Animal Kingdom

[Windy City Heather]

We are taking my parents to Disney in September. I told them they could pick the hotel being this may be their only trip. My mom is leaning towards the Animal Kingdom because she likes the idea of seeing animals out of her window. Do you really see a lot of animals? Is staying her worth the buses? I would much prefer to stay at Poly or Contemporary. She is also thinking about doing half the week at Animal Kingdom and half at either Poly or Contemporary. Any thoughts would be great.

 

[BevS97]

I haven;t stayed on the monorail, but we thought Animal Kingdom Lodge was superb and I would have no qualms about staying there again - we did see plenty of animals and throughly enjoyed the resort. The buses were very efficient as they don't share with any other hotels, they just take you directly to the park and back

 

[Dreaming of Disney05]

I used to be a great fan of the Contemp.. I have also stayed at the Poly.. but I am truly an AKL fan. One thing that I love about it, it's all one building. So you walk into the main part, and don't have to go outside to your room,unless you want too. You see animals all over the place. We had a pool view room, the time we stayed there, but walking in the hallways you would look out and see the animals. It's a wonderful resort.

Good luck

 

[MNSusan]

We've stayed at both the Animal Kingdom Lodge and Poly. We LOVE the AKL! Sitting on the balcony sipping coffee and watching the giraffes, zebras and bongos was just great. As for "lots" of animals, it depends on your expectations. The most we ever saw at one time was 3 giraffes, 2 zebras, 3-4 bongos, a couple of watusi cows and lots of birds. We split our stay with the Poly and really missed AKL. Its just such a refuge. Getting buses was no problem for us.

I'd say this is a pretty typical view from our balcony

 

[#1hockeymom]

I also took my mother for her first ever Disney trip and let her pick the resort. She picked AKL and is still raving about it! We were on the very end of Usima savannah and saw numerous animals. It was hard to leave for the parks since it was so relaxing just to have another cup of coffee, sit out on the balcony, and talk while watching the animals below.

 

[Windy City Heather]

I think my decision is made. WOW! I only expected to see an animal or two occasionally in the distance. But all those animals right there. Now I am excited. Thanks for including the picture. We are looking at going next September. We have an annual pass. Do you think we will get a good annual pass rate?