Best CL for food and entertainment

[Disneyhenry]

2 A and 1 kiddo age 11 5 nights post cruise Christmas week (arg) probably won’t splurge for GF lol even though I love that place
BTW we will be at the resort a lot so what’s important? The food lol and things to do around the resort

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I guess it depends on what you define as "entertainment". There is true entertainment on the Boardwalk at night - jugglers and magicians - you can also walk to Fantasia mini-golf from there, rent a surrey bike, rent boats over at YC, etc. If that would interest you (my DS11 LOVES the Boardwalk), I would pick whichever is cheapest - YC, BC or BWI CL - as you can access all of these entertainment options from any of those resorts. You may also want to take a look at the pools to see which one interests you. My DS11 prefers BWI because he loves the loopty-loops on the clown slide.

If you would prefer watching fireworks at night, I would probably choose Poly. WL CL is lovely, as is AKL CL, but the pools at both of these resorts are a bit small for a tween. At WL, however, you can take a boat over to Ft. W to access the activities over there. We did this the week before Christmas a few years ago and made a night out of seeing HDDR and then taking a private sleigh ride around the resort.

The EP resort area, however, will be the liveliest, IMHO.

 

[Disneyhenry]

I guess it depends on what you define as "entertainment". There is true entertainment on the Boardwalk at night - jugglers and magicians - you can also walk to Fantasia mini-golf from there, rent a surrey bike, rent boats over at YC, etc. If that would interest you (my DS11 LOVES the Boardwalk), I would pick whichever is cheapest - YC, BC or BWI CL - as you can access all of these entertainment options from any of those resorts. You may also want to take a look at the pools to see which one interests you. My DS11 prefers BWI because he loves the loopty-loops on the clown slide.

If you would prefer watching fireworks at night, I would probably choose Poly. WL CL is lovely, as is AKL CL, but the pools at both of these resorts are a bit small for a tween. At WL, however, you can take a boat over to Ft. W to access the activities over there. We did this the week before Christmas a few years ago and made a night out of seeing HDDR and then taking a private sleigh ride around the resort.

The EP resort area, however, will be the liveliest, IMHO.

You have given me a lot to think about. I worry that AKL won’t have enough to do because no bike or boat rental. Can you see fireworks from AkL?
Thx

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I tend to book location first, then CL attributes second... so my thought process doesn't necessarily fit your question (sorry!).

Out of your choices, in my opinion I think AKL has the best CL food and resort entertainment/activities, but I don't think AKL would necessarily be our first choice around Christmas week. During a heavy crowd time like that, we'd want convenience to a park(s) and also an easier ability to resort hop to check out decorations, dining, etc. Those aren't two of AKL's strongest attributes. But if not a factor in your plans, it’s a strong option for consideration.

So then I think, do I want to be MK-centric or Epcot-centric? I let that guide a lot of our decision.

I personally like Poly CL a lot as it fits our resort style well, love the location, watching nightly MK fireworks, quick walk to the TTC for the Epcot monorail. The room categories for Poly CL gives one a level of control of your view and various price points. The rooms are among the largest on property. Convenient access to the other MK resorts during the holidays would be a plus.

But we also like places like the Epcot resorts with walk ability to two parks, YC/BC have the great Stormalong Bay, the Boardwalk has various entertainment options. Smaller rooms though and CL lounges don’t have much of a wow factor in terms of a view of anything (opposite of places like Poly and CR which have fantastic MK views from the lounge). BWI CL gets pretty consistent rave reviews for food and for me YC CL ranks pretty high up there in this category too.

In the end (in my opinion) there is not really a “best” CL (or resort) as they all have various pros/cons, just whatever appeals or works best for you.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Can you see fireworks from AkL?

No, no fireworks views from AKL.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

If you are interested in fireworks, I will add, you can see some of the EP fireworks from the bridge between BWI and the EP IG entrance, though, I don't know what that will be like when they introduce the new show this year. You could also walk toward DHS and see some of the higher fireworks of the DHS shows from there. It's definitely not the same as seeing HEA from a MK resort, but it's a little something extra if you stay in the EP area!

 

[AngiTN]

No, no fireworks views from AKL.

You can see some from AKL rooms. But you have to be on Kudu trail. You can see them over the other side of the building

 

[GADisneyDad14]

You can see some from AKL rooms. But you have to be on Kudu trail. You can see them over the other side of the building

But those can’t possibly be “good” views, right?

I could see the top of the very big shots from MK fireworks from our room on the Zebra Trail in April, but it was way far away and to me it was nothing more than a tease!

 

[AngiTN]

But those can’t possibly be “good” views, right?

I could see the top of the very big shots from MK fireworks from our room on the Zebra Trail in April, but it was way far away and to me it was nothing more than a tease!

Eh, good is subjective I guess. They are as good as the fireworks view you have from outside of HS or Epcot. Similar to the view we have from the CL lounge at BWI. MK is much further away and probably why those are not very good.
I would not call it a fireworks view room but PP asked "can you see fireworks from AKL" not "is it a good fireworks view" and yes, you can. All of the bursts in the air are visible.