Animal Kingdom Lodge or POR

[RKew]

We could save $800 if we stick with POR...which we love. Pool view. Never been to a deluxe resort. Pool view at AKL....Is it worth the extra money for trying this new place...even if it's not a savannah room.

 

[keishashadow]

They are both lovely, well-landscaped resorts but i'd give the nod AK for the amentities and the ability to walk out on balcony and observe the wildlife on the savannah. Next best thing is to walk down to the resort's viewing areas. Any non-guests visiting the hotel can also enjoy, but there's really something special about having that morning cup of coffee on the balcony while a giraffe walks past.

I notice you're comparing pool view at both resorts. jmho but I don't find pool views worth the extra cost. They can be noisy and lighting can distract at night.

Have you priced out standard rooms at both resorts? The price difference may be less in that case.

 

[vinmar4]

We could save $800 if we stick with POR...which we love. Pool view. Never been to a deluxe resort. Pool view at AKL....Is it worth the extra money for trying this new place...even if it's not a savannah room.

we own at AKV and love it!
now we are trying other deluxe resorts but we always have to spend some days at AKV, we only stayed once in a moderate, it was POR french quater and really liked it but just comparing the rooms even with a value room at AKV there is really no comparison!
comparing the pools we love the ones at AKV and remember that you can also use the pools at Kidani if staying at Jambo. I would try renting points from the DVC renters forum because I think they rent points from 10 to 12 dollars per point. I just checked the points for somebody else going for 5 nights in Sept 2013 and it was from 50 to 70 points total, that would be 500 to 700 dollars total for a one studio either standard or savannah view.
Good luck!

 

[LilGMom]

Strictly a judgement call on what you want. I'm also not a huge fan of "pool view" because of what the PP said. It can sometimes get pretty noisy and at some resorts your "pool view" is only called that because your room faces a pool, not necessarily because you can actually see the pool.

Having said that I will say that I absolutely LOVE AKL!!!! In my opinion this is one of the best themed resorts on WDW property, the CMs have always been treat to talk with and you really don't have to have a savannah room in order to enjoy the resort. There are quite a few viewing areas around the resort that you might not seek out of you have a savannah view. By not going to some of the viewing areas you might miss a CM feeding an animal, miss a CM giving info about the animal(s), etc. I'd be more inclined to see what the cost difference would be if you look into booking a standard room at AKL instead of a pool or savannah view. You might not have the best view from your balcony with a standard room but like I said above, there are so many places to enjoy animal viewing and the resort is so lovely that I don't feel you can go wrong with AKL.

 

[disney1990]

There are always differences of opinions. While at POR we just get a standard room, we loved our pool view at Animal Kingdom last summer. I think we were on the 4th floor and didn't experience any noise from the pool. But the view of the pool, especially at night, was just beautiful.

 

[buckeev]

No wrong answer here! If you feel comfortable with the $ difference...go for it!

 

[disneybliss2]

It's so hard to answer if it's "worth it" to someone else. I'll share with you our experience. For us, we struggled to decide if to switch from POFQ to AKL on our last trip. We were so glad we did. While we still really like POFQ and would definitely go there again, we LOVED AKL. My oldest daughter loves animals, especially wild animals, and her favorite park is AK, so we just knew she'd love it at AKL. We all did. Here's what we really enjoyed:

1. We loved the additional activities they offered for kids (African drumming, flamingo feeding, animal trekking, etc). We had originally planned to swim and settle in our room on our late afternoon arrival. Sadly, it was raining heavily but the resort offered so many wonderful activities that our kids loved doing. If we had been at POR/POFQ, we would have just been stuck in our room. Not very exciting for your first day.
2. Many of the cast members are from South Africa and so lovely to visit with as they shared about the animals.
3. I enjoyed having the interior hallways more than I thought I would. The added space was nice.
4. Having the animals all around truly added to our vacation. It was amazing seeing them on a daily basis on our stay. It was like having a trip to WDW and a mini trip to Africa. We had a pool view, and I was concerned prior to going on vacation that we would miss out on seeing the animals. So not the case. We loved our pool view (it gave us a small peek at the pool and some foliage). It was very quiet, and our room faced where they showed the movies at night. I was very surprised that the noise didn't come into the room, and we're very light sleepers. I especially surprised by how many animal viewing locations there were around the resort (even areas you could see the animals while walking in the hallway to/from our room to the lobby area). For the minimal price to upgrade to pool view from standard view, I would most definitely do this room option again.
5. The resort is beautiful and had a calmer environment than POFQ. As quiet and calm as POFQ is, AKL was even more relaxing.
6. The pool was awesome. Not near as congested and the slide was wonderful.
7. We really enjoyed the CS and TS options at the resort.


With all that said, we would definitely go back to AKL. However, if there was no discount, I would probably go with POFQ (I know, you're comparing going to POR, but we've haven't been to POR, so I'm comparing the sister resort). We really enjoy both AKL and POFQ. We far prefer AKL, but would have a hard time justifying the price increase if no discount existed. I'm just too frugal. However, if money is not an issue and you can easily afford it, I'd say go for it. You'll never know until you try it for yourself.

In the end, I'm glad I tried this particular deluxe for myself to know if I would really like it. I'm not drawn to any other deluxe at this time, so you have to factor in how much this particular resort appeals to you. I was very torn before deciding, and in the end, I don't regret our decision one bit. I hope that's where we get to stay on our next trip!

Good luck with your decision!

 

[Jenna319]

I love both resorts but I would save the $800 and stick with POR. Love the gorgeous grounds with horse drawn carriage rides, yehaa bob for nightly entertainment and of course, BEIGNETS!

 

[mickeynut1]

We've never stayed at POR but we love AKL. We've stayed in both pool view and savanna view and we loved the pool view just as much as the savanna view. Our pool view was only $10 more a night over standard and was definitely worth it to us. If the extra cost is doable, I would go with AKL. Good luck.

 

[AuroraRora]

Having stayed at both AKL and POFQ, I would say AKL every time. If you can afford it, there's really no comparison in my opinion.

 

[Cindie-rella]

We've stayed at both resorts a couple times each. We do love POR...but, AKL is just a very special place ! It's such a different resort. Gorgeous to start, but being surrounded by African wildlife is just amazing !!! We spent many resort only days here. Had no desire to do parks when we had so much to see and do right at our resort. Loved the food here as well. However, if I couldn't stay savannah view I would probably pick POR. That was our favorite part of our stay at AKL,. We would relax every morning on our balcony while having coffee and breakfast sent to our room and would watch all the animals at the watering hole in front of our room. It was so awesome. I always feel like I get 2 vacations in 1 while staying there....

 

[bakie21]

I have stayed at POR six times a week to two each time. I absoultely love the grounds for strolling around, old man island to cool off, the sasagoula river cruise to downtown disney, and of course Bob on the piano.
We are doing a split stay this year 2nt POR garden 8nt AKL/savannah studio. This way we can take in the cruise, nightly stroll, and see Bob if he is still there (get our POR fix!!). Then we will be off to AKL, where we are looking forward to having that cup of coffee on the balcony, looking at the animals, hitting a new watering hole, and putting reality on hold for a little while. I can't imagine having a bad time at either one though.

 

[blue65829]

I've stayed at POR 2 times and AKL once (pool view) and I would rather return to POR than stay at AKL again.

Not saying that there's anything wrong with AKL, we just prefer the grounds at POR and the rooms, and the food court.

If you do chose AKL I would recommend going for standard view if it will save you more $ - our pool view was just of the kiddie pool and a sliver of the main pool through the trees - and I did feel too exposed when I sat out on the balcony & it was noisy during the day.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

We could save $800 if we stick with POR...which we love. Pool view. Never been to a deluxe resort. Pool view at AKL....Is it worth the extra money for trying this new place...even if it's not a savannah room.

For how long of a trip?? $800 is a lot if its just a week long stay. Our one and only time at AKL was from an upgrade from POR but it was only $200 more for the week.

AKL a beautiful resort and we will stay there again.

But in this case, I think $800 could be spent elsewhere (or put towards a bounceback trip later in the year )

 

[RKew]

Thanks everyone. Great advice....went with 30% off at AKL....


Are we aloud to take the ferry from POR to DD if we're staying at AKL? We want to visit our first resort ever

 

[Cindie-rella]

Good choice And yes, you can take the boat from POR to DTD. In fact, you can head to DTD from AKL then take the boat to POR from DTD if that can save you some time or whatever. That's what we did so we could visit POR. We too just love that resort. It was our 1st stay together and gives us a warm feeling when we return You will enjoy AKl as well. It's a wonderful place ! ENJOY !

 

[LilGMom]

Thanks everyone. Great advice....went with 30% off at AKL....


Are we aloud to take the ferry from POR to DD if we're staying at AKL? We want to visit our first resort ever

You can use any of the WDW transportation options. The boat ride from DTD to POR is a great way to have some downtime.

 

[Judyfun]

I just changes my reservation from POR to AK. I am going in June and with the 'Spring sale' the price difference was under $15.00 a night

 

[keishashadow]

I just changes my reservation from POR to AK. I am going in June and with the 'Spring sale' the price difference was under $15.00 a night

wow! congrats

 

[LilGMom]

I just changes my reservation from POR to AK. I am going in June and with the 'Spring sale' the price difference was under $15.00 a night

For an extra $15/night the choice to switch is practically a no-brainer! POR is great too but in a different way and, imho, AKL just feels like an entirely different area as in you are transported out of Central Florida.