AKL or Contemporary

[FSU Girl]

I booking a bounce back trip for April and have the option between a king room savanna view or water view at the contemporary in the tower. It’ll be just me and my 2 year old. Our last trip we stayed at AKL in a resort view and got a partial savanna view and my daughter loved watching the animals from our balcony every day.

I booked the AKL room, but considering switching. If we did contemporary it would be really easy for us to get to magic kingdom. We are doing one park day to animal kingdom and one to Magic Kingdom. The room is $30 more a night and we’d Minnie van to MK so it would actually end up being a little more staying with AKL. My daughter will be sleeping either in the bed with me or the other queen if we do contemporary although I’m not sure she’ll want to be in a separate bed from me in the same room.

I’ve basically figured it comes down to convenience of walking to MK or seeing animals from our balcony for my daughter. I’m just not sure which one is better to go with. Would love some opinions on which I should do.

 

[hardcorestitch]

I booking a bounce back trip for April and have the option between a king room savanna view or water view at the contemporary in the tower. It’ll be just me and my 2 year old. Our last trip we stayed at AKL in a resort view and got a partial savanna view and my daughter loved watching the animals from our balcony every day.

I booked the AKL room, but considering switching. If we did contemporary it would be really easy for us to get to magic kingdom. We are doing one park day to animal kingdom and one to Magic Kingdom. The room is $30 more a night and we’d Minnie van to MK so it would actually end up being a little more staying with AKL. My daughter will be sleeping either in the bed with me or the other queen if we do contemporary although I’m not sure she’ll want to be in a separate bed from me in the same room.

I’ve basically figured it comes down to convenience of walking to MK or seeing animals from our balcony for my daughter. I’m just not sure which one is better to go with. Would love some opinions on which I should do.

Yeah I’d switch it to Contemporary for change… it’s a change of scenery. Considering you’re heading to MK… you definitely want to be as close as possible if you plan to rope drop and do an out of park break this visit. AK isn’t an all day park, and both Minnie Vans and Disney Transport are at your disposal! They’ll have plenty of time to rest if you use the former.

 

[Dave006]

I’ve basically figured it comes down to convenience of walking to MK or seeing animals from our balcony for my daughter. I’m just not sure which one is better to go with. Would love some opinions on which I should do.

I would vote the CR Resort view 2 Queen room. You have the option to MK at any time, and return to the CR for a nap or a swim break with an easy return to MK at any time. Then you only have the commute to AK and back for your (1) day there. How much time do you actually spend at AK with a 2 year old?

How much time would you & your daughter spend watching the Animals at AKL vs the commute back and forth to MK.

Dave

 

[Giraffe_Zen]

Why don't you include your child in the planning and ask them?

 

[FlyingDonut]

Would this be your child's first time on the monorail loop, and would that be a bonus for them?

 

[focusondisney]

Why don't you include your child in the planning and ask them?

She’s 2. I don’t think a 2 yo will have a valid opinion on walking to MK.

 

[VGCgroupie]

If she likes the animals I’d say AKL. Taking a Minnie Van is ultimate Disney bubble luxury and I would prefer that over walking to MK.

The only caveat for me is that you can see the water pageant from some of the water view rooms and she might like that, but the water pageant happens pretty late at night.

 

[FSU Girl]

I would vote the CR Resort view 2 Queen room. You have the option to MK at any time, and return to the CR for a nap or a swim break with an easy return to MK at any time. Then you only have the commute to AK and back for your (1) day there. How much time do you actually spend at AK with a 2 year old?

How much time would you & your daughter spend watching the Animals at AKL vs the commute back and forth to MK.

Dave

Hard to say but our last trip she did love being on the balcony. Any time we were in the room she was out on it. Actual time in AK will probably be only half a day since she can’t do most of the rides there and we’ll spend the second half of the day at the resort

 

[FSU Girl]

Why don't you include your child in the planning and ask them?

I don’t think she’d be able to articulate that. She definitely loved our last stay but she also doesn’t understand travel time. She’s not 2 and a half yet

 

[FSU Girl]

Would this be your child's first time on the monorail loop, and would that be a bonus for them?

No she’s stayed before she’s been a lot since she turned 1. She does like riding on the monorail. I’m not sure how much she remembers since she’s newly 2

 

[FSU Girl]

If she likes the animals I’d say AKL. Taking a Minnie Van is ultimate Disney bubble luxury and I would prefer that over walking to MK.

The only caveat for me is that you can see the water pageant from some of the water view rooms and she might like that, but the water pageant happens pretty late at night.

She did love watching the animals she insisted on being on our balcony if we were at the room. I think the water pageant is at like 10? She goes to bed at 7:30 so would probably miss out on it

 

[GoingSince1990]

If for your MK day you think you may want to leave the park for a while to take a rest or nap and then return, go with CR for ease of getting back and forth. If not then maybe stick with AKL.

 

[Peaseblossom36]

Hard to say but our last trip she did love being on the balcony. Any time we were in the room she was out on it. Actual time in AK will probably be only half a day since she can’t do most of the rides there and we’ll spend the second half of the day at the resort

I would probably go with AKL since you’re planning on spending half a day just at the resort. They have the big water play area and that little kids pool, plus the playground and watching the animals. We loved AKL and really didn’t feel like the bus ride was too long at all.

 

[OKW Lover]

I'd go with Animal Kingdom Lodge. The convenience for BLT to the MK is a bit overstated. The bus from AKL to the MK will drop you off closer to the entrance.

 

[VGCgroupie]

She did love watching the animals she insisted on being on our balcony if we were at the room. I think the water pageant is at like 10? She goes to bed at 7:30 so would probably miss out on it

Yeah it’s pretty late. We are always surprised by how late it goes. I’d do AK and save Contemporary for a future visit.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

AKL is my favorite WDW resort but with a 2 year old I would pick Contemporary no question. It's so much easier especially if you want her to take a nap break midday. We've only stayed there once, when my eldest was 2, and it made the trip a lot less stressful. And he loved the electric water pageant.

 

[Giraffe_Zen]

She’s 2. I don’t think a 2 yo will have a valid opinion on walking to MK.

I don’t think she’d be able to articulate that. She definitely loved our last stay but she also doesn’t understand travel time. She’s not 2 and a half yet

My point was if you put it in kid terms and bring it down to their level, they do understand more than you think. My nephew had input on Disney trips with me from that age on. And it really involves them more in the trip and he still remembers and appreciates it so much and has said so now that he's in his 20's. Don't underestimate what kids can think and be involved in. I'm not telling OP to have the kid figure out how far they want to walk, but show them the hotels. Talk about the animals at AKL, talk about the monorail and that you can see the castle from CR. Like this isn't rocket science. Whatever though, not my trip, was just an idea to involve the child more and have fun with it.