CBR vs AKL

[photochick]

Hello everyone! We are in the early planning stages of our first Disney Vacation! Actually this will be our kids (Daughter will be 7 and Son will be 4 1/2) first big vacation. We had planned on staying at one of the value resorts but then decided on the Caribbean Beach Resort. Now we are thinking of booking Animal Kingdom Lodge. Of course the kids love the idea of watching the animals from the balcony but we love the idea of the bunk beds and the nicer rooms. My only hold up is I know we will be on the go 90% of the time so I don't know if it is actually worth the extra money. I want our first trip to Disney to be amazing in every way! Any info on the two would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Cadiewampus]

Hello everyone! We are in the early planning stages of our first Disney Vacation! Actually this will be our kids (Daughter will be 7 and Son will be 4 1/2) first big vacation. We had planned on staying at one of the value resorts but then decided on the Caribbean Beach Resort. Now we are thinking of booking Animal Kingdom Lodge. Of course the kids love the idea of watching the animals from the balcony but we love the idea of the bunk beds and the nicer rooms. My only hold up is I know we will be on the go 90% of the time so I don't know if it is actually worth the extra money. I want our first trip to Disney to be amazing in every way! Any info on the two would be greatly appreciated.[/QUOTE

We have stayed at both as a matter of fact in all of our trips thats the only places we have stayed. Anyway for me it depends on how much time you plan on spending at the resort. We usually go 7 days and spend two complete days around the resort. This is when its great to stay at AKL. There is just so much for the kids to do and it is such a layed back atmosphere. Also being that it is not spread out its easier to get to the foodcourt, gym and anything else you need at AKL. How much do your kids like animals and would they enjoy them being there is another question you have to ask. I do like CBR as well but just not as much since it has more of a motel feel to me. That being said their foodcourt is fine. I will say with kids your age they may enjoy the CBR pool more that the AKL pool. It really all comes down to personal preference. Hope I didn't muddy the waters any

 

[jess20k]

I have stayed at both resorts, and of course I loved AKL more than CBR. However, we did enjoy our stay at CBR. I would say your best bet is to decide if you can afford the extra $$$ to stay there and if it would be worth it for you. We have been to WDW many times, so for us, it was worth it to stay at AKL since we were able to spend more time at the resort enjoying it. If you are going to be mainly on the go at the parks, and hardly spending any time at the resort, then you may be better off saving the money and staying at CBR. Whatever decision you make you will be fine, because both are great resorts. Have fun on your trip!

 

[amccu18007]

I think with children that age, you are going to spend more time at the resort than you would imagine. They are going to get tired and may need some rejuevination time(pool, nap whatever). You will be happier during those times at AKL.

 

[photochick]

I do like CBR as well but just not as much since it has more of a motel feel to me. [/QUOTE]

Thank you! This is what I was looking for! I want a resort experience for them not a motel feel and I know they would love the animals. How is the pool at AKL? DH and I talked about it tonight and since we are staying a full week we will probably take a day during the middle of the week to just lay around the pool and explore the resort to recoop a little before hitting the rest of the parks. The prices for AKL are pretty good right now compared to other Deluxe resorts. Are there any others we should look into?

 

[leeann32]

My vote would be for AKL!

 

[Disney grandma]

The pool at AKL is large and zero entry. There is a slide that is good for children your ages. You will be amazed at how beautiful the resort is and once you are there you will wonder why you even considered staying anywhere else!

 

[tinarena2000]

I am sure you will enjoy where ever you choose, but CBR in my opinion is far from a "motel feel"

It is a tropical resort feel, with white sand beaches, very relaxing for me.

 

[my2princessgirls]

We have stayed at AKL, and recently stayed at our first Moderate. With children the ages that you have, I would definitely stay at AKL - the pool, the bunks, the views, the overall feel is just wonderful!! We really missed having the balcony at CSR! On past trips, DH & I would spend some time together on the balcony once the kids were in bed (as well as during naps, which they willingly take at WDW, LOL!), but this trip at CSR there wasn't a good place to do that, so we just ended up going to bed when the kids did. I agree with the previous poster who said that the moderates feel like a motel - yes, much nicer than "regular" motels, but they are exterior corridors, and the rooms are smaller as well as having limited amenities compared to the deluxe resorts on property.

Just be sure to HAVE FUN wherever you stay!!

 

[puffkin]

AKL! I agree with PP's that you will probably spend more time at the resort than you think especially since it sounds like your kids are not used to taking big vacations/travelling. They will love the pool, bunk beds, animal viewings, etc. We also like the Mara much better than CBR's food court!

 

[Calgary DISHeads]

I am sure you will enjoy where ever you choose, but CBR in my opinion is far from a "motel feel"

It is a tropical resort feel, with white sand beaches, very relaxing for me.

It was about as far from a motel feel for me as you can get. Pop Century, All Stars maybe a bit because of the frantic feel of the places and the lack of greenery and sand beaches that there are at CBR. Maybe if an outside corridor means motel feel We were on the ground floor.

 

[WDWTeri]

AKL is definitely more "special", usually we stay at a Moderate, but have stayed at AKL 2x's. It is beautiful and exotic, and the animals are just amazing. Walking out on your balcony to see a giraffe not ten feet away, looking at you, is somthing you will just not experience at CBR.They do have a food court with average selections, and the buffet Boma is really good with interesting selections for both kids and adults. I would stay at AKL on this first time trip, then maybe scale back to a moderate on future trips. Our first trip to WDW, we stayed at the BWV(before AKL existed), staying at a Deluxe was just incredible. Made our first trip magical!

 

[DisGirl23]

Stayed at both. Loved both.
CBR is absolutely NOT a motel atmosphere! It's gorgeous! Great food options, bright and cheery, tropical and white sandy beaches... far from a Motel 6.
We had a savannah view at AKL but, I didn't feel we were able to take full advantage of it. If you think you will, go for it! I'd definitely stay there again but, I wouldn't pay the extra to have that view. There are plenty of spots to walk around and animal watch there.

 

[Sue M]

We enjoyed CBR, beautiful resort, love the hammocks on the beach! But AKL is amazing. If you stay there, you will want to take some time to enjoy the resort.
We don't commando tour. We like to get to the parks at opening, then take a mid day break around 2 or 3ish to go back to resort to relax, hang by the pool or hot tubs, walk around, shower, go have dinner in or near the park we will be going to in the evening for EMH.

 

[MerryFlora]

Great thread! These are our final top two also! They are very different so its hard to decide, huh? I have not been to either resort but have researched for hours and showed my DH and DD10 the pics.

They love animals so AKL was a big draw at first. Then DD thought the pool at CBR looked "cooler" and they were interested in the marina also. The other concern is DH hates the bus rides and AKL would be slightly longer. I used to not like the motel style corridors either, but staying at POR cured me of that. It was nice to enjoy the fresh air and beautiful grounds on our walks.

If you think you might try out both resorts at some point, I would rather start out with the mod and then maybe next trip move up to deluxe. I think its harder to go the opposite way.

So, as of this second, we are leaning toward CBR which saves us over $400 too. Let us know what you decide!

 

[photochick]

Great thread! These are our final top two also! They are very different so its hard to decide, huh? I have not been to either resort but have researched for hours and showed my DH and DD10 the pics.

They love animals so AKL was a big draw at first. Then DD thought the pool at CBR looked "cooler" and they were interested in the marina also. The other concern is DH hates the bus rides and AKL would be slightly longer. I used to not like the motel style corridors either, but staying at POR cured me of that. It was nice to enjoy the fresh air and beautiful grounds on our walks.

If you think you might try out both resorts at some point, I would rather start out with the mod and then maybe next trip move up to deluxe. I think its harder to go the opposite way.

So, as of this second, we are leaning toward CBR which saves us over $400 too. Let us know what you decide!

I know! It's so hard to pick because they both have there pros and cons! We had planned on a value resort because we didn't think we would be in the room that much but then friends of ours said the rooms are extremely small and were very "Motel 6". (Which I wouldn't expect much for such a cheap price either.) So then I started looking at the Moderate resorts and really liked CBR but then when I checked prices it wasn't that much more to upgrade to AKL. I really think we will wind up at AKL. I love the bunk beds and the bathrooms appear to be bigger. The pool looks nice at both and the kids will really love the animals!

 

[Rosanne]

I think the kids would love the pool at CBR, especially the little pirate ship pool for smaller kids. What I would probably do is stay at CBR and put the difference in cost $$ away in a savings account to make my next vacation come up sooner. We were also torn between the two but my daughters (3 and 8)were wild for the pirate rooms and the pirate ship pool. When they are older, maybe even a year or two, we will do AKL if I can tear them away from CBR by then. My older one is interested in AKL but the younger one has no interest in it but a fierce interest in CBR. It was the only resort that would pry her away from the theming of AS Movies and Music. She's stayed at Movies 3 times and was very interested in Music but I really wanted to try something different. Of course, not staying deluxe has allowed us to visit more often so that is good. I'm pretty laid back so I'll go with whatever except cheerleading late at night or early morning. I have actually found interior corridors to be much louder.

 

[LoraJ]

We really enjoyed CBR! We found it to be beautiful and relaxing.

That said, here is my opinion on the Disney resorts:
I would stay at a mod over a value. And a deluxe over a mod as long as I could afford it.

We visited AKL for the first time on our last trip when we had dinner at Jiko. It looks like that may be next on our list.