AKL or YC?

[Maegen Jackson]

Please, help me! I'm going to WDW with my 10yr old son (Mom and Son trip) and I'm torn between two resorts. YC for the pool, boat ride to HS and Epcot is so close or AKL, he loves animals. If you were in my shoes which resort would you choose? We'll be leaving the end of August for 8 days.

Thank you!

 

[LisaCM614]

YC!
If your son is like mine he will love spending time at Stormalong Bay. Walking to Epcot is magical. You can walk to DHS too.
The less time I have to spend on the bus in the summer the better. Not a fan of crowded buses full of sweaty people!
But if he is a huge animal lover - you can't go wrong with AKL.
I might - if you are up to it - spend 4 days at each resort. 8 days is a nice long trip and it might be fun to break it up that way.

 

[Hopefully]

YC gets my vote. Walking to 2 parks and the best pool on property

 

[johnsonet]

I say take him to AKL You can hop the bus to all the parks and won't miss the boat service. If your son loves animals he will be wowed by AKL. It's an incredible resort. And with 8 days, you have lots of time to enjoy both the parks AND the resort! AKL has a gorgeous pool, too.

You can stay at the YC when he's older

 

[Babsy]

Please, help me! I'm going to WDW with my 10yr old son (Mom and Son trip) and I'm torn between two resorts. YC for the pool, boat ride to HS and Epcot is so close or AKL, he loves animals. If you were in my shoes which resort would you choose? We'll be leaving the end of August for 8 days.

Thank you!

I would second the idea of a split stay. With 8 days that would be perfect! I would probably go 3 days at the AKL and 5 days at the YC, though.

If you don't want to move mid trip, then my vote is for the YC. SAB is an awesome pool which trumps animal viewing in August for me. Also, the location of the YC is so much better. Also, the rooms are larger and brighter. Finally, it is easy to go spend some time at AKL and see the animals and perhaps have a dinner, but you can't use SAB unless you stay there (YC).

Enjoy your mother/son trip!!

 

[darkwing818]

YC gets my vote. Walking to 2 parks and the best pool on property

Gets our vote as well.

 

[patty57]

YC or split stay. Remember he can also see animals at Animal Kingdom Park.

 

[Sunshine11]

Yacht Club! Great pool complex, two less busses to take, larger rooms, and a more deluxe feel, imo. The only downside is YC lacks a really good quick service location but with Hurricane Hannahs, the Marketplace, Ale and Compass (lobby of YC), Boardwalk BAkery and many other walking distance options, we have learned to adjust. Worth it, in our opinion.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Another vote for YC or a split stay. We've stayed at YC/BC 4 times and AKL twice and while AKL is beautiful, the rooms are quite small in comparison to YC and it's quite remote.

 

[LuvGoofy6]

We stayed at YC with 2 children ages 11 and 16 and they loved it. It was a quiet and restful resort. Stormalong Bay is 3 acres of water fun! They have a 230 foot long waterslide, a lazy river and a sand-bottom pool. The pool alone makes it a great resort for a 10 year old. The fact that you can walk or take the boat to EPCOT and HS makes it another plus. However, if your son isn't into the water park scene then maybe AK would be your best bet.

 

[sndral]

I have stayed at both YC and AKL and like both. I probably prefer YC, however we stay at AKL these days because my son (much older than yours ) adores AKL.
August will be hot so SAB is a plus, however, AKL has 2 pools -the one at Jambo and the one at Kidani. The Kidani pool has an awesome splash area that looks like it would appeal to children your son's age.
The AKL beats YC in the beauty of it's lobby. YC has no CS restaurant (although it has limited selections at the Marketplace over in the BC or Hurricane Hanna's) whereas AKL has the Mara.
If you have a savanna view the ability to look at animals from your room is unique and particularly compelling for children who are really into animals.
YC and AKL both have marshmallow roasting and outdoor movies. AKL usually has some additional activities for kids such as wildlife games, chalk art, poolside crafts, medallion rubbing, face painting at Mara, African folk tales, music of the savanna, animal tracking at Arusha overlook. Plus night vision goggles (which anyone can enjoy in conjunction with dinner at AKL.) AKL enables those who are interested to learn a lot about the animals on the savannas and about Africa.

 

[Maegen Jackson]

Thanks everyone! I think at this point I'm leaning towards YC. One of the reasons why I was thinking about AKL is because it has a dedicated bus service. From your experiences, how was the bus service at the YC during this time of year? I know at certain times YC shares service with the other Epcot resorts.

 

[Babsy]

We typically go in slower times of year, so I believe that the buses would operate similarly to late August (also a slow time). WE found the buses to be much the same as anywhere else. They share with the BC only, it seems now. There was a time when buses were shared by all 5 Epcot resorts. This doesn't seem to be the case anymore - or at least not in our experience over the past year. There is another bus that runs from BWI to the Swan and then the Dolphin.

 

[mickeynut1]

I say take him to AKL You can hop the bus to all the parks and won't miss the boat service. If your son loves animals he will be wowed by AKL. It's an incredible resort. And with 8 days, you have lots of time to enjoy both the parks AND the resort! AKL has a gorgeous pool, too.

We haven't stayed at the YC but have stayed at the BC and while we did enjoy our stay, our preference is AKL. I think the atmosphere is more relaxed, the pool is great, and Mara is nice with a good variety. I'm glad we tried the BC and were able to experience SAB, but I am in the minority in that SAB is not one of my favorites as I wasn't wow'd by it.

One of the reasons why I was thinking about AKL is because it has a dedicated bus service. From your experiences, how was the bus service at the YC during this time of year? I know at certain times YC shares service with the other Epcot resorts.

We have had 2 stays at AKL and found the buses to be great each time. AKL is kind of isolated, but it didn't take more than maybe 5 extra minutes to get around compared to other resorts. Since the buses only service AKL and Kidani, there's no sharing with any other resort(s). Everyone's experience/opinion is different when it comes to the transportation at any resort, but we have had very good experiences at AKL.

 

[richmo]

Maegan, first of all, welcome to the boards.

The good news with your dilemma is there's no wrong answer. Both resorts are beautiful and he'd enjoy either one. I haven't stayed at Yacht club yet, but it's on my list. And don't shortchange the AKL pool either; it's really nice.

The suggestions to split the stay are good also...you'll have to pack and unpack one more time, but they'll move your stuff for you.

One more thing...if you stay at AKL, be sure to check out the night vision binoculars after dark...he'll get a kick out of that.

 

[LisaCM614]

Thanks everyone! I think at this point I'm leaning towards YC. One of the reasons why I was thinking about AKL is because it has a dedicated bus service. From your experiences, how was the bus service at the YC during this time of year? I know at certain times YC shares service with the other Epcot resorts.

like @mickeynut1 said everyone will have different opinions. Someone who uses public transportation all of the time will have a very different view from someone who does not. What you consider barley tolerable may be just fine for me.
We have not yet stayed at the YC but we have stayed at BC. I have never had the bus go beyond just YC/BC. Waiting for a bus can be boring but I have never found it to be longer than 15 minutes. We timed it. My husband is not so very patient. Leaving MK after Wishes we missed the first bus but the second came 2 minutes later. Another time leaving MK during evenning EMH we missed a bus and ended up taking the BWI/Swalphin bus back and walking around the lake. The kids still had energy to burn so the walk wasn't bad. YC is the first stop so you'll get on before BC and you'll get off before BC. Hope that helps.

 

[darrengs]

Thanks everyone! I think at this point I'm leaning towards YC. One of the reasons why I was thinking about AKL is because it has a dedicated bus service. From your experiences, how was the bus service at the YC during this time of year? I know at certain times YC shares service with the other Epcot resorts.

We stayed at YC the same time last year (8/22 - 8/31) and we did share the bus with BC, the good news is that YC was picked up and dropped off first.

 

[Hi Pluto]

What if you let him decide? You could show him videos of both and see which one appeals to him. Like the pp's said, you can't go wrong with either.

~Cari~

 

[Maegen Jackson]

What if you let him decide? You could show him videos of both and see which one appeals to him. Like the pp's said, you can't go wrong with either.

~Cari~

Hi Cari! It is supposed to be a surprise so I didn't want to ask him.

 

[Hi Pluto]

Ohhh, gotcha.