeh97@yahoo.com]

How much wildlife do you see from your room. We would mostly be in room in AM & late at night plus some afternoons to get ready for evening. Maybe just heading over for dinner one evening would be enough of an experience. See the lobby, savannah view, eat then decide if this is where we would like to stay another time

 

[bettybooplove]

How much wildlife do you see from your room. We would mostly be in room in AM & late at night plus some afternoons to get ready for evening. Maybe just heading over for dinner one evening would be enough of an experience. See the lobby, savannah view, eat then decide if this is where we would like to stay another time

We stayed in a savanna villa at Kidani. We saw animals off and on (they have to take breaks) but we saw them the most around lunchtime when we came back from the parks. I don't remember seeing a lot of giraffes in the evening time.

There were the usual giraffes, zebras, ostrich, etc.

It was a nice experience and my kids were younger and in awe but they didn't want to stay in the room and watch the animals all day. They wanted to head to the parks. So the next time we stayed at Kidani we booked a pool view and just went to Sanaa or walked outside to see the animals.

But since you won't be in the parks as much it could work out for you. It's definitely unique and memorable seeing the exotic animals from your balcony.

 

[Mike_Mac]

My family is a big fan of WL, and having bus and boat options with connections to the monorail is nice. That being said, the only time AKL bus service has been noticeably bad is when we've been on a loop that was connecting to water parks and Animal Kingdom several years ago. If AKL lodge has direct runs to the parks, then time spent on buses shouldn't be that bad. Of course, the "bad bar" is set by our experiences using the buses around CBR (never again).

 

[mmeh97@yahoo.com]

Thanks for all the input. I decided to change ressies to WL. We are going to eat dinner at AKL, take some time to check out the grounds, views, and hotel. Maybe we will stay there next time.