Animal Kingdom

[FirstTimeDisneyVisit]

Hello All,

My girlfriend is dying to stay there. We have spoken to people who have said its great, we seen the pictures and we have read some posts about it on here. Our only trip to Disney we stayed at all-star resort, so moving up to Animal Kingdom is a huge step up for us! I'm just afraid of spending that kind of money and only being there for the night time and possible a day or two when we don't do the parks. I guess my question is for who ever has stayed at the Animal Kingdom or any other higher tier spot is it worth it ? B/c if we stayed there it would be her dream vacation! I told her choose Animal kingdom or a ring ! and she told me to save for the ring and she will save for Animal Kingdom. total fail on my part !

any feed back would be great appreciated and helpful in our decision making !

 

[Missytara]

Do a split stay; do the first few days at All Stars and then finish up with two days at AKL.

 

[JennyDrake]

Only you can decide--but here is my personal experience. AKL was my first stay at a deluxe EVER (!) last December. The resort offers many options espeically if you are not going to the parks: animal watching, Boma, Saana, lodge tour, kitchen tour, etc. I'm very glad I stayed there as I had wanted to do so since it opened; with that said, I was very disappointed in the customer service in several venues and I am in no hurry to return. YMMV.

 

[vettegirl]

We just spent an amazing 6 days at the AKL and it was totally worth the extra money over the moderate we were going to stay at.

 

[TDluvsDaisy]

Do a split stay; do the first few days at All Stars and then finish up with two days at AKL.

 

[myjourney]

I love AKL and have stayed there multiple times. I have to say I like Jambo House better than Kidani, walking into the main lobby with the wonderful theming and smells is part of it. That said I would not stay there and pay full price, I recently rented DVC points and it cost me $115 a night for a studio. So you may want to look into renting points

 

[Missytara]

I love AKL and have stayed there multiple times. I have to say I like Jamba House better than Kadini, walking into the main lobby with the wonderful theming and smells is part of it. That said I would not stay there and pay full price, I recently rented DVC points and it cost me $115 a night for a studio. So you may want to look into renting points

I have to look into that for my next solo trip; I need to just take the plunge and do it!

 

[FirstTimeDisneyVisit]

wow thanks everyone for the quick responses !!!

 

[KatMark]

We were at the AKL for two nights in September and wish we could have stayed longer. We had planned the Disney Dream in 2013 for our 30th wedding anniversary and instead are going to the AKL for a week or ten days. We loved everything about it. We had the friendliest CM's we have had at any Disney resort; everyone was warm and welcoming, thoughtful and helpful. I would definitely say give it a try.

 

[Lynne M]

This is the perfect situation for a split stay. Part of your trip at a moderate or value, part at AKL. Plan your AKL stay for your non-park days, so you can take full advantage of all the resort has to offer.

 

[FirstTimeDisneyVisit]

This is the perfect situation for a split stay. Part of your trip at a moderate or value, part at AKL. Plan your AKL stay for your non-park days, so you can take full advantage of all the resort has to offer.

not a bad idea!!!

 

[christine*]

I recommend doing a split day also. I would start off at the other resort and end the trip at AKL. It would disappointing to go from AKL to a different resort.

 

[Missytara]

I recommend doing a split day also. I would start off at the other resort and end the trip at AKL. It would disappointing to go from AKL to a different resort.

Yes, you definately want to "upgrade", not "downgrade" on your trip!

I also tell people, I take a plastic bag (we did this when my mom and I did the land/sea package.

You fill the bag with your used clothes and then pack them on the bottom of your suitcase. Use the plastic bag as a divider between used and clean clothes - so when you get to the next resort, you are only unpacking what you need.

 

[FirstTimeDisneyVisit]

seems like if we can afford we might possibly stay 9 days and enjoy the place.. our other idea is to stay at allstar again when we try to go during xmas time. i doN'T think it would be warm enough for the pool so just basically a place to stay .. Saw a show on tv about Disney during the xmas season and it looks amazing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Hmom]

Hello All,

I told her choose Animal kingdom or a ring ! and she told me to save for the ring and she will save for Animal Kingdom. total fail on my part !

any feed back would be great appreciated and helpful in our decision making !

Smart girl

Split stay is a great idea! I always think about what I want from where we are staying - fridge, micro, etc... That helps me decide.

I also agree with renting DVC points. This will be our second time renting to stay at AKV. Much less expensive than rack or even discounted with a pin.

Good Luck!

 

[Alabama Minnie]

Not a fan of AKL here. I would much rather SAVE a little more and do a split stay in a value (for bus parks) and then really "move-up" to the POLY. Cost a little more but worth it to us.
We just didn't find AKL to be that impressive.

 

[DCbride]

We eat at Boma every trip, but I always said, "I have no desire to stay here" Fast forward to this past Sept when we had to find a 2 bedroom during the last week of Food & Wine festival- Kidani (the DVC at AKL) here we come.

Well I loved every aspect of the resort. I just filled out the survey last night and expressed how much I really enjoyed all the extras. DH joked everytime that I got excited about a deer below the balcony. (We live in an area where we see deer daily) But it was an African deer!

Anyway, I think if you are doing parks (like open to close) there is no reason to pay the $$ for a great resort. But if you plan to actually spend a few hrs each day then yes, I think it is worth the money.

If you are planing for next year. You might want to go the end of November beginning of Dec. You can get decent deals and all of the decorations will be up.

 

[Tiggerrn2]

We stayed twice at AKL, once in Oct when the kids were 4 and 6. And just last Nov/Dec for a week-kids now 13 and 11. We really enjoyed the hotel when the kids were little. We spent a lot of time at the pool and doing all the little things the resort had to offer. So much for the kids to do. This past year, we spent a couple afternoons at the new pool over by Kidani. Kids loved it yet again. We didn't have a Savannah view this time (we did the first time). We had a pool view, OK. The nice thing was it was Zebra trail just off the elevator. So we didn't have a long walk at the end of the day. But the hotel at Christmas time is just beautiful! We didn't spend quite as much time doing the little things, but it was still a great pick. I am with those who suggest a split stay. Use your cheaper hotel days for park touring and the last few days to enjoy the hotel. You can get night vision goggles to view the animals at night out on Arusha Rock. The bar area is lovely at night and I enjoyed sitting downstairs by the fire pit relaxing in the rocking chairs. So peaceful. And if you can afford the Savannah view, I would do it. I loved waking in the morning and relaxing on the balcony in the morning with my cup of tea and watching the animals.

 

[Hooked On The Mouse]

I can only say it was worth it for us. I fell in love with AKL online and we did a "once-in-a-lifetime" trip there, "just to experience it once". We loved it and as you can see are returning. Now we will probably never be able to take a WDW trip again without at least part of it at AKL. Split stays are a great idea to cut the cost.

 

[disnut1149]

Hi
Just returned from AKL last night. I love the resort and the animals are a lot of fun to watch. The major complaint that I have is that our room wasn't clean. We had a huge cobweb above the corner of the bed which we took pictures of so we could let them know about the housekeeping. Also, the dust was pretty thick on the top of the tv furniture, enough that you could really see it. We were really disappointed with the cleanliness of the room since this is a deluxe hotel and they said they were working towards it being a 5 star hotel.