AKL or POR with 2 little girls?

[Missyk1124]

I am having a terrible time deciding which resort to stay at next March. This will be our daughters' first trip to WDW, they will be 6 and 3 during our stay. We can rent a studio standard view villa at AKL for cheaper than a royal room at POR. If they offer 20% off for POR they will be roughly the same price. Which would you recommend? Is AKL too sophisticated for their ages? Or does the excitement of the animals outweigh the royalness of the royal rooms at POR? (they both love princesses.)

 

[mommyof3princess27]

Honestly I would love to stay at AKL BUT the RGR are nice too and I love POR! I love the pool area and everything about it. Since I have never even visited AKL I cant comment on it. I stayed in the RGR last year and it was neat!

 

[Alexander]

Geesh, this is a tough one. How many nights are you planning? Is a split stay in the cards? I am not a fan of split stays, but if you aren't going to get back soon and really cannot decide maybe that would be a viable option.

PS -- I hate autocorrect!

 

[Missyk1124]

We are staying 8 nights and hope to do Disney once a year, including some Disneyland trips too, so may be at WDW every other year.

 

[jaykorf001]

My 4 year old son LOVED LOVED LOVED AKL. One month + later he's still talking about it daily.

 

[DESKRoberts]

I love PORand we are staying there for the 2nd time next month, but if I could afford AKL, I would stay there in a heartbeat! My kids love animals, especially giraffes and zebras. They would love that!!!

 

[Greenfield1984]

That's tough! We have stayed at AKL once and absolutely loved it. We only had 1 DD at the time and she was 2, but she loved seeing the animals around the resort. It was also just really peaceful and beautiful.

We have yet to stay at POR though that is the ONE resort I am dying to try (out of all values, mods or deluxes!). We're trying to stay there for our October trip but we're using a FD pin and all the rooms were booked... so I keep calling back to check for cancellations. Anyways, we have 3 DDs now, 6, 2 and 1 and I know they would flip out over the RGR.

So while we did love AKL, for my family, with my DDs, I would stay at a Royal Guest Room at POR (DH probably wouldn't agree though...)

You can't go wrong either way! Enjoy your trip!

 

[sturowski]

I say AKL.. Staying there with my two boys in September they are 4 and 6. We visited this resort last year after staying at AOA and it seems amazing!! Especially for little ones!

 

[disneybliss2]

My girls are very into princesses and characters, but they're also (one in particular) very into animals. They LOVED AKL. It was like a WDW vacation and a mini vacation to Africa at the same time. It was great to see the characters at the parks and get to see animals at the resort. The great thing about AKL is the wonderful activities they also have for the kids. They have an animal tracking game, animal bingo, learn how the flamingos eat, make animal feeders, cookie decorating, African drumming, etc. For many activities your daughters can earn a special bead to put on a string that becomes a memory string for later. The pool area is great. They also do nightly story telling from their African cast members, and they roast marshmallows at night too. We loved our stay here. I haven't stayed at POR, but have at POFQ. While we really liked POFQ, we would opt to stay at AKL, especially if the prices were roughly the same.

 

[shana398]

We haven't stayed at AKL, although we did tour it last year during our stay at WL and it was beautiful! We are staying at POFQ this year! The only reason we haven't stayed at AKL YET is because our son is two, and AKL is a little further away from MK, HS and EP, and for us it's easier to be closer to those parks because of him! Also, it seems that AKL is very large, so depending on where you are there, it may require a lot of walking. I think POR Royal rooms are all closer to bus stops and food. This is one of the most important things for us with our son.

For ourselves, we wouldn't do a split stay with kids. It's just to much trouble trying to get kids moved and settled. Once we are at a resort, we stay put for that trip! If it was just us, that might be different. Maybe your children are able to handle things like that. It really depends on you all!

If you plan on going every year or every other year, I think either would be fun and whichever one you don't do this year, you can always do next year! I don't know about you, but we enjoy trying out different resorts with our son! Well, have fun planning!

 

[Wood Nymph]

If you can afford it, then the deluxe resort is usually the better choice. There are so many nice little upgrades about a deluxe resort that makes it worth the extra cost, in my opinion. And I think seeing animals wins out over a few room decorations, especially for that age group. I would go to AKL and save the royal room for when the girls are a little older.

 

[CTcruiser]

I am having a terrible time deciding which resort to stay at next March. This will be our daughters' first trip to WDW, they will be 6 and 3 during our stay. We can rent a studio standard view villa at AKL for cheaper than a royal room at POR. If they offer 20% off for POR they will be roughly the same price. Which would you recommend? Is AKL too sophisticated for their ages? Or does the excitement of the animals outweigh the royalness of the royal rooms at POR? (they both love princesses.)

AKL, hands down.

As a PP said, the deluxe resorts offer amenities that the others don't. While the 3 year old can't participate, AKL has programs the 6 year old could participate in at the resort. See this link for more information:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/just_for_kids/childcare.htm

AKL has some great restaurants, if you're into food (One of my favorite aspects of being at disney ) and also has a pool with zero entry. I believe you can also use the pool at the villas which has a great kids area (correct me if I'm wrong on this one )

Either way you'll have a great trip! Good luck!

 

[Wood Nymph]

AKL also has a great children's playground, something that most deluxe resorts are missing.

 

[Missoutandabout]

We've stayed at both with our young daughter: POR in the Royal Guest Rooms (last year) and just recently at AKL. They're both lovely and we'd happily stay at either again.

Both resorts have plenty to offer. The Royal Rooms are really cute (not so much over-the-top-princess that boys would be turned off, I think). For us, if it were between the two and it was in the budget for AKL, I'd rather stay there. If you plan on being at the resort for any length of time, it's worth AKL for the pool and activities alone. If it was a stretch budget-wise and/or we weren't planning on much resort time, we'd happily stay at POR again. I'm of no help whatsoever, eh?

 

[jaykorf001]

AKL, hands down.

As a PP said, the deluxe resorts offer amenities that the others don't. While the 3 year old can't participate, AKL has programs the 6 year old could participate in at the resort. See this link for more information:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/just_for_kids/childcare.htm

AKL has some great restaurants, if you're into food (One of my favorite aspects of being at disney ) and also has a pool with zero entry. I believe you can also use the pool at the villas which has a great kids area (correct me if I'm wrong on this one )

Either way you'll have a great trip! Good luck!

Yes, the regular playground is at Jambo and the water playground is at Kidani. Guests may use the pools and facilities at either.

 

[HelenHills]

Your girls would just love POLY!

 

[Alexander]

Yes, the regular playground is at Jambo and the water playground is at Kidani. Guests may use the pools and facilities at either.

I don't think this is true. If I am not mistaken, the pool at Kidani is for the exclusive use of those guests.

 

[jaykorf001]

I don't think this is true. If I am not mistaken, the pool at Kidani is for the exclusive use of those guests.

We were told we could use the pool and grounds at either Kidani or Jambo.

 

[Alexander]

We were told we could use the pool and grounds at either Kidani or Jambo.

We're you staying DVC?

 

[jaykorf001]

We're you staying DVC?

No. Club level at Jambo. Maybe someone else can weigh in on this and answer for sure?? We were definitely told we could go to Kidani and use the pool and water play area. However, I have noticed that sometimes CMs can be mistaken.