Animal Kingdom Lodge or Port Orleans French Quarter?

Randie Baird

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 12, 2019
Hello there! First time posting here. My wife and I are coming back to Disney in October 2019 for our 10 year anniversary. We already put a deposit down for Animal Kingdom Lodge to take advantage for a “free” dining plan. I was torn between this resort and staying at Port Orleans (I prefer the feel of the French Quarter side). We are planning at least 1 day if not 2 days as resort days where we just relax by the pool and have drinks and such before going to dinner in the evening. Any feedback would be appreciated.
 
I love both of these resorts and don’t think you can go wrong with either! Both are gorgeous in their own way. Based on your note about spending a few days just at the resort, though, I’d lean toward AK. I feel like there are a few more options for food & entertainment.

Their pool is great & the pool bar has lots of fun drinks! I think they have the best food options of all the resorts, too! Their quick service, The Mara, has lots of hot and cold options, excellent desserts, and bottles of wine you can take back to the room :) You can also go to Boma, Jiko or Sana’a for sit down. We LOVE Boma (a delicious buffet) and Sana’a (table service).. have not yet been to Jiko but hear great things. We also love Victoria Falls - a cute bar/lounge area off of the lobby. And then of course, seeing all of the animals!

On the other hand, we do love the quaint feel of POFQ and being able to take the boat to Disney Springs.

But I’d still probably lean toward AK if you have several resort only days, though. Either way I hope you have a great time!!
 


Agree with the posters above! AKL is one of my favorite Deluxes and POFQ is my favorite moderate.
I love POFQ, but if you’re looking to lounge by the pool and have some drinks, the pool/bar there isn’t really conducive to doing that. AKL would be the better bet for spending time at the resort IMO.
Have a great trip!
 


I’d pick pofq over akl. We didn’t mind akl but it was not our favorite resort. We thought the food options were expensive and the qs options didn’t change while we stayed there. We love pofq though! It’s so quaint and the theming is fun. We also like the boat to Disney springs. We like how small pofq is, too and you can use the pools over at por.
 
Hello there! First time posting here. My wife and I are coming back to Disney in October 2019 for our 10 year anniversary. We already put a deposit down for Animal Kingdom Lodge to take advantage for a “free” dining plan. I was torn between this resort and staying at Port Orleans (I prefer the feel of the French Quarter side). We are planning at least 1 day if not 2 days as resort days where we just relax by the pool and have drinks and such before going to dinner in the evening. Any feedback would be appreciated.

I would stick with AKL. We've never stayed at Port Orleans, but we love everything about AKL! As a pp stated, the pool is nice, there are plenty of great food options, and the resort overall is beautiful :).
 
If you stay at AKL, explore! Many hallways have additional African art displays located down them. At the end of hallway connected to our room was a door to an external stairs. From those stairs, I had the best view of a giraffe.
 
I should also mention that while the money savings isn’t the driving force for the possible decision to switch to PO we are looking at a Universal studios package for one of the days that is about $500 but gives us fast passes to every single ride throughout the park. So I can more easily justify spending that money for that if we are saving roughly that amount on the resort stay. Also I really like the idea of the boat transportation to Disney Springs.
 
I should also mention that while the money savings isn’t the driving force for the possible decision to switch to PO we are looking at a Universal studios package for one of the days that is about $500 but gives us fast passes to every single ride throughout the park. So I can more easily justify spending that money for that if we are saving roughly that amount on the resort stay. Also I really like the idea of the boat transportation to Disney Springs.
Well given this new information I would change my vote to POFQ :)
 
I should also mention that while the money savings isn’t the driving force for the possible decision to switch to PO we are looking at a Universal studios package for one of the days that is about $500 but gives us fast passes to every single ride throughout the park. So I can more easily justify spending that money for that if we are saving roughly that amount on the resort stay. Also I really like the idea of the boat transportation to Disney Springs.
It sounds to me like you already have your mind made up lol. I would definitely do the moderate and save your money for universal
 
It sounds to me like you already have your mind made up lol. I would definitely do the moderate and save your money for universal
No we haven’t made up our mind yet. I’m pretty indecisive about this and keep trying to weight the pros and cons. I know we will be happy with either resort. I tend to overthink things.
 

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