Considering a switch from POFQ to AKL

[Reese D]

We are currently booked at POFQ for 6 nights. We are considering a switch to 6 nights at AKL pool view. We've never stayed at a moderate before. I talked myself into giving it a try, but the closer we get, the more I think we would be more comfortable at AKL.

My two concerns are transportation time and size of the resort. I liked the idea of POFQ being a small resort and having a short walk to get coffee and to the buses. I know AKL is much bigger, but if we aren't doing a savannah view, we would likely be in the front of the resort anyway - is that correct?

Second, I know AKL is out of the way from everything except AK. Do they have a dedicated bus? Any experiences with good / bad bus service? Is the travel time really that much more than from POFQ, especially if POFQ shares a bus with POR?

Any thoughts or experiences?

 

[maxiesmom]

I haven't stayed at AKL, and part of the reason why is that it is so far removed from the parks, except for the Animal Kingdom.

I can tell you that I have stayed at both POR and POFQ multiple times, and they rarely share buses. When they do it takes maybe 10 minutes to make the stops at both resorts.

I like POFQ for the reason you have given: It is small. No matter where your room is you are not that far from the food court or bus stop.

I will say though that if you have older kids and the pool is a big thing for your family, the pool at POFQ may not do. The slide is small, and only really fun for a young child.

 

[CampbellScot]

Having stayed at both resorts, I would choose POFQ hands down. The reason for this is the transportation. For our stay we were quickly frustrated with the one option for transportation and the length of time spent waiting for the bus as well as the time in transit. AKL is just so far from all the parks aside from animal kingdom.

POFQ is the first pick up and drop off spot. We always had a seat and rarely waited more than 10 minutes at the most. We also loved the boat option to DTD.

While AKL is a gorgeous resort, as park people, my family found the transportation issues to be a deal breaker.

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

I have stayed at AKL and POR. During my stays both resorts had good bus service - POR sometimes sharing with POFQ and AKL sharing with AKV Kidani - so I wouldn't say there is much difference there.

I really love AKL so that would be my choice but they are apples and oranges in many ways - so if they are at a similar price point (which I know they sometimes are depending on the room choice etc.) I would definitely choose AKL. My first WDW stay was at POR - I loved it and had a great time - my third on site stay was AKL and I was like WOW - jaw dropping happiness. ! LOL - IMHO was well worth every penny!

 

[theAfamily]

my kids like AKL the best because they love the pool there and all the animals but me and DH prefer POFQ. Much smaller and quick and easy to get to bus stops, breakfast, ect. Pool is still really nice and everyone there is just as friendly as at AKL. I don't find it uncleanly or much less quality then a larger more expensive resort. Have fun on your trip!

 

[JennyDrake]

Having stayed at both (including the pool view) I would choose POFQ hands down. Other than Mara (which I found a huge disappointment) and the pool, the pool view room we had was far removed from anything and everything.

At AKL (3 visits) I found the bus service to be hit or miss--but the same can be said for ANY resort.

POFQ has a neat pool and you can always take the shot walk to POR and enjoy the main and also quiet pools there. Service at the food court of POR or POFQ is MUCH faster than AKL. The boat ride to DTD is both beautiful and relaxing.

 

[Reese D]

I just wanted to thank you all for the information. It's been very helpful.

 

[jhryb]

I returned recently from Kidani (which shares buses with Jambo House) and we had an amazing busing experience the 6 days that we were there. We never waited more than a couple of minutes for our bus. Perhaps it was lucky good timing but we were very happy.

 

[2Tiggies]

I haven't stayed at AKL, and part of the reason why is that it is so far removed from the parks, except for the Animal Kingdom.

I can tell you that I have stayed at both POR and POFQ multiple times, and they rarely share buses. When they do it takes maybe 10 minutes to make the stops at both resorts.

I like POFQ for the reason you have given: It is small. No matter where your room is you are not that far from the food court or bus stop.

I will say though that if you have older kids and the pool is a big thing for your family, the pool at POFQ may not do. The slide is small, and only really fun for a young child.

What she said!

I like the slide at POFQ despite (at times questionably ) being the adult in our party, but I do agree that its appeal will be more for the younger children.

 

[cheryllarsen]

AKV is our preferred resort. Kids too.

 

[cheryllarsen]

It very peacefull with all the animals for the adults and of course the kids love anything with animals.

 

[mmmears]

I've stayed at AKL several times and had pretty much great bus service there. (and I am NOT a fan of WDW buses). I love the atmosphere there, the animals, the fact that it's all in one building, the dining options... it's an amazing place!

I haven't tried POFQ, but if we ever do stay at a mod that would be the most likely one since it's the smallest one. I don't want a long walk at the resort after I've been walking all day.

AKL buses are only for the 2 AKL buildings (resort and DVC) so not bad at all. And the pool rooms are mostly quite close to the lobby elevators and the bus stops. The pool is great, by the way.

As for transportation, AK and BB are very close. DHS not bad. EP ok. MK felt like a long bus ride, but it did from the YC, too.

Hope this helps!

 

[Tinkerpeas hubby]

I haven't stayed at POFQ but we have done 3 weeks at AKL!
We found Akl to be a really beautiful resort, before we went my wife read loads of reviews and was really worried about the bus service and how far we was from certain parks as people kept saying how it took 50 mins to reach MK etc....
Well I'd like to think as we was there 3wks we got to know the bus service pretty well lol, we never hire a car and have stayed in a few resorts now and found Akl to be 1 of the best for the buses!
We never waited more then 10mins for a bus to come apart from once when it was 20 as we had just missed it and it was pretty busy time at 6pm ( lots rushing to their ADRs) the nearest park was Ak at 5 mins and the furthest MK at around 15 which I don't think is bad at all,
The resort can be a walk from room to bus stop depending what area your in, we got upgraded from normal view to savannah ( we got lucky since we had 2 rooms for 3wks!!) you always hear about shorter stays getting the upgrades, we was on the Arusha savannah and right at the end of the corridor my boys used to joke that it was walking the mile, I was just pleased there was something to look at and that we did not forget stuff in the room to often lol..

If you get pool view you will be nr the pool and IMO in the perfect location.

 

[disneybliss2]

We've stayed at both and had a wonderful experience at both.

Love that POFQ has a small, quaint feel about it. We never shared a bus with POR. Even if there was plenty of room to allocate for more people, it only stopped at POFQ. The buses were always timely, and I was impressed by the short time it took to get to the parks.

We LOVED AKL. You are correct that the savanna rooms are located in the back. If you have a standard room or pool view room, you will be located up front. On our stay there this past summer, we found in our pool view room that we were just a short walk from the buses, lobby, and pool. Very convenient! I was very worried ahead of time about bus transportation. We are rope drop people and I have two young children, so having efficient transportation is important to me. I was nervous prior to our trip because you hear a lot of people on the boards say how far away AKL is from everything else. You'd think it was in Africa based on how far away some people make it out to be. I realize some people have stayed at the Epcot resorts that are within walking distances to Epcot, so in that case, it may make this resort seem further away. However, we didn't notice a huge difference. Yes, it took a little longer to get to MK (about 10 min. longer), but to everything else it took about the same amount of time. The buses were always timely and efficient. I wouldn't keep transportation concerns keep me from staying at AKL, and that's from someone who has transportation as a big priority.

If you haven't ever stayed at a moderate and have only been value, you will see a huge difference by staying at POFQ and I believe will be very happy. I think you should try the moderate first before leaping into the deluxe. However, if you're truly interested in AKL, it's a wonderful resort that we loved. It's like a a WDW vacation and a mini African vacation all in one. Wonderful!

Either way...you can't go wrong with either resort. Good luck with your decision!

 

[Reese D]

Thank you for all of the reassurance on the transportation.

If you haven't ever stayed at a moderate and have only been value, you will see a huge difference by staying at POFQ and I believe will be very happy. I think you should try the moderate first before leaping into the deluxe. However, if you're truly interested in AKL, it's a wonderful resort that we loved. It's like a a WDW vacation and a mini African vacation all in one. Wonderful!

Either way...you can't go wrong with either resort. Good luck with your decision!

No, we've only ever stayed at Deluxe (Poly, GF, CR and WL). We've never stayed at a Mod or Value. We opted to try a mod for this trip because we found on our last trip, as the kids are getting older, we spent very little time at the resort. However, the price difference btw. FQ and AKL pool view is pretty small and we love the AKL restaurants. Since we are used to being so close to the MK, transportation time was one of my concerns.

 

[mickeynut1]

No, we've only ever stayed at Deluxe (Poly, GF, CR and WL). We've never stayed at a Mod or Value. We opted to try a mod for this trip because we found on our last trip, as the kids are getting older, we spent very little time at the resort. However, the price difference btw. FQ and AKL pool view is pretty small and we love the AKL restaurants. Since we are used to being so close to the MK, transportation time was one of my concerns.

We've never stayed at POFQ, but we loved AKL. We are also a deluxe family and love the monorail resorts, but we thought the buses at AKL were fine. The buses only go to AKL and Kidani so there's no sharing with any other resorts. Even with AKL being kind of away from everything, we didn't find the bus transportation to be bad (it took maybe 5 extra minutes getting to the parks from AKL vs other resorts). AKL is quiet and we love Boma and thought Mara was great for CS meals. Our last trip to AKL we had a pool view room and we loved it. I would definitely switch, especially if the price difference is very minimal. Good luck.

 

[mamaprincess]

Bus transportation has been excellent for us each time we stayed at AKL with travel times under 20 minutes. I would absolutely choose AKL over POFQ. We have never stayed at POFQ but have visited and although it is lovely, it can't compete with AKL. AKL is an experience and destination unto itself.

 

[pixarmom]

We've stayed at both and between the two, I'd definitely choose AKL. Having stayed in all three categories of resorts over time, we've been staying primarily deluxe for the past nine years (with the exception of POFQ for a couple night last year during Easter week before the discounts kicked in, then we moved to YC.)

Transportation. I know it can change, but when we stayed at POFQ last year, our bus to MK was direct in the mornings, but getting to Epcot in the late afternoon involved something like four or five stops in POR. I don't mind crowds on buses or stops on the way back from the park, but multiple stops before getting to the park makes timing more difficult.

Mod v. Deluxe. We did enjoy POFQ for a mod - I've also stayed at CBR and CSR, and I think POFQ is my favorite mod. We knew what to expect and POFQ absolutely met (and even exceeded) our very realistic expectations. But it's still a mod. After staying deluxe so long, we're used to the deluxe room layout, atmosphere, lobby environment, interior corridors, quiet air conditioning (well, maybe not at CR) and balcony (huge factor for me.) AKL has all of those things. Having stayed at Poly, WL and CR (we have too) and GF, you may feel similarly.

Pools. I know you will spend more time in the parks, but if you plan to use the pool at all, I'd rate AKL pools VERY high (maybe second to SAB at BC/YC.) Great layout and I feel it's far more relaxing at AKL. We love the ability to use both the AKL pool and the Kidani pool.

Dining. We prefer the dining options at AKL. We're not CS fans generally, and we usually avoid food courts. I do have to say that the POFQ food court is one of the most convenient and chaos-free at WDW. And I'm not a huge Mara fan, but it does have lots of indoor seating and selection. But in the end, the TS options at AKL (especially Jiko and Sanaa) are great, and the lounge near Jiko is quite nice.

Rooms. Again, the room layout and the balcony at AKL would be huge selling points for us. We stayed in a pool view room and it was highly convenient - very close to the pool, Mara, lobby (if we walked outside), Jiko, front entrance, etc. And I actually prefer pool view over savannah. Great room! With a pool view room, I didn't think it was much farther from the room to the lobby than when we were in building 2 at POFQ (and that was a great location, too.)

Good luck!!

 

[disneybliss2]

No, we've only ever stayed at Deluxe (Poly, GF, CR and WL). We've never stayed at a Mod or Value. We opted to try a mod for this trip because we found on our last trip, as the kids are getting older, we spent very little time at the resort. However, the price difference btw. FQ and AKL pool view is pretty small and we love the AKL restaurants. Since we are used to being so close to the MK, transportation time was one of my concerns.

My mistake. Since you've only stayed at deluxe, you might not enjoy POFQ as much. When you go from value to moderate, there's a huge difference. Even having stayed at AKL, we would still gladly stay at POFQ again, however, my first choice would be AKL. If the price difference is small, I would choose AKL. I wouldn't let transportation keep you from trying it out. That was my biggest concern in trying AKL out, and I was relieved that it was a positive experience.