Animal Kingdom Lodge or Portofino Bay?

[OrlandoGuy]

Well me and my gf are taking a nice holiday trip to the Orlando attractions from Dec 15-18. First 2 nights are going to be at Pop Century and the last night is going to be at Royal Pacific Resort. I want to make a "suprise extended night" that she does not know about either at AKL or Portofino Bay. Florida Resident offer for AKL is $220 for savannah view room which sounds really nice, but also I am a seasonal employee at Islands of Adventure so im sure I could get a really nice discount on Portofino Bay that should either be the same price or cheaper as AKL, probably make it a river view. This decision is only on how nice the hotel, room, and view is... location doesn't matter because all of the park visits will be over and no kids along, only the 2 of us. Thanks in advance

 

[jtlover]

I would say AKL as you will be able to see the animals when you wake up from your balcony. That is something that would be very magical for you and your girlfriend.

I am going there in February and I think out of the two choices it certainly would be the one to pick as you would not know what you will see out of your balcony each morning!

 

[kilee]

You may want to ask about each htoel individually on the Disney Resorts and Universal Resorts board's too. I'm not going to move this one since it could go either way.
Anyhow, since I LOVE disney sooooo much more than Universal my answer would be biased.

 

[UKDEB]

We've stayed at both and they're both fabulous. The rooms at AKL are a bit dark for my taste, but I guess they're in keeping with the whole feel of the place. We stayed when it was just a couple of months old - everything was immaculate, so I didn't mind so much. The resort takes on a special ambiance in the evenings - even more so at Christmas.

We've stayed at PBH twice, most recently in July 2004. The whole place was in major need of a refurb - the rooms and all the public areas were grubby and tatty. Maybe it's had a refurb since then, but I would want to check that out before I stayed there again. The first time we stayed, we had a deluxe room with a balcony on the top floor overlooking the main piazza. The deluxe is nice - it has shutters in the bathroom opening on to the bedroom and a separate bath and shower. The second time, we had a standard ground floor room with a patio, again overlooking the main piazza. It was filthy, so we asked to be moved and ended up on the top floor again. We had paid the 'water view' price, but it was in a bad position and we had a view of a bush!

We enjoy the restaurants and bars at both equally, although there's more choice at PBH.

 

[cinamin27]

maybe a good way to figure which you wish to stay would be base it on where you would want to eat dinner that evening, I loved staying at AKL & having Boma just downstairs (or for romance, maybe Jiko)
I have never stayed onsite at any of the Universal resorts & know they are all within walking distance or a quick boat ride to CityWalk & each hotel has their own wonderful restaurants, if you planned on going out that evening, maybe base your hotel selection on how you want to spend your evening. just a thought....