AKL or Wilderness...need help deciding

[leagirl12]

When I need help making a Disney decsion I know exactly where to go. So here I am asking my DIS family for some help!

DH and I love to travel so we have decided to only do WDW every other year so we can go other places as well. I of course am always thinking DISNEY!! So I am ready to plan out trip for 2010. I told DH I want to try to do some little "extra" to make each trip a little different. This past trip our extra was that we added the water parks.

Our extra this year will be where we stay. We normally stay at POP. Well I have always wanted to stay at Animal Kingdom and Wilderness Lodge....now I can't decide which one to choose.

I need help from my fellow DISers in making this decision.

 

[JTDisney]

I would do both. Why not? We have done multiple hotel stays before and Disney makes it very easy to transfer. They are both very awesome hotels and offer something a little different. On our favorite trip we did 4 nights at WL and then transferred over to BC for 5 nights I believe. It was a great time and it was nice to stay in two different areas. It was almost like we had two vacations in one.

 

[briar rose 19]

WL is our favorite...have tried other places but always keep coming back. They have a junior suite, but that's hard to get. We stayed in the room with a queen and bunk beds. Kids loved it. Try to request a room with a view of the water so you can see the parade at night!

 

[cancer_survivor_06]

We just spent dec 17th-24th at akl and it was awesome. the bus rides were not long at all they were never crowded and akl doesn't share a bus w/ anyone. We booked a standard room and ended up in a savannah view but is had construction which was not a problem at all. We had dinner one night at Jiko and breakfast one morning at boma it was wonderful. I was worried about staying there at first but everything had worked out well. I will admit that their were a couple of nights when I wished we were staying at WL b/c a boat trip from mk those nights would have been much better but overall I am glad we stayed at akl and really don't know if I will ever want to stay at wl after staying there. JMHO.

 

[PADisFam2]

Both are awesome, but the one thing about AKL, is that once they finish Kadani Village you will have two pools to choose from. The first one is at JH and you can see pictures of this one all over the internet, but the KV pool and water play area are still being built and is expected to be really cool
Once done I am sure you can find some info on the Dis...it might be worth the wait. (KV is opening this spring May 09 I think)

 

[ctjsowens]

Do a split stay and try them both. Personally we love the WL and cant make outselves go anywhere else. We looked at other options but came back to WL.

 

[catbertdave99]

We stayed at WL when my DS's were 10 and 7 -- and at AKL when they were 13 and 10.

WL offers a beach, boat rentals on Bay Lake, a boat ride to MK, and bus transportation everywhere else.

AKL offers lots of animal viewing and yes, animals can be seen easily from your savannah view balcony and numerous other places, and bus transportation to all the parks.

WL has Whispering Canyon Cafe, great for families, Artists Pointe which is great for nice dining, and the Roaring Forks snack bar.

AKL has Boma buffet which is nice for families, Jiko which is nice dining, and I can't remember the name of the snack bar, but it's comparable with Roaring Forks at WL.

The catch for us was that my youngest son, the biggest animal-lover of the two, didn't like most of the food at AKL. It was just different enough that he didn't like it, and he's not usually too picky.

So for us, WL is our preferred of the two, but they're both nice!

 

[LittleMissMagic]

Both of the resorts are equally amazing. However, as always, it depends on what you want. WL resort is in a better location, transportation-wise. It's a short boat ride from MK (however, catching a boat can sometimes be a pain... as goes for any other form of transportation, though). It's closer to Epcot and MGM via bus (and if for some reason you wanted to, you could boat to MK, monorail to Epcot, then boat to MGM ). Personally, I like having other Disney transportation options than buses.

AKL is kind of out of the way of everything. However, it does offer perks, such as the sunrise/sunset safari. Yet, it's going to be more difficult to take a break from the parks and head back to the resort.

I'd choose WL because of convenience, but if you prefer being sort of out of the way in a quiet, serene area, go with AKL.

Whichever resort you choose, have a fantastic time at WDW!

 

[cancer_survivor_06]

The bus ride to MK from AKL is only 15min the ride to epcot and mgm is roughly the same and it was only a 5min ride to ak the mgm ride may have been a little closer to 20 mins b/c they were making runs to blizzard beach. The buses for WL share w/ the campground as well as the contemporary for sure and possibly other resorts in that area. The boat to MK and monorail to epcot sounds nice but do you really want to catch a boat to spend 30 + minutes on the monorail by them you have spent an hour plus just from your resort to park. The beach at WL is nice but its not like you can swim at it. Either way they have there ups and downs do your parks have more plans to be at MK WL may be a better choice. if you want to be close. AKL is IMO was not as loud and busy feeling as WL and the food at Mara isn't bad we really didn't eat breakfast there we would just grab some oatmeal for my younger daughter it was plan but they did have brown sugar to add to it and other things. the lunch/dinner menu had chicken nuggets and fries they also had mac and cheese fried shrimp, burgers and the african stew.

Can you tell us some of your pros and cons about the resorts and things you are unsure of b/c if we just keep posting you are still going to be bouncing back and forth between resorts. Then again we change our resort at least three times everytime we go.

 

[leagirl12]

Thanks for all of the information. I knew you guys would help me. I never really thought about a split trip but hearing everyone talk about how easy it is it sounds like that may be the way to go.

 

[ctjsowens]

Just do like we did when we went to WL a year and a half ago. Search the internet and compare. For example we stayed in the Contemporary Tower in 2005. I read over several forums where folks said that is was a run down old hotel with nothing special about it. Well it happened to be the opposite for us. We loved it. It definitely wasnt run down and didnt show the age. Loved it a bunch. We had also heard of the transportation issues of WL prior to our trip in 07 but we never had a problem with the boats or the buses. All waits were minimal. Nothing can ever be as bad with the transportation as what we had in 01 at POR. We finally gave up on the buses and drove to the parks everyday. What i'm trying to say is any resort can have a good or bad week. Just research for yourself what you want and as I said in a previous post just do a split stay if you dont mind taking time out to move.

 

[jenb1023]

We've stayed at both WL and AKL. We loved both! However, if we could only choose one to go back to it would be AKL. We loved the zero entry pool. Even though it is a bit more remote, transportation was actually better from AKL. We loved the theming. My DD loved all of the free kids activities and collecting all the beads for the activities. We loved being able to wander around the grounds and see giraffes, flamingos, etc. Also, the mara (CS) is way bigger than roaring forks (CS at WL). There were always issues with crowds and lines at Roaring Forks if you went anywhere near typical meal times. You will love either but this is our take!

 

[Atchley]

We love WL. We love the fact that you can take a boat directly to the MK. You can also take a boat to FW or CR. From CR you can take the monorail to Poly, GF, or TTC and then on to Epcot. We laid on our beds or stood on the balcony every night and watched Wished from our room. It was fantastic!

 

[Carol17]

I have been to both. WL last December, AKL last week! The rooms are very similiar...dark. Actually I find that both resorts very similiar in many ways. I did love the animals at AKL and the grounds were very nice. However, I wasn't a fan of the African based restaurant food choices. No problems with transportation at either resort, but I did enjoy the option of taking a boat at WL. I had a very, VERY long walk to my room at both resorts! LOL!

So, I don't know...it's still a draw:

food-WL,though counter service area larger at AKL
rooms-tie-very similiar(I feel like I am in a dark broom closet in the toilet/bathtub room)
transportation-WL(loved the boat)
outdoor pool/decor-AKL loved the giant rocking chairs,the flamingos,animals, many quiets spots for sitting.
front desk assistance-WL
housekeeping-WL handsdown. We had towel animals every day at WL, one on the first day at AKL. Housekeeping a no-show when we return to our room at 3:30.
room service-tie. Great at both AKL and WL.