AKL or Poly Without Car

[tink&herboys]

Hi, We are going to WDW at the end of August beg/Sept . We are trying to decide to either book into the AKL (Love the theme) or should we splurge and stay at the Poly? We will be using the Magical Express and would rather not rent a car. We are a family of 4 ... Myself, DH and two teenage sons.

I was wondering has anybody stayed at the AKL and just used Disney transport to get around? And if so, what is the bus stituation like? I know that the Poly is on the Monorail line, but is it worth the expense?

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[WDW Newsletter]

We LOVE AKL!!! We never had an issue with Disney Transportation. The only thing is it does take a few more minutes to get to others parks except AK because it is farther away. BUT.......for the $ you cant beat AKL

 

[wdwrich]

Both resorts are wonderful. I give the edge in transportation to the Poly though. There are busses, motor launches (boats), it's on the MK monorail loop, and you can walk to the TTC for the EPCOT monorail.

 

[geokeim]

To me if depends upon the age of your children, and if they need (and you a nap in the afternoon. When our kids were small, it was sooo nice to be on the monorail line. Now that they're older, it not as important.
Poly is obviously much more convenient when going to MK or Epcot, but not necessarily so to Mgm or AK.
If getting back in the afternoon is not a top priority, I wouldn't spend the extra, because you can get around just fine from AKL. (and as you know it's awesome)

Whatever you do, have a great time!

 

[koobs]

We stayed at AKL in Dec 06 with two teenagers and had no problems with the buses at all. We never waited much more than 10 minutes for a bus and our longest ride was to downtown Disney which took maybe 20 minutes if that.

Actually our longest and most frustrating ride anywhere was when we were at Magic Kingdom and decided to hop on the monorail to ride around to the monorail resorts. It took forever. The darn thing kept stopping and then taking ages to start again. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the Poly but it felt like an hour. Plus it was packed. I'm sure it was just a fluke but it kind of soured us and especially my kids on the whole monorail resort thing.

 

[jeffbear]

I've done Poly a couple of times, once with a car and once without. Frankly with easy access to both monorail lines we found that we only used the car (when we had one) to get to the Downtown Disney area. For the differemce in price the next time I'm just planning to take a cab for the long jaunts and do without the car.

 

[polyfan60]

Both resorts are great! If you aren't using a car, you should probably stay at the Polynesian because it's more centrally connected to everything, but AKL still has good bus transportation so you can't really go wrong with this choice

 

[stellablue]

WDW makes it so easy nowadays to not even need a car, regardless of where you are staying. Only time a car is really necessary is if you are going off site to Universal or something.

ME will bring you to and from the airport, buses from to and from every park (and DTD), to and from every resort. Overall we thought the buses at AKL were very accomodating.

I'd say choose whichever resort you like the theming of best. AKL & Poly are both exquisite resorts in their own ways!

 

[Coconuts]

Poly will save you some time in transport/convenience, if that is a deal breaker for you. If it isn't, then save the $ and stick to AKL. Either way you will have a blast.

 

[Lovetherodent]

If you don't mind spending the money -- go Poly.

Bus service from AKL, or any Disney Resort, to and from the parks is pretty efficient. But, if you think you might like to visit other resorts for dinner or a show . . . go to the Poly. The monorail gives you very easy access to the GF and CR as well as MK and Epcot.

 

[GSLand]

Our last trip was AKL - and we had no car. No problem. We took the Disney buses where ever we wanted to go. But our basic schedule is to go to parks, and then back to the room.

 

[Ratpack]

I have stayed at both and neither one had any transportation issues. We always drive down so we have a car regardless, but once we park, we never see our car again unless we go off property for some reason. While on property, we use the Disney transportation only. The Poly does have the advantage of monorail to the MK and EPCOT, but they share a bus with GF for the other parks. AKL only has the bus, but it doesn't share with any other resort, so no other stops between park and resort.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I would say the Polynesian because overall they have the better transportation and a better location then the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

 

[jimmalru80]

Both resorts are wonderful. I give the edge in transportation to the Poly though. There are busses, motor launches (boats), it's on the MK monorail loop, and you can walk to the TTC for the EPCOT monorail.

That's what I was thinking.

 

[tink&herboys]

Thanks for all of the advice!!! I think that we will probably book into the AKL. I would prefer to stay at the Poly, but it is just a bit too pricey. However, the money that we will save almost covers the cost of the flights! We will be staying 7 nights so we hopefully we will have plenty of time to everything. I guess if we want to have Dinner in one of the other parks, ie Epcot, we will just have to take a Bus.

Now a 2nd question....Does anybody know how big the daybeds are in the AKL? I have two boys..13 and 14. (Both are about 5'6") They don't like to share a bed, so we are hoping to use the daybed for one of them. Will it be big enough to accomdate a teenager?

 

[mmmears]

From what I have heard the rooms with a daybed (that could fit 5 people in them) were remodeled with the AKLV conversion of the top 2 floors, leaving all the "hotel" rooms at AKL with only 2 beds and room for 4. This may help you make your decision We love AKL -- it is so beautiful we want to stay there despite the lack of monorail, but will probably split our nights between AKL and a monorail resort -- one more option!

 

[tink&herboys]

I looked at the split stay...hard to do when you are booking the free dining package. We looked at staying 4 days at Coronado Springs & 3 days at the Poly w/free dining, but it was more expensive than just the 7 days at the Poly. Go figure!

Should i try and call the resort directly to ask about room config? Maybe we should just book the bunkbed room instead? I think it is only another $152 total to upgrade.

 

[mmmears]

I forgot about the bunkbed option! I would call just to check on the daybed situation unless someone else can confirm it here... but the bunkbeds might be a good solution!

 

[Ratpack]

If the kids don't like sleeping together, then I would definitely book the bunk beds. Plus it gives you a little more room in the room for walking around and such.